…..

Hey, everyone, and welcome back to another chapter! Thank you all so much for reading, reviewing, favoriting, following, and private messaging me! I appreciate you all so very much and I hope that you had a wonderful New Year's! I hung around with family, and that's my favorite way to spend any holiday. Did any of you get up to anything fun?

As you'll know if you've been reading these pre-chapter author's notes, my goal for this year is to publish (and by that, I mean finish) two Hawaii Five-0 stories this year. And just to clarify, that doesn't include this one. I'm so excited to start working on the first one.

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 two more 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! So far, number one and number three are in a close race to the finish, so be sure to get those votes in! You'll only have this chapter and the next one left to vote. (And someone was asking for more clarification on voting for chapter 27, so to be clear: you can vote until chapter 28 goes up.)

Happy Reading!

…..

Chapter Twenty-Six: Together Again

Steve

I was out of the car so fast that no one had time to stop me. Some part of my brain processed Kol and Michael calling out for me, but they didn't have a chance in hell at catching me. The SEALs had taught me a vigorous training regimen that I'd never slacked on, and nothing could stop me until I got where I was going.

The elevator doors were closing as I approached, but that was just as well because they would have taken too long for my taste anyway. Instead, I veered off and burst into the stairwell, launching my body up as Michael called out for me from below.

Seven floors was a long way, but it felt like only a moment. I burst out of the stairwell, heart pounding in my ears, and my eyes homed in on the door at the end of the hallway. That was the room that Allie was in. My feet were already moving before I could send the signals.

The door was already open and I knocked over an Interpol guy as I sprinted inside and looked for her.

There.

She was standing next to another Interpol agent, gesturing calmly as she spoke. He was taking notes on a small pad in his hand, so I assumed that she was giving a statement. As the realization that she was safe finished processing in my brain, I noticed how incredible she looked.

Wow.

I didn't know much about gowns, but I knew that hers had to be expensive. I also knew that she looked stunning in it. She really looked like a member of the high society – down to her flawless party makeup and fancy updo. I was left feeling breathless, and not just from the seven-story sprint.

"Hey." An Interpol agent with beady eyes magnified by thick glasses stepped in front of me and frowned. "Who are you?"

By some miracle, I didn't shove him away and get myself arrested. "Steve McGarrett."

"And what are you doing here, Steve McGarrett?" he asked, perhaps not able to see that I could easily toss him over the balcony if he kept pestering me.

I was saved from having to answer by Allie, who had finished with her agent and was walking towards me looking like a goddess. "Steve!"

"Allie!" I shouldered past Mr. Inferiority Complex and gathered Allie in my arms, right where she belonged. She smelled like heaven, and her skin was warm and soft against mine. I didn't think that I was ever going to be able to let her go again. Except to kiss her, which I promptly did, not caring that we were in a room full of people.

"Can't… breathe…" she finally laughed and I quickly released her, keeping a grip on her shoulders to steady her.

I studied her and found that she was much the same. "You look beautiful."

She smirked at me. "You look like you just ran up seven flights of stairs."

"He… did…" Kol said as he entered the room with Michael, both of them sweating and out of breath. "What… the hell… man?"

"There were gunshots…" As I remembered, I looked around the room and saw the body lying in the middle of the living room area. "Medici?" Surprised, I looked at Allie. "Did you…?"

"No," she answered, but there was something heavy in her eyes as she shook her head, signaling that we would talk about it later. "We don't know where the shot came from."

"Shot?" Michael clarified, brow furrowed. "There was only one shot? Are you sure? Usually-"

But Kol deftly nudged his older brother in the side. "And we're so glad that it didn't hit you. Aren't we, Michael?"

For the first time since he'd entered, Michael seemed to realize that we were surrounded by Interpol agents. They were all doing their own thing, but they still had ears. He nodded and played along. "So glad. That would have been terrible."

"Thanks."

Kol grinned widely and stepped forward, arms out. "Hey, twin."

Allie left her place at my side. "Hi, twin. Thanks for coming."

"Always."

As they embraced, I found that having her more than a few steps away from me made my anxiety grow to dangerous levels. She'd been gone for so long that I never wanted her to be far away ever again. This time, I would protect her.

And my baby.

She stepped away from Kol to hug Michael, and I took the opportunity to study her from the side. She looked very much unchanged, which didn't surprise me since she'd told me that her morning sickness had made her lose weight in the beginning. I honestly couldn't even tell that she was pregnant, which worried me. I made a mental note to ask her later about everything that the doctor had been saying about her weight and the baby's growth. Alex had told me that Allie's mom really hadn't gained much weight in any of her pregnancies, either, but I still wanted a professional opinion.

"The others are outside," Kol told Allie when the hugs were finished. "Are you ready to go?"

Shaking her head, Allie stepped back and grabbed my hand. "Not quite yet. Tell them all to go back to the house. I have a few things to take care of, and then we'll be there."

Michael opened his mouth to ask what those things were, but Kol swiftly cut him off. "Great. We'll tell them." He winked at me and grabbed Michael's arm to tow him out of the room. "See you guys in a bit."

Once they had disappeared through the door, I looked at Allie with raised eyebrows. "What things?"

She laughed, nudged my side playfully, and then danced over to the Interpol agent that appeared to be in charge. They had a quick exchange, she took the card that he offered her, and then she came back over to me. "I have to stay in town for the week, but then we can go back to Hawaii. He said it seems like a pretty open and shut case. Medici had a lot of enemies and its likely that one of them hired a hitman to take him out."

"That does seem likely," I agreed.

"It does." She handed me the Interpol agent's card. "Put this in your pocket, would you? I don't have any pockets."

My gaze slid hungrily up and down the length of her gown before I did as she'd asked. "Anything else?"

Her blue eyes were dark – almost gray – with desire, but what she said next was not what I expected. "We need to go down to the docks."

"The…" My brain was working double time to process what she'd said. "The docks?" When she didn't correct me, I shook my head. "I guess I'm not understanding what the docks have to do with… anything."

She laughed, grabbed my hand, and began to guide me towards the door. "Trust me, there are other plans, too. But I have something that I have to take care of first."

I followed, still disappointed that we weren't going to a different hotel room. There was electricity crackling all around us after being apart for so long and I wanted to do something about it. But I was a grown ass man, not a horny teenager, and I could wait.

Maybe.

We stepped into the elevator, the doors closed, and we began the descent. "The hotel has docks?"

Allie nodded. "They share it with a few of the businesses around here. But one of the hotel's main attractions is their cruise of the Seine."

"Fascinating." But not nearly as fascinating as the way that the gown clung to her curves. I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

"Have you lost some of that intense SEAL focus since we last saw each other?" she teased me, even though the desire was evident in her eyes.

"Only when it comes to you."

She smiled and pulled me along as the elevator doors opened. "Let's go."

We walked outside and then down to the docks, where the slight breeze coming off of the water had made the air a bit chilly. Concerned, I slid my jacket onto her shoulders and she smiled warmly at me as we continued the trek.

At the last boat, she stopped and spoke in a loud voice. "It's a marvelous night for a scone, wouldn't you say?"

"What?" I asked, but then I saw him.

A man had stepped out of the shadows, and I hadn't been able to see him earlier because he was dressed all in black. His hair was dark, as was his neatly trimmed facial hair. I felt like I'd seen him before, but I couldn't place him.

And then it hit me like a speeding train.

"Ari?"

The man looked at me and smiled. "You must be Steve."

But I couldn't respond to him because panic had seized my heart in its vice-like grip. If Ari was alive…

Sensing my panic, Allie squeezed my hand and moved so that I could see her face. She was smiling at me. "Steve, this is Ari's brother, Imran."

All of the air left my lungs at once and an immense relief took its place. "Oh."

She laughed and went to hug the man that looked so much like his brother. "It worked."

"Of course," he laughed as he hugged her. "We're brilliant."

I shook his hand when Allie made the introductions, and things all began to fall in place for me. "You're the one that helped her get the phone so that she could video call me for the gender reveal. And you helped out in the museum. But how…?"

They exchanged a glance and then Allie said, "It's a long story. Let's just say that Ari put an emergency plan into place a long time ago and Imran has been carrying the torch since he died."

Knowing that Allie would give me more detail later, I nodded and accepted that answer. "So, do you work for Mossad, too?"

Imran nodded. "I do. I'm an assassin, like my older brother was."

The final pieces began to fall into place. "You killed Medici."

"I did."

Allie's expression was both sad and serene as she said, "Medici going to jail would have only created a whole new host of problems. He'd given his word not to go after any of us ever again, but he very well could have convinced others to do so for him."

"And there's the whole matter of Russian security," Imran added. "He hadn't announced what was in the box because he didn't yet have possession of it, but he would have spilled the secret in jail, if only to make Allie suffer for landing him there."

"In this case," I said, "I think that justice was served perfectly."

"I don't want anyone else to know about Imran, save for Kol," Allie told me. "Not that I don't trust them, but… I think it's better and safer that way."

I nodded. "I agree."

Imran glanced at his watch and then sighed. "I should get going. I'm glad that all of this is over."

"Me, too," Allie and I said in unison.

He laughed and then dug something out of his pocket and handed it to me. It was a room key for the hotel. "Room seven-fifteen," he told me with a wink and then hugged Allie one more time. "If you ever need me again, you know how to find me."

"I appreciate everything," she told him sincerely. "Come to Hawaii and meet the baby. We'll have that lunch and talk about Ari while Steve stays home with the crying baby."

"Why does he have to be crying, though?" I asked. "Why can't Steve stay home with the napping baby?"

Imran laughed. "I'll be there. See you soon." And then he headed up the dock.

Once he was out of sight, I turned to Allie and held up the room key with a smile. "This was all a part of your master plan?"

She faked innocence. "Oh, we don't have to go if you don't want to."

"We're going," I insisted and grabbed her hand, gently pulling her along. "You really thought of everything, didn't you?"

"I did," she agreed with pride. "Down to having Imran send in a tip to Interpol so that they'd be there for the whole thing. It's been a while since I've planned a heist – and hopefully I'll never have to plan another one – but I've still got it."

"Hell yeah, you do." I was so incredibly proud of the way that she'd handled everything. "You're a superhero in my book."

"That means a lot, coming from a real hero."

"I have a question," I told her.

"Then ask."

"Has your doctor said anything about sexual activity? Any restrictions?"

"None," she said with a smirk. "Why? What did you have in mind?"

"I haven't been with you in months," I reminded her. "I don't know how much thinking will actually happen."

"We'll just have to see."

I opened the hotel door and we stepped inside, losing ourselves in the small crowd that had likely gathered to see why Interpol vehicles were outside.

Our room was on the seventh floor and I was surprised to walk in and find that we were in a nice suite. "One night here would cost about two months of my salary."

"Well, you're not paying," she laughed. "This is courtesy of Medici. It's the least he can do after everything, don't you think?"

"The very least."

We were all alone, finally, and I took a minute just to study her. Goddess didn't even begin to cover it, really. All at once, I felt so overwhelmed at how very lucky I was to have her in my life.

"You okay?" she asked me.

Instead of answering with words, I stepped up and kissed her. It was a kiss that spoke of joy and desire. It communicated my heartache at being separated from her and the relief that I felt that she was okay. A raging fire, it soon consumed both of us, and we had no chance of escaping its grasp.

Though it had been a couple of months since we'd shared this level of intimacy, our bodies remembered like it was only yesterday. We knew exactly where to move, exactly how to touch… and we flew together into a bliss that made my head spin and took all of my breath away.

"We should go," she said an hour later.

My arms tightened around her and I shook my head. "No way. Let's stay here."

She laughed against my chest and gently disentangled herself, having to fight me every step of the way. "My family deserves to see me, too, you know."

"Michael and Kol saw you. They can pass along the message that you're alive and well." I reached out for her, but she danced away and moved to begin putting her clothes back on. I groaned.

She laughed and threw my briefs over to me. "Everything will be back to normal soon, I promise. But for now, things are going to be a little crazy. Having me near you again will just have to be enough."

I gave her a loving smile. "It is. I'm just selfish and greedy."

We finished getting dressed and then left the hotel, where I found that Kol and Michael had left the car for us. She got into the driver's seat before I could even fully process it.

"What are you doing?" I demanded, motioning for her to get out.

She gave me a teasing smile and patted the passenger seat. "It won't kill you to ride shotgun just this once. Besides, I know these streets a lot better than you do."

I didn't like it. I didn't like it one bit. Not even after her very valid points. "But…"

"Consider it therapy for your control issues."

My eyes narrowed at her of their own accord. "You're the second person today that has pointed out that I have control issues."

"Take that as a sign." Once again, she patted the passenger seat. "Hop in."

I sighed dramatically, but did as she'd asked.

She reached over and patted my shoulder in a very condescending fashion. "You're doing great, honey."

"We never should have left the suite."

Laughing, she started the car and then we merged into Paris nighttime traffic. She hadn't entered an address into the GPS, but she looked confident and it seemed like she was heading in the right direction. "Do you know the way?"

Allie rolled her eyes at me. "My parents used to send us here for a month every year so that we could learn from Uncle Edward. I know Paris much better than you do."

Well, it didn't seem like I would be getting the driver's seat anytime soon.

"Has Hawaii survived without us?" she asked me, likely to get me talking so that I would forget about it.

So, I told her about all of my phone calls with the team, and then about everything that had happened on our end that she hadn't had a chance to hear about yet.

"You went through a lot to find me," she commented once I'd finished telling her about recovering Trent.

I grabbed her hand and brought it to my lips. "I'd do anything for you."

Her eyes smoldered. "And I for you."