The Parent Trap [1/?] by trialanderror12

Title: The Parent Trap [1/?]
Author: trialanderror12
Pairing: Steve/Danny
Rating: R for language. Which isn't usually a trait of my writing, actually, but I've put our boys through an awful lot here!
Word Count: 4200
Warnings: No spoilers for any episodes.
Summary: An AU very very very loosely based on The Parent Trap, because that was what sparked the idea but then it took on a life of its own. I apologize for the angst in this chapter; it was completely unforeseen when I started plotting this out. But it demanded to be written, so here it is. This story will have a happy ending, I promise!




Mary fumbled for her phone, kicking back the covers with a muttered curse. "Someone had better be dying," she snapped, her voice still rough with sleep, "or else someone's aboutto be."

A staticy laugh carried over the line, and Mary's heart leapt at the sound. "Hello to you too, Mar," he said, and Mary could hear the grin in his voice.

"Damn it, Steve!" She let out a whoop of breathless laughter. "It's been six months! Six months of worrying about you, of wondering if you were even alive, and then when you finally call it's at--" she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and peered over at her beside clock. "Two-thirty in the morning!"

Steve let out a soft sigh, and Mary immediately felt guilty. Never seeing her brother was hard on her, but it was hard on him too--and making him feel bad about it didn't do either of them any favors. "I know, Mar," he said, and she could hear the regret in his tone. "I'm sorry. I wish I could be around more, it's just--"

"No, I know," she said quickly, twisting her hair around one finger and wishing she'd just kept her mouth shut. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean--look, I know it's hard on you too. And you're fighting the good fight out there, yeah?" she joked, trying to steer the conversation in a different direction. They so seldomly had the chance to talk; she didn't want to cloud the memory of this conversation with negativity over things that weren't going to change. "Take out any bad guys lately?"

"That's classified, Mary, you know that," he said, mock-serious, and Mary grinned. God, she'd missed him.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." She rolled her eyes and flopped back down on the bed and tried futilely to wipe the ridiculous smile off her face. "Tell me what you can, then, Super SEAL. You taking care of yourself out there?"

Steve launched into a series of the sort of stories he could tell her, but Mary tuned out halfway through the second anecdote about his bunkmate's cattle ranch and just let his voice wash over her. It was so hard with Steve gone all the time. Mom was dead, Dad had thrown them away, Steve was halfway around the world ninety percent of the time, and no one at work really understood her. She'd developed a bit of a hard outer shell over the years, she wasn't afraid to admit that--losing her entire family in the space of a few weeks will do that to a girl. Nevermind that she and Steve had eventually reconnected; the hurt of losing everything she'd ever known and loved so suddenly wasn't going to go away overnight, or maybe ever. So maybe she was a bit gun-shy, a little afraid to get too close and get burned. But more often than not she was dismissed as cold, and not worth the effort of getting to know. Sometimes Mary felt so alone.

Thank God for Danny.

"--and Mark got a letter from his wife this morning, their baby's walking now--"

Mary's stomach did a little flip-flop. Baby. Right. "Steve," she said, and he stopped mid-sentence, instantly alert. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, steeling herself to tell him. "There's…something I should tell you." She paused, then bit her lip and went for it. "I'm having a baby."

There was shocked silence for a moment before Steve responded. "Wow, Mary, I…that's wonderful. I'm so happy for you," he said--and Mary could hear the wonder in his voice and knew he meant it, but she could also hear a 'but' coming. "Wow, I wasn't expecting--who's the father?"

Mary shook her head. "If I'd bet a million dollars on what your first question would be--"

"Mary," Steve said sternly, and she could picture the big-brother no-nonsense face he was wearing with perfect clarity. "Who is it? How long have you known him? Is he going to support you and the baby? Have you done a background check on him, because I can--"

"Steve--Steve! Stop!" Mary sighed and ran a hand over her face. "Look, it's not--it's not like that. There isn't a father, not technically. I mean there is, of course there is, but…"

"It's all right, Mar, just calm down," Steve said gently.

"Yeah," she agreed, feeling a bit foolish. Then she laughed. "Well, you know, hormones…"

That even pulled a quiet laugh out of Steve, and they were both silent for a few peaceful minutes. "So tell me," Steve said after a while, "what do you mean, there's not technically a father?"

"I got a sperm donor," she said, and then took a deep breath and kept talking before Steve had time to judge her decision. "I want a baby, okay Steve? I want a family. I'm so sick of being lonely. I love you, but you're never here, and that's okay, I get it, but Mom's gone and you're never here and Danny isn't enough and--"

"Hey, hey, slow down," Steve said soothingly, and Mary closed her eyes and concentrated on taking deep breaths. "I said I was happy for you and I meant it. You're more than capable of raising a baby on your own, and if this is what you want then I'm glad you did it."

Mary let out a long sigh of relief. "Thank you," she whispered, and to her horror she felt herself tearing up. "Sorry, sorry," she said, wiping away her tears and trying not to sniffle too loudly into the phone.

"Don't be sorry. Hey, listen…" Steve hesitated for a long moment, and Mary frowned.

"Spit it out already," she said, drying the rest of her tears with the bedsheet. "Your news can't be any bigger than mine, unless you're pregnant too."

"No, it's just… Have you told dad?"

Mary's gut turned to lead, and she forced herself to reign in the sudden fury that came over her to an acceptable level. "No," she said, her voice steely. "I haven't. And I don't intend to."

"Mar--"

"No! No, Steve, don't you dare." She fisted her free hand in the sheets, furious at herself for letting this affect her so much. "I've lived without him in my life now for nearly as long as I had him in it. I don't need him, Steve. I don't. And I don't want him anywhere near my baby--enough crappy things come to you in life by chance; I'm not signing my kid up for something I know will turn out to be a disappointment."

Steve didn't reply for a long while, and Mary stayed still and prayed he'd drop it. They didn't talk about Dad, they just didn't. It was too hard; hurt too much. She didn't want to relive the past, she wanted a future. One where she had her baby, and loved him or her more than anything and never let them down, and the two of them could never be alone because they'd always have each other.

"So…Danny's the sperm donor, I assume?" Steve said eventually.

"Yes," she said, latching onto the normalcy of a conversation topic that didn't involve Dad. "But you don't win any prizes for guessing. I've only got one friend, so it's not exactly difficult to figure out."

Steve sighed. "I'm sorry, Mar," he said, and that really wasn't the response Mary had been expecting. "I'm really sorry I haven't been there for you. I…I think about Mom sometimes, and what she'd think if she could see us now. And I think she'd be disappointed in me, Mar. I haven't taken care of you like I should."

All the breath left Mary's body in a whoosh, and she stared unblinkingly at the ceiling as she tried to formulate a response. "Steve," she said, her heart aching, "of course Mom would have been proud of you. You put your life on the line every day; you fight to keep us all safe. If that's not taking care of me, I don't know what is."

"Saving lives isn't the same as being there when you need me. Being a soldier isn't the same thing as being a brother. I know what I'm doing out here is a good thing, and I'm proud of it. But I've been doing it for a long time; I've served my country. And more and more lately I've been thinking…and especially now that I know you have a baby on the way…"

Mary held her breath, hardly daring to hope. "What? What have you been thinking?"

"I think I should transfer to the Reserves," he said. "I'll get an apartment near yours, find a job. Be the brother I wish I'd been all these years; be an uncle to this baby. Live the kind of life…the kind of life I think I've been running from ever since Dad sent us away."

Thoughts of their father paled in comparison to the joy that Steve was coming home; she let out a bright laugh of delight. "Oh, Steve. That's wonderful! What's a retired Navy SEAL going to do in New Jersey?"

"I don't know, maybe--" The grin slid off Mary's face as Steve was cut off by the sound of gunfire in the background. "Shit--listen, I've got to--when are you due?"

"July," Mary said, her fingers shaking as she gripped the phone. "I'm due in July."

"I'll be there," Steve promised, and she flinched as she heard the muffled sounds of screams off in the distance and through the staticy connection. Thousands of miles away, and yet so close. And Steve…was right in the middle of it. "I've really got to go, Mar. I love you."

"I love you too," Mary said, but only the buzzing of the disconnected line was left to hear her.


SIX MONTHS LATER

Steve rested his head against the smooth wooden door, forcing himself to take deep, steadying breaths. Open the door, McGarrett, he told himself firmly. It's not that hard. Just open the fucking door.

But opening the door would make it real. It would take away the tiny, nagging little hope that this was all a dream, that it wasn't happening, that he wasn't going to open that door and see--.

He couldn't bring himself to finish the thought. His hand remained frozen on the handle.

And then it started turning beneath his fingers.

He numbly let go as the door swung open, lifting his head up to meet the startled eyes of a man he didn't know. Not wearing scrubs, and coming out of Mary's room, so this must be--

"Danny Williams," Steve said, his voice cracking from disuse. He'd probably spoken ten words in the last three days, and these take a lot out of him. Functioning on even the most basic level had become a trial of immense proportions ever since he'd gotten that terrible phone call, and he briefly wondered if anything would ever be easy again.

For a moment there was no recognition in Williams' eyes, and then something seemed to click. "You're Mary's brother? Steve?" he asked. Steve simply nodded, fairly certain he'd need a bit longer before being able to form more words.

"Thank God," said Williams, and Steve tried to gather the gumption to frown; he saw very little to be thankful for at the moment. "I've been going insane; they won't tell me anything, I'm not listed as a medical contact."

Of course you're not, Steve thought, feeling a bit floaty and hollow inside. What an odd thing to say. Williams shot him an odd look, but the multicolored lights dancing over the blonde's head were much more interesting, so Steve focused on those. The red one looked a bit like--

Williams was shaking his shoulder, and Steve could distantly hear him asking if he was all right; his voice was muffled, like Steve had cotton stuffed in his ears. The lights started bouncing and spinning, and Steve came to a vague realization that that probably shouldn't be happening, which probably should have alarmed him more than it did. Then again he hadn't slept or eaten in three days, and he'd been on rations and what water they could find for three weeks before that, so perhaps…

Steve's eyes slid closed on the picture of Williams reaching out for him and shouting for help, and he willingly fell into the darkness' open arms.

-----

When Steve woke a few hours later, his first thought was Water. I need water. He opened his eyes and was immediately overwhelmed by the second:

Mary's dying.

A cup of water was pushed into his hands and he drank gratefully, his eyes never leaving the pale figure lying on the tiny hospital bed. She was so pale, he thought, his hands shaking around the cup. Her hair was tied into a ponytail above her head, the color dull and lifeless. His eyes travelled down her body to her rounded belly, and he sat up a bit straighter. Man up, McGarrett, he told himself firmly. You've got the baby to worry about.

A crinkling noise brought him out of his thoughts, and he looked away from Mary's still form for the first time to see that Williams was there, handing him a few packets of crackers.

"Eat up," he said, looking at Steve with an expression he couldn't quite decipher. "The doctors say you're pretty badly malnourished; we need to get some food in you, stat."

Steve looked from the crackers to Williams and back, staring at the shiny plastic packaging for a few moments before giving in and opening it. He popped one into his mouth obediently and chewed; it was easier than arguing. And he knew enough to know that he should be hungry, even though he wasn't. He'd gone without food longer than this before, but it was never easy on the system. He swallowed and ate another cracker.

There was another rustling sound, and a long, thin package came into Steve's view. He squinted at it and then blinked, bemused, and looked up at Williams. "Beef jerky?" he asked, and a part of him was distantly grateful that his voice didn't crack as badly as it had a few hours ago.

Williams shrugged, and this time he looked a little embarrassed. "Protein," he said simply, and Steve stared at him a moment longer before taking it.

"Thanks," he replied, taking it from him but not opening it. He turned to look back at Mary and stared at her in silence for a long time. After a while WIlliams shifted, and out of the corner of his eye he saw the other man come over to stand by the chair where Steve was sitting.

"Look…" Williams began, and Steve kept his gaze on Mary a moment longer before he turned to face him. "I know this is hard on you, okay, I get that, but I would really appreciate some answers, here. I've been going out of my mind for three days just watching her lie there and no one will tell me what happened or when she's going to wake up and I just…" Williams ran a tired hand over three days' growth of stubble, and Steve thought he looked at least half as exhausted as Steve felt. "What I'm saying here is, if you could tell me what's going on, I would very much appreciate it."

Steve swallowed hard against the tightness in his throat and forced himself to keep Williams' gaze as he answered. "She--" his voice broke and he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before he could continue. "She had a stroke," he said. "They don't know why, or if--if it had anything to do with the pregnancy. She's in a coma, you can see that, but she's… She's not going to wake up."

Williams' pained gasp and the anguish in his piercing blue eyes were too much to bear on top of his already unmanageable agony, and he tore his eyes away from him and back to Mary. He took strength in the sight of her, such that she was, and finished his explanation. "They're going to keep her on artificial life support for a few more weeks until it's safe to deliver the baby, and then…" He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence, but he was confident Williams could fill in the blanks.

He chanced a look back at him and saw the other man's eyes were filled with tears. The man who had sat by his sister's bed for three days in his absence deserved a private moment of grief, he decided, so he turned his back on him. He set the crackers and jerky on the bedside table and edged his chair closer to Mary's bedside, smoothing down the thin covers. "Do you love her?" Steve asked Williams softly, holding Mary's limp hand in his and slowly stroking the skin.

"What?" The exclamation was pure startlement, and Steve repeated the question.

"Mary," he said. "Do you love her?"

He waited patiently while Williams struggled for words. "I--yeah, yes, I guess I do," he said at least. "I mean, not like that, not like you're thinking, but… She's my best friend, Steve. Probably the only real friend I've got, right now. So yeah, I… I love her."

Steve nodded and twined his and Mary's fingers together, and sent up the latest in a series of hopeless prayers that she'd just wake up. "Mine too," he said, his voice almost inaudible, and Williams frowned over at him.

"What's that?"

Steve cleared his throat and raised his voice. "She's my best friend, too."

Steve was still trying to decide if the look on Williams' face was more sympathy or pity when the machines all around them started beeping wildly.

He jerked to his feet as doctors and nurses flooded into the room, shooing him and Williams outside as they shouted frantic commands at each other. They stood in stunned silence outside Mary's room for what felt like an eternity before the door burst open and the nurses came out, wheeling Mary out behind them. Steve froze for a second and then rushed forward, reaching out to grab Dr. Hart's arm. "Doctor, what--"

Dr. Hart pushed him off and kept walking after her, making Steve and WIlliams follow along after him. "I'm sorry, Mr. McGarrett, but there's very little time to discuss this. I have to perform an emergency C-section, now. She isn't going to last much longer, even on life support, and the chances of a successful procedure are decreasing every second. This has to be done immediately, do you understand?"

Steve stared at him, stricken, and then looked down at Mary's face. The baby, he thought. She'd want…the baby. He nodded slowly at Hart, and the doctor gave a sharp nod back as the double doors slammed open and Mary disappeared inside. Hart followed after her, and the tail of his labcoat flying up into the air as he took off after her at a run was the last thing Steve saw before the doors fell shut.

Steve let Danny steer him over to a chair, and didn't say anything when he collapsed into one beside him. Steve stared at the doors Mary had gone through for a long time, images of his sister as a little girl racing through his mind. That sweet, innocent little girl who'd had to grow up too fast when their father had decided he couldn't deal with them and shipped them off to parts unknown. His sister, who'd walked around with a hole in her heart that she didn't know how to heal ever since. His sister, and he should have taken better care of her, he should have been here, maybe he would have recognized the signs--

"It'll be all right in the end, you know," Williams said.

Steve let out a harsh, disbelieving laugh, and after a moment Williams laughed too. "Okay, maybe that wasn't the best thing to say in this situation," he admitted, and Steve was torn between the the fervent wish for him to shut up and leave him in peace and the fact that he was pretty sure the sound of his voice was the only thing maintaining his tenuous control over his sanity at the moment. "But it is true, however hard it is to see right now. Losing a sibling is…look, it's hard, okay, but you will get through it," Williams said earnestly. "We'll help each other; we can, you know, share stories and…" He waved his arms around aimlessly as he searched for words, as though this illustrated his point. "You know, things. And you can see the baby whenever you want--"

Steve's head snapped up, and he looked at Williams in shock, surprise and anger bleeding into his voice. "I can--I can see the baby whenever I want? What the fuck does that mean?"

Williams blinked, and through Steve's shocked haze he registered that the blonde looked utterly bemused. "I'm sorry, I just meant--I don't want you to feel like you can't be a part of the baby's life just because we don't know each other very well--"

Anger boiled hot in Steve's stomach, and Williams trailed off at the murderous look on his face. Steve concentrated very, very hard on keeping his voice down as he spat through gritted teeth, "I'm going to be raising this baby, so yeah, I think I'll see him or her whenever I damn well please."

It was Williams' turn to look shocked, and if anything that made Steve angrier. Where did he get off marching in here and making executive decisions about Mary's baby's life?

"I…Steve, I'm sorry if there's been some misunderstanding, but… That baby in there is mine. My flesh and blood, my child. And with Mary…" He paused to collect himself, and a part of Steve deep down inside that was hurting too recognized that it had only been fifteen minutes since this man discovered his best friend was dying. "With Mary…gone, the responsibility of raising the baby will fall to me."

"The hell it will," Steve grated out, righteous fury keeping him frighteningly calm. "That's my sister in there--my sister's baby. I'm her closest blood relative; no fucking way are you taking that baby away from me. That baby was everything to her, everything. I was coming back to help her raise it, to be a family, and I intend to do that. If you think for moment that a fucking sperm donor is going to take that away from me--"

Williams interrupted him with a snarl, matching anger in his eyes. "We can let the courts settle it then, McGarrett, and if you think you have a chance in hell at taking my biological child away--"

"That wasn't even enough to get the hospital to tell you what was wrong with Mary; what the fuck makes you think it'll be enough for them to let you steal her baby?"

Williams took a step back, shocked and visibly rattled, and if the man hadn't been trying to take away his dying sister's fucking child Steve might have felt sorry for him. As it was he was incensed; absolutely beyond enraged that this was happening. He'd done the right thing, damn it! Two more months and he'd have been home. He'd finally have been there for Mary; they'd have started a new life together, her and him and the baby. His sister's baby. And now Mary was dying on the other side of that door, and who the fuck did Williams think he was, barging in and trying to take away the last piece he had left of her?

Williams recovered quickly, though he still looked disquieted. "I'll--"

The door to the operating room creaked open, and they both turned sharply to stare at a solemn-faced Dr. Hart. "Mr. McGarrett…" he began, and Steve took a few long strides forward.

"Yes?" he demanded, clenching his hands into fists to stop them from shaking.

"The surgery was a success," he said, and Steve let out a shuddering sigh of relief. The baby was okay, oh thank God, he didn't know what he would have done if-- "We're going to keep them overnight for observation since the delivery was premature, but I'm certain--"

"They?" Steve's thoughts spun out of control. "Did Mary--"

"Ah, no." Hart looked a bit chagrined, and Steve felt his heart plummet back down to his stomach. "I'm sorry, I thought you knew. Ms. McGarrett was carrying twins."

Steve rounded on Williams. "Did you--"

"No, no--fuck, no. I didn't… She didn't want to see any doctors, okay? Wanted everything to be 'natural'. Wouldn't have a sonogram, didn't want to know the sex, didn't… She couldn't have known, so no, I didn't either." Williams wiped a hand over his face and addressed Dr. Hart. "But the babies--you said they're all right?"

"Yes," Hart affirmed. "Two perfectly healthy baby girls."

Steve stood there and let that sink in, and then abruptly turned to face Williams. He met his eyes and knew instantly that they'd come to the same conclusion. Acceptance filtered through him and he carefully edited the last few minutes in his mind. The baby was fine; that was a good thing. That was a wonderful thing. Mary had come here to have a baby, and the baby was fine.

He and Williams turned to Hart and demanded as one, "When can I see her?"


[End Part 1]