Sammy & Ilna, you are the bestest of the best! Thanks for everything, especial your RL friendship & support! Oh and of course, for the proofing!
#REALMcRollers and readers, thank you for the wonderful support and love for our work and the REAL World! xoxo Mari
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Wisdom
Monday, 6:45 p.m.
HQ
The team sat around the conference table finishing their first meal in nearly fourteen hours after closing a case that had gone smoothly right up through the takedown. Kono and Steve had chased a suspected weapons trafficker into an apartment complex while Chin, Danny and Catherine pursued his partner through an adjacent building. Chin had their guy cornered and arrested before he'd made it to the roof, and as he hauled Kenneth Dalton out to the HPD vehicles, Danny and Catherine went to provide additional back up for Steve and Kono.
As the two were rounding the back of the complex, Dalton's partner and girlfriend, Judy Kingston had landed in their path. Literally. The thirty year old former athlete flew over the second story fire escape and hit the ground not two feet from Danny and Catherine, followed seconds later by Steve.
Kingston was startled enough by the presence of the two Five-0 team members that she hesitated. In seconds, Danny took her feet out from under her and Catherine reached down and pulled her up to cuff her, while Steve swiped the back of his hand across the left side of his bloody mouth. He had a bruise already forming and a cut on the side of his jaw that looked like he'd need a few stitches.
"Book 'em …" He grinned but before he could utter his partner's name, Kono appeared, leading a third suspect, and Steve looked up.
"This one was actually hiding under the floorboards," Kono explained, "with the weapons." She pushed another man who looked enough like the first to be a relative, toward the cars, tossing "How's the jaw?" Over her shoulder as Catherine glanced Steve's way.
A silent 'are you okay?' and 'yeah, I'm good.' passed between the couple before Steve shrugged, said, "I'm good." and the team went on to hand the three criminals off to HPD and get back to HQ.
After the booking, all five decided to order food and debrief before heading home for some well-earned time off. As they finished up two pizzas and drifted back to their respective offices, Kono said, "That's swelling," and slid one of the reusable ice-packs they kept in the freezer across the table to Catherine since she knew giving it to Steve would be useless.
"I'm good." Steve shrugged, but at Danny's scoffing sound and Catherine's look, he rolled his eyes and slapped the icepack against the right side of his face, which didn't go unnoticed by Catherine.
Twenty five minutes later, he and Catherine were entering their house and the icepack was long forgotten on the passenger's seat of his truck.
/
Five days later
Saturday, Noon
McGarrett/Rollins Residence, Lanai
Steve shook his hair to mimic Cammie as the two sloughed off water after the three of them went for a swim. Catherine laughed and grabbed their towels, tossing Steve one and drying off with the other before leading Cammie inside to rinse her fur.
"I'll grab the food and be right out," Catherine said, and she was; reappearing less than ten minutes later with a rinsed dog, two sandwiches and drinks, which she passed to Steve.
"Thanks, that looks great." Steve grinned and took the drinks. Setting them between the Adirondack chairs, he sat opposite Catherine as she handed him a sandwich.
They ate in contented silence with Catherine watching Steve; her head resting against the chair back. When he caught her staring for the third time, he said, "What?" with a smile, knowing she was about to bring something up, but at a loss at to what.
Her eyes narrowed and she tilted her chin to indicate Steve's face. "How long has it been hurting?"
He looked at her beautiful, smiling face, her brown eyes flecked with gold in the sunlight. Steve's gaze drifted to her damp hair as it dripped tiny beads of water onto the triangles of purple and orange cloth that made up her bikini top. "Hmm?
"You're only chewing on your left side. Since breakfast, yesterday."
His surprise evident in his eyes, Steve huffed, "I'm fine, Cath."
She said nothing, just tilted her head with a soft smile.
"I took a rifle butt to the face Monday. Got three stitches, remember? It's a little sore." His hand came up and rubbed the greenish-yellow bruise to make his point.
She crossed her arms and pinned him with a look before picking up her phone and sending a quick message.
"Really, it's good." Steve's look said he knew he was nailed. It was also filled with affection for the woman who knew him so well and loved him so much that she'd call him on it.
His phone pinged and he grabbed it from the arm of the chair, looking at Catherine quizzically when he saw the text was from her.
"Good and painful," She shook her head at him. "You took the hit to the other side of your face." She indicated the phone in his hand. "That's the name of an oral surgeon. You have an appointment at one o'clock."
/
Office of Dr. Larry Weiss, Periodontist
Honolulu, 12:55 p.m.
"I didn't need an escort, Cath, I'd have showed up." Steve teased as they entered the office to the periodontal surgeon. "No reason for you to waste the whole afternoon."
"Being with you is not a waste and I realize you'd have shown up, but if you need a procedure, then what?" Catherine cocked her head to the side and looked at him closely. "That's swelling." She touched his right cheek gently.
"Procedure?" Steve's expression was skeptical.
"Yes. If you need anesthesia, you won't be able to drive home and you'd want someone in the room for … security purposes," She said with a smirk, "Isn't that what you told Danny when he cut his finger in our kitchen?"
"I don't need anasthesi…" Steve was interrupted by the nurse saying, "Commander McGarrett?"
Steve stood and offered his hand as Catherine said "Thanks for getting him in, Patricia."
"No problem, Catherine. You look great, how's it going?" Patricia was a dental surgical assistant that Catherine knew from her time on the Enterprise. Within a floating community of 6,000 sailors, an occasional oral surgery was needed and Catherine was no exception. She'd needed a root canal and she and Patricia had gotten friendly. Patricia Wells had been a short-timer getting ready to retire after twenty five years of service. When she moved to Honolulu and began working for a private practice, she'd emailed Catherine to say hello.
The women exchanged pleasantries and Catherine did the introductions before Patricia directed Steve into the treatment area while Catherine picked up a magazine and sat back down.
Fifteen minutes later, a handsome man in his late forties with smiling eyes and wavy hair sticking out of a surgical cap, popped out of the door to say, "Catherine? I'm Dr. Larry Weiss; can I ask you to step inside?"
Catherine dropped the magazine on the seat and followed the doctor, saying, "Is Steve okay?"
"He's just fine. Or he will be, but we are going to need to remove an impacted wisdom tooth." Dr. Weiss said calmly as they turned into the treatment room where Steve was standing, arms crossed, still wearing the dental bib.
"Really?" Seeing Catherine, Steve gave the doctor a look, "I told you, I'm fine. The pain's not that bad."
"Steve." Catherine hid a smile.
"Look, Commander," The Doctor was completely unfazed by the former SEAL's stance. He was used to patients suddenly claiming they were healed when the word 'surgery' was mentioned.
"You were on an antibiotic for the stitches in your jaw. Once it's finished, the infection in that tooth is going to flare up. It's already starting to swell. In a few days, it can become quite unbearable, no matter what your pain tolerance is, and I've no doubt yours is quite high."
Steve glanced at Catherine with a raised eyebrow and turned to the doctor. "And you thought if I wouldn't cooperate, you'd gang up on me with my girlfriend?"
"Not exactly. But in spite of the fact most of us think we know what's best, sometimes our better half has greater ... wisdom when it comes to taking care of ourselves." He chuckled at his own play on the word. "Forgive the wisdom pun, not a lot of chances for a periodontal surgeon to slip in a joke." Dr. Weiss smiled. "But if you're going to have the procedure, I suggest we do it today. We have time this afternoon and Patricia mentioned you'd likely want another officer in attendance for the anesthesia. I can use nitrous oxide and you'd be awake. You really shouldn't put this off, Commander."
Steve sighed. "You can do it with a local?"
"I can. Provided all goes well, you'll be home in a few hours with an ice-pack; you're not to be left alone for the next twelve hours." He looked pointedly at Catherine, and she nodded.
Steve exchanged a glance with Catherine, who was smiling at him. "You haven't eaten on that side for two days."
"Guess I'm listening to the voice of wisdom." Steve returned to the chair and sat heavily as Patricia entered the room wearing a mask and carrying a tray of instruments.
She handed Catherine a mask. "Catherine, you can take a seat right there," she indicated a chair in the corner of the room.
"She doesn't need to stay; I can do this with just the Novocain." Steve mumbled.
"Aww, can't I stay for morale purposes … mine, not yours?" Catherine said, and her attempt to coax a smile worked. Steve had rarely had anyone other than her care if he was being treated for any type of injury. Many times over the years, she'd simply been too far away to be there, even if she'd been informed beforehand.
Patricia and the doctor left to prep and Catherine walked up to Steve. "Unless you'd really rather I not be …" She was cut off when he took her hand.
"No!" His tone was vehement, "Never think that, Cath, ever. I just meant I'm not going to spill classif …"
She kissed the corner of his mouth. "I know. I'm kidding; I know you don't need a witness. I just … I'd rather be in here, okay?" She finished quietly and saw the gratitude in his eyes. They'd spent a lot of years logistically unable to be at each other's side for any type of incident. That wasn't going to happen again. When Patricia and the doctor reentered the room, Catherine looked at Steve as she confirmed, "I'm staying."
"All ready?" Dr. Weiss nodded to Steve and Catherine took a seat out of the way and donned her mask. "I'm going to give you Novocain, Commander, but looking at the x-ray again, I'm concerned the tooth may shatter once I cut into the gum to remove it, so I'll break it up and remove it in sections. When we're done, there will be a socket where the tooth was removed. We'll give you post op care instructions but just so you know, I'll put a few stitches in to minimize bleeding. I do want to use the nitrous as well so you're completely pain free."
"Doc, really, I'm …"
"I'm sure you can handle it, but if you move, I move, and we don't want that." He grinned and his eyes crinkled above his mask. "I tell you what, let's try the nitrous. If you feel too out of control, I'll stop it."
"I'm not trying to be difficult, here, I just … ya know what, whatever. Okay, let's get this over with." Steve shrugged and Catherine smiled, knowing he hated the thought of losing control.
"Excellent. Now, you told Patricia you have no allergies and you've had anesthesia before."
"I don't and I have."
"Last major surgery?"
"I had a stomach wound stitched up in 2011."
"And that healed okay?"
"Fine."
"Alright, Commander, may I call you Steve?" The doctor placed the nitrous delivery system over his nose as Steve nodded, and he continued "Good, good. Now, Steve, focus on that lovely lady over there, breathe through your nose and we'll be done in no time. Piece of cake." The nitrous began to flow and Catherine could see Steve's neck muscles relax.
/
45 minutes later
"All done. I'm going to raise the chair and you'll sit there for a few minutes while I write up your prescriptions and Patricia gets supplies ready for you to take home. You did very well, and that tooth was infected; another few days that would have been a hot tooth; a full blown abscess. It's good we caught it in time. You owe Catherine here a dinner for getting you in here today. As soon as you can chew on that side, that is."
To Catherine he added, "He did great. He'll be fine in a few minutes, as soon as the nitrous completely leaves his system. If you want to know where he hid your Christmas present, now's the time to ask." He patted her arm. "He really does have a very high pain threshold. That tooth had to have been really painful for the better part of a week."
As Catherine thanked Dr. Weiss and Patricia as they left the room, Steve moved slowly, craning his neck to look for her. "Caaath?"
She grinned. "Right here." She moved to kiss his forehead. "How ya feelin' there, Commander?"
"'kay." His smile was loopy but no less handsome. He grabbed her hand. "You stayed with me." Catherine's heart clenched at the pure love and gratitude in those beautiful hazel eyes. "I looove you. I'd kiss you but I …" his hand sloppily gestured to his novicained jaw. "can't feel my lips."
"I love you, and that's okay. You can kiss me properly later."
"Ohhh kay." He grinned. "You okay?"
"Me? I'm terrific. Let's get you up, take a few deep breaths, alright?"
"'kay. Hey, Caaath? You're sooo beaut'ful."
She grinned. "Thank you. You're sooo out of it."
"But you're still beaut'ful. Never saw anyone more beaut'ful." His attempt to look serious made her smile. "Tha's a great shirt. 's pretty."
She looked down at her plain grey tank top. "Thank you again. Deep breaths please, Commander Loopy."
Steve smiled and shook his head to clear it.
When the doctor returned a few minutes later, Steve was back to himself. "I'm good to go?"
"Good to go home and rest. Have a milkshake. Do nothing strenuous before Wednesday," He held up his hand at the protest he knew was coming. He'd treated his fair share of military personnel. "That socket will gradually fill in with new tissue over the next month. In the meantime, the area should be kept clean, especially after meals, with salt-water rinses. I can see you exercise; I want you to be aware that your normal nourishment intake is going to be reduced. If you get light headed when you return to your routine, not before Wednesday," He looked at Catherine, who nodded while Steve groaned. "Stop exercising and take it easy."
"Got it."
He handed Steve two prescriptions. "This is for amoxicillin. Twice a day for five days. This other one is for Vicodin. If the …"
"I won't need that …"
The doctor smiled. "Alright, take the scrip but don't fill it unless you need it. It's only for four tablets. If the pain's bad, take one tonight then one in the morning. Otherwise, take Motrin or Advil, 600 milligrams with soft foods. Patricia will give you the rest of the discharge instructions. If you have any problems, give me a call."
"Thanks doc." "Thank you, Doctor" Steve and Catherine said together. And they followed him out to reception.
/
/
Steve and Catherine's bedroom
8:00 p.m.
Catherine entered holding a soup bowl and two spoons and grinned at the sight of Steve dozing, gauze clenched in his teeth with Cammie watching him from her side of the bed.
She crawled up next to him and taking a bit of vanilla bean ice cream on her finger, touched it gently to his lips. His eyes shot open. "Hey." he removed the gauze and licked at the ice cream.
"Hey. Novocain wore off?" She filled the spoon and offered him more.
"Yeah, thanks. That's a lot of ice cream you got there, Rollins." He teased, looking at the second spoon resting in the bowl.
"It's only right that I help in your recovery by encouraging you to eat." She shrugged and moved to sit against the headboard.
Cammie decided Catherine had the watch and hopped down to plop onto her own bed, and her humans exchanged an amused look.
"Here, hold this a sec." Catherine handed Steve the bowl and spoons while she wriggled up and under the covers, then took it back.
"Thought that was for me?" he lifted his eyebrows at her grin. When his smile grew he winced and ducked his head. He was too late, however, Catherine noticed.
"It is for you … mostly …" she smiled, but her voice was serious, "do you need a pain pill? I can go get …"
"Nope."
"Steve …"
"Catherine …"
She sighed, "Okay, then." She reached into her night table and grabbed a bottle of Motrin. "Here, compromise. Take these and I'll leave you alone." She handed him three.
"Never want that." Steve tugged her hand and pulled her closer while balancing the bowl of ice cream.
"C'mon, please, you'll sleep better if you take…"
"No, not the Motrin," He grinned and swallowed the tablets. "I meant I never want you to leave me alone. Ever."
"Awww that's awfully sweet. And you know what I meant," She teased. "But seriously? Like I ever would?" She settled back beside him and took the ice cream. Taking a large spoonful she ate half and held the spoon out.
"And you brought two spoons, why, exactly?" He wrapped his hand over hers and swallowed what was left.
She nodded at the bowl. "Eat the rest. You only had soup."
"It's better with chocolate sauce." He gave her a lopsided grin.
"Yeah, well, after Tuesday."
"Tuesday? Really?"
She tilted her head and looked at his swollen right cheek and the fading bruise and butterfly on his lower left jaw. To her, he looked as handsome as always. "For chocolate sauce activities?" She pretended to contemplate. "Definitely after Tuesday."
"Cath …"
"That's not to say you can't engage in other, less strenuous activities before that."
"That sounds promising."
"After all, you did tell me I looked 'beaut'ful'" She giggled at Steve's loopy declarations.
"Yeah?"
"Most definitely. Several times." She chuckled.
He shrugged. "You did. You always do." He grinned at her smile.
"And that you liked my clothes, too."
"Like you better out of 'em." He entwined their fingers and circled his thumb in her palm.
"They used to use nitrous as truth serum back in the day." She patted the bed to indicate Steve should lie down after he placed the empty bowl on his night stand.
"Then clearly, I do think you're beautiful." He kissed her gingerly, ignoring the protesting pain in his jaw. "And I don't need truth serum to mean every word."
"Really?" Her smile grew.
"Especially about you staying there with me. I know this wasn't a huge deal but no one else has ever …" He caught her eyes "…um, been there when I woke up from any kind of surgery."
"I'm sorry." She genuinely was.
"No, don't. You were there those times when you could get to me, even if you flew all night to do it."
"Well, from now on, I always will be. But hopefully, this, today," She gently touched his face, "is as big a deal as you'll ever need to 'wake up' from."
"Know what else I meant? Truth serum or not?" He ran a finger along her cheek and traced her jaw.
"What?" Her eyes were misting.
"Love you. Always. So much, Cath."
"Love you. And I hope you don't think I was being … whatever … when I made that appointment, but you were clearly hurting and I…"
"Love me enough to make it stop in spite of what I said about being fine?" His eyes shown with love and appreciation. "No one's ever done that before, either. Thank you."
"Yeah, well, I'm kinda pretty good at judging the McGarrett pain scale by now." She placed the gentlest of kisses on his lips. "And you're welcome. Now, get some sleep, Commander, we have some less strenuous activities to engage in tomorrow."
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End. Thanks for reading!
Don't miss the next two weeks in the REAL World! We have some great stuff in store for Steve & Catherine including a Halloween Trilogy! And an extra post on Saturday, November 1st!