Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize…

A/N: Well, this is my first Five-0 fic so please be gentle with me. It takes place early in the first season and everything is AU after. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Tell me what you think!

When Kono walks into the HQ, she immediately notices the silence. Silence only means bad things, she knows that much.

Looking around she finds Chin and Danny in Danny's office, hunched over a huge pile of files and they seem to be deep in whatever they are doing. She knows bullshit when she sees one. She glances at the direction of Steve's office and there he is, walking back and forth, phone pressed to his ear with a deep frown on his face.

She lets out a heavy sigh and walks towards Danny's office in order to find out the reason of the tension filled silence.

"Hey, guys. Howzit?" Kono asks casually.

Chin and Danny look up reluctantly at her. Chin's face tells nothing, but she gave up on getting any info by reading her cousin's expression years ago. But Danny is an entirely different story. His features are like a gossiping old hag, his brows furrowed, almost touching each other, his gaze keeps bouncing towards Steve's office then back at her in a way he thinks is very stealthy. It's not.

"Hey, Kono." Danny's voice is just a hint higher then usual.

"What's wrong?" Kono is out of patience. "Is it about the case?"

"Yes." Chin finally speaks up but Danny cuts him off quickly.

"Aaand Steve's just finished his phone call." He smiles gleefully. "He wants to talk to you. Go on. Chop chop."

By the time Kono reaches McGarrett's office she has a very bad feeling. Danny hates bringing bad news but he has a sick fascination with watching Steve doing it. Kono looks back over her shoulder and there he is, his face almost pressed against the glass wall, waiting for her to enter the boss' office. She knocks on the door and steps in.

Steve looks up; staring at her with unblinking blue eyes for a couple of minutes before he finally clears his throat and starts to speak.

"I have bad news, Kono. The guy from last night? Not the one we are looking for. The witnesses didn't recognize him."

"This is the third guy." Kono sighs, thinking back at the last two weeks of hard work and she's not happy about that outcome.

"It's not that they weren't guilty in other things." Steve flashes a short reassuring smile. "But we need to find the real perp. The one with the knife."

Kono scoffs quietly. He says 'knife' without batting an eyelid. She fights the urge to tell him to put on a skirt and go out for a hunt instead of her this time. She saves it for later.

"Why can't we let the HPD to take this case?" She asks. "I feel like we transformed into the Bureau of Perversion. Isn't there any other crime we could investigate? It would be nice to be out there catching bad guys in jeans and t-shirt for a change."

The left side of Steve's mouth lifts up for a second. She can tell he's amused.

"The Governor wants us on this case." He explains. "The victims are from rich families. Some of them are friends with the Governor."

"Okay." She sighs, resigned. "But what if we spend another two weeks trying to catch him and we won't?"

"I'm going with you tonight." Steve answers and she feels like they are talking about two different things.

Kono goes ramrod straight. Fuck. This whole conversation took a turn she hadn't expected.

"Is there a problem?" Steve asks. His laser focus never misses a thing.

Yeah, brah, Kono wants to answer; there are plenty of problems with the whole thing.

It's not that she doesn't like working with him, okay? It's just that the man thinks she's as fearless as him and she doesn't want him to know how scared she gets before a task. When she's in the middle of it she has no time to be scared anymore but until then she feels like crawling out her skin.

That's why she loves being paired up with Chin or even Danny. Her cousin knows she's kinda hyperactive so he thinks she's trembling because of the withheld need for some action. And Danny? He's a jittery ball of nervous energy most of the time so he doesn't notice when her hands clenched into shaking fist before they get out of the car.

But Steve is different. He spent the better part of the first few months staring intently at her. Kono's not stupid; she knows perfectly well what he was doing. Learning her. Taking mental notes on every little detail. How does she know? Because she did the same thing with him and Danny.

So, yeah, she doesn't want Steve with her tonight. She'll be mostly defenseless without her gun and the guy they're looking for has a freaking knife and last thing she wants is Steve to be there and witness her shaking limbs. Is it wrong that she wants to impress him? She thinks it's not. Just the reasons why feel slightly unprofessional.

"Kono?" Steve's voice cuts off her inner struggling.

"Um…sorry, boss." She clears her throat. "No. No problem at all."

"Good." He nods. "Meet you at the parking lot after the sun goes down."

"I'll be there." She rushes out the words and flees. Not her proudest moment.

Outside she runs straight into Danny.

"So, are you going for a walk again?" He grins.

"Yeah, brah." Kono grits her teeth. "Just a little late night walk waiting for another sick bastard to point a gun at me."

"Hey, no need to be hostile." Danny puts his hands up in surrender. "I heard that Steve's going with you this time."

"Yes." She nods.

"What are you gonna wear?" Danny rubs his palm together.

"Don't know." Kono shrugs, not getting the point. "It's not like a date or something."

"It's not. I know." Danny shakes his head but the crazy gleam in his eyes tells an uncomfortably different story. "But, hey. Wear something nice."

Kono doesn't bother to answer; she just walks towards the exit without a backward glance. There are days when she feels a strong urge to beat up Danny with a pineapple. But half of the times she lets it go because the whole thing doesn't worth the paperwork.