Author's note: thanks again as always! i love hearing all of your feedback :) you're all amazing and it's why i keep going! i know it was a rough chapter but just trust me lol ;) hope you enjoy this next chapter! :)
Good Together
Steve had been home for two months and things were going smoothly. He got to see the girls almost everyday, either having picked them up from school and day care or they were staying at his home with him. He had turned Mary's old room and the old guest room into rooms for each of his daughters. He was currently in the very slow process of moving from his old bedroom over to the bigger bedroom. It was going extra slow because he was going through all of his father's things, including a tool box that seemed to be filled with evidence of a case he had been working on.
That night, Alexia had the girls since Steve would have them the next day on his birthday. They never fought over who got to take them, which was nice. Alexia was glad that the girls were getting to spend more time with their dad. She was also glad that, since the first incident, Steve hadn't made any trips back to the emergency room.
Steve was with the rest of the five-0 team that night, having just finished a case. They were all sitting in the big conference area of their HQ, sharing pop corn as they watched old football games online; they were comparing Steve and Chin's styles as quarterback. Currently, they were watching the homecoming football game from Steve's junior year. Steve jumped when he felt someone hit his chair.
"Surprise!" When he turned around, he saw that it was Lucy; Alexia and Julia were there as well.
"This is a surprise," he laughed, picking Lucy up and letting her sit in his lap. "What's going on?"
"The girls wanted to make you a cake for your birthday," Alexia told him, setting the box on the table. "It was Julia's idea."
"Really?" he asked Alexia with raised eyebrows; things were still somewhat tense with him and Julia, so he was happy to hear this had been her idea.
"It wouldn't be a surprise if we did it on your actual birthday," Julia told him.
"Well, thanks sweetheart," he smiled at her. "Come here." Julia went over to hug him. "I have the best girls."
"Wow," Kono said as Alexia opened the box. "You girls did a good job! The cake looks really good."
"Mommy baked it," Lucy told her. "And Julesy did the icing."
"And what did you do?" Steve asked her; she giggled.
"I licked the spoon."
"Well, that's the best part," Danny said, getting up from his seat. "Come on Lex, I'll help you get plates."
"Awesome, thanks," she said, following him around the corner to the small kitchenette.
Truthfully, Danny was trying to get her alone to talk to her. Reluctantly, he had agreed to help Steve out by talking him up and getting Alexia's perspective on things. After all, having gone through this himself he found himself rooting for the dad's side. He also saw that Alexia and Steve were great together now that Steve was home and didn't understand what Alexia had been thinking.
"So," he said as she opened the cupboard to get plates. He got out silverware from the drawer. "How have things been going?"
"Really good," she smiled. "I don't know, things with us have just been going a lot better."
"You think it has to do with Steve being home?"
"Partly," she nodded. "I mean, it is really good for the girls. I just, I don't know, I think some people are just better when they're friends."
"Friends...with kids?" Danny asked curiously; Alexia shrugged, taking the plates back to everyone else. She had started to feel a little more at ease now when she was around Steve since they didn't have anything to argue about anymore; he was back in Hawaii and he had signed the papers. His new job did worry her a little bit, but he never went into too much detail to keep her from worrying in the first place.
"So, what are you guys watching?" Alexia asked as she started cutting up the cake.
"The high school posted all their old football games online," Chin told her. "We're watching Steve now, I think it's..."
"Junior year homecoming," Steve filled in for him, smirking at Alexia; she shook her head at him, continuing to cut the cake and pass it around. Everyone could tell something was up, but they didn't say anything about it.
"And I can see this one," Danny said, motioning to Steve as they watched the rest of the game. "Has always been stubborn. Look at that, you could have passed and ended the game 6 times already!"
"If I didn't run it in, I didn't get the girl," he grinned, not taking his eyes off of Alexia; everyone else turned to look at her too.
"Ok," she said, laughing because she knew everyone wanted an explanation. "Steve had asked me to homecoming, but I only told him I'd go if he scored the winning touchdown." On the screen, it showed Steve running in the winning touchdown. "He won the game and the bet."
"That's really cute," Kono said, taking a bite of her cake; Alexia nodded.
"It was a long time ago," she said, cutting one last slice for herself. When things were easier, she silently thought.
"Yeah, it was," Steve agreed, looking her up and down once; Alexia hadn't noticed, but did end up making eye contact with him for a moment. Everyone could feel an awkward tension in the air. Steve wondered how she couldn't see it, when everyone else could; they looked at each other like two people still in love.
"You girls see there?" Steve pointed; the recording had continued on to show the celebration on the field after Steve had scored.
"Where?" Julia asked; Steve paused so they could see better.
"See daddy there, number fifty?" he showed them; they nodded. "See that cheerleader with the long pony tail? That's your mommy."
They didn't watch anymore games after that one, mostly talking and sharing dessert together. The girls had more questions about their parents when they were younger, which Steve could tell was making Alexia uncomfortable. Things were getting better with them, but not good enough to talk about their relationship as a couple.
"So, I can get them from you on Sunday?" Alexia said as they were all getting ready to leave that night. She had brought the girls' over night things in her car.
"Mommy!" Lucy said, feeling she had a good idea. "You should come to the beach tomorrow!"
"Um," Alexia said, not sure what to do. The girls had been doing plenty of things with their dad lately, but they hadn't done anything so far just the four of them. "Sweetie, that's a good idea. But I think you girls should just spend tomorrow with your daddy for his birthday."
"No," Steve smiled at her. "You should come, it'll be fun."
"Pleeeeeeeeeease," Lucy added.
"Fine," Alexia said, brushing off the awkward feeling she had. "I'll meet you guys there tomorrow."
The next day was perfect beach weather, like most days in Hawaii. Alexia set up their beach things close to the water so she could keep an eye while Steve played in the water with the girls. Julia had held back for awhile as Lucy immediately pulled Steve to the water to go swimming. Eventually though, she went down to the water too. Alexia was laying on her stomach on her beach towel, peeking up from her magazine every so often and smiling as she watched Steve and the girls. She was happy that they got to have him home now; it had been so hard for them when he was away.
Steve was a good father, she knew that. And, truthfully, she knew that he was a good husband as well. It wasn't his fault that he had to leave all the time. It had just been so hard to deal with when he was gone. That was no longer a factor though and she started wondering about the choice she had made. She noticed Steve had the girls come up to play in the more shallow water as he motioned towards her, indicating that he was getting out to talk to her. He came over and laid on the beach towel next to hers in the same way she was.
"You look like you're having fun," she said, not looking over at him. Currently contemplating the divorce made it hard to look over at him.
"Like always," he told her, happy to be getting to spend this much time with his daughters; only one more thing would make this feeling more complete and she was laying right next to him.
"Steve," she said to him. Her tone let him know that something was on her mind.
"Yeah?" he asked curiously. They never had much time alone so they never really got to talk; they noticed the girls coming up now from the water.
"Happy birthday," she told him quickly as the girls ran up to them.
"Mommy," Lucy said, sitting in front of her; Julia was standing behind her sister. "Come swimming!"
"Maybe in a little bit," Alexia told her.
"You always say that," Julia reminded her. "But you never do."
"Please," Lucy added, sticking her lip out.
"Oh that face!" Alexia laughed, sitting up now. "That probably works on daddy, but that doesn't work here." Lucy turned and stuck her lip out at Steve.
"You want your mommy to come swimming?" Steve grinned at her; Lucy nodded, smiling big.
"Steve," Alexia warned, recognizing that look on his face. "No."
"Jules?" he asked, ignoring Alexia; Julia also nodded. "Sorry Lex," he said, getting up. "You're outnumbered." And with that, he grabbed her around her waist.
"STEVEN!" she shouted as he carried her over his shoulder towards the water. She could see the girls laughing on the beach. "Steve," she said again as he got closer to the water. "No, no, no, no-" She couldn't protest any longer as he tossed her into the water. When she surfaced, he was in the water next to her, laughing.
"You suck," she said, splashing him. She wasn't angry as she said this though; she was laughing. "I swear, sometimes it's like you're still eighteen."
"You liked me at eighteen," he reminded her; she rolled her eyes at him, splashing him again. "What did you want to talk about Lex?" She nodded her head forward to show him that the girls were racing down to meet them in the water now.
"It can wait," she said.
Whatever it was, it waited a lot longer than Steve had wanted it to. He didn't get to see much of Alexia on her own, between work and spending time with the girls. It would have been different if they were still living together. But, of course, now once the girls went to bed he was off to his own house. It had been a few weeks since his birthday; it was October now.
Steve picked Alexia and the girls up from their house on the way to his after work. They were going to meet up with Danny and Grace in order to get pumpkins. With it being close to Halloween, they wanted to get the girls together to carve pumpkins. The girls were also excited because that night was the slumber party at their dance studio they held every year; Grace was extra excited because this was her first one and Julia was telling her all about it.
"It's just not right," Danny said as the three of them watched the girls carve their pumpkins. The girls were sitting around the kitchen table that was now covered in news papers and pumpkin insides. The three adults were gathered around the counter, having a beer.
"Here we go," Steve said, knowing Danny was about to go off on another one of his rants about Hawaii.
"You get pumpkins from a patch, not the grocery store," Danny continued. "And it's supposed to be cold, with the leaves changing for Halloween. Not 80 degrees and palm trees."
"I kind of miss east coast falls," Alexia agreed with him, remembering what it was like in Maryland and Boston this time of year.
"Yeah, but you hated winter," Steve reminded her.
"True," she nodded.
"Daddy!" Lucy said, getting him to come over. "Mine won't cut." Steve went over to help Lucy carve her pumpkin, leaving Danny and Alexia alone.
"So," Danny said quietly, leaning forward on the counter on his forearms.
"So...what?" Alexia asked, sipping her beer.
"So what's going on with you two?" he asked; she opened her mouth to protest but he immediately stopped her. "It's not my business, I know," he told her. "But, I don't know, just seeing you two together? Just makes me wonder."
"You're biased," she told him, taking the last sip of her beer and setting the empty bottle on the counter.
"Maybe," Danny nodded, standing up fully. "But only because I'm the one that has to listen to him all day long." Alexia laughed a little, shaking her head at him. She knew that the two men had become very good friends in the last few months and she knew what Danny was up to.
"And, I don't know," Danny continued with a shrug. "Maybe I just wish someone had been there to tell Rachel I deserved a second chance."
The girls finished their pumpkins, showing their parents proudly. Danny then offered to just drive all three girls to the sleepover. He knew that whatever Alexia had been keeping from Steve was driving him crazy, so he wanted to be able to give them a chance alone. Steve, knowing that Alexia was still a little uncomfortable, immediately offered to drive her home. He figured they would be able to talk on the way to the house; he didn't want to be the one to bring it up though, so they sat in silence in the car for awhile on the way to the house.
"So," she said, breaking the awkward tension as they turned onto her street. "You know I have something I've wanted to talk about." He nodded quietly, waiting for her to continue. "I really have no idea how to tell you this."
"You can tell me anything," he said, looking at her as he parked in the driveway.
"Steve," she said, looking straight ahead at the house. He followed her gaze and saw that, while all the lights were off in the house, the front door was wide open.
"Wait here," he told her, getting out of the car himself. Alexia watched him go up to the house and knew that he was checking each room. He didn't turn the lights on right away, but eventually she saw that he did. Through the windows she could see him walking around the first floor; what was he looking for? He also checked around the front door. Eventually, he locked the door before leaving the house and returning to the car.
"Nothing's missing," he told her. "There aren't any signs of forced entry. That front door has always been kinda screwy, you probably just didn't latch it and the wind blew it open." She nodded, going to unbuckle her seat belt so she could leave.
"I think you should come back with me tonight though," he said, stopping her.
"But you said everything's fine," she said curiously.
"Just let me be paranoid," he said, giving her a small smile. "I already worry about you and the girls living alone, this will help me sleep."
"Whatever," she shrugged. "Can I at least get my stuff for work tomorrow?"
Steve nodded, going up to the house with her. She insisted that she was fine and he waited out on the porch for her. He was sure Danny was still with the girls at this point, so he decided to call Chin while Alexia was inside.
"Nothing is missing," he repeated to Chin. "But someone definitely messed with the locks and broke in here. I'm having Lex come stay at my place tonight."
"Want me and Kono to check it out?" Chin offered.
"Please," Steve told him. "I would have check myself, but I don't want Lex to freak out. Look for fingerprints, anything."
"You got it," Chin assured him.
Steve hung up just as Alexia was coming back out with her over night bag. She had her own keys, planning to leave from Steve's the next morning for work. They met up at his house, with her following him there. Neither of them said anything else about the house. Steve anxiously waited to hear back from Chin, checking his phone frequently for text messages.
"You're being weird," she said, not looking over at him as she continued to flip through the tv channels. Things were quiet; they hadn't been alone together for this long in a long time.
"I am not," he said, ignoring her. He couldn't take waiting anymore. "So, what did you want to talk about again?"
"Ha," she said, stopping with the remote. "Look what's on." It was playing on one of the movie channels; it was part of a scary movie marathon for the upcoming holiday.
"Oh, come on Lex," Steve cringed, reaching for the remote. She held it away from him.
"Come on," she laughed at him. "Watch it with me." He didn't seem convinced. "Seriously? You're a Navy SEAL, and you're too scared to watch this movie?"
"Ok, I don't make you watch movies with giant spiders in them," he told her.
"Having a fear of spiders is completely legitimate," she argued. "And you could totally beat that clown in a fight."
"And you could step on the spider," he laughed; she grimaced.
"But then it would be all over my shoe."
"You're ridiculous," he told her; he then jumped as something popped out on the screen.
"Says you," she laughed.
The next morning, Danny got a call from Chin letting him know that they had a new case to work. He told him that he had tried calling Steve but he hadn't answered. Danny said not to bother calling again and that he would stop by the house to pick up Steve on his way. When he got there, he saw that Alexia's car was there. He then remembered Kono letting him know what happened and that someone had broken into Alexia's house the night before.
When Danny went up to the door, he was surprised to find the door unlocked since Steve normally locked the doors before he went upstairs for bed. Letting himself in though, he saw why the door was unlocked; Steve had never gotten up to go to bed that night. He caught Steve asleep on the couch, but he wasn't alone. Alexia was sleeping with her head on his chest and his arm was around her. While it was a perfectly sweet moment, Danny grinned at the chance to embarrass them both. Once he got inside, he slammed the door which caused them both to jump.
"Well good morning you two," he smirked as they got up, still in a sleepy state. Once she realized what was going on and who she had been sleeping against, Alexia bolted upright, blushing.
"I'm, uh, going to change for work," she said, getting up from the couch and grabbing her over night bag from the bottom of the steps. As she hurried up the stairs and out of the awkward encounter, Danny looked to Steve and raised his eye brows suggestively.
"Don't," Steve shook his head at him.
"What?" Danny asked innocently. While he was having fun at their expense, he did become serious. "Did you guys talk about, whatever thing she wanted to talk about?"
"No," Steve shook his head, rubbing his eyes.
"Ah, I see," Danny smiled, again being suggestive. "Didn't get there, huh?" Steve gave him a serious look. "All right, all right. I'll stop. Did you at least fess up about the break in?" Steve shook his head again. "So, you didn't talk about the thing," Danny said, sitting next to him on the couch. "You didn't talk about the break in. What did you do?"
"We just hung out," Steve shrugged. "Watched movies, fell asleep. It was..." He trailed off as he thought about it, smiling. "It was nice."
"That's...adorable," Danny said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Really. But-" He stopped as Alexia came back down the stairs, dressed in her usual scrubs for work.
"I'm off," she told them, pulling her keys from her bag; she was acting like nothing happened. Nothing had happened in that way, they had just fallen asleep innocently on the couch. But, after not being together for so long and being divorced now, cuddling while they slept was more intimate than she had expected to get. "Rachel's picking up the girls from the studio today. Could you get them from her house, around five?"
"Sure," Steve nodded. "Lex-" He knew that what they really needed now was to talk.
"I'll see you later," she said, heading out the door and shutting it behind her. She didn't want to talk to him about it, even though she knew that's what they had to do. Sooner or later, she knew that she was going to have to own up to her mistake.
Author's note: thanks for reading! hope you liked it :) please review
