"Well, are you two gonna let us in on what is so funny?" Lou asked in a grouchy mood, not understanding what could possibly be this funny.
Steve's expression mirrored Luna's to the T, as he was in just as much state of shock, not even Danny and Chin's fit of chuckles could shake him into telling them to 'cut it out' as he usually would in any embarrassing or awkward situation.
Luna's jaw was starting to cramp at considering how long it was left agape for too long, not knowing what to say or do at this moment she let the vulgar side of her personality have full control.
At least for just one little word.
"Oh, my fuck." Translation for 'oh just my fucking luck' in Luna's language, which completely shook Steve out of his temporary trance enough to speak again.
"My office now." Steve blurted out a little more forcefully than he meant it to be, expression seeming harsh at first, melted into a blush as he turned to walk into his office.
Luna held her best poker face as she passed her coworkers.
Feeling like she was back in high school, whispers echoing through the room while she walked as one condemned on her way to the principal's office.
As soon as she passed the threshold that was the doorway of Steve's office, he quickly shut the door and lowered the blinds, trying to give them at least a small semblance of privacy.
Luna sat down on the chair facing the desk sitting straight up she crossed her legs and waited patiently for Steve to say something.
"You were right." Steve said as he made his way toward his desk sitting down to face the woman that he was just this morning sharing impulsively passionate kisses with.
"Judging by your shocked facial expression believe me I know. Not the first time I've gotten that look." She said already knowing that he was referring to her job.
He opened a file that was on his desk with a name but no picture, flipping through the pages he started to read the more trivial information aloud.
"Luna Estelle Santiago, 30 years old, youngest female detective in Chicago PD history. You come very highly recommended." She smiled knowing that the recommendations from her previous job ensured her employment here in Hawaii.
"Hard work and killer references paid off I guess." She shrugged, not wanting to sound full of herself.
"They must have, considering you were Governor Denning's last recruit before stepping out of office..." She nodded.
"About that. I heard about his last recruit and how that ended up. I hope you know that I'm not here to babysit or be anyone's fall girl if things don't go to plan."
"To be perfectly honest, this was more of a favor than an official recruitment. You just happened to have a killer resume." His callousness stung Luna.
Knowing full well that his last statement was what landed her here she steeled her ego.
"Gotcha."
"So now that we have an understanding stand up, raise your right hand and recite the oath." She seemed surprised that he was so quick to get her sworn in especially considering their very recent past.
"We got a case to work on, so I'd say the sooner the better. We'll talk about the rest later, when we aren't within earshot of the entire team." She nodded and promptly stood up, raising her right hand she looked at the seal behind Steve's desk.
"I, Luna Estelle Santiago do solemnly declare upon my conscience that I will act at all times to the best of my ability and knowledge in a manner befitting an officer of the law." Steve reached into his desk drawer once again and pulled out a shiny new badge displaying the 5-0 task force seal on it.
"Welcome to the team." She smiled and clipped the badge on her hip next to her gun.
"Thank you." She didn't know what else to say at the moment.
"What are you packing?" He asked pointing to her gun.
"Jericho 941, but I have others for when the situation calls for it….and for fun." Now she was speaking his language.
Knowing that there wasn't much time at the moment to continue getting acquainted with one another like he wanted but he sure was going to make time for it later.
"We can compare collections later but now we've got a case." She turned to follow him out of the office.
"Yes sir." She said plainly through her mask of a straight face, underneath emotions bubbling together into a mish mosh of confusion.
The same running through Steve's mind as they each had been through a curveball as big as the stiff that was left in the office that very morning.
They gathered with the team with simple pleasantries as Steve introduced Luna to their team, following with a run down on their current case.
"Kono and Chin head to the coroner's office to see if there's anything else we missed. Lou, you find out anything you can about Anthony Lee Hein before he died, criminal background everything. Danny you Luna and I are gonna head to his guy's apartment."
"Alright, but if I'm gonna be stuck in the car with you two I'm driving." She held up her keys and shook them a little, everyone turned to raise an eyebrow at the newbie as if she were going mad or something.
"What? I don't like being chauffeured around."
'I didn't hear any complaints last night.' Steve thought to himself as he had a very noticeable smirk on his face.
The rest of the group just chuckled at Steve's reaction and went about their business before getting in trouble, they figured they would hound Steve or Danny later for any additional details.
"Fine by me." Steve said only to earn a wide-eyed expression from Danny.
"What?" Steve asked as they made their way down to the parking lot.
"You – self-appointed captain of every moving vessel is going to let someone else drive?" Steve chuckled.
"Yes, Danny I am capable of letting someone else drive." Luna giggled as the pair continued their little argument behind her, she reached into her pocket to re-apply her lip balm.
Clicking the remote start button twice the engine roared to life sounding louder than the average Jeep would normally sound, and it didn't help that she had left her music blaring when she turned it off, so the Bluetooth stayed connected to her phone and continue to play her driving playlist, next up on the playlist was Con Calma by Daddy Yankee and Katy Perry.
Nerves and that obvious uncomfortable feeling that had filled her body melted away as she confidently strutted to her cop car.
Even in such an awkward situation it was amazing what being near something familiar, and a favorite song did for her confidence.
"What is that?" Danny asked as if he were afraid to get in the SUV.
"The car or the music?"
"Both?"
"Jeep SRT-8 Trail-hawk Hellcat, song is by Daddy Yankee." Danny raised an eyebrow.
"And that's supposed to mean what?" Luna chuckled.
"Super charged Hellcat V8 engine, 707 horsepower, 8 speed automatic; I don't know what to tell you about the song other than who raps it." She pulled out her phone and lowered the music.
"Automatic?" Danny scoffed.
"Most SUVs if not all are. Plus I'm not about to drop 30 grand to switch to a manual trans but you are more than welcome to donate funds for me to get her there." Steve smiled to himself, the way that Luna held her own against Danny's incessant teasing.
He knew that any woman either personally in his life or professionally on this team would be forced to deal with the attitude from his favorite Jersey native.
Seeing as how Danny was busy inspecting Luna's monstrous SUV, he took the chance at shotgun, leaving him to be in the backseat to be chauffeured around.
Luna turned the ignition to keep the car on and shifted gears to back out of her parking spot.
"Is it even legal to have windows tinted this dark?" Danny asked with an accusatory tone to his voice.
"You know oddly enough I've never been pulled over because of that. But at least I don't have to wear sunglasses while driving." She joked as she peeled out of her parking spot a bit too fast for Danny's liking.
"Well than what have you been pulled over for?" Danny asked raising an eyebrow, already knowing what the answer would be.
"Racing down Lakeshore Drive." She said with a smirk on her face as she drove off into the direction of Anthony Lee Hein's home, before anyone could comment on Luna's wild child past Danny got an incoming phone call from his cousin Eric.
"Here pair it up to the Bluetooth speaker if you need to." Luna offered while Danny put Eric on hold so that they could hear what he had to say.
"Hey guys…. just found out that ugly thing you found in Anthony Lee Hein's mouth is made out of walrus ivory."
"The sale of walrus ivory is heavily regulated nowadays so it's either an old pre-ban piece or black market. Right?" Steve mentioned.
"Or a perfectly legal Native Alaskan carving. Still running test to determine the exact age." Eric chimed in.
"Alright – what's that thing supposed to be anyway?" Steve asked.
"Besides ugly? Could be folk art…Still working on that too." Eric snorted.
"What about the bag that we found around the victim's head?" Danny asked shoving himself in the middle of Steve and Luna's seats.
"Looks like dry cleaner plastic. No way to determine the origin though, because it's pretty much used in every dry cleaner in the U.S."
"Anything else?" Steve asked.
"Yeah! What about the new M.E?" He asked sounding very passionate about the girl's beauty, Luna pursed her lips in amusement as she knew where Eric wears going with this.
"I mean is it just me or is she kinda like the female Max Bergman. But way hotter you know what I mean?" Luna stifled a giggle as Danny started to get very annoyed.
"Alright that's enough you' re being inappropriate- we've gotta go."
"Oh – come on. Morgue girls kinda cute right? She's got that sexified island thing and a brain…. Noelani means heavenly mist. Parents got that one right. Plus, a little birdie told me she just got out of a relationship and is very single." Before Eric could go on any further on his infatuation for the new M.E Danny clicked end phone call on his phone and hung his head in disappointment.
Luna tried to bite down a fit of giggles threatening to erupt.
"Guys. I apologize." Danny said shamefully.
"Blood relative right?" Steve asked Danny.
"Yeah- but that specifically isn't any reason to keep him around. If you want, you can send him back to Jersey where he can offend people over there. I'm fine with that." Luna rolled her eyes at the drama queen in the backseat.
"Oh, cmon he's got a crush…. it's kinda cute." Luna said interrupting Danny's thoughts of firing his cousin.
"Yeah- yeah…just wait until he gets his eyes on you then it won't be so cute." Danny warned.
Steve couldn't help but smile in pure amusement at the two arguing as if they'd known each other for years. He was happy that Luna was already acting like she was on the team, no ice breaking needed in getting acclimated…. well, no need to anyway as she seemed perfectly comfortable with the back and forth between her and her coworkers.
"What do I have to worry about when he's got you to keep him in line?" She asked looking at Danny in the mirror with a smirk on her face.
"Ha- ha very funny." Luna made one final turn into an empty driveway, and they arrived at their destination, before making their way into the victim's house Luna made sure to rummage through her glove compartment where she pulled out a box of thick black medical gloves. She never liked walking into any possible crime scene unprepared, memories of when she was a rookie detective just a few years ago flooded back into her mind.
The three slowly made their way up towards the house where the found the door cracked open.
"Door left open, clear signs of a struggle…. By the looks of this place, I'm betting this is our primary crime scene." Luna said as she walked around the living space just making random observations, veering away from where Danny and Steve were investigating.
She noticed something on the end table down the hall, two key cards with the name of a popular Hawaiian hotel on it, one of the key cards had blood-stained fingerprints on it. She walked back into the living room where she heads Danny asking why he would have a uniform to the Palekaiko if he worked at a car wash in Pearl City?
"I found two room keys to the Palekaiko Resort and Spa…this one's got blood on it." She said holding up the bloody key card, she pulled an evidence bag out of her back pocket and shoved them both inside then handing it over to Steve.
"I'm betting this might lead us to more clues as to why Tony's been a bad boy."
"I'm calling Chin and Kono telling em to meet us at the hotel." Steve said as he already had the phone glued to his ear, leading Danny and Luna out of the house and back towards the Jeep.
Luna wasted no time on the drive, as she this sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach that she didn't admit to either Danny or Steve about the owners and the keycards, she knew full well that they would either find corpses up in the hotel rooms or clues to some sort of kidnapping.
They arrived at the hotel Luna went straight for the service desk to ask the manager about the recent activity on the keycards and to who they might have been the owners.
"The manager just confirmed that the keycards we found are from two rooms currently being occupied, a room on the 12th floor and a room on the 21st." The five headed to the elevator immediately to do a wellness check on the guests currently occupying these rooms.
"Alright -Kono, Chin…. you guys get the 21st floor, we've got the 12th." Luna smiled at Chin and Kono as she exited the elevator following Steve and Danny.
As soon as the doors closed Kono turned to Chin and started to ask questions about what was going on between Steve and Luna.
"So- what's the deal with those two?" Chin chuckled as he thought about how to explain things.
"I'd imagine they're in a state of shock and are just trying to manage the case as professionally as possible." Kono smirked such a Chin answer as she along with the rest of the team wanted the juicy details.
"Yeah, I'm sure that's all." Chin shrugged.
"Well, he didn't give anyone other than Danny any details after he gave her a ride home last night." Kono giggled.
"I guess we can bribe Danny for details later."
"Or you could just ask Steve or Luna…. she seems nice."
"She really does seem nice. I talked to her a little on the way in she seemed really blushed when she got a text message from some guy this morning, I'm betting that message came from Steve."
"Probably right." Even with such a delicate situation as Steve and their newest team member having feelings for one another, Chin, Kono and the rest of the team held out hope for him in the romance department. Considering all that had happened with Catherine last year, all they wanted for Steve was his happiness by woman deserving of it.
Back on the 12th floor, Steve Danny and Luna had gotten no answer from the occupants, even after identifying themselves as police. Leading the way after sliding the key card in, Steve had his gun drawn as they began to scan the room.
A seemingly innocent scene off a couple sitting on the couch enjoying the view turned gruesome as they came face to face with two murder victims with their eyes gouged out.
"Aye Dios mio." Luna whispered.
Before either of the three could say anything to one another about the ghastly sight before them Steve's phone started ringing.
"We've got exactly the same thing here." Steve said to Chin who was on the other line reporting what he and Kono had found on the 21st floor room.
"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that this is Hein's work and whoever murdered him probably knew that before we did." Luna broke the silence.
Given the delicacy the current situation Steve had no choice but to alert Governor Mahoe about the tourist murders and see the course of action she would approve.
It didn't take long before a convoy of sleek black cars appeared before the hotel and Keiko was quickly making her way up to the 12th floor to have a word with Steve.
"Are we sure these murders are connected?" Keiko asked as she joined the team in one of the rooms.
"Yes ma'am. The same M.O." Steve followed the Governor into the first victims' room to observe the room, pulling up a photo of Anthony on his phone he showed it to her.
"We believe that it's the work of this man." Keiko scrunched her face in confusion.
"Who is he?"
"I'm sure that you heard about the body we found at the Palace this morning."
"That was this guy?" Her eyes widened.
"Yes ma'am. The lab found traces of all four victim's blood on his clothing, it doesn't appear that either of the couples knew each other. No valuables missing at either of the crime scenes. So far, everything's pointing toward this being serial." She couldn't pull her eyes away from the victims who were staring without eyes straight at her.
"Why the eyes?" Steve sighed.
"We believe that it had something to do with the fact that they were tourists."
"Here to admire our beautiful island."
"Yes ma'am."
"So, this guy murders four people within days of each other and then just turns up dead? What is going on here Commander?"
"Could be vigilante, maybe this guy had a partner who turned on him, we just don't know yet." Keiko couldn't take much more of the sight of the corpses before her, so she walked out onto the balcony to clear her head a moment.
"We need to keep what happened here from the press. If people think they can't be safe in their hotel rooms, we jeopardize the one thing this island relies most on."
"We cover this up and another tourist is murdered, then what? What do we do then?"
"Governor Denning told me a few things before he stepped out of office this past year…. always carry two copies of a speech and never underestimate the five-0 task force….so do your job and make sure this doesn't happen again." She said forcefully as she made her way back into the room.
"Just one more thing…" She called out.
"Yes ma'am?" He continued the formalities despite his annoyance with the Governor's belief that he was Superman.
"What do you make of the new recruit?" She asked.
"She looks good on paper, amazing references, lot of people vouching for her. I guess we'll see what she's made of over these next few cases."
"I want reports on her participation for every case she's on." Speaking again tone never wavering from its force before making her exit without even so much as a goodbye or good luck, Steve let out a frustrated sigh running a hand through his hair.
"She seems…. pleasant." Luna said as she slowly made her way out of the bathroom where she was collecting evidence.
"You were in there the whole time?" Steve asked.
"Yup." She said casually putting stray hairs she found into an evidence bag.
"Listening in?"
" I can't help that the conversation was loud enough for me to hear. Besides, I don't think she would have really been happy with me interrupting you two at any point – especially during that last part. But hey I don't mind bragging about all I do to help the team when I'm on a case, leave the reports to me and you can just sign off if you like." She said in an optimistic tone, Steve could help but chuckle at this girl's optimism despite his frustration and pressure on him by the newly appointed governor.
"I think we could work something out along the lines of that." She shoved the evidence bag in with the other pieces of evidence newly collected by the team and offered Steve a comforting smile.
"Anything to help take the pressure off, boss." Steve chuckled.
"What?" She asked.
"That's my third nickname this week what's next?" She giggled.
"Well, we're at work so I don't think Gringo or Captain America would be very appropriate. Although I think I'd get a few laughs at the captain America one." He nodded in agreement while chuckling along with her.
Leaving CSU to finish the job they headed back down to the lobby, on the way down Danny had sent a text message to Steve letting him know that he hitched a ride with Kono and Chin.
Steve rolled his eyes at the Danny's scheming ways.
The pair headed back to Luna's car, just as Steve was about to mention grabbing a bite to eat, they got a call from Chin asking them to head back to the palace.
"What now?" Luna asked as she got into her already running car.
"Chin and Kono found two more of Hein's victims in a house near Ewa Beach and CSU found audio recordings of the murders that were sent by email to another account." Luna gave a nod as she turned onto the highway to head back to the palace.
"There's no way this guy doesn't have a partner. Who else would he have been sending audio recordings to?" She said as she tried to put herself into Hein's head, then she imagined herself murdering people for fun and the thought detested her, so she shook it off.
"I don't know." Steve was at a loss for the moment, all of these bodies falling into their lap all in one day, piled on with only being back to work for a week after his release from the hospital; piled on with having to find out that his new teammate was the woman that he was happily getting to know and making out with this morning was leaving him at a loss for words.
"You alright?" She asked noticing the frustrated look on Steve's face.
"Just got a lot on my mind." She nodded knowing full well what he meant, considering the day's events so far anyone else in her shoes would be spinning with daze.
Suddenly, her mind flashed back to the events of this morning, for a split second she let her mind wander about the irony of her situation and went to dirty thoughts about having an affair with her boss.
Quickly forcing those same thoughts to the back of her mind as she didn't want the subtle smirk on her face to turn into a Cheshire grin.
"I feel you on that one." She breathed out sitting back and relaxing her body against the leather car seat.
"I keep forgetting it's your first day." Steve blurted out.
"Well, the body count keeps rising so I don't blame you. I kinda keep forgetting it too since I didn't expect to get so much action so soon." As soon as the words left her mouth, she immediately regretted it wanting to just smack herself on the forehead for not thinking about how her wording would sound.
"Yeah, I bet you didn't." He said with an amused tone.
She scrunched her face and gave him the evil eye.
'Remember he is your boss!' Her internal innocent voice yelled at the dark side that wanted nothing more than to hand him an epic comeback.
Once at the palace they, met up with the rest of the team and started to watch the video left by the late rental house tenants.
They all watched in silence as the happy couple recorded what should been an amazing romantic getaway turned into a savage murder.
"I talked to the rental company that rents the house, vics are Justin and Michelle Lowe. They're from Bloomington, Minnesota." Kono started off.
"Two more tourists." Steve chimed in.
"M.E. Estimates they were murdered five days ago. So, we have to assume they were Hein's first victims." Chin explained.
"Right. Unless there's other bodies out there." Danny finished off before his cousin briskly walked.
"Tell me you got something." Steve said to Eric as he joined them at the table.
"Struck out in identifying who Hein sent those emails to. But I did manage to figure out that the recipient opened the account two days before the Ewa Beach murders." He said immediately eyeing the newbie everyone had been anticipating.
He had already been scolded once on his flirtation's ways with new women on the team, so he chose to skip out on his introduction.
"Well, that's no coincidence whoever open that account was expecting those emails." Kono said.
"Alright so maybe you two were right and Hein has a partner." Danny said to Steve and Luna who had earlier voiced their hunches on some sort of sick partnership between Hein's murderers. A lightbulb went off in Luna's Head as she thought about her intense computer classes back in college and not to mention briefly dating a hacker who taught her more than just a few things…. when it came to hacking that is.
"Can you get me into Hein's email account?" She blurted out.
"Yeah, I mean I have all of the information on his phone, but you won't be able to access anywhere other than his phone." Eric answered.
"If I can borrow the phone for a few hours, I might be able to open the account onto my computer and try a reverse trace. Maybe get an IP address on the receiver." Eric looked to Steve as if asking for permission to let their newbie handle such sensitive evidence.
"And how exactly will you do that?" Steve asked, she walked over to where she had left her backpack earlier and pulled out her MacBook.
"Once I open the account on my computer, I may be able to code through the encryptions and figure out the recipient's email and go from there." Steve raised an eyebrow.
"Did you forget to put something resume when you applied for the job?" Danny immediately started to make jokes about the new girl being a hacker.
"Well, I don't think amateur computer hacker reads high on an employer's list, so I just leave it at intermediate computers skills."
"Up to you, boss." Eric said to Steve who seemed to still be making up his mind and processing this new information, everyone just stared at Steve waiting to see what he was going to say.
"Get the account opened onto your computer first and then we'll see." Luna nodded and logged onto her computer.
Everyone else had gone on about their business for the day while Eric and Steve hovered over a very annoyed looking Luna who was trying to link her computer to Hein's email.
"I get that I'm new and all and you may not have the highest trust in me with sensitive evidence but could you two not hover over my shoulder? Kind of a pet peeve of mine." Steve and Eric backed off a little.
"I'm Eric by the way." Eric tried to speak as suave as he could, Luna who was too enthralled in her current situation played no mind to his flirtatious voice and just introduced herself in the most monotone voice that she could.
"Luna, and for the love of Noelani, stop staring at my ass." Eric cleared his throat as Steve elbowed him in the ribs noticing indeed that his eyes were glued to Luna's butt. It didn't take her long after all the distractions and hovering ended for her to open up the account onto her computer.
"Done." She said as she finished changing the password on Hein's email and locked it out of every other technology source.
"Good. Save that for later cause we've gotta go." She did as she was told and slid the computer back into her backpack.
"Lou found another body." Steve said as he started for the door, Luna scurried to follow him.
"Wasn't he supposed to meet with that reporter threatening to run the story about the hotel murders?"
"He found the body in the back seat of his suburban." Luna raised her eyebrows in confusion.
"So, our guy is at it again." Steve sighed in frustration.
"Looks like it. You know how to get to Kamakona's?"
"Yup." She said as she slid into the driver's seat of her Jeep.
"I don't peg Lou as the oblivious type. This guy must be pretty ballsy to just be moving around a dead body in broad day light."
"Or he has more minions going around doing his dirty work." Then a lightbulb went off in Luna's head about the whole minion theory.
"Maybe he's just the puppet in this whole…. situation." Steve turned to look at a lost in thought Luna.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I don't really know how to put it into words other than this person is pulling some major puppet strings." Steve looked at her perplexed.
"Go on."
"I mean this person has to be someone of major position or authority to be getting random serial killers to send such sensitive information."
"Maybe it isn't so random."
"Yeah maybe." With the beach in sight, she thought it best to keep her theories to herself for the moment, for now they had actual business to address. Once they got out of the car the new M.E was already at work unpacking her kit to do a rough examination of the body. Everyone decided to skip out on the pleasantries of hello and got straight to work.
Inside Lou's car the same clues to the strangulation of this man were apparently so they decided to look inside his mouth to see if there was any connection to the previous murder, and low and behold there was – another ivory figure.
"We got another one." Steve said as he pulled another figurine out of their Vic's mouth.
"Ugh."
"What the hell is the killer trying to say to us?" He said hovering behind Steve, frustrated as could be at having found a dead body in his car.
"I'm afraid I can't help with that. But I did get a hit on this guy prints." Nohelani said as she pressed the guy's finger onto her scanner and got a hit, she turned it over to show Steve.
"David Larsen." Luna quickly pulled out her phone as she hadan idea as to where it would lead them next.
"Nohelani – think you can get me this guy's address?" Nohelani turned to show Luna the scanner so she could type it into her GPS.
"And where do you think you're going?" Lou asked as Luna used her remote start to turn on her Jeep.
"We're…. going to a house in Manoa." She said putting much emphasis on we're, she was already about to get into her car when Steve and Lou caught up to her.
"What is this thing?" Lou asked as he got into the back seat, Luna merely sighed and rolled her eyes as she answered.
"Am I going to be asked this every time someone new gets into my car?"
"Probably." Steve said in a frustrated tone hoping she would get a move on, and that she did as she shifted out of park and squealed out of the spot that she parked in.
"Lou meet Cat- Jeep SRT-8 Trail hawk Hellcat."
"Damn girl, you drive almost as bad as Steve does!" He exclaimed as he strapped himself in before he was thrown to the other side of the car with all the sharp turns they were taking.
"Oh, I'm sure I'm much worse." She spoke as she weaved in and out of the slow of traffic, she couldn't help but smirk inwardly as he was increasingly becoming more and more attracted to this woman.
"Well, I for one hope I don't find that one out for myself." Loud huffed as he held onto the handle on the ceiling, they got to Larsen's ten minutes before the GPS had predicted thanks to Luna's fast and furious style of driving.
As soon as she pulled into the driveway the three hopped out of the car guns drawn and getting into formation, they stopped dead in their tracks when they looked at the front doors 'You're welcome' etched in spray paint, shaking off the shocking feeling Lou and a Steve kicked in the door.
They didn't even make in halfway through the living room before they were hit with the overwhelming scent of death.
Lou immediately turned his head to face the open doors to try and catch his breath, Steve merely dealt with it as he pressed the collar of his shirt into his mouth; meanwhile Luna gulped down a gag threatening to come up.
"Lou – call the M. E's office …tell them we might have another body." Steve choked out trying to figure out where to look, Luna continued through the house along with Steve turning her gun in every direction where someone could have been hiding.
"Or several by the smell." Luna choked out.
They came to a darker hallway that led to the door to the basement, Steve turned to look at Luna who was putting on the best face she could when forced to be face deep in such a horrid smell.
She nodded for him to go ahead and open the door.
As soon as he opened the door, they both took a minute to take whatever deep breaths they could before they walked down into the unknown that was David Larsen's basement, they reached the bottom of the staircase only to find the reason why they were told 'You're welcome.'
They couldn't see much in the faded light – the truth was only revealed when Steve turned on the flashlight on his gun, which was when they saw the real massacre that they're murder victim had left behind.
"Aye Dios mio." (Oh my God) Gasped, saying prayer as whatever hell they had descended upon shook her spirit.
"Oh my god." Steve said in unison with Luna.
Bodies laid out side by side, rotting together by the tens.
It didn't take long after Lou's call for CSU and Noelani to show up and get to work on gathering whatever clues they could on the crime scene; unfortunately for the team it also didn't take long for the press to swarm the place and start making reports based on whispers and assumptions.
In the midst of all the madness meshed together by civilians, CSU and news stations, the governor summoned Steve and Luna.
Keeping her stoic façade, Luna never let anyone know that a swirl of nerves and nausea begin to hit her stomach.
Walking in side by side with Steve up to Governor Denning's desk, they waited patiently as she watched the news reels swarming several channels of her in office television.
"It's all over the news. Every station. Even networks on the mainland have picked it up this story and what happened at the hotel." The three watched in frustration as the news casters were talking about people canceling their flights to Hawaii and leaving the audience with the ever-popular question 'is it really worth the risk?'
"What the hell is going on here, Commander?" She asked as if expecting Steve to know the answer, and before letting him answer she threw out another one.
"Were Larsen and Hein working together?" Steve sighed and put his hands on his hips.
"So far we have no evidence of that. Right now, the only thing connecting them is whoever killed them and dumped their bodies in our lap." This answer didn't seem to please her
"Commander….is there a vigilante on the loose?"
"We're not sure yet."
"But both killers were murdered the same way. Both asphyxiated, that's a pattern, right?"
"Well, we can't rule out a serial killer murdering serial killer." This answer seemed to twistingly calm her down some which perplexed Luna, as if some random guy killing serial killers was better than a vigilante.
"You said you could photos on Larsen's phone. Tell me about those."
"Yeah…. David Larsen photographed all eight victims before and after he killed them. Also, we believe all of these vics were local."
"Why would he take pictures? For, his own amusement?" She asked shaking her head in disgust.
"Ma'am if I may…." Luna began.
"Some serial killers keep some sort of evidence as a souvenir or trophy of their kill something to remind them of it. We believe that there may be another pattern between Larsen and Hein…. Larsen like Hein may have sent his evidence to an anonymous email- possibly the person who killed them." She seemed dimly impressed with Luna's explanation.
"But you can't be sure?" She directed her attention towards Luna.
"No." Luna said plainly.
"So, it's safe to say we have a serial killer on the loose who is targeting people like himself. And somehow he's onto them before our own dam police department." She balled her hand into fists on the table, this time Steve stepped in.
"Ma'am – like we've been trying to say. We believe that he was collaborating with these men. Which would explain how he knows."
"Commander, Detective." She got up and out of her chair walking around her desk to stand before both of them.
"I just spent the last three hours with my cabinet discussing putting a quarantine on this island. But if I do that, it'll be years before people think is safe to come back here. So… before I bankrupt this place and put the fear of God in our locals, do for me what you did for Governor Denning and make problems like this go away. Her job just may depend on it." Luna stood there wide eyed, taken back by Kieko's boldness.
"Yes ma'am."
"Piece If advice for next time… speak when spoke to." Steve said firmly as they got into the elevator.
"What was I supposed to do just stand there and be mute? Given the last conversation you two had, no matter what I said or didn't say she still would have thrown out that threat." Luna snarked back, grimacing at Steve. At that point he didn't know what to say given Luna had some good points.
Before he could say anything else to her, he got a text message for them to meet up with the rest of the gang as Jerry had new information to share with the team.
By the time Luna and Steve showed up everyone else was already surrounding the table waiting for them, again skipping the formal introductions because of the severity of the case Jerry immediately began his briefing.
"Alright. After much digging, I've come to the conclusion that those carvings are modeled after 11th century chess pieces… pawns to be exact." Another lightbulb went off in Luna's head only this time she decided to take Steve's advice and keep her mouth shut.
'That's it- it's not puppets it's pawns!' She said to herself as she put more puzzle pieces together, she also made a mental note to herself to dig into everyone in Hein and Larsen's lives to see what other patterns she could put together.
"Hold that thought." Jerry said which shook Luna out of her little mental meeting.
"There's more. During my research, I came across and open case from eight years ago. A young Kahala couple, Steven, and Marissa Blake— disappeared along with several high price's items, including an 11th century style ivory chess set. Look familiar?" He asked as he took a picture of the chess set appear on the tv screen.
"Yeah, those are identical to the ones we recovered." Chin pointed out.
"Any suspects in this case?" Danny asked.
"One. A Pierre Shaw. 32 years old. Recently paroled for possession of stolen goods." And there it was, another lead to piece together a little more of a tangled and knotted web.
It didn't take Luna, Steve and Danny long to reach the apartment complex with the way Luna weaved in and out of traffic, even with a complaining Danny in the back seat giving her grief about how defensively she drove; all Luna could do was giggle and call him a baby for being so sensitive.
As they entered the building, Luna had this odd feeling bubbling up inside her as she felt like something was about to go down. Wanting to be as prepared as possible she picker her braid up to the back of her head and wound it up into a bun, holding it together with a coil she had on her wrist.
"What are you getting all dolled up for?" Danny asked as they walked into the elevator.
"Just in case." She said as she pinned the bun down, folding her arms against herself as she finished doing her hair.
"Just in case what?" She rolled her eyes at all the questions.
"Just in case something happens." Danny snorted.
"What – you feelin some bad juju?" Luna chuckled as she adjusted her bangs.
"My spidey senses are tingling." She said sarcastically as she walked out of the elevator following Steve.
"The room is 608, right?" She asked Steve.
"Yeah…. Why?" She pointed towards the door with a security camera aiming at them above the door.
"Why don't you hang back here for a sec while I knock." She walked ahead of them as they made sure to stay out of sight of the camera just in case, he didn't feel like answering the door to three strangers.
Luna knocked three times on the door and that was all it took for Shaw to come to the door answering it with a nice smirky smile on his face.
"Can I help you?" He asked.
"Yeah, actually you can." She said sweetly as Steve and Danny came and stood on either side of her.
"Five- 0, Mr. Shaw just wondering if we could ask you a couple questions?" Those question seemed to noticeably rattle Shaw as he kept on shifting his weight from one side to the other.
"Now's not really a good time. I was just on my way out."
"It won't take long at all. Couple questions." Danny ensured him.
"I'm kinda in a rush – maybe we can do this later?" He asked showing his eagerness to leave.
"The conditions of your parole allow us to drop in whenever we want. We wanna drop in right now. Is that gonna be a problem?" Steve asked.
Shaw shook his head no and opened the door wider for them to walk inside, Luna walked into the little apartment and stood near the window, scanning the room while Danny and Steve asked him a couple questions.
"Anyone else live here?" Steve asked.
"No sir I live alone." Shaw joined the rest of the group arms crossed and looking serious.
"Look I really don't know why you guys are here. I've been clean since I got out." Danny pulled up a picture of the couple that they were briefed on by Jerry earlier.
"Steven and Marissa Blake, young couple went missing about 8 years ago." Danny said as he showed Shaw the picture.
"You were a suspect in the case." A sinister smirk formed onto Shaw's face.
"Yeah, that's right. HPD accuses me of rippin' them off and makin' em' disappear. But it was crap. They never found no bodies or any of the stuff that went missing." He said happily.
Danny pulled up another picture on his phone – this time a picture of the ivory chess pieces.
"Yeah, till now." Danny said.
"Yeah, one of the things that went missing was an ivory chess set. And that right there is one of the pieces." Steve chimed in.
Silence filled the room, with a thick air of tension.
Suddenly, thumps of kicks against the wall echoed through the tiny room, followed by muffled cries of help.
Steve and Danny whipped their heads in the direction of the noise, meanwhile Luna kept her eyes locked on to Shaw as she was waiting for him to make a move and he did. His body collided with hers as they crashed through the sliding glass door, she let out a small grunt as she braced herself against the balcony fence, Shaw was already hopping over and climbing down.
Luna shook off the glass that she felt was embedded in her hair and ignored the scratches newly formed on her arms and tears on her jeans.
"Oh no you don't." Luna said to herself as she maneuvered her body over the fence ready to jump down to the next balcony down.
Steve was left there speechless as he looked over the balcony, watching Luna climb down like she was some sort of parkour artist.
Not wanting to be left out of all the fun he was right behind …. Or should we say right above her climbing down, trying not to slip and fall.
"Guys – Shaw's on the move!" He yelled out over the com.
Landing on the ground of the road in front of the complex he was met with Chin who was suited up and ready for a chase.
"Damn your girls got skills" he blurted out forgetting he was on the com, luckily for Steve Luna hadn't been given an earpiece so she missed out on the ear full.
"Yeah, yeah go around!" Steve ran off in the same direction and Luna and Shaw.
Closing in on the roof covered parking lot, Luna pushed her body off of the wall of the building that she clung and landed on the roof. Not wanting to lose momentum as well as their perp she sprinted towards Shaw who was not far ahead of her. Sliding toward the edge of the roof as if she were sliding into home plate playing baseball, her hands clung onto the side making the impact when she hit the ground less severe on her feet.
Steve hot on their trails but only on ground level, watched above, amazed as he watched how, almost every move that Shaw made in attempt to get away, Luna made to get closer. It was only when they got to a busy intersection that she was cut off by fast flowing traffic that Shaw was blown to gain more distance between them, a red light gave both her and Steve a chance to weave through traffic and catch up with Shaw as he was confronted with Chin.
Shaw noticed that he was sandwiched between three cops, and he ran for an alley.
Not hesitating for even a moment she sprinted into the alley close behind Shaw, again matching almost every move Shaw made. It wasn't until they reached the stairs, and they ran into Chin that she was at a disadvantage, Shaw was able to hop up onto all the railings gaining much distance between himself and Luna.
She was never one to quit when it came to a chase, running up the stairs she managed to at least see where Shaw was headed towards so she could keep on his trail.
Fortunately for Luna, Shaw chose to smash through another window himself instead of using her as a ram to get through it, so she didn't end up with as many scratches as she did with the first collision.
Steve followed closely behind, so when it came time to jump from one roof top to another the landings were all within seconds of one another…. But of course, for Steve it was more of a fall rather than a landing.
In the seconds it took for Luna to turn back at Steve, Shaw was already gone and onto the next rooftop.
"Steve!" She yelled as she realized that he was bleeding.
"We lost him…. Chin he's headed west" Steve said over the com as he attempted to get up.
Just as he was about to ask Luna why she didn't keep going after him he heard Chin say that he was on his tail, and he decided to keep his mouth shut on that one. He'd made enough of an ass of himself with her today he didn't want to add to the list.
"I'm alright – just a scratch." He attempted to play it off as struggled to get up off the ground.
"Doesn't look like just a scratch." She said as she put his arm around her shoulders and her hand around his waist to help steady him.
"How about you?" He asked as he looked at her scratched up arms, the blood was just barely drying up.
"Eh just a few scratches- nothing some Neosporin and a hot bath won't fix…. ugh and a change of pants to boot- asshole ruined my jeans." Steve laughed at her complaint on her ruined jeans.
"Ah – don't make me laugh it hurts." She chuckled along with him.
"Sorry boss." Looking around the roof for a way down they saw a door leading towards a staircase, so they made their way over in an awkward silence, which is until Steve could no longer hold in his curiosity about the woman escorting him down a very high building.
"Where the hell did you learn to jump around like that?" She rolled her eyes and chuckled.
"Ah- c'mon now Steve I can't give all my secrets away on the first day now, can I?" He gave her a playful glare at her incessant need to be mysterious.
"Tony – my little brother used to be a part of some parkour club back home, after I went away to college, we made a habit out of going for a run every morning and he'd teach me a little something each time, now ten years later I can still keep up with the big boys." Luna smiled to herself as she spoke, running the happy memories through her mind; Steve couldn't help but smile with her.
"Well, you got one hell of a teacher that's for sure." She smiled as they continued walking down the countless staircases to get to the bottom. As they reached ground level Steve's exhaustion caught up with him and he lost his balance. His body collided with Luna's making her lose her balance as well she fell flat on her back with Steve atop of her.
Luna let out high pitched squeak as she was now weighted down by Steve who outweighed her by at least fifty pounds, the little grunt that she let out having his fill weight in her seemed to be enough to shake Steve out of his exhaustion.
"Shit- Luna, I'm sorry." He said as he looked down at her.
"No worries." She breathed out, trying not to look him in the eye and get carried away in a moment.
"My bun broke the fall to my skull." She joked again, trying to distract herself from the fact that the man that she was making out with just this morning who come to find out was her super sexy boss was now on top of her.
Steve planted his forearms on the ground to take some of the weight off of the woman underneath him.
"You alright?" She nodded quickly.
"Little winded but I'm fine." That's when she caught his gaze and her brain said 'shit.'
At this moment neither Steve or Luna could help but continue to get caught in this little moment they were having, the gap between their lips was slowly closing in and would have come to a complete lip lock if it hadn't been for a door pushing open on the main floor beneath them. The noise jerked them out of the pheromone induced trance they were in, causing them both to chuckle in embarrassment. Once they were on a vertical stance, they quietly made their way down to the main level and met up with the many other cops in the area looking for Shaw.
"Hey – we're gonna need a medic over here!" Luna held her hand up once they were out of the alley way.
They walked over towards the Pua Lei, where the real commotion was arising, luckily there was already an ambulance in the area, so it didn't take long for Steve to get patched up from his little rooftop mishap, and not long before he was getting another lecture from Danny who was yelling at him to take a break.
"Listen you should get to a hospital. Get that looked properly." Danny suggested as he looked at the bandage wrapped around his torso.
"I'm fine."
"You're fine. That's good. I'm gonna put that on your tombstone – he said he was fine." Danny exclaimed; Luna couldn't help but laugh at the feuding married couple before her.
"Alright – I think that's my cue to go change." Luna said as she saw this situation turning into something more, once she got to where Danny parked her car she snuck inside and opened up her duffle bag which contained her favorite workout leggings and a pair of black and white Nike's, she suited herself up in her custom bullet proof vest and clipped her gun to her side and deemed herself ready for the hunt.
She met up with the rest of the team just as they were all trying to convince Steve take a break.
"You know what save your breath because he's determined to have my noble sacrifice be in vain." Luna was confused at this comment, Steve continued to put on his vest and get ready for the 'mission.'
"You know what? If you need anyone else's organs – next time talk to Chin. Or maybe your…." Luna quickly saw where this was headed as he looked at her in an annoyed way.
"Ey, enojon! (grumpy) Would you mind continuing this little tantrum after we catch Shaw?" Luna cut him off before he even got a chance to mention being Steve's girlfriend, she strutted passed everyone else and next to Danny as they all entered into the hotel.
"If you're going to make an ass of yourself in that way, I would appreciate you doing it behind my back rather than to my face." She said forcefully as she knew full well where that little comment was going.
"Sorry- I was just." She chuckled as she knew her point was well made.
"Trying to make a point I get it, but don't make it at my expense." Before anything else could be said between the two, Kono got onto the com which Luna was included in this time and spoke.
"Alright guys – I've got eyes on all floors." She said from the surveillance room of the hotel.
They all met up in the lobby with other HPD detectives and officers including Abby, Chin's girlfriend who had come along to help the cause.
Each team went toward their assigned route in hopes to find Shaw, Luna scurried behind Steve as they made their way through the kitchen scanning every detail. Kono eventually directed Chin to the service elevator stuck on the 17th floor, that's when all teams started to make their way to that floor.
"I've got him two flights up." Chin said as he raised his gun towards Shaw.
Steve, Luna and Danny quickly shot up the staircase and ran up, pushing through the door on the next floor up they made it just in time to see Shaw get up and out of the elevator.
"Hey!" Steve yelled raising his gun aiming at Shaw.
This only made Shaw run faster as he found himself another doorway with another flight of stairs, this time leading straight to the roof. Somehow Luna managed to sprint right past Steve as she was quickly gaining on Shaw's tail.
Shaw and Luna one right after the other were the first ones to make it to the roof, as he ran, he saw the helicopters hovering above leaving nowhere for Shaw to hide anymore.
"There's nowhere else to go Shaw give it up!" She yelled at him, holstering her weapon.
As soon as the door swung open with the rest of the team, Shaw dashed towards the edge of the roof, Luna sprinted after him already knowing what his next move was. She ran full speed towards the edge of the roof just as Shaw jumped, she heard Steve behind her.
"Luna don't!" He yelled as he ran.
But there wasn't much she could do as he had said this just as she hopped over the edge of the building pushing herself towards the next building.
Steve watched in awe, jealousy and horror as she jumped off the roof, adrenaline from running all over the place had him wanting to jump after her but he knew full well that he would likely not make it.
Luna crashed down on the rooftop, rolling over to soften the blow to her body she moved swiftly to get to the edge of the building, but she was too late, Shaw screams filled the air as he fell to his death with Luna watching.
She took a deep breath and pushed it out as she was both exhausted and frustrated at the dead end that they had all run into.
Looking up to the group staring at her she saw a mixture of emotions from everyone, Lou and Danny looked at her as if she were some sort of badass wanting to cheer for her, and then there was Steve who looked down right pissed…. And yet relieved if there was ever an expression with that type of mixture it was definitely on Steve's face right now.
Rolling over on her back she let out a sigh of frustration as she had just let their perp splat on the ground and defied impossible orders from her chain of command, she had nothing else to do but find a way down and face the music.
Luckily like the last building there was a doorway leading to a way down but with a nice perk of an air-conditioned elevator, she closed her eyes and appreciated the few moments alone that she was rewarded with, after making a Hail Mary jump which she had never even attempted before.
Starting to feel a tension headache coming on she undid the bun and braid and let her long hair loose, running her fingertips along her skull to try and somewhat soothe herself she fluffed it up before exiting the building.
Upon exiting the building, she was met with the entire team.
"You mind telling me what that was back there?" Steve asked clearly sounding annoyed.
"What do you want me to tell you other than a well-executed jump?" She asked arms crossed, realizing at last that she had done nothing wrong.
"You defied a direct order and could have gotten yourself killed." He said forcefully, at this time heads had turned to watch this little exchange unfold.
"Hello?! Running towards the edge of a building at full speed and you decided to tell me not to jump, just as I was about jump what the heck did you expect me to do?" She bit back just as forcefully.
"I expected you to be smart and not be a showoff jumping off buildings!" She let out a frustrated and sarcastic laugh.
"Ha! That's hilarious coming from G.I Joe here with the cracked ribs! Sorry you crashed and burned your jump, but in case you had your eyes closed I made mine!" She threw her hands up in the air.
"Yeah, I'm sure Shaw thought exactly the same way." Luna was absolutely seething at this point, refusing to let Steve the last word; she couldn't in the least bit understand why he was being such a jerk.
"I'm sorry is it my body that's splattered into a bloody mess on the ground? No señor no fue asi." (no sir, that was not the outcome) Luna growled, rolling her r's.
"Alright you guys let's just calm down." Lou suggested hoping that their little lovers spat was over.
"Oooo." Luna growled out as she stomped towards her car.
"C'mon Steve. Did you really have to yell at her like that….in front of everyone?" Kono asked still shocked at the way he had spoken to Luna.
Steve didn't wouldn't at her, all he could do was sigh in frustration not knowing what to give for an explanation, even as he yelled at her fearing for her safety – he knew he was in the wrong.
Partly embarrassed at getting hurt in front of her and having to be escorted down by her after, but mostly because watching her jump off one rooftop to another made his heart stop both terrified that she would get hurt and in awe at the same time…. she was a total bad ass; and he loved it.
The closer Luna got to her car the more she seemed to calm down and rationalize what had just happened, once she got over the humiliation of being yelled at in front of her entire team; she felt a slight ping of guilt for talking back to Steve in the manner that she did.
Not giving Steve any chance to reply to her question, Kono walked off in the direction that Luna did.
"Hey…. You alright?" She asked as she jogged over to where Luna's car was.
"Yeah, I'm fine…just a little riled up." She said as she unlocked her car and reached into her cooler for two water bottles.
"Water?" She offered, trying to deflect any conversation involving Steve.
"Thanks." Kono said accepting the bottle and taking a sip.
"He means well... but he can be a bit of a hard ass." Kono offered some words of comfort for her not to take him so personally. Luna smiled at Kono before chugging down half of it the contents in her bottle.
"A bit?" Luna asked pointing out the obvious understatement, Kono couldn't help but laugh along considering the events that had just unfolded proving it so.
"Usually when we have a day like this, we finish it off with beers and wings from Side Street." Kono offered.
"I would really love to, and I wish I could cause not it's going to seem like I don't want to go because of what just happened, but I have two, one year old German Shepard's waiting for me at home. That and I have to hand in case-by-case reports; part of my first 90 days probation on the job." It wasn't totally a lie, she really did have to get home to her pups, and she had offered to help Steve with his newbie workload.
"Next time?" Kono asked.
"Next time I'll play hostess so the pups don't feel left out, and you guys can have some authentic Mexican food." She promised.
"Now that sounds like a plan- sistah." Kono said as she gave Luna a hug.
"Thanks Kono."
"You're welcome." Kono said before walking back towards the group, Luna stayed behind and started to take off her vest and tactical belt to make herself a bit more comfortable for the drive back to the Palace.
"Where's Luna?" Chin asked.
"She's gotta get home to her dogs." She said giving Steve a disappointed stare.
"What now?" Steve asked as he felt another lecture coming his way.
"She hasn't left yet so you still have a chance." Steve rolled his eyes as he felt everyone staring at him.
"I'll talk to her when we get back to the palace alright! Everyone happy?" He said running one hand through his sweaty head of hair and the other pressing up against his bandaged ribs.
"Just a fair warnin' brotha, you do not want to be on the receiving end grudge from a Latina. Believe me the outcome will not be pretty." Steve scrunched his face at Lou's warning, both fascinated and confused at why he would know such things.
"Sister-in-law is Mexican and Spanish, believe me I speak from my brother's experience." Lou added in, causing Steve to roll his eyes in frustration that everyone seemed to be on Luna's side in this situation.
Without word, he found himself walking away from the rest of his team, and in the direction of where his new teammate had parked herself.
Luna was busy plugging in her phone and getting a playlist ready to blast and sing to when she looked up to see Steve fast approaching her car, she let out a frustrated sigh as she really didn't feel like getting into another heated argument with him. Part of her contemplated peeling out of the parking space as she still had time to – but the civil and pleasant side of her wanted to know what it is that he had to say.
The civil side of Luna won the argument as she rolled down the window.
"Everything okay?" She asked as he go to her car.
"Yeah…" He took a long pause.
"Everyone's headed to Side Street, and I kinda just feel like heading home. Mind if I catch a ride with you?" She gave a playful scoff trying not to sound too serious.
"Sheesh boss – you yell at me in front of the team for jumping off the roof now you foil my plans to blast music and sing to…. the yelling I can forgive but messing with my music time…" she paused at her dramatic speech as she saw Steve's face drop slightly.
"I'm just joking- hop in and I'll give you a lift." She chuckled out as she felt a bit guilty for teasing him, Steve rolled his eyes and smiled at her as he opened the door and made himself comfortable.
"About earlier. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that." He turned to her and started.
"And I'll admit that I probably shouldn't have snapped at you in the way I did either…I mean you are my boss after all." Steve smiled.
"Nah, I kinda deserved it and besides I think I'd feel like more of an ass if you hadn't snapped back." She rolled her eyes and laughed as she drove on.
"Well, you're lucky I don't keep my thoughts to myself then, when the situation calls for it. So, Gringo – where are we headed?" Steve chuckled as she once again was using his original nickname.
"The Palace is fine. My truck is there." She nodded and headed in the direction of the five-0 lair, the rest of the way they sat in comfortable silence, with the way that Luna drove it didn't take them too long to get to their destination.
"You headed up?" He asked as she got out of the car as well.
"I left my backpack behind, and I want to get a head start on those case-by-case reports for Keiko." She muttered remembering that her job might possibly be depending on them.
"I'll get you a flash drive with all the forms." He said jogging to catch up with her.
"Thanks." She said as they walked into the elevator and pressing the button to get to their level.
She leaned back against the wall of elevator and propping one foot against the wall behind her.
Her phone pinged several times in that familiar bell tone as she received many text messages from Roxy, looking down she smirked at all the questions she was being hounded with.
She merely texted back letting her know that she would call her later with all the details, Roxy clearly hadn't gotten Luna's message in time as she was now calling her on face time.
Luna rolled her eyes.
"Who is it?" Steve asked, as her reaction to the phone call was piquing his curiosity.
"Roxy…. wanting to know how my day was." Steve smirked.
"Wait till she finds out you made out with your boss on the first day." Steve said in a sly voice making Luna blush like mad not expecting for them to have this conversation right at that moment, lucky for her the elevator doors swung open right at that moment and she was able to get her revenge by strutting out of the elevator and quipping back.
"Better a make out session than having to tell her that I had to put that protection she mentioned last night to good use with my boss." She turns around to look at Steve wiggling her eyebrows and flashing a smirky smile.
All Steve could do was chuckle at Luna's comeback.
Luna one Steve zero he thought to himself.
Luna packed her laptop and slid it back into her backpack, seeing the Tupperware that once held two dozen empanadas only had one, she shook her head in amusement as her pastries were a bit hit.
"Want the last empanada?" She offered it up to Steve who had come back from getting her the files she needed.
"Don't you?" She shook her head.
"I've got another batch at the house." Steve took a bite of the cookie he was handed, and he was surprised to find pineapple filling.
"So, you're a hell of a cook, you sing, and you jump off rooftops…. is there anything you can't do?" He asked happily finishing off the last of it in a single bite, Luna packed away the Tupperware in her bag and slipped it onto her back and smiled.
"The list of things I can do is a lot shorter than the list of stuff I can't do. I like to look on the brighter side." She deflected earning herself a playful glare from Steve who followed her into the elevator.
"Fine. I can't surf." She said simply, feeling slightly embarrassed by not knowing how.
"There's a start, I mean I'm no Kono – but I could give you a lesson or two." Steve offered.
Luna turned to him and smiled.
"I'd like that." The rest of the way down to the ground floor was a comfortable silence. Neither wanted to ruin the moment by addressing the elephant in the room.
"Night Steve." She said as she walked towards her car.
"Night Luna." Steve replied making his way toward his truck.
By the time Luna got home, the sun was already starting to set, she fell back into her cobb web filled after work routine, she whipped up a quick dinner, lunch for the next day and laid out her work clothes on her dresser.
Feeling that 8:30 was a bit too early to go to bed, she opted to give herself a pampering as she lathered wounds in Neosporin after cleaning them with antiseptic. Throwing a couple of sweet, scented bath melts into her hot running jetted bathtub, she let her body sink in.
She gave out a long sigh as her body was practically boiled in black currant and vanilla scented bath water, it had been a very long and shocked filled first day for her and it felt good to just lay back and have some time to gather the thoughts put on pause that very morning.
Luna hadn't had the best of luck with relationships, a dark and complicated adolescence had caused her to put up walls so strong, that not even the bravest could break them down.
The one relationship that had led her into lowering most of those protective walls, forced her to become vulnerable and submissive, both to the point of being unlike herself. All for the wrong man to boot.
Once all of them were down, she was left shattered and broken once again.
Swallowing the hard pill that was her past reality, she took a deep breath and let the past go, in favor of a brighter future.
A bright future that was staring her right in the face, regardless of the fact that the man that she was currently interested in was her boss, she was sure that he didn't mind either by the way they got lost in a moment together earlier today.
So lost in her pensive thoughts, it took Luna a minute to come back to reality and notice the low growls coming from both of her dogs. Not the usual overly suspicious growls caused by random animals outside, these sounds were much more protective. Bebe paced around the bathroom whining and growling but never leaving her side, while Dax was in Luna's bedroom growling and barking.
It wasn't until she heard noises coming from her backyard that she took the matter seriously.
Luna slowly lifted herself from the tub, careful not to make too many noises, she wrapped a towel around her body. Making a beeline straight for her gun, she threw a pair of underwear on along with an oversized tee.
Making her way to the balcony, she scanned the yard, squinting to see with what little light the last sliver of sunlight provided.
Nothing seemed to be out of order, looking at any possible hiding spot that an intruder could hide.
That is until she looked at the pool shed.
The door was wide open.
It was at that moment that all off her horror movie knowledge had her brain screaming for her to not do anything stupid, but – she was much too thick skulled for that.
Armed with her gun, and team of ferocious furry babies, she quietly crept down the stairs.
Furrowing her eyebrows together she felt an angry type of fear start to set in, she gripped her gun, body going into defense mode.
The eerie quiet would have sent shivers down anyone's spine, but no, not Luna.
Faced with her current situation, she trekked forward into her backyard, taking every single detail in, again, nothing out of the ordinary other than the pool shed door being open when she knew full well it was always left closed.
Inhaling a breath before lunging forward into the darkened shed, she quickly loosened her grip on her gun, hand flipping the switch to the light switch inside the shed.
No one was inside.
Perhaps it was just the neighbor kids sneaking in to steal, or playa prank on their new neighbor; it wouldn't have been unheard of to jump to that conclusion, no.
Something out of the ordinary caught her scanning gaze immediately.
Walking deeper into the shed it was easier to make what exactly was….and what it was made out of.
Her eyes widened in horror as she realized what it was, a little ivory chess piece, much like the ones that they had been finding all day.
Not the only one to find such an alarming little bobble, Steve had just walked into his own sitting on the counter of his kitchen, the same wide-eyed horror-stricken gaze on his face.
Neither of their chess pieces being pawns.