The Winds of Change

Fandom: Hawaii Five-O

Ship: McRoll

Chapter 8: hōʻikeʻike
(Notification Detail)

Sighing softly to himself while he waited on hold to notify the Navy of Tim Cole and Joe White's deaths, thinking to himself that this was not what he wanted to be doing at all right this moment, but never the less, it had to be done. Both of these men had been given honorable discharges from the Navy and like Billy Harrington, he wanted both of these men to have a full Military Service to honor their memories and their service to their country.

Though Catherine had told him that she would do the notification and make the call, It was just something that Steve felt he needed to do himself. He still felt some responsibility towards their deaths seeing as how he was fairly sure at this point that it had been Greer that had sold him and his team out. It was hard to point the blame at anyone other then himself right now though he knew logically it was not his fault, but try to explain that one to his mind.

"Still on hold?", Catherine had been washing the breakfast dishes and had just about finished, hearing his frustrated sigh and had come over to him to calm him, resting her hand on his shoulder and leaning into his frame as he sat on the breakfast bar stool with all the relevant paperwork that he would need, Joe having told him several years ago where he kept all of his important documents . Having no family around him, Joe had given this information to John and the to Steve upon John's death.

Nodding his head, he glanced over at her, and sighed again, "It's been nearly ten minutes.. If it wasn't something that needed to be done, I'd have hung up by now, but doing that will just put me in the same position that I am in now later.. I would have thought that it would be a lot quicker to get through to the Military notification detail, but seems not". The hold music was nearly unbearable and his arm was starting to cramp from where he was holding the phone up to his ear. "Why don't you put it on speaker while you wait and then take it off once someone picks up".

Her suggestion was simple but yet also very welcome at the same time. He was tense and just not able to think of something so simple when his mind was focused on the task at hand.. He took the phone away from his ear and pressed the speaker button and laid the phone down on the counter while Catherine stood behind him to try to relieve some of the tenseness in his shoulders, giving him a gentle massage, wanting to do whatever she could to help her Sailor feel at ease as best as he could.

It felt like hours, but what was really only another five minutes before someone's voice came through on the phone and Steve immediately picked the phone up and took it off speaker before placing it back at his left ear, smiling softly at Catherine when she squeezed his shoulder and then left him to discuss what needed to be discussed in peace, knowing that it was hard enough as it was and he though he may want her around, he needed to do this part alone and that should really understand.

In the meantime whilst he was on the phone, Catherine headed outside to tend to the animals. The horses were still unsettled and out of sorts, though she was unsure why at this point.. They hadn't really had a proper discussion about just what had gone on and how it had all gone down.. She knew not to push till Steve was ready to talk it all out.. She hoped that he would talk to someone, she would prefer it to be herself but if not, then she would be happy if he even talked to Danny about it..

As she tended to the animals, she thought a lot about Hawaii and five-o. So much had changed within five-o since she had left the team to go overseas with the CIA.. Chin and Kono were both on the mainland which to be honest really surprised her. She thought for sure that both of them would stay close to home, however one was situated in San Francisco with his partner and his niece and the other was living in Las Vegas, both very different styles of living then what they were used to in Hawaii.

Then in their place came new comers Tani and Junior, When she had been on the island briefly a year ago to try to locate Asad she hadn't already been aware of the personal change, and had been saddened to hear that Chin and Kono were no longer on the island working with Steve and five-o. There had been a lot to get used to during that short visit, but it was good to know that despite Chin and Kono no longer being on his team, he still had a good team around had been nice to see Lou, Adam, Jerry and even Kami again, sadly she had missed Danny as he was on the mainland but from what she had seen so far, Tani seemed like she was on top of things and could get the job done..

She remembered what a joy it was to be introduced to the new members of five-o as "my other half". Though they weren't together at the time and she was very much aware that Steve was in a relationship with Lynn at the time, it meant a lot to hear him say that about her.. It was true, they were the other half of each other.. Always feeling complete when they were together and like something was missing whenever they were apart.. He would always be her soul mate in life and in love regardless where it was that life took them.

Getting alone time with Tani was one of the highlights of her time in Hawaii on this trip.. She didn't have to head off straight away, she had been working hard over the last six months to finally take down Asad so she had been given some time off to rest up and recover before her next assignment came up and she had chosen to stay on the island and spend time with her friends, making sure that she got Chin and Kono's contact information before she left so that she could get in touch with them..

That day when she was sitting alone on the beach and Tani had come to talk to her was a day she wouldn't really ever forget at all. She respected this woman and all she stood for, and she could see why Steve and Danny had actively pursued her to be on their team. She was a force to be reckoned with and similar in different ways to both herself and Kono.. Patting the horses after setting down some hay, she smiled as she recalled the memory, her mind wandering off.

Author Notes:

I am still very overwhelmed to have received so much love, support and encouragement on this story. I thank you all so much for your kind words. It means a lot to me. I have finally gone back and re-watched this episode so the next few chapters will hopefully be a little more accurate in my writing. There is one thing that I am deciding to change up a bit.. The horses are owned by someone else in the episode, whereas in my version, they are actually Joe's horses.

Shout outs:

SteveMcGarrettLover:

Thank you for your wonderful comments and message as well about my Missing Piece story as well. I have decided since this is looking at being a long term project, I will incorporate flash back sequences in there as well at different intervals where other members of five-o are involved in the story as well.

Pilarmnavas:

I'm glad the wait was worth it, and so happy you enjoyed the previous chapter. Sure.. I can do it within this story rather then a stand alone story.. I always love flash back sequences and am looking at making them an integral part of this story.

Zheth22:

Thank you so much, I hope you like this one just as much.