THROWING DARTS
Based on the Hawaii Five-0 Series Finale | Season 10 Episode 22: Aloha
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EPILOGUE
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MCGARRETT HOUSE - JANUARY 12, 2021 - 0530 HOURS
"Steve?" Catherine tried catching her breath, but the pain wouldn't subside. She sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed before leaning forward as the ache returned.
"Hm?" Steve glanced at the clock: 5:30AM. He rubbed his palms over his face before looking over at Catherine who was doubled over in pain. "Cath, what's wrong?!" He jumped out of their bed and knelt in front of her, holding her hands.
Catherine let out a long, slow breath. "Contractions suck."
"WHAT?!" Steve shouted. "YOU'RE IN LABOR?!"
"A little bit." She cringed and admitted before squeezing the life out of his hands as another contraction hit her in waves.
Steve grimaced. Catherine wasn't weak by any stretch of the imagination, and he was fairly sure that by the end of this, his hands would be broken. "How long have you been having contractions?!" He tried to keep calm, but truth be told, he was panicking. This was it.
"Since eight-thirty…" She said sheepishly.
"You've been in labor for NINE HOURS and you didn't say anything?!" Steve rubbed his eyes again.
"Maybe." She laughed quietly as the contraction subsided.
"How close are they? The contractions…" Steve questioned.
Catherine didn't have a chance to respond. The next contraction hit her like a bus. "Hospital." She choked out. "Time to go."
Steve pulled on a pair of jeans and practically jumped into his shoes. He wrapped a robe around her and scooped her up into his arms, carrying her down the stairs and out the door. "Bags are already in the truck." He audibly reminded himself.
Catherine let out the breath she had been holding as he lowered her into the passenger's seat. "Steve?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm scared." She confessed as she clipped the seat belt across her body.
Steve laughed, "Me too." He kissed her forehead.
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TRIPLER ARMY MEDICAL CENTER - LABOR AND DELIVERY WARD - JANUARY 12, 2021 - 0700 HOURS
Steve lovingly brushed strands of hair away from Catherine's face as she relaxed against the pillow. "How's the epidural?" He chuckled.
Catherine laughed quietly, "Amazing." She turned her head and smiled softly, "I love drugs." She yawned.
Steve smirked, "That's something you'll never see on a billboard." He pressed a kiss on her lips. "The nurse said you should try to take a nap. It'll be a couple hours still."
Catherine nodded and closed her eyes. "Steve?"
"Hm?"
"Remember when we were in Mumbai and I fell down the stairs at the caves?" She giggled.
Steve laughed. "Yeah."
"And you said that you couldn't imagine what I'd be like if I were in labor?" She opened her eyes to look at him.
He nodded and kissed her, "Yeah."
Catherine closed her eyes, "Is this what you thought it'd be like?" She smiled softly, "Did you ever think we'd get here? You know… you and me?"
Steve smiled as she drifted off to sleep, "It's everything I've ever wanted."
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"So, what do you think of the new guy… McGarrett? Kinda hot, right? In like... a mysterious sort of way?" Amy grinned as she and Catherine made their way to the gym on board the USS Enterprise.
Catherine rolled her eyes, "Seriously, Ames? He's our C.O.! Keep it in your pants, will ya?" She laughed as they pushed the doors open and made their way over to the long wall of treadmills. Catherine set her water down on the floor and began running at her usual pace.
Amy laughed and hopped on the treadmill beside hers. "That didn't stop you from getting cozy with him last night at your station." She shot Catherine a mischievous smirk as she began running. "He woke me up last night just to find out how you liked your coffee. He's so into you."
Catherine shook her head as she picked up her race. "We were working and if you think anything other than work happened, you're insane. You've been stuck on this damn boat too long. Go on leave and see some trees or something. You're starting to lose it." She grinned.
Across the gym, Steve walked through the doors and made a beeline for the punching bag. He dropped his gloves on the floor, exchanged some words with another officer, before grabbing the back of the neck of his shirt and tugging it off in one swift motion. Catherine felt her heart stop as she saw her commanding officer… shirtless. Holy hell, she had never seen a body so...perfect. Her eyes drifted from one tattoo to the next. She admired how the artwork wrapped around his well-defined muscles. "You okay over there, Rollins?" Amy laughed.
Catherine stopped her treadmill and took a sip of water. "Yeah, just a little… lightheaded. Blood sugar must be low or something."
Amy rested her arms on the rail of the treadmill as she followed Catherine's line of sight. "Why don't you go see if McGarrett's got a power bar or something." She smiled devilishly. "Or I'll go ask for you."
Catherine's head shot around and as her eyes widened in a panic. "Don't you dare."
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Steve glanced over his shoulder as his buddy joined him in the corner of the gym. "Hey, man." He mumbled as he taped up his hands and slid on his boxing gloves.
"Hey." Jeff nodded. "You, uh, you've got an audience." He chuckled as he nodded back to the two female sailors on the treadmills.
He grinned, "Who, Catherine and Amy?" He shook his head, "Nah, they're in my unit."
Jeff glanced back at the two ladies, "Is that who you were gettin' friendly with last night?"
Steve shook his head, "We were just finishing a project. That's all."
"With which one? The blonde or the brunette?" Jeff asked as he leaned against the wall.
"Catherine. The brunette." A tentative smile flickered across his lips as he said her name.
Jeff smirked, "Don't do it man. Her dad's Admiral Rollins and rumor is that that girl's so uptight she'd explode if you gave her a sharp look."
Steve grinned as he looked up and his eyes connected with Catherine's as he tugged his shirt off and tossed in in the corner. She stared for a minute before quickly looking away. Jeff watched their exchange of glances and shook his head. "Well. Whaddaya know. The uptight ensign has a thing for tattoos…." Steve mumbled, doing his best to hide the devious smirk on his face.
"And apparently a thing for her C.O." He chuckled as he walked away from Steve.
Steve rolled his eyes and ignored his bunkmate as he began to work out with the punching bag as his opponent. Half an hour later, Steve glanced over his shoulder and saw Amy exiting the gym. He twisted his head and looked back at the treadmills. "Hey, Rollins." He grinned as he sauntered over to her.
"Sir." She smiled sweetly. "Thanks, um... For the help last night… and the coffee."
"My pleasure." He smiled as he nodded towards the treadmill, Good run?"
Catherine laughed quietly, "Just letting off some steam, sir."
Something that Jeff had said replayed in his mind. Steve crossed his arms over his bare chest and flexed.
And Catherine almost passed out.
Steve's eyes went wide as she held onto the rails of the treadmill and stopped the machine. "You okay? You look like a ghost."
Catherine nodded and carefully stepped off of the treadmill. "I'm good. Probably just pushed it a little too hard is all." She smiled sheepishly. Catherine knew very well that that wasn't the case at all, but there was no way in hell that she could say, 'Oh, sorry I almost fainted at the sight of you shirtless.'
Steve bent down, picked up her water and handed it to her. "You're impressive, Rollins." He left her with a lopsided grin as he tucked his boxing gloves under his arm and left the gym.
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"You're impressive, Rollins." Steve murmured as she collapsed back into his arm after pushing for what felt like days.
Catherine's face was beaded with sweat. She closed her eyes as she breathed heavily. "Steve, I can't…" She cried in a whisper. "I'm tired."
Steve gripped her hand and kissed her forehead, "I know, Cath. I know you're tired. But you can do this." He reassured her. His eyes darted over to the obstetrician at the opposite side of the bed. Captain Chase gave him a little nod. Steve looked back at Catherine. "Can you push again?"
Catherine nodded and grimaced. Steve felt her body seize as she gave it every ounce of strength she had left. When the contraction had passed, she exhaled and looked over at him. "Persevere and thrive on adversity, right?"
He chuckled. "You were always too good for us SEALs." He brushed his thumb across the back of her hand, "You're so much stronger than me, Cath."
"One more push, Catherine." The doctor piped up. "One more." She smiled.
Tears ran down her face as pain shot through every inch of her body. And then it all went away. Captain Chase quickly motioned for Steve to join her and cut the umbilical cord. A nurse swaddled their baby in a blanket and laid her in Steve's arms. "Congratulations, Daddy." She smiled.
Steve took in every one of his perfect daughter's features. Shelby had Catherine's nose. Her smile. The baby opened her eyes and looked up at her father. Ocean blue mixed with hazel, changing with every glance. Hurricane eyes. His eyes. "God, Cath… She's beautiful." Steve whispered as tears welled up. He couldn't take his eyes off the tiny baby that was sleeping peacefully in his arms.
He leaned over and kissed Catherine gently. "You're a badass." He chuckled quietly.
Catherine smiled. "I'm sorry about your arm." She tried to stifle her laugh so as to not wake their sleeping daughter.
Steve chuckled, "I'll survive." He twisted his shoulder to look at the hand-shaped bruise that had formed on his bicep.
The door to their hospital room creaked open as another nurse slipped in quietly to dim the lights as they cleaned up the room from her delivery. Catherine closed her eyes and rested her head on his chest. "I'm tired…" She said in a daze.
"Just rest." He planted a kiss in her hair.
Catherine nodded as she reached out and took their new baby from him and snuggled her against her chest.
"I love you, you know." Steve smiled as he watched Catherine and their new daughter drift off into a peaceful sleep.
Steve reached out and tucked his finger into Shelby Jo's tiny hand. "I love you." He choked back more tears and whispered as not to wake either of his girls. "Maybe one day your mom and I will tell you all the stories about how we met… about all our adventures… about how we fell in love." A paternal smile crossed his face as he held Catherine's hand and looked at his daughter, "We'll tell you all of it."
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AUTHOR'S NOTE
That's it for "Throwing Darts"! I can't believe I actually wrote well over 100k words! It's kind of mindblowing! Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your kind words, reviews, and devoted reading! I hope I did their characters justice! If you're reading this A/N after the story has been completed, I'd still love to read your thoughts on each chapter, so leave me reviews, loves!
In case you're wondering, YES. I have another writing project lined up and can't wait to get started on it soon! (That last line from Steve should give you a pretty good idea of what it's gonna be about!) And, if you haven't noticed, I really like writing flashbacks! I'm leaving for vacay tomorrow and will have the next story (hopefully) up sometime by the end of next week.
I really do my best to write for my audience and take your feedback and preferences to heart. With that said, not everyone likes every character in the H50 universe, but there are a good amount of people who like each one individually. I really try to write inclusively and honor the fact that each character has a place in the Five-0 world! With that said, good heavens, eight people (and Catherine) being a part of the task force is nearly impossible to write! So, all I ask is that you extend a little grace if I didn't quite give your favorite team member as much interaction with Steve and Cath as you hoped for!
I love you all! Thank you SO MUCH!
Aloha from the dart board!
XO,
-Mags-
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