A/n: Wow! So nice to see so many of you follow me over from 'A Baby Changes Everything'. And y'all are so suspicious of everybody aren't you?
"When you do nothing, you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved, you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better."-Anonymous
Danny closed his eyes and rolled his neck slightly as he tried to work out the kinks. He was exhausted. The kind of tired that sunk down deep into his bones and hung around with him all day like a lead coat. He had gotten very little sleep over the last few days. After the phone call from Steve/Wo Fat, he had been too amped to rest and most nights he just passed out on the bed for a few hours before he was up again to take care of Makayla while he was trying to figure out how to get into North Korea and get Steve back.
He had called Mary the other day and asked if she could come out and take care of the baby. He hated to pawn her off on someone else but with no nanny (he was still trying to wrap his head around that one) and a missing husband, Danny knew he needed help to ensure their child received the care she needed-care he wasn't sure he could adequately provide right now. Mary had immediately agreed to come and her plane was due in this afternoon. Right now though, Danny was waiting on a different inbound flight.
One of the first problems that Danny knew he faced was that he knew he needed help. He knew that Chin and Kono would do whatever he needed to help him and Steve (if he could just swallow his pride and ask) but he also knew that they still needed more help. They needed someone with the connections and the abilities to pull something like this off. His first thought was to go to the Governor for help but she quickly shot him down. Steve was not on a State sponsored mission or official 5-0 business (at least not according to her) and so there was nothing she could or would do for them. It had taken all of Danny's self control not to scream or hit something (or someone).
So after she shut him down, he went back to Steve's papers again searching desperately for a name. After another late night on the couch surrounded by papers and beer, he found one—Commander Joe White. Danny vaguely remembered Steve talking about the man who had been his training officer and mentor for him when he was in the SEALs. Commander White had been a friend of John McGarrett and that was good enough for Danny to reach out to him for help.
To his credit, the man didn't seem fazed when Danny told him what Steve had done. It was almost as if he had been waiting for a call like this for awhile. The Commander was due in on the military transport that had just landed at Pearl and Danny was waiting for him by the Camaro parked just off the tarmac. He had no idea what the man was like but he was at the point where he was too desperate to care.
"Detective Williams?" Danny lifted his head up to see a bald man in BDUs walking towards him.
"Danny, please." He insisted as he held out a hand for the man to shake.
"Alright, Danny, then you call me Joe." The older man said.
"Thanks for coming all the way out here, Joe. I really appreciate it." Danny commented as he gestured for him to get in the car. "Don't take this the wrong way but you're kind of my last hope."
"Well you said it was a master of life and death." Joe reminded as he got in the passenger seat.
"Isn't it always with Steve?" Danny snorted as he got behind the wheel. He checked the rearview mirror and saw that Makayla was still asleep in her car seat buckled in the back seat.
"That your girl?" Joe asked, noticing Danny's stare. Danny nodded.
"Our daughter, Makayla. She's nine months old." He stated with a little smile.
"Family's a hell of a thing to try to protect." Joe commented.
"I tell myself that's why I this job—" Danny started.
"But some days it just doesn't feel like enough, does it?" Joe finished. Danny just frowned. "Tell me everything you know up to this point." Joe requested as he changed the subject.
"Unfortunately I don't know much more than what I've already told you. Steve purposely kept me out of the loop on all of this so all I have is what I've been told. Apparently he snapped after he found out that Wo Fat had used a rogue Mossad agent who posed as our nanny to dose our daughter and make her sick as a way to get to Steve. He got it in his mind that was the last straw and he had to stop Wo Fat once and for all." Danny stopped and took a slightly shaky breath before he continued with the next part. "I got a call two nights ago from Wo Fat. He's got Steve. How I don't know but he does. I talked to Steve. He's alive and I think he has time but I don't know how much." He admitted, trying to ignore the ache in his chest.
"I think you're right. If I know Wo Fat, he's going to torture Steve if only to prolong his own pleasure. We just have to hope Steve can hang on till we get there."