Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize…
A/N: At first I just wanna say thank you for all the awesome reviews and the amount of alerts and favs. You guys are amazing and I hope the next chapters will meet your expectations too.
I felt the need to say a few words about Kono's age, since we don't have any legit info about it. Tiana-P and I had a lot of conversation about this and in the end we came to the conclusion that she's around 25 in the Pilot so she was around 22 when she met Steve in the Prologue. But this is not canon just our opinion.
There will be bits of conversations that actually happened in the show, so I claim no ownership on those.
Tell me what you think!
"Steve McGarrett, right?" A man says just a moment later the Governor leaves.
"Do I know you?"
"You'd better. Chin Ho Kelly." The stranger introduces himself.
Great, Kono's beloved and overprotective cousin. This meeting shouldn't happen unsupervised.
"Chin Ho Kelly, I heard a lot about you." Steve extends his arm. "It's great to finally meet you."
"You too." Chin shakes his hand. "But I wish it was in better circumstances. I'm really sorry for your loss. Your father was a great man."
"You knew him?" Steve asks surprised.
"We worked together." Chin nods. "Taught me everything I know about wearing a badge. We stayed friends after the HPD let me go. I even brought Kono with me one time to meet him too."
Steve halts his steps and just stares silently at Chin for a few moments. He doesn't exactly know how to react. The regret, that he wasn't the one who brought Kono to meet his father, leaves a sour taste in his mouth but deep down he's grateful that his father didn't die without knowing that he found a great girl and finally settled down. Sort of, but it still counts, right?
"Thank you." He murmurs quietly and Chin nods back without a word as if he knew what he was thinking about.
.
.
Steve stands ramrod straight at the funeral, his jaw getting more and more stiff with every passing minute because he's been gritting his teeth hard for god knows how long. He's barely aware of his surroundings, too focused on killing Victor Hesse in his mind for the hundredth time, in the slowest and most painful way he knows.
Then suddenly he feels a soft touch on his hand, fingertips brushing tentatively against his like a quiet question, like she's asking permission to display some affection.
He shift his gaze towards Kono and he wishes that they didn't have to meet like this after spending months apart but it's water under the bridge now so he just takes her hand in his and tightens his fingers around hers and somehow he feels less tightly wound.
.
.
After everyone's gone, they are standing next to her car and he pulls her close and buries his face into her neck and for the first time in the last couple of days he feels at ease.
"I'm so sorry." Kono whispers.
"Thank you." Steve pulls back and looks into her eyes. "I wish I could spend more time with you but…"
"I know." Kono flashes a small, sad smile. "I understand."
"I'll make it up to you, I swear." He promises.
"Steve," her tone is chiding and she shakes her head. "Don't do this. I said that I understand and I really do."
"Promise me to be careful." His grip on her shoulder tightens a little. "Anton said that they did their homework but I hope they didn't find out about you. Just don't tell anyone you are my wife until this is over, okay?"
"Okay." She agrees and he sees in her eyes that she's worried but he doesn't know what to say to make it better.
"I have to go." He says apologetically.
Steve shift his other hand on her hip so his thumb is brushing over the spot where he knows her tattoo of the Hawaiian symbol of family is inked onto her skin under the thin fabric of her black dress. He has a matching one on the same place, they got them after their first anniversary because since they agreed on not to wear their wedding rings to avoid uncomfortable questions, they still wanted something that shows that they belong together.
He keeps rubbing little circles over it and this weird little habit makes him feel more grounded than anything else in the world.
"Come to my place after you finished." Kono kisses him goodbye. "You know the address."
Steve watches her drive away with a heavy heart.
.
.
When Chin said that he has the perfect guy in mind, Steve didn't expect this. Maybe it's some form of payback for asking about the money. Or marrying his cousin without asking for permission. Either way they definitely need to sit down and have a little talk about the fine line between work and private life if they want to work together in the future and he just hopes that Chin noticed how he didn't mention Kono in front of Danny. No need to upset the detective even more with their tangled family life.
He stands on the beach and he's glad that he has his shades on so neither Chin nor Danny can notice the way he looks at Kono while she rides the waves in her barely there bikini. Let's not talk about inappropriate surfing attire for a married woman.
"That's your cousin?" Danny asks disbelievingly.
"Choose your next words carefully." Chin warns him then turns towards Steve. "Both of you."
Good. So he caught on that Steve wants to keep a low profile on their marital status.
When Kono collides with another surfer and goes down, Steve can feel his whole body stiffen on instant. The images of her accident filling his mind and he holds his breath until she comes to the surface and starts to get out of the water.
"You sure that she's ready for this?" Steve turns to Chin because he doesn't like this whole idea, not even the tiniest bit. "She's got no street experience."
And trust his wife to make him eat his words when she walks up to the other surfer and lands a hard punch on his face.
When Kono notices Steve and Chin a huge smile breaks out on her face and walks up to them immediately. She hugs Chin then stands back and waits because she doesn't know the other guy and she promised Steve that she'll be careful.
"Kono, meet Commander Steve McGarrett and Detective Danny Williams." Her cousin says so she knows that she did the right thing but it doesn't feel less stupid to shake Steve's hand.
"Nice right cross." Steve drawls; she can't see his eyes from the shades but she knows that he's everything but amused.
"Nah, man." She grins at him. "That was a love tap."
Steve stifles his laugh at her comment but his merriment is short lived because Danny grips Kono's hand and shakes it a little too long for his liking. He makes a mental note to buy some less revealing swimwear for her at the first opportunity he has.
Seriously, that scrap of material some idiot named a bikini bottom sits so low on her hips that the top of her tattoo is peeking out and there's too much of her skin on the display and he's so not pleased with it.
Danny doesn't seem to mind it while he's still holding her hand and grinning like a fool and call Steve a control freak and paranoid for not telling the guy before that it's his fucking wife he's leering at but now Steve's a heartbeat away from throwing caution to the wind and stepping between them like a possessive asshole he's very much feeling like now when Chin, bless him, speaks up.
"That's good, brah."
"Sure." Danny finally pulls his hand back so Steve doesn't have to break it into little pieces.
Kono accepts his offer without thinking it through and he doesn't even have a word for how unenthusiastic he is about it.
.
.
When Kono opens the door of her apartment later that night and finds Steve on the other side she could easily tell that he's not amused.
"This is where you live?" He says without greeting. Peachy.
"I know it's small." She answers defensively.
"Small?" He raises a brow sarcastically. "I lived in bunks bigger than this."
"You don't have to stay, you know." She folds her arms across her chest.
"You don't either." His eyes sweep over the place and his expression darkens even more. "Pack your things, we are leaving."
"What?"
"That wasn't a request." Steve stands before her with his hands on his hips, glaring intensely at her.
"I'm not going anywhere." She holds her ground. "But you are free to go."
"Kono." It sounds like more of plea than a warning.
"Steve?" She just can't let him win this game.
"We have to move in together eventually." He tries to reason.
"Are you asking?" Now she's the one who stands there with a raised brow.
"We are married for god's sake." Steve is getting louder which is never a good sign.
"It's nice of you to notice." She drawls.
"Listen…"
"No." Kono cuts him off. "You listen. I'm your wife, not one of your guys. Don't order me around."
"Okay, you are right. I'm sorry." Steve sighs. "Can you please pack your things so we can leave this place and move in together in my house?"
"After you meet my parents." Kono flashes a cheeky grin.
God, he just can't win with this woman.
.
.
Steve can't help but feeling anxious when Kono goes in to meet Sang Min and his hands ball into tight fists when the Snakehead touches her and he hopes that he gets a chance to punch him in the face for that. Several times.
"Okay, that's it, pull the plug." Danny throws his headphones down. "Let's get her out of there."
Maybe later, much later, Steve will find it funny that this is the first time he agrees with him.
"Relax," Chin, the voice of reason, saves them from doing something they'll regret later. "The kid can handle herself."
But then Sang Min orders her to take off her dress and Steve grits his teeth and maybe he's growling a little if Chin's sideway glance is any indication and he thinks that he's the biggest idiot in the world for letting her go in there.
He's out of the van before she even gives them the sign and swears loudly while he drives the truck through the wall. Overprotective, much? He doesn't think so.
"You are early." She grins at him. She's fucking kidding him, right? The nerve of this woman.
.
.
Kono picks him up from the hospital because his arm is in a sling and he can't drive.
"Are you okay?" She asks casually but the look in her eyes tells him that she's worried.
"I'm fine." He kisses her reassuringly. "Let's go home."
"Are you doing this a lot?" She asks when they are in the car.
"What?"
"Getting yourself almost killed." He notices that her fingers are almost white on the wheel from gripping it to tight.
"Says the girl who stripped to her underwear in front of a couple of bad guys to get the job done."
Kono laughs and her grip loosens a little. Steve watches her profile and he thinks that she's too good not to keep her on his team. They just have to learn to work together. Among many other things.
