DISCLAIMER: I do not own the show "Hawaii Five-O" or any of it's characters.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Finally Maddie and Steve see one another! YAY! Please let me know what you think! I could have had this go so many different ways, so I'm anxious to hear your thoughts! Soooo REVIEW!

As always, thoughts are in italics.

Besides that, enjoy! and please please REVIEW!

Thanks for your support! YOU GUYS ROCK!

xo,

DivaLola

CHAPTER 5

Steve McGarrett hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. He'd tossed and turned, Maddie constantly on his mind as he ran through countless possibilities of what could be going on. She'd said she was protecting him, but what from? What was the threat? Steve was still worrying over it as he grabbed the last thing off the grocery list. He and Danny had spent the last thirty minutes at the store grabbing everything Pete had told him to get. Of course, they got some extra things as they came across them. Steve knew all her favorite foods and drinks, especially snack foods. She'd always been a snacker ever since she was a kid. She'd live on snacks if she could. He remembered how she'd even hide snacks at his house. He'd gotten in trouble several times when after his mom found candy in his room. Biting his bottom lip, he softly chuckled.

"What are you smiling about? I've never spent so long in a grocery store in my life. It's a nightmare in here! People driving their carts in to other people because they're not paying attention! How is this funny?" Danny asked.

"It's not," Steve replied, a bit embarrassed Danny had caught him.

"You really care about this girl," Danny said, instinctively knowing Maddie had something to do with Steve's laughter.

"Yeah," he succinctly replied, before he paused, his mind returning to his worry. "I can't let anything happen to her."

Danny clapped his hand on his partner's upper back, "Don't worry, we won't let anything happen to her. We'll help you figure everything out."

"Thanks, Danno," Steve smirked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Really? Here I am being nice and supportive, and you do that? What is wrong with you?" Danny quipped.

Steve chuckled again as the two finished checking out. After loading up his truck, he headed towards Maddie's. Twenty minutes later he pulled the car up to a huge decorative metal gate and aimed a clicker at it causing it to come to life. He drove up a long driveway as Danny glued his face to the window staring out at the beautiful property. "Holy crap! This is amazing! She must have acres of land here. I mean we can't even see the house in the distance. It's just… wow."

Steve shook his head in amusement at his partner. "Yeah, it's beautiful here. Maddie bought the land about… six years ago… It took about a year for her to design the house, and once they began building it took them nearly three years to finish. So, the house itself is only about two years old. It's everything she ever dreamed. In fact, as kids we used to talk about our dream houses. When she designed it she incorporated parts of hers and mine."

"What part of yours did she include?" Danny wondered.

"One of the things I always wanted was a lot of tall windows off the back of the house. I liked the openness of it. She did that."

As McGarrett finished, the house came into view. "Oh… my… God!"Danny gasped, saying each word slowly for effect. "It's bigger than Stan and Rachael's house. Much bigger!" Steve smiled as they got closer.

The two-story Mediterranean style home was huge. The outside was an off-white, smooth stucco, and she'd incorporated a lot of gorgeous organic, light colored natural stone throughout. The long, massive driveway and steps leading to the front door were examples of where she'd utilized the stone.

Steve parked the car and the two got out. Before grabbing the groceries Steve decided it was best to unlock the door and let his partner have a quick look around. He was of no use to him in his current awestruck state. Danny followed him towards the front double doors noticing how intricate and big they were. The frames were made of a sturdy dark wood and the center of each one was a thick frosted pane of glass. Over them were loops and swirls made of iron. "This door is gorgeous," Danny marveled.

"It's pretty, but not as safe as I would have preferred," Steve replied. They'd fought a bit over the doors. She'd emailed the design to him when he was overseas. She'd been so in love with them and excited to show him. He'd immediately worried about them, telling her someone could easily break the glass, reach in, and unlock the door. She'd gotten upset and frustrated telling him he needed to lighten up when it came to her safety. It was the one topic they were always fighting about. "I was finally able to convince her to triple the thickness of the glass."

"Yeah, I would have worried about the door, too," Danny admitted.

"Thank you!" Steve exclaimed using his key to open the door. As they stepped inside the dark house, he reached along the left wall and hit a few switches causing the foyer to light up. "Holy shit!" Danny exclaimed as he stared at a sweetheart staircase of light-colored, natural, tumbled stone with iron railings. The iron work was similar in design to the outside of the front doors. There was a set of stairs to the left and right that curved up, meeting in the middle where a balcony looked down into the foyer. The white walls only added to the aesthetic.

"Follow me," Steve ordered as he walked down the hallway between the two staircases. Danny stumbled behind him completely in awe as he glanced around. Eventually they ended up in what Danny assumed was the part of the house people probably congregated in the most. The kitchen, living room, and dining room flowed into one another giving it a very open feel, which made it seem even bigger than it was (and it was already huge). Steve went right to the kitchen, opening the fridge and cupboards, which were basically bare. "Good thing Pete told us to go to the store."

The kitchen was gigantic. Maddie had an eight burner stove, a total of four ovens (two on one side of the kitchen, two on the other), two refrigerators and two freezers, at least a couple refrigerator drawers, two massive sinks, two dishwashers, a big island in the middle of the kitchen with plenty of space to prepare food, a microwave, cappuccino maker, and Danny's favorite part, the wrap around countertop that had six of the most comfortable bar stools he'd ever sat on. "This place is awesome," he said as he leaned back into the comfy stool. Before he had a chance to walk into the living room, Steve called to him, "Come on, Danny! There's still a lot to get done. I promise you'll get to see the entire house. I'll let Maddie give you the tour."

"Okay," Danny reluctantly replied, "as long as you promise."

It took forty-five minutes to put everything away. It would've taken only twenty if they'd been more familiar with her kitchen and known exactly where things belonged. Once finished, Steve glanced at his watch surprised it was already 4pm.

After hearing about Maddie from Steve and seeing where she lived, Danny found himself really excited to meet her.

Maddie hadn't slept a wink after receiving the threatening text message on the pre-paid cell, which was how he communicated with her. At first she'd thrown it away, not taking him seriously. But when she'd gone to do her sound check for her show that night there'd been an incident. A couple times during her set she's strapped into a harness and lifted up. When they tested it out in sound check one of the cables snapped. Thankfully it was just one and not both or she could have been seriously hurt or even killed. Plus, she hadn't been very far off the ground when it happened. After investigating and going over every piece of equipment, Pete had chalked it up to a fluke. They all had, her included. They'd had no reason to believe it to be anything other than that, and neither did Maddie until she went back to her dressing room and found another pre-paid cell phone, this time in her purse. When she'd picked it up, a text message from "unknown sender" sat on the screen. "Now you know I'm serious. I love you, but if you don't obey me… well you don't want to find out." After she got off stage that night, boarded her bus, and took a shower, she'd picked up her phone to call Steve and tell him about the whole thing. However, before she could she received another text, "If you contact Steve in any way I'll kill him." The cable incident made her believe he was serious. Not to mention the fact that he was able to get past her security and into her dressing room without anyone noticing, twice. And how did he know she was about to call Steve? How did he even know about Steve? It was the very next day that she'd hired more security.

She'd continued to receive messages from "unknown sender". A lot of the time the messages were so specific that it was as if he was watching her in the moment, but she'd never seen anyone or found any cameras. She'd looked. Maddie knew that whoever this psycho creep was, they meant what they said. Because of this, all day she worried about Steve. She wished more than anything things could go back to how they were. She missed everything about him, but right now, in this moment, she just wanted one of his long protective hugs. As she sat next to Pete in the backseat of the black SUV hired to drive her to and from her obligations that day, she tried to remind herself why she was staying away from him. Finally, she broke the silence. "Petey?"

"Yeah, Shorty?" he smiled, calling her by one of the nicknames he'd given her.

"Have you talked to Steve today?"

"Why?" he was surprised by her question. For months his name had not been brought up, now two days in a row. When she didn't answer, and only continued to stare out one of the heavily tinted windows, he answered, "I actually did. Just a little while ago. While you were reading to the kids at the Children's Hospital."

"I assume you would have told me if he wasn't okay," she stated, her voice sad and quiet.

"Of course!" Pete replied. She said nothing. Five minutes passed before he finally asked, "Why'd you ask about Steve?"

"Just curious."

"Really? That's all you're gonna say?"

Turning towards the man she relied on to keep her safe she looked into his eyes. "Let it go, Pete."

There was something about the way she said it and the tone of her voice. It wasn't that Maddie sounded mean, but more matter of fact. What surprised him was that he could hear the fear she was trying to conceal. Steve was right, she was completely terrified. While his mind ran a million miles a minute, the two sat in comfortable silence the rest of the ride to the arena.

Chin and Danny hadn't wanted Steve to just go home and worry about Maddie, so they invited him out to a local bar. Hesitant at first, Steve agreed. The bar wasn't very busy allowing them to have their choice of tables. They picked one in the corner for privacy.

"So, what's your plan tomorrow, Steve? Are you just going to confront her?" Danny asked.

Before McGarrett could answer Chin began talking. "Actually, she texted me this morning telling me she was going to be in Hawaii. I asked her if she wanted to have lunch tomorrow. I told her to meet me at Five-O headquarters when she was done with press."

"Really?" Steve chewed slightly on his bottom lip.

"Becoming more real to you now? You excited to see her?" Chin asked.

"Yeah… I'm excited, but nervous, too. I don't know how she's going to react. I know it's not going to be great. And, I don't know what she's going to look like."

"What? That makes no sense! She's going to look like the girl you've known your whole life," Danny said, incredulously.

"No, I mean… Pete said she's not sleeping. She's stressed and upset. I just don't know that Maddie. Do you know what I mean? It's so hard for me to see her sick with a cold. This is beyond that. What if I can't fix it?" Steve slid the fingers of his left hand through his hair in a nervous gesture.

"I get it," Chin replied before taking a sip of his beer. "So, I was thinking… about tomorrow. Once Maddie gets to Five-O we can have take-out so she doesn't have to deal with fans coming up to her in a restaurant. She can feel safe in there. And then you can approach her."

"That's good. But I want to wait a bit before I confront her. I'll stay out of the way in my office or something. Somewhere she won't be able to see me, but where I can see her. I just want to watch and listen to her for a few minutes. See if I can't pick up on anything. I know Maddie and when something's really bothering her she tries to keep it from me at first. She's gotten pretty good at it." Steve thought back to when they were young teenagers and she'd kept a horrible secret from him for years. His jaw clenched at the memory. "Anyway, I know she'll put on an act for me. If I can watch her without her knowing, it'll hopefully help me get to the bottom of things. Not to mention she'll hopefully feel a bit relaxed before I see her. That way maybe I'll get a better reaction." He smirked, knowing she was probably going to get mad no matter how at ease she was.

"I agree. I think that's the way to handle it," Chin replied. "I hope you don't mind, but I was talking to Malia last night. I told her what was going on with Maddie. The two of them had become really good friends back when we were engaged. Malia's worried about her. She says if she's not sleeping it's taking a huge toll on her body. She wants to see her to suss it out. So, I asked her to join us for lunch tomorrow. I hope that's alright."

"Yeah, that's fine. Plus, Malia will be a friendly face for Mads. Might help having another friend there." Steve took a swig of his beer. "One thing guys, please don't say anything to her about my dad. I'll tell her about it when I have her alone." He took a deep breath and sighed. "I want to give her as few reasons to run as possible."

"You think she'll run when she sees you?" Danny questioned.

"I'm not going to give her an exit out of that office. But if Maddie doesn't see me yet and finds out I'm there, she'll probably run."

"How do you know?" Danny wondered.

Both Chin and Steve smiled. "I just do, Danno." The look on Danny's face at the use of his nickname caused the other two to crack up.

"Hey McGarrett... what was with you and Lori today," Chin looked towards his friend, a large smirk on his face.

"Seriously!" Danny contributed.

"What do you mean?" Steve answered, playing dumb.

"Oh, come on, you know what we're talking about!" Danny scoffed. "The way she was looking at you and smiling. I mean she always fawns over you a bit, but this was different. You even sometimes smiled back. Normally, you just pretend you don't notice. So come on, Steven, spill!"

"Yeah bra! Fill us in!" Chin added, smirking as he took another sip of beer.

"Really guys, I don't know. She invited me to dinner last night," Steve began.

"Ooooo" they both teased before cracking up.

"No, it wasn't that kind of dinner. It wasn't a date. Just two coworkers sharing a meal. Very casual."

"Babe, if that was the case there wouldn't have been the eye gazing and goofy smiles all day," Danny commented.

"I know she has feelings for me. I've picked up on it the last few weeks and I haven't been sure how I feel about her or how I feel about getting involved with someone I work with. But I had a great time last night, so I asked her if she wanted to do it again sometime. I figured it wouldn't hurt getting to know her more and seeing if there is even anything there."

"Did it just end with dinner? I noticed you look tired today. Did someone have a sleepover?" Danny prodded childishly.

"It ended with dinner, Danno," Steve answered as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "There was just a quick kiss goodbye. No big deal."

"That would explain her behavior around you today. Steven, a kiss is never 'no big deal' to a female. How do you not know that?"

"Bra, get to know her all you want, but be careful. You don't want to upset the balance at work right now. I'd take it slow. You don't want to lead her on especially with Maddie coming," Chin advised.

"What's Maddie got to do with it?" Steve questioned.

Chin paused trying to choose his words carefully. "Steve, I know you care a lot about Maddie. I wonder if your feelings for her are only friendly in nature. Your dad alw…"

Steve interrupted before he could continue. "I know what my dad thought, Chin. He thought we were soul mates, but my dad hadn't really spent time with me in nearly 15 years. He didn't really know me and he certainly didn't know my feelings for my best friend. Shit, she's basically like my sister. There's nothing romantic between Maddie and me. I love her like you love Kono."

"Okay. I'm sorry. I won't bring it up again," Chin apologized. McGarrett was just as stubborn as Maddie. He hoped they didn't let that get in the way of a possible future together.

"Thanks." Steve forced a quick smile assuring him there were no hard feelings. "But," he looked at his watch. "I better go. It's late and I didn't really get any sleep last night. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a long day." Chugging the rest of his beer he pulled out his wallet taking out enough cash for the bill.

"No, Steve. You don't have to pay," Chin said reaching for his wallet.

"Wait? Why would you say that? He never pays! I didn't even think he had a wallet," Danny quipped.

Steve reached his hand out in a gesture to still Chin. "No, this one's on me. Thank you guys for bringing me out tonight. I needed it. Plus, I don't know how to repay you for your help with Maddie. It means a lot. Thank you!" After dropping the money on the table, he got up and left, heading home for some much needed sleep.

The show had gone alright. Maddie had pulled it off. She didn't know how, but she was grateful she had. She was exhausted and desperately needed some sleep. Sitting on her plane headed to Honolulu she tried closing her eyes, but every time she did she saw Steve beaten and bloody dead on the ground, a man standing over him smiling at her. She couldn't see the man's face except for the smile, but she knew it was "unknown sender". Since sleep didn't seem likely, Maddie sat at the table guitar in hand and notebook in front of her. She might as well write new material.

Pete sat in a reclining chair across from her on the other side of the plane, his second in command, Mo, was passed out next to him. The rest of her security team were also asleep in various places on the plane. He couldn't believe she hadn't collapsed from exhaustion yet. He knew the next day would prove to be long and emotional and he wanted to be at his best. Closing his eyes, he hoped and prayed everything would work out.

The plane had touched down in Honolulu early Thursday morning at 7:16. Wearing a pair of stylish white dressy shorts, a teal Ralph Lauren featherweight cashmere tank that made her gorgeous blue eyes pop, a black fitted blazer with the cuffs rolled a bit, and 6 inch black Jimmy Choo open-toed sandals Maddie and her sixteen bodyguards got into the three black SUV's waiting for them at the airport. Maddie, Pete, and Mo sat in the back seat of one, Maddie between the two, while Frank drove and Carl sat in the passenger seat. The four men had known each other for years. The twelve other men were split between the remaining two SUV's. As they began to drive away, one car in front of them, the other behind them, Maddie rolled her eyes feeling ridiculous. She always hated Steve's insistence of having eight bodyguards. She'd felt silly. With sixteen she felt absurd. She wondered what people thought when they saw so many large men surrounding her. She figured they probably thought she was a huge diva, something that couldn't be further from the truth.

Interrupting her thoughts Pete said, "Hey Shorty, you must be beat. We have about 30 minutes before we're there, why don't you lean against me and try to take a cat nap."

"I'm okay. I'm… really not that tired," she lied. What she didn't realize was that she was so exhausted she was speaking extremely slow as if her brain was having a difficult time working and trying to find words. She'd successfully hidden most of the outward signs of exhaustion with makeup, but he could still see it. Pete didn't push her knowing there was no point.

She wondered if they'd noticed how wobbly she'd been on the short walk to the car. Every time she stood up she got a little dizzy. She figured she was just hungry, and excited to be home. Lunch with Chin wasn't that far, so she knew she'd be fine. She was so excited to see him and see where he worked. He deserves it after everything that went down, she thought as they pulled up to the hotel where her press conference was being held.

The place was swarming with so many fans and photographers that Pete, Mo, Frank, and Carl had a difficult time getting her out of the car. People were pushing, trying to get as close to her as possible. Wow, I haven't seen people in Hawaii be this aggressive with her before, Pete thought shocked at what was happening. The rest of the security team was also having a difficult time getting to them, so Pete pulled Maddie tight against his body as the other three did their best to protect them. Luckily the others broke through the crowd and made a tight circle around her. Pete could feel Maddie gripping him tightly as he held her. "It's okay, Mads, no one's getting to you." Now that the men were all in place they pushed through the crowd making their way inside the hotel and to the room that had been set up as a green room for her. Once inside the empty room ten of her security guards left to stand guard in various places throughout the hotel, assignments given to them by Pete. Although her safety was no longer in jeopardy Maddie continued to hold onto Pete. "Shorty, I'm gonna grab you a bottle of water," he said pointing to the opposite side of the room.

Nodding, she let him go and began slowly walking towards a chair to sit in. Feeling dizzy yet again she began to stumble. Luckily Mo grabbed her just in time helping her safely to the chair. Laughing Maddie slowly said, "Thanks, Mo! That's what… um happens when you put a… klutz in 6 inch heels."

"No problem!" Mo replied. "I'm just glad I'm a guy and don't have to wear anything like that."

"Don't lie, Mo! I know… you walk around… in my heels when I'm… not around!" she joked.

Just as he was about to respond, someone came in to let them know it was time for the press conference. Mo helped her stand and walked her to the door where Pete waited. Maddie sauntered towards the table sitting in front of the fifty or so reporters snapping photos of her while Pete stood on one side and Mo on the other. Over her head they shared a look of concern over the fact that she was not only talking so slow, but also over the fact she'd just almost passed out and tried to pretend it hadn't happened. Thank God Steve will have her in just a few hours, Pete thought. He hoped she'd make it to him before she collapsed from exhaustion.

Sitting at the table with the mic in front of her, Maddie cleared her throat and began her announcement that she'd be taking a short break from her tour, and that all concerts she'd be missing were being rescheduled. Afterwards, she answered questions from the press for twenty minutes before heading back to the green room to start her first of three interviews.

Steve had the TV on as he ate breakfast. Turning the early morning news on, live footage of Maddie arriving to the hotel for her press conference was being shown. He froze and his blood began to boil as he saw what a difficult time she was having getting out of the car. "Dammit!" he cursed, hating the fact that he couldn't be there to protect her. Why did they have to be so in her face? He couldn't see her all that well, but he could tell she was scared by the way she was leaning into Pete. She never did that. And she never really got nervous in situations like that. Luckily, her security team did their job and got her safely inside. "Wow, that's a lot of security!" Steve stated as he watched the sixteen man team gather around her and get her away from the fans and photographers. The news cut back to the anchor, so he turned it off, put his plate in the dishwasher, and headed to work.

Around noon, Steve's phone "dinged" alerting him to a new text message. Grabbing his phone he read, "We're done here. On our way. ETA 10 mins."

"She on her way?" Danny asked from his spot on the couch in Steve's office.

"Yeah," he replied. He was more nervous than he'd ever been to see her.

Typing on his phone from the chair in front of Steve's desk, Chin said, "Maddie just texted me to let me know she's on her way. She said she can't wait to see me, where I work, and meet my co-workers."

"Okay guys, why don't you go out there and look like you're actually doing something. Better yet, actually do something," Steve joked, hoping it would help ease his nervousness.

"Hey! We help you and this is the thanks we get?" Danny replied as the two left his office just as Malia greeted Kono.

A few minutes later, Steve received another text message saying they were just pulling up. "Okay," Steve whispered to himself, "here goes nothing." Taking a seat on his couch where he could have a view of Maddie but still remain out of her line of sight, he prepared himself for what was to come.

Because they were on a gated property Maddie was able to get out of the car easily because no one was there to get in her face. "I'm so excited… to see… Chin. I'm really happy that… he's… uh, back with the… police," Maddie slowly said. Noticing that the other two SUV's containing members of her security team had not pulled up with them she looked at Pete. "Where is everyone?"

"Oh, I sent them ahead to unpack the car at the house. Figured we wouldn't need them here since we'll be with cops," he lied. He and Steve had decided to send them home for a mini vacation. Carl and Frank would be flying out shortly leaving only Pete and Mo. Steve had decided he would be with Maddie constantly figuring it would be the only way to find out what was going on. Plus, she'd be in the safety of her house most of the time. Because of this, there was really no need for the rest of the guys to be there.

"That was a good... idea…" she approved.

"What's with the flowers?" Pete asked, referring to the bouquet in her hand.

"A fan… um, gave them to me. I thought I'd… give them to Chin. Liven up his… new workplace," she answered as she and Pete walked towards Five-O.

"Good idea."

As Mo watched them disappear into the building he said, "Come on, guys! Let's go! You don't wanna miss your flight home. Plus, I gotta be back in time to pick them up." Mo, Frank, and Carl quickly climbed into the SUV and drove away.

The team, and Malia, were gathered around the table in the middle of headquarters. Some were sitting, some were standing, but they were all laughing about something. Steve hadn't been paying attention from his spot in his office. He was too nervous. The laughing stopped and it became very quiet pulling him from his thoughts. That's when he heard the clicking of her high heels. Maddie came into view as she neared the middle of headquarters. The sight of her knocked the wind of him and his heart began to pound. He suddenly had butterflies in his stomach. He must have missed her more than he realized as he didnt remembered feeling quite like that before. Watching, Steve noticed her start to sway slightly before Pete grabbed her. "That's… what happens when you um… wear 6 inch heels," she smiled. He crinkled his forehead at the sound of her voice. It was a bit gravelly as if she was beginning to lose it, and she was speaking incredibly slow. She sounded exhausted. Oh man, it is bad. Whatever's going on is bad, Steve thought. He just wanted to go to her, envelope her in his arms, and tell her everything would be okay.

"Shorty, now that you're done for the day and will be sitting for a while, let's take the shoes off. You're gonna hurt yourself," Pete said, playing along with her lie. He knew her stumbling around had nothing to do with the shoes, but with the fact she was exhausted and her body was trying to shut down on her. He figured getting out of the heels would give her a better chance of not hurting herself. "Here, sit down," he led her to an empty chair at the table.

Removing her shoes and setting them on the floor she said, "It's so good to… see you Chin! Malia! Kono!"

"Maddie! It's so good to see you! You look great!" Chin exclaimed, walking to her to give her a hug. "No, don't get up. You're good," he told her when she attempted to stand. Malia and Kono followed his actions.

Once the hugs were over, Chin introduced her to the other two faces at the table. "Maddie, these are two members of the Five-O task force. Meet Officer Lori Weston."

The two females shook hands. "So nice to… meet you, Lori!"

Maddie… I wonder if this is who Steve was talking to the other day? Lori thought. "Nice to meet you. I'm a big fan." It wasn't a lie, she was.

"Thank you," Maddie smiled humbly.

"And Detective Danny Williams," Chin continued.

With a stupid, starstruck smile Danny shook her hand, "It is… so nice to… to… meet you. I'm a big fan! My daughter… she just… just idolizes you!"

"Thank you so much! You have… a daughter? I would love… to meet her."

"She would love that. She'd probably die!" Everyone laughed at Danny and the fact he was acting like a teenage boy.

"Maddie, I picked lunch up on my way over here. Chin told me you guys were having lunch and I was so excited you were in town that I sort of invited myself. I hope that's alright? I just couldn't wait to see you!" Malia told her as Chin started passing out everyone's food. She subtly took in her friend. She could see she was pretty close to collapsing from exhaustion. She guessed she was probably pretty dehydrated as well.

"Of course! I'm glad… you did. I'm so happy… to see you." Maddie smiled. Looking around from her spot at the table she said, "Wow, Chin, this… place is nice! Really... state of the art."

Steve watched from his spot in his office. She looked a little thinner than the last time he'd seen her, but he wasn't too surprised given how stressed she was. As they ate lunch his team told her stories and laughed while Maddie listened. He noticed she was much more reserved than she normally was.

When she was finished she pushed her food container to the side and remembered the forgotten flowers she'd set beside her. "I brought these for you. Thought you could put them somewhere in here. Is there somewhere I could get something to put them in, and a glass of water for myself?"

Kono jumped up. "Yeah, no problem, sistah! I'll be right back."

"Awesome… thank you!"

While Maddie waited for Kono to return she asked Chin and Malia, "So, are you… guys back… together?"

Staring at one another they smiled, "Yeah, we are."

"That's great! I'm… so glad!" Maddie grinned. They'd made such a great couple. She'd been heartbroken for them when they'd ended it.

Just as Kono was returning with the water and vase for the flowers, Lori asked, "So, how do you know Chin?"

"Thanks so much… Kono," Maddie said standing and taking the water glass and vase. "These are cool!" she added. The vase and glass matched. Both were made of extremely thin glass with "Five-O" etched on them. "Anyway, I'm sorry," She turned to Lori. "We actually… um, went to the same… high school."

"Oh, so then do you know Steve?" she asked.

In his office Steve straightened. Crap! he thought.

The mention of Steve's name caused her heart to ache. "Steve McGarrett?" When Lori nodded in affirmation, she added, "Yeah, I know Steve."

Lori had really been hoping this wasn't the same Maddie Steve had been on the phone with, but it looked like it was. She wondered what she was to him, if they'd ever dated. Given his reaction to the call, he obviously cared about her.

"How do you know Steve?" Maddie asked after taking a sip of water.

"This is gonna go bad," Steve said to himself as he stood and headed to his office door.

Maddie had a bad feeling when she noticed Pete, Danny, Malia, Chin, and Kono grow quiet and begin to eye one another. It was beginning to feel quite hot in the room.

"He's actually our boss," Lori answered.

Suddenly it became hard to breathe. She tried to force herself to start taking deep breaths as she took a step away from the table. "He's in Hawaii?"

"Maddie…" Chin said. Maddie ignored him as she waited for Lori's response.

Lori found it odd she didn't know he was living in Hawaii. "Yeah, he moved back when his father died." She couldn't believe what she was hearing. His father had died? He was back in Hawaii? Now she knew why he'd been calling. With the vase still in one hand, glass of water in the other, Maddie stepped even further away from the table. She was finding it harder to get air in as she tried to determine if she could run from the room faster than Pete and Chin could catch her.

Shit, Steve thought opening his office door. He could see the panic overtaking her.

Looking towards Pete and Chin Maddie whispered, "You set me up…" The room suddenly felt smaller.

"Maddie."

At the sound of Steve's voice, she turned. There he stood. The walls began closing in around her and everything started moving as she struggled for air. Not realizing that she'd been squeezing the thin glass of water it shattered in her hand, shards of glass cutting into her. Maddie didn't seem to notice as she stared directly into Steve's blue eyes. The danger of Steve standing in front of her hit her like a ton of bricks and she began gasping for air as the large vase fell from her shaking hand shattering into a million pieces around her bare feet.

As she began to sway he started towards her. "Maddie!" he yelled.

"No, you don't understand. I'm protecting…" Before Maddie could finish, her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed on top of the broken glass a split second before Steve or Pete got to her.