I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.

Notes: this is NOT the story I have been lazily poking at but the crazy week equals catharsis writing and much purging. Oddly, Grace's POV ... hmmmm ... what could the muse be thinking THIS time? My thanks to Phoebe for the encouragement.

H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O

"Wow! Stop right there! I know you ... don't I?" Instead of feeling complimented, Grace scowled at the man asking while giving him a critical look.

"What?" She asked, instantly on guard. Her hands fell to her side where she'd been modeling a blue dress in front of the shoppe's mirror and she only just barely managed to hold her ground. Something about him made her uncomfortable despite his pleasant smile.

"Baja, right? The shoot two months ago for that kid's department store. What was it, again - the Mill House shoot. Real classy catalogue. Come on - I know it's you," the guy insisted. "You were like the next top model and I never forget a face."

Tan, blonde and Grace had to admit, very handsome, he was all smiles. She waffled for a moment, wondering if she was being fair with her fast judgement. He seemed nice and was obviously mistaking her for someone else. Still ... Grace frowned. Did he think she was stupid?

He never forgot a face? He was feeding her a line and it was the worst one ever in her opinion. Undecided now if she liked him or not despite his congenial personality, Grace couldn't hold her tongue as he held out his hand in welcome.

"Evidently you do because that wasn't me," Grace cracked as she cautiously shook his hand.

"Well my bad then," he said, still smiling from ear to ear and refusing to rise against her sarcastic reply. "Beautiful dress, by the way."

"Thanks," Grace said. Previously undecided about the color, she mentally edged towards not liking the dress at all as the guy continued to hold her hand. He nodded, evidently admiring the dress even more while intentionally holding her at arm's length.

"Jase Kendall. A pleasure ... so if that wasn't you on the Baja shoot, it should have been; you have that million dollar look."

"Yeah, well ...," Grace said as freed her hand from his dry grip. "Listen ... I have to go."

"Yeah, but hold on okay?" Kendall pressed calmly. "What's your name then? Maybe I can petition your parents about joining the job I'm on right now? Another catalogue shoot ... two of our kidd-oes got sick on the plane over and are down for the count. You'd be the perfect fit for what my talent scout is desperately looking for ... nice magazine, too. I know it's only June, but it's a holiday catalogue and things take time, you know? Can I give you my card ... what did you say your name was?"

"No thanks. Not interested," Grace said off-handedly. "And, I didn't ..."

"Hey, Grace, did you find that dress?" Andi's voice piped up suddenly from behind her. "Oh, not that blue one ... the yellow one? The sales lady says there's a few left ... on the sales rack ... half price. She's not sure the yellow was ever on sale ... but there might be something else ..."

"Well, hey, who's this pretty young lady? " Kendall interrupted with a pleased purr and right then, Grace decided she really didn't like the guy at all as he took advantage of Andi's accidental error in using her name. "Who's your friend, Grace? I think the two of you would be awesome for the photoshoot."

Before she could stop her, Andi was all smiles right back at Kendall, ears perking up as he made believe he was taking her photograph with his hands. Andi had the gall to giggle as she bounced forward.

"Hi, I'm Andi. Photo shoot?"

"It's nothing," Grace said as she tried to pilot Andi to the side to whisper what she was thinking. "We need to go ...I don't like him. "

"Seriously, wait," Kendall said, his tone now pleading as he appealed to Andi's more friendly nature. "If Grace isn't game, then Andi ... I wonder if you could help me out? You've got that island look about you ... exotic ... perfect ... the lens would love you and that golden hair."

"Are you talking about modeling?" Andi asked. Self-conscious, she tucked her hair behind an ear. "Me?" Her green eyes were shining with interest and Grace could have smacked her friend right then and there. "I always wanted to be a model ... or try ... at least try."

While that was a true enough statement, Grace shook her head, her senses on high alert as Kendall took Andi's hand to playfully twirl her around where Grace had refused, his grin infectious. "I could easily see why," Kendall noted.

"Andi ...," Grace said. "We have to go ... now." Her eyes narrowed mistrustfully and she refused to smile back at the photographer. With an aggrieved sigh, Jase Kendall dropped Andi's hand when he caught Grace's defiant expression.

"All right," he said to Grace. "I'm sorry ... you're right. This is way out of the norm and I could be anyone. Some psycho nut. Anyone at all. It's just that time is money and we're losing money like mad with two of our kids down and out for the next two days and we're only here until Friday."

Other than rolling her eyes upwards, Grace didn't budge as Kendall reached into his pocket. It was Andi who took the man's business card, her eyes shining and her cheeks blushing as he smiled warmly at her.

"I'd appreciate a call ... it's my cell. But you gotta call today," Kendall explained to Andi. "You'd be great and you'd be doing me and my crew an enormous favor. The shoot's at the La Mer Hotel ... walking distance from here. Real calm environment ... public setting ... it's on the up and up. Promise. Call me or just show up at 5pm today, okay? Oh, and we'd pay two hundred dollars for the shoot. If you want to give it a try, I'll set you up with my talent scout. Okay?"

"Yeah. That sounds cool," Andi said, ignoring the way Grace bumped angrily into her shoulder. "Okay. Maybe ... that would be really neat."

"And I heard you before, Andi," Kendall added. "You could splurge and get that dress you were talking about ... the yellow one right?"

"Let's go," Grace murmured into Andi's ear, but Andi only widened her eyes meaningfully at Grace.

"Two hundred dollars, Grace? I could get that dress and the shoes," Andi whispered, her expression now wistful. "It's so much money ... and he said it was in a public spot. That's good, right ... so I could just go if you didn't want to."

"No!" Grace argued back in surprise. "Andi! You can just go with this guy!"

"It's almost four o'clock already, so if you came now," Kendall said loudly, interrupting their quiet whispers. "We could just get all the paperwork done ... take it and show your parents fast ... and you'd be doing me a huge favor. And you know what?! I'll throw in those shoes you like myself. Plus you can keep whatever you'd be modeling since it's a real bear to ship everything back Stateside. We often let the kids keep what they wear on the set; just another fun perk. Since it's a holiday catalogue, you'd be the latest rage - the envy of all your friends - well in advance of Christmas. So, what do you say?"

"Come on Grace, please?" Andi begged Grace. "Please ... won't you come with me then? This is such a great chance!"

'I know you're not all that interested, Grace," Kendall said. He shrugged as if bored now. "But you could just watch. Right? How bad would that be?"

Against her better judgement and knowing that neither of her parents - or even Andi's parents - would ever approve their spontaneous decision, Grace found herself nodding and then being tugged along with Andi and Jase Kendall after a fast change back to her regular clothes. Together, they walked the short block to the La Mer. Her only consolation was that she couldn't let Andi go alone.

~ to be continued ~