(Lost and Found)

18 years later...

Why was Hawaii so busy? Everything she had ever read, all of the pictures she had seen, had painted Hawaii to be a laid back, go with the flow kind of place. Downtown Honolulu had cars everywhere, people walking, bikes racing by. Maxine's stomach dropped at the thought of the freeway crisscrossing and splitting off in different directions just passed the airport. She stopped and sat on the edge of a short wall to catch her breath. Having lived in the middle of nowhere small towns across Arizona her whole life, she wasn't used to this much activity.

It was her second day on the island and she had finally caught a break, someone had recognized the name Steven McGarrett and had kindly given her directions to where his office building was. She had asked someone yesterday fresh out of the taxi downtown but they hadn't taken too kindly at the reminder of the man who has locked up someone they knew and chased her for two blocks. After days of research on the man that was her brother she learned that he was a literal badass, his military background spoke for it's self, but his work for the special task force was beginning to grab the public's attention; not all of it good if her first encounter was any indication.

After receiving her file, she did a lot of digging. She'd discovered that her last name was not Johnson, and that her supposed birth parents had actually died a few years before she was born. It was pure luck, or sloppiness of the person who doctored said birth certificate, that she had even discovered where she actually came from. As soon as Maxine had that information, she didn't sleep until she found out everything that she could about her family; she pulled a few strings, maybe stole a little money from her foster parents- assholes anyway- and hopped on the first plane that was available.

And now she stood in front of the building that separated her from what she hoped would be a happy reunion. But after the nerves had had a chance to settle, she wondered if maybe a phone call first might have been a better idea. Her brother with his new found infinite connections hadn't found her, or even bothered to try, maybe he wouldn't be too happy to see her? Well, if that was the case she'd like to look him in the eye and deck him one good before she told him off. She adjusted her backpack and took the first step toward the building, the sun wasn't getting any cooler, after all.

The nice lady at the front desk had escorted her when she asked for her brother, fluffing her hair on the way, Maxine guessed Shelly the receptionist had a bit of a thing for Steven McGarrett. But for all of her primping, Shelly beat a hasty retreat with flushed cheeks after all eyes had turned toward the new comers.

Maxine shuffled her feet under their scrutiny, but her determination won out. "I'm looking for lieutenant commander Steven McGarrett?" She asked, thankful her voice didn't betray her nerves.

The tall man in the center of the group stood tall at the mention of his name, she could see him looking her over, possibly accessing if she was a threat. Seeing that the small young woman was harmless he stepped forward. "That's me, miss, is everything ok?"

Maxine took a deep breath, and looked at the other people in the room. All of them seemed so intense as they stared at her. "My name is Maxine, and I have reason to believe that you're my brother."

On the outside Steve's demeanor hadn't changed, but his insides had both gone hot and cold. He hadn't dreamed to ever see his sweet baby sister in almost eighteen years, he'd never had a trail to follow to locate her. His father never spoke of her in the very rare times they reconnected. He almost couldn't believe it, but trust a McGarrett to find their way home.

"Hang on, you never mentioned another sister." A stocky blond grumped behind Steve.

Steve ignored the man, instead he walked in front of the girl clutching the straps of her bag tightly. Now that he could see her properly up close, he could see his mother's eyes staring back at him. His heart clinched when she tucked a strand of her hair behind her right ear and saw the slight pointed tip, memories of Mary telling everyone that Maxine was part fairy and that was why she was so cute, bloomed in the forefront of his mind.

Maxine stared at the imposing man in front of her, heart thudding in her chest. She could see their similarities now in person, his eyes were bluer than hers, but they had the same shape. They shared the same nose, even their lips mirrored each other, it was strange to see so much of herself in a person she was too young to remember. It took the wetness welling in her brother's eyes for her dam to finally break. She launched herself into his arms and let her tears fall, only openly weeping when his arms encased her small shivering frame.

They stood there, clinging to each other while Steve's team members looked on in confusion, but even they couldn't miss the impressive mixture of grief, happiness and guilt on their boss' face. Steve pulled away first, holding Maxine's petite face in his hands; memorizing every freckle, every scar, hardly believing she was standing in front of him. "Let's go talk in my office," His voice broke. He gently put a hand on her shoulder and guided her out of the squad room, completely forgetting that he was in the middle of a meeting.

Danny, Chin, and Kono traded looks. "What just happened?" Kono asked.

Danny shook his head. "Looks like Steven has been keeping some secrets," He sat on the edge of the table with his arms crossed and watched the newly reunited siblings sit on Steve's couch.

Kono looked to her cousin. "You were his dad's rookie, did you know about this?"

"Yes," Chin sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. "After Doris died he sent the kids away, no one ever knew what happend to the baby."

...

"How did you find me?" Steve asked, gripping her hand tightly.

"I was given my file when I turned eighteen, the paperwork was sloppy. My birth parents listed on my certificate died five years before I was born." She snorted. "The address of the hospital didn't match anything in Arizona. After a quick search, it brought me to a hospital in Honolulu. From there I was able to make a few phone calls and get a few names."

Steve stared at his sister, impressed. "Someone just gave you names of former patients? Over the phone?"

"When you tell people you spent your whole life in foster care and you want to find your birth parents, they feel sorry enough for you to bend the rules a little." Maxine shrugged. "Anyway, I figured that one of the four babies born on my birthday had to be me. Since only one of the names was not Samoan, that was my best bet. After I had the names it was easy to find you."

Steve slumped back on the couch, still holding her hand. "So then you know about mom and dad?"

"Yeah," Maxine said quietly, also leaning back on the couch. "that sucked." Maxine took a breath and looked at the man beside her. "Did anyone even try and find me? Why was I separated?" She tried not to let her voice wobble, but that question had been burning her since finding out that she had family that was still very much alive.

"I don't know about dad, it was hard to get him to open up after everything happened. I tried when I had more connections in the Navy, but there was no trail to ever pick up. You simply vanished during a layover in Oregon. Mary had been traveling with a woman from the HPD department named Margaret and they got separated, a flight attendant had told Mary the woman who had you would be boarding soon, but Mary never saw her get on the plane. You had disappeared, the police searched for Margaret, but they never found her." Steve rubbed his tired eyes.

"That doesn't make any sense, why would she take me? She didn't keep me,"

"I don't know. After a while, I just assumed you had been taken and illegally adopted. It explained why there was never any trace of you." He paused for a moment. "Why did you come find me? Mary would have been closer to you, probably a better place to settle."

Maxine chuckled. "After I figured out who I was and who you were, there were articles about you, spouting your major accomplishments with your task force. And no offense to Mary, I'm sure she's great; but I've been in some pretty awful places and you seemed like the safer option. How much trouble can I get in surrounded by cops, anyhow?"

Steve snickered as well, and chose not to tell her exactly what kind of trouble she could find herself in with him as a brother.

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, neither of them knowing what to ask next. A light tapping on the glass behind them reminded them that they weren't exactly alone. Steve twisted his head around and came face to face with Danny, Kono, and Chin, all of them giving him expectant looks. "Why don't I introduce you to the team and we can head out and I'll show you what I've got at the house?" Steve's voice was gentle.

"Um, yeah, ok." Maxine stuttered, following Steve as he stood from the couch.

Steve pulled her back over to the door and brought them back out in front of the people waiting for some kind of explanation. "Is it true?" Chin asked.

Steve looked at Chin, remembering the barbeques when the then rookie would come over and be completely captivated by the bubbly and perpetually happy youngest McGarrett; he nodded with a faint smile.

Chin took a small step forward and stretched out his hand, "Chin Ho Kelly," Maxine took his hand with no hesitation, giving a firm gripped handshake. "I know you don't remember, but you threw up on me one time and ruined my favorite shirt." He smiled at her.

Maxine blushed, "Sorry,"

Chin laughed and stepped back. Steve gestured to the blond man who had spoken earlier. "This is Detective Danny Williams; Danny, this is my sister, Maxine McGarrett." He broke eye contact with the man in front of him and gave the girl next to him a fond smile.

Maxine returned it before looking back over at Danny, extending her hand to him. "It's nice to meet you, sir."

"I like that, sir, nice to see a McGarrett with some manners." Danny shook her hand and sent a look to Steve that definitely said they would be talking about all of this later.

"I'm Kono!" The only other woman spoke up, breaking the tension between the two men. Kono swept the girl up in a tight embrace that left her staggering when she was released.

Maxine's face flushed under everyone's stares, she glanced up at Steve for guidance. Steve took pitty on her. "I'm sure Maxine is feeling a little overwhelmed, I'm going to take her home. Tomorrow if the bad guys give us a break lets have a barbeque, yeah?"

Chin and Kono gave enthusiastic responses, while Danny seemed a little reserved. Steve took the man by the arm and pulled him away, they watched their hushed conversation, Danny looked tense and only relaxed after the pair shared a sweet kiss. Maxine looked at the two adults in front of her, both seemed unbothered by the display of affection, it must be a regular occurrence. Maxine worried that she was causing some kind of tiff between her brother and his boyfriend? Husband? Whatever they were. She curled in on her self and let her hair obscure her face. She should have called, or maybe never even come at all. She didn't even consider what her dropping in on almost a perfect stranger would do to his life.

"Ready to go?" Steve said suddenly beside her, she startled and looked at him with wide eyes. Steve searched her face, eyes narrowing slightly at whatever he saw. "Hey, everything is fine, alright?" He put a heavy hand on her shoulder, grounding her. "Let's get the rest of your stuff,"

"This is, uh, this is it." She blushed holding up her backpack.

"Ok, you didn't make any reservations anywhere did you? I want you to come home," He said, putting a big emphasis on the word 'home'.

Maxine looked at the ground again. "No, um, I slept on the beach last night."

Steve took a deep breath through his nose and looked back over at his team. Kono looked like she wanted to hug her again, Chin had his eyebrows raised in disbelief. Danny caught his eye, "Take her home," He mouthed, using his head to gesture to the elevator.

Steve nodded and slung and arm around her shoulders. "See you guys tomorrow. Danno, dinner?"

"You got it, babe." Danny mock saluted him, Maxine not missing the way his eyes sparkled when Steve favored him with a smirk.

"I'm sorry," Maxine blurted out once they were back out under the blazing Hawaiian sun.

Steve did a double take at her. "What are you sorry for?" He lead her to a truck and tossed her bag in the back. He opened the door and waited for her to climb in.

Maxine made no move to do so, and tucked her hands in her jean pockets. "I know I shouldn't have just dropped in like this. I don't want to cause any problems between you and Danny."

"Don't worry about that," Steven leaned against the side of the truck. "He's upset that I never told him about you." Maxine snapped her eyes to meet his. "It was really hard when you disappeared, Max." His eyes softened at speaking her nickname for the first time in years. "And I don't know, not talking about you kept you with me if that makes sense. Telling people that you were missing, just made it too real." He sighed and looked out over the street, watching the people walk by. "We should try and get a hold of Mary when we get home, she'll want to know."

Maxine nodded and climbed into the truck, Steve shut the door and jogged to the drivers side. Once they were on the road they made small talk, She told him that she had graduated with the second highest GPA in her class, that she had taken up ballet when she was ten. It was the only thing all of her foster parents didn't mind paying for, it kept her out of the house and out of their way. Steve told her as much as he could about his days in the Navy, he enjoyed the look of amazement she wore when he recounted his more dangerous missions. It's been awhile since he was able to impress anyone with his stories.

When they got to the house Steve hurriedly ushered her inside, told her to take a look around while he called Mary.

Maxine wondered around the living room for a few moments, knowing this was the home Steve had grown up in, she tried to find the places she might have fit in. Where did she play? Did her mother pace with her in front of the large windows when she cried? A small collection of photos on a shelf caught her attention. There were numerous ones of Steve and Mary as small children, a few of her as a baby as well, drawing her up short. She didn't have any photos of herself as a baby, she looked at the happy chubby faced baby and moved on. Her eyes landing on an older man smiling while he held up a large fish with the help of who she now knew to be Chin. She felt like the wind had been knocked out of her, she blindly fell onto the couch, her eyes glazed over with unshed tears.

"Mary didn't answer, I left a- Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Steve rushed over to her.

Maxine blinked the tears away, and looked at Steve. "I've never seen a picture of him before." She lamely gestured to the shelf with the photos.

"Of who, dad?"

Maxine nodded and Steve stood to retrieve the photo. "This was about six years ago." He chuckled. "He would have mounted it on his wall if Chin hadn't mangled it."

"I've seen him before," Maxine hoarsely whispered. Steve jerked his head up, sure he had misheard her. Maxine had extended her hand and ran her fingers of their fathers face. "I've met him."

Steve expelled a gust of air and wondered exactly what secrets his father took with him to the grave.