Thank you so much for all the reviews! You guys are great and I really appreciate the time you took to read and review these first two chapters. Thanks especially to amblue for following me to this fic…you are definitely a loyal reader! That means a lot to me!

I really like creating new characters to interact with ones we already love, so I hope you guys are going to enjoy getting to know Harper!

Chapter Three – Welcome to Hawaii

"A wife lasts only for the length of the marriage, but an ex-wife is there for the rest of your life." ~ Jim Samuels

"I found my bag."

Harper, her eyes still fixed on Steve, walked forward to join the small band of cops gathered at the bullpen desk and she was indeed carrying a leather messenger bag over her left shoulder. Finally tearing her eyes away from her ex, she looked at her current partner and stated nervously, "One of the cops from the stakeout found it and dropped it off outside the women's locker room. But now I need to find…"

"Married?" Danny interrupted, not caring one bit about her bag, "You were married?" Looking at his partner, he asked, "To her?"

Steve, holding his gaze steady on the woman he hadn't seen in seven years, finally asked in a quiet voice, "How are you, Jimmy?"

"Jimmy?" Danny repeated, looking around at his teammates, "Did he just call her Jimmy?"

But he seemed to be the only one of them who felt the need to speak, as the rest of the team were rendered mute by the surprising turn of events they had just witnessed. Ed DeLuca didn't seem to know what his next move was going to be either. And Harper and Steve were no help…they didn't seem to realize that anyone else was in the room.

"What are you doing here?" Steve asked his ex-wife, folding his arms across his chest, "Do you not get how divorce works?"

Those green eyes that Steve remembered getting lost in so easily were suddenly flashing fire at him and he felt a familiar surge of excitement course through him. Her beautiful face contorted in anger as she snapped, "I'm not here because of you. I'm just here because I'm here. I would be here whether you were here or not. You're just some guy who happens to know me."

"Thank you," he shot back, trying his best to conceal a smirk. He was always so good at pushing her buttons.

Knowing that he was baiting her, she sighed and said, "I didn't ... you know what I mean."

"No, I don't actually. Could you keep talking about being here and not being here until blood starts pouring out of my ears?" They were so good at this give and take. But there wasn't time for their history now, so he asked suddenly, "How'd you know I was here?"

"I didn't," she assured him, crossing her own arms over her bikini clad chest, "How could I? This is just an unhappy coincidence." And then as if something had just dawned on her, she asked, "What are you doing here anyway?"

"In Hawaii?"

"We'll get to that part," she assured him icily, "but for right now all I want to know is why you're here…at the police station."

"He's our boss," Chin told her, his soulful eyes still taking in the whole scene.

"Your boss?" Harper repeated, blinking quickly in surprise, "You're a cop now?"

"Leader of the 5-0 task force, actually," Steve informed her and then let his eyes travel down the length of her body as he smirked and remarked, "Nice outfit."

"It was good enough for Kai Akino," she informed him haughtily, but everyone standing around noticed how she self consciously pulled the jacket closed over herself.

Getting down to business, Steve asked, "And what does the San Diego Police Department want with a Hawaiian gang banger?"

"Actually, it's the Chicago Police Department now." Harper corrected him angrily, but she quickly flipped over to business mode as well. She had a few things to straighten out with the leader of the 5-0 task force, so she explained, "And your Hawaiian gang banger is our cop killer. Who, by the way, we tracked here to Hawaii after a six month investigation, staked out for two weeks until we confirmed his identity, and then arrested in a by the book undercover operation. And then, to be good team players, we called the governor's office to confirm the identity of your two guys here and suddenly Kai Akino's not in our custody anymore…he's in yours." Turning her anger on Danny, she added snidely, "The two guys who had absolutely nothing to do with this bust are now getting custody of our murderer."

Feeling the sudden need to defend himself, Danny tried to explain, "We did nothing because you swooped in before we got a chance to complete our operation…"

"And that's another thing," the redheaded detective fumed, gesturing around the room, "We were working in conjunction with Honolulu PD and they had no idea that you were even conducting an investigation at Club Halo."

"5-0 doesn't report to HPD…" Steve tried to explain, but that was about as far as he got.

"So, I've heard," she snapped, "But since you all work together on this little island, you could try checking in once in awhile." Drawing in a deep breath, she leveled her ex-husband with those eyes of hers as she served up her next blow, "But then again, you never did like to play by the rules, did you Steven?"

"Steven." Danny repeated and chuckled, obviously amused by the situation and the fact that this redheaded spitfire was calling Commander Steve McGarrett by his given name.

Ignoring both his partner and his ex-wife's career advice, Steve asked, "When did you move back to Chicago?"

"The day after I got served with divorce papers," Harper answered coldly.

Ignoring her pointed statement, Steve cleared his throat and stated, "Your talent was wasted in San Diego. You would've gotten restless…you were born to work for the Chicago Police Department." Grinning nervously at his own statement, he added, "Literally."

But Harper wasn't amused by his words. In fact, she seemed to lose a little bit of her swagger as she said quietly, "Well, for a few misguided years my focus was on something besides my career." Looking pointedly at her ex-husband, she stated matter of factly, "I won't make that mistake again."

Her statement stung and everyone in the room could see it on McGarrett's face. Guilt. Remorse. Sadness? No one could really tell because it was only a flicker of emotion and then it was gone. Knowing that he was unable to conceal it, Steve looked down at the floor and his team did a double take. For the first time since they had known him Commander Steve McGarrett was rendered speechless.

"James!"

The voice of Harper's boss, Lieutenant Mac Sheridan, echoed through the bullpen and startled everyone. As she turned to see him leaning out of the HPD Captain's office, he bellowed again, "Get your ass over here…the governor wants to talk to us. And bring the 5-0 guy!"

Smirking, Harper turned to walk toward the small office as she said, "Come on 5-0 guy…we're being summoned."

The pair walked off together, leaving their stunned partners staring after them like a group of teenage girls. Entering the office of Honolulu Police Captain Louis Kealoha, Steve and Harper joined Lt. Sheridan in looking down at the speaker phone in the middle of the room.

"Governor, Superintendent, we have been joined by Detective Harper James of the Chicago PD and Commander Steve McGarrett of Hawaii Five-0." Captain Kealoha began by introducing the newcomers. "Detective James was responsible for the arrest of Kai Akino and Commander McGarrett now has him in custody per order of the governor."

Harper did not realize that her father would be in on the phone call and closed her eyes to pray that he didn't say anything…

"Commander McGarrett."

Mickey James' silky smooth, deep baritone voice simply acknowledged Steve's presence in the room and Harper opened her eyes just in time to see him nod and respond, "Superintendent."

And that was it. Harper didn't know what she had been expecting…running into Steve had thrown her off her game. She should have known that her father would have been nothing but a complete professional in the situation, but she also knew that her ex-husband was not one of Mickey James' favorite people.

Governor Jameson's voice rang through the small office as she said, "Congratulations on a flawless undercover operation, Detective. And my condolences on the loss of your partner. Superintendent James tells me that he was a good man."

"He was, ma'am," Harper agreed, not quite sure where this conversation was headed.

"Commander," the governor continued, "because we are talking about the murder of a police officer, Superintendent James and I have decided that the Chicago team will be taking Mr. Akino into custody and transporting him to Illinois so that he can have his day in court."

Harper tried very hard not to smile at her victory…she knew her father could talk anyone into anything. It's what made him such a good cop and an even better boss. And the look of dismay on Steve's face made it somehow sweeter.

"But while he is still in 5-0 custody, Commander, your team will conduct a joint investigation with the Chicago team to find out about his illegal narcotics business here on the island."

"So basically, you two will have to work together," Superintendent James added matter of factly, "We need to be assured that the two teams will be able to work together for the greater good. I am assuming that there will be no conflict of interest here. Am I correct?"

"Yes, sir," both Steve and Harper answered at the same time.

"Good," the Superintendent stated and then added, "Governor, Captain Kealoha, it's been a pleasure. Mac, let's get the arrangements underway for the transfer of the prisoner. And if you gentlemen don't mind, I'd like a moment to speak with my daughter. In private."

As the governor hung up and Harper stepped forward to pick up the telephone receiver, Mac, Steve, and Lou quickly made themselves scarce so that father and daughter could finish their part of the conversation. Walking back out into the bullpen alone, Ed DeLuca asked Steve, "Where's Harper?"

"Talking to her father."

"The Superintendent?" Danny asked, looking over Steve's shoulder toward the Captain's office.

"No, we're done talking to the Superintendent," Steve said grimly, "I'm pretty sure she's talking to her father now."

"And he's not a big fan of yours, I take it?" Chin Ho deduced, biting back a grin.

Steve shook his head in confirmation as Danny, his eyes still on Harper, stated bluntly, "She is way too hot for you."

"Thank you."

Getting back on topic, Ed asked, "So, what happened in there?"

"Akino is yours," Steve told him, "but we get to talk to him first about the drugs he's moving onto the island. And then you can take him back to Chicago."

"I'm going to want in on that interview of yours," Harper chimed in, coming out of the Captain's office and approaching the teams.

"That's not going to happen." Steve informed her, still miffed at losing custody of his drug dealer, "You'll have plenty of time to interview him on the plane ride back to Chicago."

Harper narrowed her eyes at him and said, "Don't get angry at me and pitch one of your little hissy fits. This wasn't my idea, you know. I was on the trail of a cop killer who we happened to track here to Hawaii. I didn't even know this is where you had disappeared to."

Steve has no response, so she repeated in a tight voice, "I didn't know you were here."

"Didn't say that you did," he finally answered nonchalantly.

"Then stop being a jerk!" Harper exclaimed, stepping forward and going toe to toe with him. "Despite everything that went on between us, I am a damn good cop!"

"The best I know."

"You are lucky to have me as part of this investigation!" she reminded him.

"Yes I am!"

"Then why the hell are we fighting?"

"Because we're good at it!"

The pair stared at each other for what felt like an eternity and you could cut the tension in the room with a knife. Finally, Harper said in a calm voice, "Fine."

"Fine." Steve agreed.

"I'm going to change," she announced, slinging her bag over her shoulder and heading off down the same hallway she had retreated down earlier.

"You do that," he mocked, pulling out his phone and beginning to dial. "I'll be waiting out here. Don't take too long."

After watching Harper stomp down the hallway and Steve pretend that he was not annoyed, Danny turned to Kono and Chin as he said sarcastically, "Oh, this is going to be fun."