It wasn't every day that Steve and Danny of Hawaii's 5-0 team were called all the way over to the east coast for conferences with Homeland Security so the flight to Washington D.C. was a little bit exciting and nerve racking at the same time. Steve and Danny had been contacted after successfully keeping a deadly manufactured strain of a virus from destroying more than three quarters of the population of Hawaii. During that time there were worries it could spread further a field to some parts of the west coast on the mainland. But thanks to Steve and everyone else involved that was not a problem in the end.
Steve and Danny had gone to dinner not too far from capitol hill one early evening. They were with two leaders of the departments who had initially contacted 5-0 to attend the conferences. They had wanted 5-0 and Homeland Security to form closer working relationships with each other regardless of the distance and different states that were between them. They were taken to a fancy, modern restaurant with open dining areas. As it was a warm evening, the waitress had sat them out there. Sharing the dining area with them was a family, a group of three men, and two girl friends who appeared to have a child with them.
After ordering their drinks, they heard one of the lady's voices loud and clear. She was calling the child. "Gigi! Baby, come over here."
Danny's head shot over to Steve who was already looking up at the back of the woman's head. "Do you think that's..." he asked pointing over subtly using his menu to cover his mouth. He quickly looked to see whether the other men were listening to them talk. As they weren't Danny asked again. "Steve, is that..."
"It's gotta be her." Steve would recognise her voice anywhere. For a while it had turned into his favourite voice. Ever since he had heard it when they first met. Even when they were clashing during work.
"Who is the baby?"
"I don't know..." Steve shrugged.
"Do you think she's hers?"
Steve shrugged again. But was mentally contemplating whether the little girl running around her mother's table could be his. He'd slept with the mother once and he didn't remember whether or not they had used protection. The night they slept together was the last night he ever saw her or spoke to her properly.
The other woman lifted her hand to ask for the cheque. A few moments later, a waitress appeared with a small book which had the receipt peeking out.
"Lori, put that card away! I told you I was paying." they heard the other woman say.
"No, it's fine. This was meant to be our night and I'm cutting it short because I couldn't find a babysitter." she replied picking up the child and placing her down on her lap. She had her arms wrapped around Lori's neck and was resting her head on Lori's shoulder. The little girl was looking around at Steve's table as they were directly behind Lori. She looked at every person individually studying their features.
"I think you and Lori need to talk before she leaves here, buddy. I really do." Danny said leaning into Steve.
Steve didn't reply instead he was focused on the child's eyes. She had to be his daughter. They had the exact same dark blue eyes. Everything else was Lori, the hair colour, eyebrow shape, lips... but she definitely didn't have Lori's signature green eyes.
Steve watched Lori every now again while trying to stay engaged in the conversation happening at their own table. Once he saw Lori stand up and leave the area he decided it was now or never.
"Excuse me, there is something I have to attend to. I won't be long." Steve patted Danny's shoulder as he passed him and followed the same route Lori had done. When he had caught up, she was kissing her friend goodbye on the cheek. He waited for the friend to leave before following Lori again.
"Lori Weston."
She stood in her tracks as soon as she heard Steve calling her name. She tried to turn around to face him but she had froze. He made his way closer to her. Standing in front of her, he was mesmerized by her eyes. He should have been pissed off but Lori's eyes were magic and had a way of calming him. Steve and Lori stood for a while not saying a word to one another. It ended up being the child in Lori's arms who broke the silence.
"Mommy?"
Lori looked down at her daughter who she was holding between her waist and hips.
"Who's that?" her daughter pointed right at Steve.
"That's daddy." Lori's voice broke when she said it. Turning her eyes away from Steve. She was so embarrassed about the situation they were in right now.
As soon as Steve heard the word daddy he took a deep breath and threw his head back.
"Hello." the sweet voice spoke up again.
Steve looked at her as she kept her head on Lori's shoulder. "Hi..." he replied in a whisper. Averting his eyes back to Lori he said softly. "Lori. What the...?"
She was still looking away. When she felt him shaking her elbow to get her to look at him she finally did.
"Just tell me why..."
"Not here. I can't do it right now." Lori walked past Steve trying to flag down a cab. One stopped for her quickly and she stepped out into the road to open the cab door.
"You can't do it? Lori are you kidding me?!" Steve raised his voice slightly standing on the edge of the sidewalk.
Lori had put their daughter into the cab first.
"Lori! Hey, talk to me!"
"You can meet us tomorrow." Lori sat down in the cab. "Come to the starbucks near the White House tomorrow morning. I'll try and get there for 10am." she shut the cab door and two seconds later they were off. Steve watched the cab get further into the distance before returning to the restaurant.
"Is everything okay, commander?" one of the leaders asked when he arrived back at the table.
"Umm..." Steve sat back down. "Not really. I just found out some big news."
"Is it bad?" the other leader asked.
"No, it's life changing news and so unexpected." Steve put his hand over his jaw and ran the hand over his stubble.
"Can I take your orders now, gentlemen?" a waitress asked them. Steve was grateful for the interruption.
Steve had managed to get out of the morning conference the next morning. He had pulled one of the leaders aside after the meal and told him in strictest confidence that there was a family emergency to be dealt with. The leader was more than happy to give Steve the morning free to handle the emergency, but not any longer. Luckily for Steve, Danny was willing to go alone to the conference.
"I'm only willing to do this because I love you. And you owe me beer every night we are here."
"Thanks buddy." Steve patted Danny's back as they walked to their hotel.
"Starting tonight." Danny pointed to a bar along the street they were walking on.
Steve entered the starbucks coffee shop at 9:50. He hoped that he had got the right one as there was another coffee shop near the White House. He ordered a grande coffee and went to sit down on the couch like seats near the window. Lori came in at exactly 10 with their daughter holding onto her hand.
"What do you want, G?" she said as they walked to the till. They hadn't seen Steve yet. Lori placed her bag on the bar infront of her and picked the little girl up. "Milk and marshmallow stick? Or milk and rice crispy cake?" Lori asked kissing her cheek as they waited for a barista.
After ordering and paying, she walked down to the end of the bar. Lori looked around the shop and saw Steve over her left shoulder. She took a breath when he looked at her. He didn't look happy and she didn't blame him at all. She'd been up all night trying to figure out how to tell him why she kept their daughter a secret.
"I'll bring your drinks and snacks over to you." the barista said seeing that Lori had her hands full.
"Okay thank you." Lori turned around and placed the little girl down.
"Mommy! Look!"
Lori followed her daughter who had gone straight to where Steve was sitting.
"Morning." Steve said looking up at Lori as he sipped from his coffee.
"Hi." she sat down on the couch seat opposite him not letting her eyes leave his. "Gigi, you want to sit here?" she patted her thighs and the little girl came jumping over from where she was standing near Steve.
"I don't know where to begin."
"When did you find out you were pregnant?" Steve asked quickly.
"Um about 6 weeks after I got back from Hawaii."
"You didn't think to contact me?" he asked raising one of his eyebrows at her.
"Steve, I called your office. I called your cell. I called your house phone. I had to pull up your file to find that number. Nothing I got nothing. Not even a call back. In my mind, you were through with me."
"I..."
"I didn't want to have an.." Lori covered her daughter's ears. "...abortion..." she moved her hands. "why should a child not be able to live because two adults were stupid."
Lowering his brow he sighed a little. "I didn't know you had called at all."
"The same number calls three different phones and you don't know?"
"No."
"Whatever." Lori replied looking at the barista before turning to Steve when she heard him speak.
"You had my email. You had Danny's number..."
"You can't answer three phone calls, what makes you think emailing you went through my mind? You had tossed me away. And this was something Danny did not need to be dragged into."
"Your drink, ma'am. And here is your milk and marshmallow stick. Enjoy."
"Thanks." Lori replied watching the barista walk away. "Baby, do you want this now or later?" she asked looking down at their daughter who was playing on Lori's phone. "Do you want it now?" Lori repeated herself as she looked up at her.
Their daughter leaned forward for the marshmallow stick.
Steve and Lori spoke civilly for about half an hour. To be honest, Lori didn't know what to expect from the conversation so was glad that Steve had been eager to get to know every single detail. She couldn't imagine sitting in an uncomfortable silence with a guy who used to manage to turn a normal conversation into a flirtatious one with just one smirk or glint in his eye.
"What's her full name?" Steve asked.
"Georgia Emilia Weston. We all just call her Gigi though."
"When was she born?"
"September 10th 2012"
"So she's a year and a half."
Lori nodded.
"Why did you let me miss this much?" Steve asked.
"Do we have to go back to this? I thought I had explained myself."
"I missed out on so much, Lori. So much because you thought I wouldn't jeopardise my 5-0 job to be with my daughter." Steve leant back in his chair and rubbed his forehead.
"Would you? Would you have really left Hawaii to care for a family with a woman you knew for about three or four months?"
"Yes!" he leant forward.
"Anyway it wasn't just about your job. Your whole life was there, your sister, your girlfriend..."
"My life was literally just my job. My sister had her own stuff to deal with so I rarely saw her. And my 'girlfriend' was an old friend who I occasionally hooked up with."
"I didn't know that. You were always vague about your life."
"What are we going to do?" he asked gazing at Georgia who was in Lori's arms.
"What do you mean?" Lori asked turning her head to sneeze.
Steve waited for her to compose herself. "I'm willing to move here to be with my daughter. I just have to find a new job. Are you okay with that?"
"Well yeah... it's just where will you work? Where will you live?"
"Let me worry about that. I just want to know that you are going to be happy with me living here."
"Yes that's fine by me."
"And when I am here, how often do I get to see my daughter."
"As often as you want to. But she has to get used to you first so maybe every other day to begin with."
Steve nodded. "Has she got a passport?"
"Yeah."
"So incase I can't get a job here as soon as I want. You can both come over so that the team, my sister and Joe can meet her."
"Yeah if that's what you want." Lori shrugged and looked around her shoulder to see if there was a queue at the coffee bar.
"What about celebrating her birthday. How are we going to do that?" Steve asked pulling her attention back to him.
"My parents will probably just come over. My cousins and their kids too."
"Why don't we celebrate in Hawaii?"
"You're making a lot of plans." Lori raised an eyebrow at him.
"I have a lot of time to catch up on." Steve replied bitterly.
Lori sighed relaxing her face. "Okay, Hawaii can be arranged. It'll mean my mom and dad will miss out."
"Not necessarily. If they want to fly over, they can. I might not have space at my house but there are hotels close by."
"Okay." Lori sighed. She was still feeling tense. She sipped from her mug and realised it was bone cold.
"Can you hold her while I get another drink?" Lori asked holding Georgia in her arms as she slept.
"Sure." Steve sat up straight in his seat. Lori placed her on Steve's lap and made sure Georgia's head was positioned near the junction between Steve's shoulder and chest. She hadn't stirred during the moving of her. Steve looked down as Georgia slept with her little head resting near his chest. She definitely looked like Lori with her pouting lips and long eyelashes.
As Lori waited in the queue, Georgia began to shift in her sleep. Crying a little bit at the unfamiliarity or perhaps a bad dream. Not wanting to make Lori leave the queue and also wanting to make most of the time he had with his daughter, he soothed her by making hushing noises. He gently picked her up and placed her chest to chest with him so that her head was resting on his shoulder now. Placing one of her hands on his clavicle and keeping her other arm near her side, she immediately settled.
"I have to get to a conference now. I left Danny alone there this morning and I said I would be back by noon." Steve told Lori fifteen minutes later.
"Okay... say 'bye'. Lori told Georgia who had just woken up and was leaning against Lori.
"Bye." she said tiredly.
"Bye Georgia."
Steve stood up and left them. He quickly returned when he realised he needed all of Lori's contact information.
"Okay guys, Lori and my daughter are coming here soon. I don't know how she'll react but if she gets upset don't be offended. If she loves you then that will be amazing."
Danny opened the glass doors to their office and let Lori walk in with Georgia in her arms. "Look who I found outside." Danny announced.
"Hey Lori." Kono called as they watched them walk down.
"Hey guys..." Lori sighed when she reached them. She had no idea why she was so nervous.
Steve stepped closer to Lori and bent down to look at Georgia who had her head resting on Lori's shoulder. "G... baby. You want to say 'hi' to daddy's friends?"
Georgia looked up at Kono, Lou and Chin Ho. She then looked to Steve who was standing normally and held out her hands so that he would take her.
Steve took her from Lori and kissed her cheek as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Steve's resignation hadn't gone well which meant he would only be free from his contract in October. In the mean time he had flown to Washington D.C. every month to spend time with his daughter. Every single time he left it was harder and harder for both him and Georgia. This was her first time coming to Hawaii. "Are you shy?" he asked as he kept his lips near her cheek as he spoke. Kissing her again as she waved at the rest of the team.
"I hear it's your birthday soon. Are you going to be two?" Kono asked gently holding up her two fingers.
Georgia started to smile and placed her head right next to Steve's neck to hide.
"Awww! She's so sweet, Lori." Kono stated smiling brightly.
"I know. She's an angel."
"Do you want to know their names?" Steve asked Georgia whose head was resting near his neck.
"Yeah okay." Georgia replied.
"This smiley lady is called Aunty Kono." Steve pointed to her. "And then that smiley man with the colourful shirt is called Uncle Chin." he pointed at Chin who was standing a few feet away from Kono. "The big man next to Uncle Chin is Uncle Lou. And then the man standing next to mommy is Uncle Danno."
"Your names should be pretty easy for her to remember." Lori commented as she watched Georgia looking around at them all.
"What are you planning on doing for her birthday?" Chin asked.
"You'll have to ask Steve. All I was in charge for was getting here and booking my parents' flights and hotel rooms." Lori shrugged smiling at Chin as she spoke.
"Your parents are coming too?" he asked.
"Yeah they fly in tomorrow."
"Aw that will be nice." he commented
"Yeah.." Lori smiled. "Obviously you're all welcome to whatever we are doing." she told them as she played with her hands.
"We'll be there." Kono promised.
Lori turned to Danny. "Bring Grace too."
"Of course." Danny pulled Lori into a side hug and kissed her head.
"Daddy, I want to play." Georgia spoke up for the first time since she arrived at 5-0.
"You want to play? Where?" Steve asked looking down at Georgia who had her arms wrapped tightly around him.
"Swings."
"On the swings? I think that sounds so fun."
"So cool."
"That is cool but daddy has to stay at work." he told her sadly.
"I want you, daddy. I want to play with you."
"I know baby. You go and play with mommy on the swings and then when daddy comes home we can get ice cream."
"Yummy! Ice cream. Chocolate ice cream?" she asked with a little shimmer in her eyes.
"Any ice cream that you want." Steve replied kissing Georgia's forehead.
The night before her 2nd birthday, Georgia had been kicking up a fuss about wanting to be with both her mom and dad when she went to sleep.
"Daddy!" she called out as Lori held her close.
"Georgia! I told you before. No." Lori hissed.
"I want daddy!" she replied. "Daddy where are you?" she called out.
"Gigi, do you want me to call off your birthday tomorrow? No cake, no presents?"
"I want them."
"You have to be quiet and go to sleep. I already said Daddy sleeps in his bed and we sleep here."
"G." they heard from the door of the room. Steve had opened the door which had been left ajar and was leaning against it.
"Daddy, you sleep here?" Georgia patted the pillow next to her.
"No, baby. Your mommy is right. I have to sleep next door and you guys go to sleep here."
"Please!"
"Listen." Lori spoke up. "Sometimes your daddy has to get up really, really early to go to work. You don't want to wake up really, really early too do you?"
"If you and your mommy go to sleep right now. I promise to be here as soon as you wake up tomorrow morning."
"But Daddy never stays." Georgia started to cry placing her head into Lori's shoulders.
"Hey sweetie, don't cry. How about you and Daddy have a sleepover in his room tonight?"
"And you too."
"No, just you two."
"No. I want you and Daddy." she mumbled.
"You know if we don't sleep soon we won't be able to see Nana and Papa at their hotel. We will have to tell Daddy's friends to get them. You want to see them?"
"Yeah."
"Promise me that you will fall asleep now then. Please baby." Lori asked quietly.
"Okay."
"Good girl. Thank you."
Georgia rolled away from Lori.
"Night." she whispered sweetly to her parents.
"Goodnight baby." Lori kissed her cheek before leaning over to turn the lamp off.
"Alright, goodnight Lori."
"Hey, I need to use your car to get to my parents hotel tomorrow."
"Yeah my keys are downstairs on the kitchen."
"Okay good. Goodnight."
"Night." Steve closed the door and went to his room. Lori closed her eyes when she heard his door shut.
Lori woke up at 6am the next morning and headed downstairs quietly. Her parents had flown in yesterday and asked her to meet them at 9am for breakfast so she was in no rush to get ready. She walked into the kitchen and saw Steve blowing balloons at the kitchen table.
"Morning." she muttered quietly.
"Hey." he turned to her while blowing up a purple balloon.
"Aww you remembered her favourite colour." she commented sitting down at the table.
Steve nodded. "Yep. The vanilla cake she likes should be delivered in about 2 hours. I'm not quite sure where to keep it."
"What's the temperature like down in your basement?"
"Cooler than it is up here."
"You can keep it down there then. Gigi doesn't go anywhere other than this floor during the day."
"Okay." he replied tying the end of the balloon. "How was she last night?" Steve asked.
"She was fine. Went to sleep as soon as I turned out the light." she replied loosening the balloon before she began blowing air into it. "What else is being delivered?"
"Just the bouncy castle. Danny is bringing the pizza. Komekona is bringing his shave ice. All the other food is in here."
She stopped blowing. "Anything I can do?"
"No, I told you I would do it all didn't I?"
"Yes, you did..."
"What time are you going to meet your parents?"
"I'll leave at 8:30."
"Will Georgia be awake by then?"
"Yeah. I'm going to get her up in about an hour. I've got to go to Kono's at some point and pick up Gigi's presents. I'll go once I drop them over here."
"Yeah I can keep your parents company. It'll give me a chance to get to know them." Steve shrugged.
Lori nodded as she finished off blowing her balloon.
Lori and Georgia met Lori's parents for breakfast at 9am. They'd given her one of her birthday presents after she had finished her pancakes and blueberries. They had bought her a rapunzel dress which was something Georgia was always asking for. One because it was a purple colour and secondly because she loved the songs in the movie.
"How is her father?" Lori's mother asked sipping on her tea.
"He's okay. He said he's planning everything today so I've had no input."
"What about his job? Didn't he say he was coming out east?" her father asked.
"He is coming next month. He was under contract and had to give 6 months notice before he could resign." Lori informed them.
"Does he have a job lined up?" he asked.
Lori nodded.
"Really? Where?"
"Homeland Security."
"Where you work?" her mother asked raising an eyebrow at Lori.
"Yeah. He knows other people who work for Homeland Security so they pulled a few favours."
"How do you feel about that?"
"I'm glad he'll have a well paying job by the time he gets to D.C. He doesn't deserve a bad, low paid job. He gives everything his all so he'll be absolutely fine."
"Will he be living with you?"
"Absolutely not. I already told him that. I went with him apartment hunting last month when he came to see Gigi." Lori placed her hand on her daughter's head. "Remember when we went to look for apartments for Daddy?"
"Yeah, we went up, up, up." Georgia pointed her finger to the ceiling.
Steve sat with Lori's parents awkwardly. He was glad that Georgia was there to break the ice.
It wasn't long before the man came with the bouncy castle to put in the backyard for Georgia which meant he could avoid the grandparents of his child for a while.
"Excuse me, Steven?" he heard from the back veranda.
"Yes, Mrs Weston?" Steve turned around.
"Will Gigi be getting changed for her birthday?"
"Yeah I suppose so. I was hoping Lori might sort it out."
"Don't fret. I'll do it now." she told him walking back into the house.
With Lori's mother out of the way for a while. Steve wondered what her father was up to. He stood with the bouncy castle man and looked over his shoulder and saw Lori's father walking towards him.
"Can we talk for a minute?" he asked once he approached Steve.
"Sure." Steve pointed towards the beach and they made their way there.
"I want to get to know you. I want you to not just be my granddaughter's estranged father."
"Yeah I agree. We should know each other."
"What I want to know first off is why it took you nearly two years to be in your daughter's life?"
Rather than throw Lori under the bus. He tried to explain the situation so that it looked less harsh on Lori and slightly more worse from his side.
"Lori and I worked together for about four months. We were immediately attracted to one another." he said cautiously trying to gage what her father was thinking. "I was her boss so nothing came of it. That was up until the day she resigned. I went to see her a few hours after getting the letter of resignation." Steve looked at him again knowing what he would say next might be a little too much information. "We shared a few drinks, got takeout and one thing lead to another."
Lori's dad huffed a little.
"What Lori didn't know at the time was that I was kind of involved with someone else. Not in a relationship but she and I had something special. The day Lori was due to leave she came back to my office and saw me with that woman. I tried to stop Lori from leaving but I couldn't. I just let her go. Two years and three months later, I went to Washington D.C. and my whole life changed."
"You guys didn't have any contact after she left Hawaii?"
"None. The first time I saw her was at a restaurant when I went to D.C earlier this year. That was also the first time I saw Georgia." They stayed silent for a moment. "If you don't mind me asking. How did Lori explain Georgia's father not being around to you and your wife?"
"Whenever we would ask, she'd just say 'he's not in the picture. Has his own life in Hawaii. He'd never leave. What's the point?' Eventually we stopped pushing her."
"Daddy! Papa!" they heard from behind them "Look!" Georgia came running down to them in her rapunzel dress.
"Hey! Who's the princess?" Lori's father called out beaming at her.
"Me. Gigi!" she jumped into Steve's arms.
"Wow. Who got you that dress?" Steve asked.
"Papa!" she pointed at her grandfather. "And nana. At breakfast."
"Very nice isn't it?" Steve commented.
"Yes." Georgia leaned towards her grandfather.
"You're welcome sweetheart. I'm glad you like it." Lori's father replied taking Georgia from Steve.
"Mr McGarrett?" they heard from behind them.
"Yeah?" Steve turned around and walked to the bouncy castle man.
"It's all done. I will be in the area from 6pm onwards so whenever you are done, give me a shout."
"Thanks man." Steve shook his hand and walked the man around the back of the house into the front where his van was. Waiting for the man to leave his drive he watched Lori pulling in driving Steve's blue chevy. He walked over and opened the passenger side door picking up the gifts. Lori exited the car and opened the back door to pick up a couple of big boxes.
"How's Gigi?" she asked closing the door with a flick of her hip.
"She's fine. She's with your dad in her new dress."
"Where's my mom?"
"I don't know. She's in the house though."
"Okay." Lori replied carefully opening the front door. "Hey mom?" she called out.
"Up here darling!" Lori waited for her mom to come down while Steve took the gifts down to the basement where the birthday cake had been left away from Georgia's prying eyes. "Hey..." she smiled seeing her mom. "Everyone should be arriving soon. Can you get Gigi dressed for me?"
"I tried to. She insisted on wearing her rapunzel dress."
"Ah. She'll not take it off until it's time to sleep then I guess. Nevermind."
"Anything else you want your mama's help with?"
"Could you just make sure all the red cups and drinks are out?"
"Sure."
"Thanks mom." Lori took the gifts she held down to the basement. Opening the door, she screamed when she bumped into Steve. "Shit!"
"Sorry. I'll take them." Steve replied picking up one of the boxes that had fell.
Georgia and Grace had a fun time playing together on the bouncy castle. Danny and Kono had even joined them for a little while. Steve and Chin kept their attention on the bbq looking over again at the kids playing. Lori sat with her mom while Lori's dad got chatting to Lou and Steve's Uncle Joe, who had been more of a father than uncle, to Steve throughout his teenage and adult life. Mary arrived two hours later than everyone with little Joanie. This was the first time the two cousins would be meeting so all parents were slightly nervous.
"G, this is Joanie." Steve put Georgia on his lap as he sat down next to Mary who had Joan standing inbetween her legs. "And this is aunty Mary."
Georgia cuddled into Steve as she looked between Mary and Joan.
"It's so nice to meet you beautiful girl. I'm your daddy's little sister."
Georgia looked up at Steve.
"You can say 'hi' to aunty Mary, right?"
"Hi" she finally said.
"Hi sweetheart." Mary smiled. "Do you want to play with Joanie on the bouncy castle?"
"Go on baby. Uncle Danno and Gracie are still there." Steve pried Georgia from his lap as Mary gently pushed Joan to go too. They watched their daughters walking away together. Joan was slightly taller than Georgia and tried to lead her. "Do you want to meet Lori now?" Steve asked Mary.
"Sure."
Lori and her mom were still talking near Komekona. Lori's mom was trying her first shave ice. "Lori?" Steve called.
"Yeah?" she turned her head and saw them walking to her.
"I wanted to introduce you to my sister." Lori and Mary had never met as when Lori first came to the island, Mary was living in Los Angeles. But Lori had heard about her.
"Oh hi." Lori smiled tucking some of her hair out of her face. "I'm Lori and this is my mom. It's nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you both too. I'm Mary."
"I've heard a lot about you." Lori smiled.
"I wish I could say the same." Mary laughed awkwardly.
They all stayed silent for a little while which felt like a lifetime. It wasn't long before Komekona spoke up from behind them. "Steve's sista, would you like some ice?"
"Yeah sure!" Lori stepped away from Komekona so that Mary could get closer.
Georgia had gone to stay the night with her grandparents, leaving Steve and Lori at his house alone. They didn't want Georgia to go as they hadn't spent time alone since before she was born but Georgia insisted on going with her Nana and Papa. Lori figured since her parents would be leaving in two nights she could let Georgia stay with them for the night. Steve cleaned up the outside of the house while Lori cleaned inside. They had managed to get the state of the house back to the high standard that Steve liked it to be. Lori settled down to watch some tv at around 8pm while Steve was on the phone making work related calls in his office.
"Do you want to look through the photos?" Lori heard him ask as he walked into the lounge.
"Yeah sure." she sat up and watched as he approached her.
Steve sat down next to her and flicked through the camera. There were about 100 to go through. No doubt he would have to delete some of them.
"I like that one." Lori commented. It was a photo of her parents sitting with Georgia with the ocean in the background. Steve was fortunate enough to have private access to a private beach at the end of his back garden. Georgia must have been telling them something as all eyes were on her at the time.
"Yeah that's nice."
Steve flicked to one where Georgia was playing on the bouncy castle with Grace. Grace was holding both of Georgia's hands as they played together. The next one was of Georgia sitting on Danny's shoulders after he had joined them on the bouncy castle. She was clearly enjoying herself. They flicked through more. Steve was happy that everyone who they had been invited managed to get a photo with the birthday girl.
"That's cute." Lori commented when Steve paused on a photo of Georgia feeding Steve some of her birthday cake.
"I like that one. I might get it printed and framed."
"You should. You've seen the one I have from her first birthday on my fireplace."
Steve nodded. "Did you bring me the album of her first year?"
"Yeah it's upstairs still in my suitcase." Lori replied sitting cross legged on the couch. "After today, I regret not trying more than three times to get in touch with you. You should have been there for every milestone."
"Yeah I know." Steve sighed heavily flicking through more photos.
"You'll be with her for the rest of her milestones I guess."
"Of course, try and stop me."
"I'm sorry."
"You've already apologised. There's no need. We can't turn back time now." Steve looked at Lori who was looking at him as he slouched down on the couch. "I'm going to get a beer, do you want one?"
"Thanks." Lori replied taking the camera which Steve was handing her.
Steve and Lori had gotten through three beers each, a 8 slice hawaiian pizza and a few more beers. They were now a lot more open with each other. Steve confessed to wanting to call Lori but thinking she would have moved on. Lori admitted that she would have come back to Hawaii but she didn't want to be an intrusion on Steve's life again. They had both loved and deeply cared for one another but ignorance had just gotten in the way.
"Do you think we could ever go back to the way we used to be?" Lori asked coming down in her pyjamas.
"What way?"
"You know Steve."
Lori and Steve had first met at the Governor's office where Steve seems to be taken by Lori as soon as she walked in. They'd flirted a little before the news that she would be a part of his team was dropped. Ever since then, no words needed to be spoken but their eyes expressed the way they felt about each other effectively enough. It wasn't until she had resigned that she had been truly honest about falling for him. He admitted that he felt the same but didn't know how it could have ever worked out between them - which she agreed with. Regardless they hooked up that same night and then Lori had left the island two days later.
"Has there been another man in G's life?" Steve asked wondering if Lori had moved on.
"Nope. You were the last. I didn't really have the chance to go out and date."
"The last?" Steve asked assuming she meant last person she slept with.
"Yes, the last."
"Is that the reason you're so uptight?"
Lori raised her eyebrows at him before pursing her lips. "It must be." she replied looking at the tv screen.
"Want me to help you out?" Steve asked cheekily before taking the final sip of his beer. After a few drinks he always seemed to say anything that was on his mind.
"Bold move eh, McGarrett." she replied bringing her legs to her chest as they sat a few inches away from each other on the couch.
"I'm game." he told her placing the bottle down on the coffee table infront of them. "We have the house to ourselves."
"Shut up, Steve."
"Fair enough."
"You'll regret it in the morning anyway. Once the alcohol wears off."
"We've been dancing around each other since May, what are we waiting for?"
Lori sighed and shrugged. "I don't know."
"Exactly. You haven't hooked up with anyone and I haven't ever since I came to D.C. for the first time. Clearly there's a reason for that."
"If we hook up now, what's the endgame?"
"What do you mean?"
"Are you expecting us to jump into a relationship or is it to just get both of our frustrations out?"
Steve didn't answer he just gazed at Lori who ended up get lost in his eyes as he kept his eyes on her. Lori could feel her heart beating as she looked at Steve properly for the first time in a long while. His blue eyes bringing back all the pent up feelings she had for him when she worked for 5-0.
"Just tonight." she told him as she straddled his lap.
He pulled her in for a searing kiss. He moaned when she stopped kissing him.
"Upstairs." she whispered against his lips.
Lori woke up at about midnight to use the bathroom, she tried to leave Steve's bed but he had hooked his arm around her waist and had pinned her down as he slept deeply. Prying herself out of his muscular hold, she gently got off the bed and tiptoed to the bathroom picking up her shorts and tshirt on the way out. She jumped into the shower down the hall and then went downstairs to get herself a drink and turn off all the lights. Walking back upstairs, she closed Steve's door as she passed it on the way to the guest bedroom. As comfortable as she found Steve's bed and the heat that radiated from his body, she knew it wasn't right to just stay in bed with him. Climbing into the guest bed, she checked her phone quickly and saw a message from her father saying they would spend the day with Georgia and bring her back to Steve's later on in the evening. Not replying as it was too late in the night, Lori lay her head down and tried to fall asleep.
Lori woke up six hours later and walked down to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee. When she waited for the coffee machine to brew, she saw Steve sitting outside on the veranda. Pushing the french doors open, she admired the view of the ocean that they had from Steve's house.
"Morning." She heard from her right hand side.
"Hey." she replied going to sit down next to Steve who was shirtless.
"What time did you leave last night?"
"About midnight I think."
"Oh I didn't hear you go." he told her.
"No, you wouldn't have. You were in a pretty deep sleep. I had to pry myself away from you."
"What do you mean?" Steve asked chuckling lightly before looking out to the ocean.
"You had your arm tucked around my waist. Tight."
"Sorry about that."
Lori shrugged and went back into the house. She came back out soon after with her coffee
"So where do we go from here?" Steve asked when she sat with him.
"We can discuss that when you move to D.C." she replied sipping on her coffee.
Steve and Lori sat in a comfortable silence as they admired the beauty which surrounded Steve's house. This was something they would never get back on the mainland. Knowing this would be her last couple of days in Hawaii she basked in the wonderful atmosphere. She knew the next few weeks would be difficult for Steve. He had travelled the world as part of his job but this was the only place he had lived. The majority of his memories were here. She knew it would be difficult for him to leave it all behind. But she was grateful for him making the big decision to move over to D.C. rather than convince Lori to move to Hawaii with Georgia. She just hoped they would be able to be a happy family - whether she and Steve decided to date or just remain as friends.