Chapter Twenty-Five "The End"

"This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."~Winston Churchill

It was as if Monday morning couldn't come soon enough. Steve was up earlier than usual. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon as he started his swim. It was crazy to think that the turns his life had taken started on this very beach. Two weeks ago, he had stood there thinking that his life would never be the same. And it wasn't, but not at all like he thought.

Everything had changed since Danny came back, since Rachel was kidnapped. It all got a lot worse before it got better, but Steve couldn't have imagined what "better" really was. He knew things wouldn't be perfect all of the sudden, but they were pretty damn close.

Coming out of the water, Steve saw the slender figure of the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen walking toward him. He still didn't know what he'd done to deserve her. He was fairly sure fate had made a mistake, but he wasn't complaining. Kono was perfect for him and he didn't know why it had taken him so long to notice.

More than that, he loved her. He had loved her before he fell in love with her. And she fit into his life as if she had always been there. Now, he couldn't imagine life without her.

"What are you looking at?" Kono asked as she walked across the sand.

"You have to ask?" Steve replied.

"Maybe I just want you to tell me," Kono said, reaching Steve and putting her arms around his neck.

"You know what?" Steve said, wrapping his arms around her.

"What?" Kono asked, looking into his eyes.

"I love you."

Kono smiled and kissed him lightly. "I love you too," she said.

It was as simple as that. Steve leaned closer and kissed Kono again, more seriously. She responded by running her fingers along his neck and teasing the ends of his hair.

"Are you hungry?" Kono asked, pulling away.

"Why?" Steve asked, still smiling.

"Because I thought I'd take you to breakfast in honor of our last hour as partners."

Steve shrugged. "We'll always have Wo Fat's cabin," he said.

Kono laughed. "Yeah, that's very romantic. Go get dressed."

H-5-O

Danny arrived last, but no one was going to tease him about it. It was only a matter of minutes before things would get back to the usual routine. There was a mixture of excitement and sadness in the office that morning. Until Steve's phone rang.

"Governor Kalani?" he answered brightly. "Yes sir... All right we're on our way." He hung up and headed for the door. "Let's go, Danno."

Danny gave the others a look as if asking, what are you gonna do?

The once-again partners got into Danny's car and began speeding down the highway. Danny didn't bother asking why Steve was all of the sudden driving his car again, or why they were driving so fast. For one thing, he didn't think there was a good answer and if there were, he wouldn't understand it anyway.

"So, where are we going?" Danny asked.

"There's a crime scene on Molokai that the governor wants us to look at," Steve replied.

"So, cruise ship or helicopter this time?"

Steve shook his head. "Jet boat."

"Oh, of course."

"Why do you have a tone?"

"Well, my first day back to normal and I have to sail over a large body of water to look at a dead body. I should have known."

"It's not sailing," Steve said.

"Of course you would get technical about that."

"Yes, I would. Sailing involves a sail. What we're doing is called boating."

"So, what would it be if we were on a battleship?"

"That would never happen, but it would be shipping. Isn't this obvious?"

"Only to you. What do you call what we're doing right now?"

"Driving."

"See, I call it suicide. The guy's already dead, right?"

"I'm a very good driver."

"Yes, but you don't need to be right now. Can't you just drive like a normal human? Oh, wait, I forgot you were some kind of military robot who sometimes develops glitches and has feelings."

"You seem very tense for how well things are going."

"What do you mean? I'm in a great mood."

"I guess I just haven't gotten used to it."

"And what about you? You've been smiling all day."

"I told you, things are going well."

"Except for the dead guy."

"Well, yeah, that's just unfortunate."

"Just."

H-5-O

As it turned out, Steve and Danny ended up spending the whole day on Molokai. It started with a simple murder and escalated to a high profile case involving embezzlement and drug dealers and a lot of nasty things.

Danny was exhausted as Steve drove the boat back to Honolulu. He couldn't count how many goons he'd chased that day and not knowing his way around had made things more difficult. But in the end, they'd solved the case and put the perps away.

Steve looked happy still. Danny could understand that. He'd been given a second chance at his whole life, plus some. Danny knew how that felt. They both had their families back together. A lot had changed, but that wasn't so bad after all.

"So, what's the deal with teaching Grace to play football?" he asked.

Steve spared Danny a look before turning back to the ocean in front of him. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"She said she couldn't wait to go to school and show all the boys what you taught her."

"Well, apparently they weren't letting her play because of the rather flamboyant shade of her football. So, I taught her some stuff that will make them forget about that."

"I'm a little concerned that you're turning my daughter into a tomboy."

"Hey, she said football was better than tennis. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Yes... I guess I just thought the ball was something to look at for her. Though I would have liked to have seen you throwing around a pink football with an eight-year-old."

"Bring her over this weekend and you can." Steve smirked and Danny had a feeling he was completely serious. There was no room for teasing there because Steve didn't feel the least bit weird about it. Danny nodded to himself. Yes, his partner was, in fact, human.

H-5-O

Back at HQ, everyone set to doing their paperwork for the day. Kono found Steve in his office glaring at his computer. But what concerned her more was the red stain on his forehead.

"Did you get hurt?" she asked, concerned.

"What?" Steve asked, looking up.

Kono touched her own forehead and Steve looked at his reflection in the window.

"I guess so," he said.

"You think you should clean that up?"

"I will when I get home."

"Is that how you always do it?"

Steve looked at her again. "Usually," he said. "A broken arm or gunshot wound would be a little different."

Kono crossed her arms. "So the fact that there's a two inch gash on your head doesn't bother you?"

Steve looked skeptical. "Inch and a half at most," he said.

"No, I'd say it's going on two and three quarters."

Steve ran his finger along the cut and gave Kono a look that said he was not going to admit to anything. She sighed.

"Come on."

"Where?" Steve stood up, glad of a distraction from his paperwork.

"The bathroom," Kono said. "You need that cleaned up."

To her surprise, Steve didn't really resist and he let her clean the cut on his forehead without complaint. She was surprised because she would have complained.

"There," she said, finishing up. "Now your brains won't fall out at least."

Steve took her hand. "Let's go," he said.

They went back out to the main room where Danny and Chin were getting ready to leave. Danny gave Kono an appreciative look and she smiled back.

"I told you I'd take care of him," she said.

The End

Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing this story. Of all of my stories, it has the most reviews and hits, so thank you! It's been a great adventure writing this and I'm glad you all came with me on it. Stay tuned for more awesome Five-0 fanfiction!