Yass :D I'm on a roll...I think :P As promised, this one is Lou Grover with his POV on our beloved SEAL. I hope it's alright. AS I mentioned before, this is a follow up from Steve's perspective in the first piece, The DO's, The DONT's and Everything IN_BETWEEN. These are snippets from each character in their POV from the scenes described in that story :D
Happy reading everyone. Again, your comments are awesome and very helpful in keeping up my morale. I hope to gain more feedback so that I may continue to improve my writing. Next one will be Danny ;)
Grover
The big man grins. It's one of his trade mark looks. His wife seems to like it. Says his dimples make him look twenty again. Grover can live with that. She's a great woman, a wonderful mother. He would never have made it here without her support.
Well, hers and Steve's. He shakes his head in amusement as Steve wolfs down his pasta. He's never seen anyone shovel food down that efficiently. Almost like he's inhaling it. But then Renee is a great cook too. Steve can multitask like no man's business. He could eat, watch T.V, talk, text, argue, demonstrate, probably take down a bad guy and still be back at the table before the drinks get cool.
"Lou? Stop making those faces." Steve says, sticking his fork in the middle of the heap and wiping his mouth with a napkin. The disposable plate sat limp on his cargo shorts while Steve shifted, raising one arm to yell at the screen. Grover smirked as Steve scoffed, muttering curses under his breath. He resumed eating, still mumbling about how he would have made that same football play back in the day. Lou nodded, agreeing with an uninterested, "MmmHmm…"
Well, his team was doing just fine, thank you very much. Steve rolled his eyes at his noncommittal reply but didn't say anything else. For like a minute…until the mumbling started up again.
McGarrett…who'd have thought they'd end up this close? Grover remembers the first time they met like it was yesterday. He thought Steve was arrogant, rude, explosive, dangerous, and way too irresponsible with the 'full immunity and means' he had at his disposal. Now though, Grover was glad to be part of the task force. Back then, the SEAL had rubbed him the wrong way every time he came in sight. He was full of attitude. Stubborn, self righteous and foolish with risks, but then they were forced to work together, and he saw something else. He saw integrity. He saw determination. He saw someone who would have his back no matter what the cost. Someone he could trust and confide in. He saw a friend.
Said friend looked harmless enough in his shorts and slippers, old t-shirt under a worn out checkered shirt, sprawled out on his couch watching a football game. But he knew without doubt, that he could turn into a mean-ass fighting machine in a split second if danger showed it's face. McGarrett backed down from nothing. He was their team leader for a reason. There was just something about the way his presence commanded respect. When he barked out an order, you responded. Whether positive or negative, he always elicited a response. It was magical. No doubt, in an office full of men, save for Kono, he was the Alpha male, no contest.
And like an Alpha male, he protected every one of those in his care, and even those who were not. Yes, Steve loved to rile up everyone around him, but Lou realized that in his life and line of work, he hadn't had a chance for too much fun. He was mostly playing around, amusing himself by pushing their buttons and damned if he didn't enjoy watching him and Danny go at it like an old married couple. Lou was a family man, and thank goodness for that, because he would have felt really hurt seeing their friendship as something special only to find out that Steve's relationship with each member of their team was special in it's own right. He'd earned his brownie points with every one of them, doing things above and beyond the call of duty, and then some. And the funny part was, even though he sometimes came across as hording all the attention for inane things, the guy was shy when he got praise for what he did for them. Which is why they only ever found about his hidden niceness from each other, and never from Steve himself.
Like now. Steve was about to lose the bet on this game. All his cursing and grumbling had a rehearsed quality about it. Like he already knew the outcome, but bet on the losing team anyway. It was Grover's idea to raise the stakes when he saw Steve being handed a weekend away voucher by a very appreciative hotel owner they'd saved. Danny already had plans with his kids for that day. Chin and Kono had a family thing with Sarah and Jerry was joining them. That left Steve and him with time on their hands to mess around for the Saturday, which eventually led to him coercing Steve to put the voucher down as the prize. Yes he'd complained heartily, but he placed it between them on the table and sat back to watch the game without too much arguing.
The game ends with Steve rolling his eyes playfully as Grover bites down on the unlit cigar he's picked up for props. He grins happily and Steve wipes a hand over his face in mock defeat.
"DON'T back out now, brother. I won fair and square." Grover tried to look smug and Steve pouts.
"You DON'T have to rub it in." He gripes.
The deal included Lou going away with his wife while Steve stays back on babysitting duty. He looks kind of excited at the prospect of spending the weekend here with the kids, sleeping on the couch and just hanging out. Grover dances around him, pulling out his phone to share the news and Steve leans back with the empty plate on his full belly, looking for all the world like he was the one that won.
Maybe he did win. Grover knows how the man pines for family. How he spends free time with Danny just to spend some time with his kids. He heard how he bought a shitload of cookies from Sarah. Knows how he takes Nahele down to the beach to throw a ball or just talk. He knows the man may be hard assed when it comes to his work, but he was the total opposite with his team. Ohana, they called it. But Steve made sure they remained that way.
McGarrett humored him when it came to dunking malasadas in coffee and letting have this win. He didn't have to do it. But he did.
With Steve, DO's and DON'T's were pretty much standard. Who was he to deny him this little IN-BETWEEN…?