Winds of Change
Fandom: Hawaii Five-O

Chapter 15:

It was early, around 6:30am and the two of them were already seated on the plane seated waiting to go back to Montana. They had a lot of work to do when they got back and he was glad that he had Catherine with him for the ride.

Danny had nearly begged them to let him come along with them Steve really preferred that Danny stay in Hawaii. He needed him running the taskforce, and he trusted Danny and Lou to run things while he was gone, plus he knew the man and he knew he would want to be around later on when they had all the details to take these people down.

His team had already identified who had hired the hitmen to take out his team, Gregers Thomsen had set it all up for Omar Hassan, he was the son of a HVT on an operation in Morocco back in 2002.. He should have known, it didn't surprise him in the slightest. Greer was on that assignment too, handing down the solider's orders so of course it all made sense to him now.

The assignment now was the find Thomsen and bring him back to the ranch, he needed to be able to get as much information out of him as he could, so he could find where Omar Hassan was.. and then he was coming after Hassan as well. Out of the six SEALS on that operation, he was now the only living member and he had to avenge his team, his buddies, and he knew Catherine would help him do whatever was necessary in getting in done.

During the flight, he felt comforted by the fact that Catherine never took her hand away from his, even when she was eating, she still held his had and had their fingers laced together, which made him feel a level of safety that he hadn't felt in a long time. They might have their differences but Catherine was always there for him, and vise versa.

"You okay? I know you haven't had a lot of time to process all this", She turned her head to look at him, and saw the tears welling up in his eyes.. He had lost his father and now had lost the other man he looked upon as a father figure. It was hard to see him cry, she was one of the few people who had seen him cry but when she did, her heart broke for him.

Sighing softly, his hand resting on his thigh, rubbing it as though he was rubbing off the sweat on his had, he had been looking out the window of the plane and then turned to look at her when she had spoken, and the concern in her voice, the love behind those words was what had gotten him teared up.

"Honestly, I don't know, I don't think I will process it all till we get Hassan and bring him to justice for this.. and find Greer, but I want to thank you for coming with me Catherine, for being the one person to understand why I can't just let it go". Nodding her head, she smiled softly, and leaned in, kissing his cheek gently. "I'm with you always Steve, you know I'd never let you go into something like this alone.. I was there with you when we brought Freddie back and I'm here now".

Besides, he didn't want Danny there when he was thinking about ways he could get Thomsen to talk, Danny had seen him do strange and eccentric things to suspects before, but he had never been confronted with the truth that one of Steve's skills in the SEALS was torture, and he didn't want the man to think any less of him.. He never killed a man torturing them and yet he sometimes wondered how he stopped himself sometimes from going too far especially when they needed incentive to give up intel.

"Are you sure about not wanting Danny to come along, I mean he is a good detective". Catherine could sense that Danny worried about him, and though she knew that Danny knew Catherine was capable herself, it was his partner and he felt a duty to help protect his partner. These two had come a long way, she remembered when Steve used to call her complaining about his new partner, and then eventually it became about how to make sure he didn't risk Danny's life when he had a daughter to live for.

Letting out a breath through his nostrils, he nodded, "I don't want Danny to see me like that.. He has seen me do some unorthodox things with suspects, but he has never had to see me go as far as to use certain sets of my military skills".

She could understand, she hadn't been trained in torture specifically, but she knew that Steve had, and she never asked him about any of those times when she knew he had to do it because he hated the fact that it was a part of the job.. Sure being in the military meant killing people with weapons usually in a situation where it was your own life of theirs, but to torture.. It was why a lot of service personal had PTSD, because of everything they had seen and done.. "You know Danny wouldn't judge you right?"

Deep down he knew he wouldn't judge him, after all he was just doing his job and what he was ordered to do, "I know he wouldn't, It's just not something I want him to see or even think about me doing.. I'm ashamed of a lot of things I had to do because they were orders, and I never have regretted signing up for the Navy because it brought me to you, but there are things I wish I hadn't see and done".

It was not hard to understand what he meant, she too had seen things over there that changed her, and changed her opinion about things, and a lot of times they were going to war and doing things they didn't necessarily agree with. She nodded her head, and squeezed his hand a little tighter, trying to reassure him without words that she knew and understood and felt the same way.

Just then the lights dimmed and the movie of the flight came on, Steve smiling softly as he noticed it was Top Gun.. That might have been Catherine's doing since she knew it was one of his all time favourite movies, "You did this for me?", he asked her in a surprised tone, leaning in and kissing her lips softly, her nodding to say she had, both put their headphones on and she leaned her head on his shoulder, getting comfortable as they settled in to watch the movie.

It was going to be busy when they got back to the ranch, and Steve knew he had another ace up his sleeve, he was going to contact his friend from the UK, Harry Langford as well, and see if he wanted to come aboard when the time was right, once they had the necessary information on Hassan.. He was going to need all the help he could get and that is when he as going to call Junior in and he knew that Danny would want to join at that point as well.. He was also going to call in Wade Gutches, he didn't want his whole five-o family getting involved, putting them at risk but he did need help and these guys would be just right for the job when the time was right.

Author Notes:

Thank you for your patience with this story, I am still updating all of them, it's just taking time to get them done, but this one I still love as well so I'm glad have done another chapter on this one.. It's gonna essentially meet up to the beginning of the next episode where Danny goes to the ranch where he is doing his torture thing on the lawyer Thomsen. I'll continue it throughout that episode as well, and try to do a lot of point of view moments as well, from Steve, Cath, even Junior, Harry, Wade etc, what they are all thinking, feeling, thinking about Steve and Cath and what they really both thought in their heads when Harry told them they were going undercover as a married couple so there are still plenty of moments ahead I am looking forward to writing.

SteveMcGarrettLover:

Thanks for the support on all of my writing, I love how you cheer me on and support me and read every single one. They are perfect together and I just can't think of a better fit for him then her and same goes for her with him as well. I hope you liked this chapter, I might do some slight domesticated stuff while they are waiting for the intel they need to capture Thomsen, even if it is things like starting to repair the ranch.

Armyj88:

Thank you for your review, I hope you enjoy this one as well :)