Title: Free Beer

Rating: T

Disclaimer: Unfortunately they are still not mine. I hope CBS and whoever owns the rights to Five-0 doesn't mind too much that I'm borrowing them for a short while. I promise to put them back when I'm done. They might even be in better condition afterward. They will definitely be happy.

Summary: Let's take a look at what happened after Cath offered the guys 'free beer'. Friendship, humor and romance will help them overcome the events of 4.01

A/N: This story is full of spoilers, so if you haven't seen the episode yet, I recommend not to read it just yet.

A huge thank you to Cokie316, who makes me work hard to get the best results. She makes my stories SO much better. Thank you, my friend for your encouragement, patience (she doesn't have any – LOL) and all around awesomeness.

Sherry57, I know, I know, I promised, and this is still not the M-rated version. But hey, that weekend IS coming. I'm working myself up to it. :-)

Free Beer

"Did you break anything?"

Yeah, my back in half. "Will you shut up already," was what Steve said. He tried to look annoyed at his partner as he painfully climbed out of the helicopter.

Steve lowered his aching body carefully down onto the step attached to the fuselage. He heard his friends talking and knew they were watching him in worry, but he zoned out for a few seconds and just tried to catch his breath and come back into the here and now.

"What about Captain Grover?" Chin was obviously worried about the repercussions of their actions.

Well, as was Steve, but he knew that this would blow over. And that's what he told them.

"What if he doesn't?" Chin didn't quite give up.

"Then we'll have a problem." Steve looked up at his two colleagues and hoped his actions wouldn't get them into trouble.

"What else is new," was Danny's resigned addition to the conversation.

Suddenly Steve remembered something from before, "Hold on, stop for a second, did you say 'free beer'?" He looked at his girlfriend for an answer.

"I did." She smiled down at him.

"What are we doin' sittin' here? Give me a hand up?" Steve looked almost pleadingly at Danny. He was pretty sure getting up on his own would hurt more than he wanted to experience right now.

After some more ribbing, Danny finally lent a hand and hauled Steve to his feet.

A fierce pain shot through his back and Steve was grateful that Cath offered her shoulder with a sweet 'come here'. It took a moment to get his body to move, and he was sure he didn't look very graceful.

But, hey contrary to Danny's belief, hanging from a helicopter, fighting for his life and crash landing said helicopter was not his idea of fun. The aircraft was still in one piece, but the landing had been hard, and his back was not very happy with him at the moment. Moving around while being upright was not an easy task.

Steve rambled on about how he had caught up with the helicopter, but gave up when he ran out of steam. He watched as HPD took over the landing site and wondered where his friends would lead him. A beer, free or otherwise, sounded pretty good right now, but a shower, fresh clothes and a bed sounded even better.

H50 – H50 – H50

The hot water felt just heavenly. Steve sighed and thought back at how he got here. The four of them had 'hijacked' a police cruiser and Chin drove them to HQ, not even sure if they could get in after the hostage situation and after the place had been shot up. But they only wanted to go to the locker rooms, change clothes and get a shower.

HQ was way closer than any of their homes, so they made their way over there. And wonders never cease, they were allowed in. So, now Steve was in a shower stall and was enjoying the hot water for what felt like just a few seconds, when he was interrupted by Danny.

"Hey, you gonna stay in there forever? Free beers are waiting!"

Steve closed his eyes and leaned his head against the tiled wall, letting the steaming hot water washing over his still hurting back. He knew he should answer, but he just didn't have the energy right this moment.

"Steve? Are you okay in there?"

"Yeah," came the rather weak reply. "Be out in a minute," Steve added to reassure his friend that he was not about to keel over and really was okay.

"You sure you're okay?" Danny didn't give up.

"Uh huh."

"You know what? I'll be waiting out here for you, you know, just to make sure—"

"Danny! Leave me alone. Jeez, I'm just taking a shower."

"Yeah, but you've been in there for almost twenty minutes. Your girl is getting worried and sent me in here. No one needs twenty minutes, not even to, you know…"

"Danny!" Steve called out and stepped out of the shower, snatching the towel Danny held out to him.

Danny stood in front if him; perfectly dressed and grinning like an idiot.

Steve looked him up and down, before saying anything. "Really, Danny, 'my girl'? I suggest you don't let her hear you say that."

Steve put the towel around his waist and made his way over to his locker to get fresh clothes out. When he bent down to retrieve his socks, he couldn't help but groan and his hand flew to his back.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Of course Danny was still there, not intent on leaving any time soon. "Did you hurt yourself?"

Steve had up-righted himself and rested his head on his arm against the locker. "Probably pulled a muscle, or something," he mumbled into the crook of his arm.

"What was that?" Danny asked and stepped closer to take a good look at his friend.

"Nothin'," Steve answered and stood to full height, turning to his partner. "You remember that 'personal space thing'?"

"Yeah?"

"You're invading mine right now," Steve told him and motioned an arm length around himself.

"Alright. Excuse us for caring," Danny told him, but did so with a grin. "Get your six in gear, we're waiting for you." Danny turned to leave and called over his shoulder, "But not much longer, Superman, then you're on your own."

Steve sighed in relief when the door closed after his partner and turned to finish getting dressed, or in his case, starting to get dressed.

Two minutes later he put his boots on and again had to suppress a groan when he bent down to tie his shoes. He was sure that he hadn't hurt himself, but he was obviously not twenty anymore and his muscles screamed in protest after the abuse they had had to endure today.

When he had dragged Ricardo Cosi along out of Wo Fat's cell, he had felt the first twinge in his back. And the day had only gotten worse from there. So, he thought he had a damn good excuse to feel tired and sore.

H50 – H50 – H50

Steve slouched down a little more in his place in the booth next to the wall at Sidestreet, their 'go to' bar and grill. He was listening to his three friends recap the events of the day. The sounds of their laughter washed over him and for the first time today he was able to completely relax. All the tension and the angst and worry of losing Catherine ebbed away. Unfortunately so did his focus. He zoned out a little bit and did a recap of his own.

Thinking back to the moment he received the phone call and it became clear to him that the woman he loved… yeah, Steve, stop pretending, you do love Cath, was in the hands of ruthless terrorists. The prospect of losing her had been terrifying. Steve shuddered at the memory of the moments of total panic when he couldn't find her at Ka'ena Point right away.

He must have physically moved, because he suddenly heard Catherine's worried voice trying to get his attention. "Steve? Steve, look at me."

"Huh?" Steve looked at her, and was amazed at what deep feelings he could see in her eyes. "Sorry, must have zoned out for a moment." He smiled at her and righted himself in his seat, but couldn't keep the grimace from showing on his face.

"You okay?" Danny now wanted to now.

"I'm good, just a bit sore."

"We tried to get your attention for almost a minute, Steve," Cath softly told him.

"Oh."

"You know, we made the mistake by not getting you checked out the last time you crashed a plane—"

"I did NOT crash the helicopter," Steve became pretty animated. He might have been in a plane crash before, but even back then he wasn't the one crashing that aircraft. He was just the one who couldn't prevent the… in his eyes… unpreventable crash landing.

"Well, you were at the steering wheel, when it touched down, so that is debatable."

"It's still a yoke, Danny. Not a steering wheel," Steve told him grinning.

"Whatever. But the fact remains that you might have hurt yourself, and maybe you should let someone take a look at your back."

"Oh, trust me, someone will take a look at my back, and other affected parts—"

"Oh, please…" Danny interrupted his still grinning friend.

"Really? Do I know that someone?" Cath piped in.

Instead of an answer Steve simply leaned over and stole another kiss. Probably for the tenth time this evening. He didn't even care that he acted out of character in front of his teammates. He was just so happy to have Cath next to him, and he simply needed the physical contact to make sure that she was still there.

It had seemed to him that she felt the same way; she kept physical contact at all times. From just keeping her leg touching his, to actually holding hands. And she didn't seem to mind the kissing.

"Hey! Get a room, you two," Danny called out.

"You know what? I think that is a great idea," Steve answered. "Actually, I think that is a good idea for all of us. Let's go home and meet first thing in the morning and find out what they took from our server."

"I could call Toast," Danny offered.

"That's great. I'm sure he has a better chance of getting the data than I do," Chin admitted. He was very versed in all the technical stuff, but no match for a world class hacker.

"Alright, then let's go. If I recall, this was 'free-beer-night'?" Steve looked smugly at his girlfriend.

"Oh, that you remember just fine," Cath said laughing and left the three men to pay for their drinks and dinner they had earlier.

"Steve, seriously. Are you okay?" Danny asked again.

"Yes, I'm fine. Really, I am. Nothing a good night's sleep won't cure."

"Good."

"Tell Gabby 'hi' from me."

Danny only grumbled his reply… to Steve's amusement. He remembered their odd conversation back at HQ while trying to keep their terrorist alive, and had to smile at the predicament Danny faced.

"Gabby is in town?" Chin asked since he hadn't heard about that yet. "That's great."

"Could we please not discuss my love life right now?" Danny almost pleaded as they all got out of the booth and waited for Cath to come back. "Relax, Steve, she's just over there."

Steve kept his eyes on Catherine, and ignored Danny shaking his head at him. He was adamant not to let her out of his sight. At least not tonight.

He felt better after decompressing a little among his friends. His back still hurt, but it was now just a dull muscle ache. Which he guessed was to be expected after a day like today. No matter how trained one was, doing the stuff he did today would get to anyone. Nothing really to worry about. If he was really lucky he would get Cath to give him one of her great back massages. She had pretty amazing hands that could do almost illegal things to him. He felt himself smiling and needed to stop thinking along those lines until they were safely in their home.

H50 – H50 – H50

It took them almost half an hour to reach Steve's house after they had said their good bye to Chin and Danny. Steve had let Catherine take the wheel of his truck they had picked up at HQ. He was now sitting in the truck, leaning against the window and watched her turning off the engine.

He saw the tentative smile and he was sure she wondered what was up with him tonight. He was a very attentive lover in the safety of their home, away from prying eyes, but he never had been the 'hands-on' guy in public.

But tonight had been different. Tonight he had needed to touch her as often as possible, not caring who had been watching them.

"You wanna go inside, or stay here?" Cath asked him with a smile.

"In a minute," Steve said and turned in his seat to face her full on. "Cath, I'm so sorry you got hurt because of my job. I'm sorry you were taken because they needed you as leverage," Steve told her softly.

"It was not your fault, Steve."

"I know, and I'm not blaming myself. But I do feel sorry that you were put in danger because of Five-0. I hope this experience won't change... I mean… I'm not going to let other people dictate my life… I couldn't bear the thought that you would…"

"Not have anything to do with you anymore? Are you nuts? I will NOT be intimidated by anyone. I chose to be with you, and I knew the risks. The same risk everyone in law enforcement, or military faces. You think it was easier when you were still an active SEAL?"

"At least then there was no Wo Fat, no Yakuza…"

"No, but at least now I know most of the time where you are. And don't live in constant fear of you getting killed and I wouldn't even learn about it."

Steve suddenly realized how deep her commitment had always been, how she had always worried about him. On every deployment. He had never realized until recently how involved they had become over the years. "I'm sorry for all the worry. I promise to do better in informing you of any impending doom," Steve told her with a tentative smile.

"Good. Can we go in now?"

Instead of an answer Steve opened the door and slid out of the truck. Turning around again didn't go without a small grunt of pain. Seemed that his muscles were still mad at him. He closed the door and waited for Cath to come around the truck.

She again took his arm around her shoulder and he was happy to let her. His back sent little daggers of pain down his side all the way down his leg. The most serious pain was located right in the middle of his back just below his belt. But it was radiating and made walking harder than it had been earlier.

"You're limping."

"Nah, I'm good," Steve mumbled while he took the keys from Catherine to open the door.

Once inside Steve headed straight for the stairs, he couldn't get upstairs fast enough. He wanted to take another shower and get rid of his clothes. He had washed all the grime off at HQ, but somehow he again felt hot and sticky.

"Cath, you want to get a shower first?" Steve asked her and looked her up and down. She looked sexy even in the not so fitting coveralls they had found for her at HQ. Even the bruises forming on her cheek couldn't diminish her beauty.

"Like what you see?" She grinned at him and pulled down the zipper a little more to reveal that she only had a white tee under it and nothing else.

Steve felt his body eagerly reacting to the sight in front of him, and had to grin that despite the pain his body was obviously in the mood for other things than a shower. "Very," was his answer as he stepped closer and helped the zipper down a little more.

Steve cupped her face in his hand and leaned in for a sweet kiss, enjoying the feeling of her pressing against his body. He softly traced the marks on her cheek feeling her shudder in anticipation. Steve inhaled her scent, leaned down and rested his head on her shoulder. And had to stop when a debilitating pain shot up his back as he bent his head.

"Argh," was a grunt he couldn't suppress. His legs almost buckled and he had to lean heavily on Catherine.

"Steve? What's wrong?" Cath had tightened her grip and looked up at him. Seeing him clenching his eyes shut, she suddenly got worried. "Steve?"

"Hm, 'm good," he mumbled as an answer and stepped back to sit down on the bed.

Steve lowered his tired body to the edge of the bed and pressed his right hand into the suddenly again extremely painful spot in the middle of his lower back.

"Good my ass. You're anything but," Cath retorted and stood in front of the bed, seemingly angry.

"Are you mad at me?" Steve wasn't sure how to interpret her reaction.

"What? No, of course not. I'm worried. You're obviously experiencing more pain than you let on. Now, what's up with that? Where else are you hurting?" Catherine explained and helped him get rid of his shirt.

Having the first piece of clothing out of the way, they together got him out of his pants and underwear, and Steve was a little disappointed to see that this little episode was not agreeing with his plans for later.

"Get on the bed and lie on your stomach. Show me where the pain is located," Cath told him and got the sheets off the bed for him to lie down.

Steve went sideways and then rolled over onto the middle of the bed, groaning a little when he stretched out his legs.

Catherine pulled the light sheet up to his waist and gently laid her hand on his back. "Don't move; I'll be right back."

"No' goin' anywhere," Steve mumbled into the mattress. Now that he was lying down the pain was lessening again.

"Steve?"

Ups, must have zoned out again. "Hmm?" He felt the edge of the bed dip when she placed her knee on it.

"Tell me where you're hurting," Cath asked and gently stroked between his shoulder blades.

"Lower back, middle and slightly to the side," Steve slowly said, enjoying the attention his upper back just got from Catherine.

"Okay, I'll take a look." He heard Catherine say and felt how the sheet was pulled further down.

Gentle hands stroked along his back muscles and it was a rather nice sensation until she came to the spot that had been hurting him ever since he had climbed out of the helicopter. "Argh," Steve cried out when her fingers dug into the muscle.

"This is one big knot you got here. No wonder you're hurting."

"Think I pulled something when I swung under the helicopter," Steve said again into the mattress.

He gasped when he suddenly felt warm liquid on his back, but then moaned when Cath started her massage; rubbing the warmed oil into his skin, kneading the cramped muscles. Steve couldn't keep the groans in every time she worked on the sore spot. It hurt, but with every stroke it got a little better, and a few minutes into the massage he couldn't help but moan in pleasure instead of pain.

His muscles started to relax and Steve practically melted into the bed. All tension left him and instead was replaced by a warm feeling of being loved. The thought of Catherine caring so much to give him a massage even though she must be hurting herself from her ordeal, woke the desire to show her just how much he appreciated her love.

He felt a very welcome urge pooling in his groin and moaned when Cath moved up from her perch on his upper legs and in the process pressed him further into the mattress. She must have realized what was happening and gave up on kneading his muscles but instead stroked his back with feather light touches, driving him crazy.

Steve heard her giggle and tried to turn but was held down by her body now fully lying on his back, kissing her way up his neck. Leaving a torturous trail of sweet caress and making him squirm under her weight.

Finally she took pity on him and allowed him to turn while she settled back, this time not on his thighs but higher up closer to his lap. Letting her hands roam over his well-defined abs, now slick with oil and sweat.

"You're killing me here," Steve whispered and involuntarily moved his hips, wanting her desperately to move her hands lower. He closed his eyes in bliss when she did.

The pain in his back was forgotten when he again turned them over, precariously close to the edge of the bed, and descended on her mouth. Now it was his turn to kiss his way all over her body, driving her just as crazy as she did him before. He was happy to hear her making those small noises he loved so much. It was a huge turn on, and he could feel that they wouldn't have much time if they kept going like this.

Steve stopped and looked at her, asking permission before taking the next step. Slowly and gently he moved into position. They both knew this was special. This was true lovemaking, not just sex. This was not just to reassure that they both had survived this day; this was to confirm their love and commitment.

They both felt the difference when they became one. It was not the mind blowing experience they often had; this was gentle, soft, and full of love as they exploded in total bliss at the same time. Together as one they felt an incredible connection like never before.

They slowly came back, breathing hard and both in a daze of happiness and a form of exhaustion that was fulfilling and not to be described with words.

Steve lay there still connected to Catherine, unwilling to ever move. He gently kissed her bruised cheek and whispered sweet nonsense into her ear.

"I love you, too," he suddenly heard her say.

"Huh?"

"I said I love you too," Catherine whispered still a little breathless.

Steve looked at her wide-eyed. He had obviously let something slip, and had to grin at her soft smile.

"Don't worry, Steve, your secret is safe with me."

"It's no secret when everyone but me knew," he whispered back, oddly content with what he had told her in the afterglow of passion.

"You wanna take it back?"

He heard the small tone of worry in her voice and made sure to set something straight. "Never."

The smile that greeted him could only be described as blinding. He wiggled a little in bed to find a position that would make sure Cath was as comfortable as he was right now. Steve pulled up the sheets over them and pressed a sweet last kiss to the back of her neck.

After all the action of the day, they were able to relax and were both asleep in minutes.

H50 – H50 – H50