Envy
The sound of aggressive knocking woke Grace up from her slumber. She sat up in bed, not really sure what the sound that woke her up was. Then the knocking started again, and she swung her feet down on the floor. Already pissed off at whoever was knocking on her door at three in the morning, she slowly headed out of her room, down the stairs and toward the front door. She didn't really care that the person on the other side had to wait, they were the one knocking on her door at the crack of dawn.
As she unlocked and opened the door to see who had woken her up, she felt her stomach drop and her blood boil with anger as she looked into the last person she wanted to see.
"What in god's name are you doing here!" she spat at him. The man standing on her doorway didn't take offense to her icy welcoming and gave her an amused smile.
"Ok, first of all; there's no need to bring God into this. And secondly, is this how you welcome all you guest or just your brother?" he said with a smirk. Her need to punch him in the face grew with his remark and she shot him a death glare.
"I'm not in the mood for your fucking games, Sean. Now what the hell do you want?"
Giving her a shrug in response, he picked his bag of the ground and pushed past her and into the living room. "Nice place," he said, taking in the surroundings before settling down on the couch.
"Sean Alastar Ó Máille, answer my damn question or I swear to God I'll give you a clatter in the clackers!" Grace threatened and her brother knew she meant it so he gave up on trying to win the argument.
"Things are getting a little hairy back home, thought it be best if I left town for a while." He explained, making her even angrier. What kind of idiot think the best place to hide out is with his sister who happens to work closely with the police.?
"And you thought coming here would be a good idea? Are you completely gone in the head?" she asked, kicking his feet of her coffee table where he'd placed them a second earlier. "You know what? I don't have the time or energy to deal with you right now, I'm going back to bed. The guestroom is round the corner." She didn't give him a chance to respond and stomped off back to her room before diving into bed and burying her head in the pillows.
The morning after Grace thought it had all been a bad dream, but when she woke up to her brother making a full English breakfast she realised it was real and that her brother had indeed shown up at her doorstep at 3AM.
After yet another heated discussion about why he'd thought it would be a good idea to crash into her life, she decided she needed her daily dose of coffee and dragged her brother with her to Wailana's where she ordered a triple shot latte.
"You know Caroline and Collin had another baby? I'll tell you, with the odd hours Collin keep I'm surprised he has the time, let alone the energy to make babies." Sean said in between bites, practically showing the cinnamon roll down his throat. "Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ, you ever heard of table manners? I mean seriously." She groaned, wanting to melt into her seat so that no one could see her sitting across her sad excuse of a brother eating like a two-year-old.
Knowing his actions was annoying her, Sean came to the conclusion that if he didn't stop she'd most likely maim and kill him then and there. He put the rest of the cinnamon roll down, wiped the powdered sugar of his fingers and downed the rest of his coffee. "My sincerest apologies, your royal highness. I'll make sure to never commit such a heinous crime again," he joked, gaining a smile from Grace. It was the first time he'd seen her smile, really smile, in a really long time and he'd missed it. Whenever she smiled like that, all the worries in the world seemed to disappear.
As Grace was about to open her mouth with a sarcastic answer she saw Steve enter the coffee shop out the corner of her eye and panic rushed over her. "Get up!" she whispered at Sean, looking at him with a desperate expression. Confused as to why she'd suddenly turned pale, he followed her eyes and saw Steve ordering his coffee. "Why? Who is he?" he asked. Meeting Steve's eyes as he turned to look for an available table, she gave him a small smile and saw him start to head in her direction. "Just leave!" she pleaded, and Sean knew better than to question her so he grabbed the rest of his cinnamon roll and quickly left.
Steve approached her with a smile like usual and she returned the gesture. "Did I interrupt something?" he asked, fishing for information about who the guy who just left was. "No, he's just an old friend," she lied and gestured for him to join her. "So I heard you have a new colleague. Lori, right?" she asked, changing the subject and wanting to find out more about this Lori person. She wasn't sure why, but when Max had told her about Steve's new female co-worker who apparently was quite attractive she'd felt a tinge of jealousy. Well she knew why, she was envious of her because she got to work closely to Steve on an everyday basis. Something Grace didn't.
They talked for a while, about Lori, his father and the investigation into Jameson and a little about her days in the Royal Marines. She was grateful for the fact that Steve trusted her enough to talk about his father and their relationship with her.
Ever since Grace had patched him up Steve hadn't felt the need to keep things from her and not tell her the whole truth. Even about his father, no matter how little he actually liked talking about the subject. He also realised that when she'd told not just him but the rest of the team about her being a former marine and having worked at the Ministry of Defence, it had been a big deal. Even if she obviously hadn't told them everything.
He'd asked Tommy if it was in the marines him and Grace had met, but all he answered was "it's complicated." Something a lot of things involving Grace seemed to be. Complicated. Like earlier, when the man she'd had coffee with had practically ran away when Grace saw Steve. He could sense he was more than just a family friend, and in all honesty he felt a tinge of jealousy over the fact that she might have a boyfriend.
As their conversation about anything and everything went on, Steve's phone started to ring and he picked it up in a flash. "McGarrett," he said in his usual gruff voice. Grace looked out the window and sipped the little that was left of her coffee, not wanting to eavesdrop. "Yeah, we'll be right there." He said before hanging up and getting up. "We've been summoned to the palace," he said, a hint of amusement in his voice. Nodding, Grace got up, grabbed her purse and followed him outside.
Realising Sean had been the one driving earlier and that he'd taken the car when he left, she looked around to see if she could get a cab. Noticing what she was doing, Steve put his hand on her lower back and started to steer her toward his car. "I'll drive," he said as they reached his pickup and held the door open for her.
"Great, you're here. Chin play the video." Danny said as Steve and Grace walked into the offices of Five-0. When they reached the rest of the team standing around the com-table. As Chin pressed play on the footage from a security camera, he explained what was going on. "Last night at 1:45AM; Rupert O'Brian, one of Interpol's most wanted fugitives, was killed in the parking lot at Honolulu International." He said as the footage of Rupert O'Brian, a name that sounded vaguely familiar to Grace, fighting some guy before getting a knife in the neck.
"The killers face isn't visible in the footage, but a guy of the same height and build, wearing the same clothes was caught on another camera leaving the parking lot at ground level a few minutes later." He continued, pulling up the second footage.
The sight of the man on the video made Grace's entire body stiffen and she felt anger and confusion starting to boil up. Steve had the same reaction, for a different reason and turned to look at Grace with an expression she couldn't quite read. "You want to tell me what's going on?" Steve asked her, his tone harsher than he'd intended.
Grace just looked at him, her eyes blank and facial expression completely controlled. The anger, panic and fear she was feeling wasn't detectible to anyone but her.
Danny a little confused as to why Steve would ask her that question, cleared his throat to get both of their attention. "You know something we don't?" he asked the both of them. They both just looked at him, showing no signs of budging and sharing information they obviously have.
While listening to the scene playing out in front of him, Chin got an idea and after a minute he found what he was looking for. Uncertain on how the information would be perceived, he decided to just tell them without sugarcoating it.
"He didn't rent a car and his picture isn't among the ones of the people who arrived last night, so we don't know his name. So I figured he probably took a cab, and he did. I followed it by using traffic cams and this is where he was dropped off." He said as he put up the final traffic cam video of the cab pulling into a house they were all familiar with.
Finally realising why Steve asked for an explanation earlier, Kono, Chin and Danny all looked at Grace. None of them with the same angry, almost disappointed look as Steve.
"I'll ask again. Want to tell us what's going on?"
Not sure herself why her brother killed that guy and what was indeed going on, Grace knew that if she tried explaining even the slightest thing about her family and brother Steve would probably arrest both of them. Not in the mood or willing to stand and take any more of Steve's judging expression, Grace gave them all a cold and emotionless glance and picked her purse of the floor. "No," she said coolly before turning on her heels and walking out, ready to beat the living crap of her house guest.
A/N: a clatter in the clackers means a punch in the testicled(thank you to my lovely, irish cousin Fiona for that one).
Like my characters Grace and Tommy + the Prescott centre, Sean Alastar Ó Máille is also mine. Every other character belongs to CBS.
Hope you enjoyed! And again reviews are always welcomed with open arms.
XOXO
Hannah