My Goodness! There are lots of McFrances fans out there and I am pleased that many of you have favorited or following my story. I hope to do Helen's characters justice and naturally, there will be Steve/Frances scenes.

The next few chapters will be business as usual to establish the case at hand and how it led up to Steve being...well, you know.

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Days earlier...

It was a typical Hawaiian sweltering sunny day. Five-0 had not been assigned a case in seven days. Crime seemed to have taken a break, which gave the team time to relax and catch up on some unfinished paperwork.

Steve hated filling out reports and would try to cajole Danny into doing his work for him. Danny was no fool and sensed when his partner was trying to curry favor with him. However he would turn it to his advantage and bargain with him, which would rile Steve but he loathed the paperwork more than kowtowing to his partner's demand.

The subject veered off to their upcoming wedding anniversary. Danny, Steve and Kono had married in a triple ceremony last year and the date of their first anniversary was fast approaching.

"An Alaskan cruise, huh?"

"Yup! A great wedding anniversary gift," Danny replied enthusiastically.

"Hum."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"No, no, no don't give that. That face? What's that face for?"

"What face?"

"The Danny-you're-dead-wrong face."

Steve laughed and feigned innocence. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You don't think an Alaskan cruise is romantic?"

"Alaska. It's cold up there," Steve said with a wrinkled nose.

"Just goes to show how unromantic you are. When it's cold, you need to generate body heat. You huddle together, you cuddle. Get my drift?"

"Ah! If you put it that way," Steve replied with an impish grin.

"So where are you and Frances going?"

"I hadn't really thought about it."

"Don't tell me you forgot your wedding anniversary?"

"Don't be silly. It's hard to overlook that date seeing how you, Kono and I married on the same day. I just hadn't gotten around to it."

"Well you'd better think of something fast."

"I'm not worried. Anyhow Frances isn't hung up on those things."

"Figures! You two are alike in many ways."

"Hey, we can be romantic!" Steve scorned indignantly. "But we like to make up our own special moments. She prefers the spur-of-the-moment thing."

"First wedding anniversaries are very special. Trust me."

"Knowing Frances it probably slipped her mind, what with her work and all."

"Wanna bet?" Danny teased with a large goofy grin.

Steve pushed out an annoyed sigh and looking out the window, he gave a curt reply, "No."

"You could take her to the shooting range," Danny bantered.

"Very funny."

"Better yet, enter a contest as to who can leap the tallest building," the blond continued his ribbing.

"Are you through?" Steve huffed out in exasperation.

Danny's face broke into a wide grin. "I have so many more in my satchel Little Buckaroo."

"I'm sure you have."

"Why not take her on a tour of the islands? You two talked about it last year. There are lots of romantic spots to choose from."

"Yeah. Could be an option," Steve answered aloofly.

"Better decide quickly. Your anniversary is only a month away."

Steve was already mulling over Danny's suggestion when his cell phone rang. He activated his Bluetooth earpiece and answered. "McGarrett." He gave Danny a sidelong frown. "Where?"

His partner's aneurysm face prompted Danny to stare intently at him.

"We'll be right there." He ended the call and then speed-dialed Kono's number.

"New case?"

"Yeah. Murdered victim."

"Kono? Steve. Can you get Chin and meet us at 1070 Kinua Street, apartment 209. Danny and I are on our way over there. Duke's already on site. We'll see you both there." he ended the call and put the pedal to the metal.

The sudden thrust forward shoved Danny into the back of his seat. He gritted his teeth and instinctively grabbed on to the window frame with one hand while he gripped the dashboard with the other. "Euh why are we speeding, Steven? If the guy is dead he won't get away."

"It's a woman and I don't want to waste time getting there. From where we are it'll take us fifteen minutes, ten if you shut up and let me drive."

"Just make sure we get there in one piece, please." Danny's plea fell on deaf ears as Steve was focused on the road ahead.

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They made great time to the apartment complex and much to Danny's relief they arrived both unscathed. They walked up to the entrance and buzzed apartment 209 to gain access inside the building. Taking the elevator to the second floor, they headed toward the crime scene where Duke and his team were already at work collecting evidence, snapping pictures and dusting for fingerprints.

"Duke?" Steve called out.

"Over here, gentlemen!" Duke beckoned from the bedroom where a gory sight awaited them.

"Ah God!" Danny turned away in disgust at the mutilated body of a young woman lying on her bedroom floor in a puddle of blood. She had a huge midline incision from the bottom of the sternum all the way down to her pubic bone.

"You all right?" Steve asked, concerned by his partner turning a shade of green.

"Will be. Give me a minute." Danny took deep breaths to quash the nausea rising in his churning stomach.

Although Steve didn't show it he was inwardly disturbed by the gory crime scene. He squatted down by the gutless body of the beautiful young Hawaiian brunette to examine it closely. "What have you got?"

"Malia Hajiro, twenty-seven-year old pediatric resident at Queen's Medical Center. According to her landlord she was the perfect tenant. Always on time with the rent. Very quiet personality. Didn't date much, at least from what he saw. She hardly had any visitor except for her dad."

Kono and Chin arrived seconds later and each let out audible gasps as they set eyes on the macabre sight.

"Who called 911?" Steve asked as he examined the body closely with pinched features.

"The landlord. Says the hospital tried reaching her several times on an emergency. Getting no answer, they called him instead so he could check up on her, and that's when he made the gruesome discovery."

"He didn't tell you anything else?"

Duke shook his head.

"Any sign of breaking and entering?" Steve asked.

"Not that we noticed so far."

"Then it's safe to assume the girl knew her attacker and willingly let him in."

"Could be drug-related," Danny surmised when he regained his bearings. "She worked in a hospital and therefore had access to a bountiful stash. Perhaps she was supplying some drug dealer and she decided to suddenly terminate the contract."

"Could be," Duke agreed. "However we checked the place out. It's clean."

"Safe to assume the killer cleaned her out," Steve alleged as he stood. "Chin, you stay here and speak with the landlord, see if he left out any detail about the girl's daily routine and acquaintances. Also get anything you can find around the apartment that can provide us with a lead. Kono, get back to HQ and see if the girl had any run in with the law. Misdemeanor arrests, traffic violations, anything you can find. Danny and me will go to Queen's to talk to her coworkers. We'll meet back at the Headquarters in early afternoon."

"Right boss."

"Who could have done this? I mean if he wanted to get rid of her, a bullet through the head would have done the job. Why gut her out like that?" Danny said with a marked disgust.

"It could be a spurned lover?" Duke asserted. "With any luck this is merely an isolated incident and not the start of a crime spree."

"Hopefully Max will be able to tell us a bit more." Steve said shaking his head in disbelief. "All right we'll be at Queen's if you need to reach us."

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On the ride back to the hospital, Danny's atypical quietness prompted his concerned partner to break the deafening silence.

"You all right, Danny?"

"Yeah," he sighed dejectedly.

"You sure?" Danny cast him a questioning look. "I'm asking 'cause you're quieter than usual."

"You always complain about my rants. I should think you would welcome this peace and quiet."

"I thought I would but it's kind of scary. Talk to me, buddy."

One heavy sigh later, Danny spoke remorsefully, "I'm sorry about the way I reacted back there."

"What are you talking about?"

"My turning away in disgust."

"Come on, Danny! The woman was butchered. Even I flinched and I'm used to seeing the horrors of war. We're human, aren't we? Well you are, anyway," Steve joked and then saw Danny's lips barely curl up. "Don't fret about it. We'll catch whoever did this. We usually do."

"You don't think the landlord could have done this? There were no signs of forced entry. He does have a master key."

"Could be but it's too obvious. I think it's someone she knew and let him in."

"Him? You really don't think a woman would have done this?"

"No I don't."

Danny closed his eyes briefly before casually casting a look out the window. "She was Karen's age."

"Is that what's bothering you?"

"That's part of it and that's the problem. Our last case involving a girl in her mid-twenties who'd been held captive for two years by her crazy father, well it reminded me of Karen's own nightmare as McFadden's slave girl. I know I shouldn't let it get to me but it does."

"No one is faulting you for feeling this way."

"Steven I'm a cop. I should be immune to all of this. Can't show emotion and certainly not make a correlation with my own life."

"The day it will stop bothering you is the day you'll need to quit, partner. However we don't know what the girl dabbled into. She might have looked quiet and innocent but appearances can be deceiving. Don't forget that Karen has her Danno to take care of her. That girl apparently lived alone and..."

Suddenly a speeding SUV ran a red light and crashed into a small Honda.

"Steve, stop!" Danny yelled, bracing himself for the impact.

Steve hit the brakes with tires screeching before the Camaro came to a complete halt. As he and Danny were about to dash after the SUV to collar the driver, the van suddenly backed up, turned and sped away. Steve and Danny settled back into their seats while passer-bys took care of the passengers of the Honda who were shaken but fortunately not grievously injured.

Steve put the pedal to the metal after the fugitive. As some point, the car careened and out emerged the guy through the broken window. Steve sprinted after him with Danny following close behind.

It took a full minute for Steve to catch up with the nimble-footed teen. Nearing his goal he gnashed his teeth and leapt onto his prey to tackle him to the ground. The young delinquent grabbed a rock and smashed it against Steve's skull, momentarily debilitating him. He swiftly wriggled himself free from underneath the Five-0 leader and took to his feet. However Steve quickly bounced back up and lunged at him to finally pin him to the ground.

Danny arrived shortly after and cuffed the squirming punk while Steve sat on the curb to catch his breath.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good," Steve hissed, holding the side of his head. "The kid got me on the side head. It's just throbbing a bit." He held his hand up for Danny to give him a hoist up. "Help me up, will you?"

Danny obliged while keeping his other hand firmly on the feisty man's wrists tied behind his back.

"Let's go back there. See if they need assistance."

With the teen in the back seat, Danny and Steve returned to the scene of the accident just as the ambulance and police cars converged on the spot.

"Steve McGarrett, Five-0," Steve flashed his badge to the officer. "My partner and I saw everything." He turned to Danny escorting the young offender to a police cruiser. "He ran a red light and crashed into the Honda back there. I didn't smell any alcohol on his breath. He was probably just speeding."

"Thank you. We'll handle it from here," the officer said, nodding to his partner to settle the teen into the back seat. "Might want to go down to the precinct to make your deposition."

"We will but first, this man needs to be checked out," Danny said, pointing to Steve rubbing his bleeding temple.

"Danny I'm fine. It's just a graze. I didn't lose consciousness."

"Not convinced. I need a medical attestation, babe."

"We don't have time for that!" Steve argued. "We need to..."

"It can wait! Chin and Kono won't be at the Palace for another hour or so with the information. Max needs time to perform the autopsy. We have time. Come on." Danny took Steve by the arm and nudged him toward the back of the ambulance. "Beside we were going to Queen's to interrogate the girl's coworkers anyway. We'll get there faster by ambulance."

"Faster than my driving?"

"Well I'd say it's safer."

Steve had to admit his head hurt like the dickens but he wasn't about to let Danny see him in pain. Once the paramedics had taken his vitals and applied a bandage over his wound, Steve was assisted to the back of one of the ambulances on site. Danny followed in his Camaro.