Disclaimer: I do not own Hawaii Five-O or anything you recognize from it.

The way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost. — G.K. Chesterton

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Chapter Thirty-Four

Chances Lost, Chances Gained and in Hopes of Teasing

"I took Danny up here a while ago and he had trouble keeping up." Steve commented as he and Melissa hiked higher up the hilled mountain. One day he would tell her that he had broken his arm, that he had almost fallen from the cliff's edge and had also found a dead body. But he didn't want to overshadow the effervescence of this day with the realities of their world.

Melissa snorted and dogged a wayward rock, letting the fresh air seep into her lungs. She loved Virginia but Hawaii was fighting for her heart…it also didn't hurt that Steve already had her heart and his home was in Hawaii, "Do you want me to pretend exhaustion so you can show off your manliness?"

Steve chuckled and grabbed her hand, "Are you wooed?"

Melissa laughed and sped up her pace, trying to memorize every detail to this moment. She was truly enamoured and desperately happy to be alive and with him, "I'm so happy I could die." She commented quietly.

Steve squeezed her hand, "Me too."

They shared a quiet smile and hiked for a few more minutes in silence before Steve said, "I wanted to show you this view." He pulled Melissa closer to his side and settled an arm around her, both of them resting in the lull of the mountain.

She glanced around and her breath caught in her throat, Steve had taken her to a platform on the mountain where she had the perfect view of a forest and other neighbouring mountains. She inhaled deeply, letting the wild air shock her city lungs and walked into his open arms, still not tearing her attention away from the sight. "It's beautiful up here, Steve."

He squeezed her, "My dad would take me up here growing up and we would just stand in awe of this place."

She kissed his neck, hearing the emotion in his whiskey voice and looked up at him, vaguely remembering Kono mentioning his felled father. "Thank you for sharing this with me."

Steve pulled her closer to the trees and sat down on a patch of blinding green grass, pulling her down beside him, "Come here." He quietly said, gently tugging her chin up so she looked up at him, "How do you say we get a blanket and take a nap?"

Melissa rolled her eyes, knowing full well what the mischievous glint in his eyes meant. The way they had been looking at each other…even a blind man would know they were desperately in lust with each other. Hell, if their kiss was any indication, she didn't even know if she would survive Steve at his most passionate. "Biggest euphemism ever, I can't believe our first time is going to be in the wilderness like some damn hippies."

Steve laughed and pulled a blanket from his backpack, laying it down on the grass, "Did you honestly think I'd wine and dine you for our first time?"

She knew he was extraordinary, she knew he never did what paradigms dictated but rather of joining in the norms of society, he carved his own path. She laughed and launched herself at him, speaking in between kisses, "Thank god you hadn't. But you should know—" She gasped when Steve did this miraculous thing with his tongue, "That the Bureau has a very unforgiving stance on hippies."

"Melissa?" Steve muttered, pulling her shirt off.

"Steve?" She gasped, arcing into him.

"Shut up."

"Okay."

0000000000000000

"Who knew that you were such a hippie, hey?" Danny teased a scowling Steve.

Chin smirked, "I'm pretty sure that's a violation."

Melissa rolled her eyes and pushed open the door leading the Five-O headquarters, her legs still sore from the gymnastic session her and Steve had done that morning before he went off to work. It had been one glorious week since she and Steve had first christened the forest with their nudity and though she still refused to say 'making love' aloud, she knew it wasn't just sex, that it was something deeper than she or Steve had ever felt before.

She quickly glanced at her watch, he always worked overtime and for once, the entire team had done the same…though from the way they were all ganging up on him, it was only to tease and annoy him. "Lay off, you're all just jealous." She snapped, smirking at them.

Chin eased of his desk and winked at her, "You got our boss running in circles."

"Your boss is still here." Steve replied sardonically.

"I never pegged you for the wilderness type, Jonesy." Danny teased, grabbing his coat and keys.

Kono winced when she saw her friend scowl at her, "I didn't mean to say anything…I mean, I thought Danny knew it was private."

She shook her head and smiled at her friend, "Get out of here before I commit murder."

She accepted hugs from the trio and watched as they laughed amongst themselves and sauntered out, "Hi." She finally acknowledged a scowling Steve as he leaned against his desk and stared at her.

When an entire minute passed and he had made no move, she began to perspire, was he really upset? "Look, I only told Kono because she kept bragging about Danny and I couldn't take it anymore. I'm sorry." She said biting back the three-worded confession of her feelings of love; she hadn't ruined the magical moment on the mountain. Had she?

Steve pushed away from the table and walked up to her, towering menacingly over her, "What we say and do together is between us. You had no right to go and splash it across the tabloids."

Melissa bent her head guiltily, "I'm sorry. I really am." She didn't know what else to say and if he asked for her head on a wooden spike, she'd gladly cut her own head off to make him jubilant like he always was around her. "I really screwed up, didn't I?"

Steve waited a beat, it had annoyed him that Kono had told Danny and it had pissed him off that Danny had splattered it all over the office. He never regretted making love with Melissa in the woods, it was a perfect beginning to their physical relationship but damn it, how many more jokes was he going to have to hear from his immature employees? Melissa quietly sniffled and he froze, feeling lower than scum, he was mad at Five-O, not at her; if Melissa had told her friend something in confidence, it must have been huge to confess something so private. He was beginning to finally understand how her mind worked and though it confused him sometimes, he was finding out she was more tight-lipped and private than he was. "Did you make sure to rub Kono's face in my prowess?" He asked quietly.

She nodded, the sun once again shinning, "Damn straight I did, I even told her that my legs were still jelly for a day after."

"That's my girl." Steve kissed the top of her head and smiled when she laughed huskily.

They stood like that until Melissa's stomach admitted defeat and grumbled, "Sorry."

Steve laughed, "Don't apologize for something you can't even control. Have you even eaten yet?"

She shook her head, "We ran out of food, so I just came back from buying some groceries. I had to stop off at home to unpack anything before I came here."

Steve smiled secretly and didn't bother pointing out the fact that it was his home, he should pay for the groceries because he was too damn elated by what she had said. It also didn't go unnoticed by him that she said 'home' and not 'his home'; that subconsciously, she now saw things as 'theirs'. Over the course of the week, she had been spending more and more time at his place until her entire suitcase was occupying one small corner of his bedroom and damn it, he loved knowing that she was making his place, hers. That they were making a home together and he couldn't be any happier…in fact, he couldn't even remember the last time he had ever been so happy. "Ready?" he asked, his entire body seeping with contentment and utter happiness.

She took his hand and nodded, "Let's go home."

They drove quietly, each stuck in their own world. Steve contemplating his future with Melissa and Melissa worrying about how in hells was she going to say the three letters. She knew in her bones that she loved him but feeling something and saying it aloud were completely different animals. She didn't care if Steve would say he loved her or not, she knew without a doubt that he felt just as strongly and since she had runaway from Hawaii and him those six and something months ago, she came upon a slight epiphany. She loved him and she would tell him, the societal relationship advice and paradigm could go off themselves for all she cared.

"Why did you leave Hawaii without saying goodbye?" Steve asked quietly.

Melissa quickly glanced at him before returning her eyes back to the road, it was jarring at times the way they both were on the same track, "I didn't think at the time that you would care or not."

Steve rested his head against the headrest, "I remember Kono mentioning it one morning and I felt like the carpet had been pulled out from under me. Though I didn't see you every day when you were here, I still knew that you were in Hawaii and I felt better knowing I still had a chance."

"And then when I left?" She asked quietly knowing they had to talk about it, he had promised a while ago and they had simply forgotten about the conversation until now.

"I knew I had lost my chance. I had let some random guy take you away from me and I simply let you go, knowing I wasn't ready to face the truth." He confessed and she was about to ask for more clarifications as to what the truth was when he kept going, "I didn't sleep or eat for a few days after. Every time Kono would mention you in passing, I felt physically ill knowing I hadn't even tried and one day she came in the office a wreck, saying how different you sounded, that you probably hadn't ate or slept at all since leaving, I felt hope for the first time since you had left." He ran a hand over his face, "hell, even Chin and Danny were moping around for a few days."

She felt something in her stomach unfurl and a warming sensation swept through her heart. She had people that cared for her…how had she been blind so blind? She reached over and took his hand, "What fools we made of ourselves, huh?"

Steve chuckled quietly, "Never again, Melissa."

She nodded, knowing she would never dare to leave Hawaii without his acquiesce first, "Never." She pledged.

Later that night, when they were both satiated from dinner, Steve became relentless in his passion. He hadn't stopped but rather, just kept demanding more of herself to him and Melissa didn't even question him. She knew he still felt sore about the six months she had left and her wounds were still healing and sometime in the night, she had finally confessed her love to him when they both were catching their breathes from the heat of their feverish ardour.