Author's Note: Lots of dialogue in this one - that's how it came to me. For some reason I am in this mode I've come to call 'Angry Danno/Sorry Steve', for better or worse. :P
I also feel like this is actually two fics in one, and perhaps later I will expound upon one of them in a separate piece.
For now, this is my version of the finale/post-finale with a missing scene. Reviews are treasured, as always.
Warning: Mild language.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, nor anything associated with H50.
:Broken Promises:
It was the situation with his kid brother all over again. Stupid mistakes and broken promises.
That's all Danny could think about as he waited anxiously to talk to his partner through the glass at the penitentiary.
HPD sure did book him fast, the bastards.
Three days.
It had been three days and four sleepless nights since Steve went ape-shit and walked right into a trap while trying to get a confession out of the Governor.
He took a stupid risk.
He should have known better.
"Alright, listen – do me a favor, please. Just lay low, okay? We will get something on the Governor and we will end this, huh?"
"I gotta go."
He should have waited for Danny.
But, no – Steve just had to go solo.
Danny had pleaded. Danny had promised. Danny had done absolutely everything within his human power to be supportive. And what did Steve do?
Just like Mattie, he went off half-cocked on his own and ended up digging an even bigger hole for himself.
Granted, Mattie had been guilty as sin. But still – neither of them had trusted. Neither of them had listened.
And it wasn't just disappointing and demoralizing – it was painful. A bitter pill to swallow.
"Why didn't you come to me?"
Steve was his partner. Hell, he was his best friend.
But this time he really mucked it up.
His recklessness had destroyed 5.0 and left Danny trying desperately to repair the tattered remains.
"I said I was gonna help you! I said I was gonna get you through this, didn't I?"
The words he'd shouted at his brother just months ago ricocheted around his brain.
Those same words Danny now wanted to scream at his partner.
Because, damn it – they'd talked about this.
:Four Days Prior:
Danny juggled the two six-packs in one hand as he reached out to turn the door knob, pushing it open the rest of the way with his hip as he headed toward the coffee table.
Suddenly he vaulted forward, violently propelled from behind, almost breaking the glass bottles against the table as they clanked together loudly.
His knee twisted at the abrupt movement as he tried to keep himself from losing balance.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" He whirled around, arms outstretched, shock and outrage written all over his face at the sight of his partner, dressed in all black and holding a gun on him.
"What the hell's a-matter with you!"
Steve's eyes were wild, his tone fierce with a barely - veiled rage as he held up a finger and jabbed viciously toward his partner and then back at the door.
"Would it kill you to knock on this door, just once?"
"Do I ever knock on that door?" Danny responded slowly, through grit teeth.
He paused only a moment before demanding answers to rapid-fire questions.
"Wha – why? What's with the ambush? Why are you dressed like a ninja? What are you doing?"
He watched as Steve anxiously peeked out the window, his movements restless, his gaze intense. The man was obviously hyped up on adrenaline, sweating and breathing heavily.
Danny's eyes narrowed.
"Okay, what is this?"
Steve turned, giving Danny the look he does whenever he is about to tell him something he won't like the answer to.
Danny could already guess, his heart pounding at the implications.
"No, no, no – don't answer…tell me you didn't break into the Governor's house."
Steve paused, fixing his partner with a piercing stare.
"The key fit, Danny."
The blonde detective slumped, running both hands along the sides of his head.
Steve could sense the frustration radiating from the other man. "This is what my father was working on before he was murdered, Danny," he justified. "He was investigating the Governor."
Danny knew a lecture would be wasted at this point – the damage had already been done.
Steve had crossed a line, but they had crossed lines before.
He was actually surprised by the bit of evidence Steve had gathered – photos of Laura placing one of the envelopes on his truck.
"This is insane," he muttered, because really – how could this be reality?
The more Steve talked, the more pieces of the twisted puzzle began to fit together.
Then Steve showed him Laura's date book, and it all started to make sick, horrifying sense.
The Governor was dirty. She had been dirty all along – and Laura Hills knew.
"Laura was trying to help me, Danny," Steve said finally, eyes bright with grief, voice wavering with exhaustion. "It's my fault she's dead."
Danny ran a hand through his hair and sighed.
"Okay. You need to listen to me," he said, holding a hand out to placate his agitated friend.
"You are not to blame for this. Understand? What we are dealing with here are some sick, corrupted, psychopathic individuals, okay? You hear me?"
Steve bobbed his head in vigorous acknowledgment, exhaling sharply. Jaw clenched, he reached up a shaky hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut hard to keep the tears at bay.
Danny put a hand on his arm, frowning at the tension he could feel vibrating through his friend.
"Hey. Tell me that you know this isn't your fault, huh? Tell me you understand that."
"Danny…." Steve choked through clenched teeth, blinking furiously as he grappled for control of his tail-spinning emotions.
It was too much guilt for his shoulders, and nothing Danny could say would convince him that it didn't belong there.
Danny gave his arm a squeeze, watching his partner's distress with eyes full of concern.
"You don't get to carry this, you hear me?" he said, his free arm slicing the air to emphasize his point. "This is not on you. This is on them. And we are gonna take them down; we just need some time. But we have got be more careful in the way we go about this, okay? No more breaking and entering. No more special op maneuvers. Alright?"
"Yeah. Okay," Steve said finally, reaching up to massage his forehead.
It was the closest thing to a promise that he would get.
Releasing the taller man's arm, Danny crossed his arms and sighed.
"One of these days you're gonna have to accept that ends don't always justify the means."
"I had to know Danny – what else was I supposed to do?" Steve replied pleadingly.
"Hey – hey. I know. I'm on your side here, alright?" Elbow bent, Danny pressed his thumb and forefinger together as he spoke. "All's I'm saying, is that we have to be smart. I mean, what if they go through and find prints all over the Governor's house, too? Huh?" he asked, splaying his fingers out into the air. "What's that gonna look like then?"
"I didn't leave any prints, Danny," Steve retorted, half-snarling at the suggestion.
"Okay," Danny's arms flexed outward before centering again, hands pressed together in front of him. "My point is, let's not give them any more ammunition to use against you, alright?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I hear you," Steve agreed, pressing his palms against his eyes.
Danny frowned at the familiar tell of exhaustion.
"Look at you. I told you to go home, get some rest, and what do you do? The exact opposite."
"I wouldn't have been able to sleep anyway," Steve replied dully, then leaned forward heavily against the desk.
"Yeah, I probably wouldn't be able to sleep either," Danny conceded.
He reached a hand up to rub the back of his neck where he could feel the familiar twinge alerting him he was about to get a tension headache.
"Jesus, what a mess," he muttered softly.
Steve squinted at the shorter man; a curious expression suddenly alit on his haggard face.
"You – what are you doing here, anyway? I thought you had something going on with Rachel?"
Danny sighed, his whole demeanor changing as a hint of a smile came to play on his lips. "Yeah…I did."
"Is everything okay?"
"Well things are…complicated, that's for sure. But yeah, everything's okay."
"Okay, what's with the face?" Steve asked, parroting Danny's often-used words back at him.
"What's with what face? My face?" Eyebrows raised, he pointed at his chest. "I, unlike you, do not have faces."
"Come on, I'm not the only one who has faces. And yours right now says you're withholding valuable information," Steve shot back good-naturedly.
"Withhold—what is this, an interrogation?" Danny exclaimed in mock-offense, throwing his arms in a wide arc.
Steve shrugged. "You brought it up."
"I most certainly did not bring it up! Have you even been paying attention to this conversation?"
Steve just waited, bemused.
It took a few moments, but then Danny smiled devilishly, leaning his head back to look up at the ceiling.
"Rachel's pregnant."
Steve's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Really?"
He hadn't been expecting that.
"Yeah, really. That's what I brought the beer over for – I was gonna celebrate with my partner," Danny said, nudging Steve's elbow.
Steve returned the smile, but it did not reach his haunted eyes. "That's great, man. That's really great. I'm happy for you."
"Thanks."
Even Danny's joy was stifled by the black cloud hanging over their heads.
Realizing this, Steve abruptly cleared his throat and got to his feet.
"Hey man, I'm really sorry. You wanted to come over and hang out and I practically ambushed you…"
"Steve – don't. Look. I'm your partner. I'm gonna get you through this, alright? I promise. Now look – you go clean up and get out of that ninja suit and I'll make us some eggs or something. Then we can talk."
"Beer and eggs, Danny? Really?"
"What's wrong with eggs? You don't like eggs, now? You're so picky."
Steve just shook his head, the barest of grins on his face. He trudged up the stairs without further comment, too tired to take the banter any further
That alone spoke volumes of his state of mind. The arguing was snarky, but strategic – they used verbal pot-shots as a way of checking each others' psychological pulses, and right now Danny could tell his partner was coming apart at the seams. Never had he seen the man so on edge; so emotional. It was unnerving.
By the time Steve came back downstairs fifteen minutes later, he seemed to have considerably more control, though Danny noticed that throughout the night he tensed at every creak the old house made, and often sent quick, furtive glances toward the windows.
"Rachel wants to move back to Jersey," Danny announced sometime after his third beer.
Steve tensed slightly, but kept his voice nonchalant as he replied.
"Really?"
Danny nodded. "She says this is Stan's home, not hers."
"So what are you gonna do?" Steve asked, reaching for another long-neck while trying to act like the rug hadn't just been yanked out from under his feet.
Danny shrugged, squinting. "I don't know."
Steve cleared his throat. "Well…you have to go with them, Danny. Family comes first."
"Yeah but I can't bail now and just leave you guys hanging with this mess." He shook his head. "I'll leave after this thing with the Governor is taken care of."
"That could take months, Danny," Steve protested.
The blonde man just sighed, a sound of resignation. "I know. But what else can I do?"
Steve shifted restlessly in his recliner before leaning forward, elbows on his knees.
"Listen, Danny. I have a bad feeling about how this is gonna go down. Maybe you should just get out now, you know? This could get ugly."
"What the hell are you talking' about?" Danny replied with a frown. "I can handle ugly. I've handled ugly before, believe me."
"I don't want you to end up like Chin. At the rate this thing is going...you could lose your badge because of me."
"Listen, if I am gonna lose my badge, it is not going to be because of you, okay? Contrary to what you may believe, the world does not orbit Steven McGarrett."
The Navy SEAL snorted at that, then nodded in acquiescence.
"You need to relax. This thing will work out." Danny said, wincing as he rose to his feet. "I should probably go. Long day tomorrow."
"You good?" Steve asked, frowning in concern.
"What do you mean, 'am I good'? Of course I'm good; why wouldn't I be?"
"You winced."
"'Scuse me?"
"You. Winced."
"No, I didn't," Danny lied.
Steve just glared. Danny always wore his heart on his sleeve; he was a bad liar.
"Did you hurt your knee again?"
Even though Danny had been off the crutches for awhile, sometimes the joint still gave him trouble.
"It's fine," he said, trying to brush it off.
"You twisted it when I pushed you, didn't you?" Steve asked, getting to his feet.
Danny sighed. "Look, you just gave yourself aneurysm face. It's not a good look on you, babe."
"Jesus, Danny – why didn't you say something?" Steve's voice dripped with self-reproach.
"Hey, will you calm down, please?" Danny replied, reaching out to snag the taller man's shirt, demanding his attention. "You're like, going from one end of the spectrum to the other on me, here. My knee is fine. Yes, I might have stepped the wrong way when you decided to pull your little ninja move; but I swear to you that it's nothing that a little aspirin won't fix."
Steve sighed, guilt evident in irises of washed-out gray.
"Danny…I'm really sorry."
"I said it's fine. Look, get some sleep. I mean real sleep, not SEAL sleep. Tomorrow we'll meet at the palace, do some reconnoitering, and then form a plan of how we can expose the Governor. Sound good?"
"Reconnoitering?" Steve repeated, squinting at the strange way it sounded rolling off of Danny's tongue.
"Yeah, you like it? It's like a military word. I was trying to put it in terms you'd understand."
Steve allowed himself a chuckle before giving his shorter friend a gentle shove toward the door.
"Get out of here, little man."
"Little man?" Danny's eyebrows rose abruptly in outrage. "Seriously, you call me that again and I guarantee you will not appreciate the consequences."
"G'night, Danno," Steve called from the door.
"'Night. See you tomorrow."
Neither of them could have anticipated that their world was going to crumble to pieces the next day.
But Danny thought they'd come to an understanding. He never expected Steve to go after the Governor outside of the law.
Maybe that was his mistake.
Danny heard a heavy metal door open and watched as his partner was escorted to the chair on the opposite side of glass.
He grabbed the phone, lazily bringing it to his ear.
"I hate to break it to you, but purple ain't your color, babe," he commented dryly, noting his partner's impressive black eye.
"Well, what can I say, I don't have your fashion sense," Steve retorted.
"What were you thinking about?" Danny demanded softly, too exhausted to put much emphasis in the words, but knowing his partner could sense his frustration.
"I didn't have a choice, Danny."
"Of course you had a choice. I gave you a choice!"
Again, his angry words to his little brother Mattie came back to haunt.
Danny scrubbed a hand roughly over his face before jabbing a finger at the glass.
"That's bullshit and you know it."
Steve sighed wearily. "It was a stupid move, okay? I know that. I didn't see any other way at the time."
"That's because you didn't listen to me!" Danny hissed viciously, unable to tamp down on the anger.
"Come on, Danny. It's not like you had a plan. I was gonna end up in here one way or another. And I'd rather be in here knowing the truth than left wondering."
And maybe that was the crux of it. Danny wasn't much of a planner.
He was always making promises he couldn't seem to keep, yet still handed them out like they were petty change.
Mattie had a problem, and Danny promised to drop everything to fix it.
"We're getting on a plane, together, and we're gonna go back to New York...We're gonna get you a good lawyer, alright? I-I'm personally gonna talk to the District Attorney, and I'm gonna be there with you, and we are gonna get through this together."
Grace had a play after school, and Danny promised he'd be there.
"I just gotta finish a few things here at work and then I'll be there, Monkey. I promise."
Rachel wanted to move back to New Jersey, and Danny promised he'd uproot himself a second time to follow her.
"Listen to me - I love you, everything is fine, I got something to take care of and I will meet you at the gate. Okay? I promise."
Steve and Kono got arrested, and Danny promised to clear their names.
"We'll take care of it."
"Hey. Hey - listen to me. I'm gonna get you outta this thing, don't worry. Just hang in there, alright?"
He was a man constantly being pulled in all directions at once, and lived under the illusion that he could still make it all work out.
But his juggling act was constantly failing, and his own life fractured as he tried to pick up the pieces of those around him.
"How's Rachel?" Steve asked suddenly, breaking Danny from his thoughts.
"She's...she's back in Jersey with Grace." It hurt to say it.
Steve closed his eyes briefly and bit his lip, knowing.
"I'm sorry, Danny."
And there was the difference, as clear as the genuine pain reflected on his partner's face.
Steve was sorry.
Mattie had never been.
"Yeah, I know," Danny whispered, then cleared his throat.
"Hey, you'll never guess what HPD found in the Governor's mansion."
Steve instantly tensed. "Tell me."
"The Governor kept a journal chronicling all her twisted ambitions – every meeting with Wo Fat, and she even wrote about Laura Hills' murder."
Steve's eyes bugged with incredulity. "Y-you're kidding me, right? Why?"
"Would I kid about a thing like this?" He flung a hand lazily in the air. "Actually, I was exaggerating a bit about her twisted ambitions. Turns out Wo Fat had a hold on her for a long time. Wooed her with money and power, helped her get into a position of influence so that she could turn around and scratch his back later."
"So she admitted to murdering Laura Hills."
Danny shook his head, shifting slightly in his seat to inch closer to the glass.
"Those pictures you found in her bureau? Wo Fat sent those to her. Looks like he found out Hills was sending you the evidence from your father's toolbox, and those pictures were a warning."
"So you're saying – the Governor didn't know about the car bomb." Steve frowned. "That doesn't make sense – she told me she gave the order."
Danny rolled his eyes. "What have I told you, huh? People will tell you anything when you have a gun pointed in their face – that doesn't make it true."
"No, there's something else," Steve replied, eyes distant as he thought back to the night he was arrested.
A moment later his mouth fell open slightly, eyes widening as realization dawned.
"What?" Danny grunted, frowning at his friend.
"Wo Fat stunned me right after she confessed – she must have seen him coming up behind me – she was covering for him, but he killed her anyway."
"Makes sense."
"It makes perfect sense!" Steve countered excitedly.
"Hold your horses, there, Geronimo. That only clears you of one murder."
"But don't you see? That evidence negates any motive I might have had to kill the Governor."
"Yeah, but you were still the only one found in that house other than the Governor and you were holding the murder weapon – a smoking gun, to be exact."
"So what? Danny, a jury will never find me guilty beyond a reasonable doubt," Steve replied, eyes lit up with hope for the first time since he was arrested.
"Don't be so sure," the detective replied with a grimace. "Juries can be really goofy. We need more evidence."
"So, we'll get it."
"There's more. I think Wo Fat set you up."
Steve's eyes narrowed in confusion. "What?"
"Think about it – how did he know you were going to be there that night? What, was he just hanging around? It doesn't make any sense."
"How would he know I was going after the Governor?"
Danny's eyes briefly skittered away, when they met Steve's gaze again, they were filled with sadness.
"The only person who knew other than me was Kamekona. So either he somehow got word to Wo Fat, or our phones were bugged."
Steve shook his head. "Kamekona wouldn't do that. If he told anyone, it was under duress."
"Yep. That might be why I haven't been able to find him these past few days."
"You think he was kidnapped? Tortured?"
"Either that or he's real good at hide-n-seek. It's like he dropped off the face of the earth."
Steve's eyes darkened as it all sunk in.
"Wo Fat set me up."
"Yeah, babe. I'm thinking that's what happened."
"Damn it, I was so stupid!" Steve leaned forward to rest his forehead on his palm.
"Hey, quit with the blame game. That's what got you here in the first place, remember?"
Danny looked up as a guard walked over and indicated their time was up.
"Hey listen, I'll stop by again when I've got something more – just sit tight, okay? You'll be out of here soon, I promise."
Steve nodded reluctantly. "Be careful, Danno."
"I will," Danny replied, standing to leave.
Rachel had also made him promise to be careful.
Unfortunately, it was just one more in a long list of ones he would not be able to keep.
El Fin.
A/N: I racked my brain to fit the puzzle pieces together after the finale. I remember the Governor was writing in a journal when Steve popped in on her. Why would she do that, I wondered, in this computer age? Perhaps it's far-fetched, but I thought it plausible that she was writing and keeping track of her criminal deeds because she still had a conscious. My premise: She knew what she was doing was wrong, but got so tangled in Wo Fat's web that she couldn't get out. And if Steve would have just waited rather than rushing in like a "bull in a china shop," maybe they could have gotten enough evidence to put her away. Hence the story. Thoughts?