Author's notes: Hey guys I'm back! Thank you for all your reviews, really I appreciate them! As long as you guys keep enjoying and reviewing them, I will keep writing!
It had been a rough few days for Karly recovering from her injuries. Every part of her body hurts and the nightmares weren't helping. She often woke up screaming and sweaty at 2am in the morning and Steve would always be there in a flash. She never got much sleep and even when she was nightmare free she had to wake up every 3 hours to take the necessary medication. Things weren't helped by the fact that her mum hasn't even been here to check up on her yet. The doctors said that it would be best for her to attend some high school, being around people her own age might stimulate her brain.
"Hey sleepy head chop chop, it's time for school." Steve said, greeting Karly as she came down from her bedroom, with eye bags evident.
"Erghh no I don't want to go." Karly said groggily, rubbing her eyes.
"Sweetie the doctor said it's gonna help you, plus you're gonna fall way behind in your school work."
"I'm not gonna fit in dad, I have that big aussie accent." Karly sighed, sitting down and pouring herself milk.
"It's cute, and I'm gonna have a word with your mum when she comes." Steve said.
"No objections from me. Well I better get going, can't be late for my first day." Karly said, drinking the last of her milk, kissed Steve on the cheek and grabbed her bag and headed for the door. When she opened the door, she saw Kono standing there smiling.
"Hey Karly! Just checking up on you, excited?" Kono said brightly.
"No not really dad's taking me to school right now."
"Hey Steve… oh yea Danny wanted you at HQ, I'll take her to school if you want."
"Yea Danny needed advice on something, okay Karly you're gonna get driven by Kono okay?"
"Yea that's fine."
"Okay fine well have fun at school, love you." Steve said, giving Karly a big hug.
"Don't push it dad." Karly said, trying to wiggle out of the hug. She walked out of the house and toward Kono's car.
"Well… thanks for this." Steve said awkwardly. Things haven't been the best between Kono and him, mainly because Steve was reluctant to start something which could be broken so easily. He wanted to take it slow, turtle slow with Kono, and he had to make sure everything was perfect.
"Yea that's okay, shootz." Kono said and walked away. She was a little hurt that Steve hadn't really spoken to her after everything that's happened. Maybe he doesn't really like me, Kono thought, losing sight of them two everyday.
Karly and Kono were on their way to the high school and were striking up easy conversation. They had so many things in common.
"Hey so why aren't you and my dad… you know." Karly asked out the blue, causing Kono to suddenly slam on the breaks.
"What about me and your dad?" Kono said, thrown completely off guard.
"Oh please he's my dad; I know when he loves someone. You guys have that weird connection thing going on." Karly explained easily.
"I…truthfully…I don't know. Your dad's…tricky to figure out." Kono said, trying to find the right words to say.
"Tell me about it, took me quite a while just to understand him. My dad's slow and careful about this kind of romantic stuff, unless he's 100% sure it isn't gonna crash and burn, he won't advance. It's just a McGarrett thing I guess." Karly chuckled.
"Slow is an understatement…speaking of relationships I never got the time to ask what happened between Steve and Megan?" Kono asked tentatively.
"Well mum was dad's high school sweetheart, you know, the star quarterback and the cheerleader thing (Karly rolls her eyes). Even when dad went off to the Navy mum always waited for him and they started going out again when he returned. Keep in mind this was years ago, my mum's changed heaps."
"In a bad way?"
"Well yea… after her and dad fizzled out, the divorce was the opposite of amicable and there were lingering bitterness on both sides. My mum turned cold after that." Karly said bitterly.
"That must've been hard on you aye?"
"Well yea… at the beginning my mum was always yelling and screaming but after she found that jackass of a step dad, she stopped yelling at me constantly and I learnt how to deal with the craziness. Like just before I came here, I won a national surfing competition and my mum still doesn't know about it?" Karly said sadly, tears threatening to flow.
"Well you know, now you're around people who are actually proud of you." Kono grinned.
"Thanks Kono, appreciate it." Karly returned a big smile.
"Oh yea by the way there's a surfing competition coming up for under 18's, you game?"
"Hell yea I am, gotta get back on the board. Assuming the stupid doctors let me, crappy old bats." Karly said grumpily.
"Well we're here; want me to go in there with you?"
"Nah I'll be fine. Thanks for driving me, I'll see you later." Karly smiled and got out of the car.
As Karly got out of the car, she immediately noticed something different within the school. There weren't an assigned uniform, lots of them were wearing flip flops but all of the kids were so laid back. She had a good feeling about this school.
Steve had gotten off work early to pick Karly up from school and being at his old high school made him feel pretty nostalgic about his Kukui high days.
"Dad!" Karly ran to Steve and gave him a big hug.
"Hey beautiful, how was school?"
"Great! Met all these incredible people, all the teachers seem to know me and the students too." Karly said, frowning a little.
"Uhh yea that might've been my fault for being such a good quarterback and head of Five-0." Steve grinned, he was proud of his football achievements.
"Everyone thought my Aussie accent was super cool so that's one worry crossed off. Oh yea they signed me up on the cheerleading squad, said I had the right physique or whatever." Karly said easily, much to the alarm of Steve. He knew first hand how popular with the boys cheerleaders get.
"Yea Karly… about that…"
"Wait a second dad." Karly walked to one of the boys who waved at her. She grinned at him and gave him a hug before returning to Steve, much to his chagrin.
"Relax dad." Karly sighed, knowing this was bound to happen.
"Who was that?" Steve said, mustering as much self control as he has.
"His name is Lucas and he's in my class, just a FRIEND." Karly emphasised. Steve breathed a sigh of relief as they got into the car.
"Well for now at least." Karly teased and winked.
"Karly McGarrett you will not do that to me." Steve said sternly. His nightmare was just beginning.
So what do you guys think? Was a good chapter? I've been trying to find a place to tie up the Megan part of the story, but I can tell you she will be back. Do you like the Kono/Karly dynamic? Or do you think Steve/Karly have the perfect Father/Daughter relationship there is?
As usual, Read and Review!