author's note: thanks so much as always! you're all so amazing and i love to hear what you think so thanks so much! now it's back to present day and there are going to be some tie ins with the series lol but i'm going to try to keep it mostly family based and very loosely around what goes on in the show. hope you like it! :)
The New Plan
2010, Present Day
Alexia groaned, laying back on the bed. She couldn't believe how crazy life had gotten in the last few days. She also couldn't believe she was actually insane enough to call the police on Steve. What had she been thinking? She sat up when there was a knock at the door.
"Come in," she said, hiding the wedding album under the pillows. She didn't want Steve to know she had been getting sentimental. He opened the door a crack, waving the papers like a white surrender flag. "Steve."
He came into the room, sitting on the edge of the bed; she was sitting in the middle, legs crossed. They were quiet for a moment, neither of them sure where to start. Rather than say anything first, he handed her the papers, signed. Alexia sighed heavily as she set them to the side. Never in a million years did she think that they would be here. She didn't want to say anything else about the papers. What was she supposed to do, thank him?
"So," she said awkwardly. "Um...what's your new job?" Steve laughed a little.
"Really?" he asked her; she shrugged. "New task force under the governor," he explained. "Investigating guys like the one that killed my father."
"Starting with him I'm assuming," she cut in; he nodded. "Steve."
"Hm?"
"I'm not," she said hesitantly, unsure of how she wanted to word it. "Trying to...throw this on you, I guess? But..." She sighed. "Does what happened to your dad have to do with you? Because-"
"You want to know if you should be worried," he filled in for her; she nodded. "Let me put it to you this way," he told her. "I'm not moving out till I catch him."
"You should talk to Danny," she told him, trying to keep a straight face. Would someone be after them next? She didn't want to be married to him anymore, but she certainly did feel safer knowing Steve was going to be staying at the house for now. "He's the one they put on the investigation." Steve nodded. From the window, he noticed Danny's car was back; he was dropping off the girls from dance.
"Speaking of," Steve said, nodding his head towards the window. "What do we tell the girls?"
"Oh God," Alexia groaned, falling back against the pillows. She honestly hadn't even thought about that, considering she hadn't expected Steve to sign the papers on his first day back.
They went downstairs as the girls came running in, still excited from their dad's news earlier that morning. Steve stepped out for a moment, asking Danny to meet him at his father's home the next day. He asked him if he would be willing to work on this task force with him, explaining to him that he could already tell that he was a good cop. He had also talked to Chin earlier that day about the possibility of working together. When Steve came back inside, Alexia had the girls in the living room on the couch. She was looking at him, unsure of where they should even start.
"What's going on?" Julia asked curiously as she sat next to Lucy on the couch. Their eyes were so big and innocent.
"Um, girls," Alexia said gently. "Things are going to start being...a little different around here."
"How?" Lucy asked.
"Well," Steve said, coming to Alexia's aid. "In a couple days, daddy's going to move into grandpa's old house."
"Why?" Lucy asked. "You don't want to live here?" Steve's heart broke.
"You are getting a divorce," Julia accused them.
"Sweetie," Alexia said, trying to calm her.
"What's that?" Lucy asked.
"They're not going to be married anymore!" Julia yelled at her, getting up and stomping towards the steps.
"Julia," Steve said, going to stop her, but Alexia shook her head. They heard her slam her bedroom door shut. Now they were left alone to explain the situation to their four year old, who already liked to ask a million questions.
"How come?" Lucy asked curiously. She didn't seem too upset, mostly confused.
"Well," Alexia said, sitting on the edge of the coffee table so she could sit in front of Lucy. "Sometimes...being married is really hard."
"Nuh uh," Lucy shook her head at her. "At pre-school, I got married to Tommy, and it was lots of fun."
"Tommy who?" Steve asked, standing next to Alexia.
"Steve, she's four," Alexia said to him. "Focus." He came to sit on the table's edge next to Alexia.
"Honey," Steve told Lucy. "It's just that, mommy and daddy won't live with each other anymore."
"But how come?" she asked. Steve looked to Alexia like this was her cue.
"Grown up reasons," Alexia told her.
"But," Lucy said sadly. "How will I get to see daddy?"
"Well," Steve told her. "You and your sister can come stay with me sometimes." Alexia nodded in agreement. She wasn't going to fight Steve on seeing his kids; they had gone long enough without him.
"Whenever you want," Alexia added. "And daddy can come visit here too, whenever he wants."
"I still don't get it," Lucy shook her head.
"Me either kid," Steve muttered; Alexia nudged him, shaking her head.
"Can I go change now?" Lucy asked; Alexia nodded.
"Send your sister down please," she added as Lucy went up the stairs. "That went...ok right?" Steve went to respond, but stopped when Lucy called down the steps.
"She's not up here!" Lucy shouted.
"What?" Alexia called back in concern, both her and Steve hurrying up the stairs to Julia's room; the window was open. Steve stuck his head out and could see where flowers on the trellis had fallen off. She must have climbed down the side and run away.
"Unbelievable," Steve mumbled. "Seven and she already knows how to sneak out."
"Steve-"
"I'll go find her," he assured Alexia. "Stay here with Lucy."
Steve drove around for an hour, looking in all the places he thought Julia might be. He checked the beach, the park, the school; he didn't have any luck. He was becoming more and more nervous as the time passed. As a parent, having your child missing was the worst feeling imaginable. It didn't help that there was someone out there after his family. He was about to call Alexia when his phone started ringing; he didn't recognize the number.
"Hello?"
"Steve," the voice on the other end said. "It's Danny." Steve forgot he had given him his number earlier when he asked him to work together.
"Listen man, I-"
"I take it you're out looking for Julia?" Danny interrupted him.
"How did you know that?" Steve asked as he stopped at a red light.
"I'm an amazing detective," Danny smirked. "Plus, my ex called me when she caught Grace trying to sneak Julia in."
"Partners in crime," Steve commented.
"Seems like it," Danny said, laughing a little. "I picked her up, I can meet you back at your house?"
"Sure," Steve said, turning to go home. "Thanks man." Steve finally breathed a sigh of relief, knowing his daughter was safe. He got back to the house almost the same time Danny and Julia pulled up.
"Inside," Steve told Julia, his tone serious. Now that she was safe, he was upset with her for running away. She rolled her eyes at him as she went up to the house. "And would you stop doing that?" he said, mostly to himself as she was already on the porch and ready to go inside. Steve sighed heavily, running his hands through his hair.
"I, uh, take it the news didn't go so well?" Danny asked.
"That one," Steve said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder at the house. "Is going to be the end of me."
"If her mom isn't first," Danny added.
"Man," Steve said, leaning next to Danny against his car. "I mean, you've been here, right? It's gotta get better." Danny turned to look at him.
"I'm here because my ex got re-married," Danny informed him. "And, now a days, it seems like whatever I do Step Stan one ups me."
"You've never comforted someone before, have you?" Steve asked sarcastically.
"Not my strong suit," Danny said, patting his shoulder. "Nah man, you'll be all right. You got two great kids. Plus, Lex was telling me she wasn't even going to fight you on custody. Which, trust me, is huge." Steve nodded in agreement, thanking Danny again before going back inside. Alexia had made Julia sit at the table, not letting her out of her sight.
"What do we do?" Alexia asked him quietly.
"Take down that damn trellis for one thing," Steve said in annoyance; she gave him a serious look. "Let me talk to her." Reluctant at first, Alexia decided to let him handle it on her own. Steve went to sit across from the table from Julia again like he had earlier that morning. Again, it felt like a stand off.
"I know you're mad at me," he told her, getting her to look up at him. "And, I get it. I haven't been around enough. I'm sorry about that." She didn't seem convinced. "Can you at least let me try?"
"Ok," she nodded quietly. She didn't know what else to say, knowing she was in trouble for running away. And, truthfully, she wanted to forgive her dad. She had really missed him when he was away.
"Come here kid," he said. She came over to hug him, sniffling a little; she didn't want to cry. He knew that this didn't fix everything and that him and Julia had a long road in front of them before they could be all right again. "I love you sweetheart."
"I love you too dad."
After spending a night on the couch, Steve was up early the next morning. He was off to meet Danny to follow up on any leads they could about his father's murder. After finishing up at the house and tracking down what leads they already had, they decided it was time to meet up with Chin to see if they could come up with anything new. Chin knew someone that could get them a name that could lead to Hesse.
"How did it go last night?" Danny asked as Steve drove. Remembering how Grace reacted to his and Rachel's divorce, Danny could empathize with Steve and the situation with his daughters.
"It's gonna be fine," Steve nodded, heading down the highway. During the night, he barely slept as he thought about Alexia and what had gone wrong with them. He also thought about what he was going to do about it.
"Good," Danny nodded. "That's good to hear."
"I'm gonna win her back," Steve informed him; for a moment, Danny was speechless.
"Um," Danny said, still not sure of what to say. "I don't think you really get it, do you?"
"Sure I do," Steve reasoned. "Look, we couldn't get past our problems if she was still hung up on getting me to sign-"
"So, you signed the divorce papers to win your wife back?" Danny interrupted him; Steve nodded with a smile. "Do you hear yourself when you say things?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"What does it mean? It means your brilliant plan for winning your wife back was actually giving her the divorce. What, are you just going to ask her out again?"
"It's a bit more complicated than that," Steve said. The night before, he realized everything had been fine until they got married and he started going away all the time. He thought that he would show her that, with him around now, things could be like they used to.
"Oh you think?" Danny asked sarcastically.
"Listen," Steve said, ignoring him as he parked the car where they went to meet Chin. "It'll work, all right? I just have to show her things can be like they used to."
"I've heard of denial before, but this is unbelievable."
"So, you're not going to help me?" Steve asked.
"Help you?" Danny asked, surprised.
"You two are friends," Steve reasoned. "You could be my guy on the inside."
"Your guy on the inside?"
"Could you stop repeating everything I say?"
"You realize this isn't one of your SEAL operations," Danny informed him.
"What isn't?" Chin asked, meeting up with them.
"Steve's genius plan to win Lex back," Danny said, catching him up. "Really, it's top notch. He divorced her so he could remind her he was a good boyfriend."
"Ok, when you say it like that it sounds stupid."
"I think I have something here," Chin interrupted them. "If you're interested."
After bringing in Chin's cousin Kono to work with them, they continued on the case to track down John's killer. After following up on a few more leads, they were finally able to track him down and how he planned to leave the island. Steve and Danny were off, with Steve flying down the highway. Not only did he want revenge for his father, he also wanted to make sure the island was a safe place for his girls. After a long fight, Steve finally put an end to it, shooting and killing the man that killed his father, his body falling into the ocean.
"Man," Danny said, coming up to him once it was all over. Steve was pretty banged up and bloody. "You look like hell."
"I should probably go to the hospital huh?" Steve asked, smiling a little; Danny shook his head, knowing who he was going to see in the emergency room.
"You're truly sick, I hope you know that."
Alexia was just getting ready to finish up her shift in the emergency room. She used to rotate through there, but now she found herself asking to be transferred to work in the ER permanently. The work wasn't easy, but it was where she felt she made the biggest difference.
"Dr. McGarrett," one of the nurses stopped her; it reminded Alexia she had to get to changing her name tag to reflect her maiden name. "I have someone here asking for you. Says you treated him before? He's in bed four."
Alexia thought it was strange, but went over anyway. When she pulled back the curtain, she was surprised to see Steve sitting there. Then, as she thought about it, she realized she should have known that he would be the one asking for her.
"Hey doc," he said, smiling at her.
"Do I want to know?" she asked, pulling the curtain back around for privacy.
"Probably not," he said as she turned back to him. She lifted his chin to examine his face. His right eye was black and his lip was busted. There was blood running down the side of his face from a deep cut near his hairline.
"You're going to need stitches," she told him, turning to grab gloves off the cart next to the bed. "Are you hurt anywhere else?" she asked, noting the blood on his shirt.
"No, just sore," he told her. She nodded, grabbing cotton and some alcohol.
"This will sting," she warned him, beginning to clean the cut on his head; they were quiet as she finished cleaning around the wound. "Can you stop looking like that?"
"Like what?" he grinned at her. There it was, the smile that she had fallen for when she was sixteen years old; eighteen years later and it still got to her.
"Like you couldn't be more thrilled to be getting stitches," she told him, starting the first stitch.
"I'm just happy to know I'm in such capable hands," he told her.
"Uh huh," she said. "What did happen?"
"Occupational hazard," he told her. She gave him a serious look. "I found Victor Hesse."
"The guy that..." She trailed off as he nodded. "That's...good." He laughed a little at her reaction. "I really don't know what to say in this kind of situation."
"Good is fine," he assured her as she continued to stitch him up; she finished her work in silence.
"All better," she said, applying a gauze bandage over the stitches to keep them clean. "So...do you need a ride to the house?"
Alexia drove Steve back to the house after her shift. He started packing up his things, which made the girls sad. He promised them though he would see them the next day, and every day as long as he could. Alexia agreed with him, knowing it was better for him to be around the girls as often as he could. He was staying one more night and planned to leave in the morning for his father's home.
Tonight, he was wide awake again thinking that he would do anything to fix things with Alexia. If that included moving out for awhile, that's what he would do. He was surprised to hear someone coming down the steps that late at night; it was Alexia. She turned on the light in the kitchen so she could get a glass of water.
"Lex?" Steve asked, sitting up on the couch. Forgetting that he had been sleeping down there, he scared her and cause her to jump.
"Shit," she said, catching her breath. "Don't do that."
"Sorry," he laughed, coming into the kitchen. "What are you doing up?"
"Couldn't sleep," she shrugged, taking a sip. She didn't want to be honest with him and tell him that she couldn't sleep because she was still having nightmares about him. She was happy that he was back in Hawaii, but this new job didn't seem to be much safer after she had seen him in the ER today. "You know, night shift, then day shift...throws me all off."
"Mhmm," Steve nodded, knowing she was lying. He could see that she was upset and wanted nothing more than to hold her and tell her that everything was ok now. "Lex."
"Hm?"
"I'm sorry."
"I know," she told him. "I am too."
author's note: thanks as always for reading! hope you liked the chapter, please let me know what you think! :)
