Chapter Eleven

Hey everyone, thanks for all the comments and reviews about Steve's 'stupid' and 'idiotic' behaviour. I just call it 'Steve being a man'! But yes I had a feeling things were a bit too smooth sailing for the two of them and I love a bit of angst and conflict. Enjoy!

One month later

Steve woke up at the crack of dawn, he turned and looked at his alarm clock and groaned. It was not even five yet. He might as well get up now and get a work out in before heading off to meet Danny for their trek.

As he ran on the beach, his mind whirled. He had just spoken to Mary last night and she had given him an earful on his breakup with Naomi. According to her he was running scared. Which was ridiculous, considering all that he had seen in his line of work and personal life.

But he couldn't help but think that maybe Mary was right. He had completely freaked out by how fast things were going, as he had pointed out to her.

As he walked into his house to shower, he reminded himself that it wasn't that fast. After all he had been thinking about Naomi from the time he had first met her, almost five years ago now. When they had reconnected it had felt as if he had known her a long time. And he had always felt that bond with her, which he had never felt with anyone, even Catherine.

He forced himself to stop thinking about Naomi and got ready to meet Danny.

Around seven thirty, Steve picked up Danny and drove to the Ko'Olau Mountain Ranges in O'Ahu.

"So where are we off to this early in the morning?" Danny asked as he yawned.

"Its this place my dad used to take me. We should bring Grace there one day, when she's a bit older" Steve liked spending time with the little kid, even though he had never thought he was big on kids. Somehow he got along with Grace.

Danny looked at him skeptically, "I better approve of this place before I take my only child there".

"Oh relax will you, all we're doing is going for a walk and having a look at some of the Petroglyphs".

"The What?" Danny asked.

"The Petroglyphs. They're rock paintings" Steve clarified.

"And you woke me up early for this" Danny groaned. "Just because you're frustrated, you're taking it out on me".

Steve looked at him, "I'm not frustrated".

"Then why the hell do you walk around growling at everyone" Danny pointed out. "Since the day you broke up with Naomi, you've been a pain in the ass".

Steve turned to Danny and grinned, "I thought I was always a pain in the ass".

All Danny did was snort at him.

-X-

Naomi was exhausted after another double shift at the café/ bar. It was midnight and unfortunately Shayla was not driving today, which only meant she had to walk home.

She said goodnight to the rest of the staff, collected her bag and walked out into the night air. It was lovely with the sea breeze flowing around her tired, sweaty body. Luckily tomorrow was a Saturday and she didn't have to work. She could sleep in, go to the gym, do her laundry, study; and most importantly try her best not to think about Steve.

It really amazed her that she had not shed one tear over the man. She occupied every moment of her time with some thing to do so she wouldn't have any free time for her brain to think about him. And at night she was so exhausted that she went to sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

It wasn't healthy, but it was something she had to do. According to Shayla she was going to have a breakdown soon. So when she had it she would deal with it.

For the moment she did not want to dwell on the disaster that was her relationship with Steve. Maybe she wasn't built to have a relationship with anyone. She couldn't have a good one with her father, how could she have a proper relationship with a man.

She sounded like a shrink, but she had been to enough to realize that some of what they talked about was true.

Sometimes she thought about her role in the way Steve had broken things up with her. Had she unwittingly come across as needy and clingy? She had never believed in hiding her feelings, so she had not shied away from telling him how she had felt about him. Apparently that was not the right thing to do.

When she had told Shayla what had happened she had immediately pointed out that it was a mistake to give men an inkling into ones feelings so soon.

She walked into her house and straight away went to the phone and her blinking answering machine; there was one message waiting for her. She activated it and walked into the kitchen. She was in the process of pouring herself a glass of water when Danny's voice filled the room.

"Hey Naomi it's Danny, long time no news from you. Just wanted to let you know that Steve was hurt this morning."

Naomi almost dropped the glass in her hand, her heart stopped as all sorts of awful thoughts raced through her mind.

"Before you start panicking, it isn't anything serious. He just broke his arm and bruised up his face a little. You know how tough he is and I knew he wouldn't call you, but I thought you should know. Hope to see you soon enough. Take care sweetie. Goodnight."

As the message finished Naomi swallowed. Her first instinct was to call Steve. But Danny had also said that he was fine and had only broken his arm and was a bit bruised on his face.

"Oh my God. He broke his arm" she groaned as she sank onto the couch with her head in her hands.

She got up and rummaged in her bag for her phone. She dialed Steve's number and only got voicemail. She didn't leave a message. It was almost 1 AM and he might be sleeping.

She went into her room, showered, changed into her thin nightgown for the summer and went to sleep.

-X-

"Careful there, my man" Danny noticed Steve stumble to his front door. He had never seen his partner stumble before, but he had never even seen Steve drink so much either.

"You okay?" he asked as they walked into the house.

"'Course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" Steve slurred slightly.

"Because you, ninja guy, are drunk".

Steve turned to him and grinned, "Nah, man".

Danny could only laugh at his friend and partner, "Okay buddy. Lets get in".

"You wanna sit on the beach?" Steve asked as he took off his shoes.

"Sure why not".

Steve went to the fridge, took out a couple of beers while Danny raised his eyebrows.

As they sat on the loungers on the sand, Steve popped open a bottle and passed one onto him.

"You sure you should drink with all the medication you're on?" Danny asked.

"What medication?"

"No wonder you're drinking so much", he could only mutter.

As they sat talking on the beach, Steve asked him, "Have you spoken to Naomi lately?"

Danny coughed trying to hide his discomfort, "No I haven't. Why?" he hated lying to Steve but he couldn't help it.

"Nothing. I just wanted to know if she was okay".

"Why don't you call her?"

"I tried in the beginning but she never returned the call. She probably doesn't want anything to do with me" Steve sounded rather lost.

"If you want I can call her" Danny offered, feeling guilty because he already had.

Steve shrugged, "Nah, don't worry about it".

Danny had never seen Steve like this, vulnerable. It didn't help that the man was in physical pain, no matter how much he tried to hide it.

"I think its time to head off to bed. I need to pick up grace tomorrow for school".

Danny didn't like leaving Steve alone like this but there were things that he just could not help with. Or maybe he could.

He had never intervened in anyone's life before. But he liked both Steve and Naomi, and they both needed someone to ram their thick sculls together to make them realize that what they had was something special.

-X-

Saturday morning was busy for Naomi. She did every chore she could think of, then collapsed on the bed. It was only ten in the morning and she was still tired. She had hardly slept at night, thinking about Steve.

So she had called again this morning, but he had not answered.

"Helloooo. Anybody home?"

Naomi groaned as she recognized her roommate Kat's voice. It had been so peaceful while she had been away for more than a month.

The most dreadful thing of all would be, having to explain Steve's absence from her life. For some reason, Kat was always asking about him or talking about him. At first she had been jealous, but then she had noticed how annoyed Steve used to get she started to ignore her.

"In here" Naomi yelled out from her room as she sat up.

Kat walked in, bubbly as ever, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but I didn't see Steve's truck outside".

Naomi smiled at her, "And you won't from now on either" might as well get it over with, "We broke up".

Dramatically Kat dropped her bag on the floor with a thud, "Oh sweetie, you wanna talk about it?" she asked hoping to get some details.

"Actually I would rather not" she got up from the bed, "So how was your trip?"

"It was fine. Did some shopping and met up with some old friends" she didn't elaborate like she usually did. Instead she looked at Naomi closely, "You look like you haven't slept in a looooong time".

"Yes, I've just been busy with school and I'm working double shifts, so I don't get much time to relax" they moved to the kitchen.

"And not to mention your break up with Mr. Handsome" she put on the kettle and pulled two mugs from the cupboard, adding two green tea bags. "So what happened?" she asked inquisitively.

Naomi groaned, "It was complicated from the beginning. Both of us were too busy to spend quality time with each other. We just kinda drifted apart".

Kat looked thoughtful, then smiled, "Okay, well when you're ready to go have some fun and forget about him, let me know" she beamed.

Naomi gave her an answering smile, "I will".

Just then her cell phone rung, so she jumped off the stool and reached for it without looking at the display.

"Hello?" there was no reply, so she asked again, "Hello?"

When there was only silence she disconnected the call, not thinking twice about it.

While she was sitting in the library much later that day, she recalled the same thing happening last week. It may have been telemarketers; sometimes there was a lag time between the connection and the ringing of the phone.

Naomi soon forgot about the weird cell phone calls and concentrated on her work. She had a paper due the next day and she was only half way done with it. It was around 1 AM when she left the 24/ 7 library to go home and get some sleep.

As she walked, she spotted a few people, mostly students were the only ones around her. It was a lovely night and she relaxed as she walked, in no hurry to get to her place.

All of a sudden out of nowhere, she got the oddest chill at the back of her neck. It was as if someone watched her. Feeling nervous she looked around, but there was no one around. She started walking faster and relaxed only when she was on her street close to her building.

Naomi hurriedly climbed the stairs to her apartment, rummaging in her handbag for her keys. Her hands were shaking so much that they fell from her fingers. So she bent to pick them up.

When she stood up again, she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head, making her feel dizzy and queasy.

Then all went black.