…..

Hey, everyone! Welcome back to another chapter of my story! And the last one of this year, so that's exciting! What are your resolutions for the new year, if you're into that sort of thing? I don't really do the "resolution" thing, but I do try to set goals every year. This coming year, I'd like to publish two Hawaii Five-0 stories on the site. I'm super excited to get started.

I have already been working on the plots for several other stories, and since all of you have been so incredibly amazing, I wanted to give you the opportunity to choose which one you read first. Here are your options:

1. Steve McGarrett was married once, many years ago. He thought that maybe living and working in his home state of Hawaii would give him the distance that he needed to try to put the heartbreak far behind him once and for all. But when his ex-wife moves to the island with her family, he realizes that there is a very real possibility that moving on is never going to happen.

2. Kaya Romano belongs to an ancient society of assassins – The Silent Death. Her father, the leader of the assassins, asks her to go to Hawaii to oversee the group that is stationed there. When she meets Steve McGarrett, she tries her hardest not to fall for him, knowing that it would never work between them. And when she is tasked with killing the man that could be her redemption, can she break centuries worth of tradition to protect him? Or will she succumb and take her place as the new leader of The Silent Death?

3. Steve McGarrett finally feels settled in, having solved the mysteries that his father left behind. But he's quickly unsettled once more when there's a knock on his door late at night and the visitor is covered in bruises and stitches.

Cora Grant knew that there was only one place where she would feel completely protected from her abusive husband. But would Steve McGarrett take her in? Would he take a stance against a man that he had served beside? She would just have to take the chance.

So… you can leave your vote in the form of a review or a PM (or both, if you want extra votes). You can vote after each chapter up until chapter twenty-seven (which will give you five chapters to vote). Yes, you can vote as many times as you want, so if there's one that you're really crazy about, make sure that you're voting on it. As I said, I already have outlines for all of these stories, so I'm pretty confident in each of them.

Thanks to everyone that has voted so far, and thanks in advance for those of you that are planning to vote!

And thanks to everyone that has read, reviewed, favorited, followed, and private messaged. I appreciate every show of support for the story.

Happy Reading, everyone! And Happy New Year!

…..

Chapter Twenty-Five: A Most Wondrous Conclusion

Steve

"Still holding," I said before Michael could ask for the fiftieth time. Of his many skills, patience was not one.

Allie's oldest brother let out a frustrated breath. "We've been holding for forever."

"We've been holding for half an hour."

"Which feels like forever when you're waiting to rescue your brother."

I nodded. "That's fair. But we're still holding." I adopted my authoritative tone and expression. "Is that clear?"

"Clear," he ground out and plopped down beside me. "Anyone ever told you that you have a control issue?"

Many people had told me that, actually, but I didn't bother trying to list them. "No. No one has ever told me that before."

"Odd," he muttered.

I ignored that and looked through my binoculars again. Nothing had changed whatsoever. There were two men patrolling the perimeter and two more men inside with Trent, who was sitting on a long couch with his hands cuffed in front of him.

"As soon as I get a text from Kol that Allie is on her way to the exchange, we'll take Trent back."

Michael let out a long breath. "I know. And I appreciate your help. This is just hard for me. I'm the eldest brother, you know? I'm supposed to protect them."

His words struck a chord with me. "I get it, man. I have a younger sister and if anything happened to her… I would never forgive myself."

Allie's brother looked over at me and half smiled. "You're okay, man. Max and I weren't the most accepting in the beginning, and I'm sorry for that. I blamed you for letting her be taken, but it wasn't your fault."

I shook my head. "Believe me, I blamed myself plenty, too. If I had taken her with me to the airport to pick up Kol… If I had checked in on her when she got to the house… If I had gone with her to make sure that she had made it home okay…" I sighed. "God, it all seems like so long ago now, but it was just a couple of months."

"Medici would have grabbed her somewhere else, you know," he told me, just as Danny had. "When he wants something, he gets it. And you couldn't be with Allie twenty-four seven. You're here with us now, working to get back not just Allie, but Trent, too. You're going to be an invaluable member of this family."

Best to just make one thing clear from the start… "I'm not going to help you guys with cons. But, yeah, if one of you ends up in trouble, I'll be there as soon as I can. Anytime."

The corner of his mouth pulled up. "I appreciate it. You sure about the cons thing, though? A former Navy SEAL would have most of the skills necessary to be a good con artist."

"It's a hard no," I told him. "And technically, I'm in the Navy Reserves, so I'm still a SEAL. I still go to training a few times a year."

"Look at him go, ladies and gentlemen," Michael muttered under his breath, teasing.

"Shut up," I muttered and looked through the binoculars again. "It kind of looks like something is going on. Tell the guys to be ready to go when I give the word."

Suddenly on high alert, Michael spoke into his walkie talkie. "Be ready to move, guys. It looks like something might be going down."

They all responded back that they were ready to go when the word was given.

"What's it look like?" Michael asked me.

I handed him the binoculars and watched him put them to his eyes as I summarized what I saw. "One of the men inside got a call and it looks like everyone is starting to get ready to go. They got Trent up and they're about to move him. That's the perfect time for us to strike. Are these guys equipped for that?"

Michael gave me a hard look. "Sy and Craig are former military and Brayden has had a lot of training in this sort of thing, as have I. We may not be your caliber, but we're good enough for this."

That was good enough for me. I nodded. "Good. Be ready to go. Tell Sy and Craig to sneak up behind and Brayden will come in from that side over there."

He spoke my directions into the walkie talkie, and then we all slowly began to creep forward.

"Tell them that as soon as the first car door opens, we'll go," I said, and Michael repeated my instructions.

It took me back to my time with the SEALs, when we'd done extractions. The adrenaline that I felt was an old friend, and I welcomed it. It would help me get the job done. My mind was singularly focused on the mission: rescue Trent.

I drew my weapon as we reached the edge of the hedges and the gun felt right in my hand. It had been far too long since I'd had the opportunity to use it (which Danny would have scoffed at). But could I help it if I enjoyed shooting, whether it be at targets or terrible people?

Beside me, Michael drew his own weapon.

"A Glock?" I asked, surprised.

"Don't criticize my gun," he warned me.

I held up my hands in surrender. "It just surprised me."

We grew silent as Medici's men walked outside with Trent among them, hands still cuffed. The other two men that had been on perimeter duty joined them as they all moved for the big black SUV that sat in the driveway.

"Game time," Michael said from beside me.

I clicked the safety off and tightened my grip on the gun. "Hell yeah, it is."

One of the men reached out and opened a door on the SUV, and we all sprang into action. Michael and I reached the men first, and a fight broke out. The man in front of me drew his gun and I dispatched him with a quick shot to his abdomen and then to his chest.

None of the guards had walked out with their guns drawn, so I found that it was actually very easy for us to overtake them. Unfortunately, they had all decided to try to fight back, so none of them had survived the fight.

It was all over in less than a minute.

Quick and efficient.

"Michael?" Allie's brother, Trent, stood with his mouth hanging open, disbelief evident on his face.

Michael rushed forward and hugged his brother before pulling back with a laugh. "You stink, Trent."

"Yeah, well, they didn't let me out of my room very often. Showers were scarce." He held up his cuffed wrists. "Do you think you could get these things off of me now?"

"I'll find the key," I spoke up.

Michael held up his hand to stop me. "Don't bother, newbie." From within his pocket, he withdrew a tool that I'd seen Allie carry before and, in a matter of seconds, he had the cuffs off of his brother.

"I'm impressed," I said.

Michael winked at me. "Lots to learn, if you want."

"No, thanks."

Trent looked from Michael to me. "Anyone care to make the introductions?"

"Ah, right." Michael stepped between us and gestured with his hands as he spoke. "This is Steve, Allie's fiancé. Steve, this is Trent, the brother that you haven't met yet because he got himself locked away."

Trent flicked Michael an annoyed glance. "Yeah, I was just having so much fun locked away in a mansion without any access to the outside world. It was like my version of a freaking spa."

"I thought so." Clapping a hand down on his brother's shoulder, he said, "You ready to get out of here, though? Allie's about to hand Medici a fake box and we're all going to watch. You in?"

"Of course." Trent rubbed his chafed wrists and followed us as we began to walk back to the cars. "She wouldn't happen to be breaking his kneecaps while she's at it, would she?"

"You're bloodthirsty," I commented.

Trent flicked a glance at me. "I wouldn't mind seeing him get what's coming to him. Would you, in my position?"

I thought for a moment and then shook my head. "Probably not."

"Not to interrupt," Craig said as he caught up to us, "but what do we need to do about the bodies? Does one of us need to stay and start digging, or…?"

"Oh, no, I've got it," I said and dug my cell phone out of my pocket.

A few rings in, he answered. "Steve. Give me the good news."

"Allie got the box and we got Trent back."

Seth let out a sigh of relief. "That's wonderful. I've just been waiting to hear that. So, what can I do now?"

"You said that the cleanup crew here in Paris owes you a favor, right?"

He sighed. "Of course you left a trail of bodies in your wake. How many?"

"Four."

"Oh." He sounded surprised. "That's not as bad as I was expecting. Yeah, send me the coordinates and I'll have men there within the hour to clean it all up."

"You're the best, Seth."

"Of course I am. Tell Allie to call me when she has a chance."

"Will do."

I hung up the phone and nodded to Michael. "All good."

"Excellent," he said. "Did Kol text you the location?"

I nodded and rattled off the name of the hotel. "Allie somehow got a room there and that's where she wanted to do the exchange. That's where those men were headed with Trent."

Trent spoke up. "Yeah, they got a call about ten minutes ago. They're supposed to drive to the hotel and just wait with me until they get a call from Medici."

"Excellent. We didn't give anything away by killing them," I said.

"It's been a good day," Michael agreed. "Now, let's just hope that Allie can nail Medici's ass to the wall once and for all."

"I don't even care if it's his ass," I said as we reached the cars. "I just want that son of a bitch in jail for the rest of his life."

"Or dead," Michael said.

"Allie wouldn't kill him," I informed him. "No matter how bad we all wish she would."

He sighed. "More's the pity."

Allie

As the car drove away from the museum and began to wind its way through the streets of Paris, I looked out the window at all of the lights and people. Everything about Paris seemed so romantic, and I had missed a lot of that because I'd been so wrapped up in the chaos of planning a huge heist on such a tight time limit.

But now… I wanted to stay in Paris forever.

With Steve.

I knew that I would change my mind as soon as it was all over, though. I hadn't grown up in Hawaii like Steve had, but I had found my forever happiness there. My home was there. My friends were there. My life was there. My baby would be born there, and maybe more babies would be born there, and Steve and I would grow old together there on that island.

I was going to find my happily ever after, even though I hadn't really believed in such a thing until I'd fallen in love with Steve. Even with Ari, I had thought that there would be too many obstacles for us to have that "fairy tale ending" that you always see in the movies.

But life isn't like the movies… it's bigger and messier and crazier and much more complicated. And things, unfortunately, don't always work out in a roundabout perfect way. And somehow, that's even better.

I was brought out of my reverie when the driver announced that we had arrived at the hotel.

"Thank you," I said when he opened the door for me and helped me out.

He nodded and then slipped back into the car and drove away.

I would never see him again.

That happy thought propelled me forward and I pushed my way into the hotel. The lobby was grand – exactly Medici's style – and I had been greeted by no less than three employees by the time that I reached the elevators.

I made my way up to the seventh floor and then walked all the way down the hall and to the very last door. The key that Imran had given me slid in smoothly and the light flickered green as the lock clicked. I pushed the door open, stepped inside, and was pleased to see that I was alone. That gave me plenty of time to plant the small camera somewhere that Medici would never think to look and open the balcony doors to let in some cool, fresh air.

Then, I grabbed a bottle of sparkling water from the fridge and began to sip, letting it calm my nerves. I was so close to being done with this whole thing, and getting overconfident would certainly mess things up. I needed to stay calm, cool, and collected. And I needed to get Medici talking.

There wasn't long to wait. Medici arrived ten minutes later, two men trailing behind him instead of the usual one. My tormentor was dressed quite fashionably in a tuxedo that had been tailored quite well to him, as if he had been attending the party instead of waiting a safe distance away.

His eyes were glowing with excitement as he asked, "May I see it?"

"First, I want to make sure that you remember our terms. And that you plan to hold up your end of the deal."

A flash of irritation dimmed his eyes, but he recovered quickly and nodded. He'd waited years to get the box back… he could wait a minute longer. "You get Trent back, of course. A team of my men are waiting in the parking lot with him and they'll bring him in as soon as I call. Then, I leave you and your family alone forever, no matter what. Does that about sum it up?"

I nodded. "It does. But I do have a question, if you don't mind. A mystery that I'm hoping you can solve for me."

He seemed mildly surprised by the request. "I'll help in any way that I can, of course."

"Jason Fitzsimmons."

The name didn't ring any bells for him. Of course, it wouldn't for someone like him. "I'm sorry?"

"Jason Fitzsimmons. I worked with a man on the bomb squad who had a brother in Interpol that disappeared while investigating a case in Italy. Rome, I think. That's your own backyard. Things don't go down there without your knowledge and approval. I was wondering if maybe you knew what had happened to him." Jason Fitzsimmons' brother hadn't worked on the bomb squad with me, but I was hoping that Medici didn't know that.

His eyes lit with recognition. "Ah, yes. I do remember him. He was investigating my restaurants. I think that he suspected that I was moving illegal weapons through them."

"And he was right," I guessed.

Medici shrugged in a what-can-you-do kind of way. "He got a little too close to something that wouldn't have been good for me."

"So, what did you do, then?" I asked him. "Just between us."

He didn't even blink. "I had him taken care of. I made sure that he would never tell anyone else what he discovered. What did you expect?"

"That's about it." I turned and headed over to the couch, where I knelt down. I stood once more when I had the clutch in my hands. "I guess all that's left is the exchange."

Medici's eyes lit up like a kid's on Christmas when I pulled the box out of the clutch. "So long…" he murmured as he stepped forward. "I can't believe that it's finally here…"

I took a step back, dropping the clutch, and tightened my fingers on the box. "It doesn't end here, does it?"

Surprised, he held up his hands in a soothing manner. "It is all over, passerotta. I can promise you that. I've given you my word, remember?"

"But you'll break it as soon as you need something."

"I won't," he promised.

I took one more step back. "You killed an Interpol agent because he got too close. I don't think that there's anything that you wouldn't do." I held the box up. "Including selling these nuclear codes to the highest bidder."

The shock on his face when he realized that I knew what was inside the box was almost comical. "You… how do you know what's inside the box?"

Instead of answering his question, I took one more step backwards. That would be just far enough. "And just like my mother, I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that this is kept as far away from you as possible."

"No!" he shouted, but he was too late. I had already turned and launched the box out the balcony doors and over the side. It had disappeared into the night, down into the water below.

When I turned back around, I found myself looking at a gun.

Medici's hand was subtly shaking as he held it, his face red with anger. "You've messed with the wrong man. I don't care that you're a woman. I don't care that you're pregnant. I. Will. Kill. You. I hope that was worth it."

With a calm that I didn't really feel, I smiled and said, "It was."

As Medici's finger found the trigger, the door behind him and the two guards (who also had their weapons drawn and ready) flew open and Interpol agents began flooding in. At the same time, I watched as a bullet came from behind me and ripped into Medici's skull.

The once powerful Italian businessman sank to his knees and then fell, dead.

And I turned and gave a grateful nod to the one lone boat on the Seine.

It was finally over.

Forever.