In the early afternoon of January 2, Sara entered the Five-O headquarters. Flexible working hours were both a blessing and a curse on the work on the task force, Steve had received a call hours earlier and had left in a hurry. She hadn't wanted to disturb him at work, but now she was forced to do it. Lou Grover came out of a door on her right. "Hey Sara."
"Hello Lou. Sorry for bothering you. I wanted to see Steve."
"You are not bothering. Steve is out with Danny. Come on in."
"Thank you." Fast running noises came from the direction of Steve's office, and then the dog rushed towards them. "Eddie! Stop! "Sara called sharply. At the last moment, the retriever seemed to remember something, tried to brake and came to a halt on his back right in front of her. His tail hit the floor like a metronome.
"Great feat," Lou grinned as she praised the dog.
"It's actually not. Eddie in his exuberance ran me over at the weekend. As soon as you take off the collars, he feels out of service and becomes a cocky madman. That might become a problem, so we want to get him out of it."
"Oh hello," they heard from the direction Eddie had come from and a young black man came grinning at her. "What a shine in this humble house."
"Speaking of cocky madmen ..." Grover murmured, at the same time a door clapped behind her and she turned her head to the side.
"There you are. Detective Williams ... "
"Hey." Steve came to her, put her hand on her back and kissed her. "I saw your car downstairs. What are you doing here?"
She sighed. "Ask you for phone time. I could have gone to the base, but there is only a skeleton staff, I didn't want to make a wave before I've even started."
"Don't you have your own phone?" Danny teased.
"I had one I could have used. Until yesterday when a certain four-legged roommate confused it with a treat and drowned it out with drool. We are just draining it, but I have received an email and I have to make a phone call as soon as possible. "
"They don't have holidays either, do they?" Steve grumbled. "I hope you don't have to fly earlier."
"You know the way it's working. But I assume that nothing will change in our planning. Is this your new colleague who couldn't be there at Christmas?" She nodded in the direction of the young man who was still staring openly at her.
Steve cleared his throat. "Special Operator Second Class Junior Reigns, out of service. Currently a student at the Honolulu Police Academy. Junior, may I introduce Lieutenant Commander Sara Anderson, US Navy." He suppressed a smile as Junior lost the grin from his face and turned into a fiery red despite the dark skin tone.
The young man saluted, though everyone was civil, and looked frightened between the two of them. "Sorry, ma'am. I ... didn't know ... I ... Uh ... ", he stammered.
Sara smiled. "Relax, junior. How were you supposed to know, as I'm walking around here like this." She pointed to the top and the beige trousers she was wearing that day. "I'm on vacation, at least something like that. Nice to meet you. Steve, don't scare the poor boy like that."
"Then the poor boy shouldn't look at my fiancee like that," he growled.
"I take it as a compliment. Can I use your office to call Norfolk? "
"Yes, of course. You know how everything works. "
"Thanks."
He followed Sara with a look as she went to his office. Eddie quickly followed her.
"Fiancee?" came his colleagues in a chorus.
"Well, yes," he replied thoughtfully, grinning at the men and just leaving them there.
When they were sitting on the terrace with a glass of wine in the evening, Sara asked: "Tell me ..."
"Yes?"
"Sorry about the choice of words, but is it possible you're collecting people from... difficult backgrounds?"
Steve laughed. "What do you mean?"
"Well, for Nahele you are something between big brother and replacement Dad. And Junior ... You got him a place at the police school and a place to stay. Eddie was an orphan ... Tani has been expelled from the police academy, Chin was an outlaw when you hired him. Okay, Chin's an exception, he's older and was a friend of your father's. You take care of them, keep them on the right track ... "
"It sounds like I'm a benefactor. I assure you I am not. "
"But a man with a good heart under the hard shell," Sara said, smiling at him. "Polite, warm-hearted, fond of children, caring ..."
"Stop it. It's a good thing it's dark, otherwise you might end up seeing me turn red. You don't have to praise me to the skies, I love you anyhow."
"I know that. I only tell the truth ... "
XXXXXX