Disclaimer: "Hawaii Five-0" and its characters depicted here are not original to me. This story is written for the enjoyment of the show's fans and not for profit or material gain. The story idea, though, is original to me and is protected. LBH, 2016
NOT TODAY
Author's Note: This story refers back to the 3rd season "Hawaii Five-O" (1968-1980) episode, "Beautiful Screamer".
Chapter 1
1977
"What a gorgeous day!" Dan Williams said aloud to himself as he passed by the glass doors of his lanai, moving around his apartment, putting things away to neaten up the place before he headed out. What luck to be off when the weather's this great. Not that it's not usually gorgeous weather in Honolulu, but some days the tropical rain falls a little more heavily and the wind whips up a little more often than others.
Wish I had time to just spend the whole day on a surfboard. But not today. He'd been working so many straight days long into the night lately that the ordinary errands of a bachelor's life were going undone and piling up high—like going to the grocery store to stock up on some basic sustenance for the refrigerator, getting some money moved around at the bank, buying some stamps at the post office to pay the usual bills, picking up clothes at the cleaners, and on and on. Kinda spoils the fun of living in paradise, he thought with a chuckle.
Dan's optimistic attitude kicked in, and he decided to enjoy at least having the day off and the time to catch up on the little things. In his line of work filled with tension, hurry, unpleasantness, and even danger, some mundane, mindless but necessary activity would be a relief. And not to mention, a small but important benefit – he did not have to wear a suit today! Shorts and a casual shirt—all day long!
It was still very early, and from the table in the hall he gathered up the lists, bill payments to be mailed, and cleaning pick-up slips he would need for his errands. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the door to the closet nearby was ajar, and the sun shown inside just enough to highlight an old friend—his tennis racket! It wouldn't hurt to throw that in the back of the car, just in case. Ya' never know—I might get done with my errands and run into someone who needs a partner! He eagerly gripped it, closed the closet door tightly, and reached for the apartment door knob to head out for the day.
Dan Williams opened the door with his head down, thinking about which errand to tackle first. He was still smiling at himself for naughtily seizing the tennis racket, which he struggled to juggle along with the other items he was carrying. Suddenly he stopped cold and looked up when his way was blocked by someone standing in the doorway with his knuckles poised, ready to knock.
"Steve!" Danny exclaimed, surprised.
"Hi, Danno," Steve replied casually as his knock-ready fist relaxed and moved to prop itself against the door frame.
For a moment, Dan didn't know what to say. His glee at taking the tennis racket and his amusement at having a day off all to himself—well, they deflated a little, then a lot. He didn't want his boss and friend to think he wasn't welcome in his home, but this did not bode well for his plans for the day.
After a brief awkward silence and no invitation to enter, Steve ventured, "May I come in?"
Suddenly attentive to his lack of courtesy, Danno hurriedly tried to cover. "Sure, Steve, I'm sorry! Come on in. I'm just… surprised to see you, that's all."
Dressed in his usual business suit, "Uh, huh," Steve said with an understanding smile. "Nothing like having me show up to ruin a good day off," he said as he walked in. "Where are you headed?"
Danno gently kicked the door closed and followed his friend in. He stopped at the hall table and unloaded his arms of his paperwork and (gulp!) his tennis racket. Putting his hands on his hips, he said, "Well, like most people, I was hoping to go out and enjoy my day off. Ya' know, errands, a little tennis, stuff like that. Until I saw you at my door, anyway! You have something else in mind?"
"No, no, of course not! Why should I want to deprive you of all that fun?" Steve was laying it on thick. Knowing that there had to be a reason for Steve to come by this morning, Danny was waiting for the other shoe to fall, but Steve continued. "In fact, I'm just here to offer you an opportunity you can't refuse. Something that will be even more fun for you and will do me a favor all at the same time."
Wondering at the possibilities and suspicious of his friend's true intentions, Danny narrowed his eyes and said simply, with a slow, low, grave voice, "What?"
Steve shuffled a bit on his feet, reached in his pocket, and threw Danny a set of keys, which he easily caught in mid-air. "You know I've gotten a lot of work done on my boat. I'm fairly certain it's seaworthy and ready for a test drive. I want you to take it out for me today."
This was not what Danny was expecting. Shocked, he stared at Steve, then the keys. Slowly walking around past Steve and pondering the offer, he turned to face him and smiled. "You only THINK it's seaworthy?"
With a light laugh, Steve reacted with a dig, "What's the matter? You can swim."
Danny smirked at Steve, "Not that I'm not flattered by the offer, Steve," and with a sarcastic, sidelong glance, "and by your faith in my ability to swim." He furrowed his brow and expressed, "But, I don't know for certain that I could swim back to shore AND tow the boat in, too. And I wouldn't dare come back without it!"
Steve smiled broadly at that mental picture but continued to persuade. "Think of it this way: I wouldn't just let anybody take my prized boat out before even I have had a chance to! I trust you. It's a perfect day. Try it out. Let me know what you think."
Always the questioning detective, Danny searched Steve's face for the motivation behind the offer. Knowing his friend so well, he thought he saw Steve's face change just briefly from generous mirth to a concerned, watchful look and then back again.
"I can give you a lift down to the marina where it's docked. Come on, you can play tennis anytime."
Danny shook the key chain while he thought about the odd proposal and then suddenly tossed them back up in the air toward Steve, who caught them with both hands and waited for Danny to speak.
Now with a more even expression and crossing his arms in front of him, Danny said, "Come on, Steve, what gives?"
"You're too suspicious, Danno. I just think today would be a great day for you to get away from it all."
In his most serious tone, Danny flatly responded, "Why? I know you didn't come over here this early in the morning because you were worried about how in the world I'd manage to entertain myself today."
Cocking his head to the side, Steve ended the ruse and walked over toward the sofa in surrender and calmly said, "No."
"May I sit?" As Danny nodded and waved his hand toward the sofa with an implied Of course, Steve extended to him, "Last chance, though, to take me up on my offer…."
Danny shook his head 'no' as he took the seat angled away from the sofa.
Silence. "I'm waiting," Danny offered, patiently.
Steve drew in a deep breath and intertwined his fingers together in front of him as if wondering how to begin. Then, looking straight at Danny sitting across from him, he said firmly, "Danno, I do not want you to get involved in what's going on today. Don't take this the way it's going to sound, but I need you out of the way."
Danny looked stunned and hurt but rallied to respond sarcastically. "I didn't realize I got… 'in your way'."
Rushing to dispel that idea, Steve quickly replied, "Danno, please. That's not what I meant."
Looking to see if the hurt look was still there, Steve had no choice but to confess his true motives. "A murderer escaped from custody earlier this morning at the hospital-someone we put away. I knew even on your day off you would hear about it. We're going to find him, but in the meantime we can't do that if I have to worry about you."
Danny's eyes had recovered from the hurt he'd initially felt and now just looked concerned and confused. "Is this someone who has threatened me? Who is it?"
Reassuringly but vaguely, Steve answered, "I don't know that there is any active threat, but I am trying to protect you…."
Leaning forward in his seat, Danny interrupted, with urgency and impatience, "WHO is it, Steve?"
Steve paused. "Walter Gregson."
Shaken, Danny slowly let himself fall against the back cushion of the chair. Without blinking, his eyes drifted toward some unidentifiable point in the carpet, where he just stared.
Steve watched Danno carefully and tried to read how he was taking the news that the murderer of his beloved Jane Michaels had slipped the bonds of imprisonment. Despite Danny's silent non-reaction, Steve plunged on with his directives. "Remember what I said, Danno. You've got to stay out of this. We've got our guys and HPD out following all leads. We'll bring him in."
With still no more than silence from his friend, Steve broached a question to try to bring him out of his faraway thoughts. "Danno, I do need to ask you something. Do you know where his ex-wife Sally Clark Gregson is now?" No answer. "Danno?"
Danny's eyes lifted calmly towards Steve's then back again to the carpet. "What? Sally? Ummm, she's not living in the Islands anymore. She got remarried and moved to the mainland. Arizona, maybe. Phoenix, I think."
"Good. Gregson can't get off this rock, so she should be safe."
After a few more moments of stillness amid confident words from Steve that he didn't even hear, Danny broke his stare and was suddenly in a hurry. He bounded up and out of the chair and headed toward his bedroom. Steve was up in a flash as well, "Danno? Danno? Where are you going?"
Steve heard Danny's voice yell to him as he entered the other room. "To change clothes and get my gun."
Steve stalked after him and gripped Danny by the back of the shoulder. He spun him around gently yet spoke decisively. "No, you're not! You're going away for the day, away from the phones and the media, and you're going to let us handle Gregson. Is that clear?"
Giving his boss a rare cold glaring look, Danny shrugged out of Steve's shoulder hold and proceeded into the bedroom. Steve stood defiantly in the bedroom doorway as Danny opened his closet, pulled out some clothes and headed toward the bathroom to change.
Danny shouted to be heard from the other room to argue with Steve as he changed. "Steve, I need to be out there. I need to know that he is found and returned to prison where he belongs for what he did. He killed two totally innocent women-as a ruse, all because he was greedy! And he would have killed his own wife, too, if we hadn't stopped him."
Danny reappeared with his clothes mostly changed and just still buttoning his shirt. He pleaded his case, "Steve, I was in the circle of friends with Gregson! He killed practically right under my nose, and I couldn't see what was happening! I need to help find him."
"Danno, this is a mistake!" Steve replied flatly.
"Why don't you want me involved?" Danny pursued, as his fingers worked quickly to tie his necktie.
Answering the question that he believed Danny should already know the answer to, he tried to state the obvious as patiently as he could. "Because Gregson hates you and you hate Gregson, with good reason."
Pulling down the final loop of his tie, Danny stopped in place and listened to Steve. "If you go after Gregson and all that anger comes out again, you might just dig yourself into a legal hole so deep you can't get out. You'll ruin everything, your career, maybe your life. And for what? Him? He's not worth it."
Steve admitted, "My biggest fear is that you will find him, and then what will you do? Do you remember when you found him before? If Kono hadn't backed you up that day and come upon your fight with Gregson, you would have let him dangle off that cliff until he fell!"
"But I didn't, did I?" Danny moved to counter Steve's argument, as he went to retrieve his .38 revolver from the bedside drawer, checked that it was fully loaded, holstered it to his side, and turned to face Steve across the room.
He softened toward his boss, and reassured him, "I'll be all right." Danny looked away as he admitted, "Ya' know…it's been a long time now."
"Six years," Steve declared. "And I remember like it was yesterday how devastated you were when Jane was found dead."
Danny slowed as he remembered coming to the murder scene and crumbling at the realization of his loss. And he remembered how Steve and Chin had supported him that day, physically and emotionally, and for days to come.
Seeing Danny's thoughts wander back to that saddest of times, Steve reached out to him, put his strong hand on his shoulder and used his softest tone yet toward his friend, "There were days…," he paused, "when I wondered if you'd ever recover. It was a full year—a YEAR!—before you were yourself again. I don't want to see you go through that again. Not today…, not ever."
Danny turned to speak directly and purposefully. "Steve, please. Don't order me not to get involved in this search. Don't put me in that position."
Steve didn't have to think about his reply. "Then don't put me in the position of having to beach you. Do you remember pleading with me to be in on the original murder investigation? An innocent man said a cross word to you and you nearly beat him to death."
"I know! I know!" Danny exclaimed. "You don't have to bring up all the bad memories. Believe me, they're not buried very deep!"
"That's what I mean!"
Pleading, he continued. "Steve, I can't just sit here and ignore Gregson's escape. I owe it to Jane to put him back in prison." Maybe I owe it to Gregson, too! he thought.
"Danno, you said it yourself—it was a long time ago and you were finally able to move on. Leave it in the past."
With his melancholy mood deepening, Danno turned again toward the closet, reached up high to a shelf, and pulled down a plain rectangle-shaped box. "The past, huh?" he sighed as he opened it. "Take a look, Steve. Walter Gregson didn't just rob Jane of her future. He robbed me of my future, too." Danny pulled out the framed photo of Jane's lovely face that Danno had displayed in his apartment when she died. He stared at it and her handwritten words at the bottom, "All My Love, Jane."
Steve peered into the box at what had been stored below the photograph. He picked up a bulletin from Jane's funeral service and uncovered the remnants of a white boutonniere and a small black velveteen jewelry box. His heart skipped a beat and he drew in a sharp breath, as he could not keep himself from picking it up and opening the hinged lid. Inside was a beautiful, pristine diamond solitaire gold ring—as delicate as the woman for whom it was meant, as untouched as she is now in her grave.
He looked up to see that Danny was watching him. Danny put down the framed photo and gently took the ring box out of Steve's hand to see it closer again himself. "I never got to give it to her, and I'll never give it to anyone else. I just keep it, to remember…."
"Danno, why did you never tell me about this? About your plans to marry Jane?"
"What was the point? She was gone. Everybody felt terrible about it, felt terrible for me—this would have only made it worse. So I kept it to myself." He matter-of-factly closed the ring box, replaced it and all the other memories in the cardboard box, put it on his shelf, and closed the closet door.
"We'd better go, Steve."
Steve wavered. He knew this was a bad idea. "Danno?"
"What?"
Placing his hand on Danno's back, he said, "Just stay close, OK? I don't want you out there alone today."
With an appreciative smile, Danny agreed. "Right, Steve."
