Chapter Text
After what happened with Steve McGarret's mother he was sent to live with his Maternal Aunt, Margret Buckley. It took less than a year of living with the Buckley's to realize how terrible they were as parents and people. He was old enough to be emancipated and his father, somewhat shockingly, approved of the decision. After a few months he had an apartment that the Buckley siblings were at every day after school. Two years passed, Steve picking them up in the morning to take them to school, going to work, grabbing them after school and then taking them home after their parents were asleep. The Buckley parents practically never saw their kids and they didn't complain once, sometimes just randomly dropping them off at the McGarret's household when they wanted to go on vacation.
Which is why it didn't feel weird to see the Buckley children on his door step as the sun was setting on the first day of summer with the kids overnight bags. What did feel weird was the man in the suit behind them with a brief case. Steve ushered the two into the apartment before stepping out to talk to the man.
"Are you Steven Jack McGarret?"
Steve felt hesitant as he spoke, "Yes, why?"
The man handed him the brief case, "Phillip and Margret Buckley are forfeiting all Parental rights to Evan and Madeline Buckley and wish to give you custody. You are allowed to reject, the state will find the next closest relative. If you say yes this has all of their necessary documentation and there will be a date set in family court for an official custody hearing as well weekly visits with a social worker for three months"
Steve felt disarmed as the, what he presumed was a lawyer, spoke, "Are they even allowed to do this?"
"Technically yes, they have given you the opportunity to reject. The way they have gone about it is a little unconventional but yes. If you don't feel comfortable taking them we will start the process of contacting other relatives."
Steve stalled for a second, feeling a little disarmed, "Yes I will take them in. How am I supposed to set up the court date?"
The lawyer, David Caringer, handed him a business card, "The Buckley's hired me to handle that for you. Pardon my unprofessional attitude but those two suck and very clearly hate their kids."
Steve looked through the open door, the two Buckley children raiding the fridge inside melting his heart a little, "That isn't exactly news to me. I will contact you tomorrow morning so you know how to find me, but for right now I want to make sure those two are settled in."
Mr. Caringer nodded, "Of course Mr. McGarret." Before walking out of the apartment complex to his car.
Steve's shoulders slumped as he walked into the apartment, "Hey Maddie can you come talk to me in the lounge room?"
Maddie set a plate of snacks in front of Evan before walking towards her cousin, "Yeah what's going on?"
Steve fell back onto the couch, gesturing for Maddie to join him and lowering his voice to make sure Evan couldn't hear, "Did you know your parents were giving up custody?"
"No... But I've suspected for a while. I thought it was going to happen the first time they dropped us off here to go on vacation." Maddie looked close to tears, "They told us to pack everything we need and we weren't coming back home. They told us not to call you and I didn't want to make them mad." She was speaking through tears by the end.
Steve pulled her into a hug, Maddie burying her face in his shoulder as he ran his hands through her hair. After a few minutes Steve let out a broken laugh, "You know, your parents kind of suck Mads."
"They weren't always like this," her voice sounded stuffy as she wiped her tears, "But then after Danny they were never the same."
"What do you mean 'after Danny' Mads?" Steve was holding her shoulders as he looked at her.
She sniffled as she spoke, "We- we had another sibling, his name was Daniel... He had leukemia, the doctors said his only hope was a bone marrow transplant," she let out a sob, "but none of us were a match."
Evan let out a loud yawn from the dining table, "Hey Mads, I'm going to go help Ev get ready for bed but, can we continue this when I get back?"
Maddie took a deep, broken breath, "Yeah... I need a minute anyway."
Evan had fallen asleep at the table but was already in pajamas, because in classic Evan Buckley fashion his fashion is fuzzy pajamas. Steve grabbed Evan, the little boy's head resting on his shoulder as they walked to the spare room. He set him on the bed adorned in dinosaur covers, tucking him in tight and setting his favorite Seal plush in his arms. He turned off the lights as he stepped out of the room, closing the door quietly. As he walked out into the lounge room he saw maddie curled up on the couch, a blanket wrapped around her tightly.
Steve sank into the couch and Maddie curled into him, her breath shuddered and her voice was soft, "Danny died five years ago, a little after ev's first birthday. Th-the transplant failed and they made us move. They got rid of all his things and just-just... they pretended like my brother never existed." She sobbed into his shoulder, shaking in her grief.
"Ev was one when he died?" Maddie nodded in his shoulder, "He was a savior baby wasn't he?"
Tears soaked into his shirt, her voice was shaky, "They hate him because they think Daniel's death was his fault. Danny loved Ev, more than anything and they can't even look at him... It's not fair that they're blaming Evan and it's not fair I can't even grieve my baby brother, there wasn't a funeral." The silence followed for a few minutes, "he doesn't even have a grave...."
Steve wrapped his arms around her tighter, "I'm always here if you want to talk about him Mads. Maybe I could ask my dad if he has any photos? We could put together a scrapbook to help you remember, maybe help tell Ev about him?"
She snuffled, "I-I would really like that pops."
Steve froze for a second and Maddie started trying to stammer an apology, "Hey-hey Mads it's okay. You can call me pops, I just wasn't expecting it is all."
She smiled, "Good, cause you're a lot more of a dad than Philip ever was to us."
She fell asleep like that, curled up in her pop's arms in the warmth of the summer night.