Disclaimer: Borrowing the services of a few old friends again.

There's no such thing as too much Duke.

Lu's real name is Susan. (Chapter 2, A Long Way From Home).

I had fun with this one.

Read and enjoy.

Duke Lukela had been out of sorts all morning. Normally quiet and even tempered he'd already yelled at two patrol officers for minor uniform violations and a file clerk for chewing gum while answering the phone. The watch commander finally intervened after the girl ran out of the room in tears.

"Lukela! What the hell is wrong with you?" Lt Foster demanded. "You've been tetchier than a mongoose with a hangover all week. One more complaint and I'm sending you home on a stress day."

Duke nodded, his face flushing red with embarrassment. "Sorry, sir," he said. "I'll apologize to Lisa when she gets back."

"When you're done with that, hit the streets. If you need to vent, do it on a thug."

"Yes, sir," Duke said. He returned to this tiny office to grab his hat and rover unit, and after stopping to apologize to the clerk, headed out to his patrol car.

Dumb, dumb, how could I have been so dumb? He hadn't been able to get that tall blonde off his mind since he'd seen her standing next to Maggie on the lanai at McGarrett's house. When they had shook hands after Steve had introduced them, he'd felt tingle that started at his fingertips and ran all the way down his spine. She was the exact opposite of his late wife, who had been small and plump and almost as quiet as he was.

It was the first time he'd even looked at a woman since his beloved Kalani passed away from breast cancer nineteen months earlier. They had been married for twenty-two years, the last three a nightmare of surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and temporary remission. Four months before she passed away, the doctors had found the cancer had spread to her liver and lungs. The doctors had offered more chemo and radiation. She had quietly and politely refused. She'd been adamant and no argument from Duke or from their children would change her mind. She wasn't going to spend her last day's sick from chemo. She had died peacefully in her sleep, surrounded by her family. He barely remembered the funeral or the weeks that followed. He threw himself into his work and into taking care of his children and somehow managed to survive with a badly broken heart.

Then Sunday afternoon he'd looked across the lanai and saw the tall blonde army sergeant. She was long legged and statuesque, had short honey blonde hair done in soft curls, and clear blue grey eyes fringed with long dark lashes. But what had intrigued him most was the aura of confidence she wore like a suit of armor.

He had watched as she had led the small induction ceremony for the Circle of the Rose Warriors and the Order of Life Interrupted, astonished by her very public admission of her battle with cancer. Afterwards, they had claimed a blanket under a tree and had spent the rest of the evening, drinking beer and talking. He had learned that she was divorced, had a daughter in college, and was a Gulf War veteran who'd been in the Army for twenty-three years, two years shorter than his time at HPD.

The evening passed as if by magic. She was smart, confident, and had a wicked sense of humor. She had even managed to get him to dance to a song by the Eagles about a Desperado who wasn't getting any younger. She was almost as tall as he was, and, as hesitant as he was to admit it, she felt damned good as he held her. They had returned to blanket under the tree where he found himself lying back with his head resting on her lap as they watched the stars and a new moon rose above the Islands. The party started breaking up around eleven. After she said her good-bye's he had offered to walk her to her car.

"I had a very nice time tonight," she'd said, smiling. "We're going to have to do this again," she said, hoping he could take a hint without it being applied to his head with a sledge hammer.

"Maybe now that Maggie's moved in Steve will have a few more of these," he said. "She's done him a world of good."

"Duke," Lu said, wondering what he'd think if she just shoved him against her car to see if he kissed as well as she suspected he did, "He's done the same for her. They're good for each other. I've known her since she was a nineteen year old buck private fresh out of AIT. I swear I helped raise the girl."

"You did a good job; she's a very nice lady."

"Thank you. I've got to get out of here. Reveille's at five." To heck with it, she thought, if he won't make the first move, then I will. She reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck. When she did, to her surprise and delight, his arms went around her waist. Kono had said there was magic floating around tonight that was as old as the Rock they were standing on. Duke didn't know if it was magic, or her perfume, or if it was just her. All he knew was that for once he didn't feel quite so alone. He pulled her closer, tilted his head to the side, and found her lips with his. He had only intended to give her a light kiss. It didn't work out that way. Her lips were too soft and to warm and responsive beneath his, tasting of pineapple and ginger.

"Uh…," he said, at long last. "I think it's getting late." His brain was sending signals to parts of his anatomy that were going to be very apparent if he held her much longer.

"Yeah," she said, hoping that her knees weren't as wobbly as they felt. She unlocked the door of her car and got in.

"I'll see you later, then," he said, closing the door for her. He watched as she drove away. It wasn't until her taillights had disappeared that he realized he didn't have her phone number.

Duke pulled into the parking lot at Iolani Palace, barely conscious of the drive over. After more than twenty years with HPD, he knew how to run down a lead, or track a suspect. If you can't find the suspect, find their known acquaintances. Susan was Maggie's best friend. Maggie was Steve's girlfriend. All he had to do was ask a few questions. Only this time he was praying that the suspect didn't think he was a stalker.

Jenny buzzed McGarrett on the intercom to let him know Duke had arrived. She and Chin Ho exchanged knowing glances. They had been wondering how long it would take for the HPD sergeant to start asking questions about the tall blonde.

"Come on in, Duke," Steve said, trying to look innocent. He and Maggie had a small wager as to when Duke would get around to asking one of them for Lu's phone number. She'd had Tuesday afternoon. Steve, who'd known Duke longer, had Wednesday morning. He'd won, only he was going to wait until their guests left Friday to collect.

"Uh…," Duke started, nervously twisting his hat in his hands, "I made a real dumb rookie mistake. I forgot to get contact information."

"Sit down, will you?" Steve said, "You're acting like a kid trying to ask a girl to the school dance. What contact info?"

Duke sat down, still nervously clutching his hat. "Sgt Yablanski's. I didn't get her phone number."

"When was the last time you asked a woman for date?"

"1974," Duke replied. He had been a rookie motor cop. He'd pulled over a blue volkswagon beetle for rolling through a stop sign. He'd taken one look at the driver's sparkling black eyes and long dark hair and forgot all about the moving violation. They married two years later.

"It's a lot easier if you get a phone number."

"Well, you gonna give me one?"

"No, because I don't know if she wants you to have it. You're going to have to do this the old fashioned way and ask for yourself. Why don't you take her out to lunch?"

"You mean just show up where she works?"

"That's exactly what I mean. She's at Ft Shafter, building 1550. It's the Stars and Stripes office. They usually break for lunch between 1130 and 1300, although I suspect that since she's the first sergeant she can take off whenever she wants."

"You sure?"

"Duke, even Army sergeants get hungry around noon. All you have to do is ask her if she wants to go to lunch with you. It's not that difficult."

"Easy for you to say," Duke muttered as he was leaving. Duke wasn't a coward, nor did he consider himself overly brave. He was one of those rare people who did what needed to be done. He had enlisted in the Navy just a month after his eighteenth birthday and had done two tours in Vietnam as an demolitions technician, earning several citations for bravery. It was the same with HPD. He never could understand what all the fuss was about. He just thought of it as part of his job.

Then why was it that the thought that she'd say no have him shaking in his shoes? Give him a hill, he'd storm it. Armed robbers, no problem, he'd run them down and bring them in. Drug dealers armed with automatic weapons, easy. Tall blondes from Indiana, well, that was a challenge.

He arrived at Building 1550 at a quarter till twelve. He sat in his car a few minutes, listing reasons why this was a bad idea. As he weighed the pro's and cons, one thing stood out. He had enjoyed her company and wanted more of it. Now all he had to do was open the door and walk into the building.

He checked in at the receptionist's desk just as Colonel Dale was leaving for lunch.

"Am I running an HPD substation up here?" he asked the world in general. "Sgt Lukela, right? We met last Sunday. What can I do for you?"

"I'm looking for First Sergeant Yablanski," Duke said. "Is she in?"

"Probably," he turned to the receptionist. "Watson, go get the First Sergeant. If she's not in her office she'll be in the darkroom."

"Yes, sir," Watson replied, wondering what Top had done to rate a visit from HPD.

"She'll be out in a minute," the Colonel said. "Word of advice, son, I've known Sgt Yablanski for years. She's not nearly as mean as she makes out."

"I think I had that figured out already, sir."

Watson knocked on the door of the first sergeant's office. Lu was just putting on her jacket and beret.

"Sorry to bother you, Top," she said after Lu told her to come in. "There's a cop here looking for you. You want to go out the back way? I'll cover for you."

Lu's heart skipped a beat. "What'd he look like?" she asked.

"Older dude, tall, grey hair, I think he's Hawaiian. Why?"

"Good looking?" Lu asked. "Wears glasses, big brown eyes that look like melted chocolate?"

"Don't know about all that, Top. But, yeah, nice looking for an old guy."

Lu rolled her eyes ceilingward. Kids! Anything over thirty was considered ancient. "It's okay. I know him. Thanks."

She picked up her bag, straightened her beret, and went out to greet the man who'd been doing a very good job of invading her dreams.

"Hello, Duke," she said smiling.

"Hello, Susan," he said. Damn, she looked fine in that uniform. They stood there for at least a minute, just looking at each other.

"Oh, god," Colonel Dale groaned. "Quit making goo-goo eyes at each other and go to lunch. First Sergeant, there's a staff meeting at one, don't be late."

"Yes, sir," Lu said. She linked her arm through Duke's. "You heard what the man said, lunchtime." She led the way out of the building into the warm Hawaiian sunshine. "So, what took you so long?"

"I forgot to get your phone number."

"That all?"

"Well, I was afraid that if I asked you out you would have said no."

"Duke."

"Yes, Susan."

"That would never happen."

In her uniform pumps she was eye level. He fought a very brief internal battle, and gave up, smiling, and let magic win. On the steps of the Stars and Stripes building an HPD sergeant was seen embracing and then passionately kissing the woman considered the toughest female first sergeant on the Islands.

It was ironic that in a building full of reporters and photographers that no one snapped a picture.