On Love and Other Things

Summary: A day at the beach for the team leads to some realizations.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything H50

Thank you all for reading. To my 'usual suspects,' many heartfelt thanks for the constant encouragement. To cdnyellowrose, thanks for the notes!

Five.

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Ala Moana Beach Park
Honolulu, Oahu

The picnic table, claimed early by Kamekona was covered with a red gingham cloth and laden with all sorts of Hawaiian picnic goodies: fried chicken from Zippy's, manapua from Patty's Kitchen, spam musubi that Kamekona made himself, Chinese chicken salad from Kono, Imperial spring-rolls from Balé, assorted chips, drinks, malasadas from Leonard's and haupia that Chin made. It was an awesome spread. Not too mention, Kamekona had picked a table located next to his second shaved-iced shop.

"The details is in the planning, brah," he said to Chin, as he noticed the man's questioning but appraising look.

Chin laughed, his eyes crinkling. "Near the water, biggest picnic table out here, next to your shaved-iced stand. How long have you been out here, reserving this table and location?"

"Brah, no worries, only since six." Kamekona laughed.

"AM?" asked Chin as he set down a cooler filled with ice and setting the Longboards in. "Right?"

Kamekona laughed louder, rocking back and forth on his seat.

"PM, last night?" questioned Kono as she walked up with utensils that she retrieved from her car.

He nodded, "shoots Kono." His smile was infectious and both cousins laughed back, shaking their heads. "I wanted to make sure you guys got the best spot," he said in his deep, melodious voice. "That little, haoli brother gets so wound up sometimes," he said shaking his head, referencing Danny. "This way, his keiki can run back and forth to the water and eat and play and everyone would be able to watch her," he said nodding again.

"It's the perfect spot Kamekona, thank you," Kono said, walking over to pat him on his enormous shoulder.

"Yeah, mahalo for your kokua, brah," Chin said with smile.

After a particularly trying two week long case, today was a 'mental health' day, as so very much encouraged by Governor Jameson. And as such, the cousins believed it best be spent at the beach. Danny, they figured would have to just deal with it. So to compensate, a well intentioned call was placed to Rachel and she agreed to let Grace attend. Besides, what better way to spend a forced day off than with the youthful naivete of an eight year old?

When Steve and Danny arrived with Grace a few moments later, Kamekona had already blown up a fluorescent pink inner-tube and had a mini life-vest ready for her. Grace ran up to him and gave him a high-five and a brilliant little smile. The New Jersey detective nodded approvingly at Kamekona and chuckled. Kamekona took in Danny's mode of dress; cut off jeans shorts, a white t-shirt, flip-flops, and arched a brow.

"Brah, nice. Looks like maybe you getting the hang of it now, at least you kinda fit in," he said waving a giant hand amongst the team. Because really, at least Danny was in shorts and wasn't wearing a tie. He wasn't dressed in swim trunks like Steve and Chin, but the lack of a tie was a start. The boys and Kono laughed, much to Danny's chagrin.

Some moments later, as Kamekona had shuffled off to work his shaved-iced stand and Chin and Danny were knee deep in the water with Grace, Steve found himself smiling at the team.

Kono settled herself next to him on the bench looking out at the water. She was munching on another piece of fried chicken. Steve's eyes twinkled as he watched her.

"Where do you put all that stuff?" he asked.

Kono chewed thoughtfully and swallowed. "What? Are you saying I eat a lot?"

Steve chuckled lightly. "No offense Kono, but yeah. Yeah, you do." He ran an appreciative glance over her features and almost ventured south when she cleared her throat and put her chicken down.

"You best stop there, brah," she said with a smirk. She gave him a look that indicated that she noticed his roving eyes. She shook her head and looked out to the ocean. Really? A tank top and jeans shorts has her boss reacting like this? Since when?

"High metabolism," she explained simply, as she gave him a sidelong glance, wiping her hands.

"Ah, got it," he said. Steve cleared his throat and straightened slightly. "Look, I'm sorry about the..." he nodded slightly, "it was disrespectful of me to..." He blew out a breath. "I'm sorry, Kono... this is kind of awkward, right?"

Kono watched Steve struggle and found it endearing. Truthfully, she didn't mind that he was checking her out, she of course did the same with him. All. The. Time. But since it seemed as if they were still defining their relationship, working and otherwise, she knew that it would be better to remain professional about the whole thing. Feeling only marginally bad, she had to let him off the hook, because frankly, she had thought he would have been more smooth about something like this. Something was different about his behavior towards her.

"Don't worry about it Boss," she said, leaving it at that. She smirked. And then winked.

Steve shifted and smiled uncomfortably. Damn.

Just then, Chin decided he was due some food and a beer and sloshed out of the water towards them. "Your turn Cuz," he said gesturing to Kono, then almost manhandling her out of her seat on the bench, took her place. The younger cousin, unable to hold in her soft giggle had no choice but to move off to the side to take off her clothes. Putting on his aviators, Steve's eyes inadvertently followed her movements as she whipped off her tank top and shimmied out of her jeans shorts. Her yellow bikini showcased everything beautiful about her lean body and Steve found himself swallowing and consciously working to hide any further reaction that would give his ogling away. Especially with Chin seated next to him.

Steve chided himself. He was a man. He'd been with a fair amount of women and considered himself capable enough to handle the fairer sex on all points. Screaming hysterically, vengeful, sobbing uncontrollably, scorned, angered, deliriously happy, sultry, seducing, he could handle all that. And yet, watching Kono undress for the beach had... undone him.

In their first meeting, watching her running up to them, wet and glistening, emerging from the ocean like Hinaikawai herself, he'd been able to remain professional because he barely knew her. He appreciated her features of course, he wasn't blind. He of course couldn't help but acknowledge how beautiful she was, but that was it. They had a job to do then.

But today... after all these months and moments between them, for some reason... he'd found that he'd lost his way... in her.

Feeling Chin's eyes on him, Steve cleared his throat. "You're going to kill me aren't you?"

"Oldest trick in the book is the veiled 'checking-out' behind the sunglasses, Steve," Chin said. He unwrapped a spam musubi and took a big bite. "But no, I'm not going to kill you," he said around a mouth of food.

Steve turned to look at Chin questioningly, something about what he just said, did not seem so final.

"I am however, going to beat the shit out of you," the older man said seriously. "I know you would have honorable intentions brah, but are you sure that's even a good idea?"

Ah, crap. "You're kinda pissed." Steve stated. He smirked and shook his head. "I don't blame you, Chin."

"Yeah well, wouldn't you be pissed too?" Chin asked. "If say, Danny, was suddenly checking-out Mary Ann, you wouldn't want to kick his ass?"

"No, because I know she can handle herself," Steve answered quickly. Plus, I'm pretty sure Danny's still in love with Rachel... He gave Chin a look.

"Easier said, than believed," Chin said, an air of experience in his statement. "Trust me, I said the same thing about Kono... in reference to you." He punctuated the last part with a pointed finger.

"Wait, what?" Steve asked, bewildered as he watched Chin finish off the last of his musubi.

Grabbing a beer, Chin turned back to Steve. "I'm not blind brah... and she's family remember?"

The sudden squealing had both men stopping dead in their tracks of their conversation. Looking once again towards the clear blue of the Pacific, they saw Grace bouncing around in the water as Danny and Kono chased her around with playful splashes and tickling. "That's it," they heard Danny say. He picked up Grace and tucked her under his arm like a bag of laundry and made his way towards the table. "This monkey needs some feeding," he said, plopping Grace down. He removed her inner tube and life vest, tickling her along the way. She continued to laugh uproariously, they had never seen the little girl so happy. If it weren't for her having so much fun, someone would have dared mention that Danny was actually enjoying himself at the beach too.

Chin softened at he little girl's antics. As Steve stood to remove his glasses and shirt, with the intention of joining Kono in the water, Chin gave him a look that meant their previous conversation was not over. Steve nodded back and headed off to join Kono, but not before gently tugging on Grace's pigtail to flash her a smile.

She grinned up at him, "Kono's 'it,' Steve! You have to tag her!"

"Okay, I'll do my best, Grace," he said mock seriously, unable to hide a smile.

Danny's little girl turned back to the ocean and yelled, "watch out Kono, Steve's gonna get you!" She giggled as she watched Steve run towards the sea and towards Kono, who by then had expertly dove into the water and was swimming away.

Danny started fixing a plate for Grace and looked at Chin questioningly. They turned their gaze towards the water and noticed that Steve had caught up to Kono and they continued to swim side by side. He handed the plate to his daughter as she scooted onto the bench.

Covering Grace's ears while she ate, Danny asked Chin, "you uh, you guys alright? That seemed like a pretty intense conversation you guys were having."

Chin looked down at Grace who continued to ignore her father's hands over her ears and then back at Danny. "How could you tell?"

"Seriously?" he smiled. "If there's anybody who can read body language... his body language, it's me. He's easy, whatever you said to him, I don't think he liked it very much," supplied Danny.

Chin smirked. "Yeah well, something tells me that it wasn't what I had to say that he didn't like. More like I pointed out the obvious and he didn't want to acknowledge it."

"Which is?" asked Danny, looking down to Grace and then back at Chin. He stopped holding his hands over her ears and held up a finger to Chin, wordlessly asking him to wait.

Turning back down to Grace, he said, "Monkey, how about a snow-cone from Kamekona? Why don't you go and get one, okay?" She nodded emphatically.

The two men watched the little girl run off and both smiled as Kamekona greeted her warmly. "What? He's attracted to her?" Danny questioned, picking up where they left off. He turned to Chin, "he didn't think we saw that? How could you not?" Danny gestured and shrugged his shoulders simultaneously.

Chin snorted. "I think that he's more at a loss for what to do, because he's surprised at himself for suddenly feeling a certain way... about her."

"Well tough," pointed out Danny. "So he was blind-sided, big deal," he said gesturing again. "Joe Schmoe would fall for a woman like Kono," he sighed as he watched his daughter nod at a question Kamekona asked her. "We don't get to choose, do we?" The blond detective said, sounding bittersweet. Chin could tell by the look in Danny's eyes that he was most likely thinking of Rachel.

Unable to help himself too, Chin's thoughts drifted to his own ex, Malia and he nodded back absently in answer to Danny's question.

"You uh, gonna have another word with him then?" Danny asked softly.

"What would I say? 'Don't go there, brah?' I might be too late," Chin said.

They looked to the ocean once more and saw Steve and Kono making their way out of the water. She was laughing at something he said. Steve appeared to be smiling at the response he got from her and both men on the shore could see the change in Steve when he was around Kono in a non-professional setting. It didn't happen often, but when it did, he looked different, completely relaxed and... happy.

Danny turned to Chin and arched a brow and the older man just shook his head and snorted softly. Looking down at the sand, Danny chuckled. "Yeah, you might be right about that."

End.

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A/N: To cross that line or to leave them tortured? Eventually, something's gotta give.

Mini Glossary :

manapua – steamed pork bun, also called 'bao'
musubi – rice with spam wrapped in seaweed, like a sushi, can come with other proteins as well, like: egg, teriyaki chicken, portuguese sausage
malasadas – portuguese fried donuts, sometimes stuffed with flavored creams, rolled in granulated sugar
haupia – coconut "jello," not usually made with gelatin but cornstarch
keiki – child
mahalo – thank you
kokua - help
Hinaikawai – woman of the water. Younger sister of Hinaikeahi, woman of the fire. In Hawaiian folktale (short version), Hinaikeahi brought food to her people when they suffered from famine, by filling an imu (underground oven) with food. Her sister, Hinaikawai became jealous and tried doing the same but she failed because she didn't use the powers of water that were given to her. (Not really an adequate Hawaiian being to equate to Kono I know, but I wanted somehow to link her to the mythology and to water.)