Ohana, Now What? (Hawaii Five-O) ON HOLD

Hoʻolauna

(Introduction)

May, 1st, 1992

Maxine was screaming again. Mary clutched the baby closer to her and rocked her as best as she could while sitting on the couch. Her big brother Steven was yelling at their father again, Mary just wished they would stop; she hated that it upset the baby so much. Steven and their dad had been fighting since the sun had come up, their mom was gone, and now their Dad wanted to get rid of them.

"Let me take care of them, you won't have to deal with anything!"

"You're fifteen, Steven, you can hardly take care of yourself." Their father scoffed.

"Send me away then, if it's too much, I'll go. Don't make Mary and Maxine leave, Max is so little, she needs you."

"This is what needs to be done and that's final, I am not discussing this any further."

"This is bullshit and you know it! You think Mom would want us separated and sent to the mainland?" Steven yelled back, chasing after his father down the stairs.

The sound of the yelling coming closer had started Maxine's wailing again. Steven spared Mary a sorrowful glance and charged after John McGarrett  into the kitchen.

"I can't believe you're doing this. When things get hard you don't just get rid of people, mom would never-"

The sound of glass breaking made Mary cry out, and startled the baby in her arms. The pair of them both now crying uncontrollably.

"That's enough! I will not have you speak to me that way, you will go upstairs and pack your bag and be ready to leave in thirty minutes. Is that understood?" Silence followed his thunderous voice. "Do I make myself clear, son?"

"Screw you," Steven grunted, he came barreling out of the kitchen and took the stairs two at a time before slamming his door.

A few moments later, John joined his daughters in the living room. "Mary, it's time to be a big girl now. You go on up to your room and pack your bag, Margaret from the station will be here to escort you all to the airport soon." He said sternly, taking Maxine from her. He sat the baby on his hip and turned his attention away from the older girl, dismissing her. Mary slowly made her way to the stairs, pausing to watch her father; he held Maxine, but stared blankly out the window, ignoring the baby's quiet whimpering. The girl sniffled and walked up to her room.

Thirty minutes later they were outside, watching their bags being loaded into an unmarked police car ready to be taken to the airport. Steven would be going to the Army and Navy Academy in California while the girls would be going to live with their Aunt Debora. Steven had taken Maxine the moment his bag was packed, holding onto her tightly and peppering her face and the crown of her head with kisses while keeping a grip around Mary's shoulders.

The ride was spent with the siblings cramped in the backseat, neither of the older children wanting to be separated by one sitting in the front. Steven sat in the middle, Mary sobbing into his side and his hand being chewed on by a blissfully oblivious Maxine, who gurgled and giggled from her car seat. Steven McGarrett's world had crashed around him when his mother died, he'd promised her at her funeral he would take care of his sisters, promised to watch over them. He hated his father for making him break those promises, hated him for sending them away; mostly he hated that poor Maxine would not only grow up without a mother, but would do so with the knowledge that her father hadn't wanted her.

Margaret had allowed the girls to go with Steven to his boarding gate, he sat with them for the few minutes before he was forced to board the plane.

"I'll call Auntie when I get settled so she knows how to reach me and you can call when you get there, ok?" Steven gently brushed Mary's blonde bangs from her watery eyes. "You gotta take care of Max, make sure she remembers mom alright? Don't let anyone hurt her."

Mary nodded and buried her face into his shoulder, her tiny shoulders shaking. Steven looked down at the baby in his arms. Her dark hair was starting to curl at the ends, the eyes of their mother sparkled back at him, squinting with her chubby cheeks, and two toothed smile. Steven had steeled himself on the drive and vowed not to let Mary see him cry, he would be strong for her. But seeing his baby sister, smiling and happily playing with his fingers, totally unaware of the events of the last month, broke him and he allowed himself a quiet sob. He hugged both girls tight, kissing their heads as his flight number was called. Steven handed Maxine over to Margaret while giving her the coldest stare he could muster and scooped Mary up. He held her as long as he could before reluctantly setting her down and willing himself not to turn around as she screamed for him to come back.

He made a plan on the plane, he'd do whatever it took to graduate as early as he could, then he'd go and live with Aunt Debora, take any job he could get, he didn't care, as long as they were all together again. Then when he was able, he'd get them back to Hawaii, it'd do them all good to be back where his mother had been happiest. He'd keep her memory alive and he would never let his father break their hearts again.

It was perfect, and the only thing that made their separation bearable. Until he got the call that Maxine never made it to Aunt Debora's.