Always

Chapter 7

2 months later: Five-O headquarters, 1730 hours

Steve was just finishing up the paperwork for the day, when his phone rang. It was a call from an unknown number and he was kind of hoping that they were going to be assigned to a case, because a new case would mean he could distract himself from other things. Like his birthday. Or the fact that Catherine was somewhere out there and he only got to talk to her maybe once a week or once in two or three weeks. "Hello?"

"Hey sailor." her soft voice sounded through his phone. Just hearing her voice was enough to make him smile.

"Catherine!" he exclaimed happily and put the pen down. He hadn't heard from her in two weeks and he had been so worried that he had barely eaten a thing, "Are you okay?"

"I am fine, Steve, really." she assured him, "Even though I hate not being able to hug you today. Happy birthday by the way, Steve."

"Thanks." he chuckled and leaned back into his office chair, "And, uh, you know, I can think of a few ways you can make that up to me."

She involuntarily grinned at his statement. They were definitely going to make up for the lost time. "3 more weeks, then I will be back." she told him.

"I am already counting down the days." he replied and heard her chuckle at the other end of the line. 3 weeks. 21 days. Somehow that seemed to be soon, but definitely not soon enough. Honestly, the day she would return could never come soon enough.

"So..tell me what are you doing today?" she asked, as she was staring at the dark ceiling, the sat phone in her right hand.

"Ah..you know, nothing out of the ordinary. We aren't working a case at the moment, so I am pretty much just doing boring paperwork." he told her and let his eyes gaze over the bullpen and his colleagues' offices. Danny and Tani were still in their offices, but he couldn't spot the rest of his team, "I think the team wanted to invite me for drinks later."

"That sounds nice." she replied and found herself wishing she was there now with him and their ohana. Especially after the day she had had.

He hummed softly. He really appreciated his friends' attempts to make his birthday at least a tiny little bit special. "What about you?"

"You know that's classified, Steve." she replied and laughed softly. Of course he knew that. That wasn't why he had asked. "I am fine." she added, trying to reassure him once again that she was indeed okay. However, part of her knew that it was no use. There was nothing she could say that would make him stop worrying. And honestly, she didn't want that anyway. "Steve?"

"Yeah?"

"Take the evening off, okay? Go out and celebrate your birthday with your friends." she said, hoping that he would take her words to heart. She knew he didn't really feel the need to celebrate his birthday and he often pretended that he didn't really care about it, but deep down he always enjoyed spending time with his friends. And she also knew that especially right now, with him constantly worrying about her, he needed the distraction.

"Don't worry about me, Cath, I am fine." he replied, even though he really liked it, when she looked out for him and reminded him to choose himself over the job every once in a while, "I love you."

"I love you, too." she whispered into the sat phone, "We will catch up in a few days okay?"

"Please be careful." he said quietly.

"I will be. I promise. And you enjoy your evening, okay?"

"I promise." he echoed and her soft chuckle was the last thing he heard before the call disconnected.