Disclaimer: I am not associated with Hawaii 5-O or CBS. I do not own Hawaii 5-O, it is owned by CBS and it's writers.
Author's Note: Thanks again for the kind reviews. I'm glad you are enjoying this story. Steve's part gave me fits in here. And this is actually a rewrite. I wasn't happy with how it originally turned out for him. I hope you it goes over good. Enjoy.
Part III
Steve's eyes blinked open and he found himself staring up at the night sky. Smoky haze lingered against the black backdrop. There was a roar in his ears blocking any sounds. The smoky black was perforated by red lasers passing over him from the incendiary tracer rounds from his team's weapons. They crisscrossed above him as they danced across the night.
There was a deafening roar of blood rushing in his ears. It blocked out the sounds he was sure was going on around him. The ground shook with vibrations and debris rained down upon him. His brain struggled to connect; the signals misfiring. He had a weird detached feeling going on and he struggled to remember but his mind wouldn't cooperate.
A face appeared in front of him and he stared with blank gaze. The mouth moved above him but Steve couldn't hear the words. His world titled and he felt himself rise. His eyes clenched shut and the pain blasted his body, radiating from limb to limb. There wasn't a spot that didn't scream pain.
The roaring in his ears got louder before it burst and images blasted through his brain as it finally connected. The middle of the night surveillance. The unknown group of assailants waiting for them. The rapid rat-a-tat-tat of gunfire from the assailants, the return fire from his team. The blasts of grenades launched by both friend and foe. The shouts from members of his team. It all bombarded him at once.
Steve groaned as he realized what he had done and what had happened. His mind screamed at him that this was wrong that there had been a mistake. But the stark truth slapped him in the face. He was injured.
It had happened just like he had told Kono in his first letter. There was no time to think twice, things happen within a blink of an eye. You just do and don't think of the consequences. When the grenade flew through the air and rolled to a stop near the point man on his team, Steve didn't think. He just reacted. Kono's face flashed before his eyes as he realized the colossal mistake he had made.
'No!' His mind screamed. He drew up the photographs safely tucked away in his breast pocket in his mind. The family picture of he and Kono, her back leaning against his chest. His arms wrapped around her, hers on top of his, their fingers entwined, both resting on the small four month baby bump. The second photo brought a lump to his throat; the grainy black and white sonogram of his son.
He stopped moving and felt his body being lowered to the harden ground. Faces appeared in front of his again. He opened his mouth but no sound came out.
'What have I done?' He screamed in his head the pain worsened. He clenched his eyes shut trying to block out the pain; both physically and emotionally. He laid there on the ground with his team surrounding him, this time they were protecting him. But he couldn't think of them. All he could think about was his family back home waiting for his safe return.
Hands fumbled over his body, he felt fingers press against his wrist checking his pulse. He wanted to talk to his team but he couldn't. Why couldn't he talk? Why wasn't he able to move? What was happening? What was going on?
His heart stumbled as he imaged where this led. He pictured Kono answering the door to two men in Navy dress. He could feel her pain as if he were there watching as she collapsed in pain, cradling an infant to her breast. Their baby – his son; whom he'd never meet.
He must have cried out in pain for relief coursed through him and he felt his body relax. A hand squeezed his as the faces of his team blurred in front of him against the night sky. The grave consequences settled on his clear mind and he was at peace. There was no greater gift, than to lay down his life for another. He had given his life and a member of his team would return home to his family because of him. His thumb rubbed the naked skin around his ring finger as the darkness enveloped him.
Kono slowly lowered herself to the sand in what was known as her spot. She had taken to coming there every day since Steve had been deployed. There were many other spots she could have gone to feel closer to her husband but those places felt empty without him.
She penned her letters to Steve on this stretch of sand. She filled in the blanks in the baby book she was able to. And she filled the pages in a journal she had bought to depict day by day her pregnancy for Steve to read when he returned. So he wouldn't feel as if he missed out on everything.
It was moving into month four of him being gone. And the days kept getting longer and the nights lonelier. Her due date was fast approaching. His latest letter had just arrived that morning was more subdued than his previous ones. He had resigned himself to missing the birth of his first child. And reading his words had torn at her heart. And it left her cursing the Government for sending her husband to wherever he was. She cursed whatever mission he was assigned to; cursed whoever created the fight he was enduring. The only place Steve should have been, was sitting right with her on the sands of a beach in Hawaii as they counted down the final moments together before they become parents.
The nursery had been finished a few weeks ago; having been put off in hopes that Steve would return to work on it himself. With the push from Chin and Danny, she gave in and allowed them to paint the walls, put up wall hangings, and assemble the baby furniture.
She spent the last week washing tiny baby clothes and putting them in dresser drawers. Blankets were folded and stacked within easy reach. Diapers, creams, lotions and other baby essentials were sitting on the changing table waiting for a bundle of joy to use them.
It had become her favorite room in the house and she would sit in the rocking chair at night, with her feet propped on the footstool, gazing out the window with a clear view of the ocean, in her arms, she'd hold a stuffed seal that had been a gift from her baby shower. She'd sit there in the chair, holding the seal and rocking, imagining her beautiful baby boy in her arms; imagining Steve leaning against the door jam watching them.
She gave a longing sigh as she looked out at the ocean. Steve was never far from her mind. She thought about him when she was at the office and she'd catch herself staring into his empty office. An office she made sure was kept clean. Every other day she would dust the surfaces, plaques and awards hanging on the walls. Sometimes, fingering his awards she'd feel closer to him.
It was in this spot on the beach she had decided on a name for their child; where she fingered the dried tear drop on the letter from Steve when he told her it was a perfect choice. And it was also in this spot where she had asked Danny and Chin to be in the delivery room with her in the absence of Steve. If Steve couldn't be standing by her side, holding her hand as their child came into this world, she couldn't think of anyone else she'd rather have at her side. And she knew Steve would want it too.
She had also asked them to record the birth. And after the mother of all rants from Danny, where he vehemently refused to 'to get up close and personal with…that', they agreed. A giggle escaped as she remembered the look on his face, the flying hands, the blush creeping from the open neck of his shirt.
The giggle turned into a gasp as pain shot through her lower abdomen. Her stomach constricted and she wrapped both arms around her tummy and let out a soft moan.
"Oh baby," she cringed. "You would decide to come now in this place. I guess you feel your Daddy here too." She reached for her phone, quickly dialing as she rubbed her stomach.
"Mrs. McGarrett under no circumstances are you coming into work. I don't care how much you beg and plead or vow to kick my ass," Danny said in lieu of hello. "You are staying home and resting up. Taking care of that baby who is—"
"Coming now," Kono gritted as her stomach clenched again.
"What?" Danny exclaimed standing up so fast he sent his chair careening into the wall behind him. "Are you joking?"
"Am I joking? Doesn't it sound like I'm joking!" Kono yelled at him. "Please hurry Danny. I'm at the beach."
"Of course you are," Danny rapidly knocked on Chin's office, waving his hand in a hurry up motion. "We're coming, right now. Just stay on the phone with us okay?"
Danny and Chin raced from headquarters jumping in Danny's silver Camero. They placed Kono on speaker phone as Danny tore from the parking lot and zipped across the streets in moves that would have made Steve proud.
"How are you doing Cuz?" Chin asked.
"Just dandy…" Kono fell silent, save for a slight whimper. It caused Danny to press on the accelerator harder. "Oh," she groaned. "My water just broke."
