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Making Pretty Pictures (1/1)

Home of Miko and Karen Palea

Friday 10.10 A.M.

"I'm telling you right now," Kono said as she and Steve descended the wide sweeping staircase, "There has to either be some innocent explanation or some sort of foul play involved, because no one would willingly walk away from that master bathroom. It's nicer than any spa I've ever been to."

"That's not a big surprise," Danny responded from his spot at the bottom of the stairs. "Her husband is the biggest kitchen and bath guy in Hawaii. Steve and I saw some of his designs at the home show. They're amazing."

The Five-0 team had received a special request from the governor to check into the case of a missing woman, the wife of one of the island's most prominent citizens. Her husband was on a business trip to Europe and hadn't been able to reach her by phone for nearly twenty-four hours. After calling her closest friends and finding out none of them had spoken to her either, and when the maid reported her bed had not been slept in, he called the governor personally and asked if it would be possible to have Five-0 look into it.

"No signs of foul play in the garage," Catherine said as she and Chin entered the foyer. "According to the maid the car Mrs. Palea normally drives is gone."

Steve nodded. "Chin, call Duke and get HPD looking for that car, then see if we can get access to Mrs. Palea's bank records and see if there's been any unusual activity lately. Kono and Catherine, check in with her friends again and get a timeline of the last time anyone saw or talked to her and ask if there was anything strange going on in her life. Danny and I are gonna meet with governor to update him and see if he has any ideas about who might have it out for Mr. or Mrs. Palea."

Kono motioned to Catherine. "I noticed she has an electronic Rolodex on the table in her bedroom. Let's grab that and start making calls."

"We have a list of her friends the husband gave us," Danny pointed out as Catherine joined Kono and they started up the stairs.

"He might have forgotten someone, or she might have a friend he doesn't know about," Kono replied over her shoulder. "We want to make sure we don't miss anyone."

"You just want another chance to gawk at that bathroom," Steve accused good-naturedly. "And to show it to Catherine."

"No reason both things can't be true," Kono said with a smile as she and Catherine reached the top of the stairs and disappeared down the hall towards the master bedroom.

Five-0 Headquarters

Friday 2:45 P.M.

"So, let me get this straight," Danny said as the team gathered around the smart table following calls from the governor and a very embarrassed and apologetic Karen Palea, "She was never missing, she was just flying to Europe to surprise her husband?"

"Yes," Steve nodded.

"Without telling anyone," Danny asked incredulously.

"So it seems," Steve shrugged. "She said it was a total spur of the moment decision. She didn't think it would be a big deal."

"Must be nice," Danny groused. "Pick up and fly off to Europe on a whim and it's not a big deal."

"The truth is it probably wouldn't have been," Catherine picked up the story, "Except she was in such a rush to make her flight she left her phone in her car at the airport. That's why no one could reach her."

"And even that might not have been too much of a problem," Steve continued, "but her flight got caught up in some bad weather and made an unscheduled landing in Denver. They didn't know how long they were going to be on the ground so the passengers weren't allowed to deplane."

"Turns out they sat on the runway for five hours," Catherine grimaced. "She tried to borrow a cell phone but the reception was so bad she couldn't get a call out to either Europe or Hawaii so she just decided to wait until she got to London to let her friends know what was happening."

Chin shook his head. "So, in other words, it was a case of everything that could go wrong did."

"More or less," Steve nodded. "She couldn't have been more apologetic. She felt very bad about the waste of time and resources."

"Well, at least everyone is safe and accounted for," Danny tapped his hands on the edge of the table. "And I gotta say … this is by far the easiest case we've handled this month. I wish we had a lot more like this."

The team all nodded in agreement.

"I say since it's Friday afternoon … and everything seems pretty quiet … we call it an early weekend," Danny suggested.

"Works for me," Catherine said.

"I wonder if Mrs. Palea would mind if I went over and soaked in her tub," Kono teased. "Maybe grab a quick shower too."

"That bathroom is amazing," Catherine nodded with a touch of awe in her voice. "The heat sensitive tiles are gorgeous."

"The very last thing you two need … in any room of your house … is heat sensitive anything," Danny said adamantly as he pointed to Steve and Catherine.

"You should have come up and looked," Kono said. "Any fluctuation in temperature and the tiles change color. They are absolutely beautiful."

"Imagine the patterns you could make in the shower," Catherine grinned and Steve waggled his eyebrows. "Between the heat of the water and body heat … " she trailed off

"You two are doing it on purpose now," Danny grumbled.

Catherine smiled because truth be told she was.

"I never saw a vessel sink with that kind of tile before but they have them," Kono said excitedly. "It would make brushing your teeth and washing your face into art projects."

"We could never have a vessel sink," Steve and Catherine said in unison, then looked at each other and laughed as Danny hung his head and Chin and Kono tried to hide their amusement.

"But those multi-level shower heads would be awesome," Catherine added.

"And they're adjustable so you can move them up and down depending on where you … need them." Steve couldn't help it. It was so easy to get Danny going.

"I can definitely see where that would be useful," Kono nodded.

"Look, now you've got her doing it too," Danny protested. "You all do realize we're at work, right?"

"No, you called it an early weekend. So technically … " Steve chuckled.

"I'm done with all of you." Danny tried to look stern but couldn't help but shake his head and smile. "I'll see you on Monday, barring any emergency over the weekend."

"You're coming over tomorrow so Catherine can help Gracie with her Aloha Girls project and we're gonna barbecue for dinner," Steve reminded him.

"That's right," Danny gave an exaggerated sigh. "We'll see you around 4:00."

The rest of the team smiled at his retreating form before preparing to head out for the weekend themselves.

McGarrett Rollins Home

Friday 10:45 P.M.

"You're thinking about that soaking tub, aren't you," Steve asked as he stepped into the bathroom and saw Catherine standing with her back to the sink looking at the opposite wall as if she was taking mental measurements.

"Maybe a little," she smiled softly.

Steve leaned against the counter and wrapped his arm around her. "It would take a little reconfiguring, and we might have to move a wall or two, and we'd definitely have to rearrange the plumbing, but I think we could fit one in here."

"Really?" Catherine asked hopefully.

"Really." He dropped a soft kiss on her lips.

"So I guess you've been thinking about it too," she grinned.

"First thing I thought of when I saw that tub in the Palea's master bathroom was that weekend we spent at the Hilton and that amazing soaking tub and how much fun we had working on water maneuvers."

"That was definitely fun," Catherine agreed as she moved to stand in front of him and began toying with the waistband of his board shorts.

"Just think if we got more practice." His breath caught in his throat as pressed against him.

"Practice makes perfect," she purred.

"I assume you want the heat sensitive tiles too?" Steve ground out.

"Think of all the pretty pictures we can make."

Steve turned them around and lifted Catherine up on to the counter. "So it looks like we've made a decision about the next remodeling project. The bathroom."

"Works for me," Catherine said as she pushed his shorts down with her feet. "But before we start talking about the new stuff we want to get, I think we should give the old stuff a rousing send off."

"As always, Lieutenant, I like the way you think."

THE END

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