Sorry this chapter took so long. I had some revisions to make, and I kept putting it off. Hopefully you're all still reading because the interesting stuff is going to start happening in the next chapter. Well, the action, anyway.

Chapter Fifteen "You Try So Hard..."

Kyra O'Brien smoothed her hair as she got off the plane. The back of her hand brushed against the diamond earrings she always wore, the ones Morgan gave her before they were married. She was almost surprised they had lasted this long with two kids, one of whom liked shiny things.

She smiled thinking of them, their excitement at getting to stay with their grandparents, and their excitement of seeing Aunt Mia soon. Kyra didn't tell Morgan that she had arranged with his parents to bring the kids to Hawaii for a family vacation as soon as this was all over. It was about time, and she wanted to get to know this Steve person. Morgan seemed to trust him, but Kyra would make her own judgments.

Walking through the terminal, Kyra heard the clicking of her own heels, standing out against the chatter of families and the silence of business suits all around her. After she got her bag, she found a taxi and gave the driver the address of the 'Iolani Palace.

"Sightseeing on your own?" he asked, glancing in the rearview mirror as he pulled onto the main road.

Kyra stared out the window, shaking her head. "Business."

"Serious then?"

"You could say that."

"Something to do with that Five-0?"

"Famous, are they?" She smirked.

"Ha. Try legendary. Catch a lot of bad guys from what I hear. You must be somebody if you're working with them."

"I'm nobody. Just an ADA's assistant from Los Angeles."

The drive wasn't very long, and Kyra was secretly glad to get away from the chatty cab driver. She would never admit it to anyone, but she was very nervous about this whole thing. The last time her family had intersected with Ricky Durante, it had not ended well. And while they had plenty of help this time, she wasn't feeling particularly optimistic.

As she reached the third floor of the Palace, Kyra let out a sigh and opened the doors. Inside, there were four men standing around a table, deep in conversation. She recognized the familiar shape of her husband, a little taller than the others. She could see from the way he was standing that he was stressed. She had expected no less. But she could also see that he was in need of a break.

"I'm here," she announced as if everyone should be relieved by this.

Morgan's face lit up. "That was fast." He hugged her and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "Everyone, meet my lovely assistant." He gestured at the others. "This is Detective Ahuna." He indicated the larger of the two Hawaiians. "And Lieutenant Kelly." The other Hawaiian. "And last but not least, Detective Williams." The shorter blonde man.

"I have heard of you," Kyra said. "You're the one who introduced Mia to this new man of hers?"

"Is that a bad thing?" Danny smiled.

"I haven't met him yet; I'll let you know."

Detective Ahuna signaled his departure. "Let me know if you need anything else."

"Yeah, thanks," Chin said, waving. "So let's bring Mrs. O'Brien up to date on everything."

"Kyra," she corrected. "What's the situation?"

Danny shuffled some pages around on the smart table. "So far, we know that Durante is still on the island. HPD has been able to narrow down his location to a general area. It's not enough to go in and bust him yet, since we don't really know where he is, or what he's doing. We need to get some better intel on his dealings. I mean, we could always arrest him for attacking Mia, but I think we all want him to go away for much longer than that."

"Agreed." Kyra nodded. "We never knew he was involved in anything here. This could be the evidence we need to convict him. If we can find it."

"That's the problem we're having," Morgan said. "Finding evidence."

H-5-O

Kono drove Kirk and Zach back to Steve's house after their adventures that afternoon. They looked tired, and the drive from town had been unusually quiet. Kono kept her eyes on the road, waiting for someone to say something. She wasn't going to ask. If her limited experience was any indication, they would share what they were thinking soon enough.

When they pulled into Steve's driveway, the brothers still hadn't said anything. Kono got out of the car and walked with them up to the front door. As they reached it, Kirk turned around and surprised her by giving her a hug.

"Thanks for today," he whispered into her hair. Then he let go and went into the house.

Kono stood on the cement path wondering what she was supposed to do next. She almost forgot Zach was still there until he started speaking.

"He's real worried." Zach stared through the open door after his brother. "It was good for him."

"I hope so."

Zach turned and looked at Kono. "You'll... be careful with him huh?"

"I... what?" Kono had to resist scratching her head.

Zach sighed. "I don't think he can take it again. He probably didn't tell you what she did to him."

Kono shook her head, hardly believing they were even talking about this. "He said she didn't love him anymore."

"That's putting it nicely. He caught her with his best friend." Zach laughed. His eyes looked downright frightening. "And the idiot still wanted to work things out with her. He had every right to kick her to the curb, but he prolonged everything because he still loved her no matter what she did. She was never sorry. She never gave him anything, but he wouldn't let her go... She killed him." Zach was almost spitting.

Kono didn't know what to say. She hadn't asked Zach to be so candid with her. If Kirk had wanted her to know all this, he would have said something. But she needed to say something. She needed to let Zach know that she wouldn't do anything to hurt his brother, if she even got close enough to.

"We have this thing here," she began, "called ohana. It means family. All of us in Five-0 are part of it, Mia too. And now the rest of you. We don't give up on each other. Ever."

Zach nodded. "I hope you're right."

H-5-O

Steve had never wanted his afternoon with Mia to end, but it was now coming to a close. He reluctantly followed her back inside the house. Golden light streamed in through the windows of the upstairs family room, reflecting off Mia's loose hair. Steve almost reached out to run his fingers through it again, but thought better of it. Only a short time ago she acted like she didn't want him to touch her.

Right now, Mia seemed relaxed and comfortable, but Steve wasn't going to push things. He would just have to wait and see what happened next. He noticed the way she still looked a little excited when she heard her brothers' voices downstairs. He thought of how they had been so close for so long, and then she left them all. He suddenly had the terrible thought that she might leave Hawaii if they caught Durante and put him away for good. Steve wasn't sure what he would do if that happened, but he hoped he wouldn't have to find out.

"You coming?" Mia was standing at the top of the stairs, looking down the hallway at Steve. With her hair falling over her shoulders and her casual clothes, she looked so much younger than normal, innocent in a way Steve couldn't quite grasp.

"Uh, yeah." He followed her, trying to put his previous thoughts out of his head as they descended the stairs to find Kirk and Zach inspecting the kitchen.

Steve almost thought of them as teenagers, little brothers of sorts, in spite of the fact that Kirk was his own age, and Zach was at least thirty. Steve guessed that his skewed perception of them was due to the fact that they acted younger than they were. At least they seemed to, but he didn't actually know them very well.

"You have a good day?" Steve closed the cupboard doors Zach had left open.

"Went surfing," Zach said absently as he gazed rather mournfully into the refrigerator.

"I'll order pizza," Steve said.

Kirk leaned against the counter. "Morgan called a minute ago. He's on his way back with Danny."

"Okay, that makes six."

"Seven."

Mia stared at her brother. "Seven? Who..."

Kirk looked like he might have been about to smile. "Kyra just got here an hour ago."

"You're kidding?"

Kirk shook his head. "Apparently, Morgan thought she might be able to help with the case." He looked at Steve. "Trust me, you do not want to be on that woman's bad side."

Steve smirked. "Is that supposed to inspire confidence about the case or scare me?"

Kirk shrugged. "Take your pick."

"She'll love you," Mia said. Then she kissed Steve's cheek and went out into the living room, and Steve thought that his patience may have been worth it, that things might just be okay.

H-5-O

Mia flopped down on the couch with her eyes closed. She heard the voices of the guys in the kitchen still talking. She was glad they were getting along. She was also happy to be alone for a minute before more people got there. She loved her family, and she was beginning to see how Steve was fitting into that, but she still wasn't used to all the attention and closeness.

As she looked around the living room, Mia started to see why she was getting so comfortable. It was easy to tell that Steve spent most of his time alone here, what little time he was home, anyway. She knew he wasn't used to having people around. He was like her in that way.

Mia twirled a piece of hair around her finger as she bit her bottom lip. She was tired and beginning to feel it. She had student meetings in the morning and course evaluations to administer. It was weird that her life was going on as normal. Not exactly normal, with Steve following her everywhere, but more normal than she would have expected after what happened Saturday night.

Images of the attack flashed through her mind before she could stop them. She had told Steve that Saturday night wasn't that bad, but she really hadn't spent that much time thinking about it. She hadn't had time to process how it had affected her to have her worst nightmare repeated.

Maybe being alone wasn't such a good idea after all. The voices from the kitchen still carried throughout the house, but somehow they seemed to fade away as the past settled into her thoughts and took root. Instead of the voices of those she loved, Mia only heard ribs cracking and glass shattering. Her vision blurred. She tasted the phantom flavor of blood on her tongue.

A noise and movement, disrupted Mia's thoughts. People were coming in through the door. Her first, involuntary response was to jump up and run. Until she heard familiar voices.

"There's my favorite sister-in-law." Kyra was quick to cross the room and give Mia a hug.

"I'm your only sister-in-law." Mia forced herself to return the embrace more enthusiastically than she wanted to.

"No, my brother got married, remember?" Kyra looked Mia in the eye. "And I like you better."

Mia smiled. "Good to know."

Kyra placed her hands on her hips. "So, where is this great guy I keep hearing about?"