I was reading through some of my old stories and came across one I wrote called "Steve Needs You". I wrote it after the 150th episode when Wo Fat drugged and tortured Steve. In my story, Catherine came back from Afghanistan to be with Steve during his healing.

So that started me thinking. What would have happened this season if it would have been Doris who showed up to interrupt his date with Lynn with news that Catherine needed his help. This story is my take on what it may have looked like.

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Lynn walked towards the kitchen to get another bottle of wine. Steve's phone rang and showed a "Private Number".

Steve clipped out his normal greeting: "McGarrett."

"Steve?"

Steve's breath hitched as he recognized the voice on the other line. "Mom?"

"Are you busy?" she asked.

"Uh…" he glanced towards the kitchen where Lynn was getting wine. "Kinda. Where are you?"

"No time to explain over the phone. I'll be there in a minute. We need to talk."

"Mom wait…" Steve began but he heard the call end just as a set of headlights shone through his front window.

Lynn walked back in smiling and holding up two bottles in hand, "I didn't know if you wanted white or red….." She noticed the look on Steve's face and stopped in her tracks. "Is everything okay?"

"Uh…..I don't know." He looked towards the door as soon as he heard a knock. "Gimme a minute, okay?"

He walked towards the door and hesitated before opening to find his Mom standing there.

"Hey, Mom….."

Doris didn't wait for an invitation to come inside as she moved past him into the living room.

"We need to talk and I don't have much time." She began before noticing Lynn watching. "Oh…..I didn't know you had company."

Steve shut the door and couldn't hide the sarcasm as he spoke, "Maybe because you didn't let me talk before you showed up out of thin air…again…and barged into my house."

Lynn had heard a little about Steve's past with his mom, but the coldness she heard in his voice at that moment was still a surprise to her. It was very unlike the Steve she knew and it made her heart ache for him.

"Not now, Steven." Doris scolded. "We need to talk. It's important."

Steve crossed his arms in front of his chest, "Okay. So talk." He knew Doris probably wanted to talk privately, but he wasn't in the mood to accommodate her anymore. The sooner they got this conversation over with, the better as far as he was concerned.

Doris looked from Steve…..to Lynn…and back to Steve. "It's Catherine."

Steve's expression turned blank and he swallowed a lump in his throat before asking bitterly, "What about Catherine?"

"She needs your help."

It wasn't what Steve was expecting or cared to hear. A sarcastic chuckle escaped him. "Well, that's too bad. I'm sorta in the middle of something. Find someone else." He opened the front door again in a move to get his mom to leave.

Doris had known it wouldn't be easy convincing Steve to help, but she had no choice. Steve was the only chance she had. She grabbed his arm firmly making him look at her again. "There is no one else. You are the only one who can get help me get her out."

Steve's brows creased across his forehead. "What are you talking about? With all your 'connections', there has to be someone else. Catherine isn't my concern anymore."

Doris sighed. "We were in Dubai waiting to meet a source with some information we needed. Catherine was the one who'd made the contact and was supposed to meet them at an outdoor café. I was close by….watching and listening to everything….."

When she didn't continue, Steve said, "And….?"

"They grabbed her off the street , Steve. It all happened so fast, we had no chance to respond. She was walking towards the mark when an unmarked van pulled up. Two men jumped out, grabbed her and sped off. The meeting had to have been a set up."

All sorts of alarms went off in Steve's head. No matter how much Catherine had broken his heart, he still didn't want her to be kidnapped…..or tortured…or worse. "Who was it? Where did they take her? And when did this happen?"

"I don't know who it was, but I have my suspicions…They're keeping her in the city which is going to make it difficult to get her out since any move we make is going to cause attention…And it happened three days ago."

Steve shook his head in disbelief, "Three days ago? She might be dead by now, Mom."

It made her feel better to hear the concern in Steve's voice because it gave her hope that he might actually still care enough to help rescue Catherine. "No…She's alive," she answered. "We have people watching."

"So why don't 'your people' get her out? Why do you need me?"

"You know how this works, Steve. An agent who is undercover and captured in hostile territory is on their own. The only reason the others agreed to keep an eye on her was because we've worked together so long. They won't last much longer, though. I have to get her out…and I can't do it on my own. "

Yes, Steve knew how it worked; All too well. That still didn't mean he wanted to get involved again. He was finally managing to get her out of his system, so this was the last thing he wanted to do. He continued to look at his mom skeptically but she saw his façade breaking a little. So even though he had a yet-to-be-introduced woman standing in his living room, Doris decided to 'go in for the kill', so to speak.

"Look, son…..I know she hurt you, but no matter how you might feel about her now, you also know you'll regret not helping her if something happens."

Steve knew she was right…..and it sucked. Thinking about Catherine being held by God-knows-who having God-knows-what done to her did not sit well with him.

He had no choice.

He had to save Catherine.

He sighed again, "Alright. Gimme a few minutes to pack a bag."

He walked over to Lynn and took the wine bottles out of her hand to put them on the table along with their unfinished dinner. Then he led her upstairs to be with him while he packed. There was no way in hell he was leaving her downstairs with his mother. She sat down on the bed still holding her glass of wine.

"I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologize." She said.

"If I thought they would do something to get her out, I wouldn't be going, but…"

"Steve," Lynn interrupted and gave him a small smile, "You don't have to apologize. I understand. Just promise me you'll stay safe."

He pulled Lynn up to give her a lingering kiss. "I'll stay safe. I promise."

Within the next 15 minutes, Steve packed his bag and called Danny to let him know what was going on. Danny had of course tried to discourage him from going along even though he knew Steve well enough to know he would ignore the advice. He may've tried to move on from Catherine, but Danny knew she still had a strong hold on Steve's heart. What that meant, he wasn't sure…..but whatever it was, Steve would do whatever he had to do to save her. When Danny suggested bringing the rest of the team along, Steve shut him down immediately.

"Danny, the last thing we need is more people to bring attention to us. I appreciate the offer, buddy….Really, I do…but if I'm going to get Cath out of there, we have to stay as inconspicuous as possible. I need to be in…..and out…..That's it."

After promising to keep them updated, Steve ended the call. He grabbed his bag in one hand and Lynn's hand in the other before walking back downstairs.

Doris went outside to wait for him in the car while he said goodbye to Lynn. He joined her a few minutes later….and after moving her out of the driver's seat and getting behind the wheel himself…..they made their way to a private airstrip where a plane was already waiting for them.

Once they were settled on the plane, Steve got settled as far away from his mom as possible while she talked to the pilot. It wasn't long after take-off, however, before Doris found him and sat down beside him.

"You okay?" she asked as she reached a hand out to rub his back.

He cocked an eyebrow as he looked at her…..a little surprised at her nurturing gesture. "I'm fine."

"You're lying….."

"What difference does it make, Mom? I'm doing what you wanted and going to help get Catherine out. But when this is over, I won't do it again. You both need to understand that…..I'm moving on."

"Moving on with the woman at your house, I guess?"

"Her name is Lynn…..and yes, it's all pretty new, but I'm seeing what its like to have someone who won't leave at a moments notice, if you know what I mean."

Doris looked hurt by his words, but he couldn't find it within himself to feel guilty anymore. She had come and gone too many times. So had Catherine. No matter how much he may have loved her, he had begun to understand that she was very much like his Mom; She was never going to leave "the business". There was a time he thought he would be enough to change her mind, but he'd obviously been wrong. He wasn't opening his heart up to the hurt anymore.

Yeah, keep telling yourself that, McGarrett, that 'inner voice' seemed to tell him.

"Catherine loved you, Steve. I think she still loves you."

"Yeah, well, she made her choice. If I was enough for her, she wouldn't have left the last time." He let out a sarcastic laugh. "And to think I was actually going to…." He stopped himself and looked down at his hands.

"You were going to what?" Doris asked.

He looked at his mom and she could see a world of hurt still there. Suddenly, she understood. Steve had been planning to propose to Catherine.

"It doesn't matter," Steve said. "It's all in the past now. I don't wanna talk about it anymore, if you don't mind."

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What do you think? Let me hear your thoughts!