AN: I am so sorry for taking so long to update this story. I was ill and school kept me pretty busy. But I have got 5 weeks off now due to the corona virus (well actually 3 weeks due to corona + 2 weeks of easter holidays), so I will hopefully have more time to write. I still gotta study for school though. I hope you still enjoy reading this story and feedback is, as always, greatly appreciated.

Five-O Headquarters, 1300 hours

"Hello? Who is this?" a voice that definitely belonged to a man and definitely didn't belong to Catherine, picked up the phone. It was throaty and unfamiliar and it send a shiver down his spine.

"This is, um, Steve McGarrett. Who am I talking to?" he replied, trying to shake off the goosebumps that were covering his whole body by now. Even though he couldn't tell what was going on just yet, he had the feeling that he wasn't going to like it.

"I am Jason. I am just answering Catherine's phone, because it kept buzzing and she is-" the man started explaining and Steve could feel his body relax automatically, when Jason was interrupted by an all too familiar voice, "Who are you talking to?" she asked. Catherine had just emerged from the bathroom, her wet body was wrapped into one of the white hotel towels.

"There is a Steve McCammet on the phone for you." Jason replied indifferently. He was sitting on the bed, only wearing a bathrobe himself, with the TV remote and a highly overcharged bag of sweets resting by his side.

"Steve McCammet? You mean McGarrett?" Catherine spoke up, before Steve could have even had the chance to correct the other man. Steve didn't know who exactly this man on the other side of the phone was, but there was something about that guy, maybe it was his 'I don't care'-attitude, that didn't exactly made Steve like him.

"Might as well be McGarrett." Jason said and shrugged his shoulders. He had not once heard that name leave Catherine's mouth and he knew her for almost a half a year now, so he was fairly certain that it wasn't that important. Of course he couldn't know yet just how naive he was.

Steve could hear the man handing the phone over to her and just a few seconds later he could hear Catherine's soft breathing at the other end of the line instead of the man's. "Steve?" she asked, a hint of uneasiness was resonating in her voice. This really wasn't the way she had imagined her next conversation with Steve going down. They hadn't talked or chatted in months and it was quite unusual for him to call - they normally didn't do that. She wanted to talk to him, she really did, but this was probably one of the worst moments he could have picked. With having just returned from a mission, she wasn't even wearing fresh clothes yet. And of course it was Jason of all people, who just had to answer that one particular call.

"Cath." he breathed, this was the first time he was hearing her voice since they parted ways in Laos, "Are you okay?" He closed his eyes, the confusion and inner stir he had felt up until now, slowly ebbed away. She was talking to him, she wasn't laying dead in a ditch somewhere in the middle of nowhere. She wasn't being held capture by some high-ranking terror cell, no, she was talking to him. She was okay.

"I am." she answered honestly, even though she suddenly felt like she was suffering from a fever. A mixture of guilt and nervosity overcame her and she tried to push those thoughts into the back of her head, where they had been stored for the past months, by briefly closing her eyes, "What's going on, Steve? Why are you calling?" she added finally. She saw Jason's curious eyes follow her into the bathroom and she knew she was gonna have to answer some questions later.

"Well, um," he trailed off, "Uh, your dad, he got into a car accident. But don't worry, he is stable-"

He could hear a door close in the background, "Wait, what? My dad? What happened?" she interrupted him, confusion clearly resonating in her voice. She didn't really know what she had expected him to say, but it surely wasn't this.

"Your mom didn't elaborate on that. But she told me that he is stable and that the doctors are optimistic." he answered and really wished he could be able to tell her what had happened, even though it wouldn't change the outcome. She drew a harsh breath, but didn't say anything, "He is going to be okay, Cath." he added.

She leaned her back against the closed door and took another deep breath. She really appreciated his, in some way encouraging, words. They both knew that she would only be able to fully believe them if she saw it with her own pair of eyes, but for now she trusted Steve's judgement; knowing that he wouldn't sugercoat something like this. "Okay um.." she trailed off, trying to comprehend all the information she just got, "Um..so how do you know all of this?"

"Your mom paid me a visit...here at work." he explained and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, "She has been trying to get in touch with you, because she wanted you to know, but apparently she had no luck and she was really worried..so she paid me a visit and asked whether I knew something or had a way of contacting you."

"I just got back from..you know." she stopped abruptly, realizing that the location of her mission was highly classified, "I..so my mom paid you a visit, huh?" she added and a soft chuckle escaped her mouth, as she imagined the reunion. The first few times, Steve had encountered her mother, she had felt quite ashamed by the way her mother had behaved. It was typical mom "stuff" really, asking all kinds of questions and not even being ashamed of asking them. Her mom had always been really curious, especially when it came to Steve. However, imagening her mom showing up in the Five-0 Headquarters in order to talk to Steve was somehow really amusing. Even though the reason behind it wasn't funny at all, she couldn't help the grin on her face.

"That she did." he answered and his lips curled up.

"Thank you, Steve..you know for calling. And for calming my mother's nerves." she said after a while of reminiscing. She knew her mother was easily worried and she didn't blame her. She probably would be too, if she had a husband working in the military or a daughter working undercover for the CIA.

"Of course. It was the least I could do really." he replied softly and when he didn't get an answer, he added: "Catherine? Hello? Are you still there?"

"Yeah..yeah, uh, sorry." she apologized. She ran her hand over her face, shut her eyes and pressed her fingers against her closed eye leads in an attempt to once again squeeze out the images that kept tormenting her. The sadness and the guilt were hardly bearable right now.

"Call me if you land, okay?" he said, it sounded almost like a question to her. He was pretty sure that she would take the next flight to O'ahu she could get, but he wasn't sure for how long she would be staying or whether she would contact him to catch up.

"I will." she promised, "Mahalo..and aloha." With that she hung up the phone and leaned her head against the closed door. A soft sign escaped her mouth, followed by a few deep breaths. She needed to regain her composure before calling her mother..and flying to Hawai'i.

.

Kings Medical Center, 1300 hours

About 24 hours later, it was 1300 hours local time, she was walking down the hallways of the Kings Medical Center. Even though she had been here quite a few times, there were a few things that had changed so drastically that she was no longer able to say that it looked familiar. The walls looked freshly painted, the warm rose tone had been exchanged by a seemingly highly polished white tone, which glistened almost blindingly so and just added to the sterile and uncomfortbale atmosphere hospitals conveyed. It was just another reminder of how much the life she had left behind had changed in her absence.

She stepped into the elevator and sighed, when she realized that she was alone. Jason had wanted to accompany her, but she had convinced him that this wasn't the right time or way for him to meet her parents for the first time. Though that wasn't a lie, she knew it wasn't the entire truth either. She just wasn't ready to let him into the life she had left behind and everything and everyone connected to it. If she was completely honest with herself, she wasn't ready to move forward in their relationship at all, because she liked things the way they were. They met up whenever their schedules allowed it and he had a surprisingly calming effect on her. He made her laugh.

After the phone call Jason had asked her who Steve McGarrett was and without thinking it all the way through she had answered that Steve was "just an old friend". She knew it wasn't right to lie to him, but it wouldn't have made much of a difference anyway. She briefly closed her eyes and remembered the disappointment that had been so clearly visible in his eyes, when she had basically told him that she didn't want him to meet her parents. At least not yet.

The elevator doors opened with a soft pling and she was brought back to reality. A small green and blue sign told her that she would have to take a turn to the right in order to get to room 448, which was the last one on this floor, as she came to realize relatively quickly. She absentmindedly walked down the nearly empty hallway. When she finally arrived in front of the last room of the floor, she carefully knocked on the door, before she slipped inside. Her mother was sitting in a rather comfortable arm chair next to her dad's bed, she was holding his hand. She seemed a bit tired, but she still looked at her husband with the same love in her eyes she had when Catherine was still a kid; their love had always left Catherine with astonishment. Her dad was seemingly asleep, but the monitor at his bedside confirmed the regular beating of his heart - he was alive. She released a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"Catherine!" her mom exclaimed happily as she noticed that the petite brunette had entered the room.

"Mom." Catherine uttered, relief was clearly resonating in her voice. Her mom stood up to hug her and when the older woman wrapped her arms around her daughter, Catherine suddenly felt at home. Her mother's scent, her tight hug, the warmth with which she was greeted. Catherine buried her face in her mother's hair and closed her eyes. "I missed you." she finally whispered.

"I missed you too honey." Ann whispered in her daughter's ear and placed a light kiss on Catherine's dark hair. She knew returning to Hawai'i wasn't easy for Catherine, for several reasons, but she was glad her daughter was here and seemed to be of good health. Sure, the already slim woman had lost a few pounds, but other than that, she couldn't make out any injuries.

"How is dad?" she asked and finally let go off her mother. Catherine sat down on the edge of the bed and inspected her father more closely. He had a severe concussion, some bruises on his arms, a few broken ribs and a broken leg - as her mother had already told her over the phone. The problem that had occured in the first hours after the car crash was his heart. Her dad had suffered from an heart attack a few years back and even though he had recovered relatively quickly, his heart wasn't as strong as it had been before.

"He is doing okay. He is sleeping a lot, but the doctors say that that is normal." Ann answered, before the corners of her mouth twitched, "He desperately wanted to return home today. He said if he got home today, he would be able to get back to work in two days."

Catherine chuckled, because that kind of behaviour really sounded like her dad. He truly was a workaholic, kind off like she was too. She signed deeply, relief washing through her body. Her dad was okay and he would be back on his feet in no time, of that she was sure.

"So how was your flight? Are you okay dear?" her mother asked, as she returned to her place next to James' bed, but instead of taking James' hand into her own, she took Catherine's.

"The flight was long, but I am okay." she answered, but she was hesitant to look her mother into the eyes.

"I am glad..that one of us finally reached through to you." her mother started and watched her daughter's reaction very closely, "We were really worried." Ann included Steve in her statement as if it was the most natural thing on earth. Catherine knew that her mother had always liked Steve - back when they were still together she had asked Catherine at least once every few months why they didn't tie the knot just yet. However, she hadn't expected that her mother would still consider him family.

Catherine just nodded absently. "You haven't told Steve.." her mom started again, but stopped when Catherine finally looked at her. The look in her daughter's eyes told Ann that she hadn't told him nor was she up to talk about it with either her mother or Steve.

"I am sorry to bring it up, hon, but don't you think he should know?" she asked and as much as it pained her, Ann knew her daughter needed to hear these words, "I have been watching this..event..torment you so much more than anything else you have ever dealt with. You can't move on if you-"

"Mom." Catherine interrupted her. She could feel the tears burn in her eyes and swallowed hard, "Please, stop.." she trailed off and turned away, when the first tear was threatening to spill. Her mom just stood up and pulled her daughter into her embrace. Even though Catherine was glad to have someone who understood how hard this was for her, she felt so incredibly weak. She knew she would have to tell Steve at some point or another, but she also knew that it would cause him and her too, unnecessary pain.