After putting up with his daily morning dose of Danno Williams's verbal abuse , Steve McGarrett had never been more grateful for the tranquil silence that the Palace offered, as he entered his office to begin another day.

He'd spent at least 20 minutes today, going back and worth with Danno over the principle of cleaning up dust from the floor of their still-not-up-and-running restaruant. Steve, being the more sensible of the two, had tried to be patient, explaining to his collegue why any cleaning-espeically dusting- could wait until they'd gotten the establishment up and running, and that all the work being done to get this place to that point would just undo any cleaning done anyway.

That had ultimately not stopped Danno at all. He'd just gotten more into his own spiel, berating Steve for being so blase about keeping ' their ' establisment ( which wasn't really that established to speak of, technically ) in good condition, and had proceeded to launch into an impressive tirade on why that was important.

Or, at least Steve had assumed it was important. Halfway through it, he'd stopped Danno by promising he'd get a broom from the back supply cuboard to pitch in, seemingly gone to get it, and had instead slipped out through one of the rear doors and left alltogether.

SEALS aren't trained to be covert operators for nothing.

With a wide and smug smirk fixed on his face at having gotten out of there so smoothly, Steve had made a quick detour home to make himself some coffee, and then went on to arrive at the Palace, all while making sure that his phone stayed off. Having ring ( or shudder, if he turned the sound off ) nonstop as Danno tried to call him would be intolerably annoying.

As if actually answering the phone would be any less irratating.

Getting yelled at by that guy is just as bad over the phone as it is face to face. Why did I ask him to be on the Task Force anyway ? Not sure I'll ever know

Ah, well, When he eventually gets here, he'll have calmed down. Working a case always smoothes out any rifts for a cop. He can't stop himself

Well, now that he'd actually gotten into his office, coffee in hand, closing the door and sitting at his desk Steve finally felt relaxed that morning.

Nobody else from the team had arrived yet ( which was a interesting change from that time he'd stumbled upon that little intimate scene between the new kids a while ago ), and for the moment, Steve had the HQ to himself. He reclined slightly in his chair ( which was only lightly padded so he didn't get too comfortable and risk falling asleep if he happened to be working while burning the midnight oil ), and took another sip of his pleasantly still hot coffee, making a point, as always, to savor the burn it left as it went down.

There just wasn't any time like morning, or hot quality coffee, for getting your head into the game.

The sun had risen a little further, and now its rays were lighting up the offices. It was partially why Steve didn't keep any of the lights turned on in the mornings; they'd just clash with the sun, which was doing a better job of iluminating this place anyway. Steve did make sure he'd turned on his desk fan, though. He preferred to work with a little white noise going in in the background.

Everyone likes to configure they're workspace to their own liking, and when you're the man in charge, that's especially important. After all, if you're not happy, then your subordinates probbably won't be either.

Or so Steve considered, anyway.

With everything the way he wanted it, he opened up his laptop, ready to get to work. Abruptly, though, just as he signed into his user account-

Mzzzb, mzzb !

His smartphone came to life, shaking and humming as it received an incoming text message. Steve had taken it out and placed it on his desk, to put it in easy reach just in case he decided to call someone who wouldn't talk his ear off about pointless nonsense. Now, that certainly seemed like a good call.

For crying out loud, Danno. Still ?!

Steve rolled his eyes, mentally noting to keep his phone turned off in the future, after disagreeing with Danno. They may be brothers, but sometimes, like now, he was the most insufferable person on the planet.

Grudginly admitting to himself that he might as well deal with this now rather than later, Steve slowly took his phone, unlocked it, and checked the messages. To his great ( and pleased ) surprise, it wasn't from Danno.

Instead, it was from Tani, and when Steve read it, it sent a stab of shock through him:

' Sir

I found something at Adam's house recently. By accident, while I was there to water the plants. This is something big. I shouldn't be long to be at work today, and I'll tell you then '

Tani put her phone down.

Sitting at her modestly sized dining room table, ceiling fan lazily turning and the room filled with the easy dawn light, with fingertips pressed against the side of her nose, and thumbs hooked under her jaw, the rookie silently found herself grappling with what she'd just done.

That it couldn't be taken back- once you sent a text, that was it- was just part of the issue. One that she'd been sitting on for too long, ever after finding that gun and gloves buried under those batteries. It'd bothered her from then till now, unsure of what would happen to Adam if she told McGarrett, but aware that she was obligated to do just that.

Finally committed to telling him ( and she partially had, but the details weren't out yet ), should've taken some of the weight off her shoulders, but, to her dismay, it hadn't worked as well as she hoped.

" Junes, I did the right thing. I know I did. Can't say I hate that its done, but I still have a bad feeling about what it'll mean for Adam. "

Across from her, busily delving into his bowl of stove-cooked oatmeal ( that Tani had insisted on making for him, despite his protests that he knew how to cook ), Junior paused, then put his spoon down.

" Tani, you're not saying you wish you hadn't ? ", he inquired, firmly but also gently, in a way he only used with her, one of the things that attracted her to him the most.

He'll figure that out, eventually. Agh, can't get distracted, appealing though it is, Tani thought, unable to keep one corner of her mouth from turning up in a small smile at what he'd said.

Putting her hands back on the table, she looked up to make eye contact with him, finding that he was looking right back with an expression that was half concerned, half proud:

She'd done what he wanted, and technically what she'd wanted to as well, but he understood it was something she was still taking seriously, and he wanted to help.

Such a hero. Well, there's nothing to tell but the truth

With a soft exhale, Tani got it together, and replied:

" No, that's not the case. Its just, Adam is, well, he was part of our team. Not officially, not formally, and I didn't even really know him that well, but he still seemed like a good, straightforward shooter. He wanted to help us, any way he could, and he risked his life to do it. He went into that bank with you and the boss while it was under attack by those thugs, and he was nearly tortued to death by the Yakuza over that 20 million. "

She knew Junior was as aware of this as she was, and wasn't entirely sure that rehashing it would serve much of a purpose, but Tani couldn't help it, and she didn't really even know why.

In any case, it got a reaction from her man; Junior blinked, then nodded slowly.

" I get it ", he agreed. " We're all loyal to each other, because this is a unit, and a unit runs on cohesion. That's a good thing, generally. But, Tani, if he actually did do what we think he did, then that's outside the law. We serve the law, and that's something we can't go back on. "

Reaching a hand out to place an affectionate hand on her arm, he continued by saying:

" It'll be fine, sweetheart. This'll be a case, just as we've worked before. Its more close to home, but that just means we've got more cause to see it through ".

He was right, again. Tani wished he wasn't, but he was.

It helped her- she felt some of the apprehension she'd had before begin to ebb away- but some of it was still there. At this point, after all this deliberating, hesitating, then finally informing the Commander that she had something she needed to tell him about a former ( unoffical ) team member, she was now certain that only actually telling him would make her feel better.

And that was about less than an hour . Soon as Junior finished eating, anyway.

There was also the small matter that Junior had called her ' sweetheart', for the first time. Tani's heart involuntarily skipped a beat, and she felt some heat come to her face.

You're a real smooth operator, SEAL or not.

Her formerly small smile grew, and predictably, it made Junior smile as well.

Tani raised a hand, and made a beckoning motion with it, while making sure she didn't take her eyes off him.

" Get over here ", she all but ordered him.

" Hate to say this, but only Captain Grover or Commander McGarrett can give me orders. ", Junior stated, though he'd caught on at once to what she was thinking, and was sensibly playing along.

With authority, Tani replied

" Either you get over here, so I can kiss you, or I'm climbing over this table and doing it anyway. "

Ultimatums. I should issue those more often.

Recognizing it, Junior obidently got up, ( though he obviously wasn't unhappy about said ultimatum ), came around to where she was, and gently took her chin by the tips of one hand, just as he had when he kissed her last night.

Tani closed her eyes, as he leaned in. As their lips gently met-

Krk ! Krk ! Krk ! Krk !

-the first bullets roared through the front windows.