A good night's sleep had certainly helped Danny's mental acuity, even if his body was still protesting loud and long about being knocked about so much the previous day. He eased himself against the pillows, wincing and hissing at the pain, even as he tried to look healthy. He wanted out of the hospital, but knew that Steve would refuse to help him if he looked too sick.

"So it was Kekipi," Danny muttered. "But why…"

"The oldest motives in the world," Steve replied. "Love and money. He seems to have fallen hard for Kamea and when you came on the scene, it reinforced to him that she wasn't ever going to love him. We don't know yet if he started stealing to have more money for wooing Kamea, but we will find that out."

"I'm surprised he didn't kill me, then," Dan commented. "With me out of the way, his path to Kamea would be open."

"I wondered about that, too," Steve agreed. "I could be completely wrong, but this is what I think: Kamea is pretty strong-minded for a young woman. If he killed you, one way or another we would have found out about it. There is no way that Kamea would look near him if she knew he had had a hand in your death. But if he managed to frighten you away from her, his path would be clear and she would never know why you dropped out of her life. He's got a record of frightening people and he seems to be very effective. None of his previous victims have been willing to talk to us about him."

"Do you think he'll come after me again?" Danny asked. He glanced towards the door. "I know I've got a guard."

"Kamea has a guard as well," Steve mentioned. "I want both of you safe until we have Kekipi behind bars. I don't know if he would try to come after you again, but better safe than sorry."

There was logic there, even if Danny didn't want to admit to it. He knew that in a fight, he would come off second best to the Hawaiian, who outweighed him and was a good bit taller. Plus at the moment, he was less than fit. It galled him to admit that a guard might well be a good idea. "Has Doc said when I'm getting out of here?" He tried to sit up a bit straighter, but his body had other ideas.

"Not yet," Steve replied. "I don't want you rushing to get out of here before Doc gives the go-ahead," he warned. "A car accident, however minor, is not something to brush off lightly. I can see you're really sore."

Biting back the undignified whine that he really wanted to voice, Danny nodded briefly. He could tell from Steve's tone of voice that he was not going to aid and abet an escape attempt that day and in truth, he was not sure he would be able to walk out of the hospital under his own steam, no matter how much he wanted to leave. He had not yet been allowed out of bed and he knew from past experience that dressing one-handed was easier said than done after a dislocated shoulder.

"Don't worry," Steve added. "We'll find Kekipi before you get out of here." His easy confidence was a balm to Danny's injured pride.

"Just keep Kamea safe," Danny urged and Steve nodded.

"We will," he promised.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Later that morning, Danny was helped out of bed and urged to move around. He was sore, but getting moving helped a lot. A long hot shower loosened more muscles as did the mild muscle relaxant that Doc prescribed. He was not pleased to be told he would not be going home that day, but the drugs were making him really drowsy and he didn't have the wherewithal to put up much of a fight. He was sure he'd be fine by morning.

Kamea's arrival was another factor that reconciled him to staying in bed. She came in, startling Danny by greeting Steve by his Christian name before she came over and kissed the patient. She sat on the edge of the bed, took his hand and suddenly it didn't seem such a bad thing that he was in a hospital bed.

As Steve smirked his way through his farewells, Danny pondered on his girlfriend's familiarity with his boss, who seemed equally at home with Kamea. When had they had the chance to become friends?

"It hasn't taken you long to get friendly with Steve," he observed when McGarrett had gone.

"No, it hasn't," Kamea agreed calmly. "I'm kind of surprised, though. I thought he'd be difficult to get to know, but he's been so lovely."

"Hey wait a minute," Danny teased. "You're my girlfriend, not his!"

"Don't be so silly," she chided him. "As if I'd look at him – at anyone – when I have you." She leaned over and they exchanged another kiss to their very mutual satisfaction. "So, when do you get out of here?" she asked.

"Tomorrow," Danny sighed. "I tried to persuade Doc to let me go today, but he wasn't having it and Steve was no help."

"Steve clearly knows how to follow doctor's orders," Kamea observed and Danny burst out laughing.

"Let me tell you, Steve makes me look like a model patient!" he sniggered. Laughing still hurt, but in a perverse kind of way, it felt good, too. "He leaves AMA all the time."

"Don't tell my mother that!" Kamea laughed, trying to picture Steve sneaking out of the hospital. It wasn't really working for her. "She'd have a fit."

"I value my hide," Danny joked, remembering that Mrs Kekoa was a nurse. He felt better than he had all day. His relationship with Kamea was so easy and natural. He realised that thoughts of her were never far from the surface of his thoughts. "Always on my mind," he murmured.

"What?"

Smirking, Danny drew her closer. "You," he amplified. "You're always on my mind."

"Isn't there a song called that?" she asked. Elvis had had a hit with it a few months before. She wondered if he was being facetious.

"Trust me," Danny smiled. "You really don't want me to sing it to you." He kissed her again. "I don't want to scare you off."

"Nothing you could do could scare me off," she assured him quietly. "Nothing. Danny, I love you."

It was an important declaration from a courageous young woman. Danny recognised it as such and knew that the majority of people they knew would think it was far too soon for her to know that she was in love with him, but Danny was well aware of the punch-drunk statement he had issued the night before and he had meant the words then and he meant them now that he was not doped out of his head.

"I love you, too, Kamea," he told her, raising his good hand to stroke her cheek. "When all this is over and you think the time is right, I will speak to your father and any kahuna you want me to. I want to spend my life with you."

"Is that a proposal?" Kamea whispered, her dark eyes luminous with tears.

"Not yet," Danny denied. "I want to be able to get down on one knee with a ring when I do that and I don't want a threat hanging over us. We need some time to just be with each other first." He kissed her gently. "And you need to see what it's like to be with a cop. It might not be the way you think it is. This isn't the first time I've been hospitalised." He knew from past experience that the harsh realities of his life could chase away girls.

"It might not be the last, either," she agreed. "I know you're right, my love, but I can't imagine a life without you. I can wait for a proposal, Danny Williams, but not for too long."

"No, definitely not for too long," he said huskily.

They sealed their pact with a kiss.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Although still rather stiff and sore the next morning, Danny was moving more easily. He dressed with a little help from the nurses and his HPD guard for the day informed him that Steve had given strict instructions that Dan was to go home and stay there. Despite Steve's promise, Kekipi was still at large.

The drugs he had been given to help with the pain still kept him drowsy and Dan was disgusted to realise that he had fallen asleep on his couch and lost a good part of the day. Rising carefully, he vowed to only take the pills if he really had to and splashed his face with water to try and help waken up.

Feeling more alert, he made an effort to persuade his escort to take him to the Palace, but the man was far more intimidated by McGarrett than he was of the injured, slow-moving second-in-command and Danny had to accept that he was trapped in the apartment. He couldn't even phone Kamea because she had already had plans for the day that she couldn't cancel.

By the time Steve showed up that evening with some food, Danny was all but climbing the walls with boredom. "So what's happening with Kekipi?" he asked as he took his first bite.

His own mouth full, Steve made an eloquent face as he quickly chewed and swallowed. "He's vanished," he replied in disgust.

"Relatives?" Danny asked around a mouthful of food. He had suddenly realised he was starving and was not as fussy about his table manners as he usually was.

Throwing his second a disgusted look that had no discernible effect, Steve shook his head. "His parents are dead, he has no siblings and his only cousin lives on the mainland and hasn't had contact in years." It was a personal affront to Steve that he had been unable to keep his blithe promise of a couple of days ago and find Kekipi before Danny got out of hospital.

"He can't hide forever," Danny sighed philosophically, his mouth empty this time.

"No and he can't get off the rock," Steve agreed. "Still, someone must know where he is and nobody's talking"

"Is he really that dangerous?" asked Danny and Steve knew at once that his friend was not worried about his own safety but Kamea's.

"Yes, I think he is," the older man stated after a little more thought on the matter. "Don't worry; I'll keep Kamea safe for you."

At that, Dan's eyes flashed up from his plate to lock with Steve's and searched there for something – derision? mockery? – that he didn't find. Colour mounted in Danny' face as he realised that Steve somehow understood how much Kamea meant to him; understood and approved. It warmed Danny right through. "Mahalo, Steve," he murmured huskily. "Mahalo nui loa." It seemed a woefully inadequate response to his friend's generosity, but it was all he could manage.

"She's ohana," Steve brushed it off. "Thanks are not necessary."

.