Steve was a stranger to everyone except for Lori.
It was so awkward.
Danny seemed so sad, but was able to bury everything under a sarcastic mask. Kono and Chin were calm, but Lori knew that the members of Five-0 were devastated that Steve no longer knew them as extended family, but rather as people he had just met. She should know. She was too. 'But,' her persistently annoying little conscience wondered, 'was she even part of that extended family before?'
On the way to the hospital in the SUV, Steve was unusually quiet, Danny was ranting, Kono was laughing at Danny, Chin was smiling because Kono was, and Lori sat on the sidelines, quietly observing with a happy smile. She was happy to be going home.
Except she wasn't sure where her home was anymore.
Her home in Connecticut, where her grandfather had loved her. Her home in Quantico, with her law enforcement friends.
And then there was the house in Maryland.
It wasn't a home; it was a house. A lonely, empty house brimming with expensive furniture and expensive drapes and expensive everything. It was always ominous, too big, and seemed darker inside during the day than it was outside at night. No, it was not a home. It was a house.
Her home in Hawaii. Her HOME. The place she least expected to call home, but now, here she was, wanting to go home. Wanting to go home in Hawaii.
Steve looked over at Lori, and saw her smiling, but pain and exhaustion in her eyes and shoulders. She looked like she was going to slump over and fall asleep at any given time now.
"We're going to the hospital, get you two fixed up," Chin said. He looked in the rearview mirror to glance and see how Steve and Lori were holding up.
Lori yawned and nodded a little. "Yay. I totally love hospitals," she said sarcastically. Kono chuckled. "How's your shoulder, Danny?" Lori asked.
"What?" Danny said, confusion showing on his face.
"Didn't you get...never mind."
"What what what? Tell me," Danny urged.
"Wo Fat showed me a picture in which your shoulder was shot and bloody and stuff," Lori explained, blushing a little. She crossed her arms, embarrassed.
"Must've been photoshop. Can't trust Wo Fat to feed you good information," Danny said, shrugging, "Shoulder's fine."
"Oh, okay." Lori let a sigh of relief out of her mouth. Danny gave her a small smile.
"Hm," Steve sighed. "Why was Wo Fat going to keep you there?" He looked at Lori with a curious glance.
"Um, he was going to give you back, to make you guys more agreeable to the ransom for me. I guess. I was going to be his leverage," Lori explained, gesticulating with her hands. "It's also possible he wanted intel about Homeland Security, since I used to, you know, work there. But probably not."
Chin nodded at her. "I'm glad both of you are safe."
"Me too," Steve said, grasping Lori's hand and giving it a small squeeze. He smiled a little, his blue eyes sparkling.
"Hey, you guys," Kono said, finally joining the conversation. "Have you noticed that Wo Fat sort of looks like the Chairman from Iron Chef America?"
Danny and Chin started cracking up, and Kono grinned. Lori shook her head, smiling.
"But he does!" Kono whined. "He really does!"
"You're right," Lori assured her.
"THANK you. Finally. Someone who agrees," Kono sighed, and smiled at Chin. Steve had a small smirk on his face.
"Hospital time!" Chin said, in a singsong voice.
"Nooooo," Lori grunted. Chin smiled at her.
"I hate hospitals," Steve said with a fair amount of animosity in his voice.
"Deal with it, BRAH!" Danny called.
"Hey hey. No mocking my culture. Shut up, brah," Kono warned, but she was still smiling.
"It's my culture too!" Chin cried jokingly.
"God. I can already smell the antiseptic," Lori said, and Steve laughed.
Several hours later, the team's visit to the hospital was finished, and they were sitting in headquarters, gathered around the Smart Table, packages for Band-Aids, gauze, bandages and medical tape strewn carelessly across the surface of the Smart Table.
"Water for everyone!" Danny declared, bringing a twelve-pack of bottled water over and dumping it on the table.
"Yay!" Lori cried. "Now. What to do?"
"Let's watch a chick flick on the screen!" Kono said.
"No," Danny, Steve, and Chin groaned simultaneously.
"What's wrong with Ryan Gosling?" Lori asked, smiling and playfully bumping Kono's arm with her elbow.
"Nuh-uh. Josh Duhamel," Kono countered.
"Mmm. He is too attractive for his own good," Lori agreed.
"Hey, hey, calm down," Chin interrupted, his big brother voice kicking in. Kono grinned mischievously at him.
"Harry Potter it is!" Danny declared.
"Mmm, no," Lori said.
"Roger that," Kono said.
"TOY STORY 3!" Lori exclaimed.
"YES. I agree; Grace absolutely adores that movie, and so do I," Danny said.
They spent the next two hours laughing. And tearing up during certain parts, in Kono's case.
Lori fell asleep during the movie, after Steve had wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
The rest of team left, and Steve and Lori were left alone in headquarters.
Lori woke, and stretched out her arms. Steve smiled at her, and Lori was pleased to see his face the first thing she saw when she awoke. They sat in comfortable silence, needing nothing but the other's warmth.
"Do you think my memory will come back?" Steve whispered.
"Doctor said it would be gradual, but honestly, I have no idea," Lori said quietly.
"I want to remember everything." Steve's expression was determined, telling Lori all in one look that he would go to hell and back to get every single memory of his past back where he thought it belonged. Lori sighed, contemplating whether or not to try and dissuade him even though she already knew she never could and never would.
"There might be some things you may not want to remember, Steve," Lori finally decided to say. A look of worry flitted across Lori's face when Steve frowned.
"Like what?" he asked.
"You were tortured in Korea for answers. They asked you questions that you didn't have the answers to," Lori explained simply.
"Oh. Torture. Yeah, I can see why I may not want to recall that certain memory," Steve said, and pulled Lori a little closer. He smiled down at her, and she returned it.
Lori gave a happy hum of agreement and closed her eyes briefly. A phone rang, shattering the comfortable silence that had fallen upon the two. Lori grunted with a look of distaste written on her face and pressed ignore.
"And that was?" Steve asked.
"An acquaintance. Evil, lying, selfish son of a-" Lori spat, but Steve interrupted before she could continue.
"Why was he so...evil?" Steve decided to proceed delicately with this topic, since he had never seen Lori this angry before.
"He was a true first-class jerk. He was HORRIBLE to his parents. So nasty to them, when they were nothing but kind to him. They paid for everything he wanted, the little-gah. And on the day of our wedding, his mother tells me, 'Run as fast as you can. Take my car.' And I did," Lori said, finishing with a happy flourish of her wrist and a proud smile. "Except I went on foot instead."
Steve was silent, but smiling at the fact that Lori was here with him now. But then, realization sunk in: "Whoawhoawhoa. Wedding? You were going to MARRY that jerk?"
"Mm-hmm. His bitchy side didn't come out until we started planning the wedding."
"Mmm. No one likes a man bitch," Steve said, nodding his head.
Lori pointed at him with her index finger and grinned, agreeing, "Damn straight."
Steve chuckled. He rubbed his forehead where the bandages were, and Lori sighed. Suddenly, the door to HQ opened and in came none other than Catherine Rollins. Steve rose to his feet after giving Lori an unsure and slightly nervous look.
"Steve!" Catherine cried, running towards him and throwing her arms around him. Steve stiffened noticeably, and looked at Lori with his expression saying, "Who is this person?" Lori mouthed the word "girlfriend." Steve's eyes widened with surprise and he looked down at the brown-haired woman hugging him tightly.
"Are you okay?" Catherine asked, letting go of Steve and stepping back to look at him fully.
"Sort of...what's your name?"
"What?" Catherine's face went slack from shock.
"What's your name?" Steve asked again.
"What happened?" Catherine questioned. She looked over at Lori briefly with a distrustful glance. Lori snorted indelicately at Catherine's unspoken accusation and walked into her office, shaking her head. She forced herself not to watch the conversation between Steve and Catherine, and instead looked at pictures of her family that were sitting atop her desk. Lori ignored the rising voices that were in the room next to her. She smiled at the picture of Jason, her four-year-old nephew, with her sister Aileen. She continued looking until she got to the photo of her father.
Her amazing, kind, caring father.
Too bad he was gone.
She scowled at the woman that was next to her father in the picture: her mother. Her mother had been the epitome of a horrible mother. Alcoholic, gold-digging train wreck of a mother.
Lori slammed the photo frame down before she could take a knife to her mother's face printed on paper. The sound startled her but gave her a small glimmer of satisfaction.
Lori looked up as Steve came in.
"Well, that was interesting," Steve sighed. Lori looked at him with a sarcastic "No, really?" look on her face, and Steve grinned.
"C'mon, I'll drive you to your house. Let's roll," Lori said, slipping her bag onto her aching shoulder and wincing, then gesticulating towards the door.
"M'kay, one sec, lemme grab my...hmm," Steve responded, not quite sure of what he needed to get. Lori smiled a little and pointed to the gun that would be plastered to her hip at all times from now on. "Oh, my gun. Yeah."
Steve walked into the house following Lori, absorbing his surroundings. He saw photos...of himself. A young blonde woman, a man with blue eyes not unlike Steve's. A brown-haired woman with a cheery smile, hugging a small boy.
'Who were these people?' Steve thought, and his eyebrow furrowed as he tried to concentrate.
Lori came up again, and Steve looked over to see her face stripped of the bandages. She was looking at the photos, but Steve looked at her with affection in his blue eyes. Her face was marred with two cuts on her forehead and one on her cheekbone, but he thought she looked breathtaking.
"Ugh. These bandages are so annoying," Lori said, fingering the tape surrounding the gauze on her neck. She peeled it off a little.
"Nuh-uh." Steve gently pulled her hand away from her neck. "Keep that one on, okay?" Lori let out a little huff, but left it alone. She yawned.
"Wanna stay here?" Steve asked gently, so softly, Lori wondered if he thought she looked fragile.
"Only if you want me to."
"Yes. I do. I-," Steve pursed his lips, "I just really don't want to be alone after what happened. I need someone."
"Sure. Couch?" Lori guided him towards the family room, which had the couch facing the ocean.
"Wow. I wish I could've remembered something so beautiful," Steve whispered. "Want to sleep now?"
"Wait," Lori said and put her hands on her hips. A grin crossed her face, reaching her eyes and making them sparkle.
"What?"
"Let's go outside." She clapped her hands together, not unlike a child, and Steve smiled at her.
"Why?"
"I need to know something." And with those words, Lori slid open the sliding glass door and sprinted outside to the wet sand. She kept looking at her footsteps as she went, and let out a shout of joy. Steve stared at her quizzically, but followed her outside anyways. He was greeted with the sight of Lori twirling around in the sand, the ground lighting up beneath her with each step she took. He grinned.
"There IS bioluminescent plankton here!" Lori gasped, laughing as she spun breathlessly, leaping all over the sand. There was a trail of bluish green light sparkling just where her feet had left, and she pranced down the beach, running towards the water, and she abruptly stopped.
She ran her hand slowly through the water, letting it envelop her fingers. It felt cool and silky smooth and any positive adjectives she could think of. It felt amazing. As she stirred the water, it sparkled from the moonlight and the plankton lighting up. Steve sauntered up in front of her, resting his hands on her shoulders and his chin on her head.
Lori swore that she stopped breathing and her heart leapt into her throat.
"Hmmm," Steve hummed.
"That was my immature moment of the week," Lori said softly, and Steve laughed. She could feel it rumble through her, and it made her happy.
"I wish I could remember more about you, Lori," Steve said simply. "Because I wish I had more memories like this."
"Of?"
"You and me. Together." He turned her to the side and kissed her temple. Lori sighed happily and wrapped her arms around his muscular torso, letting Steve's heartbeat and the sparkling black waves lull her into a blissful obliviousness to the rest of the world.