The shadowed figure bided her time in the stairwell, waiting for the night nurse to leave the room. She'd have a good two hours before she'd have to sneak out again. When her contact had called to say Steve and Arianna had been in an accident, she couldn't resist trying to see the girl. She was extremely glad she'd only been as far away as Japan. The nurse left the room, leaving the door cracked. Perfect.

Having refused the latest round of pain killers, Arianna was awake but only paying partial attention to the program currently playing on the tv. She smiled as she caught movement in her peripheral vision. "You forget something, Terri?"

"Well, if it isn't the dead beat mom," Arianna said flatly.

"That's not a very nice greeting for the first time meeting your grandmother," Doris snarked.

"Oh, please. If you haven't earned the title of mother, you sure as hell haven 't earned the grandmother title."

"I did what I did to protect my children because I'm their mother," Doris refuted.

"You did it to protect your own ass."

"Watch your mouth, young lady."

Arianna rolled her eyes. "You're a piece of work, you know that."

Doris narrowed her eyes. "There's no fooling you then."

"Hardly. I know a dead beat mom when I see one. I lived with one for years. Funny, it seems that McGarrett children are cursed to have women that have no real maternal instincts as their live givers," Arianna stated.

"If you think about it, it's amazing Dad, Aunt Mary and I turned out as good as we did, though God knows we are far from well adjusted."

"Don't you think you're being a tad melodramatic?" Doris pointed out.

"And you'd know."

"What do you mean by that?"

"According to Dad, you're quite the actress, melodrama being your specialty," Arianna stated.

"Well, aren't you a pertinent little imp."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Now how about we cut through this bullshit and you get to the point," Arianna demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Doris hedged.

"Please," Arianna drawled, voice dripping with sarcasm, "we've already established that my BS meter works extremely well."

"I need you to pass on a message to my son," Doris said.

"I'm not your personal carrier pigeon. You can tell him yourself."

"I cant meet him. It's too dangerous," Doris rejoined.

"But it's not too dangerous to meet with me?" Arianna asked.

"You're not the one he wants," Doris told her.

"He? You mean Wo Fat?," Arianna half stated, catching the small flicker of shock that crossed Doris's face as she continued, "Don't look so surprised, you couldn't be so foolish as to think Dad wouldn't tell me everything."

"Steve needs to stop doing what he's doing and he needs to be extremely careful," Doris said.

"Wow, could you be any more vague?"

"Tell him to always be alert," Doris reiterated.

"If you're going to continue to be so cryptic, you might as well go. I'm tired of this," Arianna said pointedly.

"Fine, I'll leave if you promise to pass on my message."

"You know damn well I'll tell him all about your little visit. Before you go, there's one thing you should know," Arianna stated.

"Really? What kernel of wisdom would you have?" Doris asked in disbelief.

Arianna ignored the older woman's words. "Know that if you screw with my dad or any of my family again, you'll have me to deal with," Arianna warned.

"You don't know who you're dealing with," Doris growled. "You shouldn't threaten."

"Neither do you and it isn't a threat, it is a promise," Arianna bit back.

"I underestimated you," Doris observed.

"A mistake I'm sure you won't repeat," Arianna affirmed.

"You are certainly your father's daughter," Doris claimed.

"Another compliment."

"Make sure you pass on my message," Doris demanded.

Arianna rolled her eyes again and turned her head away, already dismissing the older woman.

Doris held a grudging respect for her granddaughter. The kid had guts. She really hadn't expected any less from a child of Steve's. Taking her cue for dismissal, Doris walked nonchalantly out of her granddaughter's room and back to the stairwell.

Arianna grabbed her cell phone. Had a surprise visitor. Doris was here.

Steve stared at the message on his phone. What did she want?

She wanted to feel me out. Get me on her side

I'm coming back to the hospital!

She's gone. Im fine

I'll be there in 20

No use telling you not to?

NO!

Thought not. C U Soon.

Steve really wished that he had his truck with the sirens. As it was, he pushed the speed limit and a few stop lights. He knew Doris wouldn't be there but he still had to try. He used his pull to get hospital security to send a copy of their surveillance tapes to the Five-0 servers before racing to Arianna's room.

Arianna was not so calmly watching a stupid infomercial. Only one who really knew her would be able to ready the underlying tension. Steve could feel it from the doorway. He reached out and flashed the lights. "You okay?" he asked when she looked at him.

"Yeah, she's quite something."

"She is. What did she say to you?" he asked.

"She asked me to tell you to be careful."

"To be careful? Careful from what?"

"She was pretty vague. It might have been because I kinda called her on her shit."

"You what?" Steve asked incredulously.

"I called her bluff. Asked her what she really wanted. She said it wasn't safe to talk to you directly but I was okay because he didn't want me. She nonverbally confirmed it was Wo Fat she was referring to when I brought up his name but she danced around the issue," Arianna answered.

"Still playing her games," he said bitterly.

"Yeah," she whispered.

Steve visibly shook himself and took a hard look at his kid. "It's late. You need your rest. We can talk about this in the morning." Arianna's yawn punctuated his sentence.

"You staying?" she signed with sleepy hands.

"Yes. That chair is more comfortable than it looks. It's not like I'd be sleeping in a bed with this collar anyway," he replied. "Now go to sleep."

"M'kay."

Steve grabbed an extra blanket from the cupboard and settled down. He hadn't bee real comfortable leaving Arianna to begin with so he was secretly happy to stay. Doris's sudden appearance made things interesting. He wondered if she'd stay long enough to attempt to visit him. Actually he didn't, he knew she wouldn't. For a person who could lie at the drop of a hat and was supposedly a good spy, she was a coward.

Steve scrubbed his hand over his face and then turned to study his sleeping child. Even though she was grown and they'd only known of their relationship for less than a year, he couldn't imagine ever doing anything like what Doris had done. How does a parent do that to a child? Having Arianna in his life made him less tolerant of this mother's actions. Steve dozed off with a smile playing at his lips, a smile for his daughter.

Her soft voice startled him awake. "Can't sleep. Tell me a story."

Steve opened his eyes to see his child staring at him, looking years younger than her twenty years. He reached out to turn on the light behind her head. He signed only, "What kind of a story?"

She shrugged slightly. "Tell me how you managed to get arrested for the governor's murder or the first days of Five-0."

"You've heard them all before."

"I know, but I want to hear them again."

Steve thought for a moment before starting into the tale of the first few days of the team. He was about halfway through the story when she finally fell into a deep sleep. He got up to tuck her in before settling back down himself. It didn't take long for him to doze back off.

Doris made her way to her son's home. She'd finally conceded that small victory to him. It didn't surprise her to find the place empty. The girl had probably contacted her father before Doris even got out of the hospital. She'd been counting on it actually. She needed the stuff stashed in the under stairs room.