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Steve woke up the next morning, immediately knowing that something was different. He wasn´t in his bed, this wasn´t his bedroom. He was alone, the place by his side still warm though. And then he remembered and a smile grew on his lips. He stretched his body, loving the feeling of his muscles awakening. He felt good, very good. Last night had been amazing.
He was glad that she finally told him the truth. After their last telephone conversation he had started making his own investigations, discreet but efficient. He found intel about her and it backed up everything she had told him. So at least he knew that his trust in her wasn´t for nothing. He had still been angry, but not because he felt betrayed by her professionally. His hurt was something personal. He had hoped that the kiss had been something special and that she would come and tell him herself.
He didn´t know if last night changed something between them. She had told him that she would not get involved with him. She had tried to push him away. But that was before he came here last night. Before she told him the truth. And before he kissed her, pushed her down onto her sofa and had his way with her.
"Good Morning." a warm, female voice pulled him out of his thoughts and he saw Dawn standing in the door with two coffee mugs in her hands. She wore his shirt that ended mid thigh and revealed her slender legs.
"You look good in my shirt." he said and released the breath he didn´t know he was holding when he saw her gentle smile.
"I thought you´d say that." she approached the bed and handed him a mug of coffee. Steven took a sip and closed his eyes in pleasure when the hot, black liquid woke his inside up. Dawn sat down on the edge of the bed and drank her coffee, watching him over the rim of her mug.
"You okay?" he finally asked and she smiled.
"Yes, never slept better. Even though technically I got next to no sleep, I feel better than I have in a long time."
"Me too. It was a good feeling having you with me." Their eyes met and exchanged so many emotions that they weren´t ready to say out loud.
"Are we okay?" she finally asked and Steve lifted an eyebrow.
"You tell me." he said, wanting to hear it from her first. She looked at him for a long time, trying to read his face for some assurance. He looked at her calmly, waiting for her reply. She knew that it was up to her now.
"I have no idea where this is heading, Commander. Trust me, this isn´t something I´m doing every day. But I think it´s safe to say that I want to give it a try." Dawn heard him exhale slowly and a smile tugged at his lips that were still slightly swollen from the heated kisses they had shared only mere hours ago.
"So we´re on the same page." was all he said and then he sat up, grabbed her face and pulled her in for a long kiss.
When the phone rang the next time, Steve just growled deeply in his chest. He thought about not answering for a minute but when he saw who it was, he pulled away from the warm body by his side and smiled apologetically. That´s when he heard her phone ring as well and Dawn sighed.
He grabbed his phone and left her bedroom, still beautifully naked.
"Danny, you better have a damn good reason to call me on a Saturday. A free Saturday." he said and he heard his partner chuckle.
"You´re never enjoying free time, SuperSEAL. But I got a good reason. There was a mail bomb delivered to the Governor´s mansion this morning." Steve closed his eyes. "No detonation. It was addressed to Ms. Dawn Grayson." Steve froze. "The funny thing is that it was delivered on a Saturday so it can only mean that someone knew she´s working on Saturdays sometimes. Or..."
"Or it´s not meant to kill her, not yet. It´s meant as a warning." Steve finished his sentence.
"Exactly. Ms. Grayson wasn´t in the office. The Governor is trying to contact her now. I think you´d better get here."
"Okay, I´ll be there in an hour. Try to find out who delivered the bomb and if there are any traces." Steve instructed and ended the call. When he came into the bedroom, he saw Dawn still on the phone with the Governor.
"I´m really fine, Sir. I stayed home all night and everything is okay here. Yes, Sir. … Okay... I´ll meet you there." she finally hung up with a sigh.
"I´m supposed to meet the Governor and you at HQ in an hour." she said. She was calm, the news didn´t really surprise her. She knew that Vega might be in custody but he wouldn´t forget that it was thanks to her that he was now facing a lifetime in prison. He still had people working for him.
"Vega?" he just asked and Dawn nodded.
"Probably he gave the order. Nothing happened, I wasn´t in the office and the bomb wasn´t set for explosion. Sounds like someone wants to scare me." Steve walked over to her and pulled her close into his arms.
"That is the reason not to settle down. Could you imagine us trying to have a normal life with our jobs being like this?" he smiled into her hair and heard her chuckle, when she relaxed against him.
"Now you brought it up, Commander. Careful, I was never one to run from challenges." She heard him laugh out loud and closed her eyes to just enjoy this moment a little longer.
Exactly an hour later Steve pulled his truck into HQ parking lot and smiling at Dawn assuringly. They had stopped by his place so he could change and went straight to HQ.
When they entered their floor, he could already hear voices and he realized that Kono, Chin and Danny were there already. The Governor would be here any minute too.
He felt Dawn tense and knew that she wasn´t feeling comfortable. She didn´t know how to react to Danny. His hand gently but quickly rubbed her neck, trying to reassure her. When she entered the room, followed by Steve, her eyes met Danny´s first. His look was questioningly but he didn´t say a word. Kono hugged her and Chin just nodded at her, smiling warmly. Dawn´s eyes dropped to the small case on the smart table. The bomb. Which was already disarmed and all possible evidence secured.
"Ms. Grayson." Danny greeted and Steve felt her flinch when Danny used the exact same form to talk to her that he, Steve, had used. It was clear that it was meant as a way to show the wrench between them and Steve looked at Dawn. Just to see her strengthen her shoulders and wearing an apologetic smile on her lips.
"Danny." she greeted him, her voice firm and warm. And instantly Steve made a decision.
"Danny, Chin, Kono my office. Now." he ordered and pushed Dawn forward gently. She looked at him surprised but he just smiled at her.
When the door closed behind them, all looked at him expectantly and Dawn felt a nervous knot where her stomach once was. She had told him to keep it a secret for now. But she understood that her secret was safe with this team. She just didn´t know how they´d react. And she hated it.
"Danny discovered something, or at least he suspects that something isn´t right with Dawn," Steve ignored the questioning look from Danny and Kono when he used her name instead of talking about her as Ms. Grayson. "...that she´s hiding something. Now I understand your worry, Danny, " Dawn heard Kono gasp and looked at her, trying to tell her with her eyes that she was sorry.
"I understand your need to know the truth but this isn´t our decision. Dawn will tell her story when she is ready to and until then I need you all to trust me and to trust her, okay?" Steve looked at them, at every single one of them.
"You know?" Danny asked and Steve nodded.
"Fine, then let´s just pretend nothing has happened and we´re all going back to being a big, happy, bat-shit crazy family!" Danny started his rant and Dawn closed her eyes when she felt Kono turn away from her. This was all so wrong and she was about to loose the closest she had to family. Her loyalty was her job, but 5-0 came pretty close to that.
"Wait." she said and Steve looked at her surprised.
"You don´t have to." he said, daring his team with a glare to question him. He just asked them to trust him with this and he knew they would. There was no need for her to spill it. Not yet.
"I know." she smiled at him gently and Kono and Danny exchanged a knowing look. "But I want to." she said and Steve nodded.
With a deep sigh Dawn turned to her friends and steeled herself for the impact.
"My name is Special Agent Dawn Grayson, Homeland Security." she said and threw her badge on Steve´s desk. "I´m here to investigate the new Governor of Hawaii, primarily. But with Anthony Vega and the connection to Wo Fat, my orders changed to support 5-0 to help them track down Wo Fat. We have intel that show his connection to various militant terrorist groups that could become a threat to the safety of the United States. Especially with someone as Vega to provide them with any military weapon they have on their wish list." Steve felt her relax a little bit when silence answered her little speech. Everyone looked at her surprised but no explosion yet.
"So you´re one of the good ones?" Danny asked, his body slowly relaxing, but his face still wearing a frown. Dawn couldn´t help the smile on her face.
"Yes Danny, I´m one of the good ones."
"You´re investigating the new Governor?"
"We have to make sure that we don´t have another security leak. Hawaii is a strategic point in the Pacific and we need to have a stronghold here. We can´t effort to have another disaster like Jameson," Dawn looked at Steve and begged him pardon with her eyes. "With the rising threat from Vega, Wo Fat and whoever else there is out there, we need to make sure the Governor is on our paylist. And that he stays on it."
"Do you have anything against him?" Chin asked and Dawn shook her head.
"No, nothing. His record is clean, his financials as well. He is making his job, willing to make unpopular decisions, he´s a politician who knows how to sell himself best. But he is clean. He is fair. And Hawaii´s safety is his top priority."
"I understand that you couldn´t tell us. And maybe you shouldn´t have told us now. But thank you." Kono said and approached the other woman, engulfing her in a hug. "I´ll make you pay for it though next time we go to the North Shore." Dawn laughed and felt the rest of her worry disappear.
"It´s good to have it out in the open between us now." Chin said and squeezed her shoulder gently, shushing his cousin out of the office when he saw the Governor arrive.
"I´m not gonna make it easy for you. I know Kono and Chin and even SuperSEAL here – by the way what exactly did you too to him? I´ve never seen him smile like an idiot like this before - either way, they might forgive you just like that, but I won´t. Just so you know, flashing your badge doesn´t mean anything to me." Danny ranted, but Dawn saw in his eyes that this was just to keep up his usual attitude. His eyes were smiling at her already.
"I know Danny, and I am deeply sorry for betraying your trust and your friendship. I´ll do whatever I can to gain back your trust. You name it and I´ll make sure you get it." she said with a laugh, but she meant every word and Danny noticed.
"Steve, you might wanna let her badge disappear before the Governor sees it. You and I, Dawn, will go out there and greet the Governor. And find out, who wants to scare you." with that Danny led her out to the Governor and squeezed her arm gently before letting go, assuring her that things would be okay.
When the Governor finally left, Dawn was exhausted. And her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she hadn´t eaten since earlier this morning when Steve urged her into her kitchen, making her watch him preparing breakfast.
"Hey." she felt a strong hand in her neck, gently kneeding her sore muscles. And with a content moan the leaned her forehead against his chest, enjoying his skillful hands.
"Hungry?" he asked and she nodded.
When Danny entered Steve´s office Dawn instinctively pulled away from Steve. She didn´t see him frown but she saw the huge smile on Danny´s face.
"So you two, huh?" he said and Dawn felt herself blush, for the first time in ages. She looked at Steve and when she saw the look in his eyes and the cocky grin on his lips, she just groaned and let her forehead sink against his chest again.
"How about steaks and beer at my place tonight?" Steve said, still gently massaging her neck.
"Sounds like a great plan. I´ll get Kono and Chin and we´ll see you guys there." he headed for the door and turned around one more time. "You know, it´s about time, you two are so cute. Congrats." with that he left the office, before Steve could kill him with another glare.
True to his word, Danny arrived with Kono and Chin an hour later at Steve´s place. Walking around the house to the lanai on the back, he saw Steve who already had the steaks on the grill, a beer in his hand. He looked... happy and relaxed. And Danny knew that Dawn was the reason for that.
He understood that Dawn had to protect her cover and he didn´t really blame her for it. It was good though that she was one of the good one´s. Seeing Steve´s smile when he looked at her made him feel like an intruder. He was his partner, his best friend and despite all the manly teasing and banter, he was happy to see Steve finally open up again to a woman. He hoped things would work out for the two, still he would miss their fighting.
Dawn joint Steve and Danny watched with a smile how Steve wrapped an arm around her waist, pulled her close and kissed her.
"Hey turtledoves, stop messing with each other. I´m hungry." he laughed when they approached.
"You´re just so sensitive and caring, Danno. Surprises me every time." Steve laughed at him and greeted them with a hug. Dawn hesitated for a second but was pulled in a big hug by Danny.
"Agent Grayson, what a sight for sore eyes! I really hope that guy over there treats you well. Otherwise you have my permission to kick his ass." Danny said and Dawn started to laugh.
"Oh, thank you Danno."
Danny groaned.
"What is that with you two, huh? Both working for the Government, both being trained in things I can´t even wrap my mind around. And both eager to call me Danno instead of using my very pretty name correctly."
And despite his attempt to complain, all he achieved was making everyone laugh and slap his shoulder playfully. Finally Danny gave in and smirked at his friends. Life wasn´t that bad.