Hope you enjoy the update, This will be the last case the team will be doing for a while. I will be writing again, but am unsure when that will be. I do have a few plots for future stories with the Ohana.
I did write a few weeks ago that we would be welcoming out little boy to our family. Circumstances put our introductions back a few weeks, which is why I've been able to continue on with the story for a little while longer. We start our introduction's tomorrow, which is why I wanted to get this last chapter up before our hectic weeks start.
I do have a little epilogue to post, which is complete and just in need of a little read through to check for mistakes. I will be posting that later today.
I dread to think what my google search history looks like with all the maps of Hawaii I keep checking and the names and places of military vessels and other things I keep looking at.
Enjoy the Update.
Love Wendy x
McGarrett's Residence.
Monday morning.
Blinking the sleep out of his eyes he glanced at the clock on his bedside table. Stretching his arms above his head he turned over and spooned up to Catherine, throwing one arm across her waist as he buried his face into the back of her neck. He allowed his hand to slip under the covers and up inside the tank top she had pulled on to sleep in. He grinned as he felt her stirring and began kissing his way down her neck.
"Steve." She moaned softly as she felt him pushing the covers from her waist as he used his body to roll her to her front. "What are you doing?" She asked as she arched her neck giving him better access.
"I'm hurt you have to ask." He whispered as he kissed his way down her spine as he held her arms down on the bed beside her.
"Keoni!" She gasped as he nipped at a particularly sensitive spot on her hip, before soothing it with a kiss.
"Isn't due for his feed yet." Steve insisted as he traced the line of her waist with his tongue before nipping at her other hip.
"Ow god." She moaned as he pushed her down into the mattress with his hard muscular body.
Lifting his weight of her body, he urged her to roll to her back as he slipped her panties of her hips and down her long legs. Placing a kiss on each of the faint stretch marks that marred the skin of her stomach; scars that reminded him of the small life they had created together. He felt her slip her hands into his hair holding him to her as he kissed his way back up her body, pushing the tank top upwards as he kissed the outer swell of each breast.
"Ow god." She moaned again as he kissed and nipped his way up her neck as she arched her head back gripping at his shoulders. "Need you." She panted as he settled his weight between her legs rubbing his erection against her core.
He slanted his mouth across hers in a deep searing kiss as she racked her nails down his back in an attempt to get him to give her what she wanted. Her legs came up to wrap around his hips as she rocked her pelvis against his encouragingly. Pulling his mouth from hers in an attempt to draw air into his lugs, he kissed his way along her jaw.
"Someone's impatient." He commented with a smirk as he nipped at her ear making her gasp and dig her nails into his shoulders.
"Steve, please." She begged as she reached between them to take hold of his erection and guide it towards her entrance.
He moaned at the sensation as he slipped inside her body. Bracing himself on his elbows as he waited for her to adjust to his possession before pulling out and thrusting back in as he set the pace of their love making. His mouth closed over hers as his tongue slipped inside her mouth too dual with hers as he moved within her.
He broke the kiss desperately needing to pull air into his lungs as she moaned and sighed beneath him, her face flushed with passion as her fingers gripped at his back. He could feel her muscles squeezing him and had to fight the urge to let go before she was ready. He groaned when his cell phone rang glancing across at it and glaring. He tried to ignore it concentrating on Catherine, but found it too distracting.
"Don't." Catherine gasped as he reached for the phone as they continued to move together.
Grabbing the phone from the cradle he silenced it before tossing it to the floor in the general direction of the en-suite. Wrapping his arms around his wife and burying his face in the crook of her neck, he grunted as she bit into his shoulder in an attempt to keep the noise down as she climaxed. Feeling her muscles contracting took him over the edge as he spilled himself inside her.
Collapsing on top of her he breathed heavily pulling air into his lungs. "Move in a minute." He assured her as he brushed a kiss across her sweat covered cheek. Pushing up on his arms when he finally regained the strength to move, he grinned down at her as he dropped a quick kiss on her lips before he moved off her. He rolled to his back pulling her into his side as she rested her head on his shoulder and slipped her hand around his waist. It was at that point that the monitor sprang to life as Keoni informed them he was awake.
"The kids got good timing." Steve commented as they moved apart so he could climb out of bed to go and get him. It had become their little morning ritual; Steve would always go in to change Keoni's diaper before bringing him back to their room so he could nurse.
"I'll get a quick shower while you change him." She said slipping into the bathroom.
He pulled on a pair of shorts before leaving the bedroom and crossing the landing to the nursey. "Good morning, son." Steve said as he crossed to the crib and picked up his crying son. "Let's get you out of that wet diaper, then we can go and find mommy."
Lifting him against his shoulder as he crossed to the changing table he caught the distinct whiff that told him Keoni wasn't just wet. "You couldn't have waited till I'd gone to work to do that?" Steve said as he laid the baby on the mat and unfastened the poppers on his onesie.
"I thought you and I had come to an agreement that you'd save all the dirty diapers for your mommy." Steve said softly keeping up a one-sided conversation with the cooing baby. "I mean seriously what has mommy been feeding you. I've been in some pretty smelly places while I was in the SEAL's, but I think this might be top of the stink list, Champ. Your mommy will probably tell me off for calling you stinky, you know that right?"
Steve smiled as the boy moved his arms and legs about, cooing and gurgling back at him as he followed his daddies voice. Pulling the tabs on the diaper he pulled it free quickly grabbing wipes and cleaning the mess from the baby's skin so he could get a clean diaper back in place before anything else could happen. Steve had made that mistake quite a few times over the last eight weeks.
"One nice clean diaper… now I bet that feels a lot better doesn't it. Do you think you can stay put while I deal with the stinky one? You can?" Steve said as he quickly and efficiently dealt with wrapping and bagging the dirty diaper before tossing it in the trash can with the intention of taking it straight outside as soon as he got Keoni settled with his mommy. "Okay Champ, let's get you into a nice romper so we can go and find mommy. She was taking a shower, but I bet she's done now and waiting for us."
Pulling on a clean outfit that he grabbed out of the dresser and snapping the poppers closed on the romper, he picked up the little boy resting him against his shoulder as he brushed a kiss across his tiny cheek as he stroked the downy soft fluff on the top of his head. "You know you and your mommy are the best things that I've ever had happen to me. It took me a lot of time to work out my feelings for your mommy and I'm so glad she stuck it out with me. If she hadn't, we wouldn't have created you." He told the baby softly as he left the Nursery to return to the master bedroom where he knew his wife would be waiting for them.
Pushing the bedroom door open he spotted Catherine just getting comfortable on the bed as she pulled the sheet back over her legs. She smiled at him as he crossed the room and placed Keoni in her arms, leaning over to kiss her lips tenderly. The baby let out a squeal of displeasure at being sandwiched between his parents.
"Sorry little man, was mommy and daddy squashing you?" Catherine cooed to the baby as she settled him at her breast so he could nurse.
"Move forward a little." Steve urged her as he settled himself behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. He placed a tender kiss on her cheek as he rested his chin in the crook of her neck to watch their son nurse.
"I thought you'd be going for your swim." Catherine mentioned as she turned her head slightly to look at his face.
"I'm waiting for my cell to go again." He explained with a grin at her, knowing that whoever had been trying to contact him at this time in the morning would more than likely call back.
"STEVE? CATHERINE?" Came Danny's voice from downstairs, just before they heard the jersey man heading up the stairs. "YOU UP HERE?"
"I'll head him off." Steve said as he extracted himself from behind Catherine and quickly moved to the door pulling on his discarded t-shirt from last night. "Hey Danno?" He said as he stepped onto the landing to greet his partner.
"Is everything alright? Why didn't you answer you cell?" Danny asked firing of questions. "We called you four times."
"Everything is fine; I was a little too busy to answer the call." Steve explained simply, not about to reveal the exact reason he hadn't answered. "We catch a case?"
"Yes we have. HPD was called out to two bodies at the Punchbowl crater, the cemetery to be exact. Please, no jokes." Danny said as he as he announced the location.
"Give me a few minutes to shower and throw on some civvies. I'll let Cath know where we're headed so she can follow on." Steve told him as he slipped back into his room to shower and change.
….
Punchbowl Crater
National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
After parking Catherine's Corvette behind Danny's Camaro on the north side Inner drive, Steve and Danny headed across the lawned grounds towards the group of CSU's and HPD officers that were stood with the other members of five-0. They could see two paramedics preparing one of the victims for transport while Dr Max Bergman examined the second man with the help of Dr Mindy Shaw.
Steve glanced around the area, his eyes automatically going to the area where his father was buried. The last time he'd been to see him was with Catherine the day they had brought Keoni home from the hospital. He'd promised his dad he'd be back to see him real soon, but he hadn't been back to see him yet. Maybe he would have time to drop by before he left the cemetery, he should at least try to say hello.
"Everything okay?" Chin asked as the two of them approached. "We all tried your number."
"Yeah, must have been in the nursery when you called." Steve lied.
"Why didn't Catherine answer? I know she answer's your phone." Danny pointed out not willing to let the subject drop.
"Catherine went to get a shower when I went in to Keoni." Steve told them honestly, omitting the fact his phone had rung a couple of minutes before that.
"We were all a little concerned when HPD told Danny that they hadn't been able to reach you." Chin explained as the five of them moved in the direction of the two bodies.
"Hey boss, does Catherine know you have her car?" Kono asked with a grin as she took note of the blue Corvette parked on the roadway.
Steve grinned back at the young Hawaiian woman and dangled a newly cut set of keys at her. "She got me my own set cut."
"He's such a cheap date." Danny quipped as he shook his head at Steve's answering grin.
"Catherine decided it was easier if I took her car when she needed to use the truck." Steve explained. Catherine had surprised him with the keys the previous night after they had put Keoni to bed. She had barely used her own car in the past couple of months since their son had arrived, finding it easier and safer to use the truck with the baby seat secured in the back.
"I'm surprised she trusted you with it." Lou stated as he strode across the grass.
"She threatened him with the couch if he so much as scratched it." Danny told them with a chuckle as Steve groaned.
"Better not get it shot up then, or you'll be sleeping in the back yard." Lou chuckled.
"What do we know?" Steve asked in an attempt to steer his friends away from the subject of his wife's car and the possibility that someone might decide it was a good idea to have a shootout while he was using it.
"Two bodies, both with severe bruising to their torso's. Looks like our dead guy was also suffocated." Lou explained quickly bringing everyone up to date. "EMT's are just about to transport the other vic."
"Have we got names yet?" Steve asked as they reached the victim being loaded on to a stretcher.
"Seaman Wesley Skelly and Seaman William Hawkins. The responding HPD unit found their base passes still in their wallets." Lou explained as he passed the evidence bags containing the identification to Steve. "That's Hawkins on the stretcher. EMT's are pretty confident he'll pull through. He was unconscious when HPD arrived on the scene, but his pulse is strong and steady and all his vitals seem to be pretty good. I think we just have to wait for him to come around."
"Hoskins." Steve acknowledged the paramedic who was treating Seaman Hawkins. "You transporting him to Tripler?"
"We are. We have standing orders; any military OR Five-0 get a ride to Tripler." He added with a grin at the Five-0 leader as he finished strapping the patient to the gurney.
"Mahalo." He said as Hoskins and his colleague moved their patient towards the waiting ambulance.
"Hey Max, what do you have for us?" Steve asked as he reached the spot where the deceased victim was currently being examined by Max and Dr Shaw as two HPD officer's stood watching.
"Commander." Max greeted as they came to a stop near the body. "Seaman Skelly as you can see has suffered from several blows to his torso, as of yet I am unable to identify whether it was a hand or weapon that caused it. I will know more once I have him back at my office."
"That's what I call a nice ride." One of the officers said to his partner with an appreciative whistle, causing the members of Five-0 to glance back to the drive.
Steve bristled as he spotted Catherine climbing out of his Silverado and calling over to Duke. "I sure hope you were referring to the truck and not Lieutenant Rollins." Steve growled at the officer who swallowed nervously as he realised his mistake.
"Yes, Sir." He responded quickly as his partner muttered something to him.
Steve turned back to watch Catherine crossing the grass as she joined the rest of the team. She raised an eyebrow as she picked up on the tension coming off him, and he shook his head to dispel her concern.
"Duke's filled me in on the basics." Catherine told him as she reached his side.
"Max?" Steve prompted knowing the M.E probably had more to share with them about the victim.
"As I was about to say; Seaman Skelly has signs of petechial haemorrhaging." Max said as he opened the victim's lifeless eyes to show the team. "There are no signs of bruising to his face, suggesting that he may have been suffocated with a soft item held over his face. He is not however showing any indication of defensive wounds to his hands or arms.
"Max is it possible they were covered in a blanket while they received a beating?" Catherine asked as an idea began to form in her head.
"You're thinking this was a hazing gone wrong?" Steve said as he quickly picked up on her train of thought.
"That is possible." Max agreed. "I will check for fibres during his autopsy, if you are correct he will indeed have fibres in his mouth and nasal passages. I will send you my findings once I have completed his autopsy." Max stated as he and Doctor Shaw began to zip up the body bag and move it onto the stretcher for transporting into the waiting M.E's van.
"There not college kids." Lou pointed out.
Steve looked at Catherine who smiled back at him in return. "Hazing is carried out within the military Lou, although that's not a name that's used. The idea is to wedel out the weak ones and create a stronger united unit. By simulating what a person might have to endure during a combat situation the hazee can be prepared should he or she at any time become a POW." Steve explained to the silent group.
"You've had this done too you?" Danny asked in shock.
Steve nodded his head. "Not like these guys, but another name for it is SERE training, Danny. Both Catherine and I have had SERE training, although mine was more in depth the Cath's."
"Sleep deprivation is a form of hazing Danny, and so is exposure to the elements such as swimming or diving in cold water or snow." Catherine pointed out to him.
"Most hazing incident know a days are designed to push that person to his or her limit without any serious injury taking place." Steve held up his hand to stop Danny's next flow of words. "By that I mean sport related injuries, sprain's, pulled muscles, broken bones and collapse due to exhaustion. One of the guys in my bud's class broke his wrist during a ten mile run after little more than two hours of sleep and carried on. That's what Catherine and I are talking about, but sometimes certain units will have their own hazing policies for what they see as their own initiation into their unit."
The four non-military members shared a look at each other as they realised the reason why Steve and Catherine reacted like they did during intense situation's and why Steve never seemed to allow his emotions to show after he'd been taken prisoner by Wo Fat and the Taliban.
"What about family?" Steve asked.
"HPD were notifying both their wives. Duke said he had a unit picking up Mrs Hawkins to escort her to the hospital." Kono shared with them.
"Chin, you and Kono go and see Mrs Skelly see if she can tell us anything." He told them as he once again looked down at the man's lifeless body."
Chin and Kono both bid good bye to the rest of them as they headed towards Chin's car so they could visit Seaman Skelly's widow.
"Catherine, you and Lou go and talk to Mrs Hawkins, let me know when he wakes up." He told them.
"Will do." Lou agreed already heading back across the manicured grounds to his SUV.
"I'll drop Keoni at the day care and head over to the base with Danny." Steve told her as the three of them headed back towards the parked cars at the kerb.
"Copy that." Catherine said as she fished her keys out of the pocket of her jeans and headed in the direction of her Corvette.
"Thanks for watching him Duke." Steve said as he reached his truck.
"It really was my pleasure, Steve. I remember your dad bringing you by the station house a few times when you were that age." The older Hawaiian officer shared with a smile. "He looks exactly the same as you did."
"Yeah, that's what Doris keeps telling me." Steve told him as he opened the rear door of the truck and began unbuckling Keoni.
"Aloha." Duke called as he headed of in the direction of his patrol car.
"Aloha." Replied Steve as he picked up his son and rested him against his shoulder. "Let's go and say Aloha to your grandad." He said softly to the baby as he placed a kiss on the top of his head.
"You want me to wait?" Danny asked, already knowing his partner was visiting John McGarrett's grave.
Turning to look at Danny he nodded his head. "Yeah, unless you want to join me." He added just before he strode of.
Danny shrugged his shoulders and followed.
….
Ford Island
Seaman Skelly's Residence.
Chin glanced around the home as Kono sat on the couch with the widow as she tried to comfort the sobbing woman. The base Chaplain had greeted them at the door and shown them into the family room where a few other naval personal had been gathered to offer their condolences. It seemed that the news had travelled fast amongst the military families housed on Ford Island.
Kono herself had made a comment to the Chaplain about the presence of personal, he had shaken it off as he had explained how quick news would spread once someone spotted the Chaplain and a Senior officer making a visit in uniform. There had been a steady stream of visitors to the home all morning, a number of the wives staying and busying themselves in the Skelly's kitchen as they made drinks for everyone.
"I'm really sorry that we have to ask, but did your husband have any enemies?" Kono asked softly.
"No. Wes was liked by everyone; he was a bit of a practical joker. He'd leave toy spider's under the toilet seat, glue the lid on someone's shaving cream, or put plastic snakes into his friend's beds. They knew it was him, and they'd pay him back by sticking itching powder in his shorts." She told them, a whimsical smile appearing on her face at the memory.
"Did he ever mention anything about hazing within his unit?" Chin enquired, wondering if Steve and Catherine had hit upon something given the nature of the injuries.
"No, never." She exclaimed as she shook her head.
"That's not something we condone, and we urge any sailor to come forward and report such incidents." Lieutenant Smith informed them.
"But it does happen." Chin pushed.
"As I said Detective Kelley, we don't condone such actions." He defended.
"I heard what you said Lieutenant, however I have it on extremely good authority that we do in fact condone hazing as long as it comes under the banner labelled as SERE training." Chin pointed out, not willing to back down.
"What you're talking about is a completely different thing. SERE training is to prepare the members of our Armed Forces should they ever find themselves in a situation where they become POW's." Smith attempted to explain in his defence.
"It's the same thing, just with a different name." Kono disagreed before turning back to Mrs Skelly. "If you think of anything at all, or even just want to chat, please call me." She told her as she handed her a small card with her cell number on it.
"We will find the person or person's responsible for your husband's death." Chin reassured her as he shook her hand.
"Thank you." She told them both as she blotted at her eyes again.
"I know it might not seem so right now, but you will find a way to get through all this and find some measure of happiness on the other side." Chin told her quietly before the Chaplain showed them to the door.
…..
Tripler Army Medical centre.
After parking their vehicles in the visitors' lot, Catherine and Lou had both headed through the maze of corridors until they came to the intensive care unit where Seaman Hawkins had been transported to after he had arrived at the military hospital. Catherine had spoken to the nurse manning the desk, asking for the man's cubicle number.
After thanking the nurse, the two Five-0 members had moved further into the unit to find Hawkins cubicle. Upon reaching it they had discovered Mrs Hawkins sat by her husband's bed as she rubbed soothingly at her protruding stomach.
"Mrs Hawkins?" Catherine called with a smile on her face as she stepped into the cubicle.
"Yes." The woman confirmed about to get to her feet as the new comers entered her husband's room.
"Please don't get up." Catherine urged knowing what the woman was going through. "Lieutenant Rollins and Captain Grover we're with Five-0. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?"
"Are you looking for whoever did this to Billy?" She asked as she swiped at a tear that rolled down her face.
"Yes we are." Lou confirmed positively as he stepped into the small cubicle behind Catherine.
"I know this is a difficult time for you, and I do understand what you're going through." Catherine told her as she pulled a chair up to sit in front of the other woman.
"I wish people would stop telling me that, you don't know what I'm going through." She snapped angrily.
"Mrs Skelly, my husband was shot and nearly died just four months ago. I was six months pregnant at the time with our child. I really do understand how difficult this is for you, but we really do need to ask you some questions." Catherine confided gently.
"Okay." She agreed.
….
Iolani Palace.
Steve bypassed the security checkpoint as he entered the Palace and crossed the lobby with Keoni cradled in his arms, the backpack style diaper bag slung over his shoulder. Keoni had fallen asleep on the fifteen-minute ride from the cemetery, and was softly snoring in his daddy's arms. He pushed the doors to the day care centre open spotting Mary with her back to him as she was talking to a couple of woman across the room. Glancing around the room he spotted his niece playing with a little girl as they played at feeding their dolls.
"Commander." Lydia Winters greeted as she crossed the room to meet him.
"Mrs Winters." Steve greeted the middle aged woman who had been put in charge of the general running of the centre. Catherine and himself had met the woman on a couple of occasions so they could reassure themselves that Keoni would be safe in her care. They had both felt reassured that Mary would be working at the centre and had come to an agreement with Mrs Winters that Mary would be his main care giver.
…..
"Dishy." Mel said as she spotted the new comer cradling the baby in his arms. "You think he's a single daddy?" She asked her two colleagues with a predatory grin.
Mary turned to see who Mel was looking at, shaking her head as she spotted her brother and nephew talking to her boss Lydia. "Sorry guy's he's totally off limits." Mary told them with an amused smile.
"You can't call dibs on him." Mel told her. No way she'd seen the hunk first.
"I don't want dibs, and for the record he's very happily married." Mary told them before turning to her daughter. "Joanie, look who's here."
"Unca Steve." The little girl cried happily, abandoning her doll in favour of her favourite uncle.
"Uncle?" Mel stated in shock as she watched Mary's daughter running over to the muscular man who had broken out into a grin as he dropped to one knee to welcome the little girl into a one arm hug.
"Yeah, the goof is my brother." Mary stated as she moved across the room to join Steve.
….
"Hey Joanie." Steve said as he brushed a kiss across the little girl's cheek.
"Eoni sleep." She said as she twisted in her uncle's arms to look at the sleeping baby.
"Yes he is." Steve agreed. "So we have to be really quiet until he wakes up from his nap."
"I member, I not shout to loud cause I wake him up, then he cry." Joan told him.
"That's right." Steve confirmed before planting another kiss on her cheek before standing up to greet Mary. "Hey Mare."
"Hand him over." Mary insisted as she held her hands out for nephew.
Steve brushed a kiss across Keoni's forehead before he transferred his sleeping son to his aunties arms. "Catherine's done him a couple of bottles, they're in his diaper bag; but she's going to come down and nurse him if she's in her office." He explained.
"You want me to give Catherine a ring when he wants his feed." Mary suggested as she rocked the sleeping baby in her arms.
"Yeah, that would probably work best. She's at Tripler at the moment, but she should be back pretty soon." Steve agreed as he lowered the diaper bag of his shoulder before turning back to his niece so he could pick her up and say goodbye.
…
Pearl Harbour
USS HAWAII.
"Well that was a waste of time." Danny grumbled as they climbed through the hatch that led back onto the deck of the USS Hawaii. He wiped his sweaty palms on the back of his pants before running his hand through his hair once again.
Steve rolled his eyes as he moved across the deck towards the gantry that would take them ashore. "What did you expect him to say Danny? It was the butler, and he did it in the library." Steve quipped in frustration. They had spent the better part of two hours going through the bunks of both men and speaking to their Commanding Officers and fellow sailors. Danny had been complaining none stop the whole time, and as much as Steve knew it was the man's claustrophobia getting to him; it had still managed to grate on his nerves.
"There's no need to be sarcastic, Steven. We've just spent the last two hours stuck inside that tin can and we have nothing." He ranted as he stomped across the gantry moodily.
Steve whirled around to face him. "Look, I get it that you hate to be in tight spaces, but can you please just stop. I told you it was going to be tight quarters on board, it's not an aircraft carrier. The USS Hawaii is a fast attack submarine, she's only 377 feet in length. Next time stay in the bloody car." Steve growled in frustration.
"I'm not a dog." Danny snapped as he pushed past Steve as he headed towards where his car was parked.
Steve sighed as he crossed to the car and slid into the driver's seat of the Camaro. Inserting the keys into the ignition he started the car, backing it out of the parking space and heading in the direction of the main gates. A quick glance across at Danny confirmed his partner was sulking. He sighed again.
"Hopefully the other's will have got a little more information than we did." Steve said into the quiet of the car in an attempt to get his partner to talk.
Danny didn't bother to answer he just grunted in response as he attempted to calm his breathing.
"You okay?" Steve asked in concern when Danny didn't answer.
"No." Danny admitted.
"Take a deep breath, hold it in and let it out slowly." Steve told him as he demonstrated exactly what he meant.
"I'm having a panic attack and your trying to get me doing Lamaze?" Danny asked in surprise.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Steve questioned in confusion. "Lamaze?"
"Pregnancy breathing, Steven." Danny pointed out sarcastically.
"That's combat breathing." Steve explained. "Come to think about it Cath did use it when she was having Keoni." He realised.
Danny looked across at Steve and shook his head in amusement. "Your totally unique, you know that? Everything you do comes down to weapons and combat."
"So" Steve defended. "Are we okay?" He asked.
"Yeah." Danny agreed with a smile.
"Good. You still picking Gabby's ring up tomorrow?" He asked as he left the base and manoeuvred through the traffic on the H1 as they headed back to five-0 HQ.
"Yeah. I've booked the table at her favourite restaurant for Friday evening, I'm going to ask her after Dinner." Danny shared his plans.
"That's great." Steve agreed as he glanced across at Danny with a smirk. "Just to point out, Catherine's a whizz at arranging wedding's extremely quickly."
"Yes, I'm well aware of your wife's ability to plan a wedding with 'Military' Precision." Danny said using his fingers to air quote. "I plan on allowing Gabby to set the date."
"Okay." Steve said letting the subject drop.
…..
Iolani Palace.
Strolling into the bullpen they found Chin, Kono and Lou stood around the smart table as they went through the bits of information they had managed to gather from the two wives. Steve glanced across to Catherine's closed office door with the blinds drawn and quickly came to the conclusion she must be nursing Keoni.
"Cath's in her office." Kono told him as she spotted him glance across the room.
"What did you all get?" He asked, hoping they had better luck than Danny and himself.
"Mrs Skelly didn't have anything; seems her husband was a practical joker but no one ever took offence to him. We did bring up the subject of hazing and was quickly shot down by a Lieutenant Smith." Chin told them.
"We didn't get anything either, both their bunks were clean and squared away. Both men were extremely well liked and worked hard within their team. We brought up the subject of hazing, but the crew were insistent that nothing ever took place." Steve explained.
"Catherine and I might have lucked out a little better there. Mrs Hawkins said her husband had told her that he had witnessed a couple of hazing incidents recently. He apparently notified the senior officer in charge of his section." Lou told them as he pulled up a file and flicked it onto the screen. "Catherine was able to get hold of a copy of the report into the hazing incident."
"Well that is interesting." Steve said as he quickly scanned through the report. "Look who signed off on the actual report, Lieutenant Smith. I think we need to have a little word with the Lieutenant."
Danny groaned at the thought of returning to the small cramped metal tube. "Can't we get him to come here?" Danny whined.
"I'll take Catherine with me." Steve decided, not about to push Danny into returning to the Sub.
"Where are we going?" Catherine asked as she exited her office with Keoni resting against her shoulder as she rubbed at his tiny back. She crossed the floor to join the rest of the team around the smart table.
"Back to Pearl to speak with Lieutenant Smith." He told her, grinning when Keoni burped very loudly in the quiet of the room.
"What have you been feeding him, beer?" Danny asked with a chuckle.
"It's not my fault he takes after his daddy." Catherine quipped with a grin at Steve. "So why are we heading back to Pearl?"
"Smith denied hazing took place on board, yet you and Lou were told otherwise." Steve explained before throwing Danny one of his amused smirks. "Danny was a little uncomfortable on board."
"Not everyone is comfortable in such close quarters, Danny." Catherine reasoned, knowing how much the man hated small spaces.
The ringing of Steve's cell prevented anyone from saying more on the subject. "McGarrett." He said as he answered the call. He listened to the caller speak for a few seconds. "I'm putting you on speaker, Max."
"Aloha." Max called out to the team before he began to announce his finding's. "During my examination of Seaman Skelly's body I did pull fibres from his nose and mouth which I have sent to the lab for analysis. His body although severely bruised was not the cause of his death, nor was suffocation. He suffered from acute myocardial infraction which I believe was brought on by the stress of the situation. I have examined the organ and have discovered that it was in fact diseased, although nothing was present on Seaman Skelly's medical notes sent over from the Navy."
"You're saying he had a heart attack." Lou commented in surprise.
"That is correct Captain Grover." Max confirmed.
"You said it wasn't in his file, how likely is it he didn't know or was receiving treatment somewhere else other than from the Military." Steve asked, wondering if the man had tried to hide his medical condition. Steve was well aware of the length's some members of the military would go to hide injuries and illness from the base Doctor's, he himself had been guilty of it a time or two in the past.
"It is possible that he was unaware of the condition, most patients with heart problems are unaware until they first encounter symptoms. He may have had a few of the signs in the past and brushed them aside as something less sinister; shortness of breath, nausea, feeling faint, cold sweat's or tiredness are all fairly common indicators. I did not find any signs that he had been taking and form of medication, but I am waiting for toxicology reports to come back. A very common over the counter medication that he could have been taking is Aspirin, this would allow the body to thin the blood." Max explained.
"We didn't find anything in his locker, Kono check with his wife to see if she was aware of anything he may have been taking at home." Steve ordered, watching as Kono nodded her head as she moved in the direction of her office so she could place a call to the widow. "Max do you have a time of death?" He asked.
"I do. Seaman Skelly was in the early stages of Rigor when he was found, his liver temperature would suggest death occurred at approximately midnight." Max informed them.
"Alright, let me know as soon as you have the tox report back." Steve told him.
"Of course." He assured him.
"Mahalo." Steve thanked as he disconnected the call.
"Did the caretaker say if the gates were open or not?" Steve asked as a thought came to him.
"They didn't mention it, and to be honest I wasn't aware of them actually closing them." Lou admitted, he'd never been to the Punchbowl cemetery before.
"Yeah, this time of year it's usually 0800 hrs -1830 hrs." Steve told him absently. "Check that up with the cemetery. There's plenty of camera's along the route they would have taken to get from the base to the Punchbowl crater. Chin see if you can pull anything from around that time."
Lou and Chin nodded their heads in agreement before heading off to carry out Steve's instructions. Danny pushed himself of from the table, calling over his shoulder as he made his way down the corridor towards the exit. "I'll go and see what Eric has come up with."
"I just need to change his diaper before we drop him back with Mary." Catherine told Steve as they headed back towards her office.
Steve grabbed the diaper bag from her chair and quickly pulled out the mat to place on the top of her desk as Catherine laid him down and quickly unfastened the romper so they could change the wet diaper. Working together they quickly changed and redressed him so they could drop him back of in the Palace's day care centre.
…..
Pearl Harbour
USS HAWAII
After parking Catherine's Corvette, they had made their way towards the slip that housed the USS HAWAII and asked to speak to Lieutenant Smith. A short time later saw them walking along the pier so they could talk away from the boat.
"Seaman Hawkins logged what he'd seen, and I investigated the matter. The alleged victims denied anything had taken place, and I spoke to all the men who Hawkins implicated. They all denied any wrong doing and claimed that whatever it was Hawkins thought he'd seen was incorrect. I had no evidence to take anything further. I made a point of warning all of them not to even think about doing anything, because if it came to my attention again I'd bust their bal… sorry Lieutenant." He broke of apologising for his crude words.
"Nothing to apologise for Lieutenant, I've used worse myself." She assured him as the three of them walked along the key side.
"I'm sure you get what I was trying to say though." He added as he stopped near the gantry that led back onto the Hawaii.
"We'll need the names of all of them, and I want the crew shifts for last night." Steve told him.
"I'll get them for you." He quickly assured as he crossed the gantry and headed on to the boat.
They watched as he slipped through the hatch and disappeared inside the sub. Steve turned to glance around the area, looking for vantage points that a person could use if they wanted to surprise a victim. Although the immediate area was clear there were a number of storage containers further down. Parking spaces were easily come by along each side of the Clark Street submarine slip.
"This place would be practically deserted late evening." Catherine said as she also looked around the surrounding area.
"Yeah. With the option of parking nearby, it wouldn't take much to abduct your victim." Steve agreed already coming to the same conclusion himself.
"Did you ever spend much time on board subs?" Catherine asked, knowing he'd been on them during his time in the SEALs.
"Yeah. I've locked out a fair bit, and used SDV's." He told her referring to locking out of a sub through the escape trunk and Swimmer Delivery Vehicles when Team 6 had deployed from a nuclear sub. "Not my favourite mode of transport, I always hated not being able to see the sky or hear the waves crashing against the hull." He admitted.
"Yeah. I used to love looking out of the port hole in my quarters and just watching the stars as we cut through the water." Catherine told him with a whimsical smile on her face.
"Smith's back." Steve told her as he spotted the Commander exiting the hatch before heading back across the gantry with a clipboard grasped in his hand.
…..
Iolani Palace.
"Okay, Steve and Catherine have just left Pearl and are currently on their way to Tripler. Mrs Hawkins phoned Catherine to tell her that her husband had woken up and wanted to talk to someone from Five-0. Steve did say that Smith was unable to find anyone willing to come forward so had to drop his investigation into the hazing, however he did give Steve the names and their whereabouts for last night for each of the men implicated in the alleged assault." Danny said as he reached the smart table and began typing the names into the system.
"These are the four men that Hawkins implicated. Petty officer Tom Kincaid, Petty officer Stanley Becker, Chief Petty officer Darren Locke and Senior Chief Richard Wardle. All four of them went ashore last night at 6 pm and all reported for duty this morning." He flicked the photos of the four men onto the screen for the other three members of the team to look at.
"Have CSU come back with anything yet?" Lou asked as he scanned the four images on the screen.
"The fibres that Max found were a mixture of wool and cotton. Eric doesn't believe they came from the same item, the two fibres are completely separate in colour. None of the cotton fibres were found in Skelly's nose, only his mouth. The wool fibres were predominately in his nasal passages." Dany told them.
"That sounds like he had a cloth or gag forced into his mouth." Chin theorised as he took in the information.
"That would be my guess. Toxicology is also back; he didn't have anything in his system." Danny filled them in as he raked his hand through his hair in frustration.
"Mrs Skelly told me her husband wasn't taking anything, she said he was reluctant to take anything unless he was really ill. The only Doctor's he ever visited were the base one's, and his last physical was about six weeks ago just before he transferred to the USS Hawaii." Kono explained as she leaned against the Smart table.
"I had a little luck with the camera footage Steve wanted me to check." Chin announced as he brought up the images he'd found from traffic cam's in the area. "This is from the last of the camera's on Puowania Drive."
"What time is that?" Lou asked as he strained to make out the licence plate on the car.
"That was at 1130 last night." Chin told them tapping a few keys on the table till he could enlarge the license plate. "I ran the tag and it came back as being registered in Senior Chief Wardle's name."
"Looks as if theirs four occupants." Lou stated as he scrutinised the grainy image.
"Two vic's in the trunk?" Danny suggested as he looked around the room at his colleagues for their input.
"That would be my guess." Lou agreed. "I spoke to the caretaker the gates were unlocked when he arrived this morning, I've got CSU going back out to print the gates. Unfortunately, there is probably dozens of prints for them to lift and run through the system. Why would McGarrett know the opening times?" Lou asked the group.
"John McGarrett is buried there." Chin explained simply.
"Don't you have to be military to be buried there?" Lou asked Chin.
"His dad was in the Navy." Danny told Lou before moving the conversation back onto the case. "Steve wants us to pick the four of them up and hold them till he gets back, I'd say we have more than enough to be going on with." Danny told them.
"How are we doing this?" Lou asked as he looked around the room. "One each with HPD back up?" He suggested.
"Sounds good to me." Danny agreed as he pulled out his cell to contact HPD for backup.
…
Tripler Army Medical Centre.
After exiting the lift on Seaman Hawkins floor they headed down the corridor towards his room. Catherine spotted the man's wife just exiting the ladies room as they turned the corner to take the corridor that would lead to his room.
"Mrs Hawkins." Catherine called out in a friendly voice.
"Lieutenant, thank you for coming back." She greeted with a smile.
"You're welcome, I'm glad that you called me." Catherine told her sincerely before introducing Steve. "This is Lieutenant Commander McGarrett."
"Commander." She acknowledged with a slightly nervous smile.
"Mrs Hawkins, how is you husband?" Steve asked as he slowed his pace to match the heavily pregnant woman's gait.
"He says he has a headache the size of Texas but otherwise he should be okay. His Doctor keeps assuring me he's going to be okay." She replied as she rubbed at her stomach. "When I told Billy that Five-0 were investigating he insisted on talking to you. He seemed a little agitated at first, he thought that NCIS would do the investigation." She confided as the moved along the corridor.
"You can rest assured Mrs Hawkins we will find the people responsible for your husband's assault and Seaman Skelly's death." Steve assured her as they reached the door to his room.
"Thank you." She replied with a sigh of relief as she pushed open the door. "Billy five-0 are here." She announced as she entered.
"Great." Hawkins said as he pushed himself into a sitting position in the bed.
After a quick round of introductions Seaman Hawkins began recounting the events of the previous evening.
"Wes and I had decided to go out for a couple of beers when we got of duty, we'd only just pulled into the parking lot and got out when the Senior approached us. I didn't think anything of it at first, I figured he was just going to ream me out for snitching on him. The next thing I knew we were being dragged into the trunk of a car with a blanket over our heads and a rag shoved in our mouth's." He broke of as he took a deep breath.
"Wes was having trouble breathing, I assumed he was having a panic attack. They drove for about 20-30 minuet's before they stopped for a minute or two. I couldn't hear any traffic so I don't think it was for lights, then shortly after that they pulled us out of the trunk. Gave us both a pretty good beating and left us there. I tried to help Wes but I was pretty dizzy and I tripped over something and went down. I don't remember much else after that until I woke up here." He finished.
"Can you tell me exactly who was present, who did this to the two of you?" Steve asked.
"Yes Sir. Senior Chief Wardle, Chief Petty officer Locke, Petty officer's Kincaid and Becker. They were the ones who abducted us and carried out the attacks." Seaman Hawkins announced clearly and precisely.
"You've done great, Sailor. We will get them for this." Steve assured him.
"Thank you, Sir." Billy Hawkins said as his hand reached across to grasp his wife's.
"Good luck with the little one when it arrives." Steve said as he held out his hand to shake the other man's before Catherine and himself left the room to return to the Palace.
….
Catherine's Corvette.
"Seaman Hawkins was pretty clear when he gave us the names." Steve said as he drove through the Fort Shafter area on his way back to the Palace. "He's implicated all four of them, and given the footage Chin pulled from traffic cams we have them."
"We've picked up Kincaid, Becker and Locke, but Wardle was not at home. Chin's trying to get us a location from his cell's GPS, but isn't having much luck at the minute." Danny informed them from HQ.
"Keep trying, if we can't get him before he goes on duty tonight we'll have to do it on the base. Notify Lieutenant Smith that we have his men in custody, no point in making work for the M.P's when they don't turn up for their shifts." Steve told them.
"Why would the M.P's be involved?" Danny asked in confusion.
"It would be classed as an unauthorised absence, Danny. It's a pretty serious offence, as it amounts to dereliction of duty." Catherine explained from the passenger seat.
"I didn't know that." Danny admitted.
"Get CSU out to each of their homes, and have them process cars also." Steve ordered as switched lanes to take the next exit of the Freeway.
"Don't worry babe, already in hand. We bagged the contents of their laundry hampers and went through the trash. Duke has impounded their vehicles and we're waiting for CSU to process." Danny outlined, bringing Steve up to date on their progress.
"That's great." He agreed before asking, "Have any of them said anything yet?"
"Not yet. We've got Locke all nice and comfy in the blue room for when you get back." Danny told them with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"We're not that far from the Palace, I'll meet you downstairs in five minutes." Steve told him as he signalled to say he was turning onto South King Street.
"Okay." Danny said just before they heard Chin's voice in the background.
"I've got him. Wardle's cell put's him at Tripler." Announced Chin.
"Danny contact Tripler and get security on Hawkins now. We're on our way back there." Steve told them as he switched the lights and siren on and sped past the turning for the Palace and onto Punchbowl street heading for the H1. He could here sirens coming from behind him, assuming it was the rest of the team he pushed his foot down on the gas and manoeuvred through the traffic on the H1 as he headed back towards Tripler.
…
Tripler Army Medical Centre.
Steve tore into the parking lot and headed towards the entrance with a spray of gravel kicking up from the asphalt as he turned the corner and the wheels struggled to find friction. He ignored the glare Catherine was shooting at him from the passenger seat of her car as he slammed his foot on the brake and skidded to a stop outside the entrance. Exiting the car, they both ran through the maze of corridors, ignoring the elevator in favour of speed they headed towards the stairwell.
Steve pushed the door open and took the stairs two at a time as Catherine followed him, reaching the floor where Hawkins was being treated they barrelled through the door and headed down the corridor in the direction of his room. A shrill scream pierced the air making the hair on Steve's neck stand on end. Pulling his gun from the holster at his hip he made his way to the room. He could see concerned staff milling around in the corridor and he quickly urged them to move out of the way.
Coming to a halt outside of Hawkins room, he waited for Catherine to catch up to him as she caught her breath a little. She nodded her head at him to indicate she was ready. Motioning for her to stay back he cautiously peeped around the edge of the door so he could get a better idea of what they were dealing with.
Senior Chief Wardle was pointing a gun at Seaman Hawkins who had climbed from the bed to shield his wife with his own body. Wardle had his back to the door clearly underestimating that help would have arrived so soon. Steve motioned for the Hawkins to keep quiet as he slowly made his way into the room. Deciding that a safer option for the two hostages would be stealth rather than announcing his presence so soon.
"You should have kept your fucking mouth shut Chicken Hawk." Wardle shouted as he advanced a step towards Hawkins.
"I did what I thought was right, and I stand by that decision." Hawkins replied calmly, even if he was terrified at what might happen. The sight of Commander McGarrett was helping to ease some of the worry though.
"You don't know shit about anything. I train you boys so you're the best god dammed submariners in the fleet." Wardle shouted at him angrily.
"Drop the weapon, Senior." Steve ordered in his best command voice. The man turned on him levelling his weapon on him. "Cath, get Seaman Hawkins and his wife clear." He ordered Catherine.
"Copy that." She responded instantly clearing them both from the room as Steve continued to draw Wardle's attention.
Wardle watched as the women ushered Hawkins out of the room, he swung his gun to point it at her but was instantly blocked by the Commander stepping in front of her.
"It's over, Wardle. We have the other three in custody already, don't make this any harder on yourself." Steve pleaded trying to reason with the man.
"I was just trying to toughen the boys up; you understand that don't you?" Wardle asked.
"Yes I do, Senior. I know you didn't intend to kill Seaman Skelly, he was ill and nobody knew." Steve agreed. He could sense Danny and the rest of the team behind him ready to move into action if he needed them too.
"Those boys are so soft when they come to me, but I toughen them up; I turn them into men." Wardle declared.
"Why don't you secure your weapon then we can talk." Steve suggested in an attempt to calm the man down. The man was becoming more agitated and unpredictable, and Steve didn't want to rush the man.
"I can't do that, Sir." Wardle told him as he shook his head.
"Senior, I'm giving you an order to secure your weapon." Steve ordered in his command voice. "No, don't do it." He shouted as he watched as Wardle turned the gun on himself and pulled the trigger before he could even move to stop him.
He watched as Wardle's head whipped backwards from the impact of the bullet as his body fell backwards across the bed. Steve moved towards the body checking for a pulse, not really surprised when he didn't find one. He turned as someone entered the room behind him.
"Dead?" Danny enquired as he stepped into the room.
Steve nodded his head. "Yeah." He agreed as he secured his Sig. "How are the Hawkins'?"
"Mrs Hawkins has just been taken to the delivery ward with her very white faced husband." Danny informed with a smile. "Catherine has gone with them."
"Notify Lieutenant Smith, so he can make the notifications to Wardle's family." Steve told him as he turned back to look at the bloody mess in front of him as he shook his head. Turning he left the room.
…..
Iolani Palace.
"That was Catherine. Mrs Hawkins has just given birth to a little girl, who they have apparently named Francesca Olivia in honour of Five-0." Steve announced as he moved to join Danny, Lou, Chin and Kono who were stood around the smart table attempting to piece together the last few bits of information they had gotten from the three enlisted men downstairs.
"Are they all alright?" Danny asked with a warm smile at the news.
"Mother and baby are doing fine, although Seaman Hawkins apparently fainted when he saw them deliver his daughter." Steve shared with a chuckle.
"I'd say that was a happy ending to the whole ordeal." Lou commented as he glanced around the smart table at each of them.
"It most certainly is." Chin agreed.
"We've got confessions out of each of them and Eric was able to pull a recording of Petty officer Kincaid's cell phone of the assault taking place which will give Mrs Skelly the closure and justice she needs for her husband." Kono pointed out.
…