I do not own Hawaii Five-0, its content belongs to CBS.

Chapter Twenty-Six

"I'm so proud to talk about this with you. You have come so far."

JJ smiled, fiddling with her Naval hat nervously. "I... I honestly was mulling it over the past month, ever since you told me I was in consideration for it."

"The amount of things that you have done for this country is remarkable. It's only right that you are in consideration for the promotion. Why wouldn't you be?" A blush came to her cheeks. "I understand that the past six months have been extremely hard on you and Commander McGarrett. With both of you undergoing stressful situations on the same day and living through it, you all are probably traumatized after it all. How are the babies?" She smiled happily.

"They're doing wonderful. Healthy and happy, and growing so well."

"That's so good to hear. And Commander McGarrett?"

"Being dumb, but what else is new? No, I'm just kidding. He's doing great. He's on a case right now." Commander Wells smiled, folding his hands over each other and leaning forward.

"And you?" His tone turned soft and gentle, and JJ sighed.

"I'm... I'm... Alright. I think. I don't know. Post-partum depression mixed with PTSD and normal depression is... Not... Exactly, well, good together."

"Are you getting help?"

"I talk to my doctor a lot. She's helping me with a lot of this stuff. When I feel... That way, I just take a look at Steve and my babies, and... I feel better. I feel better when I am close to them, when I hold them, and when I hear their breathing. I'm grounded when I hear that. When I see Steve rocking our youngest to sleep after the other three are asleep and she wants more attention, I feel so happy, and so lucky that I have them all in my life." JJ smiled, bowing her head and sighing. "It's... Okay." Commander Wells smiled softly and reached over.

"I'm so proud of you, JJ Lee. Congratulations. On everything."

"And a little kiss for you." Emma cooed, planting a kiss on Jack's forehead. He wiggled and just kinda stared at her, like he was shocked by how she just touched him lovingly.

"What? You better deal with your auntie's kisses, because once you get older it's going to be a lot more than this."

He literally wrinkled his nose.

"Yeah, he's not the kind for being affectionate." Emma lifted her head to see JJ shrugging off her uniform top, smiling at her softly. "It's gonna be interesting when he's older."

"True. How'd it go?"

"It..." JJ smiled widely. "It went amazingly. I was stunned that I could be up for something like that. Lieutenant was amazing enough, but the fact they want to promote me to Commander..." She shivered. Emma laughed, lifting Jack up and patting his back as he settled against her shoulder.

"You deserve it, JJ. Everything you have accomplished and done in the Navy is absolutely fantastic." Emma sighed. "Even though I don't know half of it." JJ's shoulders slumped.

"Oh, come on, Em…"

"No, don't do that to me. You know I wanted to be apart of your life after that accident. Yet you wouldn't tell me anything!"

"It's classified information! What was I supposed to do? Every assignment I went on was classified!" She lowered her voice. "I can't even tell my own boyfriend and father of my children what I did. If I told you, I would be compromising not only my family, but you and your family as well. Everyone would be at risk." Emma frowned at her before turning around, facing her back toward her. Jack lifted his head to look at his mom, those blue eyes wide with curiosity.

"It pains me, Emma. It pains me every day to not tell you about anything. Trust me." Emma turned around a bit, looking at her sadly.

"I just wish I knew what you went through..."

"I know you do. And if I could I would. Some stories are darker than others, and unfortunately, it would be too much for you."

"Because I'm a civilian?"

"Because you are my sister." JJ walked up to her, gently laying her hand on Emma's elbow and pulling her close, laying her other hand on Jack's back. "I would never subject my sister into thinking about the atrocities that occurred to me over there. It would harm you too much." Emma sniffed before nodding.

"I understand." She muttered. JJ sighed, pulling her into a hug, kissing her cheek on the way.

"I love you, Emma."

"I love you too..." Emma sighed, clearing her throat. She reached and wiped her eyes, then walked over and laid Jack down in his crib. He babbled softly, then settled and was out within the minute.

"You hungry?" JJ asked quietly.

"Starving." Emma replied. JJ laughed.

"Okay, let me get changed and I'll whip up something."

"Hey, um, JJ, no offense, but your cooking is revolting."

"Hey! Steve never complains!"

"Because Steve loves you too much to complain."

"I am offended."

"Don't be."

"But I am."

"Nope. Denied. Offense denied."

"Emma!"

Steve buried his face into her stomach that night, and she gently stroked his head, looking away from her book to look at him.

"What's wrong, love?"

"The case today... It... It was brutal." She shut her book and shifted, turning her full attention to him.

"What happened?" He was quiet for a few minutes, accepting the gentle touches and strokes of her hands, before sighing and turning his head to the side, pressing her cheek against her stomach.

"We... Busted a trafficking ring today. A bunch of kids. Young kids, from six to seventeen." He made a disgusted noise in his throat. "Humans are disgusting." JJ rubbed his back, her stomach turning.

"It hit Kono especially hard." He muttered. "She wouldn't leave one of the victims by herself. The girl was so traumatized. If... If this is the world that our babies are going to grow up in, I... I hate to think about what the world is going to be like in five to ten years. I hate to think about it." JJ simply made a noise of agreement, not quite sure how to pitch in. She slid her fingers through his hair, grazing his scalp with her nails. Steve sighed, nuzzling into her hold.

"We can't control how to make the world a better place. We can only do what we can to try to make it a better place and that starts with law enforcement. That starts with you, Steve." JJ ran her hand down to cup his face, lifting his head so he was looking at her. "Our babies are perfect and small and innocent. They don't know what's going on right now, and we must cherish that. And as they get older, we can only guide them through this shitty world, yeah? And considering the fact they are from our blood, they're not going to be raised in this kind of world without a fight." Steve nodded numbly.

"R-Right..."

"Hey." He lifted his head again. "I love you. I love our babies. I know you love me and I know you love our babies, too. So, that love is going to motivate both of us to protect them as much as we can. We can't totally shelter them from every single thing in this horrible world and if we tried we would fail. So, let's do our best, our greatest, and protect our babies, okay?" A smile spread onto his face.

"Okay."

"Come on, sit up so I can kiss you properly." He obeyed, happily returning the kiss with a gentle motion. She stroked his face, running her nails along his scruff. "I love you so much, Steve. I love you."

"I love you, too, JJ."

Alyx crawled.

Sure, the babies learning how to sit up on their own was absolutely fantastic, but see one of their children, their oldest daughter, crawl was just... Oh, god.

"Get the camera! Steve, get the camera!" Steve almost wiped out as he burst into the living room with the camera, Alyx looking up at him with her big blue eyes as she gnawed on a chewing toy.

"Oh, come on, baby girl. Crawl to daddy. Come on. Crawl to daddy." Steve crouched, giving a come here motion with his hand. "Come on, love, you got this."

Alyx just stared at him.

"Please, baby. Please." He practically begged. "Come on." At the last two words, Alyx flopped down onto her belly, and started to do an army crawl. JJ let out a soft cry and covered her mouth, bouncing John in her lap. He watched his sister with just a little bit of boredom, rather enjoying being close to his mom more than anything else. Danielle and Jack were asleep, which was normal for them at this time of day. As Alyx crawled over to Steve, he set the camera down so it was facing her, and once she reached his knee, he scooped her up and planted kisses all over her face.

"Oh, my baby girl. I'm so proud. I'm so proud." He practically sobbed. JJ giggled, rubbing circles on John's belly, who happily cooed and nuzzled into his mom's chest. Speaking of his mom's chest, he turned around and started to pull on her shirt, furrowing his eyebrows.

"What? No, you just ate literally an hour ago. You're not eating again." She readjusted him, grabbing the little bottle of baby snacks and letting him snack on those. "God, spoiled little..."

"JJ, that's your son."

"I know. He's still spoiled." Steve chuckled before turning his head and kissing the side of Alyx's head.

"I'm so happy." He mumbled. "So, so, so happy..."

JJ laid her chin on John's head, a wide grin on her face.

I'm so lucky.