A stranger confides in Mary McGarrett, only to discover that she is no stranger to Steve. The two soon find themselves in a life or death situation. Will Steve be able to save them in time?

McGarrett's Mermaid

Chapter 1

John F Kenney International Airport was one of the busiest airports in the world. Today was no exception. Mary McGarrett and Julie Talbet carefully prepared Hawaiian Airlines flight 50 for departure. The food service was in place, the magazines carefully lined up in the racks. Pillows fluffed, blankets folded, the cabin was ready for its passengers.

"Good Morning, ladies" Captain Thomas Mayfield greeted them with a smile.

"Good Morning Captain" Mary and Julie replied in unison, returning the smile.

"Ladies, today we have some special passengers aboard. I would greatly appreciate it if we gave them a little bit of extra attention" The Captain stated

"Who are they?" Mary asked

"The US Navy" The Captain responded with pride. Captain Thomas Mayfield was a retired Navy pilot himself and was very proud of it.

"These sailors are coming off of a long deployment. Some are going on leave, some going home, and some are simply reporting for their next assignment. Just a little TLC and no charge for food or drinks. Thank you ladies" the respect and sincerity in Captain Mayfield's voice was evident.

"Ooh, we have a long flight and it's going to be full of Navy men. Hopefully, Hot, Navy men" Julie was excited at this prospect.

"Don't get too hot and bothered. I know Navy men and trust me they're not as wonderful as you think. Actually they're set in their ways and emotionally stunted" Mary was quick to respond

"Wow, someone really messed with your head" Julie remarked

"Well, yeh, my brother's a Navy guy, my father was a Navy guy and even my grandfather was a Navy guy. I was surrounded by Navy guys and then… never mind. My life is a tragedy that you don't want to hear about" Mary suddenly began preparing for the arrival of the first passengers.

The crew was in place and the first passengers began boarding. The boarding was smooth and uneventful. Once all the passengers were seated, the group of 15 sailors was given permission to board. In a single file they walked the narrow isle of the plane in search of their designated seats. The passengers stood and applauded, some saluted and others offered to shake hands. The words Thank you resonated throughout the cabin and the sailors smiled as they walked passed.

The flight's departure was on schedule. The passengers seemed pleasant and the sailors were all laughing and joking as the flight took air.

Several hours into the flight, Mary and Julie, along with several other flight attendants noticed that the cabin was quiet. The passengers were engaged in their movies, laptops and books. The group of sailors had quieted down quite a bit. Mary had noticed that most of them were asleep; apparently they had been traveling for days. She did notice one particular sailor that was wide awake, staring blindly out the window, despite the body of a young ensign resting on her shoulder, fast asleep. She was one of only three female sailors in the group.

Mary approached. "Can I get you anything?"

"No thank you."

Mary began to walk away, when she stopped and turned back. "Do I know you?"

"I don't think so"

"Are you sure? You look kind of familiar. What's your name?" Mary asked

"Rollins, Lieutenant Catherine Rollins" Catherine responded "Come to think about it, you look a little familiar too"

"Name doesn't ring a bell. Awe well. "Mary turned and started to walk away and once again stopped.

"Are you sure I can't get you anything? I mean you seem a little preoccupied" Mary asked

"No Thank you." She answered in a solemn tone

"Are you feeling ok, are you sick?" Mary persisted

"I'm fine, I promise. It's just… well you see… it's just been a long day, actually a long deployment. We've been deployed for 11 months and now our ship was decommissioned. They gave us two weeks leave and there's this guy…never mind, it's complicated" Catherine decided she shouldn't be spilling her guts to a total stranger.

"A guy, huh?" Mary sat on the arm rest of the seat directly in front of Catherine. "Hey at least you've got a guy"

Catherine couldn't help but smile "Yes, I do, Sort of."

"What do you mean sort of? Either you do or you don't" Mary questioned

"It's a complicated, long story. I am sure you have better things to do than to sit here listening to my sob story. You should be flirting with these guys, like your friend over there" Catherine nodded towards Julie who was giggling with a small group of young ensigns.

Mary looked and laughed "I don't do Navy men"

"Oh really? Well if I would have had that philosophy 8 years ago, I would not be in this predicament" Catherine raised her eyebrow and laughed, though her heart felt differently.

"Ok, spill it. I want to know everything." Mary leaned in and waited for a response

"Don't you have work to do?" Catherine was trying to get rid of the persistent flight attendant. "No. Not for a while. It's a long flight" Mary persisted

Catherine was reluctant, but she was longing for someone to talk to and maybe a perfect stranger that she would never see again was that person. "Ok. You see there is this guy. Well, he's not just a guy. He's my best friend, and well you know, special friend." Catherine didn't know how to classify her relationship

"Friends with benefits" Mary interjected

"Yeh, but not really. You see we started off as coworkers. Then we became the best of friends, still are. But then something happened, and one night we took it to the next level and well, we've been stuck there for the last seven years."

"Seven years? You've been sleeping with this guy for seven years? Why are you still with him? If he hasn't committed after seven years, he never will. It doesn't matter how good he is in bed. " Mary had the situation figured out.

"It's not that easy. He's been going through some family stuff. At first he was the one, who was deployed, then I was the one who was deployed, and now I am going to be permanently stationed at Pearl."

"Were does he live?" Mary asked

"Honolulu." Catherine answered softly

"Ok, so now that you are going to be close, maybe he'll make his move. I say tell him how you feel and give him an ultimatum" Mary was confident in her advice

"No way. I won't do that. He's dealing with some pretty heavy stuff. I have to either stick it out or just walk away. I can't, no, I won't, put any more pressure on him than he already has. His job is emotionally draining and he's on a personal crusade that he thinks he's sheltering me from, but it's my job to know what's going on. Truth is I love him. I try to tell myself that I would be so much better off without him, but I don't think I could live without him. I cannot believe I just said that. I have a tough decision to make. I mean I am 34 years old, my career is coming to a halt and I want more. I don't think it's wrong to want more, but it's not fair for me to force it on him." She paused. "I've said too much. I really appreciate your concern and I like you, but this is just too personal to be telling a total stranger"

"I understand. I didn't mean to pry. You see, my family life is so screwed up and I felt like you and I had some kind of connection. I don't have a lot of friends, ok, I don't have any friends, but I feel like I already know you; like we were friends in some alternate Universe or something. I am sorry that you are going through this. Love sucks, but you do have to do what makes you happy. You will find someone who will make you happy. I believe that, I have to"

Catherine stared at Mary. She couldn't figure out if she was some freak or just a lost soul. Either way, she hated to admit it but she liked her too.

"I will leave you alone, here is my number" Mary wrote her cell phone number on a napkin and handed it to Catherine. "If you decide you need someone to talk to, call me. Oh and if you finally decide to dump that loser of a boyfriend, let me know. I have a brother who is really hot, smart and could use a beautiful intelligent girl like you. He lives on the island and I can introduce you when we land, he's picking me up"

"If he's so smart and hot, why doesn't he have a girlfriend?" Catherine replied with a snarl

"He has this job that takes up all of his time. He is a Navy guy, but he's in the reserves and he's some kind of cop. He heads some super government task force or something; I am not really sure what he does"

At that moment Catherine's eyes grew wide and she let out a gasp "Oh God! Your Mary! Steve's sister!"

"You know Steve?… wait a minute… you're the chick with no pants, you cut your hair" Mary stood up

The sleepy ensign that sat next to Catherine suddenly opened his eyes and in a half sleeping tone replied "Rollins with no pants?"

Catherine turned to him and whispered "Your dreaming, go back to sleep"

"You cut your hair too. I knew I recognized you, I just couldn't figure out from where" Catherine was mortified. She had just spilled her guts to Steve's sister. "Please, Mary, don't tell him what I told you"

Mary knelt down and leaned into Catherine "I won't. But now that I know that it's Steve that you were talking about, I have to say, please don't give up on him. He really is a great guy. He needs someone who loves him, and if you meant what you said, that someone is you"

"Mary, we need to prepare for landing" Julie approached placing her hand on Mary's shoulder

Mary smiled at Catherine and proceeded to the galley.

Catherine could not believe that she just opened up her emotions to a perfect stranger, worse to Steve's sister. She had planned on taking a day or two for herself, before seeing Steve. The fact that he's at the airport waiting for this exact flight, means that the surprise will be sooner than later. Her decision would have to be sooner also.