Inevitable
Summary: A case leads way to impulsive behavior from Steve and Kono. KoVe centric fic.
Disclaimer: I do not own H50.
A/N: Inevitable runs independent of the events that occurred in 1.23 and 1.24, because I just can't deal. Aargh.
Chapter 1 – The Race
# # #
Kapiolani Beach Park
Honolulu, Oahu
Kono let herself study her boss openly as he and her cousin Chin, began to plan out the route. She took her time stretching her long, toned limbs as she sat on the cool grass observing Steve, wondering where such a spontaneous idea would have come from. After all these months of working together, it admittedly felt good to do something fun as a way to further strengthen the team's bond. They were after all, now an ohana. That's why it took her by surprise when late yesterday afternoon, Steve suggested a pre-work, foot-race through Waikiki.
Looking up at Steve, Kono had to arch a brow, feeling the familiar itch of competition. "Boss? What, you think you're ready? If you don't stretch properly, you're going to get a cramp," she advised.
Steve, sensing Kono's exuberance, couldn't help but grin at her. "I'm good Kono, I stretched before I got here," he added.
"Suit yourself, but what about you Cuz?" she asked Chin then, as she stood.
Chin's eyes crinkled as he smiled, "oh, I don't need to."
Kono shifted her weight onto one foot and crossed her arms across her chest. "Oh, really?" she asked, intentionally drawing out the last part.
"I'm not racing you guys," Chin said matter-of-factly.
"What?" Kono laughed. "Why not? Cuz, don't tell me you chickened out here," she said.
Chin shook his head and smirked at her. "I've got nothing to prove," he said sagely.
She laughed again. "What? That's B.S. Cuz."
"No, it's not," Chin said gesturing towards her. "I know you can run faster than me," he stated simply. "I don't need a race to tell me that," he said smiling.
His younger cousin eyed him curiously. "Huh." She turned to look at Steve.
Steve put his hands up in mock surrender. "I had nothing to do with his decision," he said. As Kono scrunched her face up in disbelief, he added, "for some reason he thinks he doesn't want to race me either, said something about a sore ankle."
Kono glared at Chin. "What the hell, Cuz?"
Chin laughed back at her. "Look, you guys can just race each other. The lagoon's pretty far you know, and I'm pulling seniority on you two."
"Oh, please," said Kono. "Bad enough, Danny goes and volunteers to take Grace to school today, even though it's not his day. Now you're backing out too?" she asked. "Fine... chicken," she goaded.
Chin inclined his head and just smiled back at her. He turned to Steve then and arched a brow, challenging him to talk trash at him as well, but the younger man just shrugged and shook his head. His father's former partner nodded and changed tactic. "Don't be afraid of her Steve," Chin gestured to Kono. "You can take her," he added and their boss couldn't help but laugh.
"Hey!" Kono exclaimed. "What about about family?" she asked.
"Cluck, cluck," said Chin smugly. "My money's on Steve," he added.
Kono started to protest, but Chin put up a hand to silence her.
"So, we race to the lagoon at the Hilton Hawaiian Village?" Steve asked, getting them back on track.
"First one to 'high-five' Kamekona, wins," Chin said.
Kono laughed again. "Fine then, it's on," she said, playfully glaring at Steve.
Steve arched a brow at her and smirked confidently, crouching down and readying himself to take off.
# # #
Honolulu International Airport
Oahu
Jimmy Medieros was at most times, a discerning man. But, the women in SoCal, though beautiful and sexy, were quite frankly, a pain in his ass. Always asking for more perks, more pay, continually whining, complaining and downright skanky. He knew what he needed. He needed fresh faces, beautiful – exotic, island faces, who had no bounds to their desperation.
"Mr. Medieros? Welcome to Hawaii," greeted the young woman at the terminal. She placed a lei around Jimmy's head and smiled brightly. He smiled appreciatively back at her and openly admired her tan features, brown eyes, full lips and sun-kissed, wavy, brown hair. He felt a small pang at realizing how much he'd missed Hawaii.
"Thank you, beautiful – Nani," Jimmy said, noting her name tag. His smile widened.
# # #
Kapiolani Beach Park
Honolulu, Oahu
"Ready?" Chin asked and the pair nodded. "Set... go!" he yelled as he watched Kono and Steve take off northwest of their location at the park. He shook his head and pulled out his cell phone to let Kamekona know that they would be on their way soon.
Sprinting past the back entrance to Honolulu Zoo and turning right, up Waikiki Avenue, Steve and Kono were neck and neck. She could tell that he couldn't help his smile as she glanced at him. Kono found herself giggling as they bolted past the Duke Kahanamoku statue and dodged early morning tourists out on the sidewalk. They continued running, past the Moana Surfrider, then past the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center and then the Sheraton. Kono sped up and Steve found himself digging deep to keep up with her. She made an abrupt left turn down Beach Avenue and almost lost him.
"Hey! A little warning Kono," Steve said, chuckling, unable to hide his enjoyment.
"Just trying to keep you on your toes, Boss," Kono responded as she continued on, a brilliant smile on her face.
She glanced over at him again and noticed his smile fade as something caught his attention in front of them. As Kono followed his gaze, she noticed an elderly woman in a bright muumuu stalled on her side of the walkway. "Tutu up ahead," Steve pointed out, as he automatically placed a hand on Kono's lower back to guide her around. They both found themselves smiling warmly at her as they ran past and she waved them away, causing them both to laugh and shake their heads.
Bolting through Fort Derussy Beach Park and towards the beach walk, they were now in the home stretch. It became difficult to continually dodge the tourists and Steve found himself almost stumbling a few times. He just laughed at himself and shook his head in amazement as he looked at Kono, who showed no signs of tiring. When they saw the Hilton up ahead, it seemed as if both runners received a well timed jolt of energy.
Just around the Rainbow Tower, they knew the lagoon waited, along with their shaved-ice-king friend, Kamekona. They came up fast, turning the corner right before the lagoon, Steve and Kono could see Kamekona standing there. The giant Hawaiian, with his broad, gentle smile, held up both his hands, almost fearfully, as he watched the two 5-0 teammates barrel towards him. Steve looked to be leading by a few steps, but he stumbled and both runners hit Kamekona's outstretched hands simultaneously.
"Oh! I so had you, Boss!" Kono said as she slowed and started jumping in mild indignation. A huge grin on her face as she breathed heavily.
Steve came to a slow stop and ambled back to where Kamekona stood and laughed out loud. "No, you didn't, Kono," he said smirking, as he paced to cool himself down. "If I didn't trip, I would have been the clear winner," Steve added between fairly large gulps of air.
"Oh, please," Kono shook her head as she walked up to him and Kamekona. "Kamekona? What do you think? I had him, clearly, right?" Kono asked.
Kamekona shook his head and laughed. "No way, sistah, no. You ain't ever going to get me to comment on this one. Let's just say it was tied," Kamekona said diplomatically. He noticed Chin walking up to them and asked, "Chin Ho? What do you think? You think little cousin woulda won?"
Chin shook his head. "Well, seeing as how my previous bet on McGarrett is now negated because of a tie... I refuse to comment," he said. "Besides -"
"Hold up, Cuz?" interrupted Kono. "You actually had money on us?" she asked, incredulously. She looked at Steve who smirked and then shrugged. "And you knew?" she added, pointing towards Steve. "I thought you guys were kidding?"
Steve shook his head and laughed again. "I... actually have no excuse for that," he said, gesturing towards Kamekona and Chin. He shrugged matter-of-factly and smiled at her, reaching out to quickly squeeze her shoulder.
"Did anybody have money on me?" Kono asked, smirking back at Steve.
The three men remained silent, Steve rubbed the back of his neck and looked towards the ground. Chin and Kamekona suddenly found really interesting things to study along the lagoon and ocean front.
"Really?" Kono flat out guffawed. "Holy shit, you guys suck... wow," she said.
She swatted at her cousin.
"Hey!" Chin said, his eyes crinkling as he started to laugh.
She punched Steve in the arm... hard.
"Ow! Hey!" he said. Kono glared at him, not entirely serious. His blue eyes softened a little as he smiled an apology to her. "I guess we deserved that," he amended.
Turning with a satisfied smirk to Kamekona, who was now backing up, she arched a brow at him and launched herself at him. She hugged the big guy and giggled. "So how much did I get?" she asked eagerly.
"Wait," Steve said, holding up a hand, a smile tugging on the corners of his mouth. "You didn't..." he trailed off.
"Bet against the race?" she asked, smiling impishly. "Oh, yeah," she said, her eyes twinkling. "I knew you guys were putting money on it the moment you guys even suggested it. I also knew we were going to tie."
Chin scoffed and Steve's mouth dropped.
"So it was all just an act?" Chis asked his younger cousin. "You're holier-than-thou - you guys put money on the race? - was all just an act?"
Kono nodded and smiled. "Hey, the money goes to a good cause," she added.
"What, you're pocket book?" Chin asked, still surprised at Kono.
"Ooh, all of the sudden so snarky Cuz? Who even has a pocket book nowadays? That's what you get for betting against me," she said back with sass. "For your information, I've got a little fund growing for a beginning surfboard for one Grace Williams," she explained with a smile.
"That's nice, Kono," Steve interrupted. "But, how did you know we were going to tie?" he asked, a little perplexed, and getting back to what was really bothering him.
"I threw the race," she answered simply.
"Wait," Steve said, almost choking on his own saliva. "You threw the race? As in, you-would-have-had-me, but you decided to go easy on me?" he asked, clearly surprised.
Kono just shrugged and gave him a dimpled smile.
Steve gestured with his hands and shook his head. "You threw the race?" he asked again, closing his eyes briefly in disbelief.
"Yeah," Kono replied laughing. Soon Kamekona and Chin joined in.
It finally made sense to Steve why she looked so sunny and at ease during their foot-race down Waikiki Avenue. He shook his head again and grinned at Kono, his own eyes starting to twinkle. "Your cousin played us Chin," he said looking at the older man.
Chin grinned too, shaking his head again. "That she did, Boss," he confirmed as he turned towards Kamekona to give him the money he owed.
Steve laughed and turned to Kono, who had crossed her arms across her front, inadvertently causing the strap of her tank top to fall off her shoulder. She was smiling, but as Steve reached out to casually lift the strap back into place, something shifted in her gaze and he quickly pulled his hand away. Following her line of vision, he saw Danny walking towards them, followed by Catherine.
# # #
A/N: So, I have to say, I will be one of those writers who may go the whole summer, avoiding the events that occurred at the end of the season one. Let's just say, I'm still pasting back together any brain matter that was blown apart because of it. I will just continually play with the idea of KoVe quietly to help get me through to the fall and I hope other fans of this pairing enjoy.
A few other things: I know the street that runs through Waikiki is Kalakaua Ave., and seeing as how it's also Kono's last name, I decided to change it because it just seemed odd to me. And truthfully, I didn't want to deal with any queries about "haha, it's the same name?" Also, muumuu (pronounced: moo-ooh-moo-ooh) is basically a fancy house dress that is usually made with bright, Hawaiian floral print material and tutu (pronounced: too-too) means grandmother/elderly woman.