Chapter 13:

"Hello Charlotte." A voice called as I opened my eyes. They trailed up the high-heels to a tall woman with a pert little pony-tail on the back of her head. "It's nice to see you, but I was hoping it wouldn't be in these kinds of circumstances."

I faced the one-way mirror, as Carey took a seat across from me. Her brown eyes flashed warmly as they connected with me. Her hair was still long and her face still ovular as she peered into me. And they way she took in my position, or tried to read my mind was still the same. Slowly she tilted her head to the side and smiled warmly at me.

"I liked what you've done with your hair. It's much better suited." Her hands dropped into her bag and pulled out her regular notepad and pen. As she settled herself in, I took in the almost relaxed body language she was radiated from her. She was still the same, yet not as serious as I had remembered her.

Her left hand banged against the table, and a sharp ring rung through the room. My eye flickered to the piece of golden metal the encircled her finger, and then flickered to her face. She noticed my intense gaze and couldn't help but break out in a smile.

"That's right… the last time we met I wasn't a married woman." Her smile deepened as she looked down at the ring, "I got married last year." Her smiled melted away as the only response she earned was a simple nod.

"You're friend called me here – I had already landed, after I had the army get your location off of purchased airline tickets, but I was surprised to have been greeted by a phone call such as that. They barely explained anything to me before I whisked into here. – Though it did save me the trouble of going into the city to find you." She paused, trying to judge me response, "I believe it was Steve McGarrett who was the one that called me. Are you close?"

The silence hung between us, just has it had many years ago. I wasn't about to give anything away, so Carey would probably do most of the talking.

"He wasn't so kind as to give me anything to go off of, so I was wondering if you would be willing to fill me in? – Still nothing… I was hoping that giving you a couple of years out of service would allow you to maybe temporarily integrate into normal civilian life. It seems though, that you haven't done much except hide yourself away." Trying to keep my bodily reaction to a minimum, I blinked my eyes at the miniscule insult she had sent my way. She continued anyway, staring down at the note pad as she talked, "This is what I understand Charlotte – You're terrified of whatever happened to you on that last mission. Whatever went on whilst you were in captivity, still has a tight hold on you – You weren't going to be fit for any more combat back then, you barely are now. So when Steve told me that you had chased a man down, and beaten him until he had to be rushed to the hospital, you could imagine I was pretty surprised…. I don't know what happened in Sudan, Charlotte. But I do know that you were close to your team, and it must have been very hard to have seen them die.

I here though to make sure that there are no more misconceptions. You're in a lot of trouble from what I have been told; I don't know what you've done, but speaking looks to be your best option.

When we met I didn't diagnose you with Stockholm syndrome because we weren't defending your captives… but you weren't protecting yourself either. A lot of people in higher position of the army do believe that you weren't willing to give names because you believed that your captives had helped you. I, on the other hand, believe that you were given any names. So I've come here to find out if I came to the right conclusion."

My brows furrowed as she continued talking. I couldn't possibly conceive how people had come to the assumption that I had Stockholm syndrome. I showed no apparent symptoms of the mental disorder, but then again I hadn't been quick to call out the bad guys either.

"I'm going to ask you a series of yes or no questions, Charlotte. You don't have to speak… you can just nod your head, but I'm not leaving until you've answered all of them." Carey established as she readied her pen.

Without even so much as a glance my way or to make sure I was okay with the conditions, Carey began her interrogation. The room chilled over the time we sat there, and I squirmed several times in my seat trying to best answer the onslaught of questions she was asking. Many times I had wanted to jump across the room, other times I was more than willing to answer, but the most frequent was my thankfulness that I didn't have to say a word. I couldn't be breaking my promise if I wasn't actually talking. Plus Carey was a good person, right? She worked with people of the United States, and with the army.

"Alright, that's all I have." Carey finally stated, and I could feel my back dig into the chair behind me. I hadn't even noticed the way I had tensed up during the questioning, but I knew that I would start to feel the soreness in my back by tomorrow. "You've been very cooperative, which is a very good sign Charlotte. I think that you've made a very big leap in the right direction."

Her lean body ambled up to the door before stopping and taking a look behind at me. Our eyes clashed, blue and brown, as we held eye contact for a moment. She flashed me a smile before closing the door behind her and saying her last words to me. I turned my attention back to the mirror in front of me and then towards the ever clean steel table that sat just below my eye sight. Allowing my eyes to close shut, I drifted off into the blackness.

3rd POV

Carey Multen stepped away from the interrogation room and strolled down the thin hallways into the awaiting meeting room. She was quick to notice the young woman who had directed her to where Charlotte was, but her eyes couldn't seem to find anybody else.

"I'm all done." Carey called, gaining the attention of Kono who stood at the computers. The two women smiled at each other.

"How is she?" Kono asked, taking a glance in the general direction. Her eyes bore into the wall, almost as if hoping that she would be able to see through it and check in on Shay.

"She's much better than I remembered her. Obviously you guys have had a huge impact on her." Carey trailed off as she looked down at the computer. Quickly Kono hide the files she had been working on, and smiled up tightly at Carey who was now watching her carefully. "If you need information on her, I would be more than willing to present my files to you. Charlotte is very hard to read, even for someone who's been trained, so I can only imagine that you're all having a hard time judging her."

Kono glanced briefly at her, before looking over at her struggling partners. Steve finally having enough hit one of the pressure points of the young man. He hoisted up the hostage and sat him down in a chair before rounding on the two women. Carey was happy to repeat the progress that she had noticed, but Kono was feeling that something was off. Carey was a little too happy about the progress, but she knew that Shay probably hadn't said a word. And by the look on Steve's face, one could tell that he was also having a hard time finding out the truth from this woman.

Danny and Chin, after cuffing the hostage to the chair, had joined the group and with listening intently to the psychiatrists explanation.

"I can't just leave the file here with you guys, but I would be more than willing to answer any questions you have about her. As I was telling Kono earlier, Charlotte is really hard to read, and it's taken me many years, a quiet a few silent sessions, to understand how she works." Carey offered up, gesturing for them to take the available seats. The team looked at each other before settling down into the chairs, whilst Carey gently sat upon the desk and prepped herself for the questions that they might ask.

"Parents?" Danny finally offered up, seeing as nobody had started talking yet.

"None existent. She had grown up in a orphanage, and by the time she was old enough to join the army she had lived in at least twenty-three different households. Most of the adults that are willing to offer their houses have their own children, so Charlotte grew up always being the second in adults minds. Nobody actually knows who her parents are, and Charlotte never done DNA testing to try and find them. I guess she's never been too interested."

"So she joined the army, and then what? Comes back and has PTSD?" Kono asked.

Carey looked up sharply at all of them, but her eyes landed on Steve's, who sat in Reer's seat fiddling with her necklace. "She doesn't have PTSD – She's out for blood." The group fell silent as they listened to Carey's words. "Charlotte joined the army at eighteen, which was the legal age, but many people actually believe that she was sixteen when she joined. She never had a birth certificate, and apparently she was good at forging documents. So there was a lot of rumor about that. It's never been proven, mind you, but it's good that you understand that.

Kids minds are still mutable when in their late teen years, but Charlotte always been a one goal sort of person. She got top honors, worked hard, didn't make a lot of connection in the academy. She ended up being part of small covert team under a man by the name of Major Philip Roberts. I don't actually know much about the missions, but from the superior officers that I've talked to – they all say everyone on the covert team was really close. Lily Martin, Aaron Krone, Chris Hetchin and Philip Roberts."

"Sorry I just don't understand how that ties into you're previous statement." Danny prodded.

"That she's after blood? - Imagine Detective Williams, if you will, that you've never had a very close connection with anybody for at least sixteen years. Then one day your drafted into an elite covert team with four other people, who become like family. You're with them every day, you get along with them, you get in arguments with them. They're family. – Now imagine, seeing them get shot at, or wounded. And then imagine them dead." The room waited patiently for Carey to finish. "All those connection you've built up… suddenly torn away from you. It's a wonder she didn't start questioning why she had developed those connections in the first place….

If the army teaches you one thing – it's that you're family. So what do you do when you're family gone – you go after the source."

"Who was the killer?" Steve finally asked, his voice breaking the tension in the room. All of the team had come to the same conclusion, but they needed the reaffirmation.

"They rumor was that Jeremy Stinton was the mastermind behind everything – it's never been proven."