Thanks for all the reviews. You really make me smile. Like Steve. Seriously, it's like you're sending me Steve smiles.
Chapter Eleven "Course of Action"
"Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage."~Ralph Waldo Emerson
If Danny were honest with himself, he would admit that he thought there might be something to what Chin had asked. Maybe Steve and Kono were headed somewhere with their friendship. That only made Danny feel worse.
He shook his head as he and Chin headed back to HQ. Those thoughts weren't helpful, not to mention ridiculous. Even if something were going on between them, Danny should be happy. So, why did he feel so terrible about the idea?
He thought back on his last conversation with Steve. He had said he didn't want to talk to him about Grace. So, who would he talk to? Steve was it.
But Steve was so much happier with Kono.
Danny was over thinking. Steve would want to help him by listening. Danny remembered a time when he and Steve were all the other had. They were best friends, great partners, practically brothers. What happened?
Danny was convinced that he needed to stop thinking. He had to find Rachel. That was all that was important.
When they got back upstairs, Steve and Kono were running through all the things they'd picked out from the surveillance camera.
"What do you have?" Chin asked.
"Steve says they're definitely not military," Kono replied. "They're white males, each approximately six feet tall."
"This one had a knee injury," Steve said, pointing to the assailant on the left. "Probably over ten years old."
"How can you tell that?" Danny asked.
"Look at how he moves. Sometimes these injuries can be aggravated by changing air pressure and we had a storm last night."
"Yeah, I know that." Danny unconsciously shifted his weight from his left leg.
"So what good does this do?" Chin asked.
"If they're local," Steve said, "we might be able to find medical records. It's a long shot, I know, but it's something."
"If we found a suspect, it would be useful," Danny said.
Kono nodded. "We've tried to see if we can find them on any other video cameras in the area, but no luck yet. We'll keep working on it."
"Good," Chin said.
"I think we need to talk to Stan again," Danny said.
"Why's that?" Steve asked.
"If it wasn't Wo Fat, it might have had something to do with him."
"Hey, Cos', why don't we do that?" Chin asked.
Everyone was a little surprised at the suggestion, but no on argued. Danny didn't feel like talking to Stan again and Steve was trying his best not to care that he wasn't in charge any more.
H-5-O
Steve wasn't good at reading people. Danny had told him this many times. Still, when his former partner disappeared into his office, seeming very much as if he would like to be left alone, Steve became concerned.
Strictly speaking, Steve had been concerned for a while. It seemed like being partners with Chin had turned Danny into a brooding recluse. That wasn't Danny; it was Steve.
So, of course, Steve felt it his duty as a friend to intrude on Danny's solitude. He didn't expect Danny to be the first one to speak.
"Do you want something?" he asked, rather sharply.
"Whoa," Steve said. "I just wanted to see if you're okay."
"What's this? Don't you have something to do with your new best friend?"
"Excuse me?" Steve actually sounded offended.
"Hey, good for you. Whatever."
"Danny... What's going on? Why are you so antagonistic?"
"I don't know, maybe my wife got kidnapped this morning!" She wasn't technically his wife, but it was the first descriptive term that popped into his head. "You know, I think a guy's entitled to be a little on edge after something like that."
"A little," Steve agreed ironically. "But not to accuse me of being a bad friend."
"Did I? I meant to say you're better off without me."
"Danny, you've said some stupid things before, but this is the height of your asininity."
"What am I supposed to think? You've been through all kinds of crap and now you've got a chance to get out from under it. I'm still in it though."
"We're all in it, Danny. We're still a team. I know a lot's happened and we're sort of broken, but we're still 5-0. That used to mean something."
"I don't know, Steve. I..."
"Stop keeping all this in. You never did before."
"Before. When are you all going to realize that things have changed."
"You don't change."
"I'm starting to doubt that."
"Danny..."
The conversation ended there because Danny got up and left his office. He didn't know what was happening, but it wasn't something he wanted to deal with right then. It really wasn't fair, but nothing was fair in the last thirty-four days.
H-5-O
Kono felt a little odd riding in the car with her cousin. She knew he was trying to make things right, and she appreciated the effort. It didn't make it any less awkward. Little did she know it was about to become exponentially worse.
"So, you and Steve?" Chin said.
"What?" Kono asked, genuinely confused.
"Danny says you've been spending a lot of time together."
"Yeah." Kono still didn't get why Chin would bring it up. "Kinda like when you quit HPD."
"Kinda."
"What are you asking?"
"Nothing. It's just interesting."
"Why? I mean, it's basically just been me and him all this time. Not a lot of people will talk to someone who was accused of killing the governor or stealing ten million dollars."
"Okay."
"Okay, what?"
"Nothing."
"Nu-uh, you brought this up."
"I just thought there might be something more to it. Guess I was wrong."
"Chin, that's... way off base."
"Like I said, okay."
"You really thought..."
"I didn't think anything. I said 'might'."
"You thought. I can tell you did."
"Well, I guess I was wrong. It's been known to happen. I'm sorry I brought it up."
Kono seemed satisfied with that. Seemed.
They arrived at Stan's mansion. The latter was on his back porch, so the butler led them there. He looked sufficiently worried, so Chin and Kono didn't suspect him of any active involvement. Still, they had to ask their questions.
"No," Stan said in answer. "This couldn't have anything to do with me."
"Why not?" Kono asked.
"Rachel left me, in case you've forgotten. Over a month ago. Why would anyone go after her because of me?"
"Maybe because she's the closest family you had. Can you think of anyone who would want to hurt you?"
"No... I mean not like this. And anyway, I haven't received any demands. No ransom. Trust me, this has far more to do with Danny."
"Then maybe you know someone who would want to hurt him," Chin said.
"What are you suggesting?"
"Nothing. You seem to assume it's about Danny; I want to know why."
"I don't know of anything specific, but I know Danny has a lot of enemies. Honestly, when I talked to him, I just picked the most recent one."
"Can you give us a list of anyone you can think of who would likely do something like this?"
"Yeah, sure. Listen, I know I'm the ex now, but please find her."
"We will," Chin assured him.
H-5-O
Steve found Danny sitting on the steps outside. He was getting used to the setup.
"You know," he said, "I'm getting kind of tired of standing out here in the hot sun all the time."
"Then go inside," Danny muttered.
"Hey." Steve sat down next to him. "Danny, talk to me. What's going on with you?"
Danny started to make some kind of gesture with his hands, but then dropped them again. He couldn't explain what he was thinking; it didn't make sense.
"When you think things can't get worse," he said.
Steve nodded. "The only easy day was yesterday."
"What's that?"
"The SEAL motto. I can't believe you didn't know that."
"Guess I'm the one who wasn't such a good friend."
"Danny, you were right. You're going through more than the rest of us. But you gotta let us help, all right? And we can't help if we don't know how."
"I just don't know what to do."
"Yeah. I hear you."
"And I really didn't mean to say you were a bad friend. You never were. You're just so happy with Kono, I hate to bring you two back into this."
"We chose it, Danny. But really... you can't choose family, even the family you choose."
"Now who's asinine?"
"No, that was profound."
"Yeah, as profound as Homer Simpson."
"Let's see you do better."
"Remember 'nothing isn't'?"
"Yeah. I was thinking this was similar."
"No. Not at all."
"Will you give it up? You know I'm right."
"I know nothing of the kind."
"Sure, Danno."
The two of them grinned at each other. Steve knew all they needed was a good argument to bring Danny back to Earth. He might not be okay yet, but he wouldn't fly to pieces for a while longer.
H-5-O
When everyone met back at the office, Chin told them what they'd gotten from Stan. It wasn't all that helpful, but it ruled out that angle. They were about to start researching the clothing the assailants wore when Danny's phone rang. He didn't recognize the number, so he nodded at Kono to trace the call and then put it on speaker.
"Hello?" he said.
"Hello, Detective Williams," came a smooth voice.
Everyone could feel Steve tense and they knew it had to be Wo Fat.
"I have something of yours," the voice continued. "A rather feisty English woman."
For a second the heard Rachel's voice, but they couldn't understand what she was saying.
Danny finally found his voice. "Who are you and what do you want?"
"I'm sure you already know my name," the voice replied. "As for what I want. That will come soon. You will receive a package with instructions. I advise you to follow them if you ever want to see her again."
The call ended and Kono slapped her hand on the table.
"Damn it!" She took a step back and ran her hands through her hair. "I'm sorry, Danny."
"It's not your fault," he said. "He's too smart to let us catch him that way."
"Check the number anyway," Chin said. "Probably disposable, but it couldn't hurt."
"What do we do now?" Steve asked. It seemed odd to everyone that he would ask that question when he was usually the one answering it.
"We wait for the package," Danny said. "And see where we go from there."
"But couldn't we get a general location of the phone from the cell towers in the area?"
"Probably, but he wouldn't let us find him like that."
"It's a ten mile area between the cell towers," Kono said. "That was as far as I could narrow it down."
"I think Danny's right," Chin said. "We have to wait and see what they want."
Steve didn't look particularly happy about that. "So we're just going to sit around? I'm sorry, but when did 5-0 ever work like that?"
"What do you suggest?" Chin asked.
Steve had no idea. He really just couldn't stand not doing something after hearing that voice. He had to check himself. The last time he reacted like this, he wound up accused of murder.
So, he took a deep breath and placed his palms flat on the table. He certainly didn't like taking orders from Chin; he hated it, but he respected the chain of command. Because he could never go back to the way he was thirty-four days ago.
