()()()()()()()()
**tuesday**
The sun was barely up when Steve heard the unmistakable sound of retching from the guest bathroom. He sat up quickly and grabbed a shirt, ready to lend a hand if necessary, but giving Jax space and time to get herself together. Listening intently, he heard what sounded like a quiet sob, and then running water and the sound of some pretty vigorous toothbrushing.
Steve listened as Jax padded down the hall and out the back door; following after a few moments, he looked out and saw her standing at the edge of the water. Hunh, Danno, your rookie is drawn to the water. Sorry pal, she loves my island.
He made a fresh pot of coffee and took two mugs out to the water.
"Hey, Jax." Steve handed a mug to Jax, who had her toes in the water.
"Ummm thank you," Jax said as she accepted the coffee gratefully.
"No sling?" Steve questioned.
"Makes me crazy. I can't decide if it helps or just makes the other side of my collarbone hurt."
"Copy that," Steve replied, sipping his own coffee. "You okay? Sounded like your morning was off to a rough start."
"Oh, yeah, sorry. Guess that was the last of the concussion. I really feel a lot better now."
"Ummhmm." Steve raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. "How's the water?," he asked, nodding at her feet.
Jax looked down, almost surprised. She hadn't realized she had waded in. "I guess it's pretty amazing," she smiled up at Steve, her face lighting up with joy in the morning sun.
Whoa. Several adjectives volleyed for supremacy in Steve's stream of consciousness, with stunning winning first place. Get in the water and swim, Steve. The nice cold water. Danny. Remember she's Danny's rookie.
"Swim. I mean, I'm going to swim. You can't. Stitches."
Jax frowned at Steve's incoherence. "Right. I'll go get geared up for work . . . I mean, to ride to Five-O. To do whatever the hell it is suspended cops do. Here, I'll take your mug."
Steve handed the mug off to Jax and peeled off his shirt in one fluid movement, moved into the water, and was shoulder deep and swimming in no time. Jax stood watching for a few moments.
Nice . . . ink. Yeah. Totally just admiring the tats. She shook her head and walked back to the house.
()()()()()()()()
Jax and Steve emerged from the house, dressed and ready for the day, armed with coffee. Jax was still squinting in the sunlight, but she was relieved that it didn't cause the splitting headache that it had yesterday.
"I have an extra pair of sunglasses in the truck," Steve motioned toward the vehicle.
Jax looked dubiously at the truck. "Overcompensating much?" she murmured.
"Excuse me?!" Steve retorted indignantly. Danny had said something incredibly similar when they first met.
Jax looked equal parts horrified and sheepish. "Um, nothing . . . nice truck," she amended lamely.
Steve went around to the driver's side, shaking his head and muttering something about damn Jersey cops and their insults. Jax opened the passenger side and was still studying out the logistics of climbing in when she heard a short laugh from Steve.
"Problem, Officer Nolan?" he drawled. Overcompensating. That'll teach her . . . wow, the running board is about at her knee cap . . . and she's got no leverage with her right shoulder . . . aw hell, I'm such an ass.
"No, no problem," she snapped. Steve looked chagrined, and moved to get out. "Don't you dare. Stay right where you are, I am perfectly capable of getting into the truck myself." With that, Jax stepped up backwards, awkwardly, and landed on the seat. She reached out to pull the door closed and bit back a sharp curse, her face paling with pain.
"If nothing else, the sling would remind you to be careful with that shoulder and collarbone while they heal," Steve chided gently. Jax favored him with a glare. He reached across her to pull the door closed, and snagged the seatbelt to pull across her while he was at it. He caught the scent of her hair, a mix between honeysuckle and . . . gunpowder?
Jax let her head thump back on the seat of the car, wincing as she aggravated the lump on the back of her head. Today was not off to a good start.
"Okay, let's go see what Kono and Chin have found for us," Steve stated. He had a million questions for Jax, wanted to shake her and demand that she talk to Danny, wanted to go to New York and personally put some people behind bars . . . after a brief stay in the hospital . . . but the case would be up and rolling.
Jax perked up at the mention of the case. "I'm still wondering if there is something significant about all of the victims being female. I mean, a liver is a liver is a liver, right? So, there's bound to be something . . . "
"Um, when I said, 'us' . . . Danny will shoot us both if you try to get involved in this case. He's like a mother hen when someone's injured. You have to know that from experience."
"I take it you've been on the receiving end of Nurse Danny, then?" Jax asked, amused.
"More than once," Steve grinned. "He seems to hold the opinion that I am a trouble magnet."
"We seem to have that in common. The first time I got shot, Danny was still in Jersey, of course. Lots of NYPD cops came out of Jersey, so someone dropped the dime on me and called Danny. He burst into the ER, arms flailing, ranting to beat the band." Jax sobered. "I think Rachel was furious with him. Gracie was just tiny, I think she had an ear infection or something. And Danny left on his evening off to come check on me. I'm glad he went home last night, stopped to see Gracie. I don't want to complicate . . ." Jax stopped short. She realized that it was Steve offering for her to stay at his house that helped avoid at least a part of that, and she hadn't even . . .
"Oh wow . . . I haven't even thanked you. This really was above and beyond, but thank you. Thanks for letting me stay with you, so that Danny wouldn't have to explain to Rachel. She remembers me, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't like me."
No, seriously, why not? Steve thought to himself. Because I can't imagine why someone wouldn't like a fireball who smells like honeysuckle and gunpowder racing around town with their husband, shooting things and sharing that adrenaline rush . . . okay, whoa, Commander. Danny's. Danny's rookie. You do not need to be noticing that she smells good.
Steve forced his attention back to what Jax was saying . . . ". . . find a place, you know, somewhere to stay for the rest of my visit, get out of your hair. I meant to call ahead and find something, but I checked out of the hospital early and just grabbed the first flight."
"Checked out? You mean discharged?" Steve questioned.
"Uh, didn't exactly get discharged. Sorta left."
"Signed out AMA?"
No response.
"You know, signed yourself out, even though they wanted you to stay?" Steve tried again.
"Yeah, not exactly. I just took out the IV when it was done and left." Jax tried an expression of . . . fuzzy kitten innocent, Steve's brain was helpfully supplying adjectives again.
Steve snorted. "So, you don't have instructions for your sutures? Like, when you're supposed to have them taken out?"
"Some over-eager intern flagged me as potentially non-compliant and refused to use dissolvable. Can't believe that. I haven't had to have stitches removed in ages."
Steve looked at her incredulously. "Danny wasn't shitting me, then. You really are crazy – how often do you get stitches?"
"A lot. And don't pretend that you don't, Danny tells me."
Steve and Jax looked at each other, and in perfect unison, said, "Hunh."
Steve sighed, reluctant to kill the good mood, but they were almost at HQ. "You know, you really are going to have to talk to Danny, Jax. I'm serious. You can't keep him in the dark."
Jax looked out the window. "He knows all he needs to know – I got hurt and I got suspended. I came here to heal up and wait for the word from legal. I'm sorry that I dumped on you last night . . . you don't need to worry about me or about Danny, so you can just focus on the case. Really, everything will be fine."
Steve was starting to understand why Danny always pitched a fit when he insisted things were fine.
()()()()()()()()
"You think coffee at my house was good," Steve said to Jax, as they entered the building, "wait until you taste Kono's. We don't know what she does to it, but it's the best."
Danny was already in his office, and came out when he saw Steve and Jax enter. He folded Jax into a gentle hug and kissed the top of her head. "Sleep well, kid? How's the head? How's the shoulder? Steve didn't have you up training for a triathlon this morning?"
"No, we're discussing the next Spartan race . . . coming up in what, a month, Steve? For sure before my six weeks are up."
Danny blinked and spluttered. "Steven, you can not possibly . . . why would you encourage . . . "
He stopped at the matching smirks on Steve and Jax faces. "Oh, so this is how it is? The two of you crazy adrenaline junkies are going to gang up on me?"
"I've got something for the adrenaline junkies," said Chin as he walked in, Kono right behind him.
"You have leads on the organ recipients, then?" asked Steve.
"Yes, and Kono went over the files with Max again," Chin replied, as he flashed information onto the plasma screens. "All of the organ recipients checked out completely legit – the organ donations were handled through completely legal channels, no money exchanged hands, there is NOTHING to indicate that the organ donations were orchestrated or otherwise tampered with."
Danny was incredulous. "Then these seven victims . . . it was coincidence? Random?"
"No way, brah," Kono answered. "All of the *organ* donations were legit. The fact that all of the victims had their eggs harvested, now that's a different story."
"Eggs?" Steve was confused.
"Ovum, you Neanderthal. You know, the part that hooks up with the other part to make babies? Do we need to go back to junior high school?" Danny shook his head in amusement. The super SEAL could take out an entire platoon of enemy soldiers, but this was going to make him squirm.
"Yes, Danny, I am familiar with the basic procedure," Steve sniped back. "I'm not familiar with egg donation. I take it that's not a normal, um, donation?"
"No; life-saving organs are donated. Human eggs can be harvested from living donors but that procedure is not part of organ donation from patients taken off life-support due to brain death," Chin explained, nodding to Max, who had entered the room and was standing at the table.
"Indeed, it is most unusual," Max interjected, "Now, sperm donation is very common, especially around college campuses, where male students benefit from a token payment for their donation. Egg harvest, however, is a more complicated and invasive procedure. Sperm donation requires no complicated procedure –"
"YES Max we get the picture," Steve scrubbed a hand over his face. Sometimes the conversations in this place were just . . . weird. Kono was smirking at him, and that was never a good sign. He steered the conversation back to the case. "Okay, so this is unusual, then – are you saying that these women were killed so that their eggs could be harvested? And if they're usually harvested from living donors, why kill them?"
"To prevent discovery, maybe, or maybe this guy is just a complete and total whack job," Kono replied.
"It's not a good reason to commit murder, but we've seen more people killed for less, brah," added Chin.
"Okay, so how do we catch this bastard?" asked Danny.
"Put me in, undercover." The four Five-O members turned to Jax. They were so caught up in the case they had almost forgotten she was standing there, quietly. "I'm female. I'm clearly not native. I've only been on the island 24 hours, and outside you guys I've only met a couple of security officers at the airport, and I really doubt either of them are our guy. Put me in, undercover. It makes perfect sense. Besides, I've been told I look like shit and need to rest. So, I'll rest. In a hospital bed, even. My shoulder will heal right up."
As the task force looked dumbfounded, Max chimed in, "Officer Nolan's recent injuries would make for an excellent cover. The bruising is quite spectacular, and one could assume that there was enough blunt force trauma to render her unconscious; and as all of the victims were on ventilators, it would not be a stretch to think that the damage done to her throat had hindered her breathing. Also, from the way she is guarding her ribs, broken ribs with a resulting lung puncture could also explain the necessity of a ventilator. It is actually a quite logical and medically effective cover story. And also, as Officer Nolan has pointed out, she is injured and should be recuperating. It's logical, effective, and quite efficient."
"No way. No. This is not going to happen," Danny began pacing and gesturing. He looked at Steve to back him up. "No – not you, Steven. You are not going to get on board with this crazy idea."
Danny looked to Chin and Kono, who both shrugged. "It does kinda make sense, brah," Kono said.
"What are the dates of the murders?" Jax asked.
Chin pulled up the information. "First one six months ago, about one a month, but two in the last month."
"We don't have time. This guy is escalating. Put me in." Jax was avoiding looking at Danny, instead focusing with calm intensity on Steve.
"Oh no, I've seen this look before, from both of you. Every time, every time I've seen this look, from either of you, someone, often me, has been shot at," complained Danny.
Steve ignored the comments around him and searched Jax eyes for doubt, for hesitancy. There was none. The only thing he saw was a determination to end something evil . . . and an unfailing trust that he and Danny would not let anything happen to her. And damn, if that didn't make him stop breathing for just a moment.
"Okay." He said it quietly, with a small nod. Danny threw up his hands in exasperation. Chin looked a little confused. Kono smirked . . . Hmm: chemistry.
"Two conditions," Steve continued, his stormy blue eyes boring into Jax's. "You let us come up with the plan, and you follow it exactly. No crazy shit on this one. Oh, don't look at me that way . . . Danny's told me the stories and I recognize reckless when I see it." Like every damn time I look in the mirror. "And you have a conversation with Danny. A real one."
Jax's eyes widened and Steve saw fear for the first time. Totally unafraid of risking your life, but terrified to let someone know you're hurt, hunh? Yeah, well, takes one to know one.
"It's non-negotiable," Steve said, using what Danny referred to as his super-scary SEAL voice.
"Okay. Both conditions." Steve couldn't quite read the look in Jax's eyes. Relief? Betrayal? Resignation? Regardless, he was convinced that she had to tell Danny the whole story, before he found out another way and the whole thing blew up in their faces.
Danny looked curiously between Steve and Jax. He felt sure he was not privy to something between the two of them, that involved a serious conversation to come. Steve simply nodded to him and said, "Can you come over to the house tonight, Danny?"
Danny glanced at Jax, who was suddenly completely engrossed in something on the screen, refusing to meet his eyes.
"Yeah, Steve." He decided the best course of action was to focus on the case. Denial, he thought to himself, it's not just a river in Egypt.
()()()()()()()()
The rest of the day was spent in putting together a plan to admit Jax to the facility where three of the seven murders had taken place. Kono, Chin, and Max kept busy with paperwork, technical, and medical details. As everyone stood around the smart table, searching files for any additional information to build Jax as the "perfect victim", the head of the hospital cooperating with the undercover operation called in.
Chin put the video call up on the main plasma screen.
"Good afternoon, Dr. Bryson, thank you for calling."
"Thank you; thank you for putting this together. We really don't want to lose another patient and we will do anything we can to help you find this guy," the doctor nodded, his face grim. It was bad enough to lose patients to fatal injuries; the idea of murders taking place on his watch had him distraught. "I need to discuss with you how we will simulate the condition of your undercover officer. Some things we will be able to fake, such as IVs that aren't connected, but I understand that all of the victims have been on ventilators, is that correct?"
"Yes," replied Max. "We believe that victims on ventilators were chosen for two purposes – one, to keep the victims silent, and two, to ensure that as they were organ donors, their organs would indeed be able to be successfully donated. We believe the killer was using the organ donation as a smokescreen for the true objective, which was the harvesting of the eggs to be sold on the black market. "
"Well, that's going to be a bit of an issue," explained the doctor. "We can't really fake a ventilator. Your officer will have to be sedated and the ventilator tubing put in place; although she will actually be breathing on her own. I understand the officer has been recently injured, with a concussion?"
"Officer Nolan also has some soft tissue damage to her throat," Max supplied helpfully.
Jax shot him a glare but spoke up, "Yeah, the worst of it is over, though."
"I need to be the judge of that, Officer Nolan. "
"Please, call me Jax. Tell me what you need."
"Well, I need a complete and accurate medical history, for starters, and your records from your recent injuries. This is non-negotiable, officer – I appreciate your willingness more than I can express, but I will not take risks with your health," the doctor said sternly.
Jax looked up at Steve, a flicker of panic in her eyes. This was going south fast; this was not how she wanted Danny to find out what had happened in New York, and she really didn't need the added burden of the sympathy of Chin and Kono. Funny, Steve's sympathy hadn't felt like a burden; talking to him had felt like . . . relief.
"You don't have to do this," Steve said quietly. Danny looked up in surprise . . . since when did Steve back down from a crazy-ass idea?
"Yes, I do," Jax replied. "There's no time to put another option in place."
"Chin, put this call into my office," Steve said. "Officer Nolan – with me."
Chin complied, quirking an eyebrow at Kono, who shrugged. Danny narrowed his eyes at the retreating backs of Steve and Jax. Somehow, he was out of the loop with the officer he had trained, and Steve was clearly privy to information that was being withheld from him. It didn't sit well with him one bit.
"What the . . . " Danny grumbled to Kono and Chin in frustration.
"I know, brah, something is odd here," sympathized Kono. "But didn't Steve say that Jax needed to talk to you tonight?"
"Yeah," sighed Danny. "You're right. I don't like this. She is as bad as Steve about minimizing injuries, and that is obviously not a good idea in this situation."
Steve pulled up the call that Chin had transferred to his laptop, glancing out to the common area to be sure it was disconnected. The screen was blank, and Chin confirmed with a nod.
"Commander McGarret, what is going on?" questioned the doctor.
"Doctor, I understand that in order to keep Officer Nolan safe, you have to have full and complete medical information. I just want to be sure that information is going to be treated with the utmost discretion. No one on this team needs to be privy to her medical files; and no non-essential personnel at your hospital do, either."
Jax sighed in relief, smiling up at Steve. Absolutely captivating his brain once again supplied. Damn Danny and that word-a-day calendar gag gift.
The doctor paused. "Understood, Commander," he said. Jax squirmed a bit at the sympathy in his voice. See, this is why it's better to just pretend nothing happened and move on.
"I would suggest that we create a fictional medical history for Officer Nolan," continued the doctor. "I would imagine her true medical history has injuries consistent with someone in law enforcement?"
Jax snorted, and she and Steve shared an amused glance.
"You might say that," Jax drawled.
"Yes, and I see where you're going, doctor – that would be a sure tip-off to someone snooping through files that the 'patient' might be undercover law enforcement."
"Yes, we will need to create a false chart consistent with her current injuries; and having her admitted under the scenario of a Jane Doe would be the easiest and safest option, as there would be no need for a detailed history at all," the doctor nodded. "We have to assume that whoever is behind these murders has a medical background. Thank you again. I realize this is an unusual operation for your team. Please don't hesitate to call if I can be of assistance."
Steve ended the call and looked steadily into Jax's eyes for a long moment. "Why are you doing this?"
"Someone's doing bad things and they need to be stopped. Come on, Commander, you don't need me to explain this to you. This is what we do. This is what we signed up for." Jax stood and faced off across the desk from Steve.
"But you're not signed up at the moment. And you sure as hell didn't sign up for what went down in New York. So, why here, why now, why are you doing this?" Steve pressed.
Jax fiddled with a stapler on his desk, refusing to meet his eyes. When an accidental discharge of the stapler seemed imminent, Steve gently retrieved it from her hands. He glanced at Danny, who was looking into his office at Jax. "What's your reason for living, Jax?"
She looked up, genuinely confused. "Strange time for a philosophical conversation."
"I need to know that you're not doing this because you have some crazy death wish. What will be your reason for coming out of the sedation that they're going to put you under, when all this is done?"
Jax paused, then looked out at Danny. He caught her glance, and Steve watched as his face lit up with a mixture of pride and affection.
"Danny," Jax said simply.
Of course, Steve thought. She came straight to him when she was in trouble. Of course it's Danny. She smells like honeysuckle and gun powder and she dislocated your thumb and let you change her bandage but it was always Danny, you idiot, and why are you having this conversation with yourself?
"You okay, there, Commander?" Jax had her head cocked to the side, studying him curiously.
"Yeah, fine, whatever. Let's get this together. And you're talking to Danny tonight, that was the condition. "
"Um, yeah, about that. Don't look at me that way, I'm not going to go back on my deal. But, I honestly don't remember a lot of detail. I was wondering . . . would you just let him read the file? I mean, I'll talk to him after. But, it's easier not to have to say it, you know, out loud. Please?"
Steve sighed. Danny always yelled at him for being so emotionally repressed and unwilling to talk about his feelings or his experiences. He had to admit, dealing with Jax was giving him some sympathy for Danny's frustrations.
"Okay, I get it. That's fine. Let's just focus on the case here, sort all that out tonight at my house, okay?"
Jax nodded. "Okay. I'll, um, call and make a reservation at a hotel or something for after."
"Don't be ridiculous – starting tomorrow you'll be in the hospital. Stay tonight – Danny might end up crashing on the couch anyway; it's not his night to go visit Grace."
"Wow, he wasn't kidding when he said you were invested in Grace," Jax commented. "That's . . . remarkably invested. And considerate. You know, you and this team mean the world to Danny."
"We're ohana – family," Steve said, "And look, that includes you. We've got your back, Jax. Whatever we work out for sending you in there, you're not going to be in harm's way, not if we can help it."
()()()()()()()()
The rest of the afternoon was a flurry of activity. Max, Kono, and Jax worked out the details of the fake medical history and created a cover story that explained the injuries and made Jax look like the perfect target.
Chin and Danny had been focusing on narrowing down a range of suspect ideas, and brought Steve up to speed when they exited the office.
"Obviously, the killer has to be some sort of medical personnel; either legitimately employed or knowledgeable enough to pass undetected among employees. And not tied to one specific facility," explained Chin. "So we're looking for someone who would work a rotation or look like they do – so possibly a technician of some sort, like radiology or phlebotomy."
"None of the victims had a single record of a visitor," continued Danny, "so whoever did this had to get into the hospital unnoticed, probably because they're wearing scrubs. We're going to have to be constantly surveilling Jax's room."
"Okay, right," Steve replied. He had plenty of experience in Naval intel, running ops that were more surveillance and strategy, despite Danny's assumption that he generally preferred the more explosive ops from his days as a SEAL. "We will set up several angles of camera both inside and outside the room. We'll wire for sound. I know none of us could go in as a potential victim, but we need at least one of us in the hospital."
"I think maybe we should put Kono in as a nurse," Danny suggested. "None of the victims were native, but plenty of hospital staff here are. We'll coordinate with hospital staff to see where we can safely set up a room for surveillance."
"Good idea," said Chin, "and we also need to decide how far back to create this cover. For all we know, the killer could be an EMT – he could be a first responder who actually brings the victims into the hospital to begin with."
Danny frowned. "This is getting way more complicated than I thought. What are we gonna do, drop her off a cliff for the sake of her cover story? I don't like this, Steven."
"Not a cliff, Detective Williams, although that is an interesting scenario that could be consistent with most of the injuries," Max said as he, Kono, and Jax re-entered the room.
Kono explained, "We've created a scenario that will put Jax in the hospital with the exact circumstances that should attract our killer. Everything is set. Duke has an officer ready to respond to a 911 call and bring our 'patient' in to the ER. Malia will make sure that she's the physician to handle the case, and then Dr. Bryson will take over and get Jax admitted. By having HPD bring Jax in, calling it in over the radio, we put it on the EMS radar without having to actually expose Jax to EMTs. Once she's in the hospital, only Malia and Dr. Bryson really need to be read in to the case. I'll be undercover as a nurse who just happens to have only one patient assigned to her."
Steve had confidence in his team. If they had set up the op, it would be ready. He only hoped that Jax would be ready for the op.
()()()()()()()()()()()()() day two ()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
Jax closed her eyes and rested her head back on the seat of Danny's car. She was still concussed, and it had been a long day.
"You okay, babe?" Danny asked. "You know, you can still pull the plug on this at any time. Just say the word, and we will call the op."
"No, Danno, I'm fine, really," Jax said. I really am fine. Why won't anyone believe that?
"So, what's with all the loaded glances and cryptic comments between you and Steve?" Danny asked, trying to keep his voice light. And why do I get the feeling I'm about to have a conversation with you that is going to make me lose sleep tonight?
"Steve thinks I need to give you more information on why I'm here, you know, before we do this undercover thing. He probably thinks I'm going to croak or something, doesn't want my secrets on his conscience."
"Jax, I knew you were stonewalling me. What is going on with you?" Danny was on the verge of rant territory.
"Oh, Danny, get a grip," Jax interrupted him. "Look, you and Steve are both blowing this whole protective male stuff out of proportion. I got hurt, on the job. Please, Danny, don't make a bigger deal out of it than it needs to be. I know you mean well but seriously, I've had worse injuries and I'm going to be totally fine. I just wish everyone would focus on this case and let me do my freakin' job."
"Babe, calm down. Okay, first, it will be much easier to believe that you're fine when I can't see some asshole's fingerprints on your neck. Second, this is NOT YOUR JOB. Yes, you are a cop, and a damn good one, but you are currently both injured and suspended. I don't even want to know how much trouble we could all be in for pulling this stunt. Especially since I don't know what the hell really happened in New York, and yes, I have seriously considered calling my guys there but then we got this case and I've been too busy."
Jax flinched. She knew Danny could call back to any number of contacts in New Jersey . . . hell, he probably could have pulled her file just as easily as Steve had. Damn it, Steve is right.
"Babe, I'm really worried about you now because I could swear I just heard you say that Steve was right," Danny said.
"Yeah, whatever, just drive. You both seem to think it's important to examine in painstaking detail how I slipped up and got my ass handed to me in New York, so let's just go get this over with so we can get on with finding this psycho killer you have here, okay? Just . . . Danny, you have to promise you'll just focus on this case, and trust me, okay?"
Jax was out of the car and through Steve's front door before Danny could barely get the car in park. Steve heard the front door slam and the sound of Jax's boots coming through the kitchen. Honey, I'm home, he thought to himself, then, whoa she looks pissed as he caught her glare.
Wordlessly, she stalked over to the fridge, reached in, and grabbed a beer. She winced in pain as she tried to twist off the top. At her muttered curse, Steve handed her an open bottle in exchange.
"Don't." She held up a warning finger. "Just . . . don't. Show Danny the damn file and then let's get on with our lives."
Jax went into the guest room and slammed the door just as Danny came through the front door.
"I told you, she had the temper to go with the hair," Danny reminded Steve. "What did you do, you Neanderthal? She's furious with our gender apparently. Something about us being overprotective."
Jax emerged from the guest room wearing gym shorts and an oversized FDNY t-shirt, and headed out the back, toward the water. She didn't spare a glance toward Danny or Steve, but Danny didn't miss the cuts and bruises on her knees. He narrowed his eyes and added, "If some asshole of a boyfriend has laid a finger on her, there will be hell to pay."
"We might be overprotective, Danno, but the people who should have had her back in New York weren't," Steve sighed. "You were right, she definitely wasn't giving you the whole story. My condition for her doing this undercover op was that she had to tell you what really happened."
"Ah, so this is why she's furious. Am I supposed to go talk to her now?"
"Well, not just this minute. She asked me to let you read her file first. Said she would rather you just read the reports, rather than her have to explain it. Danno, listen, you have to promise me something: remember that she came here, to you. She didn't call you to come to New York. She wanted to be with you, but not there, okay? So you have to promise me that when you find out what happened, you're going to hold it together."
"Steven, you are scaring the shit out of me, and I am not even kidding. What the hell happened?"
"Danny, you have to promise me. Hold it together, okay, man?"
"Okay, Steve, I promise." Danny sighed. "Well, let me read it then. I already have a very bad feeling about this."
()()()()()()()()
Jax stood at the water . . . Steve wondered if she yet again had waded in without even realizing it. He took a seat on the lanai and watched her from a safe distance. He kept one ear tuned into the house behind him, hoping that his laptop would survive Danny's perusal of Jax's file.
He knew the exact moment that Danny put the pieces together. The string of curses was the most impressive in Danny's long and illustrious career of Jersey swearing. Steve was thankful to hear the violent opening of the refrigerator door – hopefully that meant his laptop had been spared.
Danny appeared next to him on the lanai with a Longboard in hand.
"I don't understand any of this. How could her own guys turn on her like this? I mean, I know they're bound to be sore because she beat them out of a spot on SWAT, but Steve, they've seen her in action. She deserved that spot. And why didn't she tell me? I understand that least of all."
"She was trying to protect you, Danny. She knew you'd want to go off to New York and start taking names and kicking asses. She knows you can't do that, not with Gracie."
"Protect me?" Danny protested, incredulously, "Hell, Steve, I'm the one that's supposed to be protecting her. And I failed her, just like I failed Grace."
"Okay, now see, that is exactly what she was trying to prevent, this sense of false guilt. Danny, this was not your fault, and neither was what happened to Grace. You can't carry that weight, Danny, it's not on you. None of it. You both have this incredibly overdeveloped sense of responsibility."
"And you don't? I can see it in your eyes, Steve, you've known her for one day and you're ready to go take these guys out, right along with me."
"Yeah, well, call me old fashioned but there you have it. I know Jax and Kono can take care of themselves and I'm sure Jax is just as determined as Kono to not be treated differently, but you and I both know, it is damn sure different. But she wants to put it behind her and help with this case, and I think we have to respect that, Danny."
Danny rubbed his eyes, wishing he could erase the mental images Jax's hospital report had provided. "Yeah, but we don't have to like it."
"True, partner. Now, go talk to her. This needs to be put to rest before we let her take on this undercover operation. For everyone's sake."
()()()()()()()()
Steve sat on the lanai and watched as Danny walked toward the beach, where Jax stood with her feet in the water. As soon as she gets those stitches out, she's going to be swimming; I'll put money on it. I wonder if she packed a bikini. Stop. Stop it right now, this is a patently unprofessional line of thinking, Commander. What is wrong with you?
Danny stood next to Jax, looking out over the water as the sun began to dip near the horizon. He had taken off his shoes and rolled up his pants, since she didn't seem inclined to move from where she stood, ankle deep in the water. The setting sun gave her hair a fiery glow as she stood, head down, kicking at pebbles under the surface.
"Jax," Danny sighed. "I don't know what to say."
"Wow, that's gotta be a new record, Jersey."
"This isn't a joke, Jax. I'm so sorry –"
"Look, Danny, let's not do this, okay? I'm fine. I can't believe that asshole actually filed a complaint against me but it will all get worked out. Let's just focus on catching this guy."
"Jax, having a complaint filed against you is not – this is not about your job. This is about you, Jax, and deflecting and pretending this didn't happen is not going to help you."
"It is about my job, Danny – it's about constantly having to be better, faster, and stronger and getting the job I deserved and jerks like . . . like him not being able to deal with it. And the best thing for me right now is to be allowed to do my job, which I am damn good at, and you know it. Besides, all I have to do to pull off this undercover op is look completely vulnerable and helpless and . . ."
Jax stopped short, kicking at the pebbles with increased intensity.
"And . . ." Danny prompted.
"Well, apparently I can do that. Be helpless. I fought. So hard. But it wasn't – I couldn't – nothing I did was enough, it wasn't enough –"
A particularly sharp shell sliced into Jax's foot . "Shit," she swore quietly, "that hurt."
"Babe, I'm so sorry," Danny said, "I would give anything to fix it."
Jax looked up at him sharply. "It's just a cut on my foot, Danno."
"No. No, sweetheart, it's not."
Steve watched as Danny reached out and gently touched the bruising on Jax's throat, ran his hand carefully across the fractured collarbone and shoulder, and finally cupped her face and rubbed his thumb tenderly over the bruised cheekbone.
"I'm so sorry they hurt you, babe. I'm sorry you didn't have a partner watching your back."
Jax tried to pull away from Danny but she was unbalanced in the water and her foot stung. She let out a string of curses. Danny waited out the barrage of profanity, waited for the anger and tension to leave. She finally looked up at him, and whispered, "It hurt, Danno," and allowed him to pull her into his arms.
()()()()()()()()
Steve would have denied under torture that he had observed the entire exchange with anything other than professional concern. No jealousy, absolutely not. That would be not only unprofessional, but entirely and completely inappropriate under any circumstances. Under all circumstances.
As Danny and Jax made their way back toward the house, Steve noticed Jax limping slightly. When they reached the lanai, he could see blood still flowing freely from the side of her foot.
"Those shells will get you every time. Let me go get the kit."
Danny pulled out a chair for Jax. "Sit. Try not to do any more damage," he teased gently, winking at her. "You want something to drink? Maybe some more of that tea?"
"Um, sure," Jax smirked, "ask Steve to fix some just like last night's."
Danny headed toward the kitchen as Steve came down the stairs with the first aid kit.
"Jax said she'd like some more of the tea you made last night."
Steve scratched the back of his head and looked at Danny sheepishly. "Yeah, actually, I think by that she means coffee."
"Steven. Did I not ask you specifically to give her some sort of tea for her throat? And you gave her coffee?"
"Hey, she asked for coffee. She likes my coffee. I mean, Hawaii's coffee. She likes the coffee here." Steve shoved the kit into Danny's hands. "Fix her foot. I'll fix the coffee."
Danny squinted at Steve in confusion. "Okay, Steven, it's just coffee. Really."
By the time Steve rejoined them on the lanai, Danny had still not managed to stop the bleeding on Jax's foot.
"I hate to say this, but I'm thinking this may need a couple of stitches."
"Absolutely not," Jax protested. "For crying out loud, it's just a little cut. I'm not even going to be walking for the next couple of days, or ever how long it takes us to catch this guy. Come on, Danny, don't be ridiculous. Just keep pressure on it. I would but I can't reach; this stupid shoulder."
Steve handed Jax a cup of coffee, which she grabbed gratefully, inhaling the aroma and humming her appreciation. He bent down over Danny's shoulder to look at her foot.
"Danny, quit being such a mother hen," Steve said, "the biggest problem is probably going to be the sand in the cut. Why don't you go ahead and shower, get it cleaned out, then we'll take another look. Keep the gauze on it, don't bleed on the floor."
Jax smiled gratefully at Steve. She wasn't sure how much of her breakdown he had witnessed, and she appreciated not being coddled or patronized, or, God forbid, pitied.
"Fine, but the coffee is going with me." Jax clutched her steaming mug and limped into the bathroom.
As soon as she was out of earshot, Danny turned to Steve.
"You have the file?"
"On the case tomorrow?"
"No, Steven, not that file. I want the file on the son of a bitch that assaulted Jax and then had the uncommonly bad judgment to file a complaint against her. I want to know what the hell happened and why this moron is even being entertained and not thrown off the force and into jail."
Steve sighed, scrubbed his hand over his face. "You sure you want to get into this Danny? This is exactly what she didn't want, you going all protective and vigilante."
"I'm here, Steve, and I'm staying right here. I just want to see what kind of insane claim this jackass is making. Obviously she would prefer that I read the files, rather than try to get her to talk about it. She still hasn't told me anything herself."
"Nothing?"
Danny sighed. "She said 'it hurt'."
Danny knew that protectiveness was hardwired into Steve's DNA; still, he was somewhat surprised at the intensity with which Steve shoved his chair back and stalked into the office.
Steve dropped a printed file onto the table next to Danny's chair. "I printed the files early this morning."
He went in to the kitchen and returned with two more mugs of coffee as Danny began to read the file on the injuries suffered by Jax's attackers.
"It says here that when the arresting officer arrived on scene, Officer Jackson had suffered various cuts, bruises, and contusions, and Officer Martinez had a dislocated kneecap," Danny read.
"Do you know them?"
"Heard of Jackson – Jax mentioned they worked an SVU case together. He was O'Neil's partner. Never heard her mention Martinez."
"What about O'Neil? Is he the one Jax said you would have known from Jersey?"
"Yeah, I know O'Neil. One of the most arrogant and incompetent cops I ever had the misfortune of working with. He blew a case I worked on for months with Grace, when Jax was in training. Sloppy arrest, mishandled evidence – the perp walked on a technicality. He's a giant asshole; and I also mean that literally. The guy is huge; six foot four and easily two hundred fifty pounds."
Steve clenched his hand tightly around his mug. He remembered standing behind Jax to change the dressing on her cut; he towered over her without even attempting to intimidate her in any way. The idea of someone even larger deliberately using his size and strength to threaten and overpower her infuriated him.
"So what injuries did our five foot nothing Officer Jax Nolan supposedly inflict on this pathetic excuse of a man?" Danny was saying.
"Keep reading."
"Let's see, fractured rib, broken nose, dislocated thumb – hey she likes that trick, eh, Steve? – contusion to the face. Okay, that's upon the arresting officer's arrival."
"Keep reading." Steve watched Danny expectantly as he continued to read, and knew the minute his knees tightened and drew up that he'd gotten to the line that read extreme bruising and damage to the soft tissue of the genitals.
"Oh shit." Danny cringed.
"Yeah, no kidding."
"This is why he filed a complaint. Apparently this, um, damage happened after he was in cuffs."
"Yeah, well, he totally had it coming."
"I would have castrated him but I couldn't get my hands on a knife." Both men jumped slightly as Jax appeared behind them. "I tried not to bleed on your floor, Mr. Clean," Jax said, sticking her paper-towel wrapped foot out slightly toward Steve.
Danny quickly closed the file. "It's getting a little dark out here, let's go in so Steve can take a look at that foot and agree with me that you need stitches."
Jax slid rather gingerly onto the kitchen stool. Today was better than yesterday but the fractured bones still ached, especially now that she was tired. Steve wordlessly pulled the Motrin out of the kitchen cabinet and shook the bottle at Jax. She held out her empty coffee cup to him.
"Fine," he said.
"Fine," she retorted.
Danny watched the exchange with some amusement. These two really were cut from the same cloth; he was not unaccustomed to resorting to bribery to get Steve to take any kind of medication. Now that he understood why he had been temporarily out of the loop, he was amused at the interaction between his two friends.
Having rather easily settled the need for pain relief, Steve gently grasped Jax's injured foot in his hand and pulled back the paper toweling. The cut looked much cleaner but it was surprisingly deep, and he could still see some sand and debris embedded in the cut.
"I hate to say it, but this is going to have to be irrigated," he said, apologetically.
Danny paled. "So we need to get her to the hospital?"
"Oh for crying out loud," Jax protested. "Saline and butterflies, I'll be good as new. Or hell, spray it out with the garden hose."
"You cannot possibly be serious," Steve said. "Do you know how unsanitary a garden hose would be? What kind of shit do they teach you in NYPD?"
"What kind of SEAL are you?" Jax threw out.
"The kind that doesn't let his people get blood poisoning from stupidly infected cuts," he retorted.
"I'm not sure which part to address first, Commander, the part where you assume I'm 'your people' or the part where you say I'm stupid." Jax was starting to wind up.
Danny chuckled in amusement as his current partner tried to hold his own against his former trainee. Half your size but equal in stubbornness, Danny thought. And this was kinda cute, how you referred to her as 'your people'. Little possessive, there, partner? "And this is where I am going to bid the two of you crazy ninja people good night. I'm sure whatever compromise you arrive at will prevent a future amputation of the limb so have at it, you nut cases."
Steve and Jax glanced at each other and then at Danny, stopped mid-rant by his amused instructions. Danny gave Jax a gentle hug and once again tousled her damp curls and kissed her on the forehead. "See you tomorrow, kid. You sure you're up for this?"
"Absolutely," Jax said, emphatically.
"Okay, well, get some rest, would you?"
"I'll be sure she's good to go in bed. I mean, settled in bed. Her bed. To sleep." Steve offered.
"You are uncharacteristically inarticulate, Steven," Danny shook his head, "But whatever."
"Um, did you want to, you know – she has that laceration, with stitches? The dressing will need to be changed, since she's showered."
"What? You're the Super SEAL field medic. Aside from Gracie's skinned knees, when have you ever known me to want to change dressings? What is wrong with you, and why are you suddenly in third grade? Good night, Steven." With that, Danny grabbed his keys and headed out the door.
As he drove off, Danny wondered why Steve suddenly was tongue-tied and uncomfortable with the idea of dealing with Jax's injuries. What on earth? OH. Well. And all the bantering and bickering between the two of them . . . Oh, this is good. Danny grinned to himself as he thought of his tougher than nails partner reduced to confusion and flustered by his former rookie. Well, I did tell him he had met his match.
()()()()()()()()
Steve rested his head against the door for a moment after closing it behind Danny.
"What, you feel abandoned without backup?" Jax asked dryly from her perch on the kitchen stool. "I'm half your size and pretty beat up, what exactly do you think you're dealing with here?"
Potential devastation. Steve's brain was still helpfully supplying descriptive phrases for him. He inwardly cursed both Danny's word-a-day calendar and his elementary school mother's vocabulary enhancing upbringing.
"Apparently I'm dealing with someone more accident prone than even myself," Steve retorted. "Okay, let's get this new cut irrigated and bandaged – since you won't be walking, I think you will be fine with butterflies."
"Finally, someone who listens to reason."
"You're not going to like the irrigation part. I'm sorry, but it's going to hurt. No way around it."
Jax looked up at Steve through the riot of haphazardly drying red curls. "Yeah, well. I'll survive," she said quietly. Steve clenched his fist to resist brushing his thumb over her bruised cheekbone. Total cliché, Steve, besides, Danny's already got the corner on that particular gesture.
He pulled a basin, large syringe, and bottle of saline over to the counter. "Okay, just sit where you are, foot over the basin. I'll irrigate with saline, let gravity flush it out."
Jax nodded and gripped the edge of the stool. "Yeah, I know the drill. Go for it, sailor."
Aside from a sharp intake of breath, Jax remained silent during the entire process. When Steve was satisfied that the wound was clean, he gently dried off her foot and pulled the edges of the cut together with three butterfly bandages. "Not bad," Jax admired his handiwork.
"Yeah, well, not bad yourself," Steve smiled at Jax as he patted the last bandage into place. "We may as well change the dressing on that knife lac, while we have the kit out."
Jax slid off the stool and held out her empty coffee mug to Steve. "Do I deserve another shot?" she grinned.
Steve rolled his eyes but refilled her cup. Holding her hands around the comforting warmth, Jax faced the counter. She consciously willed herself not to flinch when he gently pulled the waistband of her shorts away and gingerly removed the damp dressing. One of the stiches was stuck to the gauze, and she gave a slight yelp as it tugged sharply on the tender skin.
"Sorry, sorry, "Steve murmured. He carefully teased the gauze away from the troublesome stitch. "This was in your hospital file but not the case file. Was this, you know, during . . . ? " he asked, not sure how to approach the question.
"Yeah. I think, maybe, the original idea was to make it look random, you know? They, um, followed me out of a yoga class, of all things. Alley, dark, got the drop on me. First few hits, I had no idea who I was dealing with." Jax indicated the back of her head, the knife wound, the bruised cheekbone. Then her hand drifted down to her neck, where the finger marks were starting to merge into a solid bruise. "Then I think ego and adrenaline kicked in. O'Neil just had to make sure I knew exactly where I had overstepped my bounds."
"And the other two?" Steve asked quietly. "They help or just observe?" His fingers gently traced behind hers. Cliché or no, his hands seemed to take on a mind of their own.
Jax jerked her head up toward Steve. "This some conspiracy with Danny? Good cop bad cop, get Jax to spill her guts?"
"Just trying to wrap my brain around it, Jax. I can't imagine standing by . . . a fellow officer, for God's sake."
"Well, Martinez wasn't standing and Jackson was unconscious," Jax smirked.
"Oh, right, dislocated kneecap and 'contusions'."
Ripping open an antiseptic wipe, he gently cleaned the wound and reapplied antibiotic cream, thankful that he had stocked the kit with pain relieving cream. "This should help," he said, as he recovered the stitches with a clean bandage.
"Yeah, that's better. Thanks." Jax turned around, still sipping her coffee. "Wow, that's actually a lot better. Is that a topical?"
"Yeah. Here." Steve gestured for her to sit back on her perch, and gently applied some of the cream to the unbandaged surface cuts and scrapes on her knees. He squeezed some more cream out onto her knuckles, which were scraped and raw over the bruising. Her head was bent over her hand, and Steve inhaled the honeysuckle and gunpowder scent from her hair.
"I'm not this person," Jax said quietly. "This is not who I am."
"What do you mean?" Steve asked, as he gently rubbed the cream into her hand.
"Weak. Helpless. Bleeding and limping around some guy's kitchen."
Steve tucked a finger under Jax's chin and raised her eyes to meet his. He held her hand up to her in evidence, and then grinned and waved his bruised thumb at her to emphasize his point.
"You are anything but weak and helpless. The odds were three to one and you sent all three to the hospital. And you're still injured and offering to help us take down a suspect – I'd say that's about as far from weak and helpless as you can get."
"Better than sitting around feeling useless", Jax shrugged, then winced.
"And you wouldn't admit it, but a couple days of rest won't hurt, right?" Steve smiled at Jax.
"You're right, I'm not admitting it."
()()()()()()()()