Kono felt her heart flutter hard and fast as they reached enemy territory. She had been told that being an officer of the law meant that in extreme circumstances she may need to work in unknown territory but she still didn't know how she was going to get used to it. Their team and the SEALS met up in the middle of the complex. Kono went off to the left with Chin and Danny, only to come under attack. They took cover and Kono felt the underlying urge to throw up when she saw Steve lying on the floor behind the shooters. It didn't look like he was breathing. Chin and Danny took down the shooters just as the SEALS joined them. Kono kept along the wall, trying to get to her boss. When she did she yelled at the other that he needed an ambulance, she heard a SEAL yell into his radio that they had a wounded man and to have medical assistance on standby. Together the team and the SEALS managed to get Steve to the helicopter and as soon as they landed an ambulance whisked him away.
The waiting room seemed too white to Grace who had come as soon as she had heard. She wanted to be angry with her uncle but she couldn't. She was going to make him regret ever keeping her in the dark but according to her father who had heard from the SEAL's Steve had ended up handing himself over in exchange for Grace's freedom. He had been tortured and injected with drugs. Grace couldn't be mad after that. So she waited with the others till she could see him. When he was transferred to ICU everyone went to see him except for grace. She wanted to see him when he was awake. When he could answer her questions.
After the sixth night sat in the hospital chairs but refusing to see him she gave him. He had had a turn for the worse. An infection had spread, that was the moment Grace cracked. She had ran to his room the moment she could and cried. She cried because he was her uncle, her protector and friend. She cried because this man was dying and she would never thank him for saving her, no matter how misguided. So she sat on the edge of his bed and cried.
"Please come back Uncle Steve, please. I forgive you" and that was the moment Grace's luck changed, her uncle squeezed her hand and his heart rate rocketed, alerting the nurses.
Grace didn't see him again till he came home. She didn't want to. So as she sat on his couch a month since the last time she had seen him, awaiting to see her favourite uncle. When Steve saw her he smiled, grunting when she slammed into him, hugging him with all the strength she processed. He sat down and Grace sat next to him whilst the rest of the team talked in the kitchen. Steve inhaled deeply.
"Grace… I…. I'm sorry about everything. I know what it's like to be kept in the dark about something that concerns you. I just didn't know what to do" Grace sat stunned, it was the first time she had ever heard Steve admit he was wrong about something. She laughed quietly.
"I don't agree with what you did and to be honest I'm still annoyed you did it but…. You did it to protect me from something that I shouldn't even know about. I can't find a fault in that" and not for the first time Steve marvelled at Grace's maturity. He leant down and kissed her forehead. She snuggled into him.
For the rest of the night Grace played with Steve and watched TV and as she fell asleep she realised that through everything she was somehow saved.