Steve McGarrett x OC

- 17 -

The team brought me to the hospital after the whole issue with Wayne, but luckily there was no serious damage, mostly just bruising. The effects of whatever chemical they were giving me had wore off too, which I was grateful for. I was able to go back home to Steve's house that night as long as I promised to take it easy. Considering Steve is my boss and also super over-protective, I doubt I will have the chance to overexert myself.

Over the next three weeks I healed and helped with paperwork and cases from the office when I could. I was feeling pretty good except for the nightmares. I've been having them since the incident with my ex-boyfriend but usually I woke up before they got too bad. However, the little sleep I got felt restless and it was starting to catch up with me. The more sleepless nights I got because of the nightmares, the harder it was to pull myself out of the dream when it started. I hadn't mentioned anything to Steve; he worries about me enough already, but I was nervous that one day soon I'd hit the point of exhaustion where I wouldn't be able to wake myself up before I screamed or somehow alerted Steve to the nightmares.

I was standing at the computer table running a victim through facial recognition when Steve and Danny walked in. I was so exhausted and so focused on the task I was doing that I didn't even notice.

"Hello? Jessica? You good?" I only realized they were there when Danny waved a hand in front of my face.

"Oh, hey, sorry. Super wrapped up in this I guess." I shrugged at them.

Danny eyed me. "You look tired, babe."

Steve nodded in agreement. Next thing I knew, keys were flying at my face. Luckily, I caught them and looked at Steve questioningly. "Go home early. Take a nap, relax by the beach, I don't care what you do just do something so the bags under your eyes go away." He gave me a playful grin and I rolled my eyes.

"Stop, I'm fine." I threw the keys back to him. "I just didn't sleep well last night." Or the night before that, or the night before that... "But I can finish this. That way we can all head out early."

"Fine, but be careful. You still need to take it easy," Steve said, to which I just rolled my eyes in response. Truthfully, I wanted to take him up on his offer and just go home and crash but I needed to stop appearing so weak in front of him or he would never learn to trust me in the field.

Later that night we had finished the case and Steve and I were hanging out downstairs. We had gotten into a habit when we had a night together at home. We would each grab a beer, I would grab my computer and browse through houses for sale while Steve would turn on a random movie and curl up next to me. He'd pretend to watch the movie for a while, but would end up with his arm thrown over my shoulder with me leaning into him, finding something to critique in every house I found. Tonight was no different, except for the fact that I was yawning uncontrollably. After about my fifth yawn in two minutes, Steve closed my laptop which had gravitated from my lap to his as we house searched.

"Alright, Jess. Time for bed."

"What? It's 8:30, Steve. I can decide when I want to go to bed." I frowned.

"Not when you live with your boss who needs you energized for your first day back in the field tomorrow," Steve shot me a grin.

I jumped up. "Really? Yes, finally! Thank you, Steve! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I spun around, happily.

He just smiled. "Knew that would get you. Come on, J." We both went upstairs and got ready for bed. I yelled 'goodnight' and fell into bed. Maybe I'd be too tired to even dream tonight, I hoped.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was woken up by someone shaking me. "Wha? Wha's happenin'?" I rasped, groggily. My throat felt sore for some reason and I sat up reaching for the lamp on the table beside me.

The light revealed Steve crouching in front of me, his blue eyes bright with concern. "You were screaming like crazy. It took me several tries to wake you up." I looked down, unable to meet his gaze. "Jess..." he sighed, and I could hear the sadness in his voice. "How long has this been going on?"

I fidgeted with my blanket, keeping my gaze down. "Ummm, since we got back from the hospital." I whispered.

Steve sighed and wiped a hand down his face in a sign of stress and exhaustion. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

I shook my head. I didn't want to relive any of that if I didn't have to. Steve just nodded and stood up to go back to his room. As he turned around to walk out, I realized just how terrified I was to be alone with my thoughts. Before I could talk myself out of it, I grabbed his wrist. He turned back to me, with question in his eyes. "C-Could you...stay with me?" I stuttered out and glanced up at him. I couldn't read his expression so I tried to explain myself. "I just want a good night's sleep and I wake up so often and I was just hoping it might help..." I trailed off as Steve softly smiled at me. He walked over to the other side of the bed, pulled back the blankets and got in. I stayed as close to the edge as possible. I had already asked him to stay with me, the least I could do was try and help him feel comfortable. "Thanks, Steve," I muttered over my shoulder, since my back was facing him.

"'Course," he responded. A couple minutes later, I felt him rolling around. Then his hand softly touched my arm. "You're so tense." he whispered, and I shivered, not realizing how close he had gotten to me. "Relax." His breath grazed my cheek and I felt like I was holding my breath. Steve's hand that had been on my arm slowly crept over my waist until he was pulling me back against his chest and his head rested close to mine, with his other arm sliding underneath my head. "This okay?" he asked, his voice showing his exhaustion.

Now that I was fully encased in his arms, I was surprised at how safe I felt. I nodded against him and tried to curl even closer, making him let out a chuckle. I sighed in contentment as I finally started to drift off into the first restful sleep I've had for three weeks.