Sammy and Ilna thanks for everything, always. Love you both. Thanks to Sammy for the ending line and getting me unstuck on this one.

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In honor of Veterans' Day - Thank you to all those who have served or are serving our country. Especially my boys of the 297th Combat Engineer Battalion.

Force Of Nature

"Hey." Steve stood to greet Catherine as she entered the playroom with Cammie who'd run to greet her at the door as she got in from work.

"Hi." She pecked his lips and bent to catch Angie who was catapulting towards her. "There's my big girl." She kissed her daughter's cheek and snuggled her, rocking gently side to side. "Hi Danny." Recognizing a familiar expression, she grinned. "Long day?"

"If watching your crazy husband jump into an alligator infested swamp is long…" he ran a hand over his face and glared at Steve. "Then yes. Yes, it was very long."

"Two alligators." Steve held up as many fingers and grinned whan Angie mimicked him. "Isn't exactly infested. And it was a pond, not a swamp."

Catherine swiveled to look at him. "Alligat … there're no alligators here."

"Island boy over there found some imported ones," he scoffed.

She could see it was all bluster; Steve had undoubtedly pulled a stunt that riled Danny up, and he'd clearly been waiting all day to regale her with it.

"Did you, now?" She raised her brow at her husband while placing Angie on her play mat.

"Afterwhich he jumped into their pond," Danny glared at Steve while emphasizing the word. "like he was channeling Crocodile Dundee." He looked at Catherine and raised both hands in a pleading posture. "Cath, you're sure I can't get you to resign and rejoin the team? Because I'm getting too old to wrangle his as… butt alone," he corrected as Angie toddled to him and announced, 'Dannno, up!'

When lifting his goddaughter, the effort to remain in 'scolding Steve' mode failed and a grin broke through. He kissed the little hand that patted his mouth. "Don't you worry about your crazy father," he said as Angie tapped her hands on both his cheeks. "Uncle Danno's got his back. Besides..." Throwing a look at his best friend, Danny stage whispered, "If the alligator got him, it woulda threw him back anyway."

"Okay," Catherine said as she sat on the mat and Danny placed Angie down to rejoin her and Cammie. "This I have to hear."

That morning...

Steve ran a hand through his hair and looked between his partner and Chin. "What've we got?"

Chin had been the first on scene after the call went out from HPD. A private animal sanctuary located on the North Shore had been broken into and the distraught director was very concerned by the evidence left. Friends of Wildlife Sanctuary housed 27 animals of different species that were being rehabbed, could not be returned to the wild, or were not indigenous to the islands.

"Looks like a break in. They're checking all the animals now," Chin nodded towards the barn-like buildings several hundred yards away as the trio crunched over a muddy path.

"Are the animals endangered?" Steve had done a visual survey of the area and noticed several species that he knew were not native to Hawaii. Attempting to figure why the team was called in, he was thinking if they had a high value due to rarity, the animals themselves may have been the target.

"Doctor Enomoto, the Executive Director is getting a list, but she said none of the animals had a monetary value higher than any species in the Oahu Zoo," Chin explained as they reached a huge pond. It was large and shimmering in the morning sun as well as being secured behind a fence that enclosed about two acres of land.

No further explanation as to why they were there was needed as Steve and Danny knelt at the fence's edge. A bloodied pair of jeans just inside the clearly marked Alligator Enclosure as well as a lone flip flop floating in the water told them they might be looking for a victim or a dump site.

The men stood as Kono approached with a woman about Chin's age whose khaki shorts, vest and boots screamed zookeeper.

"Doctor Lily Enomoto." She offered her hand before Kono could make introductions. "Commander McGarrett and Detective Williams?"

"Yeah," Steve confirmed. "Did you determine if any of the animals are missing or dead?"

Lilly's shudder was almost imperceptible. "They're all here. Everyone seems fine; human and otherwise. And none of our employees or volunteers are missing." She shook her head and the shiny black ponytail that hung through the open back of her ball cap moved heavily over one shoulder and she shrugged it back. "I mean there's only me, Ted and Lahela. And we have two volunteer interns from the U. Ipo and Paisley. They're both in class 'til later."

Danny pointed to the enclosure. "Doctor …"

"Lilly, please."

"Lilly, how did you come by the alligator?" Danny was well aware the reptiles weren't indigenous. It was one of the many things he'd looked into when he'd arrived. He'd made a mental inventory on what dangers might befall his little girl while swimming, hiking or just playing in the vast backyard behind Rachel and Stan's.

"Alligators. She emphasized the plural. "We have two. Both female." A disgusted look crossed her face and lit the dark eyes behind her glasses as Lilly Enomoto waved a hand. "This … is what happens when misguided or just plain stupid people think they can keep wildlife as pets, Detective Williams. They get tossed out like garbage to …" She made air quotes. "Fend for themselves. Or killed. Or the lucky ones end up at a place like this. If they can be reintroduced to their natural habitat, that's always our goal. If not, they live their lives out as comfortably as we can make them." She sighed. "Officer Kalakaua said you needed to see our surveillance?" She addressed Chin.

"Yes. I'll start with the last 24 hours."

Lilly motioned him forward. "Everything's in my office. Follow me."

As soon as Chin, Kono and Lilly were out of site, Steve nodded and pointed to the enclosure. "Cover me."

Danny's eyes widened. "Cov … are you insane? I mean more insane than usual? That's an alligator enclosure."

"And if somebody threw a body in there to cover a murder, we need those pants for DNA." He removed his leg holster and put the SIG in the back of his waistband. "Before they get chewed up."

"Chewed up?" Danny's hands waved. "You're worried about evidence getting eaten? What do I tell Catherine and Angie if your sorry ass gets eaten?"

"No one's getting eaten," he scoffed and grabbed the eight foot fence, testing its strength. "You heard the doctor, they're both female - that means they're probably less than ten feet long." He pulled an evidence bag out of his pocket and unfurled it before tucking it into his belt for quick access.

"Less than ten feet long? Thank you, Steve Irwin, for that scientific information. We can wait for a vet and tranquilize…" Before he finished, his partner had scaled the fence and was dropping easily to his feet inches from the pond. Grabbing the bloody jeans, Steve shoved them into bag, chucked it back over and rescaled the fence just as a pair of reptilian eyes broke the surface of the water two yards away.

Danny shook his head, holstered his weapon and motioned to the HPD officers who were returning from checking the parameter of the property.

Present time

Catherine smiled up from her seat on the floor. As they told the story, she'd been helping Angie carefully and intently stack and knock down towers of blocks. Her expression very much her like mother's when concentrating on following a line of evidence. "So, did you find a victim? Or the remnants of one?"

"Actually, there was no victim." Steve shook his head.

"Turns out nobody broke in to dispose of a body, but Kono located a guy across the highway, bleeding from a leg wound."

"Lunatic jumped into an alligator pen to video himself." Danny rolled his eyes. "So he could impress some YouTube blog girl."

"How bad was the wound?" Catherine's nose wrinkled slightly at the idea.

"Bad enough." Steve confirmed. "He was lucky he was able to fight the alligator off and get back over the fence. He's at Queens for a few days before arraignment."

Danny checked his phone. "I gotta run. Grace and Gabby are at an early movie with Kaitlyn. The crazy video guy made me late so I told them I'd catch up with them for dinner." He kneeled to scoop Angie into a hug. After kissing her cheek he stood as the phone pinged again and he laughed while returning the text.

"What?" Steve asked, knowing from his friend's expression it was one of the girls.

Danny held up the phone with a grin. "Kaitlyn wanted to make sure the alligators were okay."

Catherine grinned. "That's Kaitlyn." She lifted Angie, settling her on a hip. "Have fun."

Angie returned her godfather's wave. "Byeeee!"

"Bye, sweetheart. Don't let daddy fight any sea monsters while Uncle Danno's gone, okay?"

"Dada!" She pointed at Steve, waved at Danny again, then wriggled to be let down. Once she was, she beelined for the activity wall with Catherine close behind as she delved into the noisemakers with very Steve-like determination.

Danny looked between his friends and the toddler who already had her parents' sense of adventure and intelligence and shook his head. Letting himself out, he smiled, thinking she's already exhibiting the best traits of both parents. Smiling broadly he mused Angie may end being the biggest force of nature of them all.

# End. Thanks for reading!

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