Danny let himself into Arianna's house, making note that she hadn't installed the security system component Steve'd suggested. That wasn't the only thing he noticed. As he perused the room, he picked up on several details: all the electronic equipment was unplugged, the cable box was gone and the air conditioning wasn't running even though the place was shut up tight.
He opened the bedroom door to find an air mattress on the floor, the bed frame in pieces against the wall. Danny picked up a large duffle from the closet and quickly filled it without thinking too much about what he was touching. In the bathroom, he was just as quick because there wasn't any extras. Danny hesitated briefly before snooping in the kitchen. It was worse than feared. The fridge was the only appliance plugged in. It held some fruits and vegetables Danny knew for a fact had come from the farmer's market and the freezer contained several hand labelled packages of fish. The cupboards were empty except for a large bag of rice and several ramen packets. Danny's only decision now was wether to give Arianna a chance to explain or go right to Steve. He had the short distance between the houses to make up his mind.
Danny found Steve and Chin on the lanai with glasses of ice tea. He slunk iont an empty chair and drank deeply from the glass Chin handed to him. "How's Arianna?"
"She crashed pretty hard. I put her in Mary's room," Steve replied. "You get her stuff okay? I didn't think to get you the security code."
"Yeah, about that, uh, there wasn't a need for it," Danny hedged.
"She didn't have it turned on?" Steve asked.
"She doesn't have a system," Danny answered.
"What? I thought she was going to put one in with the other system," Steve said, confused.
"There's more to it, Steve," Danny said.
"What do you mean more?"
Danny told his friends everything he'd see. When he finished his narrative, he sate back to let Steve process the information. A noise from the house startled the three men. Arianna stood in the doorway wringing her hands.
Danny was the first to speak, "Arianna, I'm sorry. I had to tell him." Standing up, he grasped her arm briefly before letting go and waving to Chin. "Come on. We need to get back to work."
Steve waited till Arianna sat down across from him before he leveled his gaze on her. He was determined to wait her out. She was equally determined not to give into the pressure. Not sure how long they sat in silence, Arianna signed, "I said I'd try, I didn't say I'd be very good at it."
Going straight for the jugular, Steve asked, "Are you broke?"
"Money is tight right now," she replied.
"Why?"
"I used most of my savings to get here and have my stuff shipped," she said simply.
"Didn't your mom leave you anything? What about your job?"
"Mom? Yeah, she left me with too many bills and not enough money to pay for them. As far as the job, they pay us once a month and I haven't hit the first paycheck yet."
Okay, if tidbits was the way she was going to play it, he'd drag the information out of her. "What about that conversation with the accountant or lawyer you had a while back?"
"That was about Mom's portion of my grandparents estate," she said succinctly. Steve stared, daring her to stop there. "The bulk of their estate went to me for college and the like while a quarter went into a trust for Mom to take care of her when she got older. If by some weird circumstance she didn't make it to sixty-five, the money comes to me. I'm having some difficulties straightening it out."
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked looking hurt and angry.
Arianna didn't answer right away. Eventually she said, "You need to see it from my perspective. I've consciously made the choice to move back to one of the most expensive places on the planet to live, I choose to ship a motorbike across an ocean and I've just met my father for the first time in my twenty years of existence. What better circumstances to scream opportunistic gold digger can you get?"
Steve mulled over her statement. "Okay, I can see your point. I'm sorry I got so angry but now that it's out in the open, will you let me help?"
Arianna was determined not to cry. This was not how she envisioned getting to know her father. Finally, she slowly nodded. "There will be rules."
"I don't think you are in the position to dictate, young lady. I'm going to buy you some groceries and I'm going to help you straighten out the legal mess. Got it?"
"Yes, Father Dearest."
"Good. Now you look like you're ready to collapse. Go lay down and I'll get you up in time to help me fix dinner. Cath is coming over. You and I have some explaining to do," Steve declared.
Arianna rolled her eyes at him as she obeyed. Steve listened for the snick of the door and when he got a slam instead, he couldn't help but laugh. Ahhh, the teenage years that he apparently wasn't going to miss out on. He couldn't help but recall Danny's statement about the apple not falling far from the tree. It seems that McGarrett genes run strong.
Steve puttered around, picking up and straightening to kill time until he needed to get the food started. He would forever deny checking on his kid three times. He did think about going for a swim but he didn't want to leave Arianna alone incase she needed him.
As promised, he woke her up in plenty of time to help him. They fell into an easy pattern, Steve pulling out all the ingredients, Arianna chopping and him assembling. They were working so well together, they didn't notice Catherine watching.
Catherine stood on the porch for a good ten minutes, debating wether to knock or not. In the end she used the key still had to let herself in. She followed the noises to the kitchen. Watching the father daughter pair work so efficiently together, she couldn't help but wonder how much time the two had spent together over the last six weeks. She almost felt guilty about disrupting the harmony but then she remembered why she was here.
"Hi guys, something smells good," she said to announce her presence.
Steve jumped, causing him to bump into Arianna who in turn dropped the container she was holding onto the counter which led to the pair being showered with Tzatziki sauce. Catherine laughed at their shocked faces until she got a sauce covered towel to the face. It was Steve and Arianna's turn to laugh.
"Okay, since it doesn't take too long to grill the meat, why don't we clean ourselves up in the ocean," Arianna suggested.
Steve was about to protest when another blob of sauce hit his face. Cath barely had time to get out of the way as the younger woman went flying by. Steve shot her an apologetic, might as well join the crazy look as he grabbed her hand giving chase. Catherine reluctantly let herself be drawn to the ocean.
Arianna stripped down to her suit as she ran "Come on slow poke. I thought you were a might SEAL. I think I'm going to be forced to call you my old man," she taunted.
The three had a good time splashing around trying to dunk each other. Catherine found herself relaxing as she joined forces with Arianna to take Steve down no less than five times. Steve hated to call an end to the fun and games, but they needed to get dinner on before it got too late and they still had a conversation that needed to take place.
"Okay, water baby, it's time to feed our guest," he signed. "You get to make more sauce."
As they waded out, Catherine turned to Steve, "You've gotten really good at signing."
"I had a great motivator," he replied sheepishly.
"I like her, Steve, I do but."
"We still need to talk. I know," he interrupted, "and we will over dinner. I promise."
Steve an Arianna put the meal on with the same quiet efficiency as they had prepared it and they were soon enjoying gyros and homemade chips.
"I need to apologized to you, Catherine," Arianna said. "I convinced Dad to keep things between us. It was purely selfish reasons. I didn't ever consider how it would affect the other people in his life."
"Wow! I didn't expect that," Catherine said.
Arianna frowned, thinking she'd read the woman's lips wrong. She looked to Steve to translate. When he did, she asked, "May I have an explanation?"
Catherine blinked. She hadn't expected to be the one put on the spot. "I guess I didn't expect you to be honest."
"I don't lie, Miss Rollins," Arianna retorted.
"Cath, that was uncalled for, " Steve said angrily.
"I disagree. You've both been lying to me from day one; a daughter of an old friend."
"She is the daughter of an old friend. She happens to be my daughter too. Just because we didn't tell you everything, doesn't mean what we did say was lies," Steve continued.
"Okay, maybe I was a little out of line, but you need to see it from my perspective," Catherine countered.
"Fair point. I apologize too. At first we wanted to verify the DNA and then we wanted to get to know each other without any pressure. Make sure, you know," he said.
"So who's your mother?" Cath asked Arianna.
"Jenny Feldman is my mom," Arianna replied.
"Why do I know that name?" Cath asked, looking to Steve.
"Do you remember Halloween and Chucky?" Steve prompted.
"Seriously, that Jenny Feldman? I thought that was like a one off for you," she stated.
"We actually dated up until my dad shipped us to the mainland," Steve whispered.
"My mom never planned to tell him. His moving made things easy for her," Arianna said, rejoining the conversation.
"You didn't tell me that," Steve said.
"I didn't want to hurt your feelings."
"Thank you."
"So is there more I need to know?" Catherine asked.
"No. The only part we hid was the true nature of our relationship," Arianna said. "I'm going to clean this up real quick and then leave you two alone." With that, she loaded up the tray with their debris and went to the kitchen.
"Shouldn't you go help her so things get put away correctly?" Catherine questioned.
"She actually knows where everything goes. Arianna, Danny and Grace stayed the weekend here while you were doing your two weeks," Steve told her. "She played nursemaid for us with the whole antibiotic bad reaction thing."
When Cath gave him a confused look, Steve remembered that he hadn't had the chance to tell her about that case. He filled her in, giving Danny's version. He took it as a good sign when she laughed. They continued to talk, filling in the gaps from the past weeks. At one point, Arianna stuck her head out to say goodnight. Catherine stayed only an hour longer before excusing herself. Steve knew that all wasn't right between them yet but if they worked at it, they might make it through.
Steve checked in on Arianna to find her sound asleep, sprawled in the middle of the bed with the blankets on the floor. What surprised him was she was wearing one of his old navy t-shirts and a pair of his shorts. He straightened out the covers and dropped a kiss on her forehead. Going back to the living room, he called Danny for an update and to let his partner know that unless there was an emergency, he wouldn't be in till Monday. They shot the breeze for a few moments, but it soon became awkward avoiding all of Danny's unasked questions so they ended the call. Steve tried to get some work done, but he couldn't concentrate so he ended up staring aimlessly at some lame TV. program until he was tired enough to sleep.
He checked on Arianna one last time before he went upstairs. She was still out cold. As he crawled under the covers, a folded piece of paper on the nightstand caught his eye. Leaning back against the pillows, he opened it so he could read it. Dad, normally I wouldn't go through someone else's dresser drawers, but for all of his attention to detail, Uncle Danny didn't bring my sleepwear over. I would've asked before borrowing a shirt and shorts, but you were busy. Sorry. See you in the morning. P.S. Who organizes they're sock drawer by style and then color? It's so very, very wrong.
Steve turned out the light, chuckling.