A/n: Again, I'm sorry about the name change but I really wasn't feeling the other one. I am going to warn you that this one is going to get a little dark for awhile but we'll eventually get to a happy ending.

'A House is Not a Home' I hate that song. Is a house really a home if your loved one is gone? And they got the nerve to blame you for it but you know you would have took the bullet if you saw it. But you felt it and still feel it.—P Diddy, Coming Home

"All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair." -Mitch Albom , Five People You Meet In Heaven

It was nighttime. Or at least Mason thought it was nighttime. It was hard to keep track of time in a cement bunker that didn't allow much light in. He tried to keep time in his head but there were a lot of things that kept distracting him-like the constant beatings that they were both suffering. Wo Fat was still trying to extract information from Steve about that Shellburne thing and Steve still didn't seem to have any idea what the man was talking about.

Unfortunately, the bastard had figured out that beating on Mason didn't seem to do much for the other man so he focused most of his attention on Steve if only for his own pleasure. He also knew exactly which buttons to push to get a reaction from the SEAL. Wo Fat had brought up Steve's father which was a ballsy thing to do considering he was the man who was ultimately responsible for John McGarrett's death. Mason could see that his friend was trying not to let it show, but it was clear that it was killing him to have to hang there and listen to his nemesis tear down the respectable image that Steve still had of his father with his cruel accusations.

"They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. It was men like your father who paved those roads. Do you think he ever felt remorse for the things he did? For the things he made possible? Or do you think he spent the rest of his life just like you, believing he was completely justified in his actions because it was his 'sworn duty'?" Wo Fat asked rhetorically as he worked on his new torture system.

He had shackled both of Steve's ankles separately so that his legs now hung about a shoulder width apart. He had then cranked the shackles that held his wrists up slightly closer to the ceiling so that his body was now being slowly and agonizingly pulled apart. Mason could only imagine the kind of pain his friend was in. His shoulder was already most likely dislocated from simply hanging there for so long. Adding a slight pull was only going to separate it further.

"My father was an honorable man who had a good reason behind everything that he did." Steve defended even though he had no idea what the other man was talking about.

"Are you an honorable man? Do you regret the things you've done in your life?" Wo Fat asked, turning the tables on him. "Do you think your daughter will grow up defending you the way you defend your father? Or will she see you as her broken hero, the man who loved her but could just never get past his demons?"

Steve lunged towards Wo Fat and Mason tried not to wince as he could see the pain the movement had caused the SEAL as his hip had not turned in the same directions as the rest of his body. Steve clenched his jaw and tried to a deep breath as he tried to swallow his scream.

"Leave my daughter out of this." He growled.

"But isn't she the reason why you're here?" Wo Fat taunted. "Every child is scarred by their parents. Your father did it to you, you've done it to your child, she'll eventually do it to hers. It's the vicious evolution of families. How deeply those scars will ultimately lie is up to you and your actions. Personally, the best thing you can do for her is to stay away. You'll only cause her heart ache in the end just as your father did to you."

It was hard for Mason to remember the words that had been so methodically thrown at this friend because he knew the damage that they had done. For Steve, insinuating that he was hurting his child was worse than any physical wound that he could have inflicted upon him. Hurting the people he loved was the last thing that Steve would ever want to do and if he thought that he was, he'd walk away no matter how painful it was for him to do. But walking away from Danny and the girls would be the end of Steve. When this was all over, Mason was going to have to do some serious damage control. He wasn't about to let this bastard ruin his friend forever.


"Hey, are you okay? You've been kind of quiet since we left the island." Chin asked as he sat next to his friend in the backseat of the truck.

They had left camp before dawn and started on their way towards the border, hoping to reach it by midday. Lt. Commander Beck was driving the truck with Joe sitting up front with him. Major Matthews, Chin, Kono and Danny were all in the back that was covered, keeping them out of sight. Anyone from the outside would think that they belonged to one of the South Korean military bases and wouldn't question their presence.

Matthews was sitting near the back of the truck, standing guard with his weapon ready should they run into trouble. Kono was sat towards the front of the truck while Chin and Danny sat in the middle. It was a rough ride and under normal circumstances Danny would have complained about it. But nothing about this situation was normal.

"I'm fine, Chin. I'm just tired." Danny answered, trying to sound convincing.

It wasn't a total lie. He hadn't been sleeping well since long before all of this started and since he received the phone call he had been running mostly on adrenaline and caffeine. He had tried to get some sleep the night before when they were at the camp but his mind wouldn't shut down. There was a piece of the puzzle that he was missing. Something else was going on under the surface of the situation that he couldn't put his finger on and it was gnawing away at him. It left him with an unsettled feeling in his stomach because whatever it was, it had something to do with Joe.

"We're going to find him, Danny." Kono chipped in as she rubbed a hand down his arm in a soothing gesture. "Steve wouldn't leave you like that."

They had obviously misread the worried look on his face as concern for his partner and not the situation. Danny didn't bother to correct them. There wasn't much he could do about it now. He needed Joe if he was going to get Steve back. He just had to have faith that the older man intentions were purer than he perceived them to be at the moment.