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Chapter 1
The ceiling is the same unfortunate off white that it's always been and in the darkness it's the same mutable off grey that it's always been at this time. And she is getting disturbingly familiar with this time. First it was just taking a long time for her to drop off to sleep. A little meditation and that sorted that problem. Then came the jerking awake at odd hours of the night, heart racing. Bolt upright in bed, scanning the room for danger. Or that one day when she fell asleep at her desk, so tired, and fell off her chair when Danny entered her office last week. He had been pretty good about it. Only laughed a little and waved away her apology for being asleep at work. Told her about the time he'd leaned up against a pillar waiting for his boss and fallen asleep, slid down the pillar and cracked his skull on the floor requiring 5 stitches. Apparently it was fairly normal for people to sleep when and where they could during a heavy case load. This was the problem, they were between cases. Heavy paperwork but apart from that, not really high stress. And now she can't sleep at all. And she really should repaint the ceiling something interesting. Like soon.
She checks her reflection in the locker room. She looks like a panda. There is no escaping it. Tiredness creates great black bottomless holes around her eyes that no amount of concealer can remedy. She brushes some hair over her face, trying to use the black strands like a curtain. It obviously doesn't work as she feels McGarrett behind her before midmorning. "Yes Boss?" Jesus, even that sounded like death.
"Want to talk to someone Kono?" McGarrett's voice is perfectly even, almost disinterested.
"Bout what, Boss?" She tries for coy. It's an epic car crash.
"Okay." McGarrett's voice sounds relieved. "You forgot to sign some paperwork."
The words on the proffered pages blur and jump around as her eyes refuse to focus. The line at the bottom beckons and she signs whatever it is. "Sorry."
"Mnhmm." Is the only comment before his tone takes a more upbeat swing. "C'mon, we have a case."
Woodenly she follows him out, pausing to dump the paperwork on Danny's desk. She still has enough energy to see the humour in that. Danny is going to have a fit if he finds out that he is doing other peoples' paperwork as well as his own.
"Where's Chin?" She asks looking around as she sees only the two of them getting ready to head out.
"He and Danny are already there." Comes the absent response as he opens the door to the Charger. "Get in."
The black leather seat wraps around her body like a cradling hand. The silence is comfortable and she shuts her eyes for just a minute. Blackness swarms up to get her. She jerks as the car changes gear as it hits traffic. In fact, she is jerked back to consciousness with every gear change or engine growl. That in itself is exhausting and she wonders how on earth she is going to get through a crime scene. They've hit mountains, the road is shit and she feels like she's been in this stupid car forever. Nausea boils up as her eyes lose focus as the car jumps on to a winding gravel road. Gods, what is wrong with her? She refuses to be sick. Not in her Boss's car. Death would be preferable. So it is a relief when he finally pulls the car to a stop and she scrambles out the door and hits the ground on her knees, retching like a stupid drunken teenager. There is a curse the large hands have carefully grabbed her hair, holding it out of her way as she empties the contents of her stomach onto some poor unsuspecting fern. The after burn of retching on a now empty stomach hits and she coughs, trying to regain control of her stomach. If she had any blood to spare it would have rushed to her face as she realises that McGarrett is holding her hair back. As it is, all she can do is a weak grimace as she swipes a hand at the sweat beading her face. Abject mortification grips her as he releases her hair and rummages in the car before returning with a bottle of water. Squinting into the morning sun, she thinks that he looks almost serene if it wasn't for the clenched jaw. Turning her back on him to rinse and spit seems absurd after she has just puked in front of him, but she does it anyway. "Sorry, Boss."
"You okay?" It sounds mildly concerned, and in retrospect that should have probably been her first clue.
She nods. Looks up at the wooden cabin a little way ahead of them. Wonders how bad it's going to be. She hopes she won't be ill again looking at the body like some rookie. Although on a more basic level, she simply wonders if she has enough energy to make it up to the cabin. She frowns. Something isn't right. "Where are the cars?"
McGarrett looks amused for a split second before she tries to clock him for what she's pretty sure counts as kidnapping. She successfully stumbles instead, McGarrett catching her by the elbow. "You're on a week's vacation." Second clue right there went sailing on past her.
"Why?" Although she privately admits to herself as she is battling the war to keep her eyes open, it's pretty self evident.
"Don't fight it Kono." Steve's face wavered infront of her as he held her up. "Sleeping tablets in the water, you need to sleep. Your body was starting to shut down."
"Don-" She starts, losing her grip on consciousness, feeling him pick her up like she's 10 again when Chin would carry her home from the beach. Her last thought is that her Boss's words sound like their coming from the bottom of a well as she hears "I've got you. I'm not going anywhere. Just rest Kono." Blackness swirls up to claim her.