THE COMPETITION

CHAPTER TWO

A/n: Thanks for the great reviews! So glad you like the story!

All's not fair in love and war in this chapter, as each combatant is about to discover.

BTW: Just mentioning that no, I don't own the Five 0 series or characters, nor do I own any publicly recognizable places in Hawaii in the story. This is very much a tale for fun that I'm writing, not a profit making venture!

Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to Donald B. He really helped me develop some "technical" issues.

Danny stopped at the gas station before continuing on to the shopping center on Ala Moana. Making certain that the car was locked, he got out and went into the store, saying that he wanted to get his favorite drink and he wasn't sure the shopping center would carry it.

Kono told him to take his time. When the fair haired policeman went inside and saw the tiny bottle to his left where the travel sized supplies were, Danny smiled evilly. He purchased his items, paid the clerk, scribbled something hurriedly on a piece of paper he'd retrieved from his pocket and left the store to fill up the gas tank.

From his seat behind Kono on the passenger side, Steve plotted just how he'd trump Danno's ace and win the dark haired beauty. He cursed himself for not having noticed how Kono and he just…fit somehow.

Catherine was a great girl, he knew, and a good partner in bed, but Kono was a wonderful woman in so many other ways. And, since Steve was very much a here and now kind of guy when it came to relationships, he wasn't thinking about when Catherine might return. He knew that sometimes people could be stationed far away for a long, long time. Although he didn't want to necessarily dump Catherine, he also didn't want to just pursue only her. He also knew that, when they'd first gotten together, they'd agreed to have open relationships given that they were being reassigned by the Navy all the time. So, why not cultivate a romance with the very appealing, always-just-a-heartbeat-away Kono?

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As Danny pumped the fuel he thought about himself and Kono. True, he was an outsider and a fish out of water in a state he still wasn't crazy about, but didn't they say that opposites attracted? Steve was, in Danny's opinion, too much like Kono. The girl liked adventure, so why shouldn't she have someone who was different; someone who matched her passion for passion and even temper for temper? Besides, Steve had Catherine, and her tour of duty wouldn't last forever. She just had to return to be Steve's girlfriend, right?

When Danny saw that the tank was full, he washed his windows with the windshield wiping squeegee and pulled out of the station.

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They reached the shopping center's parking lot in record time as Kono finished her cell phone call. Before she or Steve could exit the car, Danny bounded over to her side and offered to open the door for her.

Steve tried to get out on the other side, but Danny murmured something about the lock being stuck.

"Been meaning to have that fixed," he said apologetically as Kono gathered her purse from the floor.

Steve shifted to the seat behind Kono again. He waited for Danny to open the door and clear out so that the Navy SEAL could emerge from his side of the car seconds later. The blond cop opened the passenger door, leaving her window open a little.

After Kono thanked him, Danny followed her into the center, trailing her like a little puppy. Steve got out and slammed the door…and found to his horror that he couldn't move his hand away from the door handle! Steve pulled and tugged and he tried to free his left hand from the door handle, but he was stuck tight!

Crazy glue! Steve thought, his face almost red with his anger.

"DANNO!" He shouted, oblivious to the stares he got from other parkers inside the lot. By that time, Danny and Kono had entered the mall and apparently hadn't heard his cry.

Not wanting to cause serious injury to his hand, the Five 0 leader forced himself to calm down and think his predicament through.

It was then that Steve saw the little piece of paper and a small tube on Kono's side of the car. Angling himself to grab it, Steve managed to reach inside. He was able to nab the paper and the tube, but just barely. Steve opened the paper and read the message, grimacing.

Is he gonna get it when I catch up to him! Steve thought.

Hello, Bright Eyes! The letter stated in Danny's handwriting.

Sorry for the Crazy Glue, but all's unfair in love and war. Lucky for you that I don't believe in harming my true friends, so there is a tube of antidote on the front seat that will unstick you.

Steve liberally applied the antidote to his hand and read the rest of the letter.

Of course, even after you free yourself, you have to find us, and discover what we'll be getting the governor. Since this mall is, what, about three floors high, I doubt you will find us…oh, well, se la guerre, and all that.

Good luck, Steven.

D

Steve balled up the letter, cursing Danny left and right as he headed toward the mall.

"All right, Bart," he whispered. "No more Mr. Nice Guy!"

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Meanwhile, Kono and a none too happy Danny were inside the mall waiting close to the entrance to the parking lot. He had wanted to get them further away from the lot, but Kono asked him to wait for Steve.

Danny told her, "look, Kono, I'm sure Steve will catch up," Trying to be casual, he suggested, "why don't we just start shopping? We can contact him on the cell phone."

Kono gave Danny an odd look, but the detective was now facing another store having spied an item he thought he could buy for Grace in the window.

"What's your hurry?" Kono wondered. She frowned when she checked her watch.

"What's taking him so long?" She asked, concerned.

"Oh, he's probably just…stuck somewhere or something," Danny responded. "He'll join us soon, I'm sure."

Right on cue, Steve came through the door. Kono was glad nothing serious had happened to her colleague and friend.

"Is everything all right?" Kono wanted to know. "What kept you?"

Steve looked at Danny when he said his next words. "Oh, nothing," he fibbed. "Just lost my way, is all." Only the detective could see the glaciers in Steve's eyes.

Kono was puzzled as to how someone like Steve could have lost his way at a shopping center he probably knew like the back of his hand, but she didn't try to figure things out. Danny started sipping the drink he'd bought at the gas station as the trio walked. Kono mentally ruled out the stores they saw and eyed others that she thought offered possibilities for her gift.

"Just what does one buy a Governor, anyway?" She inquired.

"I dunno," Danny said. "Always sucked at buying stuff for women, even for my ex. I was much better buying stuff for Grace."

"I got a pearl necklace for a woman once," Steve put in. "It set me back a ways, but it was worth it."

Kono shook her head, saying, "Nooo…that doesn't seem like the right thing. Besides, she'll probably get some jewelry from her husband."

They went up the escalators to the third level and went towards where the mall bathrooms were. Steve walked toward them first while Danny loudly drank his soda. Telling the other two that he needed to "answer nature's call", the naval commander went toward the restroom.

Inside the bathroom, Steve saw the "out of order: lock jams" sign on one of only two stall doors. Seeing that he was alone, Steve moved the sign to the second stall, jubilant that he got the inspiration for the perfect idea for revenge on Danny. Now, if his victim would show….Steve hoped that the drink he'd seen his opponent with was just enough to make the good Daniel go to the bathroom.

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Moments later, Danny pointed to the section with the Men's room, telling Kono, "I gotta, you know." Kono nodded while Danny tossed his now empty bottle in the waste paper basket.

"I'll wait on the benches we passed coming toward the bathrooms, okay?" She asked, not waiting for an answer. When she withdrew, Danny headed for the room.

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When the blond cop came inside, there was one other male who finished his tinkering. When he left Steve and Danny alone, Steve's eyes lifted heavenward, thanking whatever gods there were that his victim went in the stall and hadn't used one of the wall units.

When Steve heard Danny flush the toilet, the naval commander grinned from ear to ear and got out of Dodge fast.

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Danny zipped up his trousers and tried to slide the round lock back to get out of the stall, and then realized that he couldn't get out. Try as Danny might, he couldn't open the lock.

"For the love of…!" Danny muttered, running his hands through his blond hair. He grabbed the top of the stall with both hands, pulling himself up.

"Hey!" He yelled, but no one was in the bathroom. "Crap!" Danny saw that the opening leading to the other stall was big enough. He slid over to the stall on his back, telling himself "Steve's a friend, and I like him! I don't want to get even. I can rise above any dirt he flings on me."

But already he was thinking of the vengeance he'd heap on Steve's head.