Ma’ane’i No Ke Aloha - Continued
Present
“Well you look like shit.” Mary greets her brother as he opens the front door. “Did you get hit by a truck?”
“Hello to you too, Mare.” Steve steps back as she pushes her way in, luggage first. “What are you doing here?”
“I love it. I travel 2500 miles and that’s what I get.” She drops her bags onto the floor with an exhausted sigh. Steve doesn’t give her the satisfaction of replying, remaining infuriatingly silent and looking at her blankly instead. “Danny called me, okay?”
“He called you? Why did he call you? Wait -“ His eyebrows furrow and he waves his hands to erase the last two questions in favor of another. “What is Danny even doing with your phone number?”
Mary throws herself down on the couch, legs hanging over the armrest. One of the pillows is lumpy behind her back and she wiggles around, reaching underneath her body to pull it out. She tosses it onto the floor.
“We’re having a torrid love affair behind your back, obviously. Danny, talk dirty to me!” She cries out suddenly with hysteric passion, writhing on the couch. Mary stops as abruptly as she began and slips on a mask of seriousness. “You should see my phone bill. Astronomical.”
The look on Steve’s face is priceless. If only she had a camera.
“Relax, bro. He asked for it last time, as like, an emergency contact or whatever. In case something happened, y’know, like that.” She gestures up and down his bruised and battered body. His white wife beater shows off the fine collection of wounds and bandages he’s sporting.
“I took a hard fall after the bullet impact.” Steve puts his hands on his hips, staring her down. “The guy only had the upper hand for a minute.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re awesome, I get it. Point is, you should let your only sister know when you freakin’ get shot.”
“I’ve been shot plenty of times and I’ve never called you before.”
Mary ignores him but pauses in middle of getting comfortable, noticing the differences in the room around her. Some of the framed photographs and knick-knacks are gone, furniture rearranged.
“Did you paint in here?”
“Yeah, I had to put up new drywall.” He shrugs. “New windows too, in case you’re wondering.”
“House is still half mine.” Mary sits up on her elbows and glares at him accusingly. “You could’ve asked before you started remodeling.”
“It wasn’t remodeling. There was some damage. Structurally.”
“Structurally?” She stands and goes to the windows, inspecting Steve’s handiwork with a critical eye. He always thought he was better with tools than he actually is; that’s why their dad’s Mercury Marquis is still sitting in the garage after all these years, engine in pieces. But the windows look fine.
Maybe he had help.
There is a rip in the ugly green leaf curtains - her mom hated those curtains, why did Dad ever put them back up? She pokes her finger through and wiggles it around.
“Is this a bullet hole?” Mary turns to Steve, holding the torn fabric for him to see. He rubs the back of his neck, a little sheepish.
“Guess I missed that one. Not a big deal, I don’t use the curtains much anyway.”
“What’d you do, get a little trigger happy in here while cleaning your guns?” She asks, wondering now exactly how much ‘structural damage’ he’d caused while she was back in L.A.
“Ah, someone thought I made good target practice.” He comments with an annoyingly passé shrug. “Fortunately, they missed.”
Her face must betray her concern because Steve outright laughs at her and then proceeds to misread her expression entirely.
“Mary, it’s just a house. Blood’s gone, mess is cleaned up, don’t worry. Hell, the place is probably in better shape than ever.”
She stares at him, flabbergasted. Sometimes he’s so much like their father that it confounds her. The emotional side of things just doesn’t occur to him.
“Blood?”
“Enemy combatants.” He waves her off and continues on, stream of thought barely interrupted. “And I can buy out your half of the house if you want me to. Or if you want it, want to move back home, I can clear out, get another place. I’m only here ‘cause it was the easiest option.”
“Don’t get all sentimental on me now, Steve,” Mary comments sarcastically. She takes a moment to look around, wondering what else she’s missed in the months since her last visit. “Have you done anything since I’ve been gone besides get beat up and shot at?”
“I’ve surfed a little.” He offers, twinkle in his eye.
“And no injuries or gunfire there? I’m surprised, sounds like all you’ve done since coming back home is get into trouble.”
“Now you sound like Danno.”
Mary lets the curtain go and picks up Steve’s phone from one of the end tables. Flipping through his contacts, she sees that the recent calls list is an endless repetition of one person’s name.
“Yeah, speaking of ‘Danno,’” She turns the small screen toward Steve. “Exactly how long have you two been surgically attached at the hip?”
Steve crosses the room and grabs the phone from her hand, though it takes him a lot longer to move than she expected. She lets him take his time; she’s trying to be annoying, not mean. He petulantly shoves the phone into the back pocket of his jeans.
“We’re partners. We have a lot to discuss.”
“Right. In case you were wondering, he sounded like a panic-stricken housewife when he called me.”
“I wasn’t wondering, but thanks for that.”
“Once I got passed being worried and then being pissed, the whole thing was pretty amusing.”
She smirks at Steve knowingly. Her brother’s always been closer to his guy pals than to any girl. First his football buddies, then his Navy brothers, now Danny. She pities the woman who thinks she’s ever going to compare, despite whatever Steve might make her obnoxiously scream out in bed.
“How’s what’s-her-name…Catherine, by the way?” Mary walks around the room slowly, pausing every so often to inspect the seams in the new drywall.
Steve looks at her flatly, taking a beat before answering.
“Overseas.”
“And Kono?” Steve shakes his head at her and crosses his arms over his chest. She puts up a mocking front of innocence. “What? She’s cute, Stevie. Why should I assume there’s nothing going on there?”
“Co-workers, Mare. Eight years younger than me, a rookie, and she’s Chin’s cousin.”
“Oh…Chin.” Mary says more to herself than to her brother, running a finger along the wall as she gets lost in her own thoughts. “Almost forgot about him.”
She’d never told Steve that she knew about what happened back then, in those strange months before they both left Hawaii. There was nothing she liked better than pushing Steve’s buttons and getting him riled up, but she’d never been brave enough to push that particular one.
Her stomach growls, yanking her back to the present.
“I’m starving. Do you have anything to eat?”
“I have beer.” Steve replies. He moves toward her luggage. “Why don’t you throw your stuff upstairs and we’ll go out.”
He picks up one of her bags and Mary can see it then, how uncomfortable he really is.
“Christ, you’re really hurt, aren’t you?”
“I’m fine.” He insists, and she knows better than to argue, it’s like talking to a brick wall. Steve watches her quickly pick up the rest of her things and she can practically hear something click into place. Realization dawns on his face and under his breath he counts the number of bags she has brought with her. “Exactly how long are you planning on staying?”
“Not that long.” She mumbles and heads for the stairs. Steve grabs her by the back of her shirt and draws her back in front of him.
“Nuh-uh, Mary Ann McGarrett. Get back here.” He bends down and looks her in the eye. “You’re not home because Danny called you, are you?”
“Not…entirely.” She admits, pouting slightly at being caught out. Damn Steve. She’d hoped to bring this up a bit later, once she’d had some time to work it into conversation naturally, but of course he has to go and be him about the whole thing.
“Mary.”
“Ok. I lost my job, all right?”
“Lost your job.”
“I got fired.”
“Why’d you get fired?”
“The why isn’t important. I need a place to stay and I thought since you never even asked before moving in here like the place was yours-“
“Wow, if that’s your way of asking if you can stay here…” Steve acts blown away by her attitude. She brings out her glare again.
“I don’t really have to ask, Steve. I was going to try and be polite but if you’re going to get all high and mighty… It’s not like you’ve never been fired from a job before.”
“I have never been fired from a job before.” He replies and she wants to slap him. Instead she groans in frustration and turns away. “What? I have never been fired from a job before. That’s just the truth. I mean, if you want to compare case histories here, I’m gonna have to point out that Governor Jameson begged me to take the job I currently have.”
“I hate you.”
“People say that to me a lot, but no one ever really means it.” Steve takes her carry-on from over his shoulder and deposits it on hers. “Ditch your stuff and let’s go.”
“Thanks for the help.” She grunts and awkwardly pulls and drags the rest of her luggage up the stairs behind her. Steve watches her struggle with amusement, immune to her deathly glare.
She’s at the top of the stairs when she hears his phone ring.
“Danno.”
How not surprising.
“Yeah, I’d love to, but I have a houseguest. Three guesses who.” Mary can almost hear Danny’s reply from where she stands, the guy talks so loud. “I can get your mother’s number, I know people. How’d you like some visitors from Jersey?” Another pause, another garbled noise like one of Charlie Brown’s teachers. “Oh, you would not love it. You want your mother to see that hovel you live in?”
Steve is grinning from ear to ear as he bickers with his partner. Mary can’t see him anymore, but she can hear the smile in his voice.
“I can meet up but Mary’s coming with…So glad that makes you happy. Keep laughing, Danno. See you in a few.”
There are footsteps toward the stairs and Mary stops eavesdropping and resumes struggling with her bags, ready to huff at her brother when he appears in her line of vision.
“Get a move on, we’re meeting Danny in fifteen.” He heads toward their father’s bedroom, which he’s now made his. In his hurry he forgets to hide his limp, hobbling like an old man with a sore hip. “I’m gonna get changed, then we’ll go.”
“Yes, sir,” she salutes, rolling her eyes, but Steve’s already on the move, no longer looking at her. God forbid they make Danny wait.
*******
January, 1994
When Steve comes through the wide double doors of the police precinct, anger swells up inside of her and she’s too drunk to contain it.
Mary whirls toward Officer Kelly, instantly forgetting the fact that up until that moment, she’d been trying to flirt with him. There hadn’t been any cops as good looking as him the last time she was here.
“You called my brother? Really?” She’s shrieking and it doesn’t sound pleasant. In fact, she sounds like a banshee, but she can’t help it.
“I could call your father if you prefer.” He comments calmly, unperturbed. His face barely moves as he talks to her and his pen doesn’t waver in filling out his paperwork. It’s ridiculous.
“Whatever, Zen Master,” she mutters and crosses her arms over her chest, plopping back down in the orange plastic chair next to his desk.
Steve looks tired, hair bed rumpled. And he looks disappointed in the way that only Steve can, like he can’t quite believe he’s been saddled with her as a sister. The Great Steve McGarrett deserves so much better than this, picking her up at 3am on a drunk and disorderly.
He barely looks at her as he walks up to Officer Kelly and she sticks her tongue out at him on principle. The cop stands to greet Steve, dropping his pen and circling his desk.
“Maholo, Chin.” Steve’s extending his hand and the officer grasps it firmly with his right, then covers their combined grip with his left. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this, all of this.”
“A’ole pilikia, brah. It’s her first time in trouble, it’s the least I could do.”
“It’s so not the first time,” Steve mumbles.
“You two know each other.” Mary observes, pointing between them. “Well don’t give me any special treatment just ‘cause I’m his sister. I don’t even like him.”
“Mary Ann, please shut. Up.” Steve sighs, exhausted.
“I’m friends with your father.” Officer Kelly - Chin, apparently - informs her. “And that, young lady, is why I called your brother. I know your grandmother is out of town and how upset she would be if she found out how you behaved when you were trusted to be left alone.”
“You mean you’re afraid Steve-O’s gonna get reamed out for letting me get into trouble,” Mary corrects. “And don’t ‘young lady’ me, what are you, like a biscuit older than me? Can you even shave yet, Doogie?”
“Okay, so we’re gonna go before Chin here calls takeback on his incredibly kind offer of leniency.” Steve holds out his hand like he expects her to take it. She’s not sure what dream world he’s living in.
“I think I’d rather be locked up.”
Steve closes his eyes, taking a deep breath like he’s holding himself back from saying something terrible. He reaches up to run a hand through his hair and as his tattered black hoodie rides up, Mary sees Chin’s eyes catch on her brother’s exposed abs.
She watches him looking. A telltale tinge of pink flushes his cheeks.
Not so Zen after all then.
“So how do you two know each other again?” She asks, quite interested by this turn of events. It’s not the first time she’s been made aware that others, unfortunately, find her brother attractive - if she had a dollar for every time some classmate of hers tried to buddy up with her just to get to him, she’d have enough cash to buy her own damn car - but it’s the first she’s ever witnessed another guy giving Steve a blatant once over.
“He knows dad, Mare.” Steve doesn’t bother opening his eyes, his shoulders slumping. “That’s dad’s fucking desk right over there, don’t pretend-“
“Steve…” Chin’s hand is on Steve’s shoulder now and Steve stops talking, opening his eyes and focusing on the man in front of him. Christ, this guy’s pathetic; he’s practically feeling Steve up right in front of her.
“Yeah, I know how he knows Dad, loser. What I asked is how he knows you. When’s the last time you even saw Dad?”
“Chin used to be quarterback for the Kings. That’s how I know him,” Steve says bluntly. “Now that the big mystery is solved, can we please go home.”
“Fine, let’s goddamn go then. Jesus.”
Steve’s taking off his sweatshirt and handing it to her, leaving him only in a thin white undershirt.
“What’s this for.” Mary looks at the sweatshirt like he’s giving her a ticking time bomb.
“It’s cold outside and you’re dressed, well, Mare…you’re kinda dressed like a hooker,” he spits out like he can’t be bothered to find a sugarcoated way to say it. “You’re not walking home like that, you’ll be freezing.”
“I am not dressed like a hooker.” She looks down at her hot pink halter and denim mini skirt, finding nothing wrong with the ensemble. “And why the hell did you walk? I have heels on.”
“Like I’m going to have you drunk and puking in Grams’ car? Thanks but no thanks. You already dragged me outta bed at three in the morning to get your ass out of jail, I’m not cleaning your vomit out of the upholstery tomorrow.”
“Sorry I’m such an inconvenience, why don’t I just stay here then and rot.”
“Why don’t you let me give you both a ride home. It’s too late for you to be out walking anyway.” Chin is patting Steve on the back now, stepping closer. If Steve doesn’t know this guy wants to bone him, he has to be a bigger idiot than she imagined.
“Bet you’d like to give him a ride,” she mumbles under her breath, glancing down at her nails and realizing sadly that somewhere between slapping Jenny Hou in the face and getting pushed to the pavement outside the bar, she chipped her brand new silver nail polish.
“It’s not too much trouble?” Steve angles away from her, turning his back like he and Chin are having a private adult conversation she can’t be a part of.
She wants to punch Steve in the face.
“I want to punch you in the face.”
Steve acts like she said nothing at all. With him on her left side and Chin on her right, they lead her outside to the squad car and bundle her into the back seat. Chin even ducks and covers her head like she’s a real criminal; all that’s missing are the handcuffs. Handcuffs would’ve been cool.
Steve sits up front, where the doors can be unlocked from the inside.
She spends the short ride home staring out the window. She would ignore her brother if he bothered to talk to her, but he doesn’t give her the pleasure. He and Chin have their own conversation, something stupid about football, and it’s like she’s not even there.
When Steve lets her out of the back seat, she storms past him and Officer Kelly and makes sure to slam the front door behind her as hard as she can. The force of it rattles the decorative plates her grandmother has on the wall so she figures that it was a winner. She follows suit with her own bedroom door and then flings herself onto her bed.
Clutching her pillow, she waits for Steve to barge into her room without knocking, followed by a whole lot of yelling about things like he’s her father, like he has any right to say what she does or how she should behave. Like having two years on her makes him ten times wiser and a hundred times more important.
But twenty minutes pass and nothing happens, her door remains closed. The house they share with their grandmother is small enough that she can hear anyone coming and going, so Steve must still be outside.
Giving in to curiosity, Mary creeps down the hallway to the living room, where she can hear the faint murmur of conversation. Chin and her brother are sitting on the front steps beside one another, bathed in the yellow glow of the porch light. They are talking quietly enough that she can’t make out what they’re saying.
Holding her breath, she crawls onto the couch for a better view and nudges the window open just a crack, hoping against hope that she won’t be discovered. They continue on so she must be safe.
“It has to be hard. Losing your mom, and then with your dad, well…having to move in with your grandmother like this. Mary’s acting out like any kid would.”
“I haven’t.”
“You’re different. You’re…stronger.”
Mary practically gags. And Steve was worried about her puking in the car.
“It’s not all about my mom. I don’t even know if it’s about my dad. She was like this before. She’s always been desperate for attention, it’s just been getting so much worse and I don’t know if my grandmother can keep handling it -“
“Well.” Chin interrupts as if the word itself is an explanation. Mary can’t see her brother’s face but she can picture his dopey look of confusion.
“Well?”
“C’mon, Steve. I doubt it’s easy having you as her brother. I would imagine you are a hard act to follow.”
“That’s not true.” He shakes his head like Chin’s words aren’t halfway plausible.
“It is. Believe me, between the way your father talked about you and the word around town, I was afraid I was going to have to hate you myself.”
He nudges Steve’s knee with his own, sending their bodies gently rocking into one another’s.
Steve smiles, then. She knows it simply because of the way Chin smiles back.
“But you don’t? Hate me?”
“You’re actually kind of perfect, Steve McGarrett.”
Mary wonders if Steve suspects he’s about to be kissed. She sees it coming a mile away, too transfixed by the idea of it to be annoyed by yet more glorious praise heaped on her brother’s shoulders.
The moment is there, to either break the tension or give into it, but Steve doesn’t move one way or another, physically or verbally. He has to feel it, what’s coming, but maybe he’s too confused to do anything about it. That’s the only explanation that Mary can fathom for his complete lack of action.
Chin’s eyes flick down uncertainly toward Steve’s lips and then back up to his eyes. Mary feels like she’s watching a movie.
“Chin…” Steve’s voice wavers but it’s not a denial. Chin leans in and then they’re kissing. Softly, chastely, but they’re kissing.
It must only last a minute but it’s like the whole world stops. Her brother is kissing a guy. Her brother is kissing a guy.
This is really happening. Or maybe she’s drunker than she thought.
“Holy fuck,” she whispers. Chin chooses that moment to pull away and Mary slaps a hand over her mouth and ducks down out of sight. The couch squeaks uncooperatively as the springs shift under her weight.
It must have been a coincidence in timing because neither one of them give any indication they heard her gasp or move.
“I’m sorry.” Chin’s voice is heavy with worry. “I…really shouldn’t have done that.”
“Hana hou,” Steve whispers back, not sounding at all like the brother she knows. “Just…do it again?” Mary lifts her head to peek outside and now there are open mouths, and tongue, and oh my god…
Someone groans, she thinks maybe Steve, and then Chin reels away like he’s been burnt. Steve nearly falls forward, off balance from the sudden lack of lips against his own.
“I should go. I…I have to go.” Chin stammers, ashamed and embarrassed. He practically trips over his own two feet as he races to the patrol car.
He doesn’t manage to get the headlights on until he’s halfway down the street. Steve hasn’t moved from where he sits on the step, staring at the place where Chin had been only a moment before.
“What the…” Steve mumbles to himself and shakily pushes up to stand.
Steve’s going to come inside and Mary has to move, but he’ll hear her if she does now. She holds her breath as the front door opens and bites back the urge to poke at him with a timely Was that a gun in his holster or was he just happy to see you?
It would be all too easy to use what she’d witnessed as ammunition, but this is too different. It’s too real. She can’t make fun of Steve for this. She doesn’t even want him to find out that she saw.
He doesn’t turn on the light. He doesn’t turn around and see her sitting there, only a few feet behind him. He doesn’t shake it off and go to her room to give her the hollering she’s sure he thinks she deserves. Or that he thought she deserved before when he could think about anything else besides being kissed by Chin Kelly.
Instead he slips into his own bedroom and shuts the door. He locks it.
Mary sits in the dark for a long time.
It’s a sobering thought, realizing maybe Steve doesn’t have it so easy after all.
*******
Present
“Must you make everything so difficult?” Kono hears Danny snapping as she walks into HQ. Another day at the office, then.
She’s surprised when she rounds the corner and finds the source of Danny’s frustration. It has nothing to do with Steve bucking protocol or acting with his liberal definition of caution.
“Glaciers have melted, I’ve been waiting so long for you to take your turn.”
Steve taps a finger against his lips as he contemplates his next move, deep in thought. Danny drums his own fingers on the table in a rapid, impatient, rat-a-tat rhythm.
“Some time today pal.”
Steve grunts, rolling his eyes.
“Hang on, hang on.” Steve leans forward and sets six tiles down, taking his time to carefully place each one. He’s trying not to smirk but Kono can see the edge of his mouth lifting and she knows he’s making Danny crazy on purpose.
“Triple letter score.” Steve adds up his new total on the small sheet of paper laying on the table between them where they’re tallying up their points. “Danny, I had no idea you sucked so hard at this game.”
“That is not a word.” Danny points to the Scrabble board where Steve had just laid down MUZJIKS. “How is this a word?”
“You don’t believe me.” Steve acts affronted.
“No, I don’t believe you. Because I speak English and this is not an English word. You are making shit up.”
“A Muzjik is a Russian peasant. Look it up.”
“I will.” Danny states and gets up from the table. “I will do that, Steve McGarrett, and when I prove you a cheater, you are buying me a beer.”
“M comes after L and before N in the dictionary, Danny, if you need help.”
Danny scowls and goes into his office, only to come back out a minute later empty-handed. He then stalks into Steve’s office and starts rifling through his desk.
Steve puts his feet up on the table and kicks back, greatly amused with himself despite the fact that Kono knows his leisurely position can’t possibly be comfortable with all of his injuries. He wiggles his eyebrows at Kono, inviting her to relish his ability to drive Danny up a wall. He’s incorrigible, so she shouldn’t smile, but it’s hard not to. Steve can be hard-edged and tough-as-nails, but when it comes to Danny, her boss is like a gleeful kid with a new toy. He gets such joy from pushing Danny’s buttons.
And really, Kono is beginning to think Danny likes having his buttons pushed.
With a loud thwap, Danny drops a stack of papers from one side of Steve’s desk to the other. Steve pushes off from the table and sends his rolling swivel chair back a few feet so he can peek through his office door, interested in what Danny is messing with.
“Can I help you find something, Daniel?”
Danny comes back into the common room, finally taking notice that Kono has arrived.
“How is it that with all this high tech crazyass stuff we have in this office, we do not have a simple, plain old dictionary? Y’know, two covers with lots and lots of pages in between them, tiny print.” Steve stares at him blankly and pretends not to understand. “Kono, do you have a dictionary?”
“Can do you one better.” She sets down the small shoe box she’s carrying and grabs her phone from her pocket. A couple of clicks and a glance at the Scrabble board to make sure she’s got the spelling right, and she has Danny’s answer. “Sorry, bro, but Steve’s right. Muzjik - Russian peasant.”
“Guess you’re buying me a beer.” Steve folds his arms behind his head and leans back, his triumph tempered by the small twinge of pain from his still healing wounds. His wince flickers quickly across his face like a bird would flee a predator.
“Let me see that.” Danny mutters. Kono holds the phone so Danny can see the small screen. He doesn’t really look all that disappointed and Kono wonders how often he picks fights with Steve just to pick a fight and not because he actually cares or has a real opinion. Half the time, they really are arguing for the sake of hearing the other’s voice come back at them.
“Feel free to concede defeat if you wish.” Steve surveys the two columns of numbers on the paper in front of him. “I don’t think you’re coming back from this one.”
“So says you.” Danny sits back down and moves his tray of letters closer, re-arranging one tile from the right end to the left.
“So says math.” Steve counters, gesturing to the score sheet.
“Well what can I say, I’m used to letting Gracie win when we play board games.”
“If you’re saying you’re letting me win, Danny, that’s the lamest excuse I’ve ever heard, not to mention the most untrue.”
“Next time we’re playing Candyland.” Danny mumbles, dumping his wooden tiles back into the velvet bag and tossing it to Steve so the other man can finish cleaning the game up.
“I always liked Chutes & Ladders.” Kono leans into Chin’s doorway but finds her cousin’s office empty. “Chin and I used to play for hours when he’d watch me after school.”
“I was always a fan of Risk, myself,” Steve shrugs and Danny barks out a sharp note of laughter.
“Of course you were.”
“What?”
“Seriously, what nine year old kid loves Risk. That game is the most boring game in the history of all games.”
“Battleship, Dogfight, Hit the Beach, all classics, all a good time.” Steve smiles fondly as he lists off titles on his fingers.
“Dogfight? Hit the Beach? Why do I feel like game night at the McGarrett household required Kevlar.”
“Not until we were thirteen.” Mary saunters into the room, carrying a paper bag overflowing with junk food. Chin follows shortly behind her, an open cardboard box in his arms out of which two or three potted plants are overflowing.
“Hey, cuz, I was just wondering where you were.” Kono watches as Chin sets down his load. “Doing a little gardening?”
“They’re for the office. I thought you all could use a little green in here,” Mary explains. “This place is as sterile as a gyno’s office.”
“Thanks for that mental image,” Danny replies, shaking his head and then poking into the bag of food she also brought in. “And she comes bearing Cheetos. Amazing woman, I love you.” He grabs both sides of Mary’s head and plants a sloppy smack of a kiss to her forehead.
Kono shoots Steve a questioning look, not wanting to be rude but wondering why his sister is back in town and bringing them gifts.
“Mary’s going to be doing some filing for us for awhile,” Steve informs her. “Making coffee, running some errands -“
“Generally being your bitch-“
“So if there’s anything you need a hand with, let her know.” Steve talks as if Mary hadn’t interrupted him at all and Kono gets the feeling that will become a regular thing around here, much like Danny and Steve’s constant back and forth.
“I’m going to go put this one in your office.” Mary’s off, an African violet in hand, and Steve aims an accusing finger at Danny.
“I’d like to state for the record that this is his fault.”
“How is it my fault?” Danny says, or at least Kono thinks that what he says. The mouthful of bright orange processed food makes him a bit hard to understand.
“What’s in the box?” Chin, always ready to defuse a Steve - Danny explosion before the powder keg ignites, points to the container Kono has with her.
“Tutu was going through old photographs and she gave me some snapshots to give to you.” She opens the lid and tilts the box toward her cousin so he can see the faded three-by-fives and Polaroids scattered inside. She sifts through them lightly: there’d been one she’d left on top but somewhere between here and there it must have shifted.
“You won’t believe, swear to god I found one of you and Steve.”
“Huh?” Steve hadn’t really been listening, his attention not surprisingly still on Danny, and he angles himself toward her at the sound of his name.
“I found a picture of you in my grandmother’s things. You guys are at some BBQ, I think it was one of Makaio’s…” For a minute she doubts herself, thinking she might have been mistaken, but then she catches sight of the photo underneath one from Chin’s sixteenth birthday. “Ah - here we go. Look, Steve, you’re a baby.”
“This I have to see.” Danny’s at her side before either Chin or Steve start to move.
“Be careful with the-“ Kono warns him, pointing at his orange powder-stained fingers, holding the photograph away from his messy hands.
“Just hold it there, I won’t touch it-“ Kono displays the Polaroid for him and Danny’s grin breaks a mile wide.
“Oh my god, Steve in his football jersey. You’re adorable, babe,” Danny teases good-naturedly and slaps Steve on his good shoulder as he comes over. “You look like such a kid.”
“Well I was.” Steve responds, eyeing the picture as he brushes Cheeto crumbs off the sleeve of his shirt.
“It’s just hard to believe, that’s all. You’re kinda like Miss Trunchbull in that way.”
“Who?”
“Nevermind. And Chin! Wow, man. Your hair is so short.”
“That was my first year on the job…” Chin shakes his head as the memories must come rushing back. “I kept it tight.”
Steve and Chin’s smiles are both fading and they glance at one another before taking a step away from her and from each other. It’s awkward enough that Kono picks up on it immediately.
In the picture, Steve’s got his arm thrown over Chin’s shoulder, Chin pulled close in the crook of Steve’s elbow. Steve’s got on his 5-0 jersey and an easy, loose grin. Chin has on a black tee and a giddy expression that Kono hasn’t seen in years. Not his standard calm, slow-spreading smile that’s even and steady like a clear summer day, but the intense one that’s like the sun’s rays bursting through the clouds after a rainstorm.
They’re both tan and happy and they look so young.
It’s funny, because she remembers looking up to her cousin then - she couldn’t have been more than ten or eleven at the time - and he seemed so old and cool and wise. She couldn’t wait to be his age. She’d been certain her life would be amazing by the time she was twenty-three. Looking at the photo now, Chin looks like a kid.
She doesn’t recall Steve being there or having met him, but why would she? He’d meant nothing to her at the time, and it wasn’t like he was an imposing badass Navy SEAL then, and she’d been too young to find him attractive. He’d probably seemed like any other football buddy of any of her cousins. She’d grown up surrounded by them so Steve wouldn’t have been anything remarkable.
“I, uh, I thought you two didn’t know each other back then.” Danny’s comment isn’t pointed or suspicious - more of an offhand side bar hey-didn’t-you-say? - but Kono sees Chin tense. Steve hesitates before answering, his voice forcedly casual.
“We didn’t, really. We might’ve run into each other or something, but we didn’t, y’know, hang out.”
“If memory serves, I got blitzed out of my mind that weekend.” Kono’s tempted to ask him how he remembers exactly which weekend it was, but Steve’s already chiming in with his own addition to the story.
“And I was leaving for Plebes in like a week, I think, and it was like a non-stop party with my guys. Chances are we could’ve met and both been too drunk to remember.”
Her cousin is making excuses and Steve’s practically jumping out of his skin. Seeing the only two non-shakeable people she knows get shaken is an odd and unsettling experience.
And all it took was one photo.
“Y’know, Steve, you made it seem like it was go-go-go here all the time. I’d have to be on my toes, is what you said? But you’re all like, playing Scrabble and scrapbooking.” Mary pops up beside Danny out of nowhere - damn stealthy McGarretts - and peers over Kono’s shoulder.
“It’s a slow day, Mare. They happen.” Steve says defensively.
“I love how you say that like it’s a bad thing. Be glad! They’re few and far between,” Danny replies, clasping his hands together as if begging. “Let Hawaii have one day free of crazy-ass criminals. Please.” Mary shrugs and looks closer at the picture.
“What are we all gawking at?”
“Just some old photos-“ Steve starts.
“Steve and Chin’s long-lost friendship, apparently,” Danny comments dryly. Steve crosses his arms across his broad chest and finds an interesting spot on the ground to look at.
“Oh, back then Steve knew everybody a little and nobody at all.” Mary takes the Polaroid from Kono’s grip and gives it a quick glance, then tosses it back into the box like it’s of no consequence. She picks up a different one just as quickly. “Is this you, Kono? You look like you can barely walk and you’re surfing?”
Mary places the picture in Kono’s hand with a deliberateness that’s hard to misinterpret.
No one who grew up on the island would be surprised that a six year old is on a surfboard. Mary only wants her to change the subject.
“Danny, you’ve got a daughter, right? Kono should show her some moves on the board.”
Kono has to hand it to Mary; Danny can’t protest quickly enough. Chin and Steve may be instantly forgotten by Danny, but not by her. Kono stays silent and watches.
Chin leaves the group slowly, like a man backing away from a suspect with a gun. He slips into his office without another word and closes the door.
It takes Kono a bit longer to extricate herself from the situation. Mary mentioning Gracie and surfing in the same breath is like setting a pack of wolves loose on raw meat, and Danny is vicious in his need to make it clear that the first person to let Grace touch a board will get a can of Jersey whoop-ass opened up one side and down the other.
Luckily, Mary soon sets in on his tie and Kono uses the opportunity to take her box of photos and join Chin in his office.
She closes the door behind her and leans against it. The smile she offers her cousin is conciliatory.
“She’s going to be working here, huh?”
“Only for a little while. Steve’s helping her out.” Chin explains. “Ohana. You know how it is.”
“Yeah, ohana.”
“I had to bring her in to the station quite a few times when she was younger. I don’t know if she remembers that.” He chuckles at the memory.
“She and Steve couldn’t be more different.” Looking out the window and its open blinds, they both watch Steve, Danny and Mary in the war room. Between the three of them there is a lot a hand movement going on.
“I think they’re very much the same, actually,” Chin counters. “It’s just that Steve’s always had a single-minded purpose and Mary…well, that energy goes everywhere, it has no focus.”
“Yeah…” Kono reaches over and tilts the blinds closed. She sets the photo box down on the edge of Chin’s desk and flips the lid once more. Chin’s been making astute observations about Steve and his tendencies since they both joined the task force, but she’d assumed they were based in his general knowledge of the McGarrett way - his experiences with Jack extrapolated and filtered down to apply to his son.
“Can I ask you something?”
“You can ask me anything, cuz.” There’s a catch in his voice that makes her think that while he’ll never shut her down, there are things he rather hopes she’ll leave alone.
“You got all weird out there.” Kono lifts the photo of him and Steve and holds it between two fingers. “What’s got you rattled?”
“It’s nothing.”
Kono smiles weakly.
“C’mon, Chin.” She says and sits down across from him. “I always knew that I.A. stuff was crap, because in our whole lives, you’ve never lied to me, not once. You can bullshit a criminal in the name of the job, but you never could pull it off with family.”
Kono slides the picture across to Chin, leaving it in front of him.
“Please don’t start trying now.” She pleads earnestly.
“Kono…”Chin seems to be weighing his options, uneasy. “Steve and I…we were friends only for a short while. And some things happened…”
“What things?”
“Things that I shouldn’t discuss. All that matters is that those things that happened…” Chin is choosing his words carefully. “They are between me and Steve, and they are in the past. That’s where we’d both like them to stay. We’ve moved on. Can you just trust me, and leave it at that?”
Kono can tell Chin is being serious and while it only piques her curiosity more, she knows that it’s not her place to push it. If Chin doesn’t want her to know, she can respect that.
“Of course I can.”
“Thank you.”
“But you know, if you ever change your mind,” Kono offers as she stands up to leave. “I’m always ready to talk. About anything.”
“I know. And thanks.” Chin nods and holds out the photograph for her to collect. She shakes her head.
“You hang onto it. Your memories, not mine.” Kono shoots him a reassuring smile and lets herself out, leaving him be. Across the room, Mary’s puttering around and scoping things out while Danny and Steve have settled into a conversation approximating normal, something about plans for Grace’s birthday and Steve kindly offering up his house for a party.
She gives them five minutes before something else sends Danny apoplectic, but for the moment they’re both content. The only thing that comes anywhere near to Danny’s happiness at being with Grace is Danny talking about Grace to Steve.
Likewise, Steve’s never more open and friendly than when it concerns Danny and his daughter. Kono’s not sure if it’s Grace or Danny that has him wrapped around their little finger the most, but it’s rare to see Steve bend so easily and willingly as he does with them.
That’s why she hates to break up the moment, but there’s a question at the forefront of her mind that will only confirm her suspicions and her curiosity makes her impatient.
“Hey boss - when you came back to the island, y’know, whenever you were on leave from school or the Navy, did you have your truck then?”
“Naw, I only came back a couple of times, so I drove around my dad’s Marquis. Why?” Steve replies, not thinking much of it. Mary looks at her sharply.
“Just wondering how long you’ve had your pick up. Thinking that I need to get something with a little more horsepower, maybe four wheel drive, if I’m gonna keep up with you guys. I was gonna ask how your truck’s been, but if you’ve only had it for these past few months…”
“It’s been great so far.”
“He hasn’t totaled it in a high speed pursuit, so that’s a plus.” Danny chimes in. “Frankly, I can’t believe the Camaro’s still in one piece.”
“Says the Jersey driver.” Mary snorts.
“Hey, what’s wrong with Jersey?”
“It’s New Jersey for starters. You all drive like morons.”
“Now you’ve done it, Mare. Now I’m going to have to listen to the rundown of how amazing Jersey is for the fiftieth time this week. Thank you for that.”
“Oh yes, Danny, please enlighten me as to the wondrous ways of the Bridge and Tunnel life,” Mary eggs Danny on.
And they’re off again. Kono leaves them to it.
It may be a slow day for the 5-0, but she suddenly has a lot to think about.
*******
June, 1999
“Chin! C’mon, cuz!” Kono pounds exuberantly on the thin aluminum of his front screen door. “Open up!”
She’d hit the beach at 6am hoping to catch some good waves. Chin had promised to meet her there, but hours had slipped by with no sign of him. It’s not like him to ditch out so eventually she gave up the water and headed inland to his apartment.
His motorcycle is out front by the curb. A large black car the size of a small boat is taking up all the space in the cracked cement driveway Chin shares with the folks in the apartment upstairs. It’s the kind of car their Uncle Ke’ala used to drive as a detective for HPD; now the thing just looks like a gas-guzzling tank.
Chin must be pissed that someone bogarted his parking spot, he hates leaving his bike on the street.
“Chin! Don’t tell me you’re still sleeping, brah!” Kono grabs the key from the ledge above the door and lets herself in. It’s a pretty normal practice; she’s over here most every day. “Officer Kelly…!” She sing-songs as she steps into the living room.
The apartment is dim, the curtains drawn. One of Chin’s shirts is crumpled on the floor and it strikes her as odd because her cousin has only become more obsessively tidy the older he gets. Kono lets the door fall closed behind her and takes stock of her surroundings. The lampshade on the end table is knocked slightly skewed. Chin’s work bag, gun belt and holster are on the couch instead of stowed in the front hall closet.
Everything else is as it should be, except a pair of men’s black leather shoes, two sizes too big to be Chin’s, tossed carelessly on the middle of the tiled floor. They’re heavy and hard enough that it hurts like a bitch when she stubs her flip-flop clad foot against them.
Kono swears sharply. Chin doesn’t walk out of the kitchen with an admonishment of her foul mouth; the apartment remains silent. She can’t smell any coffee brewing so Chin must be sleeping. The first thing he does after waking is stumble half-blind to the coffee maker.
She stoops to pick the shoes up and sets them safely out of the path to the kitchen.
“Hey! Chin!” Kono says a bit more sharply. “Did you forget about our surf?”
Her hand lifted to knock on his bedroom door, she’s stopped as it abruptly opens and Chin slips out into the hallway. He closes the door immediately behind him. His hair is a mess and he’s clad only in boxers - those horribly tacky ones covered in a police badge print that his mom got him for Christmas last year. He looks like he hasn’t slept a wink and his usually pale lips are pink and swollen like he’s been eating bowlfuls of cherry shave ice.
Kono couldn’t be sure because it’d happened so fast, but she swore that with the short glimpse she’d stolen of his room, she’d seen that his bed hadn’t exactly been left empty.
“Kono. Hey. Uh…”
“Oh, shit, cuz. I’m sorry.” Kono blushes and steps back, giving Chin some room.
“Don’t swear,” he admonishes automatically and Kono’s blush turns brighter and she giggles nervously.
“I’m really sorry. I didn’t know that you…” She doesn’t quite know how to say it. She knows what she almost walked in on, that her cousin definitely has some girl in his bed, but the notion of Chin having sex with anyone is both awkward and hilarious. “I thought we were surfing this morning. But, uh, I see that you’re busy, so, I’m gonna go.”
“I forgot, Kono, I’m sorry. I…a friend came in from out of town last night and to be honest I think I had a bit too much to drink.” Chin’s got a better handle on himself now; he seems more awake and less embarrassed. “Don’t tell your mom. Or my mom, for that matter. I’m supposed to be a good role model for you.”
“You’re 28, dude. You’re allowed a hangover. Your friend, she still here?” Kono plays innocent, biting her bottom lip. She’s never been able to make Chin squirm before, never been able to bug him about his love life. It’s time for payback for his never-ending teases about her huge crush on Soo-Kwon in the fifth grade. Chin had thought he was so funny.
“Oh, uh…no.”
“Really.” This time she can’t help laughing a little. Chin’s terrible at this. Perfectly timed, a rather loud snore comes rumbling from behind the closed door and Chin flushes pink underneath his tan. “I see.”
“Okay, so there might be someone in my room -“
“Someone with sinus problems, even -“
“And I think that’s embarrassment enough for one morning.” Chin comes clean and then takes her by the shoulders, turning her around and directing her back down the hallway. “You’re 15 and there are some things you should not know.”
“But I’m 15 and I do know-“
“Well I’d prefer to pretend you don’t, okay?”
“Ooookay, cuz.” She lets him push her back toward the living room, only putting up a little protest mostly for show. She crosses her arms over her chest and pouts. “I see how it is. You get a little tail and suddenly I’m surfing on my own. I’m going to blame you when Ian doesn’t sign me.”
“Water woman, you’re as good as pro already,” Chin compliments her easily, truthfully, and damn him for making her smile. “You’ve been better than your old cousin on that board since day one. You don’t need me.”
“But I like surfing with you.” It comes out close to a whine but she lets it remain as it is because it’s the truth. Despite the size of their family and all the people she could possibly connect with, Chin’s still the only one who has ever really understood her. It’s always been simple with him, as easy as waves meeting the shore.
“We’ll go out tomorrow, yeah?”
“You sure you won’t be…busy?” Kono grins and Chin nudges her toward the front door.
“Out, out, out,” he says sharply as he forcefully moves her down the hall, but his grin undermines his words.
“Kay, kay, I’m going. Pushy, pushy.” Kono stops at the front door, hand on the knob. “Ben said getting laid was supposed to mellow a guy out but-“
“Why are you talking to Ben Bass about ‘getting laid’?” Chin interrupts, a quarter teasing and three quarters dead serious with concern. A surge of both affection and impatience towards her cousin swells within her, the contrary feelings growing nothing but familiar these days. She imagines that this is what other girls talk about when they say they love their dads but sometimes want to kill them.
Chin wanting to protect her makes her grateful and frustrated at the same time.
“Ben and I are just friends, cool down,” Kono laughs because the only other choice is getting angry, and she doesn’t feel like getting angry right now. “Boys and girls can talk about sex without having it, cuz.”
“Where did my innocent little Kono go?” Chin asks as Kono opens the front door. “I remember when boys gave you cooties, young lady.”
“Don’t worry, when I’m off traveling the world, catching the best waves and meeting all kinds of awesome people, I will strive to live up to the fine example of purity and chastity you’ve set for me - oh wait…” Kono taunts, pausing in the open doorway and turning to punch Chin on the shoulder with a wide laugh.
“Hoahanau, you’re kolohe today.”
“Yes, poor Chin, having to deal with me.” She steps into the hug he always offers whenever they part ways. She pats his shoulder as he lets go. “Word of advice, brush the teeth before going back in there, brah. Serious case of morning breath.”
“Kono?” Chin lets go of her and steps back inside.
“Yeah?”
He gives her a pointed look and shuts the door. Kono spins on her heel and bounds down the front steps with a light step, her good mood buoyed by this new development in Chin’s life. She wonders who the girl is, and if she’ll be sticking around. Her aunt’s been on Chin’s case to find someone for a while now. Since he has his job entirely in order, Kono figures it makes sense for Chin to find the next piece of the puzzle and fit it into place. The only thing that rivals police work in their family is the expansion of the family itself - sometimes she thinks her grandparents would be happiest if they could count the whole island as relatives.
Kono pauses alongside the black behemoth in the drive - a Mercury, she sees now, and probably just as old as she thought - and peeks into the driver’s side window.
There’s not much to see but there are a few things on the passenger’s side seat. She circles around to get a closer look.
A U.S. Navy ball cap and a black leather wallet, small and simple enough to be a man’s, lay on the black vinyl seats. Some papers are stacked underneath, but she can’t make out anything legible.
In the back seat there’s a canvas bag, military green and the kind of durable that could probably weather a hurricane. There should be a name stenciled on it somewhere, but it must be facing the seat back because she can’t see any sign of it. Leaning closer doesn’t reveal anything more about it. Merely a standard issue duffel, not even packed full.
So Chin’s got himself a military gal. That’s good, she supposes. Maybe she has the same grace-under-fire calm-in-the-storm capabilities as Chin. Hopefully she’s got a bit of warmth and compassion too, because she can’t see Chin with anyone entirely hard-nosed or uptight.
The rest of the car is empty, completely void of any signs of personality or use. Maybe it’s borrowed, or rented, or barely used. Either way, there aren’t many clues to be had about Chin’s new mystery girl.
Kono backs away from the window. She left a smudge on the glass but she doesn’t have anything to clean it off with so she leaves it be. Throwing one last look back at Chin’s place, she hops on her moped and cranks the engine.
Whoever this girl is, she better not break her cousin’s heart. That’s really the only opinion she has on the matter.
CONTINUED...
“Well you look like shit.” Mary greets her brother as he opens the front door. “Did you get hit by a truck?”
“Hello to you too, Mare.” Steve steps back as she pushes her way in, luggage first. “What are you doing here?”
“I love it. I travel 2500 miles and that’s what I get.” She drops her bags onto the floor with an exhausted sigh. Steve doesn’t give her the satisfaction of replying, remaining infuriatingly silent and looking at her blankly instead. “Danny called me, okay?”
“He called you? Why did he call you? Wait -“ His eyebrows furrow and he waves his hands to erase the last two questions in favor of another. “What is Danny even doing with your phone number?”
Mary throws herself down on the couch, legs hanging over the armrest. One of the pillows is lumpy behind her back and she wiggles around, reaching underneath her body to pull it out. She tosses it onto the floor.
“We’re having a torrid love affair behind your back, obviously. Danny, talk dirty to me!” She cries out suddenly with hysteric passion, writhing on the couch. Mary stops as abruptly as she began and slips on a mask of seriousness. “You should see my phone bill. Astronomical.”
The look on Steve’s face is priceless. If only she had a camera.
“Relax, bro. He asked for it last time, as like, an emergency contact or whatever. In case something happened, y’know, like that.” She gestures up and down his bruised and battered body. His white wife beater shows off the fine collection of wounds and bandages he’s sporting.
“I took a hard fall after the bullet impact.” Steve puts his hands on his hips, staring her down. “The guy only had the upper hand for a minute.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re awesome, I get it. Point is, you should let your only sister know when you freakin’ get shot.”
“I’ve been shot plenty of times and I’ve never called you before.”
Mary ignores him but pauses in middle of getting comfortable, noticing the differences in the room around her. Some of the framed photographs and knick-knacks are gone, furniture rearranged.
“Did you paint in here?”
“Yeah, I had to put up new drywall.” He shrugs. “New windows too, in case you’re wondering.”
“House is still half mine.” Mary sits up on her elbows and glares at him accusingly. “You could’ve asked before you started remodeling.”
“It wasn’t remodeling. There was some damage. Structurally.”
“Structurally?” She stands and goes to the windows, inspecting Steve’s handiwork with a critical eye. He always thought he was better with tools than he actually is; that’s why their dad’s Mercury Marquis is still sitting in the garage after all these years, engine in pieces. But the windows look fine.
Maybe he had help.
There is a rip in the ugly green leaf curtains - her mom hated those curtains, why did Dad ever put them back up? She pokes her finger through and wiggles it around.
“Is this a bullet hole?” Mary turns to Steve, holding the torn fabric for him to see. He rubs the back of his neck, a little sheepish.
“Guess I missed that one. Not a big deal, I don’t use the curtains much anyway.”
“What’d you do, get a little trigger happy in here while cleaning your guns?” She asks, wondering now exactly how much ‘structural damage’ he’d caused while she was back in L.A.
“Ah, someone thought I made good target practice.” He comments with an annoyingly passé shrug. “Fortunately, they missed.”
Her face must betray her concern because Steve outright laughs at her and then proceeds to misread her expression entirely.
“Mary, it’s just a house. Blood’s gone, mess is cleaned up, don’t worry. Hell, the place is probably in better shape than ever.”
She stares at him, flabbergasted. Sometimes he’s so much like their father that it confounds her. The emotional side of things just doesn’t occur to him.
“Blood?”
“Enemy combatants.” He waves her off and continues on, stream of thought barely interrupted. “And I can buy out your half of the house if you want me to. Or if you want it, want to move back home, I can clear out, get another place. I’m only here ‘cause it was the easiest option.”
“Don’t get all sentimental on me now, Steve,” Mary comments sarcastically. She takes a moment to look around, wondering what else she’s missed in the months since her last visit. “Have you done anything since I’ve been gone besides get beat up and shot at?”
“I’ve surfed a little.” He offers, twinkle in his eye.
“And no injuries or gunfire there? I’m surprised, sounds like all you’ve done since coming back home is get into trouble.”
“Now you sound like Danno.”
Mary lets the curtain go and picks up Steve’s phone from one of the end tables. Flipping through his contacts, she sees that the recent calls list is an endless repetition of one person’s name.
“Yeah, speaking of ‘Danno,’” She turns the small screen toward Steve. “Exactly how long have you two been surgically attached at the hip?”
Steve crosses the room and grabs the phone from her hand, though it takes him a lot longer to move than she expected. She lets him take his time; she’s trying to be annoying, not mean. He petulantly shoves the phone into the back pocket of his jeans.
“We’re partners. We have a lot to discuss.”
“Right. In case you were wondering, he sounded like a panic-stricken housewife when he called me.”
“I wasn’t wondering, but thanks for that.”
“Once I got passed being worried and then being pissed, the whole thing was pretty amusing.”
She smirks at Steve knowingly. Her brother’s always been closer to his guy pals than to any girl. First his football buddies, then his Navy brothers, now Danny. She pities the woman who thinks she’s ever going to compare, despite whatever Steve might make her obnoxiously scream out in bed.
“How’s what’s-her-name…Catherine, by the way?” Mary walks around the room slowly, pausing every so often to inspect the seams in the new drywall.
Steve looks at her flatly, taking a beat before answering.
“Overseas.”
“And Kono?” Steve shakes his head at her and crosses his arms over his chest. She puts up a mocking front of innocence. “What? She’s cute, Stevie. Why should I assume there’s nothing going on there?”
“Co-workers, Mare. Eight years younger than me, a rookie, and she’s Chin’s cousin.”
“Oh…Chin.” Mary says more to herself than to her brother, running a finger along the wall as she gets lost in her own thoughts. “Almost forgot about him.”
She’d never told Steve that she knew about what happened back then, in those strange months before they both left Hawaii. There was nothing she liked better than pushing Steve’s buttons and getting him riled up, but she’d never been brave enough to push that particular one.
Her stomach growls, yanking her back to the present.
“I’m starving. Do you have anything to eat?”
“I have beer.” Steve replies. He moves toward her luggage. “Why don’t you throw your stuff upstairs and we’ll go out.”
He picks up one of her bags and Mary can see it then, how uncomfortable he really is.
“Christ, you’re really hurt, aren’t you?”
“I’m fine.” He insists, and she knows better than to argue, it’s like talking to a brick wall. Steve watches her quickly pick up the rest of her things and she can practically hear something click into place. Realization dawns on his face and under his breath he counts the number of bags she has brought with her. “Exactly how long are you planning on staying?”
“Not that long.” She mumbles and heads for the stairs. Steve grabs her by the back of her shirt and draws her back in front of him.
“Nuh-uh, Mary Ann McGarrett. Get back here.” He bends down and looks her in the eye. “You’re not home because Danny called you, are you?”
“Not…entirely.” She admits, pouting slightly at being caught out. Damn Steve. She’d hoped to bring this up a bit later, once she’d had some time to work it into conversation naturally, but of course he has to go and be him about the whole thing.
“Mary.”
“Ok. I lost my job, all right?”
“Lost your job.”
“I got fired.”
“Why’d you get fired?”
“The why isn’t important. I need a place to stay and I thought since you never even asked before moving in here like the place was yours-“
“Wow, if that’s your way of asking if you can stay here…” Steve acts blown away by her attitude. She brings out her glare again.
“I don’t really have to ask, Steve. I was going to try and be polite but if you’re going to get all high and mighty… It’s not like you’ve never been fired from a job before.”
“I have never been fired from a job before.” He replies and she wants to slap him. Instead she groans in frustration and turns away. “What? I have never been fired from a job before. That’s just the truth. I mean, if you want to compare case histories here, I’m gonna have to point out that Governor Jameson begged me to take the job I currently have.”
“I hate you.”
“People say that to me a lot, but no one ever really means it.” Steve takes her carry-on from over his shoulder and deposits it on hers. “Ditch your stuff and let’s go.”
“Thanks for the help.” She grunts and awkwardly pulls and drags the rest of her luggage up the stairs behind her. Steve watches her struggle with amusement, immune to her deathly glare.
She’s at the top of the stairs when she hears his phone ring.
“Danno.”
How not surprising.
“Yeah, I’d love to, but I have a houseguest. Three guesses who.” Mary can almost hear Danny’s reply from where she stands, the guy talks so loud. “I can get your mother’s number, I know people. How’d you like some visitors from Jersey?” Another pause, another garbled noise like one of Charlie Brown’s teachers. “Oh, you would not love it. You want your mother to see that hovel you live in?”
Steve is grinning from ear to ear as he bickers with his partner. Mary can’t see him anymore, but she can hear the smile in his voice.
“I can meet up but Mary’s coming with…So glad that makes you happy. Keep laughing, Danno. See you in a few.”
There are footsteps toward the stairs and Mary stops eavesdropping and resumes struggling with her bags, ready to huff at her brother when he appears in her line of vision.
“Get a move on, we’re meeting Danny in fifteen.” He heads toward their father’s bedroom, which he’s now made his. In his hurry he forgets to hide his limp, hobbling like an old man with a sore hip. “I’m gonna get changed, then we’ll go.”
“Yes, sir,” she salutes, rolling her eyes, but Steve’s already on the move, no longer looking at her. God forbid they make Danny wait.
*******
January, 1994
When Steve comes through the wide double doors of the police precinct, anger swells up inside of her and she’s too drunk to contain it.
Mary whirls toward Officer Kelly, instantly forgetting the fact that up until that moment, she’d been trying to flirt with him. There hadn’t been any cops as good looking as him the last time she was here.
“You called my brother? Really?” She’s shrieking and it doesn’t sound pleasant. In fact, she sounds like a banshee, but she can’t help it.
“I could call your father if you prefer.” He comments calmly, unperturbed. His face barely moves as he talks to her and his pen doesn’t waver in filling out his paperwork. It’s ridiculous.
“Whatever, Zen Master,” she mutters and crosses her arms over her chest, plopping back down in the orange plastic chair next to his desk.
Steve looks tired, hair bed rumpled. And he looks disappointed in the way that only Steve can, like he can’t quite believe he’s been saddled with her as a sister. The Great Steve McGarrett deserves so much better than this, picking her up at 3am on a drunk and disorderly.
He barely looks at her as he walks up to Officer Kelly and she sticks her tongue out at him on principle. The cop stands to greet Steve, dropping his pen and circling his desk.
“Maholo, Chin.” Steve’s extending his hand and the officer grasps it firmly with his right, then covers their combined grip with his left. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this, all of this.”
“A’ole pilikia, brah. It’s her first time in trouble, it’s the least I could do.”
“It’s so not the first time,” Steve mumbles.
“You two know each other.” Mary observes, pointing between them. “Well don’t give me any special treatment just ‘cause I’m his sister. I don’t even like him.”
“Mary Ann, please shut. Up.” Steve sighs, exhausted.
“I’m friends with your father.” Officer Kelly - Chin, apparently - informs her. “And that, young lady, is why I called your brother. I know your grandmother is out of town and how upset she would be if she found out how you behaved when you were trusted to be left alone.”
“You mean you’re afraid Steve-O’s gonna get reamed out for letting me get into trouble,” Mary corrects. “And don’t ‘young lady’ me, what are you, like a biscuit older than me? Can you even shave yet, Doogie?”
“Okay, so we’re gonna go before Chin here calls takeback on his incredibly kind offer of leniency.” Steve holds out his hand like he expects her to take it. She’s not sure what dream world he’s living in.
“I think I’d rather be locked up.”
Steve closes his eyes, taking a deep breath like he’s holding himself back from saying something terrible. He reaches up to run a hand through his hair and as his tattered black hoodie rides up, Mary sees Chin’s eyes catch on her brother’s exposed abs.
She watches him looking. A telltale tinge of pink flushes his cheeks.
Not so Zen after all then.
“So how do you two know each other again?” She asks, quite interested by this turn of events. It’s not the first time she’s been made aware that others, unfortunately, find her brother attractive - if she had a dollar for every time some classmate of hers tried to buddy up with her just to get to him, she’d have enough cash to buy her own damn car - but it’s the first she’s ever witnessed another guy giving Steve a blatant once over.
“He knows dad, Mare.” Steve doesn’t bother opening his eyes, his shoulders slumping. “That’s dad’s fucking desk right over there, don’t pretend-“
“Steve…” Chin’s hand is on Steve’s shoulder now and Steve stops talking, opening his eyes and focusing on the man in front of him. Christ, this guy’s pathetic; he’s practically feeling Steve up right in front of her.
“Yeah, I know how he knows Dad, loser. What I asked is how he knows you. When’s the last time you even saw Dad?”
“Chin used to be quarterback for the Kings. That’s how I know him,” Steve says bluntly. “Now that the big mystery is solved, can we please go home.”
“Fine, let’s goddamn go then. Jesus.”
Steve’s taking off his sweatshirt and handing it to her, leaving him only in a thin white undershirt.
“What’s this for.” Mary looks at the sweatshirt like he’s giving her a ticking time bomb.
“It’s cold outside and you’re dressed, well, Mare…you’re kinda dressed like a hooker,” he spits out like he can’t be bothered to find a sugarcoated way to say it. “You’re not walking home like that, you’ll be freezing.”
“I am not dressed like a hooker.” She looks down at her hot pink halter and denim mini skirt, finding nothing wrong with the ensemble. “And why the hell did you walk? I have heels on.”
“Like I’m going to have you drunk and puking in Grams’ car? Thanks but no thanks. You already dragged me outta bed at three in the morning to get your ass out of jail, I’m not cleaning your vomit out of the upholstery tomorrow.”
“Sorry I’m such an inconvenience, why don’t I just stay here then and rot.”
“Why don’t you let me give you both a ride home. It’s too late for you to be out walking anyway.” Chin is patting Steve on the back now, stepping closer. If Steve doesn’t know this guy wants to bone him, he has to be a bigger idiot than she imagined.
“Bet you’d like to give him a ride,” she mumbles under her breath, glancing down at her nails and realizing sadly that somewhere between slapping Jenny Hou in the face and getting pushed to the pavement outside the bar, she chipped her brand new silver nail polish.
“It’s not too much trouble?” Steve angles away from her, turning his back like he and Chin are having a private adult conversation she can’t be a part of.
She wants to punch Steve in the face.
“I want to punch you in the face.”
Steve acts like she said nothing at all. With him on her left side and Chin on her right, they lead her outside to the squad car and bundle her into the back seat. Chin even ducks and covers her head like she’s a real criminal; all that’s missing are the handcuffs. Handcuffs would’ve been cool.
Steve sits up front, where the doors can be unlocked from the inside.
She spends the short ride home staring out the window. She would ignore her brother if he bothered to talk to her, but he doesn’t give her the pleasure. He and Chin have their own conversation, something stupid about football, and it’s like she’s not even there.
When Steve lets her out of the back seat, she storms past him and Officer Kelly and makes sure to slam the front door behind her as hard as she can. The force of it rattles the decorative plates her grandmother has on the wall so she figures that it was a winner. She follows suit with her own bedroom door and then flings herself onto her bed.
Clutching her pillow, she waits for Steve to barge into her room without knocking, followed by a whole lot of yelling about things like he’s her father, like he has any right to say what she does or how she should behave. Like having two years on her makes him ten times wiser and a hundred times more important.
But twenty minutes pass and nothing happens, her door remains closed. The house they share with their grandmother is small enough that she can hear anyone coming and going, so Steve must still be outside.
Giving in to curiosity, Mary creeps down the hallway to the living room, where she can hear the faint murmur of conversation. Chin and her brother are sitting on the front steps beside one another, bathed in the yellow glow of the porch light. They are talking quietly enough that she can’t make out what they’re saying.
Holding her breath, she crawls onto the couch for a better view and nudges the window open just a crack, hoping against hope that she won’t be discovered. They continue on so she must be safe.
“It has to be hard. Losing your mom, and then with your dad, well…having to move in with your grandmother like this. Mary’s acting out like any kid would.”
“I haven’t.”
“You’re different. You’re…stronger.”
Mary practically gags. And Steve was worried about her puking in the car.
“It’s not all about my mom. I don’t even know if it’s about my dad. She was like this before. She’s always been desperate for attention, it’s just been getting so much worse and I don’t know if my grandmother can keep handling it -“
“Well.” Chin interrupts as if the word itself is an explanation. Mary can’t see her brother’s face but she can picture his dopey look of confusion.
“Well?”
“C’mon, Steve. I doubt it’s easy having you as her brother. I would imagine you are a hard act to follow.”
“That’s not true.” He shakes his head like Chin’s words aren’t halfway plausible.
“It is. Believe me, between the way your father talked about you and the word around town, I was afraid I was going to have to hate you myself.”
He nudges Steve’s knee with his own, sending their bodies gently rocking into one another’s.
Steve smiles, then. She knows it simply because of the way Chin smiles back.
“But you don’t? Hate me?”
“You’re actually kind of perfect, Steve McGarrett.”
Mary wonders if Steve suspects he’s about to be kissed. She sees it coming a mile away, too transfixed by the idea of it to be annoyed by yet more glorious praise heaped on her brother’s shoulders.
The moment is there, to either break the tension or give into it, but Steve doesn’t move one way or another, physically or verbally. He has to feel it, what’s coming, but maybe he’s too confused to do anything about it. That’s the only explanation that Mary can fathom for his complete lack of action.
Chin’s eyes flick down uncertainly toward Steve’s lips and then back up to his eyes. Mary feels like she’s watching a movie.
“Chin…” Steve’s voice wavers but it’s not a denial. Chin leans in and then they’re kissing. Softly, chastely, but they’re kissing.
It must only last a minute but it’s like the whole world stops. Her brother is kissing a guy. Her brother is kissing a guy.
This is really happening. Or maybe she’s drunker than she thought.
“Holy fuck,” she whispers. Chin chooses that moment to pull away and Mary slaps a hand over her mouth and ducks down out of sight. The couch squeaks uncooperatively as the springs shift under her weight.
It must have been a coincidence in timing because neither one of them give any indication they heard her gasp or move.
“I’m sorry.” Chin’s voice is heavy with worry. “I…really shouldn’t have done that.”
“Hana hou,” Steve whispers back, not sounding at all like the brother she knows. “Just…do it again?” Mary lifts her head to peek outside and now there are open mouths, and tongue, and oh my god…
Someone groans, she thinks maybe Steve, and then Chin reels away like he’s been burnt. Steve nearly falls forward, off balance from the sudden lack of lips against his own.
“I should go. I…I have to go.” Chin stammers, ashamed and embarrassed. He practically trips over his own two feet as he races to the patrol car.
He doesn’t manage to get the headlights on until he’s halfway down the street. Steve hasn’t moved from where he sits on the step, staring at the place where Chin had been only a moment before.
“What the…” Steve mumbles to himself and shakily pushes up to stand.
Steve’s going to come inside and Mary has to move, but he’ll hear her if she does now. She holds her breath as the front door opens and bites back the urge to poke at him with a timely Was that a gun in his holster or was he just happy to see you?
It would be all too easy to use what she’d witnessed as ammunition, but this is too different. It’s too real. She can’t make fun of Steve for this. She doesn’t even want him to find out that she saw.
He doesn’t turn on the light. He doesn’t turn around and see her sitting there, only a few feet behind him. He doesn’t shake it off and go to her room to give her the hollering she’s sure he thinks she deserves. Or that he thought she deserved before when he could think about anything else besides being kissed by Chin Kelly.
Instead he slips into his own bedroom and shuts the door. He locks it.
Mary sits in the dark for a long time.
It’s a sobering thought, realizing maybe Steve doesn’t have it so easy after all.
*******
Present
“Must you make everything so difficult?” Kono hears Danny snapping as she walks into HQ. Another day at the office, then.
She’s surprised when she rounds the corner and finds the source of Danny’s frustration. It has nothing to do with Steve bucking protocol or acting with his liberal definition of caution.
“Glaciers have melted, I’ve been waiting so long for you to take your turn.”
Steve taps a finger against his lips as he contemplates his next move, deep in thought. Danny drums his own fingers on the table in a rapid, impatient, rat-a-tat rhythm.
“Some time today pal.”
Steve grunts, rolling his eyes.
“Hang on, hang on.” Steve leans forward and sets six tiles down, taking his time to carefully place each one. He’s trying not to smirk but Kono can see the edge of his mouth lifting and she knows he’s making Danny crazy on purpose.
“Triple letter score.” Steve adds up his new total on the small sheet of paper laying on the table between them where they’re tallying up their points. “Danny, I had no idea you sucked so hard at this game.”
“That is not a word.” Danny points to the Scrabble board where Steve had just laid down MUZJIKS. “How is this a word?”
“You don’t believe me.” Steve acts affronted.
“No, I don’t believe you. Because I speak English and this is not an English word. You are making shit up.”
“A Muzjik is a Russian peasant. Look it up.”
“I will.” Danny states and gets up from the table. “I will do that, Steve McGarrett, and when I prove you a cheater, you are buying me a beer.”
“M comes after L and before N in the dictionary, Danny, if you need help.”
Danny scowls and goes into his office, only to come back out a minute later empty-handed. He then stalks into Steve’s office and starts rifling through his desk.
Steve puts his feet up on the table and kicks back, greatly amused with himself despite the fact that Kono knows his leisurely position can’t possibly be comfortable with all of his injuries. He wiggles his eyebrows at Kono, inviting her to relish his ability to drive Danny up a wall. He’s incorrigible, so she shouldn’t smile, but it’s hard not to. Steve can be hard-edged and tough-as-nails, but when it comes to Danny, her boss is like a gleeful kid with a new toy. He gets such joy from pushing Danny’s buttons.
And really, Kono is beginning to think Danny likes having his buttons pushed.
With a loud thwap, Danny drops a stack of papers from one side of Steve’s desk to the other. Steve pushes off from the table and sends his rolling swivel chair back a few feet so he can peek through his office door, interested in what Danny is messing with.
“Can I help you find something, Daniel?”
Danny comes back into the common room, finally taking notice that Kono has arrived.
“How is it that with all this high tech crazyass stuff we have in this office, we do not have a simple, plain old dictionary? Y’know, two covers with lots and lots of pages in between them, tiny print.” Steve stares at him blankly and pretends not to understand. “Kono, do you have a dictionary?”
“Can do you one better.” She sets down the small shoe box she’s carrying and grabs her phone from her pocket. A couple of clicks and a glance at the Scrabble board to make sure she’s got the spelling right, and she has Danny’s answer. “Sorry, bro, but Steve’s right. Muzjik - Russian peasant.”
“Guess you’re buying me a beer.” Steve folds his arms behind his head and leans back, his triumph tempered by the small twinge of pain from his still healing wounds. His wince flickers quickly across his face like a bird would flee a predator.
“Let me see that.” Danny mutters. Kono holds the phone so Danny can see the small screen. He doesn’t really look all that disappointed and Kono wonders how often he picks fights with Steve just to pick a fight and not because he actually cares or has a real opinion. Half the time, they really are arguing for the sake of hearing the other’s voice come back at them.
“Feel free to concede defeat if you wish.” Steve surveys the two columns of numbers on the paper in front of him. “I don’t think you’re coming back from this one.”
“So says you.” Danny sits back down and moves his tray of letters closer, re-arranging one tile from the right end to the left.
“So says math.” Steve counters, gesturing to the score sheet.
“Well what can I say, I’m used to letting Gracie win when we play board games.”
“If you’re saying you’re letting me win, Danny, that’s the lamest excuse I’ve ever heard, not to mention the most untrue.”
“Next time we’re playing Candyland.” Danny mumbles, dumping his wooden tiles back into the velvet bag and tossing it to Steve so the other man can finish cleaning the game up.
“I always liked Chutes & Ladders.” Kono leans into Chin’s doorway but finds her cousin’s office empty. “Chin and I used to play for hours when he’d watch me after school.”
“I was always a fan of Risk, myself,” Steve shrugs and Danny barks out a sharp note of laughter.
“Of course you were.”
“What?”
“Seriously, what nine year old kid loves Risk. That game is the most boring game in the history of all games.”
“Battleship, Dogfight, Hit the Beach, all classics, all a good time.” Steve smiles fondly as he lists off titles on his fingers.
“Dogfight? Hit the Beach? Why do I feel like game night at the McGarrett household required Kevlar.”
“Not until we were thirteen.” Mary saunters into the room, carrying a paper bag overflowing with junk food. Chin follows shortly behind her, an open cardboard box in his arms out of which two or three potted plants are overflowing.
“Hey, cuz, I was just wondering where you were.” Kono watches as Chin sets down his load. “Doing a little gardening?”
“They’re for the office. I thought you all could use a little green in here,” Mary explains. “This place is as sterile as a gyno’s office.”
“Thanks for that mental image,” Danny replies, shaking his head and then poking into the bag of food she also brought in. “And she comes bearing Cheetos. Amazing woman, I love you.” He grabs both sides of Mary’s head and plants a sloppy smack of a kiss to her forehead.
Kono shoots Steve a questioning look, not wanting to be rude but wondering why his sister is back in town and bringing them gifts.
“Mary’s going to be doing some filing for us for awhile,” Steve informs her. “Making coffee, running some errands -“
“Generally being your bitch-“
“So if there’s anything you need a hand with, let her know.” Steve talks as if Mary hadn’t interrupted him at all and Kono gets the feeling that will become a regular thing around here, much like Danny and Steve’s constant back and forth.
“I’m going to go put this one in your office.” Mary’s off, an African violet in hand, and Steve aims an accusing finger at Danny.
“I’d like to state for the record that this is his fault.”
“How is it my fault?” Danny says, or at least Kono thinks that what he says. The mouthful of bright orange processed food makes him a bit hard to understand.
“What’s in the box?” Chin, always ready to defuse a Steve - Danny explosion before the powder keg ignites, points to the container Kono has with her.
“Tutu was going through old photographs and she gave me some snapshots to give to you.” She opens the lid and tilts the box toward her cousin so he can see the faded three-by-fives and Polaroids scattered inside. She sifts through them lightly: there’d been one she’d left on top but somewhere between here and there it must have shifted.
“You won’t believe, swear to god I found one of you and Steve.”
“Huh?” Steve hadn’t really been listening, his attention not surprisingly still on Danny, and he angles himself toward her at the sound of his name.
“I found a picture of you in my grandmother’s things. You guys are at some BBQ, I think it was one of Makaio’s…” For a minute she doubts herself, thinking she might have been mistaken, but then she catches sight of the photo underneath one from Chin’s sixteenth birthday. “Ah - here we go. Look, Steve, you’re a baby.”
“This I have to see.” Danny’s at her side before either Chin or Steve start to move.
“Be careful with the-“ Kono warns him, pointing at his orange powder-stained fingers, holding the photograph away from his messy hands.
“Just hold it there, I won’t touch it-“ Kono displays the Polaroid for him and Danny’s grin breaks a mile wide.
“Oh my god, Steve in his football jersey. You’re adorable, babe,” Danny teases good-naturedly and slaps Steve on his good shoulder as he comes over. “You look like such a kid.”
“Well I was.” Steve responds, eyeing the picture as he brushes Cheeto crumbs off the sleeve of his shirt.
“It’s just hard to believe, that’s all. You’re kinda like Miss Trunchbull in that way.”
“Who?”
“Nevermind. And Chin! Wow, man. Your hair is so short.”
“That was my first year on the job…” Chin shakes his head as the memories must come rushing back. “I kept it tight.”
Steve and Chin’s smiles are both fading and they glance at one another before taking a step away from her and from each other. It’s awkward enough that Kono picks up on it immediately.
In the picture, Steve’s got his arm thrown over Chin’s shoulder, Chin pulled close in the crook of Steve’s elbow. Steve’s got on his 5-0 jersey and an easy, loose grin. Chin has on a black tee and a giddy expression that Kono hasn’t seen in years. Not his standard calm, slow-spreading smile that’s even and steady like a clear summer day, but the intense one that’s like the sun’s rays bursting through the clouds after a rainstorm.
They’re both tan and happy and they look so young.
It’s funny, because she remembers looking up to her cousin then - she couldn’t have been more than ten or eleven at the time - and he seemed so old and cool and wise. She couldn’t wait to be his age. She’d been certain her life would be amazing by the time she was twenty-three. Looking at the photo now, Chin looks like a kid.
She doesn’t recall Steve being there or having met him, but why would she? He’d meant nothing to her at the time, and it wasn’t like he was an imposing badass Navy SEAL then, and she’d been too young to find him attractive. He’d probably seemed like any other football buddy of any of her cousins. She’d grown up surrounded by them so Steve wouldn’t have been anything remarkable.
“I, uh, I thought you two didn’t know each other back then.” Danny’s comment isn’t pointed or suspicious - more of an offhand side bar hey-didn’t-you-say? - but Kono sees Chin tense. Steve hesitates before answering, his voice forcedly casual.
“We didn’t, really. We might’ve run into each other or something, but we didn’t, y’know, hang out.”
“If memory serves, I got blitzed out of my mind that weekend.” Kono’s tempted to ask him how he remembers exactly which weekend it was, but Steve’s already chiming in with his own addition to the story.
“And I was leaving for Plebes in like a week, I think, and it was like a non-stop party with my guys. Chances are we could’ve met and both been too drunk to remember.”
Her cousin is making excuses and Steve’s practically jumping out of his skin. Seeing the only two non-shakeable people she knows get shaken is an odd and unsettling experience.
And all it took was one photo.
“Y’know, Steve, you made it seem like it was go-go-go here all the time. I’d have to be on my toes, is what you said? But you’re all like, playing Scrabble and scrapbooking.” Mary pops up beside Danny out of nowhere - damn stealthy McGarretts - and peers over Kono’s shoulder.
“It’s a slow day, Mare. They happen.” Steve says defensively.
“I love how you say that like it’s a bad thing. Be glad! They’re few and far between,” Danny replies, clasping his hands together as if begging. “Let Hawaii have one day free of crazy-ass criminals. Please.” Mary shrugs and looks closer at the picture.
“What are we all gawking at?”
“Just some old photos-“ Steve starts.
“Steve and Chin’s long-lost friendship, apparently,” Danny comments dryly. Steve crosses his arms across his broad chest and finds an interesting spot on the ground to look at.
“Oh, back then Steve knew everybody a little and nobody at all.” Mary takes the Polaroid from Kono’s grip and gives it a quick glance, then tosses it back into the box like it’s of no consequence. She picks up a different one just as quickly. “Is this you, Kono? You look like you can barely walk and you’re surfing?”
Mary places the picture in Kono’s hand with a deliberateness that’s hard to misinterpret.
No one who grew up on the island would be surprised that a six year old is on a surfboard. Mary only wants her to change the subject.
“Danny, you’ve got a daughter, right? Kono should show her some moves on the board.”
Kono has to hand it to Mary; Danny can’t protest quickly enough. Chin and Steve may be instantly forgotten by Danny, but not by her. Kono stays silent and watches.
Chin leaves the group slowly, like a man backing away from a suspect with a gun. He slips into his office without another word and closes the door.
It takes Kono a bit longer to extricate herself from the situation. Mary mentioning Gracie and surfing in the same breath is like setting a pack of wolves loose on raw meat, and Danny is vicious in his need to make it clear that the first person to let Grace touch a board will get a can of Jersey whoop-ass opened up one side and down the other.
Luckily, Mary soon sets in on his tie and Kono uses the opportunity to take her box of photos and join Chin in his office.
She closes the door behind her and leans against it. The smile she offers her cousin is conciliatory.
“She’s going to be working here, huh?”
“Only for a little while. Steve’s helping her out.” Chin explains. “Ohana. You know how it is.”
“Yeah, ohana.”
“I had to bring her in to the station quite a few times when she was younger. I don’t know if she remembers that.” He chuckles at the memory.
“She and Steve couldn’t be more different.” Looking out the window and its open blinds, they both watch Steve, Danny and Mary in the war room. Between the three of them there is a lot a hand movement going on.
“I think they’re very much the same, actually,” Chin counters. “It’s just that Steve’s always had a single-minded purpose and Mary…well, that energy goes everywhere, it has no focus.”
“Yeah…” Kono reaches over and tilts the blinds closed. She sets the photo box down on the edge of Chin’s desk and flips the lid once more. Chin’s been making astute observations about Steve and his tendencies since they both joined the task force, but she’d assumed they were based in his general knowledge of the McGarrett way - his experiences with Jack extrapolated and filtered down to apply to his son.
“Can I ask you something?”
“You can ask me anything, cuz.” There’s a catch in his voice that makes her think that while he’ll never shut her down, there are things he rather hopes she’ll leave alone.
“You got all weird out there.” Kono lifts the photo of him and Steve and holds it between two fingers. “What’s got you rattled?”
“It’s nothing.”
Kono smiles weakly.
“C’mon, Chin.” She says and sits down across from him. “I always knew that I.A. stuff was crap, because in our whole lives, you’ve never lied to me, not once. You can bullshit a criminal in the name of the job, but you never could pull it off with family.”
Kono slides the picture across to Chin, leaving it in front of him.
“Please don’t start trying now.” She pleads earnestly.
“Kono…”Chin seems to be weighing his options, uneasy. “Steve and I…we were friends only for a short while. And some things happened…”
“What things?”
“Things that I shouldn’t discuss. All that matters is that those things that happened…” Chin is choosing his words carefully. “They are between me and Steve, and they are in the past. That’s where we’d both like them to stay. We’ve moved on. Can you just trust me, and leave it at that?”
Kono can tell Chin is being serious and while it only piques her curiosity more, she knows that it’s not her place to push it. If Chin doesn’t want her to know, she can respect that.
“Of course I can.”
“Thank you.”
“But you know, if you ever change your mind,” Kono offers as she stands up to leave. “I’m always ready to talk. About anything.”
“I know. And thanks.” Chin nods and holds out the photograph for her to collect. She shakes her head.
“You hang onto it. Your memories, not mine.” Kono shoots him a reassuring smile and lets herself out, leaving him be. Across the room, Mary’s puttering around and scoping things out while Danny and Steve have settled into a conversation approximating normal, something about plans for Grace’s birthday and Steve kindly offering up his house for a party.
She gives them five minutes before something else sends Danny apoplectic, but for the moment they’re both content. The only thing that comes anywhere near to Danny’s happiness at being with Grace is Danny talking about Grace to Steve.
Likewise, Steve’s never more open and friendly than when it concerns Danny and his daughter. Kono’s not sure if it’s Grace or Danny that has him wrapped around their little finger the most, but it’s rare to see Steve bend so easily and willingly as he does with them.
That’s why she hates to break up the moment, but there’s a question at the forefront of her mind that will only confirm her suspicions and her curiosity makes her impatient.
“Hey boss - when you came back to the island, y’know, whenever you were on leave from school or the Navy, did you have your truck then?”
“Naw, I only came back a couple of times, so I drove around my dad’s Marquis. Why?” Steve replies, not thinking much of it. Mary looks at her sharply.
“Just wondering how long you’ve had your pick up. Thinking that I need to get something with a little more horsepower, maybe four wheel drive, if I’m gonna keep up with you guys. I was gonna ask how your truck’s been, but if you’ve only had it for these past few months…”
“It’s been great so far.”
“He hasn’t totaled it in a high speed pursuit, so that’s a plus.” Danny chimes in. “Frankly, I can’t believe the Camaro’s still in one piece.”
“Says the Jersey driver.” Mary snorts.
“Hey, what’s wrong with Jersey?”
“It’s New Jersey for starters. You all drive like morons.”
“Now you’ve done it, Mare. Now I’m going to have to listen to the rundown of how amazing Jersey is for the fiftieth time this week. Thank you for that.”
“Oh yes, Danny, please enlighten me as to the wondrous ways of the Bridge and Tunnel life,” Mary eggs Danny on.
And they’re off again. Kono leaves them to it.
It may be a slow day for the 5-0, but she suddenly has a lot to think about.
*******
June, 1999
“Chin! C’mon, cuz!” Kono pounds exuberantly on the thin aluminum of his front screen door. “Open up!”
She’d hit the beach at 6am hoping to catch some good waves. Chin had promised to meet her there, but hours had slipped by with no sign of him. It’s not like him to ditch out so eventually she gave up the water and headed inland to his apartment.
His motorcycle is out front by the curb. A large black car the size of a small boat is taking up all the space in the cracked cement driveway Chin shares with the folks in the apartment upstairs. It’s the kind of car their Uncle Ke’ala used to drive as a detective for HPD; now the thing just looks like a gas-guzzling tank.
Chin must be pissed that someone bogarted his parking spot, he hates leaving his bike on the street.
“Chin! Don’t tell me you’re still sleeping, brah!” Kono grabs the key from the ledge above the door and lets herself in. It’s a pretty normal practice; she’s over here most every day. “Officer Kelly…!” She sing-songs as she steps into the living room.
The apartment is dim, the curtains drawn. One of Chin’s shirts is crumpled on the floor and it strikes her as odd because her cousin has only become more obsessively tidy the older he gets. Kono lets the door fall closed behind her and takes stock of her surroundings. The lampshade on the end table is knocked slightly skewed. Chin’s work bag, gun belt and holster are on the couch instead of stowed in the front hall closet.
Everything else is as it should be, except a pair of men’s black leather shoes, two sizes too big to be Chin’s, tossed carelessly on the middle of the tiled floor. They’re heavy and hard enough that it hurts like a bitch when she stubs her flip-flop clad foot against them.
Kono swears sharply. Chin doesn’t walk out of the kitchen with an admonishment of her foul mouth; the apartment remains silent. She can’t smell any coffee brewing so Chin must be sleeping. The first thing he does after waking is stumble half-blind to the coffee maker.
She stoops to pick the shoes up and sets them safely out of the path to the kitchen.
“Hey! Chin!” Kono says a bit more sharply. “Did you forget about our surf?”
Her hand lifted to knock on his bedroom door, she’s stopped as it abruptly opens and Chin slips out into the hallway. He closes the door immediately behind him. His hair is a mess and he’s clad only in boxers - those horribly tacky ones covered in a police badge print that his mom got him for Christmas last year. He looks like he hasn’t slept a wink and his usually pale lips are pink and swollen like he’s been eating bowlfuls of cherry shave ice.
Kono couldn’t be sure because it’d happened so fast, but she swore that with the short glimpse she’d stolen of his room, she’d seen that his bed hadn’t exactly been left empty.
“Kono. Hey. Uh…”
“Oh, shit, cuz. I’m sorry.” Kono blushes and steps back, giving Chin some room.
“Don’t swear,” he admonishes automatically and Kono’s blush turns brighter and she giggles nervously.
“I’m really sorry. I didn’t know that you…” She doesn’t quite know how to say it. She knows what she almost walked in on, that her cousin definitely has some girl in his bed, but the notion of Chin having sex with anyone is both awkward and hilarious. “I thought we were surfing this morning. But, uh, I see that you’re busy, so, I’m gonna go.”
“I forgot, Kono, I’m sorry. I…a friend came in from out of town last night and to be honest I think I had a bit too much to drink.” Chin’s got a better handle on himself now; he seems more awake and less embarrassed. “Don’t tell your mom. Or my mom, for that matter. I’m supposed to be a good role model for you.”
“You’re 28, dude. You’re allowed a hangover. Your friend, she still here?” Kono plays innocent, biting her bottom lip. She’s never been able to make Chin squirm before, never been able to bug him about his love life. It’s time for payback for his never-ending teases about her huge crush on Soo-Kwon in the fifth grade. Chin had thought he was so funny.
“Oh, uh…no.”
“Really.” This time she can’t help laughing a little. Chin’s terrible at this. Perfectly timed, a rather loud snore comes rumbling from behind the closed door and Chin flushes pink underneath his tan. “I see.”
“Okay, so there might be someone in my room -“
“Someone with sinus problems, even -“
“And I think that’s embarrassment enough for one morning.” Chin comes clean and then takes her by the shoulders, turning her around and directing her back down the hallway. “You’re 15 and there are some things you should not know.”
“But I’m 15 and I do know-“
“Well I’d prefer to pretend you don’t, okay?”
“Ooookay, cuz.” She lets him push her back toward the living room, only putting up a little protest mostly for show. She crosses her arms over her chest and pouts. “I see how it is. You get a little tail and suddenly I’m surfing on my own. I’m going to blame you when Ian doesn’t sign me.”
“Water woman, you’re as good as pro already,” Chin compliments her easily, truthfully, and damn him for making her smile. “You’ve been better than your old cousin on that board since day one. You don’t need me.”
“But I like surfing with you.” It comes out close to a whine but she lets it remain as it is because it’s the truth. Despite the size of their family and all the people she could possibly connect with, Chin’s still the only one who has ever really understood her. It’s always been simple with him, as easy as waves meeting the shore.
“We’ll go out tomorrow, yeah?”
“You sure you won’t be…busy?” Kono grins and Chin nudges her toward the front door.
“Out, out, out,” he says sharply as he forcefully moves her down the hall, but his grin undermines his words.
“Kay, kay, I’m going. Pushy, pushy.” Kono stops at the front door, hand on the knob. “Ben said getting laid was supposed to mellow a guy out but-“
“Why are you talking to Ben Bass about ‘getting laid’?” Chin interrupts, a quarter teasing and three quarters dead serious with concern. A surge of both affection and impatience towards her cousin swells within her, the contrary feelings growing nothing but familiar these days. She imagines that this is what other girls talk about when they say they love their dads but sometimes want to kill them.
Chin wanting to protect her makes her grateful and frustrated at the same time.
“Ben and I are just friends, cool down,” Kono laughs because the only other choice is getting angry, and she doesn’t feel like getting angry right now. “Boys and girls can talk about sex without having it, cuz.”
“Where did my innocent little Kono go?” Chin asks as Kono opens the front door. “I remember when boys gave you cooties, young lady.”
“Don’t worry, when I’m off traveling the world, catching the best waves and meeting all kinds of awesome people, I will strive to live up to the fine example of purity and chastity you’ve set for me - oh wait…” Kono taunts, pausing in the open doorway and turning to punch Chin on the shoulder with a wide laugh.
“Hoahanau, you’re kolohe today.”
“Yes, poor Chin, having to deal with me.” She steps into the hug he always offers whenever they part ways. She pats his shoulder as he lets go. “Word of advice, brush the teeth before going back in there, brah. Serious case of morning breath.”
“Kono?” Chin lets go of her and steps back inside.
“Yeah?”
He gives her a pointed look and shuts the door. Kono spins on her heel and bounds down the front steps with a light step, her good mood buoyed by this new development in Chin’s life. She wonders who the girl is, and if she’ll be sticking around. Her aunt’s been on Chin’s case to find someone for a while now. Since he has his job entirely in order, Kono figures it makes sense for Chin to find the next piece of the puzzle and fit it into place. The only thing that rivals police work in their family is the expansion of the family itself - sometimes she thinks her grandparents would be happiest if they could count the whole island as relatives.
Kono pauses alongside the black behemoth in the drive - a Mercury, she sees now, and probably just as old as she thought - and peeks into the driver’s side window.
There’s not much to see but there are a few things on the passenger’s side seat. She circles around to get a closer look.
A U.S. Navy ball cap and a black leather wallet, small and simple enough to be a man’s, lay on the black vinyl seats. Some papers are stacked underneath, but she can’t make out anything legible.
In the back seat there’s a canvas bag, military green and the kind of durable that could probably weather a hurricane. There should be a name stenciled on it somewhere, but it must be facing the seat back because she can’t see any sign of it. Leaning closer doesn’t reveal anything more about it. Merely a standard issue duffel, not even packed full.
So Chin’s got himself a military gal. That’s good, she supposes. Maybe she has the same grace-under-fire calm-in-the-storm capabilities as Chin. Hopefully she’s got a bit of warmth and compassion too, because she can’t see Chin with anyone entirely hard-nosed or uptight.
The rest of the car is empty, completely void of any signs of personality or use. Maybe it’s borrowed, or rented, or barely used. Either way, there aren’t many clues to be had about Chin’s new mystery girl.
Kono backs away from the window. She left a smudge on the glass but she doesn’t have anything to clean it off with so she leaves it be. Throwing one last look back at Chin’s place, she hops on her moped and cranks the engine.
Whoever this girl is, she better not break her cousin’s heart. That’s really the only opinion she has on the matter.
CONTINUED...