I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.

Notes: Thank you for the warm receipt of this story! :-) Happy holidays everyone! Chapters will go up as they are finished ... no actual schedule.

And a bit of history for those interested in the proper naming convention for Hickam Air Force base. With 4 nephews, a bro in law and father in various branches of the military, the tendency to be accurate is oftentimes a point of contention during gatherings. Anyway: Hickam Air Force Base had an official name change in 2010. At that time, Naval Station Pearl Harbor joined with Hickam in accordance with the Base Realignment and Closure Law. The 2005 law realigned 26 separate bases into 12 combined bases, and Hickam was renamed Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam is located close to Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. JBPHH is spread over multiple locations, occupying a combined area of approximately 28,000 acres.

H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O

Things like this rarely happened in the military and even less so for Steve, but for whatever reason, the entire team found themselves a full thirty-two hours ahead of schedule. It was precious time indeed. The action review in Korea had begun on a U.S. warship in the Sea of Japan. It had concluded on Osan Air Force Base in South Korea and had been happily succinct; most of the team released early to spend their free-time at will while waiting for the next military flight back to the joint base at Hickam on Oahu. Not everyone was lucky though. Another and much smaller contingent was still on the move. Their work was still in progress with orders to leave for Quantico via Germany with the twin metal boxes. Each purported to be holding critical bio-warfare intelligence.

Steve wouldn't have been surprised to find himself part of that contingent. But he wasn't. In fact, the entire operations team - Steve's own team in that small command center - had been officially released and Steve was essentially free to do as he pleased. Recovering quickly, he kept moving, switching gears and focusing on a new goal: the likelihood of being able to get home on Christmas Day. Borrowed time was precious time indeed and Steve was soon humming to himself as he checked some commercial flight options online. The math he did in his head was close ... but ... yes!

It could work. If seats were available ... his inklings of a plan could actually work.

Since the military flight back to Oahu would have kept them precisely on the original schedule to arrive home after the holiday, Steve now contrived other plans to get on a commercial flight from Seoul to Honolulu International as quickly as humanly possible. With other priorities looming over his head, this wasn't the time to waste an opportunity of this magnitude. While he'd gotten his gifts straightened out for Charlie and Grace, Steve's ability to find something for Danny had been pushed to the side. He'd had no time and now things were so far behind, Steve had no hope of finding something special enough.

He held his breath as seat options came up on the one optimal non-stop flight for that very evening. He didn't expect to find any, but there were two open seats and he booked the first one his thumb hit. He did it before even requesting permission from his superiors but Steve could have guessed the response despite the quizzical raise of an eyebrow once he found himself in the base commander's office.

"I'd like to take advantage of the time, Sir," Steve said, practically over-explaining himself in the process. He couldn't stop smiling either. Who could blame him though for his taking advantage of a perfectly good situation that would feasibly get him home not after - but on Christmas Day? The plain answer was: no one.

"I see no reason to deny your request; seems like a sound and very logical plan of action to me," the commander finally said, smiling even more broadly than Steve. "I bet this will be quite the surprise too; I certainly understand and actually, I'm not just a little bit envious."

"Thank you, Sir," Steve said as he fidgeted badly, his desire to be excused now tantamount to keeping a very important time-table. "Really ... I appreciate it."

"Do you need help with booking any flights?" The commander started to ask but Steve was already holding up his hand and taking a long backwards step towards the door. The older man chuckled and pointed the way, wisely guessing that Steve had already done some advanced planning. "Fine! Get out of here then, Commander. You've got much better places to be and a family to surprise!"

"Yes sir!" Steve agreed heartily. "I certainly do." With his go-bag already slung over his shoulder since he'd left it out in the hallway, Steve was on his way to the airport within seconds of gaining that permission. Smiling like a loon the entire way, he'd already forced himself to not call Danny even though a huge part of him was itching to do just that. Something made him stop. Each time he went to thumb the speed dial for Danny's number, he stopped in his tracks and re-pocketed his phone. Call it suspicious or maybe some part of him was chewing on the base commander's suggestion of a surprise, that something prevented Steve from making the call.

Not yet, it teased at his brain, annoying him no end for its lack of clarity or even fair reason. But he went with it and accepted his gut-instinct, even refusing himself one last time when he found himself tempted again at the airport just a few minutes shy of boarding the jet that would get him to Honolulu International by late morning.

Don't do it ... not yet ... Steve groaned in annoyance at his own indecision. Just what the hell was stopping him? Danny was supposed to have his son, Charlie and his daughter, Grace by Noon on Christmas Day after a long pre-holiday period of being denied both his kids. When he'd left, things had been sour at home. First Steve's orders and then Danny's ex-wife's request to keep the kids longer due to their grandparents last minute visit from England had fouled Danny's already tetchy mood. December hadn't actually been a happy, festive month. Despite it all though, and in all his usual graciousness because Danny just couldn't find it within himself to deny his children their grandparents, Danny had agreed.

Steve made an unhappy sound in his throat as he tallied up the time Danny had essentially been alone. Everything had been just off after Thanksgiving and Steve was partly the catalyst. Nothing Steve could say about anything at all, had mattered. This would help though; a call to Danny would help. Nonetheless, Steve didn't thumb the speed dial. Instead, he replayed one of their last conversations. The one he'd had with Danny after showing him the certified letter from Naval Intelligence. Before they'd even told the kids about Steve's new orders.

"Support staff, Danny," Steve had said. He'd purposefully stressed the first word and had waited, shifting from one foot to the other. His own heart had sunk the moment the certified letter had arrived and he remember feeling as if he wanted to sink through the very floor. Steve had sighed, upset and worried when Danny had refused to turn around to face him. Instead, he had continued to stare blankly out the kitchen window.

"I promise ... promise ... that I'm part of the team staying within HQ. It's the hub. The Command Center. I won't be seeing any action, Danny."

Danny had been holding the orders and the white paper had been vibrating in reaction to his hand's subtle tremor. The letter from Quantico wasn't something Danny should have been allowed to physically see, but classified went just so far in their house.

"Okay. I get it. But ... three weeks," Danny had stated far too calmly and Steve cringed. " ... and that's their best estimate."

"The time will fly," Steve had tried to say. "I'll be back before you know it."

"But you won't be back in time," Danny had interrupted. " ... and it's fucking Korea."

He had turned around then to face Steve and the look in his eyes had said it all. The Navy made Steve who he was and Danny got it. He really did. He didn't have to fully embrace it with open arms though and right then, Steve didn't either.

"It's fucking Korea ... and it's ... Christmas," Danny had flatly replied and that had been the last of the conversation, leaving the stress to mount between them right up until the day Steve had left for the mission.

Standing there in the airport, Steve glanced at his watch. Because of all of this, should he call now or not though? If things stayed on this new schedule, he'd land just an hour before Danny was scheduled to get his kids from his ex-wife's house. With her British parents visiting the island that was likely to be a dicey window of time. So just because of that, should he call and at least lift Danny's spirits? Steve shook his head as he stared at the screen of his cell phone, thumb poised over that one digit and then he shook his head as boarding was announced.

Not yet.

They hadn't spoken in just under three weeks' time but Steve had a long way to travel and even if the call would do them both good, Steve definitely had a bit of a suspicious bone. First step was to get on this flight home ... second would be as easy as landing ... once home, he'd take it from there and surprise Danny in person. Maybe even meet Danny at Rachel's house? Or, be there waiting for all of them at home? Steve's smile grew at these stray ideas. Why the heck not come up with something bigger - more grander of an idea? He didn't often have the chance to really surprise his partner. Not like this and a slow, sly grin began to spread across Steve's face. He had hours to plan something special during this forced down-time.

Sure. This not only could work ... it would work. Quite well, too as he settled in happily, finding that he lucked out with an aisle-bulkhead seat so he could stretch out his long legs. Why not milk this surprise long and far? Steve hunkered down in his seat as the flight settled into its route. It was evening in Seoul and he'd be landing mid-morning, Honolulu time. As the inklings of an interesting plot-line started to form - inclusive of Santa suits and mistletoe - Steve's smile grew even more.

What if he got to Rachel's house before Danny ...? That was a super tight window of time, but it was possible. It was Christmas after all and he never thought, in a million years, that the mission might have wrapped early. That he'd be on a commercial flight at that very moment and not stuck in some back-jungle village or military base office. Miracles and blessings were being heaped on him at that very moment. And despite some of the issues, Steve knew Rachel would be keen enough to help him out with a quick, off-the-cuff, surprise.

"Do you have a pen and maybe some paper?" Steve asked one of the flight attendants. He needed to write this down ... all of it.

~ to be continued ~