I can't imagine a Five-0 story without some Steve whump, so we're about to see what happens when someone dares to go after his family. Enjoy….and please review or message me. I love hearing from all of you!
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Steve and Sophia sat together for a while listening to the waves roll in. Steve sensed she needed some "quiet", so he didn't push her to return back to the house even though he had guests; It was Ohana and Steve knew they would understand if Sophia needed some time away. They'd had a wonderful and fun filled night with great food and wine. However, even though it seemed as if Sophia had enjoyed it, Steve knew it could still be overwhelming to be in the midst of so many people. Truthfully, he would have been happy to spend the night right there on the beach with her and not go back to his house at all.
Leaning back against his chest, Sophia thought how wonderful it was to be with someone who made her feel so safe. And with Steve, she never felt alone. She relaxed and felt a mixture of hardness at the physical strength he possessed…..and a softness she felt with his arms as they held her. Sophia was beginning to realize how safe Steve felt with her too; At least with his heart. She knew she was one of the few people with whom he would let down his walls and it made her feel incredibly protective of him.
Steve and Sophia eventually made their way back to the McGarrett house so they could visit with everyone a little more before they left. Everyone praised her cooking skills and she promised to do it again soon.
Once everyone was gone and they'd said goodnight, Mary gave Joannie a bath, read her a story, and got her settled into bed. Then, she decided to go downstairs to make some tea before going to bed herself and was surprised to see that Steve and Sophia were not in the living room where she'd last seen them. Her eyes automatically went outside where she caught a brief glimpse of them laying together in the hammock. Smiling to herself, she decided to skip the tea, and went back up to join her daughter. It had been a long exhausting day. She laid down beside Joannie and thought about how much her and Steve's lives had changed in the last few years. They'd lost their father, Steve had quit the SEALS, they'd found their mother was still alive, lost Aunt Deb….
…. and brought Joannie in to their lives. Being a mother had opened Mary's heart to love in ways she hadn't imagined possible. She certainly felt more grounded...and calm…..with Joannie in her life.
Now it seemed as if Steve may finally be opening his heart to someone as well. After only being around Sophia for a day, and seeing the interaction between her and Steve, Mary was pleasantly surprised to see that her brother didn't have quite the intensity that had always been a part of him; Like he could never turn it off. But she saw a change in him now. That wasn't to say he'd gone soft: Mary knew her brother was still a bad ass through and through, but he seemed more relaxed and he was smiling more. Mary knew Sophia was to thank for that.
Before falling asleep beside Joannie, Mary said a silent prayer of thanks for the great night they'd had with family. It was good to be home.
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The next afternoon….
Looking up from his laptop, Steve answered his phone, "Hey, Duke."
"McGarrett….I think you need to come down here."
Steve's instincts kicked into overdrive.
Something was wrong.
Danny was walking out of his own office and noticed the distressed look on Steve's face through the window. He made his way to Steve's door and opened it. As Danny listened to his partner's side of the conversation, the crease across Steve's brow grew deeper. He recognized the worry on his partner's face.
"What's wrong?" Steve asked Duke.
Duke was silent for a moment. "Mary and Sophia Manetti are down here. Sophia was assaulted and brought in by a uni who was closeby when it happened."
Steve stood up from his desk and gripped the phone receiver so tightly it was a miracle it didn't shatter in his hands. "Is she okay? What about Mary and Joannie? What happened?"
"Your sister and Joannie are fine," Duke assured him. "They were playing at a nearby park when it happened. Miss Manetti is the one who was attacked and she is understandably a bit shaken, but doesn't have any physical injuries. They wanted to come upstairs to your office, but we need to get their statements and Miss Manetti said she would only talk to you. MGarrett, we really need to get her statement first and…..."
"Duke, it's okay," Steve interrupted. "Maybe we can help with that. Tell them to sit tight and Danny and I will be right down."
He hung up the phone and looked at Danny, "We need to go downstairs. Sophie's been assaulted."
"What? What the hell happened? Is she okay?" Danny asked as he followed Steve out of the office.
"I don't know, buddy. I kinda went blank after hearing she was attacked and didn't ask too many questions. Let's just go find out what happened to our girls."
The significance of Steve's declaration wasn't lost on Danny. Being that Mary and Joannie were Steve's family, they were already officially members of the "Ohana". However, adding Sophia's name as part of the group meant something.
A BIG something…..
But now wasn't the time for that conversation. One thing Danny was sure of: There wasn't anything they wouldn't do for "the family". Anyone hurting one of them had the entire Five-0 Task Force on their tale.
On their way out of the office, Steve stopped to ask Kono to come down with them in hopes she could distract Joannie while they tried to figure out what had happened. Kono was always great with kids and his niece was no exception; She loved Kono, too.
The threesome made their way quickly downstairs and into HPD headquarters where Duke was waiting. He motioned for them, "They're right over there with Officer Markum."
As soon as Sophia saw Steve walking towards her, her eyes filled with tears and she stood to walk to him. He reached her first and opened his arms to envelope her and hold her close.
Damn, he loved holding her. She fit him so perfectly.
That thought was short lived, however, as Steve felt rage boil inside of him as he felt Sophia's entire body shaking in fear. He turned his gaze to where Mary was giving her statement to Nate Markum with Joannie sitting on her lap. She offered him a weak smile, but he could tell she was shaken too.
Was this a random act? Maybe a mugging?
OR….had Sophia been targeted for some reason?
It didn't really seem feasible that she had been targeted since no one had reason to go after her. Steve figured it must have just been random; A classic case of being in the right place at the wrong time. Either way, whoever was responsible was going to pay dearly for it. Steve needed to find out what had happened as soon as possible to get it resolved. His sister, his niece, and his woman had all been hurt and he would not rest until the matter was resolved.
Danny went over to Mary to listen in on what she was recounting for the statement report. While that was happening, Kono talked Joannie into going to a vending machine for a snack. Kono led the happy girl away as Mary gave her a grateful smile.
After a couple of minutes, Sophia's tremors started to slow down and Steve led her over to a chair. When she sat down, Steve pulled up another one to sit in front of her. She was looking down at her hands that were still shaking slightly in her lap. Steve took both of her hands into one of his and used his other to tip her chin up to look at him, "Talk to me, Soph. What happened?"
Sophia's bottom lip quivered. If there was one thing he hated it was seeing her cry.
"I…I…..don't…..know." she began. "Mary asked me to…..um….. go with her….to take Joannie to a park. So we drove to one close by." She mentioned the name of the park and Steve shook his head in recognition. "So, Joannie was playing on the playground with Mary and I starting to take some pictures of them together."
She looked up at Steve as if in a trance, "It's beautiful outside today, Steve. Just perfect."
"Yeah, it is," Steve tried to smile encouragingly so she would continue. "So tell me what happened next, babe."
"Okay, so….after taking some shots of the two of them, I decided to walk a little closer to the beach. I was taking candid shots of people…..You know: families, couples, stuff like that. I would've never reproduced them publicly….I was just trying to get a feel for photography again." She smiled at him shyly, "You've sort of awakened that in me again."
"I'm glad," Steve answered. "You have a great eye." Steve squeezed her hands again. "So what next?"
Sophia shuddered a breath and looked down at her hands again.
"Look at me, Soph."
She turned her eyes back towards Steve. The intensity she saw in his eyes was both frightening and comforting. Comforting for her, but not so much for her attacker if he was ever found. She drew strength from what she saw in his eyes.
"Tell me how you were attacked. What happened?"
"I don't know….. I honestly have no idea. I was just taking pictures…..and the next thing I knew, I saw this guy walking right towards me. He was looking straight at me and I had a really bad feeling. So I turned to walk away, but he started running after me and caught up to me. He knocked me down and grabbed my camera before he ran away."
"Did he say anything to you?"
Sophia shook her head, "No. He just told me to give him the camera. Before I knew it, he'd torn if from around my neck and ran away."
This was about the camera? Why would someone just steal the camera? Unless…
Sophia interrupted his thoughts when he noticed she was crying again, "I'm so sorry. That was one of the best birthday presents I've ever gotten….and now it's gone!"
"Shhh….It's okay, sweetie. I'll get you another one."
Sophia looked up at Steve. "You don't have to do that," she said, and even though her eyes were red from crying, he still thought she looked beautiful.
"I know….but I want to. Please don't cry." Steve answered as he wiped away a stray tear.
After Sophia had composed herself again, he asked, "So, I need to ask you something."
"Okay."
"Well, from what you've said, it sounds like this guy was after your camera…..Not you…which makes me wonder why he would want it so bad. Are you sure you didn't get something in a shot that someone may not have wanted you to see?"
Sophia shook her head. "I don't know. I mean I don't think so." She looked at him hopelessly and sighed, "I honestly don't know."
"It's okay. We're going to figure this out. I just wish we knew what was on the camera that he might have been after."
There was suddenly a twinkle in Sophia's eyes, "Maybe we can know what was on the camera." She reached into the pocket of her shorts and pulled out a memory card and holding it up in front of him.
Steve's eyes widened in surprise. "You got the memory card out? But how did you do that before…."
"I do have some tricks of my own, Commander," she interrupted.
Steve couldn't stop the chuckle that escaped him. In spite of himself, and not caring who might be watching, he took her face in his hands and kissed her quickly. Then, he took her hand and stood up to walk towards the officer who was finishing up with Mary's statement.
"We can take it from here, Nate. Thanks for your help."
"No problem, Commander. I'm just glad they weren't hurt. There's probably slim chance we'll ever get the camera back, though."
Danny was curious about the look on Steve's face. It was a look that told him Steve knew something about the case but wasn't able to share it just yet.
"It's okay," Steve said. "We'll handle it. I'm glad you were in the area when it happened."
Nate stood up to shake Steve's hand, "Not a problem, sir."
With that, Steve, Sophia, Mary and Danny headed back upstairs to the Five-0 offices to see what else they could discover.
