Mary gave a small smile and shrugged her shoulder at his praise. "It's not like I have anything better to do. It's homework or lie on my bed and stare at my ceiling." Mary took another handful of popcorn. While she still didn't particularly enjoy school, she was trying to make an effort to behave. She didn't really have a choice though. Since the adults had found about her skipping habits and the forged notes, Steve and Danny had pretty much made it impossible for her to continue with her recent behaviour. "Maybe sometime this weekend you could quiz me?"
Mary glanced over at her brother when he firmly told her that she wasn't a pain in his ass. She was relieved that he didn't share in her opinion. Though Steve had promised her that he would never toss her out of the house and have her find somewhere else to live and while she was starting to believe him, there was still a small part of her that expected him to send her on her way. Hearing him say that he didn't think that she was a pain in the ass was reassuring that she hadn't pushed him too far.
She looked at Steve as he apologized for being stricter than she was used to and she shrugged. "Aunt Deb tried her best. She had rules but I never followed them." Being under his and Danny's roof was a big change for her. Mary was used to doing whatever she wanted without consequences. She skipped class and forged notes to get herself back into the class all of the time. She snuck out of the house to attend parties where she drank and smoked up and experimented with other drugs a time or two. Aunt Deb would periodically try to ground her but Mary all but laughed in her face and ignored it. With Steve it was different. She wasn't used to having an adult push back and actually have the consequences carried out.
But at the same time, as much as Mary hated that she was being punished, the rules that had been put in place for the household, even those that she didn't agree with, gave her a sense of security and she was also starting to feel like she was in a stable environment for the first time since their father had shipped the McGarrett siblings off to the mainland.
Mary looked at her brother as he turned towards her and offered her a smile as he assured her again that she wasn't a pain and she wasn't dishing out more than he was expecting to handle. "I don't know Steve, that sounded like a challenge to me." She gave a cheeky grin. "I'm kidding! I promise!"
Mary glanced at the popcorn bowl in her lap as Steve told her that he has been enjoying spending time with her and getting to know the sixteen year her was a gift. "I've been really enjoying spending time with you too Steve." It was true, at first the quality time her brother was enforcing was a pain and she hadn't been overly fond of it but recently, she'd been actually looking forward to it. Even when she worked off the hours that she had accumulated, she hoped he'd still want to hang out with her. She liked spending the one on one time with her brother and it was one of the main reasons why she was starting to trust that he wasn't going to send her away. "As much as it sucks that this place has kidnapped all of us, I'm glad that we're together. I missed you."