Chapter Seven "Brothers Part II"

"Beetle?" Steve asked coming down the stairs.

Mia looked up at him, surprised. "You know," she said. "You really shouldn't listen in on other people's conversations."

"Even when they're very interesting?"

"Especially then."

"Well, I'm sorry. It seemed like something I might need to know about."

Mia sighed. "Yeah. Morgan's probably coming here, and Kirk is following him."

"So, who's Beetle?"

"Never mind."

"What?"

"It's just a silly nickname. Kirk called me Bug and I called him Beetle. Happy?"

"Sure. Why would you not want to tell me?"

"Because... I don't know, didn't your family ever have an embarrassing name for you?"

"Hmm... My sister used to call me all sorts of not nice things. You know."

"Yeah. I think I try to forget all that and just remember the silly ones. We used to call Morgan Pookie."

Steve laughed. "Why?"

"It's a misnomer. I guess it was our way of making him endearing. He hated it, especially when he started dating. Mom made us stop calling him that for a while. When I first met his wife, Kyra, I accidentally called him that. She still married him, so it must not have been so bad."

"I never had a name that embarrassing. My mom use to call me knucklehead." Steve suddenly realized that he had said that out loud. It had been years since he had shared something so personal about his mother.

Mia seemed to notice the change in his demeanor. "Why'd she call you that?" she asked softly.

Steve smiled sadly. "Because it was completely accurate," he said. "My mother had the patience of a saint. She'd tell me to do something, and I would seriously forget it two minutes later."

"Sounds like Zach," Mia said, looking a little wistful. "He's sweet, but a little spacey."

"Well, I grew out of it." Steve sounded like he was sorry for that. Like he wished he could be that kid again.

"You really miss your parents." Mia said it as a fact. As if she were telling Steve rather than asking him.

"Yeah," he said, barely whispering. He cleared his throat. "Are you hungry?"

H-5-O

Mia could foresee problems. Two people as closed off as she and Steve were had no business taking a relationship seriously. And Mia never had casual relationships. Danny had told her that Steve's previous girlfriend hadn't been all that serious. Maybe Steve could do that, but Mia couldn't. And the more she thought about it, the more she realized that she wasn't ready to be in a serious relationship.

It was times like these, Mia wished she could ignore logic and reason, that she could be spontaneous. But years of being careful had made her resistant to change. And even with all her barriers, someone had still managed to hurt her. He had wrapped his slimy tentacles so tightly around her heart that it had been disgustingly easy to rip it out and crush it. As tempting as the idea was, Mia was not going to let anyone have that kind of power over her again.

Mia folded her arms over her knees as she sat curled up on the couch once more after dinner. Steve was sitting at the other end of the couch, looking extremely bored as he tried to watch TV.

"Are you okay?" he suddenly asked.

"What?" Mia didn't try to hide the surprise in her voice.

"You've been quiet."

"I'm a quiet person... and you have too."

Mia saw a faint smirk at the corner of Steve's mouth. But then he was serious again. "Are you upset that your bothers are coming?"

"That's not a good word for it. I haven't seen them in two years. Selfishly, I'm happy, but under the circumstances, I'm worried."

"I know how you feel. I'm always afraid my sister will up and decide to come back here and... Well, let's just say my family has a lot of enemies. But I'll make sure nothing happens to them."

Mia nodded, staring off across the room. She recognized that Steve was opening up a little bit, but she wasn't sure she wanted to reciprocate. She could tell there was a lot more to what he said, but that he didn't want to elaborate. She also knew that he would if she gave him something back. But the profound angst in Mia's life was buried so far, it would take a lot more to bring it out. So, she said nothing and saw the disappointment in Steve's eyes.

H-5-O

It was late Monday night, and Mia had gone upstairs to go over her notes for the next day's classes. Steve could see the way she withdrew after their last conversation, but he didn't know how to stop her. He knew she had to be feeling a million different emotions at once, but she didn't let it show. She was surprisingly cold about everything involving their present difficulties. She didn't seem afraid or angry. In fact the most emotion Steve had seen from her had been Saturday night, and that wasn't as much as it could have been.

Steve was caught between the desire to help Mia and the fear of what might lie behind her intricate mask. Steve knew about masks. He had several of them. But ever since he had come home, he had tried to let them down. It was still a process, but he was better off than he had been. But how to help Mia was another story.

Steve wasn't sure if it was the way they hit it off or something else that made him so concerned about her. All he knew was that he had to do something. He couldn't let her hide away behind her books and deceptively genuine smile.

A knock at the door, pulled Steve out of his thoughts. He wasn't sure what to expect as he slowly walked toward the door and disarmed the security system. The man standing outside the house looked strangely familiar.

"Steve McGarrett?" he asked.

Steve nodded with some hesitation.

"Morgan O'Brien." The man offered his hand.

Steve shook it and stood aside to let Morgan in. "Mia's upstairs," he said. "You wanna tell me what you're doing here?"

Morgan almost seemed amused. "I had a friend at LAPD trace her phone for me. I need to make sure she's okay."

"You couldn't have just called her?"

"If you know my sister at all, McGarrett, you know she tries to minimize everything."

"Yeah." Steve nodded. "I'll tell her you're here." He rearmed the alarm and started up the stairs, until he saw Mia standing at the top. She had changed into her sweats and wore her black reading glasses on her nose again. Her eyes were wide, though not in surprise. It was as if she were trying to decide whether to be excited or angry.

Steve decided it would be best to leave them alone, so he went up the rest of the stairs. As he passed Mia, he couldn't resist brushing her arm lightly. It was meant to be reassuring, but even in that split second touch, he could feel her pull away.

H-5-O

Mia still stood at the top of the stairs, staring down at her brother. She had expected him, but she wasn't sure how she felt about it. She hadn't seen any of her family since she moved, but this was not the sort of reunion she had wanted.

Morgan waited, as if he could read the struggle in her eyes. He was always patient.

"You shouldn't have come," Mia finally said.

Morgan shook his head. "You knew I had to," he said.

She nodded and came the rest of the way down the stairs. "It's not that bad." But she didn't really believe the words. She knew Morgan was taking in the bruises still obvious on her face, the healing cuts, and the marks that looked like fingers on her neck. She could see the shadows of tears in his eyes as he thought of what must have happened to cause all that. She knew he couldn't let it go.

"I should have been here," he whispered.

"Don't be ridiculous," Mia said, a little more harshly than she intended. "No one could have foreseen this."

"No, I should have. I should have known from the beginning he was no good. I shouldn't have let that son of a bitch anywhere near you."

"Just stop! Okay?" Mia walked out into the middle of the living room. "You don't get to feel responsible. I am the one who made the choices that got me here. Me, not you. I'm not a little girl, Morgan, and I wasn't then either."

Morgan followed Mia, standing squarely in front of her. "He's gonna pay."

"No." Mia grabbed the collar of his shirt. "You listen to me, Morgan Alexander O'Brien. You are getting right back on that plane and going home. There's nothing you can do here."

Morgan met his sister's eyes and his expression softened. "There is one thing," he said and leaned forward to hug her.

Mia couldn't escape her brother's strong arms, and she didn't want to. She hadn't realized until just then how long it had been since she had wanted someone to touch her like that. Two years she spent alone and now she wasn't anymore. It was then she knew that she couldn't make Morgan leave if she wanted to and she didn't anymore.