Summary: Starts and Ends of a Journey always come in circles - just ask Kono and Romy
Warnings: None, really. Just that my heart grew heavy while writing this.
Episode: Season 5 - 23 & 5 -24
Hello lovelies,
How are you all?
We are coming to the end of the season. When I started this little fic, almost a year ago on a beautiful beach, I never imagined that so many people would read it. From the bottom of my heart - Thank you!
If you want to know more about those two, please send me a PM or find me on Tumblr ( babymelancholie1). I'm always up for a chat.
Can't wait to read your thoughts on this chapter.
Enjoy xx
—xx—xx—
Even two weeks after the incident, Danny still couldn't look Romy in the eyes.
"Come on, Danny. It's not like you saw anything, really." She bumped his shoulder as they wandered down to the beach, to say goodbye to Kono.
"I saw enough," he whispered harshly back, trying not to gain the attention of Grace who walked ahead with Steve. "You two are adults. You shouldn't be doing..."
"Exactly, we are adults." Romy linked her arm with his, slowing him down further.
"Anybody could have seen you."
"We were at Steve's place, in the dark. How could we know that you were bored and wanted to come by?"
"Ugh."
"And by the way" Romy said with a glint in her eyes "we should be mad." Danny's head whipped up to meet her eyes. "We didn't even get to finish." With that she released Danny's arm and skipped ahead to walk next to Steve, leaving Danny behind making a very convincing fish impression.
Kono was tying the sail as they approached her on the beach, the boat that she had built looked amazing, even to Romy's untrained eyes.
Luckily she hadn't noticed them yet, being there when she embarked on her journey was supposed to be a surprise. Steve let go of Grace's and Romy's hand and moved closer to the boat, he put his finger to his lips Steve signalling to Chin to be quiet. Leaning against the vessel he said, "Requesting permission to come on board."
Turning around Kono smiled as she saw her boss and friends, "Permission granted, Commander."
Steve vaulted onto the boat, and they both lifted their hands to their temple, saluting each other.
"At ease." Steve smiled at Kono and they started laughing before he drew her into a hug. "I thought we were going to see your fiancé out here today?" Steve's eyes darting from Chin and Kono.
Romy didnt really understand the look the two men exchanged, what was going on there? They both had been quite secretive since Jerry's commendation ceremony.
"Yeah, well. Adam said he'd rather watch me come back than leave. So we said our goodbyes this morning."
"Yeah, I don't blame him. We all feel the same way, Kono." Steve smiled tightly and looked down to the rest of them.
"Hey! You guys have to come down off the ship if you want me to say goodbye." Danny shouted.
Laughing Kono hopped off the boat and bound over to Danny, hugging him tight you. "Hey I got her open the trunk we throw her in." Danny pulled her around moving into the direction of their cars.
"I'll be fine!" Kono struggled to breath in Danny's hug.
Steve laughed at their antics, coming to stand behind Romy, hugging her to his chest.
"Hey listen now about that weather we go coming in?" Lou sounded worried, but Kono waved him off.
"Storms moving south and I'm heading east to Moloka'i. So if I leave now, the only ones getting hit by the rain are you guys."
"Friend of mine's got a pretty sweet storm shelter, if anyone's interested. It's got WiFi." Jerry looked almost excited at the prospect, while the rest of them found the sandy beach suddenly quite interesting.
Not wanting leave his friend hanging, Chin said "We think about it, Jerry."
Kawika came forward and blessed Kono with a palm leave, before he drew Kono's head close to his and the two friends shared a Joni and a hug.
"Thanks for coming Kawika." Kono was touched that he came.
"You are making us proud today." He smiled at her and stepped towards the boat.
Dipping the leaf once more into the water, he started the traditional and age long Hawaiian blessings on the boat. The team stood in reverence, closing their eyes. Romy held clasped her hands on top of Steve's, that still rested on her belly. She didn't know what Kawika was saying, but the ancient language made it sound so powerful. So she send her wishes along with it, that Kono would find what she's looking for and that she came back unharmed.
"This craft seems to be quite sound and stalwart, Officer Kalakaua. And if you ask my opinion you'll have no trouble circumnavigating the islands." Max had crouched down next to boat and seemed to be inspecting it.
That got Danny scoffing, "I can get you the same trip for $150, plus they give you a bag of peanuts."
"Flying is easy. Our ancestors, they connected the islands on a wa'a like this one." Kono ribbed right back.
"Yeah where is your sense of adventure?" Kawika questioned him.
"Adventure? No, I work with this guy." Danny gestured over to Steve. "I don't need anymore adventure. Thanks though."
They all grinned knowingly grinned at Steve, who looked very proud of himself.
Stepping forward, Grace tugged at Kono's hand "I've got something for you Auntie." She held out the Lei she made herself. Smiling Kono leaned down so that Grace could drape the flowers around her neck. Drawing the girl in for a hug she whispered, "Love you."
"I've got something for you too, sistah. Sustenances for the sea, from the sea." Kamekona did not want to be outdone by a Lei and brandished a plastic bag full of shrimp to Kono.
"Oh, you know that's gonna go bad in two hours, right?" Kono stepped back a bit to avoid the dangling bag.
Chastened he took the shrimp back "Anybody hungry, I got two garlic shrimp plates half off."
"Cash Only" Flippa pitched in.
"That's unbelievable." Danny's voice got a little squeaky at the obvious rip off "You're gonna makes us pay, but your gonna give it to her for free?"
Grinning Kamekona unfolded something else he had slung over his shoulder, "Who said anything about free. I was gonna have her wear my designer apparel. Little product placement for the journey. " He handed Kono one of his T-Shirts.
"You created a monster." Steve murmured into Romy's ear, squeezing her to him and kissing her ear.
Romy shrugged and chuckled "He just needed some encouragement."
"If one person didn't need encouragement for crazy advertisement schemes, its Kamekona."
"They aren't crazy if you can pull them off." Romy said in defense of their friend.
"Kono, take it. It's good in case your sail falls, you got an extra." Danny snarked but that flew right over Kamekona's head, as he hugged Kono.
"Be safe, sistah."
Stepping out of Steve's hug, Romy drew Kono in. Pressing a kiss to her cheek she asked, "You sure you want to do this instead of a bachelorette party?"
A sigh escaped Kono and the two women kept their voices low. "Yeah, I need to do this. For me...for her... To get some clarity." Kono didn't know if she articulated herself properly, but Romy smiled and nodded. She did understand, sometimes distance and travel can put anything into perspective. Make it clear what you want and need.
Letting go of each other, Romy stepped back into Steve arms, when a car pulled up.
Romy and Steve looked at each other, there wasn't supposed to be anyone else coming, was there?
They all watched how a man helped a woman out of the car and into a wheel chair. Slowly Kono handed the shirt to Danny and walked over to them, her face unreadable.
Sensing the confusion Chin stepped to the group and explained, her mother had an aneurism a few years back and since then been in a wheelchair with little to no reaction to the outside world.
Now Romy understood, when Kono said she was not only doing it for herself but for someone else too. She was completing her mother's dream as well as her own.
They watched the touching scene between the three and when Kamekona made the conch shell sing it became a tad much for Romy. Kono's beginning her journey, brought home to her how close she was to ending hers. She breathed in the sea air, intertwined her fingers with Steve and tried to ignore the tear that made its way down her cheek.
Then Kono pushed her wa'a onto the water and set sail. She looked so happy when she turned around and waved.
Ready to take the waves, ready to take the world, to find what she was looking for.
—xx—xx—
Romy's day at the hotel had been hectic to say the least, her team was standing, she'd just wished they had someone to lead it and not only heads of departments. Maybe that was just wishful thinking on her part, trying to find a reason to extend her stay, but even she knew that her case was weak at best. So she wrote SOP's organised as best as she could, but it got harder with every day. With every box that moved out of her office and every project she handed over to her department heads.
Looking out of the window, she saw the dark sky. Kono had been right the storm was going to hit them and not her.
"Chin has a bad feeling." Steve said as they stood in his kitchen, pan frying some chicken to go with the salad and bread already waiting on their plates. "About Kono?" Romy took a sip of her white wine. "Yeah." Taking the chicken out of the pan to let it rest before carving up.
"Have you guys tried to reach her at all?"
"No luck, but she did say she wouldn't turn it on constantly."
"Kono know's what she's doing." Taking their plates and glasses the two of them made their way out on the lanai. "That's what I said." Steve grinned.
"So how was your day?" He asked after a couple of minutes.
"Long and tedious." Romy sighed and Steve prompted her to go on.
"Handing over projects and all of that. Has me a bit on edge."
They looked at each other for a moment, neither of them knew what to say. How to get out what they really wanted to say, but didn't think they had the right to do so. Steve put his hand on the table and Romy slid hers over, both of them inching closer until their fingers intertwined.
Holding on.
It didn't take them long to make their way up to the bedroom. Kissing, trying to touch every patch of skin available. They stumbled on the last two steps in their rush to get their clothes off and if it wasn't for Steve's quick reaction they'd both would have crashed to the floor.
He covered her naked body, teeth grazing down her neck, her mouth kissing his collarbone. Coming back up for air, sharing deep kisses...soft whispers...and then the sweet release.
Romy moved down a bit so she could snuggle underneath his chin. Her ear right above his heart beat. She started doodling with her fingers on his chest and could feel Steve respond in kind. She loved the moments after sex with him. Don't get her wrong the sex was amazing, but this was something else. She knew he loved that time as well, could feel it in the little sighs he let out. Like both of them could turn their brains off, let their guard down, just be. How is she going to live without it?
The next morning Steve got up early for a raid on their meth case, leaving Romy asleep in bed. He surveyed his bedroom as he got ready. The nightstand on her side of the bed was littered with bobby pins and hair ties, her pillow spray, as well as two books. It fascinated him how she didn't lose herself in the different plot lines , especially after he got into her car one day, and an audiobook began to play after he turned the ignition. He could still see her grin at him when he exclaimed "Three books! Woman how can you keep those characters straight in your head." "You wanna quiz me?" "Oh yeah, and what's going to happen when you get something wrong?" "I'm sure you can figure something out." Her grin had become downright dirty.
While trying to get her to slip up was fun indeed, the arguments they had discussing the books after he read them as well, were almost more fun. Seeing her all riled up, defending a characters choice or getting all up in arms when they did something stupid. He was going to miss that, as well as her book recommendations. Her taste was so wide, he'd never knew what he was going to get next, a Whodunnit, a sappy romance novel, or a non fiction book about the state of the world.
Kneeling down next to her, he took a moment to look at her, the way her hair fell down her cheek and how her freckles seem to have multiplied on her shoulder again. He kissed the corner of her mouth and watched her eyelids flutter open.
"Hey." Romy yawned softly.
"Morning Gorgeous." He pushed some of her hair back behind her ear, tracing its shell.
"You heading out?" She took in his clothes.
Steve nodded "Yeah, we got the go ahead for the raid. Chin is waiting for me at the palace."
Romy lifted herself up slightly and hugged him. Her sleep warm body moulding to his, her warmth seeping right into his bones. Steve hid his face in her hair and took in a deep breath, before letting her go. Romy sunk back down, but not before giving him a languish close mouthed kiss, cause morning breath was a real thing. "Be safe, commander."
"Always." With that Steve pushed himself off his crouching position and headed to the door, but not without looking back once more. Romy had put her sleep mask back on and had rolled over onto his side, her head now resting on his pillow.
The day hadn't been better than the day before, and it only became worse when Steve had called her that Kono had troubles at sea and they lost contact.
The team was with the coast guard, but she knew that she was going to be just in the way there. So she headed to Steve's instead and started pacing.
She couldn't remember the amount of coffee she drunk, but she was fairly certain she reached her 10,000 step requirement.
Tying her cardigan around her again, she took a sip of her coffee and watched the sun rise over the beach. Looking at her watch, she decided it was a good time as any to call Steve.
"Steve, its me, Romy."
"Hey." He sounded terrible.
"No good news then?"
"We've found the wreckage of her boat."
"Fuck."
"Yeah, but not her paddle board..."
"That's good, right?"
Steve didn't answer for a couple of moments.
"Steve? That's good news right?" She couldn't even imagine...she didnt even want to imagine.
"They found her." He whispered.
"What?!"
"Chin, just had a call. They found her!" The timbre of his voice had changed completely. She could practical feel his relief through the phone.
"Thank god!" Romy's hand covering her mouth as a mixture of sob or laugh escaped her.
'They found her.' Was a complete wrong description, thank you very much Steve. Kono somehow managed to navigate those storms and paddled back to shore. Severely dehydrated and sunburnt, she had rescued herself.
Engulfing her friend into a careful hug at the hospital, Romy couldn't resist to point out
"Should have had a bachelorette party, less trouble"
"Only if you have a leaving do." Kono countered, getting her a grimace in return.
—xx—xx—
Romy fell down on top of Steve, their breath coming in pants as they tried to discern the noise. The knocking became louder and more insistent. "Promise me you're going to hit whoever is at that door," she groaned in his ear.
"I promise," he panted. They shared a kiss, and Steve decided to ignore the knocking, as it started up again. He cursed and rolled out from underneath Romy. The knocking definitely had ruined the mood. Shoving his legs into sweatpants and pulling over his undershirt that Romy relieved him off earlier he stomped downstairs. "Yeah, Yeah. I'm coming. I'm coming." Romy could here Steve stomping down the stairs. 'Yeah no one was coming in this house. Thank you very much.' Romy shrugged into her PJ shorts and shirt from earlier in the evening. Steve had just opened the door and reveleaed Chin, when she came to stand next to him.
"Chin. You alright?"
Chin did not like alright at all. His eyes darting from Steve to Romy and back to Steve.
"Why don't I make some coffee." Romy offered.
"Thank you." Chin looked relieved.
"Come on in." Steve let him in and the two men moved to the dining room table.
In the kitchen Romy put the kettle on and prepped a tray with cups, milk and sugar. She could hear the muffled voices, first Steve agitated, Chin urgent, then resignation on Steve again. She strained her ears as she watched the boiled water turn into coffee in the french press, Adam's name was mentioned a lot. Grabbing the tray she pushed the kitchen door open with her hip.
"Chin, we still don't know that these meetings were about anything illegal."
"Right. So I'm sure Adam is just there, uh, collecting the bounty on your behalf." The irony in Chin's voice could be all the way heard into the kitchen.
"My cousin's getting married in three days, Steve.", now he was getting agitated.
"I get that. Listen to me." Steve tried to calm him down, getting Chin to use his head "You go ahead, you go and accuse Adam of getting back into bed with the Yakuza and you're wrong, you're gonna drive a wedge between the two of you, and Kono's gonna be caught in the middle, all right? Now, we need the facts. we need all the facts. Until we know what these meetings were actually about, I think you say nothing."
"Here you go." Romy put the tray down on the table covering some of the photos Chin had brought. After she handed them each a mug, she picked up a picture.
She looked at it for while, while sipping her coffee "Could it be that someone what's to achieve just that."
"What do you mean Romy?" Steve pulled her down onto his lap. Perching herself on his legs, she shrugged and picked up another picture.
"I mean the timing is highly convenient. Three days before the wedding. Let's mess it all up by sowing distrust between you guys and Adam, catching Kono in the middle", she shrugged.
Steve had laid his head on her shoulder, but now jerked up, his eyes met Chin's.
"Anyone out there who'd gain from the team no longer being a team?"
"Gabriel." Chin and Steve said at the same time.
"Waincroft?" Romy asked and she could feel Steve nod against her.
"My brother in law" Chin sighed "You can always count on him to make things difficult."
"Well, I leave you two to figure that one out." Romy stood up and covered her mouth for a yawn. She looked at the pictures for a moment, then up to Chin, contemplating how to say what's on her mind. "Kono is my friend. I don't lie to my friends. Figure something out quick." Chin had never heard her like that. There was steel in her voice. It actually frightened him slightly.
Leaning down, she cupped Steve's chin and kissed him thoroughly her tongue dipping cheekily into his mouth. When she broke the kiss, Steve chased after her mouth, but Romy just winked "Little incentive for you to come back to bed quickly."
With that she bid goodbye to Chin and sauntered back upstairs.
"Did I interrupt something?" Chin rubbed his neck self consciously. The lift of Steve eyebrows told the man everything he needed to know.
"Sorry man."
"Yeah, yeah. The second time in three weeks." Steve grumbled as he let Chin to the door.
"Maybe you should tie a sock around your door handle."
"As that would stop Williams."
Closing the door behind his friend, Steve took two stairs at a time to get upstairs. Standing in his bedroom door, he smirked, Romy laid on top of the covers, wearing his shirt. Three buttons strategically buttoned up.
"I think we need to finish what we started." He pulled his shirt of by the back of his neck, knowing exactly what it did to the woman currently occupying his bed. Romy sat up watching him prowl over to the bed, unbuttoning one tiny button with each of his steps. "I think I might have forgotten where we left off, Commander."
"Let me remind you." Steve growled and claimed her lips in a bruising kiss.
—xx—xx—
"So, you are bringing a date to the wedding?"
'Subtle Danny really subtle', Steve wanted to answer, instead he said "No, no I haven't planned anyone."
Danny pulled a face, "So you are just going to be sitting at the singles table with Kamekona, Jerry and Flippa."
"I'll be fine."
"You'll be hungry that's what you are gonna be. Why don't you bring Allie?"
"No, no. Allie is...she's my buddy. I don't know. I don't want to ruin that, asking her to come to the wedding make it weird."
"Yeah, yeah. I get it. Yo, Melissa has a friend."
"No."
"What she's very cute."
"No."
"What no?"
"No, because no."
"Steve, Romy is leaving, time to accept that or do something about it."
"Romy and I, we knew that we were on a time limit." He looked at Danny. "It was still a year though. I'm not ready to jump into something with somebody else, the same day she's leaving. I appreciate it though. I appreciate it."
"It's just a simple question." Danny couldn't believe how defensive Steve got and then had the audacity to say that he and Romy weren't anything. He decided to push further, the only way to get Steve to admit anything is keeping pushing that button.
"Let Melissa send a picture. Thats all."
Steve made a cutting motion with his arm
"What is..."Danny repeated the motion "What is that."
"That is a wall of silence. I just put up a wall of silence."
"Oh is that what it is? Cause that's gonna shut me up."
"It made you change the subject. Nothing shuts you up."
"So thats a no on the picture."
Steve made the wall of silence gesture again
"You've got the brain of a 5 year old you know that."
—xx—xx—
"Who is going to patch you up once I leave in 3 days?" Romy shook her head at Steve. "Hold still." She chastised him and dabbed at his forehead with the cotton swap.
"Maybe someone who'll be nice to me." He pulled her between his legs, closing his arms around her waist, effectively trapping her.
"I think I'm perfectly nice to you." Romy fiddled with the sticky part of the butterfly plaster before applying it carefully. "Especially to someone who thought it was a great idea to confront a serial killer on his own." She surveyed her handy work. "There - all done."
"Mhm" Steve shook his head. "You forgot something."
Romy rolled her eyes in fond exasperation, ever since she patched him up after Wo Fat, he insisted on it.
"Heile Heile Segen. Morgen gibt es Regen, Übermorgen Sonnenschein. Und da lacht mein Kindelein: Ist alles wieder gut." Romy recited the old verse, and kissed right next to the plaster on Steve's head.
"You know my Mom would get such a kick out of this."
"Out of what?"
"You, a fully grown man and Navy Seal, insisting I say the little verse she used to tell us when putting a plaster on our battle scars."
Steve shrugged with an impish grin "What can I say it makes me feel better."
"Well then it does its job." Romy stepped out of Steve grasp to tidy away the first aid supplies. "Anything else exciting happened today?"
"Well Danny found out that Charlie is his son." Steve hopped down the counter. Romy stood completely still the sterilised pads slipped from her grasp.
"You are fucking with me right now, aren't you?"
"Nope." Steve shook his head.
"Wow!" Her big eyes became even larger. "That's a bombshell."
"Apparently the kid is sick, and Danny needs to check if he can donate bone marrow."
"Wow!" Romy couldn't form anything else.
"Come on. I think we need a drink to digest that information."
Guiding her down the stairs, his hand securely at Romy's lower back, Steve parked her on the sofa, while pouring them both some Rum.
Romy took the glass from Steve, and folded her legs and turned to him. Her Rum glass sitting precariously on her knee. "So let me get this straight, Charlie is sick."
"Yeah."
"And Rachel, nor Grace or Stan obviously are matches."
"Yeah."
"So she would have never told him, if Charlie wouldn't need his bone marrow?"
"I guess so."
"And she always knew?"
"I assume so."
"Did Stan know?"
"According to Rachel, he does now. So I'll go with, he didn't know either."
"Danny is livid, isn't he?"
"We passed livid in the rear view mirror a couple of miles ago." Steve sighed and took a sip of his drink.
"Fuck." Romy lifted her glass and downed the rum in one go.
—xx—xx—
Romy surveyed her office, spinning in her office chair. Today was her last day. Tomorrow she would pack her room and the day after...it was going to be over. Her Hawaii adventure was going to be over.
She got up and stepped to the window, the view still as breathtaking as on her first day. Guests milled around the pool and the bar, some here clearly for business. In suits and dresses sitting under the sun shades, moving papers, pointing out details on laptops, some joyously soaking up the holiday the vibe. While others trying to do both, she could see a woman toeing out of her heel sneakily, still nodding and holding the conversation with her meeting, but Romy didn't miss the look of poor bliss that came over her as she buried her foot in the sand.
This, right there was what was so special about these islands. Turning around she picked up her notebook and jotted down a few lines.
James knocked on the door "You ready?"
Romy turned around and shook her head.
"And you didn't want to come here in the beginning." He teased her.
Scrunching her face, she tried to keep the tears at bay.
"Come on, Romy." He held out his hand. "The team is waiting."
Romy took his hand and let her work husband lead her down to the bar, where the teams of the two hotels were waiting for a toast.
He led her away from the gnawing feeling in her heart, from the empty suitcases, one in her suite and one at Steve's. That needed to be packed, memories that needed to be stored and goodbyes that she needed but not wanted to say.