Moving on

By

Landon Richardson

Disclaimer

The characters of Steve McGarrett, Chin Ho Kelly, Kono Kalakaua, Amy Hanamoa, Meka Hanamoa and anyone else who might sound familiar do not belong to me in any shape or form, I am merely using them for my own entertainment purposes

The character of Danni Williams is probably mine by now. Even though she was originally based on male Danny Williams I think it's probably safe to say that's she her own individual character by now, especially since I've created a back ground for her which is different to male Danny's background in the show. This also affects Grace who is different from the show as well in ways.

The characters of Lily Nichols and Nyla Leon do belong to me though

I should also add that if a character is mentioned who you are not instantly aware of then that character belong to me as well

Author Note

This story may be familiar to some people, mainly because I had it under my Snippet section. I'm in the process of moving those stories over into stories where they link up. Jus to make it easier on the reader!

I always enjoyed this chapter so I figure that I should put it up as an one shot.

Just a way that Catherine might find out about the change in Steve's and Danni's relationship.

Enjoy!

Overall Summary

It doesn't take long for Catherine Rollins to realise that things have changed since she's been away at sea. (McDanni, female Danni, part of the Danni world)

Overall Romance

Steve McGarrett / Danni Williams (McDanni)

Mentions of past Steve McGarrett / Catherine Rollins (McRollins)

Other note

Nearly all the places I have stated are either made up or I've got from the internet so I'm sorry in advance if I get an address wrong or anything. My geography on Hawaii is very poor having never been there before!

Other, other note

I don't have beta so please forgive any mistakes I may have made. Every time I think I have them all, one sneaks in!

Catherine Rollins stepped off the USS Enterprise and looked around her, bringing her hand up to shield her eyes from the bright overhead sun as she looked around the crowded landing port, a slight smile coming to her face when she felt the warm breeze against her skin.

Although she had been born and raised in San Diego, the only girl out of three boys, there was something about Hawaii which just felt like coming home to her. Perhaps because she was there so often serving at Pearl Harbour. Perhaps the fact that Steve McGarrett was now stationed there permanently in charge of his own taskforce which the Governor of Hawaii also had something to do with as well.

She had known Steve since she was twenty five, becomes friends with him first before she made her move on him and suggested that they took their friendship up to the next level to include the pleasant activity of sex. She could still picture the thoughtful look he had given her as though weighing up the pro and cons of her suggestion before he had shrugged and said that he agreed and working off their pent up energy would do them some good. It was at that moment that Catherine realised that Steve didn't have a romantic bone in his body, something she was willing to put up with because he was gorgeous, with a body to die for and a talent when it came to sex which blew her mind continually.

She had never been able to decide in her head what they were, occasionally she wondered whether they were in a relationship with each other, other times she wondered whether Steve really just viewed her as a friend with benefits who had been using each other for four years that way. It was confusing and frustrating and one way or another she needed to know whether she was wasting her time. She wanted them to take it up to the next level. To see whether they could work with the title of boyfriend and girlfriend attached to them but if Steve didn't want that then she would rather know now before she invested more into their relationship. There had been rumours going around that some positions at Pearl Harbour were going, permanent position which would mean that she could stay in one place. She already knew that her friend Phil Wentworth had been offered one and that he had accepted it, and there were further rumours that she was to be offered one as well but she was unsure.

Could she give up the excitement of her job for a simple desk job, even if that desk job was at Pearl Harbour? She liked the challenge her work presented, like the crew she worked with and liked the fact that she never knew where they might be sent to the next day. It was something she needed to consider carefully and she knew Steve's answer would be a factor in her decision.

She reached up, taking her hat off and stuffed it in her bag before she headed down the ramp, waving at the others as she headed towards the taxi ramp, laughingly promising to drinks and poker games with them before she joined the queue, waiting patiently until it was her turn. She climbed into the car and gave Steve's address to the taxi man, responding to his conversation though she barely knew what he was saying. Her mind fixed on the thought of Steve's bed. Sex with the man could wait but being able to sleep on his bed, an actual proper comfortable bed would be a god send.

"We're here" The taxi man stated bringing her out of her fantasy about sleeping. She glanced forward at the price and paid him, stepping out of the car and staring up at Steve's large two storey house. There was something different about it. She stared at it for a moment, her eyes narrowed slightly in thought before they widened as she realised that he had painted it since her last visit, making it look a great deal more welcoming then it had been before.

Moving up the garden path, she stopped at the door and rang the doorbell, waiting impatiently for it to open. It was late on a Saturday morning so he should be in. She rang the doorbell again, opening up her bag to fish out her mobile when the door opened and Steve stood there, his mouth open as though he was going to greet someone. For a moment she thought she detected disappointment in his eyes but it was gone before she could tell for certain.

"Catherine hey! I didn't know you were in town" He commented, leaning forward and giving her a brief hug, she tilted her face towards him, surprised when he chose to kiss her casually on the cheek instead of the lips like he normally did.

"Yeah we just docked, we've got a week shore leave so here I am." She said with a shrug.

"Yeah? Well you're in time, we're having a team BBQ so since you're here why don't you join us." He suggested with a smile as he stepped back, waving his hand towards the back of the house. She nodded at him, stepping in and glancing around her.

"Where should I leave my bag?" She asked, her gaze flickering to the stairs.

"Just there is fine" He said, indicating to the side of the door. She frowned slightly as she dropped it there. "Come through, can I get you a drink?" He offered, confusing her further. Steve was acting like he had before they started up their arrangement. When she was just a buddy like everyone else. The last time she had come there on shore leave he had barely given her enough time to say hello before he was ushering her up the stairs. Clearly something had changed.

"A beer would be good" She responded. "I'm just going to change into something else. I'll join you out back." She said.

"Sounds good, then I can finally introduce you to everyone and you can know the faces which belong to the voices. You know where the bathroom is" He remarked with a wide grin at her as he headed out of the house onto the lanai. Catherine breathed out, looking at the kitchen, surprised to see how modern it looked. Steve had clearly done it up from scratch which meant that he was sticking in Hawaii for the long haul. She looked around her, her eyes landing on all the cooking utensils and the large, old looking book in the corner which looked like the old cook book her grandmother used to own, the same one which used to be passed down from generation to generation. For a moment she was tempted to go and look at it but she stopped herself. She could look later. She wondered when Steve had gotten into cooking when before he had always waved it off preferring to grill or to get a take away.

She turned and headed away from the sound of laughter and picked up her bag, heading into the downstairs bathroom. She quickly changed into her bikini, throwing a pair of shorts and a vest top on it. She pulled out her ponytail, sighing with relief when her hair fell to her shoulders. Satisfied she looked good, she folded her uniform putting it back in her bag, dropping it to the side of the door again and headed out back onto the sand, smiling to herself; memories of Steve treating her to a steak meal coming to her mind.

She raised an eyebrow when she saw how crowded Steve's private beach was with people, all talking and laughing and clearly knowing each other. For a moment she felt out of place before she straightened her shoulder and looked around her, her gaze focusing on Steve. He was standing with a tall blond man who looked about the same age as Steve and an older man who looked as though he was native to the island. Whatever they were saying was clearly amusing if the way they were laughing was anything to go by.

Catherine took a moment to stare at Steve barely able to wrap her head around him. He looked different, relaxed and happy as though all the weight that he had carried since she had known him was gone somehow.

She breathed out and headed towards him, determined to catch him alone and ask him what was going on. She smiled as she approached, reaching out and taking the beer which Steve offered her.

"Guys" He said using his own bottle to point at her. "This is Lieutenant Catherine Rollins, Cath this is Special Agent Jack O'Connor and Chin Ho Kelly." He introduced taking a sip of his drinks, his eyes drifting over the party as though he was looking for someone.

"It's nice to meet you finally." The blond man Steve had introduced as Jack said to her, a warm smile on his face. For a moment she stared at him, taking in his short blond hair, pale blue eyes and half smile. He was surprisingly attractive and completely different then what he thought he would look like from the odd time he had spoken to her over the coms while Steve's team had been on a mission.

"It's nice to meet you as well, both of you" She said, her gaze flickering to Chin who smiled at her, his dark eyes thoughtful.

"The pleasure is ours" Chin told her, a polite note to his voice. "Your help has been much appreciated over the past few months so thank you."

"I don't mind" Catherine said with a smile of her own.

"Daddy! Daddy! Look what Auntie Kono found! Can we keep it?" Catherine looked back towards Jack in surprise when he groaned, looking at Chin with a pleading look.

"Can you please talk to your cousin about not finding cool things when my daughters are around?" He asked. "We still have that starfish in our fish tank from the last time McG had a BBQ. Poppy won't let me put him back into the ocean, instead I keep having to refill the tank with ocean water. I even had to look them up on the internet to see what to feed it. She's called it starry" He said with a sigh, rolling his eyes when Chin laughed.

"Not my fault Brah, you should learn to say no to your daughters." He teased causing Jack to snort at him in response.

"Wait until you're a father Chin and then come back and talk to me about how easy it is to say no" He remarked with a shake of his head.

"Daughters?" Catherine piped up, glancing towards Jack's left hand, surprised to see no ring on his finger indicating that he wasn't married.

"Yeah two of them." Jack replied. "Excuse me gents, Catherine. Fatherhood calls." He said turning and walking away from them, heading over to the small red headed girl who was jumping from one foot to the other, clapping her hands in excitement. A young native woman standing next to her giving Jack a wide grin. Catherine assumed that the native woman must have been Kono who she knew Steve had poached from the academy.

"It looks like you've done the place up Steve." Catherine said, taking another sip of her beer.

"The kitchen and hallway are finished" He remarked looking back towards the house with a thoughtful frown "But the rest of the rooms still need to be done, we aren't getting much free time at the moment so getting the living room and all the other rooms done is proving difficult." He said with a sigh, glancing at Chin when the other man chuckled.

"It's not like you have to live here while all of it is going on. If you hired people like Danni suggested then the whole place would probably be done already." He pointed out, his remark causing Steve to groan.

"Have you and Danni been talking again about it?" He demanded. "At this rate I'm going to have to start gate crashing your dinners with each other just to supervise what you're saying to each other." He said, his eyes twinkling at Chin indicating a strong friendship between the two which surprised Catherine. Steve had always kept himself to himself only allowing himself to be close to a few people, there seemed no sign of that here, and from the way people kept calling him as they arrived it appeared he was friendly with everyone. She frowned slightly, her mind going back to the previous conversation.

"Wait, you don't live here at the moment? Where do you live? A hotel?" she asked in confusion, her confusion going when Chin and Steve shared a quick look with each other. Whatever passed between them had Chin nodding before he spoke again.

"Looks like Toast has arrived with the beers like you wanted, I'll go and help him before he drops them all." He remarked, looking at Catherine. "Again it was a pleasure to meet you Catherine." He said before he moved away from them. Catherine watched him over her shoulder as he weaved in-between the crowd of laughing people towards a tall man of about twenty six who was standing talking to a dark haired woman holding three crates of beer in his arms. She looked back when she felt Steve's hand on her arm, the touch familiar.

"I'm glad you've come today Catherine, there's something I need to tell you. I could have told you over the phone or email but I figured it would be better face to face." He said to her, a serious note coming to his face as he dropped his hand.

"Okay" She said slowly. "Well you know you can tell me anything" She told him, waiting for him to speak, her heart rate increasing as she wondered whether he was on the same page as her and asking her to take the next step. His next words sent her stomach plummeting.

"There's no easy way to say this but I've met someone, someone special and we're a couple now." He told her briefly. "I wanted to tell you in person because we're friend and it's what you deserve."

Catherine stared at him trying to wrap her head around what he was telling her. That Steve 'Mr Smooth dog 'I'm never going to settle down' McGarrett was in a relationship with someone he considered special.

"I see" She said when the silence threatened to go on.

"I'm sorry" He told her and she could see from his eyes that he meant it. "I know you had always hoped that someday we would be more than we are but it's not going to happen." He stated truthfully. "You're a good friend to me and I'm hoping that we can carry on being friends just like we were before we slept with each other."

"Is it…" she stopped for a moment choosing her words carefully. "Is it serious between the pair of you?" She asked, clinging on to a small shred of hope that Steve had just been blindsided and would come to his senses and end it.

"Very" He replied, a goofy smile coming to her face which she had never seen before.

"Who is it?" She asked, the words escaping her mouth before she could help it. He looked back at her searching her eyes before he answered.

"Danni"

Catherine eyes widened.

Danni? He had to mean Danni Williams, the woman who had been on Steve's father murder case before Steve arrived on the island back in September and who was now Steve's work partner and his second in command on the taskforce he ran. She didn't know much about her but she knew that Steve had respected her and held her in high regard. Clearly that respect had translated into love and had ended up with them being together as more than just a professional couple.

"Danni" She repeated, reaching up and pulling at her ear lobe. "So you love her?" She asked him. He didn't answer, merely flashed her a hint of that goofy grin again. A look which told her that she had lost before she had even realised she had been a player.

"I am sorry Cath" He repeated.

"So I'm guessing that you're not staying here because you're…"

"Living with Danni" he confirmed with a nod of his head. "It's just temporary at the moment while I get this place sorted after the Nick Taylor fiasco but it's working for us." He said, his face softening. "Are you going to be okay?" He asked her, his voice gentling slightly. She made a sound of amusement.

"Well I feel a bit blindsided at the moment but…" her voice was drowned out by an excited girlie voice yelling from near the doorway.

"UNCLE STEVE!"

Catherine blinked, her mouth closing as she looked back to see a small girl of about eight racing through the crowd which automatically parted for her. She glanced back at Steve in time to see him hunch down and pick the girl up as she flew into his arms, straightening as he planted a kiss on her cheek.

"Hello Gracie bean, I was wondering where you and your mom were" He remarked, leaning back and looking at her.

"Mamma decided to bake some cakes for dessert so we had to wait until they cooled down enough to ice because otherwise all the icing would have melted everywhere. You forgot your wallet at home as well Uncle Steve so Mamma brought it with you. She's just coming out now but Auntie Amy caught her inside so they are just talking, I think Auntie Amy wants us to go to dinner at hers next Thursday." The girl he called Gracie told him, her words rushing together before they gave way so she could breathed. She glanced at Steve when he laughed.

"Finally remembered that you need to breathe then," He teased her. "I need to speak to your mom then because we are going out bowling with the team on Thursday" He remarked. "Grace this is my friend Catherine, Cath this is Danni's daughter Grace." He said. Catherine smiled at the small girl who focused all her attention on her. She was very pretty, small and slight with pale skin, long straight dark hair and large dark brown eyes.

"Pleased to meet you." She said politely before she turned back to Steve. "Am I going bowling with you as well?" She demanded, squealing when Steve nodded at her.

"You, Poppy and Bella are all coming." He told her.

"Awesome!" Grace said happily, wriggling in his arms until he placed her back on the ground. "I'm going to find Toast" She stated before she turned and ran off again.

"She's quite the bundle of energy." Catherine remarked attracting Steve's attention to her again, a trace of fondness still in his expression.

"I'm thinking she might have sampled some of Danni's buttercream icing and that's what has done it." He confided before he glanced towards the door, his face brightening. "Excuse me Cath" He said absently. She watched as he moved through the crowd, slapping his hand down on men's shoulders and accepting hugs from the women who had arrived while he had been talking to her before he stopped by a small blond woman who was mid conversation with the one she had assumed was Kono.

She moved closer so she could see Danni clearly. Her heart dropping when she took in the wavy blond hair which was up in a complicated style and the large grey eyes she had. There was no doubt about it, the woman was gorgeous dressed in a blue skater dress and sandals. She shared similar features to Grace and it was clear that the small girl had inherited her slight build and small height from her mother since Danni couldn't have been more than five foot one.

Catherine watched as Steve wrapped his arm around her, saying something Kono before he leaned down to Danni, capturing her mouth in a kiss, his hand flicking up as he gave Kono the finger for whatever it was she had said, the reaction causing the other woman to walk away laughing.

Catherine watched as the kiss continued, gentle and loving in a way Steve had never kissed her before. When they pulled back they stared at each other for a moment before saying something. The moment passed as Steve straightened, keeping his arm wrapped around Danni's shoulder, his gaze on Chin as the other man reappeared, kissing Danni on the cheek and speaking before he disappeared as well leaving them alone again.

Straightening her shoulders Catherine moved across to them, stopping by them with a smile on her lips as she spoke, keeping her voice friendly.

"You must be the famous Danni Williams I keep hearing about." She remarked. "I'm Catherine Rollins, it's nice to meet you." She stated watching as a look of surprise briefly came over the other woman's face face. Danni glanced at Steve who gave her one nod before she looked back at Catherine and spoke, her voice surprisingly quiet but friendly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Catherine and to finally be able to put a name to the face. Steve's spoken about you a lot in the past. Your help has been a god send at times so thanks for that." She said, her arm wrapping round Steve's waist, her hand slipping into the pocket of his cargo pants.

"It's not a problem, Steve will have to find other ways to say thanks now." She said, her gaze going to Steve who smiled at her.

"I'm sure we'll think of something." Danni remarked, waving her free hand and waving at someone before she looked back at Steve. "Have you actually started the grill yet?" She asked him, rolling her eyes at his expression. "Typical, let's go then, otherwise no one will eat" She said, accepting his kiss before pushing him towards the BBQ which was waiting to be used. "It was nice meeting you Catherine, find me later so we can talk more if you want" She remarked with a smile before they disappeared together back into the crowd.

She looked down at the ground for a moment, realising that her decision about the job in Hawaii had been made. If they asked her then she would say no and carry on what she was doing. It would be for the best.

She glanced up, her gaze landing on Jack before she smiled.

Still just because Steve was now firmly off the market it didn't mean she couldn't look for other ways to have fun during her week of shore leave, especially as she was now completely single with no ties.

Grinning to herself, she reached up and ran her hand down her hair before she moved towards where Jack was standing with another man talking.

There was still time to have fun after all.

Author Note

Thanks for taking the time to read.

An especially big thank you if you've taken the time to leave a review, favourite or follow the story. I really do appreciate it.