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.
Jude leaned back in his chair as he watched the live feed of Catherine teaching her afternoon lessons in the school house. His phone vibrated and he chuckled when he read the caller ID. "Mama D, what's good?"
"Beckett, you better have a damn good explanation as to why the hell you're with Catherine Rollins in the field." Doris snapped.
He laughed, "Nice to hear from you too, Doris. Is that any way to talk to your favorite security agent?"
Doris huffed indignantly, "If I admit that you're my favorite, will you talk?"
"You've got a good chance." Jude mumbled as he zoomed in and watched a flurry of activity in the village square.
"Fine." Doris was curt, but there was a little smile in her voice, "You're my favorite. Now spill."
Jude turned his eyes back to the feed of the school house, "She got caught coming back across the border from Pakistan. When the field agents ran her name, it got flagged by someone back at Langley and we were ordered to detain, interrogate, and flip her into an asset."
"Assets aren't made to sign fucking contracts, Beckett." Doris hissed.
He tapped a staccato rhythm on his keyboard, "What are the chances that the McGarrett who got taken by Hassan is related to you?"
"He's my son which makes Rollins a person you don't fuck with or else you'll have to deal with me." She snapped.
"I had a hunch. That's why I convinced Marshall to put me on this one instead of sending her out with Coen." He ran a series of commands through the computer as he pulled Catherine's file. "I owe you for Jalalabad, remember?"
Doris laughed, "Of course I remember. Don't think this makes up for it either- you'll owe me for J-Bad for a long, long time. That's a big ass debt, Jude. If I remember correctly, YOU were the one who was supposed to be protecting ME."
"Yeah, yeah." He chuckled, "You want me to tell Catherine you called?"
"No." Doris's voice softened. "Keep this between us. I just need confirmation that she's okay."
Jude's playful tone suddenly turned deadly serious. "If she's with me, she's safe. You have my word."
"I'm counting on it."
Steve cleared out his inbox and leaned back in his desk chair. Things with Five-0 had been unusually slow which left him more free time than he could handle to think about Catherine. He had cleaned out his desk, answered emails that he had been months behind on, and had cleaned every firearm in the weapons cage at four times. He glanced at the clock. It was almost five, but nothing else required his attention. Just as he grabbed his keys and wallet, a ding alerted him to a new email.
He sank back down in his chair and pulled up his inbox one last time.
TO: Steve McGarrett
FROM: 041992
SUBJECT: Exciting Teaching Opportunities Await!
We are so excited to announce our 2014 teaching placements! Check out what our volunteers have been up to!
Steve eyed the email suspiciously. He walked his laptop out to the surface table and connected it before opening the encrypted attachment. Surveillance photos of Catherine and groups of children flooded the screen. Finally, a message opened on top of them all.
I've got eyes and ears on your girl. All is well.
-Mom
He quickly responded with
Good copy. Bravo zulu.
-S
Doris had come through, Catherine was safe, and he could sleep just a little bit easier at night. He saved the photos onto his phone and spent longer than he would have liked to admit looking at them. Catherine looked… happy. She didn't appear to be aware that the photos were being taken, and that's how he knew it was real. She was happy and it made his heart ache.
"Steve, I don't wanna fight again." Catherine sighed as she sulked in her room. She hadn't even bothered to change out of her local clothes. She hadn't been home from teaching for more than five minutes before Steve called her satellite phone. Catherine had been dodging his calls for the better part of two days. Her time in Qala-i-Mirza had crossed the two month mark and Steve was anxious for her to come home. Of course, he didn't know she wasn't coming home and she couldn't tell him why.
He groaned over the other end of the call, "Cath…I thought…. I just thought we were finally heading in the right direction."
"I've had a really hard day and the last thing I need is to be lectured." She snapped. Catherine didn't intend to take out her frustration on him, but the stress of keeping her employment a secret from him was proving to be too great a burden to bear. She sighed, "I'm sorry. I… I didn't mean to come at you like that... I just… I miss you and I finally feel like I'm doing something good here, but… God, Steve, it's hard." She whimpered.
"Talk to me."
She pulled off her hijab and ran her hand through her hair, "I miss sex. I want sushi and I want pancakes with a bucket of syrup. I miss your bed. I just…. I've never wanted someone as badly as I want you."
Steve chuckled, "I, uh, I agree. I guess I never realized how much I'd gotten used to you being here all the time. You know, after being apart for a bunch of years."
"Can I ask you something?" She quietly requested.
"Hm?"
Catherine chewed on her lip, "What took you so long?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know… to say I love you." Her timidity turned into a ramble, "I mean, I know I waited too, but I, um, I was just curious… you know. Your reasoning."
Steve inhaled a cleansing breath, "I waited too long." He admitted. "I shoulda told you the second I knew."
"When did you know?"
He chuckled, "I'll tell you when you come home and I can say it to your face."
Catherine felt the pang of guilt twist and churn in her stomach. Asking him to wait around while she fulfilled a six year contract that she couldn't tell him about wasn't at all fair to him. "I love you." She looked up when Jude appeared in the doorway and pointed for her to go up to the shack. Catherine pointed to the phone and mouthed, 'It's Steve'. In Pashto, Jude told her that a group of villagers were heading towards the shack. Catherine cursed in Pashto, "Hey, I, um, I gotta go. Something's going on."
Steve's voice became tense, "Get somewhere safe, Catherine." He ordered.
"Not like that. Just some… students coming by. I'll talk to you soon."
"I love you." His voice was thin and worn. The distance, the unknown- it was quickly chipping away at both of them.
"I love you too." Catherine hung up the satellite phone and quickly fashioned her hijab over her head and looked at Jude, "What's going on?"
He shrugged, "Dunno. Better get topside and see." Jude handed Catherine her trusty handgun. "Looks like Wajia and Zaram from the school, but take that just in case." He shooed her up the ladder and reassured her with, "Don't worry, Princess. I've got eyes and ears on you."
Catherine shimmied up the ladder and through the trapdoor. She barely had time to smooth the rug back over the metal cover before there was a knock on the rickety door and two voices that called out, "Teacher! Teacher!"
She quickly lit two lanterns and ushered the children inside. Catherine listened intently as Wajia, Zaram's older sister, told her in a panicked voice that their mother was in labor. Catherine sent them back to their house and promised she would be right behind them. She waited until they were out of sight to throw open the metal door and practically jump down into the CIA living quarters. "JUDE!" She shouted. He jogged down the hallway and tossed her a burlap bag filled with medical supplies. Catherine caught the bag and gave him a desperate look, "Please tell me that you know how the hell to deliver a baby. From what Wajia said I think the baby's breech and the midwife is in Kabul."
Jude looked just as panicked as Catherine did, "Can we get her in the truck and take her to the hospital in Kabul?"
Catherine shook her head, "I don't think she has time. That's a two hour trip IF there are no roadblocks and you and I both know that this time of night our chances of getting there that fast are zero. If we take her in it'll raise a hell of a lot of red flags."
He ran his hand back over his hair and gripped his fingers in the blond waves. His eyes darted back and forth as he formulated a plan. "Alright. Here's what's gonna happen." Jude dipped into the intel room and grabbed an earpiece. "You're gonna be on comms. I'll patch in the medic from The Salt Pit and have him talk us through it. Make sure your hijab covers the earpiece or you'll get made."
"And if things go sideways?" She asked frantically as she secured the comms unit. "Jude, I'm not a baby person! They freak me out!"
Jude was already sitting at his desk, pulling up the closest camera feed to the kids' house and calling the medic. "Then I'll break protocol and be there in person." Catherine nodded nervously and checked through the burlap medical bag one more time. "Get going, Princess. You can do this."
Catherine's hands moved with smooth precision as she massaged Zaafirah's belly to try and turn the baby. Jude relayed the medic's instructions with a steadying calm in his voice. She entertained Zaram with superhero stories told in Pashto while Wajia sat beside her, absorbing everything Catherine was doing, waiting with baited breath, ready to assist. She soothed Zaafirah when the pain became unbearable and held her hand as she pushed through contraction after contraction.
She dropped her head and wiped the sweat from her brow as she urged Zaafirah for another push. The ECV massage had been successful. She could see the baby's head. One more push and they would be in the clear. Catherine looked up at Zaafirah with excitement dancing in her eyes. "One more." She asked in Pashto. Flashing the tired mother a reassuring smile, Catherine felt a surge of adrenaline as she cheered Zaafirah on.
"She's beautiful." Catherine cooed as she settled the tiny infant on Zaafirah's chest and checked her pulse. She motioned for Wajia to cover her mother and new sister with the clean linens she had. Jude exhale a sigh of relief through her earpiece and Catherine was suddenly overwhelmed with the thought of all the things that could have possibly gone wrong. She quickly directed Zaram to help her clean up. As she and Wajia helped Zaafirah get comfortable, Catherine looked over at Zaram, "Where is your father tonight?" She asked the little boy in Pashto.
"He is a soldier." Zaram responded in his best English.
Catherine smiled proudly. Zaram was one of her most attentive students. He soaked up everything she taught like a sponge. "Is he gone often?"
"Yes."
She gave him a compassionate smile and responded in Pashto, "My father was a soldier too. A long time ago."
Zaram looked nervously over his shoulder at his mother and sister. He turned to Catherine and whispered, "Mother does not like the fighting. The war. She says father is doing bad things. It is okay when he is gone."
"When did he leave?" She asked quietly in Pashto.
The little boy held up four fingers, "Four days ago."
Catherine nodded, "Do you know when your father will come home?"
"Two days."
As the first rays of sunlight peeked over the mountain ridge, Catherine hauled in buckets of water from the village well. She prepared tea and breakfast for Zaafirah and her children. As she tucked another blanket around Zaafirah, the woman grabbed her hand and held it tightly. "Will you help me name her?" Zaafirah asked.
Catherine opened her mouth to say no when Jude's still voice filled her ear, "Shahzadi. Name her Shahzadi."
"What about Shahzadi?" Catherine suggested.
Zaafirah and Wajia exchanged hushed words before Wajia smiled brightly and nodded, responding in English, she said, "It means 'Princess'."
Tears filled Catherine's eyes as she gently smoothed her hand over the baby's tufts of dark hair, "Shahzadi."
Catherine limped down the trapdoor. She had asked Zaram to spread the word that there would be no school that day. She needed a shower and sleep. As she scanned her hand for entry and pushed the door open, Jude met her in the hallway, "You look like hell."
She smiled tiredly as she looked down at her blood and fluid streaked clothes. "Contrary to popular belief, delivering a baby is fucking messy as hell. The movies lie." Catherine unwrapped her hijab and took out the earpiece. She held it in her hand for a moment before handing it over, "Thank you, Jude." A knot formed in her throat as the adrenaline began to leech out of her system. "I…. I couldn't have done that without you."
Jude enveloped her in a bear hug. His steely arms caged her in against his chest. His deep voice rumbled as he said, "For someone who's not a baby person, you did a damn good job."
"And the intel?" Catherine had hoped Jude caught on to her conversation with Zaram about his father.
He grinned, "It was good. I ran the sat imagery from four days back when the kid said his dad left, followed the images forward and found the group of men in Kabul and sent their location to the agents in the city. A SEAL team already raided the compound, wrapped up the men and the intel. Looks like we got our shooters from the hotel attack."
Catherine stepped back from the hug, "Just like that?"
"Just like that." Jude crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "I know this isn't where you want to be, Catherine." Surprising both of them, he actually called her by her name. "But you've got good instincts. You're good at this. Better than most seasoned field agents." He yawed. It was daytime, but sleep was needed by both of them. "I don't know what you've got going on back home, but, uh, I think this is where you're meant to be. Legally binding contract aside, it's not gonna be as bad as you think. You were made for this."
She slumped against the wall. "I don't think it's really sunk in that I'm not going home." Catherine had never been one to be homesick. After all, she spent the majority of her childhood moving from base to base with her parents. When she commissioned into the Navy after finishing at the Naval Academy, she fell in love with the thrill of a new station, a new deployment, a new base. Now, all she wanted was Steve. He was her home.
Jude shucked off his t-shirt and dipped into his room, "If he followed you eight thousand miles to Afghanistan, he seems like the kind of guy who will wait."
"Six years?" She countered, "I can't lie to him for six years. I can't make him wait for me for six years."
He popped back out of his room wearing loose fitting pajama pants, "Whatever you feel like you need to do, at least wait until you get some sleep. Don't make a rash decision. No one makes good decisions when they haven't slept in…" He glanced at his watch, "Twenty-seven hours."
She heard the trickling of the coffee maker and the warm aroma of the brew as it began to percolate. "You're not going to bed?"
Jude shook his head and tapped a giant finger against the buzzed hair near his temple, "Eyes and ears, remember? I'm here to keep you safe." He nodded his head towards her room, "Get some sleep, Princess. I'll wake you when I need to tap out."
Journal #1
Qala-i-Mirza, Afghanistan
I'm almost out of pages in this journal. It's a good thing the op wrapped when it did or I'd have to ask Jude to get me a new one during the next dead drop. I feel bad asking for favors like that from him. He's been my rock through this. He's kept my spirits up. I don't want to admit it, but I couldn't have done this without him. I owe him a lot.
Today I delivered a baby and simultaneously ended a man's life. Beginnings and endings, I guess. It's kind of poetic. When we get back to the safehouse, I'm going to see if I can get Zaafirah and her kids granted political asylum. If I can't get them to the States, maybe I can get them into Europe as refugees.
Shahzadi is the most perfect infant I've ever seen. She's beautiful. Zaafirah asked me to help name her, but Jude was the one who suggested it. Her name means 'princess' in Pashto. I hope I'm helping create a better world for her to grow up in.
I was talking to Steve before Zaram And Wajia came to get me. We had gotten into yet another fight about me being here. I wish I could tell him everything. More than that, I wish I was home with him. I need him to know how much I love him. Six years of government mandated secrets and lies? I can't do that to him. He deserves better.
"What happened to them?" Steve looked up from the journal as he put the finishing touches on Shelby's block tower. "Do you know?"
Catherine sat on the floor beside him and flipped to the back of the journal where she had photos and mementos tucked in a pocket. She pulled out a family photo of Zaafirah, Wajia, Zaram, and Shahzadi and handed it to him. From the looks of it, it was fairly recent. Wajia looked grown up and was the spitting image of her mother. Zaram was a handsome teenager with a goofy, ear to ear grin. Shahzadi, true to her name, had them all wrapped around her finger. Her dark curls brushed halfway down her back as she came waist high to her brother. "They were granted refugee status." Catherine tried to subdue her proud smile. "Made it to Europe. Wajia did really well in school and got into medical school on a full ride. She graduated a few years ago." She pulled out another photo that showed the family at Wajia's college graduation. "She's doing her residency in Germany and last I heard, she really loves working in labor and delivery."
Steve examined the photo in awe. Only Catherine could take an assignment that was intended to prevent harm, and not only do that, but to replace it with something good. Something life changing. "You do a good job at doing good things."
"I only did one thing." She carefully tucked the photos back into the journal and pulled Shelby up onto her lap, "But I realized that one good thing can multiply. Can change lives. Kind of like you and Nahele. You took him under your wing. Gave him a chance, and now look at him. He's a Navy SEAL. He was able to break the cycle of crime and drugs and homelessness in his family because of one thing you did. He got a second chance at life."
He turned to the last page of the journal and read what she had scribbled down.
Go into the world and do well.
More importantly, go into the world and do good.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Leave your thoughts and comments in the reviews!
Have a wonderful week guys!
XO,
-Mags-
l
