Friend zone part 3

Authors note: Hey guys! So I just wanna send out a huge thank you to every one of you who reviewed, it really means the world to me. Please keep it up, you're all awesome!

Anyway… I'm not really sure what's gonna happen in this chapter, to be honest. I've got about a million ideas whirling around in my head, and I'm trying so hard not to push things, but it's so complicated! But… well, I'll manage. Huge hugs and thank you to my partner in crime/ amazing writer/ person I can tell all my crazies to/ equally crazy person Tiana-P, who has been amazing throughout all of this. Thanks so much girl!

But anyway, enough rambling. On with the chapter! Hope you like it, and… leave a review! You can pitch in with ideas too; I'll certainly look them over. Off you go reading!

Chapter 3

"So what next?"

Steve shrugged, sipping down his beer. "I guess we can go home." Everyone in the room turned towards him. "What?" he asked, looking at the three stunned people in front of him "I mean, we don't have a case, paperwork is all dealt with, and it's still four o'clock. Why not just get some rest?"

Kono's eyes widened, downing the rest of her beer and placing the empty bottle on the large table in the middle. "So you're telling us we're actually gonna leave before three a.m.?" she asked, a sparkle in her eyes. "Boy, I am so gonna enjoy this." And with that she got up, not wasting any time before grabbing her jacket and her phone from the table and pocketing it.

"Hey, hold on, I'll join you." Steve called out, making her stop in her tracks and turn around. "Let me just grab my bag."

"Uh… hello?" Danny suddenly spoke up, looking between the two. "Are we not invited for this secret meeting you guys are having?" he rose an eyebrow, gesturing somewhere between him and Chin, that seemed more intent on the rerun of the game than the conversation going on around him.

Steve halted to a stop, glancing quickly towards Kono before meeting Danny's curious eyes. "Well, if you wanna join us, you're totally welcome. We're going for a hike, you got your gear?" he asked, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Ah-ah, very funny McGarrett." Danny grumbled, drinking some more of his beer. "Forget it, you guys go and have fun being crazy as always. I, for one, am going home to rest, back at my apartment, which is exactly what normal people do after a full week at work."

Kono chuckled, eyes turned towards Danny. "What, you still thought we were normal? Brah, you're a little out of date there."

Chin snickered. "He's always out of date."

Kono rolled her eyes and practically pushed Steve out the door, in hopes that they wouldn't have to sit through another Danny-ramble. Luckily, they were already in the elevators when that bomb exploded.

Poor Chin.

…..

"Friend zoned?"

"Friend zoned!"

"What the hell is friend zoned?" Steve asked, frowning deeply at Danny, sitting in front of him on the table while Chin and Kono went to get more drinks.

Danny huffed, running a hand through his hair. "God, you're more hopeless than I thought." Steve chose to ignore the side remark. "Do you at least know what the friend zone is?"

Steve is about to open his mouth when Danny cuts him off. "Ok, forget it, forget it, I'll just explain it to you. Ok, Steven… do you know what friends are?"

He shot Danny a look.

"Ok, well that's a start." Danny replied. "Now, you must know that friends do certain things, like going to a movie together, or eat dinner, or-"

"Can we make this quick? You're getting more and more boring as you speak."

Danny squinted his eyes at Steve, who had a shit eating grin present on his face. "Shut it, ok? This is for your own good." He cleared his throat and continued. "So, you and Kono are in the friend zone. Before there's the acquaintance zone, and after the friend zone there's the romantic zone.-"

"You're actually funny when you're talking bullshit." Steve laughed, spreading his arms on the back rest behind him.

Danny tried to brush the comment off, intent on continuing. "You and Kono, are, of course, in the friend zone. But the thing is, she's the one who wants you to be her friend. Just her friend, I may add."

The frowned returned to Steve's features. "What are you talking about?"

It was Danny's turn to grin. "Ah, now you're paying attention. You seriously haven't realized why you two are only just friends?"

Steve leaned forward, forearms resting on the table. "Because we just wanna be friends. I mean, the idea of me and Kono in a relationship is just – I don't know, weird."

Danny rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "You, mister, are the one with the load of bullshit. You're telling me you don't want to be in a relationship with Kono? Are you real?"

Danny didn't let him reply to that. "Kono is the one that doesn't want anything with you. Sure, she likes your company and you two hang out more often than the rest of us, but she's keeping you at arm's length dude. I'm serious. She's the one that just wants to be friends. Hence the term- you, my dear friend, have been friend-zoned."

Steve took a deep breath before snorting and trying to bite back his response to that, because he's afraid Danny might fall down his chair, and although he would appreciate the quiet time in HQ, he's an essential part of the team and all and- oh screw it.

"You have no idea what you're talking about."

Danny stared at him for a few seconds but before he could get a single word out of his mouth, Chin and Kono returned with the drinks.

He's tempted to shoot Steve a look and let him know that they weren't done with this, but he's already started talking to Chin and a cute blond was smiling at him from across the bar and he suddenly lost his track of thought.

…..

This was ridiculous. This was completely, utterly, shamefully ridiculous. And still, there he was, waiting in his car for her to come out of that ungodly place and to check if she left with anything. Or with someone.

He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel, radio off in case he wouldn't be able to hear something, and somehow, he felt more stupid as each second passed. But that nagging voice at the back of his head just kept on bugging him and before he knew it, he was parked in front of the building, nervousness and anxiety eating at him as if he was going through his first time on the field all over again. And believe him, that was a nerve racking afternoon. Much like this one.

He stole another glance at the little white door. Still nothing.

He let out a deep breath. And there went the little voice in his head again- you're doing it for her, you're doing it for her.

Was he really? Or did he just not trust her anymore?

No. He reminded himself. You just need to know she's safe.

He highly doubted that by now.

He snapped his head to the left when the door squeaked open and Kono came out.

He seriously tried to do a million things at the same time. His eyes scrutinized her, searched for signs of her being hurt, or of her carrying something, for signs that she was as anxious as he was feeling at the moment. He didn't find anything.

Maybe he had just been imagining things. All those times she asked him to leave the HQ earlier, and all those times she had come up with a lame excuse to being late to… almost everything, maybe he'd just read too much into them. Yeah… the woman was allowed to have a personal life, right?

But- why the hell wasn't that uneasy feeling going away? No, there was something wrong here. There was something very wrong here.

Steve was about to get out of the car when another person came out of the little white door. It was a man, maybe 6 feet tall, tanned skin, a tad skinny. Steve squinted his eyes against the sun. He made a mental note to bring sunglasses the next time he wanted to spy on Kono.

And that was when he saw it. Just there, as if grinning mischievously at him (if animated objects could even do such a thing). There was the bag.

He wanted to drop his head against the head rest and shut his eyes tightly, in the vain hope that the image could be erased from his mind. It couldn't be. Fuck, he should have stayed home, he should have just trusted her when she said she was fine, he should have listened to her, he should have-

But his eyes were stuck on the middle aged man, taking the last steps towards Kono's car and leaning on the driver's side window. His hands hurt from gripping the wheel so tight and he prayed for God-all-mighty will power when Kono actually lowered the window to talk with the guy.

Steve's thoughts were maybe running a hundred miles per hour on his head, and it took everything he had to be able to push them into the back of his mind in order to focus on the scene ahead of him, the scene he so desperately hoped – needed – didn't turn out the way he had an inkling suspicion it was gonna turn out.

He couldn't hear Kono's voice (after all, it wasn't like he was ten feet from her) but he could see her. And frankly, he wished he hadn't been able to see her. That way, he could fool himself for a little while longer, maybe even convince himself that it wasn't what he thought it was.

But it was. He had that damn confirmation as he saw her hand just outside the car window, with... – money. Money.

It was only a few seconds while the man handed her that small, transparent bag – with that sickening white substance (powder, really) in it – and she was on her way, not noticing how Steve's eyes followed her, nor the way his head dropped back, exhaling deeply and closing his eyes.

Fuck. Just- fuck.

Authors note: Hey guys! So, I didn't plan to write this last part so soon, at all, but I thought it'd be a nice build up for the next chapter. Can you guys guess what Kono was doing?

I also have to dedicate this chapter to Sidalee, who is completely awesome and amazing and to whom I am sending virtual hugs right now. Thanks so much!

Anyway, hope you liked the chapter, and please review!