Exciting adventure

The sound of the wind whistling, water running and birds singing surrounded Grace as she continued up the hiking trail. Tommy had recommended it to her, saying it was one of the most beautiful hikes he'd ever done.

Being halfway to the top she saw a path heading in an another direction, deeper in to the huge masses of trees and plants, most of which she'd never seen before. Contemplating on whether to continue on the main path or not, she decided to try the unmapped one.

Taking in the continuation of beautiful scenery Grace couldn't help but smile. She'd seen a lot of spectacular and beautiful places, but this had to be one of her favourites by far. Travelling had always been something she'd loved and even though her reasons for going to a lot of the places she'd been in her life, she'd always taken the time to appreciate the beauty of them.

The further along the path she got the more birds she could hear and the amount of hibiscuses increased. She stopped to look at some of the beautiful flowers and smell them. The hibiscus had always been one of her favourite flowers and being surrounded by them made her happy.

"Grace?"

The sound of someone calling her name drew her back to reality and she turned around to be met by a pair of familiar blue eyes. Her stomach immediately fluttered and she felt heat spread from her head to her toes. He was wearing a well-used cut off t-shirt with the Navy SEALs logo on it and basketball shorts. All she could think of was how attractive this man was.

"Steve, hi. You're not following me are you?" she asked, glad they were back to their usual easy going tone and not the strained one they'd had a week before.

"Well I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." He joked back, happy they were back to normal again. Grace laughed at his comment and Steve took the time to take her in, like he'd done som many times in the past.

She was wearing cotton shorts, a purple bikini top under a grey loose tank top with her hair up in a ponytail and sunglasses on her nose. She looked perfect.

"I don't normally do this, but since you're here do you want to join me?" Grace offered, hoping he'd say yes.

Steve smiled in return, "sure".

They continued down the path, like usual talking about everything and nothing. It had been a long time since either of them had felt such at ease, so comfortable, so content.

After a while the sound of rushing water caught Grace's attention and she followed it. A few yards in she was met with the most beautiful sight she'd ever seen. A huge waterfall with bright green vines, colourful flowers and the sunlight shining through the trees made it seem magical.

"Wow!" was all she managed to get out, still flabbergasted by the beauty of the place.

Steve was also overwhelmed by the beauty, but what really caught his attention was Grace. The sunlight hitting her face, making her skin glow and the pure happiness in her eyes as she took in everything. "It's beautiful," she said, still looking around. Still focused on Grace, Steve barely managed to get out an answer. "Yeah."

Finally feeling like she's taken in all there was to take in, Grace turned to look at Steve with a gleam in her eyes and a teasing smile. Before he got a chance to ask her what she was thinking about, she started to get undressed. She started with pulling her tank top over her head and then kicking of her shoes and shimmying out of her shorts.

Mesmerized by the sight of Grace in a bikini, Steve stood frozen on the spot as she jumped into the water. It took him a second to register what had happened and when he did he turned to see Grace floating on her back, the sunlight reflecting of her body.

"You coming in or what?" she asked, still floating on her back.

Steve didn't want to be a downer but he didn't really think swimming with Grace, especially when she looked like a gift from god in her bikini, was the greatest idea. "I'm good," he answered.

A little surprised, Grace opened her eyes and turned her head to look at him. Not willing to no for an answer, she decided to tease him into getting into the answer. Knowing the male ego and pride would take over.

"Commander McGarrett don't tell me you're afraid of a little water. I thought Navy SEALs were tougher than that." Knowing mentioning him being a SEAL and fear of water would be the only thing he'd hear, she wasn't surprised when he threw his backpack on the ground while kicking his shoes of before finally pulling his shirt over his head, revealing his perfectly toned abdominal and chest area.

Swimming a little to the side, sure he would try to splash as much water at her when he jumped in, Grace watched as he dived into the water.

After a few minutes of swimming around in silence Steve notices the water getting a faint red tint around the area Grace was swimming. He pointed it out, causing Grace to do a once over to check for scratches. As she checked her right chin she noticed a cut and got out of the water, Steve right behind her, to check it out.

On her chin was a not very big, but deep cut that was gushing blood. Completely used to blood and gore in her everyday life, she didn't make a big deal out of it and grabbed her backpack to get the medical supplies she brought. She took out some antiseptic solvent, a small compress, gauze and medical tape before getting to work.

Impressed by how easily she wrapped up her cut without making a fuzz about it, Steve watched as she slapped on the last piece of medical tape to hold the gauze in place.

"You should probably get that looked at by a doctor," he said, knowing there was a chance she could get an infection. Grace just snorted at his remark as she packed her stuff and started getting dressed. "It has been looked at by a doctor, me." She said, brushing of his concern.

"I meant a doctor that's not biased," he tried again, not willing to give up until she agreed to stop by the emergency room. Grace looked up at him as he too was getting dressed and gave him a frustrated and unwilling expression. "I hate hospitals," she told him.

"Yeah, well if you're not willing to do it for you then how about you do it for me. It'll give some peace of mind to know you won't die in the middle of the night of an infection." He tried one more time, hoping this time she'd agree.

Letting out a loud sigh, she got up and threw her backpack on. "Fine," she groaned, causing Steve to smile in victory.

They walked back to the small parking lot at the beginning of the trail in a comfortable silence. As they reached their cars Steve grabbed Grace by the elbow as she was about to walk over to hers. "I'll drive, I'll have HPD pick yours up and bring it to your house." He said and guided her to the passenger side of his pickup. "It's a small cut, it is not like I'm paralyzed." She complained as she got into his car. Ignoring her, Steve walked over to the driver side before getting in and driving off.

It had been 20 minutes since Grace had been brought into an examination room by a nurse and she was now trying to tell the intern doing her stitches how to do it properly so she won't get a scar. "No, you… you're doing it wrong. Here, let me show you." She told the young girl and took over. Steve couldn't help but be amused by how much of a control freak she was and he wasn't really surprised she'd taken over her own treatment.

"See, if you do it like this the chance of a visible scar is minimal and it doesn't take as long." She explained as she finished up the last stitch and cutting the thread. Surprisingly enough the intern didn't seem discouraged by the fact that Grace had totally taken over, but grateful over the knowledge Grace had shared. "Right, ok. Now I just have to give you a tetanus shot and then I'll go get you some antibiotics just in case."

"How about," Grace said, taking the needle from the intern. "I give myself the shot and you just go get the pills. That sound ok?" she asked, not giving of the vibe that not agreeing was a possibility. The intern just nodded before walking out to get Grace her antibiotics.

"Wow, you really don't know how to not be a doctor do you?" Steve mocked her. Grace just rolled her eyes as she pushed the hem of her shorts down a little to give herself the tetanus shot. "I'm sure she's fully capable of stitching me up, but she was taking forever and in medicine efficiency saves lives." Not willing to argue her on that, Steve just sat back in the chair he was seated in as they waited for the intern to come back.

After waiting for another 5 minutes, she finally came back with the pills and the discharge papers and after signing them Grace practically ran out of the ER.

Steve followed closely on her heels and when he reached her she was leaned into the passenger side of the car. "You really don't like hospitals do you?" he asked.

"I spent a lot of time in them when my mom was sick, so no I don't." Grace knew her choice of career contradicted that fact, but since the morgue wasn't in the basement of a hospital it worked just fine.

"What was she like?" Steve tried, not sure if she'd answer the question or not. Biting her lower lip, she met his eyes. "Like a ray of sunshine. Forever the optimist and the kindest person you'd ever meet. She loved to help people and give to the less fortunate. Her favourite thing to do was to bake, her pies were amazing and she always made me feel safe." Like usual Grace wasn't sure why she seemed to open up to him so easily, but she did. And it didn't scare her.

Steve was happy that Grace told him about her mom. Ever since she'd told him she had died when Grace was 4, he'd felt a different kind of connection to her. Sure he was older than her when his mom died, but he still understood the feeling.

He figured she probably didn't want to talk much about her mother anymore, so he unlocked the car and opened the door for her.

Again they were left in a comfortable silence and Grace took the time to look at Steve as he was focused on driving. They had known each other for almost a year and already she felt an intense sense of fondness and comfort toward him. He was one of the greatest people she'd ever met and she felt lucky to be able to call him her friend. Although sometime she still thought back to that moment of weakness, pressed under his body on her couch, his lips on hers.

As he parked in her driveway, her car already delivered, she decided to invite him in for food and drinks. "You want to come inside? I have leftover lasagne and beer." She offered.

"Lasagne is good."

A/N: Guess who's back with another late update, it's your girl Hannah!

Yeah, so... things have not gone my way lately. With writing and just life in general. It started 2 month ago when I broke my ankle from, wait for it, walking onto the pavement. Sure some guy shoved me causing me to lose my balance but still. Talented right? Well, even though the cast came off like 6 weeks ago and I've had this walking boot thingy since it still hurts, it's stiff as hell and my knee is completely fu**ed up from not being used properly for ages. So yesterday morning when I got out of bed my foot was unusually swollen, more than it is normally now so I called the ER to ask if it was something to be worried about, apparently it was. So there was at 10 am on a sunday sitting in the waiting room, wearing purple pj pants, my cousin's old navy t-shirt, christmas hoodie and my hair in the same bun I had slept with. I looked like a scarecrow. Then after waiting for 8 hours(apparently the ER is popular on sundays) they tell me it was just a reaction from the pain killers I am on and all they had to do was to put me back on the ones I'd gotten the first time I was there.

So long story short, sort of, my sunday was spent at the ER and in traffic. By the time I got home I was starving and tired. I fell asleep right after consuming a large pizza by myself.

Like always, hope you liked the chapter:)

XOXO
Hannah