…..

So, my goal was to get six reviews on the previous chapter as well as twenty follows and... I did! You all have been so amazing! Thank you so much! As a reward, here is another chapter!

This chapter was harder to write than the previous four, for reasons unknown. I hope that it doesn't drag the story down.

As always, I wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone that has read, reviewed, followed, or favorited this story. (And also to those of you that have favorited or followed me!) I really appreciate each and every show of support that I have been given. Keep it up, please!

One more thing: Just a reminder (I'm going to give one every few chapters) that this story is very loosely based on the show. I mostly just used the characters and the premise.

Enjoy this newest chapter!

…..

Chapter Five: A Wealth of Secrets

Steve

The murderer was running through Chinatown, weaving among the shoppers. I was in pursuit and I could see Danny out of the corner of my eye, running right behind me. Allie had been with us when Luis had started to run, but it didn't seem like she was anywhere around now. Perhaps she had taken it upon herself to call Chin and Kono and let them know where we were, just in case they were close and could provide some backup. No doubt, Luis was armed.

He was also fast and agile, easily dodging the obstacles that popped up along the way. He was no match for me, though, and I knew that I was gaining on him, steadily leaving Danny behind. Danny was in shape, but he was no Navy SEAL. He worked out, just not every single day like I did. And I was convinced that if he tried to keep up with my workout routine, he'd go into cardiac arrest. It took years to build up to a routine like I had.

Luis was running right along when suddenly, a blur took him out and they went rolling.

Allie popped onto her feet first, but Luis was close behind, and he took out the gun from the waistband of his jeans. I took out my gun and aimed, but as quick as a flash, Allie kicked his wrist so hard that the gun went flying out of his hand, spiraling towards me.

I picked it up, flipped the safety on, and then looked up to see Luis take a swing at her. She dodged it easily and on his next swing, caught his arm right below the elbow. She then brought her other elbow down to hit his bicep. Luis' scream told me that it hadn't felt nice.

In a series of fluid motions, Allie swung his arm and flipped him over so that he landed on his back, the wind knocked out of him completely. He was still gasping for breath when Danny and I approached, each of us a little surprised. It was the first time that we had seen her in action.

"Hey, guys," Allie smiled at us when we stopped on the other side of a gasping Luis. It didn't look like she even had a hair out of place. "What took you so long?"

"Ha!" Danny said, sounding like he was still slightly out of breath. "How in the world did you catch him?"

"I used the alley. No people back there. Clear path." She shrugged. "Want me to cuff him?"

"Not yet." I leaned down and grabbed the wrist that Allie had kicked. Luis started to cry out in pain, but I stepped on his throat, applying just enough pressure to mess with his breathing. "Don't even think about it," I warned him. "Where is the flash drive that you stole from Nick Harris?"

Luis' dark brown eyes were shooting daggers at me. "I don't know what you're talking about," he managed to get out.

I pressed harder with my foot and twisted his wrist a little more. Tears of pain sprang to his eyes and he grit his teeth. "No?" I asked. "Let me ask again. Where is the flash drive that you stole from Nick Harris?"

After a few moments and a little more twisting, he finally ground out, "Okay, okay!"

I released the pressure. "Talk."

"I stashed it at work in an empty locker. The second one from the end on the right. I was going to pick it up today."

I looked over my shoulder and addressed Danny. "Tell Chin and Kono."

"Got it," he nodded and took out his phone.

Looking back down at Luis, I asked, "Was the information on it worth mutilating him for?"

There wasn't even a flash of regret in his eyes. "It would have been, if you hadn't caught me before I could use the blueprints."

Disgust filled me and I stepped away. "Cuff him, Rhodes."

Allie did so, none too gently. He started to say something about police brutality, but she said something quietly into his ear that shut him up instantly. Once backup had arrived and Luis had been placed into the back of a patrol car, I asked her what she'd said to him.

She shrugged, face blank. "I told him that we aren't the police." She smiled. "We're Five-O."

I didn't bother to fight my own smile and, in fact, held out my hand for a high-five. She seemed mildly surprised, but returned it.

"Good work today," I told her. "Danny and I are probably going to head to Kamekona's for dinner. You in?"

"Dinner at the beach," she mused and then smiled. "I'm in."

"Awesome. See you there in about an hour. I'm going to shower up and then head that way. I could actually pick you up, if you want. You live on my street."

I looked for any clue that she had known that already, but all that I saw on her face was surprise. I just didn't know if it was real or not. "Okay. Sounds good. I'll go change out of this." She gestured down to a tear in her shirt from the scuffle.

"See you in a bit."

She waved and headed away, her stride strong and confident.

Danny joined me moments later. "Hey, are we headed to Kamekona's?"

"Yeah," I said, and we began walking towards the Camaro. "But I told Allie that I'd pick her up and drive her there. I'm going to stop by my place and shower first and she lives a few houses down."

"Well, you failed to mention that," he said. "And since when do you care how you smell?"

"I figure the more time I spend with her, the more at ease I'll feel with having her on the team."

He opened his door but paused and stared hard at me. "No, that's not it."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you mean that's not it?"

"That's not it," he repeated. "There's something else going on here."

I shrugged and slid into the car. "Whatever you say. You need a ride back to HQ?"

Something caught his eye and he shook his head. "Nah. Chin and Kono are here with the flash drive. I'll go back to HQ with them and we'll meet you and Allie and Kamekona's. You know, since you have to shower and everything." He obviously still didn't buy it.

Smart man.

"Suit yourself."

Once home, I showered very quickly and then changed into jeans and a soft gray tee. Then, I headed over to Allie's house. Maybe, if she wasn't done getting ready yet, I'd have a chance to look around a little bit. I doubted I would find much, but anything was better than nothing.

I knocked on the door and heard Gideon bark once. A minute later, Allie opened the door, looking like she'd just gotten out of the shower mere minutes before. Her shorts showed more of her long, lean legs than I had ever seen and the tank that she wore was white with a black feathered pattern. In one hand she held a towel that she was using to dry her hair.

"Hey." She was surprised, but only mildly. Maybe her security system beeped when a vehicle pulled into the driveway. "You're early."

I looked down at my watch and acted surprised. "Oh, sorry. I guess I finished my shower faster than I thought."

She didn't look like she bought it, but she also didn't look irritated. "Because you still take a Navy shower, no doubt. Come on in. I'll only be a few more minutes."

Perfect. "Thank you."

I stepped inside and was greeted by Gideon, who sat in the entryway staring at me. It was like he knew what I was up to.

"Gideon," Allie said as she passed me and headed for the stairs. And then she said something in a language that sounded similar to German. I didn't understand what she had said, but Gideon seemed to. His ears perked up and he continued to stare at me.

Before I could ask her what she'd said, she smiled at me and then continued her route up the stairs. "I'll be down in five. Promise."

"No rush," I called after her and then moved for the room off to the side that looked like a library or office of sorts. It looked like a good place to stash top secret things.

Unfortunately, Gideon darted into my path and stood in the open doorway, growling low in his throat.

I raised both of my hands in surrender as if he had a gun pointed at my chest and stepped away slowly. "Okay, okay." I was pretty sure that Allie had been telling him to watch me. And, obviously, he had embraced the task wholeheartedly.

I had no choice but to sit on the couch and mess around on my phone for the few minutes that she was upstairs getting ready. Gideon laid in his dog bed in the corner by the recliner, watching me the entire time. It almost made me wish that I had one like him.

When Allie came down, I was almost blown away by how different she looked. Her dark hair was still kind of damp, but she had put some product in it to make it very wavy. She had also applied eye makeup, which she didn't normally wear at the office. It made her blue eyes stand out even more, which I had thought was impossible. The only other change was the strappy black sandals on her feet.

"Hey," I said, standing as she stepped onto the ground floor. "Ready to go?"

"Absolutely." I watched her grab a small black purse off of the small end table by the couch and slip it onto her shoulder. Then, we walked out of the house and to my truck together.

Her light, citrus perfume filled the space in a matter of seconds, and I found that I actually rather liked the scent.

I cleared my throat as I started the engine. "To Kamekona's."

"Here we go," she agreed and we were off.

Allie

I'd told Gideon to watch Steve closely because I knew that he wanted to find out as much about me as possible. The most likely scenario was that he'd been early because he had been hoping for a chance to snoop around. Not to harm me, but for information. Still, I couldn't have him snooping in my private business. And, unfortunately for him, Gideon was very well-trained and would have used force to keep Steve in the living room or kitchen, if necessary.

But it hadn't been, because Steve was smart enough not to provoke him. As if he would have been able to find anything in the library anyway. I kept my private things much better hidden. But he didn't need to know that. Let him think there were top secret things in the library. It would keep him further away from my actual hiding places.

"You handled yourself really well out there today," he told me a couple of minutes into the drive. "You've obviously been trained in martial arts."

"CIA requirement." Okay, so, yes… I was name dropping the CIA just to make him think about just how little he knew about me. I knew it would annoy him. I also knew that it was petty, but I couldn't help it. I mean, the guy had just tried to snoop in my library.

"Ah," he nodded. "Right. Is there a particular kind that you were trained in or did they do a generic martial arts class at The Farm?"

"Everything that they do at The Farm is classified. You understand, of course. But, no, I learned my martial arts before my training at The Farm."

"What kind?" He was obviously not planning to give it up.

"All kinds. I travelled a lot as a kid, so I was exposed to many different styles of fighting."

"Did your parents encourage that? You learning how to defend yourself?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "My mother wasn't around much, but she did support it. My father… not so much. He was always too protective. Most of the time, I had to sneak around to train." Talking about it brought back memories that I fought against.

"Aren't fathers typically overprotective of their daughters?" I felt him glance over at me.

"He didn't need to be."

"Why?" Steve asked, and there was a hint of teasing in his tone. "Because you could take care of yourself, even as a little girl?"

I wasn't a normal little girl. "I did okay for myself," I said, and I made sure that my tone indicated that I was done talking about my father. He could read into that however he wanted.

He dropped it, thankfully. "Are you getting used to the island?"

"I can find my way around pretty well now." Hawaii was a safe subject. It had never been anything to me before now. "But I still use the GPS most of the time, just in case. I think it'll take me a while to be an expert. What about you?"

"Well, I've been here working for a few years now, but I lived here when I was younger. Grew up here. So, I already know my way around pretty well."

I had actually known that, but it was best to let him think that I didn't. Maybe if he thought I didn't know all that much about him, he'd stop looking into me. Doubtful, but worth a shot. "Lucky you. Growing up here, I mean. It must have been nice."

"I liked it," he agreed. "I left for the academy in California when I was sixteen and I missed this place the entire time."

"But the academy paid off," I pointed out. "You became a highly decorated soldier."

"Yeah." He said the word softly, his eyes on the road but also somewhere far away. "I would have gone into the military anyway. My grandfather went down with the USS Arizona during Pearl Harbor and my father served for a bit before he came back here to work as a detective. It's in my blood."

"That's commendable."

"Thanks." But he still seemed like he was somewhere far away. Probably thinking about his dad, whom I knew had died right before Steve had moved back to Hawaii.

I looked out the window and let him have a few quiet moments.

Lord knew I needed them.

We arrived at Kamekona's and found Chin, Kono, and Danny already waiting there, along with a little girl that I didn't know.

"Allie, this is my daughter, Grace," Danny told me. "Grace, this is Officer Rhodes. She's the newest member of Five-O."

"Hi," the girl said shyly.

I put on my warmest smile for her and knelt down next to her, holding out a hand. "It's very nice to meet you, Grace."

Smiling shyly, she shook my hand. "You too, Officer Rhodes."

"Allie," I corrected her and stood. "Can I sit here?"

She nodded and I sat down next to her as Kamekona came out to see what we all wanted. He didn't normally come out to take the customer's orders, but he made exceptions for Five-O. According to Kono, Five-O was like family to Kamekona, even though he was actually a reformed (supposedly) criminal.

Grace slowly began to open up to me and before long, it was like we'd been best friends for years. She talked to me about her bunny and her dog, and also about her friends from school. She was actually a very sweet little girl, and very cute, though she didn't have much in common with Danny, whom she referred to as "Danno".

"Did you get that from Steve or did Steve get that from you?" I asked her.

"No, don't answer that," Danny said, but it was too late.

Grace laughed. "Uncle Steve got it from me. When I was little and tried to say his name, all I could say was Danno. It kind of stuck around."

Everyone at the table laughed and I suddenly realized that it was the first time that I had been out with a group of people without that familiar paranoia to dampen the mood.

I kind of liked it.

"Grace is a sweet girl," I told Steve as we were headed back to our houses.

He smiled fondly. "Yeah, she is. Started calling me Uncle Steve all on her own. I never really liked kids before, but I made an exception for her."

"I can see why." It was sweet, really. He had truly seemed like an uncle to her. "I'm not big on kids myself, but she was okay."

"She grows on you," he assured me.

I laughed. "I don't doubt that."

He pulled into my driveway and parked with a sigh. "Thanks for coming out with us tonight. Getting to know you has been nice."

"But you want to know more, don't you?" The raw honesty surprised me just as much as it did him.

It took him almost a full minute, but he finally answered. "I told you… in my world, trust is earned. It's going to take a while. You assured me that you wouldn't take it personally."

"It's not that." My smile was sad. "But do you really think you're earning my trust by trying to spy on me?"

His eyes were unyielding. "I guess there's just going to be a bit of mistrust between us for a while, then."

I nodded my understanding. He didn't intend to stop digging for information on me. Unfortunately for him, there was nothing to be found. I'd made sure of that. "Okay. Good night, Commander."

Before he could respond, I was out of the car and heading for my door.

Gideon was waiting inside, likely having heard the car pull into the driveway.

I tossed my purse onto the couch and huffed out a breath. "He's no better than I thought he would be." I wasn't sure why that disappointed me as much as it did, but it aggravated me. "I don't even know what I was thinking. I should have expected it."

Angry tears filled my eyes and I wiped them away in annoyance.

Gideon nudged his head against my leg and I gave him a couple of good rubs before heading upstairs to change into pajamas. Once that was done, I came back down the stairs, fed Gideon his dinner, and then settled onto the recliner with my personal laptop.

After a blank Word document was opened, I set the line and paragraph spacing like I wanted it and began to type out my report for the governor. I started by summarizing the two cases that Five-O had worked that week, which took up about four pages because my summaries always tended to be long. That's why they didn't typically let me handle the paperwork in my jobs.

After the summaries, I typed up a more thorough detailing of Steve McGarrett's actions. As I got to the end, I thought about how he had behaved at the end of our last case, after I had tackled and taken down Luis, the killer. Instead of cuffing him and taking him away to be questioned, Steve had exploited Luis' weaknesses in order to get the information out of him. Luis had even said that it was police brutality and… technically…

But Luis was a criminal – a killer – and Steve had only wanted the information that we needed to take him down for good. That wasn't a bad thing, right? Special forces did that in the field all of the time and technically, Five-O was a special force. But… also not that kind of special force.

"I think it's the exact kind of thing that the governor wants to know about," I told Gideon when he came to lie down in his dog bed that sat next to the recliner.

He stared up at me with his soulful brown eyes, but was no help.

I stared hard at the blinking cursor.

Finally, I hit the print button and closed my laptop.

For reasons unbeknownst even to me, I didn't want the governor to know about that little incident.

"Don't read into it," I warned Gideon as I stood to go to bed.

He didn't look convinced.