Thank you for your patience.

RIDDLE

The Funeral

Danny hadn't taken two steps into the precinct when Meka grabbed his arm - not the one grazed by Duran's bullet, thank you very much - and pulled him away.

"What the hell were you thinking?" he asked in a hushed but urgent tone. "Yesterday?" He clarified, when Danny spread his hands, instead of responding.

"You mean Duran?"

"Of course I mean Duran. What else would I mean? You go after a suspect without back-up, with civilians instead, and the suspect gets killed. Do you realize how it looks, brah? And what they could do to you?"

"Williams?" As if on cue, Detective Kaleo peeked from behind the corner. "Chief wants to see you." He approached them with concern that gave Danny goosebumps for some reason. "That really was McGarrett's son with you yesterday?" he asked. "I thought he was brain-dead. What is he up to? Did he find some clues that we didn't?"

Danny opened his mouth - not to respond, but rather to tell Kaleo where to stick his inquiry - but Meka thrust his elbow under his ribs and all Danny managed was, "Ungh!"

"You better go to the Chief before he gets more pissed than he already is," Meka advised, his eyes boring holes in Kaleo. Obviously his feelings toward their fellow detective were no different than Danny's.

"You're right." Danny massaged his aching side. All in all, Meka didn't intend to hurt him. "I'll do just that." He smiled at Kaleo with plastic politeness and strode through the precinct.

So he was about to get fired. It was no shocker, actually; he'd been waiting for that day since he'd started working here. Haole with his level of competence was disliked, distrusted and everybody would be happy to have him off their fringe. They'd been waiting for an excuse and he gave them one. To his surprise Danny wasn't half as devastated by the prospect as he thought he would be. As he probably would have been a week ago. At least he was absolutely certain that he'd done the right thing, even if it was against the procedures.

When he entered the Chief's office, he was faced with two people, the Chief and a Hispanic-looking man in civilian clothes.

"I'll come later," Danny started to say, but the Chief motioned him inside.

"No no. Please, come in." Chief Mahaka rearranged the papers on his desk. "Take a seat." He gestured. "This is Sergeant Cage from Internal Affairs. There is no formal investigation of your actions yet, but we wanted to make a preliminary review of your yesterday's foray. I hope there is some justification for what happened." He rested his elbows on the desk, fingers joined together under his chin, and glared at Danny expectantly.

The presence of someone from IA made Danny uneasy. If there was no formal investigation, then what the hell was the rat doing here? They sat in awkward silence for a while, until the Chief urged Danny, "Perhaps you might tell us how Steve McGarrett convinced you to look into Duran?"

The question was unexpected. Shouldn't it rather be 'How did Duran get killed?' That was the matter for investigation. And that's what Danny was prepared for - they'd discussed it with Kelly yesterday. The reason why they worked together was much more difficult to justify, especially if he wanted to avoid revealing McGarrett's sources.

" I learned about Duran," Danny clarified after a moment of deliberation. It was true after all. "I got hit to him from the ballistics report." Then he added, knowing full well that such an admission was a sure axe for his career. "I know I shouldn't have talked about the investigation with the son of the victim; it was unprofessional. That's my responsibility entirely."

It was better than revealing how McGarrett coerced him, how he convinced Danny that the police wouldn't help him because someone in here was corrupt, how Danny believed him because he found out that the file containing the report of an 'accident' from eighteen years ago was missing. And that the said 'accident' was directly related with the death Danny was currently investigating.

It might help preserve the remnants of Danny's pride as well, because the truth - that he was in fact hijacked in his own car - was not something he wanted to elaborate on.

The Chief and Sergeant Cage exchanged glances.

"What made you talk to him, then?" Chief Mahaka asked with furrowed brow.

Danny shrugged. "Compassion, I guess."

That earned him a snort from Sergeant Cage. "Detective, do you think we're idiots? What did McGarrett tell you?"

Danny scrutinized Cage. What was he really doing here? They were obviously investigating him already, or else they were investigating McGarrett - the son or the father, no matter. Were they the good guys, though, or the corrupt ones? It was impossible to tell. Danny knew absolutely nothing about Cage, and not much more about Mahaka. The Chief had ordered to let McGarrett go the other day; in hindsight it seemed like more than a coincidnce. Perhaps it was a predetermined move, a bait.

Whatver the reason, as long as the brass did not include him in their plans, Danny wasn't going to give them anything.

"He asked me how the investigation was going," he explained patiently, as if talking to a child. "And, because Chief Mahaka here told me the other day that the poor fellow was brain damaged, I took pity on him. It looks, though, that the Chief's information was outdated. McGarrett Junior is sane enough to have a PI license and a gun license. It's all perfectly legit, I checked. Of course, if I had known that beforehand, I wouldn't have spoken to him about the investigation. I swear I am not going to do it again."

The Chief and Cage exchanged glances again.

"You'll get a warning this time," Chief Mahaka grunted. "And, in fact, I want you to go and talk to McGarrett. Keep an eye on him. His father's funeral is about to begin in-" he glanced at his watch. "An hour. I want you to go there and offer your condolences."

Danny blinked a couple of times. This instruction was odd. Of course he intended to go anyway, but being ordered to go? Their whole approach was odd. Danny had been certain he would be let go and instead he not only kept his job, he was also still on the case and with clear new orders. There was a reason for it, of that Danny was certain. And he would find out what it was.

"Thank you, sir," he uttered. "Is that all?"

After he was dismissed by the Chief, Danny returned to his desk and looked across at his partner. He needed to talk to someone, to share it, bounce ideas off and come up with an explanation, because his mind boggled from all the possibilities. Unfortunately, Meka leaned in and whispered,

"Careful, brah." He raised one finger. "They want me to rat out on you, so the less I know the better. Now," he smiled, leaned back and said loud enough for half of the precinct to hear. "What did they want from you?"

And Danny told him everything. Word for word. His opinions, though, he kept to himself.

Chin and Mary both opted against the viewing, so Jack McGarrett's comittal service took place entirely at the Honolulu Memorial. Many people came, more than Chin had expected. Quite a large group of policemen in their dress uniforms stood on the other side of the casket. None greeted Chin, not even with a nod, but he did not expect them to. They came here for Jack and he was grateful for it. As the former Navy Lieutenant, Jack had an honor platoon and color detail, due every officer below the rank of a Captain, but beside them, Chin could see more Navy officers and enlisted personnel. Some were from Pearl and Chin knew them briefly, but he also spotted some unfamiliar faces and he was glad that Jack's colleagues from Vietnam still held him in high enough regard. Some neighbors came too. And, most surprisingly, Governor Jameson herself.

That was uncanny. Such an official, with an escort of her personal secretary and two bodyguards, at a funeral of an average policeman, but then Chin remembered that Jack had mentioned knowing her back when they had been younger. Apparently she remembered him as well and she wasn't there as the Government official, but rather as a private person.

Mary stood on Chin's right as she received the folded flag from the hands of the chaplain. The place on her right remained empty throughout the ceremony.

Chin tried not to think about it. Mary had told him, when he'd asked, surprised, where Steve was, that he wouldn't come. She'd said that he had been acting normal all morning. He had made them breakfast, agreed that they would go together then had washed the dishes while she'd gone to change into her dress blues. When she came out of the room, expecting him to be ready too, he'd only kissed her on the cheek and said, "I'm sorry." Then he'd left.

Mary had told Chin not to worry, even though she'd been obviously troubled herself and, unexpectedly, Chin wasn't worried. Instead he was angry. Steve should have been here, despite his illness, his emotional instability, his whatever ten thousand excuses. It was his father's funeral and he should have come. The empty seat on Mary's right was like a slap in the face of his Old Man and Chin felt personally insulted.

After the ceremony, when the people were slowly dispersing, Mary approached the older Navy officers and Chin, unable to go over to his former coleagues from the Force even to thank them for coming, stood uselessly over the grave and felt the loss of a good friend with its full gravity. When he'd been accused of fraud, Jack McGarrett had been the only one who stubbornly wouldn't believe Chin had anything to do with it. Later, when the money from the forfeiture locker had disappeared and all clues had been pointing to Chin again, when even the whole family had believed in Chin's guilt, and Chin had furthermore enforced those beliefs by resigning from service, McGarrett had still said he'd known better than that. He'd had no way of proving Chin's innocence, just like the officials had no way of proving his guilt, but his faith had never faltered. There were only two people ... well, three, who had believed he'd been clean. Jack, Steve and...

"Chin," he heard a quiet voice and he realized he'd known she would be here. Kono Kalakaua, the only member of his blood ohana who'd stood by Chin throughout everything. Who was still not ashamed to admit that it had been Chin's example that led her to taking up a career in the police force. She was about to graduate the Academy. Now she came, because she knew that Chin had no one else with whom he could share the pain of losing his former training officer, his father figure.

They needed no words. Kono wrapped her arms around him and they stood, his head on her shoulder, for as long as he needed. Chin didn't cry. He needed this moment, however, to get his head straight, to say goodbye, to return to the world of the living, or whatever it was that helped people get through funerals. He wasn't sure he found it. He was still rather mad - at Steve, at the monster who did this, who took Jack's life. One thing Steve did well, Chin surprised himself with this thought: he took his father's case and started working on it. Wanted to solve it, find the person responsible. Chin hadn't wanted to do it at first, he was still rather against it, but since they'd started, the only reasonable next step would be to continue.

Among the people who came to the funeral he had seen Detective Williams earlier. Now Chin looked up abruptly and, sure enough, he saw the blond less than ten feet away, looking around awkwardly.

"Thank you, Kono," Chin whispered to his cousin.

"Anytime, cuz," Kono replied. "Do you want to go some place, or...?" she hesitated, sensing his agitation.

Williams was already ambling their way.

"I have something to do," Chin admitted, then gestured. "This is Detective Williams. My cousin, Kono Kalakaua. She's about to graduate Police Academy."

"Pleasure," Danny took Kono's hand with a wide grin. "Who knows, maybe we'll be working together." He winked, still gripping her palm and Chin, despite his already established respect for the detective - professionally - thought they'd better not.

"You may let go, brah," he growled and Williams did as he was told, albeit awkwardly. "Did you learn anything new?"

"Oh. No. And yes," Williams stuttered. "Chief Mahaka ordered me to come here. Which, not that I didn't want to do it myself and give my condolences to you and to McGarrett. By the way, I don't think I've seen him. Where is he?"

"He didn't come," Chin growled again and hoped that Williams wouldn't pry.

He was sorely disappointed. "To his own father's funeral?" Williams's surprise was as honest as it was annoying.

"I don't think it's any of your business," Chin uttered through clenched teeth. He felt Kono's hand on his arm, a gesture of both support and restraint. He'd expected someone else would have to defend Steve from him today, but he couldn't take this stranger have an opinion. The man must have had his reasons for wanting to avoid such a stressful situation. If he didn't feel stable enough, perhaps it was a better choice.

Williams had enough sense to apologize. "In that case, please accept my sincere condolences," he told Chin, this time with a serious face. "Anyway, as I was saying, Chief Mahaka insisted that I came, and it felt a little odd to me. If they are suspecting Steve of killing his father, then why didn't they keep him in custody when he'd come there himself, right? It's probably about something else. They are watching him and I think they know he knows, only they're not sure how much. In that case I thought, why wouldn't we help him learn more?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"Well, we can't question Duran, which my boss is not too devastated about, by the way. So I remembered we were headed to that friend of yours, Kama-something. How about we go ask? Unless you have to..." Williams waved his hand. "Then I'll go myself. Just tell me where to find him."

Chin shook his head, feeling a smirk tug at the corners of his lips. He wasn't yet sure if it was okay to smile, so early after committing his friend to the ground, but something in Williams's attitude made his heart a little less heavy. "His name is Kamekona and I'm sorry but I'll have to go. He doesn't trust haoles ." Williams rolled his eyes and Chin smiled, this time for real. "I'll just let Mary know that I'm going."

When Cmdr Joe White, her father's old Navy friend, mentioned 'The Arizona' and Mary's grandfather, she realized just where Steve had probably gone to. She seized the first opportunity to excuse herself and try to find him. Chin had other business to attend to; she didn't really care what and where, so she took off by herself.

When Steve had been sixteen, shortly before the accident, he hadn't wanted to join the Navy. He had dreamt about a football career, about surfing, and he used to say he'd never leave Hawaii. He used to say that maybe he hadn't been the Native Hawaiian, but he'd felt very much so. Both Mary and Mom had known that it had only been a phase. It had been to spite Dad. After the accident, when it had no longer been possible, he'd had regrets.

On that Thanksgiving when Mary had come from Annapolis for the first time and Steve hadn't spoken to her, they had started manifesting the strongest. That's when she had found him here for the first time; at the Missouri pier staring at the Arizona Memorial where their grandfather, his namesake, was entombed. It hadn't been the only time; her presence had apparently evoked this longing in him again and again, over the years.

He came here now, as well.

She watched his silhouette for a few long minutes. He wasn't moving and she couldn't step forward either. She tried to find those tell-tale signs of how damaged his body was and, in all honesty, she couldn't. He stood straight, with ease, hands in pockets.

When she finally approached him, he looked at her and smiled fleetingly. He wasn't at all surprised.

"I thought I had all I wanted," he said, as if they were continuing some conversation she had no clue about. He turned to stare at The Memorial again. "I thought I was okay with my life, with who I've become. I have a steady job, can support myself without counting on disability pension. I like this job too, I really do. I'm independent. I'm more physically fit than anyone ever believed I would be, including myself. And I was, I really was proud of it. I still am. But right now-" he paused, emotions choking him visibly. "All this- resentment- It's back." He fell silent and Mary didn't know what to tell him. That he had every right to be resentful? Or that he shouldn't be resentful, because it would gain him nothing, only bitterness? It would eat him up alive, when he could just keep on living, working in a car shop and enjoying what was achievable. But she didn't say it, because what was the point? "Did you know that I got to the Ka'ala summit? Two years in a row now." He turned to her with a proud smile, but then his face scrunched and the smile turned into grief. "This year I wanted to finally take Dad with me, to show him that I could."

"Steve..."

"And now this," he cut her off. "I know what it looks like. Me, playing a detective and trying to solve Dad's case. But I have to know, Mary! I have to know what happened to him, what happened to Mom. I'm the only one who cares enough."

"I care too." His words hurt her, even though she knew he didn't mean it like that.

"I know you do, Mar. But you're not here. You can't stay, can you? And Chin wants to leave it to the police."

"Maybe he's right." Mary understood Chin's reluctance at making 'Five-0' the real thing, and Steve hadn't pushed before either. When they had set it up, it had happened shortly after Chin had resigned from the work at the police force, after all that affair with fraud. The PI agency had been a way to make them both feel better. Neither of them had truly believed it would ever have an actual case. And this case? Dad's murder? It was especially unfitting.

"It's not just this," Steve surprised her again. "It's not only about solving Dad's murder and his toolbox case." Apparently his thoughts followed a similar track hers did. Only their conclusions differed. "Yesterday, what we did- I felt free. Like on Ka'ala, like when I'm in the ocean. I felt normal. Granted I was exhausted later, but..." he looked at her earnestly. "I want to do it again. This is what I want, not working at the garage!"

His eyes were shining, he was animated and God, how much she wanted to give it to him. Anything he wanted, there wasn't a thing she wouldn't do. She could even go to Chin and try to convince him, except that rationally? It would be the wrong thing to do. There were physical limitations that they couldn't ignore and Steve's agitation yesterday and even his today's absence at the funeral, were indication enough of how big of a toll running after suspects had taken on him.

"What about you?" he asked suddenly and she looked up, not understanding. "Are you happy with how your life turned out?

Mary shrugged. "Since when is this about me?"

"Exactly," Steve whispered. "It never is. Take the Navy. Is this your calling? Sometimes I think you only did it because I couldn't."

"Steve." She didn't want to go down this path. Jealousy, guilt. She didn't need that.

"I only want to know if you're happy."

"I am," she said with more conviction than she felt and Steve didn't push. They stood in silence.

"I think you should say good-bye," she finally whispered. "You may not want to, but you should."

t.b.c.