It was one of those rare, quiet mornings at the Five-0 offices. They had come in at a decent time this morning, instead of being called in at some un-godly hour to investigate. Detective Danny Williams sat on one of the chairs in the main room with his friends and colleagues. To celebrate being able to wake up on their own schedule, they had decided to have a team breakfast. They sat there laughing and joking over coffee and malasadas, just enjoying each other's company. Danny was grateful for the brief respite. Five-0 rarely had any down time and he was happy. And then Rachel walked through the doors and into the office. Danny did a double take when he saw her and he searched his mind for any possible reason she could be angry with him. That would be the only reason she'd ever come down here. But then he realized that couldn't be it. Besides the fact that she didn't look angry, she had Grace with her, and Danny and Rachel would never fight around Grace. Rachel timidly stepped through the glass doors. The whole way she carried herself seemed…odd. Steve was the first of his friends to notice her.
"Uhhhh, hi Rachel." He said, giving her a wave and a friendly, if slightly confused smile. He too had picked up on her demeanor.
"Hello Steve." She replied shyly. "Danny, could…could we talk? In private?" she asked. Her voice was quiet and a little hoarse.
"Ummm, sure. We can talk in my office. Gracie, why don't you stay out here and finish my donut, okay?" The little girl nodded and took Danny's vacated seat. She began to chatter away happily with the rest of the team. Steve caught Danny's eye as if to ask what was wrong. Danny shrugged and walked into his office. It was here that he got his first good look at Rachel. He could now identify the emotion behind Rachel's eyes. Fear. And then there was the way she was dressed. It was a hot day and she was dressed in long pants and long sleeves. Add that to the heavy makeup on her face, and Danny was starting to become really concerned.
"Rachel?" he said gently.
"I…Danny, I'm sorry. It's just, I don't know where to turn I…" she broke off and fell silent, staring at the floor. Then Danny saw it. A bit of black and purple peeking out from beneath her sleeve. He gently grabbed her hand and rolled back her sleeve. He was sickened by what he saw. Vivid bruises covered her entire arm. Some of them appeared to be in the shape of fingers. He looked at her face again and lightly tilted her chin up. Beneath her foundation he could see the discoloration of more bruising.
"Rachel, who did this to you?"
"I…God I'm so stupid!" she started to cry.
"No you're not, okay? Why didn't you call the police?"
"B-because h-he'll kill me!"
"Who? I need a name and I promise he won't hurt you again." Rachel took a shuddering breath.
"Stan."