Chapter 9

Hi Everyone, thank you again for reading and following me. This is the last chapter of this story. I am not one for long drawn out conclusions so I hope I wrapped it up nicely. As always feedback is appreciated.

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In the week following the explosion, Magnum's sleep was plagued with nightmares leading to flashbacks of their time as POWs. He would often wake up sweaty and disoriented, caught between reality and nightmare. As promised, someone was always there to catch him when he fell into that hell pit of memories and to help transition him back into reality. Although Rick and T.C. had the most experience with helping Magnum transition from flashback to reality, it was Kumu that was the most effective. She had a way of knowing when a nightmare was building, and her calming voice, like the tide upon the sand, would gently soothe away the fear and pain before it could result in a full blown flashback.

As his strength increased, Magnum spent more time awake and he spent those waking hours trying to remember what exactly had happened. No one seemed willing to give him a complete answer. He had been told that Mac and his partner Desi had been working on a case that brought them to the island and that their boss had connections with Juliette. Magnum had offered to help and when they had cornered their suspect, there was an explosion which injured all of them and killed their suspect. The story didn't sit right with Magnum though. He felt like there was something more, that he was in some way connected to the suspect. It was T.C. though who confirmed for Magnum that he wasn't being told the whole story. The man could not lie if his life depended on it. Oh sure, he could keep a secret and he was a master of redirection, but to look someone in the face and lie to them was not in Theodore Calvin's upbringing. So when Thomas point blank asked him if the suspect was someone he knew and T.C. couldn't answer, the jig was up.

T.C. looked out the window, he looked at the floor, he looked at the machines above his friend's head, the floor again, he looked anywhere except Magnum's face.

"T.C., look at me!" Magnum demanded.

T.C. sighed and slowly raised his eyes to meet those of his friend sitting in the hospital bed.

"Who was the suspect we were following? Who died in that explosion?" Magnum asked point blank, with a look of desperation to know the truth in his eyes.

"I can't Thomas, I promised the others I wouldn't say anything. Don't put me in this position."

"Then call the others and tell them to get over here. I have to know. I can't let this go."

"I'll make some calls." T.C. said as he left the room.

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An hour and a half later found Magnum's room filled with people. They had all arrived together, so he knew they had a chance to talk, to formulate a plan. He looked around the room at the faces to get a read on where everyone stood on telling him the truth. T.C., by far the largest person in the room, was standing in the furthest corner trying to be the smallest. Rick was standing on the opposite side of the room with his hands across his chest, glaring daggers at T.C. Higgins was standing at the foot of his bed exchanging worried glances with Kumu who was seated at the side of his bed. Mac was perched on the window ledge fiddling with a paperclip which meant that he was running multiple scenarios and equations in his head trying to work out the best solution. The silence in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife and Magnum was whealding the knife when he split the silence with one word, "Hannah."

All heads snapped towards him and pandemonium ensued as everyone began talking at once.

"I SWEAR I didn't say anything!" - T.C.

"You promised you wouldn't tell him!" - Rick

"We were worried about how you would react." - Juliette

"We didn't want to see you hurt again." - Kumu

"How did you figure it out?" - Mac

Magnum held up his hands to gain control of the room, "Guys, guys…" once silence returned he continued, "Did you forget, I'm a detective? I have ways of finding things out. Next time you might want to keep Gordie in the loop of 'let's keep the truth Magnum' circle."

"How much did he tell you?" Rick asked, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"Only that some guys forced me to help them locate some stollen gold at the bottom of the ocean, that I got away from them and reported the incident, the gold was recovered, but while it was being transported Hannah and her crew hijacked the truck, I was able to get on the truck, I wrestled with Hannah for control, she shot me, the truck crashed, Hannah disappeared."

There was a moment of silence before Juliette spoke up, "That about sums it up."

"But what he couldn't tell me is why Mac and his friend Desi are involved, why were we up on Ko'olau Range, what happened that put Rick, Mac, and me in the hospital, and where is Hannah now?"

Rick signed and sat on the edge of Magnum's bed. "You see Thomas, when Hannah disappeared off of H3 after the crash, you wouldn't let it go. You knew she had to still be on the island and you were bound and determined to find her."

Over the next hour the group in the room filled in the blank pages in Thomas' memory, answering any questions as honestly as they could.

"So she's really dead?" Magnum asked, looking down at his hands in his lap, wanting, but not wanting to hear the answer.

"My scanner picked up a faint image of a body buried beneath rubble in the approximate area where she was last seen. The search and recovery team couldn't reach her because the room became too unstable, but there is no way she could have dug her own way out or survived buried that long." Mac supplied.

Silence hung in the air again. This time it was Kumu who broke the silence as she reached over and squeezed Magnum's hand, "Kane ho'okane, are you okay?"

Magnum didn't look up but nodded slightly and squeezed Kumu's hand back, "I just need some time... some time alone."

Kumu could see that several objections to Magnum being left alone were about to be raised so she firmly stood up and started ushering everyone out of the room, "Come on, you heard the man, he needs a little space. We can check on him later."

When the room was clear and he was alone, Magnum leaned his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes. Unbidden tears tracked down his cheeks. First were tears of sadness and loss as memories of he and Hannah snuggled in bed, he and Hannah frolicking on a beach, he and Hannah laughing at a shared joke, he and Hannah making love, tumbled through his mind. Those tears were soon replaced by ones of anger as images of Hannah giving him the coordinates on her latest 'intel' that would lead them into a trap set by the Taliban, Hannah standing in the enemy compound receiving a large envelope of money, Hannah looking straight at him and shooting him, Hannah standing at the far end of a room filled with explosives and triggering the explosion that would bury him and hurt his friends. Hurt his friends. He was the reason his friends were hurt and almost killed, he was always the reason. If he had not fallen for Hannah, his team would have never been captured. Rick, T.C., and Nuzo wouldn't have endured 18 months of torture and hell. Nuzo, Nuzo would still be alive. Tears of remorse fell until no more tears could fall and he was empty.

Mac stood quietly in the door as he watched his friend work through the images that were undoubtedly haunting him. When they had left the room Mac knew that his friend was going to mourn the loss of the woman he had loved despite the fact that she had betrayed him. He knew that Magnum would beat himself up over the fact that his friends ended up being put in harm's way because of that relationship and that he would blame himself for everything that had happened to them. He also knew that Magnum would need to work through all this on his own or he would end up keeping it bottled up where it would cause more harm. Mac knew what it was like to have someone feel like they were personally responsible for the wellbeing of those around them. Jack had been a professional at that.

So as soon as he found a way to discreetly separate himself from the group he returned to the hospital and waited till Magnum was ready to hear what he had to say. He didn't have to wait too long.

"How long have you been standing there?" Magnum said, his eyes still closed

"Not too long," Mac said as he walked further into the room. "Probably about the point in which you started blaming yourself for everything that has ever happened to any and everyone who you ever cared for."

"Yeah, well as mi mama used to say 'La verdad es una pastilla amarga de tragar', the truth is a bitter pill to swallow."

"Yes it can be, and it can also be a pretty big pill too, especially if it is filled with non truths also." Mac walked all the way into the room and sat down on the end of the bed, "Look Magnum, I have the luxury of being a friend, but not being close enough that I feel the need to coddle you, so I can call bull shit on your view of the way the world works. You are not the reason people live or die. Your friends are going to be put in harm's way and occasionally get hurt, but it is not because you placed them there, it is because they choose to be there."

Mac paused for a moment, he wasn't sure Magnum was on board with what he was saying, it was time to be more direct, "Would you take a bullet for Rick? T.C.? Higgins?"

It had the effect Mac had hoped for. Magnum's eyes flashed up and met Mac's with determination, "Of course, but.."

Mac cut him off before he could go further, "But nothing. You would lay your life on the line for them, don't expect anything less in return. It's what friends… It's what family does."

The two of them sat quiet for a while, Mac allowing Magnum time to digest what he had said.

A small smile appeared on Magnum's face, "How did a kid like you get to be so wise and mature?"

Mac laughed, "When you hang around someone like Jack for as long as I did, someone has to be the wise and mature one."

"Speaking of Jack, I thought when you left the Army that you were joining him at some secret government agency. With the way you talked about him and how close you two were, I'm surprised he isn't here with you."

It was Mac's turn to get quiet and look down at his folded hands.

Magnum's face took on an 'oh fuck did i just say something wrong' look and he found the next words difficult to say, "Oh shit, Jack isn't …"

Mac's head popped up, "No, no, Jack isn't dead, at least I'm pretty certain he isn't dead, I'm sure they would have told me if he was…"

"Mac, is everything okay? Where is Jack?"

Mac paused and took a deep breath, "Several months ago, Jack was recalled to work on a special team to investigate a terrorist that he thought had been killed back when he worked with the CIA, but had resurfaced. At first we tried to keep in touch, but time between responses got longer and longer. I haven't heard from him in over two month now."

Magnum could tell Mac was trying to not show how worried he was. "Hey, I'm sure he's fine, he's Delta after all, and Deltas don't die."

"Yeah, I'm sure he's fine, just probably entrenched deep somewhere." Mac gave a half grin and stood up. "Well, I better be getting back. If I'm gone much longer, Desi is going to call out the National Guard."

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The next couple of days saw a flourish of activities. Magnum was released to home with physical therapy and home health care orders for the next month. Juliette had insisted that he stay up at the main house so that she could make sure he was behaving himself. Rick and T.C. returned to their 'normal' lives. Rick spent more time at La Mariana, giving his staff who had filled in for him some much deserved time off, and T.C. returned to a full schedule of tours. Both made it a point to stop in daily to check in on Thomas.

Mac and Desi returned to California with promises to return for a real vacation someday. So when Rick's cell phone rang and it displayed Mac's number, he was surprised to hear from him so soon.

"Hey Mac, decided you missed the Island life too much?" Rick answered the phone with a smile on his face.

"Hey Rick, I wish it was a social call." Mac paused trying to figure out the best way to say it. He decided the direct route was the best, "It's about Hannah, she's still alive."

Rick's smile quickly turned to a scowl with the words that came over the phone. "Hold on a minute Mac, let me go someplace a little more private." Looking out at the main floor of La Mariana Rick signaled for one of his waitresses to come over. "Hey Erin, could you cover the bar for me for a few minutes, it shouldn't be long."

Erin smiled at her boss, he was the type of boss you would do anything for because you knew he would do anything for you if you needed it, "Sure Rick, I just have the one couple and they just got their food."

"Thanks, you're an angel." Rick said as he turned and headed to the small office in the back. Once he closed the door he brought the phone back up to his ear and practically snarled, "What do you mean Hannah's still alive? She's supposed to be buried under several tons of rock."

"I know, that's what we all thought, but that image I picked up on the scope was pretty vague. When we came out to Hawaii, my friend Riley, back here at Phoenix, set up a facial recognition program to scan all the camera's at the airports on Oahu." Mac paused again. "It's been running in the background ever since and this morning it got a match. It showed her at the international gateway at The Daniel K. Inouye International Airport. The image was captured at the security checkpoint. She was able to avoid all the other cameras, so we don't know what flight she got on or where she was heading."

When Mac was done talking there was dead silence on the other end, "Rick? You still there?"

"I'm here," came the quiet response. "You're certain it's her? No room for doubt?"

"Yeah, I'm certain. She looked straight up at the camera and smiled. She wanted someone to know she was still out there." Mac paused again, "Are you going to tell Magnum?

"Hell no!" Came the immediate response. "This conversation stays between you and me. Noone, and I mean NOONE else needs to know."

"What are you going to do if she ever tries to come back?"

Rick's face took on a hard set determination, "If she ever tries to get near Magnum again, I will personally see to it that she is permanently planted 6 feet under."

The End

Hi everyone, I want to take a moment to thank you all for reading my story. I really enjoyed writing a Magnum and Mac crossover. I had the idea for this story a long time ago after the first episode on Magnum where Hannah came back, but before the second episode where she came back again. Originally I was going to have her die and that was that, but since she came back, I had to leave it open ended, hence this last scene between Rick and Mac.

I try to research as much as possible to keep things accurate. The Hawaiian phrase Kumu uses, 'Kane ho'okane' is a term of endearment that suggests a relationship deeper than friends, but not of blood relations. Sort of like an adopted member of the family.

It will be a little while before I write again, January - March are the busiest months for work. If there are any grey areas to my stories that you would like me to investigate further let me know. I am always open to story suggestions. I am hoping to write a stand alone story on Magnum next. I want to play around with their escape from the Taliban and their time in recovery in Germany. But until then please enjoy my other stories. As alway feedback is greatly appreciated.