Broken Pieces

Chapter One

Zebraboymom

Disclaimer: Not mine. Love them anyway.

Author Notes: Our tough girl finally has the case that breaks her. Steve tries to help her put the pieces back together.

The Five-0 team stealthily entered the building with guns drawn. Danny and Chin started checking rooms downstairs and Steve motioned to Kono to follow him upstairs. Once they reached the second story landing, he signaled for Kono to take the hallway to the right. He headed down the hallway to the left.

Time was crucial. The serial killer they were after had kidnapped over twenty-five children and they had yet to find one alive. So far the body count was six. There were nineteen other children between the ages of six and ten still missing.

Four Hours Earlier

They had been searching for days and Kono had not slept since the first body was found.

She was currently slumped at her desk searching once again for possible properties that could be connected to their killer, Samuel Casting. She had been awake for over 72 hours and her ability to focus was fading fast. She had been tracing Casting's property holdings back for almost ten years and everything she had found had turned up a dead end. It felt like she was letting the kids down as well as her team and so she was driven to continue. Every minute counted in her mind. Her eyes were tired and they burned from staring at the computer screen.

Danny and Chin had gone to get a few hours sleep and Kono longed to join them, but she couldn't stop now. The children must be terrified, especially given that he had killed six already. She wondered if the children were forced to watch him kill them. Scrubbing her face with her hand, she started yet another search. Just when she came across another list of five places, Steve knocked softly on her door.

"Hey. You need to catch some sleep and that's an order."

"Just one more hour and then I'll nap here."

"What? Sitting up at your desk. Uh, uh. No."

Steve walked around to her chair and spun her around. He lifted her gently up by the arm and walked her to his office with her protesting all the way. Once inside she looked at his couch. He had a pillow and a blanket waiting for her. She smiled tiredly and sank to the cushions. They felt like heaven.

"Lay down."

"Yes, Boss, but what about you?"

"I just got up after taking a couple, so now it's your turn. I'll pull up the file you're working on, have them checked out and if anything comes of it I promise I will wake you. Okay?"

Kono acquiesced. The couch did feel incredibly inviting and she knew it would smell of Steve, so what better sedative than the warmth of his smell while she slept? She flashed him a tired smile, kicked off her shoes and lay down.

Steve carefully covered her up and tucked her in. He squatted down by her, resting his arm across her torso where he tucked her in. The handsome Commander brushed her hair out of her face and rested his hand comfortingly on her head as he whispered to her.

"You've been amazing as always Kono, but no one can go without sleep forever. Stop being super woman for just a little while. I'm worried about you, okay?"

"Okay Boss."

"Just for once could you call me Steve?"

Kono's eyes were already drifting shut.

"Mhm. Night Steve."

"Night Kono."

She felt what she thought was a soft kiss to her forehead and then he was gone. Her mind went blank instantly as exhaustion overtook her and she fell into a deep sleep.

Steve fought the urge to climb onto the couch with her and pull her into his arms. As shocked as he knew she would be, the urge to do those kinds of things with her was getting stronger and stronger. She was slowly graduating from rookie to partner and something deeper. He was falling for her, but he had to resist taking the next step so fast. He just wished he knew if she felt at all the same way he did.

Instead of following his heart, he pulled up Kono's desktop on his own computer as he watched her sleep. She looked so beautiful when she allowed herself to totally relax. He could sit and watch her sleep all night, but he had made her a promise and he would stick to it…for her and for the kids.

Two hours later and with three of the addresses checked by uniforms, he got a text back from a patrol unit he had sent to the fourth address.

'Signs of inhabitants present. Office building with light on. Van matching the description of the kidnapping vehicle parked in the lot.'

Steve stood and crossed to the sleeping beauty on his couch and once again knelt down beside her. He tenderly reached out and brushed her hair back from her face, then stroked his fingers down her cheek and spoke softly to her.

"Kono, Sweetheart, wake up."

"Mmm?"

"We got a lead. We need to go."

Kono's sleepy eyes blinked at him from under feathery lashes. He wanted to kiss those eyelids open.

"We found what we think is the van at an abandoned office building."

Kono's eyes went wide open and she sat up quickly, brushing the blanket off her body and standing so fast she stumbled. Steve reached for her and held her upright.

"Hey. Easy there Tiger. Take a second."

He smiled at her and their eyes did the happy dance as they both realized they might be able to find the kids.

"Let's go, Boss."

"Steve, Kono. It's Steve. You're not a rookie anymore."

"But you're still my boss."

"I'm more like a partner who happens to lead you."

Kono rolled her eyes as she bent to pick up her badge and gun.

"Fine, Steve. Can we please go now?"

And then they were running down the hall as Steve called Danny and Chin.

The Present

Kono made her way down the hall slowly unlocking doors. They were all locked from the outside. She could hear Steve doing the same thing on his end. The first room was empty, but the second one held the tiny body of a little boy. Kono's flashlight caught his still face and she almost gasped when her eyes landed on his fixed expression.

She bit her lip in an effort not to cry.

The next two rooms revealed the same thing.

Dead children.

He must have figured out they found him and had executed the children before they could stop him. It made Kono sick.

She moved faster now finding seven children total. When she came to the last door she stopped breathing. This one had a light on and it was unlocked. Steve had gone into one of the rooms on the other end and she knew she should wait for him, but she couldn't do it. She yelled before she entered.

"Police. Open up!"

Kicking the door open, Kono raised her gun as she took in the shocking sight. She recognized the two children in the room as a brother and sister who had been taken. The brother was on the floor already dead and Casting himself was holding the sister tightly to his body. He had a knife at her throat.

Kono didn't even hesitate, she shot him right between the eyes just as he smiled and slit the girl's throat.

"Oh, God!"

Kono dropped to her knees cradling the girl as she slipped from Castings dead fingers. Her eyes looked up at Kono terrified. The young detective pressed her hands to her throat trying to stop the blood flow. She screamed into her radio.

"I need a bus! I need a bus now!"

Steve had heard her yell when she kicked in the door and had turned immediately to run back down the hall towards her. As he entered the room he took in the scene before him. His young officer was sitting in a pool of blood created by the dead boy, Casting's blood and the blood pumping the life out of the small girl.

His eyes locked on Kono's as she gazed back with her own guilt-ridden expression.

They had been just minutes too late.

Kono started to rock the little girl, as she pressed harder on her throat. Steve dropped down with her and pressed his hands to hers in an attempt to help, but he knew it was too late. She was quickly bleeding out.

"Shh, Sweetie. I've got you. I've got you. You're going to be okay. Don't worry. We're here now. He can't hurt you anymore."

Her murmuring continued until the little girl's eyes drifted shut and she went limp in Kono's arms.

"No. No. No. No!"

Steve watched in agony as the woman he had started to care so deeply for lost it completely.

She screamed and wept and wouldn't let go of the her as Steve attempted to pry the little girl's body from her arms.

Danny and Chin had made it upstairs after they heard the shouting and the gunfire. They both stopped dead in their tracks in the doorway as Steve looked up at them. Neither of them had seen so much blood in their life. It was kids which made it infinitely harder to maintain control of their emotions.

Both men began to tear up as they saw the tears in Steve's eyes and listened to Kono's agonized grief.

Steve pressed his lips to her temple and whispered into her ear.

"Let the men that are coming help her Sweetheart. You've done your job. It's time to go. Let me help you."

Kono finally released the tight grip she had on the girl and gently laid her on the floor like a little rag doll. She allowed Steve to pull her up by her arms and she stood shaking until her stunned eyes looked up at him and her body went limp.

Steve scooped her up in his arms as she buried her face in his neck. He carried her out of the room and down to the ambulances that were arriving.

As they exited the building, an EMT took in all the blood covering both of them and tried to assess their wounds.

"Where were you hit?"

"No. It's not our blood, but I think she's going into shock."

Steve stepped up into the ambulance, still holding Kono tightly to him. He placed her gently down on the gurney and the EMT began to check her vitals. He pulled a blanket over her and handed Steve one too.

The EMT started asking Kono questions, but she just blinked up at him in the bright light of the ambulance and mumbled unintelligible words over and over. After about ten minutes of her staring into space, she rolled on her side and gripped Steve's hand.

"Can…can we get out of here? I don't want to go to the hospital. I just want to get out of here. I'm fine. Really."

Steve looked at Kono with skepticism as she sat up on the gurney, thanked the medic and stood up. She walked to the back of the ambulance with Steve right behind her. He jumped down first and reached up to lift her down. He wrapped the blanket he had around her shoulders again and pulled her close.

"You had me worried there for a minute Kalakaua."

Kono leaned into him briefly and allowed herself the warmth of his embrace before she pulled back, tried to give him a reassuring smile and removed the blanket, handing it back to him.

"Let's work the scene."

She started walking towards the building, but then stopped and reached for her gun. She took Steve's hand and placed it in his palm.

"I know there has to be an investigation, so in the meantime, here you go."

With that said, she walked away like nothing had happened.

Steve knew that look and he was familiar with her behavior. She had gone from shock to denial. He knew what would come next could be a variety of emotions and feelings. There was no way he was letting her out of his sight for the next few days. He planned to take care of her no matter what.

She was broken, but he would help her pick up the pieces and move forward. Watching her break tonight caused him to finally admit what he had started to suspect all along. He was in love with Kono.