A/N: So, while some of you enjoying the new season, those of us unfortunately living outside the US, need to wait, and take comfort in fanfics.

Apparently that meant a new project! The story is almost finished, and there will be chapter updates frequently after my trusted Grammer-SEAL beta Yul, digs her teeth deep into it.

The story takes place somewhere in the seventh season, as I am not yet ready to say goodbye to the cousins.

I hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to leave your reviews, thoughts, ideas and anything else you deem worthy.

The story contains description of drug abuse.

Chapter 1

As always, the stress of a work week dissipated in direct ratio to the length of Grace's hug. It was a very stressful week, the second one since he last heard from Steve, so Danny stubbornly ignored the obvious signs of discomfort in his teenage daughter stance between his arms, and kept holding her. She got the message fairly quickly though, her hands went back to their firm hold around his waist, and she stopped squirming. He was thankful for that, but not surprised. His perfect daughter, with all her teenage rage, was tuned in with his feelings.

"Everything OK, Danno?" she finally asked.

"Yeah, yeah. Just missed you. Didn't get much chance to see you lately. I'm sorry about missing your show yesterday."

"It's OK. I know you had a lot of work. I think mom filmed it. We were really good."

Danny finally released Grace as she continued to talk. Her detailed briefing on yesterday's show had the same effect as the hug. Lately it was very rare to hear so many words from her, and he savoured every one.

He did have a lot of work, especially with the head of five-0 serving his country in God-knows-where for the past month. It was like the word was out in the perps' community, that the Hawaiian special task force was one crazy ass leader short and it was time to crawl out of their holes and make Danny's life miserable. You know, just so he won't miss the crazy for a while, God forbid.

Sadly, he found out that the stress levels were not helped by the two calls he got from Steve. Naturally, the word 'Classified' was spoken several times during the short conversations, and Steve was mostly interested in hearing how things were in Hawaii as opposed to telling anything about how he himself was doing. Danny did not dare mention the liver transplant, and he had to admit Steve sounded fine and confidant as ever, but he couldn't stop wondering if his I-eat-grenades-for-breakfast partner hid his situation from the Navy, and if not, why was he out there for so long.

But maybe he wasn't out there. Maybe he was sitting in some air-conditioned control center on a carrier, supervising other baby SEALs as they recklessly throw their lives on some impossible mission.

Yeah. Right.

But all of that was a minor, nagging worry in the back of his mind now. They closed the last case last night, all known preps were now locked up or dead, (yes, dead. He attributed that to the lingering effect of their trigger happy policymaker), and a long three days weekend with his kids was ahead of him. He had it all planned. Today pizza, movies and meaningful, life changing quality talks to set Grace's confused teenage mind on the right path. Charlie would join them tomorrow, then they will take advantage of Steve's open invitation to his private beach and spend the day there. He might be inclined to actually set his foot inside the ocean to get some happy noises from his children.

A phone call from the Governor was certainly not part of his plans, but he seemed to have neglected mentioning this to her, since her name and title was displayed on his ringing cellular before he even got to his house.

He couldn't help the short loud whine that escaped his mouth. Grace looked at him in concern, he shrugged miserably and answered.

"Detective Williams."

"Detective, I am sorry to disturb you" she did sound genuinely regretful, and she paused for a long moment before she continued, maybe to allow him to respond in some kind of reassurance. He would not give her that. She should be sorry. "Detective...Danny," She was using his first name. That can't be good. "Please gather your team and come to my office as soon as possible."

She sounded so apologetic, and...something else. Sad? He almost considered giving in without a fight, but his daughter was staring at him reproachfully from the passenger seat.

"Governor, with all due respect, the team's worked around the clock for the last two weeks, we agreed that any case this weekend will be handled by HPD"

"I know, Danny" again, his first name. "I wouldn't request your presence if it were not essential." he could hear a tinge of impatience in her voice now, but she clearly held back.

"Very well, Ma'am." he audibly sighed "We will be there shortly." And that damn McGarrett will owe us till the rest of times.

He looked at his daughter, mirroring her disappointment, but she just shrugged and said "It's OK Danno, I have this project with Tammy to do over the weekend anyway. She wanted to meet this afternoon and I told her no, but I'm sure she's still up to it."

"I'm sorry, Monkey." He said while dialing Chin "I'll go see what's it all about, hopefully the team can handle it without me."

When Danny got to the Governor's office, Chin and Kono were already there. The door was closed and the secretary told him that they will wait for Captain Grover before coming in. Chin and Kono were not able to get more than that from her in the few minutes they were there.

Lou arrived shortly after, and the secretary announced immediately that "Five-0 are all here" and they were led inside.

Governor Mahoe stood in front of her table, leaning back against it. Two Naval officers stood up as they came in, and on another chair sat Dr. Hartly, the police psychologist with whom they all had the mandatory sessions .

Danny was sure his heart skipped a few beats. The odd company, their solemn faces... Something was wrong. Very wrong. He heard his own breath loud in his ears. He had to strain and forced himself to concentrate as introductions were made, and he obediently sat down when he was requested.

He sat on the edge of his seat, wishing that they would get to the point and that they will never get there at the same time.

Rear Admiral Raynes, with a stern voice and sympathetic look that seemed rehearsed, started speaking.

"Officers, I am sorry to inform you that after five days of a search and recovery mission, we had no choice but to declare Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett missing in action."

And there it was. The Point. Loud, clear and just as dreadful as his tense muscles indicated the minute he walked into the office. The room was quiet, especially now that he was no longer breathing.

He noticed the word "recovery" as opposed to "rescue". He also noticed that "presumed dead" did not follow the declaration. Two pieces of information that did not fit together, but it was alright. That way he could choose.

"What happened?" Lou's sudden question startled Danny.

Captain Tally spoke now, his voice every bit as business like as the Admiral's. "I am sure you understand that the Lieutenant commander's mission was classified, and so we cannot elaborate on the specific details. Nevertheless we will try and answer your questions as best we can. Commander Mcgarrett's team was on a mission, during which they encountered an unex… massive resistance. The transport they were on was intercepted before they were all able to extract. Commander McGarrett and his lieutenant were still on board when it crashed."

"Where…?" Danny heard himself ask. This single word was laced with anger, that he now realized was bubbling in him. Still on board when it crashed. Probably too stubborn to admit he was actually crashing.

"I am sorry, Detective, that is classified."

Danny sprang to his feet, the chair behind him pushed backwards noisily. Chin grasped his forearm and Danny froze in his place.

"What about the search and rescue?" Chin now asked. He used the word rescue, thankfully, he also chose the right way of thinking.

"Throughout the last several days, efforts were made to reach their last known location," the captain continued, "and we were able to rescue one of the sailors and recover the body of another. At this point we feel we've exhausted our options."

"You feel!" Danny was ready to launch himself at the Captain, Chin's grip on his arm tightened.

"We are truly sorry, Detective." The Admiral interjected, and Danny could almost believe the sincerity in his voice "Commander McGarrett knew the risks and accepted his duty nonetheless. It is a great loss, I know, not only to the navy but as I understand from the Governor, also to the state of Hawaii. You need to believe that we did all we can."

Maybe Danny might believe that, one day, if he knew exactly what happened. Maybe if he was presented with hard evidence for the effort and resources invested in this. Maybe if it was him doing all he can to rescue the stupid self sacrificing SEAL from 'the location'. Currently he could not believe that. It was not possible. This was McGarrett, and there was no way he...he was...

"No, no I do not need to believe that!" The hand that was not held in a death grip by Chin was now waving at the Naval officer's, finger pointing. "'Knew the risks' is no excuse for abandoning your men out there. I know this freaking Rambo, he is busy extracting himself and his lieutenant from whatever, even as we speak, and he needs you to back him up!"

"I am very sorry det…"

"Yeah, you said that! You son of a bitch, do not be sorry, get the man out of there!"

"Detective." came the soothing, melodic voice of Dr. Hartly, but it only served to anger Danny even more.

"It's OK," the Captain said to the doctor, then moved his eyes to Danny. "Detective, this might sound harsh but you need to hear it. The chances that the commander survived the crash are slim. Not to mention the time that has passed since then."

Lou released a long agonized breath. Kono leaned forward in her chair, her head in her hands. Chin was looking at him, eyes bright and steady.

Danny could not stand to listen anymore. This was not happening. This could not be happening.

He released his arm from Chin's with a swift forceful movement and stormed out of the office.