"Hey, Duke."
"Steve," the older man greeted back with a small smile. "How's your boy?"
Steve steadily met his questioning gaze. "He's okay. Just gave his statement," he nodded towards one of HPD's offices. "How's our perp?"
"Still in holding. Name's Aaron Dawkins. – Chin asked us to process him… thoroughly. Implied that you might wanna talk to him first…"
Steve couldn't help but smile slightly at Chin's foresight.
"Yeah, thanks Duke. I really appreciate it."
.
"So… I've got two statements that Detective Williams gave this morning." He put both files on the steel table between them. "Difference between them is – I'd say – 3 to 10 years for you…"
Dawkins frowned up at him, an overall grim expression on his face. "I don't understand what you're – "
Steve immediately interrupted him.
"There's the home invasion – there's simply no way around that. And the injuries that resulted from your… struggle… yesterday."
"As opposed to… what," was the rather unimpressed reply.
"As opposed to an additional assault charge involving a 'substantial bodily injury', which – in this case – would be a bone fracture. Not to mention the attempted sexual assault…"
"Attempted… hey! I didn't assault him like that. You weren't even there, man! – It's not my fault if he likes to play hard to get…"
"You kiddin' me…?!" Steve stared at him incredulously, fighting to keep up at least part of his professional calm. "He told you 'no', which is when you tried to force him down, twisting his arm until it actually broke in the process!"
"That's what HE says," the other man returned coolly.
"And that's what his injuries say."
Silence.
Steve finally forced himself to speak again, hating this but also knowing it was what Danny wanted. "So… Which of his two statements do you want us to file?"
Dawkins' eyes narrowed at that. "You mean: Have I already told your colleagues that we met at a gay bar? – That what you're asking?!"
The expression on Steve's face hardened some more.
"The only reason for him to press charges only for your second transgression is to keep his private life just that – private. So yeah; that's what I'm asking."
Dawkins was still staring at him, an unreadable look on his face now.
"Why do you get involved like this at all? You almost sound like…" His expression suddenly changed to something resembling glee. "You with him? Fucking him I mean…? – You a fag, too?"
"You know what?! Maybe I do, maybe I don't. It's none of your damn business…" Then Steve suddenly snatched both files off the table, every clipped movement screaming barely controlled anger by now. "And you know what else…? I've had it with you. Forget about the deal. You're gonna be charged with every fucking thing you did and you're gonna go to jail for them… End of story."
.
"Maybe you do, maybe you don't…?" Danny was once again smiling at him rather mildly when he came storming out of the interrogation room five seconds later. "That you showing your solidarity for me, babe? I'm touched."
"Sorry, Danny, I…" Steve immediately started rubbing his forehead looking decisively guilty. "I just couldn't do it. The guy's such an asshole, we can't just let him off the hook like that."
"Yeah…" Exhaling slowly, Danny replied with a somewhat clipped nod. "Yeah, I know. So, let's just do this, huh?" He was trying for a brave smile, but Steve instantly saw the tense nervousness behind it.
"I'm with you every step of the way, buddy. And I don't even think it's such a big deal really… I mean. You're from the mainland anyway, right," he decided it was time for some careful teasing. "What's one more eccentricity, huh?"
"One more eccen – " Danny gave a slightly choked laugh, then smiled up at Steve somewhat wryly. "Yeah. You're probably right…" Then, quietly: "File the complete report. – I'm gonna go talk to Chin and Kono in the meantime. They should probably hear about this from me."
"How's the arm?" Chin was eyeing Danny's new cast with a slight frown.
"Uh…" Danny seemed to briefly consider replying something, but then he just started looking around before his eyes finally came to rest on Chin again. "Where's Kono? I need to talk to both of you about something." Nervously chewing first his lower, then his upper lip briefly, he couldn't have looked any more reluctant.
The frown on Chin's face deepened.
"She's out questioning Mrs Tapuko again. She should be back in a couple of hours. – Is there something wrong?"
"Wrong? There's… Nothing's wrong, exactly. I just – There's something I need to tell you, and it may come as a bit of a surprise."
Chin slowly nodded. "I see. – And does this have anything to do with the man that broke into your house yesterday?"
"It – yes." There was simply nothing else to reply.
Chin started smiling slightly. "So… do you want me to guess?"
"Do I want you to guess," Danny repeated with an incredulous look on his face. "No, no, I don't want you to guess. Don't guess please. Just – " He took what sounded like a rushed, unsteady breath. "Let's just not make this any more painful than it has to be, okay?" He finished his tirade with a somewhat apologetic half-smile.
Chin's expression immediately sobered at his friend's stressed demeanor. "It doesn't have to be painful at all, Danny. And I think I already know what you're about to tell me anyway."
"Yeah," the other man seemed to just deflate at that, gaze shifting away from his colleague before finally settling on him again, reluctantly. "He wasn't exactly a poster boy for discretion the other day, was he."
"No. – So… Was this about him, specifically, or are you generally interested in… both men and women." Leave it to Chin to simply prompt him for the facts like this, getting right down to business.
Danny raised both eyebrows in a familiar reflex. "Was it specific? It was – no; no, I wouldn't call it specific. I mean it's mostly women for me, but… No. It wasn't specific." He tried a small shrug, before starting to rub his swollen left hand slightly in another nervous gesture.
"Okay," was all Chin finally replied, still sounding very calm. "Thank you for telling me."
Danny searched his gaze at that, trying to read his expression.
But every bit of insecurity simply vanished at Chin's next words:
"So, as I was saying… How's the arm?"
tbc... (still :)
