Cujo IV – The Fence Rabbit Rises
Chapter 25
Here's what I hope is the next to last chapter. One more to go after this one. Thank you all for your continued readership, reviews, follows and favorites. I couldn't have gotten this far without your support.
Imaginary Beta is sleep deprived once again so she may have missed a few things but, of course, that's no different than usual.
Disclaimer: If I got paid for this, someone forgot to tell me.
Note: Credit for the icy description of McMommy Dearest goes to storyfan101. Must also give credit to the reader who suggested the bomb disposal suit. I'm sorry, I made a note to remind me who but then lost the note. Don't ever trust anyone with industrial strength ADD to do anything but chase squirrels.
*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0* Hawaii 5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*
Destruction
Bambi, standing at the doorway between kitchen and living room, heard only the parting words between Steve and his mother. She hadn't wanted to be nosy but her patient had been outdoors for the last hour and she was pretty sure he hadn't taken any of his medication beforehand. He must be in bigtime pain by now.
"Don't bother to come back!" she heard Steve angrily declare right before Doris came bursting through the doorway.
Startled to find the nurse in the middle of the kitchen, Doris hesitated then proclaimed as she pushed past her, "My son is a stubborn jackass!"
Having had more than enough of Steven's so-called 'mother' and her attitude she followed Doris toward the living room. The tall woman was almost to the front door when Bambi declared with a tone that left no doubt, "Your son is more than you deserve."
Danny looked up from leafing through the weapons catalog he'd found lying on the coffee table next to what he assumed was Bambi's copy of Woman's Day. (If it was Steve's, they needed to have a talk about more than his mother).
Doris froze in her tracks; then with a murderous scowl whirled toward the nurse who now stood with arms crossed in the middle of the living room. "What did you just say to me?"
"I said he's more than you deserve." repeated Bambi in a steely tone; not backing down from what she considered the absolute truth.
Uh oh! thought Danny.
If looks could kill, the nurse would have been incinerated on the spot. "How dare you!" growled Doris her voice dripping with menace.
"How dare I what? Care about the welfare of someone who has yet to realize he doesn't have to do everything on his own? Care about someone who's apparently been screwed-over so many times he can't trust that it won't happen again?" Bambi's voice had taken on a quiet, silken, tone so unlike her usual drill sergeant bark.
Doris' face flushed a bright red, as she spit out, "You're just here because it's what you've been hired to do. I'm here to tell my son how much he means to me!"
"Yes, of course." responded Bambi; voice dripping sarcasm like molten metal, "And from what I hear, it only took twenty years to do so."
The tall woman's eyes became dark and flat as Bambi actually tensed to physically defend herself. I may get my ass kicked but there's no way the bitch is going to get away without knowing she's been in a fight! thought the nurse.
Danny sat transfixed at the sight of the two women who seemed to be squaring off right in front of him.
Suddenly, as calm replaced fury, a cold smile appeared on Doris' face. "You know what?" she smirked right before she turned to walk toward the exit. Reaching it in one long stride she paused with her hand on the knob. Looking over her shoulder she disdainfully tossed out the words, "You can have him!" With that she pulled open the heavy wooden door to sweep through it; not bothering to close it behind her.
They could hear her quickly retreating footsteps then the start of an engine and the sound of a car roaring away; tires squealing on the asphalt. Bambi remained standing where she was, silently staring at the open portal as her anger bled away to sadness.
Danny, who'd been silent witness while poised to break-up a brawl should it be necessary, rose from his chair. Even though Doris was very likely deadly in hand-to-hand combat, his money would've been on the nurse. He walked around her to shut the heavy wooden door with a solemn finality.
Snapping back to the moment, Bambi gestured toward the backyard. "Maybe you'd better go see how he is."
…
It was after eight PM but it was actually even brighter than usual in Five-0's headquarters. The halogen lamps in the parking lot one floor below and the spotlight that shone through the open window, (the one that, previously, wasn't the kind that could be opened), lit up the 'crime scene' like the noonday sun.
Cujo and Queen Liliuokalani sat atop the credenza in Steve's office curiously observing the goings on as humans scurried about doing mysterious things. The noise that had been hurting their ears had finally stopped so now it had all become most entertaining.
"Yes Governor." said Chin, grimacing as he pulled the phone farther away from his ear. "Of course sir." After another pause and more grimacing the Hawaiian detective responded, "Yes sir. I'll get right on it."
Call ended, the Hawaiian detective blew out a sigh of relief and rolled his eyes as he put his phone back into his pocket. At least someone finally shut off that fucking car alarm, he thought. He now officially hated all Porsches and every single one of their drivers.
"Sorry Chin." said the governor's aide who was standing beside him. "There was no way I could keep him from finding out about this."
"I know." said Chin resignedly, "It's all over the news. It was reported as a bombing at the palace. The news trucks showed up even before the fire trucks."
"And here I thought that hooker scandal had been bad." muttered Dave before saying in a louder voice, "The friggin' media is going to be absolutely orgasmic over this one." As predicted, his phone rang and, rather than it being an irate Sam Denning, (again); the phone's screen displayed a number he recognized as the one from KAEO the local television station. "Heerre we go." said Dave as he looked apologetically at Chin and tapped 'accept' then turned to walk to a quieter corner of the office.
Luckily, Cujo had bailed right before the table impacted the window then sailed through it. What wasn't so lucky was that the plastic laminate missile landed atop the Planning Commissioner's Porsche parked right below. While Chin didn't feel bad for its owner, (the guy was a royal dick who'd once almost knocked him off his bike while running a stop sign and had never apologized), he was dreading having to tell Steve about it all. As his cousin would say, 'This is soo not going to be pretty.'
…..
Danny nodded at Bambi and went to check on his friend. As he walked toward the kitchen he breathed a sigh of relief – not so much because he hadn't had to intercede between two strong and pissed-off women but because he may just have seen the last of Doris McGarrett. If that is indeed the case, from here on, the only way is up for his battered friend.
Stepping out onto the deck to look toward the ocean he could see the sun had set and even the pale colors remaining in its wake had now surrendered to a deeper hue. At the bottom of the slope Steve was sitting in one of the old chairs and staring out at a sea of dark rippling glass. The detective still marveled at how an ocean named Pacific, (despite being anything but), could sometimes become so calm as the night came on.
Like Doris, he'd also grabbed a beer and a bottle of water on the way. He trudged down the grassy slope to plop tiredly into the chair beside his friend's. He set the bottle of water next to Steve's chair not knowing if his friend even noticed because he hadn't taken his eyes off the ocean.
The pop of a bottle cap and the hiss of liberated carbonation signaled Danny's official off-duty status. He leaned back and waited for Steve to speak . . . or not. It was okay. He had time and though those who knew him would be surprised - the patience to go with it.
The stars had begun to embed themselves in the night that flowed over the sea before Steve finally spoke.
"I knew something was wrong." he said quietly, "I just didn't know what it was. I had these random flashes of being in a hospital but I didn't know why. When I'd ask my parents they'd get evasive or they'd tell me I was just imagining it. When I got older I realized they seemed ashamed. I got the impression they'd done something to put me there and I guess . . . I guess I just didn't want to accept that."
"So, that's why you never wanted to talk about it?"
"Yeah."
"I can see why you felt that way." acknowledged the detective. From far too much past experience in his career as a cop who'd had to deal with suspected abuse of minors, he knew it would have been painful for a kid to talk to anyone about it. Adults had a hard time acknowledging victimhood as well. Sometimes they never did despite the past still fucking up their lives.
"I still don't get it." said Steve almost as though he was speaking to himself.
"Get what babe?"
"I still don't get how someone could just abandon their kid."
Danny inhaled the damp air and held it for a moment before he blew it slowly out through his nose and began to speak. "I got news for ya babe, despite what you learned about your so-called mother; there are a whole lot of people who really do care if you live or die. You have no idea how many."
Steve only sighed quietly into the darkness, seeming perhaps too tired to respond.
"You've got your ohana now. You've got us. Hell, you've even got that friggin' cat that cares about no one else in this world but you. Well, maybe there's one other demented creature he's fond of these days but still . . ."
Steve apparently didn't catch the reference to another who'd claimed Cujo's affections. He continued to stare out at the now barely visible horizon as he said, "I don't think she even recognized what she'd done. I don't think she was ever even capable of making a connection to anyone in her life; certainly not her children."
Before Danny could respond Steve grimaced and drew himself more fully upright in the old chair. If there'd been more illumination, his friend would have seen how he paled when he did so.
"I don't know why I didn't recognize it before. She just had to come right out and fucking tell me. She said she just went through the motions of being a mother."
"She said that?" asked Danny, trying to hide his shock. Not the shock of having it confirmed that Doris McGarrett was a block of ice in human skin but that she'd admitted it herself.
"I umm . . . I guess I just didn't want to admit to myself that it didn't feel genuine." Steve now turned his head to look directly at his friend, his eyes sad and troubled, "The thing is, Danny . . ." he paused a moment to swallow loudly, "The thing is how am I any different from Doris?"
"You've gotta be kidding me!" responded the blonde incredulously.
"Danny, I'm aware of how people think of me. You tell me nearly every day that I'm a robot or some kind of freaky government experiment."
At this, Detective Daniel Williams was more than a bit horrified at his own callousness and stupidity. He didn't know Steve was even paying attention to his irate ramblings. He never considered that the man who seemed nearly impervious to bullets wasn't quite so impervious to words.
"Steven, you know that's just me being an ass when you've done something I find annoying." snorted Danny, "I didn't know you'd been taking notes for chrissakes!"
"But it's still true. I know what I'm like." said Steve his tone one of resignation. Then before his partner could even comment, the thin face hardened and in a voice that threatened to crack said, "But I know, even if I wasn't all that nurturing, I still wouldn't have abandoned my son!"
"May I remind you of something?" asked Danny
Steve's answer was to look up sharply; face asking the question.
"I've seen the aftermath of parents who'd abandoned their children. I've seen those deserted children become so hardened by the lives they've led they become their parents in all their fucked-up glory. That's not you babe. Trust me. You haven't been fooling anyone." He leaned down to pluck the beer from its grassy resting place between their chairs. Brushing off a few stray blades that clung to the damp glass he took a swig then smacked his lips appreciatively before going on.
"You may not appear on the surface to be all that warm and cuddly but we all know that beneath the armor plated exterior beats the heart of a big squishy Teddy bear."
Steve leaned his head back against the slats of the weather-beaten chair and took a long sip from the plastic bottle he still held. The water was warm now. With a faint smile he said, "So now you're saying that stuffed toys have hearts? What's next . . . tin men? Lions? Scarecrows? I told you you're way too fond of that movie for a grownup."
"I take it back asshole." replied Danny without any heat
Steve turned his head to look at his friend. Lips curved into a smirk.
"You're not a Teddy bear; you're just a big, gooey, cat-lady shaped marshmallow."
Before Steve could reply that the description didn't make sense and his partner was again just throwing words together in the hope they did make sense, the sound of Danny's cell phone cut into the night.
Frowning at the ring tone he recognized as the one assigned to Chin, the blonde hit 'accept'. Steve had recognized it as well and sat examining the detective's face as though it would reveal every word of the conversation. It almost did.
"He what!? It what!?" exclaimed the detective as Steve looked on in growing alarm. Catching himself too late and trying to school his features into something less horrified, Danny said, "Okay, umm, I'll tell her. Just umm start the report. I'll be there in a few."
"Danny! What's going on? What's happened?" asked Steve worriedly
"Look, I should be back in an hour. Two at the most. Just chill until I get back. We're not done with our conversation Superman."
"What aren't you telling me Danny?" demanded Steve, "Is anyone hurt? Is everyone okay?"
"Umm, yeah. Everyone's fine." answered the detective, mentally scrambling to come up with a plausible story to explain Chin's phone call and the reason he had to dash back to H.Q.
"Nothing really. Just a report that Denning wants on his desk by tomorrow morning. No big deal."
"Yeah right. That's why you looked as though someone just dropped a bomb on H.Q." declared Steve; totally not believing his partner's story.
The SEAL was now looking at him with that, 'I can see right through you so don't even bother to lie to me or I'll rip your lungs out through your ass' expression. Danny recognized it immediately because it was the one used in the interrogation of stubborn suspects.
"Okay, okay." said the blonde in resignation, his hands raised in surrender. "There may have been a minor accident at the office."
"Minor!?" exclaimed Steve as he nearly jumped from his chair to stand in front of him.
Danny had to give the man credit, he didn't wobble or wince. The guy is an animal.
"Just calm down dammit! You're gonna hurt yourself and then Bambi's gonna hurt me for letting you do it! It was an accident and there were no injuries. Just a bit of damage to a window and umm to the Planning Commissioner's Porsche."
"You mean that dick who almost ran over Chin?" Upon hearing there was only property damage, (no big deal in his book), and learning that said property belonged to someone who deserved whatever he got; Steve relaxed a bit. "How did our window get broken?" he asked as they walked up the slope toward the back door of the house.
"Well, it kinda involved Cujo . . . and a plastic bag . . . and our project table." said Danny already resigned to the fact he'd have to take Steve along with him to the office - that or he'd have to use a stun gun and handcuff him to the bumper of the Marquis.
They entered the back door to find Bambi waiting for them in the kitchen with a pot of coffee, a plate of cookies and several pill vials lined up on the counter.
"Come on Nurse Ratched," said Danny, "Throw on your squeaky white shoes and get ready to stuff some drugs down your patient's throat. We'll pretend we're pilling a cat."
….
Minutes before his phone rang again for what seemed the thousandth time; Chin had just hung up with Danny. Their second in command's reaction was about what he expected but he knew it was curtailed because Steve had to be sitting there beside him. He told the blonde to tell Bambi she'd better make sure her patient was asleep before turning on the eleven o'clock news. Actually, it was better if she didn't watch television at all as this situation would most surely be 'breaking news' after having already been mistakenly termed a bombing by the idiots reporting it. Though it wasn't, it was a disaster nonetheless. What a mess.
He wondered what his life would have been like if a certain grey cat hadn't found its way into the palace and subsequently into the hearts, however resistant, of the Governor's Special Task Force.
…..
They arrived at the palace to see the floodlights and cameras surrounding it.
"Shit!" muttered Danny as he drove to the back of the building and to park behind it so they could use the back entrance and Steve wouldn't have to hobble through a throng of nosy reporters. This was gonna be stressful enough without having to bail SuperSEAL out of jail because he'd just decked a member of the fourth estate.
Workmen were just screwing a temporary plywood panel over the broken out pane as they entered the office. Behind him, Steve heard another oath from Danny and a very unladylike exclamation from the nurse as they evaluated the destruction.
Kono was there looking harried and stressed as she addressed uniformed HPD who stood guard to keep the media from skittering into the room like a horde of roaches.
"Hey." greeted Steve as he immediately made his way over to the detective who was standing next to Dave Matsui on the other side of the room.
With meds now onboard it was far less painful to move about. Against Bambi's wishes, he'd decided to pare down his dependence on the walking aids and now considered himself a one-crutch kind of invalid. The nurse warned him he'd be sorry when the drugs wore off but he'd be damned if would go back to using two.
"Hey boss." greeted Chin. Steve knew he was being evaluated even though the man's usual mask of calm remained undisturbed.
"Steve!" greeted Dave, "I didn't expect to see you here. How are you?"
"I'd be fine if it didn't look as though someone tried to stage World War Three in the office." He gestured toward the debris scattered room. Lying about were shards of glass, hundreds of sheets of paper, a bent-legged printer stand and the printer itself in sad bits and pieces on the granite floor. He'd have to get Chin a condolence card.
"Anyone wanna tell me what happened? Danny didn't provide much detail, only something about plastic bags and Cujo."
Chin and Dave along with Kono, who'd ended her conversation with the guards and had come to cautiously greet their leader, told the tale of mass destruction.
"Huh." was Steve's only comment as his team looked relieved, (nearly fainted), at the lack of ire. Danny thought it was probably due to the recently administered medication and glanced gratefully at the nurse who hovered in the background.
"So, where is Cujo?" asked their eerily calm leader.
"Umm . . . he and his friend are hanging out in your office for the moment." volunteered Kono
"I'd better go see if he's okay." announced Steve as he limped toward his work space.
"What's wrong with Steve?" asked Kono worriedly addressing Danny as their strangely placid leader walked away.
"Wrong? I think he took this very well considering we've probably used up the entire next year's budget for repair and replacement and it's only April." responded the blonde.
….
Steve entered his office to find Cujo and his lady love curled fast asleep in the middle of his desk. They were apparently in that mode in which one can sometimes catch sleeping felines when nothing or nobody can disturb their deep slumber.
"What's her name?" he asked Kono as he turned toward the Hawaiian detective who'd followed him into the room.
"Queen Liliuokalani." she answered proudly as they stood staring at the little cat and his mate.
"Nice." said Steve, "But what's Danny gonna call her?
His partner still struggled with the native language of the islands. The team had actually noticed their haole detective had vastly improved his pronunciation of Hawaiian words but any with more than three glottal stops remained a struggle. To quote their haole detective: 'It's like they got rid of half the letters of the alphabet, threw what was left into a hat, pulled out a handful of random syllables, then strung 'em together to make words!
"He'll call her Lili no doubt." smiled Kono.
"That's a pretty name too." said Steve with a chuckle, "And one Danny can actually pronounce without mangling it Jersey style."
Cujo woke from his nap and yawned mightily displaying his infamous needle sharp fangs. Blinking sleepily he looked up to spy his human. With a happy chirp, he quickly disentangled himself from Lili and launched off the desk to smack Steve in the middle of the chest then cling there.
The tall man laughed and let go of his crutch to hold the cat against him and nuzzle his face against the silky fur before suddenly remembering where he was. He pulled his face away and cleared his throat. Examining the still sleeping ginger cat he exclaimed to Cujo, "Dude, I didn't know you were partial to redheads."
More closely inspecting the furiously purring animal clutched in his arms he saw the tattered appearance of the cat's right ear. As though the cat would answer him he asked, "Wow, what happened to your ear buddy? You get whacked by a fan blade again?" The damage was reminiscent of the aftermath of an unfortunate incident involving a curious cat, a tall ladder, and a ceiling fan.
"That's the result of having his manners corrected by a certain girlfriend who refuses to put up with rude behavior." said Chin who'd now joined them in Steve's office after Danny volunteered to take over damage control.
"Hmm" frowned the tall man to his not-my-pet as he more closely examined the damage. "She really got you good buddy. Maybe it's time to start behaving yourself around the ladies. It's never a good thing to piss them off believe me."
Cujo, having no concern for the appearance of ears, was just ecstatic his human was here again. He licked up the side of Steve's neck while issuing happy little chirps as though telling the tall man tales of happenings in his absence.
"We were gonna take him to the vet but we wanted you to see his ear first. It didn't look like anything that won't heal on its own but it might remain kinda ragged looking unless he has surgery." said Kono
"And we know without you here we'd have to borrow a bomb-disposal suit before trying to get him to the vet. He's gotten even more savvy about knowing when he's on his way to his way to the animal hospital." said Chin only half kidding about the suit.
"Looks like it's most of the way to mending itself. If they fix it now, it'll involve making another cut and sewing it back up. I don't really like the idea of sedating him. It took forever for that crap to wear off last time we had to do that." frowned Steve
"Yeah but he was really happy for awhile and a lot easier to get along with." smiled Kono remembering their rodent control officer having been agreeably docile for the two days following surgery for injuries incurred when he'd been hit by a car. Having been in separate accidents, both he and Steve had been on heavy duty pain meds for a few days. It had been very quiet during that time; no shootouts, car or cat chases or finding dead rodents left as presents. Kono could still hear Lori's screech at finding one of Cujo's latest gifts in the middle of her desk. It's too bad their profiler had gone back to the mainland. It had been quite entertaining for a while.
"As I recall, you said the same thing about me at the time; that I was easier to get along with as well." snorted Steve
"You remember that?" asked Kono in shock, her tan face acquiring a hint of additional color. Her boss had been so out of it she didn't think he'd even remember the discussion she and Danny had in his hospital room about how much fun it was to talk to Steve while he was still looped on pain meds.
"You'd be surprised what I remember." said Steve in mock menace. "Just don't tell Danny, okay? I still haven't gotten him back for it."
Kono looked at him warily before nodding in agreement.
*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0* Hawaii 5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*
Not to worry. Kittens are coming.
Also, is there anything other than the blackmail case that needs to be taken care of? I may have to let that one remain unsolved until the next Cujo story.
Let me know what you think about this one.