You guise are like the coolest readers ever. I love you all.

This chapter was not supposed to be this way, I had no plans on including anyone else or write it a different way, but when the idea came to my mind I couldn't stop it and I just went with it.

Kinda hard to write though, I did cry a little. I hope you like it

Fran

She thought going out for launch with Dylan would be a good idea, just because he felt nauseated inside the HQ, and because she kept replaying the same conversation over and over again.

She should have sensed something was going to happen when he took her to some restaurant instead of their usual spot at Kamakona's.

"How was work?" he asked politely. He was always so worried about her, always wondered about what she did at five 0. She thought his natural journalistic instinct where always on.

"Good, it was good," she said, looking at everything but him.

She knew he had noticed something when his hand covered hers. He gave it a light squeeze and let go. She was about to make a lame excuse about being too tired or too busy so they could go home, when he grabbed her hand once again and smiled brightly at her.

"Kono, there's a reason why I took you here and not Kamakona's today."

"There is?"

"Yes." He shifted on his seat nervously, glanced at her one more time before taking a deep breath "There's something I wanted to ask you and… God, this is so hard."

"Dylan, what's going on?"

He put his hand on his pocket, taking a small dark blue velvet box. Her heart stopped, she froze in her chair and her palms began to sweat more than usual, anticipating what was yet to come.

"What.."

"Kono Kalakaua, would you marry me?" he spoke quickly, waiting for her answer anxiously.

Her brain was telling her no; to run away and forget about this whole thing. Tell him you love someone else, someone who a few minutes ago told you he loved you too. But then her heart was being soft and reminded her everything he had done for her, leaving his whole life to move in, changing his entire life just to be with her. She couldn't just say no and walk away, he didn't deserve to be hurt because she couldn't just make up her damn mind.

Just when did this get so complicated?

"Yes…" she whispered, smiling sweetly at him. "Yes, I would love to marry you."

She looked at her bright diamond ring for what seemed to be the tenth time. She was really engaged. She was getting married.

She was having a hard time processing everything, trying to figure out the proper way to tell her friends about this. She was happy, yes. But she always thought marrying the guy she loved would make her feel static, bouncy and smiley, not confused and insecure.

There was something different in the environment when she walked inside the HQ. She thought for a moment about waiting a while before dropping the bomb to the team, probably a couple of days until she didn't feel so uncomfortable talking about it (weird, but she couldn't help it).

When she noticed something different was in Danny. He looked somber; he sat at his desk with his head between his hands, quietly. She was scared, she felt something bad happening and she prayed not to Steve.

"Danny?"

He raised his head towards her, getting up from his chair slowly. He held her hand and gave it a light squeeze, as if he were apologizing already for whatever bad news she had.

"Something happened…" he whispered and Kono feared the worse.

"What…"

"Mamo is dead."

She felt somehow relieved but sad at the same time. She thought for a moment because of the way he looked at her that something had happened to Chin or Steve, but now he understood why he looked so gloomy. Though they did not know Mamo that much, he knew he had been a dear friend not only to Steve but her as well. He was actually friend to everyone in the Island, and him passing was definitely shocking.

"What? How?"

"Heart attack. He died a few hours ago."

She looked around her, she only saw Danny when she walked in and she wondered where Steve was. He would surely be sad about him passing.

"Where's Steve?"

The glass door opened and Steve walked in. His eyes were puffy red, clear sign of crying. He looked defeated, broken. She couldn't blame him, Mamo had been a very important person to him and to his father, and he always considered him part of his own family.

She felt like there was something she was supposed to be doing, something to calm his pain but her brain was having a hard time processing everything as it was, she had no idea how to make it better.

Then he made his way towards her, looking straight into her brown eyes. And somehow her brain and heart was able to function when he was facing her, seeing how vulnerable he was, she wrapped her arms around his neck and he hugged her tight, as if his life depended on it, his head resting on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry about Mamo," she whispered, "is there anything I can do?"

"No," he moved away a little, she couldn't really say it but she missed the warmth of his body already. "I just talked to the family, there's gonna be a ceremony tomorrow if you want to come."

"I'll be there."

Being on the sand, watching all the people driving off to the sea with their boards, some of them on boats, saying goodbye to their dear friends, made her forget about the news she was about to share with Steve. She figured, as twisted it might sound, that the universe was sending her signals, and this was some way of telling her she wasn't supposed to say anything at all. But she wanted to, she had to. Keeping her engagement a secret was not going to work or make everything better.

"Where's Dylan?" Steve asked beside her, looking straight at the screaming people and the waves crashing.

"He's working. He wanted to come but…"

"Yeah…"

He shifted on his spot, playing with the sand between his hands. They suddenly become quiet, neither of them knowing what to say or talk about, he was obviously uncomfortable being around her after what happened and she wasn't feeling any better either.

"Kono, about what happened yesterday…" he spoke, shaking his head softly with each word. "I shouldn't have said anything."

"Steve…"

"Sorry, I know. Wrong time and wrong place," he apologized. "I just wanted to make it clear. I don't wish for you to be uncomfortable around me; we work together and we're friends, the last thing I want is for our relationship to be broken."

"Dylan proposed to me last night," she spoke quickly, silencing him with her words, "and I said yes."

She watched him, watched his reaction. He looked around him, avoiding her eyes; he didn't want her to read him, to see the misery written in his eyes.

"I'm gonna talk to the family…" he whispered, standing up slowly.

"Steve…"

"I'll see you in the office."

He walked away from her, taking quick steps to wherever he was going. He probably wanted to stay away from her, but she couldn't blame him. She never pictured her engagement like this, she always figured sharing this moments with her friends would be fantastic, she had never imagined crying softly on the sand, alone.

TBC

I felt kinda bad after killing Mamo, I liked him, he was like a father figure to Steve *le cryes* I'm so evil y'all.