Sorry for the delay, dear readers! I hate it when life gets in the way of fanfic writing!

I used some of my favorite lines from the series and repurposed them here in this chapter as I felt they were appropriate. And as I was writing this chapter I began referring to it as the "Tom Selleck meets Alex O'Loughlin" chapter. The ladies of the world may all begin to swoon now…I know I sure did! But since I have Tom Selleck in my head when writing this, I just don't have the heart to make him angry and snarky. I have the urge to make him dignified and sad, so I gave him a son to do the snarky angriness for him. No actor in my head, so create whoever you want.

Enjoy…

Chapter 17 – Family is Family is Family

"The thing about family disasters is that you never have to wait long before the next one puts the previous one into perspective."

~Robert Brault

Back at Five-0 Headquarters, later that evening…

"Do you feel better now?"

Danny jogged a few steps to catch up with his partner as the two men walked down the hallway toward the Five-0 bullpen. They had just come from "interviewing" the members of the Wilson Crips at their local hangout, the aftermath of which now caused Steve to begin flexing his right hand. The hand which he had used to "coerce" information from the gang members.

"What?" the Commander asked tersely, obviously distracted and obviously not paying the least bit of attention to his chatty partner.

"You know, now that you got to crack a few gang bangers heads and threaten to shoot your big gun?" Danny cracked, referring to the last few hours of their lives.

"No, I don't feel better," Steve replied angrily, obviously not getting the joke, "We got nothing useful out of those punks and…"

"Well maybe if you hadn't seized that one kid by his feet and dangled him out the 3rd story window, we could have gotten more information," the New Jersey detective suggested, only half joking this time, "I don't know, I'm just saying. It's just a thought."

His partner caught the tone in his voice that time and slid his blue eyes over to look at Danny and drawled, "Thanks for the back up by the way."

"Back up?" Danny asked incredulously, "What was I supposed to do?"

The calm, cool, professional Steve McGarrett from earlier that morning had left the building by about 7:00 a.m. and a much more aggressive ex-husband had clearly taken his place. Danny knew all about ex-wives and the complications that they come with, but when it came to Steve and Harper the detective deduced that something more was going on. Something very much unfinished…

Shaking his head in disgust, Steve stated flatly, "I should have known you would be useless to me in there…"

"Useless?" Danny croaked, knowing that Steve needed someone to blame for their extreme lack of evidence in this investigation and knowing for the time being it was going to be him, "You were holding that guy's head so close to an open flame that his skin was beginning to blister…"

"Those guys were Yakuza middle men," Steve explained, "They were only going to talk under fear of death…"

"Fear of death?" Detective Williams repeated, hands flailing around, "People will tell you anything under fear of death. That doesn't make it true! And we didn't get any information out of them anyway. They had no idea where Michael Sugimoto had disappeared to."

"I don't believe for a second that Sugimoto is the only member of the Wilson Crips associated with Wo Fat," the Navy S.E.A.L. argued, opening up the glass doors that led into the Five-0 headquarters, "We need to go higher up the food chain."

"Trust me, if they had known anything else it would have come out when you began waterboarding them in the tub…"

Steve shot his partner a death glare as he reminded him forcefully, "These guys live their lives under fear of death. They spend their free time thinking up ways to torture their associates in much worse ways than what I did today. I didn't do anything that…"

"Look," Danny interrupted, pulling his partner to a stop just inside the entrance to the bullpen, "I know that this is personal for you. It's personal for the rest of us, too. She's a cop and your ex-wife. But we can't start jumping to 'worst possible scenario' mode because that is not going to help anyone."

"I should have seen this coming…" Steve said, shaking his head and only half listening to his partner's words of reason.

"You should have seen what coming?" the detective asked, raising his eyebrows, "A kidnapping? Who was going to kidnap her? The only person that she managed to piss off on the island was you."

"The minute that we realized Wo Fat was involved, I should have backed Harper the hell off of this case," the Commander explained, the guilt written all over his face, "I know what she's like when she's in investigation mode…she's a pain in the ass. More so than usual. And because it was personal to her…because it was about finding out who killed Sammy…she went digging around, sniffing out the connection between Wo Fat, the Yakuza, and the Wilson Crips. For all I know right now…"

"You don't know anything right now," Danny cut him off quickly, "Harper is a good detective and a very smart woman…."

"Danny they took her," Steve reminded him quietly, "She probably saw their faces…"

"But we don't know why they took her," Danny argued, "They could have taken her because she had information about her partner's shooting that is valuable to them somehow. That's good. That could keep her alive…"

"The last person Wo Fat took was my father," his partner interrupted, "And whatever he knew was of no use to them so he was of no use to them." Drawing in a long breath, Steve continued in a desperate voice, "I know her, Danny, and I know that she would rather die than to cooperate with a criminal. She sees the world in black and white, right and wrong…just like my dad." Shaking his head, the stoic man allowed himself a moment of vulnerability as he told Danny forcefully, "She can't end up like my dad."

"She won't," Danny assured him, "With your dad, you were a million miles away. You're a lot closer this time. Wo Fat is playing in our backyard this time…"

"Hey boss, I think we got something."

Steve and Danny ceased their conversation when they heard Kono's voice welcome them into the bullpen and finally walked over to where she and Chin were waiting near the computer table.

"What happened to your hand?" Kono asked, looking at the bruises that were welling up on Steve's knuckles.

"That's his interrogation hand," Danny explained with a smirk, crossing his arms over his chest, "And he asked a lot of questions today."

"Ah," Kono said with a knowing smile. And then her face turned serious and she avoided looking at her boss as she told them, "We got the lab results back from the tests they ran on the blood at the crime scene. It was a positive match to Harper and it contained trace amounts of a tranquilizer called Ketamine."

"He drugged her," Steve deduced, looking over the report.

"Isn't Ketamine being used by some sexual offenders as the new date rape drug?" Danny asked, trying to avoid the weirdness. And it wasn't just in the conference room. An eerie sense of urgency and dread had settled throughout the entire building as news of the Chicago detective's abduction had made its way through the grapevine.

"Yes," Chin supplied quickly, "Ketamine is a substance abused for its hallucinogenic features, and is commonly marketed as an odorless, colorless liquid. Easy to conceal in drinks…"

"Like Harper's wine," Kono suggested.

"She wouldn't have let him in her hotel room," Steve told them again, shaking his head in denial, "I'm not wrong about that." Drawing in a deep breath, he admitted to his team, "She was having some family drama last night and then she and I got into a…fight. She was angry, she was confused, she was hurt. But she did not go out on the prowl for some guy to take back to her hotel room. I'm telling you…I know her. She's in cop mode 24/7. There is no way that Harper James let this guy into her hotel room or close enough to her glass for him to drug her that way."

"Colorless, odorless…maybe he doused a cloth with this Ketamine stuff and snuck up behind her," Danny suggested, the wheels turning in that cop brain of his, "We are assuming that the attack began out on the balcony so Harper could have been out there looking at the water, sipping on her Pinot…"

"Viognier," Steve corrected.

"What the hell is a Viognier?"

"Viognier is white wine from the Southern region in France along the Rhone river vallery," came the answer.

But the answer did not come from Steve. It came from a much deeper voice from somewhere behind them, causing all four members of Five-0 to turn and see a distinguished older gentleman and a younger man who could have been his twin make their way into the station. Both men bore tense, strained expressions on ruggedly handsome faces that had probably seen too many nights like these in their illustrious careers.

But this time, for these men, it was personal.

Without skipping a beat, Mickey James finished his explanation by saying, "My daughter doesn't drink Pinot, so she would have been out on the balcony sipping on Viogner."

"Superintendent," Steve greeted his former father-in-law and then turned to the younger man and said just as stiffly, "Lieutenant."

"Commander," they both replied in unison.

"Family reunions like this always give me such a warm and fuzzy feeling all over," Danny joked, trying to ease the tension and then because he simply couldn't help himself, he extended his hand toward Mickey James and quipped, "Nice to meet you face to face, Big Daddy."

Kono winced and Chin bit his bottom lip at the detective's statement, but the Superintendent didn't even bat an eyelash as he replied, "Likewise, Little Detective."

As his teammates tried to contain their laughter, Steve quickly stepped in to make the introductions, saying, "Mickey, Frank, these are the members of the Hawaii Five-0 task force…Detective Chin Ho Kelly, Officer Kono Kalakaua, and my partner, Detective Danny Williams. Guys, this is Harper's father...Chicago Police Superintendent Mickey James and his son Lieutenant Frank James."

"I thought there were four brothers," Danny inquired, reaching out to shake Frank's extended hand.

"There are," the eldest James answered, shaking hands all around, "But I was the only one available on such short notice. If we don't find Harper within a 48 hours, Bobby and Tommy will be on the first flight out here."

"And the fourth?"

Danny noticed Steve looking down at the floor as Mickey replied dutifully, "My son Vincent was killed in the line of duty six years ago."

"I'm sorry," Danny replied honestly.

Frank and Mickey simply nodded at the condolences before the Superintendent looked over at the New Jersey detective and said, "I believe we interrupted your theory of the case, Detective. Please continue."

Looking around at the two newcomers and trying to ignore the strange turn of events, Danny continued, "Well…so at the crime scene we had determined that Harper's struggle with her attacker began on her hotel room balcony. I was just saying that she was probably sipping on her Viognier when they guy came up behind her and overtook her…"

"How could that happen?" Frankie interrupted, letting his eyes wander over the screen full of evidence that the team had collected, "I mean, Harper's a good cop…probably the best out of all of us. She was raised by cops. She knows how to protect herself, to be aware of her surroundings. She's got a cop's instincts…"

"She was distracted," Steve told him, careful not to look at Mickey. He didn't know exactly how much the Superintendent may have told his sons about the events of the previous night and he certainly didn't want to open a new can of worms, so he added, "And she was angry at the lack of evidence in the case."

Frankie, who had been briefed about the case by his father and Jenna Kaye on the plane, turned on his former brother in law and raged, "So you just let her go home? Unprotected?" The Chicago cop completely lost his cool as he accused, "This underworld crime boss that you linked to Sammy's death knows what Harper looks like, knows she's out to bring him down, is out there walking the streets of Hawaii, and you let my sister go home without a protection detail?"

"I didn't LET Harper do anything!" Steve shouted back, running his hands through his unruly hair and glaring at Harper's big brother. "She was angry and frustrated and…you know better than anyone that you can't make Harper do anything she doesn't want to do. And even if I had assigned her a protection officer, she would have rebelled against him…"

"Or fallen in love with him," Frankie interrupted snidely.

"Alright, that's enough," Mickey stepped in quickly, physically placing himself between the two men before the argument became physical. Turning toward his son, the Superintendent said in a steely voice, "Francis, I know you're upset, but there is a lot of that going around right now. No matter what your feelings are about Steve, he was her husband. So if we're going try and rely on any one of us being the level headed one, we're going have some problems."

"You're defending him?" Frankie asked in disbelief.

"No," his father answered quickly, not once looking over at Steve, "But I'm not blaming him either."

"We believe that the attacker most likely drugged her," Chin stepped in to answer Frank James' original question and get the conversation back on point, studying the two men from Chicago carefully with his intense, dark eyes. "We found Ketamine in the blood at the scene. And he must have surprised her while she was relaxing with a glass of wine, where she was at her most vulnerable. You're right, guys…Harper is a well trained police officer, so the element of surprise and a tranquilizer were the only way he could have been guaranteed to overpower her."

"Blood?"

Kono pursed her lips and made the split second decision to pull up the crime scene photo to show them. They were cops and had the right to know the reality of the situation they were walking into. Pulling the photos up on the big screen, she explained, "Harper's blood was found on this wall…"

"He cracked the wall with her skull?" Frankie asked, becoming more enraged by the second. "That son of a bitch!"

"She put up a fight…"

"And lost," Mickey James deduced quietly, carefully studying the crime scene photos but specifically refusing to look at the one that showcased the cracked wall and the splattering of his daughter's blood.

"Once the drug was in her system, sir, she would have been disoriented." Steve offered quietly, "No amount of training was going to help her."

"But not something from the Benzodiazepine family," Kono informed them, pulling up a search she had run on tranquilizer drugs, "Not unless it was administered in a large dose. And a dose that large would have shocked her system and probably killed her instantly. If this son of a bitch wanted her alive, my guess would be he used some sort of anesthetic. Chloroform or ether, maybe? Sometimes they can be confused for Ketamine in tox screenings."

"Chloroform, Ether, Ketamine…so he has access to pharmaceuticals." Chin deduced and then asked, "But how could have gotten her out of a 5th floor hotel room without anyone noticing until we got there and started asking questions?"

"He's got someone from the hotel on his payroll," Mickey agreed, studying the photograph of the kicked in door, "It's how he got inside the room without alerting Harper."

"I know the assistant manager at the hotel," Kono informed the group, "We went to school together."

"Do you trust him?" The Superintendent asked, regarding her for the first time since his arrival. The young woman wasn't even as old as his daughter, but there was something in her eyes that made him believe that she was an effective part of the Five-0 taskforce. He recognized that look she had…he had instilled it in Harper.

When Kono nodded, Steve commanded, "Get back over there and get a list of hotel employees and…"

"…speak only to this man you trust since we don't know whose playing on which side," Mickey finished for him, nodding to the young officer.

"I'll go with you," Frankie offered, looking over at Kono, "I want to see the crime scene for myself." Looking around at the team, he added, "You know, fresh eyes." Pausing to let his gaze linger on Steve, he bit out, "Brother's eyes. Eyes that have been around for the last seven years."

Steve did his best to ignore the comment and Danny found himself opening his mouth to interject on his partner's behalf. But he closed it again as he witnessed the comical sight of Frankie looking to his father and Kono looking to Steve and both men nodding in approval.

No wonder Harper fell in love with Steve, Danny mused with a funny grin on his face, he was very much like her father.

But the detective snapped back to attention when his partner addressed him, saying, "Chin and Danny, run a search of pharmaceutical distributors on the island. I want a list of anyone who may have recently purchased large doses of Ketamine, Chloroform or Ether. Then run it against the list Kono and Harper complied of the Wilson Crips members. When you find a match…"

"We know, we know," Danny mused as he and Chin headed off to their desks, "Start knocking down doors."

Entering the new information onto the evidence computer screen, Steve found himself standing next to Mickey James…who had wandered away from the group to glance at the picture of Detective Samuel Norval his daughter had placed front and center on the board so that everyone remembered why they were here. Thankfully, no one had dared to post her picture next to her former partner's. It would have been too much for any father to stomach.

"I apologize if I overstepped my bounds by giving orders to your young officer," Mickey apologized, never looking up from the photo. "Don't worry, I'm not going to muscle my way in on this case." Muttering more to himself than to the tall S.E.A.L., he added under his breath, "I've already been warned."

"I wasn't worried." Steve told him, causing the skeptical superintendent to look over and study him for a moment.

"Thank you for not disclosing our earlier conversation to Frankie," the older man added, "It was a conversation I didn't want to have with him after telling him that his sister had been kidnapped."

"I understand."

"And thank you for calling me to come down here," he continued, the defeat and jet lag evident in his gruff voice, "I know you must hate me…"

"I don't hate you," Steve informed him softly and then added, "And neither does Harper."

The Superintendent was quiet for a moment as he regarded the man he had trained himself to dislike for so long. The look he gave Steve was skeptical. But before he said anything, he turned back to the photograph of Detective Samuel Norval.

"When we lost Sammy, it was like losing Sophia and Vinnie all over again," Superintendent James said softly, referring to his late wife and son, "Another funeral. Another grave. Another life ended before it really began. It makes you question why we continue to do this, why we live our lives under such dangerous circumstances. And now Harper…" his voice trailed off as he shook his head and avoided looking directly at Steve, continuing, "She's so damn stubborn, you know? I think she pisses off as many people as she helps these days...it's a family trait, I'm afraid. She comes by it honestly. Having a daughter scared me to death. I didn't know what the hell to do with a baby girl. But she had me wrapped around her finger from day one." Finally, looking over at his former son in law, he explained, "Not that it made me any smarter about raising a daughter...I treated her like one of the boys while she was growing up. Sophia was the soft touch and after she died…I did the best I could."

"You did one hell of a job," Steve assured him earnestly.

Shaking his head and showing a brief moment of vulnerability, Mickey asked, "If I did such a good job...how the hell did we get here? I mean, I raised her to be tough, independent…it was all I knew. I always figured that she could handle it. She could handle anything. But last night, she told me that I had ruined her life." Pausing to pull himself together, he added gruffly, "All I ever wanted to do was protect her. And now…"

"We're going to find her, Superintendent."

"She's my little girl," Mickey reminded him and then admitted, "I know I have no right to ask anything of you, but I need your help to find my girl." Blinking back tears that he would never shed in front of anyone, he whispered, "She's all we've got left."

"Sir," Steve said earnestly, his heart breaking in his chest, "you should know that when it comes to Harper, I take it quite personally."

Mickey looked up at the Commander and then nodded as he said, "Yes, I know you do." Pausing, the distraught father then said in a stronger voice full of emotion, "You bring her home, Commander. You bring our girl home."

Clapping a strong hand of support on Mickey's shoulder, Steve promised, "I will."

"I know."