Sammy & Ilna - you make me laugh every day and you are always there no matter what. There's really no greater gift.
Sammy thanks for the math assist :)
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Velocity
Sunday 1:45 p.m.
"Steve? Steve McGarrett!"
He and Cody both turned to locate the source of the voice calling his name. Neither recognized the woman in the pink top and black shorts waving from the ordering area of the shrimp truck.
"You know her?" Cody watched Steve stand and did the same.
"No." He squinted slightly at her approach and while she was still several yards away, searched his memory.
About his age, she was close to five four and maybe a hundred and forty pounds. Her brown hair was cut to the shoulders and she had dark eyes and a few freckles. There was a vague familiarity in the tone, but Steve wasn't sure why.
"Steve!" She was within a few feet when she smiled broadly. "I thought that was you. Look at you, how come I look older?" She moved to take his hand and he tensed. "Oh, God, you don't remember me. Heather," she said and waited a beat.
"Heather …" recognition dawned and he announced her name alone with her, "Kahale-Lloyd."
"Yes!" She laughed. "Can I shake your hand now?"
"Heather, I … sorry, of course. How are you? How's Robbie?" He grasped her hand and indicated Cody who was standing there with an interested expression since Steve clearly knew the woman from somewhere. "This is Cody."
"Nice to meet you." He extended his hand politely.
"Hi Cody." She looked back at Steve. "I'm great, Robbie's fine. He's in Ocala. Is this your son? Are we that old, that our generation has kids in, what? High school? Don't say college, Cody, I'll really feel ancient."
"Uh, no, ma'am, high school."
"Actually, I'm lucky enough to be Cody's mentor."
"I'm a little bummed your mentor here didn't recognize me right off." She winked. "He did take me to a tenth grade dance and all."
Cody's brows rose and his grin broadened. "Really?"
"That Spring Fling or whatever they called it." She laughed. "We moved to Florida not long after. I'm here for a family reunion, mom's side." Her eyes flicked to Steve's badge. "I see you're a cop, you still local?"
"I am now. I was … on the mainland too, then the Navy." He shrugged. "I've been back a few years."
"I actually ran into Billy Amemori from middle school last month. I work for Disney and he's an imagineer from the California location."
"Imagineer?"
"That's what we're called. We're not engineers, we're imagineers." She grinned. "If you ever get to Florida, I'll hook you up with fast passes. Your kids will think I'm a hero."
"No kids yet." A smile lit his eyes. "Not 'til June."
"Really? Oh, congratulations!" She clapped. "Mine are in fifth and third grade. They're snorkeling with all the cousins today so the moms and dads have a beach day." She checked her watch. "I should run, actually." She gave him a hug. "Great seeing you, congratulations again. Cody, nice to meet you, oh and make him tell you about the tire caper someday." Heather moved off, the bag of water and other drinks she'd picked up swinging at her side.
"Spring Fling Dance?" Cody was grinning.
"I really didn't recognize her for a second." Steve shook his head. "Heather. I knew her since elementary school, I was friends with her brother. She and I went with about six other people. Never danced together once."
Cody's brows rose.
"Really." He held up a hand. "The football team was encouraged to go. We didn't know what to do with ourselves. We all ate the pizza and chicken nuggets, then the girls danced together, the guys hung in a group on the bleachers, and we walked them home."
Cody laughed. "Sounds like me and my friends in tenth grade."
Steve smiled. "Sounds like a lot of guys in tenth grade."
They gathered the remnants of their lunch and the take out Steve ordered for Catherine, and headed for home. Once they reached the Allens' house, Cody exited the truck and thanked Steve, adding, "Tell Catherine hi."
"I will." He waved back to Kaitlyn who had parted the curtains and waved at the sound of the truck.
Cody was about halfway up the walk when he turned and said, "Next time I see you … tire caper?" without stopping.
Steve chuckled and pulled out onto the street.
McGarrett/Rollins Home
Steve told her about meeting Heather and Catherine chuckled as she tore open the bag containing her meal and inhaled deeply. "Yum, thanks, I'm starving." She removed the paper and took a bite of the wrap. "So, did this Heather have a big fat crush on you?"
"Nope." He shook his head as he stretched and stifled a yawn. After they'd made some interesting patterns on the shower tiles the night before, Catherine had slept soundly until she'd woken him at 5:00 by purring his name while nibbling his lips. He smiled at the recollection. He actually felt pretty well rested since they'd gone back to sleep and slept in until almost 9:00.
"I hung out with her brother sometimes. Coach said we should go to the dance because it showed school spirit so Robbie took Peter's cousin or something and he suggested I take Heather. I was kinda relieved, 'cause I knew her from the neighborhood." He went to the refrigerator and grabbed two bottles of water, uncapping one and placing one in front of Catherine.
"Thanks. Did you and Cody have a good lunch?"
"Yeah. He said hi. He wants to hear about the tire caper." His mouth twisted in a smile.
"The what?"
"Something Heather mentioned. I'd forgotten about it, actually."
Sensing a story, she searched his eyes. Happy to see no sadness at the memory, she asked lightly, "There's a tale there, Commander."
He took a swallow of water. "Me, Michael, Heather's brother Robbie, and a few of the neighborhood guys found some old truck tires."
Catherine took a bite of her dinner and raised an eyebrow. "How old were you?"
"Ten, I guess." He shrugged. "We were at a junkyard."
"Of course you were. Does this end with stitches?"
"No."
"Bandages?"
"Nope."
"Steve."
"Not for me, anyway." His expression made her chuckle. "Someone had the idea to race the tires by rolling them down this hill. And we did that for awhile until…"
"Someone decided to kick it up a notch?"
"We decided to race inside the tires."
"And …?"
Flashback
1987
"Okay, Steve, you said you'd go first." Aioki Suzuki held the truck tire on one side and Michael steadied the other.
Ten year old Steve McGarrett hopped inside and curved his body to fit the tire-well while his friends helped Robbie into a second tire.
"First one down to the bottom wins!" Peter Ito called out when both boys were ready.
"Hey, Robbie, don't let go, okay?" Steve said as he tightened his grip. "Even if it's goin' real fast."
While Robbie held tight and closed his eyes as the tires began rolling, Steve kept his open. He didn't know why, but instinct told him if his eyes were open he'd be better off. As the tire picked up speed, he could hear the others whooping and hollering in the distance as the world became a blur of blue and green and brown. He wasn't scared, he was aware of pretty much everything, including the increasing speed and the bone-jarring thump when the tire rolled into the brush, caught air and twirled before landing on its side.
Seconds later a chorus of voices was calling his and Robbie's names as the others ran down the hill towards them.
Steve extracted himself from the tire and flexed his fingers, then his toes inside his sneakers. He grinned until he heard, "Oww!" from Robbie, who was a few feet away, clutching a scraped elbow and trying hard not to cry.
"Hey, hey, Robbie, you're okay. Le'me see." He winced a little at the missing skin and blood on his friend's white t-shirt.
The other boys reached them, Aioki holding his left hand against his chest.
"What happened? Robbie, you okay?" Michael looked concerned.
"I gotta go home." He sniffed. "My mom's gonna kill me."
"Me too." Aioki held out his hand. "I wasn't even in a tire. I rolled Robbie over my hand." He shrugged. He was the comedian of the group and his self deprecating gesture succeeded in getting a small smile from Robbie.
"C'mon, guys, we gotta get you fixed up." Peter said and steadied his wobbly friend. "Hey." He pointed at Steve while holding on to Robbie. "You're not even dizzy. How come you ain't dizzy, Steve?"
Steve shrugged. He hadn't noticed. "I don't really get dizzy. Maybe I've got good balance or whatever." He brushed off his T-shirt and pants. "Michael and me can help Aioki get home, you guys take Robbie."
"Hey!" Robbie grinned, even as he swiped a lone tear track. "We can call this the tire caper."
"You got it." Peter nodded, clearly relieved his friend didn't seem hurt. "This will go down in history as the great tire caper. Wait till we tell 'em at school."
PRESENT DAY
Catherine clicked her tongue while shaking her head. "Good balance. You never change."
"We just had some trouble stopping. When Robbie let go he fell out and tore up his elbow. Aioki's knuckles were skinned pretty bad."
"And you?"
His smile was a cross between sheepish and proud. "I held on."
"Did you, now?"
He nodded. "Never got tossed."
"Of course you didn't."
"Few bumps and bruises but I was good."
"Mmmhmm."
"You never had an adventure like that, Rollins?" His face said he didn't believe it.
"Not saying that."
"Ha!"
"But I certainly never rolled down a hill in a tire without calculating the velocity."
"I could have used your skills, as usual, but since you were in fourth grade at the time, Lieutenant, I may have been better off on my own…" he teased.
"How'd that whole tire thing work out for you again?" She poked his shoulder gently.
He couldn't hold back a laugh. "Grounded. All of us."
She barked a laugh herself. "You know what? Maybe you don't tell Niblet that story."
"We don't leave tires laying around."
"Bet your dad didn't either, and yet ..."
He winced. "Point taken."
"I have another point to make." She balled up her napkin and placed it in her dish.
Instantly picking up her change in tone, Steve stood, swept the take out containers into the trash and pulled her into his arms. "Hmm? What's that?"
She tugged him into a kiss and whispered, "let's take this upstairs so I can calculate your velocity."
Her laughter as he lifted her off her feet followed them to the bedroom.
# End thanks for reading
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