DISCLAIMER: I do not own "Hawaii Five-O" or any of the characters
Author's Note: This is my first attempt at fan fiction. I'd love to see some reviews and hear what people think, the good and the bad. :)
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Commander Steve McGarrett looks up from his computer expectantly as Detective Danny Williams walks through the door to Steve's office in the 5-0 task force's headquarters. Danny begins speaking before the door has barely closed behind him.
"Hey, just picked up a call. Our presence is requested to investigate a stabbing at the Waikiki Hilton."
Steve looks back at his partner confused. That's odd he thinks. Getting up from behind his desk he shakes his head. "Okay… but HPD doesn't want to handle it themselves? What's the reason they want us involved?"
"Actually, the reason is not a what, but a who. The stabbing Vic asked for you personally." Danny answers him with a smirk.
"Really?" he didn't expect that. "I take it they're not too severely hurt then. What's the name?"
"Umm," Danny pauses to look down at the name written on the notepad in his hand. "Let's see, the Vic's name is… Emily Burns."
Steve's face goes pale and his stomach does a nasty flip. He stops in mid stride, frozen in place, to stare at Danny. "What?" he stammers out. Steve takes in a deep breath. "Emily's here? She's in Hawaii?"
Did Danny just say Emily is in Hawaii and has been stabbed, his brain hammers?
Danny apparently did not expect this dramatic of a reaction from his partner. An expression of utter surprise settles on his face. Eventually he recovers and begins firing questions at Steve. "Um, apparently? So I take it you know this girl? Who is she?"
"I…" Steve shakes his head willing it to clear. He realizes Danny is still looking at him, expecting an answer. "She's a friend," he finally says.
With a start Steve can feel his legs again and is suddenly in motion. He brushes past Danny and heads for the door. "You said she was stabbed, is she okay? Where did they take her?" He directs these questions over his shoulder, moving briskly toward the exit and his car.
Whatever has gone on between them in the past doesn't matter right now. He needs to get to the hospital as quickly as possible to verify that she's okay.
Danny turns to follow Steve, rushing to keep up with him. "I don't know. She was alright enough to ask for you, so she was conscious at least. They took her to Hawaii Medical Center. Where do you know this friend from?"
Steve ignores Danny's questions. Obviously Danny would love to have more information, but Steve has no intention of giving it right now. He pauses on his way out in front of Chin and Kono. "We got a call. I need you guys to head over to the Waikiki Hilton and check out the scene for me. Find out what HPD knows and I'll give you a call from the hospital."
He doesn't wait for a response from them, Steve turns and hurries toward the door.
"Okay, got it boss," Kono directs to his retreating form.
"Danny?" he can hear Chin ask behind him to a rushed Danny Williams who is attempting to keep up with his partner.
Danny responds, "I don't know. Trust me I don't know. I'll be in touch when I get something out of him."
The door to 5-0 headquarters swings shut behind Steve and the sound of their conversation is gone.
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The electronic glass doors to Hawaii Medical Center's Emergency Room open as Steve rushes through them. Once again, as in leaving 5-0 headquarters, Danny is following, trying to keep up with Steve. Steve heads straight for the nurse at the admitting desk.
"Commander McGarrett," Steve flashes his badge at the admit nurse, "I'm looking for a patient Emily Burns?"
"Yes Commander, down there behind curtain three." The nurse points to the furthest partitioned area, in front of which a uniformed officer stands guard.
"Thanks" Steve says to the admitting nurse as he and Danny head toward curtain three.
Steve shows his badge to the officer on guard duty who nods back. He places one hand on the curtain, but pauses trying to collect his thoughts. He turns back toward Danny, just looking at him for a second. Finally he manages to ask, "Could you give me a minute?"
Danny cocks his head to the side, seeming a bit confused, but nods his head at Steve. "Yeah sure, whatever you say. I'll just be out here, umm, waiting I guess." He points to a spot on the floor and moves to stand there, leaning back against the wall, "Right here."
"Yeah, okay." Steve nods back quickly then disappears behind the curtain.
Sitting on the hospital bed is a petite blond woman. She is wearing a hospital gown with a blanket draped over her legs and has white gauze bandages covering her neck and right forearm. The ER bed is set up with the back raised so that the woman is sitting up. Her head is reclined against the bed and her eyes are shut.
Steve freezes just inside the curtain. It feels like the bottom has dropped out of his insides. In his life, he has been well trained to handle many difficult situations and still remain calm and rational. He handles dangerous criminals on a routine basis for his job. He has survived in a war zone for Christ's sake. Seeing his beautiful, and suddenly very fragile looking ex-girlfriend in a hospital bed covered in bandages is, however, not one of the situations he's been trained for, and he feels anything but calm and rational.
Emily Burn's eyes fly open when she hears the curtain rustle and she realizes that she's not alone. She stares silent for a moment, her eyes focusing.
"Steve?" she asks drawing in a shaky breath, a look of relief spreads across her face.
A hand wraps itself around Steve's heart and squeezes painfully at the sound of her voice. He tries to smile back at her but his face is unconvincing. "Em, Jesus, are you alright?" He takes a few steps toward the bed.
Emily continues to stare silently before finally nodding in a nonchalant manner. "Yeah sure, I'll live I guess." She looks back at him briefly and tries to give a smile but ends up biting her lip, and then looking down at her lap. Eventually she looks back up at him, "actually I've been better," she says, her voice breaking mid-sentence.
"Your neck," he approaches closer, gesturing to her neck.
Damn it, her fucking neck is all he can think, his pulse racing.
"No, I know," she says. "It's okay now, they put in stitches."
"And your arm?" he's trying unsuccessfully to keep his voice from shaking.
She does a better job smiling at him this time, maybe because she can read in his face how freaked out he feels. "It hurts like hell but there's no permanent damage done according to the doctor," she reassures him.
Steve takes in a deep breath then exhales, panic receding from his face. He continues to stare at her but manages a nod. "Okay good. That's good." His pulse drops a bit closer to a sane level.
He pauses searching for the next words. "I'm not sure, should I say it's nice to see you?" he laughs quietly.
She hitches in a breath then laughs too, "I don't know, but I'm certainly glad to see you." Even under the circumstances, hearing the sound of her weak laughter after years without it feels good.
He catches her gaze then smiles at her warmly. Suddenly she presses her lips together in a tight white line, her eyes filling with tears. She swallows several times, her gaze moving away from him to a spot on the wall behind and he can tell she's forcing herself to hold on.
The hand around his heart squeezes again.
Steve closes the distance between himself and the bed. He sits down on the edge of the bed and places his hand over hers. "Not okay, huh?"
She swallows and turns her eyes away from the wall and back to him. "Not really," she says quietly.
Steve hesitates staring at her silently, unsure how he should behave. Finally he cautiously reaches out and wraps his arms around her waist pulling her gently toward him. She lets herself get pulled into him and after a moment she circles her arms around his neck dropping her head to lay her cheek on his shoulder. He holds her for a moment then runs one hand slowly up towards her neck and down again, rubbing her back. He feels some of the tension in her body release and she tightens her hold on his neck, snuggling closer to him. She takes in several shuddering deep breaths then exhales and his shoulder grows damp as she lets her tears go.
"It's okay now. I've got you," he murmurs in her ear.
He's trying to ignore how ridiculously good it feels to hold her in his arms. Come on Steve, he silently commands himself, the girl almost died, get a grip. But it does occur to him that the warmth of her body has magically made the tightness in his chest disappear.
He holds her for a few minutes while her crying subsides.
"Em?" he asks quietly.
She sniffles and pulls back from him sitting up. His hand drops down to rest on her lower back, not ready to completely let her go yet. Her eyes catch his and she gives him a small weak smile.
He reaches his hand up to her face and brushes a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "What happened?" Steve asks.
"I… I don't know." She shakes her head, eyes bewildered. "I was coming back to my room at the hotel. I had just opened my door when someone grabbed me from behind."
A spark of anger rushes through him, and Steve could almost swear he sees red flash before his eyes, like a bull in a Spanish bull fighting arena.
"What did he want?" he manages to spit the question out.
"He said he wanted me to give him the Richmond file. That's a client of mine. I'm just out here to investigate some routine real estate purchasing for him."
"That's all he said he wanted?"
What the hell he thinks?
"The file, that's all he said. He wanted me to hand over the Richmond file. That's all he said." She places her emphasis on the word all, and raises her left hand to rub her eyes.
"And did you give it to him?"
"No, of course not," she drops her hand, eyes focusing on Steve's face.
Steve nodded, "So that's when he stabbed you."
She shook her head, blond hair flying. "No, that's not when he stabbed me. He stabbed me after I maced him."
Steve drew his head back from her, his eyes wide. "You maced the guy with a knife to your throat?"
"What?" The pitch of her voice raises and she rolls her eyes. "He shouldn't have grabbed me while my hand was in my purse. I grabbed the can. You're the one who bought me the mace to protect myself remember?"
"Emily, protect yourself yes, mace the guy with a knife at your throat no." He squeezes his eyes shut, trying to choose his next words carefully. "Em, he could have killed you."
"Well yes, in hindsight I realize that it made things worse." She raises her hand to the bandage on her neck. "So fine, you're right, it might not have been wise on my part. I admit that now. Are you happy?" She lets out a huff. He opens his eyes to look at her and he can see her swallow.
He's trying really hard, but suddenly it's difficult not to think of how cute she is when she's annoyed at him. The memory of previous minor arguments and how they ended makes him flush red and he looks away from her.
When he speaks again his voice is softened. "I'm just happy you're okay." He reaches out for the hand at her neck but doesn't quite touch it. "So what did the doctor say?"
"He said I got lucky. Just needed a few stitches. A little bit deeper and to the right though," she laughs darkly, "game over."
He watches her, his face serious. "Did they tell you when they're letting you out?"
"Um, they said I was done. I just needed to wait for the cops."
"Okay, good so that means you should be able to go with me then. I just need to get someone to bring you clothes back from your hotel."
"Go? What about… wait you're the cops?" She looks at him, confused.
He stares back at her for a moment before realizing that she doesn't know anything about his life right now.
"Sort of, I'm part of a special task force from the governor. But like the cops yes."
"What about the Seals?" she asks, her voice concerned.
He looks at her trying to gage her reaction. "I'm still in the reserves."
"Oh," she pauses, "I didn't know."
He might have imagined it, but he thought he saw hope flash through her eyes. Don't go there man, a little voice spoke in his ear. What you didn't have enough fun the last time she broke up with you?
"Yeah well, this job is not quite the change of pace you'd imagine trust me." He laughs, standing up from the bed. "Let me go find your doctor and take care of a few things and we'll get you out of here alright?"
"Wait, Steve where am I going? I can't very well go back to the hotel."
"You can say that again."
He pauses watching her. The voice on his shoulder has moved inside his stomach and his jumping around shouting, don't do it, don't do it!
He takes a breath. "Don't worry; you can stay at my place till we figure this out."
She shakes her head, "Are you sure? I don't want to impose."
He can't help it. The fear from this morning that she had bled to death in some ambulance is too vivid his mind. He can't seem to put the distance between them that is probably reasonable.
"Am I sure?" He folds his arms across his chest and pauses till she looks up at him. He narrows his eyes. "Hmm, let me try to say this differently." He leans down so that his face is close to hers. "You'll be lucky if I let you out of my sight till we catch this guy. How's that for imposing?" He smiles at her.
"Oh well, since you put it that way," she laughs.
His face grows serious again. "Are there any phone calls you need to make?"
Why is there suddenly a cramp in his stomach damn it?
"Is there anyone at home you need to tell about all this?" He waves his hand around to indicate the hospital, and then points at her neck.
"Oh, yeah, I know I need to do that. I've been putting it off." Her eyes meet his. "Do you mind if I call from your place, if that's where I'm going? I need some time to explain calmly and not freak anyone out."
"Freak anyone out?" he laughs at her.
She lets out a small chuckle. "Freak anyone else out. Guess you already helped me meet my quota in that department today."
"Really, because I think I helped you meet your quota in the scared the shit out of someone today." He raises his eyebrows and tilts his head to the side smirking at her.
"Sorry," she says sheepishly, wrinkling her nose in apology.
"Uh-huh" he grins back at her. "Alright, I'm going to find the doctor now okay? Don't move."
"Okay."
He turns to leave.
"Steve?"
"Yeah?" He looks back at her.
Her eyes fix on his face. "Thanks."
He holds his breath for a moment before exhaling. "Yeah you're welcome." He smiles then turns and leaves through the curtain.
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Danny Williams stands facing him, arms crossed leaning against the wall opposite the partitioned area. His face is amused.
"Okay, so is there anything you'd like to share about the nice stabbing victim Steve?"
"Not now Danny, later. Help me get her out of here first."
Danny smiles, "Sure, whatever you say buddy."
