Thank you for reading. I hope you'll keep enjoying.

RIDDLE

Plans, and their Alterations

"Are you out of your mind? What the hell is this? What is the matter with you?" Danny Williams raised his voice when Steve revealed the contents of his duffel bag.

Steve chose to ignore him. "You've got two vests in your trunk. Good. Put one on," he commanded, pulled another one from his bag and handed it to Chin who, bless him, started gearing up. Steve reached for the one in the trunk.

"I'm not putting anything on!" Williams yelled, arms flailing. "What is wrong with you? What? Do you think you'll barge in and what?"

"We won't barge in, okay?" Steve paused and looked straight at Danny. Why the hell was this guy so confrontational? "We're going to take him in for some questioning."

"With guns? And vests?"

"He's a dangerous perp."

"Exactly!" the detective exclaimed triumphantly and started counting on his fingers, "He's dangerous. He deals guns; he collaborates with god-knows-who. This is not some game!" Chin, ignoring his tirade, took a handgun from the trunk. Williams snatched it from him. "You're not in your backyard with your plastic pistols! This is a job for the police!"

"You are the police," Steve seethed. They had a suspect related to the murder case, damn it, and HPD was doing nothing about it. 'Five-0' was a registered PI agency, so if they could - and Steve knew that they could - provide some help to the law enforcement, it was their obligation to do so. "If you're worried about this equipment," Steve pointed to the vests, two guns, a taser and a few other items he took from Chin's house 'in case'. "Everything here is legal; we have permission and training-"

"You learned how to shoot at a firing range! That's no training!" Williams assumed but he was only partially right. "You are civilians!"

"Chin Ho used to be HPD not more than three years ago! He has all the training he needs!"

"I don't care. He's not police. It's against... everything! Procedure, common sense, everything! Get back into the car!"

For a moment there Steve thought he lost. Williams was dead set on stopping him this time and Steve's creativity ran out. He used all possible arguments and none got through to the detective. The whole complex, refined plan was about to go south and then... Providence proved to be on his side.

The sound of doors slamming in a dwelling sixty feet from them had their heads turning. A young woman was coming out of the house they knew belonged to Duran. Her movements were rapid; she was muttering something under her breath and then she suddenly stopped. She saw them. She stood frozen for three seconds then spun on her heel and ran back up the stairs and into the house.

"Shit!" Williams cursed. "Now you've spooked him!" Contrary to his earlier disapproval, he had his vest on in record time and was already checking his gun.

Chin and Steve were ready to go way earlier - Steve's heart now pumping adrenaline through his body, making him all keyed up. He turned to Danny with a victorious grin. Oh, how he would boast later. Now they had a job to do.

Except that Williams had another idea.

"You," he spoke in a low but hypnotizing voice and placed a hand on Steve's chest, "are not going anywhere."

"It's my investigation!"

"You don't have the training for this."

"Damn it! You don't know first thing about my training!"

"And you are disabled!"

Steve blanked out. He stood in front of the detective, mouth gaping like he forgot how to breathe.

What?

"If I as much as see you anywhere near us," Williams continued. "I'll arrest your ass before Duran, for obstruction of police investigation. Am I making myself clear?"

Steve couldn't answer. In the corner of his eye he saw a wild-looking guy peeking through the door the girl had gone through a few seconds ago. Having cast one glance, the thug vanished inside the house.

"C'mon!" Chin urged.

"Am I making myself clear?" Williams repeated.

"Yes!" Steve spat. He had no choice. "Just go get him!"

"After me!" Williams shouted and he was on the stairs in a heartbeat, Chin Ho at his heels with a gun in hand.

Steve was left behind, standing by the car, not quite comprehending what had just happened.

Things turned out exactly the way Danny predicted. The perp had a gun and he was not afraid to use it. He was, however, shooting blindly, on the run, so the bullets did more damage to the walls, than they did to people. Then Duran jumped out of the window in the back of the house and Danny, without a second thought, jumped after him. Following a chase through the narrow alleys of the neighborhood they stopped face to face, only ... the scumbag held a weapon to a woman's head.

"Drop your gun or I'll shoot her!" he yelled. "Don't think I won't do it!"

Danny hesitated only for a moment but this moment seemed to stretch to infinity. The situation was all kinds of wrong. He shouldn't have been here, they shouldn't have been here. Where was Chin Ho Kelly? He had no idea how the man worked, what he could expect of his surprise partner. If it was Meka - even though he'd known the man only for a few months - he would know where he would be and that he could count on back-up. Here? No such certainty.

His life flashed before his eyes. Grace's smiling face. All the things he hadn't yet told her, taught her. He didn't want to miss out on that, didn't want her to lose her father because of some moron's inability to see the consequences of his actions.

Shit!

The fault was his too; Danny had to admit that in the split second it took him to calculate his options. He was the officer of the law here and he had let McGarrett manipulate him. Granted, the man was a master at manipulation, quick thinking, and with planning abilities worthy of some general's envy. Danny had had no chance to see this coming and even though, once he'd realized what'd been going on, he could have stuck to his stance that they were fuckin' leaving - he also wanted to get Duran. It was obvious that once the criminal realized police were on his tail, he would have vanished.

Hence, Danny found himself in this impossible situation, with an unpredictable felon threatening an innocent woman's life, if Danny didn't drop his gun.

This was a no-brainer, really. The detective lowered his weapon, praying to every deity possible that his partner was in place to have his back.

Duran let go of the terrified woman.

His gun swung to aim at Danny.

There was one shot.

Or it seemed so.

Danny felt the bullet graze his arm at the same time the perp fell backwards from the impact of a slug - Danny saw clearly - implanted in his forehead. Dead center.

Heaving a sigh of relief Danny muttered, "Thank you, Chin Ho Kelly," turned around and saw ... Steve McGarrett ... lowering his pistol, the expression on his face a mixture of terror and euphoria.

Danny glared at McGarrett then turned back, disbelieving, to see Duran sprawled on the ground. He was dead. He was shot dead. By none other than Steve McGarrett, the man Danny clearly ordered to stay out of it.

Perhaps he shouldn't have felt angry. Perhaps gratefulness was more apt, but with all the adrenaline flooding his veins after a close call like this, Danny couldn't restrain himself. He strode toward McGarrett ready to chew him out. Duran was their only lead and now he was dead. He did not suspect McGarrett of killing his father anymore - truth be told he never actually did; he had doubts, that was all - but the way he played this situation from the very beginning, smelled iffy.

"How am I supposed to trust you, huh?" he attacked, aiming his accusing finger at the taller man's chest.

McGarrett's eyebrows jumped up.

"You'd rather I did as you said, and stayed put? You'd be dead now!"

"Not what I'm talking about!" Danny exclaimed.

"Then what are you talking about?"

He should have held his tongue. In hindsight, Danny could see that the only reason he spoke was residual fight-or-flight response.

"What am I talking about?" he screamed. "I'll tell you what I'm talking about. The guy is dead. The only witness who could shed any light on your father's murder was shot! By you! Now tell me ... how is it not suspicious?"

When Danny had told Steve to stay behind because he was disabled, a thought had crossed his mind that he should have felt bad about it. Like if he kicked a puppy. He hadn't felt that though. Plain and simple, he'd felt like this needed to be said and he did not regret a single word. Right now, as realization dawned on McGarrett and his face fell, his eyes hardened and he opened his mouth to reply but closed them without making a sound. Danny felt worse than if he beat him to a bloody pulp, having tied his good hand behind his back first.

"I don't suspect you, McGarrett," he started in a low voice and Steve shook his head. "Damn it! Listen to me. If I thought you were guilty I would have arrested you back there in the garage. But I put down my gun the moment you proved you were his son." It wouldn't be the first time Danny's initial approach to the case proved to be the right one. "I went to the Archives for you. I brought you the information, which, Jesus Christ, do you see what you did with that?" Danny ran his hand through his hair. Really, this mess...

"Hey, Guys!" Chin Ho Kelly called them, and damn it, Danny didn't need a distraction. He trotted closer. "There's a girl in there. She's Chinese and I don't think she speaks English." The way he looked at McGarrett must have meant something, because, without a word, Steve turned around and walked toward the dwelling.

Only then Danny noticed the crowd gathering around them. Police had most certainly been alerted and they'd be here soon.

"We need to secure the scene," he muttered to Kelly. He'd rather do something else, like follow McGarrett, because that conversation got interrupted at a wrong moment, but duty came first. "You remember how it's done?"

"Sure," the ex-policeman smiled reassuringly then furrowed his brow. "You're bleeding." He was glaring at Danny's arm.

Duran's bullet grazed him, Danny remembered.

"Huh? At least that will make justifying McGarrett killing Duran in defense of others that much easier," Danny sighed. Kelly looked closer at the scratch and deemed it not life-threatening.

"Paramedics are on their way too, they'll take care of it." He clapped Danny's back. "After you, Detective."

Together they managed the crowd and took care of the still sobbing woman whom Duran had held hostage. When the paramedics finally arrived a few minutes later Chin handed the woman over to them, while Danny explained what happened to a couple of officers who arrived. Then he left it to them to take care of the next steps and he found himself next to Chin, leaning side-by-side against the Camaro. McGarrett walked out of the dwelling with a thin, terrified girl and steered her toward the ambulance. Danny pushed away from the car, but Chin held him by the elbow.

"The less people around her the better," he said apologetically. "She's been through enough."

Danny nodded and restricted himself to watching from afar. Steve explained what happened to the medics, then listened to them and spoke to the girl. He was obviously translating and Danny shook his head. He was impressed by McGarrett, he couldn't deny it.

"So he speaks Chinese, huh?" he muttered. Seriously, was there anything this guy couldn't do? No wonder people were inclined to doubt his brain injury.

"Yes," Kelly replied. "Mandarin fluently and some Cantonese."

"Would have thought that with brain damage he'd rather have problems with languages."

Chin did not comment on this. After a few moments of silence he chuckled.

"No one's ever told him that, you know?" That? Danny looked at him questioningly. "That he shouldn't do something because he's disabled."

"Seriously?"

"I thought he would rip your head off, but he actually obeyed. Must admit I was surprised."

"Obeyed? You call that obeying? He ran after us the moment we were out of sight! And he shot Duran!" And really, how were they going to get the case solved now? That Kamekona guy? Was it just a fodder to divert Danny's attention, or could the informant really give them something useful? Danny kept glaring at McGarrett, wishing he could get inside the man's head. It had to be a scary place but nonetheless fascinating. "By the way," he said as he remembered McGarrett's face right after he shot Duran and what he felt was odd about his posture. "I wanted to ask you - was he left handed or right handed before the accident?"

Kelly shook his head. "He's right handed."

"All the more impressive." McGarrett held the gun in his left hand. "He's got a good aim."

"Oh, yeah."

"I had to say this though, you know."

"I'm not saying you shouldn't have."

"It was dangerous!"

"I know, Detective." Kelly turned to him and placed a hand on his arm. There was warmth in his eyes, silent understanding, like he wanted to tell Danny that he didn't need to explain himself. Danny nodded and sighed. "Still," Kelly started again, taking his hand down and staring ahead. "He would have held his own with us; he's capable of more than your average Joe. He's had training like you wouldn't believe, brah. His dad was not into playing baseball in the backyard with his kid. No, Jack McGarrett was a Navy vet, survived the front line in Vietnam. He was a nut case about physical fitness and such things. His father - Steve's grandfather - was Navy too, went down with the Arizona, here in Pearl Harbor, before Jack was born." Danny nodded. He'd figured that out.

"Steve would have been Navy too, right?"

"He didn't want to at the time. Wanted to stay in Hawaii, be a surfer. But he was only fifteen, going on sixteen. A lot might have changed in three years." Kelly paused briefly then shook his head. "You know, the reason he was a quarterback as a sophomore was not some lame talent thing. This kid had a crash course at wilderness survival when he was ten. His father had taken take him to the firing range since he was twelve. They used to have those yearly trips to Ka'ala where they would race each other to see who'd reach the summit first. It's three thousand feet elevation from the base to the peak. That, Danny, that is the reason he's walking now, and not in a wheelchair. If he sometimes thinks he's invincible ... Well, can you blame him?"

"Makes you wonder who he'd be if this accident didn't happen?" For Danny it was a solely theoretical question, but the flicker of anguish on Chin Ho's face told him that for them it was still, despite all those years, an open wound. "I bet he'd be a ninja," he tried to deflect the hurt with a joke and got Chin's chuckle in return. "I'm sorry." Now Danny laid a hand on Chin's shoulder and squeezed it lightly. "And thanks for sharing all this with me."

"I think I may have needed it more than you did," Kelly admitted quietly.

As soon as he handed the Chinese girl over to the policemen, Steve looked around, searching for Chin ... yes, and Williams. They stood side-by-side next to the Camaro and talked like old friends. He didn't feel like facing the detective and his accusations again but he needed to talk to Chin, so he went toward them.

"We should go see Kamekona," he stated when he was in front of them.

Chin gave him the once-over and shook his head. "Not right now. Possibly not today at all."

Steve didn't argue. The fight left him and if anything about the way he felt showed on the outside, he must have looked like Hell. His hand prickled. Without a word he handed the car keys to Williams and scrambled into the back seat. Chin gave the detective his home address and kept turning in his seat and staring at Steve scratching his fist over and over throughout the whole drive home. He hadn't said anything and Steve didn't explain himself either. He tried to focus on the steady hum of the engine, on evening out his breathing, the imagery of blue waves that was always so soothing but seemed beyond his reach right now, his thoughts scattered on all the irrelevant details and objects. He really didn't need so much distraction right now. He didn't need Chin's fussing either. And most of all he didn't need-

When they stopped in front of his apartment building and Chin, and Steve after him - and not without help either - got out, the figure sitting at the stairs stood up. The first thing Steve noticed was a Navy uniform, then shoulder-length blonde hair when she took off her hat. It took another few moments before he realized who she was, even though the way his heart pumped - he must have known all along on some instinctive level.

"Hi," she said looking straight at him with a mixture of joy and pain.

Steve passed her by without a word, with barely a look and refused to acknowledge her strangled sob.

"Mary," he heard Chin's voice before the door to the building closed behind him. "He doesn't mean-"

He did mean.

He didn't want to see her.

t.b.c.

Oh, BTW, Happy New Year everyone! :)