Thank You so very much for the alerts and extra thanks to those that took the time to review. I don't think I've ever had so many alerts at one time, it was insane! But its reviews that fuel the soul, so feel free to leave one. I don't have time to respond to each review (I figure you'd rather have me use my limited time writing ), but know they are each appreciated greatly.

I must say I was rather pleased with Monday's episode and would like to state for not the last time that there is ZERO chemistry between Lori and Steve. It was painfully apparent in Mondays ep since Steve/Kono had a fair amount of screen time together. Now the producers/writers need to see it, and realize forcing chemistry doesn't work, especially when two of your leads already have it!

Chapter Two

"This gun weighs as much as I do."

Steve eyed her then the large rifle she was carrying …uphill. "Close."

"So then I'm carrying it why?"

"Cause you're the one training. I'm supervising."

"Of course," she grumbled good naturedly and continued to the top of the hill. They were at the Navy yard, using their long range rifle course. After her statement that SEAL training was better than the Academy, Steve had gotten it into his head to give her an abbreviated version of his training in the Navy.

Long range rifle training was the first lesson. And apparently, carrying the rifle yourself was included, even if it did weigh as much as the person doing the carrying.

She watched as he considered the targets across the space before directing her where to set up. Efficiently she set up the weapon as he had already taught her and settled herself on her belly on the grass next to it.

Looking up, Kono would have sworn she caught him eyeing the long legs that were splayed out behind her and on display in shorts. But if he did the look was brief before he barked out an instruction to her to aim for a particular target.

Taking a deep breath and holding it, she looked through the scope, found the target, fired…and missed. Badly.

Popping her head up, she eyed the still intact target like it was the paper's fault she had missed.

"What the hell," she muttered while Steve chuckled a little.

"Different than shooting in the basement of HPD, huh?"

"Little bit, brah. I had it in the scope."

"Outside there are different conditions to be taken into account, wind, distance, height from the target." As he spoke, Steve kneeled on the ground to her left before leaning over her prone body and looking through the scope. As his abdomen brushed her back, Kono felt that blasted hum again. Even worse, as he resumed his kneeling position next to her Steve placed a warm hand on her lower back, and now the hum was more of a buzz and her head felt almost fuzzy, distracted.

"Relax," he practically whispered and his hand slid up her spine to rest between her shoulder blades, her ponytail just brushing his fingers where they laid just shy of her neck in direct contact with her skin. For a moment all she could focus on was him, the way his hand felt, the sound of his voice, low and melodic. The way her heart was starting to race as he moved even closer, leaning over to place his lips near her ear. "Close your eyes."

Slowly she fluttered her eyes closed.

"Good, now focus on the environment."

Shutting him out took effort but she concentrated on the feel of the sun on her skin, the sounds of the ocean not far away. Now she could feel the westerly winds she hadn't noticed before.

"Now, how far away is the target?" his voice was quiet in her ear.

"Seven hundred and fifty yards," she responded just as quietly.

"Good, wind?"

"West, maybe ten miles an hour."

"Visualize the bullets path; picture it hitting the target dead center." She felt him move and his hand left her back. "Now open your eyes, focus on the target and shoot again."

Following his instructions she opened her eyes and looked through the scope again, this time noting that the target was moving just slightly west to east. Taking another breath, she focused and got off her second shot, which was just left of dead center, tearing through the paper.

"Much better," he said in a normal tone of voice and stood up. "You only have seconds to get a shot off, but in that time you need to read the environment and make adjustments accordingly."

Looking up at him and squinting she smiled, "Again?"

"You bet," he smiled back.

Leaning back in her chair, she let out a peal of laughter before covering her mouth quickly with her hand when she realized how loud it had been. Not that it mattered really; they were outside, near the beach so the sound was probably unnoticed by other patrons of the bar.

"Sorry," she laughed and took a long drink of her beer. The joke had been at Danny's expense (as usual) and she had been unable to contain her laughter, and obviously neither could Steve because he was looking at her with a wide grin, the smile reaching his eyes. For a moment they shared the smile across the table and now that hum was starting up again but before it got out of control she looked away and instead caught her cousin's gaze. Who was regarding her with an expression she could only define as knowing, which confused her.

"So…how'd the training go?" Chin asked and looked pointedly at them.

"Training?" Danny popped up. "What training? Did I miss something?"

"It's nothing, brah. Boss man just took me to the Navy yard to work on long range shooting a little."

Suddenly Danny looked alarmed and his head swiveled between them. "What are you doing to her?" He was addressing Steve. "The last thing we need is another you running around this place, okay?"

Steve rolled his eyes. "It's just some training, Danno. Settle down."

Danny snorted. "Some training, huh? Next we know, Kono'll be hanging guys off roofs."

Catching Steve's eye, she winked before turning back to the haole. "That's next week."

Danny just sighed.

An hour later Chin was bidding goodbye, they had tried convincing him to stay, but the older man had begged off, Malia was expecting him. Danny chose then to depart as well, he had Grace the next day and they were getting an early start at the beach.

"Guess that leaves us, Boss."

Standing he moved over to the seat Danny had vacated next to her. "Guess so. You got plans tomorrow?"

"Nope, you?"

"Nope."

They fell into a comfortable silence, alternating between people watching at the bar and staring in the expanse of the ocean which was on glorious display because of a full moon that night.

After another round of beers she spoke up, "Being like you wouldn't be all bad, you know."

"No?" he asked while continuing to stare at the water.

"No, you're pretty kickass."

Now his head turned toward her and smiled. "You're not so bad yourself you know."

"Thanks, Steve." It was said quietly and practically into her beer. The use of his first name did not go unnoticed and the smile on his face got that much bigger.

For a moment they stared at each other, both feeling the pull of attraction (maybe something more) between them.

Before it got to intense she pulled her eyes away from his and returned to looking out into the ocean, trying to find a topic to cool the building heat. The waves gave her an idea.

"Do you surf?" she asked in a devious tone. "I've never seen you surf…"

"No…not me. I've tried; it's just not my forte." He grimaced as some unshared memory.

One eyebrow raised and she looked at him. "I find that hard to believe, you're as much a water baby as I am."

"That may be, but surfboards and I? We do not get along. The last person who tried to teach me said I was, and I quote here, 'too gangly'".

Kono let out another laugh and nearly snorted. Then she looked Steve up and down (probably a little longer than needed) and nodded appreciatively. "Well, maybe you didn't have the right teacher."

He leaned into her a little. "You offerin'?"

Titling her head she answered, "What if I am?"

"Seems only fair," he shrugged and downed the last of his beer, leaning into her more as he placed the bottle on the table, he was so close she had to resist the urge to back up and create some space between them because her body was starting to hum again and his closeness had her head swimming in no time. "Name the date and time, I'm all yours."

Kono stumbled for an answer and hid her hesitation by also downing the last of her beer. "Not tomorrow, but our next day off."

"Deal," he said lowly, moved away from her and stood. "Probably should head home, getting late."

"Yeah," she agreed and followed him to the parking lot, parting as they got to their cars which were parked next to each other.

Again they stared at each other, this time both of them unsure what to say, finally Steve settled for the easy answer.

"Night, Kono."

"Night, Steve."

From her perch in the window across the alleyway, Kono listened as her team moved quickly through the hotel grounds, easily making their way to Susie's room. Taking a deep breath, she leaned over the gun and looked through the scope into the room. She could see Susie, held hostage, looking terrified; every time one of the Shehan brothers touched her Kono twitched herself.

Centering her thoughts, Kono quickly took in the conditions, no breeze, she was shooting through an open window and while it wasn't far away, she knew there was the potential for there to be moving targets.

"Ready?" Steve's quiet voice came through the earpiece and she responded in the positive.

Not even 5 seconds later, there was a knock on the door and the team busted into the room. One of the brothers hauled Susie up and moved toward the window and now she smiled a little. He was making her job that much easier by separating him and the hostage from the rest of the team.

Then she heard the countdown and repositioned her aim as he moved.

"1…2…"

Three never made it from Shehan's mouth as Kono's expert shot took him out.

She kept the gun aimed through the window until she saw Steve lean over and his body language told her the threat was over. Standing, she met his gaze through the shattered glass. On his face was something resembling pride, but all she felt was hollow, disturbed even.

And she couldn't figure out why.

Tapping the eraser side of her pencil against the papers in front of her, Kono stared into the empty space of her office, contemplating the day. Susie was safe, one brother dead, the other in custody, and all in all a good day.

And yet, she struggled.

Looking up, she noted Steve was still in his office as well, the other members of the team had just recently departed, leaving them alone.

Staring at her boss through the glass, Kono nibbled on her lower lip before standing, tossing the pencil on the desk, and heading to his office, knocking gently before opening the glass door.

"You got a minute…Steve?"

He had already figured out the pattern, she used Boss if the conversation was professional, Steve if it was more personal. Intrigued, he indicated the chairs in front of his desk and stood himself, waiting for her to take one before he moved around the desk and sat in the other.

"What's up?"

As his blue eyes stared at her, Kono wondered if this was a good idea, maybe she should just say 'forget it' and walk out the door. But there was something indefinable on his face that kept her from moving and instead she spoke what had been bothering her since taking that shot.

"How do you do it?" she asked.

"Do what?"

"Today I was looking through that scope and I knew I had to do it. I had to pull that trigger to save Susie's life. But I just…can't get it out of my head. And I don't know why, I'm a cop for God's sake, shooting people isn't a surprise. I'm just…unsettled and I don't know why."

While she had been talking her hands had been moving furiously in front of her, but as she stopped talking Steve grabbed her hands and brought them down between them.

"There's a big difference between being in the heat of the action and being a hundred yards away. The distance makes the threat seem less…threatening."

"I guess." She wasn't convinced.

"Kono…it takes a special person to be a sniper." He blew out a breath before continuing. "Look, as a sniper for the military I didn't always know why I was on a mission, or even the name of the person I was after. I did what I was told because I believed the person giving the order had a damn good reason for it. You have an advantage I never did, you know the why. You know the person on the other end of that scope is a threat and I wouldn't want anyone else having my back."

As he was talking, the tips of Steve's fingers had started slowly ghosting over the skin of her wrists; it was relaxing and somewhat distracting. Looking into his eyes, the unsettled feeling lifted slightly but there was still a weight she couldn't shake.

He continued, "You have what it takes, Kono, I know you do."

"I don't know, Boss. I feel…off."

"I'd worry if you didn't. Take some time, try and get your mind off it."

"Ok, I will."

That's when they realized he was still practically holding her hands, his fingers still moving over her skin but at an erratic pace. They stared at each other a long moment before he dropped her hands and sat back a little in the chair, but continued to stare at her with those slate blue eyes. Then he smiled.

"Promise?"

She smiled back. "Promise." Leaning back in her chair, she regarded her boss a moment. "We got a long weekend, right?"

Steve nodded. "Governor's orders."

"You up for some surf lessons?"

Now he leaned in toward her again. "You bet."

She got up from the chair quickly and threw back as she walked through the door, "Six am tomorrow. My place."

tbc...