CHAPTER 35

Chin and Kono watched Danny's back as he retreated down the hallway. Chin's objections to Danny's sudden departure were ignored.

"Can we see him?" Chin asked in a tight voice, turning back to the doctor.

Doctor Palamo nodded. "Of course. Come with me. He's in the ICU."

Chin stood to follow the doctor before realising Kono hadn't moved.

"Kono?" Chin asked. "Are you coming?"

"No, Chin. I'm…going to find Danny. You look after Steve," Kono replied.

Chin looked at Kono, the indecision clear on her face. She was torn between wanting to see her friend and looking after another friend. Chin often forgot how much she had matured since joining the taskforce. He was proud of her.

"Okay. Call me when you find him?"

"Yeah," Kono said distractedly as she exited the room quickly in pursuit of Danny.

Chin shook his head and then proceeded to follow the doctor upstairs to the ICU. Doctor Palamo paused outside of the cubicle.

"I should warn you, he doesn't look great," the doctor said.

"I didn't really expect him to," Chin answered.

Chin took a deep, calming breath before he entered the cubicle. He knew whatever condition Steve was in, it was going to be confronting.

Chin stopped by the bed and watched as a nurse puttered around, making sure the equipment was doing what it was supposed to. Steve looked like he had been through hell. His skin was pale, almost blending in with the sheets on the small bed he was lying on.

The hospital gown covered most of the bruising on Steve's torso and Chin could just imagine how colourful it was underneath if the bruising on Steve's face and exposed arms was anything to go by. Steve's jaw was almost black with bruising. Chin figured it would be hard to speak or eat for a while. Not that that mattered right now.

Steve was intubated and a ventilator was breathing for him. Chin watched as Steve's chest rose and fell, much more than it had when they found him in the cabin. The regular whoosh of the respirator was offset by the irregular beeps from the heart monitor. The doctor had explained that the electroshocks had caused Steve's heart to beat irregularly.

Chin looked down to Steve's hands. His left wrist was wrapped with gauze, covering the evidence from his time in captivity. His right wrist was still swollen and purple under the white gauze. Chin assumed the doctors were waiting for the swelling to go down before casting it.

Chin reached down and grabbed Steve's left hand, mindful of the IV placed there. He traced the line up to several bags of fluid hanging from the IV pole. He assumed most of them were fluids to counteract the dehydration and wash out the heroin. Steve's skin felt cold to the touch. Chin knew it had something to do with the lack of oxygenated blood flowing through his friend's body.

"Tell me you got the people responsible for this," Doctor Palamo said, his voice laced with anger.

Chin nodded solemnly. "Yeah. Well…Steve did."

"Good," Doctor Palamo said as he checked Steve's chart.

Chin's eyes flicked to the several monitors by Steve's bed. He had no idea what they were for, but knew they all had a part to play in maintaining the life support machines keeping Steve alive.

"He's okay," Doctor Palamo said, noticing the way Chin was watching the numbers on the machines. "He's holding his own, which is good."

"How long will he…?" Chin asked, motioning to Steve.

"Be in the coma?" Chin nodded. "It's hard to tell. Each person is different. But if I know the Commander and his stubborn nature, he will come out of it sooner rather than later. The ventilator will remain until he can breathe on his own. Then, it's up to him."

"What happens if that…never happens?" Chin asked.

"Then Detective Williams may have to make a decision to remove the Commander from life support."

Chin closed his eyes as the information washed over him. He prayed that Danny would never have to make that decision. If he did, however, Chin and Kono would be there so he didn't have to do it alone.

"That's the worst case scenario, though. Assuming we can get his heart beating regularly, his chances of a full recovery increases," the doctor explained.

Chin nodded, signalling he understood. He was finding it hard to speak with the amount of emotion threatening to bubble over. Doctor Palamo appeared to understand, because he excused himself from the cubicle, leaving his number for Chin to call if he had any more questions.

Chin turned back to Steve. The man looked smaller in the hospital bed. Not the usual energiser bunny that was always on the move. It was disconcerting to see the man so unnaturally still.

"Hey, brah," Chin said, looking up at Steve's face and hoping for some kind of instant miracle. Steve remained immobile.

"I'm not sure if you can hear me, but I'm going to try anyway. I'm going to channel my inner Danny and talk at you until you wake up," Chin said with a tiny smile.

"I understand why you wanted us out of this. Nazeef was able to get to anyone, at any time. You wanted to protect us, to keep us safe. And you did. By the way, Grace is safe. Nazeef had a bomb planted at the school, set to go off tomorrow morning," Chin paused and sighed. "You saved her life again, you know? If you hadn't warned Danny, her and countless other children would have perished. So why don't you trust yourself around her?"

"Yeah, I know," Chin responded as though Steve had actually answered him. "You think that because this guy from your past came back to haunt you, that you are responsible for the danger brought down on your family. Well, I've got news for you Steve. It could have been someone from my past, or Kono's. Hell, it was Danny's brother's past when Fuentes took Grace. Yet, somehow, you still managed to find a way to blame yourself for that."

"You should know that none of us blame you for anything. We just want you back, alive and healthy. Danny says that Grace is the only reason that he is staying in Hawaii, but that's not true. He needs you, more than you know. Just like Kono and I do."

"When you asked me to join the taskforce, I didn't know what to think. I thought that the people at HPD would find a way to make you dirty by association or at least purposely make your job harder. But instead, you gave me a life, a purpose again. That is a debt I will never be able to repay. And if, for some reason, I'm in danger because of my association with you, I wouldn't care. The time I have spent working with you, Danny and Kono has been the best time of my life. I wouldn't trade it for anything."

"I know you will do everything in your power to make sure we are safe, but you should know that we would do the same for you. You just have to let us in. I know a lot of people have let you down in your life, but we won't. You can rely on us for anything."

Chin took another calming breath, trying to get his emotions under control.

"You need to get better, brah. You need to fight this. Otherwise Danny will have to make a decision he never wants to make. You can't do that to him, not after everything that has happened. He needs you, we need you. If you go…then I don't know what will happen. It's probably going to have to be me that listens to him singing Bon Jovi in the car. I'm not sure if I'm quite ready for that."

Chin smiled. "Also, you are Grace's Uncle Steve. Who else is going to teach her to climb trees and swim in shark infested waters? It's not like she has anyone else to teach her things that will make Danny's head explode." Chin paused and then added as an afterthought, "well, maybe Kono could."

Chin paused. He thought about the young child that Steve had been protecting this whole time. Six years was a long time to keep a secret, especially one that big.

"Nazeef is gone, so is Walker. You fulfilled your promise. You can rest and get better. We will be here when you are ready…Just don't take too long, okay?"

Chin stood in silence, hoping his message had gotten through to his friend.


Danny had no idea how long he had been sitting in the sand, but it was long enough for his knee to start aching and his legs to develop the tingling sensation that suggested he hadn't moved in a while. He felt so empty that he couldn't be bothered moving.

Danny looked out over the ocean, watching the waves crashing on the shore before the water was sucked back into the never-ending abyss. Danny thought it was very similar to the current situation; as soon as something good came along, it was taken away just as quickly. They had found Steve, but they still might lose him. It was impossibly unfair.

Danny looked up at the sky and watched as the stars grew brighter as the sun set on the horizon. Danny had thought that by the day's end, he would be sitting with his partner and bickering with him about not having backup. Instead, he was sitting on his bottom in a pile of sand, grieving the loss of his friend.

Danny thought back to the last words his partner had spoken.

"D-Da-Danny?" Steve breathed.

"Yeah, babe?" Danny asked.

"Why…Why a-are y-you…here?" Steve rasped. "D-dead?"

"No, you are not dead," Danny replied.

"N-n-not…me," Steve managed as his eyes fluttered closed.

Danny wondered what Steve had meant. Did Steve think he was dead? Or did he think Danny was dead?

If Nazeef used the explosion at the Palace as a way to make Steve talk, then it was entirely possible that Steve thought the team had been killed. Knowing Nazeef had tried to use their deaths against his partner made Danny impossibly angry. No, not angry. Devastated.

Danny's thoughts turned to his daughter. His beautiful, precious daughter. His daughter that he could hug and hold because Steve had warned him. Danny wondered if Steve had used his last breath to utter the vital words, to make Danny understand the urgency behind them.

Steve had saved Grace. He had saved all the other kids from the school too. But Nazeef had threatened Grace. The man had used Steve's love for Grace against him in an effort to get him to talk. Danny felt revulsion at the knowledge that Steve's pressure point, his weakness, was Danny's daughter.

Danny knew that Steve and Grace had a special bond, especially after everything that went down with Fuentes. Danny couldn't help the guilt that overcame him at feeling relief that Steve had protected her from harm, even using what was possibly his last moments alive to save her.

Where did that leave Steve?

Lying in a hospital bed, in a coma. He may never wake up again.

How many more people would try to use Steve for their own personal gain? How many more times could Steve go through this, shielding those he felt needed protection with his own being? Why does Steve willingly sacrifice himself for what he perceives to be the greater good? Why do people let him?

Those questions had gone through Danny's head multiple times since Fuentes had turned their lives upside down and were now replaying in his mind. He still didn't have all the answers.

Danny looked back out across the sparkling blue ocean. He briefly wondered why he had come here, of all places. He hated the sand and the water, but this was Steve's paradise. Where he came to think, to feel, to release. Maybe that's what had drawn Danny here. In a way, he felt closer to Steve as he searched for answers the ocean couldn't give him.

Danny jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He instantly relaxed when he recognised Kono sitting down beside him. He hadn't heard her approaching, but was glad for her presence nonetheless.

"Hey," Kono said.

"Hey," Danny replied. "Is Steve…?"

"Chin's with him," Kono supplied.

"Good," Danny said, for the sake of filling the silence with sound.

Kono let Danny wallow in silence for a moment. "He'll be okay, you know?"

"How can you know that?!" Danny yelled at her. "How can anyone know that? He's been tortured more times than I can count! He's in a coma and he may die! He's spent more time trying to protect us than looking after himself! How is any of that okay?"

Kono listened calmly. She had been waiting for the inevitable explosion. Danny had been holding everything together for so long and he had reached his breaking point. She let him vent, knowing exactly how worried he was.

"First Fuentes messed him up and now Nazeef comes in to finish the job. What does he have left to live for? How many more people will come and try to kill him? How many times can he do this and come out the other side?"

"Danny—"

"Maybe it's best to just…" Danny trailed off.

"To what? Let him go?" Kono asked angrily. "You don't mean that!"

Danny sighed. "No, I don't…I'm sorry. It's just…"

"Yeah, I know Danny. But he's Steve. He will be okay. He will fight."

Danny hung his head. "Not if he thinks we're dead."

"Then we'll just have to show him that's not true," Kono said, as though that would solve all their problems. "Come on. Let's go see him."

Kono held out her hand to pull Danny up off the sand. Danny took it, but stumbled on his numb legs. Kono caught him and waiting until he was steady. Together, they walked across the sand to the road.

"I can't see him…not yet," Danny said.

"What? Why not?" Kono asked, stopping in front of her car.

"I need to make sure that this really is over. So I can look him in the eye and tell him we did everything we could to bring Nazeef and his network down," Danny explained. "For good!"

"Danny…Steve needs you by his side, not out looking for people who may or may not exist."

"Kono, if Steve makes it through this, I want to make sure he never has to go through it ever again. If he doesn't make it, well…I don't really want to think about it."

As Kono looked at Danny, she could see the sincerity in his eyes. "Okay. But you aren't going to do it alone. Chin and I will help you…In the meantime, you have to see Steve."

Danny knew she wasn't just talking about hunting down the rest of Nazeef's network. He appreciated the sentiment, more than he could express in words.


Sergeant Duke Lukela had heard the report over the radio earlier that morning. Now, standing in front of the remains of the Iolani Palace, he wondered if he should have seen this coming. Between the meth lab explosion and the house that nearly burnt down with his men inside, Duke should have taken extra precautions.

Now he had an officer dead, evidence of yet another explosion and an entire taskforce missing. The vehicles parked in front of the Palace suggested the Five-0 team had been inside. However, something in Duke's gut told him the team had not perished in the fire.

"Sergeant!"

Duke turned around and saw one of his officers approaching him.

"What have you got?" he asked.

"The primary search has been completed. As far as they can tell, there are no bodies inside, Sir," the officer said.

Duke sagged with relief. "Thank goodness."

"There's more, Sir…CSU found fragments of the bomb. According to them, the bomb was on a timer."

Duke frowned. That didn't make sense. If the cases were connected, why use three different types of bombs? Whatever Five-0 had been on to was definitely high-stakes enough to have someone try to take them out.

"Thank you," Duke said as he dismissed the officer.

Before he had time to contemplate the information that had just been dumped on him, Duke's phone rang.

"Lukela," he answered without looking at the caller ID.

"Duke, it's Chin."

Duke almost sank to the floor in relief. "It's good to hear your voice, Chin. I'm looking at the Palace right now."

"Yeah. Sorry about that. We are all okay. Well…sort of. I'll explain later. Right now, I need your help," Chin said.

Duke pushed his elation to the side and concentrated. "What can I do?"

"We found Steve. He's alive…" Chin started.

"That's great!" Duke exclaimed. He had seen the remains of Steve's truck. It hadn't looked good.

"Yeah, but he's not out of the woods yet. He's in the ICU at Tripler, in a coma…We need a protective detail on him," Chin said.

Duke's stomach flipped at the news. "I'll get a few guys—"

"No!" Chin exclaimed. "No…We can't risk it."

Duke was confused. He had no idea what was going on, but he knew it had to be big.

"Okay."

"Sorry. I'll explain it when you get here. We can't trust anyone else. At least, not yet…Don't tell anyone where you are going or that you have heard from me. We need to stay under the radar for a little longer."

"Chin, what's going on?" Duke asked out of concern.

"I'll explain when you get here. Please, Duke?"

"Okay, I'm on my way."

Duke hung up and stared down at the phone in his hand. He had never heard Chin Ho Kelly sound so…desperate before. He took another glance at the charred remains of the Palace. He was relieved that the team wasn't dead, but that lead to a whole other problem. Why were they pretending to be dead? What could be so dangerous that they couldn't have anyone knowing they were alive? Those thoughts kept Duke occupied on the drive to Tripler.

Duke met Chin outside of the ICU.

"You look like something the cat dragged in," Duke said by way of greeting.

"Feel like it too," Chin commented with a small smile. "Thanks for coming."

Duke looked around, noticing two people were missing. "Where are Danny and Kono?"

Chin sighed. "Danny didn't exactly take the news about Steve's condition very well. Kono went after him."

Duke looked at Chin. It was evident he wasn't taking the news any better. "What do you need from me?"

"I need you to watch Steve."

"Okay. But first you need to tell me what's going on."

Chin looked at Duke and took in his determined glare. Chin sighed and explained everything that had happened. Everything from discovering Ivan Monroe's mutilated body to Walker's deception and Carl Rogerson's participation, to finding Steve in the cabin.

"Until we can ascertain who was working for Nazeef, we can't risk telling anyone what we know," Chin explained.

"How do you know I'm not part of this?" Duke asked curiously.

Chin chuckled. "Because no one can manipulate you and get away with it. Plus, we trust you."

Duke swelled with pride.

"Can I see Steve?" Duke asked.

Chin nodded. "Of course."

As soon as Duke entered Steve's ICU cubicle, he wished he hadn't. Lying on the bed, dwarfed by the machinery keeping him alive, was John McGarrett's son. Anger flared in Duke as he clenched his fists.

"Go get the bastards that did this," he said to Chin.