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Chapter 16

Today was Thanksgiving and they were all out in the park for the annual family football game. Everyone that Steve considered family was there, either watching on the side-line or participating in the game. Even Captain Grover was there on a request from Steve. They all went into the game wholeheartedly, even Danny that hated anything that involved running, but Steve found himself very easily distracted today.

Sitting in the shadows under some trees with Malia were Kono and their little girl, who had been born almost two weeks ago and Steve could not take his eyes off of them. He had had almost a year to get used to the idea of being a father, ever since the day they decided to start for a family. But now when their daughter was finally here, he realised that it was not something he could have prepared for. The tiny little body evoked so much inside of him and it never seized to amaze him, every time he picked her up it felt as if his heart was going to burst with happiness. Watching the two of them made him feel really grateful.

ooOoOoOoo

Kono's due date was not for yet another week, but he had nevertheless taken the week off just in case. But of course things never went to plan when it came to him. It was only two days in and he had already been called in for a urgent case that the governor had insisted he should handle personally. Everything was alright with Kono so far, so he did not feel too guilty leaving her but he took his own car just in case instead of riding with Danny.

The girl a friend of the Governor had had an affair with, had turned up dead this morning and the Governor called in Steve to handle it as a way to help his friend. And the case turned out to be messier than they first expected. The girl had been three months pregnant when she died and the Governor's friend was the father, which gave him even more motive. Though there were some things that didn't add up. Like the professionalism of the murder. It was too clean to have been a crime of passion. He was just about to jump into the car with Chin when his phone went off and he immediately answered without looking at the screen.

"McGarrett!"

"Steve!" Came Kono's voice through the phone.

"Hey Baby! Is everything okay?"

"I think it's time!"

"Okay." Steve tried to sound as calm as he could even though he was freaking out inside. He was pretty sure it showed on his face because Chin just grinned at him, obviously not knowing what he was talking about since he was calm itself. "I'll drive home right away and then we can go to the hospital."

"No I am already in the car with Malia, she came over after leaving the boys with her parents."

"Okay, I'll meet you at the hospital!"

With a nod at Chin he ran towards the truck and kept Kono on the phone. He was pretty sure he broke every traffic law there was as he drove over to the hospital, but he got there in under fifteen minutes and just after Kono and Malia. When he arrived at the room Kono was in she was leaning double over the bed and Malia was sitting on a chair in the corner of the room. He walked up towards Kono and was met by a pained but genuine smile.

"How are you doing?" He asked softly and started stroking her back like they had learned during one of the courses here at the hospital.

"This hurts more than getting shot." She laughed while trying to hold in the pained yell. He wasn't quite sure if what she said was true but he knew better than to argue with her at the moment. Kono had not been very hormonal during the pregnancy but it was never good to antagonize a woman in pain, just look at how Danny acted every time you teased him about his whining.

ooOoOoo

Eight excruciating hours later Kono was struggling to stay awake as she held their baby girl. Steve was emotionally drained as well but he could not take his eyes off the tiny human, wrapped up in a pink blanket in Kono's arms. The nurse had just gone out to waiting area to get the guys to come meet the newest member of their team.

"We did good, didn't we?" He asked as he sat down on the edge of the bed and put his arm around Kono's shoulders.

"We did really good." She whispered as peered down at the little bundle with awe in her eyes.

Steve was just about to open his mouth again when the door opened and was followed by excited voices. In came Danny and Grace, Chin, Malia and Kath, they all gathered around the bed and Grace sat down on the other side of it to get a closer look of the baby.

"What's her name?" Grace asked and moved a little closer.

"Kalea"

"Your own little Lea!" Chin smiled and both Steve and Kono grinned. Ever since they found out they were having a baby, even before they knew it was a girl, Kono was adamant that the name should be Kalea if it was a girl, there never was another option. She said she wanted a Hawaiian name that could also sound more European if they wanted to and she had always liked the name Lea. Steve knew better than to argue with her and besides it wasn't that bad of a name, "joy" was a perfect name for their little girl.

ooOoOoOoo

"Babe, are you coming?" Danny yelled from the middle where they all stood huddled, just waiting for him so that they could kick off again.

He was just about to walk over to them when his phone started to make turkey-sounds in his pocket. It was time to make the turkey if they wanted to eat tonight.

"I am sorry guys, I have to go stuff the turkey."

"Come on!" Everyone groaned.

"Can't you just have Mary do the turkey, we are playing football!" Danny whined but Steve just shook his head and waited for Kono to join him so that they could go home and put Lea to bed.

When they walked into the house Kono walked upstairs to feed Lea before putting her down for a while. He started to walk towards the kitchen where he heard a weird buzzing sound. Walking in he spotted Mary trying to thaw the turkey with a hairdryer, but it was to no use, it was ice cold and stone hard.

Mary tried to apologize while coming off as innocently as possible, even trying to blame the whole thing on Joan who was sitting quietly in her chair. He was just about to jump into a rant when he was interrupted by Kono coming into the room with a whimpering Lea.

"Someone didn't want her mom anymore." Kono laughed and handed over Kalea to Steve who happily accepted their daughter. He shushed the little girl and she kept him distracted, but only for a little bit until she lay contently against her father's chest, then he turned back to Mary.

"I knew it was a mistake to make you my prep-cook."

"Then why did you make me your prep-cook?" But before he could retaliate he was interrupted yet again, this time by a knock on the door.

"We are not done here." He said and walked to the front door where someone was knocking impatiently. He pulled the door open and froze when he saw who was standing on the other side.

"There he is! And is this..."

"This is Kalea." He said proudly and lifted up his daughter a little. "Aunt Deb, what are you doing here?" He asked as she took Kalea out of his arms.

"I wanted to spend thanksgiving with my family. It has been a while."

"Well it's good to see you!" He smiled and took Kalea back when she started to whimper again.

"Look at you being a dad, she has already given you some grey hair I see!"

"You like it?" It felt nice to have Aunt Deb here, she had this feel around her that made everyone comfortable and at home in her company, at the same time as she could scare you with her frankness.

"I like it. The tattoos, not so much." He rolled his eyes and watched as she rushed over to Mary and Joan who had joined them. Then came the introduction of Kono as she carefully walked out of the kitchen to stand neck to him, looking nervous.

After Deb had finished fussing over Joan, she slowly turned towards Kono and walked over towards them as she watched Kono up and down. She came to a stop in front of them and stood silent for a moment before a smile spread across her face.

"So this is the famous Kono who's made my nephew this happy." Steve swore he saw Kono blush slightly at Deb's words.

ooOoOoOoo

After Steve had introduced her to Deb he had gotten a call about s case and had to leave, leaving her and Lea alone with Mary and Deb to try and save their Thanksgiving dinner. There was no hope what so ever for the turkey so they did not have any other choice but to try their luck at the shops. But it was of course sold out, you could not expect to find a decent sized turkey on Thanksgiving, it just wasn't possible. So after going to every store on the island they gave up the search and went back home to make the rest of the food.

Overall it had been a nice day. It was fun watching Deb and Mary interact with each other, they had an amazing relationship and it was beautiful to watch. They had so many fun stories to tell, both about Mary growing up but also about Steve. Deb had this frank and honest way of telling the story that made it sound ten times funnier than it probably was.

Right now she and Mary lay out in the backyard with girls and watched Sammy run around. Deb had popped out for a moment to fix something and they decided to take advantage of the quiet house as the girls were entertained. They both were exhausted since they had not gotten much sleep last night. Kono was seconds away from falling asleep when her phone rang inside the house and brought her out of her haze. She ran inside, hoping it wouldn't disturb the girls.

"Steve, what's up?"

"I need you to go and pick up my aunt at the station." Steve sounded really weird, like there was something really wrong bothering him.

"Are you okay?" She asked worriedly.

"Aunt Deb was arrested for drug possession."

"She what?!"

"She's got cancer." He chocked and she could hear how close he was to tears. "They found a tumor in her brain and it is inoperable. She was buying pot for her pain."

"I am so sorry, koa!" She whispered. Looking out through the window she watched Mary play with girls and she couldn't stop tears from falling. They had spent the entire day together, laughing and having a great time. Mary had no idea that the woman that had raised her was slowly dying.

"I promised I would send someone to pick her up since she persisted that she should be booked. Would you do it? Without letting Mary know?"

"Of course! I'll leave right now."

"Thank you!"

"Steve, I love you! It will be alright."

"I love you too!" He said before he hung up, leaving her shocked to the core.

Shaking herself out of her stupor she popped outside to see if Mary was okay to be alone with the girls. When she drove over to the station she tried to collect herself and come up with something good to say so she wouldn't make it too obvious that she knew. Well at the station she had to wait a few minutes before Deb came walking through the glass-doors.

"He told you, didn't he?" She asked with a sad smile.

"I'm sorry!" But Deb wouldn't hear it, she just waved her off. "Come on, let me take you home." She said and started to walk towards the car.

"No, no, I don't want to go home just yet."

"Where do you want to go then?"

"Take me somewhere beautiful." Deb pleaded.

"I've got just the place."

They walked silently towards the car and Kono drove them to the place she had in mind, leaving Deb to her own thoughts who looked like she was in another world. Parking the car she waited for Deb before leading her down the trail until they walked through a clearing and came out on some cliffs with an old wooden bench. This view never failed to take her breath away. You could see the entire coast line from here and all the large buildings. Kono came here every time she wanted to be alone and think.

They sat down on the bench and leaned back to watch the sight. Kono kept quiet and waited for Deb to start talking whenever she felt like she was ready. It was obvious she had had something to say since she found out the Kono knew, but that she was still collecting her thoughts.

"It is truly beautiful here!"

"It is!" She agreed. "After I lost my mentor a couple of years ago, I came out here and sat for hours after the funeral until Steve found me. It is really peaceful."

"You have been through quite a lot together haven't you?" Deb asked and turned to look at her.

They really had, now that she came to think about it. Steve had been there with her for every important aspect of her life. He saw her when she was on the pro-circuit, he was there when she had her accident, when she started the academy and through all the ups and downs with her family. Just as she was there with him when his best friend got killed during a mission, when his father got killed and he returned to Hawaii to found out what happened. She was there through everything with Wo-fat and his hunt after his then not known to be alive mother.

Not only had they seen each other at their worst, they had worked through it all together and its consequences. And they were still here. They were strong and knew that the other was there for them, that wasn't much that could scare either of them away. It was a feeling that could not be described with one word, it was every wonderful and safe feeling you could have all at once. It floored her whenever she really thought about it.

"Yeah we have..." She trailed off and smiled at all the memories.

"I need you to promise me something, Kono." Deb said and looked at her seriously. "I need you to promise me that you will look after Steve and make sure that he's okay. He doesn't let many people in and he doesn't have too many close people in his life, but you seem to have wormed your way into the deepest depth of his heart. Whenever he looks your way there's this smile on his face and it's a smile I have never seen him wear before. I need you to keep him that way, can you do that for me?"

Kono could feel the tears resurfacing again at Deb's words. Steve had not had much luck with his family, thinking they were dead and then one of them came back to life. Even though Doris had stayed on the island for over a year and a half, things were still awkward. Steve tried to let her in more but somehow he couldn't quite get overhear betrayal and how secretive she was acting at times didn't help matters either. Mary talks to her mother at odd times, it could go months before she contacted her. Why? Kono did not know, but she was pretty sure Mary was feeling the same as Steve. They were way too similar at times.

Steve counted her, Mary, Kalea and the team as his family. He either saw or spoke to them somehow every day. But with Doris it was different. It was strained and he couldn't be the same guy he was when he was with them. He was still hard to read some times and he had trouble telling things about himself but it was even worse when it came to Doris. He didn't want to tell her anything really, he didn't trust her at all, but neither of them were doing a thing to change that. So Doris was invited to holidays and they met up for birthdays but that was about it. It was sad but they had created their own family and they were doing just fine the way they were.

"I'll do my best!" She promised and saw that Deb had tears in her eyes as well.

"Good! That's all that I can ask."

ooOoOoOoo

After running over the entire island trying to stop a potential threat to the President, all they wanted to do was eat. But since the girls had not been able to save the dinner they ended up at bar that had been his backup plan. They got entertainment from their very own Frank Sinatra and his aunt Deb and some decent food. Overall they had a really good time, everyone was there and he had taken Danny's advice to not worry about Deb's illness too much and let it ruin maybe their last holiday together.

Kono was sitting next to him and talking to Grace about something while holding Kalea in her arms. And Danny and Grover was Pickering about something or another while Chin just laughed at them. Looking around the room and his family he felt really blessed. He never thought he would have this again after his parents died. But here he was and he had this sneaking suspicion that it was all thanks to the woman sitting next to him. If it wasn't for her, Steve was pretty sure he wouldn't have stuck around too long after his father's funeral. But something held him here and suddenly the idea of starting a life with Kono was more tempting than self-preservation. He was truly thankful that she came into his life.