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.
"Happy Halloween!" Catherine smiled as she scooped out a handful of candy and dropped it in the pumpkin that the little ghost held in his chocolate covered hands. Someone had been dipping into their supply as they went. Not that Catherine blamed the little boy. She'd had her fair share of peanut butter cups and the night was still young.
A tiny baseball player and a very sparkly princess came running up to the porch, "TRICK OR TREAT!" They screamed.
"Kids, calm down. Say it nicely." The mom scolded them as she ran to catch up. "Sorry." She smiled sheepishly at Catherine.
"Trick or treat?" The kids tempered their excitement and held their bags out in anticipation.
Catherine laughed and filled their bags, "Happy Halloween, you two." She had pulled her cammies out of the closet and, for one night, was Lieutenant Rollins.
The mom pointed to the house, "You must've just moved here. I used to know the family that owned this house." She laughed, "I was friends with their son, Steve, when we were kids."
As if on cue, Steve walked up the driveway with Shelby on his shoulders and a plastic pumpkin full of candy. He too had dug his green camouflage uniform out of retirement to reprise his role as Commander Steve McGarrett - U.S. Navy SEAL and father to two adorable ensigns. Catherine had found matching camouflage costumes for Shelby and Will and much to Steve's dismay, had insisted on a plethora of pictures. Catherine laughed at the sight of her studly SEAL trick or treating with his daughter and motioned for the woman to look behind her, "You're in luck. There's Steve now."
She looked much more mature than her fifteen year old self but Steve recognized her instantly, "Jenny Feldman." He chuckled, "Haven't seen you in a long time." He gave her a polite one-armed hug before pulling Shelby off his shoulders and letting her run into the house.
Jenny smiled and flashed her wedding ring and pointed to her kids, "It's, uh, it's Miller now. Got married a while back. Wow- I had no idea you still lived here! My in-laws live a couple blocks away, so I brought the kids through the neighborhood for trick or treating!"
"Small world." He grinned before motioning to Catherine, "Jenny, this is my wife, Catherine." He looked around Catherine and pointed to Shelby, "And that's Shelby."
Catherine withheld a snicker as she watched Steve introduce his teenage crush to his growing family. Then she remembered that the first time Steve had told her about Jenny Feldman and his former Halloween antics.
Steve liked to pretend that he had moved on from watching Child's Play and making out on the couch, but Catherine had seen the VHS tape box make an appearance on the coffee table earlier that day and couldn't help but be a little excited.
Steve slung his arm around Catherine's shoulder and sunk into the leather couch. Her eyes studied his stiff posture. His hand never even touched her skin. It's like they were back on the Enterprise and were awkwardly platonic. "Ugh, I don't know what's sadder: the fact that you use this lame movie to hook up with girls, or the fact that it worked." She giggled
"Clearly, I don't know what you're talking about." He feigned innocence.
"Oh, please! You put on a scary movie, wait for the girl to fall in your arms. It's all just a little bit obvious." I mean, not that she blamed him. It clearly worked and Catherine, for one, was not protesting her very fortunate position being the one snuggling in his arms.
"Okay, tell me you weren't trying to seduce me the other night when you made me watch The Notebook."
Seduce, no. She didn't need a movie to seduce him. He was putty in her hands the minute she strolled through the door wearing that green dress he liked so much. Looking for an in-road to bring up the subject of l-o-v-e? Maybe. But she'd never admit to it. "What? That movie won an Oscar."
"No, it didn't."
"Okay... maybe it was a Teen Choice Award, but that movie was romantic."
Steve grinned, "Oh! So it's not my method that you object to, it's the movie I choose."
Catherine pointed to the Child's Play VHS box, "I mean, honestly… Come on. Was this really even scary when you were a kid?"
"Jenny Feldman thought so."
She gasped in an Oscar-worthy performance, "That slut!"
Steve grinned as he took the opportunity to make his move, "She thought she was so scared.
"No!" Catherine laughed as she laid back on the couch and let him feel fifteen again as he ducked in for a kiss.
"She was terrified. Oh my God." He chuckled as he straddled her and wrapped her leg around his hips.
Catherine pulled back, crushing her skull into the couch, "Oh, wait."
"What?"
"Sure your mom's not coming home?" She had offered to have their movie night at her place but his house had more trick or treaters and he insisted that Child's Play could only be watched on that damn couch.
"Um, listen. Mom is in Maui visiting friends. Okay?" Catherine didn't need to be told twice, especially when his hand was going up, up, up the side of her thigh and almost to her….. The ringing of the doorbell stilled his wandering hands and she internally cursed the child on the other side of the door. "Go away." Steve shouted before dipping back in and teasing her lower lip with a nibble. "They'll move along. It's fine." He said confidently, but the knock came back.
"Someone wants their candy." She said sympathetically as the doorbell rang again.
"They'll move along eventually. It's gonna be great." He said dismissively as he pressed closer.
The knocking had gotten on Catherine's last nerve. She pulled away and pressed her hands against his chest, "They don't get some, you don't get some." She threatened.
"Okay." He was up and walking towards the door without any debate. Doris's presence in his home meant that Catherine had been avoiding it at all costs which, in turn, meant his bed had been cold and he was wound tight. "All right, all right." He grumbled as he grabbed the bowl of Reese's and opened the door.
"She ditched me." Danny snapped as he pushed his way inside.
"Please come in." Steve hissed. His house was just a revolving door of cold showers.
Danny continued, "My own daughter ditched me. It's Halloween. We're supposed to go trick-or-treating. She says, "Dad, is it okay if I go with my friends instead? What am I supposed to do, huh? Say, "No, I command you to spend Halloween with your father?"." He sighed as he plopped down into a chair. "Doesn't sound so bad. I should have said it."
Steve shook the bowl of candy at Danny, hoping he'd take a hint. "Hey, want some candy?"
"No, I don't want candy." He wrinkled his nose in disgust, "Can I have a beer?"
"You want a beer?"
"Yeah. What's the matter with you?"
Steve slammed the door with a huff and petulantly dropped the bowl of candy back on the entry table. "Okay." He stomped towards the kitchen.
Danny turned to Catherine and continued his ramblings, "It's my fault. And I know it's my fault too - the times I had to, uh, bail on her because of work. She has learned that it's, um, it's acceptable to be unreliable."
"No, don't beat yourself up about this." Teamwork makes the dream work. Steve will get him a beer to take the edge off, Catherine could talk him down. "Grace is at the age where she's discovering her independence right now."
"She's ten. What independence? And what's gonna happen when she gets to high school?"
"Oh, wait till she starts dating." And just like that, her plan to get Danny back on the horse and out the door went to hell.
Danny looked as if he had been gutted, "Are you trying to make me feel better? You're not doing a very good job. Dating…" He grabbed a piece of popcorn and tossed it into his mouth. He looked up in anticipation of the Longboard Steve had ducked away to grab, "Where's the beer?"
"You're on duty." Steve clipped on his badge and secured his holster to his hip. "Chin just called."
"Caught a case?" Danny stated. Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable.
Steve was already at the door, "Let's go." He grumbled.
"I had ten minutes with my daughter when I pick her up from a sleepover. Now I gotta call Rachel and ask her to do it?"
Catherine shook her head and caught his attention, "No, no, no. Send me the address,
and I'll go pick her up for you."
"Really?" Danny's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"Yeah, of course. I'd be happy to."
"That'd be very nice. I'd appreciate that. That's very sweet of you. Thank you very much."
Catherine stretched up and gave Steve a kiss, "Go. I got it."
Steve glanced up from his phone as they pushed the glass doors to HQ open. "Cath just picked up Gracie and they're hitting the Wailana for breakfast. She's gonna take her back to my place after."
"You sure Grace is gonna be okay with Catherine?" Danny was on Steve's heels as they made their way into the bullpen.
He chuckled, "Grace is probably safer with Catherine than with you."
Danny scoffed, "What's that supposed to mean?"
The morning light poured into the office and somehow it gave Steve a second burst of energy, even after being up all night working this damn homicide. "It, uh, it means just what I said. Catherine's responsible. She's… she's intuitive… She can assemble a rifle in under thirty seconds in the dark. She's great under pressure. She's no combat medic but she can keep you alive if you, uh get hurt in the field."
He raised his hand to silence Steve, "Are you saying that your girlfriend is going to put my daughter in the presence of a weapon or in a situation in which a weapon is being aimed at her?" Steve stopped him in his tracks and pointed to the gun in Danny's holster. Danny rolled his eyes, "Don't start with me. You know what I meant."
Steve chuckled, "I'm just sayin'. If I'm going downrange, Catherine's the one I trust to watch my six. Gracie - she'll be fine."
"She's the one you trust to watch your six?" Danny sneered, "Please... Please, Steven. Tell me that's not, uh that's not your version of pillow talk? Okay? Because if it is, you, my friend, are hopeless and you are going to die a gun-toting bachelor if you do not, uh, sweeten things up."
"Sweeten things up?"
Danny nodded, "Yeah, sweeten. You know, like, uh, like telling her that she looks pretty. Or that seeing her makes your day better. Just…. Something nicer than 'you're the one I want watching my six'."
He hadn't figured out the right time to say the three little words that were on the tip of his tongue, so instead, he had always opted for 'I got your six'. Sure, it wasn't the same as saying I love you, but to Steve, that was his way of expressing his affection. He scrubbed his palm down the stubble that had sprouted on his jaw, "She knows, Danny. Catherine knows I think she's pretty. I wouldn't be with her if I wasn't attracted to her."
"Right. But you have to tell her that."
"She's a smart woman. She knows." Steve argued.
Danny shook his head, "Will you text her back and tell her thank you for me? And - I'm just throwing this out there 'cause you're my boy - I dare you. I dare you to pay her an actual compliment." Steve opened his mouth to protest but Danny cut him off, "And it must be in civilian English, not, uh, not military code or some weird acronym or somethin'."
Steve rolled his eyes but quickly typed out a text and sent it to Catherine.
Steve: Danno said thanks for taking care of Grace. Also, you looked really pretty last night.
Danny grinned from ear to ear as his phone buzzed with an incoming text message.
Grace: Miss Catherine has tears in her eyes but she's smiling. What do I do?
He held his phone out to Steve and wiggled his eyebrows, "Eh? What'd I tell you? Who's the greatest wingman of all time?"
Steve shook his head, "I wouldn't need a wingman if you hadn't crashed our movie night last night."
"Details, details." Danny waved his hand as they met up with Chin and Kono around the surface table.
"Miss Catherine, why do you have a key to Uncle Steve's house?" Grace asked as Catherine shut the door to her Corvette and led her inside.
Catherine laughed nervously, "Well, uh, I like to swim so he lets me come over whenever I'm not at work and swim in the bay."
Grace gave her a doubtful look. Even the little girl could see through her lie, "Why aren't you and Uncle Steve married? Danno said you guys have been together longer than he and my mom were."
"Well, we've, um… We've known each other for a long time." Catherine was prepared for post-sleepover chats over pancakes. She wasn't prepared for a pre-teen inquisition.
"Danno says it's because Uncle Steve has commitment issues." Grace stated matter-of-fact even though she had no idea what 'commitment issues' meant. Catherine stifled a laugh. Even Danny had Steve pegged. "When are you and Uncle Steve going to get married?"
This girl. Catherine shook her head. Grace had the makings of a great detective. Inquisitive and determined. Those qualities, however, put Catherine in a very awkward position, "I…. uh…." She heard the rumble of the Camaro as it pulled in the driveway, "Sounds like your dad and Uncle Steve are back."
Not a minute later, Steve and Danny walked through the door. "How's my girl?" Danny grinned as Grace ran up and gave him a hug. "Did you have fun with Miss Catherine?"
"You came back too soon." Grace pouted. "Miss Catherine and I were talking about her marrying Uncle Steve."
Steve nearly swallowed his tongue as Catherine's eyes widened and her jaw dropped, "Uh, that's not exactly-"
Danny snickered maniacally as he took Grace's hand, "Catherine, thank you for picking her up. I owe you. Now. We're going to go so these two can have a nice little talk." He said on his way out the door.
As soon as Danny shut the door behind Grace, Catherine turned and frantically rambled, "Steve, it wasn't like that, I swear. She was just asking why I had a key to your house and I didn't really want to go into the whole birds and the bees thing so I lied and she saw right through it and then asked why we weren't married and then asked WHEN we were getting married and I didn't have time to explain before you guys came back and I just-"
Steve had learned long ago that when Catherine started rambling, the only way to get her to stop was, well... physically. He stepped forward and put his hands on her arms, silencing her with a kiss. When he pulled away, Steve rested his forehead on hers, "Have I told you how glad I am that you're here?"
Catherine smiled and nudged his head up with hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck, "I'm sorry. Grace got a little carried away with the questions. But I swear, I didn't say anything that would lead her to believe that we-"
"We're two adults who are well over the age of thirty who have been together for a long time." He stated. "It's, uh, it's a logical question for her to have asked."
She chewed on her lip, "I just didn't want you to think that I was… you know… looking too far down the road…"
Steve wrapped his arms around her waist, "Be honest with me, Cath." He waited until her eyes met his. "Is it…. Is it something you've thought about before?"
Her heart beat like a stampeding horse. Her cheeks flushed an unsightly shade of red and what was that ringing in her ears. She did her best to catch her breath but it was no where to be found. Were those vultures flapping around in her stomach? Was she having a stroke? A heart attack? A pulmonary embolism? Catherine finally took a deep breath and trained her eyes on the wall behind him before quietly admitting, "Yes."
He tucked his index finger under her chin and turned her face to meet his, "Me too." His thumb caressed her cheek before delving back into her hair and finding the star tattoo on the back of her neck. "I don't wanna move too fast… But I like knowing where your head's at."
Catherine cracked a smile, "We've been chasing each other since the nineties. I don't think we could move fast if we tried." She chewed on her lip. They had talked about the M-word: marriage and surprisingly, it hadn't killed them. If he had thought about it before then did that mean he had thought about the L-word too? She had been waiting for the right time to tell him. It had been on the tip of her tongue for years. Three little words. Three little terrifying, soul-bearing, potentially heartbreaking words. Maybe this was the right time. Catherine gathered her shreds of dignity and courage and opened her mouth, "I-"
Steve's massive yawn cut her off. "I haven't slept in like… thirty hours. I hate overnight cases." He groaned.
She reached up and ran her fingers through his hair, "Nap?"
Steve nodded. "Join me?"
Steve sat on the couch with Catherine tucked into his side. They had agreed on a repeat of their Halloween movie night since it had been interrupted by Kamekona, Danny, and a double homicide-slash-abduction-slash-attempted homicide. Halloween in Hawaii - never a dull moment.
He had a warmth inside him. He wasn't sure if it was from the buzz of being three beers deep or the fact that he and Catherine had admitted that they were heading in the same direction with their relationsh- thing. The arm that was snaked around her shoulders pulled her in closer, his hand resting politely on her knee. The string of dirty promises Catherine was whispering in his ear? Not so ladylike.
Catherine cupped his jaw in her hand and turned his head as she leaned in for a kiss. If he wanted to play out this fantasy he had been holding onto since he was a teenager, she was more than willing to participate. The amateur kissing, she thought, either he was a great actor or completely…. Her eyes opened to see him peering at the TV screen. Distracted. She frowned and pulled back, "Oh, I'm sorry. Am I distracting you?"
"What?" His brow furrowed, "C'mon. What are you doin'?" He mumbled as he leaned back in and pulled her closer.
A few prolonged pecks and a half-assed attempt at turning their tryst into a make-out session and Catherine was fed up, "Wait." She studied his face.
"What?"
"You've never seen the ending of this film, have you?" She accused him with a playful sparkle in her eye.
Steve scoffed and shook his head, "What? Uh, ah, come on, I've-" The doorbell had never sounded so good. He grabbed the remote and paused the movie.
"Are you serious?!" Catherine laughed.
He shrugged sheepishly, "I don't wanna miss what happens next!" He looked up as Danny and Grace walked through the door. Maybe it was a good thing he hadn't made it past first base since Danny had let his daughter in the house without making sure the coast was clear.
"'Ay." Danny grinned as they paraded into the living room.
"Hey."
Grace stood in front of the couch and held out her candy bag, "Trick or treat!"
"Trick or treat? What is this?"
"I missed trick-or-treating with Danno." Grace stated.
"Oh, this is like a do-over? Okay. Bumblebee." He successfully identified Grace's costume and turned to Danny. "Um… What are you?"
Danny pointed to the red beach towel that was draped around his shoulders, "I am a superhero."
"Which one?"
"The one with the red cape. You gonna ask questions, or are you gonna give us candy?" Danny stated petulantly.
"I don't have any candy. We ate it all, okay? I got some, uh, goji berry energy bars-"
Catherine, not wanting to subject a child to Steve's health food, came up with a better alternative, "No, we were just about to watch another movie. You guys ever heard of The Notebook?"
Grace beamed from ear to ear, "I love The Notebook!"
"Yeah?" Catherine grinned and patted the spot next to her on the couch. "Come on over. There we go."
Steve popped the DVD into the player and turned to see a nearly full couch and two bodies separating him from his girl. He wanted to pitch a fit, but seeing Catherine pawing through Grace's candy bag, no doubt looking for razor blades and Reese's, made him feel the same way he had a few hours earlier when she had admitted that marriage was on her mind. He liked that feeling.
Danny settled in beside Grace, "I'm gonna keep my cape on for this film, in case I gotta fly out of here." He looked over at Steve, "What's The Notebook?"
Steve groaned as he snuggled up to… Danny. "You're gonna hate it."
"It can't be that bad…. Well, it can't be that bad, right? Want some popcorn?" Danny grabbed the bowl off the coffee table and held it in his lap. He leaned towards Steve once the girls were fully engrossed in Nicholas Sparks and murmured, "Hey, I'm, uh, I'm sorry if Grace made things awkward earlier with the whole, uh, marrying thing."
Steve shook his head dismissively. Suddenly, Noah and Allie didn't seem so careless. Suddenly, the idea of chasing someone through a deployment, through a girl falling for another man, fighting and loving until their dying breaths wasn't crazy or reckless. Suddenly he realized why Catherine liked The Notebook. It wasn't just another story. It was theirs. It was going to be theirs.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
I'm back, loves! I had a great few days of rest and relaxation and am so excited to get back in the swing of daily chapter uploads! Leave your feedback in the reviews!
QUESTION: If you could have an car from the show, which one would it be? For me - it's the original silver Camaro from the early seasons! Also, in my opinion, the blue Silverado was WAY better than the white and red ones.
Have a wonderful day, dears!
XO,
-Mags-
