Chapter 1 "Discovery"

A/N: (25 July 2016) This story will follow up just before Christmas 2016, roughly 6 months after "Actions Speak Louder Than Words", so technically we are into Season 7, but I'm following my own path here. I'm not following the teasers we've been given about the new show, but instead am heading into an idea I got while writing the first story. The stories stand alone, as long as it is known that Lou is no longer an active member of Five-0. Everything will be explained in due time, including things that were left unexplained in Actions Speak. Steve and Danny are back at work. They have healed.

This is more of a prologue, but I labeled it Chapter 1 because the files get huffy if the chapters aren't labeled from 1 onward. It's short, but prologues usually are! Also, this forces me to keep going :-D Can't back out now!

I fully intend on letting this story take its time. That doesn't mean infrequent posting. What it means is this isn't intended to be short. If you want something short and quick-ending, this isn't that story.

I really hope you enjoy this! It is great to be back writing!

The usual disclaimer: I don't own H5-0. I borrow their characters for fun, not profit.

Chapter 1 "Discovery"

Tourists did not always have perfect experiences in Hawaii, especially those couples in their earliest twenties who decided to take a drive to nowhere in the middle of the night. Jason and Susan Palmer were about to have their honeymoon ruined, but of course they didn't know it. To them, they were on a rented motorcycle, tearing down a forested stretch of pavement far from town, with a steep embankment down to the ocean on their right, and the thrill of speeding on a remote road, together, celebrating too much cheap champagne at their impromptu wedding earlier that evening. It was now nearly 2am, on December the 21st. Technically, this was the second day of their honeymoon, even though they had only been married about 9 hours.

The moon was as high as their spirits, but their moods had nothing to do with the misty black veiling clouds that had been showering the road and the couple with short-lived but intense rain showers now and then. Whenever it rained, they pulled over under a patch of covering trees and kissed like the newlyweds they were until the moon came out again. Then they would remount the motorcycle, and onward they went, feeling like their lives ahead would be as blissful as they had been feeling since saying "I do" to one another just as the sun set on Waikiki beach. Jason was in white pants and tame Hawaiian shirt under his leather jacket, and Susan wore white skinny jeans and a flowy white top under a matching leather motorcycle jacket.

Suddenly, Susan yanked on Jason's leather-clad arm before pointing just to the right of where the road made a curve to the left. "Pull over," she shouted, and Jason did, for he too had seen what she had up ahead. There was fire and smoke far down the right embankment. They could smell vegetation and something rubber and metal burning.

"Crap, honey, what do you think that is?" asked Jason after he stopped the cycle and took off his helmet, not expecting an answer as his pony-tailed dreadlocks settled down his back. "Oh no. I think I see skid marks."

"Yeah," echoed Susan, holding firmly to Jason's arm. Her long blonde hair was being whipped around by a breeze coming off the water, but she shivered from the tire tracks she saw just beyond the pavement. They looked indistinct, as if they had been rained on. "I definitely think a car went over here. There's not that much fire, though. Maybe it happened awhile ago."

There was a low moan from nearby, from someone clearly in pain. Susan's nerves, on edge, jumped as if a boar had attacked. "Jason! Did you hear that?"

"Yeah, hun." The last thing Jason wanted to do was interrupt his night ride with his wife, but he had a conscience, too. He couldn't leave someone hurt. "Geez. Okay, listen, Suz, I'm gonna try and look over the edge."

"Be careful!" Susan let go Jason's arm, and began twining her long hair round and round into a wet rope, just to keep her hands busy. "Don't fall!"

"Hey, I'll be careful. Uh...wait, can you get the flashlight out of the bag on the cycle? It would help if I could see what I was doing. The clouds are thickening again."

Susan ran back and got the flashlight, and directed it on the ground in front of Jason. "See anything?"

He was making his way down a bit of a slippery slope, to a rocky ledge that marked the edge of the steep part of the embankment. "No, but I can hear a guy's breathing, and it doesn't sound good. Can you hand me the flashlight? Maybe I can see him."

Susan very slowly made her way to Jason, and handed him the flashlight. "Oh God oh God oh God! I am so scared!" She was shivering so badly, her voice shook.

"Hey, don't worry, I won't fall." Jason hoped he was telling the truth as he lay down on the rocky ledge and peered over, shining the light around all the bushes and rocky areas just below him. Off in the distance, far down the cliff, a car burned, the smell of the smoke turning the salty sea air acrid. A silver car was just visible, looking like it had rolled and tumbled several times before coming to rest nose down on it's top. It was smashed and crushed enough that nobody in it could still be alive.

The moan sounded again just as Jason had the flashlight on a patch of rocks he was only looking at with luck. Without the light, the dark-haired man wearing a dark T-shirt and green khaki cargo pants would have been indistinguishable from the rocks and brush. He looked as if he had been flung against the brush right at the point of no return. He was terribly lucky to have landed there. The flashlight clearly showed that he was badly hurt.

"Suz, call 911. I see blood on the guy's head. I'm going to see if I can go down to him. You got a signal?"

"Yes! I'm so scared, Jason!" She began fumbling with her phone, dialing for help.

"Me too, hun." Jason inched his way toward the unconscious, dark-haired man, who looked worse the closer he got to him. "Oh man," he breathed, noticing at once that his arm was bent all wrong. He was pretty sure his head was cut bad too, on the side. It had bled a lot, and was still seeping. At least he was breathing. "Hey, don't worry, Sir, my wife is calling for help right now." He took his jacket off and laid it over the man's upper body, tucking it around him as best he could.

That was when he saw the shiny gold and silver crest in an open wallet-like thing near the guy. Jason scooted over and picked it up carefully, and shone the light on it. It was dirty and blood stained, but easily readable.

It was a badge. It had an ID with a photo, and it was a photo of the guy. Under the light, Jason clearly read, despite blood and mud, "Commander Steven J. McGarrett, Hawaii Five-0 Task Force," and the gold and silver shield looked similar to a police badge.

"Oh Geez!" Jason turned and yelled up the hill. "Suz! Tell 911 the guy is Steven J. McGarrett, okay? The badge says Hawaii Five-0 Task Force! He's unconscious. I think he's been here awhile! Tell them to hurry, he's hurt bad! And that car is still burning."