A/N: At last we're up to the last chapter! A big thanks for sticking with me throughout the story, I really appreciate every single review and alert and everyone for reading this story! I hope you enjoy the final part to Trouble In Paradise :)

oOo

The small American flag that was dug into the fresh dirt waved gently in the breeze that was blowing through the National Memorial. Steve felt the same breeze tug gently at his dress uniform and cover as he stared down at the marked grave that in time would come to look the same as the thousands of other graves of the men and women already buried there. A headstone would soon mark this spot but for now there was merely a white sign stuck in the ground beside the flag, simply reading Lt. Bryce Clarke, not even a date to show that, like many of those buried around him, a man's life had been cut short.

The arrangements for Lieutenant Clarke's funeral had been organised solely by the Navy, seeing as his only living next of kin was currently behind bars. Even if the judicial system had been lenient enough to allow Rochelle Clarke to attend, she had admitted that she could never bring herself to watch the brother she had murdered be buried. The Navy had made the decision not to spend the money to send his body back to his home state of Maryland as he had no family there, so instead he had been laid to rest at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific on O'ahu.

There hadn't been a big showing for the service for the same reason the body hadn't been shipped back to the mainland, only a few other officers Clarke had served with in the past, including Steve, had attended. Catherine had spoken to Steve and had wanted to attend but the crew of the Enterprise were still in slight disarray following the arrest of their Captain and she hadn't been able to get time off for the funeral.

Steve heard the soft footfalls on the grass as they approached from behind and came to stop just behind his right shoulder, he didn't need to look up to know it was Gibbs who stood behind him.

"I can't decide if it's worse to see someone you worked with disappear in handcuffs or a casket," Steve admitted without looking up, the memory of him tightening the cuffs around Griffith's wrists coming to mind.

"Losing someone you work with is never easy," Gibbs stated quietly, "though I find from experience that you get more closure from losing someone to death than to betrayal."

Steve nodded slightly in response to Gibbs' words, finding truth in what the older man was saying, thinking about how Griffith's betrayal had felt like a sucker punch to the gut when he had been forced to arrest him.

*Flashback*

"Well, I'd be lying if I said this whole experience had been a pleasure," Lieutenant McGarrett held out his hand to Gibbs in parting. The two were standing in Gibbs' work space at NCIS headquarters after a final de-briefing they had given pertaining to Griffith's arrest.

Gibbs smiled slightly in understanding as he took McGarrett's offered hand. "That's understandable, Lieutenant. Though Director Morrow seemed to be rather impressed after the arrest you made on Griffith. Not bad for someone who says they'll never go into law enforcement; maybe you do have that option in the future."

Steve smiled as he shook his head slightly. "Don't count on it; I'm going to focus on finding the arms dealers we were monitoring in the first place; Victor and Anton Hesse. Two new men are being assigned to the department to replace Colley and Griffith; a Lieutenant Clarke and Lieutenant J.G Adams," he explained before he paused briefly. "What about you? Are you usually a one man team?" Steve had been surprised to find that the agent appeared to be working alone and had been meaning to ask him about it.

"My other agent took some time off after he and his fiancé broke things off between them; he'll be back next week," Gibbs explained shortly to which Steve nodded.

"Well, next time you're in the neighbourhood don't feel like you need to stop by," Steve only half joked with the agent; he appreciated everything the agent had done for him in the way of clearing his name but he still hadn't forgotten who had arrested him in the first place and he certainly didn't want to be getting too many reminders of the whole incident anytime soon.

"It's a small Navy, Lieutenant; I might see you around," Gibbs stated as McGarrett turned to leave towards the elevators.

Steve paused and turned back for a moment, the corners of his mouth turning slightly as he replied. "We'll see," was all he said before stepping into the elevators and out of sight.

*End Flashback*

"Boss?" Tony's voice interrupted both men's thoughts, "Our plane leaves in just over thirty minutes," he reminded Gibbs.

Gibbs nodded. "Yeah, DiNozzo." He hadn't forgotten.

Steve looked up from Clarke's grave and turned to face Gibbs and nodded slightly to him as they moved away from the grave, following Tony back towards where the remaining members of their teams were waiting.

"Hey," Steve greeted them all, surprised to see that they had all made an appearance for the service. "I didn't realise you were all coming," he added, mostly looking to his team as he spoke.

"Well we knew you'd be here," Danny replied, "and we know you." Danny smiled and nodded to his partner.

Steve also smiled and nodded, appreciating the recall.

"And we had some spare time before our flight leaves from Hickam," Ziva explained with a smile, starting to feel the Hawaiian heat in her suit pants and light blouse, the bandage wrapped around her arm also adding to her discomfort.

"I'm still not sure how we were able to pull Tony away from the pool-side to get here though," McGee added as he glanced at Tony.

"Is it a little too much to ask to spend some time at the beach when you're in Hawaii?" Tony threw his arms out wide as he asked the question. "The only beach we've been to while we've been here was a crime scene, and I'm sure Hawaiian beaches look much nicer minus the dead bodies."

"Don't count on it," Danny remarked from where he was standing beside Ziva, causing the rest of Five-0 to smile and roll their eyes in amusement and the NCIS team to throw him confused looks, still not understanding how the detective could hate Hawaii.

"Well maybe next time the case will wrap up sooner and you'll have time to do some sight-seeing," Kono suggested.

"Next time I hope to be in Hawaii on leave and not working a case," Tony corrected as he smiled at her, "maybe with a local tour guide?" He raised his eyebrows questioningly at her.

"Absolutely," Kono smiled and nodded which made Tony's smile grow. "After all, Chin knows some of the best spots on the Island that most tourists don't know about." She grinned slyly as she placed her arm on her cousin's shoulder, knowing what the agent had been insinuating all along and she and the rest of the teams couldn't help but laugh at Tony's taken-back expression as he eyed off the rookie's cousin.

"It would be my pleasure," Chin grinned at DiNozzo to add to his discomfort.

"I look forward to it," Tony gave him a wry smile and avoided looking in Kono's direction.

Gibbs glanced down at his watch before stating, "We need to move, Director Shepard won't be happy if we miss our flight."

"That makes one of us," Tony muttered, wanting nothing more than to spend some time relaxing in paradise, though Detective Kelly's suggestion had certainly made the thought a little uncomfortable.

Gibbs ignored his agent's comment and turned to McGarrett who was still standing to his left. "Commander," Gibbs extended his hand to him.

Steve took the agent's offered hand and nodded to Gibbs as they broke away from the handshake. The remaining team members took some time to say their own goodbyes amongst themselves to give the two team leaders a chance to say their parting words in private.

"So I guess you were able to make that transition after all," Gibbs had been intrigued to watch how McGarrett handled himself in law enforcement after the time he served in the SEALs and Naval Intelligence.

Steve smiled at the agents' recall. "Yeah, I guess so," he nodded. "It helps having a good team watching your back." Steve glanced over to where his team were still talking to the NCIS team.

Gibbs nodded his agreement as he followed McGarrett's gaze to the two teams.

"Well I admit it was more of a pleasure working with you this time than it was last time, Gibbs," Steve admitted as he glanced back to the NCIS agent.

Gibbs smiled and gave a small laugh, "I can understand that," he nodded, not forgetting the moment he had tightened the cuffs around McGarrett's wrists and he was sure the Lieutenant Commander hadn't either.

"We appreciate your help with the case, Gibbs," Steve thanked the agent, "Clarke deserved to have this resolved quickly."

"Anytime, Commander." Gibbs nodded as the two men turned back to their teams and the NCIS team prepared to leave.

Danny and Ziva smiled warmly as they shook hands in parting, before quickly shaking hands with the remaining team members as they went their separate ways and the NCIS team headed towards their car.

"I don't suppose we could go to Hickam via Waikiki Beach or Kalakaua Avenue, Boss?" If he couldn't go to the beach himself Tony figured the least he could do was to see others enjoying paradise, particularly the hundreds of women in bikinis enjoying the hot day at the beach.

Gibbs smirked as he approached the driver's door of the car but didn't bother with a response.

"Boss?" Tony asked hopefully, knowing that his chances at a detour were zero to none.

Ziva and McGee smiled at his desperate attempt.

"Will you ever give it a rest, Tony? I do not want to listen to you whine the whole flight back to Washington," Ziva complained as she walked to the front passenger seat and McGee opened the back door to the sedan.

"He's just upset because he struck out with Officer Kalakaua," McGee grinned at his teammate as he took a seat in the back of the car.

Tony glared at him from where he was on the opposite side of the car, "Nobody asked you, McNosey." He slid into the back seat of the car next to McGee as he finished speaking. "So what about that detour, Boss?"

Gibbs kept a serious expression as he started the engine, "Not unless you want to swim back to Washington, DiNozzo."

Tony gave up on the idea of a detour as he turned to gaze out at paradise through the tinted windows, ignoring his teammate's smirks as the car pulled out to take them in the direction of Hickam.

"What? No goodbye kiss?" Steve smirked at his partner once Ziva and the rest of the NCIS team were out of earshot.

Chin and Kono grinned as Danny threw Steve a withering look. "Laugh all you like, Super-SEAL, but you're not the one with her phone number," Danny smiled smugly and brandished a card Ziva had written her number on.

"Looks like someone was impressed by your tie's sacrifice," Chin grinned at the detective.

"Playing the hero card, huh?" Steve smiled. "Very smooth, Bud. So will you ever ask her out?" Steve doubted Danny would ever make a move on the Mossad officer, knowing that his partner still held feelings for Rachel and wasn't quite ready to let go of her completely.

Danny shrugged, all but confirming his partner's theory. "I dunno, it's not like Washington is right next door or anything, but at the very least I'll have somewhere to stay next time I'm in D.C," he smiled.

Steve nodded, briefly glancing across to the agents' sedan as the engine started up and it pulled away from the lot.

"So Danny tells us that you and Gibbs have quite a history," Kono had been curious after Danny had mentioned the fact to her and Chin in passing and had been waiting for the opportunity to ask Steve about it.

"He did, did he?" Steve shot his partner a sideways glance.

"I may have mentioned something about how Gibbs had introduced you to a set of metal bracelets for the first time," he shrugged in reply. "At least I think it was for the first time, though knowing you, somehow I think I could be wrong about that."

"Well he was also the one who got me out of them," Steve explained briefly to Chin and Kono.

"Well I happen to know for a fact that it wasn't Agent Gibbs who was the first one to introduce our boss here to a pair of handcuffs," Chin barely managed to contain a grin as he addressed Danny and Kono, before turning to Steve with a knowing smile.

Danny and Kono's eyebrows shot up at his statement as Steve frowned in surprise and quickly locked his gaze on Chin's smiling face.

Danny's grin stretched from ear to ear as he turned back to his partner, "What's this I hear, Steven?"

Steve refused to answer as he kept his hard stare focused on Chin, as though daring him to elaborate to their two curious team members. "How do you know about that?" Steve asked, ignoring his partner's grin.

"Know about what?" Kono asked, a smile starting to form on her lips as she watched the exchange between her boss and her cousin.

Chin ignored Steve's glare as he turned back to Danny and Kono, "Well, after Kukui High won the football state championship in '92, some of the players celebrated that night with a few beers and got busted for underage drinking; the starting quarterback included," Chin flashed a smile in Steve's direction. "There were no charges made but they were all placed in handcuffs for the ride home," he finished.

Danny and Kono couldn't contain their laughter, which only grew upon looking at the scowl Steve was wearing on his face.

Steve looked questioningly back to Chin and repeated his question from earlier, "How do you know about that? Were you were one of the officer's there?" Steve felt slightly embarrassed to think that his current team member may have been a witness to the incident.

"No, I wasn't," Chin shook his head with a smile and Steve felt slightly relieved. "But your Dad was pretty pissed about you being dropped off on his doorstep in a pair of handcuffs in the middle of the night by some of his cop buddies; it seemed like the only thing he could talk about the next day on the beat."

"So, Chin," Danny got the older man's attention, "just how many stories of Steve's reckless adolescence were you privy to as his father's partner?" He finished by smirking at Steve who was fixing him with a fierce glare that would have had a lesser man running for the hills.

Chin laughed, "There were more than one, apparently when 'Stevie' was young he had interesting ideas on how to have fun," he smiled as McGarrett's glare seemed to grow harder, something that only a minute ago seemed impossible.

Kono had the decency to attempt to stifle her laugh at Chin's use of the name 'Stevie', Danny, however, laughed openly. "Now those stories I have to hear!"

"Danny..." Steve growled his partner's name threateningly before he was cut off.

"Zip it, Stevie," Danny pointed in Steve's direction, cherishing the use of a nickname that grated on his partner's nerves as much as the use of Danno grated on his. He turned back to Chin and Kono, "Five o'clock this afternoon at his place," he gestured a hand in Steve's direction before pointing to Chin. "You make sure you bring a whole whack of those stories." He threw his irritated partner a glee-filled glance before finishing, "I'll bring the beers."

-End-