The next morning, Danny blearily made it into work to fill out the paperwork on his 'bust' from the night before. Luckily, Chin and Kono were wizards and when Danny needed help in making his busts looks entirely human, they were able to hack into the system and help out.

He skipped lunch. He hadn't slept and all he'd had was coffee and one of those donut things but his mind was still spinning. He made it to Pearl Harbor early in the afternoon to find that Kamekona had already been by and done his magic to de-invite Steve from the place and now he owned a new set of extra large t-shirts advertising Kamekona's shave ice stand.

"And you're sure he's a vampire?" Kono asked of Danny again, despite him having filled them in on the phone that morning. She still seemed reluctant to believe it.

"I haven't seen his vamp face but it makes sense. I knew there was something off about him, but I can't believe I couldn't see the vampire in him."

"He said he had his soul back?" Chin asked, already looking up things on his computer system.

"Yeah, like a curse I guess? He said he crossed some powerful guy and it was like a punishment."

"Well," Chin said, multitasking by talking and typing. "If you were suddenly made aware that you'd been killing people mercilessly, you'd be pretty upset about it, too."

"Instead of being out surfing like I could be, Chin and I were looking into things all morning while Kamekona was doing his magic."

"We think we may have found something," Chin said with a flourish as he brought the text he was looking for onto the tabletop. He then swiped across it and brought it up on one of the big screens on the wall. There were a few pages. "I read through some of the old Watcher diaries and found talk of a ruthless vampire who killed methodically, like it was his duty, but then he seemed to drop off from the radar, shunned other vampires and society and lived alone. There's no word of him killing after that. Then I found this," Chin highlighted one text in particular.

Danny crossed his arms and read slowly out loud, screwing his eyes up against the older style of English. "And so the crown of the vampires would not be stoned like its namesake but given the greatest punishment imaginable for one of its kind."

"Steven in old Greek means crown. And Saint Stephen was stoned to death," Kono explained.

"Where did you find this?" Danny asked, pointing at the screen.

"Watcher diary from about eighty years ago," Chin answered. "From right here in Hawaii, actually. Seems some of the locals didn't take too kindly to his arrival here, especially when stories followed him of brutal killings across war torn countries. It seems Steve liked battlefields. A good way to hide just how many people he was laying waste to."

"And he expects me to like him now? Or what, feel sympathy? After everything he's done."

"Well, it wasn't really him," Kono reasoned. "His soul was gone, it was just a meat suit for a demon before a priest on the island decided to punish him with his soul. I think we can really only judge him on what he did after that."

"Maybe it's not about tricking you, Danny," Chin added.

"Maybe you need to talk to him," Kono finished.

Danny was completely on edge as he patrolled. Still tired and with no real appetite, he probably shouldn't even be out. He jumped at every noise, every bang of a dumpster lid, every slam of a door. His eyes strained into every shadow. He didn't even know if Steve was still around, the guy might have fled by now, scared that Danny would stake him rather than believe anything he said.

He'd been out for hours but there was no sign of him, no presence that Danny could feel. Only the few vampires he'd dusted had given him anything to do other than walk and sulk which was exactly what he was doing now and, quite admittedly, wallowing. He was also pretty certain nothing more was going to happen for now.

"What did you find out?" a voice asked, shaking Danny out of his reverie and forcing him to bring up his stake at the ready. It seemed Steve could still surprise Danny, at least, when he'd stopped paying attention for him.

"McGarrett?" Danny asked, turning and then slowly releasing the tight hold he had on his weapon -but never lowering it - as he took in the other man, dressed as usual in what was surely army surplus.

"Chin and Kono must have found something about me by now."

"Once they knew they were looking up a vampire and not a human, sure. They found a blood trail leading back to the Civil War. Seems you were quite ruthless."

"Yes," Steve answered, matter of fact.

"And then you dropped off. You stopped. What you told me checked out."

Steve nodded and came closer, braving it.

"I'm not asking for forgiveness for anything I've done. Or pity. I just want to help."

"You want redemption?"

"I never said that. I'm not even sure it's possible."

Danny thought about asking more, but right now, he couldn't handle anymore surprises from Steve and decided to let it go. For now. "You think I'll trust you? Just like that?"

Steve looked down, hands in his pockets. "Maybe you can give me a chance to earn it."

Danny put his stake down, he tucked it into the back of his pants and closed the distance between them. Their bodies were only inches away and it made Steve hitch in surprise. Danny tilted his neck up at him, baring it. "Go on, do it."

"What?" Steve asked, confused.

"Bite me. Kill me, turn me into a vampire, do whatever it is you want. Go ahead."

Steve just looked dumbfounded, and didn't say anything. Didn't move.

Danny turned his head back down slowly and leveled his eyes on Steve's. "It's not so easy for you anymore, is it." Steve looked away into the distance as Danny continued. "I don't know why, but I must be getting soft in my old age. I'm not going to stake you."

"You'll let me in?"

"You might be useful," Danny took a step back. "But that doesn't mean I trust you. Not yet. Not completely."

Steve smiled and reached a hand out to Danny's neck, fingertips lightly touching over the exposed skin at his throat, then jerking back, unsure if he'd crossed a line. "You're not wearing your cross."

Danny brought his own hand up in reflex to where the cross usually sat snug against him. "No, I'm not. It's in the car."

"You always wear it when you're hunting."

"Last time I wore it while you were close to me, it hurt you," Danny said, honestly.

Steve smiled. "You worked that out, huh? So you decided not to wear it in case you got close to me again?"

"I didn't say that, don't look at me like that. It was just… I'm being considerate. That's all."

"Uh-huh," Steve smiled again, this time a lot more confident. Confident enough to lean in close, lift Danny's chin and kiss him. He pulled himself in closer, wrapping around Danny's body like he'd been wanting to but had been too afraid to before now.

As they pulled apart, Danny raised his eyebrows. "A slayer kissing a vampire. Who'd have thought?"

Steve's hand wandered lower, skirting around Danny's hip before settling comfortably on his ass, giving a gentle squeeze. "I'd like to do more than kissing. We had a rain check," Steve murmured against Danny's cheek as his lips began to explore.

Danny had been enjoying it, but he sobered enough to pull back and get Steve's attention again. "I don't think it's a good idea right now."

"Back on the ship, I wasn't lying Danny. I'm in love with you, this means something to me."

"Aside from the fact that we've only known each other a couple of days, a slayer sleeping with a vampire must be the dopiest idea in the history of ideas. Whatever happens, whatever you think you feel or whatever attraction there might be - we need to go slow."

Steve honest to god pouted and turned puppy dog eyes on Danny.

"I'm sorry buddy," Danny said, extracting himself from Steve's arms, which was difficult to do when he seemed to be a vampiric octopus. "But that rain check will have to wait a little longer."

"It'll collect interest, just so you know," Steve warned.

"I can cope with that," Danny winked before turning and heading back to his car.