More than Love

Summary: Tie-in and continuation oneshots to my story Love is not enough, prompted and original ones.

Pairings: Steve/Cath, minor Kono/Adam and Danny/Gabby

A/N: I know I haven't been updating lately. I'm truly sorry; life has been crazy lately. Please enjoy.

Private Festivities

Drinking stopped. Dancing paused. Conversations ceased. Silent excitement swept over the crowds assembled on Waikiki beach. Lanterns and torches covered the usually white sands with a warm multi-colored glow. Glasses were raised even as the countdown started, and suddenly it seemed as if the island spoke with a single voice. Celebrating with them were Five-0, Gabby, Adam and Catherine; standing at the very edge of the sea with a clear view across the water, a cool bag full of beer and, for once, with their cell phones switched off, they were going to have the best time out of everyone there.

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6-"

They finally had something to celebrate again, too. Steve had recovered from his injuries, Catherine was getting ever better, Steve and she were in a great place, and the male members of the prestigious task force had finally made their peace with Adam Noshimuri. They had the day off as even criminals didn't seem to work at the turn of the year, and thus far this had proven to be a great evening out among friends, that is to say the boys hadn't gotten into a fight, and Steve and Danny had left their carguments behind when they'd stepped out into the fresh night air. They raised their bottles in time with the rest of the revelers.

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1- HAU'OLI MAKAHIKI!"

The fireworks started at the stroke of midnight, illuminating the sky and all their faces in a myriad of different colors. Steve watched Danny and Gabby kiss, then squat down to give Gracie a bear hug on the only night of the year that she was allowed to stay up so late. He pressed Catherine a little closer to his side. She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder, and indicated Kono and Adam who'd included a smiling Chin into their hug.

"Hey, Steve," Danny called making his partner look up at him before the detective went on. "Hau'oli Makahiki."

Steve laughed as he listened to his friend first attempt to speak Hawaiian. The SEAL never thought he'd see the day when Danny did anything the island way. Danny's face contorted funnily as he tried to wrap his tongue around the unfamiliar words. It sounded a little funny, but the effort was all that counted. Steve let go of Catherine for a moment to pat his partner on the back. Danny grinned broadly, expanding his arms as he waited to receive some compliments. Chin gave a few claps, and Adam raised his beer while Catherine and Kono are in stitches.

"Did that cost you, brah?", Kono asked when she had managed to get herself under control for a few precious moments, only to burst into merry laughter again.

"Hey, a little love here, please," Danny protested, pouting.

"Oh, I love you, Danno," Gracie stated honestly, running to hug her father around the waist.

"Well, at least someone does," Danny jokingly grumbled. "Thank you, monkey."

"Happy New Year, partner," Steve finally replied with a grin. The group finally came together again to clink their beer bottles in the air. Hugs and pats were passed around between them. Music had started not far away, and when Steve returned to embrace Catherine from behind her and nuzzle her neck, he could feel her sway lightly against him. It was too loud around them to make it out, but he was certain that she was humming too. He smiled against her skin as he placed a soft kiss on the side of her throat. They stood like that for what felt like an eternity, wrapped around each other and watching the fireworks over the dark water when suddenly a commotion caught their attention. Turning around they saw a young Hawaiian woman stumble away from Chin, a quick succession of apologies coming from her mouth. Apparently, something had made her trip and fall into him making him spill is beer over his shirt.

"I'm so sorry. I hit a rock with my foot, and my ankle gave out. I didn't mean to... I'm sorry," she was telling him almost too quickly to follow the words. She was almost as tall as him, with long light brown hair and sun-kissed skin. She wore a short white and sky blue dress, and was standing awkwardly beside a flustered Chin as she unsuccessfully tried to wipe some of the spilled beer out of his shirt with a thin shawl. The police lieutenant just stood there as she dabbed at his shirt. He eventually managed to raise a hand to get her to stop and put some distance between them. It made the woman shift her weight, and wince when she had to place her left foot on the ground. She'd kept it lightly at her side until then; apparently she'd truly been hurt when she'd tripped over the stone and now her ankle won't support her.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to-", Chin began to say as he caught her before realizing how their conversation seemed to repeat itself only from his perspective, and chuckled. She blinked once, then joined him in her laughter as she let Chin place one of her arms around his shoulder to support her. "I've got a first aid kit in my car. Let's go and take a look at that... uh, I'm Chin Ho, by the way..." He added his name almost like an afterthought, and earned himself a snort from his cousin, but he didn't pay her any mind. His eyes were solely focused on the woman in front of him. He felt unusually anxious to find out her name. She was very pretty, and he certainly wouldn't mind if this accident had just been a ploy to talk to him, but she'd seemed sincere when she had apologized to him – over and over again. He smiled winningly.

"Leilani," she replied with a smile of her own.

As he led her away through the crowd carefully, his friends called after him teasingly, and none of them louder than Kono. The volume of the music went up a notch, and soon the masses were moving to the beat. Kono dragged Adam off into the crowd, thankfully, so that neither of her self-proclaimed older brothers had to see what they'd get up to on this sandy dance floor. Gracie gave a big yawn, which had Danny and Gabby decide to take her to bed and spend the rest of their New Year's Day festivities on the couch with a good movie. Gracie gave her Uncle Steve a big hug goodbye. That turned out to last a little longer than expected when the SEAL picked her up, and carried her through the crowd to where they'd parked the cars. If it hadn't been for their badges they'd have never gotten spaces so close to Waikiki beach. Gracie extended her arms to hug Catherine once Steve stopped moving, then he set her down and the little girl ran over to Chin to say goodnight. Steve and Catherine watched briefly as their senior comrade wrapped a bit of elastic bandages around Leilani's ankle to stabilize it. He seemed very focused and professional, but it was Catherine who pointed out how his touches lasted just a second too long.

"There's something in the making," she whispered loudly enough to make the two people in question flush a little.

"Maybe you two should decide if you're going somewhere yourselves," Chin teased back. "I mean, how long have you been dating? Seven years or more?!"

"To be fair, we were mostly in separate time zones during those, and always moving around, so..." Steve informed him with a squirm.

"You've been stateside for years now, so that excuse has expired a while ago," Chin scoffed. "You two got plans?"

Steve raised his hands in defeat.

"Yeah, yeah, we're leaving."

They did indeed have plans, and those involved neither a beach nor hordes of strangers.

5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0

(Ka'ena Point, 1:48 am)

The car ride and hike to Ka'ena Point, the westernmost point of their home, had been quiet. Not a word was spoken between them. Any sane person would not advise to take a hike in the middle of the night, and if they had told Danny or anyone in Five-0 , they would have probably gotten quite a lecture from them. They weren't just anyone, and sometimes Steve was quite sure they must all be 'insane', in the best possible way. He's made his way to this shore a million times as a kid with his dad when their relationship had still been close. Catherine herself was more than capable to keep up with him in any way, but he held her hand the whole hike there anyway.

When they reached the small beach, for once it was empty. Usually there were at least a few people around. The secluded nature of the spot made it rather popular, but obviously no one felt the need to come here in the first few hours of the new year. They'd brought a blanket which Catherine extended on the ground while Steve opened the bottle of wine they had brought along. Steve took a small gulp from the bottle then handed it to Catherine. She smiled at him before she drank some wine herself. They hadn't bothered with glasses or any other unnecessary objects. Placing the bottle securely in the sand, they lay down next to each other on their backs. Facing skyward they enjoyed the near absolute silence around them. Aside from the leaves rustling in the wind and the chirping of some nocturnal insects, even nature seemed to have taken pause to salute the new year. The world was asleep around them, every star glittering like a tiny night-light to make the darkness more bearable. If Steve didn't concentrate too hard, he thought he could see the Milky Way out of the corner of his eye. His gaze was more likely to take notice of and drift toward the woman to his side.

Catherine seemed totally content to just lay there with him in silence. It was one of the great things about their relationship. They could talk for hours without running out of meaningful conversation, albeit until now rarely about the nature of their relationship, but they could just as well sit together in companionable silence. Today was a perfect day for silence, but it was also the right moment to talk about something important that had been burning in his chest for a while. Considering their luck, this might be the only time in the near future. They were alone, there was absolutely no chance they could get interrupted – he'd left his phone strategically in his truck which he had left a few miles down the road – and she was finally, finally back to her old self after all the emotional and physical abuse she went through from all sides lately. Their relationship was solid again, they were in a good place, but he thought they could make it even better. So after a moment's hesitation because he didn't want to ruin their cozy moment, he turned onto his side and stroked his hands down her arm. Catherine's eyes slowly made their way over to him as if she couldn't peel them of the beautiful spectacle. When she saw the intensity on his face, she smiled at him like she knew a secret he'd not yet voiced, like she'd always known that he loved her. It made him take another moment to gather his thoughts.

"Cath, are... you happy?", he finally asked.

She looked at him with big eyes, unsure of why he was asking. His expression was serious and sincere; he really wanted to know. She wondered what had made him doubt that she was happy with him, if that was what he was truly asking. Catherine tried to tell him without words, and leaned closer to press her lips against his. He kissed her back instinctively. Soon their kiss grew from a mere affectionate peck to a passionate battle of tongues but that was exactly when Steve let go of her and put some distance between them. His arm had snaked around her midriff, but their chests were too many inches apart for the Lieutenant's liking.

"I'm just wondering. Do you feel like we're stuck, not going anywhere?" he tried again. He saw her cock her head to the side as she contemplated his question.

"Do you feel that way?" she finally asked back.

"No, not exactly. It just feels like we've been seeing each other for so long, on and off, but always just the two of us – if you count out Amsterdam, but that was really my fault; I ran and I regretted it not a minute later – and I just, you know, feel like we should be so much further, because..." He'd been on a bit of a roll when he'd started out, and it had turned into quite the rant; Danny would have been proud of him, though Steve was a little worried at the increased similarities between him and his partner. Now he realized that it all boiled down to the following sentence, and not so much the words because he'd already said them, but the acts he wanted to follow them up with. He cradled her face with one hand and leaned as close to her as he could without kissing her. "Because I l-"

"I know," Catherine replies with a teasing smile. "I've known even when you broke it off with me before Amsterdam."

"Why didn't you say anything? Call me on it?" he questioned. If only she had said a single word, he knew he would have been unable to leave her. He would have taken it all back, and begged her to let him stay with her. She hadn't fought him on his decision, though. At the time he'd been glad that she'd not asked him to stay. His resolve had been weak as it was, and had gotten weaker with every look at her face. She'd understood that he'd been running from her and his budding feelings from her, had told him as much, and had shown him the door in the same second saying she would not stand in his way as he did what he damn well pleased. His stomach had twisted when she'd added that he shouldn't expect her to wait around for him. "We could have avoided all of that nonsense."

"Yeah, and we'd have broken up for good by now."

"Are you saying I didn't have the emotional maturity to have a proper relationship with the woman I loved." He said the l-word as if it was the most natural thing in the world; it was, and he'd just been willfully blind to it.

"Are you saying you were?" she asked back.

"..."

"And neither was I, though I wanted to try. I only realized in retrospect that you leaving, giving us both space to grow up about our feelings for each other, was probably the best thing you could have done."

"I am ready now," Steve told her seriously. "I love you."

"I love you too, Steve."

Steve's face brightened as it did every time she said those words. He bridged the distance to kiss her again, and it soon developed until he was hovering half over her. Her back was flat against the blanket and the sand underneath her, and she was pressed against his muscular chest. Her arms went around him, fingers digging into his back. His right hand went down her side, briefly brushing against her breast making her arch into him. Steve moved his mouth slowly down her throat, then raised himself up to look at her face again. He could barely make out her features but he could hear her panting breaths, feel her chest press into him further every time, and it was beautiful. He wanted every day to be like this.

"Move in with me."

She laughed a merry little laugh, then pulled his head down until her lips brushed against his ear. He shuddered at the contact, and grasped hold of her thigh. Her tone was light and teasing when she spoke, yet there was a tremor in her voice that betrayed her nervousness. It told him how much of herself she was putting out there for him to take up or trample over.

"Say what, Commander? Don't tell me you want a picket fence, marriage and 1.4 kids?"

"Are you asking?" he replied seriously. Catherine was a bit taken aback. She wasn't sure if he was asking because he was afraid that she wanted more than he could give, or because he hoped that she wanted as much as he did. She swallowed with difficulty. If ever there had been a moment alone between them to ask the tough questions, this was it. So she calmed her racing heart, and gathered her courage to find out.

"I am," she told him. Her voice sounded more confident than she truly felt. She was swaying between barely contained panic and euphoria. She thought she knew his answer; she didn't doubt him or his intentions anymore as the past months had shown her they were true, but she still felt that tiny shred of insecurity that he no doubt felt too.

"Yes," is his simple answer, and he feels her suck in a breath at that.

"Yes?" she asked to make sure she understood him right.

"I think we've always known that you were going to have to be the one who proposed," Steve replied with a grin. Within seconds they're back to making out in the cool night air. "So, what say you?"

"To marriage and kids and picket fences?"

Steve winced a little.

"Well, maybe not picket fences. How about we substitute that with a private beach, grilled steaks, some beer and lots of-"

Catherine placed a finger on his lips to shut him up. For someone as taciturn as Steve McGarrett, he sure had an ability to ramble when he wanted to tease her. She pecked him on the lips to let him know she appreciated everything he'd done for them since this whole mess started. Steve's heart-melting grin, the one he reserved only for her, found its way back onto his face as he leaned in to nuzzle her neck. He kissed and nibbled at the soft skin of her throat so lightly that it tickled her.

"So?" he asked again.

"Yes," Catherine imitated his answer from before. Her voice was soft but sincere. She looked him directly in the eyes as her hand caressed his face. He closed his eyes at the light touch. Everywhere she touched, his face felt warm; a warmth that crept under his skin and into his heart.

"Yes," he repeated his earlier answer.

Then they were all lips and teeth and tongue. Catherine moved back after few minutes. Her hands cradled his face and though they'd only recently made their way out here, she really had no interest in further watching the stars. He felt a new wave of arousal when he saw her wicked grin.

"Take me home, sailor. Take me to bed. I want to make love to you – all night long."

End

A/N: I was feeling like fluff around New Year's.