A/N1: I want to thank you all for reading and following this fic. Watching with quite a lot of fear, the beginning of the third season, I want to explain that, despite what seems to be happening in the show this season with Catherine, I will probably be writing only Steve-Kono love stories in this fandom. With great focus on the Danny-Steve bromance, obviously, as this is my favorite part in the show, at the moment (let's just hope it will improve... because it wasn't really there in the first episode. Even though the banter between Danny and mama McGarrett was pretty good :) Oh yes, some shirtless Steve scenes will be greatly appreciated as well. He looks smoking hot again, what a great joy).
A/N2: This fic is getting fluffier and fluffier, and it's a new thing for me, but maybe it's something I need to try. Please Please Please, as always, tell me what you think, I'm feeling a little bit out of my comfort zone in this one.
R.
"You have to admit it's much better this way."
"I do?"
"Of course. I can't even start to think about the alternative..."
"The alternative...?"
"You must realize there is an alternative for having a boy, right?"
"Mmmm... never really thought about it. Somehow always figured I'll have a son."
"Of course you did."
"I wanted a son."
"Of course you did."
"For god sakes Danny, what's wrong with me wanting a son?"
"Nothing. This is exactly what I said, it's much better this way."
They drive in silence for at least five minutes, each wrapped in his own thoughts.
"Ok, I give up. Why is it better this way?"
"Well..." Danny smiles triumphantly, practically ecstatic with the opportunity to make his point "I thought it was obvious, you're completely useless when it comes to women."
"You're crazy" he states dryly "women love me."
"Only the crazy, slightly damaged, weird ones."
"You're exaggerating..." he says unconvincingly.
"Name one who was not slightly mad or did not ruin your life..."
"Mmmm... Catherine!"
"You mean the Navy Captain you had a semi non committing relationship with for the last six years? a relationship depending solely on her being bored and in the same time zone? the same Catherine we can only assume is not interested anymore, because she didn't really bother to call?"
"I can see you're point. What about Jenna? We were really good friends."
"The same Jenna who sold your ass to Wo Fat, and dragged you to North Korea for a suicide mission? Even you can make better friends."
"I'm pretty good with my sister..."
"Until you actually get together. Then you can practically kill each other. For god sakes Steve, you almost have a meltdown every time she's on the island".
"I guess mentioning Lori will be redundant?"
"That's one way to put it..."
"And Kono's mother actually sent her sons to try and kill me..."
"I'm not sure, that one is completely your fault, though" Danny says graciously.
"Why, thank you for saying it Danno" at last, someone is willing to admit it "I always thought that someone else could have shared my blame for this whole mess, but for some reason everybody kept picking only on me. As I recall, you took a punch at me, too..."
"I didn't hit you because you molested the rookie, or because, apparently, you have no idea of how to use a fucking condom. I hit you because you didn't tell me!" He sends him a dirty look, wondering if Danny can count as another woman he doesn't get along with.
"Grace loves me." Bingo! He knew he'd find someone. Bringing up Grace is brilliant. The girl actually admires him, and hangs on his every word.
"Grace is no example" Danny is incapable of accepting defeat, as it seems "she is the most loving, sweet, kindhearted creature that ever walked the face of the earth. You probably confuse love with pity..." fine. Whatever.
"Kono likes me."
"Yes, she does." Danny says thoughtfully. Finally they seem to be in agreement "and how this one is going for you?"
"Yeah... I can see your point, now" he nods seriously "thank god it's a boy."
()()()
He hears from Joe again. It's a rude reminder of reality, because the long and quiet time without the mention of Wo Fat had actually started to grow on him. Especially when he has other things to worry about. Like the stubborn, slightly insane, overly hormonal and constantly hungry Hawaiian beauty who is currently sleeping peacefully beside him. Did he say beside him? he really means, on top of him. In the last few weeks she seems to be much clingier than before. Instinctively searching for the warmth of his body, tossing and turning around in the bed, until she's relaxing on his chest or on other parts of his anatomy. He wakes up in the middle of the night when one of her long limbs is poking him, or her leg moves unexpectedly to lie on top of his. In the morning he finds her hair covering his face, almost choking him to death. This is when she actually lets him sleep. You know, after she's done tiring him up with her increased sex drive. It's not that he's complaining, not by a long shot. He can totally take the lack of sleep. Honestly, after sleeping in the trenches during several air raids, he can practically sleep anywhere, and he can definitely handle the sex, it's OK. Well, better than OK, if he's being truthful, It's god damn fucking marvelous. As for her warm body pressed against him? that might actually be his favorite part yet... No. those are not the problems. It's the constant waiting for the unexpected that almost brings him to his knees. He lies there in his bed with her body wrapped around him, smelling her intoxicating smell and waiting fearfully to the moment she will change her mind. The moment she'll decide to leave.
When Joe calls and asks to meet, it gives him the opportunity to be distracted by other matters, again.
The new distraction is the whereabouts of Wo Fat. A few leads from Joe's constant searches indicate that he still has active connections on the island. Some of them appears to be more active than he would have hoped. The searches for the man himself are not producing anything, and his old sense of paranoia just comes back with a blast. When he gets a notice about an upcoming SEAL's mission he is requested to take, and realizes that he might have to leave her alone for a while, his mild and self contained paranoia transforms into a full scale panic attack.
()()()
"Aloha."
"Aloha..." she scans him slowly from head to toe "I wondered when you'd show up."
"May I come in?"
She moves away from the door to let him in, and leads him towards the lanai outside. The house is big. There are multiple pieces of Hawaiian art on the walls and on the shelves, and different clothes in different sizes scattered around, as well as books, sports equipment, and at least four different sets of shoes. He spots three dogs which bark at him, a cat, and a big cage filled with singing birds. He sees the quite large dining table, that could easily accommodate at least twelve people, covered with strange arrangement of fabrics and flowers, and there's a nice smell of cooked food coming from the kitchen. It's all very messy and very noisy, and it's big and weird, but it's warm and pretty, and he feels comfortable the minute he steps in. Until he sees her scrutinizing face looking at him again, and he doesn't feel so comfortable anymore.
They sit on two of the chairs on the lanai, and she pours some pineapple juice for him. He takes a sip before bringing up his reason to come.
"You must be quite upset with me" he says apologetically.
"I'm not upset" she tells him, looking anything but.
"You sent your boys to beat me up."
"Yes" she says thoughtfully "a complete failure obviously, they seem quite enchanted with you, now."
"We get along pretty well" he admits "we go spear fishing together almost every weekend."
"Yes. They are a real disappointment for me, these boys..." she sighs "of course, my real hope was always for Kono."
"Sure" he agrees. He has real hopes for her too, as it happens.
"Not anymore, though. She seems quite enchanted with you, too."
"Well, not as much as I hoped, apparently."
"Oh?"
"Look, it was always my intention to do the right thing. I wanted to make it official the minute peanu... the minute we found out about the baby."
"But she refused."
"Yes."
"I know. She told me. It's your fault."
"How is it my fault?" he asks with surprise, trying not to sound too offended.
"Didn't I tell Makaio to tell you not to listen to her?"
"What do you mean, not to listen to her? would you suggest that I simply take her over my shoulder fighting and screaming, carry her to city hall and marry her against her will?" he knows perfectly well, that the image of Kono hanging on his shoulder, kicking and screaming shouldn't cause him as much exhilaration as it does. Especially not in front of her mother. Very counterproductive in the circumstances... maybe he is a Neanderthal after all, just as Danny says...
"Look. You got her into this mess, it's your responsibility to make it right. But I'm sure you didn't come here for this kind of counseling, what can I do for you Commander?"
"Right, I didn't. I need your help..."
They talk about it for at least twenty minutes, and her mother turns out to be quite reasonable, after all. She understands the problem, and agrees with his plan, and gives him some pointers for how to approach the potentially volatile situation, once he gets home. All and all a very productive conversation, despite the fact that she keeps showing him how disappointed she is with the whole thing, and how he is doing so miserably with her daughter. He actually agrees with this notion, so they really on the same page with this one as well.
"I'll take care of it tomorrow after work" he promises when he stands in the door way, taking his leave. "Thank you for doing it.""
"That's quite all right, Commander" she nods graciously. "I'm doing it for my daughter and future grandson. Which by the way, should not be called after a bar snack anymore if you ask me..." yeah. He'll have to warn Kono about this one, for sure.
()()()
"I'm not going!" she tells him decisively, crossing her arms and looking at him like he's fucking insane.
"Look, baby, it's for your own good..."
"For my own good? are you crazy? you've met her. She will make me eat healthy food, force me to go to all these appointments, and will constantly nag me about all the things I'm doing wrong."
"You mean, like I do?"
"Precisely. Only you have other qualities, too..." she smiles mischievously and moves to wrap her hands around his neck, pulling him into a slow tender kiss, so he momentarily forgets what he was talking about.
"No, Kono" he is finally able to release himself from her strong pull. "I'll be gone for more than a week, Wo Fat is still at large, you have refused to go to Chin and Malia, because their 'coupley' behavior freaks you out, which by the way, I totally get, so unless you want to spend the entire time on Danny's couch, which you've seen!, you're staying with your parents and your brothers."
"I don't need to stay in hiding" she says, furious again. Her mood is changing so fast these days, it would be quite funny, if it wouldn't have scared the shit out of him each time. "I can take care of myself."
"It's not a discussion, Kono. This is a direct order from a superior officer" he raises his voice, finally "go pack a bag, now!" The fact that she's just standing there, watching him in surprise when he shouts like that, and turns away to do exactly as he says, is a very satisfying, yet somewhat unexpected, result. He is not sure if he shouldn't be scared of this reaction even more. On their way out, when he holds the door open for her, silently leading her out of the house, she kicks him in the shin, with the toe of her combat boot. Now that's actually feels more natural.
()()()
They say goodbye in front of her whole family, which is not ideal. He gets a warm goodbye from her young brothers, all of them shaking his hand and clapping him on the back, telling him to go kick some ass, and loudly telling jokes about the Navy. Her father and mother, are offering their greetings and blessings, and her mother actually tells him to stay safe, which is a nice surprise. There's no other way to do it, but to acknowledge the fact that he's leaving, and they just stand there, in front of each other, while Danny is waiting in the car to take him to the airport.
"Walk me to the car?" he asks finally, trying to create a sense of privacy, a word that seems to have no meaning in the Kalakaua household. She nods quietly and follows him out the door.
They walk side by side, and at the end of the driveway, he stops and looks at her. She is so beautiful, his heart is racing every time he sees her. In the last few weeks she has become even more beautiful, he can't even say how. She has a small little bump now, which she normally covers with carefully placed blouses, but today she has a tight little tee shirt on, that shows it quite proudly. He sends his hand and puts it on the baby bump, moving it slowly, and feels the tightness starting to build in his throat.
"You take care of yourself" she tells him, as if she is reading his mind "I'll take care of the peanut."
"Your mother doesn't like us to call him like that" he smiles at her, relieved by her strong and leveled tone.
"I know" she says, smiling back "I'm doing it on purpose, just to piss her off. I seriously consider calling him peanut even after he's born, just to play with her mind."
"I love you" he tells her suddenly, and he has no idea who is more surprised with this statement, him or her. She looks stunned, and she blushes, and he feels like he did the wrong thing again.
"Of course you do" she tells him casually, after a long pause, when she looks like she'd recovered from this unexpected bombshell, "I'm pretty awesome, you know..."
He only smiles back, can't say if he's more relieved or more disappointed with her joyful response.
He leans and kisses her on her forehead, as he brushes the hair away from her face, and sends another last look at her baby bump. Than, he is turning on his heels and getting in the car. Danny drives him away from there after a few seconds.
()()()
She spends the entire week in a state of oblivion. She can't really say what is wrong at first, because she is very focused on her job, and they have very interesting and challenging cases, which she handles very well. The stay at her parents is not as bad as she thought it would be, because her mother makes all her favorite foods, and prepares special treats for her, and doesn't let her do anything around the house, because she needs her rest and her sleep, at least that's the explanation she gives her brothers, who actually start to doubt it...
Well, maybe forcing the twins Kale and Akela to wax all her boards for her, and constantly making them bring her things from her home and from Steve's was a little bit over the top, because when one Saturday when she tries to send them on another errand, while she's just lying there lazily on the grass in the garden, they simply have enough of her stupid behavior, and spray her with the water hose, to make her stop. She chases them, obviously, and kicks their butts, and the whole place is wet and muddy and a total mess, but it's fun, and funny, and she is much more relaxed after this exercise. Until her mother catches them, and the twins are not allowed near her anymore. All three of them are quite disappointed about that...
So, she is really gloomy after that, not really sure why that is. Well... she actually knows why. It has to do with the empty office there in the middle of HQ, and the vacant chair inside it, and the empty left side of the bed she sleeps in, that make her feel so sad. He never calls, or texts, or makes any contact, and it fucking sucks. Even Joe has no idea where he is. She keeps thinking about his last words to her, before he left, saying that he loves her, and keeps remembering her poor excuse of a response when he said it, when she made a big stupid joke out of it, and she remembers him in the last few months, standing constantly by her side, fulfilling her constant demands, and endures her changing moods, and accepting her repeated refusals, and she almost dies of embarrassment.
()()()
"I'm an awful person."
"You're not. You're a wonderful person. We all love you very much" Malia tells her, when they walk down the aisle in the supermarket, and making their weekly shopping. Well, Malia does the shopping anyway, Kono has no clue or interest in these kind of things, she just walks behind her cousin, grumbling with frustration.
"I am needy, clingy, with terrible mood changes and no regard to other people's feelings what so ever."
"You're pregnant. You get to be a little needy, that's actually part of your job description" Malia smiles lovingly towards her.
"I barged into his house, forced him to have sex, made him cook for me, and take care of me..."
"He was happy to do it, I'm sure" she starts to suspect that Malia has an irrational high estimation of her character.
"Well, maybe he liked the sex part..."
"You know Steve. He is not the guy to do anything against his will. He is much too arrogant and stubborn for that."
"Good point..." she admits. But she still has a bad feeling about the whole thing "I kept refusing him when he asked me to marry him."
"You're not ready" apparently, Malia is a smartass who has an answer to everything.
"It's worse than this" she says, challenging her loving cousin again "I'm working with him, I spend all of my time with him, I'm sleeping with him, practically living with him, having a kid with him, but keep refusing to call it a relationship? I mean, what kind of a bitch am I?"
"Well sweetie..." Malia stops the cart, and looks at her thoughtfully. At last a real challenge of her unconditional love "we all know you were always a little crazy. I guess the pregnancy just made you a little crazier. Just a tiny bit..." oh, for god sakes.
"It's more than just a little crazy" she tells her, standing there, arms crossed, shaking her head "the worst part is that I'm completely in love with him, I can't stand being away from him, and I kept saying no because I thought he wanted me just because of the peanut. But the whole time..."
"He actually wanted you..." Malia completes her thought. "Of course he did. We all knew he did." Malia laughs when she sees Kono's miserable expression "So... what's changed?" Malia asks, smiling gently "what makes you think he wants you, now?"
"He told me he loves me before he buggered off and went to serve his country" she snorts "practically looked into my eyes and told me it straight. I think it actually slipped out, unintentionally, so it must be the truth..."
"Oh! how sweet!" Malia beams with happiness, clapping her hands with joy.
"It could have been. Sure." Kono grumbles, shaking her head again "if only I had the decency to say it back. He was pretty resilient with all of my stupid behaviors until now, but I guess, this one, will finally take him down..."
()()()
She leaves Malia in the supermarket, because she has no way to help her to buy different types of vegetables, that half of them she can't even recognize, and walks across the street to the bookstore. Steve left her a list of books about babies he wanted her to read. She tried to explain that his thorough research, and careful studying of the subject should be good enough for the both of them, but he seemed to be quite determined to make her read them, nevertheless. He said they were books for mothers, and he's not really qualified to do this part of the learning. She tried to argue, because she has a real suspicion, that it's not entirely necessary to read about placentas and contractions, if it can be avoided, but when she entered the office in his house one day, and saw the piles of books, and papers, and opened the computer and realized that, actually, there is a spreadsheet, three of them if you want to be exact... she realized, it will actually save time just to give in.
She stands near the motherhood section, scanning the pages of a book he mentioned, and tries not to flinch with the much too graphical descriptions she reads there, when she has a weird feeling, suddenly, like someone is watching her.
