It Belongs in a Museum
By: Dean's Leather Jacket
Chapter Six: Sounds Like a Plan
Disclaimer: I STILL own nothing to do with Hawaii Five-0. If I did, I would be in Hawaii, sitting on the beach, being fanned by Alex O'Loughlin and… never mind… wishful thinking.
"Next time, I'll have to take you to see the USS Missouri. I think that you would really enjoy that." Steve said, as he raced down the highway back to Honolulu. Pen smiled to herself.
"How did you know to bring me to Pearl Harbor? Lucky guess?"
"I may have asked Danny…" Steve said, looking in front of him at the road with a slight sly smile on his face. Pen smiled again.
Steve had finally gotten off the highway and took the roads into the city. He maneuvered the streets easily, and eventually found a parallel parking space outside of a small Italian restaurant called Mama Sophia's. The smells pouring from the place made Pen's mouth water. She hadn't realized that she was as hungry as she was; she hadn't eaten since brunch earlier in the day.
"You like Italian, right?" Steve asked, coming around the truck to stand next to her.
"Yeah, how did you know?"
"I may or may not have texted Danny at Pearl about your food preferences…" Steve said with the mischievous smile again. Pen couldn't believe that this guy was actually inquiring about things that she wanted. Pen felt… well… she didn't know what she felt. A guy had never really been this considerate to her… ever.
"Good evening. Will it be just the two of you?" Asked the hostess at the door, all smiles and charm.
"Yes, just us." Steve replied, and he motioned Pen to go first in following the young woman to their table.
The ambiance was fantastic, in Pen's opinion. The lighting was dim and intimate, the décor was very Tuscan, complete with columns that acted as partitions. The tables were draped with white cloth coverings, the small bread plates already on the table were square, and the silverware was folded into red cloth napkins.
Pen nearly had a heart attack when she sat in her chair, and Steve was behind her, pushing her chair in.
"Thank you." Pen said, absolutely floored. He slid into his own chair across from her and just shot her a smile. The hostess handed them their menus and told them about the soup of the day and the wine selection, then informed them their waitress was Pam and that she would be with her shortly.
"Do you like wine?" Steve asked Pen, as he perused the selection.
"As a professor of Roman History, I feel it is my obligation to like wine. But I have to say, I'm not a big red wine nut, white does it for me. The Romans would be disappointed in me."
"Oh, totally disappointed I'm sure." He joked. "You want to get a bottle?"
"No, no it's cool."
"That's a yes then. What's your favorite?" Pen rolled her eyes.
"Seriously, Steve, we don't have too."
"Oh come on. We're in an Italian restaurant. It's dinner. You've got to have wine with dinner." He coaxed. "Plus, I'm paying." Pen blanched.
"You're not paying for me."
"Uh, yeah I am. I'm the one that invited you out to dinner. Ergo, I'm paying."
This was awkward. There's no reason that she couldn't pay for her meal. This wasn't a date or anything.
"I think I should pay for my half."
"Again, no. I was taught that when a man and a woman dine together, the man should always pay. Call me old fashioned."
"Look, I admire old fashioned-ness, ok I actually love it, but at the same time… you don't know me that well, and I don't know you that well, and it's just… weird, for me, for you to pay for my dinner." Pen said.
"Are we really going to argue this? I'm going to pay… end of story." Steve said, a note of finality to his voice. Pen wondered if he had used that voice with his SEAL team.
"Fine." Pen grumbled.
"Besides," He spoke again, "I would like to get to know you better..."
Pen looked up from her menu to see that he was looking at her, in all seriousness. He wasn't kidding. He wasn't yanking her chain. He was being real. Pen wasn't used to men (besides Danny and family members) being real.
Pam, their waitress, sidled up to the table, and greeted them. After much hooplah between the two (again), they finally decided on a bottle of Moscato. Then, they ordered, with Steve letting her order first. Pam walked away from the table with a smile on her face. These two were a trip. She went to put their order in with the kitchen and then returned with the Moscato. The couple thanked her politely when she poured it in their wine glasses. She left the bottle on the table and left them alone.
"So, how do you know Danny?" Steve asked Pen, leaning back in his chair and taking a sip from his wine glass.
"It's kind of weird, I guess. We share a cousin, yet we're not related."
"Ok… meaning?"
"Meaning, my dad's sister, my aunt, married his mother's brother, and they had my cousin, which we share."
"Interesting. Did you see each other a lot as kids or something?"
"Every summer and major holiday I was at my aunt and uncle's house." Pen said. "They live in Maine, and they're house was always the gathering place for both sides of their families. We became really good friends earlier on. When he'd go back to New Jersey and I'd go back to Virginia, we'd write letters to each other. Then email became really mainstream, and we would exchange emails. He hates email though, but sees that it's a bit faster than letter writing." Pen laughed.
"That's why you're Grace's godmother then?" Steve asked.
"Yep! I became closer with Grace and Rachel and Danny when I went to Columbia for my doctorate. They weren't far in New Jersey, so I'd go and visit whenever I could. It was awful when they got a divorce, but for some reason I could tell that it was coming. I really hadn't wanted it too, but it did. Then, while I was teaching back in Virginia at William and Mary, I got the phone call that Rachel had remarried and was taking Grace with her to Hawaii.
"I was so pissed. I couldn't believe how callous she was being to Danny. That kid is his life. He loves her so much. He immediately tried for a job at Honolulu P.D. And then, the biggest fluke in my life happened. I got offered a job at Hawaii Pacific. I thought it was an act of God, we Catholics really believe in those, so I took it immediately. I thought that if for whatever reason Danny hadn't been able to get a job down here, then at least someone would be close to Grace. But about a month after I was here, he got the job. And here we are."
"And how are you liking it?" He asked. Pen shrugged.
"I've lived on the East Coast all of my life, yet I've never really been a huge beach fan. Plus, the heat really gets to me sometimes. I am a big fan of cold weather. But other than that, it's absolutely beautiful here. Has your family always been in Hawaii?"
"Ever since my grandfather was stationed here. At one point, my dad thought about moving back to the mainland, but my grandmother really wanted to stay here. He didn't want to leave her, so he stayed. Became a cop. Married my mom and had my sister and I. I had never left the island until I got into Annapolis. Talk about a culture shock. And a weather shock. I had never seen snow except on TV." Pen laughed. "You know, my SEAL team spent some time in Virginia, at Little Creek. You know it?"
"Are you kidding?" Pen said excitedly. "I grew up in Yorktown. We had the Naval Weapon Station right there."
"I spent some leave time in Yorktown." Steve replied. "It's not far from Virginia Beach or the Norfolk Naval Base." Pen smiled.
"Not at all. I grew up around you Navy boys. My mother got remarried to one."
"To think that we were that close to each other, and we didn't even know it."
"It is a small world." Pen agreed.
"Random question." Steve started, and Pen laughed.
"Oh boy, go ahead, I guess." He laughed too.
"No, I swear it's nothing bad. When I say random, I really mean random: what is your favorite color?"
"Green. Definitely. You?"
"Blue."
"That's a big shock." Pen chuckled.
"What's wrong with blue?"
"Not a thing."
Their meals came, and they dug in, silence hanging in the air for a minute or two.
"I have a random question for you this time." Pen said, finally breaking the silence. Steve sucked in his spaghetti and then wiped his mouth when sauce splattered everywhere. He looked a little embarrassed for second. Pen just laughed at him.
"Go ahead." He said, once he had finished chewing.
"What was your favorite subject in school?"
"Hmm…" Steve pondered. "I would have to say History."
"Really?"
"Of course, where else was I going to learn about war and battles and blood shed?" Pen laughed. And the rest of dinner consisted of the two taking turns and asking random questions. Pen could not remember the last time she had laughed so hard. Especially when he asked her randomly whether she liked boxer or briefs.
"Um… you're asking me?"
"Yeah!"
"You do know that I don't wear either."
"Uh, I figured as much, but on a guy, do you like boxers or briefs?"
Pen couldn't believe that he was asking her this question. It was definitely forward and definitely bold. She could feel her face flush.
"Neither. Boxer briefs."
"Funny. That's what I prefer." That cheeky smile was back. Pen just rolled her eyes and had the urge to throw a roll at him.
A little while later, Steve opened the passenger door to his truck for her, and to Pen's surprise, gave her his hand to help her up onto the seat. Funny how his larger one seemed to envelope hers perfectly. Pen swallowed when he continued to hold on to her hand long after he had helped her into the truck. He was gazing at her this unreadable look. Pen had never wanted to read minds so badly in her life.
"Do I have something on my face?" She asked him. That seemed to pull him out of his stupor, and he let go of her hand and smiled at her.
"No, not at all." He shut the door and jogged around the front end to take his own seat behind the steering wheel.
Pen instructed him on where to go to get back to her apartment. The street was quiet when he turned down it, and lights were on in Mrs. Smith's apartment downstairs, the faint glow of the TV could be seen through the downstairs window.
Steve, yet again, opened the car door for her and, yet again, offered his hand to help her down. His hand was warm, and the skin there was calloused from years of God only knew what kind of special operations he had been on. All Pen knew was that she didn't think she could take anymore of this touching. It was making her head feel fuzzy and she didn't like that feeling at all. He walked her to the front door, as an old fashioned gentleman would.
"So, what is your assessment of me now?" He asked her. Pen pulled her keys from her purse, and turned to face him. He was at least six foot, but that was still tall for Pen's 5'4" height. He was standing really close, so close that she could feel, faintly, his breath on her forehead.
"Um…" She croaked. "I think the jury's still out."
"Oh?" He asked, acting surprised. "Then, maybe we need another outing for you to make your final judgment?"
Holy shit. Was this really happening? She had just spent an afternoon and evening with a guy that she had just met. Danny's crazy, shoot first, ask questions later, partner. Danny's extremely gorgeous, rugged, military officer, partner. Who was asking to spend more time with her. Her!
"I guess I don't see why we can't have one more outing."
A huge grin spread across Steve's face. Like, a knee weakening grin.
"Excellent. So, you'll come over to my house tomorrow so I can cook for you, and we can swim. There's a piece of beach behind my dad's house, it's a great place to swim. The waves aren't too crazy."
Pen paled. She paled for a few reasons. One being, he was asking her to his house, which she realized that she would love to see where he lived. Two, he was going to cook for her; a guy had never cooked for her. Three, he was suggesting a swim. Pen liked swimming, don't get her wrong, but… that meant she had to wear a bathing suit. She hated wearing bathing suits.
"Um…" Pen hesitated.
"You do have a bathing suit, right?"
"Of course I do." And she did, a simple, one-piece thing that was nothing like what most girls wore around here. Pen was very body conscious, it was one of her personal issues, and although she had lost weight over the years from when she was in high school and undergraduate, the self-consciousness had stuck with her.
"Alright then, why does your face look like I just asked you to swim with the sharks?" Steve said with a laugh. Pen gulped.
"I just… me and sun and beaches and bath—"
"I'm not taking no for an answer." He interrupted her. "I'll be here to pick you up at, say, 10:30ish." The flitting thought of how many crunches Pen could do between now and then streaked across her mind. She didn't have a legitimate excuse in mind to use to get out of this one.
"I suppose."
"Great! I'll see you tomorrow morning then." He shot her a pleased look. Pen sighed and turned to unlock the front door into her building.
"Yeah, yeah. See you tomorrow morning." When the door clicked shut behind her, she leaned against it. Pen only moved when the sound of Steve's truck disappeared down the road.
Back up in her bedroom, she pulled out her bathing suit from the depths of her dresser. There's no way she could do this. Nope, none at all. That man probably looked like a god in his swimming trunks, but if she put herself beside him, especially in this suit, she would feel like a complete ugly duckling. It was definitely the most unsexy swimsuit ever. Green and plain. She wondered if she could claim sickness or something, but then remembered she didn't have his number. There really wasn't a feasible way out of this. She was fucked. And not in a good way.
Pen had set her alarm clock for 8 a.m. and it blared in her ear bright and early. She groaned, trying to recall the reason she had set the damn thing that early. Then she remembered. She bolted out of bed, did some stretches, ran in place for a few minutes, and did some jumping jacks. When she couldn't take much more of that, she collapsed to the floor and did some crunches. No matter how many she did, that slight pudginess that was still around her stomach would not disappear.
At 10:30 a.m. on the dot, Steve buzzed at the intercom.
"If you're not down in five minutes tops I'm coming up there to drag you out."
"10-4, Commander." Pen turned away from the intercom and looked frantically around her apartment like she was looking for an escape route… or an inter-dimensional portal that would take her away. No such luck. She looked down at herself again, sighing. She had put on a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and her favorite black Chuck Taylors. In her large shoulder bag, she packed sunscreen, the ugly bathing suit, flip-flops, and a couple of other random items.
When Pen got downstairs, Steve was leaning against his truck; arms crossed, a pair of jeans hugging his powerful legs, a white t-shirt straining across his impeccable chest, and a navy blue over shirt. He also wore his usual desert combat boots. He smiled at her.
"Good morning, sunshine."
Pen blushed.
"Morning."
He assisted her up into the truck again, and he drove off down the street, talking a mile a minute about what he was going to make her for food, and how nice the water was by his house, and this and that. Pen wanted to know where he got the energy to be a Chatty Cathy this early in the morning. She hadn't even had coffee yet to wake her up, which was her usual morning routine.
A few minutes later, Steve pulled down a driveway and came to a stop in front of a one-car garage. Pen jumped down from the truck before he got the chance to help her out. It was sweet and all, but he didn't need to do it all the time. Pen looked up and took in his house. It was beautiful. Absolutely stunning and very picturesque. Sweeping rooftops, plenty of palm trees in the yard, cobblestone walkway to the front door, just absolutely beautiful. The inside definitely looked like a man cave though. Big screen TV, comfortable chair to watch said TV in, man-style decorating, the works.
"And this is the backyard." Steve said, leading her out a backdoor. There was a wall of windows overlooking the backyard and a small private beach. On the back porch was a table with an umbrella and chairs. Pen noticed a couple of tiki torches too; she'd have never pegged him for a man that had those.
"You have a very beautiful home." Pen commented when they both went back inside.
"Thanks. My dad gets all the credit actually. I still haven't fully fixed the bullet holes in some places. Sorry." Steve said sheepishly. Pen would've never noticed if he hadn't said anything, but now that he mentioned it… She had heard this one particular story about Steve's ex-SEAL friend who betrayed him.
"Well, you know, the bullet holes give it... character, I guess."
Steve laughed. "You want something to drink?"
"No, thank you, I'm good right now."
He nodded and grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator for himself.
An unwelcome thought popped into Pen's head. What would her mother say if she could see her daughter, in some man's house that she had just recently met, all alone? This got Pen wondering what in the hell she was thinking in the first place agreeing to this? This was such a bad id—
"You ready for a swim? This would be the perfect time to go. The water temperature is perfect and it's not choppy out there." Steve asked her. Pen gulped. Full on gulped this time. The dreaded swimsuit was going to come out, and he mind still raced for a reason to not let it happen.
"Well—"
"The bathroom is the second door on the right, down that hallway. You can change into your suit there." Steve directed before disappearing upstairs to where she only imagined his room was. Pen cursed. There was no way she was getting out of this was she? Sighing, she slumped to the door he had indicated and shut the door behind her. Pen quickly stripped and stepped into the suit. She next applied ample amounts of sunscreen to her skin (she was pretty pale and burnt easily), then extracted the large shirt she had packed away and slipped it over her head. Finally, she slid into her flip-flops, and exited the bathroom.
She almost collapsed at the vision that she saw. Steve was coming down from upstairs, blue swim shorts on, no shirt to be seen anywhere, and a couple of towels in his hands. His tattoos were more visible now, as was his incredibly toned and defined chest (with a sprinkling of chest hair which she liked—not to much and not too little) and abdominal region. Pen legitimately felt like she may be drooling. He smiled widely at her.
"A towel for you." He said, handing over a green towel. This characteristic was not lost on her. Green. Her favorite color.
"You ready?" He spoke again. She just nodded, because she didn't think she'd be able to formulate a coherent sentence.
It really was a beautiful day outside. A nice breeze whipped through the island, and it wasn't unbearably hot out. Once down at the water, Steve shucked his towel to the sand, and looked at her expectantly.
"Ladies first."
Oh boy. It was now or never. Pen too shucked her towel to the side, kicked her flip-flops in that general direction, and shed the oversized shirt like pulling a band-aid off a wound. Once she was bearing all, she stood there shyly, arms crossed in front of her. But Steve, to Pen's instant surprise, did not even bat an eyelash. He just smiled and motioned to the water. For the first time in about thirty minutes Pen felt like she could breath. He didn't care. At least, not outwardly, which Pen would take. So, casting aside all the needless worrying she had been doing since last night, she smiled back, took off her glasses and set it on her towel, and then made her way to the water. Slowly, Pen waded into the surf, and suddenly Steve ran past her at full speed, hurling himself into the water. It felt absolutely wonderful! It wasn't cold at all, and it was a beautiful blue/green color.
Steve emerged from the depths a good distance out, and began frantically motioning for her to join him. What the hell? She hurled herself into the water, surfaced, and backstroked out to him. It was and had always been her favorite stroke from swim class.
"Refreshing, isn't it?" Steve asked her when she reached the spot he was treading water in.
"Completely." Pen grinned, still floating on her back, letting the water lap over her.
"It was actually out here when I first thought about eventually joining the SEALs." He commented. "I liked swimming and water so much, I thought, what the hell?"
"And you must be an excellent swimmer to be in the SEALs, right?" She asked.
"Oh yeah, swimming, diving, calisthenics, hand to hand, the works."
"I imagine that training could not have been fun at all."
Steve laughed. "Not at all. But the end result was definitely rewarding. Definitely worth all the blood, sweat, and tears."
"You cried?"
"I did actually. From the pain. The Academy never prepared us for something like that."
Steve's badass factor just went up in Pen's book. Not to mention his sexy factor as well.
"Green suits you." Steve commented off handedly. Pen could feel her cheeks flush.
"Thanks… I guess."
She pulled herself upright and began treading water beside him. He was smiling at her again, just looking at her as he had done the night before when he helped her into his truck after dinner.
"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" Pen suddenly found herself blurting out.
"I'm not sure." Steve said, floating a little closer to her. His voice hard dropped an octave and took on a very husky tone. Just when Pen thought she couldn't salivate more.
"Are you sure there's nothing on my face?"
Steve shook his head.
"Well then what is it?"
"There's just something…" He began but trailed off.
"What?" She coaxed. If he thought there was something wrong with her, she wanted to know now before she… what? Developed feelings for him? With that thought, she realized it was too late. She already felt something for him when he had brought her to Pearl Harbor, the one place in Hawaii she had desperately wanted to go but had never been too.
"There's something about you that has me so… intrigued by you. I can't figure out what it is."
Ok, she had never heard that one before. Was this a good thing… or a bad thing? Pen was about to make a comment, but apparently Steve hadn't finished.
"After I met you, I found myself wanting to see you again… desperately actually. The first question I asked Danny when we got back to our car was whether you had a boyfriend or not." He floated a little closer to her, and continued again.
"There's something that I'm feeling for you… something I've never really felt before. But I definitely want to figure it out. It would eat at me if I didn't." He added a smile into the last bit. Pen gulped. She had had two major, long-term boyfriends in her life, and neither of them had ever been this open with her. She always believed that's where the relationship had gone wrong, and here he was, they weren't even in a relationship and he was being frank.
"Ok." Pen said, and felt stupid. That's all she could say at a time like this?
"Ok?" He remarked, looking for more.
"I have to admit that you've been the most interesting person I've probably met in my entire life. I had a strange reaction to you. I am not usually one to judge a person as quickly as I did you, only based on what Danny had told me. And then, you took me to Pearl, and then to dinner, and you weren't at all what I had imagined you were."
He smiled, and Pen continued.
"But I guess my point is, is that I've never reacted to anyone the way I reacted to you when I first met you. And it's kind of cause for concern for me, because I've never been as rude to anyone as I was to you."
"I've gotta be honest." He interrupted. "I thought it was kind of hot. Like you were playing hard to get or something." Pen huffed and splashed him with water, which only made him laugh.
"Back to my point," Pen said with mock irritation. "I feel something for you as well whenever I'm around you. And I feel… safe. Like I'll never come to harm when I'm with you."
"Well alright then." Steve said, closing the distance between them. "So, we both feel something, and we want to figure out what it is. Sounds like a plan to me."
And with that said, Steve enveloped his arms around her waist, and brought his lips to hers.
A/N: Sorry to end it here, lame I know, but it will continue on into the next update, I promise. I hope you all enjoyed this, and didn't think it too lame. I love writing romance, but sometimes I feel like I'm rushing it, or I'm making it plain… bad? But anyway, hope you liked it, and I will try and get up another update soon.
Again, thank you, thank you, thank you to all of my reviewers and people who add my story to their Alerts/Favorites etc. You guys keep me going and writing!