…..

There is absolutely nothing that you all can't do. You beat both challenges that I presented yesterday, so that means that I have to post TWO chapters today. I guess I need to start making the goals even harder? Ha. I'm going to post one chapter now (morning for me), and then one right before I got to bed. My new goals will be on the next chapter later tonight.

Thank goodness this chapter was easier to write than the last one. With luck, none of the rest of the chapters will be as hard as chapter fourteen. You all don't even know how hard I struggled to eke that one out. At one point, I seriously considered just letting it be one thousand words. BUT… I had promised myself that each chapter would be at least 3,500 words, so I pressed on. And I hope it was successful.

Thank you all so much for your support of this story, and I hope that you continue to enjoy it.

Happy Reading!

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Chapter Sixteen: The Explosion

Steve

It had been a week since I'd suspended Allie, and I hadn't heard a single thing from her. And since I had sternly told myself that I couldn't be the first to make contact with her, I didn't try to call her. I'd been on countless missions in foreign territories for weeks on end. I had done tours in the Middle East for months at a time. But somehow, the week without hearing anything from Allie seemed longer than any of that.

"I dropped by to see Allie this morning," Kono said Monday morning when Chin asked her why she was later than usual. "I brought her donuts."

"You saw Allie?" I asked and prayed that my tone was only conversational.

"Yeah," she said. "I've called her a couple of times but I told her I wanted to do something helpful, so she said I could bring her breakfast."

"Whoa," Danny protested. "When I asked what I could do, she asked me to bring dinner."

"You saw her, too?" I asked.

"Yeah," he shrugged. "I took Grace with me and we ate dinner and played cards."

"Poker?" Kono teased him, and Chin and I laughed.

Danny glared at us all. "No, we didn't play poker. We played Go Fish and some other game that Grace and Allie tried to teach me. I was no good at it."

"What about you?" I asked Chin.

He nodded. "Yeah, I talked to her a few times and asked her if there was anything I could do, so I did a grocery run for her."

"Better than getting your ass kicked at cards," Danny muttered.

"Have you talked to her?" Kono asked me, and all eyes were on me.

"Yeah," I lied. "I've checked in on her." Before the lie could continue, I got a call on my cell from HPD. "McGarrett."

"Hey, Commander," an officer said. "We have a body here and we'd like your team to come take a look. It's pretty bad."

"Okay," I agreed. "Send me the address."

"Got a case?" Chin asked when I hung up, and I nodded and headed for the door.

Once we were in the car, Danny said, "So, why haven't you talked to Allie?"

I kept all guilt from my expression. "What are you talking about? I just told you that I've checked in on her."

"Yeah, and you lied. Come on, we're partners. You think I don't know when you're lying? Plus, I just saw Allie the night before last and she said that she hadn't heard from you."

I could have continued to argue, but there was really no point. Instead, I sighed. "I suspended her."

For once, Danny was shocked into silence. Finally, after a minute, he said, "Are you serious? You suspended her?"

"Yes, I suspended her. She was hurt on the job and I told her that she needed medical papers for clearance. I told her to take it easy, like the doctor ordered, and she didn't listen."

"It's not like she came back to work," he argued. "She went for a run on her own time. Yeah, she overdid it, but you don't exactly have the right to tell her how to spend her free time."

That was almost exactly what Allie had said to me, but for some reason, it made more sense coming from Danny. Which was insane, I knew, but it was just the way it was. "She was reckless and stupid."

"You know, I know someone else that's reckless and stupid." Sarcasm practically dripped from his voice. "Maybe you've heard of him. He's tall, dark hair, unwaveringly serious. I think he served in the military… yeah, he was a Navy SEAL."

I rolled my eyes. "I didn't go for a run the morning after a serious head injury and pass out."

"No, but you do stupid shit all the time. I think you're just mad because she's so much like you."

Luckily, we pulled up to the crime scene just then. Cop cars were everywhere, lights flashing. A crowd had gathered, trying to see anything they could around the strips of yellow police tape that had been hung.

The body was that of an elderly man that hadn't been identified yet. Max said that he'd been bled out, but I probably could have figured that out by his pale appearance. That, and the fact that there was a minimal amount of blood at the scene.

"He's been dead for a few days," Max told us, seemingly unaffected by the body in front of him. Sometimes, I wondered how many dead bodies you had to see before you became as immune as Max seemed. "Bled out from his wrists. And it appears that he was hung upside down to let the blood drain. See the marks on his ankles? He was restrained, likely with metal cuffs."

"Any idea how long he was held?" Danny asked, not seeming to really want to look at the dead body.

"Not more than a week, I would guess."

I looked to Chin and Kono. "Go back to HQ and start looking over missing persons reports to see if you can find one for a guy matching his description."

They nodded and moved to do as I'd said while Max helped place the body onto the stretcher.

"See, now if Chin and Kono had refused to do what you had asked them to do, then you could have suspended them," Danny said quietly. "Because we're on the job and you're the boss."

I gave him a look to tell him to shut up and asked Max to let me know as soon as there was an ID on the victim.

Back in the car, Danny said, "Now, if Max had told you that he wouldn't let you know once he got an ID, I don't think you could have him suspended. You'd have to file a complaint or something."

"Will you stop?" Irritation was loud and clear in my voice.

"No. Not until you admit it was wrong."

Frustrated, I threw my hands up. "Okay, fine. Fine. I shouldn't have suspended her for not listening to my orders off the job. But there's nothing I can do about it now."

"Bullshit," he said. "You can go over there and apologize to her. And also reinstate her, because she's probably the most talented member of Five-O and we need her."

I was almost offended. "Most talented member?"

"Don't be offended. She's obviously just as good at fighting as you. She has more contacts than you. I didn't say best – because that's obviously me – I just said most talented."

I put the car in drive, done with the conversation. "Let's get back to HQ and see if we can help with those missing persons cases."

But Danny clearly wasn't done with the conversation yet. "So, are you going to go see Allie and straighten everything out?"

"Straighten everything out?"

"Yeah, you know… Tell her that you were out of line and that she's reinstated. You'll have to swallow your pride, so I'd suggest maybe taking an antacid before going over there, though."

I didn't dignify that with a response. "You hungry?"

"You paying?"

"I will if you shut up about all of this."

"Done," Danny said and named one of the most expensive drive thru places on the island.

I didn't even protest.

Allie

"Okay," I said and sighed as I settled down onto the couch. "It's your turn to pick the movie."

As Gideon moved for the DVD display case, I said, "And not 'Old Yeller' again. There's only so many times I can watch Travis shoot his own dog."

Gideon's DVDs were spread out on the bottom shelf and he deliberated a moment before grabbing one and bringing it to me, tail wagging.

I took the case from his mouth and smiled. "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey. Good choice. Need a snack?"

He barked an answer and I put the DVD in and then moved for the pantry, where I kept his Kong ball filling. When I turned, he was right behind me with the red Kong in his mouth, ready.

"Give it," I commanded in Dutch, and he dropped it into my hand.

"Good boy." I filled it up for him and then gave it back before moving for the sink to wash my hands. Once that was done, I popped a bag of popcorn for myself and poured a glass of lemonade. We'd just made it back into the living room when my security system beeped, which meant that someone had pulled into my driveway.

Gideon looked up at me to make sure that I'd heard it.

"Who knows?" I said. "Maybe it's Five-O bringing me some more food." Everyone but Steve had been checking in on me at least once a day and had brought food a few times.

When there was a knock, I stood up and went to the door, wondering who had brought the food this time.

But there was no food in the hands of my visitor.

"Steve." To say that I was surprised was an understatement. In the whole week since he'd suspended me, he hadn't called once to check on me. Not even a text message. And then suddenly he just decides to show up at my front door?

"Hey," he said and at least had the grace to look sheepish. "Can I come in?"

"Oh, sure," I said and stepped aside.

He walked past me and then I closed the door, turning to face him and trying not to think about how good he looked in his jeans and dark blue button-up shirt opened to reveal a gray tee. I honestly didn't even know where that thought had come from.

"How have you been?" he asked me and I saw his gaze flit to my forehead, where the stitches had been removed just this morning, leaving behind only a pink, slightly swollen line.

"I'm fine," I told him. "Went to get the stitches removed this morning."

"Did you get cleared?"

"Yes."

He gave me a look of confusion. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm suspended." I could hear the hardness in my own voice and his expression told me that he had heard it, too. "Unfairly, might I add."

"That's, uh, that's actually what I'm here to talk to you about," he said. But before he could say anything else, Gideon growled low in his throat from off to the side as he approached us. Steve gave me a questioning look.

I sighed and moved past him and into the living room. "We're having a movie night and he just picked a movie. He wants me to start it."

Steve's tone told me that he was skeptical, at the very least. "Gideon picked the movie?"

I pressed play and then walked back over to where Steve was standing at the base of the stairs. "Yes, Gideon picked the movie. It was his turn. Were you trying to tell me something?"

He stared at me for a few more moments and I could tell that he wanted to ask me more about how Gideon had "picked" the movie, but he must have decided that it was beside the point because he shook his head and said, "I actually came here because I wanted to tell you that I-"

From his spot in the living room floor, Gideon barked at us, annoyed.

I sighed. "He wants us to be quiet so that he can watch the movie."

Steve's eyes narrowed in disbelief. "Are you being serious right now?"

My own annoyance flared up and I grabbed his arm and began to lead him up the stairs. "Yes, I'm serious. He actually enjoys watching movies. So, if you want to talk, we can do it at the top of the stairs where we won't bother him."

"Fine," he muttered and stopped when we reached the top of the stairs.

I leaned back against the banister and motioned for him to talk. "Go ahead."

"Okay." He blew out a breath. "I had a talk with Danny earlier and he made me see that suspending you for something that you did off the job wasn't fair."

"I tried to get you to see that, too," I reminded him, none too gently. "But you weren't very interested in what I had to say."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he said with a sigh. "I was just aggravated and…"

"And?" I prompted.

"And worried," he admitted. "I don't do so well when a member of my team is in danger or gets hurt. I tend to overreact."

"I don't need you to be all overprotective," I told him, feeling a flash of irritability that was likely left over from my concussion. The doctor had warned me that I might have some personality changes lasting for a month or so.

Annoyance flashed in his eyes. "Forgive me for caring."

"If you cared about me, you wouldn't have shown up at my hospital room to interrogate me, lecture me, and suspend me." I was getting more worked up than I should have, but I felt like I had no control. "If you cared about me, then you would have checked up on me. But ever since you stormed out of that hospital room, you have refused to contact me in any way. No phone calls, no text messages, no check-ins of any kind."

He was defensive. "I didn't think you'd want to talk to me after I suspended you. I thought you'd need a little bit of time to cool off."

"Me?!" And now I was being defensive as well. "I'm the one that needed to cool off? Are you kidding me? You suspended me for something stupid and then-"

"I apologized for that."

"No, you didn't," I told him and straightened up, taking a step closer so that there was only an inch of space between us. "You said that Danny made you realize that it was unfair, but you never apologized. Not for unfairly suspending me and not for refusing to contact me this past week. Because that would require you to swallow your damn pride."

"My pride?" He asked me and stepped even closer. So close that I could feel his torso pressed against me as he looked down at me, his stare intense. "You didn't try to contact me, either. You have my number; you could have called or checked in."

"That's not my job," I argued as the smell of his cologne made my head swim.

"You can't have it both ways. You don't want me to be your boss outside of work, then it's not my job to contact you."

"You were just saying that you cared about me, even though you did a really crappy job of showing it. If you really cared, then you would have made some kind of contact with me."

"This is about me proving that I care, now?" he asked.

Even I felt lost now, but I wasn't going to admit to that. "Yes. And also about you apologizing."

"I'm sorry," he responded. "I really am. Are you happy now?"

"That was a shitty apology."

The look on his face told me that he was reaching his boiling point. "You're telling me how to apologize now? You know everything now?"

"I know that you don't show that you care about someone by refusing to contact them for an entire week."

"Then please tell me how you do that," he demanded.

"Not like that."

"Then what about this?" he asked and suddenly, his hands were cupping my face and he was pulling my mouth roughly to his in a kiss unlike anything I'd ever experienced before. It was rough and wanton, and it sucked all of the breath right out of my body. I found myself relaxing into the embrace, my hands gripping the fabric of his shirt of their own accord.

When he finally pulled back, his choppy breaths told me that he was just as out of breath as I was. And the look in his eyes told me that he had enjoyed the kiss just as much as I had.

"Why did you do that?" I asked him, my voice barely a whisper.

"I don't know," he admitted. He moved one hand down to rest on my lower back, the other hand moving back to tangle in my hair. "But I'm willing to get on my knees and beg if you'll let me do it again."

"As much as I'd love to see that," I said slowly. "It's not necessary."

He smiled and then kissed me again, just as deep and rough and wanton as before. Kissing him was like… an explosion. Like a bomb that had been slowly ticking down for weeks now and had finally been set off. It was wild and primal and so different from every other kiss that I'd ever had.

And so much better.

Steve moved his mouth to my neck as he began to step, pushing me backwards and towards my bedroom.

Oh, God, this is really happening, I thought, but I didn't want to change anything. I would have let him do whatever he wanted, honestly. It was like I was under his spell and no longer in control of my own body. My response to him was that strong.

Once in my bedroom, he guided me towards the bed as his hands moved under the fabric of my tank top. Moments later, he pulled it up over my head and gently pushed me back down onto the bed.

At the rapid movement, my head spun and a few black dots appeared in my vision, making me curse. The doctor said that I should still try to take it easy, but he hadn't said anything about sex. Likely because my chart would have told him that I wasn't sexually active.

"You okay?" Steve asked me, concerned.

My vision cleared and I saw him leaning over me, his shirt removed. He had some very impressive ab muscles and it was all I could do not to reach out and touch him. "I'm okay."

His expression was doubtful. "You looked like you got a little dizzy there for a second."

Curse him and his observant nature. "It was the quick movement. I'm fine."

"I thought you were cleared?"

"I was," I said impatiently, just wanting him to get back to kissing me. "The doctor said that there may be a few lasting complications for a bit. Irritability, occasional dizziness… But I'm fine. Come on." I held out a hand to him. "Don't get all overprotective again. We just had a fight about that and it's over."

He sighed and crawled over me, pressing himself against me with his arms holding most of his own weight. "I can't do this if you're not a hundred percent."

I felt myself frown, the irritability trying to creep back up. "Didn't we just have that talk? That I don't need you to look after me?"

"If we're going to do this…" He leaned down and kissed me deeply, leaving me breathless. "Then I want you to be a hundred percent."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You're saying no to sex? Just clarifying."

He laughed, though I didn't see any humor in the situation, turned on as I was. "I'm saying no to sex tonight, not forever." He kissed me again, and I felt the desire. "Can I stay?"

I considered it. "Are you staying because you want to look out for me and make sure that I'm okay?" If he was, it would be best to just ask him to leave.

"No," he said, and I believed him. "Just because I want to be here with you."

"I thought you said that you weren't going to have sex with me while I'm not a hundred percent?" I reminded him.

"It doesn't have to be about sex," he said and rolled off of me, pulling me into his side. "We can make out."

"Like teenagers?" I teased him.

"Like teenagers," he agreed with a wide grin. "Only I'm not worried about your parents walking in on us." He paused and thought. "But Gideon…"

"Gideon will be fine," I assured him and pulled him closer. "Trust me."

His mouth touched mine and the explosion only got bigger.