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Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett has barely sat down in his very comfortable chair when his cellphone starts ringing in his pant pocket. Fishing it out he’s surprised to see ‘Gov. Jameson’ on the display. Wearily he accepts the call.
“McGarrett,” he states simply.
“Ah, Steve, just the man I wanted to speak with.” Governor Jameson said making Steve raise his eyebrow. Who else was going to pick up his cellphone? He knew better than to voice that thought out load though.
No matter what his new partner, Det. Williams thought on the matter in regards to his suppose recklessness, his very load opinions he didn’t mind giving about having the survival instinct of a lemming, Steve knew to read any given situation and to know when it was more prudent to stay quiet. For all the pleasantries he could hear in the Governor’s voice there was definitely something she wanted.
“Governor,” Steve greeted, “What can I do for you?”
“Well, now that you brought up it. How about a name for the task force?”
Steve blinks a little bit surprised, he is suddenly reminded of Officer Kalakaua’s suggestion. “Name?”
“Yes, a name. A name to call yourself, that I can put on paper, and make it official.”
“To be honest, Governor, I haven’t really thought about it.”
“Well please do, something easy and short. I’m going to have a press release next Thursday. I need it by then or I’ll have to pick something for you. I don’t think you’d want me to do that since this is your team.‘
For all that her voice was pleasant there was a note of steel that allowed for no arguments.
After they disconnect there is a moment of silence and then Steve very carefully puts his cellphone on the table, his hands flat on the surface, and then proceed to thud his head against his desk.
“Fuck, fucketifuck, fuck.” His mutterings become a matching beat to the muffled thuds of his head hitting his desk. He eventually stops the self-abuse and rests his now aching head in his hands while he despondently leans against the desk.
Now that he thinks about it Steve realizes that this wasn’t the first time the Governor had implied the need for an official name but this is the first time that she has included a deadline.
Steve freezes the moment he hears Danny distinct voice in the hallway and he looks up as the Detective crosses the space towards his office, his eyes narrowed and a suspicious look on his face that is already surprisingly familiar to Steve.
Danny leans against the door frame, crossing his arms over his chest. “You have aneurysm face. Why do you have aneurysm face?”
“What are you talking about? I don’t have an aneurysm face,” Steve objects as he sits up straight smoothing down his shirt.
Danny arches an eyebrow, “Yes, you do.”
Steve purses his lips and weights the pros and cons of telling the detective anything. Danny’s jaw is set in those stubborn lines he’s come to recognize and he knew that if he didn’t spill the beans his new partner was going to pester him to the end of his days.
He considers himself to be a fairly stubborn man, but Danny Williams could out-stubborn a mule an a good day.
Sighing, Steve rubs his face. Picking his cellphone up and putting it back in his pocket he says, “I got a call from the Governor.”
“Really? What did she want?” Danny asked surprised, and if Steve isn’t mistaken, also intrigued.
“What did she want? I’ll tell you.”
And from outside the office, in the main area, both Chin and Kono watch the sudden animated, arms flapping rant their boss seemed to have engaged in and Danny looked for once flabbergasted and unable to put a word in edgewise.
Kono looks over at her cousin and raises an eyebrow. Chin just shook his head and promptly declares, “Nuhuu, I ain’t touching that with a ten-foot pole.”
+
“Why are you waiting for McGarrett to pick a name?” Laura Hills ask. She is currently Governor Pat Jameson's personal assistant, although she knows she’s being considered for the position of Public Safety Liaison; a position she doesn’t know if she wants or not.
Straightening out the small pile of folders in her arms she takes a seat in front of the Governor’s desk. “If you need a name before going public with the task force then why not just pick one yourself?”
Jameson sighs, “Believe me, if things were that easy I would, but I made a promise to the Commander.”
The older woman folds her hands on top of the papers Hills had delivered earlier that morning and leans forward. “His people, his way, and my backing. Unfortunately, that also means the name.”
Apparently the thought left a sour taste in the Governor’s mouth if the grimace was anything to go by and Laura flicks an imaginary lint off her jacket. “Why do you need a name to begin with?”
Absently she starts tapping her pen against the folder she’s now put in her lap after crossing her legs.
Jameson tilts her head, “Liability? Besides, why not? she asked. “What else are we going to call it?”
“The Governor’s Task Force? Isn’t it what McGarrett has been going with?”
“Yes, but it’s a bit of a mouth full isn’t it?”
“Well...”
“There you go.”
“Alright, but if you’re going to wait for him to choose it then why the deadline?”
Jameson huffs and leans back in her chair. “They’ve been operational for how long?”
She lifts her hand before Laura could even open her mouth making the question a rhetorical one as she promptly answer herself. “Three weeks. Quite frankly, I’m sick and tired of the calls asking for their legitimacy and as soon as I can go public, name and all, the better.“
Laura could agree with that. The fact of the matter was, they had better things to do, more important things, such as run an island as the Governor so aptly put it just the other day. Spending their time fielding calls from various agencies wanting to verify the legitimacy of the task force due to the waves McGarrett was so fond of causing was a waste of their resources.
“Which reminds me,” Jameson continued as she picked up her cellphone. “Time for a check-in.”
Laura has to suppress a grin. What are the odds that the constant check-ins were starting to get on the Lt. Commander’s nerves?
From what she has heard and gleaned, Steve McGarrett is not a patient man nor a very tolerant one in some situations.
+
Steve is getting frustrated. Every name that’s been thrown around has been vetoed for one reason or another and the fact that the Governor was not letting up and the deadline was coming up, Steve is finding himself with the desire to yell.
Momentarily hiding in his office Steve takes a deep breath and counts slowly down from 30. No way was he ever going to admit to Danny of trying one of his suggestions to calm down.
Like clockwork his cellphone vibrates on his desk with an incoming message. He purses his lips and approaches it like he would had it been a viper. Sure enough, there is another inquiry about the fucking name.
He would have suggested doing the press release without a name, calling it the Governor’s task force had worked so far on the scenes, but he had once and it was a mistake he was not ever going to repeat. The lecture had lasted well over half an hour.
Who would have thought the Governor had such strong feelings on the matter. Catching the movements by his team out in the bullpen Steve grinned. They had a case. He could deal with the persistent woman later.
Priority and all that.
+
Another long day and another case wrapped up with only a few hiccups.
Steve was feeling energized and in a good mood as he walked into their offices with Danny at his side. He caught the scent of popcorn before he spotted Chin and Kono watching what appeared to be a football game on one of the monitors.
He mentally groaned when he heard who’d uploaded the games for easy viewing. His chest constricted when he found out that his father had been to the games. Just another thing he hadn’t known.
“What I want to know is; what is a quarterback doing with the number 50.” Danny pipes up from his seat where he’s staring at a younger Steve running on the field, effectively drawing Steve out of his thoughts.
Steve looks over and shakes his head, “it’s Five 0.”
“I know, fifty.”
“No, Five 0, not the number fifty. My father used to call us that. Since we weren’t native Hawaiian he named us Five 0 after the 50th state of the union. I guess it was his way of making us feel like we belonged somewhere.”
Kono looked at him, thinking, “Five 0. I like it.”
Chin nodded. It was a nice concept. Danny hummed approvingly and Steve just chugged down the rest of his beer, lost in thoughts.
Later that night Steve is laying in his bed looking up at the ceiling, finding it hard to sleep. He sighs before he mentally says 'fuck it' and reaches out, grabbing his cellphone.
He quickly scrolls down the list of contacts and finding the name he was looking for quickly types out a short message.
‘We’re going with Five-0’
He rests his phone on his chest and is dozing off when he suddenly feels it vibrating. Looking at the screen he’s surprised to see he has a reply. At this time?
‘Good. Be ready for tomorrow.’
‘Tomorrow?’
‘Yes, the press release. I want you there. What about the motto?’
Somehow Steve doesn’t think that his presence is negotiable. The Governor had implied as much when she first brought it up.
Rubbing his eyes he typed in ‘Motto?’ and waited for the reply which didn’t take long to come.
‘As a military man I would assume you’re familiar with mottos’
Steve grimaced. What the heck was he gonna use, his response took time and apparently too long as the phone vibrated again with a new message, ‘Well?’
Steve drummed his fingers against his belly, thinking. Suddenly he grinned as a thought struck him and he quickly typed back.
Pursing his lips he waited to see what the response would be and then it came, ‘Very well. See you tomorrow.’
Blinking at the response Steve wondered what the rush was all about. Pushing the thoughts out of his head he dropped his phone on the bedside table, turned around, and finally managed to go to sleep.
+
Back at the Governor's office, Jameson is looking at her cellphone and the messages Steve sent her, thoughtful and deep in memories.
Reaching out to a framed photo on her desk she turns it so she can see it. It was old, the style of the clothes on the three people enough to give an inkling of how old.
She rubs her thumb over the smiling face of the man. “I remember, old friend. Somehow it looks like the apple hasn’t fallen too far off the tree John.”
Reaching out to the tumbler she kept in her drawer Jameson pours herself a glass.
“To belonging, family and Five 0,” she toast and wishes not for the first time that things could have been different.
She spent a long time in the stillness of her office looking at the picture of the then newly wedded McGarrett's and her in a different time when things were different and they had the hope of the future all spread out before them.
+
“Wow, she moves fast,” Kono says, looking down at the floor.
Steve snorts. That’s putting it mildly he thinks as he sneers mentally at the emblem that quite literally popped up overnight.
Especially since the press release, which was more a conference than anything else, had been done that same morning. He couldn’t get out of his clothes into a more relaxed t-shirt and cargo pants fast enough once it was over.
He understood the necessities of officially introducing the Governor’s task force both to the media as well as the local law enforcement, but it didn’t mean he had to like it.
He wasn’t much for the stage or cameras but one hard glance from Jameson had been enough to keep him rooted to the spot.
Man, she would have been an excellent drill Sargent, Steve thought spitefully as he had ticked off the minutes. At least he wasn't expected to speak.
“I think it’s kinda cute,” Danny adds his two cents in as he tilts his head drawing Steve back to the present, “Very official looking.”
Steve eyeballs him and crosses his arms. “What!” Danny exclaims catching his look, “It is.”
“I like it.” Chin says quietly taking the wind out of Steve and he relaxes his stance. Carefully looking at his people one by one and seeing that they were genuine Steve feels better.
Kono had a smile that kept wanting to break out on her face and she was rocking on the balls of her feet. She looked very young at that moment.
Danny was scratching his chin, probably realizing that he needed to shave if the furrow that appeared between his brow was anything to go by but there was a pleased light in his eyes.
Chin look pretty much as he always did but his body language was open and relaxed and when he caught Steve looking at him he gave him a nod.
Steve allowed himself to smile then. 5-0. He liked it. And he has to agree with Danny, the logo did look very official if a little bigger then he thought was really necessary. But it made its point.
Danny stretches out his hand making the others look at him.
“To Five 0,” he says, looking back at them, waiting. Kono grins, all teeth and giddiness. “To Five 0,” she says and adds her hand over Danny’s.
Chin smiles and puts his hands on top of his cousin, “Five 0,” he says simply and then looks at Steve.
Steve lets his smile spread into a grin and slowly add his own on top of theirs and echoes, “To Five 0,” the emblem seen beneath their piled hands.
“Well, if we’re done with the mushy stuff now, who’s up for celebrating?” Danny suddenly interrupts making everyone laugh.
Kono gives a wave, “I’m in.” The others echo her sentiment and they move further into their space, each going to their offices to grab their drink of choice.
+
Laura Hills is smiling as she’s peering into the office seeing the team, hearing their friendly banter. Quietly she backs off and leaves, making her way to the Governor’s office.
“So?” Governor Jameson asks the moment she steps into her office.
“They seem to like it,” Laura smiles.
“Good,” Jameson nods, ”because no way in hell I’m I changing it.”
Piling the papers in front of her into a neat pile, motioning Laura to sit in the chair in front of her, she staples her fingers, “That remains me, when are the shields going to be done?”
Laura looks down at her notes, “They should arrive at the end of the week.”
“Good, then that’s it then.”
“That’s it.”
+
Finis.