DISCLAIMER: I do not own "Hawaii Five-0" or any of the characters. Emily Burns is my OC.
Author's Note: Sorry this is a short one. I was hoping on posting this and ch.10 at the same time, but not done yet. So I thought I'd put this out there.
Thank you, thank you to all who have read. Please consider leaving a review. :)
Danny lets himself into Steve's house and can hear the sound of banging cabinet doors and angry muttering before he even enters the kitchen. He walks in to find Emily opening and closing the cabinets, none too gently. She hasn't noticed him yet so he figures he should announce himself.
"Good morning? Can I help you find something?" Danny asks her as way of introduction.
Emily jumps at the sound of his voice as she turns around. "Oh my God."
Whoops. Okay Danny, not a good idea to sneak up on the girl who was attacked the day before yesterday. Nice move.
Danny raises his hand in a small wave. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I've got a key. Let myself in."
He can see her face is tight and pale. Her breathing is a little too fast. She takes in a slow deep breath and lets it out again.
"Oh," she shakes her head, appearing apologetic. "No, it's okay. I just was distracted I guess. "
Danny gives her a smile, hoping to diffuse the awkwardness of the situation. Dropping by is beginning to seem less and less like a good idea. But still, the way she was treating the cabinets does not speak well of her current emotional state. Unfortunately Danny has a pretty good idea who might have caused this state of affairs.
"What are you looking for?" he asks her. "I've house sat for Steve a few times so I know where everything is."
She turns to look at Danny and gives him a small smile. He's not sure but he's guessing she's a bit embarrassed to have been caught stomping around.
She scrunches her face up. "Coffee cups?" she asks.
"Ah yes," Danny walks over to a cabinet that she has not yet attacked, and opens it, taking out a coffee cup and handing it to her.
"Do you want one?" she asks.
"Absolutely," he gives her a smile. She returns a small one.
Danny hands Emily a second cup. She fills both from the coffee pot and hands one back to him.
Danny walks across the room to sit at a small table, then looks around, "Where's Steve, don't tell me he's not up?" He looks at Emily, gauging how she reacts to the mention of Steve's name.
Emily has crossed to the refrigerator, opening it to take out a container of milk, her back to Danny. She turns her head over her should to look at Danny, her eyes drawn together in a confused expression.
"Oh," she quickly looks away from Danny, and then out the window, avoiding his eyes. "I think he's in the shower." Her voice has an air of casual nonchalance, but it sounds forced to Danny.
"So what did he do?" Danny comes straight out and asks her.
Emily stands up straight, her eyes wide, "Hmm? What was that?"
Yep, I thought so.
Danny's smile widens, "Steve. He did something to piss you off. It's a special talent he has, pissing people off in general."
Emily tosses her head back to look up at the ceiling. She gives a small laugh and nods. She opens the milk container and pours some into her coffee cup. When she finally looks back at Danny, she tilts her head to one side. "Believe me I know," she says with a straight face.
She leans back against the countertop, her hands wrapped around the cup. She looks at Danny for a moment without speaking, as if considering what else to say. She takes a sip of the coffee and wrinkles her nose. "Needs sugar."
At that moment, Steve enters the kitchen from the hallway. Emily eyes shift and land on him. Danny can see her whole face fall. She keeps her eyes on Steve for a moment, before turning away toward the counter.
After a brief silence Emily turns to look at Danny. She is smiling again, but this time he's sure it's fake. "Do you know where the sugar is?" she asks him.
Danny's eyes flick from Steve back to Emily. From the way Steve is glaring at him, Danny is guessing that he's not happy about Danny's presence. Danny meets Steve's gaze for a moment.
Don't give me that look, I'm here to try and bail you out.
"Sure, no problem," Danny answers her.
Danny leaves his coffee cup and gets up from the table, crossing to another cabinet. As he passes Steve, he shoots him a pointed look. Danny reaches the cabinet and opens the door, taking down a sugar bowl. He crosses back to hand it to Emily who gives him a grateful smile.
"Thanks," she tells him.
He holds her eyes for a second. "You're welcome," he replies with a nod.
Emily turns back to the counter and scoops sugar into her coffee, still in Danny's opinion, ignoring Steve.
Danny walks backwards to the table so that he can catch Steve's eye. He mouths, "What did you do?" pointing an accusing finger at Steve's face.
Steve scowls back. He shakes his head.
Emily turns her head over her shoulder and looks quizzically from Danny to Steve's faces. They both quickly adopt an innocent expression.
As soon as she turns away again, Danny points at Steve. "Asshole," he mouths.
Steve narrows his eyes in irritation at Danny.
Danny raises his eyebrows back at Steve. He folds his arms across his chest.
Try me buddy, just try me.
After a hesitation Steve nods his head to the door, indicating Danny should leave.
Ha, you wish.
Danny shakes his head from side to side, no way. I'm staying to make sure you don't mess this up any more than you already have.
Emily has finished making her coffee, but is still persisting in standing with her back toward Steve.
With a last glance at Danny, Steve walks over to the counter so that he is standing next to Emily. She doesn't look at him.
"Em?"
Danny watches as Steve places his left hand on Emily's hip.
"Danny and I are going to head out to work. Are you going to be okay here by yourself?" Steve asks her.
"Yep, I'll be fine," she replies, her tone is brisk.
"Emmy?"
She doesn't answer him, but continues to look down and sip her coffee.
Steve shoots Danny a look over Emily's shoulder.
"Apologize," Danny mouths and points at Emily. Steve only looks back at Danny, his expression is now neutral at least.
Steve turns back to Emily. Danny watches as Steve pulls Emily closer to him. He leans forward and gives her a kiss on her temple. Danny can see Emily's chin drop down to her chest as she briefly shuts her eyes.
"My flight is at 7pm," she tells him.
"We're going to need you to come back and testify," Steve tells her.
"I know," she says.
Steve's eyes are fixed firmly on Emily's face, but she's not giving in to look at him. "Can I drive you to the airport?" he asks.
"It's fine. I can take a Taxi," she replies.
Danny can see Steve press his mouth into a tight line as he shakes his head. After a hesitation he reaches out and takes Emily by the shoulders, turning her around to face him.
Emily turns her head to look up at Steve but she still hasn't said anything.
"I just want you to make sure you know you're doing the right thing Em." Steve has lowered his voice but Danny can still hear him.
"Steven, believe it or not, I am capable of figuring out for myself what I need to do. I've made enough good and bad decisions that I should be able to tell the difference by now."
"And does the strategy of ignoring me fall under the good or bad decision category right now?" Steve asks her.
"I'll have to let you know later," she tells him.
Steve's face is pinched with tension. At last he turns away from Emily and towards Danny.
"Alright, let's go." He's not really looking at Danny either, but heads for the door exiting the kitchen.
Danny can see Emily's features morph from anger to sadness as Steve turns and walks away from her. Danny walks over and puts his coffee mug down next to the sink. She eventually looks back at him.
Danny figures Steve might kill him for interfering, but what the hell, he'd tell her what he thought anyway.
"Hey, for what it's worth," he smiles at her. "Despite whatever stupid thing he said to you this morning, I've been working with Steve for two years now. And I can guarantee you, the last thing he really wants, or even needs for that matter, is for you to go back to L.A. and never speak to him again. Even if that's what he deserves."
Emily stares back at Danny. She exhales a breath and nods her head. Whether that's a, yes I understand what you're saying nod, or a, yes I agree not to abandon him nod, Danny isn't sure.
With a last smile at Emily, Danny turns and leaves the room to go find Steve.
He finds him sitting in the silver Camaro that Danny has parked in the driveway behind Steve's truck. Danny opens the car door and gets into the passenger seat.
"So to what do I owe the door to door car service Danny?" Steve looks at him sideways and asks.
"What?" Danny responds with mock indignation. "I thought you'd appreciate a ride to work. Can't you just be grateful for once?"
"Uh-huh," Steve replies.
"Okay, no, actually I was being nosy and was hoping on embarrassing you in front of your cute friend in there, by showing up after whatever adult activities you two got up to last night," Danny tells him.
He looks over at Steve, who is looking back at him, irritated.
Danny continues, "I was, however, also prepared to do damage control after you messed things up."
He pauses for Steve's reaction. Steve is staring forward again out of the car.
"Obviously I didn't get what I hoped for. You wanna tell me what you did?" Danny asks.
Steve gives a quick head shake. "No."
"Okay, have it your way," Danny tells him. "Don't say I didn't offer though."
Steve doesn't say anything, instead he grabs the car's gear shift and slams the car into reverse. He steps on the gas and peals rubber out of the driveway.
Danny is a good distance behind as Steve roughly pushes through the glass doors to 5-0 headquarters. The car ride from Steve's house was unusually quiet. Danny can't help but be curious as to what exactly happened last night, but clearly from Steve's reaction, something did.
Chin and Kono are both already at work. Kono is using the digital display table and Chin is in his office, talking on the phone.
"What have we got?" Steve asks Kono without preamble.
"Not sure," Kono tells him, turning her head to look at Chin then back to Steve. "He's on the phone with LAPD right now. They picked up William Lincoln."
"Okay, good," he says.
Steve is staring at the table. Kono watches him. Steve doesn't notice that's she's looking at him.
"You okay boss?" she asks him.
His head pops up to look back at her. "What?" His eyebrows are narrowed in confusion. "Yeah, I'm fine." He looks back at the table. "So what are you working on?"
Kono looks over at Danny. "He's not fine," Danny mouths to her silently, shaking his head.
Kono nods her head a bit before answering Steve's question. "Emily said that she was here to finalize the purchase of a warehouse. I'm making a list of all the other properties Richardson Importing uses on the Island. So far I've got three." Kono taps the table a few times. The list she'd been looking at disappears and a map of the Island appears in its place.
"The warehouses he is currently using are here, here, and here," Kono tells them as she points to the locations on the screen.
Danny looks up as he sees Chin coming out of his office. Kono and Steve look over to Chin as well.
"Bad news on the William Lincoln front," Chin tells them. "He lawyered up. They're not going to get anything out of him."
"Damn it," Steve mutters. He looks back at Chin. "We don't have enough evidence to charge him with anything. It's just his nephew's word that he ordered the attack. And we still have no idea why they felt like she was a threat."
"Exactly," Chin responds.
Steve shakes his head. "Well, it is what it is. I think it's time we found out what exactly Richardson's business in Hawaii is." Steve looks over at Danny who nods at him.
"Time to go see some warehouses," Danny says.
"Yep," Steve nods back at him. He looks over at Chin and Kono. "Alright, let's get going then. We need to get over there before William Lincoln tells the operations in Hawaii that we're investigating. We don't want them to have the have a chance to cover anything up."
Chin and Kono both nod back, agreeing.
Steve pulls out his cell phone and walks away from the table. Danny can hear him talking to someone about getting a warrant. Danny's guessing that Steve is neglecting to mention his personal connection to this case.
While Steve's back is turned and he's distracted, Chin and Kono quietly approach Danny.
"So? Any news?" Chin asks.
Danny shoots a quick look in Steve's direction, before looking back at them. "Uh-uh," he shakes his head. "No dice. I would bet money that something happened, but she was seriously mad at him by the time I got there. She was barely speaking to him."
"Nice," Chin shakes his head ruefully.
Kono turns her head quickly from Danny to Chin then back again. "Really?" she scoffs. "You two are going to bust on McGarrett for relationship problems? Because neither of you has ever made a mistake when it came to the women in your life." Kono rolls her eyes at them and turns to walk away.
"Okay Surf Princess, what you're going to tell me you're perfect in that department?" Danny directs to Kono's retreating form.
"Oh believe me there are stories…." Chin's voice drops off as Kono turns around to smile at him mildly, simultaneously appearing friendly and menacing at the same time.
"Watch it cuz," she tells Chin quietly, still smiling.
Chin darts his eyes from Kono back to Danny. A smile falls on his face as well. He looks back at Danny. "Stories that I am not going to tell you, because I don't want her to hurt me," Chin laughs.
"Smart move," Kono nods at them, her smile widening, before turning away and walking toward her office.
"Ask me later," Chin whispers to Danny once Kono is out of earshot.
"Oh believe me I will." Danny laughs.
Steve walks back over to Chin and Danny. He is no longer on the phone. "And do you two have anything you want to share with the class?"
"Uh, nope, thanks teach. We're good." Danny smiles at him.
"Yeah, okay." Steve shakes his head, looking away from them then back again. "We're good to go. Can you get your gear please so we can hit the road?" He directs this last comment toward Danny. His tone of voice is short.
"Yes sir," Danny replies, turning around to get his vest and gun from his office.
Chin continues to stand there looking back at Steve. Steve looks at him a moment longer, then lets out a short laugh.
"Sorry man, it's been a rough morning." he's apologetic.
"Hey, it's okay. It's all good." Chin tells him with a smile. "I've been there too. You'll survive."
Steve laughs again. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah man, trust me."
Steve's eyes stay on Chin's face. "Thanks." They both turn to walk away.
