With you I serve, with you I fall down, down
Watch you breathe in, watch you breathing out, out

“you sure you don’t want anything to eat?” asked toby, leaving his salad on the table that separated him and mcgarrett. “you been you for over 5 hours.” Steve rubbed his eyes but didn’t actually respond to the man in front of him. Toby started eating his tomatoes. There was no doubt in his mind that the commander hated being in the place, he could almost imagine the agony he was going through and to have to stay here and talk with a stranger like himself was surely not Steve’s favorite thing to do. But neither of them had a choice.
“what I want is to get back to the hospital.”
“you cant do that unless you finish your statement.”

He hit his fist on the table.
“I’ve been over it a thousand times-"
“actually we were in the part where you escape the attack in Colombia, your point man dies and you get on the cargo plane. And till then It's just the two of you still, correct?”
“yes.”
“did you find the safe house easily?”
“define easy.”
Toby smiled “was there any shooting involved?”
“no.” Steve closed his eyes. Toby knew that expression, it was the expression of remembrance. A memory must have awoken in his mind, a thought that he didn’t seem to want to share.
“how long did it take to find your mum?”
Steve sat straighter in his chair and counted the days “about a week.”
“how long before you approached her?”
“2 weeks. it was hard to get her alone.”
“and did your partner know when you finally talked to her?”
Steve looked down “no.” he answered simply and scratched his cheek “I didn’t tell her"
Toby started writing on his pad what Steve had told him. He put his pencil down and smiled at him, trying to be as kind as he could “ok then, tell me how did you find your mother in the first place.”

8 MONTHS EARLIER
MEXICO

Amelia kept moving around in the bed, trying to fall asleep. The safe house was small, separated in three rooms, one tiny bathroom, a kitchen slash leaving room and an even smaller bedroom. It was enough for the reasons they had come though so there was no point in whining. The only thing Amelia wished was for it to be a little more stable in temperature. It was too hot for a blanket but too cold at the same time, which messed with her sleeping a lot. She street fed her hand out to find Steve but like all the nights before his spot was empty. She opened her eyes, seeing the familiar light of the kitchen flickering under the door. She had no idea why she thought he’d actually get to bed like he said he would. She got herself up and out of their room. When she opened the door she was met with him standing over the kitchen table, listening to the chatter through the comms. That’s what he had been doing for the last 5 days day and night, just listening at the conversations in the cartel hoping to hear something that would point to his mother. She  leaned against the doorframe watching him.

“Steve.” She whispered but he barely moved, he just let out a soft ‘hm' like he expected her to go back in again and leave him alone “Steve its 4am.”
“they’re still awake Ams-"
“so have you for the last 5 days.”
“I have to keep listening-"
“you can listen to them in the morning. Now get your ass back to bed, you need sleep-"
“I need to find her!” he Said, finally turning to look at her. Amelia sighed deeply.
“ok fine.” She said “let’s say you find her in the next 10 minutes. What’s you gonna do Commander? You’ll go after her right away- do you realize your body won't be able to function because you haven’t slept for five days, let alone put a fight with the Sinaloa cartels-"
“I don’t have time for this right now-"
“30 minutes Steven! All I’m asking is for you to try and close your eyes for 30 minutes-"
“Amelia stop! I didn’t come here to sleep under the stars with you-"
His words came out so loud and cold. She froze for a while, staring at him “and I didn’t come here to be your daily dose of argument just because you miss Danno!” she yelled back at him and started moving closer “I came here to help you and make sure your survive this and I wanna help but the way you're going, you’re gonna die from sleep deprivation before Carmen Lucia even points a gun at you and me!” He hit his hand on the table and bowed his head in anger. She calmed her nerves, approaching him slowly. She stood in front of him, tilting her head.

“I can’t” he confessed “I tried and I can't” he looked up at her “every time I close my eyes, I see this dream. It’s me and her in my old bedroom, and she's reading me a story. I can see her lips moving but I can’t hear her and I call for her but she doesn’t hear me either and then she-" he cleared his throat, Amelia listened to him with compassion, her eyes embracing him with all the love she had “-then she disappears and I cant see her anymore and she’s just gone.” He shook his head “I cant sleep Ams-“ She placed her hand on his shoulder and looked in his blue ocean eyes. Moved her hand on the back of his neck, giving it a light squeeze “I’m not ready to lose her.”
“and I wish I could promise you wouldn’t. But I can’t. What I can do is make sure that when the time comes we'll both be ready to put up the fight and you’re not ready for a fight Steve, not like this.” He nodded. “listen if you go to bed right now, I’ll stay awake. Listen to the comms for you all night.” She moved closer, her lips caressing his chin “but I need you to rest. Please.”
He leaned his body on her, hugged her tightly and close to his chest. He hid his face on her hair, breathing in her compassion and her love like it was a smell. She got through to him, he agreed to try and sleep. “come with me” he told her.
“Steve I really don’t mind staying awake if its going to help you sleep.”
“I know." He held her hand “come on.”

He led her in the tiny bedroom, she wrapped his arms around his while they walked. He sat on the mattress, looking up at her, his eyes ones again giving away his hidden pain that Amelia was always able to see through. He bowed his head on her belly and embraced her from where he sat. Amelia scratched the back of his head slowly, playing a little with the short strands of hair that covered it. She lowered her body a little so she could kiss the top of his head “I know how it feels" she whispered, rephrasing to all the times she had laid away because her mind was to heavy for sleep to steal away. She knew they feeling all to well and prayed she could take all his heaviness away right now but all she could do was let him put some of it on her shoulders. She moved away from him only for a second and then sat on his lap, putting her arms around him. He held her from her lower back and looked deep in her eyes, they smiled at each other. She leaned in slowly, kissing his skin next to his eyes, then his cheek, his nose, the corner of his lips

“what are you doing?” he asked in a whisper
“I’m helping you relax" she said on his lips before leaving her long kiss there too and just when she was about to pull away again he leaned forward, pulled her closer to him and kissed her again. This time the kiss lasting longer. He moved one of his hands from her back to her cheek, holding it her face steady so she wouldn’t pull away. Despite them being alone for almost a week this was their first romantic moment, their first long kiss and loving embrace. She hugged him tighter, her palms caressing his back, one of them slipping under his shirt on his skin. In that moment, when he felt her skin on his, he stood up, still holding her and placed her laying on the bed. He took off hid shirt quickly and hovered over her. She scoffed.

“Steve as much as I want this-" he kissed her neck, sucking on his drug. “we agreed not sleeping not this-"
“we can do both” he answered quickly, moving his lips higher up her neck. He hand slipped under her shirt.
“Steve-" she mumbled in a laugh. But her calling went unanswered and Steve continued and a fee seconds later she had given up her protests. For ones as they played in each other’s arms, the bed felt comfortable, not too cold or too warm. They made love, pushing their problems out of the sheets for a night. Amelia was happy Steve was somewhat letting himself relax and to say she was enjoying the process would be an understatement. Oh, how much they loved each other, perhaps it could ever be explained in their endless stares and unexplainable chemistry. All the time they had lost and for what?

The next morning she woke up Steve was sleeping, half his face was hidden on the pillow, the other half looked as relaxed as he had ever been. His arms was around her still, she stroked it softly, without waking up and smiled at the sight of the man she loved sleeping beside her. She thought about the possibility of waking up like this many days in the future, the thought thoughts hunting as it once was. Perhaps it was because they had almost lost each other so many times, she realized she didn’t what to loose him. Still, the voice in her head that was always screaming with worries was still bugging her about her career and her flaws. She slid away from him, put on his shirt and went to the bathroom to wash her face. She made coffee, opened the comms again in case she heard anything and sat on the chair that was usually occupied by Steve. She took a sip. Listened and although nothing about his mother came up she started making notes on a deal that was going down in a week. Carmen Lucia would be there, her entire crew too, possibly Doris as well.

“anything new?” Steve asked, coming in. Amelia glanced at him quickly and then at her notepad.
“not about your mum but I think we have a day and time on when to hit Carmen.”
He placed his hand on her shoulder, standing behind her and reading her notes. “that sounds good.”
She smiled and tilted her head backwards to look at him. He kissed her softly. “did you rest at all?” she asked
“yes.” He assured her and walked around her chair, sitting on the table across from her. She offered him her cup of coffee. “you don’t want it?” he asked.
She shrugged “I’ll make another one.”
He took it from her, thanking her and drank a little before settling it back on the table. He smiled at her, while she stroked his legs “Last night was nice.”
A silly short of smile formed on her face and she giggled “yeah it was nice Commander.”
He looked down “you know I’ve been thinking-"
“don’t hurt yourself.” She joked
He chuckled “If we come out of this alive, we need to have a serious conversation.”
“hm, yeah those are my favorites. Mostly because I love ruining them.”
“Amelia.” he protested, making her smile.
“I need coffee before we continue this.” She said, standing up she heading to the kitchen. Steve stood still where he was, until he heard a very familiar voice on the Comms. His mother. He moved quickly, increasing the volume and noting down what she was saying. She was supposedly going to meet Carmen Lucia on a private port in an hour. He looked at the direction of the kitchen, Amelia was still making her coffee. Steve ran in the bed room, putting on a shirt, grabbing his bag with everything that he needed. He left a note for Amelia, telling her he'd be back soon and left.

HAWAII
NOSHIMURI HOUSE

When Adam woke up and didn’t see Kono next to him he wasn’t exactly surprised. Ever since Steve and Amelia had gone on their trip, Kono was on edge. Barely getting any sleep, always thinking about going after them. This morning he found her on the porch, drinking her coffee. He went and sat next to her, kissing her gently.

“good morning.”
“hey.” She smiled “I left coffee for you in the kitchen.”
“thanks.” He tilted his head “how long have you been up?”
She shook her head “not long.”
“thinking about them?”
“It’s been two weeks and they still haven’t made any contact.”
“that makes sense Kono. They'd been risking it all if they did.”
“I can’t go on like this, not knowing if they are dead or alive.”
“there’s nothing more you can do.” He said reaching for her hand “I know it’s hard but all we can do is hope for the best.”
“I spoke with David last night. He wouldn’t tell me anything but I knew from his voice that something bad had happened-"
“don’t do this to yourself Kono!”
“I promised her when we were little, that it was me and her against the world and now-"
“and now you’ve grown and she can fight her battles by herself.”

Kono's phone began to ring. She answered it quickly “hello?”
“is this Kono Kalakaua?” asked the woman on the other side.
“yes. Who is this?”
“My name is Kate Harper. I would like to speak to you in person.”
“about what?”
“a mutual friend that is in danger”
Kono sat straighter “excuse me, who are you again?”
“I can’t say a lot from the phone. You think you can come in Hilton hotel, tomorrow morning at nine?”
“am I just supposed to trust you?”
“it’s your only choice. I hope to see you there tomorrow.”
Kate hanged up and Kono turned to Adam who was just as confused. “what was that?” he asked
“I have no idea.”

Yayy this update was quick!! I hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know and don't forget leave your thoughts on the comments. What do you think Kate wants kono for?