Steve was awakened the next morning by a noise coming from downstairs. He jumped out of bed, threw on a t-shirt, and was glad he had worn shorts the previous night after their nighttime activities. He grabbed his gun.
"What are you doing?" Charlie's hoarse voice asked.
"Nothing, go back to sleep," he replied, loading his weapon.
Startled by the noise, Charlie began to sit up.
"Somebody's downstairs," Steve whispered.
"No, the spells..."
A magical alarm sounded in the room, and the sorcerer stopped it with a wave of his hand before getting up, just like Steve did, and grabbing his wand.
"What are you doing?" the military man whispered.
"There's someone downstairs."
"Yes, that's why you should stay here."
"Don't be silly, I'm coming with you."
"No!"
"Then you're coming with me!" Charlie concluded, leaving the room.
Steve caught up with him in the hallway and gestured for him to stay behind. They went down the stairs in silence, Steve checking blind spots before moving forward, Charlie, shirtless, following closely. Noises were coming from the kitchen, and the soldier cautiously opened the door, gun at the ready.
"Don't move!" he shouted, only to discover his mother standing there, holding a frying pan. "Mom?"
"Hey, baby."
"What are you doing?" he asked, incredulous at the sight of her.
"I'm making eggs," she replied as if the situation was perfectly normal.
"No, I mean, what are you doing here?" he snapped.
"Don't play with your gun and come have breakfast." She poured scrambled eggs onto a plate. "Want some orange juice?"
It was then that she noticed Charlie.
"Hello, sir. Who are you?"
"Charlie, ma'am."
"Did I interrupt something?" she asked in a hostile tone.
The wizard looked at Steve, unsure of how to react.
"I told you it was safer upstairs," the military man said, hoping his lover would understand the message.
"Not at all, ma'am. Just my departure. I'll, I'll go get dressed."
"No, of course not. You should stay. I'd love to learn more about the relationship you have with my son."
The jovial tone thinly veiled the threat that the couple sensed. They exchanged a glance, in which the younger one tried to convey to his lover that he really needed to leave.
"No, thank you, but I have a dive scheduled for this morning."
"What a shame," Doris said in a very hypocritical voice. "Next time."
"Of course."
Steve watched his lover leave and sensed his mother's gaze on him.
"He's not just a friend, is he?" she asked, passing by him on her way to the breakfast table.
"Okay, Mom! Mom!"
"Come, sit down."
"Mom, I don't want breakfast."
"Your security system is useless."
"Okay, you know what? Stop. What are you doing here?"
She sat down and started eating while she responded to him.
"I never left the island, but you knew that since Catherine did some research."
"Why did you tell the agents to turn around?"
"I can be very persuasive..."
"I know, why did you do that?"
"I wanted to come home, I'm tired of running."
"Okay, so where have you been for the past few weeks?"
"I just needed some time, I wasn't sure how you'd react."
"You should've talked to me."
"Of course, you would've never agreed."
"No, definitely not."
"You see?"
Steve was beginning to lose his composure; he could feel his mother's lies. That's when he noticed travel bags in the living room.
"What's all this? The bags? Are you planning to stay?"
"Yes, are you okay with that?"
"Mom!"
"What?"
He was close to losing his temper. He took a deep breath, trying to calm down before responding.
"Wo Fat is still at large, okay? I don't think this is the safest place for you to be."
"You worry too much about me, especially that I think it's more because of Charlie that you don't want me to stay."
Steve's brain seemed to freeze at those words, and all the doubts that Joe had awakened in him by constantly asking about Charlie's background came flooding back.
"Charlie? What about Charlie?" he asked defensively.
"Who is he to you?"
"I don't think I owe you any explanations."
"Excuse me? I had everything planned out for you; you're not seriously going to ruin your life with a forest ranger!"
Suddenly, it all clicked for Steve, and he felt his blood drain from his face.
"All of this... Catherine flirting with me all the time, Joe pushing me towards her... was it you? Did you pay Catherine to try to seduce me?"
"I was trying to secure a good life for you!"
"What do you know about my life? Nothing, just what Joe has seen, you know nothing!" the young man shouted.
"I'm your mother! I know what's best for you, and it's not some passing fantasy that's going to change that!"
"Charlie is not a passing fantasy, Mom. We've been together for twelve years! Twelve years, Mom! And he's the only person who's kept me sane. Without him, I'd be dead! Is that the great life you planned for me? To die at twenty-one?"
Steve's phone rang, but he didn't hear it over his anger.
"You should answer that," Doris said calmly.
He took a deep breath before answering, he had a case.
"Mom, Charlie won't leave my life, okay? Either you accept him, or you cut me out. And if you're still in the house tonight, I'm the one leaving."
He didn't give his mother a chance to reply and stormed upstairs, changed quickly, and slammed the door behind him as he left. He wasn't surprised to find Charlie in his car.
"Did you hear?"
"You were yelling."
They shared a kiss, and then Steve drove off.
"You're going somewhere?"
"I think it's more reasonable for me to go back. Your mother doesn't want me in your life, and I think you'll find it easier to sort this situation out without me."
Steve pulled over abruptly and braked, shaking them both.
"She won't push you away, okay?" he said angrily, looking at his lover.
"Steve, if I stay, you won't find a solution. You'll be more focused on me than on the situation."
"If she forces me to choose, it will be you, always you," he murmured as he leaned in to kiss Charlie.
"I heard you shout it out earlier."
They kissed again, then Steve drove on.
"Stay, get a hotel, or go to Danny's, but don't leave. You just arrived, you planned to stay for a few days."
There was a few minutes of silence before Charlie agreed. Steve dropped him off at Danny's, explaining the situation to his colleague on the way to the crime scene.
Steve focused on the case and managed to forget about his mother until he returned to the Five-0 offices and found her waiting there.
"Chin, what's she doing here?" he asked, already annoyed about the upcoming conversation.
"Don't blame Chin," his mother corrected. "I convinced him to let me in."
"She's very persuasive," Chin added, chuckling.
"What do you want?"
"To finish the conversation we were having earlier. I don't really like ultimatums."
"Mom..."
"I'm serious, Steve. That's not how you talk to your mother, nor is it a healthy lifestyle."
He felt his anger surging again at her words, sensing the thinly veiled homophobic undertones.
"Into my office, now," he ordered, heading towards the room.
He waited until the door closed behind her to face her and speak again.
"What are you planning?"
"My plan is to move back home, and you join me there alone tonight to discuss your life."
"To try to persuade me to leave Charlie and be with Catherine?"
"That's what's best for you, Steve."
He had to take several deep breaths to keep himself from hitting his mother.
"Mom, listen carefully: I won't leave Charlie, okay?"
"But he's a man! And a stranger!"
"Do you realize what you're saying? If you're being homophobic and racist, then I want nothing to do with you!"
He was shaking with rage at the words, holding back from hitting her.
"Steve, I've been deciding your entire life since you were born. It won't stop today."
"Apparently, there's a huge part of my life you missed in those twelve years."
"I see that I won't change your mind."
"No."
"I'll see you tonight then? At home?"
"If you're still at home tonight, all you'll see me doing is packing my things."
"We'll see about that."
With those words, she left the room. Steve followed her to the digital table and watched her walk away.
"Did she tell you why she let Wo Fat go?"
"No, and that's the least of my concerns right now."
"Is she homophobic, do you think?"
"I don't know. Manipulative, for sure. She paid Catherine to seduce me and make a life with me."
Chin didn't say anything, and Steve shifted the conversation back to the case, that topic hurt too much. He intended not to think about it until the evening, but that was before he received a message from the last person he wanted to see, Catherine.
"I know you know, and you must be angry with me, but I need to see you now, it's very important."
Steve felt anger rising in him, but he decided to give the young woman a chance. Maybe now that everything was out in the open, she would have a different attitude towards him. He arranged to meet her at Kamekona's truck and drove there, his nerves on edge.
"What do you want?" he asked abruptly as he sat down across from her at one of the wooden tables.
"Listen, Steve, I know you're angry with me, and that's understandable, but your mother is furious. She came to see me, and I think she's probably at Joe's by now. She wants to kill Charlie."