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2 days later...

I knocked at the white hospital door and then cursed myself. Steve wouldn´t answer me, so there was no need to knock. I opened the door and entered the room, slowly making my way to the bed. I tried to keep my emotions under control but when I saw him in the hospital bed, pale and vulnerable, I swallowed hard. He shouldn´t be here.

"He´ll be okay." A voice from the other side of the room startled me. I turned around and saw a short, blond man sitting on one of those hard, uncomfortable chairs. What really surprised me was that he was actually wearing a tie. No one in Hawaii was wearing a tie. I knew instantly that this was Danny.

"I know. I´m Catherine Rollins." I stretched my hand and he took it, shaking it with a firm grip.

"Det. Danny Williams. Call me Danny. We talked on the phone." he introduced himself and I instantly knew why Steve and he had such a unique connection. They would both probably never admit it but they loved challenging each other. Plus Steve knew he could trust this guy.

"What happened?" I asked, turning back to the bed and swallowing the lump in my throat.

"He was playing Mr. I-am-invincible again." he said and I understood. Steve never took any unpredictable risk but still his unorthodox methods were sometimes hard to understand. He knew his skills and he trusted his instincts, that had saved his life more than once. But this behaviour was probably not working as head of a police task-force.

Danny sighed.

"SuperSEAL here couldn´t wait for back up and went in alone... Well, if he would have just waited a second, I would have been there and prevent him from being shot. But no, he had to act first and think later." There was the famous Danny rant.

"He can be pretty stubborn." I smiled and heard Danny chuckle.

"Yeah... he got the bad guys though."

"What did the doctor say? I tried to catch him but... "my voice trailed of.

"He´ll survive, no serious damage. The bullet went straight through his right arm, but he has a concussion so that´s why he´s unconscious. They say that he´ll recover fully."

I didn´t know I held my breath but now I had to take a deep breath and felt the knot inside my stomach loosen.

"Thank you, Danny." I said and turned to him. He slowly got up and walked over, placing a hand on my shoulder, gently squeezing it.

"He´s my partner, I have his back. Always."

"Don´t let him know I told you, but he likes you." I smiled at him, knowing that Danny would probably use this information when it came handy.

"Aww, really? Stubborn SEAL." He chuckled and squeezed my shoulder again. "I like him too." He whispered.

It took just 2 days and Steve left the hospital. The doctors protested but Steve insisted on going home, he´d be able to recover quicker. So with a prescription for pain killers and some good advices he was released. Danny drove him home and I was standing at the door, greeting them with a warm smile.

Steve´s face lit up when he saw me standing in the door and he waved Danny goodbye.

"It´s impolite to let him give you a ride and then not even asking him to come in." I smiled when he pulled me close with his good arm. The warm sun was shining in my face and I closed my eyes.

"He wanted to go." he murmured. I wrapped my arms around him, happy to feel him close again. The last 4 days have been terrible, from the moment I Danny called until now. I now knew that Steve wanted to make sure I didn´t worry when he wouldn´t return to his place.

We went inside and Steve went straight to the kitchen. He flashed me a thankful smile and poured himself some coffee, took a sip and purred in delight.

"God, this is so good." I went to him, hugging him from behind.

"Welcome home, sailor." I whispered and his hand rested on mine. "I´m glad that you´re okay."

"I´m good, been in worse conditions." I chuckled, acknowledging his wish to not talk about it.

"So, do you want to go to bed and rest?" I asked. It was early afternoon, but I hadn´t slept much while he was in hospital and I knew he´d need to rest.

"Only if you join me."

So we went to his bedroom, undressed and slipped under the blanket, cuddling our naked bodies together. His hurt arm rested in a sling against his chest, the other one held me close to him. One of my legs was thrown over his and I snuggled against him as close as I could, my hand resting above his own on his chest.

"I´m sorry that I ruined your stay here. I certainly didn´t plan on getting shot." His soft voice broke the silence and I sighed.

"Stop it! Nothing´s ruined. You´re here, right?"

I gently kissed his lips and laid down on his chest again, listening to his steady heartbeat. We fell asleep like this, holding each other.

When I woke up it was getting dark outside and a quick look at the clock told me that it was time for dinner. I carefully slipped out of his embrace and snickered inwardly when he didn´t even flinch. It must have been the pain killers that knocked him out. I dressed in my black shorts and a white shirt, brushed my teeth and tied my hair into a ponytail. Then I went downstairs and prepared dinner. The sesame chicken was in the oven and the table set, so I went upstairs. Steve was still asleep.

I kneeled down by his side of the bed and placed a soft kiss on his lips. He woke up immediately, his body tense and alarmed but he relaxed when he saw me. His left hand came up and he pulled me closer, deepening the kiss until we both had to pull away for air.

"How are you feeling?" I asked gently and watched him sit up, sliding his legs off the bed.

"Hungry." His grin was genuine but I saw that he carefully supported his other arm.

"How about you put some clothes on and come downstairs? Dinner will be ready in a few minutes." Steve nodded and got up. I admired his delicate backside, the chiseled muscles of his legs and ass. But I forced myself to focus on my task and went downstairs.

When Steve came downstairs I wordlessly handed him two painkillers and a glass of water and he just looked at me. I held his gaze, not backing off. We both knew that he would take them, he was in pain and there was no need to play SuperSEAL, Danny wasn´t around. With a defeated sigh he took the pills and the glass and swallowed them.

"Sit down." I ordered gently and with a sloppy salute he obeyed.

"Just don´t get used to this." he told me.

We ate and laughed, Steve told me about the case and about his team and I enjoyed listening to him. I could tell by the way he spoke about the team, that he was settling in, slowly but surely. Even though he was shot, his voice held much more confidence now than it did 4 nights prior. After dinner I cleaned the kitchen, not allowing Steve to help me. We went outside for a while, lying in his hammock, gently swaying and holding each other. I was glad that he had taken the pills, otherwise his head would be killing him by now. And I that would have been a mood killer.

"This is exactly what I need to recover." he said and pressed his lips to the top of my head. I smiled against his chest, placing a kiss there.

"You just want me to play your nurse." I teased.

"Oh hell, yeah." I felt his fingertips gently caressing my side, ever so softly. His scent surrounded me and his lips were still pressed against the top of my head. Our legs were entwined and I smiled. Sure, I hadn´t planed on playing nurse for my shot boyfriend but... Woah, wait a second? Boyfriend? When did I start to consider him my boyfriend? We haven´t talked about anything related to our relationship and we never put a label on it. Yes, we saw each other as often as possible, we had a lot of fun in and out of bed, but boyfriend? That was certainly new.

Steve sensed me tensing up, I couldn´t control my emotions fast enough.

"You okay?" he whispered and I sighed.

"Yeah."

"Sure?"

"Don´t worry, I´m fine, Steve. I´m not the one being shot." I forced my thoughts back into the that box, locked it and threw the key away. This wasn´t the right moment to think about us or whatever there was between us. Why destroy the beautiful moment?

We stayed like this for another hour until I told him it was time to get some rest. Again he wouldn´t lay down and rest until I agreed to join him. And it felt strangely comfortable to settle into this little routine. It felt good to have his arms around me and hear his breathing when I fell asleep. I know I could get used to it.

I woke up about an hour later, silently listening to Steve´s breathing. I felt his chest heaving slowly and regularly under my head. The room was dark, only lit by the moonlight and a slight breeze was moving the curtains. It was idyllic, calm, but somehow I wasn´t able to enjoy it. My thoughts woke me up and now they wouldn´t let me go back to sleep.

Silently to not wake him up, I slid out of his embrace and out of the bedroom. I froze when he mumbled in his sleep, turned to his good side but didn´t wake up. I sighed inaudibly and moved downstairs. I slipped Steve´s shirt over me head and went outside. Taking a deep breath I enjoyed the cool night air. It´s been hot during the last few days, but at night the cool breeze from the ocean seemed to clean the air and refresh it again.

I sat down on the stairs of the porch and watched the ocean for a while. Going back to sleep would be impossible, not until I would have made some sense in my head. I remembered my earlier thoughts, of Steve being my boyfriend. And I wondered if that was what I actually saw in him. I knew that I usually refused to think about us in any kind of stereotype.

When we first met, there was a huge attraction right away and neither he nor I ever denied it. We were drawn to each other and – both being single – we allowed it to process. We´ve spend a night together and I remember that it had been hard to leave the next morning, but I thought it would be the best to keep it a one-timer. And then he called. And we met again. And since then it just grew. It happened, but neither one of us avoided it, we just allowed it to happen.

I remembered the night about 2 months ago. I guess that was the moment things changed. Were we allowed feelings to surface. It felt so right and so good and I didn´t regret a single moment. But I couldn´t help but ask myself where all this should take us. I was in the Navy, trying hard to work on my career which meant being gone for most part of the year with only short leaves. And he was head of Hawaii 5-0.

Since we first met it seems that fate wasn´t on our side and the obstacles we had to overcome were getting higher and higher. Maybe we weren´t meant to be together. Maybe those short moments were all that were was for us. My head told me that I should guard my heart and enjoy this while it lasted but not hope for more. But why did it feel so right to be with him then? Why did I find myself waiting for him to call? Why couldn´t I wait to leave the ship every time we came back to Pearl?

I felt a soft breeze tousle my hair. It reminded me where I was. I felt tired, my body definitely needed to catch some sleep because the past nights I was only able to sleep for a few hours. But even though I knew I should go back to bed, I couldn´t get myself to actually do it. I felt torn. And angry. I was angry that fate send this gorgeous man my way, let me experience whatever it was between us, and then turn his back on me, saying "Nanananana, this is not meant for you!"

God, I didn´t even know if I was ready for this to become more. If I wanted us to be a couple officially. This would add so many complications to everything and I wasn´t sure if I was ready for that yet. If I would ever be. The Navy was a constant part of my life, a few months ago I would have said, the Navy WAS my life. And it was still a very important part of it, but this guy had found his way into my heart and made himself a home there.

But could this really work? Our lives were so different and so far apart from each other. What if we tried to make it work and suddenly would have to realize that it wasn´t working? That would leave us both heartbroken and I wasn´t sure I would be able to handle that.

"Hey Cat, what are you doing here?" Steve´s soft voice startled me and I jumped up, turning to him.

"Hey..."

"Shshs... it´s me. Sorry, I didn´t mean to scare you." His good arm wrapped around my waist and he pulled me closer. I wasn´t able to say a word, my head was completely empty. Steve sneaking up on me and scaring me, felt as if I was forcefully pulled out of my thoughts and I just couldn´t get back to common ground.

I melted into his embrace, desperately needing his strength. I felt so out of place, wanting to run as fast and as far as I could and at the same time wanting to stay in his arms forever.

"Cat..." he started but I tiptoed and silenced him successfully by kissing him softly. I couldn´t talk to him. Not now.

"Let´s go back to bed, sailor." I tried lighten up my mood and sound as normal as possible but I could tell that Steve wasn´t buying it. Still he acknowledged my wish to not talk about it. At least for now.