A/N: My first words go to the ones that follow this story: sorry for the late update! Life has been crazy lately...

So, thanks again to EVERYONE that read this story, it means a lot. We are coming to a end of this story... Only missing one chapter...

Hope you like this one, I'm already thinking about in a new story, this time a compelte AU!

Feel free to review!

Kisses :D

(continuation of the previous chapter)

He doesn't know if it's a good idea letting her enter in his house, but he steps aside and indicates for her to enter. She passes him and he feels her perfume. Always the same perfume that he would recognize anywhere. He closes the door.

"So, are you ok? How is your shoulder?"

She turns to him.

"It's already healed. Fortunately, I managed to stay by the doctor's rules and healed fast…"

"That's good…"

Catherine feels the need to talk, to ask him some questions… Maybe she wasn't supposed to be here. But he was on her mind for too much time and she couldn't bear it anymore. If he does not want her, why he would show up at the hospital?

"Steve… I… I need to talk to you… I need to know what the hell happen in that hospital…"

Steve looks at her intently. If he could, he only would stay here. Looking at Catherine, hoping she could see everything that was tormenting him just by his look. But her words wake him from his thoughts.

"Steve what the hell do you want?"

"I'm sorry…" He manages to say.

"Sorry? What exactly are you sorry about?"

Steve thinks that maybe this is the time to change the subject. He has too many things to be sorry about. And, in the first place, regarding to her.

"What are you doing here anyway? It has been a long time for us to be still hovering about the past…" He tries to sound dismissive, but he isn't sure that he is doing a good job at that.

"Yeah, Steve. I'm here to talk about things, even after so much time, because I can't get you out of my head! I can't stop thinking about you in the hospital! So I'm here to get an explanation from you. Steve, explain yourself! What the hell do you want from me?"

Steve didn't expect this kind of speech. And he glares at her. She takes a step further to him.

"Tell me, what do you want from me?"

And it's like she had caught his eyes. Like she had done so many times before.

"You won't say anything?" She takes another step and she becomes too near him.

"What do you want from me?"

Catherine knows that she isn't indifferent to Steve. After all he is with no words, so she must have some effect on him.

And she pokes him in his chest, only a millimeter apart.

"So, you will answer or what?"

He feels her finger on his chest and her breath on his skin. And he can't take anymore. He grabs her forearms and kisses her fierce.

Catherine is feeling his mouth against hers again. And she just wants to get lost in that.

McGarrett's Bedroom – 11:00 AM

Everything was a blur. He can't get enough. It's been too much time without her. And definitely he never felt this way about anyone. Hearing her screaming his name it's more than he could take right now. One more thrust and he came hard inside of her following her orgasm. They are embraced to each other while Steve hangs his head on her shoulder and she does the same on him. It takes a while for him to gain awareness of what it is in his surroundings. Feeling her skin under his hands it's too good to be truth. He feels her lips on his neck and her legs around his waist. And slowly he regains his composure. He raises his head and looks at her. The questions and sadness from earlier are no longer in her eyes. He soothes her back and gives her a long, slow kiss.

She met him in every step of the way till they were on his bed. She wanted this. And so did he. The way he is with her now, it's clear that he wants this so much like her. He takes her with him and he is flat on his back and Catherine can't leave his chest, resting there her head, feeling Steve's hand on her hair. And it feels so good that she tightens her embrace.

They are silent for a while, wanting nothing more than to feel the presence of each other. But Catherine is the first one to break the spell.

"Can we stay like this?"

And she feels his low laugh against her skin.

"There's nothing better than this" he says sincerely. And it's true. For him there's nothing better than this. For some reason, that he can't explain, she always gave him this kind of harmony. Steve had had many women in his life but none of them could give him this kind of feeling.

But, there is a much more pressing matter. Catherine is happy for being in his arms again but she has to talk about that.

"You still didn't give me an answer… What do you want from me, Steve?"

Steve closes his eyes and he knows what she is asking. And he has a decision to make right now. He is being a coward… Letting himself making love to her after he had dismissed her in the other night. And he doesn't know what to do. Danny was right… He doesn't let himself be happy, thinking always first in the other people. But, Catherine… She seems to take away his will from him. He sighs without knowing what to say, until Catherine speaks.

"You can't think you aren't good enough... You're everything I could've asked and more. You're too much more than your regrets"

Steve shuts his eyes and can't suppress the tears rolling down his face. How'd she know? Catherine feels a change in his breathing and leans on her elbow, looking at him. She puts her hand on his face trying to dry the tears. Finally he opens his eyes.

"Freddie was my best friend. In that mission, he told me that he would be a father. But the things went wrong in the end and they got us. Everything was so fast and I wasn't able to protect him. They were too many for us. But we trained that, you know? It's not an excuse!"

He sniffs. It's like he is living that moment again and she can see it just by the tremor in his voice. But she doesn't say anything. Just let him talk.

"A fire erupted and I managed to get the guy we were looking for. But Freddie was nowhere to be seen. I called him over and over again and I was able to see him. I ordered him to be with me but he was bleeding. Almost unconscious. And it ripped me apart. His last words were to get my ass moving with the package. A second range of fire tore him apart. He died. He died right before my eyes"

And he can't stop the crying. He looks like a lost child, not a strong brave man like she knew him. Her heart swells with pain, knowing this story and in a second she understands his nightmare. She gives him a kiss in his cheek feeling the liquid of his tears on her lips and she whispers:

"You didn't kill him, Steve. You did everything you could"

"I watched him dying right before my eyes, Cath. And I couldn't do anything to stop that. I left him!"

She can tell how he is stressed about this, because she feels him shaking underneath her. She embraces him, trying to give him some kind of support.

When he feels her arms around his shoulders he starts to relax a little, feeling that he is not alone. He embraces her too, needing her closeness to prove that he is alive.

"You did the right thing. Otherwise, you would both be dead…"

He cries even more listening to her words. He always knew that but he couldn't accept the fact that he was still alive because of the death of his best friend.

After a while, they are still embraced and Steve is calmer. Catherine heard the rest of the story. That mission was the reason for him to get out from the SEALs and to return to Hawaii. She understood just by this story, that this isn't the only one to haunt him. There'll be more but she wouldn't ask about that. Gently she asks.

"Why did you shut me out, Steve?"

He sighs again.

"Because of everything you said a little time ago. I thought you deserve so much better. I'm damaged"

"You are the man you are today because of everything you've been through. I know you think that you aren't good enough and don't deserve to be happy. But… Everyone has that right Steve. You have that right, with or without me.

"I want to be with you"

She smiles at his reassure and straightens herself up looking into his eyes. She gives him a kiss.

"I want that too… Just, don't shut me out. I know it's hard but I'm here. We'll figure this out together. But you have to start thinking about the good you have done too."

He puts his hand on her head and gives her another kiss.

"I love you"

The words come out like a whisper. He doesn't know what lead him to say that. But he had said it. And it's true. He loves her.

Hear those words was the best feeling she could've asked for. And the smile she gave him shows exactly that.

"I love you too"

And they are lost in each other's arms, showing how much they love each other.

McGarrett's Bedroom – 07:00 PM

They are kissing for a very long time… And they start hearing Catherine's stomach rumbling. Between kisses Steve says.

"It seems that someone is hungry"

She nips his jaw.

"Hey, we didn't get out from bed all day…"

"Hum… You're right. I'll go make something to eat"

"Oh…. You're cooking? Sweet!"

And she kisses his nose.

"Oh… You really like my cooking.. "

He kisses her cheek.

"You know I do. You are an excellent cook" she kisses the back of his neck.

He groans.

"If you keep doing that I won't be able to get out from this bed" he tickles her side.

"Alright… Alright. I'll stop!"

Her laughter echoes in the room leaving him stunned looking at her. She is beautiful. Beautiful and smart.

"What?"

He gives her a cheeky smile.

"I can't believe it took us a year to tell that we love each other"

She frowns.

"Want to take it back?"

"What? Not in this life or in another in the future!"

She smiles and gives him a kiss.

"Cath… How did you know what I was thinking… About me not being good enough?"

"I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened in the hospital… Your worry about me. And I knew that if you felt that way it's because I wasn't indifferent to you. It was a time where I thought that maybe you just liked the sex and when I started asking other kind of questions… You just… You didn't answer me… so maybe you didn't care about me. After that night you didn't say anything…"

She never leaves his eyes while talking to him.

"Then, when you left the hospital and later Danny came to visit me, he told me how you freaked out in the crime scene"

"He told you about Freddie? He wa…"

"No, Steve. He didn't tell me nothing. He just told me that when you saw me in the floor unconscious you never left my side, driving everyone crazy…"

"I just… It was like I was living Freddie's death again, but with you"

She gets nears him and kisses him again.

"Don't say that… Never say that again. I'm here. I'm not in danger…"

She looks at him for a minute and continues.

"But it was something that you said in the hospital that captured my attention. When you kissed me and told me that you didn't know what you were doing, I assumed that you were only following what you felt. If what you felt, would give you the need to be with me and kiss me… That was because you felt something about me. Sorry it took me a month to get the courage to be here"

He smiles.

"I don't care. One month, one year… What is important is that you are here now. You didn't let my stupidity and stubbornness to won me"

She smiles.

"You're right, I didn't. I'm your hero after all"

He laughs heartedly.

"I think you are…"

She puts her hands on his neck.

"So will you accept a new challenge?"

"Hum… What are you up to?"

"I challenge you to make a great meal for us. If you complete this dare, I will compensate you very well, I promise"

He laughs at her and gives her a deep and slow kiss.

"You're on!"

He gets up from the bed, searchs for some clothes and heads to the kitchen.

Next Morning

McGarrett's Bedroom – 7:00 AM

He is trying to get out of bed, but Catherine is making that mission very hard to accomplish by kissing his neck and being on top of him.

"Cath… Look we need to move"

"Yeah… I'm thinking about that. We really need to start moving" and she starts rocking against him. He groans at her eagerness.

"God…" He lost all his self control when she slipped her hand to the lower part of his body, making impossible for him to refuse what it's next.

MvGarrett's Bedroom - 08:00 AM

Steve is contently flat on his back with his eyes closed, enjoying this calmness that comes with morning sex. He puts his hand on the other side of his bed and he feels it empty. He opens one eye and sees Catherine, searching for her clothes.

"Hey…"

She looks at him.

"Hey… Keep sleeping. I'm late and I have to go change…"

He smiles.

"I know you are late… That's why I…"

He stops talking and looks at his bedside clock.

"Oh, shit!"

He jumps off his bed and heads to his closet. Catherine is already near the door.

"It seems I'm not the only one who is late…"