Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii 5-0 or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them for my own purposes. All the places used are actually places on Oahu. Slight Spoiler: I don't own Dave and Busters either. Though I still wish to go so hopefully I can one day.
This type of writing = speaking over comm systems
This type of writing = text message
When Danny arrived at the 5-0 offices on Monday morning, Steven was already in his office. Danny popped his head in and asked, "Morning, got any pressing cases today?"
"Nope. Nothing whatsoever. Just finish up whatever paperwork you got lying around," Steve replied. "If it stays like this, we might all have an early week."
Danny rushed into Steve's office, "Shhh, the criminals might hear you! And I know you live for that but I, for one, would like an early work week. I'm trying to make plans for later this week."
Steve's eyebrows raised, "Really? And what plans would that be?"
"Plans that have nothing to do with bombs, getting shot at or blowing anything or me up so nothing that would be of interest to you," Danny stuck out his tongue before turning and walking out the door. Once he got out the door, Kono was almost upon him.
"Hey, grab the bossman, we got a case," she threw out as she walked by on her way to the tech table. When did she get in? I didn't even hear her, Danny pondered. He turned on his heels and pushed back into Steve's office.
"Are you happy now? You've cursed us. We've got a case. Let's go!" Danny said. The case was of a child molester who abducted kids walking home from middle school, raped them, then dumped them battered on the front steps of Saint Nicholas Episcopal Church. Danny was white knuckling the tech table. "How ironic," he gritted.
"What?" asked Kono, clueless as to the significance that everyone else in the room seemed to pick up on.
"St. Nicholas is the patron saint of children," chimed in Chin. Danny took a deep breath and released his death grip on the table.
"These little girls are being picked up on their way home from Kapolei Middle School. They are being picked up Tuesday afternoon and deposited on the church steps on Thursday morning with no damage other than to their wrists and genitals. Every girl is giving the same description of the van: no windows, dark blue and smells like stale cigarettes. And they each give the same description of their abductions. They say that a van pulls along side of them driving slowly, a guy jumps out of the van, covers their mouth with a cloth, grabs them from behind and pulls them into the van. They remember struggling for a bit then the next thing they know, they're waking up in a dark, dingy room laying on 2 thin mattresses.
"Well, we definitely don't need a description of what happened. Were any of the girls able to give a descriptions of the perps?" Steve enquired.
"Sort of. Both are natives. One is a tall, thin guy with short, black hair. And a scar under his left eye. The other guy is a heavy-set guy with long, wavy hair and tribal tattoos around his upper arm. The girls say that the tall one smells like cigarettes and the other one smells like beer. Apparently they are fed but they only have a bucket to pee in in the corner of the room. Some of the girls also have a bruise on ther stomachs saying the big guy hit them when they didn't cry," Chin stated.
"Wait a minute, so your saying that he intentionally hit them in the stomach so they would cry and then raped them?" Danny questioned. Kono nodded begrudgingly. "That's sick. That's really fucking sick and twisted. I cant wait to get my hands on these pieces of shit cause when i do, I'm gonna show them what real pain and fear is. Excuse me while I go and throw up in my trash can." Danny turned promtly and stomped to his office. He slammed the door so hard they were shocked that he didn't break the glass. Steve made a start towards Danny's office. Kono stopped him with a hand on his forearm, looking up into steves eyes with a touch of sadness. Kono walked towards Danny's office. She knocked on his door and walked in. Danny was sitting in his chair with his head in his hands, covering his face. She crossed his office and perched herself on the edge of his desk. She waiting for him to acknowledge her is some way. When he made no motion to she started the conversation.
"So, you wanna let me in on what's running through your head?" Kono asked. She wailed patiently for his reply, supporting hr weight with both her arms on either side of her while she leaned on the desk. She saw his shoulders heaving up and down and heard the hard exhaulation of breaths as he seemed to collect himself. When he finally looked up, Kono felt her heart break a little. The anguish on Danny's face was unnerving.
"They're only little girls Kono! How can someone even think to do that to a child?!" Danny hissed. She had to look away, the pain in his eyes was too much for her to handle. "What goes on in their twisted minds for them to think that what they are doing is okay?"
"I have no idea Danny," Kono murmured, "we all know you're thinking about Grace. Danny, she's safe. We are all on this Task Force to make sure that things like this either don't happen or stop them from happening as soon as we know about it. We would do everything in our power to keep Grace safe. You know that. And if there was ever a time where she wasn't safe, we would fight and take down any bad guys til she's safe again." She looked back down at Danny. He had removed his hands from his face and seem to be processing the words. He let the words settle in. He knew that every word she said was true and finally, Danny smiled. His next action shocked her. He slid his chair back, pulled her to the center of his desk, wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head on her stomach. Kono was momentarily stunned. She came back to herself, place in hr left hand on his right shoulder and wrapped her right hand around the back of his head, smoothing down his already neat hair in a comforting gesture. She felt him take a deep breath and squeeze her a little tighter before releasing her. He pushed himself up off his chair and ran his hand over his face. He slung his arm around her shoulders, much the way he would Steve.
"Thanks Kono," uttered Danny.
"Not a problem Danny. Anytime," she beamed. And with that smile, Danny felt the overwhelming sadness mostly leave him. It was still hard but Kono was making it a little easier.
Danny opened the door and indicated for Kono to go through first, being ever the gentleman. She walked out from under his arm and back towards the tech table. "Alright, what's the plan to catch these sick sons of bitches?" Danny asked with renewed vigor.
"So were gonna set up a perimeter between Nassau Street and Orion Drive. Its just within the perimeter of the school zone where we know some of the girls live but far enough away that it wont set off any alarms for our perps," Steve stated.
"We got a cousin who lives on Orion Drive," Chin supplied.
"Of course you do," Danny said while rolling his eyes. "Exactly how many cousins do you two have?" He inquired.
Chin smirked, "Brah, you don't even wanna know.
"Chin, contact your cousin and let them know what we will be commandeering their house from 2-6 today and tomorrow afternoon. Danny you and I-" Steve started.
"I'll contact our cousin. A lot of our family still don't trust Chin," Kono interrupted, crossing her arms over her chest. Chin's look turned slightly dark.
"Fine, Kono make it happen. Danny and i will drive around, see if we can spot him beforehand," Steve said, "we only have a small window. If we miss them today or tomorrow then we're gonna have to wait a whole week and we'll have another traumatized young girl on our hands. And I know we won't be letting that happen. Let's go!" Everyone split off to their respective offices to get started on their part of the op.
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A few hours later, Danny and Steve were driving around in Steve's Chevy Silverado, deciding that Steve's truck was a little less suspicious than Danny's Camero. Chin had come with Kono in her Chevrolet Cruze, deciding that his Harley might be a tad loud and obvious. They had already let Duke know that they were going on this mission and to let any incoming callers to know that a few under covers were driving around their neighborhood in a blue truck and a red car with a white stripe, trying to catch the bad guys. Danny and Steve started at one end of the neighborhood while Chin, driving Kono's car started at the other.
Kono was at their cousins house, doing some simple weeding in the garden for the time being. She had decided that if she were going to be on a stakeout, then at least she would be productive as well instead of fake gardening. There were only so many times that one could weed a garden. Every few minutes she would stretch and take a look up an down the street. She had brought a few flowers and some saplings for a banana, mango and lemon tree. Each vehicle drove at a moderate pace around the neighborhoods, looking all the world like people foreign to the neighborhood either trying to find a friends house or quite simply lost. The two cars met in the middle of the neighborhood and rolled their respective windows down.
"See anything?" Steve asked.
"Nah, all clear," Chin replied.
Not so far, Kono replied over the comm system.
"If anyone sees anything, speak up. If they're in this neighborhood, we wanna clock them before they make us. Let's get back to it," Steve ordered.
"Roger dat," was Chin's reply. Then a few minutes later, they heard Chin's voice over the comm system, Cute hat cuz. It really suits you. That pink bow is especially fetching, Chin smirked as he passed their cousins house.
Kulikuli cuz cuz, Kono clipped. Chin smirked at her reply. Just then Kono heard a vehicle. She stretched up and looked around. At the other end of the street was a dark blue van. She got slightly excited that this may be the vehicle they had been looking for. Hey guys, today may be our lucky day. I've got a dark blue, windowless van passing me, Kono informed them. They really had gotten lucky as they had taken a guess as to what neighborhood they would hit next. There hadn't been as many girls taken from this area and the other neighborhoods had already decreased the number of little girls walking home by themselves. It seeemed like this one had yet to enact that policy. Kono knew she shouldn't be thankful for it but she was gonna take whatever small grace she could in catching these guys. It seemed like they were just scoping out the neighborhood at the moment. Probably trying to find their next target.
I'm close to Kono. I'll turn around and check it out, Chin stated. Kono saw her car come back down the road as Chin drove the other way down the street, casually checking out the van as he passed it. From his side he could see a big guy behind the wheel of the van. Kono was on the opposite side of the van. She had stood up to stretch. Not just to get a better look at the guy int he passenger seat but to also stretch out her back and legs. She didn't realize how long she had been kneeling down. She stretched all the way up on her toes while her arms stretched over her head. She placed her hands on her hips as the vehicle passed and saw the thing native in the passengers seat, completely focused forward; scanning the sidewalks for their next target.
Chin, let's box them in, Steve commanded.
Got it, Chin responded. The truck appeared at the other end of the street. Chin disappeared around the corner and reappeared a few seconds later. The truck came at a steady pace down the road. The van hadn't moved too far past Kono so she simply walked cautiously after the van, slowly pulling her gun from the small of her back. She kept it down by her side, waiting until the truck turned to block the van from going further down the street. She didn't have long to wait as the truck turned sideways on the street and the van pulled brakes so they wouldn't collide. Steve hopped out of the drivers side an swiftly withdrew his firearm. Danny hopped out the other side, immediately drawing his firearm; making his way around the front of the truck. Kono was walking slowly down the sidewalk with her gun leveled at the van. The big guy looked like he was ready to throw the vehicle in reverse when he looked behind him to see that Chin had boxed him in with the other car and was currently walking towards the van with a shotgun leveled on the had her gun leveled at the passenger side door while Chin was leveled at the drivers side with Steve and Danny aiming their guns respectively at the driver and passenger.
"Calai Ha'anu! Taro Pupule! I'm Steve McGarrett of the 5-0 Task Force! You are both under arrest for kidnapping and rape of a minor. Step out of the vehicle with your hands up!" Steve yelled. They both cautiously slid out from the van. With the doors still open, they looked across to each other and shared the slightest of nods. The bigger guy, Taro, swung at Chin who easily ducked it and shoved the butt of the shotgun into the guys nose. He immediately went down, grabbing at his nose and screaming as blood slowly oozed through his fingers. The thing guy, Calai, tried to shove Kono out of the way which worked for 0.5 seconds before she threw her gun to the ground on a front lawn so she had use of both hands. She grabbed him by the back of the collar with one hand and used the other hand to grab his arm in the backswing. She pulled him back towards her, twisted his arm behind his back and kicked his knee from behind him. He immediately went down and she used the momentum to lay him on his front, using her knee to hold his already twisted arm there while she used the stretch of her upper body to grab the other arm to twist it and join the first one behind his back. Steve smirked at the cousins, throwing a zip tie to Kono.
"Well, that took considerably less effort than I would have liked. I wanted to maybe chase them down, tackle them and beat the snot out of at least one of them," Danny whined.
"I tell you what, why don't we take the long way back and not buckle these guys in. We can try and catch every other red light. And I'll even let you drive, Sound like a plan?" Steve questioned Danny.
Danny's smile was malicious. "I want the big guy," Danny said as he stalked over to Taro and almost ripped his arms out of his sockets as he pulled them behind him to put into the zip ties. Danny hauled Taro to his feet and lead him to the back of Steve's truck, practically throwing him in. He stalked around to the drivers side and hopped in, looking at Steve with a shit-eating grin on his face. His afternoon was turning out to be better than he hoped.
"Kono, you go ahead and drive your car back to Iolani Palace while Chin drives the van back to the evidence locker," Steve said while taking Calai off of Kono's hands and leading him over to the back of his truck, throwing him in with his friend. He slammed the door and hopped in the passengers seat. Hey, don't bother following us back, we're gonna take the long way so that Danny can have a little 'fun'. See you when we get in, Steve told them over comms.
"Shoots. See you back at the Palace," she agreed. She bent down and collected her gun, tucking it into the small of her back before heading for her car. Chin put on his gloves and hauled himself up into the van. After all, he didn't want to disturb the evidence. He wanted to make sure these guys got nailed to the walls for all their charges and he knew a few people still thought he was untrustworthy in HPD. All three vehicles started up and drove down the street. A few minutes into the drive, the truck split off from the other two vehicles which contin
Hopefully they have all their body parts when they get back to the Palace. Though i'm Sure there will be slightly more bruises, Chin joked.
I know we can expect them alive. Danny's not THAT bad! Kono chuckled.
Fine, I'll bring them in alive but any extra 'bruises' happened in the field during apprehension, Danny chimed in on the comms. Chin and Kono laughed and shook their heads. They arrived back at the Palace in 30 minutes. Chin took the van immediately to evidence and joined Kono back at the offices. She was already in her office writing her report. Chin went to his office and started writing his as well. 30 minutes after they had gotten in, Steve and Danny strolled through the front doors. Actually, Danny Moreno strutted through the fron doors looking like the cat who got the canary. Steve popped into Chin's door to tell them about the extra bruises that Calai and Taro had 'sustained' out in the field while they were apprehending them. He told Chin to place the report on his desk so they could check for continuity before signing off on them and handing them in. Chin scrapped his report and started from the beginning, ready to include the extra injuries. Danny popped into Kono's office to tell her the same thing. She looked up when her door opened. "Hey, we got them in safely but they sustained a few more injuries 'in the field'. Taro has a big bruise on his forehead and Calai has a bruise on his right cheek. They really shoudn't have tried to run when we caught them," Danny said not looking at all sorry about what had happened to them.
"Thanks, I'll make sure that I include those in the report," she repeated Chins actions as she pulled out a new report to start again. "Come in, I wanna talk to you a second," she beckoned Danny in.
"What's up?" he asked as he closed the door behind him.
"Since we got this case closed early, you wanna go out tonight on our proper date?" Kono asked albeit a bit nervously. She barely waited for a response before continuing, "It wouldn't be something as serious as dinner. Just something light and fun-"
"Yes," Dann agreed.
Kono continued as if he hadn't spoken, "nothing too formal. Fun and laid back-, wait, did you say yes? Sweet! Umm, did you wanna change out of your work clothes? Of course you do, what a dumb question. So after we finish these reports we can go home and change. To our respective homes of course," Kono continued babbling.
"Kono? I've already said yes. What did you have in mind?" he smiled at her. She was cute when she was flustered. And she was rarely flustered so this was a real treat.
"Umm," she grabbed her stack of post-it notes and quickly wrote an address on one of them, "here it is. Provided we can get out of here soon then I'll see you there at 6:30. That work for you?"
"That works just fine. After you finish your report, drop it on Steve's desk so we can make sure that they all have continuity. I'll see you later," Danny smiled. He turned and left her office to head back to his to write up his report. Kono let out sigh of relief. She wasn't usually so...jittery when talking too guys. Usually she was the aggressor and perused guys but something about Danny made her a bit nervous.
Chin was the first one finished with his report and dropped it in to Steve's office before leaving for the day. They had a brief chat before Chin turned and left. She quickly checked over her report, nodding her head at it before checking out the time. Good, she still had plenty of time to get ready for her date with Danny. She collected her bag which held her bikini and towel from earlier when she had gone for a surf; her usually preferred method to start off the day. She went and dropped off the report. Steve was telling everyone on the team to take another day off tomorrow and he would see everyone on Thursday. She thanked him and hurried down to her car to get home and get ready. Danny had finally finished his and dropped it on Steve's desk. "Hey, what are you up to tonight?" Steve questioned Danny.
"I actually have a date tonight," Danny responded.
"How'd you set that up so quickly? We didn't even know that we would be closing the case in a day let alone a few hours," Steve exclaimed.
"Don't worry about my methods. The young lady was very excited and she also had the night available. Anyway, Nosey Rosey, did you need anything else before I go home to get ready?" Danny inquired.
"Just gave everyone a day off tomorrow cause of the case today. Sort of a celebratory thing and also to give everyone's head a break after the case. Enjoy your date tonight. I hope she has fun tonight regardless of how boring you are," Steve joked.
"Harr, harr. Your hilarious," Danny deadpaned, "enjoy the rest of your evening." Danny left Steve's office and headed for his car. This pineapple infested hellhole may be shitty but as of today, it was looking a bit more bright.
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Danny followed the directions on his GPS to the location that Kono had given him. He pulled into the parking lot for Dave and Busters. Wow, I didn't even know this island had one of these, Danny thought to himself. It was one of the mor fun and cheap ways to have fun in Jersey on his weekends with Grace back on the mainland. He pulled into a parking spot and hopped out of his car. He decided to dress fairly casual wearing a long pair of black jeans, an ocean blue polo and black loafers. He crossed the car park and pulled out his phone to text Kono, listening out for vehicles as he crossed. Where are you? he sent as he headed for the front door.
Look up. she sent back. Danny looked up and was stunned. She looked amazing...again. But this was different from the club. Where the club was a glam kind of amazing, this was a casual amazing. Kono had on a low scoop neckline top that didn't come down too low but this time was not backless (thank goodness because he was sure he would be able to concentrate if she did) but just sleeveless in peach with a regular pair of dark wash skinny jeans and peach closed in flats. She had put on gold shimmer eyeshadow and a nude colour on her lips that made them look soft and kissable with a slight shine. Her hair was simply out and hanging, just brushing her shoulders. Danny came back to himself and greeted her.
"Hey, thanks for asking me out though I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be the other way around of me asking you," Danny said as he approached her.
"Meh, it's the 21st century. I'm pretty sure woman can step up and make the first move nowadays," Kono replied.
"Yeah, but I'm from the old school," Danny insisted.
"Well, welcome to the new school," Kono smiled.
Danny reached out and held the door for her, "Shall we milady?" he said giving a slight bow as he did so.
"Thank you milord," Kono curtseyed before going through the door, grinning at Danny as she passed him. He followed her and gasped as he entered. He forgot how massive this place was. "I still have a card from last time. What do you say we load it up and get this fun night started?"
"Why don't you do that and I'll get us some drinks. What would you like?" Danny asked.
"A fruity Margarita. Thanks," Kono replied.
"I'll meet you by that huge Connect 4 over there. Whoever gets there first can just wait for the other," Danny stated. Kono nodded and parted from him while Danny headed for the bar. He ordered a Strawberry Watermelon Margarita for Kono and a Crown Apple for himself. He paid for his drinks and headed to the Connect 4 to see Kono leaning against it waiting for him.
"Thanks," she beamed as she accepted the drink, "Cheers!" She clinked her glass against his and took a sip of her drink. She closed her eyes and groaned as the liquid hit her tongue. Danny's eyes flew to Kono's face at the noise. Jesus Christ! Is she aware that she's making that noise? That could seriously distract a guy! He took a bigger sip of his drink and held his cold glass to his wrist so that he could concentrate on the feeling of cold there instead of the interesting noise she had made a moment ago. "This is ridiculously good! How's yours?"
"It's good," Danny cleared his throat slightly. He realize that his voice sounded a bit gruff to his ears but Kono didn't seem to notice, "Ready to get this night started?"
"Let's go," Kono turned, put the card in the machine and waited for the machine to spit it back out. "You know, I don't think I ever played this game as a kid.
"Really? This was one of the few games that everyone in my household could agree with. It was either me and Matty against Bridget and Stella or me and Bridge against Matty and Stella," he remembered as he rolled the ball and hit the button to place his first red chip. Kono rolled her ball and hit the button to send down her blue chip. "The losing team would always get mad and throwing the game across the room," Danny dropped another chip, "Mom would make all of us pick up the pieces and count them to make sure we got them all." Kono dropped another chip. They continued playing until Kono dropped her final chip in place. The machine started making dinging noises. Danny looked momentarily confused.
"I won!" Kono threw her hands in the air.
"Where?" Danny asked.
"Right here," Kono explained while pointing out her 4 chips in a diagonal line.
"I thought you said you never played this before," Danny pouted.
"I didn't. But I did play a game called Four-in-a-Row, which is basically the same concept," she smirked.
"You cheater!" Danny boomed. Kono smiled at his and Danny lost a bit of his edge. "Fine, I'll give you that one Kalakaua. But I pick the next game," Danny picked up his drink, taking a sip and looking for his next game or a sign to point him in the direction he wanted. He finally spotted the machine, grabbed Kono's hand and barely giving her a moment to grab her drink before he dragged her over to the machine. Danny smiled as he turned around to face her. "I'll just go ahead and already assume that you know how to play this one regardless of what you called it when you were younger."
"We called it skee-ball as well," Kono chimed. She pulled out the card and inserted it into the machine. The machine spit out the appropriate number of balls before gesturing to Kono to go first. It appeared that Kono had skill at this game as well. Danny talked about growing up with siblings versus Kono growing up an only child but with so many cousins she never felt like one. He asked how many cousins she actually had. She laughed and said that he didn't want to know. She racked up a score of 360 over 2 rounds. Danny gave her a small applause. He inserted the card and waited for his game to start. He managed to rack up a score of 400 over 2 rounds. "I bow to the victor. Next round is on me. Same thing?" Kono asked as she collected his glass.
"Nah, get me something different but not too sweet," he said as he handed her his glass. "Meet up at air hockey?" He questioned.
"See you there," she agreed and turned to head back to the bar. Danny headed for the air hockey table and waited for one to become available. By the time Kono got back with he drinks, he had just received the card back from the machine.
When she handed him the drink, he couldn't even help it, "What the hell is that?"
"It's a Coronarita!" She exclaimed as if he should know. He looked at the drink skeptically. "Just try it," she encouraged. He still eyed her but tried it anyway. It actually wasnt't that bad. It wasn't as sweet as a regular margarita but it was still refreshing.
"I approve. Now, do you care to get started?" He asked.
"Yeah, but I say we put stakes on this game," Kono smirked.
"Oh really? You're feeling that confident about your skills?" Danny inquired.
"Yeah. Winner gets to pick the next date. What say you sir? Do you accept this challenge?" Kono asked as she placed down her lip gloss in front of Danny.
Danny looked down at he the lip gloss, "What is this?"
"I didn't have a glove or a gauntlet to throw down so I'm working with what I got. Do you accept the challenge or not?"
Danny picked up the lip gloss and put it in his pocket, "I accept your challenge! Let's do this!" The machine had already spit out a puck. Danny pulled out the lip gloss and spun it on the table.
"Now what is that?"
"We need a way to determine who goes first. Whoever the cap lands on is who goes first." Kono shrugged and waited for her lip gloss to stop spinning. It finally stopped and landed on her. Kono reached and picked up the puck from its place in the middle of the table.
"Ready Williams?"
"You're going down Kalakaua!" She hit the puck and off they went. Every few minutes one would hear the puck collide and sink into a goal. They were actually pretty well matched. Both having quick reflexes due to their job. They had a few rallies which took quite a few minutes til they finally arrived at match point. They were both panting slightly which was ridiculous considering they were only playing air hockey. Kono held the puck while she took a sip of her drink so Danny decided to do so as well. When he finished, he looked back up at Kono. She was slightly flushed and had a slight sheen over her which made her glow. Thank goodness Danny decided to wear a short sleeved shirt tonight and forgoing his usual long sleeved shirts. "Ready?"
"Let's do this!" Kono hit the puck, hoping to disorient Danny with it flying back and forward across the table. It didn't quite go to plan as Danny calculated where it would go and easily hit it back. Kono lobbied it back int he same crazy fashion, bouncing it off the walls of the table. It was almost about to go in when Danny stopped it by slamming his handle on it. "Hey!" Kono hollered as her near victory was ripped from her, "What gives Danny?" She was staring intently at the puck.
Danny picked up his drink and downed the rest of it, feeling the liquid sitting on his top lip. Kono had followed the motion with her eyes. His tongue darted out to lick away the last of the liquid. He noted how Kono's eyes flickered down to his mouth when his tongue came out and she inhaled quickly. His eyebrow raised at the slight motion in amusement. Her eyes lingered on his lips before raising back up to his eyes. He could see that her pupils were slightly larger than usual. He held her gaze as he straightened, keeping his handle on the puck and sliding it down the table. He moved his arm around the barrier in the middle without breaking his gaze from hers, still sliding the puck along the table top. When he got close to Kono, he slid his other hand up her arm. Risking a quick glance down, he saw goosebumps raised in the trail of his hand. She didn't even register the sound of the puck going in as all the blood was rushing and blocking out sound. He came well within her personal space and whispered, "I win." A big grin broke out on his face as he took a step back. It felt good to know that Danny wasn't the only one feeling something here. He had almost backed down there for a moment. Kono took in a shaky breath and let it out in a rush. She grabbed for her drink and chugged the rest of it down. "It would appear we've done enough to get a prize. You look a little shaky so you collect yourself while I go and get it," Danny reached into his pocket and took the card to the prize area. Kono stoo by herself, leaning against the center partition of the table sucking in a few unsteady breaths while she tried to collect herself. Danny returned shortly with a stuffed blue teddy bear. "This is for you, babe," he said as he handed over the bear to Kono. She looked down at the bear and smiled. "Hey Kono?" Kono looked up from the stuffed bear in her hands, "Thanks for a fun night. I really did need to get out of my head." She smiled even bigger at him.
"You're welcome Danny. I had a fun night as well."
"Walk you back to your car?"
"Sure." He walked her back to her car which, as it turns out, wasn't too far from where he had parked. She dug her hand in her back pocket to pull out the keys. Once she did, she turned back around to Danny with the bear still in her arm. She was looking down nervously, not quite sure what to do at this point but Danny didn't seem to have a problem. He plucked her keys from her hand, stepped to the side of her, unlocked the door and started up the car. He straightened again and kissed her on the cheek. She looked up with a hint of surprise on her face.
"Good night Kono, get home safe," he said softly as she slid down into her car.
"Good night Danny, you as well," she mumbled, still heady from a combination of the game, his stare and the kiss. She knew it was only the cheek but it still tingled. He closed the door as soon as she was safe inside and waited til she pulled out and away before going to his vehicle. He whistled as he walked back to his car. Not the first date he had planned necessarily but it went well. A bunch of different ideas were running through his head about their second date. Should I take her dancing? Should we go out to dinner? Maybe a karaoke bar? Maybe a pool hall? So many different thoughts running through his head. He unlocked and sat down in his car. I'll figure it out. I've got time," he thought to himself as he pulled the car out of the parking spot and drove home.
Thank you guys so much for sticking around for another long chapter. I had been sitting on the idea for about a week and I finally sat down and hammered it out. And bless my other half who stayed up while I used his pillow as a desk to balance my tablet. Hopefully I can get the next chapter out sooner. Later days!
