Mid-morning the next day, Steve was still sulking in his room. Frances decided to take the bull by the horns before the situation degenerated into something that neither her nor Karen could mend. She showed up in her swimsuit all cheery and bouncy, doggedly intent on whipping the gloomy Gus back into shape.

"Come on! Rise and shine, pretty boy! We're going out for a swim."

"You're kidding, right?" he asked huskily.

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Steve frowned. "Sorry, do I sound like I'm kidding?"

"I'm not in the mood," he drawled, turning his head away.

"I don't care. Part of doctor's orders. You have to start an exercise routine to get back into shape. Come on!" she started to flip the bed covers aside when he angrily grabbed her arm.

"Later. Right now, just leave me alone." He jerked her hand aside and pulled the sheets back.

"No can do."

"Don't make me hurt you," he growled.

"Oh, oh, oh!" she laughed. "You think I'm going to let you? I'll carry you bodily across the floor kicking and screaming if I have to but we're going down to the beach."

"No please don't make me," he begged on a more cowed tone.

"What are you going to do? Lie here all day sulking, wallowing in self-pity?"

"You all lied to me," he said, feeling betrayed and hurt.

"No we didn't. We just didn't tell you about Danny's paralysis at his request. We did try to advise him against it but he thought it was in your best interest so we let it go at that." Steve merely shook his head in despair. "Ok tell me this. If roles had been reversed, would you have done the same?"

Steve gave an emphatic, "No!"

"Hum I believe otherwise, old chum. You two are the most stubborn people I know but you care deeply about each other. You share a solid friendship that I've heard stood ground to many hardships and upheavals in the past. Sure there were few bumps along the way but you've always managed to stamp them out to come out stronger, am I right?" Steve needed not respond for the creases in his brow were easy to read.

"It's not that I don't understand the reason why he did it, it's just," he paused to gather his thoughts, "well it really hurts to think that he took advantage of my blindness to hide this from me."

"Guess he did," she offered no argument. She sat on the edge of the bed and gazed at him until the overflow of emotions died down. "So? Are you going to hate him forever for something that you, yourself, would have done? In his mind, he was watching your back."

Steve closed his eyes and sniffed back an errant tear.

"You see now why you have to apologize to him?"

"Apologize?"

"That's right. Or you can let this fester until you grow apart and destroy your Ohana. I don't think you want that." She slanted her head to read his expression. "I thought so." She stood and pulled the covers off him. "Now you get off your sorry butt and put your swim trunks on. We're going for a few laps. Come on big shot, let's go! Thereafter we'll swing by Danny's house so you can beg for forgiveness."

"You're so cruel with me." Steve whined as he elbowed himself into a sitting position.

"Yeah and you love being mistreated like that, don't you?" she teased, leaning in to kiss him. "How's that for an incentive? There'll be plenty more where that came from AFTER your exercises."

With a loud growl, Steve hauled himself out of bed.

Steve's first outing proved physically taxing. His body was still on the mend but amazingly enough, the many scars that covered his firm and well-toned frame were far less noticeable than they had been at the hospital.

Frances curtailed his exercises when it became evident that he was running on borrowed energy. They each donned a t-shirt, slipped on their beach sandals and sat in the sand to recuperate, neither one speaking for a good full minute before Steve broached a delicate subject.

"Frances? Who's McFadden?"

"How do you know that name?"

"It just came to me this morning." He turned to her with inquisitive eyes. "Who is he?"

She looked out to sea and sighed. "It's a long story."

"Is he a friend or a foe?"

"Definitely a foe and certainly not an individual you should be recalling at such an early stage of your recovery."

"Why? What did he do?"

She turned to him. "You don't remember any of it, do you?" he shook his head innocently. Seeing how he was in the dark about the entire saga, she wavered whether she should fill in the blanks just yet.

"Frances, tell me. I need to know," he insisted, almost pleading.

"He's the man responsible for your accident. He paid someone to plant the bomb in Danny's car."

"Why?"

"That's the long story, sweetie."

"Don't shield me, baby. I beg of you. Don't do like Danny did."

She strained a smile and ran her hand through his hair. "I'm not. Now just isn't the right time to discuss it, but I promise to answer all of your questions truthfully after we pay Danny a visit."

"You swear?"

"I do." She leaned in to brush her lips against his for a chaste kiss. "Now come on. Let's go." She gave him a hoist up and draped her arm around his as they made their way down to Danny's beach house.

"Frances! Steve! Come on in," Karen happily bade them enter.

"We came to see Danny. Is he up?" Frances asked.

"Yeah," Karen answered dolefully.

"What's the matter?" Steve asked, sensing dismay in her voice.

"Your altercation last night really upset him. He had trouble sleeping and this morning, he refused to eat breakfast and just parked his chair on the lanai to stare at the ocean."

"I'll fix him," Steve said resolutely with a pat on Karen's arm. "Just point me in the right direction."

The two women each took an arm and turned him to the right to face the entrance to the lanai. Steve then waved their hands away and navigated to his destination.

"Hey, anybody here?" he jested.

Danny swiveled his head toward the familiar voice and gushed. "Steve! Hey, what are you doing here?"

Steve shuffled and groped his way toward his friend's voice, careful not to stumble upon the patio furniture. "Came to apologize for last night."

"Harrumph! Don't be ridiculous! You had every right to yell at me for what I did. I'm the one who should beg for your forgiveness."

Steve found a chair next to Danny and sat down. "All right, I'm listening," he humored, crossing his arms across his stomach with an impish smile dancing on his lips.

Danny took one look at that smug face and burst out laughing.

"See? That was easy." Danny ran a hand across his face and sighed heavily. "Danny, what's bugging you?"

Danny looked down at his legs. "This. Being bound to a wheelchair when I should be walking by now."

"What did your doctor say?"

"He performed a battery of tests on my spine before I left the hospital. Should have the results shortly as to what's going on back there. It's frustrating. I feel like I'm hitting a brick wall."

"Well join the club. In my case, I literally run into walls."

"That's not what Frances told us last night. On your first day home you were able to move around fluidly and fend for yourself without hardly any help."

"I'm trying hard for I don't want to add to her burden. I don't feel so helpless with her around, knowing she has my back if I should trip or fall. Don't tell her though, but she can be a real tyrant at times. Worse bark than my commander officer in the Navy."

"She knows just how far she can push without you slipping over the edge."

"But still, I hate having to depend on her."

"I hear ya. Say, how are your marbles?"

"I'm still missing a few. Got some screws loose here and there but with Frances's help, I'm able to tighten some."

"I still have trouble associating words to objects. I keep confusing left from right and reading is the worse part. I feel like a school kid having to learn how to read and write. And those damn headaches! Thankfully the medicine helps keep them at bay but still...they can be humdingers."

"Yeah, headaches are the worse."

There was a small lull in the conversation and one sigh later, "I love the sound of the waves. It's so soothing."

"Same here."

"Although I was told that's not always been the case."

"What do you mean?"

"Kono and Chin told me I hate the ocean. That I can't stand the sound of the waves and always complained about how loud and annoying they were, and how they kept me up at night. I used to keep the television set on all night to drown out the sound. She said that happened when I crashed at your place. Remember that?"

Steve nodded. "No. Sorry."

"She and Chin were surprised when they learned I'd bought a beach house."

"Perhaps you've gotten use to them."

"Maybe. There must have been a reason but I don't remember and I didn't ask. And now this accident might have made me listen at them in a different way. So much I took for granted that I'm now learning to appreciate."

There was another break in the conversation before Steve blurted out, "Danny? How much do you know about a man named McFadden?"

Startled by the question that came out of the blue, Danny took a moment to pretend picking at his brain "He keeps popping up in my dreams. Don't quite know who he is and frankly something tells me I don't need to ask."

"Danny, you're lying to me again. Stop it!" Steve scolded, sensing a whiff of deception in his friend's voice. "I recall you telling me about him in the hospital. I might not have processed everything you said but clearly you mentioned him and how he was responsible for our conditions."

"Yeah and when I did, you had an anxiety attack and nearly went into cardiac arrest."

"But I'm stronger now. I can take it."

"Why do you want to know about him?" Danny exasperated, visibly disturbed by Steve's question that he could or would not provide answers for.

"I can tell by everyone's annoyance and evasiveness that he's a proscribed subject around here."

"Not really it's just that," Danny faltered at the loathing thought of lying to his friend, "yeah he is. Truthfully I don't recall much about him aside from that he's the guy who tried to make us cash in our checks early."

"We're cops, right?"

"Basically. We're part of a task force unit called Five-0."

"Kono and Chin?"

"You recruited them as part of your team. We then joined up with Frances who's FBI to investigate McFadden's organization."

"Which is?"

"A branch of the white slavery. His unit was based here in Hawaii. Safe to say we got too close for comfort and he wanted us out of the way."

"Well now, you seem to know a lot more than I do," Steve said annoyed.

"Karen helped me fill in the blanks, but it's all learned verbatim. It is her information, not mine. Don't ask me to give you details because I can't and truthfully, I don't want to when there are so many more happy memories I yearn to recover."

Steve pushed his sunglasses up and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Headache?" Danny surmised. Steve gave a weak nod. "Maybe we should end this conversation. It's not health...hey what's the matter? What's wrong?" Danny panicked upon seeing Steve's face contort with pain. "Karen, Frances come here, quick!" he called out while gripping his friend's shoulder.

"What happened?" Frances asked as she squatted down in front of Steve to assess his condition.

"We were talking and all over sudden his face scrunched up. Said he was having a headache."

Frances tilted Steve's head up and checked his pupils. "Steve, can you hear me?" He nodded. "How bad? Seven? Eight? Nine?" again he nodded, squishing his eyes tightly shut when his body began shuddering. She held his hand. "Steve, squeeze my hand. Come on squeeze it." There is was, though it was weak.

"What's happening to him?" Danny asked frantically.

"I think he's having a seizure. Quick Karen, help me lay him down."