Chapter 2

Steve had already made his way to the car rental place where he picked up a much more suitable vehicle. A Chevy Full Size Flat bed was a much better fit, although the color matched exactly to his previous car. After about an hour and half yelling match with the Chief of Police, Steve McGarrett had come to the realization that he would have to take the Governor up on her offer. He would have to lead the Investigation himself if they were ever going to get anywhere.

This posed more hard questions and more hard decisions. He knew what this meant, and the worst part was that his Dad, his biggest ally in this particular war was gone. Killed by the same man who ruined his life before. Not only did Steve feel responsible for what happened to his father but he knew he was responsible. If only he had left Hawaii sooner than he did, then maybe this man wouldn't have come after his loved ones.

And now, amidst all of this, he has to face her. For the first time in 3 years he has to walk up those stairs, knock on that door, and look straight into her two eyes. The only two eyes that could ever see right through him.

The thought alone left a huge lump in his throat. This is not what was supposed to happen; this was not even close to the way he wanted to return, if he ever did return.

Steve looked down at his watch. It was now going on 37minutes. 37 minutes he had been sitting outside the house just waiting for the courage to get out and knock on that door.

At 39 minutes he opened the door and exited the vehicle. Normally his walking strut was a fast pace but today, right now, he felt as though he was merely shuffling up the walkway.

The house looked the same. The front porch was a still a huge collaboration of native Hawaiian flowers and plants along with every other flower native to California. Huge Queen Palms outlined both sides of the house and he could see the tops of more peering over the roof.

He stood there just starring at it all when suddenly his attention was brought to the front door that had just been opened.

"I was wondering how long it was going to take you to get out of the car." She said.

He couldn't talk, he wasn't even sure he was breathing. Man she was beautiful, she hadn't changed a bit in the last three eyes. She still had the most beautiful brown eyes he had ever seen and her auburn hair was still just past her shoulders.

"Mary Anne called, she told me about your Dad." Steve still didn't answer he just gave her a slight nod.

"Do you want to come in? Akoni is still surfing, but he will want to see his Dad."

Steve gave her a slight nod and made his way to the doorstep, he took a short pause before continuing on into the house. It looked exactly the same, but he wasn't surprised. This was Haley, compleltey content, so no need for change.

"He's still surfing; another 15 minutes and he'll be in though." She said. "Would you like something to drink, are you hungry at all?" She asked.

That wasn't surprising to him either. This was the woman who in every circumstance would put the needs of others in front of herself. This was the woman he fell in love with.

"No thank you, I'm actually good." He replied.

"Okay then…, well why don't you take a seat." She gestured to the sofa.

"Listen, I'm sorry for this." He said, "The last thing in the world I want to do is complicate things." He opened his mouth to speak some more but she interrupted him.

"Steve, please don't, your Dad just died, I think this conversation may be heading into the last direction I want. And it is complicated, but it's not your fault…she took a pause, "well at least not entirely" she said as she gave him a smile.

He smiled back; she still had the profound ability to lighten the mood, no matter how bleak the situation looked.

She stood up, "I think I'm going to grab us a drink, at time like this, we can definitley use one." She stated to make her way to to the kitchen.

"Haley." Steve called out.

"Thank you for the cards." He said as he looked down at his feet, not really knowing if he wanted to see her reaction. He decided to chance it and his eyes once again locked onto hers.

Understanding, in that moment he saw understanding. Something he hadn't seen or shared with anyone in the last three years. His heart felt like it was breaking all over again and then the twinge of anger came through. Her voice was the only thing that broke through.

"Hey, all I did was send them to Mary Anne, it was her that passed them along to you." She said.

"Well I noticed that more than half were the original works of Akoni himself, I hope you still kept a few yourself."

"Are you kidding? I live with the brilliant man himself; I get the Akoni original every day, why wouldn't I share." She gave him one more look before turning from his gaze and disappearing behind the swinging kitchen door.

Steve sat there a million thoughts running through his mind. It was astonishing to him how he could feel so many emotions at time. Steve was not one to be comfortable with emotions in the first place, now there were too many surrounding him at once, he felt his heart start to beat faster. First instinct, run, get out and get out fast.

One thing stopped him, his son. He was about to see his son face to face for the first time in over 6 months. Akoni was a frequent house guest at case de Mary Anne and so Steve would always make the time to visit him there. Normally the navy would make exceptions and let him fly with men going back to Mechanicsburg. It was safer than Hawaii, for many reasons, not just Victor Hess.