(A/N) Hi everyone! Ok, before I start, let me just say... you are more than welcome to hate me right now, haha. I know I said I would consider writing in between the show hiatus (and most of you actually encouraged me to do so), but things got really hectic on the real-world side of life. (which always sucks.) Also, I had spring break in between (interestingly, I actually went to Hawaii with my roommates! hahah. and even more interesting - I actually saw Scott Caan at a restaurant and got to talk to him briefly! If anything, my Danny character should be more accurate now that I got to meet him LOL) so that cut down on even more writing time. So I really wanted all of you to know that I wasn't ignoring your suggestions to keep writing - if anything, I was even more inspired by it to come back swinging! :) So my biggest apologies for not writing fillers in between the hiatus; I had fully intended to. Life just got the best of me, whompwhomp. :(

But I'm back! Totally wasn't feeling the new Jenna character (I know a lot of you have reassured me that she won't be recurring or Steve's love interest, but does it seem like they're heading in that direction? I might just being a paranoid fangirl as usual, hahah). That last scene where Steve was supposed to meet up with Jenna at the ramen place? Uh, one-on-one noodle dinners? That's supposed to be Kono's domain, via my last few chapters - come on! Hahah, okay, end bitter rant. Anyway, Jenna's throwing in some twists to my fic, something I had never anticipated until I started writing this latest chapter, actually. So it turned out a little long, but I hope this acts as a little reward for putting up with my absence. :) Hope you all enjoy.

Special thanks go out to these amazing, helpful, inspiring people: francis2, Druid Archer, zebraboymom, tdolphins27, sparkesann, gizmo1204, rice117, Froggie2, Merl Laurence, CaffeineKiddo, watched 2 much tv, Sparrowhawk1952, Pop'n'Pop23, coolcookie, RandomPurpleBook, YellowTang, cdnyellowrose, JenB, annaliesegrace, tp96, .lover, Lady Krystalyn, Jubilee 7, A Sliver of Silver, jodiesto, sammie28, samantha, Martha Smith Jones, and BandBfan! You all rock and really keep me going. :)

Onwards (finally)!

"Hey."

"Hey."

Steve and Kono both stopped in their respective speed-walking as they passed in the HQ foyer, looking semi-surprised but pleased. It'd been a hectic case, and it was the first time all morning that they'd actually seen each other.

Kono gave him a small smile. "Hey, howzit? Where you been all day?"

Steve exhaled in response, brow wrinkling under stress. "I, uh – long story. I had to meet up with Agent Kaye." He paused. "Jenna."

Kono paused at how natural the correction was, but recovered after a brief silence. She shook her head. "Oh yeah, Danny told me about the new girl. Heard she's kind of a handful."

"She's alright."

"Oh."

There was another silence – this one, longer.

"So, uh, what have you been working on?" Steve asked, stuffing his hands in his pocket.

Kono gestured in the general direction of the parking lot, where Danny was making his way into the building. "Danny and I just got back from the strip club."

"Interesting place for a lunch date," Steve prompted deliberately, half-joking but half-fishing for an explanation.

Kono didn't laugh, but continued without interruption, "We got a lead on a 'Johnny D' character – frequent customer, sleazy, always goes in to see his favorite girl, Tiffany. The bartender told us that apparently there's been a guy asking around for him the past couple of weeks, and we think that might be the guy who killed Alex. I spoofed Tiffany's phone and we set up a meeting with Johnny. He's set to arrive at Femme Nu in a couple hours. We're going to go meet him up."

"Right." Steve nodded then stopped, furrowing his brow. "How'd you get Johnny to agree to meet you?"

At this, Kono finally cracked a smile – giving a mischievous smirk and innocent shrug before wordlessly striding off towards her office. Steve squinted after her as she left, mouth slightly open – a faint smile on his mildly confused face. He didn't even notice when Danny appeared in front of him.

"Hey," the blonde man greeted him. "Kono fill you in?"

Steve turned around. "Huh? Oh. Yeah. She did. Are we heading over to Femme Nu now?"

"In a bit. Kono and I have to make some calls to HPD. How'd your thing with, uh, Jenna Kaye go?"

"Fine," Steve replied absentmindedly, indicating his desire to talk about it later. He raised an eyebrow. "Hey, so how did you guys manage to get Johnny to agree to this meeting?"

At this, Danny broke into a toothy grin. "Oh. Heh. You gotta see this." He opened the laptop he had been toting under his arm, pulling up the files from the spoofed phone and turning the screen towards Steve. "This here is, ah, Kono playing 'stripper.' Read it and tell me that's not insanely hot."

Steve raised a curious brow and leaned in, eyes quickly scanning the lines of the fake text Kono had sent Johnny.

"Wow."

"Yeah." Danny shut the laptop and chuckled. "Genius, right? Who would've thought – our little rookie has a naughty side."

Steve was extremely tempted to tell his partner that he had actually gotten a taste of that side a couple of days ago on her couch, but held back. He pursed his lips to keep from smirking as he recalled the memory.

"What?"

"What do you mean, what?"

"You look like you're about to slap a little kid," Danny replied, "which, incidentally, I've since learned that in Stoic Seal emotions, translates to you trying not to laugh. What's so funny that you can't share with the rest of the class?"

Steve rearranged his face carefully. "Nothing." He shrugged. "I don't think anything's funny."

Danny narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously, but finally let it go. "Yeah. Ain't that the truth," he mumbled under his breath, before patting his partner on the shoulder and heading over to Kono's office.

In the HQ garage, the team strapped on their Kevlar suits together in preparation for the Johnny D meeting. Steve nodded at each of his teammates, and headed towards the new black pickup truck. He stopped when he noticed Kono heading in the opposite direction.

"Kono," he called out, giving her a confused but pointed look when she turned around. He nodded in the direction of the car, as if saying, Where are you going?

Kono didn't meet his eye as she swung her own car keys around her index finger. "I think I'm going to ride with Danny today." Her tone was light, but her face belied something deeper.

Indeed, Steve glanced over to see Danny already climbing into Kono's red Chevy, and felt as if somebody had punched him in the stomach. His face instantly darkened. "Oh. Okay," he responded, hearing the forced levity in his own voice. "No problem." Steve clenched his jaw as he turned to Chin Ho. "Chin, guess that means you're coming with me."

"Got it."

Right before they climbed into their respective driver's seats, Steve and Kono glanced back at each other. There was a brief moment of shared wordless message-conveyance. Kono looked away first and slid into her seat, shutting the door.

This is about Jenna, Steve suddenly realized, as he roughly jammed his key into the ignition and started the engine. He wasn't going to pretend he hadn't briefly entertained thoughts of the new analyst – I mean, it's only natural, right? Even Danny said so. But it doesn't mean anything.

This new girl couldn't stimulate any emotion on any level close to what Steve could feel about Kono. I can't believe Kono doesn't realize that. He was frustrated at her insecurity, but immediately felt guilty for thinking so – he too often assumed that Kono was emotionally infallible. It was unfair of him to do so. Steve's grip tightened on the steering wheel as his mind fumed.

"What's up, man?" Chin shot him a sidelong look from the passenger seat. "You nervous?"

Steve chuckled mirthlessly and concentrated back on the road. "Never. You know me, Chin."

"You look upset."

Dismissive shake of the head. "Nah."

A comfortable silence followed – something Steve wasn't used to in his usual driving partners. Like Steve, Chin was also a man of few words – which led to a completely different car ride experience, as opposed to the 'cargument'-filled rides with Danny or the electric flirting (and the occasional touching)-filled rides with Kono. This new switch-up was foreign, to say the least.

Steve glanced quickly over at his passenger. Chin was sitting there with that permanent faint smile he always had, watching the road with as much calm concentration as a driver should. "Why do you say that?" Steve asked, not able to help himself.

Chin looked at him. "Say what?"

"Do I look upset?"

Chin chuckled. "Brah, you look like you're chewing on glass."

"Such colorful similes my team comes up with for me," Steve deadpanned.

"Not to mention," Chin continued, "you keep looking over at their car every few seconds."

This, on the other hand, was news to Steve. He wrinkled his brow. "I do?"

"Yeah."

"Huh. I didn't even notice I was doing that." He subtly glanced out the window to see Kono's small red Aveo in the lane next to him, their cars almost directly adjacent. Kono was giggling at some joke Danny had undoubtedly cracked, her lips parted in cheerful laughter. Steve felt the punch to his stomach again and set his jaw in silent fuming.

Eventually, Kono must've felt Steve's gaze, as she turned in slight surprise. She looked confused at first, but then smirked slightly, slowly revving her gas pedal in invitation.

"Oh, no," Steve chuckled lowly, lopsided smirk inciting his laugh lines. "I don't think so." Outside, he heard Kono rev her gas again, teasing him.

Chin shifted. "What's up?"

"I think," Steve leaned back in his seat, "the kid wants to race us."

"You think so? I'd put money on her."

Steve pretended to look affronted, and laughed, "You traitor. Are you serious? Brah, she's driving a fucking hybrid."

"Hey man, sorry." Chin grinned. "Just calling it like it is."

"Okay." Steve shrugged it off, rubbing his hands on sides of the wheel. "Alright. Okay. We'll see about that. How far away is Femme Nu?"

"It's a couple of miles until you hit Kapiolani. But you probably won't be able to race once you get there; it should be packed at this time of day."

"Good enough." Steve glanced over at Kono again, who was already grinning back, one taunting eyebrow raised and one hand draped casually over her steering wheel.

Steve smirked and gave her a quick head nod.

Kono smirked back, her almond eyes glinting with the appeal of competition. Then they both gunned their accelerators, wheels screeching as the two cars peeled at top speed towards Kapiolani Boulevard.

Kono only saw the back of her three teammates' heads as she walked into the room. They were sitting around the small TV, their feet kicked up onto the table, hands clutching cold beers. Every so often, they'd let out a cheer or hoot.

Kono grinned as she swung through the doorframe. It'd been a long day; chasing down a rogue couple responsible for a string of antique store robberies on the mainland had taken a lot out of her. She was more than ready to kick back with her favorite people. "Hey," she greeted, grabbing her own beer from the table. "What are we watching?"

The three men immediately turned around in surprise, looking at her then at each other sheepishly.

"What?" Kono eyed them suspiciously. Suddenly, she noticed a telling blue ocean wave breaking on the screen and pursed her lips. Oh, geez. She inwardly groaned and reached for the remote, hitting pause. The image froze on the nose of a bright yellow surfboard coming out of the barrel of the wave.

"Wow." Kono folded her arms at the men, who were all expertly avoiding her gaze. "Really, guys? Watching videos of my old surf competitions? How did you even get these?"

Immediately, Steve and Danny held up their hands in innocence and jutted a silent thumb in Chin's direction.

"Cuz." Kono narrowed her eyes disapprovingly at Chin Ho.

Chin glanced at her and attempted an apologetic grin. "I found them going through some stuff at home. Thought the guys would enjoy it. I mean, it's like when we play McGarrett's and my old football tapes. You like watching those."

"That's different."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Kono's lips thinned slightly. "Because you guys can still play football."

There was a long silence.

Finally, Chin spoke, face solemn and serious. "You're right." He sighed. "I'm sorry, cuz. I was out of line."

With a small exhalation, Kono plopped down onto the chair next to Steve. He instinctively gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"No worries," Kono replied, with a brief smile. "But maybe we could just stick to watching Chips marathons from now on?"

They laughed.

"Or Chin's old football tapes," Steve cut in. "You know I always enjoy watching Kukui's second best quarterback at work."

"Second best?" Chin chuckled. "Chee. You did not just go there."

And with that, the atmosphere easily thawed – leading into Steve proudly recounting the multiple records he'd broken as quarterback, Chin protesting that the league Kukui played in was just harder "in his day", and Danny on the side muttering that Hawaiian football couldn't hold a candle to the sport on the East Coast. Kono grinned to herself as she chewed on her thumbnail. No matter what they did to annoy her, she would always love her little ohana. My little four-person ohana, she couldn't help but mentally add, thoughts floating to a certain pixie-haired CIA analyst.

Danny suddenly exhaled and stood up, giving his empty bottle a little shake. "Speaking of waterboys… I'm dry." He got up to make his way to the fridge.

"Ah, you always are," Chin teased. "Get me one, too."

As Chin and Danny exchanged quips, Steve took the opportunity to casually lean back in his chair, pretending to be glancing behind him. Keeping his eyes trained on a spot somewhere in the space behind Kono's right shoulder, he murmured lowly in her ear, "Dinner?"

Kono shot him a smirk. Imitating Steve's stealthy move, she whispered back, "Me?"

Steve exhaled sharply, eyes serious. "You're the only one I want to eat with." His implications were heavy, evident. Not Jenna.

Kono glanced back. She got it. "Get the car started."

Steve smirked and pushed himself out of his chair, making up some excuse about needing to get back home early.

"You know, if it means anything," Steve said, eyes on Kono as they slowly strolled down Kalakaua Ave, "I thought your surfing videos were amazing. You looked great."

Kono smiled faintly, staring down at her worn-out Rainbows. "Thanks. I always hate watching those though – knowing I'll never be that good again."

"Eh, maybe not," Steve joked. "But I was talking about you looking great. Seriously, they always make you surf in those swimsuits?"

A genuine laugh escaped Kono's lips. "You're ridiculous," she laughed, shaking her head and shoving Steve gently. "But mahalo for the sentiment."

Steve chuckled.

They turned into Duke's Lane, enjoying the way they blended in with the crowds of tourists along the popular souvenir destination. For once, they didn't have to worry about being recognized by local acquaintances or distant relatives. For once, they didn't have to be teammates Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett and Officer Kona Kalakaua – they could just be Steve and Kono… friends.

Both Steve and Kono seemed to realize this, as they eventually made subtle attempts at walking closer and closer together until their fingers brushed, then finally intertwined. Kono blushed and smiled behind the strands of hair that fell into her face.

It felt comfortable and natural, them hand-in-hand as they browsed through booths of bracelets and keychains, and every so often, stopped to laugh over some trinket (they had an especially hearty laugh over the fake ninja stars on display – as they both knew what actual real ones looked like and how to use them).

"Kono?"

She put down the hula girl bobble-head she had been playing with. "Hm?"

Steve regarded her with a serious expression. "You know, what happened wasn't your fault."

Kono knew exactly what he was talking about. She looked away. "I know."

"I know you miss surfing competitively, but look at it this way. You're doing something you're even better at now. You're a vital asset to our team, and your knee hasn't stopped you from being one of the strongest people I know."

Kono stared at her hands, small smile slowly spreading over her face. "How is it, Boss," she replied after a while, shaking her head, "that you always know the right thing to say?"

Steve smirked, feeling a low impulsivity as he gazed back at Kono, with her trademark sidelong dimpled grin and brown eyes with a trace of a mischievous glint. He slowly slid both hands around her waist and shrugged. "Try telling that to Danny," he deadpanned, making Kono giggle in his arms. He smiled at her laugh.

And there, in the middle of a bustling Duke's Lane, in the middle of hundreds of tourists as the sun set on Oahu's nightlife, Steve kissed Kono, grinning against her white teeth, and everything – whatever they were – finally became real.

(A/N) How was it? I hope you liked it. Please let me know what you thought