Chapter 45
His house came alive with the buzz of activity, just about everyone had made it including the full Five-0 team, Kamekona and all of the Brown family. Kono and Chin had both brought someone; Kono had a rather nervous-looking Charlie Fong from the Crime Lab in tow and Chin was accompanied by Laura Hills, the ex-aide to Pat Jameson, as the lady who had done her best to help Steve had been cleared to leave the safe house.
Steve was most excited about Catherine being there though, she was still on Oahu and had managed to swap her duties with a colleague so she could leave the base for the night – as long as she reported for duty by zero seven hundred hours the next morning then she was okay. Danny had Gracie with him, having persuaded Rachel to grant him the evening with his daughter. Rachel had been impressed with the Commander's respectful handling of the sordid situation involving the racy pictures, ever to be known as 'Photogate', and didn't want to deny Grace spending a bit of time with her Uncle Steve. The mother in her was very aware of how Mattie's sudden disappearance had affected her little girl and was only too happy for Steve to be a substitute uncle. Steve had already insisted that they stay the night in the guest rooms and then Danny would drop Grace off at school in the morning.
Steve could barely make his way into his kitchen past all the people in his house and nudged up against Catherine as he retrieved more supplies from his refrigerator. She smiled at him, "Hey, Sailor," but then her smile faltered and she lowered her voice so that only he could hear what she was saying, "how are you, Steve? I'm so sorry about Agent Greer, I know you were close once." Steve looked surprised and Catherine clarified her previous remark, "She told me about it when we were both at the Pentagon a little while ago. I kind of get the feeling that she thought it would bother me, but why would it? It was long before you finally plucked up the courage to ask me to the Army-Navy Gala at West Point." Steve smiled at her,
"Don't know what took me so long . . . hey, can we have a proper talk later tonight?"
"Of course, but right now you have a house full of hungry guests to feed so get back out there and man that grill." Steve dipped his head,
"Yes, Ma'am." Catherine laughed,
"Don't you Ma'am me, it makes me feel old." Steve gave her a little smirk as he left the kitchen and managed to get in the last word just before he ducked back out,
"Yes, Sir."
Once Danny was satisfied that Grace was being well looked after by Kono and Charlie, the three of them currently engaging in a very ambitious-looking sandcastle building project, he sauntered over to the grill and started sorting out the meat and fish for Steve. The two of them easily settled into a well-practised routine developed over the course of a number of these cook outs. Danny glanced over to the other man,
"How you holding up, Steve? Been a manic few days, huh?" Steve gave him a wry smile,
"You'd think I be used to people dying in the line of duty by now . . . but it doesn't get any easier." Danny quickly spoke,
"Hell no, Steve. The minute you start getting used to it is your cue to walk away. There's nothing wrong with letting all this get to you. I just wanted to let you know that you have people who care about you, even if you are a giant schmuck, people you can talk to."
"Thanks, Danno . . . wait, giant schmuck?" Their gentle bantering carried on as Steve cooked the meat and fish on the grill. In the background, tables were set and a veritable feast appeared upon them. The rest of the evening passed in a happy haze of eating and lively conversation. Steve caught Grace trying to stifle a yawn and went over to the little girl, crouching down beside her, "Ready for bedtime, Gracie." She shook her head vigorously,
"No way, Uncle Steve. I'm not tired at all, not even a tiny little bit." Steve gave her a wide smile,
"Is that so? Then I must've been mistaken when I thought I saw you yawning just now." Grace leaned against him, she couldn't lie to her Uncle Steve,
"Okaaay, maybe just a really little one. But I'm not tired. Honest!" Danny came bustling over at this point,
"Tired or not, it's a school night and it's already way past your bedtime. Say goodnight to the nice people," he scooped her up in his arms with familiar ease,
"Goodnight, nice people!" Grace parroted with a happy wave, leaning back over his shoulder as he carried her into the house and up to the guest room. Steve had dug out some old toys which had belonged to Mary, guessing that she would like them. Her face lit up at the large assortment of dolls and cuddly toys which had been neatly lined up on her bed. Danny smiled fondly, "God help that man, his military precision even extends to arranging toys on a bed," but he was touched by the thoughtfulness that Steve had shown in doing his best to make the room more welcoming for his little girl. When she was settled, he kissed her goodnight and re-joined his friends out on the lanai.
The Browns were making a move, all of them going to meet old friend of the family for drinks at the Hilton. Kamekona followed them out claiming he needed his 'beauty sleep'. Danny had chipped in with, "Not enough hours in the night to make you beautiful, big man!" The hulking entrepreneur had glowered at him,
"Keep it up, little haole, and I'll revoke your 10% discount on shave ice."
Danny had not been able to contain his incredulous snort, "I don't get a 10% discount." Kame had conceded the point,
"Yeah, well . . . if I did implement a special law enforcement discount for my crime-fighting brothers and sisters then you won't be getting it."
Charlie and Laura had both driven themselves over to the house at Chin's request, he had an important conversation to have with his former boss and wanted it to be just between the team. They both took this as their cue to leave, thanking their host for a lovely evening. Steve clapped Charlie on the arm and gave Laura a quick kiss on the cheek and waved them both off.
Chin waited for everyone to settle back down into their chairs before speaking, "So, Steve. Do you know what you're going to do now this case has wrapped?" Steve frowned as he recalled his conversation with Joe earlier that day,
"Um, about that – Joe told me that he is recommending me for promotion to Commander, to be considered at the next Naval Promotion Board." Catherine cut in,
"Oh my God, Steve. That's huge! You've not completed the normal number of years service to be even considered for senior officer grade." Steve had been looking at Catherine as she spoke and so missed the looks of disappointment on the faces of everyone else. Kono piped up, trying to inject some false enthusiasm into her voice,
"That's great. So, when will you hear?" Steve looked over to her,
"Well, Joe hasn't done anything yet. He's waiting for my answer tomorrow morning." Catherine looked at him aghast,
"What's there to think about? I'd kill to have someone pushing my name onto the list for a promotion!" Steve looked back in her direction,
"I don't know if it's what I want at this moment in time. This last year has been hard but I've got a home here, people I'd miss if I was deployed for months on end. I've been coming to the conclusion for a while that the Navy isn't the most important thing in my life anymore." Catherine looked surprised but kept quiet, sensing that he needed to tell them more. "Maybe I want to stop travelling to the far corners of the earth and just settle," he waved his hand in the general direction of the spectacular sunset casting its vivid colors over the ocean, "and this is as good a place as any to choose – would you just look at that . . ." Everyone followed his lead, taking a minute to soak in the beauty that they could see in front of them.
Kono tentatively spoke again, "So . . . you might not leave?" Steve shrugged,
"I'm gonna have to talk to the higher-ups at Pearl, see what might be available on the island that wouldn't have the constant deployments−" Chin cut him off,
"Or not. There's a perfectly good task force right here that needs a leader." Steve stared at the man in surprise,
"I'm not about to steam in and oust you, Chin. That wouldn't be right!" Chin smiled,
"But what if I wanted you to? Not to mention the Governor, he's desperate to have you back as leader of the Task Force. Five-0 is your baby, Steve - it always will be. We all want you back at the helm." Steve saw the earnest expressions on the faces around him. Kono smirked,
"So, what do you say? Will I be in a position to start calling you 'boss' again, Boss?" Danny leaned over at that point,
"I'm missing an out-of-control Neanderthal partner, Chin just doesn't do it for me," he turned and smirked at the older man, "no offence," and then stage-whispered, "plus I'm sick of having to drive my own car everywhere – but will never admit to that ever again, not even under torture."
Steve looked at them all and just drank it in for a moment, this was his team and he couldn't stop the beaming smile coming across his face, "Well, when you put it like that it would be rude not to accept," he addressed Chin, "are you sure the Governor said that? This is Governor Denning we're talking about, right?" They descended into helpless laughter and Kono jumped out of her chair to envelop Steve in a huge hug. She released him and glanced across at Catherine,
"Um, sorry about groping your man like that." Steve barked out a laugh,
"I don't think Catherine has anything to worry about on that front, we all saw you with Charlie tonight . . . and you too Chin, making nice with the lov-er-ly Laura. It's all going on!" The team continued to banter, everyone delighted with the turn of events. That is except Catherine, she was silently fuming at Steve for turning down such a big opportunity for career progression. How could he be happy to just settle for a civilian task force, where he would never be able to move through the ranks? She resolved to talk him out of his reckless decision as soon as she got him alone.