First off; my apologies for the delay in posting. Although my muse has been eager to type, having a twisted vertebrae is not conducive to sitting for more than 5 minutes. So thank you all for your patience.
I'm sure you have questions; Who took Kono? Why? They will be answered in this chapter.
In an S2 episode, Chin makes a comment to Kono about walking her down the aisle some day. To me this implies that Kono's father is deceased otherwise Mr. Kalakaua would be the one to walk his daughter down the aisle. Anyway, I had forgotten that scene when including a mention of him in a previous chapter. He's back in this one.
LilAzianPride gets a 'Thank you!' for the Korean translation in this chapter.
"3 days, 21 hours, 4 minutes"
Very early Tuesday morning, 12:23am...
The first thing Kono noticed was the lack of pain, which surprised her. Her hands, her feet, her ankles, her wrists, even her back. There was simply a lack of pain. It was, to say the least, a pleasant surprise, as it was usually the first thing she felt every time she woke up.
Sound was usually the second thing she noticed, or lack thereof, in most cases, unless the birds nesting outside the boarded up window were present. But this time there was more sound than usual, but it was... different.
When she finally managed to open her eyes, she saw why. The sounds were not from near her, but from out in the hall, outside her room. Her room in a hospital, not in the old high school where she had been kept for four days. She signed in relief and relaxed tense muscles as the memory of having been rescued returned to her.
Kono glanced at the bandages around her elevated ankles and feet, then up to see an IV pole and realized why she felt no pain. Her head lulled to the left where she saw her cousin's head resting on the mattress next to her hand, his black hair in sharp contrast to the white bandages. Beyond him was Steve, slouched down in a chair in front of the observation window. She looked to her right to see Adam in almost a mirror image of Chin, and noticed a bandage on his arm. She would have to remember to ask him about that later. Behind him was Danny, awkwardly curled up on the cushion of the built-in window seat.
No, there would be no sounds from her room, as the four men within it's walls were all sound asleep. Kono joined them in slumber, once again.
Later Tuesday morning, 8:15am...
The balloons were blue and tied with blue ribbons to the handle of a basket that held a teddy bear with a blue bow around his neck.
"Do we get to bring him home today, Daddy?" The adorable three year old asked as she looked up at her father with big brown eyes peeking out from under brunette bangs.
He smiled down at his little girl and gave her a nod of confirmation along with a mumbled, "Mhmm."
"Can I hold him?" She asked as her lavender sun dress swayed with her twisting movements.
"As long as Mommy or I are with you." He promised.
"Can I feed him?" She was obviously on a role getting what she wanted.
"Well,... right now no one but Mommy can feed him." Her father explained. "But you can help feed him when he gets older." He assured his little girl who wanted to be so grown up and be a helper.
"Like Ko-Ko?" She wondered, reaching to pat the bear's head, again.
He nodded again, "That's right, Sweetie. When he's big enough to sit in a high chair like your Cousin Koa, then you can help feed him."
The elevator doors opened then, and the father took his little girls small hand in his and they exited on the maternity floor, blue balloons bouncing on the ceiling as they went.
"At least some people get to come to the hospital for happy reasons." Steve said to Danny as the elevator doors closed and they resumed towards the fourth floor where Catherine was waiting for them.
Danny was lost in thought, remembering Grace - with similar big brown eyes and brunette bangs - being that young and wanting a baby sister at one point.
Fifteen minutes later, although Catherine was dressed and ready to go, it was obvious that her doctor was not yet finished with her discharge papers. "Steve, why don't you two go back to Kono's room. I'll be down to join you soon."
Soon they were once again stood outside Trauma Room 5, looking at their team member through the observation window. Their profile view of her revealed that she was too thin, way too thin. The hospital bed adjusted so her legs were elevated from the knees down, her ankles and feet were bandaged similarly to her wrists and hands, and peeked out beneath the sheet she was covered with.
The guys re-entered and walked towards the bed quietly, pleasantly surprised that she was still asleep. She had been through so much, and needed rest so she could heal.
Steve had hoped to get the window seat this time. Although it was too narrow for him to stretch out on, it would definitely be more comfortable than the hard plastic chair had been. But it was taken, as Adam had relocated from his own hard plastic chair at Kono's bedside. On his back with his knees pulled up, he looked to be sleeping in only a slightly more comfortable position than before.
Danny strode over to the bed, noticing the bruises Kono still bore on her face and forearms from her fight in the garage four days prior. He noted their yellow shading, as part of the healing process, and suppressed his anger at thinking about what she had been through. He gently reached a hand to move a lock of hair off her face.
"No!" Kono's sudden response startled both Danny and Steve, as she pulled her knees up and both forearms came together between herself and the man leaning over her.
"Easy, Kono." Danny soothed, as soon as he could manage to breathe steady again. "It's just me."
"You're safe now, Kono." Steve assured her as he approached on the other side of the bed, coming to stand behind the chair Chin still slept in.
Kono took a deep breath and forced herself to relax. "Sorry." She mumbled as her arms slowly lowered.
Steve took note that with her wrists and ankles together like that, it would nearly mimic the position she had been in while chained up.
"No need to be sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." Danny assured her.
"I can't believe you didn't wake Chin up." Steve observed as he side-stepped around the chair in front of him to hand her a cup of water.
"Consider yourself lucky." Came Adam's sleepy voice from behind where Danny still stood. They turned to see him stretching his legs, "At least if he's asleep, he can't laugh at you." He added as he stood and approached.
"She do that?" Danny asked with a slight smirk, referring to the red mark across Adam's cheek.
Adam nodded. "Apparently I startled her, too." He said, rolling his shoulders to get the kinks out. "Trust me, I won't make that mistake again."
"Sorry." Kono mumbled again, as she sighed heavily and looked up at the ceiling.
"Hey," Danny began, trying to get her attention, "Wha'd I say? No need to be sorry about anything."
Kono conceded with a silently nod as she reached for the bed controls. Although the raised foot of the bed helped with the slight swelling in her ankles, she'd had enough of the prone position for now. Although a definite improvement over the almost-laying-down-but-not-quite position she was forced into previously, she was still ready to be upright. And the simple fact that she could be, was a very good thing to her.
"Here, let me do that." Steve said as he interrupted the path of her hand to pushed the button that raised the head of the bed. Her finger tips, although not sutured or bandaged, were still covered with multiple small cuts.
A nod was accompanied by a slight wave of the hand for Steve to stop the bed's upward momentum. "I'd been waiting." She said quietly.
"Waiting? Waiting for what? Waiting for who?" Danny rambled off, hand gestures included, of course.
"For them to come." Kono began, looking at each of them in turn, and realizing that Chin was now awake and looking back at her. "They came, every morning and every night,.. and I waited. Hopeing that once, just once, one of them would get close enough." She paused with eyes closed, as if re-living it all again.
The men all remained silent and gave her time to continue when she was ready.
"The strips of fabric," She paused again, to see if they knew what she was referring to, and although it was apparent they did, she decided to back her story up a little. "I ripped the fabric off from bottom half of my pant legs, then tore it into strips. I used them to wrap around the pipe fittings when I worked on getting them loose."
"Smart thinking, Cuz." Chin admonished.
Kono gave a slight smile in return, appreciating his obvious attempt at encouragement. "Some of them I used to wrap around my wrists and ankles,... but my original intent,... was to use them as a weapon."
That got the guys' attention even more.
"That's what I'd been waiting for; opportunity." She said, as the men all nodded. Well, Chin, Danny, and Steve were nodding in understanding, but Adam, not so much. "There were two of them. Although there were three at the garage, I only saw two after that. When they came every morning and every night, only the short one would come into the classroom, but he would always stop half way, then slide the cuff key across the floor."
"He never got close enough to you." Steve stated, sure in his assumption.
Kono nodded to confirm. "He was always dressed to cover himself completely; long sleeves, mask, gloves, even ski goggles so I couldn't see his eyes, not even the color of his skin. He never even spoke to me, not one word the entire time. I had absolutely no way of identifying him."
"Smart man. Covered his tracks well." Danny said, remembering the two men changing into those very outfits in the Principal's office.
"What about an opportunity in the hallway?" Steve asked with a glance towards Chin, knowing that they were both picturing the bloody footprints that had lead to and from the locker room.
After a long pause Kono finally continued, "The key was only for the cuffs that secured the shackle's chain to the pipe. The shackles always stayed on." Adam stepped closer and gently took her bandaged hand. It was then that she realized she had been rubbing her other wrist, as if the shackles were still on her that very moment. She took a drink of water then continued to answer Steve's question. "We walked down the hall to the locker room, but he always stayed far behind me, always had the gun pointed at me, and although I couldn't see him, I knew the tall one was there, too."
"How'd you know that?" Adam asked, still gently holding her hand.
"When leaving the classroom, we turned left, but if I looked right I could see the end of a gun barrel. It was obvious that someone was down there lurking back in one of the doorways."
"So you never got a chance." Danny surmised.
Kono shook her head in the negative, "Never. They left me in the locker room - where I had about 4 minutes to stand under the water and drink water at the same time - then it was the same exact scenario on the way back to the classroom. That pattern repeated about every twelve hours until today,... uh, yesterday,... uh, what day is it exactly?"
"It's Tuesday." Steve supplied.
"Which Tuesday?" Kono asked in only semi-moch exaggeration. "It felt like I was there for-e-ver." She added, drawing out her words as she laid her head back with a forearm across her eyes.
"It was a very long four days." Chin said, still feeling very tired despite having slept some. Kono gave him a sad smile, focusing now more on what the men in her life had gone through while she was gone, knowing they would have done anything and everything to get her back.
"Three days. Twenty-one hours. Four minutes." Adam clarified, before reaching out to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. "A very, very ... long ... three days, twenty-one hours, and four minutes."
She reached to run a hand through her hair, suddenly and unpleasantly reminded of her bandages. She suddenly felt self-conscious. "Oh, great. I've got morning breath, BO, and bed head,... times 4. Just, great."
"Something tells me that's gonna take more than a 3 minute shower." Danny said with a sideways glace towards Steve, who just rolled his eyes.
"Then how about we get you moved to a private room, where you have your own bathroom with a shower?" Malia asked as she opened the door to enter.
"I'd rather go home." Was Kono's response.
"Pfft, no way." "Absolutely not." "You're not ready." and "You've been hanging around Steve too much." was all heard at once. The four men in the room talking over the top of each other.
"It seems that your entourage would disagree with you, Kono." Malia stated as she approached and set a bag on the small rolling table, then came to stand behind her husband's chair, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Besides, Dr. Jacobs is not yet pleased with your hydration levels, your potassium levels are still too low, you need to finish your first dose of IV antibiotics, not to mention you haven't been able to keep down anything besides small amounts of protein drink." Malia finished by crossing her arms over her chest. "And as a doctor, I agree with all of the above."
Dr. Kukana Jacobs and ER Nurse Mahala both entered at that moment. "So, this is where the party's at." Jacobs said cheerfully at seeing the group gathered in the room. She always did like it when her patients came out of whatever situations that brought them to the ER able to land on their feet. Although, in Kono's case, that really was just an expression.
"Sorry for the crowd, doc. We just needed to get some information from your patient." Steve said.
"Well, in that case, I'm glad Officer Kalakaua's potassium level is at least high enough to allow her to answer your questions, Commander." Jacobs said before glancing at the chart in her hand, as Mahala deflated a blood pressure cuff. Jacobs noticed Kono eyeing her oddly, as if looking for something. "What?"
"Oh, just wondering where my pizza is." Kono answered with a smirk while noticing Danny's grimace in her peripheral vision.
"BP is up to 113/68, pulse and respiratory rates are both down to normal range." Mahala said as she typed the results into the tablet she carried.
"Much better." Jacobs announced as she came closer to the bed and Adam stepped back to make room for her. "I will bring you the pizza, a very large ham & pineapple, as promised, in due time, Officer Kalakaua.
For right now, I've ordered you a room instead. It will be ready for you shortly. Once you're there, a nurse will remove your bandages and cap off the CVC line in your neck, long enough for you to shower and get cleaned up. Then I'll come up and re-wrap everything but your feet. Dr. Patterson, the podiatrist that was here last night, will be in again to see if he can successfully remove any more of the ceramic shards."
"Wait-" Danny inserted. "There's more of them, still in her feet?"
"That is correct, Detective Williams. Dr. Patterson used imaging to confirm that there are still three ceramic shards embedded near the heel of her right foot where the largest laceration is." Jacobs informed.
"Why?" Was Chin's simple question.
"Because, although one is significantly larger than the other two, all are very fragile and would most likely fracture into smaller shards if he had tried to remove them. Which would have only resulted in additional problems." Jacobs answered.
"So-?" Kono left the question hanging.
"So, we wait." Jacobs answered. "We give it time. The shards will naturally migrate out on their own, and will be removed when they are close enough to the dermis layer."
"That means you are definitely not going home yet." Adam said as he pocketed his cell phone.
"And if it's any consolation; I swung by your house and brought you some comfortable clothes." Malia offered, gesturing to the bag she had entered with.
Kono took a deep breath, consoling herself to what would happen vs. what she wanted. "Thanks, Malia." She said, deciding to look at the proverbial glass as half-full. "As one of my Aunties always says; 'Salvation is the only thing in life that is truly 'one size fits all', everything else in life should come sized'." She added, gesturing to the pale grey hospital gown that hung limply over her too-thin frame.
A few minutes later...
Jacbos and Mahala had left, and Adam and Malia were talking out in the hall, while Steve, Danny, and Chin needed to get some more information from Kono.
"So, I've gotta ask, what were you going to do with the strips of fabric, had either perp gotten close enough?" Steve had to ask. He had a good assumption, but he just had to ask.
"Wrap it around his neck." Kono simply stated.
"Wrap i-... wow." Danny mumbled, impressed.
"That's very,-" Chin paused, looking for the correct word to use.
"Fortuitous." Steve supplied. "Prepared for any contingency."
"Yeah. For all the good it did me." Kono said in obvious frustration. "Okay, so, now that everyone else is out of the room,... who did this to me?"
"The one you referred to as the 'short perp', and still sports a bruise on his jaw from your kick in the garage, is Jacob Poole." Chin said.
"And the one you referred to as the 'tall perp', and still sports bruised ribs from your roundhouse kick, is Ben Johansen." Danny said.
"Poole is the brother of Elias Poole. Johansen is their cousin." Steve added as he rocked back on his heels, knowing the name drop would clarify things.
"Elias Poole." Kono repeated, eyes going wide. "As in-"
"As in the guy who owned Poole Plumbing. The guy who killed one of his employees when said employee caught him cheating on contracts. The guy who then buried his employees dead body in cement. As in the guy who was going down for murder, based on your testimony. As in the guy you were giving a deposition against." Danny confirmed, and boy oh boy, did he have the hand motions going with this one.
Despite Kono's amusement at Danny's hand motions, something she had greatly missed, she was still stunned silent before speaking. "Holy frak."
"Yeah, 'short' and 'tall' obviously chose wisely when deciding to work in the family plumbing business. Because lawyers they could have never been, since they obviously didn't know that a deposition is only to be used at a later trial date." Danny just had to rant some more.
"Yeah. They thought that if you weren't at the court house the next day to finish giving your deposition, that Elias Poole would walk." Steve said.
"That is so,..." Kono could even find the right word, she was so frustrated and angry.
"Stupid. Idiotic. Inane. Ludicrous. Moronic. Obtuse." Danny supplied.
Steve gave him a sideways glace at that last one.
"What?" Danny shrugged. "I was running out of adjectives."
Her head hung down as she shook it and sighed heavily. "So, in other words, they kidnapped me for... nothing."
After several moments of silence - after all, what could the guys say to that, but to agree with her - Steve finally spoke up, "Hey," He began, with a hand on her shoulder, "The important thing is that we got you back."
"So, how long were they planning on leaving me there?" Kono asked.
The guys didn't want to answer that question. They really, really didn't.
"Guys?" Kono prodded.
Meanwhile...
"= 코노의 부모님 만나는거 반갑슴니다." (It's nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Kalakaua.) Adam greeted with a slight bow. Malia had introduced him to Kono's parents and her brother Kai.
They had sat for quite a while talking before Malia had to get to her office. "Please tell Kono that I'll be by later to see her." She said before leaving.
After her departure, Adam sat quietly next to Mr. and Mrs. Kalakaua for several minutes, as Kai wondered to the far end of the seating area to browse the magazine selection. Adam and Kono had talked about his meeting her family soon, but this sure wasn't what they had in mind.
Adam noted that Kono must have gotten her height from her father, as her mother was a very petite woman. Although the women definitely shared facial features. And when the elder of those two moved to talk to her son, Adam took the opportunity to broach a delicate subject.
"Mr. Kalakaua, I, uh," Adam began to approach the delicate subject. "Well, I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I mean, obviously I overstepped my bounds after Kono went missing and a ransom demand was presumed. I certainly never meant to imply that you couldn't have taken care of the situation, it's just that the only thing I could think about was getting her back, so I just-"
"I appreciate your candor, Mr. Noshimuri." Mr. Kalakaua interrupted. "What is done, is done. Right now, the only thing that matters is that we have her back and that she is safe."
With an agreeing nod, Adam said, "Thank you, sir." He had not wanted to offend her father.
Back inside TR5...
"So, how long were they planning on leaving me there?" Kono asked.
The guys didn't want to answer that question. They really, really didn't.
"Guys?" Kono prodded.
"Well, you see-" "It's like this-" "Well, they kinda-" The three mumbled.
"Seriously?" Kono said, attempting to cross her arms, then thinking better of it due to the bulky bandages. "Do I need to hitch a ride to HQ and interrogate them myself?"
The guys gave shared sideways glances. They couldn't let Kono find out.
Flashback...
Danny turned off the radio, and Chin rolled up the window, as Steve pulled the van up next to the warehouse and turned off the engine.
A short sixty seconds later they had shoved Poole right through the Crime Scene tape, forced him up the stairs, and Steve had him hanging upside down from the catwalk - just like he had done to Richard Thurner previously - and Poole was singing like a bird. Well, maybe a one-armed strangled pigeon would be more accurate. Despite Poole's dislocated elbow, he still managed to semi-flap in tandem with his good arm as he took in the view far below him. His broke nose made his monotone voice sound like a deep skwak between his panicked gasps for air and trying not to piss off the already pissed off SEAL that was being none too gentle with his busted knee cap.
Twelve minutes later Johansen was shoved passed that same Crime Scene tape, pushed up the same stairs, and yes, Steve had him hanging upside down from the catwalk. Hey, it worked once, so let's see if this pigeon has a different tune. Well, they didn't know about singing yet, but so far Johansen's arm sling had floated to the warehouse floor far below and he was doing a frantic one-arm flap. But it didn't take long for him to sing as well, although with a knocked out tooth in addition to the broken nose, he sounded like a strangled pigeon that whistled occasionally.
"Shackles secured?"
"Check."
"Cuffs secured?"
"Check."
"Gatorade supply?"
"Check"
"That's it. We're done. Short list." Steve said as he turned to walk away.
"Make it last." Chin said before also turning to walk away, referring to the Gatorade supply Poole had been given.
"Oh, you uh, might wanna keep those empty bottles." Danny suggested as he also turned to walk away.
This scenario and conversation repeated a few minutes later in the adjoining warehouse with Johansen.
The concept was very simple, really. Kono had spent 4 days shackled and cuffed to a pipe, so Poole and Johansen would spend 4 days shackled and cuffed to a pipe. Kono had been allowed access to water twice a day, so Poole and Johansen had been provided with 8 bottles of Gatorade, which worked out to two per day, if they were wise enough to ration them, but hey, that was up to them, as the guys would not be returning until the time was up. Kono had been alone, so Poole and Johansen had been separated, one in each adjoining warehouse. How convenient that Adam just happened to own one of those that was currently off limits as a crime scene. Very convenient, indeed.
Of course Chin had made sure the in-warehouse surveillance cameras were working, just in case anything happened they needed to be aware of. But otherwise, they would return in 4 days. Poole and Johansen were going to experience first hand what they had put Kono through.
An eye for an eye, as it were.
And Kono definitely could not find out. Not ever.
(end flashback)
"Guys,... do I need to interrogate them myself?" Kono repeated.
"Uh, no. No, no, no, that won't be necessary." Danny insisted.
"Well then?" Kono urged. "How long were they planning on leaving me there?" She repeated her original question, unsure why they hadn't answered her.
"They uh," Steve paused, not really wanting to answer her question. "Because they were the plumbers contracted to the job site, they knew the building was due for an inspection next week. So they planned on the City Building Inspector finding you." He said very quickly, as if it sounded less terrible than it really was if he just got it over with.
"Next week?!" Kono exploded.
"Uh, yeah." Chin chimed in. "They thought that as long as you had water you'd be okay."
Kono was speechless at those words.
"Apparently Tall and Short - a.k.a. Dumb and Dumber - would not only have made terrible lawyers, but they wouldn't have done so well in the medical profession, either. They believed what they read on the internet; that a person can go up to 3 weeks without food. So as long as you had water,... uh, ... yeah." Danny mumbled on, hands stuffed in his pockets, because he was too angry for hand motions at the moment.
Nurse Mahala entered at that moment. "Excuse me, Gentlemen, but we're about ready to move Officer Kalakau to a private room."
"Good. It's about time I finally get out of this bed." Kono assumed.
"No." "No." "No." and "No." Was the simultaneous and unanimous response from everyone in the room.
Kono looked at them all in surprise, yet trying not to laugh as it sounded like a four-way echo in the room. "O-kay." She drew out. "But I do need a way to get from point-A to point-B."
"Yes, you do, Officer Kalakaua." Mahala agreed. "But we will be moving you, bed and all."
"Seriously?" Kono whined. "I can walk, ya know."
"No." "No." "No." and "No." Came the repeated responses.
"Again. Seriously?" She said, but only half in amusement this time.
"Not on those bandaged feet, you don't. One of which still has shards embedded in it." Mahala explained. "Not even on crutches, not with those bandaged hands of yours."
"No. No, no, no." Came another insistent whine from Kono, realizing that she now sounded like those in the room had. "Then how am I supposed to get around?" Came her reasonable question.
"In a wheelchair." Came the answer she dreaded hearing.
"In a wh-" Kono paused. "I can't maneuver a wheelchair in my small house." She exclaimed.
"Then I suggest you start making arrangements for other accommodations, Officer Kalakaua." Mahala suggested.
"That's already being taken care of." Came Adam's statement from the doorway.
Kono gave a quizzical look at him at those words, but a muscle spasm in her neck hit before she spoke.
"You okay?" Danny asked, at seeing the pained expression on her face.
"You, uh,... you remember that 'Hoboken, Halloween, 02' story you were gonna tell me some day?" She asked as the pain began to subside.
"Yeah." Danny answered.
"Don't bother." She said, stretching her neck.
"Commander?" Came Adam's voice from the doorway, getting Steve's attention. "The Governor has just arrived. He is speaking with Mr. and Mrs. Kalakaua, and was hoping you could join them to discuss media coverage and a possible news conference now that Kono has been found."
"Yeah, okay." Steve said running his thumb nail across his brow as he gave Chin and Danny a look. With Poole and Johansen 'unavailable' for the next four days, they needed to stall on a press conference.
"Steve," Kono spoke, getting his attention as he was about to leave the room. "Keep those news goons away from me and my family."
He gave her a nod of understanding before wordlessly leaving the room, Chin and Danny right behind him.
"I hear you're getting moved to a room." Adam said as he watched Nurse Mahala leave the room, then approached the bed.
"Mhmm." She mumbled tiredly as her head sank back into the pillow. "One with a shower in it." She sighed heavily, the idea of a shower foremost on her mind.
"Then you're gonna need this." Adam said, holding up a basket. "I had Lili bring some things from your bathroom." He explained as he lowered the basket onto her lap.
Kono surveyed the assortment of products; shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, lotion, toothbrush, toothpaste, hair brush. Everything a woman who has gone four days without seeing any of these products wants.
"Well,... that was, very nice of Lili. But, um, am I going to have to arrest her on a B&E charage?" Kono asked hesitantly.
Adam furrowed a brow and gave her a half-concerned half-quizzical look.
"I'm not sure who's bathroom she took these from, but they didn't come from mine." She explained, gesturing to the basket full of very expensive salon and spa quality products that were definitely out of her budget.
"Oh," Adam began, now understanding what she meant. "I didn't mean your bathroom at your house. I meant your bathroom at my house."
That explanation clearly didn't help much.
"Um, Adam,... I don't have a bathroom at your house." She said.
Adam couldn't help but smile at this point. "Well, actually, you do. You just haven't seen it yet. You see, before all of this mess started, back before I left for Japan, I told Lili that I wanted the spare bathroom set up for you."
"You did?"
"Mhmm. As you know, the master bedroom has his and hers bathrooms. But since my mother left all those years ago..."
"It's been his and his." Kono supplied, since his father could use either one.
"Well, more like 'his' and 'unused', actually." Adam clarified. "Anyway, I wanted you to feel more at home in my home, and it made sense. No need for you to keep going out to your car to get things from your 'go bag' or needing to go home before work. So, Lili didn't have far to go to get your things."
Kono's nod was accompanied by a smile. "Thanks." Was all she could think of to say.
"It's time to go, Officer Kalakaua." Mahala said as she re-entered the room and proceeded to remove the blood pressure cuff from her arm. "This is Jake, he's going to transfer you now." She added, gesturing to the orderly who had followed her into TR5.
After unlocking the bed's wheels, Jake pushed it through the wide doorway and out into the hall to head for the staff elevator.
"Kono!" Came Mrs. Kalakaua's immediate response at seeing her daughter as she rushed over.
It took Kono and Mahala both several minutes of assuring to convince her parents that she would be alright.
"You were in with you team when we arrived, so we didn't want to interrupt." Mr. Kalakaua said to explain why there had not yet entered her room. "Then Governor Denning arrived and wanted to speak with us and Commander McGarrett."
Meanwhile, Steve had finally managed to convince Governor Denning that now was not the right time to hold a press conference as they would need more time to 'interrogate' the suspects. He also needed to head back upstairs to get Catherine, who was now actually released. They would make a brief stop at Kono's new room before heading home.
Danny and Chin also were headed for their homes. They all needed a shower, food, and a little more sleep.
Kono's parents and Adam would be accompanying her to her room upstairs and began following Jake down the hall towards the staff elevator that was large enough for Kono's bed.
Adam paused at noticing Chin's gesture to him. "I just wanted to thank you, Adam,... for what you said to my uncle." Chin said in a low voice as everyone else began leaving the area.
It had been bitter-sweet early on, when it became apparent that no ransom demand would be made to get Kono back. Chin knew his aunt and uncle could have never afforded to pay a ransom for their only daughter's return.
Chin having used his first name did not go unnoticed by Adam. He nodded in understanding. "Well, he was right, Lieutenant; all that matters is that we have her back."
"Call me Chin." Chin requested, extending his hand.
Another nod, this time accompanied by a smile. It felt good to finally be on her cousin's good side. "Okay." Was his simple reply as he also extended his hand.
"See ya tomorrow." Chin said as he turned to leave.
"Um,... Chin?" Adam said, causing the other man to turn back towards him. "Does this mean you will un-clone my phone now?"
Chin laughed slightly to himself. Busted. "Yeah. Sure."
Upstairs...
Kono's bandages had been removed, a 22 minutes shower had been taken, her wounds had been photographed for evidence before being re-bandaged, except for her feet. She was now back in her bed, her feet again elevated, and in the more comfortable lounge-wear that Malia had picked up for her.
"Ah, there you are, sista." Came the booming voice of Kamekona as he entered. A silver mylar balloon floated above the yellow sack he carried. "I brought you a sample of my new creation. Figured you'd need to eat, 'cause these hospitals serve very small portions, you know."
"Shrimp?" Kai asked, guessing by the smell.
"Has healing powers." Kamekona assured the young man. "Had to wait until she was in a room. They don't let you bring food into the ER. My cousin Flippa found that out the hard way; had to wait three whole hours while they set his wrist, before he could eat."
Everyone in the room stifled a laugh, except Kono, as she was looking a little green.
"Excuse me." Said the nurse's voice from the doorway. "But Officer Kakalaua will be on a soft-food diet to start with." She said, eyeing the sack. She had simply followed the smell from the nurse's station.
"Oh." Was Kamekona's only response as he handed the sack to Kai, who took it without hesitation.
"In fact, I'll be ordering you a lunch tray for later." The nurse informed Kono. "You'll need to start with something simple, like jello."
Kono made a face, "Oh, great,... an appetizer that wiggles."
Kamekona did not stay long, as he assured everyone that he had a great new recipe that he was working on. Kono's parents and brother had left shortly after the big Hawaiian.
Kono was glad for the sudden peace and quiet, and to finally be alone with Adam. "So, how did it happen?" She asked, gesturing to Adam's upper right bicep, where the bandage showed below his shirt.
"A lot has happened during the three days, twenty-one hours, and four minutes you were gone."
"Tell me."
HAWAII FIVE-0
* The idea of Kono using the strips of fabric as a weapon came from PoisonedShip. I thought it was a great idea and the credit goes to her.
* Anyone catch my 'frak' insert from BSG? In the original 1978 show, 'frak' was not considered a swear word, but more like 'darn', as said by Apolo's step-son, Boxey.
* Anyone else notice how Steve rubs his thumb nail across his brown when he's concentrating? He does that a lot.
* Hoboken/Halloween/2002 came from S1 E13 when the Yakuza breaks into Steve's house and they take him down with a stun gun.
* Timeline recap; Kono was abducted at 6:45pm on Thursday - and Steve gets the call 3 days, 21 hours, 4 minutes later - at 3:49pm on Monday.
* Anyone have a suggestion for naming one of Steve's 'faces'? He's made some new ones during this story, Danny and I need help naming them. Let me know if you have a suggestion.
* Next chapter: Kono leaves the hospital. But, there's that thing about the wheelchair not working in her house, and Adam having other ideas.