A/N: Well, this is the final chapter. A bit longer than usual. I hope you enjoyed the story. It was my first attempt in H5O fiction, and my first attempt in multi chapter story. Your reviews and kind words made it such a special experience, and I am in debt to each one of you.

I will probably try to write another story before the third season. I am quite worried about the writers' plans for the next season, and the prospects of seeing Steve and Kono together in the show are looking grim... But we could still hope, right?

Thanks again from the bottom of my heart, for all of you who showed interest, followed and reviewed this story.

He has ten Hawaiian women in his home when he gets back from work. He opens the door and there is so much noise, he automatically reaches for his gun. When he takes a better look, there are three elderly women sitting in the living room, speaking simultaneously to Kono who lies on the sofa and nods vigorously, and at least five more in the kitchen and in the dining room area. The five women are occupied with cooking, and arranging things. His cupboards are being opened and closed repeatedly, and different things are being taken out and put back in them without any sensible order.

Kono's mother is the one orchestrating everything, ordering everyone around and corrects what they do. He is usually quite good with basic Hawaiian, but at this point he can hardly understand the English words spoken, and it looks like all the women speak at the same time, in a big and deafening cacophony. He steps into the living room, to announce his presence, but it seems like they all much too absorbed in their noisy world to notice.

It's Kono who finally notices him, smiles brightly from the sofa, and signals him over. He bends down, to give her a peck on the cheek, and the three old aunts who sit there stop talking and look at him curiously. He ignores them completely when he feels Kono's breath tickling his ear and he raises his head to look at her in amusement.

"I can see you have visitors" he whispers to her, still leaning close.

"You are so observant" she smiles "I can see why you make such a good detective".

"Will they be staying long?" he asks quietly, fixing his eyes on her mouth, and makes a small gesture towards her lips.

"Hold your horses, commander" she pushes him away laughing "first, my mom wants to talk to you".

"Oh shit..."

"Don't worry, too many witnesses, she won't hurt you"

"They are all relatives" he groans, looking suspiciously around him.

"You're right" she looks at the full house around them "take your gun with you, and stay where I can see you..."

He smiles towards her, but she looks too serious for it to be a joke, and he swallows hard before he stands up and walks towards the kitchen.

()()()

"There you are"

"There I am" he looks around him, absorbing the big an awful mess that once was his clean and organized kitchen.

"I need to talk to you" she tells him drying her hands on an apron. Does he have an apron? he is quite sure he doesn't. When she pulls him out of the kitchen and towards the lanai he sees a big ceramic plate, a juice maker and a new set of kitchen towels that doesn't belong to him either.

"She wants to go back to work" her mother says it like it's some kind of disaster. Actually it is a disaster, he couldn't agree more.

"I know"

"She is not well yet"

"I know. She still has pain and needs to get her strength back first" he answers quickly.

"So you're going to prevent it?" her mother looks at him in anticipation and hope.

"As long as I can" he tells her reassuringly.

"She will ask you to go back, and concentrate on office work"

"Not gonna happen" he states simply.

"She will suggest to do paperwork for the whole team"

"Not gonna let her" he says again.

"She will do all she can do to persuade you otherwise" her mother looks at him dubiously.

"I promise you, I will not let her back for as long as I can" he says it with as much conviction he can master, to get her to trust him.

"I don't know..." Mrs. Kalakaua crosses her arms and shakes her head at his confidence.

"You don't trust me?" he asks in amusement "I am a very determined guy".

"I'm sure that you are" she says sighing "but I saw her influence on you. One look from her, and you'd cave in completely"

"Look, I..."

"Face it Steve, she will ask you to let her back, and she will smile at you, or worse, get naked or touch you, and it's all done, we both know it, and Kono knows it too"

He can't argue with that, not convincingly anyway, because he suspects it's true. But he knows something she doesn't.

"The governor knows about us". He tells Kono's mother quietly "I need to keep her out of Five O, if I want to be with her. For now, anyway... so you see, I won't let her back for as long as I can..."

"Oh Steve..." her mother suddenly realizes what he's saying.

"Please don't tell her" he looks pleadingly at her.

"I won't, darling" she reaches and strokes his cheek gently and he flinches a little bit at the unanticipated gentle touch. After a few seconds, when they look at each other in alliance, she finally lets go, and turns back to the Kitchen.

"By the way, we had to make some changes to your kitchen" she calls back when he stands there trying to make sense of the strange sensation she caused, "it was poorly organized. And Kono's dad will come tomorrow to help fix the ceiling and the stairs. This house needs a lot of work if you want my daughter to live in it".

Great. Just fucking great. He knows he promised to be nice to her family, and be polite and pleasant, but there has to be a limit. Right? He's own fucking house, for example. He walks back to the living room and sees Kono talking to her aunts again, smiling and laughing, sprawled on his sofa, and he realizes that for better or worse, there probably is no limit.

()()()

"They got a hold of the house"

"They got what?"

"They have full control now. It's completely out of my hands"

"Why?"

"I have no idea. I think they play mind games with me or something"

"Wait. When you say they... who are they?"

"Well, Kono's family. Her mother, her aunts, her cousins. Even her father. I really thought I was getting along with him, until he started too"

"Started what?"

"He decided to fix my ceiling"

"The bastard!" Danny feigns shock.

"Don't do that. My ceiling is completely fine. I just fixed it, after that shootout..."

"And you did a crappy job at it" Danny reminds him.

"I did not. It's absolutely not a crappy job!" Steve says insulted.

"Give me a break. You wanted to save money and you did the work yourself. Jeez, You even scrimped on the wood"

"I did not!"

"You did. You really are a stingy person."

"No I'm not" Steve protests.

"You totally are. You never pay when we go out, you buy parts for your car on the internet, you buy only necessary and simple food. God knows you don't buy descent clothes. You have, what? two maybe three pairs of cargo pants, and six matching blue tee shirts? You probably the worse person to have dinner with. God, I have no idea how you ever got Kono to go out with you in the first place"

"I don't think we actually, did get out... I think we ate in most of the time..."

"That's because you're stingy!" Danny declares his point again. "At least you don't make her cook for you..."

"Of course I don't. Don't be ridiculous..." both men are smiling at the surrealistic scenario.

"You should feel nice about it. She feels comfortable at your place, and invites her family over. I mean, wasn't that all the purpose? for her to feel at home at your house?"

"Yes, Danny, it was. But it was most certainly not about making her family feel comfortable there... "

()()()

It's really late when he comes home that night. The new case takes a lot of running around and chasing leads around the island. It's a difficult case, and they are a man short. Well... a woman short, to make it more specific. And he really has no energy to face a crowded messy and noisy house again. He releases a breath of relief when he opens the door to find the house quiet and empty. Well, not entirely empty, because obviously the same woman he's been missing miserably all day is sitting in the living room listening to some music on her iPod. She has her eyes closed, and she shakes her head with the rhythm and smile her delicious smile to herself. He stands there just watching her for a while, his eyes linger on her body, when she suddenly opens her eyes and catches him in the middle of his musing. They watch each other , smiling stupidly at one another, when he suddenly reach towards her and take her off the couch. He hugs and kisses her violently and she ties her legs around his waist, as he supports her weight with one hand and hold her neck with the other, deepening the kiss. There is no sound except the sound of breathing and kissing and he puts her on the floor, tagging at her clothes, and discarding his. When skin touches skin, she whimpers at his touch, and he groans into her neck as they start moving together, frantically, until they come together and she screams his name, collapsing on the living room floor.

They lie there naked, recovering their breaths, washed in the afterglow. His head is on her chest, and she is stroking his hair gently when he sends a tentative hand to touch the small scar on her abdomen. It is still there, a rude reminder of her injury, and the pink marking is such a contradiction to her bronze like skin, it makes him realize how close they were to... well...

"It will fade away eventually" she tells him, as if she can read his mind.

"You can have a tattoo on it" he suggests, trying to ignore the deeper meaning of her statement "just to cover it up".

"Nah... " she dismisses "scars are great. They're like tattoos, only with better stories..."

"I thought you liked my tattoos" he looks up questioningly.

"I love them" she tells him, smiling and kissing his nose. "I love everything about your body". It probably shouldn't affect him they way it does, but it gets him ready to do what they just did all over again. So they do. But he makes sure they'll get to the bedroom this time.

()()()

"I want to go back" she tells him when they lie together in his bed, his face buried in the crook of her neck and his hand is hugging her waist.

"You're not well enough" he mumbles sleepily. This precise conversation has been going on for the last three weeks.

"I think I just proven, I am well enough..." she turns her head and whispers to him.

"You still have pain, and you are not back in shape yet. You gotta take it slow baby" he repeats his words, word for word from the previous discussions.

"I am running and surfing again" she turns and moves away from beneath him to make her point "I don't even have to go back to active duty. I am willing to do some paperwork if you want. Just get me out of the house, because I'm losing my mind here".

He sees the silent plea in her eyes. There is nothing he wants more than have her back with him on the team, instead of looking longingly at her empty office every single day. But he has to look at the bigger picture, and although he had some discussion with the governor, to try to assess the situation and see if he can manage to change his mind, the governor is still resolved to put this obstacle, and he needs more time to try and solve it.

"I know it's hard for you, baby..."

"Please Steve..." she looks at him with her big brown eyes, and he can feel himself caving in. Her mother will be pleased to know her predictions were true.

"You'll get medical clearance from the doctor, and we'll talk about it" he gives up finally.

"Great!" she is so happy, her dimples are back, and she tries to prove him how well she is, and how grateful, and when he is moaning again with her touch, it seems like he got the message.

()()()

Two days later, when he comes home, she jumps him at the door, kisses him and shows him an official medical clearance. He manages to persuade her to come back only when the current case is done, but it takes him half the night. Before he falls asleep, he holds her as she lies exhausted on his chest, and he thinks that he might actually miss these negotiations in the future" .

()()()

He gets to HQ in the late afternoon, and sees her sitting on the desk in Danny's office. Chin is there too, and the all team is united again. He stops for a second, seeing his little family laughing together and a weird sense of calmness surrounds him for the first time since she got hurt. Until he realizes she is not supposed to be there, and that there might be consequences to her actions. Bad consequences.

"What are you doing here?" he asks in alarm walking into the office.

"I work here" she reminds him kindly, because it looks like he forgot.

"You're on leave"

"Not anymore" she smiles "remember the medical clearance? and Daniel here was kind enough to inform me that you wrapped up the case yesterday. So I'm back!" she smiles triumphantly. they all smile. Even Danny the fucking traitor who he's going to kill, by the end of working hours, today.

"You can't be here" he insists and makes a movement towards her to pull her out.

"What are you doing?" she looks confused "what's wrong with you?"

"She can't be here" he looks desperately at Chin and Danny.

"You probably shouldn't be here, babe" Danny says to her, to Steve's great relief. "There are still some issues we need to figure out before you come back".

"What issues?" she looks around her in astonishment, because it looks like when she was gone, her teammates suffered some kind of a mental meltdown. "Chin?"

"The governor found out about you and Steve. He wants you out of Five O, or for you and Steve to... terminate your relationship... it's supposed to be Steve's choice..."

He looks apologetically at Steve, but they all know he will never lie to his cousin.

"Since when have you known about this?" she asks Steve quietly, she is beyond shocked right now.

"The day you got shot" he says, looking at her steadily but unconsciously, making a small adjustment to his posture to defend himself.

"And you chose not to tell me because..." she is still quiet, but he can recognize the tone. It's the tone she uses when she is just about to yell at him, or throw something. He still has that scar caused by the flying salt shaker on his forehead. She was always such a good shot.

"You were hurt, you had to focus on getting better. I didn't want you to know" he explains patiently.

"But you let Danny and Chin know..."

"Yes" Danny and Chin are starting to make their way out of the room, but Steve catches them do it. "Don't move" he barks towards them. He tells himself he wants them there to help explain, but they all know he's too afraid to stay with her alone in the room.

"Does everyone know?"

"Well..."

"Now you gonna tell me that my family knows as well..."

"Well..."

"Are you kidding me?"

"Your mom asked. You know how she is... I can't keep something like this from her"

"You had no problem keeping it from me... that's... oh god, I'm so humiliated..."

"Baby..." he reaches his hand towards her when she says it, because that was not his intention when he did it. But she takes her keys and walks towards the door leaving them there exchanging worried looks.

"Where are you going?" he calls after her, horrified.

"To the governor!" she doesn't even look back.

Fuck!

"Wait!" he runs after her, but she gets to the elevator first and the doors close in front of him. He runs down the stairs cursing the whole time, and reaches the parking lot a second after her. He jumps into the passenger seat of her car when she's already pulled out of her parking spot.

"Kono, wait... let's talk about it"

"Oh, I'm definitely going to talk about it. To the governor" she notifies him with an unhappy smile.

"What are you going to tell him that I didn't?" he shouts in frustration "I'm trying to reason with him for the last month..."

"What exactly did you try?" she looks at him in contempt. "because it looks like you did a crappy job"

"I was willing to do everything. Whatever he want. Sell my soul, sell the team, I would have given up my first born for him, if he was willing..."

She looks at him like he's a fucking idiot "considering the fact that your first born, will probably be my first born, I don't see how it improves my situation here..." she watches the road, shaking her head.

"Really?" he stops fighting, in mild shock with her declaration.

"What?" she looks at him, sensing the change in his tone, when she sees his big blue eyes looking at her with awe, she thinks she might be missing something crucial "What's wrong with you?" she asks curious, because he looks so emotionally shaken, it's getting her worried.

"Do you mean it?" he asks quietly.

"Mean what?" she has no idea what he is talking about, they were in the middle of a very important fight, normally he gives their fights his best efforts before he gives up. Because, let's face it, usually he is the one to give up...

"Having a baby with me..." and now she gets it.

There's a strange quiet in the speeding car, when she tries to come up with an answer.

"If you let the governor separate us, or kick me out of Five O, I'll be forced to do some permanent damage to a very specific part of your anatomy. A part that might be related, in a way, to the procreation process. So, as you can see, this is completely up to you... are we clear?" she looks at him pointedly.

"Cristal!" he says, sitting back straight in his seat. Satisfied.

She takes a glance at his smiling face, when they reach the governor's office, and rolls her eyes at his familiar confident arrogance. He should really change his priorities. Fast.

()()()

She barges into the governor's office before he has time to prevent it, so he just follows her in to find her standing in front of the man's desk tapping her foot. She looks dangerous, and the governor sends a questioning look towards Steve, who just shrugs. It's out of his hands now, and he knows it.

"Officer..."

"Kalakaua!" she helps him.

"Officer Kalakaua" the governor accepts her clarification "I am so glad to see that you are feeling better. Can I help you with anything?"

"No thank you" she explains politely "I came here to help you..."

She did? it's news to Steve...

"Help me with..."

"I understand that you had some problems with human resources issues in Five O". She is smiling, but Steve recognizes this smile again, and discretely tries to look for potential flying objects in her vicinity.

"I came to alert you that all personal matters in Five O are under control. And you can rest assure that there will be no problems in regard to us conducting our job"

"Will you be going back to work in Five O then?" he asks looking at her, not missing a beat.

"I will"

"Are you still... involved with Commander McGarrett?" he asks again.

"This is none of your business" she says quickly, raising her voice. But, when she hears Steve's quiet groan she adds "Sir" Because she's nice like that.

"Commander, I thought we made it clear..." the governor turns towards Steve, who has a weird sense of Deja vu from the ongoing discussions of the last month.

"Hey..." she steps forward, in a not entirely unthreatening manner "I'm making it clear right now, sir" she is getting upset now, and the governor probably had enough with her rudeness because he stands up and slams his hand on the desk. She is making one more step forward, and she is just about to launch towards the highest ranking person in the island when Steve catches her around the waist and says "Please leave the room, Kono".

"No way" she pushes him off stepping again towards the governor, and both men look at her, in apprehension.

"Officer Kalakaua!" Steve raises his voice, and she turns to look at him, to see his piercing blue eyes glaring at her "Wait outside. Now!" he says it in the most authoritative voice he can master, and he looks at her, challenging her to disobey, and she probably would have disobeyed him, embarrassing her in front of the governor like that, but when she looks carefully she can see a silent plea behind his severe expression. After a few charged seconds, she nods once, and steps out of the room in silence.

"She's something..." the governor mumbles after she walks out and the door closes behind her "I can see the appeal..."

"I will not let her go" Steve says quietly, trying to ignore the inappropriate remark towards his girlfriend.

"I believe you" the governor says. "But..."

"I will leave Five O if necessary" he says looking at the governor.

"Steve, Five O is everything you wanted. It's who you are. You built it yourself..."

"I don't want to leave" he says again "but I will, if I had to" they look at each other for a moment or two.

"This is highly irregular..." the governor says at last.

"It is..." Steve smiles. It's possible they are not talking about the same thing here...

"OK" the governor says finally, sitting back in his chair. "Just... be careful. and don't mess up too much. You will never survive a breakup from this one... "

()()()

Steve is out of the room in less than a second. He runs out, jumping two stairs at a time. He finds Kono leaning against the wall looking at her feet.

"Hey babe..." he calls when he steps near her, but he can't complete the sentence when her fist comes to contact with his jaw.

"Fuck, Kono!" he says from his new position down on the ground "there was no need for that. It's all fixed. You can come back to work, and we can still be together..." he looks up at her glaring eyes "if you still want to... that is..." he says cautiously, because he can't really read her right now.

She's all worked up and beautiful and her eyes are strong and have that special glint, and the sun caresses her features and makes her hair shine and her skin glisten...

"You see? it wasn't that hard..." she extends her hand to help him up "I should probably go back as soon as possible, you're making a mess out of the cases without me. So unprofessional..."

He wants to stand up and walk with her to the car, but he is too turned on right now to be able to do it "could you give me a minute?" he asks breathing deeply and folding his arms around his legs. "Let's talk about football or something".

"For god's sake" she huffs, starting her way towards the car on her own "I'm surrounded by armatures. I should go back and ask for a transfer myself..."

()()()

"She said no?"

"Yes"

"She said yes?"

"No! she said no!" weren't you listening?

"I'm trying, Steve, believe me. But following your relationship with Kono is a bigger challenge than you might think..."

"From the beginning then, I asked her to marry me, last night, and she said no."

"I'm sorry"

"It's fine"

"How can it be fine?" Danny looks at his partner who looks unperturbed by the recent chain of events "aren't you disappointed?"

"I was at first. But it's fine now" Steve says offhandedly, turning the car carefully, and even uses the signals.

"Why?" Danny asks astonished

"Why am I not disappointed?"

"No" Danny looks at him exasperated "I don't give a fuck about your disappointment. I'm not sure your overinflated ego can recognize disappointment if it falls on you from the sky. Why did she say no?"

"She said she was too young to get married"

"And you didn't argue?"

"I did" Steve shrugs "at first. But then she reminded me that Mary Ann is the same age as her, and asked how I would react if Mary Ann came and told me she was getting married..."

"That's a good point" Danny says impressed.

"Yes. It is. It was very effective. I got up of bed and called Mary Ann to make sure she wasn't planning on doing something stupid like that" Steve admits.

"I'm sure she was thrilled"

"She was very descriptive when she explained what she's planning to do to me the next time she's in Hawaii..." Steve mumbles "the fact that she was able to describe it with so much details in the middle of the night is really quite disturbing..."

"So what now?" Danny asks, trying to block the image of Mary Ann beating the crap out of Steve, before it will reach a very unfriendly level.

"Now nothing" Steve says, stops at a cross walk and let some pedestrians cross the road with great patience, when the last of them stands on the other curb, he carefully looks around him before starting to go again. "She said, if I still want to marry her I can ask her later. When she's older".

"How much older?" Danny looks suspiciously at Steve and notices for the first time that the speed dial did not go over 40 miles per hour the entire ride.

"She said something about being fifty..." Steve shrugs. "But I will probably try again earlier. Maybe forty..."

They reach HQ, and Steve is parking the car carefully, making sure no one is walking close by, and keeps the car straight and in alignment with the markings on the ground.

They get out of the car and walk towards the building, when Danny stops and looks at Steve with amazement.

"She's pregnant!" he shouts.

"Keep quiet!" Steve shoves him forcefully into the elevator "you're not supposed to know about it" he looks around them and pushes the elevator's buttons "how did you know?" he looks at his partner curiously.

"Your driving..." Danny mumbles still looking at Steve as if he grown another head "I have never seen you drive so carefully..."

Steve just stands there smiling happily at Danny.

"This is why you don't mind she doesn't want to get married. Because you knocked her up!" Danny looks at Steve who is practically beaming with excitement. "God help us!" Danny rolls his eyes as the elevator's doors open "another one of you, and with Kono's hard head in the mix. It's a fucking nightmare..."

When they go inside HQ, they see Kono carries an enormous pile of lenses and electronic devices. She balances them on one hand and knee as she try to open the door with the other hand.

"Hold on, babe" Danny is running to help her "let me take this" he relieves her from her burden "you shouldn't be doing stuff like that" he tells her with alarm "sit there, we'll carry that for you..."

She looks at Danny with a questioning look, until she notices Steve standing behind him.

"You told him!" she points her finger towards her boyfriend. "You promised you wouldn't! It took you what? twelve hours to run up and tell him?" she glares at the both of them in irritation "this is really inappropriate, Steve" she walks furiously towards her office "I should have known. I should have known you would never keep secrets from your wife..."

Yeah. That's great. Hopefully, it's all hormones... but he's a super SEAL right? potentially he should be able to survive nine months of this...