Steve McGarrett x OC

- 12 -

Steve and I pulled into his driveway after dinner and he came around to my side of the truck to help me carry some of my bags inside. He had taken me clothes shopping and I had surprisingly had a lot of fun, considering everything I had was probably gone and I don't know how my house had started on fire. 

Steve unlocked the door and guided me through his house. I had been here several times but always with the team, it had never just been the two of us. He showed me to the guest room which was right next to his room and I fidgeted slightly as I sat on the bed. Why was I so nervous? It's just Steve for crying out loud, he's one of my closest friends, there is no reason for me to overthink this. 

"Okay, well, I'll let you get settled or relax or do whatever you need to do. I'll be downstairs just hanging out if you need me," Steve said.

I nodded and turned to hug him again. "Thanks again Steve. You have no idea how much I appreciate this." 

His arms wound tightly around my waist and his chin rested on my shoulder. "Of course, Jess," he whispered. I sighed as his breath hit my ear making a shiver run through me. I closed my eyes and allowed myself to melt into him just a little more. I didn't want to pull away. Steve was warm and he gave the best hugs. I noticed that he didn't seem eager to pull away either, but finally I snapped out of it and stepped back. We both laughed a little and Steve did an awkward half-wave and walked out of the room. 

I took a deep breath and laid down on the bed. It's no secret that Steve McGarrett is an attractive man. Oh who am I kidding, he's the most gorgeous man I've ever seen. But he's my best friend. And your boss! I thought. It's just the situation of us living together for a while that makes me feel more emotional towards him. That's all, my emotions are just running high, I convinced myself. After taking one more deep breath, I stood up and started busying myself with putting my new clothes into the closet and putting away the other miscellaneous items I had gotten. 

Once I was settled, I wandered downstairs to find Steve sitting on the couch watching a movie with a beer in hand. I plopped down on the other side of the couch, staring blankly in the direction of the TV. I suddenly felt exhausted, all the events of the evening catching up to me. I didn't even notice when Steve left and came back with another beer in his hand until he was standing in front of me, holding the drink out for me to take. 

"What's on your mind, J?" he asked.

I let a tired smile cross my face at the nickname as I accepted the beer gratefully. I took a gulp, then sighed. Steve had sat down again and I turned so I was facing him with my back leaning against the arm of the couch. He mimicked me, giving me his full attention, the movie forgotten about in the background. "Steve...how did my house burn down?" I didn't want to think about this question too much until the police had more information, but I couldn't help it. 

Steve frowned. "What do you mean? I'm sure it was just an accident."

I shook my head. "Fires don't just start on accident, especially when I am 100% positive that I didn't leave the oven on, nothing flammable was near any heat source, I unplug everything that needs to be right after I'm done using it, and I rarely light candles."

Steve just looked at me, his intense gaze studying my face. After what felt like minutes he spoke up again. "You think someone did this to your house." It wasn't a question. 

I simply shrugged in response. "We make enemies in this job, Steve, I don't know."

He sighed and sat up from his laid back posture, leaning towards me slightly. "Yes, but Jessica, the odds of those enemies having the resources to find information about you, like where you live, is extremely low."

"Your enemies found that information about you!" I shot back, referring to what had happened to his dad.

Steve visibly flinched back from me and I grimaced, realizing what I had just said.  I don't know why I said it, I'm tired and just paranoid and freaked out about my house, I didn't even think about what I was saying until the words were out of my mouth. 

"Steve, I...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." I started.

He cut me off, "Nah, don't worry about it, I know you're probably just confused and worried about your whole house thing." He waved me off, but I could tell what I had said had bothered him as he got up, taking his beer with him into the kitchen. I stayed on the couch, unsure of what to do. He came back several minutes later and turned towards the stairs. "I'm heading to bed, help yourself to anything you need. See you in the morning."

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. How could I say something like that to him? Here he is, giving up his house and privacy and in return, I force him to relive one of the worst moments of his life. Not to mention, he had just gotten away from Wo Fat not that long ago. I needed to apologize.

I walked upstairs and saw that his light was still on through the crack in the door so I knocked softly. "Come in," I heard. I opened the door to shirtless Steve rummaging through a drawer. I was momentarily distracted until he pulled out a t-shirt and turned to face me sliding the shirt over his head. I shook myself out of it, hoping he didn't notice my lapse in brain function. "What did you need?" he asked.

The words came pouring out of my mouth. "I'm so, so sorry. I didn't mean to say anything like that and I know I bothered you by unintentionally making you relive those memories and you just got away from Wo Fat and you're giving up your house for me so I should really learn to hold my tongue and I just feel so bad, I don't want you to be hurt or mad at me and like you said I'm just worried about what happened to my house and especially after everything that happened in New York and I'm probably also just tired and..."

"Whoa, hey, hey, hey." Steve cut off my rambling with a small smile on his face as he put his hands on my shoulders. "It's okay, really. Today was a long day for you, I understand why you're a little freaked out and I know you would never intentionally try to hurt me by bringing something like that up. I'm okay, don't worry about it anymore." I let out a relieved breath and was rewarded with a bright smile from Steve as he opened his arms toward me for the third time today. "Come 'ere."

I let a smile take over my face as I fell into him yet again. Hugging Steve was quickly becoming one of my favorite things which was probably not good, but I pushed that thought away to deal with at a different time.

"Jess?" Steve murmured, not breaking our tight embrace.

"Hmm?"

"What happened in New York?"

I tensed up. "What do you mean?"

He pulled back so he could look into my eyes, still keeping his hands on my back and waist. "During your little ramble," I blushed and he smirked, "you said 'especially after everything that happened in New York.' What happened?"

I stared at him for a good couple of seconds. "Oh, yeah, well I just meant everything with mom, ya know. We didn't have the best relationship." I tried not to stumble over my words. 

Steve's blue eyes studied me. "You sure?" he asked after a minute.

"Yeah, of course. No big deal." I responded. 

He nodded, seeming deep in thought. Then he gave me a smile and stepped back from me completely. "Okay, well, let me know if you need anything else."

I nodded and wished him goodnight before heading to the guest room. Once I had closed the door to the room, I leaned against it and blew out a huge breath. That was close.