A/N: Happy New Year. I know I'm a little late, it's been crazy, but here are some new chapters for you!

Chapter 7: Break Down

Night fell in Hawaii without much progress. Toast was camped out in the office running programs and algorithms all while trying to triangulate Izzy's whereabouts on the island. Chin and Kono moved slowly between the office, the crime scene and the lab. Danny's nephew was brought up to speed and told where to find his uncle but Eric decided to stay on the job for as long as possible to help out his uncle. Steve and Lou followed up on the one, and only, lead that they managed to pull together. Izzy, Mick and Frankie had arrived on the island using fake everythings, but facial recognition matched them to ID taken at the airport. Onto of that, Toast was able to collate the people traveling in Izzy's entourage. Six people in total had arrived on a flight from Florida. They'd likely made their way down the eastern seaboard, inconspicuously, in vehicles - staying off toll highways and making their way away from Jersey. Toast flagged all the fake IDs and managed to get the address of a hotel where one of the aliases was used to book a room Steve and Lou were now en-route to that hotel.

"You ever work a case like this back in Chicago?" Steve asked as they drove toward their destination.

"Murder cases like this are a dime a dozen back there." Lou said with a sigh. "They don't usually turn out well. All they do is haunt you to the end of your days."

"No, I mean like Danny's. Big mob case." Steve corrected. "I saw a lot of things in battle scenarios. So many more in intelligence and yet that was war. You know. Good and evil. Right and wrong. Or at least you think so. I don't pretend to know what makes an arms dealer tick or how a civilian can be talked into a bomb vest but mobs are different. And not like the gangs we have here. I mean the old deeply rooted civilian mobs and whole families caught up in it."

"Sure those kinds of families made their way all over the country. New York, New Jersey, Boston, Chicago. It was migration and territory at first and then they stake their claims." Lou explained. "But I'm a cops cop McGarrett. I was SWAT there and SWAT here. I came, not to be a detective and I never put myself out there for that. You made me an offer I couldn't refuse with Five-O." He added and the tone of the old movie mobsters with was in his voice. "Not like I had much of a choice and I do appreciate it, really, I do, but this wasn't my scene either and I hear horror stories just like this one." He said with a shake of his head. "I've been on those front lines after months and years of building a case. I come in to clean up, but those detectives lost parts of their souls to those families. And now, hell, the games has change. The mob was far more civilized. Gang lords, they are just messy and violent, nowhere near as smart but they can get a lot more bloody."

"This is going to get bloody before it gets better." Steve commented.

"Oh you are damn right on that count." Lou agreed as he instinctively check the straps of his vest. "Because this kid is new school. He'd out for revenge. He ain't no mob boss and he ain't no gangbanger. He's somewhere in between, and that is an evolution I don't even want to think about."

5-0

"Danny, why aren't you smiling?" Grace asked as she leaned on his desk.

She's found her partner with his head buried in his hands. His desk was spotless, organized, not a file or folder to be found. His phone was silent, but that's because he'd ripped it from the wall socket. Something was very wrong. "You okay, D?" She asked with concern in her voice as she moved to sit on the corner of his desk. "Come on Danny, talk to me. You're scaring me now."

"I just don't know who I am anymore." Danny confessed as he raised his head. His eyes were dark and bloodshot. His face was twisted and old. He didn't even look like the young man that he truly was.

"What do you mean?" Grace asked in shock. "You're the great Detective Williams. You took down the Pelagio family. You're ruthless. Every elite force in the country wants you. Hell, the FBI wanna take you for dinner and make you a director. You're a law enforcement God!"

"I'm just a guy from New Jersey." Danny yelled as he covered his ears with his hands and stood up so violently that his chair went flying. "Just a guys doing his job."

"Okay. Okay, you're just a guy." Grace said as she threw her hands out in a gesture of surrender.

"What do I do now?" Danny asked as he stood like a child before her shaking. "I did what people said was impossible but I didn't believe them. I dedicated my life, my waking hours, my breath to this case and now it's over and what am I? Just a guy. Just move on to the next case. Just redefine? I'm struggling in a world where my wife is unhappy. I haven't been around for any of the baby stuff, and I look over my shoulder all the time because Bartholomew Pelagio can't possibly be behind bars."

"You need another case." Grace said. "You need to get right back on the horse. How about some drug smuggling. Come on, this is 2010, and we have a pretty solid lead. It could even take us into NYC."

"How?" Danny asked with a shake of his head to clear it. "How am I supposed to do that with such high expectations from everyone? How when my superiors want me leading task forces or joining the FBI. How will they allow it?"

"Daniel, you have to do what is right for you. They can't force you into anything. If you want to stay here in violent crimes then let's stay and get back to work." Grace said and dropped a file onto his desk. "How about the Water Front Gang."

"A piddly little gang cases? Serial murders? I feel like all I've ever known was the Pelagio case. I should be right back in a patrol car because I don't know what's going on anymore." He said as he backed himself into a corner and slid down the wall until his chin rested on his knees and he wrapped himself into a tight little knot in the corner.

"Maybe you need a break." Grace offered.

"Because I'm having a breakdown?" He sobbed. "I'm losing my mind."

"No Daniel," Grace said as she stood and sighed. "But you do need help that I just can't give you. I'll be here when you're ready. I'll work this case until you come around. Just keep it in mind." She finished, scooped the file off Danny's desk and turned to leave.

"Leave the file." Danny whispered.

"And give you all the credit? Hell No." Grace answered cheekily. "Come and get it, when you're ready."

5-0

"That's the place." Lou said as he and Steve pulled up to the run down motel. It was so far off the beaten path and away from the tourist centres of the island that it was no wonder fugitives would have chosen it.

"We don't want to draw too much attention to ourselves. We'll check at the front desk first." Steve offered as he got out of his truck and walked around it to meet up with Lou.

The front desk was located in little more than a shake, in the middle of two long rows of units. A young girl had spread her homework out across the desk and didn't look up until the two men were standing right in front of her.

"Do you work here?" Steve asked as he looked around.

"You see anyone else in this place?" The girl asked and then realizing who was before her she continued. "My parents run this joint. They trust me to help out."

"We're Five-O. We would like to talk to your parents." Steve retorted.

"I know who you are." The girl sassed back. "My parents have the night off. They ain't here. So how can I help you?" She asked sarcastically sweetly.

"Have you seen these men?" Lou asked as he spread printed photos out before Steve could lose his temper with the minor.

"Sure," The girl nodded. "They booked up the whole east wing but they are gone now. Left this morning."

"Are you sure?" Steve asked.

"They left before my bus picked me up for school, so yeah, I'm sure. Bunch of creepers if you ask me. I didn't like the way this one looked at me." She added and pushed the photo of Izzy close to Lou and Steve. "I'm glad he's gone."

"They didn't by chance say where they were going, did they?" Lou asked.

"Not to me. I wasn't working but my dad will be back in the morning."

"Have their rooms been cleaned all ready?" Steve asked.

"Of course!" The girl spat. "We may not be the Hilton but we know how to keep a clean room."

"I didn't mean any offence. They are wanted for questioning in an investigation. We just want to know if there was anything left in the rooms." Steve explained.

"They gave me such a bad vibe." The girl said fearfully. "I'm sorry I snapped. I can show you where they stayed but the rooms have been cleaned so you likely won't find anything."

"It's all right. I'm sure if there was anything out of place your parents would have already called the police." Steve said more gently now. "We'll come back around in the morning to talk with your folks but if anything happens between then and now, or if you remember anything about those guys, you call me directly." He added and wrote his number on the back of his business card.

"Commander McGarrett," the girl called as the two men turned to walk away. "These guys are really bad aren't they."

"Yes, really, really bad." Steve answered. "If they come back, which they probably won't 'cause they know we're looking for them, but if they do you get yourself to safety and call. Do not let yourself be alone with them. They are that kind of bad."

The girl swallowed hard and Steve could tell she was now terrified.

"Where are your parents?" He asked softly.

"They went out for date night. There are no tenants in the hotel so they left me home with my siblings." She answered.

"Would you like us to send some officers out here just to be safe?" Lou asked his parental instincts kicking in.

"Yes please, sir. And can you stay until they get here?"

"Yes, I'll check out those rooms after all." Steve said with a wink and Lou made the call. "And you can introduce Lou to your siblings."