yay reviews! thank you thank you thank you. Oh just so you know, I've been working on another story, two actually. I'm gonna post them soon, promise.

Thank you all, again, for being so nice to me and for reading my fics. You have no idea how happy your reviews make me.

LOVE YOU!

Fran

She hardly ever cried. The last time was when her auntie passed away; it was a big reason so she cried freely for hours and hours and nobody ever made an attempt to stop her because she had to cry. She never cried about work, never. Even when things didn't work out the way she wanted to, or when she got hurt doing something dangerous. Today was different. She cried about work and she cried about her boss being a complete jerk to her for no specific reason.

She was doing her job, what part of that he didn't understand? Steve had never been harsh to her, he had never yelled at her the way he did and he had never looked so pissed at her as he did now. She had never gotten suspended either but she didn't really care about that because there was a first time for everything. What hurt her was being mad at Steve. It made her heart shrink in a way it had never happened before, and it made her crawl into a ball and cry.

She went home that day feeling empty, sad and heartbroken. The sun still shone outside and her house felt warmer than other days. She heard people cheering outside, the waves crashing and the smell of the sea floated in the air. She could take this as a long overdue vacation, just chill and surf, but she wasn't in the mood for that. She was in the mood to sit on her couch and cry a little more.

Danny had been doing nothing but trying to convince Steve to take everything back, but he had been hard as a rock. Chin had done the same but he knew there was nothing he could possibly say to Steve to make him change his mind. And she was pretty sure he thought he had done something good by yelling at her, he was a cop by the book and not following orders was something he didn't let fly. But Chin still thought a suspension was too harsh.

Her phone rang; she let the sound echo into her living room for a while until it almost drove her insane. She picked it up, taking a deep breath.

"Hello?"

"Girl, I heard what happened, are you okay?" The male voice on the other line sounded preoccupied and she couldn't help but shake her head at how fast the news flew around the station.

"Yes, Rick. I'm fine."

Richard Hill was the only male friend she truly had. Yes, she considered Danny and Steve her friends too but there were things she just couldn't tell them. Richard knew everything about her; they had met at the police academy and instantly bonded. He was sweet, kind, a good listener and her constant support.

Besides, she was the only one who knew about his deepest secret.

"For how long are you gonna be suspended?"

"For a week."

"That's harsh and completely unnecessary," he complained, which he knew it wasn't true but he said it to make her feel better.

"I know, but he was sort of right," she explained, "I didn't follow his orders."

"Honey, nobody does these days. Cops are supposed to follow instincts, not orders."

"You could tell my boss that."

"I gotta go. Call me okay? You know I'm here for you 24/7."

"I know Rick, thank you."

He hung up the phone and Kono felt grateful for the small talk, but the sadness was still there. She wondered what was she supposed to do now with the amount of time off? Surfing was an option but she wasn't in the mood, she was not in the mood for anything.

Now the depression set in.

Steve slammed the door of his office, hard. Kono has just left and he felt completely disappointed and angry at his behavior. Yes, he was upset at her for not following his orders (not that he was any good at following orders either) and yes he did think she should have waited for back up but there was no time for that, he knew it. That reminded him about how unfair he had been with her. Maybe suspending her for a week was crossing a line; a couple of days maybe but a week without her in the office was going to drive him mad.

He hadn't been able to share the real reason why he was so upset. Truth be told, he could have never picture his life without her in it. He was upset at himself for not being there to protect her if something went wrong, because he loved her, and he felt it was his responsibility as her boyfriend to protect her and that's exactly what he didn't do.

He felt guilty for being so harsh towards her; he had only a personal reason to react the way he did. She wasn't the one to blame; it was uncalled for and cruel. He wanted to apologize but it was too late.

"Steve…" Danny walked in, closing the door behind him.

"If you're here to tell me, once again, how much of a jerk I am then you can go."

"I wasn't going to," Danny defended himself, "You could do that yourself."

"Is there anything you need?"

"No, I'm just here to tell you Kono left crying her eyes out."

"Danny…"

"Hey! I told you I wasn't here to tell you you're a jerk," Danny explained, "though I am here to make you feel like crap."

"Can you stop it?" Steve complained, not facing Danny and ignoring whatever he was about to say.

"What you did was uncalled for," Danny said "and stupid. And she was right about you being a jerk, but I would have also said you were being an ass."

"Yeah well she… she wasn't following orders," Steve spoke thought that explanation was rather useless to Danny, "and she has to learn…"

"Yeah you already said that, which is stupid if you ask me."

"Are you here to insult me or to say something constructive?"

"I'm saying something constructive. You are a jerk," Danny simply said, "Wait no, you were a jerk to Kono and I'm pretty sure you hurt her feelings, so good luck trying to get her back."

Steve could have proved him wrong if he wasn't completely right.

TBC