AN: Well, look at this, a brand new chapter that didn't take a month to write. Weird. Anyway, good guesses on who was sitting at the end of Kono's bed but WRONG. Wrong, wrong, wrong. It was going to be Steve but I had a sudden change of heart and realized that this was better than what I had in mind. And let's face it, if Steve was breaking into her house, he wouldn't have been daft enough to sit on her bed and not expect an ass kicking. By the way, thanks to everyone who reviewed and what not, really appreciate it! Hope everyone enjoys the new chapter :)

Chapter Eight:

She didn't open her eyes to see who was there, it didn't really matter did it? There was someone sitting on her bed and, last she checked anyway, she lived alone. Whoever this intruder was, she was going to get her first look at them once they were on the ground and she had then pinned. That's what she had planned and that was what was going to happen. Because no one got to sneak into her goddamn house, sit on her goddamn bed, and get the goddamn drop on her. No way in hell.

For a moment, okay maybe longer than a moment, she even hoped it was Delano. Kono honestly hoped it was him so that she could kick his ass for everything he and his twisted Sophie's Choice had done to her life.

What a rush it would be to roundhouse kick him before the sun even came up. What a beautiful thing to wake up to! Her morning would just be off to the best of starts if she could just kick his sorry ass the second she was conscious. Even just a little bit, she'd be fine with stopping before any permanent damage was done, honestly. Just let her at him.

In all likelihood though, it was more probable that John Cusack would show up outside her window, boom box and all, than for that bastard Delano to be sitting there—all wrapped and ready to be beaten—so she wasn't really counting on it. Hoping? Sure, absolutely actually, but actually counting on it being Delano? No sir, not in this lifetime.

With all the fluidity and ease of an actually sleeping person, Kono rolled ever so slightly over so that she would be in prime position to take out her visitor. For a moment, she even silently thanked her laziness for not bothering with blankets; it was so much easier to wake up kicking and fighting when you didn't have to worry about those pesky things!

Once she was set and prepared, Kono swiftly swung her leg at where she presumed the intruder had taken up a perch. Like a well-aimed arrow at a target, Kono hit whoever the hell it was (they were strong, the muscles of their abdomen contracted and gave little leeway to her admittedly powerful pick) in the stomach rather unexpectedly.

After the first kick, she followed it up with another and was on her feet and in a fighting stance before they could even regain their composure. Of course, once she was standing directly beside her bed, the surprise visitor crumpled on the ground, she had also opened her eyes and now knew who had just, you know, unexpectedly dropped by at 5:37 in the freaking morning.

"Dammit Kono, what is wrong with you? You can't just go around kicking people. Jesus, who raised you, a pack of wolves?" as soon as the words were uttered, she wondered for a moment if he could even hear how ridiculous this was. He had snuck into her house and was bitching her out for it! At five thirty in the morning for crying out loud!

"Sorry Danny, but you did kind of break into my house" said Kono as she extended her hand to help him off the floor. The New Jersey native gave her a look as if she had suddenly sprouted a new head. Apparently, just showing up in the wee hours of the morning seemed perfectly acceptable to him.

"I knocked. And the lights were on, how was I supposed to know that you were asleep?" Danny asked, now smoothing out any wrinkles he had gotten from his quick acquaintance with Kono's, recently cleaned might she add, floor.

"It's five thirty in the morning, why on earth would I be awake?" she asked, her adrenalin now gone and the tiredness from having just woken up setting in.

"Steve thought you'd be up" well, that explained a lot. Steve apparently seemed to think that everyone got up prior to sun rise naturally and that the whole 'not having to work' and 'not really interested in surfing at the moment following the whole almost drowning incident' would not factor in to her not waking up before the birds even started chirping.

"And you listened to hi—"

"Enough, Kono, we have a case babe. Let's go"

Kono actually laughed at this. Had Grace thrown something at Danny's head recently and given him some type of cerebral hemorrhage that was impacting his memory at the moment? Did he honestly forget that she was on leave still? If the answer was yes to anyone of these questions, chances were he should be working let alone driving in the early hours of the morning.

"Danny, I'm on leave, remember?" she tried to keep the laughter out of her voice, not wanting him to think she was crazy as well as physically tattered. Not to mention, she had seen the blond man go off on McGarrett for far less at far more reasonable hours and, let's face it, she didn't want to listen to one of his emotionally charged rants right now.

"Do I remem—of course I remember. But we have a case, and we need you so," he made a swooping motion toward the door "let's go."

There was something in the way that her teammate (not former, she was planning on going back… eventually) said that he—they rather—needed her that made Kono drop her resolve to stay away from police work. Obviously it wasn't field work, that pesky psychologist still hadn't cleared her for that, so the team needed her to do something from the office. Background checks? Track a suspect or victim? Do their paper work that has been sitting there since Five-0 started? Kono honestly couldn't guess exactly why they needed her but the fact that Danny came to get her instead of just calling was all the push she needed to go back.

"Can I at least change first?" Kono asked. Her question was met with a look that said both 'no' and 'why are you even bothering to ask' all in one. He must have mastered that one while driving with Steve—that man had a habit of putting himself and those around him in incredibly dangerous positions.

"We don't have time, Kono." Danny walked over to a pile of her laundry and tossed her the freshly folded grey hoodie that was sitting on top of the pile. "Just put a sweatshirt or whatever on and lets go"

Once she had caught the offending article of clothing and was in the process of unfolding it, Danny started towards the door. He didn't leave much room for argument or opportunity to dispute what he was saying (demanding really), must be a trick he picked up from parenting.

"Do I have time to brush my teeth at least?" she yelled after him as she walked out of her bedroom and into the hallway Danny had just disappeared down. Kono remembered to flip off the lights, that way no one else randomly decided to visit her since having a light on is invitation to waltz right in at any time.

"Brush them later. There are some wisps and probably some gum in the car and don't you have a toothbrush in your desk?" at this point Danny was already out her front door and making a b-line for his car.

"Fine" Kono let the conversation drop. She had managed to pull the sweatshirt—plain black and somehow still a little warm from a recent trip to the dryer—and was now just a few paces behind him. Of course, he was in the car before her and complained when it took her an extra five seconds to get in and close her door.

It was weird, seeing Danny drive his own car. Somehow the car had become more Steve's to her than Danny's, probably due to the fact that McGarrett was the one driving 99% of the time. Sitting in the passenger seat felt even weirder to Kono though, as the last time she had sat shotgun was when Steve was driving her home after the ocean meltdown (and she was talking global warming).

"Wait," said Kono, suddenly realizing what Danny had said a few minutes ago "Why would I have a toothbrush in my desk?"

Upon arriving to headquarters Kono came to quite the realization; this was the first time she had ever gone to work in her pajamas. It was funny to her how Danny was all dressed in his usual get up (stupid tie and all!) and she was walking alongside him in her hot pink sleep shorts and sweatshirt as if this was perfectly normal.

Actually, Kono started wondering why she hadn't started doing this earlier. It took so much less time to just roll out of bed and go to work (especially since she wasn't allowed to brush her teeth or even think about bothering with make-up). Walking into the actual office though and noticing how Chin gave her a peculiar look and McGarrett gave her, well, actually he wasn't paying attention to her and Danny's arrival—too engrossed in the map up on the big screen.

"Nice choice of attire, cuz" Chin teased once she reached the table, nudging her slightly with elbow.

"Shut up" she responded, rolling her eyes and trying to smother a smile.

"Alright, so we have two missing kids last seen on outside the Hilton off of Waikiki beach thirty two hours ago. We've got a possible hit on the kidnapper's location, a storage container on the north shore. Danny, Chin, you're going to the storage building with me, Kono—you're here in case we don't get to the kids before he calls again. You are to stall him as best as possible and, what the hell are you wearing?" Steve said most of this while still facing the TV, pointing out the storage facility and the area they had it narrowed down to, until he finally turned around and noticed her less-than work appropriate attire.

"Danny wouldn't let me change" she responded with a shrug. Chin flinched a little

"Or brush your teeth apparently" muttered her cousin before digging around in his pocket for a moment.

"Or brush my teeth" she said and rolled her eyes a bit as Chin slipped a piece of gum into her hand. Kono replied with a quick thank-you before returning her attention back to the case.

While she was having her little exchange, she failed to notice that Steve had been taking extensive notes on her wardrobe choice. The shorts—while perfectly fine for parading around her house in—were a bit short and had this tendency to inch further and further up until they could probably pass as underwear. Steve didn't know that though, only Kono did, and she had checked before walking in that the blasted shorts were at a semi appropriate length.

Well, Steve certainly was silently appreciating the shorts (not that Kono really noticed, except for when right after she popped her newly acquired gum into her mouth and happened to notice that he was looking at her. Strange) Kono was infuriated that Danny had managed to make her look like an unprofessional, lazy, slob on her first day back. Her first surprise day back. Kono had to give them props for that, it took real skill to trick someone into going back to work.

"Alright, Kono you know the drill. Buy us as much time as possible—he shouldn't call for at least another hour so you have time to read the file. We should be able to find their hide out by then but if not, you are our last hope. Got it?" She answered McGarrett's question with a quick nod before leafing through the first few pages of the report.

"So Kono is all set here, right?" Danny asked, and was met with three head nods "Then let's go get those kids. I can't stand the girl's mother for one more freaking minute. I swear to God that woman is the devil reincarnated"

All three men made their way out of the office and towards the storage facility. Chin simply pat her shoulder, a silent welcome back, before leaving. His gesture made her forget about everything that had happened in the past month. Kono could pretend right then that he hadn't left her in the middle of the ocean to save his wife and that her life wasn't riddled with the scars of the whole ordeal.

But it was just pretend.

Chin didn't know about what had happened a few weeks back on her first trip to the ocean. Only Steve knew about that and he was doing his part in keeping it between them. Chin didn't know about her newly installed security system or her constant vigilance when she was alone. He didn't know that she sometimes woke up thinking she was right smack dab in the pacific again with nothing but sheer will to push her through. He didn't know, he couldn't know about these things.

Steve was the last to leave, having gone to his office to grab another file for her on the case before leaving.

"You good?" he asked as he set the thin manila folder down on the table in front of her.

Kono nodded her head, a half smile playing at the corner of her mouth. She was so far from good that, compared to her, Voldemort looked sane. Her body ached but it was nothing compared to what it mentally took to wake up each morning and fear what she loved most; the ocean. All Kono wanted was to dive into the water with her board and let the waves crash around her. But even the thought, the mere thought, had her mind and body screaming no.

So no, Kono was not good, she was not fine, and she was not about to admit that to anyone let alone her Navy Seal boss.

"I'm good boss, go save those kids" she said easily with a smile that was almost genuine.

Once Steve left, Kono went to work with reading the files and becoming familiar with the case. It felt so normal, so familiar, that she felt nearly right for the first time in a month. Helping with this case and working to save a few innocent little kids made her feel like she had a purpose.

It might have helped that she was also thinking about how getting back to work would mean that she could start tracking down Delano and make him pay for what he did. Unconsciously, she looked down at her legs and the pinkish scar that jutted down a few inches from the bottom of her bikini line into her upper right thigh. There were a few more like this one (six others, not that she was counting) but this was the only one currently visible and the sight of it made her feel slightly sick from rage.

Frank Delano didn't get to just shimmy into the scene, take a sledge hammer to her life, then slither away just as quickly as he came. He was going to pay in hard time, or with his life depending on how the chase went down… She wasn't exactly opposed to putting a bullet or two or five into him.

When the time came, Kono would be ready. She couldn't afford not to be.

AN: So that's it, the longest chapter I have ever written for this story (that I remember… I don't actually keep track of the word count but this one felt pretty long) and I hope it didn't disappoint! Now that Kono has been tricked back into working expect more team shenanigans and what not. Okay, well review or message me with what you thought if you feel like it and I'll have the next chapter out as soon as I can! On a side note, I didn't proofread this so if you find something monumental (or miniscule) that needs fixing, feel free to tell me.