A/N: Thank you all for reading, following, favoring and reviewing this fic. You keep me motivated and happy every time.
I couldn't believe it, this chapter was supposed to be the highlight of the whole fic, and I had to write it in what felt like the busiest week at work, ever. How inconsiderate... anyway, I couldn't not write it (even though, it took me longer than usual, I'm sorry about that). I made special efforts to write it despite of all the deadlines I had, well... sleeping is for sissies anyway...
I know we have all been waiting to this installment. I hope it will live up to your expectations. I have tried to make it a good representation of the whole fic. (I am very anxious to know if I was able to do it...)
Please please tell me what you think, because it was a very difficult chapter to write.
Thanks,
R.
Last time on Calculated Risk...
It's two weeks later when they get a call from HPD about a hostage situation that is developing in an office building downtown. One of the workers who was fired is holding the manager at gun point in one of the conference rooms. It's when Steve and Danny are off to the scene, and Chin and Kono are trying to get as much information they can on the firm and the employees, that things start to move quite rapidly. Chin is calling her to come and see what he found, because it looks like they have some information about the suspect and the gun he is using, but she doesn't answer after he calls her twice. When he goes to her office, he sees her leaning against her desk, with one hand on her back, and the other holding the edge of the chair.
"What are you doing?" he asks her curiously. But then, he sees how pale she is, and notices the look of surprise she has on her face. "Oh shit cuz..."
()()()
"Chin..." she looks at him with a frightened look on her face.
"What happened? is it the baby?" he rushes towards her and holds her shoulder, as she breathes deeply.
"I don't know..." she looks at him with irritation "how the hell should I know? it's not like I have ever done this before."
"Can you take a guess...?" he tries to keep his voice calm and leveled, despite his first instinct to shake the hell out of her. Oh yes, and kill Steve for not being here. Brutally.
"It may possibly feel like contractions" she grumbles in resignation "but..." she looks at him in the eyes, in a way he really doesn't like. He tries not to be surprised, and emotional about how similar she looks to when she was a girl. Her voice is hoarse and she looks pale and exhausted "...I don't want to do it" she whispers.
"What do you mean, you don't want t... I don't think you have a choice here" he tries to smile gently, but he can't avoid looking at her like she's a little bit crazy. Honestly, she can't really blame him.
"Nope. Not doing it" she notifies him of her decision in an outburst of energy, as she tries to push him away, and stand back on her feet. Where the fuck is Steve? he is the one who's supposed to handle this absurd situation with her. He got rid of this responsibility the minute the guy knocked her up.
"Cuz, come on" he coaxes "you're having the baby...we should probably..."
"Sorry, I can't. I'm not ready." she tells him with resolve, walking slowly towards the main room, not even bothering to look back "besides, we are in the middle of a case" she adds from behind her back, "Steve and Danny needs us."
"Kono... I'm calling Steve." He calls after her, reaching for his phone.
"I've tried, he doesn't answer..." the fucking bastard "...ooohhh..." she breathes suddenly, taking a hold of the edge of the smart table.
"I'm calling Malia, then" he tells her, dialing the number without taking his eyes off of her.
"No, Chin..."
"It's either Malia, or your mother. You can choose."
It takes her a few milliseconds to think this through. "Tell Malia, I'm not going to the hospital without Steve."
()()()
Disappointingly, Malia is calmer than Chin would have hoped. He swears, these two are going to be the death of him. When she gives the OK for Kono to stay at HQ for as long as her contractions are not completely regular or coming in intervals of less than four minutes, he has no other way but to consider it as a deliberate betrayal on her part. Steve and Danny are maybe dealing with a deranged kidnapper, but he has to stay in HQ and see his cousin suffers repeated contractions, until his darling wife will be impressed enough. He can't tell for sure, but someone is going to pay for this, at the end of the day. He programs the computer system to time the contractions, and make a point to put the timer on the big screen above them, just to make his point. Unfortunately Kono is less bothered by this big and loud timer, than he is.
()()()
...
()()()
They get to the scene, and find HPD cars surrounding the entire building, as well as a SWAT team getting ready to storm the place. They find the chief of police and join the briefing, realizing there is one kidnapper, standing deep inside a big conference room, holding the manager of the firm at gun point. The room has that high tech, sophisticated and decorative transparent walls, so the guy can spot someone getting close from each side of the corridor. Two attempts to breach, failed when the guy shot a cop and a secretary that was hiding there, wounding them quite badly. He demands money and compensations from the company, and requests them to be delivered to a bank account in the Caymans. He threatens to kill the manager within one hour, if his demands are not met. When Steve and Danny get there, the governor and the head of the firm are seriously considering to comply with his demands.
()()()
The chief of police estimates that another breach will be redundant, but there's a pressure from upstairs to make another attempt, to confirm the validity of giving in to the guy's demands.
"There's another option." Steve says at the end of the briefing, watching the building, with a glint in his eyes.
"He's lying" Danny says to the chief of police, as he pulls Steve hurriedly away from there "he has no other option. Trust me, when he gets that face, it means that he has some kind of a crazy idea, running around in his fucking mind. I call it his suicidal Rambo face. We should ignore it, really."
They stand a few feet from the group of HPD officials, and all the seniors watch them with curious looks. It really is embarrassing, well for the HPD officials anyway, Steve and Danny are quite used to it by now.
"I do have an idea. You know I do" Steve tells him, looking back at the building.
"Of course I know you have an idea, why do you think I took you away from there?"
"Danny, I have a way to solve this thing without any casualties" Steve tries to explain "you do realize this is our job, right? this is what we're supposed to do."
"I agree completely, Steven" Danny tries to imitate the quiet and calm tone of his partner. It's so uncharacteristic to their usual discussions, it feels like both of them are going to explode at any minute.
"So... let's go back" Steve makes a small movement towards the HPD seniors.
"Not so fast, Rambo." Danny holds his arm again "would you mind sharing your great idea with me first?"
"Sure" Steve bows his head, exhaling deeply. He really feels he should be congratulated for not shooting Danny in front of everybody there. "We can't get from the inside, he'll see us immediately."
"True..."
"He's deep inside the room, so the snipers can't see him."
"I'm not going to like it, am I?" Danny scratches his face tiredly.
"We need to approach from the window."
"I blame myself, honestly." Danny tells him dryly "I should have stopped you more than a year ago. When you were in jail, for example, that was actually a great opportunity."
"Listen Danny" Steve ignores his partner's insults "we'll keep him occupied with talking to HPD, I'll breach from the window, standing within a close range shooting option. It's done in two minutes." Steve looks expectedly at his partner. He has that excited look he gets, when he thinks about a mission. You can practically feel the adrenalin rush starts building inside him.
"It sounds really good" Danny tells him calmly. "would you mind answering a few questions about this elaborated and well thought off plan of yours?"
"Go ahead" Steve tries to be gracious, smiling smugly at him.
"You do realize the window is on the fourth floor, right?"
"Yes, Daniel" Steve reassures him "I can count."
"Well... are you a wizard?"
"What? no, I'm not a wizard.. .wha..."
"Do you have wings?"
"Danny..."
"Answer the fucking question, Steve."
"No Daniel, I do not have wings."
"I know I'm a minority here, but as far as I can tell, you are not Superman, or Harry potter, or a fucking fairy, so flying is out of the question, too."
"I'll get out of the second window, and walk along the edge of the wall until I get to the conference room window. I'll be able to point a gun at him, and will be covered by the wall. If he won't give up, I'll shoot him."
"I don't like it." Danny tells him decisively.
"Don't worry, Danno" Steve claps him reassuringly on the back, and smiles arrogantly at him "I've done this before." he starts walking back towards the HPD chief, leaving his partner with his mouth open.
"I don't think it makes as good a resume as you might think..." he shouts after him.
()()()
Steve can be very persuasive if he wishes to. He'll give him that. In five minutes he gives the HPD chief, the SWAT team leader, and the other officers the essentials of his idea, and has them all hooked to his crazy notion, that this stupid, and irresponsible act of lunacy will actually work. The SWAT team leader is still recovering from the last encounter he had with the McGarrett-Kalakaua asylum, so it's no wonder he goes along with it. Danny sends the guy a dirty look when he tells Steve he's going to clear the access to the neighboring room, and it's the only reason he offers Steve to be tied to a long safety cable, just in case.
()()()
It's way too familiar, to stand next to Steve as he changes his clothes next to the car, and puts his Kevlar on. He gives Danny his cell phone, and checks his gun one more time before he makes his way towards the building.
When Steve's phone rings, and Kono's number appears on the screen, he pushes the silence button immediately. There's no way he would be able to explain this to her.
()()()
...
()()()
It's about a half an hour later, when she stops talking in the middle of a sentence, and grabs the edge of the smart table, breathing heavily.
"That's it" Chin tells her, looking at the screen "four minutes. We're going to the hospital."
"No..." she whispers, trying to brace herself "I'm not going without Steve..."
"I'll try him again, then. Because we are going, accept it." Chin pulls his cell phone and dials Steve's number "No answer. I'll try Danny, too."
()()()
"Disasters are us, how can I help you?" he answers on the first ring.
"Where's Steve?" Chin asks without waiting.
"Steve? that's a really good question, my friend. Steve is hanging 40 feet above the ground at the moment, trying to shoot a suspect through a window. No use blaming me, I've tried to shake him out of it, but apparently some things are not humanly possible."
"He's what?"
"He's hanging on the wall on the fourth floor, trying to ambush the kidnapper. I thought I made it quite clear."
"How long will it take?" Chin is looking anxiously at his cousin, who is holding her stomach and curses quietly.
"He said two minutes. What's wrong?" Danny feels like something is not right, suddenly.
"Kono is having the baby. We were really hoping he could join us in here..." Chin realizes it's not going to happen any time soon, so he grabs his keys, and pulls Kono gently by the arm, as they start to make their way to the door.
"Oh shit..." he can hear Danny's gasp from the other side.
"I think my water just broke..." Kono says as they enter the elevator.
()()()
...
()()()
Steve is walking slowly on the edge of the wall. Danny looks up at him with his eyes wide, and his phone pressed against his ear. There's a moment there when he almost loses his grip and his legs are dangling in the air, as he fights to hold himself solely by his strong arms. He makes it, just barely, and exhales in relief. It's much more narrow than he had estimated. The dust makes it slippery, too. He has ten more feet to go like this, until he reaches the conference room's window.
()()()
They sit in the van and Chin puts the phone on speaker, and turns the siren on. Kono is in pain, and she's all sticky and scared, and she's so mad at Steve, it could actually get dangerous.
"He's doing what?" She shouts in alarm, her voice sends shivers down Chin's and Danny's spines.
"Walking on the edge of the wall... but he's already half way there..." Danny tries to explain.
"Half way towards a lunatic with a gun, who can shoot him the minute he sees him?"
"I'm sure there's another way to look at it..." Danny says unconvincingly.
"I'm having his baby, and he's playing Rambo over there?" Kono shrieks in fury "why the hell didn't you stop him?"
"What do you mean why didn't I..." Danny protests.
"Hey Brah, she's having a baby, chose your words wisely" Chin advises as he's pushing harder on the accelerator.
"Listen to me Daniel Williams" Kono hisses into the phone "I am having a baby now. I have pain, I have sticky stuff all over my legs, and my baby's father is nowhere in the vicinity. You'll get him to the fucking hospital dead or alive, it's really doesn't matter, just bring him there before the baby is born. Did you get that?"
"Yes Ma'am!" Danny whispers before she hangs up.
()()()
He looks up again, watching his partner getting to the conference room, finally. He hears him shouting to the guy to put down his weapon, and the guy answers back, but Danny can't really make out his words. There's a few seconds of tension, and everybody waits, than the guy's start shooting, and Steve hides next to the window, before he slides unexpectedly, in front of it, hanging on one arm, and shoots two bullets inside. There's a sudden quiet, and Steve doesn't move. Finally he can see a SWAT team operative looking out from the room Steve was shooting into, indicating that it's all clear.
He can see the smug smile Steve has on his face even from his distant position near the HPD cars. He takes the loudspeaker from one of the vehicles and presses the 'on' button.
"Hey Spiderman" he shouts, and everyone looks back at him, including Steve who is still hanging on the wall, "nice job, babe", and there's the sound of clapping and cheering from the police officers around him, when he says it, "now, if you're not too busy, your girlfriend, I'm hearing, is having your baby now, she would like you to join her."
Apparently, it's all it takes to erase the smug bastard's smile. He looks back at Danny, with a mortified expression. Unfortunately it also causes him to lose his grip on the wall, and he falls down like a rock. The SWAT team's safety cable holds him back when he reaches the level of the second floor, but he is crashed against the wall, and almost faints from the pain caused by the pull on his shoulders. It's a small consolation for the events of the day, Danny feels. A very small consolation.
()()()
...
()()()
They get to the emergency department and Malia is waiting for them at the door.
"You're having the baby" she smiles happily as she embraces Kono tightly against her. "Don't be scared, you'll be fine, and when it's over, you'll be so happy, you wouldn't even remember the pain. I promise." she whispers in her ear.
"Steve is not here" she tells Malia with a furious look, as they put her on a wheel chair and bring her into the delivery room.
"I'll be with you until he comes" Malia promises "or we can get your mother..."
"He doesn't deserve me" she tells her as they help her to remove her clothes and put her in the bed "I should let my mom know he's not here. They would search for his body in the dumpsters of Honolulu for months."
"Let's forget about your mother for now, then..." Malia suggests quietly.
When the nurse comes to put an IV line in, and to take her vital signs, she has another contraction, and it's getting even less pleasant.
"I want something for the pain" Kono tells her, clenching her teeth together, trying not to shout with agony. These stupid contractions are getting stronger each time.
"I'll have to check if it's not too late, first" the nurse smiles towards her "let me take a look." She puts on a glove, and puts her hand under Kono's gown. "I'm sorry ma'am. You are almost fully dilated by now, it's too late for pain medications."
The sweet nurse's apology is drowned by another contraction, and Kono holds on to the nurse's shirt forcing her face close to her own "get me some fucking pain medications, or I'll kill you" she hisses.
"I'll get the doctor..." the nurse whispers shaking with fear, as she makes her escape out of the room.
"You know, darling" Malia says when the contraction is over, and she strokes the sweaty strands of hair away from her face "I still need to work in this place tomorrow, please try not to threaten innocent nurses, as much as you possibly can..."
"I'm sorry" Kono says, blushing "I don't know what came over me. It's really not her fault."
"Don't worry sweetie, she's probably used to it by now. This is one of the reasons I chose not to be an obstetrician. Couldn't handle all the crazy women."
"I guess most women have their husbands near them to keep them calm and rational..." Kono spits in resentment.
"No... not really" Malia says thoughtfully "the husbands are usually even more freaked out, completely useless and on the verge of fainting at eavery moment. They actually make everything much more difficult..."
There's another contraction when a young male doctor is coming into the room, and looks at her chart.
"Ms. Kalakaua? I'm Doctor Macky, and how are you today?"
"Who the hell are you? you're not my doctor. Where's Doctor Lee?" Kono looks at him still breathless from the pain.
"Doctor Lee is in the middle of another delivery, she will be here soon. The nurse said, you were asking for pain medications." he turns to put on gloves and reaches for her gown again.
"What are you doing? get away from me." she closes her legs and looks at him with a murderous look.
"I thought you wanted to..." he stumbles on his words when he sees that dangerous glint in her eyes.
"You're a guy." She reminds him.
"I'm a doctor" he smiles brightly "let me assure you, I am completely equipped to handle these situations."
"Oh really?" she crosses her arms on her chest, raising her eyebrow at him "have you ever tried to push a watermelon through your genitalia?"
"No... not really" he blushes "can't say that I have."
"Then we both agree, you are hardly equipped to handle this situation. I'll be waiting for Dr. Lee if you don't mind." The look in her eyes probably has enough persuasion in it, because it looks like he can't get out of the room, quick enough.
"I guess I should re-write my resume for tomorrow, just in case" Malia sighs, holding Kono's hand gently.
()()()
...
()()()
"You're driving too slow. I told you to let me drive" Steve holds the dashboard and sends Danny murderous looks.
"You are emotionally unstable, definitely not in the right condition to drive."
"I am perfectly calm and emotionally stable, Danny. At least, if I was driving, we would have already been there."
"If I'd have let you drive, we were probably be in the morgue by now. Relax, we'll get there in time."
"I hope so..." Steve looks at his watch, and curses under his breath.
It took them fifteen minutes to untangle him from the rope, and to make sure he didn't break his neck. He had to argue with the HPD chief to let him go without completing the debriefing of the shooting, but he managed to do it at the end. He had to leave his gun behind though, and let them start the paperwork without him, and by the description Danny gave him of Kono's state of mind, he's not so sure he actually made the right choice. She's in a hospital bed, and in pain, but she can still hurt him. If he'd miss the birth of his own son though, she wouldn't have to, he'll probably do it himself.
"Don't worry, Steve. She's not alone, she has Chin and probably Malia there with her."
"I know, I know..." he mumbles "it's not the same though, is it?"
"Here, I can see the hospital. We're there in two minutes..."
Danny stops the car, with the wheels screeching, in front of the emergency department's entrance, and Steve shoots out of the car, before it even comes to a final stop.
"Hey, Navy SEAL!" Danny shouts from inside the car, smiling towards his friend as he looks back in alarm "good luck, babe..."
"Thanks, Danno" he smiles back before he runs into the building.
()()()
...
()()()
Dr. Lee is there, eventually. She enters the room with her calm and familiar manner. Kono almost bursts into tears, seeing her face. She is right in control, examining her and reassuring her. Kono doesn't even mind she is too, in agreement that there's no time for pain medications anymore.
"Where is Steve?" she asks as she sits in the chair at Kono's feet. "Will he be joining us, soon?"
"He'd better" Kono mumbles in resentment "I told his partner to get him here dead or alive, but it was probably a mistake. I should have insisted on him being alive, so I could kill him with my own hands."
"I'm sure he'll be here soon" Dr. Lee smiles reassuringly "he looked like a very dedicated man, when I saw him during follow ups."
"He is" Kono says in agreement "it's just that the causes he's dedicated too, are all messed up sometimes."
"Well, Kono" Dr. Lee, tells her as she looks at her and smiles "we're having the baby now. So, we should probably start working."
()()()
He stands at the door of the delivery room, and tries to read the signs to see where to go, when he sees Chin running towards him with relief.
"Straight in this corridor, last door on the left." he shouts as he's pushing him to the right direction.
"Thanks, man" he spits as he makes the short distance towards her. He can feel his heart racing, and he can hardly breathe. When he gets to the right door, he hears her screaming from the other side, so he bursts the door open and stands there with alarm, watching her there on the bed.
"What happened? why are you screaming?" he asks in confusion.
"You stupid man." she shouts at him from the bed "why do you think I'm screaming? it's all your fault, you did it to me...!"
A/N2: OK OK, I know I'm an awful person. But it became much longer chapter than I have anticipated. We will all be introduced to Peanut, next chapter. I promise. I can feel some major fluffiness coming...