A/N: This story is eccentric and too much fun. Only one more chapter to go. My fascination with the McDanno bromance shows in this chapter. Despite not getting the usual number of reviews, the quality of reviews I get are terrific. Thanks for inspiring me to finish this. Sheila

Auntie

Chapter 6

Chin kept his lights on bright as he drove Old Wakailani Road. It was a long road that stretched across most of Oahu's plantations. There was almost no street lights up in this country and his only consolation was a full moon in a clear, starry sky. He was at least fifteen minutes ahead of anyone else. Kono called every few minutes to announce that others had joined the search. Kamekona and Flippa were riding the shrimp van, and Jerry had picked up Max, and was headed up to the fields. Even Duke Lukela was coming. He knew the leaks in HPD were bad so Kono said Duke was plainsclothes in his own car. The calls were frantic because Sang Min was in the backseat yelling about getting his handcuffs removed and needing a weapon.

The only sounds missing were from Steve. He was driving, and Chin never heard a peep out of him when Kono called. He knew McGarrett well enough to know that Steve had gone to a place deep inside himself where nothing mattered but the mission in front of him. That would be a comforting thought if not for the widening chasm between him and Steve. If this went bad, there would be questions about his decision to check out Sang's story on his own, and Chin doubted that their relationship could survive it. He suspected that, with all of Steve's control issues, there would always be something in the back of the Navy Seal's head wondering if they could've saved Danny if they'd all gone down to Sang Min's aunt's house when Sang first gave him the story. And Chin knew that he would be right. Chin had spent so much of the last four days trying to manage their grief and protect them from more that he'd buried the best lead they had.

The anxiety in Chin's gut was not just for Danny but for the survival of the 5-0 ohana they had all worked so hard to build. Chin worked to steady his breathing as he frantically searched the dark country road for signs of life.

…

The two women dragged him through the shards of glass and onto the stiff bed of sugarcane trodden by roll of the pineapple truck. Liang kept up a litany of complaints in Chinese directed at Joon, but the tiny woman was determined to get her haole boy out of the truck. Smoke billowed out of the sedan crushed under the truck when Danny hit the brakes.

When Danny was settled on the ground, Joon turned and said something sharply to her friend. Liang got up and crawled back into the truck. Then she took her haole boy's face in her hands. "Wake up, haole boy! Wake up! You okay. I know you okay. Please. You okay?"

Eyes didn't open, but a long moan sounded. Joon smiled. "This good, haole. This good."

"Where is Auntie Liang?"

"She looking for gun."

Danny grimaced as his eyes opened. "How am I still alive?"

"Stinky lizard tea."

"Noooo!"

"It a joke. I happy you alive, haole boy!" She patted his face.

Danny was staring past her. She looked back. "We crush 'em up."

His breath caught. "Auntie Joon, where's that gun?"

She looked again and saw someone dragging himself out of the backseat of the sedan. "Oh no!"

Danny tried to rise up, but the pain was too much. "I need a gun!"

Joon scrambled over to the truck lying on its side. "Hurry Liang!"

Danny watched as the man dragged a semi automatic out of the sedan. "Aunties!"

"I can't find it!" came a voice from the overturned cab of the truck.

"Hurry!" The only saving grace was the man with the semi automatic was clearly injured and disoriented. Danny watched as the man plopped it in his lap and looked around.

Then the man focused in on Danny lying on the ground, clutched the gun, and struggled to get to his feet.

Danny looked over to the cab of the truck and yelled, "Aunties! Run!"

….

Chin cursed the lack of road lighting as he squinted through the windshield of his car with his cell pasted to one ear. "I'm trying to make sure I don't miss anything, Kono…There are at least 40 miles of winding road up here…You got everyone on this? Jerry? Max? Kamekona? Duke?...Good. They could've gone off the road and ended up on one of these dirt roads. It's hard to know…"

Sharp, distinctive cracks sounded in the distance.

Chin shouted into the phone. "Gunshots! Sounds close! Kono, lock on my phone, and send everyone to me!"

He could see smoke rising up from a wreck. As he got closer, he saw the crushed remains of a car and a pineapple truck rolled over into a ditch. He drew his weapon and circled the scene. "Hello! Hawaii 5-0! Everyone okay?"

A small Asian woman appeared out of the shadows carrying an old machete. "Get back, snakehead! You Gabriel boy!"

"No ma'am. I am 5-0. Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly. I'm Danny's friend."

"Don't believe you! I no fool!" She shouted fiercely. "I cut you up and bury you in pineapple field!"

"Chin!" Came a familiar voice. "Is that really you?"

Chin's body shuddered as relief flooded through him. "Danny!"

"He snakehead, Danielle!" Liang insisted.

"No. He's my friend. We need his help."

She still glared at Chin, but she let the machete fall to her side. Chin ran past her following the sound of Danny's voice. He found Danny lying in sugarcane, another small Asian woman crouched next to him. He was holding onto an old revolver.

Danny smiled through labored breathing. "You're a sight, Chin."

Chin knelt down next to him with a big smile. "God, it's good to see you."

"I'm banged real good, brah."

"I can see that." He nodded at the gun. "You kill someone with that relic?"

Danny pointed the gun at a body in the cane. "Auntie Joon got it to me just in time."

Danny groaned as he tried to shift his body, but Chin was still looking at him with a goofy grin on his face.

Danny gave him a look. "You need to practice your empathy."

"Danny, we thought you were dead for four of the longest days of my life. I got nothing but love in my heart right now."

"We got problems, Chin. I figure Waincroft's people are on their way."

"Calvary is on its way," Chin said. Still, he straightened up, and went toward the remains of the car, his weapon drawn. He pulled a flashlight and checked out the inside of the car.

"Two dead in the front," he called and then crawled into the back seat. He reappeared holding a phone. "There's a text to someone after the crash. Trouble is on its way."

He reached for his own phone when he heard Auntie Liang threaten to bury someone in pineapple field again. Danny twisted in her direction. "Who is it?"

Chin ran past him, gun drawn. He threw the beam of his flashlight in the direction of three figures in the dark, and relaxed when he saw it was Kono, Steve, and Sang Min. Sang had no cuffs on and was rubbing his wrists.

Chin nodded. "Auntie, put down the machete. They're here to help."

She kept it raised, her eyes narrowed at Sang. "I know that snakehead. He bad nephew."

"Who invited you to this party?" Sang sneered.

"Joon need protection and you no good," she countered.

Chin put a hand on her arm and pulled the machete out of her grasp. "No time for nonsense, Auntie. We have to move fast."

"What's the situation and where's Danny?" Steve said as he moved past Chin.

Chin nodded to Kono. "We need a lookout for Waincroft's people."

She nodded and set up on the road.

Then he fell in after Steve. "We don't have much time, Steve. People are on their way."

Steve didn't acknowledge him. A ragged breath came when he spotted Danny in the sugarcane. He knelt down and put his hand on Danny's cheek. "You have no idea, Danny."

"You took care of her for me, didn't you?"

He nodded, rubbing his mouth. "Hardest week of my life."

Danny closed his eyes and nodded. "Okay. I get it. But we gotta save it for later. We'll write each other love poems or something. We got work to do."

"Got to get you to a hospital."

Danny shook his head. "Can't. Too risky. We don't even know what's going on, Steve."

"You're hurt bad."

Danny glanced at Joon sitting near his head. "I lasted for four days with Auntie Joon treating me with bad Malaysian soap operas and stinky lizard tea. If I wasn't going to make it, we'd know by now."

"Shut up. You're no doctor. You'll do what I say."

Kono appeared. "Duke is here."

Steve looked up. "Bring him back. We have to figure out protection at the hospital."

Duke Lukela came back wearing a Hawaiian shirt and jeans. "Danny, finding you alive is really good news."

"He needs a hospital."

Duke sighed. "You sure this is Waincroft?"

"Yeah."

"Protection is going to be a nightmare. He's not just dangerous; he's creative. He has infiltrated my department in a number of ways, and I can't guarantee anything."

"Duke's right," Danny said. "I need a safe house, not a hospital."

Auntie Joon patted his head. "I take care of haole boy good."

Sang appeared. "No love for me, Auntie?"

She frowned at him. "You late. We almost dead. Poor haole boy hurt again."

"I got arrested! Not my fault."

"You always arrested. You snakehead!"

"Okay," Chin said with his hands in the air. "That's enough! We load Danny into a car now or we get ready for a shootout."

Steve tensed and looked up. "Four hours you knew he was alive. And when we found out, it wasn't even from you."

"I was checking out Sang's story, Steve. If you and I need to rumble, let's do it, but let's take care of business first."

Danny noted the anger between his friends. "Hey! I'm gone four days and the two of you engage in a dick waving contest. I don't think so. Put it away until later."

Kono ran up. "Kamekona is here with the van. There's room for Danny. Are we doing this or what?"

"Yeah," Steve said getting to his feet. "I got a place. Let's get out of here."

….

Lou Grover stood on his porch in the early dawn and chewed on a cigar. It was a little early for tobacco, but it helped hide a smile on his face. On the other side of the porch stood the new SWAT Commander, arms folded. A two hour argument between the two of them had stopped only a few minutes earlier.

The last of the cars in the cul de sac was being towed away. The neighbors were going to scream, but Lou didn't care. They had already squawking about the SWAT vans on the street the last two days. Lou would pay for the tows, but it wouldn't protect him from a neighborhood not used to the vagaries of law enforcement. Still, he didn't care. It was all going to worth it.

He heard the rotors before he saw the large Navy helo transport. He peered in the window to the living room. His pissed off wife, Renee, daughter, Rachel, Grace, and Charlie were seated among hastily packed bags. That was the only rough spot. Clearly, she was going to have to absorb most of the anger from the neighbors.

The helo was impressive and, despite its size, it dropped with grace and precision. Joe White hopped out, crouched over, and came running. He greeted Lou at the stairs. "You ready?"

"You kidding? We get to hide out on a Navy battle cruiser in the Pacific. This would have been on my bucket list if I could even imagine such a thing."

"It's not a cruise ship, Lou."

"It's better."

Joe chuckled. "You tell her yet?"

"Nope. She's twelve years old. She'll tell the world. The plan is to wait until we get on the ship."

"Good."

"I get to touch things, right? You're going to get me up to the bridge, okay. Maybe, I'll steer the ship or something like that."

"Yeah, 'cause this is all about you."

Lou shrugged. "It's been a rough week."

"Yeah," Joe said patting his shoulder. "Let's get them on the ship and tell them some good news."

…..

Danny woke to silence for the first time in a week. There was an IV again, but the house wasn't Auntie Joon's. The shades were drawn, and Danny felt panic in his gut. The possibility that he was under Waincroft's control ran through his head. Then he noted a familiar scent and turned his head. A familiar head of hair was resting on the bed beside him. He touched it and the head popped up, Kono's eyes blinking as she sat back in her chair. She showed him a sleepy smile. "Hi brother."

"Hey beautiful," he murmured. "Tell me we're somewhere safe. Tell me Grace and Charlie are okay."

"They are on the U.S.S. Minneapolis somewhere about 500 miles off shore."

"Seriously. That's cool. Does Grace know that I'm okay?"

"Yeah. She cried on the phone with Steve for about 20 minutes."

"I want to talk to her."

"The ship is on radio silence right now. The next opportunity will be some time tomorrow."

"Poor Grace."

"She's a strong kid, Danny. You made her strong."

"She deserves better than this. I should've been a school teacher."

She laughed. "You would've lasted less than a week, Danny. You are one of those people that was born for the job you have."

He nodded and ran fingers through his hair. "Where's Steve? Where are we? What happened last night?"

"Lots of drama," she sighed. "You're at Steve's house. Basement bedroom."

Danny squinted. "If he was any kind of friend, I'd have the master bedroom."

"Exactly," she chuckled. "But we have to keep you out of sight. We're not sure that Waincroft actually knows you are alive."

"Tell me everything."

"I'm not supposed to stress you."

"Kono, I eat stress for breakfast. Fill me in."

"Well, Max is your doctor and that doesn't make him happy because he generally works on dead people. He thinks you should be in a hospital."

"He'll do fine."

"Your aunties are still here."

Danny smiled. "Those ladies are amazing. Tougher than nails. I say we hire them to interrogate our suspects."

Kono threw back her head and laughed. "They've taken over the house. According to them, Steve lives like a pig. They have dismantled his kitchen. Auntie Joon is upset about Steve's cable package. Apparently, he doesn't have the channel that carries her favorite soap opera."

"Ohhh," Danny groaned. "That has to get fixed right away. Bujang is about to hold hands with Tembam. We can not- I repeat- we cannot miss that."

"Jerry is rigging something up, and, last I heard, Sang was going up to the roof to set it up."

"It's a circus."

"Yeah, it is." She smiled at him and squeezed his hand. "I am so glad you're back, Danny."

"Okay, now tell me what's really going on. Last night, Steve and Chin were circling each other like a pair of bulls."

Kono looked down for a long moment.

He squeezed her hand. "It's okay, Sweetie. We're ohana and the Steve whisperer is back. Tell me about it."

She nodded, still not looking up. "It's been rough, and…uh, you know how he gets under extreme stress."

"Ahh. So, the Seal returned. Mission mode."

"Yeah."

"Almost no communication. Superhuman expectations. Am I on the right track?"

"Yeah. We needed to work together as a team, and we needed each other because it was you…" Her voice cracked.

"I'm so sorry." He massaged her knuckles. "I am so very sorry. I let my anxiety lead me right into a trap."

"Nobody blames you."

"Well, they should. Tell me more."

"Chin had to compensate, and they just kept butting heads. Steve thought he was trying to take over. Chin was only-"

"You don't need to explain it. Chin was doing the right thing. In fact, he should get a medal for standing up to "shoot first, ask questions later" McGarrett."

"Yeah, but the boss had it rough. You are very important to him…you're like his anchor, and then there was Grace. She needed him and, in the midst of this craziness, he was there for her."

Danny's eyes watered. "My poor little monkey."

She nodded. "The final straw was finding you. Sang told Chin all about what happened, but instead of telling us, he went to investigate it himself. He knew for four hours without telling us, Danny. We could've lost you last night. What if we hadn't gotten to you in time?"

"Please! I was under the protection of two very capable Hawaiian senior citizens."

"Chin was wrong."

Danny shook his head. "Come on. Sang Min tells Chin a crazy story about setting up an assassination plot with his gang of bobbleheads and then says I'm stashed at his auntie's shack. Please! Chin was absolutely correct in checking that out before telling Steve. Can you imagine? He would have landed in that 'hood with enough hardware to level the place. The situation needed a softer touch."

She sighed. "This always works for you. You can say or do whatever you want with Steve, and he just accepts it."

"It's because he thinks I'm disabled."

"What? He does not."

"He does!" Danny threw his hands into the air. "He thinks I can't control myself. My anxiety. My…contrariness. He thinks it would be like asking an autistic guy not to be autistic. It can't be done."

"I think it's a little more complex than that."

"I don't." They turned to see Steve standing in the doorway. "He is diseased."

"Hey boss." Kono's face reddened. "You need something?"

"Sang's aunt and her friend are camped out in the kitchen, and they won't cook any "haole box" food. Kamekona is out buying rice, and Sang and Chin are fishing in the surf for lunch. I kid you not."

"I'm not sure they'll listen to me any better than you."

"Oh, I've given up on logic, but the kitchen has never been cleaner."

"Did you fix the cable?" Danny asked. "You gotta fix the cable so she can watch Manjalara."

"Yes," he sighed. "We are now pirating channels I never knew existed."

Steve just stood in the doorway with his hands in his pockets looking awkward. Kono gave Danny a kiss on the cheek, "Let me go see if I can help those guys snag something in the surf."

Danny motioned him over. "Come on. Sit down. I'm alive. It's time to relax a little."

Steve dropped into the chair Kono vacated.

"Didn't sleep yet, did ya?"

Steve shrugged. "This is not over. What does Waincroft want? You're not safe, and neither is your family until we come to some resolution. How long are we going to be holed up here like the Swiss Family Robinson eating fish stew?"

Danny smiled. "That's good, Steve. Humor. That's a good sign. You've been through a lot."

He nodded but said nothing.

"I say we have a little team meeting. We'll work together. Come up with a plan."

"You should be in a hospital."

"Well, that's not going to happen. I have Max and painkillers and Auntie Joon. I'll be fine."

Steve looked down. "I was hard on Chin."

"Really? I'm dead for four days and you can't celebrate because you were a dick to someone. Apologize and move on."

"Yeah." Steve nodded.

Danny sighed. "You want to say something, don't you? And you're going to just sit there like a little boy until I drag it out of you."

"Losing you felt…I love you, Danny…not in a "I want to get in your pants kind of way", but I love you and…it was kind of thing where I didn't realize how hard it is to not have you around."

"Hey, sometimes I go to Jersey and you do just fine."

"How many times a day do we still talk when you do that? We're besties, BFF's, gal pals, husband and wife- whatever you want to call it."

"What's your problem?"

Steve blew out air hard. "I'm not making any sense."

"Okay, McGarrett. Answer some questions for me. When you were in the Navy, how often did you see your dad?"

"Once every couple of years."

Danny nodded. "And how often did you talk on the phone?"

He shrugged. "Every couple of months."

"Right. So, you were a good son, but like a good Seal, you didn't foster any dependencies. I am a dependency. I like family. I call my mom five times a week. I insist she puts dad on the phone at least twice a week. My sisters hear from me every week. I'm needy."

Steve sighed. "You're not…needy."

"Oh, shut up. I am too. I've crawled under your skin and you don't like it because it got very hard when you thought I was dead. You couldn't concentrate. You discovered you had emotions and you didn't like it. And then you inherited a 12 year old girl who needed you more than anything."

Steve rubbed his face and looked down.

You're trying to break up with me, and I'm telling you it's not going to happen."

"I'm not breaking up with you!"

"I know you're not because this is what real family looks like when your mother isn't a secret CIA agent who fakes her own death."

"Oh really? A friendship with Danny Williams is normal? I've had plenty of guy friends. This is not normal."

"Steve, look at me." Danny struggled into a sitting position. "Damn. Let's find out what Max is dosing me with 'cause this is better than morphine. Plus, I can think. Okay. Forget that. Look at me."

"I'm looking," Steve said with some of the old exasperation that had characterized their daily interactions.

"I get close to people. I care. It's my gift and my curse. I care like crazy about the people in my life- which means I both love and harass all of you continually. But I need you to understand something. You came into my life when I was four thousand miles away from everyone that mattered except my little girl. And a few months later, I saw my brother for the last time. I was ready to disappear into a bottle when you showed up. You brought me back to life, bro. And I'm sorry it was hard, but that's what you risk when you let people get close."

Steve worked his mouth for a moment. "You shouldn't have taken Sang's bait."

Danny nodded. "Agreed. Of course, that also means Waincroft would have sent someone else after me- someone who really wanted me dead."

"Maybe I can finally think this through."

"Yup," Danny nodded. "Let's get the team together and we'll work it."

"I need sleep."

"You do. And your apology to Chin will sound so much better once you're rested."

Steve chuckled. "Okay."

"No more talk about breaking up."

"I'm not the one who brought it up. We're not breaking up." Then Steve saw that Danny was looking past him with a grin.

Steve turned around and saw a number of faces framed in the doorway. He rolled his eyes and looked toward the ceiling while Danny grinned. "Chin, he needs some sleep and then he'll apologize for being an idiot."

Chin nodded. "I already heard it."

"And you all heard then that the bromance lives on."

"As it should," Kamekona said with a big smile.

Liang broke through. "Garrett has no good spices, Danielle."

"We'll figure something out."

"His name is Danny by the way," Steve said.

She frowned. "That girl name."

"Actually, Danielle is a girl name."

"Not true. Sui Lee has haole niece with Danny name. You wrong."

"I am not wrong," he persisted.

She turned to Danny. "These boy bad fishermen. Only two squid and a dogfish. They need practice, Danielle."

Well, you get on it then, Auntie."

Steve stood. "Do you hear the difference when I say Daniel as opposed to Danielle?"

"Same name!" She barked.

Steve gave him a look, but Danny only shrugged. "Don't worry about it. I like it. Wait until 2 p.m. comes. Manjalara comes on. Tembam might hold hands with Bujang."

"Huh?"

"Just go to bed, Steve. We'll figure out the next step when you wake up."

…..

TBC