A/N: Thank you for reading and favoring and especially for commenting on this fic. I appreciate your kind words and encouragements.

Please tell me what you think.

He goes to the naval base to meet Joe. He doesn't have to go all the way over there, as Joe offers to meet him at the beach and go grab lunch or something, but there's something he can't name that makes him insist on going there all the same. In the middle of the weekend, even though he's quite sure he should have a few better things to do, not to mention it's really busy there today, with the different SEAL teams having their annual competition day event, so yeah… not really sure why he would ever want to… Fine, fine, so obviously he can absolutely name the thing that makes him go over there and start snooping around. Here, he totally admits it, he wants to see James. Not to do anything, he swears, or to even to talk to him, god no! Not in a million years. He just wants to… see him. Maybe… well, maybe to speak to the guy's supervising officer at the most, to check on him, quietly… to get a proper assessment of the boy's skills, his personality, his potential advancement… it's nothing, really. Fine, fine, if you insist, he actually wants to beat the crap out of him, and make him bleed, if he's being totally honest here, but hey! That doesn't mean he will actually act on it. He means, common, these are completely understandable and reasonable urges he has there, you know, after all he is Kono's commanding officer… So he has some… responsibilities, right? He just wants to make sure she's protected, and that the guy treats her well, and that he's worth her time, and… Fuck it! It's all Danny's fault really, if you come to think about it. The guy has been trying to make him be more connected with his feelings in the last 4 years, and to listen to his inner voice, and to express his emotions and… It doesn't matter. He'll only go there to the base to watch the traditional and most prestigious and glorified battle between the SEALs, like he would have done anyway, if he happens to see James in the process… well, we'll all just have to wait and see.

Joe meets him in the lobby of headquarters. No one is there; they all went to see the competitions.

"Oh" he says to Joe, scratching his head awkwardly "I forgot about that." But Joe only smiles at him, not believing a word "if you have time, we can go and watch the games" he offers, trying to be casual about it, making Joe laugh at him quite openly this time.

They step into the sports field, and find a few familiar faces in one of the galleries. They join them, they are all high ranking officers, and they all completely absorbed in the events on the field.

"Gentlemen" Joe says politely "you all know Lieutenant commander McGarrett?"

"McGarrett" they all grunt in greeting, hardly looking his way "have a seat boys" one of the Generals tells them, indicating towards two empty seats beside him "it's looking more and more like a blood bath down there, you really don't want to miss it".

"Who's winning?" Steve asks the General.

"Team 9 is in the lead, but team 6 is kicking their asses now in the 3 miles run."

"Full gear?" He asks intrigued, this entire event is throwing him back to the old days when he used to participate in these competitions. He remembers how highly these competitions between the teams were regarded. They've trained for them for months, gave all their efforts, and took the competitions as battles for life and glory both personally, but mostly for the reputation of their team. It was always a hard fight, with great emotional impact, and more than not it ended with a full scale fists fight between the warriors. If he remembers correctly, the prestige and reputation you got after winning these specific complementary fist fights, were even more important than winning the actual games.

"Of course it's in full gear" the general snorts "what would you expect… Hey, McGarrett" he turns towards him suddenly "weren't you a part of that awful mess back in '96?"

"'97, sir" he coughs slightly "and also, '98, 2000 and 2001, if you count the other incidents too" he adds when Joe raises his eyebrow at him from the other side.

"Were you the one who…?"

"Yes" he looks down at his combat boots, trying not to meet the general's eyes "I was" he looks cautiously at Joe "but I got punished for it… eventually… so I guess it's all fine now…"

"Not exactly punished" Joe clarifies to the curious general "he traded his punishment with additional 8 months to his tour of duty in Libya and Somalia."

"Did you, now?" the General looks at him with a faint smile and what looks like a new air of appreciation "good for you. In any case, you brought great honor to your comrades, and to your team."

"Thank you sir" he answers, straightening up a little "My CO at the time didn't quite feel the same way, I'm afraid."

"Of course I felt the same way" Joe frowns from the other side of him "I only had some reservations about the eventual implications. I think I felt that breaking the SEAL team's 4 commanding officer's jaw was not entirely an unavoidable necessity."

He tries to locate James on the pitch. Eventually he finds him among the competitors and is a little annoyed to discover that the guy is right there in the lead in the medium range shooting and in the cross country run. He follows him all through the tournament with a growing sense of displeasure until there's a break, just before the finals are about to start, and Joe and the other generals offer to go down and talk to the guys.

They walk towards the row of competitors and stop next to each of them, commending them on their performance. He walks with the high ranking officers, and soon enough finds himself right in front of James's smiling face.

"McGarrett" James reaches his hand. He is desperately trying to control the murderous look he is quite sure is spread on his face, so that's probably the reason he shakes the guy's hand a little bit more forcefully than necessary. He can see James's face when he almost breaks his fingers, and he is a bit ashamed to admit that it actually makes him feel good.

"Nice shooting" he offers half heartedly, indicating towards the general direction of the targets.

"Thanks man" James smiles kindly. He can see the way his green eyes light up in happiness, and can't avoid imagining them light up for Kono, in the same way.

"Your CO said you're the best sniper on his team" Steve continues; finding himself stuck there without an option to escape, when Joe just keeps standing there next to the SEAL team 4 commander. He would have gladly joined him, but from obvious reasons he has to avoid that specific SEAL team as much as possible. For all he knows they might still have a price on his head over there.

"I'm…" James smiles awkwardly "I got lucky. I had a pretty good average in the last year."

"What's your score?" he asks with a silent hope.

"93% for 600 meters" James informs him, not entirely without pride.

"Nice" Steve smiles in relief. His own personal score is 94%, luckily. He doesn't care that it's a bit childish, he feels pretty good suddenly. He smiles to himself when he realizes that Kono's score is even higher than both their records. She has 96%.

Joe is still talking, so he's desperately looking for something intelligent and related to say "nice piece" he remarks, indicating to the sniper rifle James holds at his feet.

"Thanks" James shrugs.

"When I was on active service I used to love the AS-50" he tells the young warrior "what's your favorite gun?"

"I don't know" James looks at him thoughtfully "I don't really have a favorite gun, to tell you the truth."

It's lucky Joe is there in that precise moment, because he almost tells the guy exactly what he thinks about this stupid suggestion. "No favorite gun?" he cries in disgust when he walks with Joe back to the galleries "what the hell is he talking about? How can somebody not have a favorite gun?"

"You're over reacting" Joe laughs "the guy is still young, and it's a new generation now. Besides, not everybody has the same fascination you have with guns and ammo."

"Mmmm" he shakes his head in refusal "no way, I know her, she would never allow for a…"

"Hey, Steve!" James calls after him suddenly, before he has the chance to complete his thought "how's Kono, by the way?" he turns around to watch the guy curiously.

"She's fine" he grumbles. Even her name coming out from the guy's mouth stirs some anger inside him. His phone is ringing before he has the time to think about something else to say. It's Danny. They have a new case.

"Oh for god's sa… what the hell is wrong with you now?"

He looks resentfully towards Danny who sits beside him "nothing. Nothing is wrong with me" he grunts.

"Don't tell me it's nothing" Danny snorts "I'm not stupid. I can see the fumes coming out of your ears. What the hell is the matter with you?"

"Nothing, I told you" he tries to sound casual, but Danny is too good in this game, he is hardly impressed.

"I thought you'll be all cheered up and happy today" he looks at him curiously "I mean, after spending the morning watching all your SEAL buddies massacring one another for fun. I thought you'd be elated."

"They didn't massacre each other, Danny" he grumbles "they had an innocent sport event, a simple competition between…"

"Were people bleeding?"

"Why, yes… maybe there was some bleeding involved… but that doesn't mean that…."

"Of course it doesn't" Danny sends him a disgusted look. They continue to drive in silence and it really looks like Danny will drop it. Only he doesn't. He sighs when Danny opens his mouth again. "Did your team lose, or did the other guys win? I mean, I know how you feel about SEAL team 4…""

"I don't think we've lost" he shrugs "we were second place when I left, but it didn't end yet, so…"

"Okay" he looks at him suspiciously "so, did Joe give you some bad news? Something about Wo Fat maybe?"

"No" he shakes his head "Joe's fine, we just… watched the games…"

"So, was it someone else then? Someone else you met there?"He can see Steve's jaw clenches immediately. He wears a guarded expression, and there's this new familiar tightness in his shoulders when he mentions this specific possibility.

"Who did you meet there, Steve?" he demands.

"No one special" Steve mumbles, avoiding Danny's eyes "some generals, some people from the base…"

"Go on" he encourages him.

"Then we went down to the pitch and we… we just met the teams…"

"The teams."

"The SEAL teams."

"A specific team?"

"Emmm… Team 6, team 4, team 9…"

"Team 9?"

"And team 6, and team 4 and team…"

"Did you meet James?" Danny asks casually.

"James?" he looks at him puzzled, like he had never heard the name before.

"Kono's boyfriend" Danny is happy to help.

"Emmm… Yes. Possibly…"

"Possibly?"

"Yes" he confirms "it is quite possible that I met James there." He gives up.

"Did you hurt him or something?" Danny looks at him with suspicion.

"Hurt him? Of course not!" he cries "what kind of man do you think I am?" The look on Danny's face indicates exactly what kind of man his partner thinks he is. "We just talked" he sighs.

"Talked?" Danny enquires.

"Talked. Yes. We've opened our mouths and produced some words. You of all people should know how it's done."

"Okay, smartass. What did you talk about then?"

"We've talked about… about his gun."

"Of course you did" Danny shakes his head in disappointment "what else?"

"That's it."

They reach the murder scene and get out of the car, while Danny is still looking at him questioningly.

"That's it. That is all we've ever talked about, I swear. Nothing more."

"You didn't mention Kono?" Danny insists looking at him with suspicion, as they walk towards Chin and Kono who are already scanning the area.

"Nope. I didn't" Steve confirms.

"You didn't…" Danny rubs his chin slowly "what about him? Did he mention her?"

"He only…" Steve looks at him unsurely, stopping at a safe distance from their other partners "he only asked how she was" he sighs.

"He asked you how she was?" Danny looks at him disbelievingly.

"Yeah" Steve mumbles apologetically "it's an innocent enough question, I told him she was fine."

"Why would Kono's boyfriend ask you how she was?" Danny looks at him like he's stupid, or slow, or completely insane.

"He… wanted to know…?" Steve looks at him unsurely.

"Right" Danny shakes his head in disdain, walking straight towards Chin and Kono. When Steve comes to stand near him and Chin starts to explain about the findings and about the initial surveillance, Danny just butts in and asks "so Kono, babe, when did you break up with James?"

It's the traditional Kalakaua luau again and she really doesn't want to go.

She plans her defense meticulously, telling her mother, as heartbrokenly as she can fake, how tired she is and how hard work had been lately, and how she wished she could come, but can't. She tells her how she didn't even have a second for herself lately, and how awesome it would have been to actually come to the luau and meet all her family, and eat the wonderful food her mother makes and to run around with the kids, but it's really not her fault that they have a case again, the third weekend in a raw. Yes, she does realize she is giving way too much of herself to the team, and yes she does realize that after the last year, when she was actually away from the island for more than four months, she has to come at least to see tutu. Yes, she does realize that if she'd explained it like that, Steve would probably understand (no he wouldn't, but her mother is quite suspicious of him as it is, and she really tries not to make it worse for him if she can) and spare her the time. Yes, she does, she does realize everything completely, her mother is completely right. Actually she was really looking forward to this specific luau, if her mother must knows (the same way she's looking forward to her annual appointment with her dentist, but she keeps this comparison to herself), and yes, she's really really sorry, and quite depressed about all this, but surely, her mother understands that her career is on the line, and there's a case, as she mentioned, and it is actually a matter of life and death, so unfortunately…

She should have probably remembered to mention this specific pack of lies to Chin, before going forward with this specific strategy. The third time she mentions the word "case" her mother just has enough of her bullshit. She huffs quite noisily over the phone, and cuts her midsentence and informs her that Chin ho is bringing Loco Moco, so if he manages to find time to cook and come over to see his aunt between all the rain of imaginary cases they have, so can she!

She's hiding inside the house the entire time. Her mother tries to push her outside, to join the other guests, but she mumbles something about helping out in the kitchen and answering the phone, and she tries to come up with a few more imaginative excuses, until eventually her mother loses interest and rolling her eyes, leaves her alone. She steps into the kitchen not a second too soon after that. The exact same time, the main door opens and Lilly steps into the house.

She feels like a creep. She hides behind the kitchen door and watches the main entrance with growing alarm. It takes a few long tormented minutes until she finally realizes nobody else is coming after her. She can't believe her luck, seeing that Lilly is there on her own, without her boyfriend. She crashes against the kitchen wall, releasing a calming breath, and sends a silent prayer of gratitude to whoever might be listening.

"Kono" Lilly's cheerful cry pulls her out of her prayer. Shit!

"Hey Lilly" she smiles awkwardly, opening her eyes to find her favorite cousin standing in front of her.

"Your mom said you were hiding in the kitchen" Lilly sends her a questioning smile.

"Yes, I am" she admits. There's no reason to deny the obvious.

"Okay…" Lilly's smile is getting wider "who are we hiding from, then?"

"Mmmmm…. No one in particular" she says thoughtfully "just… just in case, you know..."

"I see" Lilly nods encouragingly "it makes sense. The Kalakaua's luau is one of the most dangerous events on the island."

"It really is" Kono agrees enthusiastically "extremely dangerous. You can't be too careful."

"Okay, then." Lilly says after watching her cousin curiously for a few long moments "I think I'll go outside now, I'm hungry, and I want to see Chin. Whenever you feel that it's safe, you can come join us." She walks towards the door, but stops suddenly, her hand on the handle "by the way Kono, if you were hiding from Steve, there's really no reason to…"

"What do you mean?" She stands in front of her cousin, making both her and Chin to raise their heads from their plates "what do you mean, if I was hiding from Steve? I'm not hiding from Steve! Why would you think that I would ever want to hide from Steve?"

"No reason" Lilly mumbles, sensing the fury radiating from her cousin in waves, "I just thought… I mean… I know how you feel about him, and you think that we're dating, so… I just wanted to make sure that…"

"How I feel about him?" she cries, sitting near the table too, and taking some food from Lilly's plate "I don't feel anything about him. He's my boss, we're colleagues, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Sure you don't" Lilly's smile is back on her face "you know Kono, you were always such a terrible liar. This is why you always got us in trouble growing up. You always told the truth and we got caught."

"I'm not lying" she huffs, grabbing Lilly's fork, and taking another piece of loco moco from her plate.

"You know what's your problem?" Lilly leans forward and pulls the fork out of Kono's hand "that you only want the things when you realize you can't have them!"

"No I'm not" she claps Lilly's wrist, and pries the fork out of her grip, before taking another forkful of loco moco with a victorious smile.

"Yes you do" Lilly notifies her "you started surfing after your mom said you can't, you joined the academy after all our cousins told you you shouldn't do it because of Chin, you joined Five-0 because all your friends said you'd never stand a chance because you're not experienced, and do I really need to mention Adam? The guy had a neon sign stuck to his forehead warning you to stay away."

"You're wrong…" she mumbles quietly, looking at her mortified.

"I'm not wrong." Lilly tells her.

"She's really not" Chin adds from his spot at the table.

"It's the same thing with Steve" Lilly smiles triumphantly when she sees Kono's shocked expression "the guy is perfect for you, and he's amazing, and he was there under your nose for years, but it took me to come and take him, to make you open your eyes and see sense."

"I'm…" she stares at her cousin sheepishly, blushing to the roots of her hair "well, maybe I am a little… I mean, with Steve, but it's not… God Lilly, I'm so sorry. I know that you're together now… and I respect that, really. If you think that I would ever…"

"Are we?"

"Are you what?" she looks at her cousin in utter confusion.

"Are we together?" Lilly smiles mischievously at her.

"Well, yeah. Of course you are" she cries in frustration "I mean, aren't you?"

Chin's phone rings in that precise moment, while Lilly is still sitting there, smiling, shaking her head at her cousin's bewilderment.

"We've got to go" Chin tells her, standing away from the table and pulling her hand to make her come too "we have a new case."

She's already in the process of scanning the area when Danny and Steve pull up near the murder scene, and she sees Danny walks towards them with a weird smile on his face. When Steve comes to stand near them as well, and Chin starts to explain about the findings and about the initial surveillance, it takes only a few moments until Danny butts in, right in the middle of Chin's elaborated explanation and asks "so Kono, babe, when did you break up with James?"