Ninau

Danny entered HPD headquarters and proceeded directly to his desk. It was the same desk that he sat at just nine months ago. So much has happened in such a short period of time. Little did he know that his life would change so drastically on that one day when he was given the assignment of investigating the murder of John McGarrett. It was never a pleasant task, homicide meant someone was dead, but it was his specialty. This was the murder of a retired police officer. A murder that was in cold blood, the killer known. A murder that occurred because of the action of the victim's son, a Navy SEAL just doing his job, so everyone thought. Little did he know that those events would lead him through a journey of a lifetime. He would have never guessed that the investigation would give him a prestigious position as one of the leads in the Governor's task force, that it would introduce him to his best friend, and find him a family here on this pineapple infested island that he has grown to appreciate. He would never have predicted that it would all fall apart so quickly, so easily, and that he would end up back where he started and his partner would end up in jail for killing the same Governor who put them together in the first place.

"Danny, I just want to let you know that they are bringing in Steve's associates for questioning. I thought you should be prepared." Chin whispered to Danny as he leaned over his desk.

"Who are they bringing in? Oh Chin, have the ballistics results come in yet?" Danny questioned

"No, they are taking their sweet time with that. He pissed off a lot of people at HPD and I'm afraid that they are taking advantage of this situation. They are going to delay as much as possible." Chin responded

"Who are they bringing in anyway and why? Once the evidence comes back, it has to show that he's innocent. Chin, can't you do something…Lieutenant?" Danny was condescending since Chin now outranked him.

"Here comes Mary. Don't approach her, we need to seem impartial, that's the only way we can stay on this case. Got it Danny? Don't screw this up." Chin was unusually forceful in his tone.

"That's fine I won't but I would like to sit in on the interrogations. I need to make sure that the Chief doesn't pull any stunts." Danny asked

"Fine, but do not say a word, understand?" Chin ordered

Mary sat in the hallway of HPD headquarters. She was directed to sit in the hallway that was between the holding cells and the interrogation rooms. There was a line of black metal folding chairs that were in full view of the officers. Mary scanned the room and took notice of Danny. Danny nonchalantly nodded his head, signaling to her that he was aware of her presence. Mary nodded back, not quite sure of what was going on. She had just arrived from Los Angeles, only to walk into a mess. She wondered why Danny hadn't come to at least say hello. She was shortly joined by Kamekono, Jenna, and Kono. They sat for hours being ignored by anyone who passed. Mary was beginning to lose her patience. She began to become vocal and was demanding answers.

"Why did you guys drag us down here? So we can sit here all day? What the hell is going on? I want to talk to Chin Ho Kelly or Daniel Williams, NOW!" she was irate.

Danny wanted to jump out of his chair and go to them, but he knew that he couldn't. He couldn't risk being taken off this case. Chin quietly approached and informed them that they will just be a few more minutes. They were waiting for one more person and then one by one they will be questioned.

A few moments later the doors opened and in walked a very tired looking Catherine Rollins. She was in her full dress navy uniform, the uniform that was reserved for special events and funerals. She wasn't quite sure how this fit in. She carefully approached Mary and gave her a hug.

"Everything's going to be ok. It has to be." She tried to reassure Mary, but her face was unconvincing. Her beautiful brown eyes were red and swollen, partially from the long helicopter ride from the Enterprise, but mostly from the tears that were shed along the way.

Off in the distance Mary spotted a prisoner being escorted in their direction. She looked curiously at him until she realized that it wasn't just any prisoner, it was her brother, Steve. She gasped covering her mouth with her hands.

The others turned and looked at him in shock.

He appeared unrecognizable. The once tall confident Naval officer, was now a hunched over broken man. He was dressed in orange with shackles on both his hands and legs. They were connected by a chain, just barely long enough for him to stand upright. His face was drawn; his lips dry, the blue from his eyes faded to a dull shade of gray and the gray in his hair seemed more noticeable. He aged years in just a few hours. 48 hours to be exact.

Catherine choked back her despair and took a deep breath. She did not expect herself to react so emotionally, but she couldn't help it. Her relationship with Steve was always very casual, but since he had left the SEALs and settled in one place, their relationship had grown to become much more serious. Knowing he was safe and in one place, instead of chasing terrorists around the world had caused her to let her guard down and she had allowed herself to fall in love. She couldn't believe it, but she almost wished that he was back in the Navy. Who would have thought that being here was more dangerous?

Mary had begun to show the emotional distress that this entire situation had inflicted on her. She was an emotional wreck. She tried to keep up her tough girl persona, but it was obvious that she was having a hard time dealing with this. Mary was taking this hard because despite the fact that she and Steve had spent so much of their lives apart, she had always looked up to him. She would never admit it to him, but she was so proud of him growing up. He was the star quarterback for their high school team. He handled his mother's death with dignity, much better than she did. He graduated from Annapolis with honors and his career in the Navy made her very proud. It was very difficult for her to see Steve this way. "How could they not know that he is innocent" she thought to herself. Kono was still reeling from the events of Thursday evening. She could not shake the vision of Steve being booked at the precinct. That was the only image that she saw every time she closed her eyes.

Jenna just stared. It was difficult for her to process what was happening. She couldn't help but feel the guilt. "This is my fault, if I didn't come here and tell him about Wo Fat, he would never be in this situation. You guys gave me a home and now it's gone, because of me." She began to cry.

Kamekono sat in silence. He was concerned for his friend and he was concerned for himself. If the police somehow linked the gun that Steve had in his procession, to him, then he would be sent back to jail.

"Guys listen to me, first of all this is no one's fault. He would have eventually put this all together and we would have probably ended up in the same position. I know him better than everyone here and I promise you that this is his fault only. He never listens to anyone, he's been lucky up to now, but now he is facing the consequences of his actions. It was a matter of time before he ended up like this. Actually I thought he was dead when I saw HPD on the caller id. I guess we have something to be grateful for. Though, I think I am going to have to kill him when this is over" You could easily see that she was beyond frustrated. "Now putting blame aside, it's up to us to make sure that we don't give them anything that may incriminate him. Once ballistics comes in with the evidence that he didn't do it, then this will be all behind us. I have a feeling that they know what the results will be and that are looking for some other way to pin this on him. When they walk him past us, do not react! Do not say a word. Do not approach him or try not to make eye contact."

"How can you say that? He'll think that we are abandoning him" Mary was beginning to freak out.

"Believe me it's not easy for me either. He will understand, he knows what they are doing. This is the oldest trick in the book. They brought us all her to play mind games with him. They are using us. They want him to see us and us to see him. They are expecting an outburst from us. They want him to feel guilty and confess to relieve us of our sorrow. They want us to feel bad for him and give them any information they ask for, to try to "save" him. The Navy uses this technique all the time in interrogations. I know it's hard, but it's so important that we stay strong."

"How do you know all this?" Asked Jenna

"We all have our specialties, and this was one of mine" Catherine responded "Here he comes, stay strong"

Slowly they walked Steve directly in front of where his family was sitting. The guards had slowed the pace as they approached, hoping for a reaction of some sort. Steve tried to keep his head down as he passed, he too knew what the technique was and he knew with Catherine there, she would have known also. The guards grabbed the back of his head by the hair and pulled his head up. Steve stared straight ahead trying not to look at his family. The guards began to torment, as far as they were concerned he was guilty and if he weren't, it didn't matter to them. He had busted enough dirty cops to make quite a few enemies there. The one guard leaned close to Steve's ear and began to whisper. Steve wanted to rip his head right off his shoulders, but fortunately for them he couldn't. He did make note of their names, for future reference. "Hey look, don't you want to see your friends before we lock you up for good? Four hot chicks, how did you get so lucky? I guess you gotta be a bad boy to get chicks now a day. I wonder who's more fun in bed. The blonde, the island girl, the tomboy, or I bet it's the Navy chick, she looks high quality? I guess one of us will have to keep them busy while you're locked up. We'll keep them warm for you, don't worry" They went on and on, both laughing. Steve's blood was boiling, but he knew that he needed to keep his head down and stay cool.

"Breathe, one... two...three..." he thought to himself.

It was so difficult for him not to look. He desperately wanted to tell them each how much he loved them and that he was innocent. How they were each important to him in their own special way. They were his family, his only family, and it was killing him inside. As he was escorted passed them he couldn't help but feel the guilt of what he has inflicted on each of them. "Kono is probably going to lose her badge because of my stupid idea to steal the money. Jenna might never get her revenge on Wo Fat, now that he knows we are after him. Who is going to keep Mary out of trouble? Komekono, oh no, he'll most likely go back to jail if they somehow trace the gun back to him. He was just trying to help me. I hope he keeps his mouth shut. And then there is Catherine. I would be surprised if she still speaks to me after all this. If I could just explain myself and tell her how much she means to me". Steve took a deep breath trying to get all the negative thoughts out of his mind. "Ooh that scent?" He suddenly grabbed a whiff of her perfume, Catherine's perfume, the scent of jasmine lightly drifted throughout the room. That was hard for him to ignore. He calmly breathed in, closing his eyes tightly, as he tried to embed the memory of that scent in his mind. He knew that it could be a long time before he would see them again, before he could relive that scent. He desperately tried to keep his head down, but he needed one short peek. "One short peek won't hurt." He thought to himself. He looked up from the corner of his eye and saw them all sitting, staring straight ahead, tears filling their eyes, even Shave Ice looked sad. As he looked up, he caught Catherine's eyes; she too was looking from the corner of her eye. She couldn't help it either. They made brief eye contact and for that one split second, it felt like an eternity to both of them.

Steve and the guards had finally reached the end of the hallway and entered into one of the interrogation rooms, followed by Chin and the Chief.

"OH MY GOD! That was so hard" exclaimed Mary

"I know" replied Catherine in a very soft scratchy voice "believe me it was important that we stay strong. When they call us in for questioning, it's important that we keep our statements short and only answer the questions they ask. No extra information. Kono and Jenna, especially you guys, you have a lot of information that they may not even know you have. Think about what you will answer before you say anything. Jenna…do you understand?" Catherine had faith in Kono, but she was worried about Jenna.

"Yeh, of course. You're really good at this." She responded

"It's what I do and we have to protect Steve. They are going to twist every word we say, so be very careful. If you think your answer will make him look guilty, then refuse to answer. Now, if you'll excuse me for a minute." Catherine stood up and asked one of the officers to direct her to the restroom.

"She's tough, didn't crack once, no wonder Steve likes her" commented Kamekono to the others.

Catherine briskly walked in the direction of the restrooms, holding her breath the entire way. She entered the ladies room, surveyed the room, and noted that she was alone. She stood in front of a sink, looked at herself in the mirror and immediately broke down crying. She completely fell apart, she was out of control, a feeling that she hated. The tears uncontrollably came streaming down her face. Her heart was beating a mile a minute and her throat felt as if she had swallowed a dozen knives. She let herself release for a few seconds and calmly collected herself. She washed her face, reapplied her makeup, and rejoined the others as if nothing had happened.

Just as she sat down an officer approached and announced "Officer Kono Kalakaua, you're up."

Kono was escorted into the interrogation room that was next to the one that Steve was taken to. She seemed frightened, but prepared to tell the truth. After all, Steve was innocent. That she was sure of. She knew that there was no way that he could have done what he is being accused of.