…

And another chapter is… up! I really appreciate the support that I've gotten so far in the form of private messages, reviews, favorites, and follows. You'll never know how much each and every single one of those things means to me. I love getting the e-mails telling me that someone is showing their interest in my story. I honestly never expected to get more than a few hits since I'm so new to the Hawaii Five-0 universe, but this has all been really great. Thank you all so much.

I hope that you enjoy the newest chapter!

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Chapter Four: Mystery Dominoes

Steve

I really couldn't explain my actions to myself, but I ignored the part of me that told me to put the truck in reverse and drive home. I wasn't really the wait around type, and I wanted some answers. No, I didn't know if I would actually get any from this visit, but that wasn't going to stop me.

After a deep breath, I got out of the truck and headed for the door of Allie Rhodes' house. It was actually just down the street from mine, which I thought would be convenient if I ever needed to do surveillance on her. It was a recent addition, as the old house had burned down and they had completely rebuilt it. As a result, one could argue that she had the nicest house on the block.

I tried not to let that irk me.

At the door, I knocked. Almost immediately, there was a bark from inside. It sounded like a big dog. Instinctively, my hand moved towards the holster on my hip. Best to be prepared, just in case. Any dog could get aggressive if it felt like you had no right to be on its territory.

The door opened about twenty seconds after I had knocked and there stood Allie, her dark hair damp from a shower. She was dressed in long plaid pajama pants and a black tank that showed off the subtle muscle in her arms. Even without makeup, her blue eyes were bright.

"Commander McGarrett." She sounded only slightly surprised to see me, which led me to believe that she had a security system that had alerted her to my arrival. I had only spotted one camera on the way in, but it had looked pretty high tech.

"Officer Rhodes," I greeted. "Do you have a minute?"

"Allie," she corrected me and stepped aside, pulling the door open wider. "Of course. Come in."

"You can call me Steve," I said and stepped over the threshold, my eyes automatically doing a quick sweep of the room. It was modestly decorated and didn't exactly scream "feminine style". It was simple and could have appealed to almost anyone's taste. It almost looked like it had been staged for her. "Nice house."

"Thank you." She stepped around me after closing the door. "Can I get you anything to drink?"

"No, thanks."

"Okay. Gideon!"

A large German Shepherd trotted into the room and I could have sworn that his eyes narrowed when he saw me.

"It's okay," Allie told him and pointed to a dog bed that sat in the corner of the living room. "Go lay down."

He did so without hesitation, leading me to believe that he had been professionally trained. "Did you train him yourself?"

"With a little help," she said and motioned towards the leather couch, loveseat, and recliner in the living room. "Have a seat."

"Thanks." I chose the loveseat because it allowed me to keep both Allie and the dog in my line of sight. She chose the recliner next to the dog bed. "I had a few things that I wanted to talk to you about. I hope it's okay that I dropped by; I got your address from your personnel file."

"Yeah, that's fine." She certainly seemed like she didn't mind, but I had a feeling that she was very adept at controlling her emotions. "Is there another case?"

"No, not yet." I actually felt myself smile. "We just wrapped the last one up today, so I hope we at least get the night off."

She returned my smile. "Well, I've heard that Five-O is pretty busy, so I won't hold my breath. And I don't mind the crazy schedule. It's just me a Gideon." She smiled down at the dog for a moment. "And he can pretty well take care of himself. I'm good to work as much as you need me to."

"You did good with your first case. Really good." I had told myself that swallowing my pride and getting close to her would be the best way to get her to open up. No matter how much it wounded my ego. "I know that I probably wasn't the most… welcoming. I wanted to apologize for that."

Her eyes widened only slightly in surprise. "Hey, I get it. You were supposed to get to hand pick every single member of your team and the governor threw me on there without consulting you. I just hope that over time, I can prove myself. I think I have a lot to offer."

"You proved that pretty well with this case." And she had. She obviously had some contacts that could be useful. "It just takes me a while to get comfortable with someone. Don't take it personally."

She smiled, but it seemed to be without humor. "I'm not the take it personally kind of girl, trust me. It won't be a problem."

"Good." At least (if what she said was true) I wouldn't have to worry about having a drama queen on board. "So, why did the government decide to put you on the team?"

She shrugged and, if she knew anything, she was hiding it rather well. She was good. "I don't know. Maybe he just thought that I had some skills you guys could use. I've worked a lot of different jobs – translator, bomb squad, White Collar to name a few."

"And the CIA, as I understand it."

There was no look of shock on her face, as I had been expecting. Instead, she simply nodded, not bothering to deny it. "Yes, and the CIA. I take it you've looked into me?"

I kept eye contact with her. "I wanted to know who was going to be joining my team." But I didn't tell her that I had asked others to look into her as well. It hadn't mattered, anyway, as they hadn't been able to find any more than I had.

"Understandable." Amazing. She wasn't upset at all.

"So, what did you do for the CIA?"

"That's classified."

I felt a wry smile tug at my lips. "That's usually my line."

She chuckled. "You don't mind if we share it, do you?"

"It'll take some getting used to." Not that I planned to just sit around and get used to it. I would get my information, one way or another. This girl was one curveball after another. A set of mystery dominoes – when one fell, it only rammed into another mystery.

"I'm confident you can adjust," she assured me and stood, moving for the kitchen. "Navy SEALs are famous for it."

I stood to follow her around the corner. I didn't plan to let her out of my sight as long as I was there. "So, I'm not the only one that's done some research."

"Nope." That was it. No further explanation.

This is going to be much harder than I thought. That really shouldn't have surprised me, though. "What did you find?" I leaned my shoulder against the wall, crossing my arms as I watched her take a pitcher of blue fluid out of the refrigerator.

She glanced at me with a small, almost teasing smile. "What do you think I found?"

"That's not an answer."

She laughed, even though I didn't see any humor in the situation. As she took a glass down from one of the cabinets, she said, "I only looked into the basics. You were a SEAL, you worked for Naval Intelligence, and now you're in the Navy Reserves while you head up this task force. That's all I cared to know."

But was there a possibility that she had access to my missions? Surely not, as they were highly classified… but, then again, her files were even more classified than mine were. Perhaps she had access…

"What is that?" I asked her, pointing at the pitcher as she put it back into her very organized refrigerator.

"Blue raspberry lemonade." She smiled almost guiltily as she picked up her glass. "I'm a sucker for it. Do you want me to pour you some?"

She was expecting me to say no because I had declined a drink before. So I said, "Yes, please."

There was no surprise in her expression, which irritated me for unknown reasons. "Okay. Ice?"

"Yes, thank you."

She got me a glass and then motioned for the table that stood in the dining area just off the kitchen. "We can sit there. I'm sure you still have some questions."

There was no sense in pretending that I wasn't investigating her; I'd already given that away. At least she seemed to be taking it well. I took the chair closest to the doorway to the living room and she sat directly across from me, nursing her sweating glass. Waiting.

But more than just knowing what careers she'd had, I wanted to get inside her head. That's how you really got to know someone. "Which career did you enjoy the most?"

That put an expression of surprise on her face, and I was almost proud of myself for it. Which was ridiculous, as I had yet to get anything good out of her. "Um… I don't know, actually. I can't say that I enjoyed one more than the other. They were all interesting."

"And they were all relatively short stints," I said. "You don't seem to stay in one job for very long at a time. Why is that? Do you just like the travel?"

She shrugged. "I like learning new things. I like to perfect new skills. But, yeah, the travel is pretty nice."

"How long do you plan to stay with Five-O?"

"As long as I feel I'm needed, I guess." She took a long drink. "I do like the team, though. And you seem to do a really good job leading them. They clearly respect and look up to you."

"A good leader earns that," I told her. "Look, Danny, Chin, and Kono all earned their place on the team and they've earned my trust and respect. That's how things work for me."

"I get it." She didn't seem upset. "I know that I have to earn your trust and respect. And I plan to do that. I'm hoping that I can prove myself worthy."

"Me too." The blue raspberry lemonade was actually very tasty. Just the right mix of sweet and sour. "Is this homemade?"

She laughed, almost choking on her own drink. "No, no. It's Kool-Aid. After years and years of making it, I've discovered the twists that take it to the next level. So, I guess you could say it's a mix of the package and some ingenuity."

I nodded my approval and finished off my glass. "Well, it's delicious. Well done."

"Thank you."

I stood and moved for the sink. "Do you just rinse them out and put them in the dishwasher?"

"Oh, you don't have to do that. I can take care of it."

"No, it's no trouble." I dumped the ice and began to rinse out the glass. When I was done, I looked over to her and raised an eyebrow. "Dishwasher?"

"Sure. Thank you."

The dishwasher was about half full and I quickly found a place for my glass on the top rack. After I was done, I turned to her and smiled politely. "I think I've taken up enough of your evening." Not that it looked like she had been up to anything else.

"I'll walk you out." Leaving her glass on the table, she stood and trailed behind me to the front door. Once there, she said, "Drop by anytime. But maybe make sure that I'm home first. Gideon can be… protective."

"Sounds like he's a pretty good security system." I was really fishing for details about her actual security system.

She didn't bite. "He is. Good night, Commander."

"Steve," I corrected her.

She smiled. "Right. Steve."

"Good night," I told her, and then I was out the door and heading to my truck. I hadn't learned much, but I hadn't expected it to be easy. Hoped, yes, but not expected. But at least I had plenty of time and opportunities to figure her out.

I wouldn't be playing mystery dominoes for long.

Allie

Gideon was staring at me when I turned around after closing the door. He had moved silently to stand behind me, likely because he wasn't comfortable with Steve yet.

"I didn't say that you could get up," I told him, but it was not really a reprimand. He knew that; he'd just been concerned for me.

He tilted his head to the side as if to say, You want to explain what that was all about?

I sighed and moved for the kitchen to finish my drink. "It's totally normal for a boss to come to his new employee's house and ask her about her time with the CIA, right?"

Gideon huffed out a breath that somehow sounded sarcastic.

I picked up my glass and slowly twirled it in my hand. "Yeah, I didn't think so. But I can't blame him for being curious about me. Especially because he likely didn't find much when he looked me up. A locked file is always suspicious. That's why Pandora opened the box, right?"

Gideon didn't respond – because dogs frequently don't – and I finished my drink before stashing the glass in the dishwasher. "What do you think, buddy? Time for bed?"

He barked his approval and I opened the door to let him out before going upstairs to wash my face and brush my teeth. After I let him back in, he ran up the stairs and straight to his fancy dog bed that sat in the corner of the room. Once upon a time, he had slept in my bed, but that was before I realized what a crazy sleeper he could be.

"Good night, buddy," I told him, but thoughts of Steve McGarrett kept me awake long after I expressed the sentiment.

The next morning, I was up at five and Gideon and I went for our morning run. Afterwards, I gave him his breakfast and went upstairs to take a quick shower while he ate. Once again, he was no help at picking an outfit, but I was finally able to decide on a pair of jeans, a burgundy tee, and a pair of fashion sneakers. My hair went up into a ponytail with a section braided back. I preferred to keep my hair up when working.

"Good to go?" I asked Gideon as he followed me down the stairs.

He seemed fine, so I grabbed a microwaved breakfast sandwich for me as well as a travel mug of lemonade, and then I headed for work.

Steve and Danny were already in, but Chin and Kono were not. Five-O seemed to be one of the most relaxed workplaces in the world, which Kono had said herself on my first day. Steve always called or sent a text when there was a case but, other than that, there was no specified start time. And, apparently, Steve was pretty generous with vacation days.

There was no time card to punch, as we were all salaried employees, so there was a steady check without a required number of hours. It actually wasn't a bad gig – much better than bomb squad, where the paperwork had always been an incredible hassle.

I went straight to my office to stay out of Steve's way, but he came into my office about twenty minutes later, anyway. "Hey, we have a case. Let's go. Chin and Kono are already at the scene."

Nodding, I followed him and Danny out the door and down the stairs as he quickly filled us in. "There was a body dumped in an abandoned warehouse. A squatter found it. Kono said the remains are pretty mutilated."

Just the way that I wanted to start my day. But, that was the job. I jumped in my Camaro and followed Steve as he drove himself and Danny to the crime scene, which looked about as shady as crime scenes could come.

Max was already inside, examining the body of what looked similar to a man. But it had been so mutilated that I was surprised that he could see anything.

"God," Danny groaned as he pulled on some latex gloves. "That is one sick bastard right there. Find anything, Max?"

The medical examiner didn't even look up as he began to speak. "Obviously, this was quite a hack job. I'm going to have to take him back to my office and do an autopsy to find much. What I can tell you is that the cause of death seems to be blood loss and the victim's fingerprints have been burned off."

"Well, that's no good for identification," Steve sighed. "Let us know what you find, Max."

The man nodded and called for a couple of people to help him load the body into a bag and then onto a stretcher. I didn't envy him the job that he had ahead of him. It was a good thing that I'd never had a desire to be a doctor; I would have been terrible at it.

Chin and Kono approached from another area of the warehouse and Chin spoke. "We talked with the squatter that discovered the body. He said that the door was unlocked, so he let himself in to get some shade and rest for a while. The body was just lying here, in the middle of the floor, and he ran out to call the police. So far, we haven't found any evidence here."

"There's not much to do until we have an ID, then, providing that Max can get us one. Let's head back to the office and start looking into recent missing person reports."

That sounded like as good a place to start as any.

As we were heading to our cars, Steve called out to Danny and tossed him the keys. "I'm going to ride with Allie back to HQ."

Danny looked just as surprised as I felt, but I hid my expressions much better.

Steve slid into the passenger seat, we both buckled up, and then I started the engine.

"Here Comes the Sun," Steve said of the song that began to play. He looked at the display. "A CD?"

I shrugged. "I like the Beatles. Do you need to make a stop first?"

"No. But you do know that the Stones were a much better band than the Beatles, right?"

I couldn't help but scoff at that. "You're delusional. The Beatles were much better. Better songs, better music… just better."

"The Rolling Stones were way more iconic than The Beatles," he argued.

"You know, I actually read an article recently about a survey that was done among both men and women. The Beatles won across both genders. Their music appeals to a broader audience."

"Appealing to a broader audience doesn't make them better," he said, voice rising slightly. "And where did you read that? I want sources."

So, I gave him the source and he immediately looked it up on his cell phone. I saw his face fall slightly when he read the results.

"That still doesn't make them better," he said once he had finished the article.

"Their albums have sold better across these last fifty years," I told him. "That doesn't make them better?"

"Better is subjective," he growled, and crossed his arms. I could have sworn that he was pouting like a child.

"You don't like losing, do you?"

"I'm not losing anything!" Defensiveness rang out in every syllable.

I couldn't fight the smile that spread across my face. "Sure, you're not. But there's no more time to argue because here we are." I parked in the parking lot of headquarters and smiled over at him. "Unless you want to sit here and continue to argue instead of working the case?"

If looks could kill… "Let's go inside." He got out of the car and shut the door just a little harder than was necessary. It was all I could do not to laugh.

"We think we found something," Kono said as soon as we entered. "We found a missing persons case filed two days ago and Max said that the description sounds spot-on."

Steve turned on his heel. "Let's go."