Pehea wau i ʻike ai i kou makuahine

Based on the characters and stories of Hawaii Five-0.

Hawaii Five-0 is owned by CBS and their respective creators.

Steve: Any chance of you getting off base before the E leaves tonight?

Catherine: Probably not. Briefings all day here and at HIK. Call later?

Steve: Copy that.

Steve quickly replied to Catherine's text message and shoved his phone back into the pocket of his cargo pants. He leaned on the newly installed surface table in the middle of their offices and glanced between Chin, Kono, and Danny. "Where were we?"

"Grabbed the video footage from a traffic cam near the crime scene. I'll mine it and see if there's anything on there that can help us identify the shooters." Chin stated as he shoved the thumb drive into the table.

He crossed his arms as he watched the screen. "Did you get in touch with the security company that Roland hired today?"

Chin nodded. "Yeah, I spoke with the owner. Turns out Roland hired the bodyguards for an appointment he had this morning."

Steve shifted around. He wasn't used to the dynamic of having to pull information out of colleagues. SEAL briefings always moved faster than this. "Where were they going?" He huffed.

"Hickam Air Force Base."

Danny glanced up at Steve, "You know anyone at Hickam?" Before he got an answer, Steve had Danny's keys in his hand and was headed for the door, "Stupid question. Of course you do." He turned on his heels and quickly followed Steve out to the parking lot.

Steve leaned on the door of the Camaro and pressed his phone to his ear and muttered, "Come on… come on. Pick up." When he heard the other end of the call connect, the faintest smile flickered on the corner of his mouth. "Cath- where you at?"

"Uh, right now? Hickam. I've got a briefing in a little bit. You okay? You sound out of breath."

He chuckled, "I'm good. We're uh, we're actually heading over there now to meet with General Nathanson." Steve quickly hid his smile as Danny stood on the passengers side and pointed obnoxiously at his watch. "I gotta go. See you in a bit." He rolled his eyes as he shoved his phone back in his pocket and dipped down into the driver's seat. "Happy? We're going now."

Danny glanced over at his new partner as the engine roared and the tires screeched as they pulled out of the parking lot. "What was that about?"

"What was what about?"

Danny pointed down to where Steve kept his phone, "The, uh, the phone call you bolted out of the office to make and then hung up as soon as I got out here."

"Oh that?"

Steve shook his head, "Just called ahead to Hickam."

Danny narrowed his eyes in at Steve. He hadn't known him for very long, but as a seasoned detective with over eighty homicides under his belt, he was a flawless lie detector. "Nice try. Who'd you call?"

"None of your business."

He crossed his arms and silently fumed. "We've been over this. If I am going to be forced to be your partner, you have to tell me these things."

Steve wrinkled his nose and looked over at Danny, "Are you always this crabby?" He looked forward and turned into the gated entrance to the base. Steve dug in his wallet and pulled out his military ID for the guard and then showed him his badge. As he pulled into a space, Steve looked up and saw the blue camouflage he had admired for so many years. "Give me a minute, will ya?"

"Hey, Sailor." Catherine smiled as Steve stepped out of the car and walked over. "Didn't think I was gonna see you again after I left the house this morning."

He crossed his arms over his chest and subtly flexed, "Thanks for waiting around, I uh, I just wanted to say thanks for last night… for showing up back at the house."

Catherine reached out and gave him a gentle squeeze on the arm. Sure, he wasn't in uniform anymore, but she was and public fraternization was not allowed. "You know I would have been there sooner… and could've stayed longer if you hadn't told Jameson to deny my leave."

Steve rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at his shoes, "Yeah, uh, about that… It's just… the situation - with Hesse and my dad… it was too hot and I just… I didn't wanna bring you into it. I didn't wanna risk…. losing you."

"Is that why you dumped your phone and got a new number?" She did her best to keep her tone even, but it still wavered. They had subverted any talk of the events that led to his leaving the Navy, and that left her wondering if she was really getting all the facts. Catherine trusted Steve. She knew she did. Why didn't she believe herself?

He shrugged. "Yeah. Look, I'm sorry about Prague. I was, uh, I was lookin' forward to it. But now -"

"But now you need to work on things here. I get it." Catherine glanced around. "I should get going." It was selfish, she thought. Wanting things to go back to the way they were. Steve had been through hell in the last two weeks and she didn't want to make things worse or make things about her. But what about... them? They were supposed to have that all too important conversation in Prague and now he wouldn't even give her his damn phone number of his own free will? She couldn't escape the thought that maybe his desire for change also included her.

Steve ran his hand over his hair, "I didn't do it to hurt you."

"I know." She stated rather curtly.

He reached out to touch her but then suddenly remembered where they were and that she was in uniform…. And he wasn't. And she wasn't his girlfriend anymore. "I guess I'll… I'll see you later, then."

Catherine pursed her lips and nodded. "Yeah. See you."

As Catherine walked away, Danny got out of the Camaro and caught up to Steve. "So that's the person you called ahead to at Hickam?" Steve leveled him a look of warning but apparently it didn't take because he just kept rambling. "She's pretty. I'd say that judging how flustered you got around her means she's either an 'ex' or an 'almost'."

Steve glared at Danny but was distracted by his phone buzzing with an incoming text message.

Catherine: So that's Danny? How does the pompadour fit in the car? And why is he wearing a tie? This is Hawaii.

He smirked as he quickly read it before catching up with General Nathanson to discuss their kidnapping victim.

"So about your girlfriend-"

Steve glared at Danny from the driver's seat, "She's not my girlfriend." He snapped. "Can we just focus on the more pressing issue of the threat to national security?"

Danny raised his hands defensively. "Yeesh. So if she's not your girlfriend but you called her before we got here so you could see her just to have a tense, thirty second conversation, then I'm guessing you're, uh, you're maybe on the outs with each other. You did something and pissed her off and now you're trying to take it back. I'm not surprised. You pissed me off the second I met you. I, uh, I can't imagine what being in a relationship with the likes of you would do to a lady. She must wanna pull her hair out all the time being around you."

"Her name is Catherine and we're not in a relationship." Steve knew that the disappointment in his voice was a dead giveaway. He huffed and resigned to the fact that if he didn't give Danny some sort of answer that he'd ramble on for the next twenty minutes and Steve wouldn't get a split second of peace and quiet. "We were. She and I - we've… we've known each other for a long time. We dated for a while and then…" He groaned, "I did somethin' real stupid."

He sat in silence while Steve talked. Sure, they had only worked together for a couple days, but this was the most he'd shared about his personal life since they had met. "What'd you do?"

Steve glared at him, "Classified above your paygrade." In the grand scheme of things, he knew that was kind of an asshole thing to say, but it sounds better than saying, "I let a hot CIA agent convince me to dump her while I was drunk". Maybe that's why working with the CIA to run black-0ps always left a bad taste in his mouth. "We were supposed to go on leave together this week. I was… I was gonna try and make things right between her and I and now I'm not sure that's such a good idea."

"What, because of what happened to your dad?" Damn. Danny was perceptive. "Well she seems like she can take care of herself. I mean, she's in the Air Force for crying out loud. Why you so worried about her?"

"She's in the Navy." He shook his head and shifted his hands on the steering wheel, "Let me ask you this. If you knew that someone targeted your family because of who you were or what your job is, would you put Grace's mother in the line of fire?"

Danny laughed maniacally, "Without a second thought. I'd use that woman as a human shield and not even blink."

Steve's eyes darted over and studied his partner, "What is wrong with you, man?"

"When you go through a divorce you can tell me how to do it amicably. Until then, you keep your mouth shut."

He was about to retort when his phone rang. "McGarrett." Steve listened for a minute before hanging up and whipping the car around in the opposite direction. "Chin found a runner from the gunfight. He went into the Kahiko on Kalia Road."

Danny leaned over the back of his seat as Steve's foot pressed the gas to the floor. "Better get my vest." He grumbled.

Catherine powered down her phone and shoved it into the stack of files she carried across the base. She was tired of the onslaught of calls and texts from their Navy friends who were worried about Steve. Even men from his own SEAL team had been reaching out to her because he had apparently been dodging their calls as well.

She rubbed her eyes and yawned. What she wouldn't give to be in Europe in a hotel with plush bedding and luxuriously soft towels - with Steve. Like they were supposed to be. Truth was, she was bitter. Her heart was broken for Kelly and Steve, after all, Freddie was her friend too. Unfortunately it wasn't just Freddie's death that weighed on Steve's conscience. It was his father's too. She didn't want to be self-absorbed, but wasn't tragedy supposed to bring people closer? She had never felt more unwanted and pushed away by Steve.

"Rollins!" Steve shouted as he jogged across the base.

And just like that, she was back under his spell. Catherine looked around. He was running full speed across the grass in his full dress uniform - completely unbecoming for an officer, but damn it was entertaining. Then she remembered, he wasn't an officer anymore. "What are you doing?" She glanced around as people scattered across the base began to stare.

He slowed his pace as he caught up to her, "I've been calling you for the last fifteen minutes but your phone kept going straight to voicemail. I was trying to catch you before you got back on board."

Catherine's mouth was slightly agasp. "I, uh…. Sorry. I turned off my phone a little bit ago." Steve shook his head like he didn't quite understand. "A lot of people are wondering how you are." She sighed, "I needed a break from answering questions that I don't have the answers to myself."

Steve hung his head as he finally began to realize just how much their lives had become intertwined. "Cath…" He groaned, "Shit. I'm sorry. I didn't-"

"You didn't realize how much this affected me?" Her words were a little less tactful than she had wanted them to be but it got her point across.

"Yeah." He admitted. "Look, I don't… I don't want to end things like this."

Catherine's lungs burned as the air escaped, "What?" Her eyebrows raised ever so slightly as she looked up at him. "You're done…. With the Navy and now with me too?"

"No!" He ran his palm down his chin, "No, I just, I don't wanna say goodbye like this. I mean, we're good, right? You and me?"

She breathed out a sarcastic laugh, "Uh, I dunno, are we?" She blinked back tears and looked down at her boots, "You have this whole new life here. And I want to be a part of it, Steve. I-" Love you? Now obviously wasn't the time for that. "I don't know if you want me to be." Steve dropped his hand and let their fingers brush against each other. "Steve, we're in uniform." She scolded as her eyes stayed trained on her combat boots.

"I want you. Okay?" He sighed, "I just gotta figure out what's next for me… what that looks like, you know?"

Catherine felt his dog tag burning her skin under her uniform. "Maybe you should take some time to figure that out."

Steve closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, "Cath, come on. Don't say that. Don't leave like that." He knew what she was insinuating and the thought of losing her made him sick. He had lost his father and a man who was closer than a brother. He couldn't lose Catherine too. "Next leave or, or the next time the E is at Pearl come back here. Stay at uh, stay at my place. It's, uh, it's not Prague but, you know, maybe I can take a couple days off and we can spend some time together."

Her face didn't give him any sort of reassurance. "I'll… I'll think about it." She forced a polite smile. Catherine wasn't about to end things for good when he was clearly suppressing the necessary stages of grief, but from her point of view, he was done with just about everything in his old life.

"And I promise to call Matt and Amy... And to talk to the rest of the guys on the Team." He shoved his hands in his pockets and shifted between his feet, "I'm sorry they've bombarded you, but I'll, I'll talk to them. I will." He pulled out the polaroid from his pocket as a dopey, lopsided grin curled up on his face. "Tag."

She took the picture from him and ran her finger over it, brushing the layer of dust and grime off of it. Catherine looked at the date stamped at the bottom of the photo. "Has it really been ten years?" She whispered. "Feels like this was yesterday and a lifetime ago all at the same time..."

"We were kids. You were barely twenty-one." He chuckled. "Your turn to have it for a while. You know, since I'm not running black-ops now. Figured you could use a little luck."

Catherine chewed on her lip as she stared at the picture. "I just can't believe you're out of the Navy." She whispered. Catherine looked at her watch as tears threatened to escape her eyes. "I um, I gotta go."

"Come back next leave. I wanna see you." He reached out and gave her arm a gentle squeeze, "I got your six, Lieutenant."

She tucked the polaroid into her uniform pocket. "Stay safe. Okay?"

Catherine gripped onto Steve's bicep as they walked up the stairs to the Five-0 offices. He shifted Shelby on his hip as he put his hand on Catherine's back. "We could've taken the elevator, you know."

"I know." She choked out once they got to the top. Catherine rested against the railing. "I used to be able to run a four and a half minute mile. Now I can't even walk up the stairs without getting winded."

Steve chuckled, "You're thirty-six weeks pregnant. I don't know how you convinced me to let you come. Cole shoulda just emailed the files or dropped 'em by the house."

"I'm gonna need a nap after this." She groaned. Catherine straightened up and composed herself. "Okay. Let's do this." Steve took her hand and laced their fingers together. After all their years of abiding by Navy regulations, playing hard to get, and pushing each other away, it was the simple things - like Steve holding her hand in public - that meant the most.

"'Ay." Steve nodded to Junior and Tani as they walked through the glass doors and into the bullpen.

Tani smiled as she reached out and took Shelby Jo from Steve's arms. "How's my favorite girl?"

Steve walked over and poked his head into Danny's office. "Yo. Linc said there were files here he wanted Catherine to take a look at?"

Danny glanced up from his computer, "Hey, yeah." He hopped up and walked out to the surface table. "We uh, we found these at a perp's house. Figured we needed a translation so we knew what agency to send them to or uh, or what to do with 'em." His fingers flew over the table before he pulled up scans of the documents and swiped them up onto the screen.

Catherine walked around the table and looked up at the screen. "It's definitely Pashto." Her mouth whispered words as she typed up the translations. "Looks like addresses and…." She cocked her head and mumbled something else as she continued reading.

The faintest of smiles flickered on Steve's mouth. He watched as she stared intently at the documents. Her face was lit up by the glow of the screen and that little line on her forehead creased as she concentrated on the task at hand. Beautiful since the day he met her, Steve thought. Ten years chasing her in the Navy. Ten more chasing her everywhere else. He'd happily spend a lifetime chasing Catherine Rollins if he had to.

Catherine's hand rested on her belly as she finished translating the pages. Their baby boy could make his appearance at any time. Shelby wiggled out of Tani's arms and waddled to Catherine before clinging to her leg. She scooped up Shelby Jo and propped her up on her hip as she looked over at Steve. "I'm done. You ready to go?" She flashed a smile at him.

"Yeah." He grinned as he crossed his arms over his chest and subtly flexed. "I'm ready."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Well! We've made it back to where the show picks up. I'm not going to rehash what I said in my previous A/N about what this next act will focus on, but I do ask for a little grace as we transition into this new part of the story. Writing this is definitely a little more difficult than I anticipated. Working around the events of the show doesn't always make for the most cohesive chapters, so I do apologize if this one seemed a little choppy. I feel like once we get past the first part of season one's events it will smooth out a bit.

REVIEWS: Please leave your thoughts and feedback! I know that reviews haven't been showing up on the story's title page for a few days. I submitted the bug report to FanFiction yesterday, so hopefully things will straighten out soon and I can read your feedback!

Happy Friday!

XO,

-Mags-