McGarrett's Daughter

Chapter 8

Steve pulled up outside his house. He grabbed a bag of food and got out of his truck. He walked up to the front door which was, unsurprisingly, locked. He opened the door and walked in but didn't see Amelia.

"Amelia? I'm home." When nobody answered, he dropped the keys and walked up the stairs. He got to her room and knocked on the door.

She didn't answer so he slowly opened it.

Sure enough, she was completely asleep.

He glanced at his watch. It was nearly 9pm. He stepped into the room carrying the bag of food. He went to wake her up but something stopped him.

The desk in the corner of the room had been covered in black picture frames. He scanned them and two stood out. In the first one she stood in a black tank top and a black skirt. Her parents were on either side. She held a tennis racket and some type of award. He couldn't make out the writing but she was beaming with pride.

In the second photo she was sitting at a table with her arm around a young blonde-haired boy who was maybe 5 or 6 years old. The table was crowded with people smiling. There were at least a dozen people at the table and they were clearly close.

He set the photos down and walked over to her bed. He gently shook her shoulder and she immediately woke up.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey. I know you were asleep but you should probably eat something."

She grinned. "Yeah, I am hungry."

"Come on," Steve said.

They walked downstairs and went outside to sit on the deck. The wind was blowing a little bit but overall it was warm.

Steve pulled out the food and handed her a tray.

"I have no idea what you like, so. . ."

Amelia opened the tray and looked at the food. "This is great."

They started eating. At some point, Amelia asked, "Did you catch the murderer?"

Steve finished chewing what was in his mouth. "Yeah, we did."

"How'd it go?"

Steve shrugged. "Pretty much par for the course. I mean, it's just the job."

Amelia raised an eyebrow. "Your friends told me par for the course involves you almost getting people killed."

Steve glanced at her. "My friends talk to much."

"So. . . it's true?"

Steve shakes his head. "We should change the subject. Ok, do you play any sports?"

Amelia nodded. "Way to avoid the question. Yes. Um, I ran cross country one year and was really bad at it. Other than that I play tennis."

"Are you any good?"

"At tennis? I'm decent, I guess."

"You weren't a fan of cross country, though?"

"Um, no. We did this fundraiser where we had to run laps and people donated money for every lap you did. I did like nineteen and I remember this one kid who lapped me like twenty times. But afterwards the coach bought some pizzas and we all hung out for awhile, so it was actually really fun."

"Sounds like it."

"Seriously, though. Did you almost get anyone killed today? Is that a regular thing?"

Steve glanced at her. "Ok, fine. It was dicey for a little bit. Three of my men got trapped in an underwater lab with no oxygen. But, uh, we got some oxygen to them and they're in a hyperbaric chamber. They'll be in there for awhile before their bodies can adjust to the pressure change."

"What'd you say earlier? Par for the course?"

Steve nodded. "Pretty much."

Amelia finished eating her food and set the tray aside. "Hey, I did have something to ask."

"Shoot."

"What's up with my birth-mom? I mean, nobody has told me anything about her. At all."

Steve sighed. "Yeah. Most things dealing with her are classified. Uh, her name was Meredith Greer. She worked with the CIA. When I met her, 17 years ago, she was a good woman. Not long after I met her I got deployed. By the time I got back. . . well, at that point I had met someone else, I guess."

Steve stopped talking. Amelia looked him. "I get the feeling there's more to that."

Steve nodded. "Yeah. I saw her again about a year ago. She had. . . well, she had changed. She decided that she was tired of serving a country that wasn't paying her back. She started feeding information to the MSS."

"What's the MSS?" Amelia asked.

"Uh. . . It's China's version of the CIA. It's their primary intelligence agency. She had sold out a lot of agents. We eventually took her into custody. She. . . well, back when I first met her she was working with my SEAL team. We took out a HVT, a high value target."

"What happened?"

"Greer sold out the members of my SEAL team to the son of the HVT we took out. He was rich and hired a couple of assassins to get payback on us."

"You're clearly still alive."

"Yeah. The rest of my team wasn't so lucky."

Amelia nodded. "Something tells me luck had very little to do with it."

"Greer ended up escaping from prison. We managed to track her down. She decided she didn't want to go to jail."

"So. . . she's dead?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry."

"From what you've told me it sounds like I wouldn't have wanted to meet her anyways."

"You mean that?" Steve asked.

"I mean. . . Growing up, I always told myself that if my parents didn't want me that was fine. I had a mom and dad that did love me and that was enough."

Steve nodded. "So, you could've never met me and been fine with it?"

Amelia fought back a smile. "Well, I always assumed my parents decided they didn't want me. I mean, I know now that you didn't even know I existed, but. . . well, she obviously knew. She decided she didn't want to me a part of my life, I'm fine with not having been a part of hers."

"Did you ever. . . I don't know, wonder about us?"

Amelia laughed. "Well, yeah. Every adopted kid wonders about their birth parents. I would make up all kinds of stories about why my parents were forced to give me up, or whatever. I think when I was younger I actually convinced myself you guys were spies. But honestly? I eventually figured you and my mom were some high schoolers who couldn't take care of a kid."

She tried, unsuccessfully, to stifle a yawn. Steve noticed it immediately.

"Alright. It's been a long day. You should go back to sleep."

Amelia stood up. "Yeah. Thanks for the food. Good night."

"Night, Amelia."

Amelia walked back inside leaving Steve with a lot to think about.