Chapter 19

Steve sat up and tried to breathe away the pain that was only getting worse. Helen crouched beside him, her face filled with worry. Steve wanted to say something to her, but he couldn't. The pain was getting worse and his right arm was numb. Slowly Steve noticed his eyes closing and there was nothing he could do about it. He could only see Helen blurred in front of him, and as if through absorbent cotton, he heard her trying to talk to him.

"Dad, hey, Dad, please stay awake. Come on, look at me. Please."

Helen began to panic and she touched Steve's right arm, instantly getting blood on her hand. Steve fainted and lay motionless on the floor in front of his daughter. She tried to control her fear and soon pulled out her cell phone. She quickly called an ambulance and then dialed Catherine's number.

"Hey, Helen, what's going on?"

"Catherine, I need you to come home right away...please, I...I don't know exactly what to do."

"Helen, calm down, I'm on my way right now, what happened?"

"It was Alvarez, he was here and he...he shot at Steve."

Catherine went into shock for a moment, but then focused on what was important now. "Okay, I'm on my way to the car and I'll be there in a minute. Where's Alvarez?"

"He's dead, Steve shot him."

A small relief spread through Catherine. If Steve had shot Alvarez, his gunshot wound probably wasn't too bad. "Okay, did you call an ambulance yet?"

"Yes, I did before I called you."

"Good, can you tell me how bad Steve's gunshot wound is and where he was hit?"

"Well, he's unconscious and was shot in the right arm. Catherine, there must be something I can do until the ambulance gets here, right? I can't just stand here and watch him bleed to death."

"He won't bleed to death until the ambulance comes, don't worry. But if you want to help, you can get a big cloth or towel and press as hard as you can on the wound."

"Okay, thanks."

"But the most important thing is for you to stay calm. I'll be there in five minutes."

Catherine had already left while they were talking and was now racing through the streets, lights and siren blaring, all the way home.

Helen had immediately followed Catherine's advice and grabbed a towel as fast as she could. She pressed it to Steve's wound and hoped that the ambulance would come soon. The seconds felt longer and longer and Helen grew more and more she heard the sirens of the ambulance and shortly after, she called for the paramedics so they would know where to go. As soon as the paramedics saw Helen and Steve, they ran to them and took care of Steve. Helen had to take a step aside and then just watched.

A moment later, Catherine rushed in and froze for a moment when she saw the picture in the living room. Steve was lying on the floor being attended to by the paramedics, Helen was standing next to him with a frightened look on her face, Alvarez was lying dead a short distance away, and there were bloodstains everywhere. Catherine wanted to stay with Steve and keep an eye on him, but she also had to take care of Helen. So she took Helen outside so she would not have to see the brutal image in the living room anymore.

"How are you doing?"

"I... I don't really know. I'm just worried about Steve right now... It's just..."

She didn't get any further when one of the paramedics came over and interrupted her. "We're taking him to the hospital now, but for now I can tell you that his life is not in danger."

"Okay, thank you very much."

The paramedic got into the ambulance, which left shortly thereafter. Catherine got into her car with Helen and they followed the ambulance. On the drive, everyone's thoughts were in the back of their minds and it was quiet except for a moment when Catherine notified Duke and the CSU and ordered them to her house.

When they arrived at the hospital, they had to stay in the waiting room, whereupon Catherine tried to continue to take care of Helen.

"What were you trying to say earlier when the paramedic cut you off?"

"I was just thinking how crazy this all is. Up until three weeks ago, I had a perfectly normal and nice life in Coronado, and then suddenly my mother died, I met my father, and well, it all happened so fast. I also have to admit that I didn't like Steve at first. He seemed kind of arrogant and I wanted to punch him in the face."

Catherine had to smile at that, because it seemed that Steve gave everyone that impression.

"But after a while I didn't think he was so bad, and now I actually like him. At the same time, I guess I'm the opposite of a good luck charm for him, because since I came into his life, he gets hurt. That makes me feel guilty, and well, all of that together is just so much at once."

"I understand you. Very well, in fact. But please don't blame yourself, okay? It was a good thing that you came into Steve's life, otherwise your mother's death would have remained an accident forever, and besides, you're very lucky to have found your father. You can't make up for the lost years, but you can make the most of your time together from now on. Besides, children need their fathers."

Helen noticed that Catherine's voice had changed as she spoke the last sentence. So there was something behind it.

"So how is your relationship to your father?"

"Well, my father was in the Navy at the time, so he was away from home sometimes for months at a time. I always missed him a lot and would have liked to spend more time with him. So my advice to you is to make the most of your time with Steve."

"I'll try, at least if my godmother doesn't take me back to Coronado."

"Don't worry about that. We'll convince her that you're safe here and we'll do everything we can to keep it that way."

"Thank you...Catherine, can I ask you one more question?"

"Of course."

"How did you meet Steve?"

"It was a few years ago and I can tell you that I didn't like him at first either. I met him on the USS Enterprise, because we were both stationed there. There was a big training scheduled, it was first about mission planning and there were smaller groups and I was just in a group with Steve..."

(Flashback)

Catherine was not in a good mood. She was tired and really just wanted to sleep. But she had to get up at six in the morning because there was a mission planning and execution training scheduled for today and she had to be up early to help with the organization. At least it was better than having to participate, she thought. She actually liked such exercises, but when they were this big, there were usually people from the CIA or even the FBI, and some of them just didn't appreciate women in the Navy, and Catherine hated the stupid comments she got every time. So it wasn't too bad to just help with the organization this time and have almost nothing to do with the participants.

However, as Catherine entered the room where the others who were helping with the organization were already seated, the captain approached her and pulled her aside.

"Lieutenant Rollins, there's been a slight change in plans. You will be participating in today's exercise after all. Someone called in sick this morning, so you will be taking her place."

"But sir, I..."

"You can fret about it all you want, but it won't change anything. It's already been decided, you'll be there."

Catherine was far from enthusiastic, but she had no choice but to obey this order.

So, two hours later, she found herself with her group. There were three men she had to work with today, which made her mood even worse. They were all wearing name tags for this exercise, so they could communicate well.

However, when Catherine read the name McGarrett, she lost her last motivation for today. She had heard a lot about him. He was a Navy SEAL, arguably one of the best ever. He was also said to be a born leader and liked to be in control. The problem now was that Catherine didn't like people like that at all. She hated it when someone tried to tell her what to do the whole time. As soon as Catherine had entered the room, McGarrett had given her a strange look.

"Hello, I'm Lieutenant Rollins."

The other two men shook her hand briefly, but McGarrett did not.

"You're a lieutenant? With all due respect, but aren't you a little short for the Navy?"

"With all due respect, Commander, I hope the air up there isn't so thin that it limits your ability to think. Because I think you're being a little arrogant."

"You don't even know me."

"I know enough."

"What does that mean?"

"You're an arrogant control freak. It's your way or no way. I hate people like that."

One of the other men intervened. "Stop it! We have a job to do here."

"She started."

"Can you be any more childish?"

"Right now you're both acting like children! Either try to settle your argument or continue it at recess, but now focus on the task."

In fact, the group work went well, and when it was time for lunch, the two men left the room and Catherine was about to leave as well when Steve stopped her.

"Hey, wait. There's something we should clear up. I get it, you don't like me, right?"

"You're right and I don't think anything will change that."

"Then it's a good thing we'll never see each other again after today."

"I couldn't agree more. So we should just try not to see each other too much today and just do our jobs."

Catherine just walked past him. Steve stopped for a moment and stared after her. He really hated that woman, the way she was going about things just annoyed him immensely.

Around mid-afternoon, the second part of the exercise began, the execution of the planned mission.

At one point during this exercise, Steve saved Catherine by pushing her aside so she wouldn't be hit by a bullet. In the process, they ended up on the ground with Steve half on top of her, which was a very awkward moment for both of them, and they never wanted to talk about it again. In the end, however, the exercise went well and they achieved their goal.

Before all the exercise participants, including Steve, had to leave the Enterprise, Steve pulled Catherine aside for a moment to talk to her again.

"Hey, I wanted to apologize for my behavior today. After this exercise, I know why you're in the Navy. I'm sorry for insulting you like that this morning."

"I'm sorry too, we were acting really childish."

"Well, I'm glad it's cleared up now. Well then, it's been a pleasure working with you."

"You weren't that bad too."

The two shook hands and Steve turned away from her and left. Catherine didn't know how this could have happened, but somehow she had a strange feeling in her stomach now, a feeling that could only mean one thing. She had actually just fallen in love with this McGarrett guy. ...

(flashback ends)

"So we met and a few months later we had our first date and we became a couple. So I always say that Steve never makes a good first impression."

"I've come to believe that too, because Steve told me about the time he met Danny. They really hated each other."

"That's true, but Steve is just special. The first moment you want to kill him, and the next day you don't want to lose him."

So Helen and Catherine sat in the waiting room for a while, talking about all sorts of things, which also helped them get to know each other better. Eventually the doctor came in and told them that Steve was doing well, that he was awake and could leave the next day. He then took them to Steve's room, where the two spent a few more hours.

Meanwhile, the Five-0 team was on its way back to Hawaii, Alvarez's body had been removed from Steve's house, and Gerad Hirsch had agreed to clean the apartment. For free, even. It seemed like everything was in order and there could be a happy ending, but there was still Helen's godmother, who was due to arrive on Oahu the afternoon of the next day…