This is my first fan fiction story, so it will be a work in progress. I welcome any feedback and would love to know what you think. I'm not sure where I'm going to take this story or how long it will be...I guess that will depend on how much everyone likes it. :) If you have any ideas for improvements or how you would like to see things progress, share them with me. Also, I realize that some of the timelines in this story may not be true to the tv timeline (For instance, I think Steve and MaryAnn had both left Hawaii prior to high school), so just bear with me. :)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the Hawaii Five-0 characters, so copyright infringement is not intentional.

Thanks for reading!

It had been a long day for the Five-0 team. Scratch that….It had been a long week with today being the longest and toughest day of all. They had wrapped up an investigation into the kidnapping of a local politician's daughter and had successfully returned her home to her family. As Steve drove home, he said a silent "thanks" to God for protecting any of his team from being hurt in the process. Truthfully, Danny, Chin, and Kono were more than just his team; They were his family. In fact, with the exception of his sister Mary, they were his only family. Without them around this past year since his father's murder, he probably would've gone crazy by now. He still carried the burden of what Victor Hesse had done to his father and he was determined to get vengeance. But while that mystery remained unsolved, his work with the Five-0 team was helping him keep his sanity and he was always grateful for every day that passed without one of them getting seriously hurt on a case. As he neared his driveway, he let out a sigh of relief that they'd put another case behind them. Now all he wanted to do was grab a beer or two and sit in his back yard to watch the tide roll in.

He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice the car parked in his driveway until he was right behind it. "Hmmm, Hawaii tags with a rental car sticker. Who could this be"? Then he saw a petite woman with long dark curls standing at his front door. Even from behind, he could tell she had a figure that begged to be noticed. She was knocking on the door almost cautiously and looking around to see if anyone was home. He couldn't help but wonder what she was doing here.

Steve pulled to a stop and stepped out of his truck. "Looking for someone?" he asked.

It was clear that she hadn't heard him pull up because he saw her jump at the sound of his voice behind her. She turned towards him halfway and Steve noticed that she looked vaguely familiar although he couldn't quite place her.

"Yes…..I was just….um…..looking for….MaryAnn McGarrett. Do you know where she is?" she answered quietly. Steve noticed that she seemed frightened because she kept her head lowered and wouldn't look him directly in the eyes.

"Mary's in California now. I'm her brother, Steve. Are you a friend of hers?" Steve took a step towards her and she quickly put on her sunglasses and descended the steps to start back towards her car.

"I'm sorry." She said. "I shouldn't have come by. I'm sorry to have bothered you."

Steve's curiosity was peaked. Who was this woman who looked so familiar to him and how did she know Mary? More importantly, what had her so spooked?

"Wait! Do I know you?" he asked curiously.

As she lifted her face to look at him, he was taken back for a moment. She may have thought her sunglasses were hiding it but he could clearly see a nasty looking purple bruise on her cheek and a cut above her left eye. He instinctively took another step towards her, but she backed away again.

Not wanting to completely scare her away, Steve asked, "How do you know Mary?"

She hesitated for a moment and then he saw a small smile briefly cross her mouth as she said, "You don't remember me do you?" She could almost literally hear the wheels spinning in his head as he tried to remember. "I'm Carly…..Mary and I went to school together. Remember?"

She saw the recollection on his face. Of course he remembered Carly. She and his sister had practically been connected at the hip when they were kids. Mary had told him once that Carly had a crush on him, but he'd been a "much older" high school senior at the time. Being the high school quarterback, he hadn't taken the crush of a freshman, especially one of his kid sister's friends, too seriously back then. But this woman standing in front of him was not the skinny, awkward girl he remembered.

Suddenly Carly saw a flash of anger flash in his eyes as he thought to himself, "Someone has hurt her…..Someone has carelessly and recklessly hit that beautiful face". Instantly the fatigue from the previous week was gone and all he could think about was finding the coward who'd done this to her and beating him to a pulp.

Just as quickly as the anger crossed his face, it disappeared again and was replaced with a softness that was very uncharacteristic to anyone who knew Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett….former Navy SEAL extraordinaire. His eyes twinkled a little as he smiled at her, and for a moment she thought she would dissolve into a puddle on the spot. My God how she had missed that smile! She could see that he still had the quiet confidence she'd found so attractive in their school days. However, Steve McGarrett the boy couldn't hold a candle to the man standing here now. He was pure man: Strong, confident, and undeniably sexy. Carly felt her heart flutter as she realized he still took her breath away.

"Of course I remember you, Carly." Steve said softly. He took a step towards her. "Tell me what happened. Who hurt you?"

She hesitated for a moment. "Steve, I really shouldn't get you involved. I only came by because I thought Mary might still be here. I'm sorry to have bothered you." She started back towards her car, but Steve caught her arm to stop her.

"Don't go." He said gently. "Come inside. I want you to tell me who did this to you."

Again she hesitated. Steve saw her struggling to hold back the tears that threatened to fall down her cheeks. He put his hand under her chin and slowly lifted her face to look at him, "Carly, I'm not taking no for an answer. Come on….Let's go inside."