Steve sat in the airplane and took out his phone.
"What are you doing?" Joe asked.
"I want to call someone before I turn off my phone."
"Steve, you already left a message for Danny."
"Joe, let me call whoever I want, okay?"
"Still fixated on this Charlie?"
"Joe," Steve growled, not liking the tone used.
There was a moment of silence during which the two former military men stared at each other, a silence that lasted until the older man stood up and went to the cockpit. Steve waited until the door was closed before dialing Charlie's number, hoping he would pick up.
He was relieved to hear his man's sleepy voice after two rings.
"Hello?"
"Hey, did I wake you up?"
"It's two in the morning, Steve."
"I'm sure you're happy to hear from me no matter the hour."
"You're back in Hawaii?"
"Yes, but I'm leaving again."
Steve sensed the sigh from his lover and knew he wasn't thrilled with the news, but he wouldn't try to stop him.
"You didn't find Shelburne?"
"I found Wo Fat, brought him back to Hawaii to put him in prison."
"And now you're leaving?"
"Joe's taking me to Shelburne."
"Do you trust him?"
"Yes."
Charlie didn't say anything for a few seconds, and the Hawaiian gave him the time to digest the information. He knew Charlie was even more wary of Joe than he was because he could sense that the older man was trying to distance Steve from him. McGarrett sensed it too, but he couldn't fathom why he would do that and refused to believe it.
"Okay, take care of yourself."
"Always. I'll call you when I get back, and please..."
"Don't worry," finished Charlie. "It's not because you remind me every time that I'm going to stop worrying about you."
"The feeling is mutual."
"I love you, Steve."
"Go back to sleep, sleep well."
Steve hung up. He would have liked to say more, but telling Charlie that he had been attacked by the Yakuza while bringing Wo Fat in, that a cop he used to work with had been killed, that Max had been injured, and he had almost died in the explosion at the central precinct, wasn't the best idea just before disappearing again for an indefinite period. He would have liked to tell Charlie he loved him too, but the proximity of Joe had held him back. He still found that his former mentor was too involved in his private life, asking too many questions about the redhead. Moreover, he couldn't shake off the feeling they both had.
"How's Charlie?" Joe asked upon his return.
"That was a private call, Joe."
"Sorry for showing interest in you."
"Joe, forget my private life."
The rest of the flight was tense. Steve was lost in thought, hoping he wasn't walking into the lion's den. He remained on guard until the door of a small Japanese house opened to reveal his mother. He was speechless for several minutes, he entered, sat down, but couldn't take his eyes off the woman he had thought dead for twenty years.
"I suppose you have a lot of questions," she said, taking a seat in front of him.
"And how about you start by explaining Shelburne?"
"Shelburne is the name the agency gave me."
"Sorry, the agency? What agency?"
"Before I met your father, I worked for the Pentagon, in intelligence."
"You're a spy?"
"Yes."
"So, all those years I thought you were a teacher..."
"A cover."
"And Mary and I, were we just a cover too?"
"Shelburne came long before Mary and you."
"And how did you meet Wo Fat's father?"
"It was a mission."
"You were ordered to kill him."
"It's a bit more complicated than that."
"We have time, so Doris, why don't you explain it to me?"
"Okay. My life was the agency, but once I got married, I left the agency to be a mother. Unfortunately, I could change my name, but not my past."
"That's why you faked your own death."
"When I made that choice, I knew my life would never be the same again. I knew I had to give up the only thing that gave meaning to my life, my family."
"So you decided to do this to us and reclaim your former name."
"It's my birth name and the name I had when I met your father. Besides, since when does a son call his mother by her first name?"
"Since you failed at being one twenty years ago."
"I didn't have any other options, Steve. Wo Fat was looking for the person responsible for his father's death, and he was willing to kill anyone in his way."
"So, you faked your own death."
"Yes, I did what was necessary to protect my family."
Steve stood up, anger boiling inside him. He needed to move to let off steam, but it was also evident in his voice when he spoke again.
"My father lost his life, tried to find your killer."
"If I had told him the truth, Wo Fat would have killed him."
"Wo Fat had him killed!" Steve yelled.
"This marriage, he deserved better, but I didn't know what else to do. And I haven't spent a single day without thinking of you."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"It's the truth."
"What am I supposed to do with this truth? Forgive you and start from scratch?"
"No, I just want you to try to understand."
"Pack your things."
"What? What do you mean?"
"We're going back home."
"It's not certain, I can't."
"Wo Fat is being transferred to the mainland, to a high-security prison today. By the time we land in Hawaii, he'll be out of our lives."
However, this return home with his mother didn't go as he had hoped. At first, there was tension between them, and Steve had a hard time processing what he had just learned – that his family had fallen apart for a cover, that everything he had ever thought he knew about his mother was false, that his father had died for nothing. At the same time, he felt like he was living a childhood dream – how many times had he imagined his mother wasn't dead and was coming back into his life?
Yet, the whispers she exchanged with Joe, the inquisitive looks she gave him without actually asking the question on her mind, began to annoy him.
Just before the plane landed, he had a thought about Charlie. The day he had marked as the one he would drop everything and go live with his soulmate had arrived: Wo Fat was in prison, and he had found Shelburne – except Shelburne was his mother, and he wasn't sure he wanted to leave after just finding her. Could he still postpone his plans with Charlie? Would his partner be okay with that? He had never tried to influence Steve's life choices or career choices, and the way he talked about his own family, he would be happy for him.
The plane landed, and the news Danny brought depressed him: Delano had killed Malia, attempted to kill Kono, and Wo Fat had escaped. The situation couldn't be worse. Steve felt like hell was opening up beneath him, and he immediately contacted the one person he thought of to protect his mother from Wo Fat: Catherine. Charlie would be mad at him for this, and Danny gave him a strange look, indicating that he was worried about the consequences too. But at that moment, he didn't see any other solution. The military woman was the only one capable of defending his mother and willing to do him this favor. Sure, he could have asked someone from his team, but he needed them to track down Wo Fat.
He called Catherine, who agreed without asking questions, and for once, without making any advances. Thus, he could focus on the investigation, which progressed faster than he could have hoped. In the same day, they realized that Delano had helped Wo Fat escape, and he was killed in a confrontation with Chin. However, they discovered too late that Wo Fat knew where his mother was. Steve called Catherine immediately as he was on his way to the secure house, but he was too late; the criminal had fled. He was torn between the relief that his mother was still alive and the sadness of having to say goodbye to her again. He tried to convince her to stay, to assure her that he would protect her, but she decided to leave anyway. She told him she loved him, that she had never stopped loving him, and boarded the plane that took off.
When Danny arrived and explained that his mother had lied, that she hadn't exchanged gunfire with Wo Fat, but was the only one who fired and it was into the floor, all his doubts resurfaced.
He returned home, lost in thought, and spent hours deep into the night reflecting on the events. He recalled Chin and Malia's wedding, his friend's happiness since reuniting with the love of his life, the devastation on his face when he saw her on the autopsy table, his cold demeanor when he announced Delano's death. He also thought about his mother's faked death and everything that followed: his father's investigation, his murder, Mary's departure to their aunt's house on the mainland, and how his life had unraveled since. His own life had been reshaped, he had been sent to the army before he even reached adulthood, transformed into a war machine under the allegedly watchful eyes of a man who had always known his mother was alive. The only positive thing that had happened to him was Charlie, and he wondered if he was going to lose him by constantly putting him on the back burner.
His phone rang. It was Charlie.
"Are you okay?"
Steve considered not answering, but memories of the last time he had done that flooded back – it was the morning after the night he had cheated on Charlie with Catherine.
"I'll call you tomorrow."
He wasn't sure if he would want to talk the next day, but he didn't want to lie to Charlie by saying he was fine.
"Okay, call whenever you want."
Steve didn't respond, he immersed himself back into his thoughts and fell asleep on the beach.