Broken Pieces

Chapter Two

Zebraboymom

Disclaimer: Not mine. Love them anyway.

Author Notes: Once Kono gets past the stage of denial other behaviors start to show up. Steve takes care of her.

Steve watched as Kono worked each room. Some were holding one child while others had two or three children. It took all night to collect evidence and information on each child. Twelve rooms in all and all nineteen missing children had been found dead.

Steve's eyes were riveted to Kono for most of the time. He was struck by the lack of tears or moisture of any kind in her eyes.

Chin was keeping an eye on her too.

Danny was on the same page with them.

It was painfully obvious to all three men that she had no affect. It was like watching a robot.

"One of us has to stay with her for the next couple of days."

Chin was thinking the same thing.

"It should be me, but Malia and I are going out of town with her parents to a reunion."

"I've got Grace for the weekend."

Steve was grateful that he didn't have to argue or pull rank on them. He didn't have any intention of anyone else watching over his girl. When exactly she became his girl he wasn't too sure, but he knew he had to be with her through this no matter what. Danny interrupted his thoughts.

"How are we going to convince her to stay with you Steve?"

"I'm going to tell her the paramedic recommended she be watched and I'm going to pull rank on her."

"She's going to be really angry."

"Good. At least then I'll get some kind of emotion out of her."

The team stood reverently watching the last tiny little body bag loaded.

"Okay, guys. Case closed. We'll do the DD5s on Monday, so try to enjoy your weekends. You've earned it."

"I have to go. I have Grace for the weekend. Night everybody or morning as it may be."

Chin squeezed Kono's shoulder.

"I have to go too. Malia and I are supposed to leave at 8:00. That's in just a couple of hours. I'll see you guys on Monday."

Steve turned to Kono who was standing mute.

"Well, looks like you're my ride. I came with Danny."

Kono just looked up at him without saying anything.

"Here, hand me your keys. I'll drive."

It was like watching a slow motion movie. Kono drifted towards the car and finally climbed in quietly as the engine turned over. She clipped her seat belt in place and closed her eyes as Steve pulled out of the parking lot. She was totally out of it for the entire drive. The exhaustion of the last days and last night in particular were soaking into her body and all she wanted to do was sleep. Steve parked in his driveway and reached in the back for her go bag.

"Steve what are you doing?"

"Taking some extra clothes in for you to wear over the weekend."

"Oh no you don't. I'm not staying at your house. Did you guys plan this? What? Did you draw the short straw? Who's going to take care of poor Kono? No. I want to go home. I want to be alone."

Steve's tone was sharp, but he was glad he got a rise out of her.

"It's not a request Officer Kalakaua. You were in shock earlier and doctors orders are that you be watched for a few days."

"So you're my keeper."

"Chin up. We'll have fun. I promise. I'll cook steaks. We'll surf. Come on, don't make me spend the weekend alone."

"Steve…I appreciate the concern, but I don't think I'm going to be much company."

Steve smiled at her and led the way into the house, bag in hand. Kono followed in silence.

The sun was just coming up when he set her bag inside the door and headed to the kitchen.

"Want some cereal? I'm starving. I gotta eat or I'm not going to be able to sleep."

Kono sat in a bar stool at the island in the middle of the room and watched as Steve pulled down five different kinds of cereal. Note to self; the Boss likes cereal.

He handed her a bowl and pulled the milk out of the fridge.

The bowls were huge and Steve filled his to the top and used about a quart of milk on it.

Kono tried to eat, but she couldn't get the faces of the kids out of her mind.

"Could I just get some juice?"

"Sure."

Steve pulled some orange juice and some pineapple juice out for her and she drank a small glass before walking over to plop on the couch.

Steve stood up and walked towards her.

"Oh, no you don't. You're sleeping in my bed. No arguments."

Kono's eyes went wide as he picked up her bag, grabbed her hand and started leading her up the stairs. When she resisted him he turned to look at her.

"Kono, relax. I'm taking the couch."

"Oh."

Steve led her up the stairs.

Kono had never been up here and she had to admit she was curious. It was nice. His bedding looked really comfortable and all she wanted to do was lie down as she felt her strength draining out of her like a sieve.

Steve walked around closing the blinds. Kono sat on the edge of his bed and slipped off her shoes while he went out in the hall and brought back some towels.

They had given them scrubs at the scene as their clothes were evidence, but Kono had blood in her hair and on her skin. Her hands were stained with it. She looked down at them in twisted fascination. The dried blood looked brown now. It made her feel dirty, but that's what she was. All she could think about was scrubbing every tiny bit of evidence from tonight off her body.

Steve paused in the doorway and watched her for a second. As normal as she was trying to be, he knew she wasn't all right.

She wasn't all right at all.

"I started the shower. The water's warm. It will help you sleep. Need anything else?"

For a minute Kono just stared into his eyes. What she really wanted was to curl up in his arms and disappear, but reaching into her bag for her shampoo and some pajamas, she walked towards the bathroom instead.

"No. I'm fine."

"The last thing you are is fine."

Kono's eyes went wide and she swallowed the lump in her throat.

Steve sat on the floor in the hall and waited for Kono. When half an hour went by and the water was still running, Steve became concerned. He tapped lightly on the door.

"Kono? Hey there. Save a little hot water for me will ya?"

The water shut off and after a few minutes she opened the door. He had never seen her this way before. Her hair had been towel dried and combed out. It was shiny from the shower and her pajamas were very cute. Did he just use the word cute? The shorts made her long legs look like they were even longer and the short top showed just a tiny sliver of skin where they didn't quite meet with the top of her shorts.

Steve longed to press his palm to that soft tanned patch of skin. The moment felt suddenly very intimate. She brushed past him and he stood awkwardly in her doorway while she climbed into bed. He hesitated before he crossed to sit beside her on the edge of it.

"If you need me, I'm just downstairs. Okay?"

"Steve, you don't have to hover. I'll be fine, Dad."

He smiled at her.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that. Today was well…"

Kono tried to look self-assured, but failed miserably as she shrugged her shoulders and lowered her eyes.

"It goes with the territory."

Steve reached out and tipped Kono's downcast face up to his. He searched her eyes before he spoke.

"No. It doesn't. Days like today don't happen. What happened today was a tragedy and you will probably not witness anything so awful for the rest of your career. Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking what if I hadn't taken the shot? What if I'd been a second sooner…a couple of minutes sooner. You can't think that way Kono. You made the right call and sometimes we just can't stop things from happening no matter what we do. You understand? You can't blame yourself for this. Ever. You get me?"

Her response was to throw her arms around his neck and bury her face in his chest. He slipped his arms around her tiny frame and pulled her close. Her sadness was overwhelming and after a few seconds he could feel her chest start to heave.

Kono let it all go. She wept bitter tears again and clung to Steve like he was a life raft. He had said all the right things. It's like he was inside her head. She guessed he had been here before in a similar situation. Did that mean at some point she'd get better at handling this kind of stuff? She doubted she would ever get used to seeing dead kids.

They sat like that for a long time. Steve didn't care. He never wanted to let go of her again.

Little did he know; Kono felt the same way. After awhile she started to relax more and more into his arms. It was several more minutes before he realized she had fallen asleep in his embrace. Exhaustion had finally claimed her. He stroked his hand over her silky hair and eased her down out of his arms back onto the pillow. He felt her tighten her embrace in her sleep and a soft whimper escaped her lips at the loss of his body heat. He pulled the covers up and tucked her in.

It occurred to him that he could just sit here and watch her sleep, but his own body was starting to give in to the exhaustion as well and he wanted a shower. Like Kono, he needed to wash away all the blood from tonight. He needed to get the blood off his hands.

Looking at her beautiful face, he felt it was worth the risk of waking her up and leaned in to kiss her on the forehead. He couldn't help it, his lips pressed to her cheek and then her nose and finally they hovered over her lips. They looked so soft and she was completely out of it. He didn't hesitate this time. He had to know what they felt like. He tenderly pressed his to hers.

She sighed the sweetest sigh he had ever heard and he felt his heart speeding up with the joy that simple sigh gave him. He pulled back as she mumbled something. He couldn't figure out what it was so he stood and made his way to the bathroom for that much needed purging.

Once he was in the shower he scrubbed in much the same way Kono probably had. No matter how many times he was around death it always left him feeling the same way. As he shampooed his hair his eyes lit on Kono's shampoo bottle. He couldn't resist. He looked at the label and memorized it for future gift possibilities and flipped the cap open to take a whiff. That was his Kono. That smell was what he always associated with her. He had smelled it tonight as he held her and his mind went to the countless times he had caught the scent when she stood near him or brushed past him.

It dawned on him that he had been daydreaming for some time and the water was starting to get cold. Finishing quickly he crossed back over to Kono's room and leaned against the door jam just watching her sleep. At first she looked calm and peaceful, but after a couple of minutes she started to groan and move about.

Soon she was thrashing in the bed and screaming.

"No! No! Let her go! Get away from her!"

What happened next rocked Steve to his core. She let out the most blood-curdling scream he had ever heard.

He was beside her instantly.