Winds of Change

by Blossomangel85

It has been a month since Joe White's death and since Steve McGarrett has been back to his Island. The only person he has let in has been Catherine Rollins. She was his first call only hours after Joe White's death. This is their month in Montana. A lot of it was formulating a plan.. The rest was falling in love again.

10. Chapter 10

The Winds of Change
Fandom: Hawaii Five-O

Ship: McRoll
Characters: Steve McGarrett, Catherine Rollins

Chapter 10: Ke hele mai nei i kahi Home
(Coming Home)

Catherine was standing near the horses, continuing to just stay with them to settle them, smiling at the memory.. It had felt good to have said those words out loud, voicing her feelings even if it was Tani she was saying it to and not her Sailor. Steve was right, Tani did remind her of herself.. She was confident, and not afraid to speak her mind, and knew exactly what she was doing to get the job done. She was unsure of how long she had been there when she felt two arms wrapping around her waist from behind and pressing soft kisses up the side of her neck, warm breath breathing against her ear lobe as he spoke softly. "Thought I'd find you out here with the horses".

Sighing softly, her eyes closing at the feel of his arms around her, she melted into him, her back leaning into his chest, "You know me too well Sailor". She had lived on a few acres of land before when she lived in Texas and her family had horses and it's where her love of the animal came from.. Not many people knew that but Steve had never forgotten.. "Always Lieutenant". Her hands came down to meet his at her waist, letting their fingers lace together, smiling softly, her breath hitching up when he kissed her neck once more, "Everything sorted?", she asked, her voice still a little breathy clearly showing the effect he had on her still.

"It's all sorted.. I even phoned a funeral home for Joe, they are going to contact the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii for him to be brought back home and buried there. I know that Joe lived here for a lot of his life, but I was going through his will which states he wanted to be buried at the same cemetery as Dad". He paused a little, both knowing what he meant.. They were going to be going back to Hawaii at least for a short time.. "Once we have said goodbye to him and laid him to rest, I want to come back here so we can keep on target and not be risking everyone back in Hawaii if these son's of bitches come back".

What he had planned was not something that a local law enforcement officer should do, or would be legally permitted to do and he was fairly certain that his immunity and means with the Governor wouldn't quite cut it with what he was planning.. Anything he had done over the years where it looked like him crossing the line.. It was nothing compared to what he had in mind when he got his hands on anyone involved in killing his SEAL buddies..

This was war and he was damn sure as hell not going to risk losing everything he had built up in Hawaii, When it came to finally capturing or killing the people involved, Greer and Omar Hasan, he would assemble a team to aid him, however, until that time, he needed his team to remain in Hawaii because he didn't want them to become targets themselves, they had done more then enough by catching the man that had tried to take him out and making the man talk.

It all made sense now, He had a feeling when he was attached in his own kitchen that it was Greer who gave the names of his SEAL team out to the enemy and betrayed them all. He was proud of his team for everything they had done so far, but he knew that he couldn't risk them being involved any more then they had to be. He knew both Danny and Junior would want to be there when it all happened and he would allow them to join the team for that, but this.. It was going to get downright dirty and messy.

Nodding her head, Catherine recognized that whilst it was easier to do everything including burial here, she respected the fact that Joe White wanted to be buried in Hawaii and also that the rest of the team would want a chance to say their final goodbyes to Joe, a man that most of them had known ever since Steve had come back to the island when his father was killed. "What about Cole?", she asked, neither one moving from their current spot, just content to talk as their bodies perfectly slotted together, the need to be close evident to both of them right now.

"The Navy Notification detail are on their way now to notify Tim Cole's family of his death and we're gonna spread his ashes out on Narragansett Bay, ". This was hard on him, he wasn't sure how he would have gotten through all of this without Catherine being right here with him. "Good", her voice was only a soft whisper. Finally turning around in his arms, his arms slowly sliding down her back a little before he pulled her in closer, Catherine's arms sliding up over his shoulders, her fingers lacing around themselves.

"Steve", her voice was soft and low, her eyes moving to look into her eyes.. "What exactly happened here?" She had seen the conditon of the ranch, it looked like it had been ripped apart by a tornado. Sighing softly, he leaned closer to her and held her tighter, the memory of the two of them on horse back to get away and find a doctor or a hospital, then finally as Joe and Steve had that final talk, his former C.O and his father figure dying in his arms was going to be permanently ingrained into his memory for the rest of his life.

Moving to take a seat on a bench nearby, he pulled her into his arms on his lap as he began to talk, the words all rushing out, needing to get it out, and knowing that he anyone, he could trust Catherine."Greer thought Joe White was already dead and I was sure it was her that betrayed the team, so I went to see her, told her Joe was alive.. We wanted to see if she would take the bait, if she would send someone after Joe.. We came here to prepare, even though Joe had told Cole to go into hiding, he was already here when we got here.. There was a huge shoot out, They took Cole out, brought RPG's with them, and then one came into the house, managed to hit Joe before we took him down".

Listening and not saying a word, Catherine just took his hand and squeezed his hand gently to coax him into continuing his story. "I rang and spoke to Lou, that's when they told me who was behind it, but the medivac wasn't going to be there for ninety minutes so we rounded up the horses and were headed out about three mils across the valley to where one of Joe's neighbors who was a retired surgeon lived". Tears welling in his eyes, he recalled when they got about a mile out and Joe told him to stop..

"The son of a bitch played me, there was no Doctor and the only call he made was to call of the medivac.. He wanted to see this little area about a mile from his property for the last time.. We had a few moments, I got to thank him and say what I needed to say.. So did he.. Then he died in my arms, watching the sunset over the mountains".

Catherine's own eyes were filling with tears as she struggled to contain her emotions, listening to Steve recant those moments, realizing that Steve had been all by himself, had to deal with Joe's death alone with no one else as his rock, hugging him a little tighter "Ohh Steve, I'm so sorry I wasn't here for you.. I should have been here for you". She and Steve both knew that had she been on the island when this had all gone down that she would have followed him anywhere, "Your're here now Cath, that's all that matters".

The truth was, he was glad Catherine hadn't been there for that fire fight because it was hard enough to lose all of his fellow SEAL members, and harder still to lose Joe, so he wasn't prepared at all for even the thought of losing Catherine for good. Hugging him tight, her arms wrapping around his neck, his own arms coming around her waist to hold her closer, he realized Joe's words in that moment.. 'Don't wait to long to find someone'.. He didn't have the heart to tell Joe that he had already found the one, and at the time he didn't think they would ever get back to how they used to be, but now..

Now, he had hope.. After nearly being taken out himself and losing his team and Joe, he wasn't about to lose the best thing that had ever happened to him again.. As they sat in that barn, holding each other, the last thing he heard before he finally let himself break down in her arms was her muffled voice, right near his ear, "We're gonna get them Steve, I promise you.. We'll get them and make them pay, you hear me.. I'm with you till the end".

Author Notes:

Thank you all again for the support and encouragement. It is because of you all that I am so invested in keeping this story going. I will let you all in on a secret.. I had chapter 8, 9, and 10 all completed on the same day but I thought I'd stager when I added the next chapter on. I'm really pleased as to where this story is heading. I know she uses that line in the original episode I am basing this off, the "I'm with you till the end", but I feel she would say that as many times as he needed to hear it.

I also decided that since we never really learn what Steve decides to do with Joe's body in the show, I'd do something similar to when Junior brought that Sailor home earlier in season 9 along with Jerry and that Joe White would want to be buried in the same cemetery as John McGarrett because they were close and he was close to Steve as well.

The next couple of chapters will be escorting Joe back to Hawaii, and then having his funeral, having some time with the five-o team before Catherine and Steve head back to Montana. I can't imagine they had Gregors Thomsen at the Ranch the whole month, so going to Hawaii and then back to Montana would account for some of that time, plus they would have had to come up with a plan to kidnap the lawyer as well. I can imagine Harry Langford would have had a lot do with that as well.

Shout outs:

SteveMcGarrettLover:

Thank you so much, and I agree, everyone does.. Freddie, Danny, Tani, hell even Aunt Deb did at one point, they all want to see him happy and they know she makes him happy.

Pilarmnavas:

Thank you so much, I am glad you enjoyed the flash back. Will certainly happen at some point during the story lol. I love seeing Tani as the little lioness as well.

Prislynn:

Thank you so much, and yeah they really should be together. They are meant to be together, it was like the writers wrote Catherine to be the perfect other half of Steve.

Isabellaelisa:

Thank you so much. I do think it is plausible.. I think Steve is more hard to read sometimes, but Catherine especially to another woman would be an easier read, also it isn't hard to for others to read the signs when two people who really like each other are trying to not show that to everyone else.

Treklifer57:

Thank you for reading my story to start with and thanks also for correcting me on that. I did actually google the time difference between Hawaii and Montana but I think when I wrote it, it was late at night and I just got them mixed around and put Hawaii three hours later instead of earlier.

You are so right there though, I can visualize Danny's reaction, he would have certainly berated him for being a neanderthal for waking him up so early then would have felt bad when he knew why Steve was calling.

I actually really appreciate corrections like this because it helps me moving forward especially because I am planning on doing a flash back scene to that very conversation and your correction gives me a place to start the scene so I very much thank you.