WILD CARD

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

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

It was the Tuesday from hell.

First, Noelani overslept. Well- not so much overslept as ignored her six alarms when Jude rolled over and pulled her back into his arms. Her willpower just wasn't strong enough to escape those warm, safe, boulder-like muscles.

When she finally wiggled out of his iron grip and pulled on her work clothes, she realized that Maisey had found a new chew toy: her favorite pair of flats. Her very expensive, and supposedly indestructible flats.

Jude had been apologetic and offered over and over to replace them, but all those little things make her feel like a camel with a hell of a lot of straw piled on top of her.

Then it was just one phone call after the next. She had a to-do list a mile long back at the office, but when a body washed up on Waikiki Beach, it was into the jumpsuit and out to the M.E. van for Noelani.

She had just finished her initial assessment of the body when the familiar rumble of Jude's truck growled up the beach. Noelani wasn't blind. She saw the gawking stares from beach goers and first responders alike.

Jude was a flawless human specimen and boy did he know it. The rookie cop assigned to crowd control nearly fainted when he shot her a wink. He strolled across the sand, that shiny Five-0 badge glinting in the sun. He stopped right in front of Noelani, wrapped an arm around her waist, his hand cradling the back of her head and planted a scorching kiss right on her mouth. "Hey, beautiful," he grinned, flashing that Hollywood smile to her and her only.

It was the best Tuesday ever.

"Ow ow ow!" Tani howled as she hopped out of the other side of Jude's truck and caught up with them, "Alright, Big Guy. Keep your shirt on. I don't want to have to arrest you two for public indecency."

Noelani turned an unsightly shade of red and took a necessary step back to keep herself from climbing him like a tree.

"Alright, Sunshine. What do we got?"

"Forty year old male. Single gunshot wound to the back of the skull. Liver temp has the time of death around six '0 clock last night, but that's a rough guess since the body was dumped in the water. I'd say T.O.D. could be anytime between then and yesterday morning."

Tani's eyes raked over the corpse, "So, a single tap to the back of the head and he was dumped in the ocean. I'll take organized crime execution for two hundred, Alex."

Jude nodded in agreement, "Did he have any defensive wounds? Any other injuries?"

Noelani shook her head, "I might find more when we get the body back to the lab and do an autopsy, but my initial assessment tells me it was one clean shot and that's all. There's no bruising. Not even a single mark that would suggest he was restrained."

"So either our vic was taken by surprise or he knew he was going to be killed and didn't fight it," Tani extrapolated.

"Good theory." Jude looked around the body, "I'll take a gander and say he didn't have an ID on him?"

Noelani shook her head, "No, but prints came back to a Calvin Shaw."

"Alright." Jude leaned down and pecked her cheek, "Call me if you find something, yeah?"

"I will. Be safe out there," She said as she squeezed his hand.

"Ugh," Tani teased, "You two are disgustingly cute."

Jude grinned and pulled Noelani close, tucking her into his side. "I'll pick you up at six?"

"Sounds good," she beamed, "Get going. I'll see you tonight."

With one more stolen kiss, Jude and Tani climbed back into his truck and peeled away from the crime scene. "So, I take it things are going well?" Tani said as she clicked her seatbelt in place.

A proud grin spread across his face, "That they are." He looked down at her bump that was beginning to barely show itself under her blouse, "And, uh, all's well in the Reigns household? I'm surprised Junior's cool with you being in the field."

Tani snorted, "Oh he tries to lock me in the closet every morning when I get ready for work and grab my badge and gun."

Jude chuckled, "Still can't get used to wearing a gun on my hip."

"Why? You're ex-military. Ex-CIA. I've seen you shoot. You're not a stranger to a firearm, Beckett."

"Nah, I don't mean like that. I just mean open carrying. My line of work in The Company meant I didn't want the people around me to know I was armed. It was always concealed and concealed well."

"So, where are you and our favorite medical examiner off to this evening? Hot date?"

Jude shook his head, "I wish. Steve and Catherine have me over for dinner every Tuesday. This'll be the first time Noelani comes too."

Tani wiggled her eyebrows, "You look nervous."

"I'm not nervous."

"Could'a fooled me."

Jude huffed, "Catherine and Noelani are real important to me and I just wanna make sure everything goes well."

She offered him a sympathetic smile, "Good thing Noelani's been around McGarrett and Cath for years. They already know each other. You're worrying about nothing."

"Any progress on the Shaw case?" Noelani asked as she climbed into Jude's truck.

He flattened the stepstool and dropped it into the bed of the truck. "Nah. Cole and Quinn were running down some leads when I called it a day."

Noelani cocked her head and forced a smile into submission, "You left work early for this?"

Jude grinned, "I'm the part-timer. Means I'm first out unless Tani is throwing up."

She grimaced at the thought of morning sickness. Noelani was not envious of Tani having to go through that. "Are you ever going to completely retire or are you going to run around the island like John Wayne until you're dead?" She joked.

He draped his arm across the back of her seat as he threw the truck in reverse and pulled out of the parking lot. "I'd like to hang it up. I, uh, I just need something to keep me busy until the time's right." He reached over and held her hand as they cruised through Honolulu. "Paid for the house outright, my truck's been paid off for a few years, got that CIA pension, and uh, I day trade when I have free time… I, uh, I'm just doing Five-0 to keep me from getting old and bored."

"You could always learn how to surf," she suggested.

Jude's bark of laughter filled the cab, "Sunshine, I have a great many talents. Balance and grace is not one of them. I don't think I'd last more than three seconds on a surfboard."

Noelani giggled, "Now we have to go surfing. I need to see you fail epically at something. It's annoying as hell that you're great at everything."

He pulled into the McGarretts' driveway and cut the engine. Hopping down and helping her out, he grinned, "I'm not great at everything, Sweetheart. I'm just trying my hardest to impress you." He lingered a beat, his fingers trailing up and down the curve of her waist, "Is it working?"

"I think you know it is."

Jude leaned down to kiss her when a voice echoed from the front door, "Cool it off, lovebirds! There are children present. Don't make me get the hose!" Catherine called out.

"Oh, please," Jude shouted back, "Like you're one to talk. They've probably been scarred for life by you and Charming." He placed a gentle hand on the small of her back. "Come on, Sunshine."

Before they made it to the door, Shelby Jo bolted out of the house and beelined for Jude. He picked her up, tossed her high in the air, and brought her back to sit on his hip, "Hey, Little Princess. Long time no see."

"Where's your doggie, Unca Jude?" Shelby asked.

Jude smiled, "She's at home, but I have pictures."

"Why didn't you bring her to play with me?" She pouted.

"She's a little scared of big kids like you, but I'll bring her by soon when she's not so afraid."

Satisfied with the answer, Shelby turned her attention to Noelani. "Auntie N!" She squealed, thrashing and wiggling until Jude handed her over to Noelani. Shelby placed a smacking kiss on her cheek, "Hi."

"Hi," Noelani giggled, carrying the little girl inside.

"Beckett," Steve grinned as he jogged down the stairs shook Jude's hand, "You done defiling my driveway with my favorite M.E.?"

Jude rolled his eyes and looked towards the heavens, "You people are relentless."

"Uh huh," Catherine chided, "And we feed you once a week. You can put up with a little teasing."

"Um, I'm a damn good cook, thank you very much."

"Swear jar," Catherine, Steve, and Shelby said in unison as they pointed to the mason jar that was filled to the brim with change and dollar bills.

Shelby stood in front of Jude and held her hand out, "Twenty-five cents, please."

Jude raised a thick eyebrow, "Seems steep." Noelani elbowed him in the side. With a dramatic huff, he shoved his hand in his pocket and pulled out a quarter. "Here you go, kid."

Shelby snatched it out of his hand and dropped it on top of the others, "Nice doin' business wiff you."

"You're kid is a crook," he grumbled to Catherine.

Catherine grinned, "We like to think of it as entrepreneurial."

"I take it from the obnoxious amount of money stuffed in there that your effort to curb the military language around here hasn't worked all that well?"

She pointed to the backyard where a new swing set had been built, "Steve put it up last weekend. Half that money was earned in about three hours." Catherine sighed, "But hey, in a year and a half our girl will go to kindergarten knowing how to curse properly and creatively."

Jude peered back into the living room where Noelani was playing with Will and talking to Steve. "They get along alright?" He asked Catherine.

"Who? Steve and Noelani? Oh yeah. I mean they worked together for years, but not too long before I came back to the island there was an incident and Steve took it upon himself to keep an eye on her. Had a security system installed in her house, made sure she was included in team stuff. You know, cook-outs and stuff like that. He just wanted to make sure she had people on her side. They're pretty close now."

"What kind of incident?"

Catherine wiped her hands on the towel that sat beside the sink, "From what Steve told me, a doctor who trained Noelani got mixed up with some mobsters. She was doing backroom surgeries for them. You know, stuff you can't exactly go to an ER for without raising a hell of a lot of flags." Jude and Catherine shared a look. Between the two of them, they'd had their fair share of DIY patch jobs to last a lifetime. "A couple of thugs held her at gunpoint and had her cut out some valve or something from a body she had at the morgue so it could be used in a surgery their boss needed."

"Shit," Jude muttered as he rubbed his palm down his jaw.

"Oh that's not even the half of it."

His eyes widened, "Geez, Princess. Why didn't you tell me this before now?"

Catherine held her hand up and stopped his tirade. "Noelani assisted in the surgery. Shit went sideways and her evil-doctor-friend got shot right in front of her. Steve and the team showed up and she literally finished the surgery in a hail of bullets." Catherine looked over her shoulder at her husband and Jude's girl as they chatted like old friends, "She saved a monster and the woman she'd idolized for years died. Where's the justice in that?"

"There is none." He spat as he pressed his fists to the kitchen counter.

She floated over and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder, "Look, I'm telling you this so that if there's some underlying trauma there, you know why. People like me and you and Steve, we can handle stuff like that and Lord knows we've had our fair share, but it's different watching someone you love go through it."

Jude raised an incredulous eyebrow, "Oh, I, uh, I don't…."

Catherine smiled, "Don't pretend with me. Also, don't lie to me. You love her. It's written all over your face. "

"Princess, it hasn't been-"

"That long?" She grinned, "Don't make the same mistake Steve and I did. When you know you know. Take some time to make sure it's real and stable, but don't waste your life trying to abide by some kind of imaginary rulebook that dictates when and how you're supposed to fall for your soulmate. "

"Thanks, Princess."

"How are things at the VA?" Noelani giggled as Will stuck his tongue out at her and blew a raspberry. "Still enjoying the change of pace?"

Steve cracked a wry smile, "Come on, kid. That mammoth in there hauls you with him to Tuesday dinner and you wanna waste time asking me about my job?"

"You know, you're the most manly girlfriend I've ever had."

"How's the, uh, the alarm system holding up? Everything secure?"

Noelani's cheeks turned a rosy hue, "I, um… I'd assume it's okay. I haven't exactly been home yet this week…"

"Alright, alright, I see you. Okay." Steve chuckled, "You know, Cath was over the moon when he texted her and said you were comin' tonight." Noelani turned her head and watched as Shelby bolted into the kitchen where Jude and Catherine were deep in conversation. Steve shifted his attention to Will. "I used to feel a little weird about having him around Cath," he admitted. "The two of them… they went through a lot together."

"Like what?" It was barely a whisper. Noelani already felt bad enough about her jealousy, but she couldn't help herself. At least Steve wasn't making her feel crazy about it. "I mean, he told me they were together for a little bit."

Steve scooped up Will as he toddled across the rug, "They were in the field together. He was her security agent. So, uh, so basically she was the field agent, undercover, and he was in the field with her making sure she was safe. Keeping an eye on the situation so she could keep her cover."

"With Caroline and Decker, right?"

Steve nodded, "Yeah, for a bunch'a years they were all on the same team. They were a family and when Catherine left her assignment to help me out with finding who killed Joe White, she got pulled off their team and they lost contact for a couple years. Took a toll on Cath. I, uh, I imagine it was the same for him."

"You and Catherine weren't together while she was in the CIA, right? I heard rumors that she was with the agency but I never knew if it was just speculation or not."

He chuckled, "No, we weren't together then and I wasted a bunch of years being mad at her for things that were, uh, out of her control."

"Like what?"

"Joining the agency for starters." He sighed, "Before she and I ended things she got pregnant. Neither of us knew. And uh, we were broken up. She was in the field undercover and miscarried." Steve stared hard at the floor in front of him and Noelani was sure it was going to open up and swallow them whole. "When she came to get me a few months later when Doris was in trouble, she told me what happened. I was crushed, man… And then when we finally got back together, Catherine, she, uh... She kept these journals about her time in the agency and let me read 'em. I found out that Jude was there with her when it happened. He saved her life, Noelani. She lost our baby and could've died herself, and there I was, sitting on the couch, years later, Shelby and Will were runnin' around here and I was sitting there stewing about the fact that it was him who saved her life and not me."

Noelani covered her mouth, "I… I had no idea… I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

Steve clasped his hands together, "Took us a while to work through it all. We hurt each other a lot over those years." He peered over and saw Catherine pulling dish after dish out of the oven as Jude set the table. "Life is short, kid. It's one wild ride after the other so hold on tight." Catherine called them in and Steve shoved off the couch and motioned for her to follow him to the table.

Having nearly escaped the food coma Catherine had tried her best to induce, Jude held Noelani's hand as he pointed the truck down Piikoi Street and headed home. "You're awful quiet."

Noelani giggled listlessly and closed her eyes, "I don't think I can move. I've never eaten so much in my life."

"That woman is worse than a grandma. That's why I started sneaking Eddie bites off my plate."

"Jude!"

He grinned, "And they wonder why that dog loves me."

"Maisey's probably going out of her mind being stuck inside all day."

"Don't worry. The dog walker took her out today and I put your stuff in my closet. Didn't want her chowing down on anything else."

"Remind me in the morning and I'll drop it back at my place."

"Eh, don't worry about it."

Street lights poured beams of light across their faces as he pulled down his street. Noelani looked over at him and softly asked, "What do you mean?"

He shrugged, "Just leave it there."

"Jude, I can't jus-"

Jude pulled up beside his house and popped the center console of the truck. "Here." He dropped a little yellow key in her hand. "Stopped by the hardware store and had a copy made for you." A bashful smile quirked at the corner of his mouth, "They, uh, had the kind where you could personalize it or whatever, so I…."

"You got the one with the sun on it," she mumbled as she flipped it over and back again in her palm.

In the dim light of the cab, he leaned over the center console and kissed her, tucking his fingers into her hair. Two seconds later, he pulled away and rested his forehead on hers, "I'm not saying you have to move in. I don't want to push you to go faster than you're ready to, but this way you can come and go as you please. If you wanna crash here while I'm out or at work you can do that. The alarm code is your birthday."

"How do you know my birthday? I never…."

Jude grinned and pecked her lips, "Spy."

"Thank you," she whispered as she clutched the key in her hand.

In the quiet of the night, they got out of the truck and went inside. Maisey followed them upstairs and curled up on top of the bed as they got undressed, brushed their teeth side-by-side, and crawled under the covers. It was a monotonous routine that Noelani found comfort in. The habitual flow they had established calmed her.

"Did you lock up?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah, Sweetheart. Doors are locked, alarm is on." He set his badge on top of the bedside table before checking his gun and making sure that there was a round in the chamber. It was a practice he did every night, but for the first time he looked over and saw how she closed her eyes and buried her ears into the pillow as he handled his firearm. Jude lifted the comforter and slid in beside her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into the corner of his shoulder and chest, "You know you're safe with me, right?" He murmured, pressing a kiss into her hair. "I won't let anything happen to you."

Her stiff muscles began to relax as he rubbed soothing circles on her back, "I know."

"Night, Sunshine."

Noelani thought back to the whispered comment Catherine had made to her while Jude and Steve had beers on the lanai.

"Has he told you about Beth?"

"Yeah."

"You know, I've only ever seen a couple pictures of the two of them, but the way he looks at you," Catherine smiled, "That's the way he looked at Beth in all those pictures."

"Oh, I, um…"

"He loves you. It's all over his face. It's the head over heels kind of love that not even a tough guy like him can fight."

Noelani blushed and chewed on her lip, "I just… It hasn't been that long."

"I knew him for a long time before we finally got together and the way he looks at you? He never looked at me that way." Catherine giggled, "I got my Sailor. But I want Jude to find his happiness and I think that might be you."

She let out an exasperated breath, "No pressure…."

Catherine shook her head, "If it's right, you'll know. Because you won't want to be anywhere but by his side."

Noelani curled up closer to Jude and stretched her arm across his chest and rested her hand over his heart. "Night."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

A little Steve and Catherine cameo and a throwback to some Pehea content! Leave your thoughts and reactions in the reviews! I love hearing from you all and making your Fanfiction wishes come true! (And who doesn't love giant Jude and tiny Shelby, I mean really...)

I love you guys! Have a great rest of your week! Spread kindness, wash your hands, and be good humans!

XO,

-Mags-

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