"Whoa, hey! Sorry." Tani ran smack into Danny. She backed up a step and got her first good look at him. "Holy shit, should you be leaving?"

Swearing, Danny wrapped his arms around his torso as he caught his breath. Tears leaked from his eyes as he steadied himself in the doorway.

"Watch...where...you're...going."

Tani could not stop rambling. "I mean, you look like you need a doctor. Worse than normal. I mean, shit. Maybe you should stay here."

Steve tried to tell her to shut up. But none of them had quite mastered telepathy, and he braced himself for Danny's reaction. He sensed an explosion coming.

"I'm fine. Really." Danny dabbed his eyes and then moved on with his best lie as he mustered a smile. "Looks worse than it feels, really. Please keep my kids safe tonight, okay? Thank you."

"Fine?" Tani laughed, not realizing how lucky she was and kept on talking. "She's ready and waiting for you. You can't go in there like this. I can't believe you're still standing. Catherine Rollins isn't at all like I thought she'd be."

"You better just stop. While you're ahead." Danny's fake smile grew teeth and snarled. "Please."

"Danny, come on, let's go." Steve squeezed past and motioned toward the elevators. He hovered just close enough so it wasn't obvious that he was worried about his partner, too.

"Come on, let her sweat it out tonight." Tani pushed a nearby wheelchair his direction. "Here, use this. You should get off your feet."

"She was my friend!" Danny lunged toward Tani, his voice echoing in the empty hall. "Do not tell me what I need."

Her mouth fell open, and she froze when Danny got in her face.

Steve grabbed his best friend by the elbow. "Back off, buddy."

Danny yanked out of his grasp, heaving, face sweaty. Tani still hadn't moved except to close her mouth. "You do not know what I need right now. No one does."

"That's enough, Danny." Steve ordered.

Danny whipped around, but didn't say anything.

Steve held his ground, making sure he had all of Danny's attention. "What? You gonna fight me?"

"No, no..." Danny rubbed the back of his neck, seeming to snap out of his volatile mood. "I need to get outta here. I can't do anything for Grace and Charlie. I'll go crazy if I stay. And I don't wanna scare them. I need to know why Catherine did this."

Steve gave Danny some room. "Okay. We can go. If you're sure you're ready."

"Wait, you don't think I should?" The heat crept back into Danny's voice. "You don't think I can handle it?"

Danny straightened his stance and frowned. Steve took a deep breath and did the same. He replied. "Didn't say that, did I, buddy?"

"You don't have to say it."

"Go ahead, Danny. Lie to me. I know you can't handle it. Not until you calm down."

Danny chuckled. "That's rich. You telling me to calm down. You were there. You saw what she did."

"And that's exactly why you need to get your head on straight." Steve softened his tone. "You'd say the same thing to me."

"I would, you're right. But you'd ignore me."

Steve nodded with half a smile brightening his face. "Very true, partner."

"So, what's your opinion?" Danny nudged Tani and she jumped. He winced and immediately felt bad. "I'm so sorry."

"I - uh - whatever you guys say. That'll work." She babbled as she inched toward the door. "I'm gonna go check on the kids. Get settled in for the night. I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything. Really."

Tani backed into the room, hands up.

Danny exhaled loudly, letting the sigh morph into a giggle. "God, I messed things up."

"This isn't your fault, Danny."

"I should have told you about the flash drive."

"You tried. I was so wrapped up with Cath being here. I let her distract me."

"I wish I'd stayed out of her business."

"You don't mean that."

"I don't even know what we have." Danny shook his head, eyes watering again. "But it's bad enough that she drugged my kids to get it back."

"And she'll pay for that. We'll figure this out. You, me and the team."

Crossing his arms, Steve formed a wall in front of his partner.

Danny frowned and twitched, clenching his fists. "Steven."

Not fazed, Steve glared back. "Daniel."

"Get out of my way."

HPD moved a little closer. They'd been lingering at the nurse's station, watching the conversation. Steve waved them off.

"We're gonna do this together, partner."

Danny took a step. "Let me go then."

"Not til you calm down." Steve blocked him.

"I'm calm." Danny made an effort to stand up straighter, puffing his chest out a little. He even smiled. "See? Perfect."

Unconvinced, Steve widened his stance a little. "You just yelled at Tani."

"She -" Danny shook his head, face flushing with embarrassment and fatigue. He knew he'd fucked up. "She pushed the wrong button."

"And you almost slugged her." Steve tilted his head and sighed. "This isn't you."

"I'd never -" Unable to process the wave of fondness from his partner, Danny stuttered and didn't finish his sentence. He'd expected more of an argument.

"I know you wouldn't. But you aren't thinking straight. Your defenses are down. Hell mine are too."

Eyes narrowed, Danny scowled. He would not concede this battle so easily. "Then why should you talk to her first, huh? What makes you better?"

"Come on." Steve softened a bit more, though his next words didn't exactly help. "Not better. Just...more experienced."

"Oh because you and her -" Danny made a rude gesture.

"You are such a child." Steve smacked Danny's hands. "I'm talking to her first. I'm the boss. Case closed."

"Control freak."

"You're proving my point." Steve rolled his eyes and led Danny to the elevator. If he wished Danny would use the wheel chair in the hall, he didn't say anything. Instead, he chose a familiar quarrel to distract himself. "Add it to your list of things to tell our shrink. I'm sure she'll love it."

"Animal." Danny punched the down button and leaned heavily against the wall.

Jaw tense, Steve ignored every ounce of his worry, letting his partner have this. The crash would come later, he knew.

For everyone.

/././

Lou met Steve and Danny in the hall.

Steve didn't waste time. "Where is she?"

Lou glanced from Steve to Danny and back to Steve. "Catherine's not talking, Steve."

"I didn't expect her to, Lou."

"She's waiting for you." Lou kept his face blank. This all felt wrong.

Steve thought about that statement and continued after a beat. "I need to see Jerry first."

Lou nodded, Danny's silence was an odd presence. It took him a second to register what Steve just said. "Jerry...he's in your office."

"Good. Nobody talks to her til I get back." He threw a sideways glance at Danny. To which Lou wrinkled his nose. Steve caught the look and frowned. "And I mean nobody."

"No way am I staying here. I need to see Jerry, too." Danny followed Steve.

Lou blew out a big breath and shook his head, thanking his lucky stars that he didn't have to keep Danny out of that room. Steve was in control. For now.

It felt weird, though. Wrong in a way. He'd expected Danny to be eager to question Catherine Rollins. Hell, Lou expected Danny to throttle her. After what she did to his kids. No one would blame him for exacting revenge.

/././

Steve breezed into his office. "What have we got, Jerry?"

Jerry didn't miss a beat. He was ready for them. Lou must have given him a heads up. "The flash drive is a list of international trafficking routes. A network of buyers and sellers, as well as safe houses and pick up points. There's also contact info for major players in law enforcement and the military."

"Why does Catherine need this information?" Steve frowned, asking the question more for himself than anyone else.

"How did she get it is more like it. What's she into, Steve? She used our system to get it. But it didn't come directly from us." Jerry took a breath, clearly affected by what he was revealing. "She hacked into the DOJ, DOD and FBI. Where'd she get those skills? I mean, I know she's good but some of this is classified. I wouldn't even – I mean not unless you asked."

"I wish I knew, Jerry." Steve felt he was missing something, had been missing something all these years.

Danny remained quiet, hands in his pockets, chewing his bottom lip.

"You were right to bring this to me. It was encrypted but I broke it." Jerry spoke to Danny who didn't hear him.

Steve noticed. "Danny? You alright. You can sit this out."

"Not gonna happen, Steven. Why don't you drop it?" Danny nudged past Steve to look get a better look at the screen. "Where did this come from, Jer? Not our system, right?"

"I uh - it came from a variety of sources." Jerry tried to hide the look of concern and confusion he flashed at Steve. He repeated what he'd said a minute or so earlier. "Catherine hacked the DOJ, DOD and FBI servers. She used our computers."

"Yea, you said that." Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sorry, I just."

"You need to sit down." Steve was stern.

"You need to shut up."

"Oh, that's mature."

Their bickering didn't calm Jerry like it normally did. He couldn't stop fidgeting. "Guys." He put a stop to their back and forth.

"We'll work this like any other case." Steve shot Jerry a level gaze. Like there was nothing to see. Business as usual. "We only have Catherine for an hour, maybe less, before her handlers scoop her up. I'm kinda surprised she's still here."

"Yea, my digging probably sent up the bat signal."

"Handlers? Bat signal?" Danny raised his voice, eyeing the door. "Why aren't we in there then?"

"Save a copy and give it only to me." Steve watched his partner as he spoke to Jerry. "Coordinate with CSU to see if they've turned up anything else at the crime scene."

Steve and Danny caught each other's eye for a few seconds. Danny's house was a crime scene. That reality stung.

"Sure. But there's one more thing." Jerry was suddenly serious as he worked his magic on the computer, and a familiar face popped up.

"Kono..." Hands on his hips, Steve looked at the ceiling. "Her team."

"She's on the flash drive? Fuck..." Danny had to steady himself.

"It doesn't look like Cath dug too far, but yea, Kono could be vulnerable."

"Shit." Steve pulled out his cell. "I have to warn her."

/././

"You're too quiet. I don't like it." Steve studied Danny as they waited for the elevator to drop them into the basement.

"You always complain about my ... complaining, so happy birthday…or whatever holiday you celebrate."

"Kono will be fine. She's taking extra precautions."

Danny nodded, but was nowhere near convinced.

"Hey, it's good you copied those files. We could warn her and how many others? You saved the day."

"Yea, I guess." Both hands on the side rails, Danny leaned against the wall as the bell announced the next floor. "I should have known."

"And how could you possibly know?"

"I should have said something sooner."

"What made you suspect her in the first place? I can't believe I didn't notice anything."

Taking a deep breath, Danny closed his eyes before recounting the memory. "She'd been at the Smart Table. The screen was blank, but it didn't feel right. She was out of breath. Nervous. Just a little. If you didn't know her -"

"You followed your gut."

"Yea. And I handed the drive off to Jerry for safe keeping. I wanted to clear my head. Make sure I knew what I had before confronting her. I mean, she was ohana. There had to be a reason, right? I was afraid I was being paranoid."

"And I wasn't there." Steve kicked the corner of the elevator car. "Goddammit, I let her pull me in. I wasn't there for you."

"Hey, you didn't know. How could we know? It's Catherine, for god's sake." Danny looked up at his friend. "And you were there when it mattered. You saved us."

Shaking his head, Steve closed his eyes. "What the hell was she thinking?"

/././

As soon as the elevator dinged, the spell was broken. No more calm Danny. He practically vibrated.

"You're gonna hang back until I can assess the situation." Steve edged closer to his partner, ready to lay hands on him, if he needed to stop him.

Danny was channeling his son on a bad day. "Why do you get to talk to her first, huh?"

"Because - Danny, please just stand down." Steve was losing his patience. He was tired. Hell everyone was exhausted at this point. "Now I see where Charlie gets it."

"What's that supposed to mean? You think I'm acting like my kid?" Danny glared, chest just a little puffy again.

"If the shoe fits, buddy." Steve gave his friend a cocky half assed grin, sobering when Danny didn't see the humor. "We discussed this. You know I'm right. Trust me."

"I do trust you."

"Then let me do this, alright? Give me ten minutes. Then she's all yours."

Looking away, he considered Steve's offer. They might not have ten minutes if they kept arguing. Some shady government official was probably already on the way to snatch Catherine.

Hands up, Danny agreed. "Alright, you can have five, uninterrupted minutes with Catherine. That's it."

Steve took what he could get. "Five minutes then. Promise?"

Danny didn't answer. He headed for end of the hall, mumbling. "You're wasting time, Steven."

Pleased, Steve took a deep breath. A surge of adrenaline flashed through him when he thought of questioning Catherine. He could get her to spill her guts. He knew all of her tells. He knew where she was vulnerable.

Only problem was - she knew the same things about him.

Fuck.

"Hold up, wait a minute." Lou appeared out of nowhere.

Steve was not in the mood for another distraction. "Lou, get out of my way."

"I heard the speech you just gave your partner."

"Yea and he's listening."

"For now. You know it won't last." Lou chuckled. "Five minutes. You'll be lucky to get three."

Steve shrugged, checking his phone. "You and Junior can watch the door. He just got back. I texted him."

"What am I supposed to do? Hold Danny at gunpoint? Because that's what it's gonna take to keep him outta that room and you know it."

"Hold him off as long as you can."

"Hold him off. Really, that's all you got?"

"That's what I said."

"Alright." Lou watched Steve for a few seconds. "You sure you can handle this?"

His larger concern did not go unnoticed by Steve. Catherine was only part of the problem. Danny could make it much, much worse. And who was Steve kidding? "I'll be fine, Lou."

"You say my name like it matters. Fine or not, you know this is gonna hurt. And not just Danny."

"I'll be fine." Steve repeated the words with a little more heat.

"Yea, you say that now. But I got your back. You know I do. We all do." Lou turned to walk away. He flashed Steve a ghost of a smile. "I'm gonna go hog tie your partner now."


The long awaited confrontation is coming up next...