Author: [to be announced]
Recipient:
tailoredshirtTitle: How Do You Say 'Spazz' in Hawai'ian?
Rating: PG
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Kono/Jenna
Summary: Jenna's a spazz. She's always been a spazz. But Hawai'i might just be good for her anyhow.
Warnings: none
Word Count: 2,700
Disclaimer: All Hawaii Five-0 characters herein are the property of CBS. No copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Notes: This was written before S2 began, so consider it going AU from before the season one finale.
~~~
Jenna dropped her face into her hands and moaned. On the table in front of her was a bowl of cherry frozen yogurt. It wasn't the same as a pint of Moose Tracks ice cream, but now that she lived where people wore bathing suits year 'round, she felt like she ought to try watching her weight a little better. It wasn't like she could just throw on a baggy sweater to hide a few extra pounds when she needed to.
Not to mention she had somehow managed to acquire an amazingly hot girlfriend, and much as she could tell herself she was being ridiculous, Jenna couldn't help but feel like she ought to make the effort to not turn into a complete slob in comparison to said hot girlfriend. She didn't think Kono shallow enough to care -- but there was no way Jenna could look at herself in the mirror and not feel the pressure of having a hot girlfriend in the land of bikinis.
On the other hand, sometimes a person needed to drown themselves in ice cream. The frozen yogurt might have been enough if she wasn't naturally such a spazz. She looked at the bowl and picked up her spoon, wondering if frozen yogurt could ever truly compete with the healing properties of chocolate ice cream with marshmallow swirls and fudge chips. She frowned. Probably not.
"Come on, it wasn't that bad," Kono said as she sat down on the other side of the counter. The tiny kitchen and breakfast bar served as the entirety of the apartment's dining room as the actual dining room, tiny as it was as well, now had Jenna's desk and computer and two bookshelves crammed into it. Kono insisted it was cosy.
Jenna gave her a smile, not really feeling the love from the healthy frozen dessert. "I spilled my lunch on the Japanese Ambassador's wife," she reminded her amazingly hot and distinctly not-spastic girlfriend. She found it hard to imagine that Kono had often needed to drown her sorrows in Rocky Road.
"She was very understanding about the whole thing," Kono insisted. "She laughed when you tried to clean it up and smeared the tuna salad across her chest."
Jenna dropped her head back into her hands and whimpered. Of course she'd wiped her napkin across the woman's jacket twice before she'd realised she was feeling up a sixty-year-old foreign dignitary. She felt Kono pat her hand, and groaned, "This is worse than my first day of work."
"I don't remember anything too bad," she heard Kono say thoughtfully, and Jenna looked up, shaking her head.
"My first day with the Agency. I got out of my car and tripped. My purse went flying." Jenna flung her hands out, remembering how all of her stuff had just scattered. Lipstick rolling under the car beside hers, which she'd had to crawl on her hands and knees to retrieve. "Everything went everywhere, and of course there were these three old guys walking past just in time to see it. One of them turned out to be my new boss." Jenna smiled and shook her head, because after that she had never really succeeded in making a good impression on Danbey.
She hadn't realised just how little he'd thought of her until she'd taken her research on Wo Fat to him, all her careful and detailed reports. He'd barely glanced at them before dismissing her and her months of research.
She gave Kono a rueful smile. "My first apartment, I set fire to the curtain above the kitchen sink and I wasn't even cooking anything. That's why I asked if you had renter's insurance before I agreed to move in. I tried to warn you I was a spazz. It's not too late to lock up anything fragile or valuable."
"Nah. The only thing really valuable I have is my board and I'm still trying to get you on it." Kono leaned forward, elbows on the counter, and looked directly at Jenna in that way that made Jenna's stomach do a little flutter. She felt herself blush and told herself sternly that it was silly to still be blushing when you lived together. Even if it had only been for a few weeks.
The thought made her blush harder, and she tried to think about surfing and her million reasons why it would be a very bad idea. "Haven't you been listening? I'll drown, or get my feet caught in the..thingy." She gestured towards her ankle, thinking of how the strap would somehow get wrapped around her neck, or the neck of an endangered sea turtle. "I'll set fire to the ocean and all the other surfers will hang me alive."
Kono just grinned. But then she stood up, taking the bowl of uneaten frozen yogurt away from Jenna. "I have some of my aunt's cheesecake in the freezer," she said, and Jenna sat up straight in her chair.
"What kind? What am I saying; it doesn't matter. Bring it on!"
Kono laughed and Jenna watched as she pulled a small container out of the freezer. She twirled her spoon, thinking about how long it had been since she'd had a slice of real, homemade cheesecake. The spoon slipped out of her fingers as she twirled it again and clattered to the floor. Jenna just shook her head.
The Japanese Ambassador's wife had been really nice about the whole thing, but Jenna knew if got a phone call from the Governor's office asking her to please return to the mainland, she really wouldn't be surprised.
~~~
The following week Jenna headed into the Five-0 offices, clutching her laptop case to her chest. She'd been up fairly late the night before collating some information and she was pretty sure she might be onto something that could sort of be an almost-lead. What she had was a long shot, she knew, but at this stage it was more than anything else they had. She wanted to show her work to Chin before she mentioned it to anyone else, however, especially McGarrett. Right now she had just one or two things to double check against the files here before she approached Chin.
She would have logged into the databases from home last night, except that around one a.m. Kono had pulled her hands away from the keyboard and said something about the privileges of cohabitation didn't include working all night.
Jenna felt herself blushing again, and she told herself she really, really needed to get a grip. At this rate she'd be blushing when she was ninety and had gone through a veritable harem of girlfriends. Or, she told herself, possibly she wouldn't have to. She smiled a little at the wayward thought of settling down someday, married or not, and what it might be like if that someone turned out to be Kono. Would she be surfing when she was ninety, was what Jenna wanted to know.
As she pulled the door open to the main offices, Jenna yelped and nearly dropped her laptop when she nearly collided with Danny.
"Whoa! Sorry," Danny said, giving her an easy grin and reaching out to help as she juggled the laptop, trying not to drop it or her lunch bag. She didn't quite drop either, and when she got a firm hold on everything she looked up to see Danny looking at her oddly.
"What? I mean, good morning. Oh, God, do I have coffee on my shirt?" She looked down, but didn't see any stains.
"No, but...that isn't your shirt, now, is it?" Danny grinned widely, and Jenna knew by the way her cheeks were burning that she'd gone completely crimson.
Yes, so she had snagged one of Kono's shirts that morning, but the laundry room at their apartment complex had been in full use two days ago when Jenna had finally had a chance to do laundry. She had every intention of trying again tonight, but until then she hadn't had any clean shirts that were appropriate for work.
She opened her mouth to explain, then stopped, because she couldn't exactly say that. She opened her mouth again, then she stopped again, frowning. "Wait, I thought she told you guys."
"She did," Danny said, nodding. "In fact, Chin dragged me over there to help get rid of some extraneous furniture before you moved in. Roomie." Danny waggled his eyebrows. "However, as it was intended to be somewhat of a subtle matter, not so much a secret as an undeclared set of living arrangements, I feel justified in pointing out -- with the best of intentions and the glee in my heart because you have both been quite bouncy and happy the last several weeks -- that that is not your shirt."
Jenna's mouth had dropped open more than once during Danny's speech, but she realised quickly that he was teasing her, and really, that was all. There was nothing accusatory or ugly in his words, no secret threats like the teasing she'd endured back at the Agency. She pulled her laptop closer and stepped around him towards the huge computer cleverly disguised as a conference table. She found herself saying, "You're just jealous because his shirts don't fit you."
There was a moment of silence and Jenna tensed, wondering what the hell had possessed her -- McGarrett and Danny weren't actually together, as far as she knew, but Kono had said... Well, she'd implied a lot of things but maybe she hadn't quite said them.
"I'll have you know they most certainly would," came Danny's rejoinder. Jenna exhaled in relief at the amused tone of his voice. "I simply have too much taste to wear one of those Magnum P.I. throwbacks. Or throw-outs, more accurately."
"Doesn't he mostly wear t-shirts?" Jenna asked, innocently, as she set her laptop case on the table and pulled the laptop out. In the back of her brain she was vaguely horrified at how casually she was teasing Danny back. She still wasn't convinced she was even staying here, that Five-0 had given her a real job and what seemed to be real respect that she could do her job -- as long as she didn't have her lunch in her hands. But the words had slipped out rather easily, and Danny was just grinning at her.
He waggled a finger at her, reminding her so much of her brother who had tried to act like he was in charge when mom and dad were out, just because he was a whole fourteen months older than she was. Danny rolled his eyes and said, "As if I would wear something like that to the office. And don't think I haven't noticed how you're changing the subject, young lady."
Before Jenna could respond, the door to McGarrett's office banged open, causing Jenna to jump, just a little. McGarrett strode out -- wearing a t-shirt, Jenna noted, and she gave Danny a raised eyebrow. Danny just made a face back at her and she held back a giggle.
"Danny! We got a call from Bates. Sounds like we might finally have a witness willing to talk to us." He walked up to, then past them, giving Jenna a nod but otherwise heading directly out the door, not even glancing back to see if Danny followed him.
"Duty calls," Danny said with a shrug, and he started out, after McGarrett.
Jenna mouthed, "It would fit," and she held up her hands, indicating the size of the chest and neck. Danny waved her off, scowling a little, and she was pretty sure she saw a tiny bit of a blush creeping up around his ears.
Good, at least it wasn't just her. She turned her attention back to her laptop and began setting it up.
She was halfway to getting her files open when she heard someone come in; she glanced up and saw Chin. "Oh, Chin, I wanted to ask you--" She stopped as she realised he was staring at her. "Um...?" She glanced behind her, just to check, but no, he was definitely staring at her.
He walked over, slowly, the expression -- or lack thereof -- not wavering. She nearly backed up a step, but she honestly couldn't think of anything she'd done that would upset Chin. It didn't help her panic at all when he stepped up beside her, stern look still focused on her, and whispered, "I'm going to get Kono."
Jenna blinked. "For what?"
There was a strange sort of.. almost-quirk at the corner of Chin's mouth. "I started doing this when she was thirteen, interrogating the people who wanted to date her."
Frowning, Jenna shook her head. "I don't--"
There was a shiver of a wink, the left eye -- which she realised couldn't be seen behind her, where Kono's office was. He said quietly, "I used to let her think I was interrogating and scaring off people I didn't want her to date. But all I ever did was hang around for a bit, looking menacing. Kono's a pretty good judge of character. She never really hung out with anyone the family wouldn't have approved of."
"Oh." Jenna relaxed, then the import of Chin's words hit her. "Oh."
"Chin Ho Kelly!" Came Kono's yell, and a moment later Kono was flying across the room, forcing herself between Jenna and Chin. Her hands were on her hips and Jenna was close enough that she could feel the tension vibrating throughout Kono's entire body.
It reminded her, vividly, of the first time she'd seen Kono take down two perps by herself. They'd been unarmed, but Jenna had guessed they'd out-weighed Kono by at least fifty pounds each. Feet and fists had flown, and when the two guys were lying on the ground, Kono had looked over her shoulder and given Jenna a wink.
That was, Jenna could admit to herself, the first time she'd thought very seriously about asking Kono home with her. Or back to the motel, technically, and the fact she'd found the courage to do so -- and the fact Kono had said yes -- still somewhat amazed her.
She tuned back in to hear Kono still giving Chin a piece of her mind: Jenna caught the words "grown-up" and "whatever the hell I want to" being thrown around.
Jenna looked over at Chin and gave him a wink, and smiled as it was returned.
Kono stopped, looked at Jenna, then back at Chin. Her eyes narrowed.
"He started it," Jenna said, pointing at Chin. "When you were thirteen. I was just working on these files," she added quickly, pulling her laptop towards her as Kono's ire shifted back towards her cousin. Jenna sat down, carefully a couple of seats away from Kono, who was poking Chin in the chest, hard enough to make him wince despite the wide grin that had finally appeared.
Jenna began opening the files she'd been working on the night before. Memories of Kono's hand on her wrist, and lips on her neck, threatened to distract her even as Kono's shouting grew louder and Chin began trying to interrupt her, futilely. He was backing up, hands held out as Kono walked him into the wall, chuckling as Kono demanded to know what he'd done about someone named Chad, and someone else named Kristine. Jenna told herself she didn't really care because she definitely was not at all jealous.
Chin was saying something about Kono scaring them off all on her own, which didn't seem to be placating Kono very much and the way she was jabbing her fist into Chin's shoulder didn't seem to be making his smile go away.
These people were insane, Jenna told herself, not for the first time. But she found she didn't really mind.
the end