moonjat54, I hope your question about Harper knowing about Steve's father will be answered in this chapter. (hint, hint, wink, wink)

I'm so glad most of the other readers enjoy the character of Harper. That is sooooooooo important to me because people won't read a story about characters they don't care about.

There is a time and location jump in this chapter and I don't want it to be too confusing. But hopefully I made it work and explained everything that we missed. Well, at least the things that I am ready to explain at this point. Okay readers, sit back and enjoy this turn of events…

Chapter Six – Changes

"Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomfort."

Arnold Bennett

Commander Steve McGarrett's office at Hawaii 5-0 Headquarters, an hour later…

"You son of a bitch! I can't believe you!"

Steve looked up from his computer just in time to see his ex-wife storm through the door to his office with fire blazing in her eyes. He was pretty certain that if she had been carrying any kind of weapon, he would be dead.

"Whoah, crazy person!" Steve exclaimed, instinctively jumping up from his chair and standing behind it. It was fairly comical to see the ex-Navy S.E.A.L. using nothing but a swivel chair as protection from a petite redhead, but none of that registered with either of them as he continued, "Calm down! What the hell is going on?"

"Don't you play dumb with me!" Harper fumed, coming right up to his desk and putting her fists down on it as she accused, "I can't believe you'd stoop so low!"

"I don't…" he began, but she didn't want to hear what he had to say.

"I just came from having a little sit down with my Lieutenant in the captain's office at the Honolulu Police Department. Do you know why?"

"Because you acted like a crazy person one too many times?"

"No," she spat out, ignoring his attempt at humor, "Because the mayor of Chicago got a call from his friend, the Governor of Hawaii, who requested my assistance on the Five-0 task force." Harper crossed her arms over her chest as she watched the surprise cross Steve's face, but she wasn't sure she believed it. And before he could protest, she continued, "So as a personal favor to his old friend, the Mayor called my boss and I got put on administrative leave so that I could spend some extra time in Hawaii while my team heads back to Chicago! I can't believe you did this to me!"

"I didn't do anything…"

"Seriously? That's your story?" Harper mocked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. But sarcasm turned to accusation as she reminded him, "You got yourself out of HPD headquarters so fast that it made everyone's head spin. You were a man on a mission…barking out orders and calling your friend the governor…and nobody was getting in your way. So now you're seriously going to stand there and tell me that you didn't get on the phone with your boss five seconds after you learned that Kai Akino was dead and that meant he wasn't going to hand Wo Fat over to you on a silver platter?"

"No," he told her, shaking his head. But her accusing glare forced him to say, "Okay, I did call her again. But it's not what you are thinking…."

"You didn't demand to take over my case?" Harper interrupted, not believing a word that was coming out of his mouth. She was still reeling from all of the bizarre events that occurred in the last few hours which happened to include running into the ex-husband who had abandoned her, finding out that her partner's murderer had been killed inside a police station, and then being told in no uncertain terms that she would not be returning to Chicago with her team.

Steve flinched when she called his bluff and stammered, "Well, I…"

"You son of a bitch!"

"Kai Akino is dead!" he reminded her, getting his composure back quickly, "He is no longer of any use to you. And he sure as hell isn't of any use to us. But you ran a thorough investigation into his actions and background for the last 6 months and tracked him to Hawaii. I'm betting that somewhere in that investigation is information I can use to get closer to Wo Fat." Finally coming out from hiding behind his chair, Steve assured her, "I called the governor to tell her that I needed her to subpoena your case files so that we could start digging around for evidence. I DID NOT ask her to call your boss and get you transferred to. . .wait a minute! You've been assigned to 5-0?"

It was as if the news had just registered in his brain and when she nodded in affirmation, he asked, "My team?"

"Is there the another 5-0 team?"

"Governor Jameson assigned you to my team?" Steve repeated, reaching for the phone as he assured her, "Okay, I can fix this…"

"There is no FIXING this!" Harper shouted at him angrily, "It's done…I have been temporarily relieved of my duties with the Chicago Police Department so that I can help track down Wo Fat. Your governor, my mayor…they by-passed my father completely in their manipulative little game."

Putting the phone back in its cradle, Steve slumped down into his chair and Harper could see the wheels spinning in his head. The last five minutes of his life had really thrown him for a loop, but she knew him well enough to know that his laser focus was now operating in warp speed as he tried to make sense of this turn of events. She didn't know whether to throttle him or help him at this point…

"Kai Akino was killed at the Honolulu Police Station," he finally said slowly and thoughtfully, "five minutes after he revealed that he was hired by Wo Fat to kill your partner. Which means that we can no longer trust anyone inside of HPD. So, the governor figured that we needed another investigator..."

"And she decided to outsource," Harper finished for him, following his line of thought with ease. And then twisting her face into a grimace, she added, "And of all the cops in the universe, this had to get dropped in my lap?"

Looking up at her, Steve chided, "It's always been matter of perspective with you, Jimmy. You're not looking at this…"

"What perspective should I have then?" she interrupted, not liking his condescending tone. He may have meant it to be playful but that seemed to irritate her even more.

"That out of all the cops in the universe, she CHOSE you," he pointed out, leaning back in his chair and looking up at her angry face, "You have working knowledge of Kai Akino and a need to find Wo Fat, since he is the one who ordered the hit on your partner. This way we put our considerable talents together, increasing our chances of finding him. Plus…"

His voice trailed off and he pursed his lips as if he weren't going to say anything else, so she prompted him impatiently, "Plus what?"

"Plus, the team trusts you. She trusts you." Pausing again and gazing at her honestly, he added softly, "I trust you."

The moment he had created was far too personal and his words were far too intimate for Harper to deal with and she felt her head start to spin again, so to diffuse the situation the detective let out a wry little laugh and retorted, "That's rich."

"What?"

"Well, trust has never really been our strong point, has it Steven?" she reminded him pointedly, shifting uncomfortably under his gaze. She didn't like where this was going.

"This is different," he said calmly, masking any other emotions that may have been bubbling under the surface as he flatly stated, "This isn't about us."

"What is it about?"

"Catching a killer."

"I already do that," she reminded him haughtily, "In case you've forgotten, I have a job that requires me to catch killers every day. In Chicago."

"Chicago is cold in February," Steve pointed out, trying to keep the tone of the conversation light, "So you might as well stay here and catch a killer with the sun shining on your face and balmy breezes blowing through your hair."

He was trying to make a joke, but he should have remembered that he wasn't all that funny. Because her face twisted up in anger again as she fumed, "This is funny to you?"

"I was…"

But apparently it wasn't his turn to talk. Not yet.

"I am a Chicago legacy cop, Steve." Harper interrupted him angrily, "And not just any legacy cop…I am the daughter and the granddaughter of the last two Police Superintendent's of the City of Chicago. Not to mention the fact that I ran away from home to work in San Diego for a few years just as my career was hitting the fast track." A flash of guilt crossed Steve's handsome face as she continued, "And then I had to come crawling back with my tail between my legs and start all over again. So I did…because the world of the Chicago PD is the world I want to be a part of. But I have had to fight ten times as hard to get half the respect for my entire career. And I've done it. I kept my head down, I worked hard, and I rose up through the ranks fair and square. I made it to Homicide before I was 35…something that no other woman has ever done. I've finally got the respect that I deserve and you want me to throw it all away to join your little vigilante task force?"

Steve heard her words and he knew that they were true, but there was another truth here that she was not seeing yet. So, he gently reminded her, "My vigilante task force is your best shot at finding the monster who killed your partner. You do want to find Wo Fat, don't you?"

"How am I supposed to know?" she shot back. "I don't even know who he is!"

"He's the man who killed my parents."

Whatever it was that Harper was expecting her ex-husband to say, it hadn't been that. His quiet admission rocked her to the core and she stood there simply staring at him. And that's when she saw it…the thing she had been missing since Wo Fat had entered the equation back in the HPD interrogation room.

Pain.

As infuriating as Steven John McGarrett could be, she also knew better than anyone that he was a fearless, compassionate, and intensely loyal man who would risk everything for the people he loved. But he also kept his emotions extremely close to the vest. And that was why Harper had missed seeing the pain that was now so clearly written all over his face and radiating from his eyes.

Blinking back the unexpected tears that were suddenly welling up behind her eyes, she asked hoarsely, "You father is dead?"

"He was murdered by a terrorist that I had been tracking for Naval Intelligence…Victor Hesse. I have recently found out that Victor Hesse was working for…"

"Wo Fat," she finished for him quietly.

"It's the reason I came back to Hawaii." Steve told her, looking down to avoid her compassionate gaze. He couldn't handle it just then. "The reason that the 5-0 task force was created."

The silence that fell over the small office was neither tense or uncomfortable. It was simply silence. The silence that exists between two people who are assured of each other's devotion, strength, and compassion when words are not necessary. They let that silence hang there between them for what seemed like an eternity before Harper said in a small voice, "I was a big fan of your dad's."

Steve smiled…not a forced, professional smile like they had previously shared on this disastrous day, but a real honest to God smile…as he replied quietly, "He liked you, too. He gave me hell when he found out that we…that I…that it was over between us."

"Well, now I like him even more," she joked softly, returning his genuine smile with one of her own. Suddenly exhausted and no longer feeling combative, Harper collapsed on the nearby couch and met her ex-husband's penetrating gaze with one of her own.

"Listen," Steve began, coming around from behind his desk and sitting on the corner of it nearest to the couch, "having you transferred to my team was not my idea, but it is a good one. We are going to need the best of the best to bring down a criminal like Wo Fat and you certainly fit into that category. Plus, we kill two birds with one stone…you get to find out why your partner was murdered and I get to find out why my parents were killed. So, will you help me?"

He watched carefully as Harper's beautiful face softened a bit and she let out a sigh…but it was not a sigh of surrender. It was a sigh of caution and uncertainty which she followed up by saying, "It's not that easy. You said before that this wasn't about us and it's not. Or at least, it shouldn't be. But there's more to it than just…" she drew in a deep breath and reminded him, "We were married, Steve. That comes with stuff. Good stuff, bad stuff…stuff. And I know it's easy to pretend that it's not on the table, but it is. Because all of that stuff that we have avoided dealing with for the last seven years is going to be there every day. And we can't avoid it anymore…"

"So let's deal with it," he said suddenly.

"What?"

"Let's get it out of the way right now so that it won't be a problem…"

"Right now?" she asked, sitting up on the couch and looking at him like he was mad man.

"Right now," he repeated, getting up from the edge of his desk and pacing irately around the office. The change in his demeanor was startling as he continued angrily, "I left. I admit it. Things got too hard and I bailed…is that what you want me to say?"

"Is that what I want you to say?" she shouted back at him, suddenly as angry as he was and not completely sure why. But then again, that was the very definition of their relationship. Glaring at him with intense ferocity, she admonished, "This is not simply some step in one of your 'by the book' procedural manuals. This is real life and you can't just decide that we are going to 'deal with it' and then declare that everything is fine between us! That's not how it works!"

From across the room, Steve returned her fierce glare and then suddenly had another change in demeanor. Slumping his shoulders and letting out a big sigh, he apologized quietly, "I'm sorry. That was…I shouldn't have done that…"

"Why did you marry me?"

She was still furious at him and the simple question had slipped out before she had the time to censor herself. And it caught them both off guard.

"What?" he asked in surprise.

But there was no going back now. It was out there and Harper had been the one to put it out there, whether she had meant to or not. So now she had to keep going with it. Standing up from the couch, she took a few steps forward and said, "Like you said, if we're dealing with it…let's go. Now it's my turn. And I want to know why you married me." It took every ounce of strength left in her body to keep her voice from trembling as she asked, "If I was never going to be enough for you…if our life together wasn't going to be enough, why did you even bother asking me to marry you?"

Damn it, she was going to cry. She was tired and her emotions were out of control and she couldn't keep the tears that were welling up her eyes from spilling over on her cheeks. And the sight of her like that…vulnerable and sad…tugged at emotions in Steve that he thought he had put away so long ago.

"Jimmy," he whispered hoarsely, moving forward. But he was unsure what he should do next. Every instinct within him wanted to pull her into his arms and just hold onto her. To forget the years and the pain that now stood between them and go back to a time when she was the center of his entire universe.

But then the decision as to what to do next was taken away from him. The phone on his desk buzzed and Kono's voice was heard over the intercom saying, "Boss, Governor Jameson is on line one. She says it's important."

Steve remained frozen in his spot, his eyes never leaving his ex-wife. He didn't know what to do.

But Harper did. Quickly wiping those forbidden tears from her cheeks, she told him in a clear voice, "You should probably get that. It seems that we are done with the 'dealing with it' step and now we're on to the next one."

And then she turned and walked out of his office.