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A/N: Hey my wonderful readers, I'm sorry this chapter is late again. I've been having issues with writer's block… as per usual. So, in case you don't notice, Episode 4 is being broken up into two different parts. I have all the stuff with Junior happening first, and then the case stuff will come after. And you will find out why next chapter. So don't forget to review or drop a fav or a follow and I'll try to see you guys next week!

Chapter 415

It had been a month.

A month since his wife had been home.

What was supposed to be a three-week excursion had somehow dragged on an extra week. She, now, wouldn't be back until next week, marking a whole four weeks since she had been on Hawaii. And even that return date wasn't set in stone, it could go on longer.

Steve had been grumpy, apparently more so than usual, getting worse and worse with each day he woke up without his wife.

It was getting to the point where his friends and coworkers were threatening to call Rowan to tell her about his attitude and how she needed to come home ASAP to fix it. He couldn't let them do that though.

This was a big deal, this whole movie situation. It had opened up the doors to other opportunities, the most exciting being that she was being offered a Disney job. As in they wanted her to do the music for one of their new films.

If someone told her that Steve was struggling with her being gone this long, she'd come back. What if that messed up her chances at a Disney contract? Rowan loved Disney she'd never forgive him if that were the case.

At first this hadn't even been a problem, because she would just open up a portal to him whenever she missed him, but recently their schedules hadn't matched or she had been too tired at the end of the day. So Steve had let it go.

Yes, they texted every day, and she called him all the time, but it wasn't the same. He wanted to wrap his arms around his wife, he wanted to be able to kiss her and they hadn't had sex in weeks.

Steve was practically going through withdrawal, he got all shaky sometimes, and just her voice could turn him on now. Just a soft and silken: "Hi," on the other end of the phone and his cock was throbbing instantly.

If he actually got her home he was liable to explode just by hugging her.

Steve tried to keep to his routine. Getting Nahele to school on time, walk the dog before he went to work, Nahele would walk him when he got home. He tried to make dinner but if a case kept him busy he'd let Con and Nahele order something in.

Con really did spend a lot of time in his house. It wasn't even annoying him anymore, he had started liking coming home to Con already being there because at least Nahele wasn't alone while Steve was at work.

That morning, however, after he saw Nahele off to school and he had walked Eddie, Steve got a call to come down to the HPD training range. The training officer wanted to talk to him, and that made him nervous.

He was going down with a positive outlook, because Junior hadn't mentioned having any issues the last time Steve had talked to him.

That day he was in a Khaki green button down that he had not buttoned up at all. He had a dark grey tee-shirt underneath, and the sleeves of his button down rolled up. He had chosen dark blue jeans to go with that outfit that morning, and when he sent the picture off to Rowan he had gotten heart-eyed emojis and a couple drooling ones.

Then she sent him a picture of her outfit, which was just as tame as his, but still had him jerking off in the washroom imagining what it would be like to strip her out of that peach blouse, or to push up that navy blue pencil skirt so he could get to molten center inside.

This separation really had turned him into a horny teenager again. God she was gonna get it when she got home.

He had also chosen to wear the watch that Wo Fat gave him as it was his nicest now that Nahele had the one that his dad had given him. Nahele still wore that watch daily unless he had football practice cause he didn't want to take it off and chance it getting stolen.

Even though he had a locker to lock it in, and the model was practically ancient, nor was it a model that was particular popular. Nahele just wasn't going to chance losing it.

Steve got to the HPD shooting range just as Junior was up at the mark to shoot. Steve watched for a moment noting that Junior didn't miss the mark once. That was pretty good.

He approached Instructor Alves who was moving towards him the second he saw Steve.

"What's up coach?" he asked once he got close. The two shook hands quickly.

"McGarrett, good to see you."

Steve paused to watch Junior shoot for a second before turning back to Instructor Alves. "How's he doing?"

"The truth?" he asked. Steve nodded. "I don't think he's HPD material."

What? Really?

"Wait a minute you're serious?" Steve shot back. Then immediately jumped to the kid's defense. "I mean, he's going through it right now. Give him a couple of days, let him settle in…"

"No, no, it's not that." Then what the fuck?! "In fact, he might be the best raw talent I've ever had as a recruit. This kid, he's got speed, strength, agility, the whole package."

"So, what's the problem? Why isn't he HPD material?"

"He reminds me of you, McGarrett."

Why was he saying it like that? Why did he mean that like it was an insult?

"Okay. So he's a little enthusiastic," Steve said. Cause that was how he would phrase it. He could think of a few people who might disagree, but he was going to ignore them.

"But this kid, I can already tell. He's got a streak in him."

Steve cut the man off with a pat to the shoulder as he noticed Junior coming towards them.

"Hey, Junior. What's up there, buddy?"

Did that sound awkward? It felt like it was awkward.

"Hey, Commander McGarrett. It's great to see you sir."

They shook hands and Steve struggled to keep the smile on his face so the kid wouldn't sense that something was wrong.

"Great to see you. How you doing?"

"Good, sir. It's great to be here."

"Instructor Alves is not working you too hard, is he?"

"No, sir." He said right away, but he also could and would lie about that. "In fact, I told him he can push me more and a little bit harder. I welcome the challenge."

And that right there was the Navy SEAL in him talking.

Steve shot him a bit of a proud smirk. "I'm sure you do. Hey, listen, what are you doing today for lunch, 1:00?" Junior glanced to Alves who merely shook his head. Right, so he had nothing to do. "Okay, Kamekona's got his shrimp truck on the south side of town here, by the Hilton, right in front of Bowl's."

"I'll find it sir."

Steve half smiled at him and then hit him with a bit of a knowing glare. "And uh… what did I tell you about the sirs?"

Now it was Junior's turn to smile, because he knew exactly what Steve was talking about. "Yeah, copy."

Steve nodded to him and then glanced at the fancy watch on his wrist. "I got somewhere to be. I'll see you at one."

"Thirteen hundred. I'll be there."

Junior turned back around, before Steve could say anything else and went back to shooting. Steve nodded at Instructor Alves but the man didn't have anything else to say apparent.

Steve couldn't help but worry about the man's cryptic words. What was this going to mean for Junior and joining his team?

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Steve went about his morning as he usually would. He made sure Eddie got to go out, he went to the restaurant to do some work, and he had a few calls with Nahele.

Since Rowan's trip got extended, the boy had been calling him more, making sure Steve was still on the island. Steve was always sure to pick up for him, to assure him that he was still there and Steve was going to be coming home.

By lunch Nahele had already called him twice. Not that Steve minded, but he was worried about his kid. Rowan needed to come home, the poor kid was clearly a nervous wreck without her.

So, when he went to meet Junior at Kamekona's he planned to get one of Nahele's favourite meals. The kid would be home only an hour or two later so he'd just keep them warm in the oven. It was something to help him feel a little bit better. It was a Band-Aid fix at best, but he wanted his kid to think that he was thinking him, that he was still important.

When he got to the shrimp truck he spotted Junior first so he moved towards him.

"Hey Commander!" he called, standing up from the picnic bench he was at to shake Steve's hand.

"Hey Junior, what's up?" he said warmly and then immediately pointed at the server working that day. "Hi, yeah, I need… three of our usual orders, you know, me and 'Hele. One for right now for me and two to take home please."

Troy nodded at him. "Okay, no Rowan Special today?"

"No, no Rowan special, Troy," Steve said with a frown.

"Aww, she didn't leave you, did she?"

Steve bristled. "No. She's just… she's still on the mainland," he snapped. Troy hit him with a bit of a smirk and he frowned. "She did not leave me."

"Right-o. One regular special coming right up, and two on the backburner for when you go home," he said as he went to leave to put in that order.

Steve tried to shake off the anger that had built up in system. Troy wasn't the first person to imply that Ro had left him, and that, maybe, that was why she hadn't come back from the mainland yet. But it wasn't and Steve hated that everyone assumed his wife left him.

He was not that bad anymore!

"What was that about? Are you okay?" Junior asked and Steve felt his nose curl up at the question.

"Nothing… I'm fine it's just… a rough day."

"The only easy day was yesterday," Junior said with a smile, which got Steve to smile too.

"Hooyah!"

"Hooyah!" Junior echoed.

They were quiet for a moment, Steve was starting to bounce. The itch to call Rowan was strong. To beg her to come home, just so he could kiss her. To just hear her say that she wasn't leaving him, but he needed to be strong. He needed to prove that he could function without her because if he couldn't, she wouldn't do something like this again, and he didn't want her missing out on any red-carpet events because Steve needed his wife with him.

"How you doing, pal?" he asked, hoping to get his mind off of his wife.

"Yeah, good."

"How much sleep you getting?"

Junior shrugged. "Enough."

Steve wasn't sure he believed him but he chuckled anyway. "I love your positive attitude. I tell you what, it's okay if everything's not okay all the time." Then Steve just stared him down, waiting for him to say something. He said nothing, but he did look away from him. "I remember what it's like coming back. Guys like you and me, we got sea legs, right? You get back home, it can be tricky."

"Yeah, it's a process."

Steve nodded again. "It is a process. I wanna help you through that process, okay, however I can. Now, look, getting you onto that Five-0 task force, I think is gonna be a significant step. I need you to know, you got to graduate from that police academy, okay? It's important. It's the way it works."

"Was that always the way it works?" Junior shot back.

That was a dig. Because he hadn't had to go through what Junior was doing. But he was a special case.

"It's the way I think it should work."

Junior clearly didn't think much of that, but still he nodded. "Understood."

"Alright, good. Thank you. Now listen, whatever I can do, if you wanna talk… actually, you know what?" he paused only to fish his phone out of his pocket. "Give me your number."

Junior winced. "Yeah, I don't have a phone."

"You don't have a cellphone?"

Junior shook his head. Wow. That was dedication. Steve couldn't live without his phone.

"Okay, it's not a problem. I'll have somebody drop one by the academy this afternoon."

Junior smiled his thanks at him, just as Steve's phone started to ring.

"This is my son," Steve said to him. "So I gotta take this, but uh… we'll have lunch, talk some stuff out just give me a moment?"

Junior nodded and Steve got up, answering right away with a: "I'm still on the island."

"Switch to video call and prove it."

His son was so much like his mother it was ridiculous. But Steve did as he was told and then made sure to swing around so Nahele could see the shrimp truck in the background. "There. Believe me?"

"Yes, yes I do," he said with a bit of a grin. "Just checking in on you. You think you'll be home on time today?"

"Yes, not only will I be on time I already bought dinner…"

"You bought shrimp?" Nahele asked. "What happened to don't eat out?"

"You want shrimp or not?"

"Yes please."

"Then don't fucking complain," Steve snapped, and then shot Nahele his trademark smirk so he knew that he was just playing with the kid. "You heard from your mom today?"

"Yeah, she texted me this morning. Apparently, they're still discussing terms of the Disney contract."

Yeah, they had been discussing terms for five days now. Pete was doing his best to make sure she wasn't getting low balled but at the same time this was taking forever.

"Why, you haven't heard from her? Are you two arguing again?"

"No," he muttered, though he hadn't heard from her since this morning when she had sent the outfit pics. "Just wondering is all."

"If she's not responding to texts then she's busy," Nahele said. "I think she said she was going to be with Uncle Wo today."

Yeah, she had been spending a lot of time with him now that they were on the same continent and in the same city again. He just didn't want his kid to think that it bothered him, even though it kind of did. "Hey, I see our food coming, I'll see you at home, okay?"

"Yeah! See you then! Bye dad!"

He hung up the phone and just like that the sadness that had been in his system all but melted away. Nahele calling him dad always made him smile, always warmed him up and brightened his day.

He wasn't lying either, the food was on its way to them.

He turned back to Junior, fully planning on grilling him until he told him what was up.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Lunch did not work.

No matter how much grilling Steve did, Junior would not crack. He knew something was up, but he just wouldn't admit to it. Steve was worried he'd have to waterboard it out of him, but even then that might not work.

It took a whole other day but Steve finally figured out what was going on with Junior.

As he said, he made sure that Junior was discretely given the phone once he returned to the academy after lunch. Steve had tried calling it that night, but hadn't gotten him, figured he was asleep. But then he tried calling intermittently through the day, you know to check up on him, and he wouldn't answer the phone. He got worried so he tracked it. And it came up at a place that he hoped the kid wasn't actually at.

He promised Nahele he'd be back before the kid went to bed, he just had an errand to do, and then he drove down to the Downtown Oahu Mission, a homeless shelter.

This one offered spaces in the form of large cubicles that people used as homes. Some hung spare fabric over the low walls to create a ceiling, and they could put what they needed in there to be comfortable.

It didn't take him long to find Junior's. His didn't have a ceiling, but it was neat and tidy, looking a lot like what his space in Iraq or on a ship might have looked like.

When Steve approached him he was writing in a journal, something that was recommended while in the service to help with the daily grind. Steve had never needed one, but he didn't begrudge anyone that did.

"Hey."

The second Steve spoke Junior looked up, the shock on his face was not surprising in the least. He clearly wasn't expecting Steve to be there.

He jumped to his feet right away, clearing his throat and lowering his eyes from Steve. "Commander McGarrett, what… how'd you find me here, sir?"

"I've been calling the phone I gave you. You didn't answer, so I tracked it," Steve said.

"Right."

Junior definitely looked annoyed at that, which was fair. Rowan didn't like it when he did that either, but he was worried so he felt like he had a bit of an excuse this time.

"What the hell are you doing here? You're a teams guy. We got accommodations, you understand? Nice clean places, three squares…"

"I know."

But Junior made no move to elaborate. He made no attempts to explain why he was in this place when he could have been somewhere better. Something was definitely going on, something a lot deeper than just homelessness.

"Alright. When I told you I wanted to help you through whatever's going on in your life, I meant it. But I got to be able to contact you. You understand? Where's the phone I gave you?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know where the phone is?" Steve echoed, because honestly this guy was starting to sound a lot like his son.

Nahele was constantly losing things.

"Most people in here don't have a phone," he said. "I'm sorry, sir. I should've taken better care of it."

So his phone had gotten stolen then. That's what that meant.

"Oh, it doesn't matter," he said. Also true because Nahele went through phones like shoes. They were constantly replacing his phone. But Steve realized that he couldn't just leave him there like this. "Listen, kid, pack your stuff up, alright? I'll be out the front."

"Sir?"

He didn't think he'd have to explain, but clearly Junior needed it. "Until you graduate, you're staying with me, alright?"

Junior shook his head. "No, no I can't do that. You have a family…"

"It's fine. My house is your house. Pack your stuff, I'm in the truck out the front. Let's go."

Steve walked away, so Junior would get it. He wasn't going to take anything else as an answer. And luckily for him, Junior stopped arguing and finally accepted the help he needed.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Half an hour later, Junior was ushered into the McGarrett homestead. Steve had called up to Nahele that he was back and the kid had answered with: "COD live game, be down when it's done."

Typical teenager.

Steve had Junior wait a bit by the door as he got the couch ready for Junior to sleep on it. As Steve did that Junior had turned around and began to look at all the pictures on the wall by the door.

"Who's that?"

Steve looked up to all the pictures he and Rowan had spent hours painstakingly picking a place for on that wall and smiled.

"My wife," Steve said. "Ro. Rowan. She's uh… she's on the mainland right now."

"Yeah? Doing what?" Junior asked.

"Her movie just premiered…"

"She's an actress? Looks like an actress."

A proud smile touched his face. "Naw, she wrote all the music for it," he said. "The movie just premiered. It's coming out in theaters next month. The red carpet and all the press for it was a few weeks ago. She's negotiating some new deal right now with Disney. She'll be coming home soon though."

Junior turned back to the pictures at the wall and then glanced back to Steve with a knowing smile on his face. "Is she why you settled into domestic life so well?"

"Uh… not when I first got out," Steve said. "But uh… recently, yeah. I'd say she's why I've gotten so domestic."

Nahele chose that time to come down the stairs, but he stopped just short of the bottom step as he caught sight of Junior. He stared at him for a moment before turning to Steve, the confusion furrowing his brow.

"Whoa, what's this? He's back? And there are sheets on the couch…"

"Nahele, this is Junior," Steve said. "He's going to be staying with us until he gets on his feet. Junior this is my son Nahele, you two have already met, unofficially."

"Yeah, this time I have a shirt," Nahele said going to shake Junior's hand. He then turned to his dad with a laugh. "Mom's gonna kill you," he had said with a big grin on his face. "Adopting a Teams guy and a dog without telling her. You're dead when she get's home Dad. Dead."

"Hey!" Steve had said. "It's fine. She'll understand."

"Yeah, cause mom's known for being understanding when you do stuff like this," Nahele said, his words dripping with sarcasm. "You hungry Junior? I was gonna get myself a snack, I can get something for you too."

"Uh… sure… I could eat something."

"Cookies and milk it is," Nahele said. "And they're homemade. Mom made them before she left. Froze a bunch for us, just gotta pop them in the oven for like two minutes and it's just like she made them today."

As Nahele walked into the kitchen Steve called: "Make at least two for me two, eh!"

He turned back around and found Junior had stepped a little closer to him. "Are you sure this is okay? I don't want your wife to get mad…"

Steve waved him off right away. "Don't worry about it. Don't listen to the kid, I'm sure Ro won't mind."

That seemed to calm Junior down a bit but the truth was Steve wasn't sure how Rowan was going to react. He was just hoping he could distract her long enough to come up with a plan. But he even knew that probably wouldn't work.

Well, the good news was that he wouldn't have to worry about it until later.