Disclaimer: All characters belong to their creators...

She blames it all on Danny. Seriously, if the guy would have taken the time to actually develop a spine, this whole ungodly and miserable situation would not have occurred. But it started with a minor car crash and escalated to... well into another crash altogether...

()()()()

"You are overreacting Daniel" They both walk into HQ, an angry and frustrated Danny followed by an exasperated and equally frustrated Steve.

"Overreacting? Really?" Danny shouts, not bothering to look back. The both of them come to a stop in front of the desk where Chin and Kono are crouching over some piece of data.

"He Wrecked the car!" Danny explains to the two, only partially interested, officers. "This crazy, reckless, over stimulated, uninhibited fucking super SEAL wrecked my car"

"I did not wreck the car" Steve reassures his two teammates as they shoot him curious looks.

Obviously they are not impressed by his declaration because their faces show a mix of skepticism and was it... a hardly contained amusement?

"Maybe I banged it a little bit" He adds solemnly when he isn't getting the desired reaction and when Danny shoots him a dirty look.

"A torn up front fender, a smashed headlight, a crashed carburetor, a misplaced front right wheel, and a devastating blow to the car's frame" He forcefully pins a piece of paper that is apparently the car shop's summery of the damage on the work desk.

Chin takes the piece of paper and studies it carefully looking pointedly at Steve. "Hey Brah, it looks like You've Wrecked the car".

"I knew it. I knew it. I knew it would happen!" Danny is pacing around the room dramatically.

"I'm sorry man" Steve starts towards his partner "I had to crash into the suspects' car or we would have lost them"

"You had to crash into the... " Danny is looking at him with astonishment "You had to crash my car? who the fuck has to crash a car? there is not a single scenario in the universe that makes you having to crash another man's car!"

"They were getting away, we had no lead on them, I made an executive decision..." Steve is trying to explain his logic.

"Wait!" Danny stops his pacing looking at Steve is sheer terror "You claim it was premeditated?"

"Of course it was premeditated. What other way did I have to stop them?" Steve is getting nervous now, Danny's reaction was not unanticipated but usually he had better luck smoothing things up with him. He knew how to apologize at the right time and with the right amount of sincerity, to shine him his innocent smile and to divert the conversation towards Grace - it was always doing the trick. Apparently Danny is not in the mood...

"Steven. Don't bullshit me. I've seen you drive". Danny's annoyance was elevating by the minute.

"What do you mean? You think It was an accident? don't be ridiculous Danno, I'm a very good driver" Steve reassures him.

"you are a terrible driver" Danny contradicts furiously. "You are completely irresponsible and impulsive and have no regard to safety rules and practically no common sense" Steve is surprised to see that Danny is being serious, he turns towards his other teammates with an amused expression only to find them looking expressionlessly back at him.

"Chin?"

"Well Brah, you can be... somewhat enthusiastic when you drive. And you are driving very fast" Chin is being honest as always but trying to be calm and fair with the quarrelling partners.

"See?" Danny marvels at his victory.

"Kono?" Steve is looking at her pointedly.

"Well... I don't think there is anything wrong with driving fast..." She is blushing seeing her boss' satisfied grin, but his happiness is premature.

"Don't pay attention to her." Danny is dismissing her violently "She is worse than you. Chin never lets her drive anywhere."

Kono only glares at him in irritation.

"Yes brah, why do you let him drive anyway?" Chin turns towards Danny.

"Why do I let him drive ?" Danny's voice comes pitchy with emotion. "Why do I let him drive ? Because this Neanderthal control freak, can't be separated from the steering wheel with a chainsaw. I let him drive because if I don't, he will be even more hyperactive and out of control than usual and I find that it is my moral duty to protect the good people of this godforsaken island from the consequences".

"Well no worries, you just gonna have to use the truck for a while" Kono is trying to be productive in concluding this stupid argument, because you know ,it seems to be going downhill and becoming a real fight, and she is the reasonable woman in this team, and her driving skills are already being questioned here, and she just knows that as things deteriorates, she would somehow be the one paying for this stupid mess. "Maybe Danny can drive Steve's truck so everybody's happy" she offers with a beaming smile.

"He is not driving my truck!" Steve declares immediately.

"I am not sitting in a car with him behind the wheel" Danny states in similar determination. "Or you for that matter" he turns towards Kono, "you rookie McGarrett-wanna-be" He shoots her an accusatory look.

OK. Downhill it is then.

"I will drive with Chin and you can go in Kono's car" Steve is taking charge now.

"Boss. I'm driving my bike" Chin reminds him gently. "I mean, you are welcome to ride on the back, but I doubt you'd like to explain this picture to the HPD cops when we arrive like this to a crime scene".

"Good point" Steve answers dryly. "OK. Danny, you can take Kono's car. Kono you're with me".

Great! She knew it.

Don't get her wrong, she has nothing against working with Steve. Really. Well, nothing professional anyway. Because, really he is very capable and stuff, and he works hard and there are probably a lot of things she could learn from watching him work up close. It's just that "up close" part that she has a problem with. Well, maybe a problem is a little bit strong. A concern really. That's it! a concern. A really small, totally understandable concern of being too close to him for extended periods of time with all the, you know, muscles and the shooting and the running and the fast driving and the way he, you know, looks and smiles and this uncontrolled tendency of his to take off his shirt all the time. You know, those parts that actually makes her mouth dry and her heart pump and makes this familiar feeling at the pit of her stomach. Totally understandable and completely logical, under the circumstances. Except she doubts if Chin and Danny have the same symptoms in this regard, so yes, there might be a problem there in the big scheme of things.

()()()

They have a new case. A body of a 40ish year old man was found in the docks in a progressed state of decomposition. She drives to collect Danny from his home and he forces her to change places immediately. She suspects that he is just trying to prove his point but when she suggests that to him, she finds herself on the receiving end of a long and elaborate monologue about the appropriateness of his actions in the face of the irresponsible and unjustified behavior practiced by her, by Steve and by the entire Island's society as a whole. She is tuning out after several minutes but she thinks she hears him using quite a complicated metaphor involving an iguana and an elephant. She is aware of the fact that Steve was trained to endure torture, but she seriously thinks that probably she underestimated the exact level of his endurance.

()()()

After inspecting the body and the crime scene Steve starts delegating the assignments. The body is unrecognizable in its stage of decomposition and no wallet or identifications were found. It's Danny's and Chin's job to go over the crime scene, Steve and Kono will focus on the body and its identity.

They drive to the ME's office. She is seriously thinking she's losing her mind because she's starting to miss Danny's rants a little bit. For fuck's sake there are certain rules of civilization that makes it mandatory to communicate even for a little bit out of sheer politeness, right? She would hold Steve's disturbing silence to the fact that he is driving 90miles per hour on a regular busy street, and probably needs to be very focused and can't risk averting his concentration from the road and those, you know, ridiculous cars that seems to be trying to hit him in every intersection, but sadly she doubts this is the case.

"So... what's new?" She tries to make it sound effort less, even though she feels the sweat trickling down her spine.

"What do you mean?" He eyes her suspiciously.

She can't blame him, a stupid answer to a stupid question. Only she actually can blame him, so she does.

"What's new in life? how's it going?" She continues, smiling. She will not be intimidated, you know, much...

He looks at her with a blank expression for a second and almost hits a cyclist on the right side.

"What are you doing?" He asks her, genuinely interested.

"Nothing. Just making conversation" she shines him a wide smile.

"Why?" He seems intrigued by her actions for some reason.

"That's what normal people do when they find themselves in each other's company" She explains patiently.

"I don't" he states in finality and averts his eyes back to the road.

Yes, she's pretty sure normal is a basic requirement in this scenario.

"You talk to Danny..." She says brightly, not giving up, because a. she is not the type and b. there are still at least 25 uncomfortable minutes to the ME's office.

"No I don't" He contradicts thoughtfully. "I mean, obviously there is a vocalized exchange of words between us during our rides together, but I hardly think listening to him ranting about – well, everything basically, like Hawaii, the heat, the ocean, and specifically me - can be considered talking".

"What would you consider it?" She asks in mild shock from the whole paragraph that was verbalized by him unexpectedly.

He pauses for a minute, and actually stops at a red light for the first time during this ride "I would consider it as listening, averting and deflecting" He seems happy with this answer as a smug smile appears on his face. God she loves his smile. "It's nice to have some peace and quiet for a change" he adds pointedly ending the discussion. She glances at her watch, 23 minutes left for the ME's office.

"Don't touch it" He orders 5 minutes later when she extends her hand towards the Radio dial.

She is bringing her Ipod tomorrow. Uncivilized Neanderthal prick.

()()()

They get to the ME's office and Max is busy taking away body parts and samples.

"Cause of death is 2 bullets to the base of the skull, shot from a close range" he says to them not bothering to look up.

"Sounds like an execution" Steve mumbles.

"also, his hands were tied" Kono gesturing towards the victim's arms.

"Very good officer Kalakaua" Max is smiling at her "As well as multiple cuts and bruises most

probably done post mortem. I am still looking into the specifics of those. I will also complete

the tox screen and forward the results as soon as I can" Max declares, pulling the liquefied

victim's heart in one sharp movements causing Kono to retreat hurriedly while Steve looks

even more transfixed at the gruesome image.

They stop at the lab on the way out. The victims clothes and the rest of the material found on the body is examined by Charlie Fong so they decide to take a look.

"Hey Kono !" Charlie is beaming at her from behind his desk. She is a little uncomfortable with his heart warming welcome, but sue her, it's not her fault they all like her here. It's also not her fault that they find Steve to be unpleasant and intimidating. She secretly suspects that it's got to do with the fact that he was his high school's quarterback and they were all nerds and computers geeks, or maybe it's just Steve.

"Hi Charley" She replies, genuinely happy to see a friendly face after her morning with Mr. tall, dark and uptight over there.

"Do you have anything yet?" Steve is coming to stand between them, arms crossed on his chest with his familiar interrogation room attitude. What the fuck brah?

"Not a lot" Charlie is shooting her a cautious look "but it looks like there are some residues on the clothes. I'm not sure he was killed in the docks, I think the body was carried from somewhere else"

"Any ideas?" Kono is smiling encouragingly at the poor lab technician, because this unexplained obnoxious attitude of Steve's is completely unnecessary.

"I'm not sure yet. looks like an oil of some sort" He turns towards the microscope and invite Kono to bow her head and look through the lenses, and she does with great proximity to his own.

"It looks like machine oil, not a natural oil, do you see the way it's..." He can't finish his thought as Steve's loud cough makes the both of them turn their heads towards him.

"OK. I'll get on it" Charlie is rushing to end this encounter "Kono, I'll call you with the results as soon as I have it" he calls after her when she joins her boss on the other side of the desk.

"You'll call me." Steve orders behind his back as they both walk outside, Kono is sending Charlie an apologetic smile.

()()()()()

They drive back to HQ, again in silence. Kono apparently has had enough of his shit. She is furiously looking out the window and drumming her fingers on the dashboard.

"Stop that!"

Make me! Please Make my day and make me! "Stop what?"

"The tapping. It sounds like a broken typewriter."

"You know that it was completely uncalled for right?" She says in irritation.

"Asking you to stop? Sorry. Go on, knock yourself out" He shrugs.

"You know what I mean"

He looks at her with one eyebrow raised. "I know you all think I have Ninja like superpowers and stuff, but let me assure you I have no idea what you mean".

"The way you treat the people in the lab" She doesn't want to go there, and you know, hurt his feelings or criticize him, but he is being obnoxious as usual so she decides she will go there after all.

"I have no idea what you are talking about" He says again, turning back to the road.

She would call him a liar, but with his poor excuse of intrapersonal communication skills he might be telling the truth here.

"The way you intimidate everyone there. And the way you talk to them in an abrupt and harsh manner. I mean, those guys are nice, we work with them every day, you should treat them with respect".

He pauses for a couple of minutes, and for a second she imagines that he is regarding her statement thoughtfully and maybe she will have a breakthrough here.

"You mean Charlie" He sates dryly, looking at her accusingly.

Breakthrough her ass.

"I mean with respect" She spits. You stupid ape, because you know, she does mean Charlie. Charlie Fong, with his quiet smile and his brown eyes and the way he is looking admiringly at her. Because She sure does deserve a normal guy that will ogle her, and will think she is cute and pretty, instead of this unapproachable, cold hearted sexy as hell, don't know she's alive super navy SEAL of a boss she's fixated on.