muses a plenty

Things in the HQs were crazy that morning. Several calls from Duke, then from the governor’s office as well, a few more from Duke about information from a few other locations as well. Adam’s desk duty wasn’t nearly as easy as it usually was. He paged Steve and Danny in, despite it being their day off, and only after the whole team basically ganged up on them and forced them to take a break. Sadly, they were very much needed.

“Steve, sorry to pull you out of your day off.” Adam said as he moved to approach him and then walk back to the table and the main interface with him. “Duke’s been calling all morning, HPD’s all over Honolulu. There were several calls concerning planted bombs, one of them in the governor’s office and the Bank of Hawai’i. Lou and Tani are covering the governor’s place, Junior’s at the bank. Sadly, there’s more. The governor’s assistant went missing.”

Na Pali Coast. He remembered that very, very fondly and he guessed so did she, that might be why she wanted to take her parents there. He could easily help with both, even more so. That was something his contacts would make very, very easy for him. “The two parks are no problem in the slightest. I’ll rent us a cessna and fly us out and take us to Na Pali per boat and set the three of you up in a nice lodge on Hawai’i.” He probably would not be able to stay overnight with them, given that taking off for a wedding and the following honeymoon would stretch his days off beyond their limits already.

“That would be very nice, actually.” He liked those stories, they did make him feel a tiny bit closer to the grandfather he was named after and never got to know. “Speaking of places to visit, I still want us to climb the Koko head together.”

“Oh you’re a pilot as well?” Vivian asked, pretty surprised, and that showed on Roger’s face as well. Avery just chuckled at that as she leaned against Steve.

“Steve’s a lot of things! Pilot, diver, car mechanic at times, sometimes interior and exterior designer. But the one thing I don’t think anybody can match him in is being a loyal and trustworthy friend and boyfriend.” The things that happened between them after they rescued her from the kidnappers was the one instance where that didn’t apply, but she looked past it. They worked through it in their own ways and Steve owned up to it, which was more than most guys would do. She forgave him and moved past it.

“I think you’ll like them, grandpa’s stories. He’ll probably remember more once he’s back here, when he sees the familiar places. Speaking off, dad, you have to take the photos with you as well, so Steve can see!”

“I’ve got to look around for those, but your grandpa probably knows where they still are.”

“Or you could leave your equipment at home, it will take no time at all to provide you with some here. I have at least two sets here, most of my friends have more sets, so between us we are set and you are provided already.”  That was literally the easiest part in all of that.

“Is there anything the two of you have wanted to do in Hawaii? I can see to it to make bookings in advance. Given the amount of tourists here, it is often cleverer to have a kama aina book for you.” Shit he had, of course, used the damn hawaiian word and they didn’t speak hawaiian. Avery was catching on to it and especially to him falling into it way too easily. “Kama aina is basically a local.” Technically he was a haole, but he was graciously adopted into the culturs and even the kapu considered him kama aina at this point it seems, otherwise they would not refer to him the way they did.

“I appreciate the offer and will gladly take it,” Roger said with a smile. It really would be easier, and they’d have less luggage to carry and get through customs upon arrival.

A soft giggle escaped Avery then as Steve so easily slipped into Hawaiian, and watching her parents display a wonderful array of expressions of confusion made it all the better. She understood what he said, as she actually went ahead and started to learn some basic words. Around Steve was the easiest since he slipped up so easily at times and always provided explanation afterwards. Which was what he did now, making both parents smile. 

“I see... well, we talked about it with Avery a bit since we wanted to visit her eventually.” Vivian said. “She wanted to take us to the Volcanoes National Part and the Na Pali Coast, and to a hike on Diamond head.”

Given that Riva seemed it appropriate to go call him names, he had his own little weapon to use. Back in the day he had made quite the bad name for himself, especially among the seals working on operations with his team back then, not that it was much of a team. The seals usually outnumbered them.

“You’re one to speak, butcher.” He felt his partner next to him flinch a little, probably surprised at the venom and cruelty in Steve’s voice, but he didn’t know their history. But he would probably inevitably learn about it. 

“Here is the thing, butcher: Unless there is proof that he didn’t do it, which does not exist yet, we will keep him in custody. As soon as there is proof he is free to go, buut there is no way I am letting you walk out of here with a person of interest in an ongoing murder investigation, broken nose or not.”

It was just a matter of time when McGarrett would pull out the nickname given to him by the SEALs during their missions together. Geralt was ruthless at times, didn’t particularly like taking hostages when he knew they knew nothing. Civilians, they all argued, shouldn’t be killed if innocent, but he wasn’t about to take the risk of any of them telling the enemy of their whereabouts or actions.

“I see your minions aren’t familiar just how heartless and cruel you can be. I bet they’ll discover a lot of new things about you. You’re not as innocent as you like to think.” And if needed, he’d all to gladly reveal it to his team. Though Geralt was still worried about Julian, and didn’t trust McGarrett to do this the nice and clean way like he usually would, knowing that Geralt had connections to the musician. And as much as it pained him, he did have a suggestion for the commander.

“What if I wanted it to be a date date? Would you still join me?” He certainly hoped she would. His team had been nagging him to go and get back on the horse and she was cute, she was kind, she had great taste in food and well she was cute. Worst case: He’d spend a great night at a Lu’au. Best case: He met someone special after he felt like that wouldn’t happen again so he was in for a win-win and so was she. Worst case for her was a great Lu’au as well.

“Sunday, 5pm, Waikiki Starlight Lu’au in the Hilton Hawaiian Village.” It was a great spot, he knew as much, he had seen that Lu’au a couple of times, especially with people from abroad who came to visit, for example Danny’s family and well back in the day with his dad once or twice.

Avery was vary glad that she was sitting right in that moment because the look he gave her made her knees lightly shake, making her blush a bit at the same time. He was not joking with this, was he? Well damn. “It’s a date date then.” She said with a grin. This was like a battle of who would be more blunt and straight forward with this, and she might as well go full on out. It looked like he definitely did and that he planned to go further.

“Is that when you get off of your shift on Sunday or do you have free?” She asked, leaning a bit closer to him. “Because I was hoping, if you’re free, that I could maybe tempt you to meet at the beach?”

“Thank you.” Steve smiled, scratched the back of his neck in nerves and sighed. That was easier, better. They had told them now and her parents accepted it easily. Now it was only Danno and he was sure he would eventually be fine with it, probably faster than Steve thought at the moment. So all was going well. 

“Oh, no, no, it’s not that much money for me. I have a few strings I can pull, don’t you worry. I know a few people with nice holiday lodges, that would happily let us use them. And I got a few…strings I can pull in airplane tickets, too. Some of the very few perks of working directly for the governor.” He smiled. “I would appreciate some financial help with the catering perhaps, but again, I have some friends and the fish, well…” he looked at Avery sheepishly. “Me and my friends, and perhaps you, sir, absolutely have to go out and get the Ahi tuna ourselves.” She knew exactly why.

Out of all situations where Steve could have used all of this ties to maybe take a few days off or get his team a few days off, he would use them to make sure that her family would have a nice place to stay while they'd be on Hawaii for the wedding and that they would get to O'ahu safely as well. That truly spoke volumes. Avery kissed his cheek and smiled as he mentioned getting tuna with his friends and her dad. It was a wonderful memory of just how their journey together started.

"Of course," Roger said with a smile. "We'll help with anything needed, son. And I'll gladly help with the tuna."

Steve looked at his girlfriend as she broke the news to her parents. He really couldn’t turn away from her, her expression was amazing to see. She seemed so excited and genuinely happy and to think that his question was the cause of it made him feel things he didn’t think he’d feel again. He was glad he did. This was how it was supposed to be. In many ways, he knew it was a stupid idea to get married in his position, but then again, he couldn’t just let life pass him by. He would probably regret so much.

Finally, he tore himself away from her and looked at her parents. “You are the first people we told. I’m of course taking care of setting you guys up here in Honolulu and travel expenses and all that.”

“Oh darling, that’s wonderful news!” Vivian exclaimed clasping her hands together as she smiled at both of them. Roger shared his wife’s happiness equally. She was getting married to a good man. “Congratulations, to both of you.”

Avery just leaned against Steve again, feeling like a big burden fell off her chest. They were happy together, her parents were thrilled about it, it was all going almost too perfectly, but she didn’t want to jinx it. There would be rough times, that much she learned so far, though they’d work things out together.

That was so cool, actually! More than that it just showed how small the world was. Their grandfather once knew each other. Her grandfather then evidently spent some time in Hawaii, all the more reason to have the wedding here. Besides for so many people it was a dream location. He knew so many good spots, too, plus he had good contacts to set her family up in good places.

“Maybe being in Honolulu soon will refresh his memory,” he suggested, not realizing that he just offered the perfect bridge to announce their news. 

Avery giggled as he mentioned Honululu and couldn’t help the grin when seeing the confused looks on her parents’ faces. They were still clueless, and Steve offered practically a perfect opportunity to break the big news to them. She hoped that all would go well, especially since they both seemed to like Steve so far. It would make things so much more easier.

“You’re planning on flying your grandpa over to Hawaii?” Vivian asked.

Her grandfather served in Hawaii? She did not mention that little tidbit yet. Steve perked up and look at him “Your grandfather served on the Arizona?” And they hadn’t even visited the memorial yet. That had to be changed as soon as he could. It was one of the few places where he could go to think of a loved one without the added pain and guilt, because he wasn’t born then, the pain was never his to bear.

“Yes, sir. I was actually named after my Grandfather. He was Ensign back then.” Never made it higher up the ranks, because of his death. I get the sneaking suspicion that he spoke about a Steven McGarrett?”

“He did,” Avery nodded. “But like dad says, he never really talks about what happened back then. He does like to talk about the happier times though, and all the shenanigans he and his friends did.”

The interrogation of the suspect left Steve with a hollow feeling. He and Danny just looked at each other and without having to say it, they silently agreed that neither of them believed this man had killed the victim. But they could not let him go just yet, not without sufficient proof that supported their hunch. They just needed a place to start.

“Someone has to check the traffic cameras. I want to see the precise moment when he arrives in the hotel and when she arrived. I want to see everyone that arrived and left in the past 12 hours. Someone check the footage of the floor and elevators as well.” He hoped for any sort of a mismatch that would proof this Julian Pankratz was innocent. That was where they were when the elevator pinged and let someone enter, a face he was sadly all too familiar with from a few stints at wars. Geralt Riva, a man he butted head with so much, he never even bothered to remember the details.

“That clown, as you say, would be me, Major Riva.” He was polite for now, but that might change. “What has you barging in here like that?” He held his arm out to silence his team, who were already ready to jump to his defense and threaten Riva on his behalf.

Well if this wasn’t just his luck. Out of all people he had to meet in a situation like this, it just had to be McGarrett, the one guy he simply couldn’t stomach no matter how much he tried. Geralt frowned deeply as he looked over the team gathered around what seemed to be a table, MccGarrett’s team no doubt, each and every one ready to fire a shot at him if needed. So he wouldn’t just have to deal with McGarrett, but his minions as well.

“Lieutenant Commander McGarrett. I suppose clown’s not too far from it then.” He said in a grave tone as he came closer, not really bothered with the rest of the team. “I’m here because of your latest case and the guy you have in custody, Julian Pankratz.” He supposed that there wasn’t much else he could say to at least insinuate that he was essentially there to pick Julian up, but he’d dealt with many idiots in his career, and doubted deep down that this would be any different. 

“That might just be pent up energy, Sir. She is buzzing like a little Bee against me.” And she was, he loved every second of it. It was like she was a visible and tangible representation of the nerves he felt. Steve looked at her lovingly. She was simply too good for this world and certainly too good for him and the baggage he brought into this relationship. It was figuratively an entire cargo ship of baggage.

“I participated, but I was always a part of a team.” He knew he personally did things, too, but he was a team guy, so he deflected it to the team, did so with Five-0, too when it was public recognition. Now between them, well he could get quite cocky, because it riled Danny up wonderfully. “I think I would, yes. I am a third-generation Navy brat actually. My father and grandfather both served in the Navy as well. My grandfather died while serving on the USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbour.”

Steve was a good man. Neither Roger or Vivian expected him to be perfect, but he was perfect for Avery, she loved him and he loved her, that was apparent. Both parents offered the young couple warm smiles while listening to Steve.

“USS Arizona?” Avery then perked up. “Dad, didn’t grandpa serve there as well?”

He wouldn’t call them by their first names until they offered, he was not only raised differently, but that little thing had been drilled into him in the academy as well. It was different with friends, but these were his fiancee’s parents. 

“I am trying, Sir. Though I had to admit, to my shame I handled her recent hospitalization badly and behaved less than ideally.” Okay, that hurt even saying it. He wanted to make a good impression, but he also had no interest in lying to them and to say he was treating her well, well that would be a blatant lie after the mess he made. He didn’t mind one bit though, compared to how Danny got when Grace was involved, this was tame, manageable.

“I technically still am, Sir. I am currently in the UNSR, United States Navy Reserve, though this year is my last year as a reservist. Before that, I served 5 years in Naval Intelligence and Six years as Navy SEAL.”  

There was only a light shift in expression on both her parents’ faces and Avery knew why. They didn’t really like hearing that, which was normal, but they lacked the backstory of it all. Eventually, they’d find out about what happened, probably while they’d be on O’ahu for their wedding. Telling them about it through a video call wouldn’t be good. She wanted to sit down with them, in person, explain what happened to her to them. “We were in kind of a bad spot then, both of us.” She defended Steve just a bit, and hoped her parents would be understanding of relationships not going smoothly all the time.

Right, so the parents-in-law or well future parents-in-law were up next. He was mildly nervous and wished for a beer to quell those nerves, but at the same time he needed to be sober and ready to meet those parents. And the painkillers didn’t help the thing either. 

“Ipo…” he said as he chuckled as she basically ordered and organized her parents around so comfortably. It was adorable and it spoke volumes: They had a wonderful relationship, something he could not necessarily relate to, but he adored it. He tightened his arm around her so she could cuddle a little deeper into him. As a man approached the screen, he smiled at them.

“Good evening Mr. and Mrs. Murray. It is so nice to see you. I heard quite a lot about you from your daughter.”

“Well I’ll be damned,” Roger commented as he sat down next to his wife, which earned him a small smack on the arm from her. “Never thought we’d get to meet the mysterious boyfriend Avery keeps on bringing up every time.”

Avery grinned and kissed Steve’s cheek, reaching out for his hand to gently hold it in hopes of comforting him a bit. “Well, we’ve figured that this would be a good time, even if it’s just through a video call. Mom, dad, meet Steve. Steve, these are my parents, Roger and Vivian.”

Vivian couldn’t stop smiling, and Roger wasn’t too far from it either. “Good to see and meet you too, son. Been treating my daughter right, I hope?”

“Daaaaaad...” Avery softly whined, giving Steve an apologetic look. She knew her dad would be like this, and should have expected it right of the bat.

“Correction, I attempted to distract myself.” He knew she meant the kiss with Catherine. “I failed. Because if I hadn’t failed, I would probably not have caught that convincing performance between you and Danny.”  He was kind of glad he did see it, because it gave him what he needed to get over himself.

“Okay, little Koala, dial your parents please, before my nerves flutter out of my body and we don’t want that. I might already succumb to horrible blabbering.” He actually wondered what they even knew about him. He guessed he would find out. And boy was he nervous, almost as nervous as he was at the ide of telling Danno. Danno would lose his shit!

Danny was right after all then, and she had nothing to fear from Steve’s ex since she was really just a distraction. Avery grinned, pecking his lips before detaching herself from him for just a few moments, enough to grab her laptop, pull up skype, as oldschool as it was, and called her parents. She was nervous as well, but hoped that all would be well. She leaned gently against him as her mom was the first one to pick up, at first confused to see not only Avery, but she smiled anyway.

“Avery, sweetheart! This is such a wonderful surprise. Is that..?” But she was interrupted by Avery.

“Hi, mom! Yes, this is Steve. But before the official introduction, I want dad to be here as well. I want you both to meet him and...” she looked at Steve. “We have some news as well.”

It was his two weeks off duty which Geralt fully intended to spend on his own, with nobody in sight, doing things he liked and that relaxed him. He planned to take a nice solitary vacation camping in the woods. he knew the perfect spot, was there a few times, and the location was not only as safe as it got, but it had a river close as well, which meant that he could go fishing as well. Sadly for him, his best friend Julian had other plans, and those involved a two week trip to Hawaii. Geralt could get behind the thought originally, but knew that it wasn’t just some catching up Julian wanted to do. There was something in for him as well, most likely a girl or two along with some performances. 

Things went well for a few days until one morning, Julian didn’t show up. At first, Geralt figured out he was with one of the ladies he probably met the previous night, all until he saw the first news on the tv in the hotel as he was making his way towards breakfast. Julian, out of all people, was the main suspect in a murder case. He cursed under his breath, asked around what happened and who was in charge of the case. Five-0 task force. He never heard of them, but it didn’t matter. They had his best friend, as much as the musician could be a pain in the ass. Julian could be dumb, but he was not that stupid do go and kill somebody. For once, Geralt used his title of major to get into the Five-0 headquarters, heading straight to where he heard voices come from. 

“I need to talk to the clown who’s in charge of this place.”

So they had no idea what an idiot he had been. He could just take it and run with it, but he had no intention to. While what happened to her was her story to tell, what he had done was his story to tell and it could be told without going into detail on her side of the story. He could explain it all to them in person, once they truly met, but he would not hide the fact that he behaved like an idiotic caveman.

“We will tell them when and if you are ready, but I am going to warn you now, I will not hide that I was an idiot about your injuries because I was.” And he would have to make ti up to her. Moving her hands from his chest he walked inside with her and sat down on the couch with her, when he noticed his hands. “I guess I won’t be lying when I say I injured my hands on the job, because I was technically working at that gala.”

“Well, then I’m going to tell you that again you thought that distance between us would make things better and I’m not faulting you for that, Steve.” It hurt, but she could never do that. It was just a Steve thing, she learned, and Danny pointed it out a few times as well. Acting logically in some situations wasn’t Steve’s forte, but that was a part of him and something Avery would grow to understand, or at least she hoped she would.