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: Finishing up at HQ. Want me to pick up dinner?

Catherine: Roger that. I'll be home in 30.

Steve: What sounds good?

Catherine: Surprise me.


Steve scribbled his signature on the bottom of the last report. Closing the file and tossing it aside, he grabbed his phone to call in a take-out order. He paused. Glancing up and watching as Chin flipped off the lights in his office and waved goodbye, Steve realized that he was the only one left. Abandoning his dinner order, Steve scrolled through his contacts and selected a different number. He took a shaky breath and waited.

"Well, well, well." Tom Rollins chuckled, "I thought I was gonna have to hunt you down, son."

Steve grinned, "No, Sir."

"How's our girl?"

"Good, Sir. She's good." Steve leaned back in his desk chair and propped his feet up. "Settling back in."

"Glad to hear it." Tom paused a beat, "Now, is this a social call or is this THE call?"

Steve felt his heart pound like a jackhammer, "You're a smart man, Sir."

Tom laughed, "That's three 'sirs' in about fifteen seconds. I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that this is THE call."

"Yes, Sir."

"Alright, then. Let's hear it."

Steve sat forward and took a deep breath. He was a grown ass man, why was this so damn terrifying? "I'd like to ask Catherine to marry me." Everything went numb. Sweat beaded on his forehead. Is this what a heart attack feels like? "I, uh, I respect her and her ability to make her own decisions, so I, um, I want it to be clear that I'm not asking for your permission, but I, um, I'd really like it if we had your and Evelyn's blessing."

"WELL, IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME!" Evelyn shrieked across the line. "I thought we were gonna have to bribe him."

Tom chuckled, "Sorry. She made me put it on speaker."

Steve smiled as he felt the nerves slowly leech out of his system. "I love your daughter. Very much. I hope you both know that."

"Of course we know that!" Evelyn laughed, "I've known that since the first time you stepped foot in our house about a million years ago. Took you long enough, but I'm glad to know you two finally caught up."

He heard Tom and Evelyn bicker in hushed voices before Tom came back on the line, "I know I should probably give you the you-hurt-her-and-i'll-kill-you speech, but it's Catherine we're talking about. You piss her off and she'll kill you herself." He chuckled, "You have our blessing. It's never been a question for me or Ev. You're a good man and hell- you're already part of the family, son. We're just glad you two want to make it official."

Warmth flooded his extremities as he felt relief wash over him, "Thank you, Sir, Evelyn." He cleared his throat, "One more thing- if you could keep this conversation between us until I ask her, I'd appreciate that."

"Of course."


"Where did you find chicken and waffles at this time of night?" Catherine groaned in delight as she unpacked the takeout bags. Some fifteen years after she had passed him a note on The Enterprise saying she loved chicken and waffles, he still remembered.

Steve smiled proudly, "Classified." He put his hands on her hips and turned her to face him, pressing her back into the kitchen counter. "Did you have a good day?" He kissed her slowly, his fingers digging into the curve of her waist. Her quiet whimper as he tilted her head to the side and trailed kisses down her neck was the only answer he was going to get.

"Steve!" She squealed as he tore her shirt off of her head and tossed it aside.

He wasn't deterred in the slightest. Leaning down and grabbing her ass, he picked her up. She wrapped her legs around him as he stumbled his way up the stairs. "Have I told you how much I missed you?" He mumbled as he tossed her on the bed with a bounce.

"Only about four thousand times." She giggled. Reaching out to free him of his shirt, he grabbed her hands and pinned them above her head. Lust and desire clouded his eyes. Her gaze lifted to the corded forearms that were posted above her head. She swore under her breath. Men's forearms were like cleavage, except no guy ever got cat-called in public for having his sleeves rolled up. She wanted to shred that damn shirt into a million ribbons of confetti.

The pressure released off of her hands, but she obeyed and kept them exactly where Steve had planted them. Somehow, her shorts disappeared. Maybe he had melted them off. It was plausible. "Is this okay?" He murmured as his teeth nipped at that spot on the inside of her thigh that drove her absolutely crazy.

She wasn't about to confess to him that his mere presence robbed her of her faculties. She could smell him, for goodness sakes. The laundry detergent from his clean shirt combined with the spice of his soap and the faint aroma of firearm cleaning solvent was enough to drive her nuts. The symphony of fragrances triggered an endless marathon of X-rated fantasies in her head that made his slow seduction almost physically painful. Without even realizing it, Catherine was gripping onto his shoulders for dear life as his teeth sunk into the velvet smooth skin of her breast. Her whole body was on fire and the grip that his calloused hands had on her thighs only added fuel to the blaze. Burning pulses of desire pierced through her as her legs wrapped around his waist and brought him closer.

Steve's head dipped into the junction of her neck and shoulder as he sucked on her soft skin. Catherine let out an involuntary moan as her body arched towards him. Her fingers released themselves from his shoulders and cruised down the rock hard lines of his chest and abs. Her nails scraped down his skin, causing Steve to toss his head back in ecstasy.

Everywhere his hands touched her body burned with desire. Steve's mouth found her lips again, "God…." He whispered against her mouth, "You're so beautiful, Catherine."

He worshipped her. He treated her body as if it was something to be revered. The way he prayed her name was a spiritual experience in itself. Catherine smiled as her hands traced every line of his abs down to where the grid of his abdominal muscles dipped into the V-cut ridges of his dangerously sexy obliques. Steve shuddered as her fingers trailed down the swooping lines of his muscles. "You being this damn sexy really is a crime." She smirked.

Steve chuckled as he matched her hips with his and placed a slow kiss in the valley of her breasts while he slowly brought their bodies together. Catherine's breath caught in her throat as she felt him. All of him. They had been intimate so many times, but she was never not surprised at the way they moved together - the way they fit together. She couldn't imagine being intimate with anyone else the way she was with Steve. A year apart had done absolutely nothing to change the way they read each other's minds- each other's hearts. He gripped her hips as he moved inside her. This was the definition of pleasure. This was euphoria.

"Oh, God." Catherine whispered, half in rapture, half in panic. "Steve, you're not wearing a-"

He cut her off with a growl, "I haven't been with anyone else."

Steve groaned as he felt her tighten around him. Waves of pleasure ripped through them both, one after the other. Steve collapsed on top of her, enveloping her in his embrace. There they laid- a tangle of arms and legs in a twisted mess of sheets. They laid there like so many times before, but somehow this was different. He rested his forehead in the crook of her neck as he hovered over her and whispered sweet praises and dirty promises. His hand found the back of her neck and tilted her head up, "Do you know how much I love you?"

Every ounce of blood in her body rushed from her brain to her heart. Catherine closed her eyes as a tear slid out of the corner of her eye and disappeared in her hair. Steve placed a featherlight kiss on the glimmering path of the tear. Catherine pressed her fingers to her mouth, "I'm sorry. I- I never get choked up about this stuff." She whispered as she wiped her eyes. Years had passed, but she had never been able to shirk off the expectation to compartmentalize her feelings and be a stoic, emotionless cog in the military machine.

"Hey…" He laid beside her and pulled her into his arms. "C'mere." His strong hands tucked her into his side, stroking her bare back. "Cath, I didn't know if I was ever gonna get to see you again." He pressed a kiss into her wild hair, "You wanna know why I always say that you scare the hell outta me?" Her doe eyes flitted up to meet his and his heart leapt, "Because being with you is like getting struck by lightning. You wreck me, Catherine Rollins. You're one in a million."

Catherine laughed as she wrapped her arm around his waist. "More like one in five hundred thousand." She looked up at him, "Those are the odds of getting struck by lightning."

He reached down and pinched her ass. She squealed and kicked against him, but he held her fast and sure. "Alright, smartass. I was trying to be romantic."

"Can you say it again?" She asked timidly.

Steve tilted her chin up and kissed her. He tasted everything her lips had to offer before pulling back and nuzzling her nose with his, "I love you, you know. And I plan on making up for all the times I never told you."


Hours later, Steve and Catherine feasted on reheated chicken and waffles and room temperature beers. "You wanna talk about it?" Steve was reclined on the couch with Catherine in his arms.

"Talk about what?"

"How badly Tony Romo is getting his ass handed to him in pre-season."

Catherine rolled her eyes and craned her head back to look at him, "What do you wanna talk about?"

He leaned down and kissed her forehead, "Afghanistan." He skimmed his hands up and down her arms. "Maybe why you told me not to wait for you. Maybe why you, uh, you decided to come back?"

She felt the bile rising up her throat, a burning reminder of her reality. "I want you to be happy."

"I am. With you."

"And what if I hadn't come back?"

Steve sighed in exasperation, "I dunno, Cath. But it doesn't matter 'cause I waited. I'm not bullshitting. I didn't see anyone else. And you're here now. You're back."

Catherine bit down on the inside of her cheek. Why did he have to be such a good guy? Why did she have to be so madly in love with him?

"Catherine, I've wanted you since the day I met you." He buried his nose in her hair and closed his eyes. Hoping. Praying. "Tell me this is what you want. Tell me you want this- us."

She wasn't going to lie to him. "I want this." The knife twisted further and further in her heart. Every time his hands touched her it felt like a taser blazing against her skin. Guilt began to build back her walls. Catherine shut her eyes to block it out.

"Hey." His calming voice disarmed her. "Where's your head at?"

"I'm sorry things happened this way." It wasn't an apology for the past. It was a warning for the future.

Steve pulled a blanket down from the top of the couch and draped it over their entwined bodies. "Don't be." He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and let his hand linger on her jaw, "Don't make plans for this weekend. Okay?"

She rolled onto her stomach and rested her chin on his chest, "Why?"

"I'm not on call and, uh, I wanna take you away for the weekend. Just the two of us."

Catherine's teeth sunk down into her lip. "Okay."


Journal #3

Home

Is it possible to get struck by lightning twice? What about 100 times? That's what being with Steve feels like. Something electrifying and so powerful that you don't know if you'll survive it. I feel like I've been struck by lightning a million times. Everytime it happens I think I'm going to die. And everytime I get struck, I want it to happen again and again.

The last two weeks Jude's given me space. I'll get the occasional text with a picture of whatever cocktail he's trying out that day, but it's comforting to know that he's around if I need him. I know I'm going to need him when it comes time to leave because when I leave this time, I won't be back.

I can't keep doing this to him. Yeah, I'm leaving for Steve's safety, but he'll never see it that way. He'll see it as me leaving again. Me lying to him again. I know he'll never forgive me for this, but that's something I'll have to learn to live with. These are the sacrifices we make for the ones we love.


Steve and Catherine laid in a tangled mess of sheets. Their bare skin was covered in a sheen of sweat and lust. Catherine looked up at him as she giggled and rolled away, "That was fun."

Chuckling, he glanced at the clock. "Round two?"

She shot him a look of disbelief that said he was out of his damn mind. "You have the stamina of a twenty year old."

"What can I say?" He smirked as he prowled across the mattress, "I'm highly motivated."

"You're insatiable."

"Is that a bad thing?" He grinned as he leaned down and planted a hard kiss on her mouth.

"Careful." She warned with a mischievous smile, "You get me pregnant again and we'll be outnumbered and unarmed."

Steve chuckled, "Yes, ma'am." He laid beside her and trailed his fingertips up and down her hip and thigh. "Tell me about Jude."

Catherine raised her eyebrows and snickered, "I am not going to talk about Jude while I'm naked in bed with you."

"You heard anything from him?"

Catherine closed her eyes, "I really don't want to talk about him right now, Steve."

"Cath, come on…"

"Do you trust me?"

His head flopped back on the pillow as he shoved his fingers into his hair, "Yeah. I do."

She propped herself up on her forearm and brushed her thumb over the crows feet at the corner of his eye, "I'm not trying to shut you out." Her hand stilled on his cheek. "It's just something I've tried not to think about since I left the agency."

"Can I ask one thing?"

"Hm?"

Steve pulled her closer. His arms caged her in against him. He wasn't running. He wasn't going to be scared off. He wasn't going to bat an eye when her demons threatened to come between them. He was a fighter. "Who was he to you?"

Catherine curled into his side and laced her fingers with his. She thought for a moment and tried to drum up some semblance of an explanation, but all she could say was, "That's a complicated answer."


AUTHOR'S NOTE

You guys! I made it through an insane week of work without any chapter upload delays! Three cheers for time management skills!

I had to throw a little Tom and Evelyn in before 6x03 happens because, goodness. I love them. This is also your friendly reminder to read "Morocco" if you haven't already! It fits in with this canon and there are some important revelations you'll want to be privy to when the time comes!

Leave your thoughts and comments in the reviews! You guys are seriously the best! I rarely look at the story traffic analytics, but I took a peek this week and was absolutely FLOORED at how many people read this on the daily! So this is my sincere THANK YOU for being interested in this hobby of mine and sticking around for a few months while we navigate this crazy story!

XO,

-Mags-


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