In a sidelong glance, Danny caught Joe's stare, to which he responded with a puzzled frown, the exchange going unnoticed by mother and son.

"Come, let's all go inside," Margaret beckoned, slipping one arm in Danny's and draping the other over Steve's.

Danny was ill-at-ease and appeared understandably out of place in this family reunion. He felt a tad intrusive in what he considered a private moment between mother and son, but Steve was quick to put his qualms to rest when he confided in his mother that Danny was the brother he never had.

Danny sat mostly in retreat to observe the interaction between Steve and Margaret. He kept an objective view of the situation, scrutinizing ever glance, every smile, every tone and expression that passed through the pair. Time and again he feared for his friend's life whenever he was off on his quest to avenge his father's murder. His heart ache for Steve each time his investigations would hit a snag or a dead end, aware of the burning arrow of failure slicing through his friend's pride.

That serene look on Steve's face told Danny that he was finally at peace. It felt good to see him basking in genuine happiness. It was a sight to behold that sent his heart aflutter. So why was his instincts nagging at him to probe deeper beneath the seemingly bliss that he was witnessing?

While Steve and Margaret were sharing tips on how to cook a particular dish for supper, Joe tugged at Danny's arm and took him aside. "Let's step outside to give them their private moment."

Danny agreed, though with some reservations, and followed Joe out onto the porch. He breathed in a lungful of air, somewhat refreshing though a bit too muggy for his taste. "It's a great spot you've got here. Aside from the lack of electricity and indoor plumbing, the retreat is peaceful and quiet, in the middle of nowhere. Wo Fat wouldn't think of looking for Shelburne here."

"That's why I picked it. And it's not a permanent dwelling." Joe nodded back to the cabin. "They look good together, don't they?"

"Yeah, they do," Danny replied dryly and unconvincingly.

"Let's walk a bit, shall we?" Joe invited to which Danny nodded and tagged along, careful to stay one step behind to keep watch on any sudden moves. They stopped near the quay and contemplated in silence the moon reflecting upon the water.

"Something on your mind, Danny?" Joe broached the subject he knew had been festering on the detective's mind.

Danny crossed his arms against his chest and briefly pondered his next move before acting upon it. "Yeah, there is. What was that sullen look you threw at me when I arrived with Steve earlier today?"

"What look? What are you talking about?"

"Come on Joe, It was hard to miss. Nearly bore a hole through me." Danny scorned, giving Joe a furtive glance to get a reading on his demeanour. "My being here bothers you, doesn't it?"

Joe scoffed, "Come on, Danny. You're Steve's best friend. He wanted you here."

Danny hung his head and stared down at the ground. "I offered to come. He didn't ask. He was too damn distraught."

"It was the shock of seeing his mother alive after all these years. For the life of me I never anticipated this kind of reaction from him. But he's better now." The ominous silence prompted Joe to turn to Danny with a dubious stare. "You don't like me much, do you son?"

Danny burst into a guffaw. "Now wherever did you unearth that notion?" he said sarcastically.

"Your tone. I'm beginning to see what McGarrett meant by that. Do you see me as some sort of a threat? Dread I might take Steve away from you?"

Joe knew that he had hit a nerve when Danny became visibly restless with hands flying all over the place. "Why is everybody saying that, do I have a jaundiced eye or something? I'm not possessive of him! If he chooses to sever our friendship tomorrow, that's it! I'm gone."

"No risk of that happening anytime soon. He loves you like a brother."

"Yeah, well, things can change," Danny muttered grimly, hoping his words wouldn't prove true. Crossing his arms back against his chest in a rebellious stance, his head motioned to the cabin. "Is she really Margaret McGarrett?"

Joe frowned suspiciously. "Are you implying she's not?"

"Listen…" Danny braced himself to deliver a solid warning with hands ready to punctuate his every word. "He's been through the emotional ringer with this Shelburne affair. I've seen him run himself to the ground, literary risking his life to locate that elusive character. You cannot fathom the grief that man had penned up inside and now with his mot," Danny faltered at the word, sucking in a deep breath to continue, "mother back in his life...after nearly twenty years of believing she was dead…please tell me this is not a hoax! Otherwise it will destroy him."

"Your concern for Steve is admirable."

"I'm just looking out for him. Joe I mean it," Danny cautioned with eyes narrowed in contempt, "don't hurt him or I'm coming after you and that's a promise."

"Danny, I assure you, she is Margaret McGarrett. She is Steve's mother."

"Guess that can be proven with blood work and DNA tests."

"You can conduct any analysis you want. I say she's the real deal."

"Ah there it is!" Danny gloated. "The key word: I. I'm even starting to harbour serious doubts about her being Shelburne."

Joe shook his head disbelievingly at Danny's mulishness. "My you have a suspicious nature."

"Yeah, it's scary to think that McGarrett is starting to rub off on me. So?"

At that decisive moment, Steve walked out of the cabin to locate the pair, thus bailing Joe out of having to elaborate on the question raised. "Joe, Danny, where are…ah there you are! Supper's ready guys."

"Good, I'm famished," Danny enthused, rubbing his hands together, hoping to throw Steve off the track about the caustic exchange. "Let me guess? Pineapple and ham pizza?" he jested.

"No, it's fish. My mom's recipe."

"Sounds good."

"Hey, is everything alright?" Steve asked with a raised eyebrow, a question not directed at anyone in particular.

"Everything's fine, son." Joe said reassuringly, wrapping a fatherly arm around Steve's shoulders as they walked inside the modest abode. "Your pal and I were just getting better acquainted, basically shooting the breeze."

Later that night, Steve and Danny retired into a small room with barely space enough to fit the two cots set up for the two guests.

"I hope you don't mind sharing a room? It's quite confined but this cabin's very small," Steve asked Danny as he removed his boots on the edge of his cot.

"No sweat," Danny assured, creeping into his own cot next to Steve's. "It'll be like summer camp. They didn't have air conditioning back then either."

Steve chuckled and removed his cargo pants and shirt. "Most of everything in this shack runs on battery power. Fortunately the night air is not too damp and relatively comfortable for sleeping, but then again I'm used to sweltering weather." Now in boxers and tee, he slipped under the thin blanket and wiggled into a comfortable position. "If you want I can bring in a fan."

"No, no, I'm alright. Oh, one thing I ask of you, babe. Please don't snore."

"I don't snore!" Steve retorted, acting offended.

"Good. Cause I'd hate to smack you in the middle of the night."

"Try it and I'll kick you where it hurts. SEAL instincts, you know."

Steve adjusted his blanket, pulling it to rest on his chest. He laid with his fingers laced across his belly with eyes dwelling blankly on the ceiling. "Hey Danny?"

"Yeah?"

"Just wanted to say thank you for being here."

"Don't mention it."

"I'm sorry for jumping down your throat earlier about leaving Hawaii with Kono and Malia in the hospital. I was bent out of shape that you would…"

"Hey!" Danny interjected. "Don't go there, babe. To be honest, I did hesitate to board that flight, but Chin's the one who pushed me to come. He was as worried about you as I was. Besides you heard him on the phone? The doctors are now optimistic that our ladies will pull through. Tough gals. Anyhow we're going back tomorrow."

"Yeah."

Silence and two heavy signs later that spoke volume about his partner's turmoil, Danny egged on, "Let it out, partner. Just let it out."

Steve closed his eyes and gathered his thoughts. "When I first saw her, it caught me off guard and I completely lost it. It's as though the past 18 years of my life were yanked out of existence in a blink of an eye. I regressed to this sixteen-year-old scared out of his wits when he heard his mom had died," he said wistfully with a twinge in his heart. "I ran, screamed and cried like a helpless kid as the raw memories all came rushing back with a vengeance. I wanted to believe it was her, but the shock knocked me out. I couldn't handle it and Lord knows I'm trained to face just about any situation thrown at me." Danny leaned on his left side and stared at Steve intently as he related his meeting with his mother with heavy emotions until now Danny had never witnessed. "The maelstrom of emotions that brew inside of me at that moment was indescribable. It threw me off kilter."

"I know how hard this must have been for you."

"You have no idea. Finally got some bearing back and decided to leave when Joe stopped me. Then she pleaded with me to stay. Danny, I didn't know what to do. She pulled me into her arms and I took one whiff of her scent and …and I broke down. I knew then beyond any doubt that she was my mother." Steve turned on his right side to face Danny as he continued, "The worse part for me is that her memory of the past was wiped out in that explosion. She can't recall most of my childhood, aside from what Joe has told her through pictures and memorabilia."

"Yeah, she's a blank slate for anyone intent on dumping new information into her memory bank," Danny said bluntly.

"I thought about that but there are some bits of memories still lingering, like when I was about nine or ten, I fell off my bike and scraped my knee real bad. I ran home crying and when I got into the house, I freaked out because I couldn't find my mom. She was always there and now she was nowhere to be found. I bawled and shouted her name until she came rushing down from the attic. She remembered that moment. This is definitely not something that Joe could have been privy to." Steve paused and mused. "And when I look into her eyes…it's all there…what I remember about her. The mirror of the soul doesn't lie."

"Eyes can sometimes be made to deceive," Danny demurred.

Steve frowned. "What are you saying? That she's faking it?"

"Not necessarily but think about it for a second here, why would she be the infamous Shelburne? It doesn't make a whole lot sense. I mean why the need to keep her in hiding? From what you told me, she was never a threat to Wo Fat and the Yakuza. The bomb in the car was meant for your father, not your mom? It was just wrong place, wrong time. If she's an innocent victim in all of this…?"

"Joe said that the Yakuza could have used her against dad, believing she might have held crucial information on his investigation and they would have tortured her like they did me in North Korea."

"Well put that way it does make sense. But why give her that codename? If you want to protect someone you don't make him the primary target. Wo Fat wants to kill Shelburne. Unless your mom was an operative for the FBI, CIA or any other organization hell-bent on dismantling the network?" He glanced at Steve to gauge his reaction. He could tell the SEAL was mentally debating his assumption. "Have you ever overheard your parents discussing their work in the household?"

"Mom was a housewife. Be as it may, it's hard to believe she could have moonlighted as an undercover agent. I would have known eventually."

"I think she's just a decoy and that the real Shelburne has yet to come out"

An dark notion sprung into Steve's mind. He turned to Danny with an inquisitive stare. "Joe? Eyes narrowed in dread. "You think Joe could be Shelburne?"

"You said it, not me."

"You don't like him very much, do you?" Steve expressed, glancing at him, seemingly picking up on Danny's uneasiness.

Danny shifted uncomfortably and conceded, "Honestly? I don't trust the man, never have. That was just an act for your benefit."

"Joe never gave me reasons to doubt his integrity. He even led you into North Korea to pry me out of Wo Fat's claws."

"I didn't say the man doesn't have redeeming qualities," Danny defended. "Something about his eyes when he looks at me. He sees me as a threat of some sort."

"That's ridiculous," Steve derided.

"Yeah perhaps I'm overreating. I tend to suspect everyone that comes in close contact with you. But let's face it, the characters you've associated with recently have given me reasons to erect that fence around you. I apologize in advance if I'm wrong."

"I trust your instincts, Danno. They got us out of jams before. I'm on the inside caught in this emotional mayhem and it's clouding my judgment. You on the other hand have a clear view of what's going on."

"Did I hear you right? You trust my instincts?"

"Great minds think alike," Steve said with a mischievous grin.

"That's scary," Danny shuddered.

"Tomorrow we'll get her back to Hawaii where we can deal with it on our own turf. I want Chin to see her and Max to test her for DNA. They'll either confirm or dispute her identity." Steve stated resolutely, turning to settle into a prone position.

"Didn't you say you were positive she was your mother?"

"Just want to cast any shred of doubt aside."

"Then we should get some shut eyes. It's been a long trying day for us all."

"Yeah. Say Danno?" Steve raised and waited for Danny to look at him. "Sorry I dragged you into this."

"I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

"That's the trouble with you."

"Yeah, trouble called love and friendship, babe. Now go to sleep."

"Yes, mother."

During the night, Joe snuck into the room and watched the two men sleeping. Danny was facing the wall, snoring like a banshee.

Sometimes later, Steve woke to the nerve-grating whirr of Danny's snoring. "I don't believe this! And he warns ME not to snore!" Steve turned to Danny. "Hey Danny!" louder, "Danny, man you're going to wake up the whole island."

Danny choked and snorted but resumed his snoring. Steve was exasperated. He pressed his pillow against his ears and when that failed to drown out the sound, he threw the pillow at Danny who just shifted a bit without waking, though silence ensued.

Satisfied, Steve settled into a comfortable position. Sleep was about to claim him when he heard a noise coming from the other room. His inner alarm kicking into gear, he flung the blanket aside and got up to investigate.

He yawned and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he clumped over to the living room. Noting that everything was in order, he walked to the adjacent kitchenette to grab a bottle of water from the compact refrigerator.

Outside, Joe was standing on the dock, cell phone in hand. With much reluctance, he dialed.

"Chan, yeah it's me, Joe."

"I hope you have some good news for me?"

"Not yet. I'm still working on it."

"Time is running out, Joe," warned the man on the other end.

"Time? What time? Wo Fat's behind bars. He can't get to you."

"Wrong. The bastard's pulling the reins from inside. We were supposed to get a shipment today but Wo Fat managed to intercept it and had my men killed. We need to take him out for good!" he stressed.

"Not that simple. We need McGarrett to pull that off. Right now he's taken the bait and I just need to reel him in slowly. But I hit a snag. His partner Danny Williams is here. He's one nosy body and I doubt he trusts me."

"We can handle that nuisance for you."

"DON'T you dare!" Joe snarled. "He and McGarrett are joined at the hip. You kill one, you wound the other. Besides I believe I can work this situation to my advantage. If push comes to shove and McGarrett's not in the game I can use Williams instead, but until then you lay low. I'll make sure you get your shipment this week."

Steve was heading back to his room when a muffled voice wafting from outside the cabin caught his attention. He cast a squinting eye out the window and discerned a black silhouette talking on a cell phone, whose identity he couldn't make out. He padded up to the door and opened it at a crack to eavesdrop on this shady character's conversation. The voice was unmistakably Joe's.

"Now I mean it, don't do anything stupid or you'll ruin it for us." Joe hung up and turned to head back inside the cabin.

Steve hurried back to his room, gently pushed the door close and slid under the blanket.

The ajar front door of the cabin prompted a wary Joe to go check on the two guests. As he cracked open the door to the guest room, he was assaulted by the sound of a bear grunting. Danny was snoring Steve's ears off who appeared to be out like a light. Steve eased down his breathing to avoid tipping Joe off as to his little night escapade and was poised ready to lunge at him if he dared come close to either one of them. Joe just chuckled at the scene and closed the door on his way out, much to Steve's relief.

Steve pried one eye open to check if the unwanted visitor was gone before opening the other, wondering what Joe was up to. Then he turned to Danny and hurled another pillow at him to shut his roaring engine.