The next day was passing slowly as they tracked down evidence and leads. Danny and Jax were ensconced in Danny's office, now complete with their own coffee maker.
Chin and Kono returned from the hospital where they'd interviewed the guard, who'd regained consciousness. They came off the elevator together, and Steve looked up from the smart table, where he and Grover were cross matching explosive signatures.
"How is the guard? What did you find out?" he asked.
"He's expected to make a full recovery," Kono said, "with the exception of his voice, which will likely retain some damage."
"Well, that's unfortunate, but he can be thankful," Grover said.
"Did he have anything useful? Remember anything?" Steve asked.
"He did," Chin said, "he remembered one person. Just one."
"He's saying one person came in, killed one guard, disabled another, installed hardware into the server, and set the explosives?" Grover asked.
"Easily," Steve shrugged. "It would have taken me about ninety seconds, depending on the sophistication of the hardware. Did he have any sort of description?"
"Thinks the man might have been native, or possibly Asian," Kono answered.
Steve glanced into Danny's office. "Did you get that?" he asked.
"Copy - possibly native or Asian," Danny repeated. "Noted."
"Okay, good work," Steve said. "Obviously, this doesn't mean that there's only one suspect. There very easily could have been more. But this is a start, and it's more than we had two days ago."
#*#*#*#*#
Kono and Jax sat together in the break room, happily munching on take out.
"You're sure you're up for this?" Kono asked, hesitating as she reached for a binder. Bits of paper and fabric stuck out of it; hues of russet orange and deep aqua.
"Yeah," Jax said. "Yesterday was . . . really rough, but . . . today is better. Mostly, I have good days. And I'm not going to let one bad day keep me from being happy that Steve and I are married."
"Good," Kono declared. "Now, I don't want you to have to make a bunch of decisions, but I did want your input on the cake, and the colors."
"I like those colors," Jax said, her fingers tracing over the bits of paper. "It does remind me of the resort. We should have another team building retreat there."
"Maybe someone could convince the boss," Kono teased. "Okay. Most important question - chocolate or vanilla cake?"
"Vanilla," Jax said decisively. "Chocolate can do weird things to your teeth. Very unattractive."
"Ohhh, so true," Kono said, nodding. "You'll love my auntie's cakes. She's an artist with icing."
"Kono, I looked it up," Jax said. "It's traditionally the bride's parents who pay for the wedding and the reception. So I hope you're planning to give me the bills and receipts for this. I don't have a lot of expenses here, so really and truly, it's fine."
"No worries," Kono said, shaking her head. "It's very simple, Jax, because that's what you and Steve wanted, so there's not a lot of expense. All of the aunties want to give food as a gift, it's what they do. And when I asked the governor for permission to have the reception here, she said to just submit any receipts to her personal secretary, and it's her gift to you and Steve. She said she didn't know what to get you, aside from a bigger ammo budget for Five-O."
"Well, that would be nice, too," Jax said.
"I dropped a hint for an armored truck, like SWAT has," Kono admitted.
#*#*#*#*#
Chin smiled fondly as soft chatter and laughter came out of the break room. He headed into Steve's office.
"Hey, Chin," Steve said, "something new?"
"Not on the case," Chin said, sitting down in the chair across from Steve's desk.
"Kono and Jax are in the breakroom laughing," Steve said, sending worried glances in that direction. "Should I be worried?"
"Probably, brah," Chin said, nodding. "Started out talking about colors for the reception, but last I heard they were discussing ammo budget and an armored truck."
"We could actually use one of those," Steve said.
"I have no doubt. But before you get out the Army surplus catalog, there's something I wanted to run by you. This wedding reception of yours is coming up soon, and the team and our families have a gift in mind. Have you planned anything for a honeymoon?" Chin asked.
"I - oh, shit, not really," Steve said. "We've actually been married for a couple of months, and I keep meaning to, but cases keep pouring in . . ."
"That's actually perfect," Chin said, "because we happen to think that we've come up with a fantastic gift that will make the honeymoon planning unnecessary."
"Okay," Steve said, a little hesitantly.
Chin read his reluctance. "Steve. We've taken all kinds of things into consideration, primarily your strong preference for privacy, the obvious avoidance of high rise buildings, your penchant for salt water, and reluctance to wear - as Danny would call it - 'grown up clothes'. All you need to do is take yourself and Jax off duty for about . . . hmm, four days. Trust us?"
"Implicitly," Steve said, grinning.
#*#*#*#*#
An hour later, everyone was back to complete focus on the case. Jax stared at her screen, sure that she had completely lost her mind.
Flashback? She wondered. No, she was fully aware of being in Danny's office - the faint smell of recently new furniture, the rich brew of the coffee, the hint of Danny's aftershave.
She stared at the screen again. No, it wasn't a flashback and it wasn't her imagination.
"Danny?" she said quietly. "Danny, get Steve."
"Babe? You okay?" Danny asked, standing up, awkwardly. His ACL had been pronounced sound, but he still had a badly sprained knee and it was heavily braced. "What did you see?"
She glanced at Danny, remembered his knee, and gestured for him to sit back down. He watched her walk silently to the smart table and put a hand on Steve's shoulder.
"What the . . ." Danny muttered, stretching, reaching across his desk to Jax's monitor and turning it around. He studied the image on the screen, the surveillance tape frozen in place on the image of an Asian man who looked familiar.
Steve was coming toward the office, his face lined with concern, his long, determined stride eating up the distance easily. Jax followed him more slowly.
"Danny, is it him?" Steve demanded.
"It who, who him?" Danny asked.
"WoFat, Danny, is it WoFat?" Steve asked, reaching for the monitor.
"Shit," Danny said, leaning forward and looking closely at the monitor, tugging it back toward him even as Steve was trying to turn it. "Shit, I think it is."
Steve wrangled the monitor from Danny's grip and leaned over the desk, looking intently at the screen.
"Is it him?" Jax asked quietly, behind Steve.
"It's WoFat," Steve said. "We'll have Chin run it through facial recognition, to be sure, but it's him."
"Well that can't be a coincidence," Danny declared.
"No," Steve agreed grimly, "no it is not."
#*#*#*#*#
They all stood clustered around the smart table.
"Holy shit," Kono announced. "That's the guy, the one behind Jax being kidnapped. The one the Navy is looking for."
"The guy that the Navy has been using Steve as bait to find," Danny said bitterly.
"It's like he's not even trying to avoid the surveillance cameras," Jax said.
"He isn't," Steve said, his voice calm and emotionless. "He's playing with me. He wanted us to know it was him."
"Acting alone?" Grover asked. "The security guard said he only saw one person."
"It's entirely possible," Steve said. "You don't last long in his line of work if you trust associates. Look at Hesse and Novak - they got caught in their own double crossing. WoFat was using them, pulling their strings. He has people work for him - not with him."
"So what do we do?" Danny demanded. "Lock down the island until we find him?"
"He's long gone," Steve sighed. "Whatever it was he was trying to do, it was either accomplished or not the minute those explosives went off. He didn't stick around."
"So, we find out what it was that he was trying to do?" Jax asked.
"Besides trying to kill all of us," Chin said wryly.
"That may or may not have been his objective," Steve said. "Anyone would guess that our team would have been called in. We may have been the target. Or . . . "
"What are you thinking?" Danny asked.
"With Five-O, HPD, SWAT, everyone at the Bank of Hawaii," Steve said slowly, "who knows what was happening anywhere else? The whole thing could have been a diversion. WoFat was probably out of the building long before we reached the seventh floor."
"But how?" Kono asked. "SWAT had the staircases covered, and the elevators were locked down."
"Staircases up to the seventh floor," Steve reminded her. "Not above it. Our first priority was securing the servers. We didn't have time or manpower to cover the floors above. I can think of a dozen ways out of that building undetected without even looking at the blueprints. If I had time to study it out - which he did, clearly, this was meticulously planned - probably three times that."
"Wait, so when we hit the seventh floor and found the two guards incapacitated," Danny said, snapping his fingers, "you said that it took training to take someone out without a weapon. You think this guy is some kind of special forces?"
"Not our special forces," Steve said, indignant.
"Of course not, babe, but . . . someone else's?" Danny asked. "I mean, you're saying that you can imagine how he's pulling this stuff off, so he's had some sort of training similar to yours - not like the rest of us mere mortals. Who has access to that kind of training?"
Steve nodded, following Danny's line of thinking. "In the US? Teams, special forces, CIA . . ."
"Whoa," Danny said.
"There's been an overlap between the CIA and Naval Intelligence since Vietnam," Steve reminded them. "Special Activities Division. Other countries, it would be the same. The people who have access to this training would be military, or intelligence. Generally speaking, you're trained by one of those organizations, or a member of one of those organizations."
"In other words, even though we're civilians, you could teach us what you know," Kono said.
Steve smiled at her gently. "I've passed on a few tips," he said. "But I wouldn't wish the burden of what I know on the people I love. That's why for the most part, that level of training and ability stays . . . contained."
"But someone without your moral compass might not mind passing along the knowledge," Chin pointed out. "So, WoFat could be military or intelligence, or maybe he just knew someone who was. Which, unfortunately, doesn't help us much."
"Not much," Steve admitted, "but it indicates that he's been in contact with military, para-military, or intelligence communities most of his adult life."
"Like you," Danny said quietly. "And he's after you, specifically. We established that in the 'briefing' with your Navy Intel people after Jax almost died. So, what was he up to, in the Bank of Hawaii?"
"It had to be important, to risk being that close," Grover mused.
"I don't think the hardware was meant to survive," Steve said. "It has to be the key. Whatever he was trying to do, that hardware is our best evidence. Chin, I want you to personally oversee the work."
"I'm good, but not as good as the forensic tech guys," Chin said.
"Yeah, but it's your instincts I need, not your technical expertise," Steve said. "I want to know if any of the people who are working on that hardware seem . . . off. We know he had someone on the inside at HPD dispatch when his guys grabbed Jax. We can't assume anything at this point."
#*#*#*#*#
The evening sun painted the beach behind Steve's house in glorious color, as Jax sat, waiting for him to come out of the water. She'd long since tired and returned to the chairs, wrapped in a generous towel, watching him continue to cut through the water in smooth, even strokes. He had radiated tension on the quiet drive home, and she hadn't been at all surprised when he headed inside and changed into swim trunks immediately. She hadn't expected his invitation for her to join him, but she'd gladly agreed and they'd walked to the water, hand in hand.
"We have to figure this out," Steve had said, with quiet intensity, as they'd reached the water's edge. "We have to stop him."
"I know," Jax had agreed. "We will."
She wondered how long Steve would swim, wondered if he was trying to clear his mind or solve the case, or both. She wondered if he would be so distracted that he wouldn't notice the warning signs of an impending cramp, and she wondered if he got into trouble if she would be able to get to him and bring him in safely. Finally, in the fading light, she could make out that he was angling back toward shore.
"Were you on lifeguard duty?" he teased lightly, emerging from the water. He shook his head in her direction, spraying her. "You know, I am a Navy SEAL."
"Hmm," she said, "a distracted Navy SEAL. So maybe I was keeping an eye. Or maybe I just really, really like the part where you come out of the water, dripping . . . " she let a finger follow a droplet of water over his chest.
He chuckled and wrapped her in a soaking wet hug.
"You have to be starving," she said. "Come on, I'll cook."
"Stir fry?" he said hopefully. "And those potatoes with the green things?"
"You know those two dishes don't even remotely go together, right?" she asked, laughing, as he tugged her rapidly toward the house.
"But they're both my favorites," he said.
She shrugged. "I can't argue with that logic. Fine. Stir-fry and potatoes. And they're chives, Steven, chives."
#*#*#*#*#
Gracie bounced on her toes, beaming at Danny.
"I get to help with the surprise?" she asked, looking between Danny and Rachel for confirmation.
"Yes, love, but remember - not a word to Auntie Jax or Uncle Steve," Rachel reminded her. "We want it to be a surprise after the party."
Gracie nodded emphatically. "I can keep a secret, I promise," she said solemnly.
"You're sure you feel up to it?" Danny asked, rubbing a hand over Rachel's belly. "I mean, you're eight months now . . . "
"Positive," she said. "Don't be ridiculous. Besides, mostly I've been tasked with sewing cushions and curtains, which I'll do right here, in the comfort of home. It's a perfect gift for them, Danny."
#*#*#*#*#
Steve walked into Five-O the next morning feeling as if the weight of the world - or at least the island of Oahu and the safety of his team - was weighing on his shoulders. He stood, staring at the plasma screen, uncertain of which thread to start pulling. Jax had slipped back into her shared office with Grover, and they were pouring over witness statements, to see if something, anything, had been said about seeing an Asian man leaving the scene. Kono and Chin were working with the computer forensic specialists.
"You're not going to figure this out today," Danny said quietly.
Steve looked at him in mild surprise; he hadn't even heard him walk up. "I should share this information with Naval Intel," he said. "WoFat is near the top of their target list."
"Funny, then, how they were either completely unaware of his presence on the island, or neglected to give you the heads up," Danny said. "Neither scenario inspires confidence, babe."
"I know," Steve said quietly. "Well. There's no avoiding it. I need to head over to Pearl."
"I'm coming with you," Danny said stubbornly.
"How's the knee?" Steve asked. He knew Danny was coming, regardless, but it was just so fun to push his buttons. "Maybe I'm not clearing you for field duty."
"I should be safer at Pearl, then, surrounded by people who are busy being all that they can be," Danny said.
"That's the Army, Danny, not the Navy," Steve protested, smiling.
"Whatever. Anchors aweigh. Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum," Danny said, waving his hand. "Let's go get this over with."
#*#*#*#*#
It was dark by the time Danny and Steve left Pearl Hickam.
"Well that was spectacularly useless," Danny groused, fastening his seatbelt.
"Not entirely, Danny," Steve sighed. "They didn't have any intel, but they are going to be on high alert knowing that WoFat is making his way on and off the island. It means our families are more secure. Damn it, I'm going to try to convince Mary to come home for the reception and stay here."
"They didn't have any intel that they would share," Danny said. "I, for one, am not convinced that they've been completely forthcoming. And if they didn't know he was here in the first place, how does that make us safer?"
"I was Naval Intel for years, Danny," Steve said. "I can tell when they're withholding information. They aren't. And they're mortified that he made it on the island under their radar. There's a lot of pride involved."
"In the Navy? No," Danny scoffed, rolling his eyes. "At least Catherine was conspicuously absent. I don't think I could have dealt with her on top of everything else. I know, she probably means well, and she's been caught in the middle of this, too, but still . . . call me old fashioned, but you don't try to break up a relationship. You just don't."
"I know, Danny," Steve said. He glanced down at his phone, buzzing at him. "Jax went ahead and drove the Silverado home. Can you drop me off, Danny?" Steve asked.
"Seeing as how you're driving, as per usual, I suppose I could manage driving home from your house, babe," Danny said, looking at Steve pointedly.
"Yeah," Steve said, grinning. "Thanks, Danny. Rachel doing okay?"
"She is," Danny said, nodding and smiling. "We are working on the nursery. It's kinda fun, all the blue, you know? I think Gracie is gonna be okay with it, she seems excited. She's going to take a Red Cross babysitting class as soon as school is out. I mean, we won't leave her alone with the baby, not until he's a toddler, but still, she'll learn CPR and some other skills."
"Good, that's good, Danny," Steve said. "Listen, with your knee, and stuff - I'm sure Rachel has a lot of appointments and things going on - you need time, you tell me, okay? I mean it, Danny. I know how much this second chance means to you, and I know the job was a big part of the problem the first time."
Steve pulled into the driveway of his house and looked at Danny earnestly.
"Babe, I will absolutely take some time when the baby comes," Danny said. "But right now, we need to get this WoFat situation under control, and you and Jax are going to be taking a few days - right? A proper honeymoon, Steven, you have already skipped a proposal and a wedding - and then the decision about the San Diego team. So, right now, unless there's an emergency, you need me on duty. But as soon as you get back from San Diego, I'm telling you, I'll drop everything when the baby comes."
"Okay, Danny," Steve said. His face softened as he looked toward the garage, where light was filtering out from the door. "Oh, good, she's working on the Supra. That's great."
"Yeah? It's coming along?" Danny asked, starting to get out of the car.
"I guess," Steve shrugged. "She enjoys it; that's what matters. See you tomorrow, Danny. Thanks for the ride."
Danny made his way slowly to the driver's side of the car, his knee protesting hours sitting in a conference room and then the drive home. "Goodnight, Steve - give Jax my love, yeah? I'm gonna head on home."
"You bet, Danno," Steve said, his long stride carrying him to the garage.
Danny smiled as he pulled away. Steve had opened the garage door, and he and Jax made another postcard worthy picture, framed in Danny's rearview mirror; Jax, boosted now to sit on the hood of the Supra, her arms wrapped around Steve's neck, her ankles crossed behind his knees.
"Newlyweds," Danny mumbled to himself, grinning.
"Hey," Jax said, as Steve nuzzled his face into her neck. "How'd things go with the Navy briefing?"
"Well, there's a fair bit of humiliation involved," Steve said. "They pulled us off tracking him, and he shows up right here on the island, under their noses, under their radar."
"Or so they say," Jax said.
"Is suspicion a Jersey thing?" Steve teased.
"Tell me I'm not justified," Jax protested. "Hell yeah, I'm suspicious."
Steve carefully took the wrench out of her hand, just to be safe. "I think they were being upfront with us today. Anyway, they've agreed that we can pursue any and all leads regarding WoFat now, so that's progress, anyway. Speaking of progress, how's the car coming?"
"Fantastic. Barring any more crazy cases, I should have her up and running before Charles Nolan is born," she said, slipping off the hood of the car and tidying up the tools. "Not that one thing has anything to do with another, really - Danny would never let me drive the baby around in this car - it was just sort of a goal that I had set for myself. I'd actually like to have it street ready before you go to San Diego with Chin and Kono."
"You're not going to indulge in some racing while I'm not looking, are you?" Steve teased.
Jax pretended to think about the idea, and Steve grabbed her around the waist and swung her off her feet.
"Then, I would be obligated to take you into custody," he said.
"Custody?" she gasped, laughing, as he tickled her gently. "Why, Commander McGarrett, whatever would you do with me in custody?"
"I have several ideas," Steve murmured, holding her with one hand, and reaching a long arm up to snag and easily close the garage door behind them.
#*#*#*#*#
They continued to work every possible angle and lead on what they now knew was WoFat's sabotage of the Bank of Hawaii servers.
"What does it matter if we know what kind of explosive it was, or how he set it," Steve said, throwing a file down on the smart table in frustration, "if we don't know what he was doing, what he was after."
"I know, Steve," Chin said sympathetically. "Has the Navy been able to do anything with the hardware?"
Steve shook his head. "If they have, they aren't sharing."
"I thought -" Kono started, putting her hands on her hips.
"They agreed to share," Steve said. "They did. But . . . I'll believe them more when I see proof. What about the bank records?"
"Painstaking," Chin said, grimacing. "Except for the fact that we've been able to leave at 5 pm everyday, I'm almost bored enough to wish for a nice arson spree or something to break up the monotony."
Steve grinned, and Chin had a flash of the sixteen year old boy on the football field, before his mother's death and what Chin now realized must have felt like a brutal exile.
#*#*#*#*#
Finally, it was Friday, and Kono was shoving Steve and Jax out the door.
"Go, go, go," she said, laughing. "Go home and put on party clothes, and don't you dare set foot back in this building until seven."
"Kono, it's two in the afternoon," Steve protested.
"I know, and I'm going to be busting my butt to get everything ready as it is," Kono said, with a flash of dimples. "Now go, before I ask Brian to throw you out."
"Hey," Caviness protested, coming out of Kono's office. "Don't start anything, Kalakaua. You're depending on me to help move the smart table, remember?"
"Oh, yeah, so you can't bust your knuckles on Steve's face," Kono said. "Besides, we need him pretty for the pictures."
"Pictures? No one said anything about pictures," Jax protested, as Danny helped shoo them into the elevator.
#*#*#*#*#
"Wow, you clean up nice, Officer Jacqueline Nolan McGarrett," Steve murmured, offering a hand to Jax as she balanced on one foot, slipping a low-heeled sling back on the other.
"You like it?" she asked, twirling, her aqua halter dress flaring out.
"I do," Steve said. His finger traced over the scar on her shoulder, visible next to the strap of the dress.
"Should I have looked for -"
"No," Steve said immediately. "No, it's perfect."
Jax smiled up at him. "And you, Commander McGarrett . . . you look very handsome. Very Commandery, in your dress blues."
"Kono said it was what people would expect," Steve said, shrugging.
"It is, and there's nothing wrong with that," Jax said. "You love the Navy. It's part of who you are, Steve. Don't let . . . okay, so maybe they haven't handled the thing with WoFat as -"
Steve snorted incredulously.
"Okay, so they've totally screwed you over, screwed us over on the WoFat thing," Jax admitted. "But that's going to work out. Don't let that . . . don't let it take away everything the Navy has meant to you. Okay?" She reached up and smoothed a hand over the impressive array of ribbons on his chest.
He wrapped his hand around hers. "Yeah. Yeah, I get it. How'd you know, Jax? How'd you know what I was thinking, how I felt?"
"Well, we're married," Jax said, looking away quickly, keeping her tone light.
Steve cupped his hand around her face, caught her eyes with his. He raised his eyebrows in an unspoken question.
"SWAT," she said. "After . . . it destroyed NYPD SWAT for me. I knew, I could never go back. So I ran away, I came here. It worked out nicely, obviously." She stopped, smiling brilliantly at him. "But I . . . I let the incident take away something that I'd worked hard for, that I'd given a decade of my life to build . . . it's not a good feeling. And I don't want that for you."
"You . . . are right," Steve said, bringing his other hand up to frame the other side of her face. He kissed her gently. "And you're amazing, but that part I already knew."
"Damn straight," Jax said, grinning. "Now, are you absolutely sure we don't need to pack anything for this mystery honeymoon gift?"
"Chin said, not even so much as a toothbrush," Steve said, shrugging.
"And you seriously have no idea?" Jax prodded, slipping her wedding ring onto her finger.
"Absolutely none," Steve said.
"Well, I'm curious," Jax said. "And slightly terrified."
"Likewise."
#*#*#*#*#
Danny slipped an arm around Kono's shoulders and kissed her cheek.
"You outdid yourself, kid," he said, looking around. The open center room had been transformed with a few tables, simply but stunningly dressed with floral arrangements in vibrant aquas and stunning sunset orange. Trays of food were piled on every table, with a three-tiered cake taking center stage.
"They deserve it, Danny," Kono said. "After what they've been through . . ."
"They do," Danny agreed. "And you do, too, but when it's your turn, I expect the opportunity to see the wedding that Steve and Jax cheated us out of, missy."
"No promises, Danny," Kono said, laughing. "Oh, some guests are arriving, will you help me?"
"At your service, Kalakaua," Danny said. "I didn't put on this suit just to stand in the corner and look pretty."
#*#*#*#*#
Kono had arranged for Jax and Steve to arrive after the guests, allowing them to make the usually anticipated entrance into a typical wedding reception. They stepped off the elevator to a hearty round of applause, from a room full of happy friends.
Jax froze, and for a moment, Danny thought that she might panic and bolt. But Steve wrapped a huge hand around hers, and bent and murmured something in her ear. She smiled up at him, and Danny felt a collective sigh of relief as they stepped off the elevator together.
The rest of the evening was spent in a blur of well-wishing and back slapping. The governor made an elegant and lovely toast just after the cake was cut. Steve and Jax mingled with the guests, with Steve introducing Jax to a dizzying array of Navy personnel and local government agents.
"I'll never remember their names," Jax whispered to Steve.
"Don't worry; the Navy guys will always be wearing name tapes, and if we're careful and don't blow up Honolulu too much, we don't really see the city council that often," he whispered back, winking.
Jax felt a warm hand on her shoulder, and turned.
"Mrs. Hart," she said, as she was wrapped in a gentle hug. "And Colonel Hart, so good to see you, sir."
"Nonsense, child," Fred Sr. said, enveloping her in a hug that lifted her off her feet. "Look at you. Commander, you clearly married up, son."
"I agree, sir," Steve said, laughing.
"Jax, honey, you're absolutely glowing," Mrs. Hart said. "Married life agrees with you, obviously."
"Yes, ma'am," Jax said, blushing prettily.
"Stevie!" Mary yelled, as she launched herself at Steve. He caught her easily, laughing, and swung her around. "Sorry, my plane was delayed," she said, as he put her down. "I made the Harts late, too."
"It was no problem," Mrs. Hart assured her. "We simply weren't going to show up here without you, Steve would have been worried sick."
"Yes, I would have," Steve said. "I, ah, actually need to speak with you all in my office, just a moment, please?"
"Steve, is something wrong?" Mary whispered, following him, along with Colonel and Mrs. Hart. Jax spotted Patrick across the room, and Steve smiled and nudged her in his direction.
"I really, really appreciate you all staying with Mary at the house," Steve said. "It's gotten a bit more complicated than cat-sitting, I'm afraid. The person who attempted to kidnap Mary, and took Jax instead, was just on the island. He was behind the explosion at the Bank of Hawaii."
"Is he still on the island?" Colonel Hart asked.
"It is extremely unlikely," Steve said, shaking his head. "But, still, I appreciate you staying on for a few days, especially on such short notice."
"It's the beauty of retirement, Steve," Mrs. Hart said, smiling. "I'm sure that we will be quite fine, and we'll enjoy time with Mary."
"There's additional security assigned," Steve said. "To the whole team, all of the families. If they're doing their job well, you won't notice them."
Colonel Hart raised an eyebrow.
"Well, you might, sir," Steve said, grinning. "Instructions for the alarm system, and anything else you all might need to know, are in this folder." He handed them a neatly labeled folder from his desk.
"And where will you be, Steven?" Mrs. Hart teased.
"The team has planned some sort of surprise, so even I don't know the answer to that question," Steve said, smiling.
#*#*#*#*#
"Everything okay? That looks kinda serious," Patrick said, kissing Jax on the cheek and nodding in the direction of Steve's office.
"Hmm, that's Steve's sister, and the parents of a really close friend of his, one that he lost," Jax explained. "They're staying at our house while we're gone. It was going to be just Mary, but there's . . . a situation. Colonel Hart and his wife are going to stay, too, so Mary won't be there by herself."
Patrick touched the scar on Jax's shoulder. "Situation related to this?"
"Yeah," Jax said briefly.
"Well," Patrick said, smiling down at Jax, "you look positively amazing, sexy new scars and all. I'm happy for you, Jax."
"Thank you," she said. "I can't believe you came all this way for tonight."
"Well, I have a few days of vacation," Patrick said. "I figured I would get a feel for the climate, get the lay of the land before I come back out for task force training."
"The heat takes some getting used to," Jax admitted. "And the humidity," she added, laughing, pointing to her hair. She'd pinned it up loosely, but curls were escaping.
"Whatever it is, it suits you," Patrick said. "I was skeptical, when you left NYPD. But you made a good call, coming here."
"I ran away," Jax said. "Plain and simple, Patrick, I tucked tail and ran. Somehow it turned out okay."
"I get it," he said. "Danny, of course, I already knew but . . . McGarrett . . . he's a good man, Jax."
Jax smiled at Steve, who was coming out of his office. His face lit up.
"Yeah. I did good, yeah?" Jax asked.
"So, so, very good," Patrick said, appraising Steve. "Ooof," he said, as Jax elbowed him sharply in the ribs. "Sorry, I'm in a committed relationship, but I'm not blind."
#*#*#*#*#
Rachel said her goodbyes early in the evening, as Gracie was starting to yawn and list to the side.
"Congratulations," she said, hugging and kissing Steve and Jax in turn. "I need to get Gracie to bed, and little Charles Nolan here is protesting my heels by turning somersaults."
"Literally?" Jax asked, curious.
"Indeed," Rachel said. She grabbed Jax's hand and pressed it against her stomach. "Feel?"
"Oh," Jax breathed. "He is. He's . . . holy shit, I think that was a foot."
"It was," Rachel said, wincing. "The other one is firmly wedged against my bladder. So, goodnight, and you know we adore you both and wish you every happiness. Enjoy your honeymoon," she added, winking.
#*#*#*#*#
"So, babe, was it a good evening?" Danny asked Jax, as the last of the guests got on the elevator to leave.
"It was, Danny," Jax said. She blinked and shook her head.
"Billy and Grace would have been so happy for you," Danny murmured. "It's okay."
"And Jake?" she whispered, brushing impatiently at her eyes.
Danny looked thoughtfully at Steve, who was laughing at something Chin was saying.
"Steve, infuriating though he may be, is the kind of man I hope my Gracie grows up to marry someday. And, if something were to happen to me - which, may I say, since becoming Steve's partner, is something I worry about on a regular basis, thank you - he's the kind of man I would want Rachel to be with. I could rest in peace, if Rachel was with someone as devoted to her as Steve is to you. So yeah, babe, I think Jake somehow is at peace, just like I would be."
"I'm not sure I believe in any of that, you know," Jax reminded him.
"I know," Danny said, "but I do. Now. I want you to enjoy a few days off, do up the honeymoon right. God knows you didn't do anything else in any semblance of order."
"Okay, Danny," Jax said, wrapping her arms around him.
#*#*#*#*#
Steve and Jax had changed into the casual clothes which had been mysteriously packed and placed in the locker room for them, and now they stood on the sidewalk in front of the building, listening for sound of the Silverado. Chin, Grover, Danny, and Kono had disappeared with promises that all would be explained. Within moments, the familiar headlights rounded the corner of the building.
"You're kidding," Steve said, smiling, as the truck pulled around into the parking lot, pulling a vintage Airstream camper behind. "No way . . ."
"It's amazing," Jax said.
Grover and Chin were in the cab of the pickup, and when Grover put the truck in park, Danny and Kono emerged from the camper, grinning.
"This is unbelievable," Steve said, taking Jax by the hand and stepping up to the camper.
"Now, you're going to have to watch your head a bit, inside here," Danny said, gesturing to the camper. "But stand mostly in the center and you should be fine."
"It's their honeymoon," Kono said. "I'll be terribly disappointed if they spend much time standing up."
"So, everything you need is packed," Chin said, "I promise, because Malia made detailed packing lists, and sent me and Kono to break into your house and stock the camper."
"That explains why I couldn't find my running shoes," Steve said, laughing.
Grover presented them with a packet including a map and a permit. "And this is a private campsite reserved for four nights," he said. "It's oceanfront, with beach access."
"I can't believe you all pulled this off," Steve said. "Thanks, guys, seriously. I don't know what to say."
"Say you won't call and check on us and that you'll have a wonderful time," Danny said.
"I think we can manage that," Steve agreed.
"Then get out of here already," Kono said. "Thank you for humoring us and doing the reception; now go. Go be happy."
#*#*#*#*#
"Do you know where we're going?" Jax asked, as Steve glanced at the map and smiled.
"Affirmative," he said. "You're gonna love it. I hope. I assume you must feel okay about camping, or Danny would've spoken up. Loudly."
"I love camping," Jax said.
"When did you camp?" Steve asked. "I didn't think that was popular in Jersey."
"I grew up near the shore, remember? When I was racing, we camped out on the beach all summer. Tent camping, not -" she gestured behind her. "Was I imagining things, or was there an actual bathroom in there? And a stove? And a little fridge?"
"Not your imagination," Steve assured her. "The campsite they reserved has full electric and water hookup. I'm familiar with it."
"Did you camp . . . with your family?" Jax asked carefully. They'd turned off the main road and Steve was following a carefully maintained single lane, angling toward the shore line.
"Yeah, we did," he said, smiling at her. "We had a little pop-up camper . . . I guess Dad got rid of it after Mary and I left. We didn't come here, but there were some nice family campgrounds, you know, where you walk with a flashlight to the bathhouses."
"We had to sneak onto the pier. Or, if we were desperate, under it," Jax said, wrinkling her nose in disgust.
Steve laughed as he expertly backed the trailer into place. Jax raised her eyebrows, impressed.
"It's easier to maneuver than an armored personnel vehicle, even in the dark," he said. He cut the ignition and pulled a massive flashlight from under the seat. "I will need you to give me some light for the hook-up, though."
Within a few moments, a soft glow was filtering through the windows of the Airstream.
"All set," Steve said, replacing the flashlight. He swept Jax up easily into his arms.
"Haven't we already observed this tradition?" Jax said, putting her arms around his neck and kissing the soft patch of skin behind his ear.
"Can't hurt to observe it again," Steve said. He ducked through the door of the trailer with Jax in his arms, and kissed her tenderly before depositing her on her feet. "Welcome to our honeymoon suite, Mrs. McGarrett," he murmured.
She poked around the trailer, enchanted with the tiny compartments. The interior was dimly lit with strands of lights, similar to those they'd hung for Danny and Rachel's wedding. Steve opened the small refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water, offering a second one to Jax.
"Unless you'd like something stronger?" he said. "There's a nice variety."
"This is perfect," Jax said. "There's my good pan," she laughed, opening the tiny cupboard under the cooktop. She ventured further into the trailer, and Steve was content to watch her explore, the lights glinting off her copper hair and golden skin, making her look radiant.
"There is seriously a shower in here," she said excitedly, pulling her head back out of the small bathroom. "I can't believe it. Only room for one, though, pity."
Steve smothered a smile. He would wait until the light of day to introduce her to the secluded waterfall he knew was tucked between the campsite and the beach.
"Oh . . . " Steve heard Jax's soft exclamation as she pulled back a curtain to reveal a surprisingly large bed tucked at the very end of the trailer. It was made up in butter soft linens in the palest shades of sand and turquoise, turned down invitingly, and piled with an assortment of pillows.
"Wow," Steve said. He was perfectly fine sleeping anywhere, as long as Jax was there, but he appreciated the obvious effort that had gone into the preparations. Tucked into the corner, an empty laundry basket was labeled "dirty linens", with the cabinet above it declaring "clean linens, three sets". He recognized the labels from Kono's office label maker, and snorted with laughter.
Jax laughed, too, and Steve caught his breath, waiting patiently to see if the joy of it would hold. He was ready and willing to face whatever demons of guilt and sorrow might raise their ugly heads, but he hoped fervently that it wouldn't be necessary.
"Hey," Jax said, reading his mind. "You can relax, babe. I'm not gonna freak out on you. Not tonight, anyway."
"You get to feel how you feel, Jax," he said quietly. "I'm in, no matter what."
"I know," she said, hooking her fingers in his belt loops and pulling him close. "I know, and I love that about you."
"Yeah?" he murmured, smiling down at her.
"Hmm, that, among other things," she said. Her fingers caught in the hem of his tshirt, and she pushed it up - as far as she could.
He laughed and shrugged out of it helpfully when she couldn't reach any higher, toeing off his boots at the same time. Her hands were busy with the buttons on his cargo pants.
"Buttons, seriously," she muttered.
"Safer," Steve observed, grinning.
"Oh. True," she agreed, smirking. His pants dipped low on his hips and she took a shaky breath. "You . . . geez." Her fingers traced over the ink on his biceps and smoothed over his shoulders and then threaded through his hair, pulling him down into a heated kiss.
He groaned into her, one hand releasing the clip holding up her hair, and the other attacking the button and zipper on her cut-off shorts. He pushed them down easily over her hips and they pooled around her ankles. She stepped out of them, kicking them out of the way, along with her shoes. His hands wrapped around her hips possessively, his thumb tracing over the scar on her hip while he deepened the kiss. She made a sound that was half sigh, half whimper, and that nearly demolished his self-control, as she shoved impatiently at his cargo pants. He stumbled a bit, bumping his head on the cabinet.
"Ow," he protested, laughing, kicking his pants out of the way - finally - and toppling Jax onto the soft bed. She stretched, revelling in the feel of the soft linens against her bare legs, and he stretched out beside her, propped on one elbow.
"Cute shirt, by the way," he said, toying with the hem of her t-shirt. This one, unlike the ones of his or Billy's that she tended to wear, was actually her size, in soft gray heather cotton, and proudly proclaimed that she was a fan of the US Naval Academy football program.
"I like it," she said, grinning, "almost as much as the Annapolis one."
"Never," Steve murmured, in exaggerated disappointment, as he eased it carefully off her body and tossed it vaguely in the direction of the other discarded clothing. "Holy shit," he whispered, trailing his fingers down her side, making her shiver. He tilted his head appreciatively at the simple halter style bra and matching bikinis she was wearing; chosen to fit properly under the dress, and in a similar aqua shade that set off the glow of her sun-kissed fair skin.
"Um, yeah," she said, ducking her head. "I had to have something that fit under the dress, with the . . . " she gestured to the halter strap. "You like it? It's not what I usually -"
His fingers tucked under her chin and tilted her face up to his. "I love what you usually wear, but I'm gonna admit, I'm really glad I didn't know this was going on under that dress tonight. It would have made for a long, slightly uncomfortable evening."
She smiled, brilliant and relieved.
"Jax," he said earnestly, propping himself up a little further and leaning over her, tucking her hair away from her face, "do you seriously still not get - everything about you is beautiful, ku'uipo. From this amazing chaos that is your hair, down to your ridiculously little feet - everything. Jax, when you walk in the room, my heart literally skips a beat. Yeah, you're smart, and funny, and so damn talented, for sure, but you're also . . . okay, to put it in Jersey terms that you'll understand - you're totally hot."
She rolled her eyes and looked away, but his hand was there, again, cupping her face and turning it back to him. He kissed across her cheeks, light, teasing, quick kisses, making her laugh.
"I love it when you forget sunscreen and you get these little freckles across your nose," he said. "Just makes your eyes look that much greener. And when you're working on the computer, and concentrating really hard, you stick just the tip of your tongue out and I swear, I've had to hang up the phone with the governor and remember the day that Grover walked into the palace in his underwear just to get control of myself."
"Grover walked -" Jax started to ask, raising her eyebrows.
"Another time," Steve said quickly. Now was not the time, really, to picture Grover in his underwear. "My point, Jax, is that I love everything about you, and that definitely - definitely - includes everything about the way you look, the way you dress, whether it's my t-shirts at home or a dress like tonight . . . and yes, absolutely, I like this." He traced calloused fingers over the edge of the bikinis, until he reached the ink on her hip. She shivered again, and he snagged a sheet and pulled it over her as he shifted down, pressing his lips against the tattoo. "And this," he murmured, his lips brushing over the ink, "I absolutely, positively, love this . . ."
#*#*#*#*#