More Than Just a Broken Arm Chapter 29/?
Title: More Than Just a Broken Arm 29/?
Author: softballchic34
Characters: Steve McGarrett, Danny Williams
Spoilers: Season 1 episode 20
Rated PG-13 for language.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any of the characters, nor do I make any profit from this.
Summary: A broken arm is the least of Steve's problems.
Chapter 29
On Friday Catherine drives Steve to rehab where after his session Stacy releases him from physical therapy until his neck is healed. When he gets out of the brace he will have to go through several more weeks of physical therapy to strengthen the muscles in his neck and regain range of motion after being immobilized for so long. He is finally limp free and his leg strength is pretty much back to one hundred percent. Sometimes after a long day when he is really tired he will have a slight limp but Stacy assures him that is normal and nothing to worry about. It will get better and go away completely with time.
Steve is supposed to meet with Dr. Tyson after his PT session but Dr. Tyson’s receptionist called while Steve was on his way to the hospital canceling the appointment because Dr. Tyson had a family emergency.
He has an appointment next Wednesday with Dr. Freeman so he will probably be cleared for desk duty that day. Steve still isn’t sure about going back to work. He is feeling a lot better now but still has reservation about going back to Five-0. He thinks that if he is cleared, which he is pretty positive he will be, that he will wait until the following Tuesday to go back.
After Steve is done with rehab, Catherine picks him up at 11 and they go out for lunch before going to the market to get some groceries. Once they are back at the house, Catherine decides to go surfing for a while so Steve sits out on the lanai reading. Cath was hesitant to go surfing since Steve can’t but he encouraged her to go anyway. He knows she is similar to him in that she can’t be inactive for too long without going stir crazy so he doesn’t mind that she is surfing without him. Besides, she is on leave and after she starts her new position on Monday she won’t have time to surf as much.
Steve sits out on the lanai reading the book he bought about dog training. Since deciding to adopt the puppy he has spent a lot of time doing research on German Shepherds and learning the best ways to train dogs since he doesn’t know anything about it.
Steve is interrupted by his phone pinging, indicating a new text message. It’s from Gracie, ever since he told Danny he was going to keep the puppy, she has been texting him name suggestions. Some are better than others but most of the names she suggests aren’t in his tastes. There is no way he is naming his dog Fluffy, Snickers, or Bubbles. Her latest suggestion is Spike. Not a terrible name but not really his style either. One name he likes that came from Grace is Chance but he hasn’t decided on a name yet, he has been mulling over a few though. He will wait until he brings the pup home before naming him.
He types a quick message back to Grace saying he will consider the name before glancing out a Cath, who is just cresting a wave. The beach behind his house isn’t ideal for surfing but the waves are big enough today so Cath is happy.
He watches her in the water and sends up a prayer that someday soon he will be able to go surfing again. He misses the water more than anything right now. Swimming has always been a great stress reliever for him, ever since he was a kid. Whenever he was upset about something he would always go for a swim or go surfing and it never failed to calm him down or relieve the stress. Not being able to do that now has proved to be a challenge for him. As much as he hates to admit it, his sessions with Dr. Tyson have really helped. Talking with Dr. Tyson lets him get his frustrations out that he can’t share with Danny or Mary.
He can’t tell either of them that he’d contemplated suicide. It would crush them. Not to mention he doesn’t want to be treated with kid gloves by Mary or his team. Of course they already are treating him differently, whether they realize it or not. Whenever his team is around they always avoid talking about work and Five-0 around him; like they don’t want to bring up a sore subject for him. Whenever one of them incidentally mentions something about work someone else always changes the subject as fast as they can. It drives him crazy and it pisses him off a little. Just because he has reservations about going back to work and the fact that he might be able to be in the field again doesn’t mean he can’t handle his team talking about work. He actually likes it because it makes everything feel normal, even if it is just for a few minutes.
The sidelong glances of pity and uncertainty don’t escape his attention either whenever the PTE is mentioned or when they start talking about something that Steve can no longer partake in, like surfing or swimming. He is pretty sure none of them realize they are even doing it but it still gets on his nerves.
That is the good thing about having Cath around. She doesn’t pity him or feel sorry for him that his life may never be normal again. Sure she is sad for him but she doesn’t treat him any differently. Speaking of Cath, she is coming up the beach. She props her board up against the house before coming over to where Steve is sitting with her towel on the chair next to him.
“How’s the book?” She asks as she dries off.
“It’s kind of boring actually. Gracie sent me another text a few minutes ago. This time she suggested Spike.”
Cath laughs as she sits in the chair next to him and steals a drink from his glass of water. “Well it is better than Mowgli. Or Flounder.” Grace had also suggested the names of pretty much every male Disney character out there. He didn’t get what Cath thought was so funny about that list of names until she explained to him who each character was, even going so far as to show him pictures of each character on her iPhone. After hearing her explanations and seeing the pictures he decided he definitely isn’t going with a Disney name.
“True, but he doesn’t look like a Spike. How was your surf?”
“Great. It felt so good to surf again after being cooped up on a ship in the middle of the ocean for the last six months. It is so frustrating to be surrounded by water on a ship but the only way you can get in the water is by taking a three minute shower.”
Steve laughs, he knows the feeling. He always hated when his unit would have to transport on a ship since they were so confined and all their training had to be done in a gym. He would much rather spend several long hours cooped up on a cargo plane than several days to weeks on a ship.
After another hour of sitting on the lanai Steve and Cath head inside. Cath goes upstairs to shower while Steve starts washing and cutting up vegetables for supper. As soon as Cath is out of the shower and downstairs again, she kicks Steve out of the kitchen so she can finish cooking. She had promised to make him her pasta primavera. It is one of Steve’s favorite dishes.
They eat in companionable silence on the lanai as the sun sets. This is the first time they have actually made it to dinner in a long time. The last time Cath was in Hawaii on leave they ended up having burnt steaks because they got distracted while Steve was grilling on the beach. It is because of Steve’s injuries that they actually get to have a nice romantic dinner on the beach tonight.
After the sun goes down Steve helps Cath clear the table and clean up the kitchen before they retreat to the living room to watch The Notebook; Catherine’s choice, not Steve’s. Steve is asleep halfway through the movie. He didn’t nap this afternoon so he is more tired than normal for this time of night. Cath decides to let him sleep instead of waking him to give him crap about falling asleep during what he would term “a boring movie” like she normally would.
When it is over she gently wakes him and they make their way upstairs for the night. Steve takes a detour to the kitchen to take his medication and grab a glass of water before going up. He also double checks all the doors to make sure everything is locked up and the alarm is set.
It doesn’t take long for him to fall into an exhausted sleep. He is excited that tomorrow he will bring his new pet home.
-H50-
The next day Steve and Catherine walk into the vet clinic just before noon. Steve is holding the new collar and leash he bought for the pup. Tara takes them back to where Dr. Adams is visiting with an older Hawaiian woman with the puppy sitting on a metal table between them. The dog is happily soaking up the attention he is getting from the women.
Steve has a sinking feeling that this woman is the puppy’s owner. He really hopes its not though, he has really been looking forward to having a dog.
“Oh, here he is now.” Dr. Adams says when he looks over to see Steve and Cath coming towards them. As soon as the puppy sees Steve he completely forgets the woman and turns all his attention toward Steve. He is standing on the edge of the table and his tail is wagging like crazy and he is whining in excitement, he can’t hold still but can’t get any closer either until Steve is next to the table.
“Hey Buddy.” Steve greets the little puppy and starts petting him. “What’s going on?” Steve redirects his attention from the puppy to the two adults on either side of him.
“Steve, this is Kekipi Keawe. She saw the ad for the lost puppy and came in today to see if it belonged to her neighbor. She doesn’t live far from you.”
Steve feels a little better knowing this woman doesn’t own the pup. He hopes she doesn’t intend to take him away though. He shakes her hand, “Steve McGarrett. You said you think the dog was your neighbors?”
The woman nods, “My neighbor Nathan had just got a German Shepherd puppy two days before he was killed in a car accident a week and a half ago. I saw the dog once after Nathan got him. I was on the Big Island when the accident happened. Nate didn’t have any family; he grew up in foster care. I was the closest thing he had to family since he moved in next door five years ago, he was like a son to me. He was so excited to get the puppy. He needed a companion at home. Someone to love and take care of after his last dog died a few months ago.” Kekipi tells Steve and Cath as she wipes a tear from her eye.
“I’m sorry for your loss, Ma’am.” Steve says gently.
“Thank you. Anyway, when I got back from the Big Island and found out Nate was gone, I went over to his house to check on this little guy. He wasn’t in the house and he wasn’t in the back laundry room where Nate kept him when he wasn’t home. The back gate was open so I assumed animal control had come to take him to a shelter for adoption because Nate never left the gate unlatched. Then this morning I saw the post with his picture online and decided to come see if he was Nate’s pup. He must have went out the doggie door and wandered over to your street.”
“I found him on Tuesday by my driveway. He’d just been hit by a car so we brought him here. We couldn’t find an owner since he wasn’t micro chipped and because of his injuries he was going to be put down. My eight year old niece had a fit about that so I paid for his surgery in the hopes that he would be returned to his owner or he would go to a good family.”
Kekipi nods, “Thank you for that. I know Nathan would have been very grateful to you. Dr. Adams said you were planning on adopting him?”
“I was, but I understand if you would like to keep him since you were so close with Nathan.” Steve says.
Kekipi runs her hand down the puppy’s soft back and scratches behind his ears. She shakes her head, “I think you should have him. He is very clearly attached to you and it looks like it goes both ways. Besides, I’m not home enough for a dog, let alone a puppy, I go to the Big Island a couple times a month to visit my daughter and grandkids. Nate would want him to go to a good home, I can’t give him that.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m sure I can find his pedigree and the other papers from the breeder if you would like to have them. Nate got him from a breeder in Maui the day he turned eight weeks old so he just turned 10 weeks yesterday.”
“Those would be helpful. Does he have a name?”
“I know Nate was leaning towards Bo but I don’t know if he had finally settled on a name or not.”
“Bo huh?” Steve says looking down at the puppy. The pup barks almost as if confirming his name.
“I think he likes it.” Cath says, patting Bo’s head.
“If you give me your address I can drop off the papers for you later today or tomorrow.” Kekipi digs through her purse for a piece of paper and a pen. Steve scribbles down his address and phone number and hands it back to her, telling her he will be home all weekend so there’s no rush. “I should get going. Thank you again for taking good care of Nate’s puppy. It is good to know he is going to a good home.”
Steve shakes her hand, “You’re welcome.”
After Kekipi was gone, Steve let out a relieved sigh, he’s really glad Kekipi didn’t want to keep Bo.
“For awhile there, I thought for sure she was going to take Bo home with her.” Cath says squeezing Steve’s hand.
“Me too. I’m glad she didn’t.”
“Well, if you are ready to take Bo home, we can go over a few things and you can be on your way.” Dr. Adams goes over all the aftercare instructions for Bo and his healing injuries and his vaccine schedule. Steve will have to bring Bo in on Thursday to have his stitches removed and the cast on his leg changed since he is a growing puppy. Steve is also given instructions to keep Bo from running too much and from jumping. After another five or ten minutes Steve fastens the collar around Bo’s neck and picks him up to head home.
Bo sits on Steve’s lap during the ride home with his front paws on the window, happily panting and looking out the window. Once home Steve lets Bo out in the yard so he can use the bathroom before going inside. Dr. Adams had told them that after the first two days at the clinic Bo wasn’t having any more accidents in the crate as long as he was let out every couple hours during the day. Steve hopes house training him isn’t too difficult.
Once inside, Steve unhooks the leash and gently removes it from Bo’s mouth and untangles him so Bo can explore his new home and get used to his surroundings. He doesn’t stray far from Steve, just sniffs at the couch and the potted plant in the corner as he hobbles around.
Cath sits on the floor by some of the toys they bought. She squeaks the green rubber dog bone. “Come here, Bo!” she calls and squeaks the toy again to get his attention. Bo does his goofy hobble run to Cath and excitedly latches onto the toy with his teeth. He plays with the squeaky bone for a few seconds until he discovers the rest of the stash of toys for him.
Steve and Cath laugh as he tries each new toy out for a few seconds, every now and then going back to one of the previous toys. He finally goes back to the green squeaky bone and tosses it and shakes it about with his head.
“Bo, come.” Steve says and whistles to get his attention. After patting his thigh and calling Bo excitedly the small pup goes running over to him. “Good boy Bo!” Steve praises him and rubs his floppy ears. Bo flops over on his side for a belly rub. When Bo gets bored from the belly rub he starts playfully nipping at Steve’s fingers, trying to catch them as Steve teases him. He grabs the rope tug and begins teasing Bo with that instead. Bo latches on and wiggles into a standing position, still refusing to give up the toy.
They play tug for a bit until Bo gets bored with it, which really doesn’t take long, Steve is learning that puppies have attention spans about the length of a toddler’s. Bo is starting to get a little braver and wander farther away from Steve, investigating his new home. Steve and Cath follow him into the den where he finds his food and water dishes next to the lanai doors. He sniffs at them, takes a drink of water and paws at the empty food dish, like he knows there should be some kibble in there for him even though he was just fed a little over an hour ago.
The rest of the day passes slowly, after playing for a little while and exploring his new home, Bo conks out in the middle of the living room floor for a couple hours. They spend some time in the back yard, mostly playing and lounging in the grass.
Tomorrow, Steve will start working on training him. Bo sort of knows some of the basic things like sit and come already from his time at the vet but he isn’t very consistent yet. Today is just so Bo can get used to his new home.
The weekend passes faster than anyone would like. Monday is Memorial Day so the Five-0 team comes over for a barbeque. The guys take turns manning the grill with the steaks, potatoes, and vegetables while Mary makes a salad and Catherine bakes a pineapple upside down cake, special for Danny.
Today is Cath’s last day of leave; tomorrow she will start her new position at Pearl. But the good thing about her new job is that she pretty much will have regular 8-5 hours. The night shifts and odd hours will mostly go to the new recruits and less experienced officers. Occasionally there will be days when her hours are a little more abnormal but she will have every weekend off unless something big is happening. Her new job may not be as exciting as her job on the Enterprise but she can’t deny the benefits of it.
Currently, all six of them are sitting on the lanai enjoy their steaks while Bo hobbles around sniffing the ground, looking for any possible food droppings. Bo finally settles in a spot between Steve and Danny when, after a while, nobody drops anything for him. He watches curiously as Danny’s shoe laces move in the breeze before he pounces on them and starts attacking them, it only takes a couple seconds for him to completely untie the knots.
“Hey!” Danny calls out, raising his foot a little; it only spurs Bo to attack the shoes laces even more.
Steve leans forward so he can see what Bo is up to. He grins, “See Danno, even Bo doesn’t think you should be wearing tennis shoes to a barbeque on the beach.” The topic of Danny’s footwear had come up earlier when he’d been the only not wearing slippers and had to stop to empty the sand out of his shoes after he and Chin brought a couple chairs up from the beach.
“Yeah, yeah.” Danny says with a dismissive wave at Steve. He bends down to pick up the little puppy. Danny holds Bo at eye level, “You, are going to be a menace just like your daddy over there.” He tells the puppy.
Bo sticks his neck out and licks Danny’s face. “Yeah, but you love him anyway.” Steve says, pulling a chew stick out of one of the pockets on his cargo shorts for Bo to chew on. Danny sets him back on the ground.
“Bo, sit.” Steve commands, holding the chew stick above Bo’s head. Bo does as he’s told, “Good boy, Bo!” Steve praises and gives him the chew stick. Bo runs off to the cool grass to chew on his new prize.
Steve leans back in his chair, content to think that maybe his luck has turned around. Things have certainly been better for him in the last week with the arrival of Catherine and his adoption of Bo. His friends can see the change in Steve too in the last week. All of them have noticed that he has been happier than he has been since before the accident and has smiled more in the last week than he has in a long time.
TBC
Author: softballchic34
Characters: Steve McGarrett, Danny Williams
Spoilers: Season 1 episode 20
Rated PG-13 for language.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any of the characters, nor do I make any profit from this.
Summary: A broken arm is the least of Steve's problems.
Chapter 29
On Friday Catherine drives Steve to rehab where after his session Stacy releases him from physical therapy until his neck is healed. When he gets out of the brace he will have to go through several more weeks of physical therapy to strengthen the muscles in his neck and regain range of motion after being immobilized for so long. He is finally limp free and his leg strength is pretty much back to one hundred percent. Sometimes after a long day when he is really tired he will have a slight limp but Stacy assures him that is normal and nothing to worry about. It will get better and go away completely with time.
Steve is supposed to meet with Dr. Tyson after his PT session but Dr. Tyson’s receptionist called while Steve was on his way to the hospital canceling the appointment because Dr. Tyson had a family emergency.
He has an appointment next Wednesday with Dr. Freeman so he will probably be cleared for desk duty that day. Steve still isn’t sure about going back to work. He is feeling a lot better now but still has reservation about going back to Five-0. He thinks that if he is cleared, which he is pretty positive he will be, that he will wait until the following Tuesday to go back.
After Steve is done with rehab, Catherine picks him up at 11 and they go out for lunch before going to the market to get some groceries. Once they are back at the house, Catherine decides to go surfing for a while so Steve sits out on the lanai reading. Cath was hesitant to go surfing since Steve can’t but he encouraged her to go anyway. He knows she is similar to him in that she can’t be inactive for too long without going stir crazy so he doesn’t mind that she is surfing without him. Besides, she is on leave and after she starts her new position on Monday she won’t have time to surf as much.
Steve sits out on the lanai reading the book he bought about dog training. Since deciding to adopt the puppy he has spent a lot of time doing research on German Shepherds and learning the best ways to train dogs since he doesn’t know anything about it.
Steve is interrupted by his phone pinging, indicating a new text message. It’s from Gracie, ever since he told Danny he was going to keep the puppy, she has been texting him name suggestions. Some are better than others but most of the names she suggests aren’t in his tastes. There is no way he is naming his dog Fluffy, Snickers, or Bubbles. Her latest suggestion is Spike. Not a terrible name but not really his style either. One name he likes that came from Grace is Chance but he hasn’t decided on a name yet, he has been mulling over a few though. He will wait until he brings the pup home before naming him.
He types a quick message back to Grace saying he will consider the name before glancing out a Cath, who is just cresting a wave. The beach behind his house isn’t ideal for surfing but the waves are big enough today so Cath is happy.
He watches her in the water and sends up a prayer that someday soon he will be able to go surfing again. He misses the water more than anything right now. Swimming has always been a great stress reliever for him, ever since he was a kid. Whenever he was upset about something he would always go for a swim or go surfing and it never failed to calm him down or relieve the stress. Not being able to do that now has proved to be a challenge for him. As much as he hates to admit it, his sessions with Dr. Tyson have really helped. Talking with Dr. Tyson lets him get his frustrations out that he can’t share with Danny or Mary.
He can’t tell either of them that he’d contemplated suicide. It would crush them. Not to mention he doesn’t want to be treated with kid gloves by Mary or his team. Of course they already are treating him differently, whether they realize it or not. Whenever his team is around they always avoid talking about work and Five-0 around him; like they don’t want to bring up a sore subject for him. Whenever one of them incidentally mentions something about work someone else always changes the subject as fast as they can. It drives him crazy and it pisses him off a little. Just because he has reservations about going back to work and the fact that he might be able to be in the field again doesn’t mean he can’t handle his team talking about work. He actually likes it because it makes everything feel normal, even if it is just for a few minutes.
The sidelong glances of pity and uncertainty don’t escape his attention either whenever the PTE is mentioned or when they start talking about something that Steve can no longer partake in, like surfing or swimming. He is pretty sure none of them realize they are even doing it but it still gets on his nerves.
That is the good thing about having Cath around. She doesn’t pity him or feel sorry for him that his life may never be normal again. Sure she is sad for him but she doesn’t treat him any differently. Speaking of Cath, she is coming up the beach. She props her board up against the house before coming over to where Steve is sitting with her towel on the chair next to him.
“How’s the book?” She asks as she dries off.
“It’s kind of boring actually. Gracie sent me another text a few minutes ago. This time she suggested Spike.”
Cath laughs as she sits in the chair next to him and steals a drink from his glass of water. “Well it is better than Mowgli. Or Flounder.” Grace had also suggested the names of pretty much every male Disney character out there. He didn’t get what Cath thought was so funny about that list of names until she explained to him who each character was, even going so far as to show him pictures of each character on her iPhone. After hearing her explanations and seeing the pictures he decided he definitely isn’t going with a Disney name.
“True, but he doesn’t look like a Spike. How was your surf?”
“Great. It felt so good to surf again after being cooped up on a ship in the middle of the ocean for the last six months. It is so frustrating to be surrounded by water on a ship but the only way you can get in the water is by taking a three minute shower.”
Steve laughs, he knows the feeling. He always hated when his unit would have to transport on a ship since they were so confined and all their training had to be done in a gym. He would much rather spend several long hours cooped up on a cargo plane than several days to weeks on a ship.
After another hour of sitting on the lanai Steve and Cath head inside. Cath goes upstairs to shower while Steve starts washing and cutting up vegetables for supper. As soon as Cath is out of the shower and downstairs again, she kicks Steve out of the kitchen so she can finish cooking. She had promised to make him her pasta primavera. It is one of Steve’s favorite dishes.
They eat in companionable silence on the lanai as the sun sets. This is the first time they have actually made it to dinner in a long time. The last time Cath was in Hawaii on leave they ended up having burnt steaks because they got distracted while Steve was grilling on the beach. It is because of Steve’s injuries that they actually get to have a nice romantic dinner on the beach tonight.
After the sun goes down Steve helps Cath clear the table and clean up the kitchen before they retreat to the living room to watch The Notebook; Catherine’s choice, not Steve’s. Steve is asleep halfway through the movie. He didn’t nap this afternoon so he is more tired than normal for this time of night. Cath decides to let him sleep instead of waking him to give him crap about falling asleep during what he would term “a boring movie” like she normally would.
When it is over she gently wakes him and they make their way upstairs for the night. Steve takes a detour to the kitchen to take his medication and grab a glass of water before going up. He also double checks all the doors to make sure everything is locked up and the alarm is set.
It doesn’t take long for him to fall into an exhausted sleep. He is excited that tomorrow he will bring his new pet home.
-H50-
The next day Steve and Catherine walk into the vet clinic just before noon. Steve is holding the new collar and leash he bought for the pup. Tara takes them back to where Dr. Adams is visiting with an older Hawaiian woman with the puppy sitting on a metal table between them. The dog is happily soaking up the attention he is getting from the women.
Steve has a sinking feeling that this woman is the puppy’s owner. He really hopes its not though, he has really been looking forward to having a dog.
“Oh, here he is now.” Dr. Adams says when he looks over to see Steve and Cath coming towards them. As soon as the puppy sees Steve he completely forgets the woman and turns all his attention toward Steve. He is standing on the edge of the table and his tail is wagging like crazy and he is whining in excitement, he can’t hold still but can’t get any closer either until Steve is next to the table.
“Hey Buddy.” Steve greets the little puppy and starts petting him. “What’s going on?” Steve redirects his attention from the puppy to the two adults on either side of him.
“Steve, this is Kekipi Keawe. She saw the ad for the lost puppy and came in today to see if it belonged to her neighbor. She doesn’t live far from you.”
Steve feels a little better knowing this woman doesn’t own the pup. He hopes she doesn’t intend to take him away though. He shakes her hand, “Steve McGarrett. You said you think the dog was your neighbors?”
The woman nods, “My neighbor Nathan had just got a German Shepherd puppy two days before he was killed in a car accident a week and a half ago. I saw the dog once after Nathan got him. I was on the Big Island when the accident happened. Nate didn’t have any family; he grew up in foster care. I was the closest thing he had to family since he moved in next door five years ago, he was like a son to me. He was so excited to get the puppy. He needed a companion at home. Someone to love and take care of after his last dog died a few months ago.” Kekipi tells Steve and Cath as she wipes a tear from her eye.
“I’m sorry for your loss, Ma’am.” Steve says gently.
“Thank you. Anyway, when I got back from the Big Island and found out Nate was gone, I went over to his house to check on this little guy. He wasn’t in the house and he wasn’t in the back laundry room where Nate kept him when he wasn’t home. The back gate was open so I assumed animal control had come to take him to a shelter for adoption because Nate never left the gate unlatched. Then this morning I saw the post with his picture online and decided to come see if he was Nate’s pup. He must have went out the doggie door and wandered over to your street.”
“I found him on Tuesday by my driveway. He’d just been hit by a car so we brought him here. We couldn’t find an owner since he wasn’t micro chipped and because of his injuries he was going to be put down. My eight year old niece had a fit about that so I paid for his surgery in the hopes that he would be returned to his owner or he would go to a good family.”
Kekipi nods, “Thank you for that. I know Nathan would have been very grateful to you. Dr. Adams said you were planning on adopting him?”
“I was, but I understand if you would like to keep him since you were so close with Nathan.” Steve says.
Kekipi runs her hand down the puppy’s soft back and scratches behind his ears. She shakes her head, “I think you should have him. He is very clearly attached to you and it looks like it goes both ways. Besides, I’m not home enough for a dog, let alone a puppy, I go to the Big Island a couple times a month to visit my daughter and grandkids. Nate would want him to go to a good home, I can’t give him that.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m sure I can find his pedigree and the other papers from the breeder if you would like to have them. Nate got him from a breeder in Maui the day he turned eight weeks old so he just turned 10 weeks yesterday.”
“Those would be helpful. Does he have a name?”
“I know Nate was leaning towards Bo but I don’t know if he had finally settled on a name or not.”
“Bo huh?” Steve says looking down at the puppy. The pup barks almost as if confirming his name.
“I think he likes it.” Cath says, patting Bo’s head.
“If you give me your address I can drop off the papers for you later today or tomorrow.” Kekipi digs through her purse for a piece of paper and a pen. Steve scribbles down his address and phone number and hands it back to her, telling her he will be home all weekend so there’s no rush. “I should get going. Thank you again for taking good care of Nate’s puppy. It is good to know he is going to a good home.”
Steve shakes her hand, “You’re welcome.”
After Kekipi was gone, Steve let out a relieved sigh, he’s really glad Kekipi didn’t want to keep Bo.
“For awhile there, I thought for sure she was going to take Bo home with her.” Cath says squeezing Steve’s hand.
“Me too. I’m glad she didn’t.”
“Well, if you are ready to take Bo home, we can go over a few things and you can be on your way.” Dr. Adams goes over all the aftercare instructions for Bo and his healing injuries and his vaccine schedule. Steve will have to bring Bo in on Thursday to have his stitches removed and the cast on his leg changed since he is a growing puppy. Steve is also given instructions to keep Bo from running too much and from jumping. After another five or ten minutes Steve fastens the collar around Bo’s neck and picks him up to head home.
Bo sits on Steve’s lap during the ride home with his front paws on the window, happily panting and looking out the window. Once home Steve lets Bo out in the yard so he can use the bathroom before going inside. Dr. Adams had told them that after the first two days at the clinic Bo wasn’t having any more accidents in the crate as long as he was let out every couple hours during the day. Steve hopes house training him isn’t too difficult.
Once inside, Steve unhooks the leash and gently removes it from Bo’s mouth and untangles him so Bo can explore his new home and get used to his surroundings. He doesn’t stray far from Steve, just sniffs at the couch and the potted plant in the corner as he hobbles around.
Cath sits on the floor by some of the toys they bought. She squeaks the green rubber dog bone. “Come here, Bo!” she calls and squeaks the toy again to get his attention. Bo does his goofy hobble run to Cath and excitedly latches onto the toy with his teeth. He plays with the squeaky bone for a few seconds until he discovers the rest of the stash of toys for him.
Steve and Cath laugh as he tries each new toy out for a few seconds, every now and then going back to one of the previous toys. He finally goes back to the green squeaky bone and tosses it and shakes it about with his head.
“Bo, come.” Steve says and whistles to get his attention. After patting his thigh and calling Bo excitedly the small pup goes running over to him. “Good boy Bo!” Steve praises him and rubs his floppy ears. Bo flops over on his side for a belly rub. When Bo gets bored from the belly rub he starts playfully nipping at Steve’s fingers, trying to catch them as Steve teases him. He grabs the rope tug and begins teasing Bo with that instead. Bo latches on and wiggles into a standing position, still refusing to give up the toy.
They play tug for a bit until Bo gets bored with it, which really doesn’t take long, Steve is learning that puppies have attention spans about the length of a toddler’s. Bo is starting to get a little braver and wander farther away from Steve, investigating his new home. Steve and Cath follow him into the den where he finds his food and water dishes next to the lanai doors. He sniffs at them, takes a drink of water and paws at the empty food dish, like he knows there should be some kibble in there for him even though he was just fed a little over an hour ago.
The rest of the day passes slowly, after playing for a little while and exploring his new home, Bo conks out in the middle of the living room floor for a couple hours. They spend some time in the back yard, mostly playing and lounging in the grass.
Tomorrow, Steve will start working on training him. Bo sort of knows some of the basic things like sit and come already from his time at the vet but he isn’t very consistent yet. Today is just so Bo can get used to his new home.
The weekend passes faster than anyone would like. Monday is Memorial Day so the Five-0 team comes over for a barbeque. The guys take turns manning the grill with the steaks, potatoes, and vegetables while Mary makes a salad and Catherine bakes a pineapple upside down cake, special for Danny.
Today is Cath’s last day of leave; tomorrow she will start her new position at Pearl. But the good thing about her new job is that she pretty much will have regular 8-5 hours. The night shifts and odd hours will mostly go to the new recruits and less experienced officers. Occasionally there will be days when her hours are a little more abnormal but she will have every weekend off unless something big is happening. Her new job may not be as exciting as her job on the Enterprise but she can’t deny the benefits of it.
Currently, all six of them are sitting on the lanai enjoy their steaks while Bo hobbles around sniffing the ground, looking for any possible food droppings. Bo finally settles in a spot between Steve and Danny when, after a while, nobody drops anything for him. He watches curiously as Danny’s shoe laces move in the breeze before he pounces on them and starts attacking them, it only takes a couple seconds for him to completely untie the knots.
“Hey!” Danny calls out, raising his foot a little; it only spurs Bo to attack the shoes laces even more.
Steve leans forward so he can see what Bo is up to. He grins, “See Danno, even Bo doesn’t think you should be wearing tennis shoes to a barbeque on the beach.” The topic of Danny’s footwear had come up earlier when he’d been the only not wearing slippers and had to stop to empty the sand out of his shoes after he and Chin brought a couple chairs up from the beach.
“Yeah, yeah.” Danny says with a dismissive wave at Steve. He bends down to pick up the little puppy. Danny holds Bo at eye level, “You, are going to be a menace just like your daddy over there.” He tells the puppy.
Bo sticks his neck out and licks Danny’s face. “Yeah, but you love him anyway.” Steve says, pulling a chew stick out of one of the pockets on his cargo shorts for Bo to chew on. Danny sets him back on the ground.
“Bo, sit.” Steve commands, holding the chew stick above Bo’s head. Bo does as he’s told, “Good boy, Bo!” Steve praises and gives him the chew stick. Bo runs off to the cool grass to chew on his new prize.
Steve leans back in his chair, content to think that maybe his luck has turned around. Things have certainly been better for him in the last week with the arrival of Catherine and his adoption of Bo. His friends can see the change in Steve too in the last week. All of them have noticed that he has been happier than he has been since before the accident and has smiled more in the last week than he has in a long time.
TBC