Justified – Story 1 in the Unbreakable series

Disclaimer: Characters belong to the writers & producers of Hawaii Five-0. My own characters belong to me :-)

Rating: T (for romance)

Pairing: Steve/OC, Steve/Danny (friendship - no slash)

Author's Note: As requested, one of my favorite characters. I loved Toast! I hope he returns in S03! Updated chapter :-)

"Wow, man, these are really good. Do you have any more?" Toast asked Steve as he ate the last of Julia's muffins.

"Sorry, that's it. Toast, can you focus now?" Steve realized the guy knew his stuff, but he found working with him more than a little frustrating.

Julia reached over and gently touched Steve's arm, nodding her head for him to step back for a minute. She eased her chair next to Toast's, and leaned in toward him a little, her voice soft and silky. "Toast, let's just hop on over to the bank system in Bali and find out the owner of that account, okay?"

"You are really hot, you know? How about we drop these skanks and hang out a little, just you and me?"

"Toast," Julia looked into his eyes, flirting slightly, "Do this for me, and I'll see what I can come up with, 'k?"

Steve crossed his arms and grunted, earning him a look of mockery from Danny. Danny leaned over to Steve and said quietly, "Jealous?" Steve glared at Danny, who laughed aloud. Julia turned to glare at both of them. Trying to get Toast to focus was challenging enough without Steve and Danny making noises and gestures behind their backs.

"Oh, this is too easy. It's barely single-level encryption. Julia, you could totally do this on your own. Heck, even those two could've hacked this one. Here it is – the account belongs to Douglas N. Chase."

"Okay, that's one. So he was paying for the hidden credit accounts with money from his own account, but where is he getting the money?" Julia asked.

Toast typed a few more keystrokes. "I could work a little faster if I could take a gange break, you know. Just a short one?" Julia, Steve, and Danny all answered with a resounding "No!"

"Man, you guys are harsh. It's a good thing you brought the babe and the muffins."

"I tell you what, Toast. You get me the answers we want, and I'll come back, with more muffins and maybe, chocolate chip cookies? I'm a really good baker, you know. I also make killer brownies…" Julia said in a sexy, soothing voice.

Toast was picturing Julia in a frilly apron and not much more when she tapped his arm again to get his attention. He turned back to the computer, and typed a bit more. "Here. Nearly every two weeks, a wire transfer from an account at… Bank of Hawaii." The printer started to hum as Toast printed off the data.

Julia smiled as she recognized the account number. It belonged to Metadyne. She turned back to Toast, softly saying "That's great work. You're really good. Now just two more things. First, let's take a look at Metadyne's financial system. Can you get me logged in as sysadm? I want to run a few queries."

"Don't tell me you know perl. Damn, girl, why are you hanging out with these two?" Toast said, almost leering at Julia. She was used to 'leveraging' her looks to get things accomplished, particularly with techies, but it wasn't something she enjoyed, particularly since she knew it was driving Steve up the wall. Interesting, though, that he was uncomfortable with her so close to Toast. He had to know Toast was very far from her type.

She hadn't told Steve the other reason she didn't sleep well last night. She kept thinking about him, his touch, his kindness, his soft voice. There was a part of her that was terrified of the intensity of the feelings she was developing for Steve. But there was a bigger part of her that couldn't resist his combination of strength and gentleness. This could be dangerous, she thought. Trusting someone, in her position, wasn't easy. Letting herself be open to someone… she didn't know if she could do that again. Yet she knew in a way it was already too late. She just couldn't stay away from Steve and couldn't stop thinking about him. She mentally refocused as Toast managed to log in as root into Metadyne's production server, and she proceeded to take the keyboard from him and begin writing some quick scripts, much to Toast's increasing admiration.

Danny signaled to Steve to step out for a minute, though Steve was reluctant to leave Julia sitting so cozily next to Toast. "What is up with you?" Danny asked, once they were outside.

"Nothing, I'm fine."

"'Fine' is a word that former SEALs should not be allowed to use. You could be sitting there with your arm half cut-off and you'd swear you were 'fine.' You know she's just sweetening him up to get him to help us."

"I'm aware of that."

"So then what's the issue, Steven?" Danny asked, looking Steve right in the eye.

"There's no issue. It just frustrates me to work with this dude, that's all."

"Right. No issue," Danny scoffed. "So when are you going to ask her out?"

"Ask her out? What, like we're in junior high?" Steve rolled his eyes and shrugged.

"You are acting a bit like junior high. Or maybe sixth grade. Just pull her pigtails already and ask her out on a date. Like a normal person. It's not like we don't all see it."

"See what?"

Now it was Danny's turn to roll his eyes. "Seriously? Steve, everyone on the team knows that you've had the hots for teacher ever since we left campus yesterday. And it's pretty apparent the feeling is mutual. I doubt the only reason Julia couldn't sleep last night was because she was thinking about the case," he said, smiling at Steve's discomfort.