Title: I Won't Call You My Weakness, But I Will Call You Mine

Author's Note: Here is the final chapter! Thank you so much to those who have been commenting faithfully throughout the story - people like you are the reason I bothered to even post this at all. I have another multi-chapter story in this universe written and I will try to get around to posting that soon. Enjoy the update, please leave a comment on your way out, and have a great end to your summer!

"I fell asleep on your couch again."

Steve looks up from his desk when he hears Kono's voice, smiling faintly at her messy hair and sleepy eyes, though her eyes are narrowed at him right now as if this is part of some elaborate plan to have her sleep over again.

It's not, but it works out nicely.

"Is it okay if I sleep here instead of driving-"

"Sure. You don't have to ask." He interrupts her with his answer before she's even finished asking her question. Kono smiles as she comes around behind him to peer at what he's working on. Her hands go to his shoulders, massaging the kinks there since he's been behind his desk since they finished dinner and Sergeant Duke called about an old Five-0 case he believed HPD hit a new lead on. Steve leans back against her, thankful for the interruption and thankful that it's her.

"Calialo?" Kono reads the last name from the first response police report with a hint of confusion. "Why does that sound familiar?"

"It was one of our cases last year but we gave it back to HPD when we couldn't get to it. I think you ran the initial background check, but there was nothing suspicious." Steve points at the background report dated from nearly a year ago.

Kono leans further over his shoulder to check the account ID on the report, noting her username as she nods and tries to recall the case. "She and her friend were shot outside their house, right? It was labeled as a random drive-by, but it didn't fit for that area, and there were no other reports of incidents that year."

Steve nods. "HPD said her home security camera was pointed at her garage door so it showed nothing from the curb. But I was thinking, we could start with checking out the neighbors' cameras. We go to the security companies for the archive footage and try to piece together what we get, have Charlie build one of his panorama views."

Kono remains quiet behind him for so long that he cranes his neck up to look at her reaction. She meets his eyes and nods, her gaze solemn as she looks at him. The expression on her face unnerves him; it's as if she's seeing something he never meant to reveal. "That's a good start."

Steve looks back down at the file, enjoying the feel of her running her fingers through his hair, her fingertips scratching softly to ward off the headache he hadn't realized was creeping up on him. He glances at the clock on his desk and realizes just how late it's gotten. Before, without Kono's presence in his life, he wouldn't have even noticed for a couple more hours.

"It really got to you, didn't it?" Kono's voice is soft as it travels the few inches from where she's standing down to his ear. "The Mahuki case."

Steve shrugs as if indifferent, but the team already knows the truth about this case marking itself as one that's affected him, one he'll never forget. And probably one Kono never will too. Individually, they all come across those cases now and again, and it's easy for their teammates to spot the wear it's left after the assignment is long over. The Mahuki case and its aftermath is one that none of them will forget, not just Steve, despite the heavy burden he carried throughout it.

"Is that why you're going through these old case files, to try and find something we might have missed?" Kono questions, even though she's sure he won't answer her directly.

"We can at least give them a second look," Steve says with a sigh, proving her right by answering her question without answering it at all. "We handed off his case when nothing came up, but we finally spotted something, right?"

"Right," Kono echoes in agreement about the Mahuki case. "You did."

"I just..." He struggles to find the right words and looks up to find her staring at him as intently as before. He tries not to squirm under her gaze, tries not to feel like she's seeing more of him right now than he had ever meant to share over the simple topic of work. "I spent so much time and energy on my dad's case and looking into my mom's death, the least I can do is give other people a fraction of that attention. I'd want someone working like that if I couldn't have."

Kono says nothing, only wraps her arms around his neck more tightly and drops a kiss at the ridge of his temple. "You're right. Do you need any help?"

He shakes his head even as he smiles at her in thanks. "No, I'm done for the night. Just need to send Duke a few things to discuss tomorrow."

"Okay." But she remains standing behind him, her arms around his neck as she takes a deep breath, releasing it shakily and burying her head in the curve of his neck. "I love you."

Steve goes extremely still, holding his breath at the words because maybe he's heard wrong, or maybe she only accidentally said the words out loud and will take them back right away. Maybe she's made some giant mistake. He doesn't move, doesn't look at her, and sits silently, waiting to see what she'll do next.

Kono goes quiet too, but she takes another deep breath to say, "You don't have to say anything, I just wanted to tell you. Um..." She reluctantly pulls her arms back, patting his shoulder awkwardly as she moves around his desk for the door, avoiding his gaze the whole time. "I'm gonna get ready for bed."

Actually, she wants to drive away from the scene of the crime and go back to her own house and agonize over why she decided to drop the I love you declaration on him at nearly midnight on a Saturday on what would have been a perfectly normal night. But her exit would only draw further attention to her confession, which is the last thing she wants. Not to mention, make her a coward who runs away. So, she calmly leaves the room, struggling to maintain her composure as she feels his eyes on her every step of the way.

It's not like it's come as a shock to him. He can see it in her eyes; it seems like she's been on the brink of saying it for some time now. But she's always stepped back, and he's sure she sees the same trepidation in him too. The words still take him by surprise, as if feeling them and knowing them are two completely different things - hearing them out loud makes it a universal truth, gives it absolute certainty, constitutes it as an undeniable fact.

For Steve, he's pretty sure he feels it as well. The feelings have been similar to small waves in the ocean: quiet, innocent, lapping at your feet on the shore but you pay them no attention because they're hardly powerful enough to have an impact.

But somewhere between sharing secrets in bed, kissing in the ocean, surf lessons and target practice, the waves gathered to form a tsunami, overcoming him with such force that he knows he can't swim away, even with his superb underwater skills. He may as well accept his fate. He doesn't quite know how to say it out loud, but if letting her go has taught him anything, if the people in their lives have taught him anything, it's that his feelings for her are more visible than he thinks, no matter whether or not he's uttered the words out loud.

Steve climbs into bed half an hour later, looking at Kono curled up on the side of the mattress that's become her side for some time now. Her hand rests on his pillow, like maybe she waited for him to come upstairs but fell asleep anyway. He lifts her hand and climbs in, and her body turns toward him in an instant, their legs tangling together as she buries her face against the muscular canvas of his chest.

"What time is it?" She wakes up instantly at his presence and squints at him in the dark, her eyes hazy as she tries to look over his shoulder at the alarm clock.

"Late. Go back to sleep," Steve says softly, his hands sliding down her back to loop around her waist, rubbing circles through her tank top as she sighs blissfully at the move. He's never considered himself a cuddler, he prefers having his own space and usually ends up sprawled on the other side of the mattress in the morning. But when they're going to sleep, he can't have her that close and not be touching her; it's a wasted opportunity if he lets that chance slip away. It would be one more regret weighing on his already heavy conscience.

Kono gives him a quick kiss on the chest before looking up at him. "You wanna go surfing with me in the morning?"

"Okay." She smiles slightly and rests her head back against his chest to become comfortable once more. His hands idly play with locks of her hair, his fingers always feeling so clumsy when it comes to the beautiful strands. "Hey, Kono?" He can hear her inhale, can hear the absence of her breathing in the quiet bedroom as she holds her breath just like he had downstairs. "Me, too. I... you know, love you too."

He says it so fast, the words running together without a pause in between, but the important ones are easily heard; the love and the you, they can't be hidden. He says it in a near whisper, as if the words may haunt him the next day, though there's nothing scary about them. Actually, that's not true - they're downright fucking terrifying words for Steve. But he's said them, and they now hover in the air and he tries not to squirm in her arms. He's stayed absolutely still for hours in the trenches of Afghanistan, but this makes him feel so god damn exposed, as if he he should run and hide, taking cover from potential enemy fire.

But there is no enemy - there is only Kono, and she already said she loves him first. Maybe she's the braver one between the two of them.

Steve can feel her smile against his neck, can feel the smooth skin of her lips as she places a gentle kiss on the curve of his shoulder. He relaxes slightly and loosens the grip he hadn't realized he was holding her in, his body adjusting more comfortably around hers now that the earth-shattering sentiments are out of the way.

"Okay. You still owe me breakfast tomorrow morning and a lesson at the range this weekend though." She gives him one last kiss when she hears him chuckle, flashing him a quick grin before burying her head in the crook of his neck again.

They both fall asleep with the hint of a smile on their faces, and they don't speak of it the next morning. But he smiles at her an extra moment longer when he wakes her up, kisses her a little longer though they're in a rush, so she knows she didn't imagine the whole thing.

"I thought you said you had something important to do," Steve grumbles as he trails behind her back to the beach parking lot.

"Building sandcastles with Grace and my nephews isn't important enough for you?" Kono questions sternly, and Steve wisely chooses not answer. He knows better than to ever argue against the Kelly twins. Despite their recent declarations of love, he still may lose when up against Chin and Malia's boys and their identical dimpled grins. "That's what I thought. Plus, you need to get out of the house more."

"I have part of the beach in my backyard, Kono," Steve points out, as if she may have missed that fact when she looks out at the view from his sliding glass door.

"But it's deserted. That doesn't count," Kono argues back. "Plus, this way we can get shave ice on the way home."

Steve chuckles, shaking his head as he catches on to her line of thinking and exploitation of the opportunity at hand, and the presence of his wallet. "Oh, so that's what this was expedition was about, I get it now."

"Get what?" She looks over her shoulder at him innocently. "If I do recall, you still owe me for your break-up stunt, so you should have absolutely no objection to buying me two scoops." Again, Steve remains quiet, though she thinks he mutters something under his breath about how he'll still be making up for that from the grave, but she's not one-hundred percent positive to call him out on it. "But you were good with the twins, so thanks for that. I get a little nervous handling both at once, especially since they're always on the move."

"Yeah?" Steve smiles at the compliment. "So, doesn't that mean you actually owe me?"

Kono laughs, her dimples flashing at him for the quickest of seconds in the evening sunshine. They're the same dimples the Kelly boys inherited from their father. "Nice try, Steve, but-"

"Commander McGarrett!"

They both turn at the voice. Steve is on guard immediately at the sound of his name as he takes a step in front of Kono to instinctively protect her. But he relaxes his stance when he recognizes the person running up to them from the opposite end of the beach.

"Who's that?" Kono asks curiously, pegging the smiling newcomer as in his late teens and someone she's never met, despite Steve seeming to know him. The teenager joins them and starts talking before Steve can answer her question.

"Commander McGarrett! Hi," the kid says with a bright smile, a little out of breath from running after them. "I thought it was you."

Steve nods in greeting, his smile soft and kind, the special one he saves for Grace and the Kelly twins, and the young, innocent children they come across in the middle of an investigation. "Hey, Brian. How's it goin'?"

"Fine. Oh, sorry, are you with your girlfriend or something?" Brian peers at Kono with a curious smile, looking back at Steve apologetically. "I don't wanna interrupt, I just wanted to talk to you for a second."

"No, no, it's fine," Steve says, turning to Kono, tilting his head slightly as if telling her to play it cool, to act natural, to not make a big deal out of this. "Kono, this is Brian Mahuki. Brian, Officer Kono Kalakaua. She's Five-0 too."

A light of understanding flickers on as Kono smiles at the kid, looking him over more closely. Sadly, the only image she has of his father is when they found him at the crime scene, and the haunting pictures from Max's autopsy report. But she quickly pushes that aside and replaces it with the new image of his very alive son, a boy with a long and promising future ahead of him. She can see it a little now, he has the same cheekbones as his father did, and the same angle of his jawline. "Hey, nice to meet you, Brian. I'm sorry for your loss."

A quick flash of sadness crosses the teenager's face as he nods at her condolence. Then it's gone again, pushed aside in the bright Hawaiian sunshine as he regains his composure. "Thanks. I mean, you guys solved the case so thank you for that. My mom and I, we really appreciate it. Commander McGarrett told me about everything you guys did, it was so cool."

Kono looks at Steve, who tries to hide a smile at the praise for his team and their rewarded efforts, at sticking with the case and finishing it all the way, no matter the rough start and no matter what anyone said along the way. "Well, Commander McGarrett here, he won't let us rest until we finish the job."

Brian Mahuki turns his gaze back on Steve, the respect and adoration clear in his eyes as he looks at his own real life leader in the quest for island justice. "I wanted to tell you that I called the HPD lab like you said, and they said I can start this summer."

"Really? That's great."

"And they said I can intern during my senior year too, once I get my schedule and get it approved by my guidance counselor. So, yeah... thanks, thanks so much," he finishes with a grin.

Steve waves away Brian's repeated thanks. "Not a problem. They're great guys, they help us solve cases all the time, including your father's. You'll learn a lot."

"Thanks again." Brian pauses for a second, still smiling at Steve as he reluctantly looks back down the beach the way he came. "I gotta go, my friends are waiting. They didn't believe me when I said you'd actually talk to me so I had to catch you before you left."

Steve grins at that, appreciating anyone who has the balls to show someone up and face a challenge head-on, especially someone who succeeds. "Good luck."

With a respectful nod at Kono, Brian disappears down the beach again and Kono turns to Steve with a smile. He ignores her for a few steps but she continues to look at him, her heart glowing at each and every new side of him she discovers, even the ones he tries to hide.

"So, you're a career counselor now?" Kono questions as she takes his hand, squeezing it tightly to convey all she means beyond the words she's saying out loud.

"No," Steve answers with a glare. "He mentioned he wants to go to school for forensic science, and I asked Charlie about it, and he said they take a few interns from high school and college every year, so I just," he shrugs modestly, "matched them up."

"You're a matchmaker," Kono teases.

"It's nothing."

"Hey, it's not nothing. It's something," Kono gives him a bright smile and he flashes her a lopsided one in return. "But, you know, that's just one more person who's in love with you now," she concludes, her voice serious even as her eyes twinkle in amusement.

"Kono." Steve groans at the comment, flushing slightly as he tugs his hand from her grasp to try and escape her line of teasing, and the conversation at hand. "Seriously, stop it."

"I mean it," she continues even as he mutters for her to shut up. "There's Lucy from the Aloha Girls incident-"

"Kono."

"-and now this kid. Are you trying to keep your options open or something, cause let me tell you-"

He kisses her right then and there on the beach to get her to stop talking, and he doesn't care who's watching.

the end ~