Grace swam in and out of focus as she moved toward Steve, her hands clasped behind her back, a very serious expression on her face. She stopped short of the incapacitate SEAL, her dark eyebrows furrowed in a good impression of her father. She let dark eyes scan the warehouse before settling them on Steve: "I love the décor, who's the decorator?" Steve was taken aback. That was Grace's voice, but not her words.
"W…what?"
"Oh, this place. Dark, gloomy, smelly-so totally speaks you. I mean, Batman practically lived in the cave under his house. Granted, yes, this isn't under your house, and it's not exactly a cave, but hey you could work with it."
"W…why do you sound…?"
"…like my father?" she shrugged, whispering, "Bad influence, maybe. Or, in your mind, you just can't seem to conjure Danny. So, you conjure me instead. The closest thing to him you can get, his daughter."
"B…but…?"
"Which is kinda poetic in a way," Grace continued pretending Steve had spoken. "I mean, hearing insults from your dead folks, your sister, some dude you killed just doesn't seem as satisfying as getting bashed by your best friend's daughter." Grace shook her head, shrugging again. "Okay, I admit it, your parents were kinda funny." She chuckled. "A lot funny, actually. Especially the way your mother just," she blew out a breath, moving her hand to signify the flame. Steve tried to shake away that memory, but it hit him full force, his breath knocked from his lungs, his numb limbs shaking. Anguish gripped his stomach, squeezing so hard he almost threw up. "Fireworks," she whispered and laughed. Her laugh was different somehow, more evil, less Grace. It sent an involuntary shiver down Steve's spine.
"S…stop it…"
"Honey, it didn't the work the first time, it ain't working the second time," Grace responded before morphing. Where she stood one moment before, Kono now occupied her spot.
"Hey Steve," she said smiling, waving. McGarrett squeezed his eyes shut, trying his hardest to make her go away. "Making me go away won't help you, you know.
"This place, I agree with Grace, it is fitting," Kono commented, her light footsteps echoing off the walls as she paced back and forth. "Cold, dark, reclusive: kinda you in a way. Well, the you I met a while back.
"You were so strong, so powerful even. The man with nothing to lose, but you sure threw that away didn't you. And, I don't blame you, being anti-social can only get you so far. But, to pretend you care about these people, it's little callous don't you think."
"I…I don't p…pre…" Steve tried peeling his eyes open.
"Of course you don't," Kono said hurriedly. "I mean, over a decade of shutting down your emotions, never letting anybody penetrate that brick wall of yours. Then one little team has the power to knock that wall down. Yeah, their love and trust was that powerful." Each sarcastic word was like venom entering Steve's veins. Kono had never spoken to him like this before, ever, even when she was mad. She snorted, "Give me a break, McGarrett. If you aren't using them then you're abusing them. And if you aren't doing that, well then one day your antics are going to get them killed. Especially Danny…
"I mean, the man is practically your shadow. He will complain and complain about you until he is blue in the face. But if you're going into a shootout, he's two steps behind you. If you want to interrogate a suspect in that 'special' SEAL way of yours, he may scream at you, but you never see him stopping you. And when he gets killed, following you during one moment of stupidity, it'll be your fault. It'll be your fault that Grace doesn't have a father, that his family won't ever see him again. And then he'll be part of the list of people you've gotten killed.
"You're back's already kinda of lagging, Steve. Can you carry another death?" Kono crouched next to him, lifting his head so she could look him the eyes. "Do us all a favor, shoot yourself. It'll make our jobs a hell of a lot easier…"
McGarrett blinked several times, his eyes stinging, his vision blurring as his head dropped to his chest again. Kono was gone…
5-0 5-0 5-0
Besides several more dead end leads, Danny had been trying to get a hold of Bates over the past several hours, but the crazy bastard just wouldn't answer his frigging phone. He slammed his cell phone into the desk after the shrink's voice mail picked up again, laying his head down.
His headache was back, full force, his ears ringing. He picked his head up, grabbing the bottle of Tylenol off his desk, and shook out three. He knocked them back, draining the coffee he had had been working on since eight-thirty. And, no, it wasn't his first, second, third, or fourth cup.
He let his eyes settle on his computer, reading through the poem he had had received earlier:
This game is fun, oh don't deny it
Teaching you some self-reliance
Ever closer to being cured
Look at how much you've matured
It was like the others, not very helpful and pushing his already sour mood down several notches. In fact, he was so pissed he wanted to shoot something. Anything. I wonder if this is how Steve feels.
"Hey, Danny," a voice said and Danny looked up, Chin standing in the doorway. He was holding a white, paper bag. "I think you should eat something."
"I'm fine," Danny said glaring back at his computer.
"You haven't eaten all day," Kelly pointed out.
"I'm fine," Danny repeated, albeit little gruffer.
"Danny…"
"Chin Ho, I don't want it," Williams snapped pouncing to his feet, Chin taken aback by his tone. He took a breath, running a hand down his face. "I'm sorry. Look, did, uh, did you or Kono get a hold of Bates' records?"
"He's legit. He majored in psychology, minored in sociology. He graduated top ten percent of his class. He's had some good reviews, nothing screams psycho…"
Danny pinched the bridge of his nose, hoping his headache would go away, and slowly said, "Why don't, uh, why don't you and Kono go home. It's almost midnight."
"Danny, we're not leaving," Chin responded quietly. "We can't leave."
"It's not… it's not doing Steve any good if all three of us are sleep deprived. Just, just go…"
Kelly made to respond, but was cut off by Kono racing into Danny's office. She had a file in her hand, tossing it on his desk. "What's this?" he asked picking it up.
"Hard copy of Bates' medical records," she responded with a grim expression on her face. "Read it, it's interesting."
Danny thumbed through the file, skimming the parts Kono highlighted, his eyes furrowing with each new fact. "How did you get this?"
"Friend of a friend," Kono responded a flicker of displeasure crossing her face. "But it proves that Bates isn't as squeaky clean as he led you to believe."
"No, he's not…" Danny's phone rang. He picked it up, Anthony Perkins flashing back at him. He met Chin's eye mouthing: Bates. Chin nodded rushing to get his computer. When he returned, his GPS program up, Danny answered with a tentative, "Hello?"
"I know you know, Danny," Bates said slowly, his voice unreadable. "And I know you are tracing this call."
"Where are you?" Danny demanded glancing around the office.
"Steve says 'hi,'" Bates muttered.
"If you kill him I will kill you," Williams growled, clenching his phone in his fist, smashing it against his ear.
"Good bye, Detective Williams." He was gone, Chin shaking his head.
"DAMN IT," Danny snarled slamming his fist into his desk. Kono jolted back with the action, Chin frowned, but Williams didn't care. His partner was out there, at the mercy of some psychopath, so he didn't have time to apologize for every little thing he did in frustration.
His computer beeped, getting his attention. He checked the screen, noticing the new email message at the bottom. He clicked on it, waiting for the computer, before bringing the email up. It was another poem:
There is a place you could go
That once gave the world Hala-kahiki and Ko
Now it can give you that which you seek
However, doing so would prove you quite weak
It was a clue, Bates was finally giving him a clue. Albeit a crappy clue, but…
"Guys, we may have something." There was finally a light at the end of the tunnel that was this shitty day. Danny just hoped it didn't pull away before they could reach it…
5-0 5-0 5-0
Before I begin my long, drawn out A/N I want to explain some things. One: Anthony Perkins, for those who do not know, played Norman Bates in Hitchcock's movie Psycho. Steve had called Bates Norman in Confined and Danny embraced it as a private, inside joke between the two. Two: Hala-Kahiki is Hawaiian for Pinapple and Ko is Hawaiian for sugar. Benny did the research and came up with a back story which will be explained in the next chapter... maybe :)
Anyway, thanks so much for the reviews, alerts, and favs last chapter. You guys are awesome and I can' thank you enough
So, I hope you enjoyed this, please review if you can, and I own nothing.
Thanks again to Benny
Bye...
