Steve sat in his truck, thinking about what Danny had told him. He was furious. The person who had put his partner through that needed to know his place. He had hurt Danny more than he could imagine and Steve couldn't just let it pass without doing a thing about it. He thought about bursting into HPD to look for the guy but that wasn't going to help Danny in any way. In fact it was going to make it look worse.
Steve got out his phone and pressed 2 on his speed dial. "Chin. There's something I need you to find out for me. Right now." He said.
Chin hadn't needed long to find out who was the officer that had said the nasty things about Danny. After some snooping and talking to a couple of people, Chin had found that a particular officer, Officer Kai, had apparently been pretty vocal about his dislike towards Danny. He had immediately informed Steve about it and given him all the details about the officer.
"Officer Kai!" Steve called out as he spotted the young man leaving his precinct. The officer turned at the familiar voice.
"Commander McGarrett." He said, a surprised smile on his face as he hurriedly walked over to where Steve was standing. He reached his hand out to shake Steve's. Honestly, he was quite surprised that Steve, someone he had always idolized, knew his name. "Commander, is anything the matter?"
"Can we talk for a second?" Steve asked.
"Yes. Yes, of course." He answered eagerly.
The two of them walked over to the coffee house opposite the precinct and sat at a relatively quiet spot.
"Umm so what is it you needed to talk to me about, Commander?"
"I've heard a lot about you." Steve paused. "You graduated top of the academy 2 years ago and your superiors have nothing but praise for you. And I've seen your track record. Pretty impressive." Steve stated matter-of-factly.
Officer Kai smiled proudly. "Just doing my job, Commander. I take pride in carrying the badge and doing good police work to keep the island safe."
"That's good. It's not easy to find someone like you around anymore. You know..come to think of it. You might be a good fit for Five-0. We need someone young, motivated and dedicated like you. What do you think? Would you be interested?"
"Am I interested? Of course. I..I..I've always looked up to you and being on Five-0 would be amazing. I mean.. I would really love to be a part of the team."
"Great, that's great. But you know working with Five-0 is not going to be a walk in the park. So you'll have to undergo some intensive training and you'll be shadowing one of us for a time before I decide if you're in."
"Yeah of course. Sure. This is great. Umm.. Who will I be shadowing?" He asked, trying to hide his excitement.
"I think the best person would be Detective Danny Williams. My partner. The second-in-command at Five-0. You know him right?" Steve asked.
Steve saw a look of disappointment cross his face. "Yeah, yeah of course. But.. I mean if it's training to join Five-0, wouldn't you be the better person to do so?" He asked.
"What do you mean?" Steve asked.
"I mean.. I would much rather shadow you. Or at the very least Lieutenant Kelly." Officer Kai said.
"At the very least Lieutenant Kelly? Why? What's the problem? You don't think Detective Williams will be able to train you to be the best?" Steve could feel the anger rising in him but he held it in.
"With all due respect, commander. But yes, I don't think he will be able to do so." He said.
"And why is that?" Steve asked, he tried to hide his annoyance. This officer was blatantly telling him that he didn't think Danny was capable and it took every ounce of self-control for Steve to sit there listening to him.
"Well.. I'm not sure I can be honest."
"Please." Steve said.
"I don't think he is as good as you or Lieutenant Kelly. If I can be very honest with you, I don't understand why you would have him as your partner. He just doesn't seem all that cut out for Five-0."
Steve clenched his fist under the table and his jaw tightened. "What do you mean?"
"I mean.. I'm not sure he can have the team's back." Officer Kai continued. "He's nothing like you. Commander, I've always looked up to you and the way you always get things done. But Detective Williams, he's not all that capable. From what I see, he's always on the sidelines. If he's your partner, he should be backing you up."
"You're right. Absolutely right. He can't have my back." Steve said. "Which is why he led the team to North Korea to rescue me when I was held captive there a few years ago. Which is why he broke cover and put himself in the line of fire just to draw it away from me when we were after an assassin. Which is why when his ex-partner was brutally killed, he was the only one who fought to get justice for him when everyone else in HPD turned the other direction." Steve's voice was slowly rising. "Which is why he trekked through an unfamiliar jungle while nursing a gunshot wound in order to save me and a little girl. And if he hadn't done that I wouldn't be here talking to you cos I'd be dead already. You want more?" Steve asked as he saw the look on Officer Kai's face. Gone was the smugness on it as he realised he had screwed up. "Right now he is still in the hospital while I'm out here with you because he got me out of the building we were trapped under during the earthquake while he was injured and because of that he ended up being stuck down there for more than 10 hours." Steve continued.
"You didn't know any of these, did you? You only knew what you wanted to know. What would fit your narrative. You don't think he's a good fit for Five-0 because he's not like me? You know why I do the things I do? Not becauseI think I'm invincible or because I'm fearless. It's because I know he'll have my back no matter what. Because my partner is Detective Daniel Williams." Steve paused, looking at Officer Kai with a cutting look.
"I.."
"Officer Kai, on my team, every one of us trust each other and we respect one another. If you can't respect my team, or my choice of partner, I'm sorry but there will never be a place for you on it." Steve stood up and turned to leave before he stopped "And this conversation ends here. If I hear you speak a word against my partner again, I promise you our next meeting won't be this pleasant."
Steve stomped out of the coffeehouse and headed towards his truck. He was enraged but pretty proud of himself for having had enough self-control to stop himself from landing a punch on the officer's face. Steve couldn't imagine how Danny must have felt when he heard the malicious words from Officer Kai and it broke his heart that Danny had believed them and even decided that it was best he left the team. The officer had planted a seed of doubt in Danny's head that had now grown out of hand and no matter how Steve tried to cut it out, it resisted. But he knew that right now, Danny needed his help and he was going to offer it as best as he could till Danny was willing to accept it.
...
"I heard from Chin. You went to find him." Danny said.
Steve swallowed. "Yeah."
"After I told you not to."
"Yeah."
"Why?" Danny asked. "Why couldn't you just leave it, Steve?"
"Look Danny, I'm sorry. I couldn't. He hurt you. I needed to put him in his place."
"I don't need you to do it for me. I told you.." Danny said.
"I know. Danny, I know you told me you could take care of it. But if he hurt you, it's the same as hurting me."
Danny looked away from Steve. He was tired. Tired of trying to figure out what was true and what wasn't. He felt suffocated by his own emotions and all he wanted to do was to hide somewhere no one would find him. "Do you know when I can be discharged?
"Yeah..the doctor told me that if everything goes well, you can go home tomorrow." Steve said.
"Okay." Danny replied.
"I was thinking, while you're still undergoing treatment, maybe you should come over and stay with me. That way I can keep an eye on you."
"I'll be fine, if I'm okay to be discharged, it means I can take care of myself." Danny reasoned.
"But Danny, you need someone around in case anything happens. You will still have to undergo dialysis and it'll be easier if you stay with me. Come on, just for a few weeks?"
"Steve, I'll really be alright and I'll call you if I need any help." Danny said.
"Danny.."
"Anyway you know how I can't sleep with the sound of the ocean so that definitely won't help with my recovery.. Please, Steve." Danny looked at him with pleading eyes.
...
A/N: Hi guys! Once again thanks for your reviews on the previous chapter, really appreciate it. Here's the next chapter and I know some of you guys didn't want Steve to confront the officer but no matter how hard I thought about it, I felt like Steve wouldn't just let it go. Hope you guys liked it anyway and do let me know what you think. Thank you for reading!