Wow, I am so seriously lucky that you all read my little stories. I so don't deserve the amazing readers i have, but i'm keeping you all. You ain't getting away! If you try to run I'll hunt you down and find you!

Kyla, i couldn't reply to you direct but please know your kind words blew me away! Thank you so much!

Enough from the over emotional gushing me, and on with them...

One Month Ago

Steve stood at the airport waiting patiently for the call that would take him hundreds of miles from Hawaii to the base in Texas. He didn't know where he would be sent after that. He had an idea though.

He hung his head to steady his breathing as his heart raced. He'd gotten too used to being back in Hawaii. Too settled in his role. Too used to having Danny by his side. He'd broken a rule he'd made a lifetime ago.

Don't become reliant on anyone but yourself.

Life has a way of taking rules, crumpling them up into little balls and hurling them over the edge.

The SEAL made his way to the furthest corner of the departure area where it was secluded and quiet. He watched as business men walked around talking on their cells. Each conversation melting into the next. Families running around trying to keep the kids in check. Their excitement boiling over into a cacophony of chaos.

Steve ran his hand over his face. He had a duty to perform, an oath he made needed to be followed through, yet he didn't want to go. He now had something to stay home for. A job he cared about, a difference to be made that mattered to the heart of the land he grew up in. If his father could see him he knew he would be so proud. He had an investigation to pursue. A debt to be settled. He had meaning and purpose. He had friends. No, scratch that, he had family. Family that needed him and who he needed. And once again he was leaving. Different family but similar circumstance. Your country needs you, it calls; you go.

He'd left Danny the keys to the house and truck. The Detective had barely been able to look him in the eye as he'd handed him the letter he'd written. The shock of being next of kin had brought home to Danny the truth that Steve had known since the first moment he'd enlisted.

I may not make it home.

The jersey native had stormed out of the house, leaving the letter on the desk. Refusing to admit the reality that couldn't be ignored.

Steve sighed as he gazed out toward the runway. He was to take a civilian trip to Texas, but a Navy ride to god knew where.

When had it all changed? When had it been that he had become more loyal to serving the community than his country? Or was it just as simple as he now had roots, ties to the island that pulled him back hard and tried to stop him from leaving.

Was it all just too much?

His Dad, Victor Hesse, Mary's kidnapping. It was all just too much. And now he was being taken away from where he needed to be. He smiled as he realised why he was so torn when he'd never been before.

Now it was personal. He knew what he wanted. Knew where he wanted to be. He'd never felt that before. Always gone wherever was asked of him. Had no place to call home, no place he felt he belonged.

Typical, you realise what it is you've been looking for all along is right in front of your face, right at the point that you're leaving.

"Well, ain't you one miserable looking lean, mean killing machine."

Steve jumped as Danny stood in front of him.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Danny regarded his friend for a few seconds, then sat across from him in one of what he was sure was the most uncomfortable plastic chair known to man kind. He shifted, trying to find a place to sit that would be happy for his posterior and not leaving him walking like an old man afterward.

Steve waited patiently as Danny fidgeted. He waited very patiently. For two minutes.

"Danno!"

"What? Why are you shouting?"

"What are you doing? And what are you doing here?"

"Firstly," Danny held up one finger. His middle finger.

"Cute." Noted Steve.

"I'm trying to get comfortable so I can talk to you, but apparently that ain't gonna happen. Secondly," He held up the other middle finger. "I couldn't let you go without saying goodbye."

Steve's frown melted into a smile then vanished just as quickly. As much as he appreciated the gesture, this just made it all the more difficult to leave.

"Danny, I need you to hold on to that letter, just in case. Please. I'm not changing my mind on that."

"That's not what I'm here for. And as much as I hate that you picked me, I also understand, and I'm honoured."

"Honoured?"

Danny smiled affectionately at the tall idiot sat in front of him. "I admit, took me a while to get my head around why me, but I get it. I still don't like it though."

"I'm sure you don't" Laughed Steve.

"So how long till your flight is called?"

"Should be in a few minutes. It's charter, gotta walk to the plane."

"You mean the Navy won't pay for the plane to be brought to you? And to fly first class? Where the hell are my tax dollars going, man?"

"Straight into the pockets of the rich my friend."

"Ain't that the truth."

Danny stared at Steve a while. The SEAL shifted uncomfortably in his seat, in the end he snapped.

"What?"

"What what?"

"What are you staring at?"

"You're uncomfortable, admit it, these chairs are shit."

"Danno?"

Danny looked down at his hands, he knew what he wanted to do, but was afraid the gesture would be the last he'd make to his friend. He was avoiding the goodbye. He knew it, he just couldn't seem to bring himself to actually go through with what he'd driven to the damn airport to do.

Steve looked up as the announcement came across the PA for his plane.

"Guess that's me."

"I'll walk you down."

"Danno,"

"Shut up, I'm walking you to the plane."

The two stood and walked in silence. Each step heavier than the last, each man lost in thoughts. Too many words to say in too short a time. The silence stretched between them. Both screamed inside but no sound reached the other's ears. The two minute walk seemed to take two hours. Like a dead man walking toward his final resting place.

Steve stopped, the plane sat ominously a few feet away. The door open like the jaws of a shark waiting for its prey to swim straight in.

"I'll see you soon." He turned, made to walk away but stopped as a strong arm grabbed his bicep.

"Here." Danny took Steve's hand and dropped a small medallion into his palm.

Steve turned the small piece of silver over. The moment robbed him of his voice, stole his air and cemented him to the spot. The emblem was one known to all who took the oath.

The patron saint of law enforcement.

"I want you to have it." Said Danny as he cleared his throat. He tore his eyes from Steve's palm and focused his blue gaze with full force at his friend. Steve looked back. He held the intensity for what seemed an eternity.

"Danno, I can't."

"Yes you can. Take it, it'll keep you safe. I want it back when you return though. Please, take it, Steve."

"No, I really can't. I'm coming back. You have to understand that. Not to give some good luck charm back to you, but coming back cos this is my home. You're family. I'm not leaving that behind. Its what I have to hold onto through whatever the hell is going to come next. That's what will keep me safe."

Steve placed the medallion back in Danny's palm.

"It means a hell of a lot to me that you came here to give me that."

"It'll mean a hell of a lot more to me that you make it back in one piece."

"I promise."

"You'd better."

The two regarded each other for a few minutes more, each making a silent promise to the other. Steve nodded, Danny returned the gesture.

The walk from the tarmac to the stairs, up each step and into the plane was the hardest Steve had ever had to make in his life. Coming home had been traumatic enough thanks to Victor Hesse, but leaving? He hoped that once he returned, if he returned, he'd never have to know that pain again.

TBC.

The scene you didn't see at the end of that is a fangirl who snuck onto the tarmac tackling Steve to the ground, holding on for dear life and never letting go.

But its wrong for the writer to put herself in a fic.