Danny entered the Palace and was surprised to see Steve in his office. He altered his course and headed straight for his friend's office, "Babe, thought you were hanging out at the hospital all day."
"Nah, I have to finish up some paperwork for the police in Lawrence. I just got off of the phone with them. She is officially no longer a missing person. Kono's up there right now, I'll go back tonight."
"You hear anything back from Max yet?" quizzed Danny.
"Max confirmed what WoFat and Joe told us, we have the same parents."
"Congratulations! That's exciting news."
"Yeah, it is pretty exciting." Steve reflected, "I haven't figured out how I'm going to tell Mary. Let alone, I can't fathom how Mary is going to react to the entire situation."
"Mary is probably going to struggle to wrap her head around everything. I mean, you've had about five days and I think it is sinking in. Mary is going to take a little time, but she will come around."
"She's going to have to. I asked Azucena if she wanted to move in and finish her studies out here."
"That's pretty quick. What did she say?"
"She hasn't really said anything yet. She thanked me for the offer and is giving it the serious consideration it deserves." Answered Steve, the worry in his voice overwhelming, "Danny I can't protect her if she goes back to Kansas. There is nothing I can do to keep WoFat from going after her again."
"Even if she stays here, you can't protect her every moment of the day. She's going to want to lead a normal life. I can see how determined and self-sufficient that kid is."
"I know that, but I would just feel better if she were out here. Then I would be able to keep a better eye on her and know that WoFat hasn't gotten her. Is that crazy?" Steve asked, exasperated.
"No babe, it's not crazy. That's the protective big brother in you. I watch you do the same thing to Mary any time she comes home. Remember when you had Kamekona babysit her?"
"Yeah, it wasn't one of my better ideas."
"No, but your heart was in the right place." Offered Danny, as he slouched down into the chair across the desk from Steve. "If you offered her the chance to stay with you, you must trust her."
"At first pass, I have no reason not to trust her. Everything she has said to this point matches her files with DCF and the CIA."
"She tell you what was in the sealed record?"
"She said she made a decision and the repercussions of which, she never would have imagined. The judge didn't want the results to follow her around, so he sealed it. She point blank said, 'I'm not a criminal.'"
"We all did foolish stuff when we were young. This one time, my cousin Dominic and I snuck into the movie theater and switched theater after theater. We watched about five movies that day. Amazingly, we didn't get caught."
"Yeah, I did some stupid stuff too." Offered Steve.
"You good?" questioned Danny.
"Yeah buddy, I'm good."
#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~
Azucena and Kono spent the afternoon talking and most of the time laughing. There was a two hour time frame where Azucena passed out and slept. The walk from the morning had zapped her energy and she was definitely weak.
When she awoke, the nurses moved her from the ICU ward to a private room. It was a nice change. The nurses in the ICU were delightful, but she felt like she was in a fish bowl under constant surveillance. She didn't like the continuous monitoring and people in her business. She appreciated the security Five-0 was offering, but even that was stressing her.
She determined it was best to focus on things she could control and she had a heavy subject on her mind. The conversation she had with Steve earlier in the day was weighing on her. There were many factors to take into consideration. Her mind kept wandering back to something her mother always said, Dime con quién andas y te diré quién eres. Tell me who you walk with and I'll tell you who you are.
It was basically the same thing Jack always told her about the people who came into the diner; you can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep.
Steve's friends were extremely loyal. She realized these people worked for him, but she could see the underlying friendship and love they had for each other. They showed it in different ways: traveling half way across the world to save their friend from the hands of a maniac, Kono teasing Steve on the plane, Danny bringing Steve clean clothes to change into after the first night in the hospital, and the outright affection Catherine showed Steve when she arrived at the hospital. Granted these were all small glimpses into one person's life, but her limited exposure showed how important he was to his friends.
Her interactions with him had been nothing but genuinely kind; his willingness to undo the restraints and hold her hand while she was intubated and scared, sharing memories of their mother, and the ultimate show of kindness being the invitation to move out here and stay with him while she finished school. All of this pointed to this being a good idea and she wanted to opportunity to get to know her brother and sister, but there was the fear of letting another person get close to you. The fear of losing more people she loved. Everyone she loved had been killed or died, with the exception of Frog and Tommy. Was she willing to let more people into her life and run the risk of losing them? The old phrase ran through her head with her twist tacked onto the end, Everything King Midas touched turned to gold. Everything I touch turns to death.
It was quite a risk to take. Do you allow another person in, letting them see your strengths and weaknesses? It was one thing that Frog and Tommy knew everything about her. They watched her fall apart when she was twelve and Clara passed from a stroke. They knew about the sealed record and what happened on Valentine's day. They watched her meltdown in the cemetery after Dean's funeral and they held her hands during Jack's funeral. They were safe, but was Steve?