Nahele was sitting in the car again – had been for hours, actually – when Steve came looking again.

Steve slid into the driver's seat beside him and shut the door.

Nahele sniffed and drew his sleeve over his eyes. "Did you arrest my dad?"

Steve heaved a deep sigh. "Yea," he said quietly. "Yea. We did."

"What am I gonna do?" Nahele couldn't look up at Steve.

Steve put a hand on his shoulder. "You'll stay here," he said finally. "With me."

Shock jerked Nahele's head up. "What?"

"Look at me," Steve said. "I told you I would always protect you, and that's what I'm gonna do. You've stayed here often enough anyway. How does that sound, buddy?"

Nahele stared at him, and then nodded, his throat constricting. "Good," he whispered. "Yea. Good."

Steve nodded and opened his door. "Come on, buddy."

"I gotta go," Nahele muttered. "I got work at two."

"No you don't," Steve said. "Not today."

Nahele followed Steve out of the garage into the house, scraping his sleeve over his eyes one more time. "Steve? What are you talking about?"

Steve held the door open for him. "I talked to Kamekona. You don't need to go into work today."

Nahele nodded gratefully. "What about you?"

Steve clapped a hand on his shoulder. "I turned off my phone," he said. "I figure we could use some dinner and then I'm going to work on the car for a bit. You up for helping me?"

Nahele stared at him. "Steve…Steve, you don't have to…I don't need anyone to take care of me."

Steve just raised an eyebrow, and then turned and walked into the kitchen.

Nahele followed him. "Steve," he protested weakly. "I'm serious. You've got a lot to do. You don't have to" –

"You done?" Steve asked gruffly. "I'm not leaving. That's one of the rules of giving a damn."

"Five-O is going to wonder where you are."

"They know exactly where I am," Steve said calmly. "Come on, buddy. It's okay to let people take care of you sometimes."

Nahele looked at the ground. "Yea," he muttered. "Yea. Okay."

"C'mere," Steve said. "You can set the table."

And that was the end of that – Nahele was grateful, despite the nagging doubt that he was, after all, being a bother.

/

As fun as it was living with Steve – and it was; he was with the person he respected most in the whole world and he had a wild, dysfunctional ohana to help him with homework and surf with and hang out with – Nahele spent weeks trying to live up to his highest standard.

Do all your homework. Help with all the chores. All of them. Keep quiet. Don't be a bother.

Shut the hell up, Nahele. You know better than to talk when I'm talking.

Don't get yourself kicked out of this one.

Because always, at the back of his mind, was the question – what kind of fuck-up would it take to lose this ohana; an ohana he had not earned in the first place; an ohana he had stolen his way into one terrifying day when he was fourteen?

A few weeks after he had moved in Kalea invited him to another party. Nahele had gone to parties like it before and he had never really considered that anyone might object. The parties were pretty low-key; some kids had a few beers but Nahele never did. Mostly kids danced or played pool; some went out back and night-surfed.

It had never mattered much to any of the foster parents; they had considered it a minimally dangerous social event and not as bad as some of the college parties he could be going to.

But when Friday night came and Steve asked him where he was going, Nahele came abruptly to the realization that Steve McGarrett was going to be nothing like any of his former foster parents.

And something stopped him; somehow the truth stuck in his throat and he said something about doing homework and playing pool with Kalea at his house. No mention of any party.

As usual, it wasn't much of a party, but this time, when Kalea offered him a beer, Nahele said yes and tried not to think about Steve and ohana and how the only person in the world who shared Nahele's blood was in prison for murder.

It wasn't until the new kid at school – Evan – showed up with a bag full of meth that Nahele began to feel the deep, sick, desperate feeling in the pit of his stomach that he had not felt since he had been picked up for stealing a car on his fourteenth birthday.

He said no to the meth; of course he did, despite Evan's sneer, and he left early.

Steve was on the front porch when Nahele reached home. He nodded to Nahele.

"Your case wrap up early?" Nahele tried to keep his voice casual. Don't smell the beer. Please don't smell the beer.

Steve sighed deeply. "Yea," he said. "Yea. It was a tough one."

Disregarding his better judgment, Nahele sat down next to Steve. Steve was going to smell the beer, damnit, but he couldn't just keep walking when Steve was sitting like that; shoulders stooped and forehead drawn. "You okay?"

Steve glanced at him and then clapped a hand on his shoulder. "I will be," he said. "Thanks."

"What happened?" Nahele took a deep breath and settled in, stretching his legs out in front of him.

"I had to arrest a man this morning," Steve said slowly. "In front of his kid. We didn't have a choice."

"I'm sorry," Nahele said.

"Me too," Steve said.

"What'd you arrest him on?"

"Murder. Extortion. Drug trafficking," Steve answered. "He was…he was a bad man. He'd hurt a lot of innocent people. But…his kid hadn't. And you know what else? He had some dirty meth, and we couldn't find all of it, so…so some of that shit is out there on the island now."

Nahele looked up at Steve. "You're gonna find it," he said confidently. "You always do."

"Thanks, buddy," Steve said. "Nahele, do you know the kid? Evan? I want to make sure he's okay."

Nahele froze. Evan; the meth, the reckless grin, the hollow look on the boy's face – all of it made sense now. "Yea," Nahele said numbly. "I know him."

Steve looked sharply at him, but he said nothing. His gaze didn't leave Nahele, as if he was waiting for something or as if he was considering something. "Well," he said finally. "Let me know if you hear anything about the kid. If there's something I can do."

Nahele paused. "Okay," he said. "Yea. Of course."

Something that looked like disappointment flashed across Steve's face, and then he nodded and stood. "Thanks," he said. "I'm gonna head inside. You coming?"

Nahele shook his head, and when Steve walked away Nahele was left feeling as if he had just lost something irreplaceable.