I really, really sincerely appreciated all of you guys' kind words. My dog is doing much better. I'm still kinda struggling mentally/emotionally, but I think I'll survive.
Shout out to Phoebe Miller for sticking with me, and for Those-Elusive-Words for helping me get this chapter setup somewhat.
Fact #151: It hurts the most when it's family.
Season: 5th Season
Danny would have chewed Steve out six ways to Sunday if he had attempted to do what he was currently doing. They were way out of their jurisdiction. This wasn't their sandbox where if they kicked over someone's sand castle the Governor could swoop in and bail them out.
But, it was his home town. He figured he could take some liberties.
The rental car drifted around the corner. With gritted teeth and disturbingly steady and deft hands, he kept the wheel under control and slammed his foot on the gas pedal again. The car's engine revved. It hugged the street as it took off again.
Aunt Tiffany. She was one of the last ones he had expected to become a target. They had never been that close, but apparently close enough that she had texted him about the unsavory person in her salon. He figured if anybody was going to be in the crosshairs again, it would have been his parents or siblings. Maybe Uncle Rob or Vinny.
Though, the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Tiffany lived alone, didn't work in a busy area, and didn't have a protection detail on her.
Danny skidded to a stop behind the building the hair salon was in. Just as he had expected, a thug came running out of the back alley. Steve was threatening on a good day. After having to be the good cop during his and Shamrock's tense meeting, he had probably cut loose and scared the suspect out like they had planned.
The thug slid across the hood of the car before Danny could get out.
"Five-0! Freeze!" he yelled as he launched himself from the driver's seat.
In Hawaii, announcing that he was Five-0 usually sent a decent warning to the criminals, most of which were familiar with the team. In Jersey, that meant nothing. They didn't have the reputation or the pull here.
He was halfway across the road when he heard gunshots behind him. He paused, casting a glance at the back of the salon. There must have been more than one thug.
Trusting his partner to have it covered, maybe to even enjoy the chance to be Super SEAL, he continued his pursuit of the fleeing thug.
"Hey, buddy, what part of freeze don't you understand?" he questioned.
He followed the thug into an alley with his gun drawn. A chain link fence blocked the alley from the next street over. The thug was no parkour expert and didn't look like he had a clue how to get over the fence.
"Hands above your head," Danny said.
The thug held his hands up by his curly hair and turned around slowly. He was clad in a black tracksuit with a gold chain around his neck. Danny almost snorted. They didn't make them like this in Hawaii.
"Lace your fingers behind your head and get on your knees," he said.
The man did as he was told. He looked up at Danny smugly.
The hairs on Danny's neck rose. He knew that had gone too smoothly.
Another man tackled him from behind, knocking his gun out of his hands. It clattered under the garbage bin. The curly haired thug jumped up and rushed into the fray.
Danny threw an elbow and caught something solid with it. Most likely a nose. He scrambled to his feet, barely able to brace himself as the curly haired thug grabbed him by the shoulders and tossed him towards the garbage bin. His wrists protested at the jarring impact against the rusted metal.
He lashed out with a foot at the curly haired thug's knee, then turned to block a punch to the stomach from the other one.
Stars twinkled in his vision as a fist smashed into his cheekbone. He stumbled to the side into the curly haired thug's sucker punch to the kidney. His knee locked as he pivoted to defend himself.
This was the Jersey he remembered. Fighting in dirty alleys. Two goons ganging up on one guy. All in broad daylight. And he would fight like he used to.
Danny absorbed one more punch before making his move. Scales covered his knuckles and the small jolt of adrenaline from the minuscule shifting was enough to turn it into a power hit. It sent the second thug that had surprised him staggering away.
With the second thug gripping the edge of the garbage bin to keep from falling, he quickly turned towards the curly haired thug and feigned a right hook before coming in with an uppercut from his left. Down the thug went.
Not wanting to risk them catching a second wind, he zip tied their hands behind their backs, almost falling on his face as he bent to secure the second thug's ties.
"Freeze!"
He lifted his head, wiping blood from his split lip on the back of his hand.
"Five-0. I'm a cop," he said. He didn't reach for his badge. Getting shot by a jittery officer wasn't on his to-do list today.
"Five-0?" the officer questioned and glanced at his partner in confusion.
Danny sighed and very deliberately straightened up with a wince. "Detective Danny Williams."
"Aw nuts, I thought that was you, you putz," the other officer, an older woman, said.
Danny squinted. "Jenny Smirnov?"
She walked into the alley with her gun still drawn but pointed down while her partner guarded the entrance. "Sergeant Jenny Smirnov to you, wise guy. How the hell have you been doing?"
Danny opened his mouth.
"No, wait, scratch that. What the hell have you been doing?" she asked and gestured to the zip tied thugs.
"Just please get them in cuffs. I'll explain later, okay? I've gotta go make sure my partner and aunt aren't full of holes or something," Danny said. He gave her a grin and patted her shoulder. "It's good to see you, Sergeant. And that's my gun under the trashcan, just so you know."
He left Jenny and her partner to take care of the thugs while he jogged to the back of the salon. The approaching whine of police sirens could be heard as well as the familiar wail of an ambulance tailing after them. He let himself in to the salon's back door.
"Steve? Tiffany?"
He followed the sound of his partner's voice to the front of the salon. Glass crunched under his feet and he could smell the familiar scent of a gun fight. The front of the salon was in shambles. The front windows were shattered, the welcome desk was peppered with holes, a few of the mirrors were cracked, products were scattered on the floor with various shampoos and conditioners leaking out and pooling in a goopy mess.
Standing near the center of the destruction was his partner with Tiffany glued to his side. Steve looked in the middle of trying to explain to the two wary officers that he didn't need to go in for questioning.
"Woah, hold it right there, pal." One of the officers finally noticed him and went for his gun.
Danny rolled his eyes with a heavy sigh. He held his hands up in surrender. "Detective Danny Williams. Your sergeant out back knows me."
"I know that name," the other officer said. He rubbed his forehead in thought. "You were Burnham's partner, right? The one that took off to Hawaii?"
"Yeah," Danny said.
The officer nodded and swept a hand out at the destroyed salon. "You boys are gonna have a lot of explaining to do to Callahan."
Danny breathed out a relieved breath. He and Callahan went way back as did he and Jenny. They could probably manage to wriggle their way out of being in too much trouble once he talked to him over a pint of beer at the bar around the block from the station.
"We're gonna need all of you to come down to the station with us," the other officer said.
Danny didn't make a fuss and made sure Steve didn't either. They needed some good will directed their way for once.
It was easily close to nine o'clock that night when they got back to Danny's parents' house.
No other hits had been attempted on any other family members the rest of the day, and they had gotten away with not being charged anything. The worst they received was the aggravated rant from Chief Callahan over proper procedure. Danny had taken it all in stride while Steve was stuck between being amused that Danny had been scolded as well, and being horrified that there were other people like Danny who had a proper procedure rant prepared.
Danny tried the handle on the front door, already knowing it was locked. He knocked.
The curtain in the window next to the door moved slightly. The deadbolts and chain clinked. Kono greeted them cheerfully, but her preparedness was marked by the gun in her hand and her watchful gaze that scanned the street behind them before she closed the door and latched all the locks again.
"Ma, Aunt Tiffany's staying the night," Danny said after he slipped out of his shoes and walked into the kitchen.
Clara stood at the stove pouring herself a cup of tea and Eddie sat on one of the barstools at the counter with a newspaper and a beer. Danny licked his lips. He was dying for a beer and food.
"I wouldn't have wanted her to be at home by herself, anyway," Clara said. She pointed at the oven. "Your dinner's probably cold by now, but it's there."
"Thanks, Ma." He kissed her cheek.
"What happened, son? Was it the same people that went after Eric?" Eddie asked.
Danny peeked in the oven. His stomach grumbled as the delectable scent of lasagna oozed out. He straightened and reached up into the cupboards.
"Pa, you know I can't talk about ongoing cases," he said, pulling out a plate.
"I know, but this is family, Danny. This isn't some mob case on the other side of town. Your family is right in the middle of it," Eddie said.
Danny ducked into the fridge to grab a beer he knew was hidden in the back. "Pa, it's compli–"
"Oh no it's not!"
Danny stiffened.
He popped up and spun on his heel only to lock eyes with Reuben standing across the kitchen. He shot his mom a questioning look.
"I had to call him, honey, Tiffany's his aunt, too," Clara said.
Danny set the beer down next to his still empty plate. Reuben and Tiffany had always been close, closer than Danny was to either of them. Out of the gaggle of cousins, Reuben had been Tiffany's favorite growing up, too, and he was sure she was Reuben's favorite aunt.
"Reuben, calm down. Tiffany's okay, just a little shaken up," Danny soothed.
"Yeah, thanks to Steve! Because you were out back getting beat up like usual instead of saving her," Reuben said.
Steve peered around the corner at the raised voice. Danny shook his head subtly, warning him off.
"Some cop you are, you can't even do your job right," Reuben continued.
"Reuben!" Clara gaped at him.
Eddie stood up from the barstool. "Reuben–"
"No, he needs to hear this," Reuben said.
"Then take it outside," Eddie said lowly.
Reuben stormed out through the sliding door into the backyard. Danny patted his mom on the shoulder in an 'it's gonna be okay' gesture and followed his cousin outside.
He paced around the grass and wrung his hands. Reuben was stock-still in the middle of the yard, trembling. Anyone who knew the Williams knew that a still Williams was a bad thing.
"Reuben–"
"This is your fault," Reuben hissed. His hand lashed out in a swipe. "You had to be a cop, didn't you? Couldn't be a fireman like Eddie and Rob, couldn't be a banker like George, you had to do something that would put the rest of your family in danger, didn't you?"
A wave of heat pricked the hairs on the back of Danny's neck. "Why do you think I became a cop, huh? It was to protect my family!"
"What family?" Reuben turned on his heel and encompassed the house with a vivid waving of his arms. He faced him again with a scowl. "You couldn't keep your wife because you were a cop, and you lost your kid because of it. And then you up and left all of us here. You couldn't even keep your own damn brother from turning into a criminal and fleeing the country!"
Danny gritted his teeth. He should have known Matty would get dragged into this.
"He was your brother, man! Your own blood!" Reuben said. "But you failed him like you failed Rachel and Grace and all of us. Who are you protecting? Because it sure as hell isn't family!"
"I moved halfway across the globe to be with Grace! I completely uprooted my life and moved to Hawaii so I could protect her there," he said. "And why do you think I'm back here? You don't think it's because I'm trying to protect my family, even a mouthy schmuck like you?"
"You're back because you made a mess and now you're trying to clean it up!" Reuben snapped. "Where were you this morning, huh? Where were you when your family needed you?"
"I was doing my job and getting information that could help end this thing," he said.
"You should have been here instead of relying on one woman to protect your parents. What did you do instead? You sent a patrol car to cruise the neighborhood, the wrong neighborhood might I remind you, and you sent your gimpy ex-partner!"
Danny inhaled sharply. The heat radiating up from the base of his ribcage overwhelmed his vision with a flood of red for a moment. "Mags would die protecting you and so help me, if you try to put any of this on her, I'll leave you hanging in the wind when the next round of thugs come!"
"Are you serious right now? Did you just hear yourself? What do you mean the next round of thugs?" Reuben yelled. He was a flurry of flinging arms and flying hands. "What did you do?"
"I didn't do it!" Danny's voice raised to match his cousin's.
"Would this have happened if you weren't a cop?" Reuben questioned.
Danny released a breath, a wraith of acidic smoke trailing up his throat.
"That's what I thought. You've got white knight syndrome. You have to be the hero, and guess what? You're not. You live five thousand miles away and you're still screwing over your family," Reuben said quietly. He ran his fingers through his mop of brunet hair and sighed. "The only reason I'm letting Tiffany stay the night is because Steve and Kono are here. How you even wound up on a team with people like them is beyond me. If you treat them like you treat your family, they better watch their backs."
Reuben stalked back inside.
Danny scrubbed his hands over his face and walked away from the house. He lowered himself to the ground near the edge of the yard. Leaning back against the fence, he inclined his head up to the sky. No stars. Just the brightly lit underbellies of clouds. Instead of the ocean and the gentle rustle of palm trees, there was the hum of the city with its cars and electricity.
He could have kicked himself when he realized he longed for the salty breeze and lap of waves on the shore.
Reuben was right. If he wasn't a cop, his family would have never been in danger. No more danger than they were usually in living in Newark, anyway. He could have been a fireman like his dad. He was practically built for the job. Maybe Rachel and Grace would have still been with him, living in a small house in Weehawken.
But no. He had to be the odd one out in the family. No one else was a cop. He was the first and only of the Williams Clan to follow that course in life.
He brushed his hands over the ground beside him. This is where he had sat when he was a kid and nursing wounds from schoolyard bullies. There was still gravel along the fence line. It wasn't gravel made of nice rocks like Grace liked to gift him, but it would do.
His stoking chamber settled a little once he had swallowed back a few small rocks. Smoke wisped away from his nose as he breathed out.
A figure slid down the fence next to him.
"Hey."
"Hey," he greeted.
Steve was tense. He could sense it by how rigidly he held his body and the uneasy silence between them.
"Penny for your thoughts?" he asked, never taking his eyes off the hazy sky.
Steve snorted. "Really? Penny for my thoughts?"
Danny shrugged.
"I should be asking for yours," Steve said.
"It'll cost you more than a penny."
"I've got a dollar."
He sighed. "He was just venting. His favorite aunt almost died because his least favorite cousin is a cop."
"And you believe him."
"What makes you think that?" He glanced at him.
"Danny, I've seen you defend your stance on pineapple on pizza harder than you defended yourself from Reuben," Steve said.
"Fruit should never ever be served on pizza or burgers. Period."
"Tomatoes are a fruit."
He held his hand up. "I'm not having this discussion with you right now."
Steve braced his arms on his knees and looked up at the sky with him. They sat like that for a while, just listening to a cricket chirping somewhere in the grass and a car honking a block over.
"If you weren't a cop you wouldn't have met me."
"Oh, so there's another bright side of not being a cop."
"Shut up. You love me, Danno. And you love Grace and your family and your job."
Danny cracked a grin at the firmness and sincerity in his partner's tone. His grin slipped. "Hey, Steve?"
"Yeah?"
"Promise me you'll stay out of it."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I know you and you'll want to go poke your nose in where it doesn't belong. I don't want to hear that Reuben ended up in a hospital because of some freak ninja related accident, got it?"
Steve grunted. "Fine."
"That means you, too, Kono," Danny shouted and lifted his head towards the second story window.
"Brah, how'd you even know I was lurking up here?" her voice came through the screen.
"Because, you take after him," he said and jerked a thumb at Steve.
"Not cool, brah." The window closed with a soft thump.
"I think I'm offended," Steve muttered. He looked down at the ground and picked at the blades of grass. "What's the plan for tomorrow?"
Danny dropped his head back against the fence. "See what the cops have on the thugs from the salon. Meet up with Mags and see what she's hearing from the criminal underworld. Cross my fingers and hope that I didn't dig my own grave with Shamrock today."
"So, the usual."
"Yep. Just another day in the life of Five-0."
Next week on "Dragons", they finally get a break in the case via a source that doesn't sit well with Danny's family.
It's been three years. Seems like forever and yet not very long at all. Thank you guys for persisting with me all these years!
