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Another chapter, as promised. My next two goals are 60 follows and 150 reviews.

I actually really enjoyed writing this chapter and I felt like it just flew by. Maybe the momentum will carry over to the next chapter. Fingers crossed!

As always, I wanted to say a quick thank you to all of you that have read, reviewed, favorited, or followed this story. And also to those of you that have sent me private messages. I really enjoy and appreciate each and every single show of support for this story and I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Disclaimer: I only use the characters and the premise of the show, not the storyline.

Happy Reading!

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Chapter Twenty-Two: Blast from the Past

Steve

Danny, Chin, Kono, and I were already at the crime scene. Max was telling us about the victim – male in his early thirties, single GSW to the head, dead before he ever hit the water – but I kept stealing glances at the parking lot, waiting for Allie. She'd just stepped into the shower when I'd gotten the call, and she said that she would just meet me there.

Our relationship had been going well, and then I'd found that box and she'd told me about Ari. Our relationship was still good, but I sensed a sadness in her that she didn't seem to want to talk about. It made me uneasy and afraid that she would call it off for fear that something similar would happen to me.

I'd concluded that it was just one of those things that I was going to have to weather and things would get back to normal soon. But for the time being, I planned to keep an extra close eye on her, just in case she needed some extra reassurance.

Finally, I saw her Camaro pull up and I turned my attention back to Max. When she approached, Kono made a joke that they'd planned to match, as they were both wearing black boots, dark jeans, and green shirts. Kono had even worn her hair up in a ponytail much like Allie's.

"What do we got?" Allie asked as she grew close but suddenly, her face fell. She'd seen the victim, and there was both recognition and horror in her eyes.

Danny had seen it just as well as I had. "You know this guy?"

But Allie didn't answer. Slowly, she knelt down beside the body and Max moved to give her some room, handing her a pair of latex gloves as he went. She slipped them on and then rolled up the sleeve on the victim's left arm. It revealed a tattoo of several small birds.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and stood up. "We have a problem."

"What?" Chin asked. "Who is this guy?"

"His name is Chris Morrison. He's CIA."

"Yeah," Danny said, "that could be a problem. What's he doing in Hawaii?"

"I don't know," she said and stepped away so that Max could continue his examination. "But he was shot execution style. Max, any defensive wounds?"

"Not that I can see," Max replied.

"Then he was drugged," she concluded.

"How do you know that?" Kono asked.

She rubbed the back of her neck with her hand, like she frequently did when she was stressed out. "We were friends, but we worked in different departments. He was a trained assassin. There's no way that he would let someone with a gun get that close to him without a fight. And he was trained to see that kind of thing coming from a mile away. The only way that this person could have gotten close enough with a gun to kill him is if he was incapacitated somehow."

"I'll run a full tox screen immediately," Max assured her and then zipped Chris up into a body bag.

As he was being loaded onto the stretcher, a black SUV pulled up and a few men in suits and a couple in casual clothes approached.

"This can't be good," Danny muttered.

"It's not," Allie agreed and moved so that she was mostly covered by Chin and Kono. She obviously knew the men, but I didn't have the time to ask her how or who they were.

"Gentlemen." One of the men in a suit stepped forward, declaring himself the leader. He was obviously seasoned, which I could tell both by the observing look in his eyes and his dark gray hair. He flashed a badge that held the CIA seal and the other men did the same. "My name is Agent Sanderson. I'll be taking over this investigation."

Danny, ever the smartass, said, "Your first name is Agent? What is that, Greek?"

Agent Sanderson wasn't impressed and the look that he gave Danny held no hint of tolerance for that kind of stupidity. "I've heard of Five-O and I respect the work that you all do on this island. But I'm responsible for more than just one state. I'm responsible for the safety of many states, and this man was working for us. That makes this our jurisdiction."

"You've always been one for steamrolling, haven't you, Pat?" Allie finally stepped out from her makeshift hiding place and I saw Agent Sanderson's eyes widen when he recognized her.

The men in suits seemed to have mixed reactions about seeing her, but the two men in casual clothes both smiled and one of them even came forward, despite the disapproving look that he got from Agent Sanderson. "Allie. You're more gorgeous than ever. What brought you to Hawaii?"

She laughed, which sent a flare of jealousy through me. "Five-O. I wanted to try something elite, for a change." She hugged him. "How are you, Seth?"

"As annoying as ever." The other casually dressed man came forward and hugged her as well, and I could practically feel myself starting to boil. "Good to see you, Al."

"As touching as this reunion is," Agent Sanderson said, the irritation clear in his voice and expression. "We have work to do."

"Yes, we do," Seth said and put his arm around Allie's shoulders. It was all I could do not to walk over there and push him away. "And isn't it protocol to have a contact with local law enforcement? I think Allie fits the bill."

The other man nodded his agreement. "She's familiar with our protocols, she knew the victim…"

"And she's awesome," Seth finished.

"She's not CIA anymore," Sanderson pointed out.

"Put a call in to Campbell. He'll agree."

Whoever this Campbell person was, Sanderson seemed to know that he would agree to Allie being involved in the investigation, so he started muttering about protocols and such until Seth told him that he could call Campbell or just shut up about it.

"You can't talk to me that way, Agent Waters." The tension between them was clear, but it seemed to annoy Sanderson more than Seth.

"Maybe," Allie said, and I recognized that stubborn, determined look in her eyes. "But I can. So, call Campbell or I'm in. As I recall, the field agents get a bigger vote than the suits."

Sanderson whipped out his phone and walked away, the other suits gathering around him as he made his call.

"He's going to have to code in for nothing," Seth told Allie. "Campbell isn't going to keep you off of this."

"What's his problem, anyway?" Danny asked them, seeming to have no problem addressing a complete stranger – and a spook, at that.

"He has a stick up his ass," Seth, Allie, and the other CIA man said at the same time, and they looked at each other and laughed.

"Let me make the introductions," Allie said and did just that, introducing the other man as Lance Shathum.

I kept my jealousy carefully caged and shook their hands respectfully.

"Teams guy?" Seth asked me when he shook my hand.

I was surprised. "Yeah."

"We've seen enough of them to know," Lance laughed. "Nice to meet you, Commander."

I shook his hand. "Likewise."

Agent Sanderson suddenly came back as the other suited agents piled into the SUV. By the look on his face, I could tell that he hadn't gotten his way. "Lance, you're needed back at Langley. We'll take you to the airport immediately."

Lance seemed vaguely surprised, but nodded his assent. "Yes, sir."

"And me?" Seth asked, the smug look on his face indicating that he knew what Campbell had said.

Sanderson gritted his teeth. "You're to work with Officer Rhodes on this for a while."

"Shotgun!" Seth called and pumped a fist in the air.

Allie rolled her eyes. "Like I'd let you drive my car. Remember the last time we were in a car together with you behind the wheel?"

"But did you die?" Seth asked her very seriously.

"The doctor said-"

He cut her off. "I know what the doctor said. But it was just a little bit of internal bleeding. And the point is: we got the guy."

"No, we got the guy's assistant."

Before they could argue any further, Agent Sanderson snapped at them that he expected daily reports. They both nodded, but gave no verbal affirmation, which seemed to irritate him even more. With a look of pure annoyance, he turned and headed for the SUV.

"Why do you hate that guy?" Danny asked Allie. "I mean, he seems like a total jerk, but-"

"He tried to get Allie fired," Seth supplied. "Made up a bunch of shit about her hooking up with an agent from Mossad."

Ari. I looked to Allie with my question and she gave a very tiny nod. So, he had actually been right about the "shit" he'd "made up". Maybe that's why he didn't seem too fond of Allie. He'd presented his evidence and it hadn't been enough. Or maybe Allie and Ari had worked together to destroy his evidence.

Whatever the case may be, they clearly didn't like each other.

"What's our first step?" Seth asked Allie.

She shrugged. "I need to see what he was working on."

"Good call. Come on; I'll fill you in." So, they walked together up towards Allie's Camaro, talking as they went.

I'd been jealous a few times with Catherine – especially when she'd told me that her and Billy Harrington had kind of had a thing in Amsterdam – but it felt different with Allie. Maybe it was because Catherine and I had never outright defined a relationship. Maybe it was because Allie was more attractive than Catherine had been.

Whatever the case, I had decided that I was done hiding our relationship.

After this case, we were going to come out to everyone.

Allie

"Thanks for having me over for dinner," Seth told me that evening as we hung out on the back porch. He stood by the grill, watching the steaks closely, and I sat in one of the chairs watching Gideon complete his obstacle course.

"Thanks for agreeing to cook steaks," I returned with a smile. "I've only cooked steak once, and it was only adequate."

"You didn't try again?" he teased me.

"Steaks are way too expensive to experiment with. I'll stick to ground beef and chicken."

"I would have figured that the Hawaiians would have converted you to raw fish by now."

I wrinkled my nose. "I like sushi from the good places, but I don't just order raw fish anywhere. That stuff is easily contaminated, you know."

"Wimp."

"How has everything been at the agency?" I asked him. "It's been… what… like six years since I quit?"

"Seven, and you knew that. You were just testing me." He pressed down on one of the steaks and smiled at me. "And you quit long before then. Got out of the active duty, transferred to a desk job, and… changed."

I remembered. After Ari had died, I had tried to stick it out in the field a little bit longer, but… it had been too hard. I hadn't been in the right frame of mind for that kind of work. So, I had asked to work desk duty. They'd switched me from job to job for a while – which I had liked – until I finally decided that I just couldn't work for the agency anymore.

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry that you never got an answer… you did a lot to help me when Sanderson was on his little vendetta."

He shrugged. "You love who you love, you know? It was none of his business what you and Ari were doing together outside of work. Especially considering that he was almost kicked out of the agency at one point for dating a Russian spy."

I nearly choked on my wine. "No…"

His grin held nothing but honesty. "Yes. I found this out not long after you left, actually, because I found out that he was still looking into you and Ari."

"Even after Ari died?" The man really had no shame.

He nodded. "Even after. So, I did some digging. Talked to some contacts, hacked into some files… Turns out, he was investigated in '86 for a suspected relationship with a Russian spy. Not only that, but they suspected him of trading secrets."

"How did he not get fired for that?"

He shrugged. "Who knows. Anyway, I confronted him about it and said that if he didn't let the dead rest in peace, I was going to make it my personal mission to prove that he'd done what the reports suspected he was doing. The CIA head back then was Anderson, not Campbell. Anderson may have pardoned it, but Campbell wouldn't."

"Well, I really do appreciate it. Especially because you did your part when you helped me erase those tapes that he had."

Sanderson had apparently suspected Ari and me of a relationship for a while, so he had planted a camera during one of our ops. Our last op, actually… the one where Ari had died. My handler, Jackson, had been the one to warn me about the tapes and that Sanderson had them locked away in his office. Desperate, I had asked Seth – a very good friend of mine – to help me gain access to them and erase them. He had agreed, of course, and we'd pulled off a very successful op that had left Sanderson with no evidence.

Sanderson had hated me ever since.

And I, him.

"The guy is a lunatic. Nobody likes him, so he just keeps playing the villain. You know, I heard he was literally the worst field agent that the agency has ever seen."

I laughed. "I don't doubt it. Those steaks done yet?"

"Mine is." He took one off of the grill and pressed on the other one. "But you want yours well done, so give it another few minutes."

I sighed and sipped at my wine. "How's your love life?"

He laughed. "We're getting personal now?"

"Come on. We were super close."

"Yeah… Okay, fine. But…" He pointed at me with the grill tongs. "You have to be honest, too."

I had a feeling that I knew where it was going, but I agreed. "Sure. So… what's her name?"

He grinned. "Chelsea. She works at the agency, too, but down in the coffeeshop. She's… amazing. Funny, nice, charming… you'd like her. We've been together for a few years now."

"That's great." I'd always wanted him to find happiness. He deserved it. "I'm glad that she makes you happy."

"Ari made you happy," he told me. "I could tell. Even though you were careful not to say too much about him… I could just tell. You were different. I wanted some of that, but I was never brave enough to go for it. Our line of work…"

"It's hard," I agreed. "I think that's why I found happiness with someone like Ari. He was in the same line of work. He knew the risks. So did I."

"You're still happy," he informed me. "It can't be with Ari. So, who have you found here on this rock in the middle of the Pacific?"

"You don't miss a thing."

"Part of the job."

I sighed. "Commander McGarrett."

His eyebrows lifted in surprise. "You have a thing for him, or… you two have a thing for each other?" My smile must have told him everything that he wanted to know, because he laughed. "Not a bad choice. Former Navy SEAL, so he's obviously a badass. Just your type."

"Badass is my type?"

"Duh." He finally took my steak off of the grill and we headed inside, where baked potatoes were waiting for us in the oven. I got us two plates, two glasses of water, and some silverware. Then, we loaded up our plates and moved to the table.

We were just getting into our meal when my alarm system beeped and Gideon let out a bark.

Seth looked at me with raised eyebrows. "You expecting company?"

I shook my head. "No. Give me a sec."

"Need backup?"

I rolled my eyes. "Gideon is my backup."

When I went to the door, I was only mildly surprised to see Steve on the other side, still wearing his gun and his badge, meaning that he'd come over straight from work.

"Hey," I said with a smile. "What's up?"

"What's up?" He was either angered or annoyed by my question.

I held my hands up. "Whatever is bothering you, we can talk about it later. Seth and I are having dinner."

That only seemed to make things worse for him. "Where?"

"Here." I stepped aside and beckoned for him to come in. "We just started. Do you want a baked potato?"

However he may have been feeling, he was level-headed enough to know that we didn't need to air our problems in front of anyone else. With a nod, he stepped inside and I closed the door behind him.

"Seth," I said when Steve and I entered the dining area. "You remember Steve McGarrett."

"Of course." Seth smiled and stood, reaching to shake his hand. "Good to see you again, Commander."

Steve shook his hand and nodded.

I got him a baked potato and he joined us at the table, choosing the seat beside me. It was awkwardly quiet for a few moments, until Steve asked us what we had learned that day.

So, Seth and I filled him in on what Agent Morrison had been working on – apparently, he'd been trying to bust a dangerous human trafficking ring. They'd gotten him on the inside and he'd been passing along intel well… until he had missed a couple of check-ins. Just when the CIA had finally decided to start looking for him, he'd turned up dead.

We ate and I invited Seth to stay afterwards for a while, but he said that he was tired and he wanted to get back to his hotel room. I knew that he would have loved to stay, but he could sense all of the tension coming from Steve.

Once he'd left, I turned to Steve and asked him, "What's going on?"

He seemed affronted, for some reason. "Me?! I'm not the one having steak dinner with another person."

"Seth is an old friend. Are you seriously saying that you wouldn't have dinner with an old friend that came to town?"

"Not a female friend!"

"There it is." It was exactly what I'd thought it was. "You don't have anything to be jealous of, Steve. Seth and I were never a thing, we never had any kind of a thing, and he actually has a very serious girlfriend back home in Virginia."

"Yeah, well…" He had no good argument, and he knew it. After a few long moments, he finally said, "I just would have appreciated a heads up that you were having dinner with him."

That was fair. I nodded. "Noted. Anything else?"

"Yeah." He stepped closer and grabbed my hands. "I missed you today." Seth and I had gone to the CIA offices in Hawaii to dig up information on Agent Morrison, and then we'd run all around the island, trying to find any possible lead. The rest of Five-O had gone back to their headquarters to consult on other cases, just waiting for us to need them.

I smiled at him and leaned in to him, gazing up through my lashes. "I missed you, too. Want me to show you how much?"

His eyes lit up with desire and he pulled me even closer, until there was hardly a part of us not touching. "I'd love that."

"Good." After a deep, passionate kiss, I grabbed his hand and began to lead him up the stairs. "You know, you're actually really adorable when you're jealous. It's so cute."

He shook his head and scooped me up into his arms, throwing me over his shoulder as I squealed. "You ain't seen nothing yet."

When we finally reached my bedroom, he threw me down onto the bed and began to unbutton his shirt.

And within minutes, he showed me the whole world.