Thank you to Irene Claire for her continued beta work! She's probably sick of this story by now!
I'm also loving the reviews and the different ideas that are being posted. Thank you!
The next morning, at first there was a little tension between the two friends. They were in the car going to an address where an anonymous tip said an arms dealer was hiding. When Steve finally pressed for an explanation, Danny looked away and out the side window.
"It's just a personal thing." Danny said. "Some stuff has happened and I just need to figure it out, is all."
"Does this have anything to do with Rachel again? I mean you've been pretty tense lately. Is she trying to take advantage of the custody thing and take some of your days with Grace away?"
"Yeah, part of it." Danny lied. "I just didn't want to talk about it."
"Danno, you know can you tell me anything." Steve replied.
"Really, Steve? And what if I told you something that you'd never believe?" Danny asked trying to decide if he really wanted to do this.
"Oh, you mean like I'd never believe you'd learn to surf or enjoy walking barefoot in the sand?" Steve teased.
But before Danny could reply, Steve pointed at a vehicle driving past them in the opposite direction. "Look! There he goes!" Steve said determined to stop the gun runner. "He's not giving us the slip this time."
Whipping the a car around to the opposite direction, the conversation was forgotten as they pursued, then caught the suspect. The rest of the day was filled with interrogations and paperwork.
Now a week later, they were in the middle of in a new case. Since nothing threatening had happened since his talk with Chin, Danny had let his guard down a little and Steve noticed he seemed more relaxed.
"Well, that was another wasted lead." Danny said as they walked along the sidewalk. He was referring to a suspect they'd just spoken to who was implicated in a robbery. "We can cross him the list."
"I still think he knows something. Maybe if we pushed him a bit, he might be more willing to talk." Steve replied back a little too eagerly.
"Maybe so, but he's got witnesses that put him in that diner when the robbery was taking place so we'll have to take another tact." Danny said. "Speaking of diners, I'm starved. What do you say we grab something from that outdoor grill over there since we missed lunch earlier?"
"Your stomach rules your brain, Danno." Steve sniffed the air. "That place looks and smells like it only serves greasy fried foods. We should go find some place that serves something healthier."
"Nah, a little grease is good for you. Kamekona once told Grace that it lubricates your insides. Come on, there are tables to sit at and a few other customers so it can't be that bad." Not waiting for a response, Danny hurried towards it.
About to sit down at one of the umbrella covered tables, Danny was suddenly jostled by another customer who was holding a handful of tourist brochures. Nodding to a woman on the other side of the table, he pointed towards a chair and said "Oh, excuse me. I didn't see you. Sit there, dear. Isn't Honolulu beautiful?" As the man picked up the menu the woman spread the various pamphlets in front of her.
Turning back towards Steve, Danny said, "You're in luck. They've got several different salads listed. How about this mixed green salad with chicken and mandarin orange pieces. That sounds healthy enough."
Seconds later, a waitress arrived to take their order. "Afternoon gentlemen. My name is Janice. What can I get you?"
"Hello, Janice, I will have the cheeseburger with fries and a root beer. And my friend will have..." Danny trailed off distracted by the dessert section on the menu.
"I'll have the mixed green salad with chicken and just water." Steve ordered.
"Alright, I'll turn this in and get your drinks." Janice said smiling broadly at Steve before she left.
"Can you turn the magnetism off for a few minutes." Danny teased. As the two men quietly discussed the suspect, the man at the next table got up and headed towards the restroom located past the grill.
"Pardon me, could one of you please help me? We're trying to find the Aloha Tower. I see it's near the water, but we're not sure which road we should take." The woman seated next to them got up and laid the crumpled brochure on their table.
"Take this road here," Steve said pointing the direction, "turn right at the stop sign, go another two blocks and you'll be there. There are plenty of nice stores and other restaurants in that area."
"Oh thank you. You know I'm really not that hungry now, so maybe we'll go there and shop a little first." the tourist replied. Right then her companion came back to the table and started to sit down. "Oh honey, lets not order yet. This nice young man said the Tower isn't too far away. I'd rather go there and eat someplace that has an inside dining room."
As the man looked at Steve and frowned in annoyance, he shoved the brochures into a pile and snatched them up before the couple wandered off.
"So you just did your good deed of the day." Danny said as the waitress arrived and set their lunch down along with the bill. Pulling some money out of his wallet he paid her then picking up his burger, took a huge bite. "Mmm, this hits the spot. Here, have some fries with that salad." he offered before starting to bite into the sandwich again.
"No thanks. Heart attack waiting to happen." Steve commented while spearing some lettuce with his fork. "Oh no, look over there." he said pointing behind Danny. Turning around Danny spotted a teenager who had just grabbed an elderly woman's purse.
"Wha...awww, no, not when we just got our food." Danny moaned as he jumped up and started to run after the purse snatcher.
Steve grabbed two of Danny's fries and shoved them in his mouth as he rounded the table then took off after his partner. The young man, who couldn't be more than seventeen, tripped as the two men advanced.
"Five-0. Don't move, you're under arrest!" Danny ordered.
As Danny handcuffed the terrified teenager, Steve pulled out his cell and phoned HPD for pickup.
Marching him back to the woman, Steve handed her the purse and made sure she was not hurt. Since a unit was in the area, they didn't have to wait more than a few minutes before being relieved of their prisoner.
Walking back towards their lunch, Steve nudged Danny. "Hey look at the table."
"Oh, you have to be kidding me!" Danny stopped short staring at the two obviously homeless men who now sat at the table savoring their food. "Excuse me gentlemen. How's our lunch taste?"
Noticing the guns and badges clipped to their belts, the man eating Danny's burger sat it back on the place. "Sorry mister, we saw you take off and didn't think you were coming back. Figured instead of it being thrown out, nobody would mind if we ate it. We're hungry. Here.." Pulling some coins out of his pocket he held them out.
"Nah, it's okay. Enjoy your meal." Danny told him kindly.
As they turned towards the Camaro, Steve looked over at him. "Now you've done your good deed of the day, partner." he teased.
"Don't start with me. I'm still hungry." Danny replied.
"How does steak and beers at my place tonight sound?" Steve asked. "It's late enough that we can finish a little paperwork and then take off in an hour or so."
"You mean I can finish your paperwork, don't you?" Danny said rolling his eyes. Hesitating he asked cautiously, "Will your mom be there?"
"No, she said she was going to visit friends on Maui for a few days." Steve replied.
Danny held back a relieved sigh. "You know, a steak and a few beers do sound pretty good about now."
Climbing into the powerful car, they drove back towards HQ with Steve telling Danny all about the birthday present he was going to buy his mother. After they arrived, Steve popped his head into Danny's office to say he had to run over to speak to the governor for a short meeting. Danny shook his head knowing that to the governor, a short meeting usually turned out to be at least an hour or more.
A little while later, Danny started feeling a little off. Going to the restroom he wet a few paper towels and wiped his face with cool water before going to the stocked medicine cabinet. Grabbing several antacid pills, he carried them out to their small kitchen and washed them down with a glass of water. Thinking the pills would solve the problem, he went back to his office and started filling in the forms on his desk.
Thirty minutes had gone by when the first pain hit him. Feeling like he had razor blades in his stomach, he groaned and rested his forehead on the desk. Thinking he'd better leave if things got worse, he turned off his laptop and walked into the hallway. Noticing Steve was not back yet, Danny decided to call him after he arrived home.
Walking past Chin and Kono who were just coming back from questioning someone on another case, he waved a weak goodbye.
"Whoa Danny, you don't look so hot." Kono told him.
"Not feeling that way either." Danny replied. "Think I'm going to head out. Would you mind letting Steve know when he comes back? And tell him he doesn't need to show up with an entire hospital staff. I'm just going to go lay down awhile."
"Will do, brah. Call if you need anything." Chin said.
As Danny left the building, Kono started towards her office. "He looked like he was getting the flu or something."
"Yeah, hope we don't catch it." Chin joked.
When Steve came back, Kono told him that Danny had left and why.
"Funny, he was feeling alright earlier." Steve said frowning.
"It's probably one of those twenty-four hour bugs. Maybe something he got from Grace?" Chin said absently while looking over a file.
"I suppose. Let's call it a day shall we?" Steve said turning off his light. "I'll give Danny a call later and see how he's doing."
Locking the offices, the three friends said goodnight and headed towards their cars.
The next morning, Kono arrived with a bag of malasadas and fresh coffee. "Hey Steve, did you talk to Danny? I hope he wasn't getting the flu. How's he feeling?"
"I called him after I got home. He wasn't feeling too well then, but said he'd try to make it in this morning. I told him not to bother if he didn't feel up to it." Steve replied.
Just then Chin arrived with the newspaper. Tossing it down, he grabbed one of the coffees and opened the bag containing the fried treats.
"Danny's not here yet? We'll have to make sure to leave him at least one malasada." he joked as he took one out of the sack and a bit into it. "Hey, did either of you read the paper this morning?" As the other two shook their heads, Chin continued. "HPD found a man dead on the beach late last night. Officer Bejn was outside and I asked him about it. The morgue's first opinion was that he might have been poisoned. Most likely from something he ate earlier in the day."
"Oh, yeah?" Steve said pulling the paper over to look at the article. "It says that a friend of his told police that both ate at one of the places near the harbor. And that the dead man had eaten…"
Steve abruptly stopped talking, frowning as he intently read the article. Suddenly he pulled his phone out of his pocket and started dialing.
"Boss?" Kono questioned. "What wrong?"
"It says the friend reported that this guy was feeling fine all day until late yesterday afternoon when he developed severe cramping, vomiting and seizures. He was almost paralyzed before he died. He said that they had a late lunch and his friend ate a cheeseburger. This guy had a salad."
Looking up at the other two, Steve said, "These were the two homeless guys that we found eating our lunch after we came back from arresting a purse snatcher yesterday."
