Yay! New chapter! Thanks for all the great comments. Chapter twelve is well on it's way.
Chapter Eleven "For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic"
"I never wanted to say this. You never wanted to stay. Well did you? I put my faith in you, so much faith, and you just threw it away."~Paramore
McKenzie was almost asleep when she suddenly propped herself up on her elbows.
"Steve?" she said.
"Mm?" came the response from the man laying next to her in the sand.
"I have a question." McKenzie turned over on her stomach, resting her arm across Steve's chest.
"Is it rhetorical?"
"No. You have to open your eyes and pay attention."
Steve opened his eyes and looked at McKenzie. "I thought we were sleeping."
"Who said that?"
"No one, it just seemed like a good idea."
"To take a nap on the beach in wet clothes?"
"Well, until you said it that way."
"I suppose it might have been a good idea if it weren't dark already."
Steve looked up at the sky. "Almost dark."
"Yeah, well, I don't have your spidey senses."
"Oh, you really think I haven't heard that before? Danny came up with that one about a month after we started working together."
"I never claimed to be profoundly original. Only accurate."
"Not that I'm complaining."
McKenzie smiled and kissed Steve gently. He brought his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer.
"At the risk of causing you to stop," he said, "what was your question?"
McKenzie kissed him again. "Will you marry me?" she asked.
"Are you serious?"
"Yes."
"Okay..." Steve pulled her in and kissed her again. "Under one condition."
"What's that?"
"I get to ask you. I mean with the ring and the kneeling and everything."
"Okay. Then we'll pretend this conversation never happened and you can surprise me."
"What conversation?"
McKenzie laughed and rested her head on Steve's shoulder. "I love you," she said.
"I love you," he said back. He had heard the approaching footsteps, but didn't care who it was or what they heard.
McKenzie didn't notice Kyle's presence until he was a few feet away from them. She sat up and her face felt warm. She didn't know why. Had it been anyone else, she wouldn't have been the slightest bit embarrassed.
"Where have you been all day?" Steve asked, getting up and starting to collect towels and snorkeling gear.
"I got kinda bored just sitting around," Kyle said. "So I went around to some of those cheesy tourist attractions."
"You're leaving tomorrow?" McKenzie asked quietly.
"Yeah."
As the three of them headed toward the house, Steve broke off to put the equipment away, leaving McKenzie and Kyle alone. McKenzie tried to think of something to say, but nothing came to her. Kyle seemed to understand.
"Don't say anything you don't mean," he said.
McKenzie nodded, not looking at him. They reached the front of the house and stood there for a moment in awkward silence.
"I love you," McKenzie finally said. "I can't mean anything else remotely pleasant, but I'll always love you."
Kyle bit his lip for a second as if contemplating something. "I love you too, Macks. I hope someday you'll be happy to see me."
"Yeah," McKenzie exhaled.
At that moment Steve came back and McKenzie asked him to take her home. She was silent on the drive and it wasn't until they arrived that Steve posed a question.
"Do you want to see him off in the morning?" he said.
McKenzie didn't respond for a second. "No," she finally said. "We've said all there is to say."
"Someday you may not believe that."
"And when that day comes, I'll call him up and we'll talk, but not before then. I can't mean anything a good sister is supposed to feel. And I know it's weak, but until I can forgive him, I'd rather not think about him."
"I understand."
McKenzie looked over at Steve who was staring straight ahead. She wondered just how much he understood. She had a feeling it was more that he let on.
H-5-O
Steve tried to remember what day it was. Thursday. It was Thursday. He was supposed to take Kyle to the airport. But something had happened on the way there. What was it? And where was Kyle?
Steve couldn't remember anything after driving through the intersection. He couldn't recall if someone had run into them, but it seemed the most likely explanation.
The next step was for Steve to figure out where he was. But opening his eyes didn't help. It was pitch dark and he couldn't move.
And no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make his mind focus. He couldn't tell if he were laying down, or sitting, or standing on his head.
Drugs.
The word popped into his mind. But what concerned him was that the sort of drugs that would cause him to feel the way he did were not the sort he would be given if he had been in a car accident.
Actually, the car accident theory was seeming less and less likely. For one thing, why would he be in a dark room that was cold and smelled sort of musty.
No. This was probably something far worse than a collision.
Steve went through the events of the morning. Kyle had been up when he got downstairs. He'd made breakfast. And that's when it hit Steve like a ton of bricks.
The coffee tasted funny.
No. He couldn't believe Kyle had done this. He must have been a victim to.
But Kyle had been gone the whole day before. And there were the strange phone calls McKenzie mentioned.
No. There had to be some other explanation. Steve wouldn't admit it, even to himself, but he actually liked Kyle and was getting sort of attached to him. They had a few things in common in spite of their glaring differences.
Steve came back to the present. The coffee had tasted strange. Now he was drugged and starting to feel a tingling in his arms. Probably tied behind him. Slowly, he began to get feeling back in other areas. His feet were asleep, so he was probably sitting.
Definitely sitting with his arms tied behind his back. His ankles were tied to the chair legs. And he realized with something almost like amusement that there was a piece of duct tape over his mouth.
Things were not exactly looking good. The more Steve thought about it, the more he realized his chances of survival were not great. And he couldn't think of any way in which Kyle was not responsible. Steve remembered now that he had asked to drive. It seemed an innocent enough request. Either Kyle was an amazing liar or something else was going on here. Maybe someone was threatening him. As sordid as his past was, leverage wouldn't have been hard to find.
Steve tried to curse, but then remembered his mouth was taped shut.
H-5-O
"Ten minutes," Danny said.
Kono and Chin rolled their eyes.
"I'm serious," Danny continued. "I'm giving him ten minutes and then I'm going after him."
"I think you're overreacting," Kono said.
"While I do that a lot, this is not one of those times. Rossi told us he was the target."
"Rossi also thought they weren't supposed to kill Jim and Michelle," Chin said.
"I don't think we can be too careful about anything here," Beckett said. "I agree that someone should try to find McGarrett. He's not usually like this, is he?"
The other three shook their heads.
"Okay." Danny turned to Beckett. "You and I will go see what we can find. Kono, keep trying to track his phone and GPS. Chin, you go over to the Carpenter's place and make sure McKenzie is safe. They could be after her too."
"You got it," Chin said.
"And I'll see if I can find the truck on any traffic cameras," Kono said.
"All right. And check to see if Kyle made his flight," Danny said. "Let's get going."
He and Beckett hurried out to the Camaro and headed toward Steve's house.
"How does he ride in this thing all the time?" Beckett asked, adjusting the seat.
"Superhuman knees?" Danny guessed. "Usually he drives though."
"Ah. I might have guessed."
A short time later they pulled into Steve's driveway and, as they expected, no one was there. So, Danny started down the most likely route to the airport.
A little while later, Kono called them and Danny put her on speaker.
"What have you got?" he asked.
"Okay, it looks like Kyle never made his flight and I haven't been able to trace either of their phones, but I did get a glimpse of the truck on a traffic camera. The problem is, it looks like they're headed to the airport, but I can't find them on any cameras after that."
"Where was the last place the camera caught them."
Kono gave him the address. "And the weird thing is," she said, "Kyle was driving. The video quality isn't good enough to be able to tell much else."
"Okay, we'll head over there and see what we can find. You keep trying to find their phones or the truck."
"Yep. Chin just called and said he's at the Carpenter's and McKenzie is fine. He's gonna stay with her until we have something to go on."
"Good idea. I'll call you when we get there."
Beckett ended the call and looked thoughtful. "What are the possibilities here?" he asked.
Danny exhaled loudly. "Uh, car accident, abduction... The thing is if Steve hasn't called us it means he can't. So either way, it's not good."
H-5-O
Steve's shoulders ached and his hands were numb. His skin felt clammy and now he knew that not only was the room cold, dark, and smelly, it was damp too. He knew his eyes should have adjusted by now, but he couldn't even tell how big the room was. He didn't think it was very large by the feel of it, but he couldn't be sure.
His mind was beginning to clear slightly, but he still couldn't remember what happened. One second he was riding along in the car, the next he was waking up here. Wherever "here" was.
Steve was pretty sure the coffee had been drugged. There was no other explanation. He must have lost consciousness in the car and then been brought here.
That didn't look good for Kyle. Steve wanted to believe he hadn't been involved, but the more he thought about it, the less plausible that sounded. And at this point, it was easier to think Kyle was a spineless jerk, because if he wasn't, it meant that whoever was behind this had threatened the only person who mattered to Kyle.
Steve wasn't ready to go there. His head hurt and he couldn't feel his wrists. He tried moving his arms to get his circulation going, but it only made it hurt more, so he stopped. He still wasn't thinking straight. At this point, he just wanted to lose consciousness so he could sleep off the drugs. But apparently, it wasn't his day. The room got light and someone spoke.
"Oh, good. You're awake," a female voice said from behind. It wasn't Jennifer Lee, but Steve was sure he had heard the voice before. "I must say," she continued, "this wasn't as challenging as I thought it would be... but then, I had help."
Steve looked around him and saw that he was in a small room with a concrete floor. It seemed like storage unit or something. He still couldn't see the woman and there was nothing else in his line of sight.
"Don't worry, McGarrett," the woman spoke again, still behind him. "This will all be over soon."
