Steve Williams-McGarrett Plans to the Rule the World

He never intended to run for governor. With God as his witness, he still couldn’t figure out how it happened. One day, then-governor Denning was in his 5-0 office telling Steve he didn’t intend to run for re-election. Instead, he was going to run for the vacant US Senate seat. And the next day Steve was the candidate of choice for governor of Hawaii. Maybe Danny understood how it happened. Because Steve still didn’t. Probably never would.

He did know that John had just turned 14 and Emma was not quite 12. They had apparently approved the decision for Steve to run. Which was pretty amazing since Steve had no recollection of agreeing to it himself. Maybe Danny and the kids had made the decision behind his back? That might explain it. And it certainly wouldn’t be the first life-altering decision that had been made without his express permission.

Once the political ‘machine’ that had assured the election of Gov. Denning turned its considerable focus and resources on Steve’s candidacy, Steve was at a loss to stop it. Try as he might, he could not derail that freight train after it had started down the tracks. And when did he ever say he wanted to make campaign speeches? Really? Had they met him? His family accused him of being mute half the time. And they expected him to give speeches?

“Not to worry, Commander,” Sebastian Holder, who was apparently his campaign manager, had told him more than once including this time as he was standing in Steve’s office ignoring the glare of death Steve was trying to project onto him. “You only have to read what’s written. Intersperse it with your own stories of combat and heading up 5-0. You are a shoe-in.”

“Danno,” Steve called from his brand new election headquarters office after Sebastian had finally left. Because he was not permitted to use his 5-0 office for election business. Why did he need a second office to conduct a campaign for a position he didn’t want and never agreed to run for? “Danno!”

“Yes, Commander Impatient,” Danny said as he appeared in the doorway. “What can I do for you?”

“Six speeches in two days? Really? I don’t have enough to say for one speech much less six,” Steve said, waving the iPad that had his schedule on display. If the various and assorted campaign workers were less busy doing work and more busy listening in, well, that was no surprise. The arguments between the candidate and his ‘better half’ were already common-place and a source of constant amusement. There may or may not have been a betting pool on how much time would elapse between fights and who would give in first once the latest one erupted. There were bonus points for those who accurately predicted which of the two men would appear next with a hickey they didn’t even bother to try and hide. Rumor had it that Annie in logistics was ahead in that category.

“You don’t give six speeches, Babe,” Danny reminded him. “You give one. In six different locations.”

“I don’t want to give any speeches,” Steve said with a new, even scarier version of Aneurysm face on full display.

“I know you don’t. But the campaign stops are all arranged. You can’t stand in front of the crowds and not give a speech. Even if you take your shirt off, they will expect you to say something.”

“I’m pretty sure Sebastian would have a heart attack if I took off my shirt,” Steve reminded Danny, his arms crossed over his chest in a familiar this is not the way it’s supposed to work manner. “Did you read this speech? I’d never say any of this.”

“I haven’t yet. I need to go get the kids. When I get back, we’ll rewrite it,” Danny promised.

“I’m coming with you,” Steve decided, putting the iPad on his desk.

“No can do, Babe. You have an interview in 10 minutes. Don’t bite the pretty lady coming to talk to you. Kono will be here very shortly. She can do most of the talking if you want.”

“Why can’t she be governor?” Steve asked. “You could be her lieutenant governor.”

“No thanks. I’m not a war hero or former head of 5-0.”

“Former head?” Steve asked with a frown. “What if I lose the election? Am I unemployed?”

Danny just shook his head and patted Kono on the shoulder when she arrived. “He’s all yours.”

“You owe me,” she shouted after Danny as he escaped the chaos of the campaign headquarters. Kono turned her black stare of immortality on Steve who crumbled slightly in face of it. Sure he knew she wasn’t really immortal but he was not going to be the one to tell her that. No thanks. Besides which, if she wasn’t immortal, why hadn’t she aged at all since that day he and Danny had met her on the beach? She was still as beautiful and thin and young. God, was he ever that young?

“Did you actually agree to run for lieutenant governor?” he asked, hoping he sounded more macho to her ears than his own. When had he been reduced to, OMG, whining? When did this become his life???

“Dude,” she said like that explained everything. Maybe it did. He sure wasn’t going to ask her again. He preferred all of his man-bits exactly where they were and he knew she would rearrange and/or remove some of the more important ones if he asked a second time. Not that he was scared of her. No more than anyone else. Anyone with sense.

He took a deep breath, going back behind his brand new desk. Why was it made of something so shiny? Were wooden desks completely out of fashion? Would he not be elected if he had a wooden desk instead of this chrome and glass monstrosity? Why didn’t he get a say? Who precisely had picked it out?

“Hello,” Kono was saying as she leaned back against the ugly desk facing him. “Earth to Steve.”

He frowned up at her, trying for intimidating. From the expression on her face, he thought he had barely achieved unhappy. “Honestly, Kono. I never agreed to run for governor.”

“I know that, Bossman. But it’s too late. And the election is in six weeks. We win – we get to be in charge. We lose – we go back to 5-0. Either way it’s all good.”

“You can’t surf whenever you want if we win,” Steve pointed out, hoping to make her cheer the hell down. Not that he had ever succeeded in the 17+ years he had known and loved her. But this. This situation called for serious. Could she even do serious? Yeah, he was pretty sure she could.

“My mean boss wouldn’t let me surf whenever I wanted anyway,” she pointed out with a laugh.

“What does Charlie think?”

“That I should do whatever I want. He loves taking care of the kids. So,” she said with a shrug.

“Kids? You have kids?” he teased, making her laugh.

“Not that you’d notice,” she said.

“How many do you have now? 13? 21?” he asked, smiling up at her.

“I have no idea. You’d have to ask Charlie,” she said with a shrug.

“Didn’t you actually give birth to them?”

“Oh. Right. Right. I knew I had some part in it. Let’s see. There’s you. And Danny. Plus the two boys I gave birth to. And the three girls. That’s five full time and two part time.”

“I thought I was Danno’s responsibility,” he said, laughing.

“Sure. Except when he dumps you on me,” she reminded him, straightening when Sebastian knocked on the open door and entered at the same time. “What’s up?”

“Kaok Waol from Hawaii Today is here. She’s in the studio setting up,” Sebastian told them.

Steve nodded like he was interested when really what he was doing was studying Sebastian. He was a short, squat man who reminded Steve of the weebles John and Emma used to play with. Except Sebastain had way too much hair, and beady eyes. His over-abundance of hair was dark brown and never fully under control. Steve thought he was around 50 or so years old although there was no grey in his hair.

Whether or not Sebastian knew what he was doing was of no interest to Steve. Just his presence annoyed him. But he had inherited Sebastian with all assurances that he was the best campaign manager in Hawaii if not the entire United States. Steve was not one to argue with success but honeslty. Did it have to be Sebastian who ordered him around?

“Thank you. We’ll be right there,” Kono told Sebastain who nodded and left. She turned to Steve, laughing at him. “Stop trying to think of all the ways you can kill him with a piece of tape and a paperclip and come with me.”

He managed to focus on her, frowning even more. “Doesn’t he annoy you?”

“Grates on my last nerve,” she agreed cheerfully. “But that does not make it okay for you to kill him.”

“I haven’t killed anybody this week,” he told her proudly.

“Not yet,” she laughed, taking him by the hand and dragging him to the studio so conveniently located down the hall from his office.

When they got to the studio, the folks from Hawaii Today were still setting up, making Steve and Kono wait. It wasn’t that either of them had anything more urgent to do but making Steve wait was always a risky proposition because a bored Steve generally turned into a destructive Steve.

“No, I do not want to know how to use coffee grounds to make explosives,” Kono told him, not entirely sure if he was kidding or serious.

“Could come in handy,” he told her, sitting on the leather couch someone had thoughtfully put off to one side of the set in the studio.

“I’m sure it could,” she agreed from where she was having the last of her make-up applied. “I’ll leave the majority of the chaos and destruction to you.”

“Thanks,” he said. His face broke into a huge smile when the familiar sounds of his family arriving echoed through the hallway leading to the studio.

“Shhh…” he heard Danno telling them. But it was pointless. The four children came rushing toward Steve, tumbling over each other like so many happy puppies.

“Are these yours?” Steve asked Kono as the kids piled on him, all of them laughing, Danny looking down at them in amused dismay.

“Mine are much better behaved,” she claimed, shaking her head.

“That’s so not true,” Alicia informed her brightly, laughing up at Kono.

Kono shrugged, kissing Alicia on the forehead before kissing John and Emma. Zacchary did not look to be in the mood for being touched and Kono respected that. “How were your days?” she asked them as they sat on and around Steve and Danny. They all answered at once, Kono able to keep up with their responses, replying with amazing accuracy each time.

“I’m sure Danno will find you new shoes, Emma. No, John, Danno does have a point. Steve didn’t tell me that, Alicia. Zacchary,” she said finally with a laugh, hugging Zach back when he hugged her around her waist.

“How does she do that?” Steve asked Danny not for the first time.

“I think women learn to do it in the delivery room. One of those secrets only they are allowed to know,” Danny said. “Yes, Ali?”

“I’m hungry,” she said, leaning against his knees to look down at him. “Are you feeding us?”

“You are always hungry,” John reminded her, laughing when she tried to hit her.

“So are you,” Alicia told him.

“Am not,” John responded, flopping down on the couch next to Danny.

“Yeah, you are,” Danny informed him with a laugh. “What do you want for dinner?” he asked them all.

There was some friendly squabbling, the children finally deciding that Danny should take them home and feed them the spaghetti he had made that weekend.

“All right,” Danny agreed. “But we can’t leave for another hour. I bet if you go to Steve’s office, you’ll find some trail mix.”

They agreed that was a fine idea and raced off, sounding more like a herd of horses than four children.

“When are we returning the two strays?” Steve asked Danny with a laugh.

“Rachel and Stan said they would be back Tuesday,” Danny replied. “I better go watch them so they don’t destroy the entire building.”

“Steve can make explosives out of coffee grounds,” Kono volunteered, making Danny frown at them both.

“Why did I think it was a good idea to leave you in charge of him?” Danny asked her.

She could only smile, laughter sparkling in her eyes.

“Hey Danno. Did you know Kono has five children?” Steve asked with a laugh.

Danny didn’t bother to answer, shaking his head and going toward Steve’s office in hopes of preventing it from being condemned by the health and/or fire department.

~0~

Despite Steve’s continual protests and resistance to the entire idea, he was elected governor of Hawaii by a landslide. He felt a little sorry for his opponent who seemed like a nice enough man but had gotten barely 20% of the votes. Robert Grey was gracious in defeat, knowing the better man had won. Steve wasn’t so sure but it was done now.

“I am not packing for you, Babe,” Danny said as he put the last of his clothes in the boxes the transition team had provided to them. The house could have been packed up by the moving company but none of them really wanted to leave their stuff in the hands of strangers, as careful as they knew they would be.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Steve said. He was laying on top of their bed, fully dressed including his boots. He was frowning up at the ceiling looking as though it had betrayed him.

“Steve,” Danny said with a sigh, sitting down next to his hip. His warm right hand eased up under Steve’s tee shirt, stroking the hard muscles there. “We are expected in the Governor’s mansion tomorrow.”

Steve took a deep breath, pouting at Danny. “This is your fault.”

“Without a doubt,” Danny had to agree. “Please start packing. I need to check on the kids.”

“What about the kitchen?” Steve asked, slowly sitting up.

“We’re leaving it. We don’t need any of it for the mansion. And when we come here to escape, we’ll want it here to use it.”

Steve nodded at that, looking around their bedroom. “I’m sorry I’m being a five year-old.”

“You’re always a five year-old,” Danny reminded him with a light kiss. “Can I trust you to put your clothes in those wardrobe boxes?” he asked, pointing over at them.

“Yeah. Although Sebastain said I don’t need to bring most of my cargoes. Even though I won the election wearing them,” he said unhappily.

“I know, Babe,” Danny said in sympathy. “Your suits will be delivered to the mansion. Are you wearing your uniform for the inauguration?”

“Yeah. I called the Secretary of the Navy to make sure. She said it was appropriate.”

“She? As in the Secretary herself?” Danny asked. Steve shrugged, all innocent. “Is she coming?”

“Yeah,” Steve agreed. “Okay. I’ll pack, I promise. You go make sure the kids haven’t torn down any of the walls.”

“Surely we’d have heard them if they did,” Danny laughed, leaving the bedroom once he was sure Steve was actually going to start packing.

Danny went into Emma’s room to find her and John packing it up. “Need any help?” he asked from the doorway.

Emma smiled over at him before shaking her head. “Nope. We’re nearly finished. And John’s room is all done. Is Daddy finally packing?”

“Finally,” Danny said. “Will you two go keep him company while he finishes?”

“Yeah. Where are you going?” John asked.

“I need to tag the living room. They’ll be here first thing in the morning,” he reminded them. “Then you need to do your schoolwork for a couple of hours.”

“Will you help us?” Emma requested. “If Daddy sits with us, we’ll never understand the assignments.”

Danny laughed and shook his head. “You know that’s not true, Em. He can come down to our level when he needs to.”

“It’s still easier with you, Danno,” John said, holding out two of Emma’s dresses. “These?”

She shook her head, considering the stuffed animals on her bed. “I guess I’m too old to take these.”

“If you want them, you should take them,” Danno told her, kissing the top of her head.

“You sure?”

“Of course I’m sure, Princess. You should take whatever you want.”

She nodded at that, accepting an empty box from John for her toys.

“Make sure you mark Alicia and Zacchary’s boxes,” he reminded them.

“Done,” John agreed, putting more of Emma’s clothes in the box.

“Thanks,” Danny said, turning to leave. He back-tracked to check on Steve, relieved to find him actually packing while talking on his phone. To Mary apparently. “Is she coming?”

“Yeah. Her plane lands at 6,” Steve said. “That asshole Martin wouldn’t come with her.”

“I’m sorry, Babe. It’s probably just as well. We don’t need a scene at the inauguration.”

“Are you sure I can’t just kill him?” Steve asked.

“Fine by me,” Danny told him, Steve’s laughter following him down the steps.

~0~

“Hey Danno,” Steve said that night as they lay in their own bed for the last time. At least the last time for who knew how long.

It was well past midnight, the kids too wired to go to sleep before 11. The fact that Mary had been dropped off at 9:30 didn’t help. Her plane had been late, of course. Elizabeth from the transition team had been dispatched to pick her up and bring her back to their house.

Between Mary’s arrival and the kids excitement about the move the next day, Danny thought he’d never get them all in bed, including Mary who was as excited as the kids.

“Yeah Babe,” Danny replied, as always enjoying the chance to just look at his goof-ball husband. Even after all this time, he could feel the love swell up at the sight. God he adored this man.

“You okay with all this?” Steve asked, uncertainty on his face.

“What do you mean?” Danny asked, his thumb sweeping Steve’s eyebrows and smoothing the line in between.

“Well,” Steve said, gathering his thoughts. “All this. It’s all, you know, all about me,” Steve said, the color rising on his cheeks telling Danny how hard this conversation was for Steve to have. Danny thought he had a pretty good idea of where this was going and needed to honor Steve’s desire to say it.

“Okay,” Danny said with a nod.

“And you…I don’t want you to think I take you for granted,” Steve said, a hopeful expression in his eyes.

“You want me to help you out here, Babe?” Danny said in a warm, teasing tone, Steve nodding gratefully. “I’m second banana. I have been since you forced to be your partner. No,” Danny said, laying a finger over Steve’s mouth when he tried to speak. “Let me finish. I’ve chosen this. If I hadn’t wanted to be your back-up all this time, I wouldn’t have. When we decided to have the kids, I chose to be the ‘mom’ in the relationship. And I haven’t regretted it for a single minute. Not one. Now that you have been elected governor, I’m going to be First Gentleman or Her Royal Highness or whatever. And I’m okay with that. So completely okay with it I can’t even tell you. I love you, jackass. With all your flaws and your screwed up brain and your never ending need to prove you are right. I love all of it. And both of us can’t be public Alpha male in this relationship. You get that honor. Because we both know that you wouldn’t survive without me any more than I could survive without you.”

“Jackass?” Steve said, knowing it would make Danny rant even longer.

“That’s what you take from this? I pour my heart out to you and your only response is ‘jackass’?” Danny demanded. “You really are stunted emotionally. After all this time, I thought I’d finally taught you some social skills. I see I was wrong.”

Steve could see the laughter in Danny’s eyes for all it sounded like he was yelling at Steve. “I love you too. And I wouldn’t survive without you. I want to make sure you know that.”

“I do, Babe,” Danny assured him, kissing him soundly.