A/N: Thanks, again, to everyone who took the time to leave a review! I appreciate it a lot and I'm really happy to hear that you are enjoying the story so far!
Chapter 3
"So, what did the doctor say?"
Bixler dropped down heavily in the chair next to Edith. They were hard plastic chairs, bolted to the wall of the seemingly unending hospital corridor and, true to the cliché, incredibly uncomfortable. He pinched the bridge of his nose and yawned. "It's not looking good."
Edith just stared at her partner for a moment, wondering if she had missed something along the way. It had been a pretty confusing day after all. "What do you mean, it's not looking good?"
"The doctor said that he suffered an 'intracranial hemorrhage'," he explained, air-quoting the medical term, and added, "It's a brain bleed or something."
"A what- a brain bleed?" Edith sputtered out. "But . . . he was fine." She slumped back in her chair, shaking her head in disbelieve. "He even walked to the ambulance, Bix. How's this possible? I mean, did they hit a tree or something on their way over here?"
Bixler gave her a sideways look as he leaned forward in his chair, propping his elbows up on his knees. "I don't know," he groaned tiredly. "The doctor said he suddenly just started seizing. According to him, these things can be tricky in that way. Don't show up on scans until it's too late."
"Too late, as in . . . he could die?"
Bixler shrugged. "I guess."
"Damn."
"Edie, come on. You don't even now this guy. Don't tell me you've grown attached already," he said in a patronizing voice and started patting her knee. "Besides, he's a career criminal who almost murdered a child tonight."
Edith huffed. "True, but still . . . I hate it when they die."
"You picked the wrong job."
Edith punched her partner in the arm for that. But, yeah, maybe she did.
"So, what about the other guy McGarrett didn't kill?" Bixler asked after a pause.
"I'm not a doctor but, barring any brain bleeding complications, he should be fine; eventually." Edith had spoken to his doctor a few minutes ago. Aside from a shattered wrist and a broken cheekbone, the guy had only suffered a colossal amount of bruises in the fight. "He's out of surgery and should wake up in a few minutes. They won't let us talk to him before tomorrow, though."
Bixler just nodded as he took in the information silently.
"Kipton called," Edith continued when her partner didn't say anything.
"Was he pissed?"
"No. It was weird, man," she said, scrunching up her nose as she thought back to the particularly awkward conversation with their boss.
"How so?"
"Well, he said the Assistant Director called him, who, apparently, got a call from the Governor. Anyway, long story short, Five-0 is to stay clear of anything directly related to the Williams case due to conflict of interest. They do, however, get to be a part of the ninja home invasion investigation."
"How is that weird?" Bixler shifted in his chair again, apparently still trying – and failing – to find a comfortable position. "Sounds like your typical political ass-kissing compromise to me."
"Kipton wants us to coordinate with Five-0. Find out who these guys are and why they were looking for Matt Williams."
"Us, as in you and me?" Bixler looked at her nonplussed. "But . . . what about Williams? He's on the island, who is looking for him while we're investigating these punks? Can't he send a probationary agent to supervise Five-0? Or maybe Howard Potts. He's got like, what, one or two months left before he retires?"
"I don't know what Kipton thinks he's doing . . . going after Williams alone. But he just said 'he'd handle it'," Edith said, giving Bixler her best impression of the affected tone their boss' voice usually held.
"That's not vague at all."
"Tell me about it. He kind of just hung up after that."
Bixler sighed heavily. "Okay, so . . . let's go and 'coordinate'." He clapped his hands in a 'let's get to work' kind of gesture and stood up. "Where are McGarrett and his gang anyway?"
"Probably still in the ER." Edith could hear her spinal column pop softly as she got up, too. She tiredly stretched out her back as they slowly started their way down the corridor and towards the elevator. "I tried checking on him earlier, but that girl and her cousin . . . they're like pit bulls or something. Wouldn't even let me talk to McGarrett's doctor."
"Do they know that they're supposed to coordinate with us?"
Edith absently patted her partner on the back, remembering how much he hated working with non-FBI law enforcement. "I don't know."
"Well, let's go and find out," he said with fake excitement as he pushed the ground floor button in the elevator.
"You know," Edith said as the doors slit shut in front of them. "Maybe it's some sort of secret ninja-SEAL kind of thing, where he applies pressure to, you know, the jugular vein or something and hours later the person just starts bleeding from the brain and drops dead." She snapped her fingers. "Like that."
"Yeah, probably."
"Don't you think we should do something?"
"Like what, cuz?"
"I don't know, man. But this can't be good for either of them."
"They both look pretty comfortable to me."
"But . . . oh look, there he goes again."
Kono threw up both hands in defeat. She and Chin watched as Steve – who was lying on a bed in the far corner of the emergency room, propped up on a mountain of pillows, snoring peacefully – slowly started listing to the left and then progressed to slide down a little. On his chest, face down, all fours dangling off the sides and also fast asleep, Grace slid right along with him. And again, just like the uncounted times before, Steve twitched – right before he would topple over and face-plant into the floor – and pushed himself back upright, not even bothering to wake up in the process.
In a way, it was like watching a really slow tennis match. Next, they would start tilting to the right and Steve would catch himself in the last moment again – probably all thanks to some freaky SEAL-instinct-thing that got drilled into his brain and made sure that he stayed vertical, even when unconscious.
Steve and Grace had been like this ever since he had gotten x-rayed and stitched up about three hours ago. As soon as the doctor had snapped off his latex gloves, Steve had declared he was good to go and ready to sign out AMA. The doctor had wanted him to stay overnight, but Steve wouldn't hear any of it. He had gotten up and taken a few wobbly steps towards the nurses' desk to sign the necessary forms, when Grace had launched herself at him and effectively tackled him back onto the bed. Minutes later, he had been snoring away peacefully, with Grace lying on top of him.
Kono had been a little worried about both of them, but a nurse had quickly reassured her that Grace was probably just exhausted and that Steve was going to be fine, as long as they woke him up every few hours to check if his brain was still working – just to be sure. And since it was a slow night in the ER, the staff had let them stay right where they were.
Kono huffed. Watching Steve and Grace sleep had been fun the first hour or so, but now it was quickly becoming really boring. Every time the two had started their slow motion descent down the pillow mountain, both Kono and Chin had jumped up from their seats to do . . . something, like throwing themselves on the floor to cushion their fall. However, when the fourth or fifth time had come around, neither of the cousins had bothered to even get up anymore, knowing zombie-SEAL Steve would catch himself in the last possible moment.
"Is there any pizza left?" Kono asked, ogling the box sitting on the chair next to Chin. Her cousin had clung to that thing as dearly as Grace was clinging to Steve.
"You know, there's no way Steve's gonna pay me back for that if you keep eating it."
"Don't worry about the money, cuz," Kono said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "It's on Danny tonight. I told you to get in on the bet."
The doctor had confirmed Kono's suspicion of an – albeit mild – concussion and thus won her twenty bucks from Danny. Ever since the climbing accident – in the course of which Steve had taken a gigantic rock to the head and walked away with just a scratch on his forehead (oh yeah, and a broken arm) – Danny had insisted that McGarrett heads were inconcussable. Kono had bet him that, at the rate they were going, Steve would manage to prove him wrong by the end of the year.
The bullet he had taken to the side had indeed deflected off a rib, cracking it in the process. Aside from a few additional bruises, he was fine. "So a normal day at the office," had been Chin's comment when the doctor had told them.
Now, her cousin was once again focused on his iPad, while all she could do was sit around, eat pizza and wait. Either for Danny to finally call her back and shed some light on the whole Matt situation, or for Chin to find a lead for them to pursue. The thought of going home and to bed didn't even cross her mind.
"You got anything yet?" Kono asked around a mouthful of cold pizza.
"Not really." Chin sighed heavily. "At least nothing that connects these guys to Danny's brother."
After getting the dead guy's fingerprints, it hadn't taken Chin very long to identify the three thugs that had broken into Steve's house. All three of them were small time criminals and had been in the system ever since they could talk, with records longer than the iPad could display.
Kono slumped back in her chair and checked her phone again. She had left Danny two voice mail messages now. Vague ones, to make sure he didn't get a heart attack when he heard that strangers with guns had been in the same room as Grace. But he still hadn't called her back. The whole thing about Danny flying down to New Jersey to see his mother felt off. Especially since it conveniently seemed to coincide with Matt Williams' return to Hawaii.
"Did Steve say anything to you about . . . anything?"
Chin's head came up and he looked at her suspiciously "What do you mean?"
Kono blew out a breath, unsure where to start. "I don't know. Danny's brother. Danny. Anything."
She watched curiously, as Chin's gaze dropped to the floor and then wandered over to where Steve and Grace were sleeping. Even though her cousin's face remained impassive, Kono could see that he had the same iffy feeling about things as she did. "No," he finally said soberly.
"But there's gotta be something going on, right?" Kono said, shifting in her chair. She had been turning things over in her head ever since they had left Steve's house. But talking about it with Chin made her suddenly fidgety. "I mean, Danny disappearing the minute his brother shows back up on the radar. There's gotta be something going on there."
Chin's head suddenly snapped around and he looked at her with just a hint of indignation in his eyes. "What are you saying, cuz?"
Kono backed away from him ever so slightly, startled by the harshness in her cousin's voice. "Nothing," she managed to sputter out, crossing the arms in front of her chest defensively. "I . . . just thought that it's a little weird."
Chin sighed and seemed to relax a little. His gaze dropped to the floor again and when he looked back up at Kono, he smiled apologetically. "Sorry for snapping at you, cuz," he said, putting a hand on her knee in a conciliatory gesture. "It's just that" – there was a heavy pause and Chin squeezed her knee while he seemed to be searching for the right words – "we need to trust each other."
Kono just started at him for a moment. Then she felt her entire body crumple a little with relief and let out a small groan. Chin could get so touchy when it came to trust. "I know," Kono sighed, putting a reassuring hand on her cousin's back. "Trust me, I know. But," she added, trying to keep her tone light, "maybe . . . just maybe, Danny's disappearance has something to do with his brother." She could feel Chin's body going taut again so she picked up the pace and sputtered out, "And he told Steve all about it and he was gonna tell us but then he had Grace and this whole thing with the guys attacking him happened and he just didn't get a chance to talk to us yet."
"Maybe," Chin agreed, staring at Steve and Grace again. "Or maybe Danny just went off alone to deal with his brother and Steve didn't have a clue."
"Huh?" Kono managed eloquently, not entirely sure she just heard right.
"You think Steve would just watch Danny go after his brother alone, without backup?" He turned towards her again and raised an eyebrow, a hint of a smile on his lips.
"No, I don't," Kono said with mighty frown on her face. "But . . . what happened to the whole unwavering trust thing?" She clamped her mouth shut and waited for Chin's reaction, afraid she'd just taken another detour through that particular minefield.
His entire face melted into a resigned smile now. "Danny trusts us and we have to trust him," he simply said, being his eternally sage self.
"Buuut?" Kono drawled, narrowing her eyes at him.
"But people do stupid things when family gets involved."
"Oh yeah," Kono sighed, smiling back at him now. "I have some firsthand experience of that."
In that moment, a nurse came walking by. "Heads up," she said in a hushed voice as she reached Kono and Chin on her roundabout route over to a patient three beds over from Steve. "That FBI lady is coming back, and this time, she's bringing reinforcements." The nurse winked at them and was gone.
And sure enough, three seconds later, agents Lake and Bixler came walking into the ER and made their way straight up the where Chin and Kono were sitting next to Steve's bed. They both got up in an instant, ready to physically fight the agents, if necessary.
Lake, however, immediately raised both hands in a defensive gesture. "Woah, take it easy there, wonder twins," she said, unsuccessfully trying to defuse the situation by putting a note of lightness into her voice.
"What do you want now?" Kono asked irritably, stepping in between the agents and her boss' bed.
"Just to talk." The smile on Agent Lake's lips faltered and her expression along with her tone became serious. "I take it you have been informed that Five-0 is to stay clear of the Matt Williams case?"
Kono couldn't help but roll her eyes at that. "The Governor called about an hour ago," she informed the agents dryly.
"Then you know that we'll be working together on the incident from tonight?"
"Excuse me?" Nope, this was news as far as Kono was concerned.
Lake crossed her arms in front of her arrogantly. "The only reason you get to be part of the investigation in the first place, is because the Governor pulled some strings," she said, sounding snotty as hell. "Agent Bixler and I are here to make sure your investigation stays within its purview."
Behind her, Kono could hear Chin let out a small snort. "I hope that's not all you're planning to do," he said.
Lake gave him a fake smile. "We will, of course, also assist in the investigation."
Oh, thank you very much. Kono rolled her eyes extra dramatically at the comment and sighed. "That's not gonna be necessary."
"What about access to your databases?" Chin asked, ignoring her.
"We'll see about that."
"Is that your idea of 'working together'?" Chin deadpanned.
Lake huffed and then took a glance at her watch. "Look, it's late," she said, avoiding to answer him directly. "I'm going to make some phone calls and get back to you in the morning."
"Please, take your time," Kono said, faking a smile herself.
"Until then, let me just say again that you cannot be looking for Matt Williams. Is that . . . uhm . . . what's going on there?" Agent Lake's focus suddenly shifted and her hands started flailing at the bed behind Kono. She looked over her shoulder and saw that Steve had once again started his descent off the mountain of pillows.
With a dismissive wave of her hand, Kono told Lake not to worry about it. However, the agent's focus on the conversation seemed completely gone. She just kept staring past Kono's shoulder, her head moving along as Steve and Grace slid further down.
"Aren't you gonna do something?" She looked unnerved from Kono to Chin and then back to the bed. Her partner standing behind her seemed completely uninterested in the entire process. He just stared at Kono with a creepy smile on his lips, his eyes twitching occasionally in an attempted wink. With a shudder, Kono just turned around to the bed again, trying to ignore the two agents. Chin could deal with both of them.
"Hey, Commander McGarrett", Lake suddenly shrieked behind her, starting and unfortunate chain of events.
At the mention of his name, Steve's eyes snapped open. By now, he and Grace were already near the point of toppling over the edge of the bed. Finding himself off balance, Steve instinctively tried to push himself and Gracie upright with his right hand. He missed the mattress by a couple inches, though, which only added to their momentum. Barely half-awake and operating on autopilot, Steve managed to protectively wrap his left arm around Grace and roll onto his back before the two of them hit the floor.
"Ouch."
"Shit." Kono quickly crouched down next to the two, with Chin right behind her. She managed to untangle Grace from Steve, quickly checked her over for superficial damage and then hoisted her up in her arms. Just like Steve, Grace seemed a little shaken by the abrupt wake-up and just stared around the room with huge, bleary eyes.
Kono turned around to where Agent Lake still stood. She seemed to be shocked right down to the bone by what just happened – seriously, how was this woman an FBI agent? – but Kono decided to give her the death glare for good measure anyway.
With a sympathetic grin, Chin helped Steve sit up on the floor, while Kono dropped down on the next bed, still holding Grace in her arms. "You okay there, boss?" she asked with a small smile on her lips.
Steve blinked a couple more times and then ran a hand over his face to wipe away the remnants of sleep. A small wince escaped his mouth when he touched the apparently forgotten cut on his forehead. The noise let Grace's head snap up and her eyes quickly scanned to room until she found Steve sitting on the floor.
"Uncle Steve, are you okay?" she asked in a sleepy voice.
Steve answered with a goofy smile and a slow nod. "Yeah."
Grace scrunched up her face with newfound determination. She extricated herself from Kono's arms and quickly slid down the side of the bed. Afraid the little girl would reattach herself to Steve, Kono jumped up, but stopped when she saw that Grace merely crouched down beside him and started staring at the freshly stitched-up wound on his head.
"Does it hurt much?" she asked.
Steve seemed to struggle to keep his face serious. "Don't worry about it, Gracie," he told her and patted her knee.
"Well, it looks like it would hurt," she argued, sounding a lot like Danny all of a sudden.
"Okay, maybe it hurts a little," Steve admitted, not longer able to hold back a small chuckle.
Grace still remained dead serious. "When I hurt myself, Danno always kisses it better. It doesn't really make it hurt any less, but it always makes me feel better, you know?" She just looked at Steve for a moment and then asked, "Do you want me to try and kiss it better?"
"Sure, I'd love that."
Grace craned her neck up and carefully planted a soft kiss on Steve's forehead. Kono had to bite down on the insides of her lips to keep a wide grin from spreading across her face.
Once she was done, Grace crouched back down and pursed her lips, looking at Steve expectantly.
He gave her a broad smile. "Thanks, I feel a lot better."
Grace smiled satisfied. She pushed herself back up and looked around the room in a 'my job here is done' kind of way.
This time, Kono couldn't hold back a snort.
-to be continued-
