Kono gently rubbed the pendant between her fingers, pressed the pads of her thumb into the face of St Christopher. The teak box Steve had given her was at her elbow, placed alongside it the flashlight Chin had given her. Stealing a quick look at the words her cousin had had inscribed, she felt a flash of warmth bloom in her chest.

You're a good man Chin Ho Kelly, no matter what everyone else thinks.

The soft pad of footsteps made her look up and Kono was surprised to see Danny in his dress uniform, the stiff-brimmed hat tucked under his arm.

'Officer Kalakaua,' Danny greeted her formally, flourishing the hat grandly. Kono rolled her eyes, gestured for him to grab a seat.

'Aren't you supposed to be getting food with the others?' Kono asked, arching an eyebrow. Danny shrugged easily, casually folding himself into a leather chair she had managed to scrounge up at a thrift store on her rare day off.

'I figured Super Seal only needed one of us to supervise him. Chin's shotgun won hands down.'

Kono laughed, slowly bringing the pendant down onto her lap.

'Sorry you couldn't make your graduation,' Danny told her, looking remorseful.

'Chin was right. It doesn't take walking across a stage to make you a cop,' Kono countered.

'Still. I remember my folks breaking out the cameras. Swear every time I blinked someone was taking a fucking photo,' Danny mumbled.

'My parents understood. As well as the hundred other relatives that booked seats to see me carry on the family tradition,' Kono said with her lips quirked upward. Her mother had been disappointed but had eventually understood why, promising that there would be a big, festive celebration sometime soon to commemorate her graduation. Something about a milestone in her long and lustrous life. 'Besides, considering how banged up my face is-'

Danny winced. 'Yeah. That bitch did a number on you.'

'Don't remind me,' Kono remarked, a hand going up to trace the cut above her eye. Her jaw still twinged everytime she spoke, but the ice pack she had put on when they had got back to HQ had lessened the pain somewhat. 'If I had just realized something sooner-'

'Hey,' Danny interrupted, waving a hand. 'Don't beat yourself up. None of us got the creepy, kidnapper vibe off of her. Look I was just like you when I got out of the academy. Green as broccoli. Wanted to show everyone I was the best damn cop on the beat.'

'I'm glad to see that attitude hasn't faded,' Kono said sarcastically.

'Hey. Shut up Rookie. I'm tryin' to give a life lesson here, alright?' Seeing Kono nod her head obediently, Danny continued. 'So the first case I worked was this arson. Motel burned the hell up, two little boys running scared, mother burned to death in the bathtub. Said their dad beat them. Youngest kid had these bruises all over his torso. So I tracked the son of a bitch down and encouraged him to confess. In the end it wasn't the father. The oldest had set his own mother on fire, said so she wouldn't wake her drunk ass up and start beating on them.'

'God,' Kono muttered, her stomach turning at the thought that children could accomplish such things.

'Thing is I never thought the boys would be the perp. They were too normal, ya know? Kids who'd had a tough life. Same as Lowery's girlfriend. She had Soccer Mum'ed herself up so much she didn't even register as a threat of Steven's radar. So you know she was good. That man's a walkin' polygraph. A freakishly tall one sure, but he's effective.'

'Experience and time, right?'

'You're never gonna stop learning on the job babe,' Danny said, face serious. 'For instance I never knew how many gunfights and ridiculous car manuevers I could endure in a day before I met Steven. The statistics surprise me.'

'Foods here!' Chin's voice called out. Both of them rose to their feet, Danny spotting the thin chain dangling from Kono's fingertips.

'You need help putting that on?' Danny asked. Kono looked at the pendant for a moment, as if scrutinizing it, before handing him the present he had given her. Danny swallowed when she lifted her hair off her neck, told himself this was just Kono.

With her nice bronze skin. Nice smooth, soft skin…

'Danny?'

'Right,' he muttered to himself. Get a grip Williams.

If his hands shook when he was trying to fasten the clasp, he blamed it on the excess adrenaline being Steve McGarrett's partner produced.

And if the pendant looked right, dangling down her throat and between the valley of her breasts…well, those were thoughts best left unexplored Danny told himself.

'What took you guys so long?' Chin asked. Danny's retort died on his tongue when he spotted what was for dinner.

'Is that…is that pineapple on that hot dog? Is nothing sacred on this island? Nothing?'