Kokua

Disclaimer: not mine :(

AN: Thanks for all the reviews. It's been a crazy week. Here is some peace of mind. I'm going on vacation for a couple of days. Enjoy and Mahalo!

Chapter 10

Danny warmed his hands and sipped from what seemed to him to be his fiftieth cup of coffee of the day as he leaned his forearms on the railing of the lanai watching as his best friend hopelessly paced the sandy shore in front of him. The man seemed to be a shell of his partner, shoulders hunched and hands jammed into the pockets of his cargo shorts, head bowed and feet kicking at the waves as he paced in solitude. Danny desperately wanted to wake up from this nightmare to wake up in a cold sweat, call his partner and hear Steve's sleep-murmured voice and Catherine's soft giggle at his griping for Danny to go back to bed and if it was important they would discuss it later at work.

If only, Danny thought, but no in true McGarrett fashion, well quasi-McGarrett fashion, Catherine, technically not a McGarrett (yet) was carrying the spawn of McGarrett, had inadvertently gotten herself and three additional members of her team kidnapped and in some twisted and perverse way because she had chosen to be in association and fall in love with a man named Steve McGarrett. Danny sighed and he uttered a prayer of his long ago catholic upbringing praying that if they find Catherine then he would return to the faith that he had distanced himself from so long ago.

A sound of a guttural and wretched cry had Danny's head snapping up to see is partner on his knees in the surf and sand with his arms cast out and his head tipped back facing the heavens. At first, Danny was not sure what had happened, he quietly and cautiously observed Steve from the lanai unsure if he needed to go down and comfort the man; check for any blood or injury that might have occurred; or to wait and watch as Steve communed and bargained with the divinity above. He watched with a curiosity as he subconsciously ventured closer toward his partner but stopped when he heard the soft hoarse whisperings of the age-old prayer, the catechisms of his youth coming to mind. Steve's head was now bowed as the words dropped in and out of pitch of Danny's ears. He slowly backed away up to the porch where Chin and Malia were now standing.

"Everything okay?" Chin asked in a concerned filled hushed tone. "We head a cry."

Danny motioned toward Steve who was still on his knees in the sand and water in prayer. "I think he will be, he's trying to wrap his head around things and he's asking God for help," Danny replied after a moment as he looked back at the couple. "I thought he had gotten hurt, so I went down to check and realized that he was praying, he was crying out to God for help. Crying out for Catherine and their child. I marvel at the way his faith is instilled in him, but with the Navy and all that he's been through and still lives to see another day, he'd have to have a strong belief in something greater that has kept him safe and not allowed for him to lose it all."

"Well his guardian angel definitely works overtime and then some," Chin said with a soft chuckle. Danny and Malia could not help but join him knowing it was a well-needed release.

****H50****

"Danny! Chin!" Kono's voice called out breathlessly as she raced into the McGarrett house, a bag of Chinese take-out swinging at her wrist and a manila envelope shaking in her hand.

"Kono?" Danny said, throwing a glance out to where Steve still was in the same position he had been in for the last twenty minutes.

"Go," Malia said with a nod as she settled herself into one of the androck chairs on the lanai with a perfect view of where Steve was. The two men nodded before heading into the house to meet with Kono.

Danny eyed the manila envelope with Steve's name written on it in black sharpie suspiciously, as he said, "What did you find?"

"It was sitting on the windshield of the truck when I got back from getting dinner," she said catching her breath back. Chin took the food and placed it on the table.

"How did they get past the uniforms posted out front?" Chin said aloud as he gingerly took the envelope from Kono and held it up the light as if to examine the contents of the envelope as an x-ray would. Pulling out his pocketknife, he carefully slit the envelope open and removed the contents. Danny felt his heart stop at the sight of the picture and the caption of "Rock-a-BYE Baby, lieutenants and all…do you dare to wake the baby Commander?"

"Chin there's writing on the back," Kono said as she slowly turned the photograph over. A set of numbers were boldly written on the back. "Coordinates?" she guessed pulling up the GPS tracker on the phone and punching in the numbers.

"Seriously?" was all Danny could say at the location of the coordinate. Swallowing hard he looked at Chin and Kono. Flipping the photo back over he studied it intently. "There," he pointed to the faint time-stamp printed in the bottom of the picture.

"It's recent…" Chin said. "Kono get this over to the Navy, I want you to coordinate from the air, we're going to need a visual for sure. Have Lori run communications at Pearl. Call both Commander Parker and Admiral Parker, tell them we're on our way and will meet them at the airstrip in twenty minutes."

"Let's hope we're not too late…" Danny uttered as he went out to the lanai and nearly collided with a soaking wet Steve. "Change your clothes and grab your gear, we're moving out…" Danny said.

#H50 #McGarrettMonday