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Steve kicked off his flip-flops, savouring the feeling of the heat from the sun-warmed concrete radiating up his legs. Reaching up, he pulled his shirt off over his head and tossed it on to a sun chair. It was early and there were only a few people at the pool; some kids splashing in the shallows and a few figures cutting smoothly through the water in the lap lanes. Steve wandered over to an empty lane and began doing some easy stretches, working the morning stiffness from his muscles. The smell of chlorine wafted up from the water as he rolled his shoulders, and he wrinkled his nose. Usually, he’d take his morning swim at the beach by his house, enjoying the silence and the solitude, pushing himself until he was spent. Unfortunately, a huge swarm of venomous jellyfish washed in late last night and swimmers were being warned to avoid the beaches in his area.
So here he was at a hotel pool, peering in to water that was too clear and chlorinated and nothing at all like the ocean. Sighing, he extended his arms and performed a practiced dive in to the cool water, emerging at the other end of the lane. He shook the water out of his eyes, his body coming alive at the familiar feeling of weightlessness, water lapping at his skin. He swam a few more quick laps underwater and then a few in front crawl, warming up. He cruised to a stop, easily treading water to keep afloat, taking deep breaths. There was no comparison to being in the ocean, but in the end a swim was a swim and he felt good being in the water: more awake, more alive. He slowed his breathing, pulling air deep into his lungs, exhaling long and slow. He might not be an active SEAL anymore, but he liked to stay sharp, keep up with his training. ‘You can take the man out of the SEALs…’ he often heard his partner, Chin, mumbling, usually after Steve had done something incredibly athletic or incredibly dangerous.
Inhaling deeply, Steve sank smoothly below the water, beginning to exhale as soon as his mouth was submerged. He tightened his core, pushing air out in big bubbles until he bumped gently into the bottom of the pool. He stayed there, releasing air in controlled bursts, looking at the blurry shapes of his arms floating before him. He closed his eyes and could hear the soft hum of the pool filter, muffled splashes and children laughing above the surface. It was peaceful, like sleeping with earplugs in; the rest of the world was muted and the slow beating of his heart was the only distinct sound. He felt the familiar burn begin to blossom in his chest but ignored it; he knew his body well, and that included its limitations. He kept a part of his mind focused on his condition, but let the rest wander, relaxing.
His thoughts strayed to his work, never far from the front of his mind, and his team. Chin had been through some tough times with the HPD, but had been willing to drop everything to help Steve work his father’s murder case without a second thought. Steve found that even more impressive in light of the fact that the case hadn’t even been assigned when he took it up in the name of a taskforce that had been running for all of ten minutes, so they were basically working from scratch. And who knows if the case would have even broken if Chin hadn’t introduced him to Kono? But it had broken, and through solid work they found the man that had murdered Steve’s father. Since then his life had been hectic, but in a good way. He was settling back in to the old rhythms of island life like he’d never been away; he truly hadn’t realised how much he’d missed this life until he had it back. He smiled into the water, content.
Suddenly, he felt strong arms encircle his chest and yank him up towards the surface. His instincts took over and he broke free, grappling with the blurry shape in the water. He manoeuvred himself behind his anonymous attacker, slamming his arm across the stranger’s throat and locking him in a hold. Steve pushed off from the pool floor and they both broke the surface, the stranger coughing and spluttering as he clawed at Steve’s arm.
‘Who are you?’ Steve hissed his ear, treading water to keep them afloat, eyes searching the surrounding area, scanning for threats.
‘What the hell is your problem,’ the stranger gargled, ‘you crazy sonofa-’
Steve tightened his hold, cutting the man off. ‘I said,’ he began with a growl, ‘who are you?’
‘Detective Danny Williams, you psycho!’ The smaller man was kicking furiously under the water, his hands pushing insistently at Steve’s forearm.
Steve’s brow furrowed and he loosened his hold a little. ‘Detective?’
‘Yes, Detective! I’m here with my daughter, you asshole, now let me go!’ He yelled, squirming uselessly. Steve’s eyes flicked up and he caught sight of a young girl in a purple bathing suit standing over by the beach chairs; she looked about nine year old and on the verge of tears as she watched them closely. Steve released his grip and pushed back, giving the Detective some space, which he used to spin around and then propel himself right back into Steve’s face, hissing angrily. ‘What the hell is the matter with you, you psychotic asswipe? Are you trying to drown me too? Jesus Christ, my daughter is right over there, you think she needs to see something like that? Give me one good reason I shouldn’t book you right here for assault!’
Steve considered pointing out the fact that Detective Williams seemed to have a hard time keeping his head above water, but thought better of it. ‘You assaulted me first, how about that?’ He replied, grabbing the Detective by the bicep and kicking, using his free arm to paddle them to the side of the pool.
Williams reached for the tiled edge blindly, not taking his anger-filled eyes off Steve’s face. ‘Assaulted you, you think I assaulted you? I was trying to save you, you moron, I thought you were drowning!’
‘Drowning,’ Steve rolled his eyes, ‘I wasn’t drowning, I was just-’
‘Just sitting on the floor of the pool?’ Williams cut in, pulling himself out on to the concrete. ‘Who does that?’
‘I do that,’ Steve responded heatedly, lifting himself out of the water. He was barely on his feet when Williams was back in his space jabbing the air in front of Steve’s nose.
‘Nutjobs do that, that’s who! You were down there for, like, twenty minutes!’
‘Two minutes!’
‘Whatever!’ Williams yelled, with a vicious finger jab for good measure. His face was flushed with anger and exertion, the cords of his neck standing out like steel bands.
‘Daddy, are you okay?’ At the sound of the quiet voice the Detective whirled around, dropping to one knee in front of the little girl in the bathing suit. For the first time Steve noticed that the man was fully dressed in jeans, a tee shirt and loafers, all soaked.
‘Gracie, sweetie, I’m just fine, I’m great.’ Steve was amused by how abruptly the Detective dropped the tough-guy act as he gently took his daughter’s hand. ‘Just a little misunderstanding, baby, okay? Can you do Danno a big favour and go wait over there by our stuff? I’ll just be two seconds, can you do that for me?’
The girl - Gracie - nodded slowly, her brown eyes slipping to Steve distrustfully and walked towards the beach chairs. The Detective turned back to Steve, but most of the fire was gone from his eyes and Steve let himself relax. Williams took a deep breath and then sighed loudly, sweeping his damp hair out of his face with one large hand, the other settling on his hip above the waistband of his jeans.
‘Okay, since you didn’t actually kill me, I’m gonna let this slide. Just, you know, try not to attack any more would-be rescuers.’
‘Sure thing,’ Steve smirked and crossing his arms across his bare chest he couldn’t resist adding, in a light tone, ‘Maybe you could try to not accost any more pool patrons.’
‘How the hell was I supposed to know?’ Williams responded. There was outrage in his voice but it was a far cry from the fury he’d unleashed earlier, and Steve got the impression that maybe outrage was this guy’s default setting. ‘You need, I don’t know, a buoy, or something, with flashing lights.’
‘A buoy?’ Steve echoed, but Williams was walking away, water squelching in his loafers with each step.
‘You should feel flattered, actually,’ he said over his shoulder as he approached his daughter. Steve followed him; he was enjoying their back-and-forth, but dammed if he knew why.
‘And why’s that?’
‘I don’t usually swim so, I’m just saying, you should be thankful my civic duty compelled me to “rescue” you,’ he crooked his fingers to frame the word.
‘You can’t swim?’ Steve asked, and Williams spun about to face him again.
‘I can’t swim? I can swim, I swim for survival, that of myself or others,’ He flicked a finger back and forth between them, ‘I don’t swim for fun.’
Steve nodded, smothering a smile. ‘I could give you lessons, you know, if you wan-’
‘What did I just say?’ Williams interrupted, ‘I can swim, would I jump in a pool to save someone if I couldn’t swim? That’s moronic,’
They reached the chairs and Williams bent down to Gracie. Steve’s gaze flicked appreciatively over the way the detective’s wet clothing clung to his broad, toned body. Williams must have been giving his daughter permission to swim, because she was carefully walking-not-running to the shallow end of the pool with restrained glee as he stood and plucked the wet fabric of his tee shirt away from his chest. With a sigh he reached down and lifted the hem, pulling it over his head in one smooth motion, twisting it to wring the water out. Steve, who had been watching with interest, quickly arranged his face in to a neutral expression as Williams turned around. He seemed surprised to see Steve still standing there, dripping water in the sunlight. Steve suddenly felt exposed and reached for a topic of conversation. ‘So, are you guys here because of the jellyfish?’
Williams titled his head towards Steve, as if he hadn’t heard him. ‘I’m sorry, jellyfish? What jellyfish?’
‘The swarm that washed in last night,’ Steven said slowly, ‘Isn’t that why you’re here and not at the beach?’
‘No,’ Williams shook his head, ‘No, we’re here because the beach is full of sharks, big waves, invasive sand and, I guess, jellyfish now. Like I needed another reason.’
Steve frowned down at Williams. ‘You don’t like the beach?’
‘I don’t like the beach,’ Williams confirmed, crossing his arms across his broad chest and staring up at Steve, challenging him to take issue with it.
‘Who doesn’t like the beach?’ Steve asked, incredulous.
‘I like cities,’ Williams responded, ‘Skyscrapers,’
Steve nodded, squinting into the morning sun. ‘You know you’re in Hawaii, right?’
‘I am so very aware I’m in Hawaii it hurts, my friend. You know how I can tell?’ Williams held up his hands, beginning to count off a list he’d clearly been through before. ‘Pineapples, everywhere. On everything. Ridiculous heat all the time, even when it’s raining! I mean, pick a season, you know what I’m saying? Also, sand everywhere. I haven’t been to the beach since I got here and I’m still washing sand out of my hair in the shower, how does that even happen?’
Steve laughed then, honestly and loudly, and Williams dropped his hands, an answering smile spreading across his face. It changed him, Steve noticed; he looked younger, his eyes sparkling with mirth.
On a whim, Steve stuck his hand out. ‘Steve McGarrett,’
Still smiling, Williams reached out and took it in a firm grasp. ‘Danny,’ he said, and Steve nodded at the friendlier re-introduction.
‘So, do you two come here a lot?’ He pulled his hand back, felt it tingling from Danny’s touch.
‘When we can,’ Danny replied, sobering a little. ‘I only have her every other weekend, so…’ he trailed off.
‘Think you’ll be back tomorrow?’ Steve asked, aiming for nonchalance but with no idea if he was hitting the mark.
Danny seemed to see right through him, ‘Maybe, yeah,’ He replied, looking away to hide a smile, and then turned to watch his daughter. Steve just nodded, and they stood there in comfortable silence, the sun drying the water from their shoulders. Maybe, Steve thought, pools weren’t so bad.