Crippled
Chapter Two

The scene that Chin came onto was pure chaos. The Five-0 team was spectacularly not busy this week; it happened sometimes, especially after a big case. Less than a month ago, the team (along with Catherine, Max, and Kamekona) had celebrated their part in breaking down a major drug trafficking ring that came through Honolulu. Since then, things had been pretty quiet. They'd landed one murder case and ran a few errands for Sergeant Lukela and that had been good enough for them for now. Police work was police work. In fact, Chin had been out on a long lunch when the near-frantic call came from Steve.

He hadn't been expecting it. He never did. Sure, he expected calls from his boss about a case, but his boss never told him to "get your ass back to HQ now" without a damned good reason. And then Steve had hung up; Chin had heard him barking some order to someone, cut off in mid-sentence as McGarrett cut the connection. Chin parked his truck rather haphazardly, narrowed eyes taking in the police presence and the bystanders milling about across the street from Iolani Palace.

So this was the crime scene. That didn't bode well.

Chin caught sight of Steve talking to Lukela – and somehow looking like he was pulling a Danny while he was doing it. His hands were waving, he was gesturing, and he was definitely saying something that Lukela didn't want to hear. Chin jogged in that direction, alarm ratcheting up a few notches when he could make out the words in the argument.

"—can't do that, McGarrett," Lukela said, hand slicing the air in a gesture that spoke of finality. "You know that."

"I don't care, Duke." Steve's voice was hard, edged with something Chin couldn't quite name.

Lukela pressed his lips together, gaze flickering over Chin as the man of Five-0 approached. The fact that his expression looked pained upon seeing him did little to set Chin's mind at ease. Lukela looked back over to Steve, expression sympathetic but voice still firm. "I can't. This cannot be your jurisdiction." He held his hands up, palms out toward Steve. "You know full well I respect you and your team, but in this case, it's too close."

At that, Chin's eyes grew wide and he stared at Steve. Given the way HPD and Five-0 had been cooperating lately, the last thing he would have thought they were arguing about were jurisdictional issues. But there was one thing that would automatically take a cop off a case and that was if it was personal. Alarmed, Chin scanned the crowd again. When he'd first come up and not immediately seen Kono and Danny, he thought maybe they were out taking statements or otherwise occupied.

Now he wasn't so sure. His unsettled gaze focused on Steve. Lukela crossed his arms and looked down at the sidewalk.

That's when Chin saw the blood. It was congealing, pooled and smeared on the concrete a few feet away from where they stood. He would have seen it sooner had he not been so focused on Steve and Lukela. "Steve?" And damn it all, but his voice wavered a bit.

Steve ran a hand over his face, all tension and worry. When he spoke his voice was still hard, though the words had to be scoring him just as deeply as they did Chin. "Danny was shot."

"What?"

Steve's hand lingered at his mouth for a moment and Chin knew he was watching the man pull himself together with a herculean effort. Chin himself was still gaping. "Kono's with him," Steve said. "Was with him then, too."

Oh, Kono. Chin gaped for a moment longer before following Steve's lead and trying – and failing – to approach this like a case. (Except they weren't on a case. This wasn't their case.) "How bad?"

"I don't know."

That was the worst feeling in the world, Chin knew. Never knowing. He took a deep breath, glanced at the crowds still milling about on the sidewalks, and then looked back at Steve. Slowly, as if he was afraid of actually touching the man, Chin reached out and squeezed Steve's bicep before turning his attention to Lukela.

Before Chin could speak, Lukela did. "I can't turn the case over. I'm sorry."

"I know," Chin said, surprised his voice was steady in this. Under his hand, Steve trembled with tension. "I won't ask you to. We need to be in the loop."

"You will." Lukela's voice was firm. "Look, I know you're going to look into this yourselves. Keep us in the loop."

Chin nodded once. "Agreed."

Lukela clapped his hand on Chin's shoulder, glanced at Steve, and backed away, calling for a couple uniforms to confer with as he did. Chin let his hand drop as Steve drew a deep breath. After a moment's silence, Chin asked softly, "What happened?"

Steve's gaze flickered over the crowd, over the buildings nearby, and the cars in the lot. "One shot, just after they exited the building." He took another breath, seeming to gain composure as he related the facts of the case. Fall into business; made dealing with things easier. Chin knew that. "HPD's working on origin. Forensics team is on the..." Steve trailed off, noticing a van pull onto the premises. "Scratch that, they're here."

"So it wasn't long ago."

"I called you just before the ambulance left."

That explained the barked orders Chin had heard on the phone.

"I came out when I heard the shot," Steve continued. "Danny was already down. Neither Kono nor I could find the shooter."

Chin frowned. "One shot?"

"If Danny was the target, that's all the shooter thought he needed. He was down, Chin."

Chin closed his eyes against the image, trying to banish it before he spoke. "So that begs the question."

"Who wants Danny dead?"

Chin nodded slowly, lips pressed together and scanning the crowd, as if an answer would leap out at him. One did. He blinked as it occurred to him; he should have thought of it before, but he supposed he could be excused just this once. "There are cameras everywhere on this block."

"I'll make sure Duke's thought of it."

"He will," Chin said. "Do we let him take it?"

Steve took another deep breath, his gaze distant and hard. "For now."

Chin wondered how long that would last. He nodded and said nothing about it, though. They'd see the video, one way or another. Silence lingered for a long moment and Chin found his gaze drawn to the blood on the walk. It seemed to hold a spell over him – over both of them. He stared, transfixed, and started when Steve finally broke the silence.

"Kono's supposed to call."

Chin looked up to find Steve staring at his cell. "Come on," he said. "There's nothing we can do here." And that? That tore anew at his heart. Nothing he could do. Absolutely nothing here. But they could go meet Kono at the hospital and at least try to be some sort of support and encouragement there. "I'll drive us."

At that, Steve glanced at the silver Camaro sitting in its usual spot. Chin could understand: it was a tangible reminder of life, of vitality. Something to hold onto while they waited for some sort of word. He clapped Steve's shoulder gently. "Let's go."

"Yeah." Steve fell into step beside Chin. Together, they skirted the blood and made their way toward Chin's SUV.

Halfway there, Steve's phone rang. He almost dropped it in an uncharacteristic fumble to answer. Chin glanced at the caller id and sent up a desperate prayer that Kono was calling with good news. "Kono?" Steve's questioning tone was underlined with a horrible sort of dread. "You're on speaker. Chin's here." Steve glanced at Chin and Chin could see the prayer mirrored in his eyes.

Kono's voice, tinny through the cell, held a certain thread of desperate strength, as if it was only a thin steel core that kept her from breaking apart completely. "He'll be okay."

Chin wanted to sit down on the grass. Steve let out the breath he'd been holding. "How bad is it?"

"Not as bad as it looked." Chin wondered how bad it had looked that Kono's voice wavered so much. "But bad enough. Come down here?"

Steve was already moving toward the vehicle. Chin had to force his feet to start moving. "On our way."

"This is gonna be our case, right, Boss?" Kono's voice held something both Steve and Chin understood all too well: a desire for retribution.

"It's ours."

Steve's tone brooked no argument. Chin set his jaw. Official channels didn't matter anymore. Steve hung up the phone and Chin wondered if their amiable working relationship with HPD just went down the drain.

So what if it did. He couldn't find it in himself to care right now.

-tbc…

((Author's note: Thank you for all the positive response on this! I couldn't have done it without encouragement from the DWOCD. Special shout-out to those wonderful, rockin' people. It's a shorter chapter, I know, but it's the best natural stopping point I had. You're all awesome; thank you.))