Pehea wau i ʻike ai i kou makuahine
Based on the characters and stories of Hawaii Five-0.
Hawaii Five-0 is owned by CBS and their respective creators.
"Fuck."
"Shit. Grab her legs."
"Fucking- Stop kicking! You're making this harder on yourself!"
"Geez! What have you been eating?! Cement?!"
Catherine could barely make out the muffled voices through the canvas hood over her head. Her elbows flew like boomerangs until she felt the zip tie cinch around her wrists. Gravity betrayed her as she was hoisted and slung over a giant shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She kicked her legs against her attacker until she felt another zip tie restrained them. Time to conserve energy.
By her guess, she had been thrown in the back of an open top Jeep. The shocks groaned and creaked as the getaway driver floored it, hitting pothole after pothole.
Five minutes.
Left turn.
Forty-five seconds.
Left turn.
Two minutes.
Right turn.
Twenty seconds.
Accelerate.
Catherine busied herself with remembering the direction of travel from the safehouse. She silently prayed that this was some sort of new agent hazing ritual and not an abduction. Half an hour later, the Jeep came to a screeching halt. Catherine grunted and flailed as she was dragged out of the vehicle.
Up.
She groaned as her stomach was dropped back onto the shoulder of her abductor.
Down.
The soft padding of a bed caught her fall. Wait. A bed? Catherine stilled. Al-Qaeda didn't usually spring for plush accommodations for their hostages.
Slice.
A knife cut through the zip tie around her ankles. She wasn't wasting another damn second. Her leg shot out from her body and nailed the attacker. "WILL YOU STOP SQUIRMING." The man shouted. "Geez, Princess, you're a terrible hostage." Jude ripped off the canvas hood and leaned over the bed, nose to nose with her. "What did I tell you about punching me in the face?" A cherry red welt bloomed on his chiseled cheekbone.
"Eh, it's probably for the best. You'll be able to sell the story when you get back to the house." The other voice chimed in. Catherine felt the restraints around her wrists free as the other accomplice cut through the zip tie. "You know, you went down way too easy. I've got some moves you need to learn." The other attacker walked around the bed and stood beside Jude with a satisfied grin.
"I was asleep, Doris." She looked back to Jude with accusatory eyes, "And you gave me an Ambien."
Jude playfully nudged her scowling chin with a crooked finger, "That was before Mama D called. Total kismet."
Catherine huffed and surveyed the room. It looked like a smaller version of the safehouse. The amenities were rudimentary and the threadbare blankets on top of the bed looked like it hadn't been used in ages. An exposed lightbulb flickered in the center of the ceiling, putting off an eerie glow in the otherwise dark building. "One of you better start explaining as to why the fuck you hooded me in the middle of the fucking night, threw me in the back of a Jeep, and hauled my ass to God knows where instead of, oh, I don't know… WAKING ME UP AND ASKING FUCKING NICELY?!
Doris cocked her head to the side, "Steve said she only swears when she's about to go ballistic."
Jude chuckled, "Yeah, I learned that real quick. She'll cool off in a minute." He turned his attention back to a very angry Catherine, "I've gotta get back before the house wakes up. Are you two gonna play nice?"
"Oh good. You remembered I'm still here." Catherine rolled her eyes indignantly. Did everyone in the CIA have conversations about people while they're standing right infront of them?
Doris shooed Jude towards the door. "Thanks for your help, Beckett. Remember, you still owe me for J-Bad. Your debt is only about twenty-percent paid." She patted him on the shoulder, "Get going. If you run into any problems on your end, let me know."
Jude spun the keyring around his finger and hollered as he ducked out of the room, "Catch you later, Princess."
Silence.
The air in the room was charged with electricity and vitriol. Catherine and Doris were in a standoff. Arms crossed, hips cocked, frowns engaged. Doris broke first, "I told you so." Her frown turned into a grin. "Told you you'd make a good agent."
"Oh my God." Catherine's heart leapt into her throat. Sweat beaded on her pale skin as she sank down onto the bed. "Does Steve know?"
Doris paced around the room, "No. He's a little busy at the moment, which brings me to why I'm here. Rather, why you're here." She took a deep breath and for a fleeting second, looked like a scared mother, not a hardened covert operative. "Steve's in trouble. Steve... and Danny are in trouble."
"What are you talking about?"
"They killed Marco Reyes. Danny pulled the trigger, but Steve was there. Reyes was a CIA asset. I was at Langley for a briefing when I heard that chatter that a bird with agents was loading up for O'ahu. Sam Alexander's heading up the grab team. They're making it federal so Five-0 can't pull jurisdiction."
Catherine held her hands out to cease Doris's onslaught of information. "Hold on, what? So instead of hopping on a plane to Honolulu International, you flew from D.C. to Afghanistan? And who's Sam Alexander? And the CIA only works with foreign threats. If they're going to arrest Steve and Danny, they'd have to go through the FBI and God knows those two don't play well."
"Oh, you must not have met him yet. He's the worst. You'll hate him. And Danny? He shot Reyes IN Columbia. CIA doesn't have to answer to the FBI if they're grabbing a suspect for something done outside the States. Anyways. To the point. You're my collateral."
"Excuse me?"
"I tipped off Joe White in case the bird landed before I got my plan in motion. I have a little leverage over Alexander and I think it was enough to keep him off of Steve - for now. But if the hourglass runs out of sand and it's not enough, there are now two CIA agents," She pointed to herself and then to Catherine, "In the wind in a red zone. If it comes to it, we topple the house of cards."
The puzzle pieces began to click into place, "So that's why you had Jude kidnap me in the middle of the night."
Doris nodded, "Heard through the grapevine that you and Steve ended things. Didn't know if you'd come willingly."
She raised an eyebrow, "Heard from the grapevine or heard from Jude?" When Doris shrugged sheepishly, Catherine rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in the air, "Geez, what are you two? The Breakfast Club?"
"Oh, Jude and I go way back."
"Can't be that far back. He's Steve's age." Catherine distanced herself from Doris and began to pace, "Do you really think I'm good enough leverage to keep Steve out of this mess? I've only been in a couple months and most of that has been on a solo assignment. I've spent like four days in the house. I don't know any secrets."
Doris waved her finger in the air, "I'm the secrets. You're the grenade. You're an American citizen who was taken by your own country's intelligence agency. You were interrogated in a blacksite alongside terrorists and war criminals. You were refused legal counsel and coerced into joining the agency. If your story gets out, you could cause the whole thing to self-implode, Sweetie. Why do you think they've kept you practically chained to Beckett in a country as far away from the States as possible? Everyone in the acronyms knows you and Steve are a thing. Once Beckett puts out the word that you're MIA, the agency will put two and two together. They're gonna be more worried about you getting out than trying to extradite Steve to Columbia."
She had a point. Catherine was a liability to the agency. Usually, a liability was an incredibly bad thing to be. After all, that's what Steve had called her when he broke up with her years prior. A liability was something to be cut loose. This time, it made her powerful. "Jude said something about them keeping me on a leash until I prove myself."
"You can trust him." Doris reassured her. "I'd trust him with my life."
Catherine sank back down on the bed, "So, what? We're just supposed to sit here?"
"Joe's on the ground in O'ahu working it from his end. He'll let me know if we need to adjust our course of action. But yes, for now, we sit and wait."
The two room house didn't leave much in the way of space or indoor plumbing. Catherine looked down at her pajama clad body. Well, if you could count Steve's boxer shorts and an old Navy t-shirt as pajamas. "You wouldn't have happened to grab me a change of clothes, would you?"
Doris tossed her a bag from the foot of the bed. "Don't worry. I came prepared."
As Catherine pulled on more substantial clothing, a nagging thought crossed her mind, "So this is what you've been doing all these years? Keeping Steve and Mary safe from afar?"
"Contrary to popular belief, I'm not the villain in this story, Catherine."
There was that damn knife twisting in her gut again. Catherine sat down and stared at the dirt floor, "And I made Steve believe that you were."
Doris clasped her hands together. Her eyes softened as she turned to Catherine and sat down beside her. "You know, I wasn't an active parent very long, but something I learned from having small children underfoot all the damn time was that having a short memory is imperative in life."
"So you don't hold it against me?"
"Hold what against you?" Doris tapped her temple with a sly smile, "See? Short memory."
Catherine chewed on her lip, "You already knew I was in before this happened, didn't you?"
"Steve tracked me down while you were getting started. Asked me if I had any contacts in the area who could keep an eye on you while you were, uh, what was that lie you told him? Teaching?" Doris waved her hand dismissively, "I knew Beckett was over here. I looked into his file to see where I could find him and saw that he was your security detail on an assignment. Did a little more digging and found out what happened. Don't worry. I read your contract. I know that it stipulates that Steve can't know. And if he knew you did this to save his ass, he'd kill us both."
"Jude told you I ended it with him. How'd you know I would go along with it?"
Doris's laugh was a full-bellied roar, "Sweetie, you two could run off and marry other people on opposite sides of the globe and have ten kids each, and you still wouldn't be over. This is just a temporary setback for you two. You'll make it through. Do your time then tell him what happened and move on with your life. "
"Are we just going to pretend that it's not weird to have you give advice about honesty in relationships?" Catherine's serious tone changed as a smile flickered at her lips.
"Har har. You're hilarious." Doris grinned, "I'll have you know, I'm a reformed dishonest relationship haver."
"So what's Jude's deal?" Catherine had traded sitting on the bed for pacing the floor, and pacing the floor for sit-ups. Now, she was perched on a stool by the window, peering out at the noonday sun, "You two know each other well."
Doris stretched out on a dusty rug as she moved from a warrior pose to an extended triangle pose. At her age, yoga was necessary to stay limber. "He's a good kid. His first day on the job he got put on my security team. We usually end up working a couple assignments every year together."
Catherine decided to abandon her stool to join Doris and stretch out her aching muscles. The bed at the safehouse paled in comparison to Steve's luxury memory foam. He hadn't splurged on many things in the house, but both of them appreciated a nice bed to cradle their aching joints after a hard day on the job. At least, they used to. Now, she had a spring poking her in the back every night and her side of his bed was cold. She folded forward before stretching up into a tree pose and exhaling slowly, "He's nice."
"Did you know he was an orphan?" Doris lowered herself into a child's pose. "Parents died in a car accident when he was ten." She peered over at Catherine and answered the question she knew was coming, "An actual car accident. Got put in the foster care system. Aged out at eighteen, enlisted in the Marines, did his time to get tuition assistance and got into law school."
"JAG?"
Doris shook her head, "Probably would have if he didn't get recruited by the agency. Don't let the muscles fool you. He's smart. Learns a new language every time he gets a couple months off."
Catherine tightened her ponytail and eased forward until she was in a dragon pose, "Damn. Coming from a background like that? It's, uh, it's amazing he made something of himself."
"At some point people have to stop blaming their problems on a crappy childhood and decide whether they're going to be a good person or not."
She struggled to hold the pose as the muscles in her thighs quivered. "Why's he a security agent then? He should be in the field." Before she could respond, Doris's phone pinged with an incoming message. After reading it for a moment, she set the phone back down. Catherine looked from the phone to Doris and back again, "Any news?"
She took a deep breath, "Joe said they're loading the bird to go to Colombia."
"So, they're going to get Danny?"
Doris shrugged, "If everything goes to plan, yes. But the odds aren't good." Of course the odds weren't good. Were the odds ever good? Not when Steve was involved. But, that was exactly why Catherine knew it was possible Steve had the uncanny ability to beat whatever odds were thrown at him. Doris reached over and placed a steadying hand on her arm, "He's going to be okay." She didn't know if she was saying that for Catherine's sake or her own.
Night fell and with it came the chirping of crickets and the occasional drone strike. Being confined to the safe house often made Catherine forget that they were in a warzone. Decker and Jude came and went as they pleased, and Marshall even made a point to go out and hunt down a good cup of coffee once in a while. Catherine, however, kept to herself, appearing only for meals and the daily security briefings and threat assessments.
Being kidnapped by Doris for thirty hours had been a breath of fresh air. Literally. Catherine closed the new journal she had been writing in and held it to her chest. After a sensible dinner of MREs, Catherine had offered to take first watch, letting Doris take over the bed for a little shut eye. She thought about texting Jude and asking what the snowball effect of her leaving had been, but she remembered his warning that company phones were monitored constantly. Instead of turning the phone back on, she simply pulled the dog tags out from under her shirt and ran her finger over the stamped metal that read McGARRETT, STEVEN J.
Doris's burner phone chirped and both women immediately jumped into high alert. Doris snatched it from beside her pillow and read the message. "All personnel accounted for." She exhaled a tired breath as her hands began to shake. Catherine sat down on the edge of the bed and read the message as if she didn't quite believe it. Doris's hand found hers and gave it a maternal squeeze as she said, "They're okay. All of them."
Journal #2
Somewhere outside of Kabul.
I need to ask Doris where we actually are when she wakes up. The last... fuck. I don't even know how long it's been. Thirty hours by my guess? That's what happens when your supposed security agent and ex-boyfriend's mother kidnap you in the middle of the night and haul you to BFE without an explanation.
I should probably also apologize to Jude for punching him in the face, but he kind of deserved it. I mean, they could have just fucking woken me up like civilized human beings and explained what was going on. Right now it's easier to stay mad at them for the kidnapping than letting myself worry, because, fuck. I'm fucking terrified. I'm scared for Steve. I'm scared for Danny. For Grace. I'm scared about what will happen if Doris's plan has to go nuclear and I have to out the agency for what they did to me. Doing that to save Steve is a sacrifice I'm willing to make, but it's a very literal death sentence for me.
Doris has this amazing network of people that when she says 'jump', they beg her to tell them how high. Jude. Joe. And now? Me. Fuck it- I screwed up. I wrecked Steve's relationship with his mom and now she might miss out on time with him if he gets extradited. I need this INSANE plan to work. I need him to be okay. He has to be okay.
It's been a couple weeks since we ended things. I still cry every night. I still wear what few things of his I have. Jude says it'll get better. How is he so intuitive? The night before he abducted me, he put a new box of tissues in my room. Doris, on the other hand, says that Steve and I are linked for life. That no matter how far we try to run from each other, we'll always find our way back. She's pretty damn intuitive too. I mean, that's how Steve and I have always been. Chasing, finding, fighting, and loving. Part of me hopes they're both right. I need this to get better because every night, sleeping alone, not hearing his voice? I feel like I'm going to die. The other part of me hopes that Doris is right. That we'll find our way back to each other.
I miss him. I love him. I feel a little better though, having Doris here. Having her on my side. It's like having a part of Steve with me.
Steve stared at the words on the page. He had read them ten times, at least. Why had she never told him? How had he never figured it out? Something in the back of his mind had always told him that there was no way he should have gotten away from the Columbia debacle scot-free. Catherine had put her ass on the line for him when the consequences for her could have been far worse.
Afghanistan.
Columbia.
Twice now, Catherine had risked everything for him, and hell, he knew that down the road there were more times than he cared to remember. Steve dropped the journal on the couch and caught a glimpse of Catherine at the kitchen sink giving Will a sponge bath after a particularly messy episode with mashed bananas. A few long paces and he caught her by the waist. Spinning her around, he wrapped his arms around her and crushed her into his chest.
"Whrtyuhogmuhfarsulur?" Her mumble was unintelligible as he held her against him. Steve wasn't going to let any space be between them. Not even a breath. Catherine's head craned to the side, "What are you hugging me for, Sailor?" She giggled.
Steve's mouth latched onto hers in a ferocious kiss. "For everything." He dipped back down to continue his assault on her lips when a wave of water poured onto their feet. Catherine shrieked and spun out of Steve's arms. Will belly laughed as he kicked and splashed another tsunami out of the sink.
Catherine dove for dish towels as Steve wrapped Will in his towel like a burrito and tucked him into his side. "We make a good team." She smiled as she mopped up the puddles on the kitchen floor.
He bounced the baby in his arms as Catherine drained the sink. "Is this what you imagined your post-CIA life being like? Bathing babies in sinks?"
She wrung the towel out in the sink before resting her hands on the lip and looking up at him. "I can't think of anything I want more."
AUTHOR'S NOTE
So! We're peeling back the mysterious layers that is Jude Beckett. Let's be honest, it's really hard not to love Jude. He's a sweetheart.
Leave your thoughts and comments in the reviews!
Happy Tuesday, friends!
XO,
-Mags-
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