Steve wants Chin and Kono inside with the three people Five-0 is holding for questioning – he simply doesn't trust them to somehow not break out, if someone on the team isn't watching. So HPD and Crime Scene take over, along with the ME, who says when he talked to Max yesterday, Max was not happy about missing out on all the fun…which Danny makes a face about…and is therefore going to be coming back early.

So with Duke established as primary, a couple detectives Danny is pretty sure aren't on the take from his short months with HPD, and Steve's and Danny's statements given, it's now time for the partners to confront their pasts, their presents and their futures, which all take the form of one or more people inside the walls of Five-0's headquarters.

It's no surprise to Danny to find Steve hesitating outside the door that leads into the hall lined with their interrogation rooms. Danny's pretty damn hesitant, too. Chin approaches from behind, stops, looks at Danny. "I, uh…I kept Gabby and Rachel apart," he says. "Wasn't sure they'd met yet and didn't want to be the one to make it happen."

And Danny literally facepalms. Because while he's pretty sure Rachel's heard about Gabby from Grace, the fact of the matter is that the women have not yet met. "Where are they?" Oh, Danny's not looking forward to this.

"We've had Gabby in your office since she showed up, and I put Rachel in Kono's office," Chin replies.

"You want some help with that?" Steve asks, and while he's looking a little smug and like he might enjoy whatever scene will be created by the inevitable meeting of the ex and the current, Danny can read the undertones that tell him Steve wants to put off talking to Joe and Doris.

But Steve knows he can't, just like Danny knows this is one thing he doesn't really need backup for. So Danny smiles a little, says, "I promise I won't let anyone blow the bullpen up, partner," and enjoys the small snort Steve lets out as a result. "But Steve," he says, joviality fading, "take it easy on yourself in there." He jerks his thumb in the direction of the interrogation rooms.

"Yeah. Okay," Steve acquiesces with a nod, and Danny wonders when his partner last slept, but knows Steve will not appreciate a Mother Hen, so lets it go. "You going to send Gabby to Mamo's?" Steve asks next.

"I think it's probably getting crowded in that little one-room shack," Danny says. "Any other ideas? I don't know how much Gabby's going to want to hang around here, especially when I make my move to choke the life out of Stan with my bare hands."

He feels a hand on his shoulder, turns to find it belongs to Chin and that Kono is now joining them. "I say Steve takes Joe, Kono takes Steve's mother and I take Stan. We recorded everything he's told us so far, Danny, and I think he was caught between a rock and a hard place in all this."

"Not with everything, he wasn't," Danny replies, grinding his teeth.

"Chill, brah, we got your back," Kono says with a grin. "Now go on and get World War III started, will you? We'll find a place for everyone that's safe, k?"

Danny chuckles, nods, watches as the three of them disappear into the interrogation room hallway, as the door separating it from where he's standing clicks shut behind them. Danny turns, runs a hand through his hair, takes a deep breath and heads for the bullpen.

With any luck, one of the ladies in question will be asleep so he can handle first one, then later on, the other.

However, 'luck' seems to be something that's a little questionable for members of the Five-0 task force these days, so Danny's not holding his breath.


Best to get it over with, right?

When Danny walks into the bullpen, nodding first at the three HPD officers guarding said area, he's making a beeline for his office. Out of his peripheral vision, he sees Rachel look up and eye him through the windowed walls of Kono's office, and he figures, well, she's not making a move to get up, Rachel isn't, so he should be oka—

Gabby barrels into him, nearly knocking him over, arms tight around his chest, cheek on his shoulder and she's shaking a little…well, all right, she's shaking a lot, and sounds like she might be crying a little bit. Danny instinctively pulls her so, so close, one hand sliding up her neck into her hair; the other flat on her back, thumb rubbing small circles into the tee shirt she was apparently wearing when rudely awakened by intruders.

How it all could've gone so very, very wrong. If they'd known she was there, if they'd wanted to kill her, they could've done it so quickly, so easily. She would've been gone. Gone like a wisp of smoke in a stiff breeze. Snuffed out, that gorgeous smile and all that knowledge about Hawaii and everything she'd taught him, that she'd impressed upon his psyche about Hawaiian culture and ancestors and land.

The way she looked at him. The way she and Grace got along. The way she moved when there was nothing separating them but their own skin. Her sense of humor, her favorite chick flick she made Danny watch with her…anything, everything that they already were and all the things they haven't yet had a chance to be with each other. Just fucking gone, if not for the intruders for some reason not checking her bedroom; if not for Gabby having been smart enough and capable enough to get away without them knowing.

It all comes crashing down on Danny, how very different this could be right now for the both of them, so when she raises her head to look into his eyes and he sees tears slide slowly down her cheeks, he leans in and kisses her forehead…then rests his forehead against hers. Then, he captures her lips with his own.

Because he almost lost this, this woman who's somehow making him less angry all the time, who fits with him like a missing puzzle piece. He kisses her softly, gently, quietly promising a hundred things if they can ever get through this all, then pulls away, runs a hand down her hair. "I'm so glad you're okay," is what he manages to force out over the sudden lump in his throat.

"I was so worried about you," she says. "Who were those men, Danny? What did they want inside my office?"

Danny shakes his head. "I'm not sure, but it may have something to do with a document Steve found open on your computer."

She moves to his side and he puts his arm around her shoulders, moving slowly toward his office. "What document?" she asks, but then Danny remembers Rachel. He turns and oh, Lord, the look on his ex-wife's face. He just fucking kissed his girlfriend in front of the mother of his daughter.

Ugh. Danny is a self-aware male who knows this is a major faux pas. Oops.

Danny pulls Gabby's head forward a little, kisses the top of it, and says, "Hang out in my office for a sec; something I gotta do."

Gabby nods, turns to see what Danny's looking at. "Who is that? I saw Lieutenant Kelly bring her in."

"That," Danny says, "is Grace's mother."

Gabby's eyes widen. "Oh," is how she responds.

"Just give me a few minutes?" Danny asks.

Gabby goes into his office without another word, but with a parting smile that tells him yeah, they're okay. Danny turns and walks to where Rachel is standing between the computer table and Kono's office door. "That must be Dr. Asano," Rachel says with a nod in Gabby's direction.

"That is precisely who it is," Danny responds, keeping his voice as businesslike as possible. "And no, I'm not introducing you."

Rachel's eyes flash. "I never asked you to."

"No, but you were going to, and now is not the time. Have Kono or Chin asked you any questions?"

"No. I've been sitting here cooling my heels and having to speculate as to the identity of the lovely woman in the office across the way, wondering as to the health and safety of my children and hearing explosions outside this building without being told a thing."

Oh, yeah. Rachel's pissed.

Well, you know what?

So the fuck is Danny.

"Okay, Rach. We're going to get some things straight right here and right now," Danny says, and no, he's not going to lose his temper, but he's damn well going to lay down the law because goddammit, where their current existence is concerned, he is the law. He gestures to Kono's office. Rachel turns on heel, fuming, and enters. Danny follows, closing the door behind him.

"Right now," Danny says, "you are technically under arrest."

"What?" Rachel exclaims, and Danny knows any other man's petals would be wilting right about now. But not his. He's been through way too many knock-down, drag-out fights with this woman to wilt these days. "What on Earth for?"

"I'll tell you what for, Rachel," Danny says, "and I'll start with endangering the lives of minors in your custody. I'll go ahead and follow that up with conspiracy charges as related to Stan's business dealings, since you knew shit that you didn't tell anyone about, tack on a few charges related to lying to a police officer, and I can go way back on those, no statute of limitations on 'em, and how about we round all that out with something like accessory to murder and making false claims on official legal documents? Should I continue?"

The fact that Rachel is standing there with her jaw on the floor is only moderately satisfying, because Danny doesn't want to charge Grace and Charlie's mother with anything, he doesn't want to arrest her, but he needs her full cooperation here, not the typical Rachel 'tude from years past.

"Right now, and for the foreseeable future, we are not ex-spouses. I am Detective Sergeant Daniel Williams with the State of Hawaii Five-0 task force, I have detained you for questioning, and it is my duty to wring every last drop of information out of you that I can where the Yakuza, Stan's business dealings, the Noshimuris, Wo Fat, the McGarretts and anything and everything else related to same, is concerned. You are a suspect and a witness, and for the duration you can consider both Grace and Charlie under the watch of Child Protective Services until it is determined that you either are or are not a safe harbor for them." Danny takes a deep breath, turns a complete three-sixty, runs a hand through his hair, and finishes with, "Right now, I know you're not safe, and you do, too." He huffs out a breath. "And neither am I. But they are."

Tears well up in Rachel's eyes. But as much as that little twinge is still there, the one Danny always gets when he sees her upset in any way, he cannot let this interfere with something that could find him quite literally following through with at least some of those charges he told her he could hold her on. He has to think of the kids' safety, of Rachel's safety as a potential witness to multiple crimes, and of key information she may have that will help lead them to conclude this goddamn fucking shitstorm.

When Rachel sees, if Danny's not mistaken, that this time the waterworks aren't going to get her anywhere, she sinks into Kono's desk chair. She leans her elbows on the desk and puts her head in her hands. Danny sits down in one of the two guest chairs opposite her and leans his forearms on the desk.

"Rach," he says softly, and she looks up at him. "I don't hate you. I know you were put in a tough spot a few times, and above all, you are still Grace's mother. But I have a job to do, and I can't let our history, what was going on with custody, or any past feelings to get in the way of putting a stop to this whole thing."

She looks back down, not responding.

"If we don't solve this, no one in any of our families will ever be able to stop looking over their shoulders for the rest of our lives. Is that the kind of existence you want for Charlie and Grace?"

After a moment, Rachel shakes her head 'no.' She pushes herself back from the desk so that she's seated fully upright. "What do you wish of me?"

And in that moment, Danny thinks it's the proudest he's ever felt of the woman he once loved like she was the most rare and precious gem on the planet. Because she's doing the right thing here, for her children, even if it means bringing herself down as a result.

"Stan's been giving Chin and Kono a lot of information. They recorded it. I'm going to have Kono come up here, show you the recording. I want you to add anything you can possibly think of to what he says. Tell her anything that comes to mind, no matter how insignificant you think it is. She'll help with prompts at various points throughout his confession, okay?"

"Is it legal for me to watch another witness' confession?" Rachel asks.

Danny raises his eyebrows. "No. But it's not exactly legal for me to have your two kids squirreled away without you having a clue where they are, either. Never mind you using my daughter and your unborn child to try and help Wo Fat get Steve convicted of murder." Okay, maybe that was a little mean, but Christ. After two years with Steve, Danny's learned that sometimes, not going quite by the book is the only way to save lives and live to do it all again tomorrow.

Rachel nods. "All right, Danny. I'll do whatever I can. All I ask, is that you allow me to speak with Grace, and perhaps hear Charlie babble a bit."

"I'll have Kono put them on speaker for you when I send her up. All right?"

Rachel nods. Danny rises to his feet, moves around the desk, places a hand on her shoulder. "I will do everything in my power to protect the children and you. I make no promises about Stan."

She whips her head up, looks squarely into his eyes. "Stanley Edwards can go fuck himself," she spits.

And Danny grins. Because he can't help the little lizard part of his brain that's damn happy to hear it.