The following three weeks were busy. There wasn't any time to discuss what had happened, what it meant, or where they'd go from here. The cases were constantly rolling in, Steve had several long meetings with the governor and an obligation for a Reserve drill and parachute recertification. He, in short, was slammed. To make matters worse, the flu had made its way through both HPD and Five-0, leaving both departments short-handed and struggling. Danny, Chin, and Kono had all missed work due to the flu, and Steve hadn't had a day off or a day when he worked less than twelve hours in over three weeks.
Danny, Chin, and Kono were ecstatic to see Friday roll around, finding themselves completely back to normal in time for the weekend. There was paperwork to finish for a couple of cases they'd wrapped up that morning, but the three officers were hoping to cut out of the office early, or at the very least on time.
"Hey," Danny said, poking his head into Steve's office. "Is it okay if I take off a little early today? I have Grace this weekend. I know there's all that paperwork, but it'll keep til Monday, won't it?"
Steve forced himself to bite back a sigh. He smiled instead. "Sure, Danno. That's fine."
Danny grinned. "Great! Well, have a good weekend. Hey, I may bring Grace swimming or something? Will you be around?"
"Should be," Steve said, yawning.
"Hey," Danny said, taking a closer look at his partner. "You need to get some rest. You've been working too much lately."
"Didn't have much of a choice, Danno."
Danny thought for a minute. "Yeah. Guess that's true." He shrugged. "Anyway, get some rest this weekend, okay?"
"Sure thing."
With that, Danny was gone.
Steve returned to the paperwork, but the headache he had was keeping him from being able to concentrate easily. He had read the same sentence no less than five times when Chin knocked on his office door.
Steve took his hands away from the keyboard and leaned back in his chair as he waved Chin in. "Hey, brah. I know this week has been tough; well, the last few weeks, really, and I hate to ask, but I need a favor. Malia's parents are coming over for dinner and she needs a few last minute things from the grocery store. She asked if I could pick them up. Would you mind if I left in time to do that and get home in time for her to cook?"
"That's fine. Is your paperwork finished?" Steve said, rubbing his forehead and returning to work. Not only did he need to finish his paperwork, but it looked like he would need to finish Danny's too.
"Well…no, not exactly. Can I finish it on Monday?"
"Just bring it to me. I'll finish it. I'm doing Danny's anyway—yours won't be that much more." He rubbed at his head again.
"Headache, brah?" Chin asked.
"Yeah."
He frowned at the younger man. "You need to find some time to relax and recharge this weekend. You've had a lot going on lately."
"Yep. Will do, just as soon as I finish here," Steve replied in a short tone.
Chin didn't seem to notice. "Okay. Have a good weekend, brah."
Taking a deep breath, he started on the paperwork again when there was another tap on his door. He threw his pen onto his desk and dramatically slumped back into his chair when Kono came in.
"What?" he snapped. "Where do you need to go? You know what, never mind. Just bring your paperwork to me and go. Nobody else has finished theirs anyway—why should you?"
Her eyes went wide. "Whoa."
Steve blew a breath out. "I'm sorry." He rubbed his face.
"What's going on?"
"Nothing. I'm just tired of hearing how I'm working too much and need to find time to catch up on sleep this weekend either right before or right after someone asks to take off early and leave me with their paperwork." He rubbed at his forehead again.
She opened his desk drawer and pulled out a bottle of Motrin and grabbed a water from the fridge in his office. She shook two into her hand and gave them to him.
"Thanks," he said softly.
"I'm meeting Jenny for dinner at five thirty. Let me help with the reports until then, okay? If they're still not finished, I can tell her I'll be late or I can come back after we eat. Mine are all finished. They just need your signature." She smiled kindly at him. "You don't have to do this all on your own, okay? I know you have to be exhausted after how you've been working the past few weeks."
They worked on the reports in Steve's office and made a good amount of headway, but still hadn't finished by the time Kono needed to leave to meet Jenny.
Poor Steve looked absolutely exhausted, and she felt terrible about leaving. "Look. Why don't you just go home? We finished most of them. We can get the rest on Monday, okay?"
Steve nodded. "Okay."
"That was too easy," Kono said. "You're not going to listen to me, are you?"
"No. I'll go home as soon as I finish. It shouldn't take much longer. Thanks for your help."
Kono smiled. "No problem."
Kono was distracted.
"Hello?" Jenny said. "Have you heard anything I've said?"
"What? I'm sorry," she apologized, sighing. "I was just thinking…I left Steve working on some reports that Danny and Chin had abandoned," she explained, rolling her eyes. "He just seemed so tired. I hope he finished up and went home."
"I heard he was the one that kept both HPD and Five-0 running while so many people were out. He has been working nonstop. At least it seems like it has ran through pretty much everyone now and is slowing down. Hopefully things will get back to normal now."
Kono frowned. "I hope so. I'm worried about him."
Jenny shrugged. "Why don't you just call him? Make sure he's home."
Kono nodded. That seemed reasonable. Not overstepping her boundaries; not overbearing. Just a concerned friend making a friendly phone call. Right? She grabbed her bag to get her phone but quickly realized it wasn't there. "Ugh. I must have left my phone on my desk," she told Jenny. "I guess I'll go get it after I leave here."
Kono wasn't surprised to see Steve's truck still in the Palace parking lot. The man was a workaholic and couldn't bear for things to be unfinished. Sometimes he took too much on and put too much pressure on himself. She was angry at Chin and Danny, too. They should have realized the position they were putting him in, and they should have pulled their own weight, especially since he had been working so hard to keep up with everyone else's slack lately. She was going to tell them that, if not over the weekend, then first thing on Monday morning.
The Five-0 office was dark except for Steve's desk lamp and the small amount of weak sunlight still streaming through the blinds. Kono grabbed her phone from her office, then went to say bye to Steve…again. She was about to burst through the door when she happened to glance through the glass. Steve was at his desk, head on his arms, clearly asleep. The reports were stacked neatly on the corner of his desk, along with the fax confirmation from the governor. So he finished all of them, she smiled. Overachiever. She quietly opened the door, moving closer to the desk to get a better look at him. He was pale with dark smudges under his eyes and his cheeks were flushed. He'd looked tired before she left for dinner with Jenny, but she knew he didn't look this bad. The last two hours had not been kind to him. His breathing sounded rough, and she could tell his nose was stuffy. Crap, she thought. He's getting sick.
"Steve?" she said softly. When he didn't move, she tried a little louder. "Steve?"
He jerked awake suddenly, eyes immediately—albeit tiredly—scanning the room. "What?" he said hoarsely, seeming confused. "What? I fell asleep?" He coughed.
Kono nodded. "It looks like it, boss. Are you feeling okay?"
Steve looked at her, then rubbed his face with his hands. "I'm tired." He sneezed into his elbow. "I thought you left?"
"I did. Forgot my phone." She held it up, like she needed proof of her mistake. "I saw your light was on, so I came to say bye again, and saw that you were asleep. I just…I'm sure that's not a comfortable place to sleep. Didn't want you to wind up with a crick in your neck or something."
She inwardly cringed. God, Kono, can you sound any more stupid?
Steve looked at her for a minute. "Yeah, no, you're right." He coughed. "I'm going now." He switched off the light and stood, perhaps too quickly. He closed his eyes as a wave of dizziness and nausea passed over him, grabbing the edge of the desk for stability. "Mm," he mumbled.
"Are you okay?" Kono asked, stepping closer.
He took a deep breath and faked a smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." He grabbed his gun and badge from his desk drawer. Kono noticed that his movements were much slower than normal.
Without making a big deal out of it, she quietly made sure she stayed behind him. She wasn't so sure he wasn't going to pass out. They left the Five-0 office, stopping to lock up. Steve started toward the stairs, but Kono grabbed his elbow.
"Can we take the elevator?" she asked. When he looked at her, she quickly explained. "My knee. It aches sometimes, you know. Like now."
He shook his head and gave her a slight smile. "Liar," he said, allowing her to steer him toward the elevator.
"Yeah, well," she grinned. "Someone has to give you an out from time to time."
He coughed harshly, wincing, as they walked out of the building.
"Keys," Kono said, holding out her hand.
Steve looked at her blankly. "What?"
"Your keys," she repeated. "I'm driving you home." She ushered him around to the passenger side.
"Why?" Steve looked confused.
"Because in case you haven't noticed, you're coming down with something, Commander. Now, you, in."
"'M not sick," Steve mumbled. "Jus' tired."
Kono smiled to herself. "Okay. Just tired then. But wouldn't it feel better to rest your eyes than to have to drive?"
"Yeah…I guess. Jus'…." he trailed off, eyes already closing.
"Just what?" Kono asked, shaking his shoulder slightly.
"Jus'…please be easy. I really do get carsick."
She gave a tiny smile at his admission. "I'll drive carefully."