First encounter

"What do you mean you don't trust me to drive Grace anywhere?" Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett asked his partner Detective Danny Williams as they walked into the medical examiner's office. "Exactly what I said, Steven. I don't trust you to drive my daughter, my flesh and blood, the most precious little girl in the world anywhere. No matter what!" Danny loudly answered while waving his hands all around him. Steve just scoffed and rolled his eyes at his very dramatic, very unreasonable partner. He was a perfectly good driver and he was sure Max would agree with him. "I know for a fact that you are the only one who thinks that, and I am gonna ask Max to prove it," he said to his partner as they walked into Max Bergman's office. He was about to get a snarky remark in return, but when they saw the person sitting in Max's usual chair they both stopped in their tracks.

In the exact same spot, they would normally find Max, sat one of the most beautiful people either of them had ever seen in the past. She had shoulder length auburn hair, olive skin, green eyes and a perfectly placed beauty mark over her left eyebrow. Even in scrubs they could both see she was going to be trouble if they ever met outside of the morgue. Not sure of what to say, Steve said the only thing that came to mind, "you're not Max."

Not aware someone else was in the room, Grace looked up from the death certificate she was filling out to see two men with badges looking at her. They were both handsome, she thought to herself, but the one on the right with the dark hair and smouldering eyes stood out the most. She assumed, after getting the full history of the Five-0 task force from Max, that the two men standing in front of her were Danny and Steve.

"I'm not, flattering that you noticed," Grace answered causing Danny to smile. Knowing what they were here for she grabbed the file on the victim that was brought in a few hours earlier and stood up, walking over to them. "I'm Dr. Grace Ó Máille. You must be Commander McGarrett and Detective Williams, it's nice to meet you." she said, holding her hand out for them to shake. "Dr. Bergman is speaking at a seminar on the mainland, so I'm handling his cases," she continued not giving either of the men a chance to say anything, while starting to move into the room next door where the body of the most recent victim was laying under a white sheet.

Steve and Danny was so taken aback by the breathtakingly beautiful woman, who they know knew was named Grace, that they barely noticed her accent and that she was no longer standing in front of them, but was looking over the file she had picked up from the desk a minute earlier in the other room. When they finally realised she was waiting for them so she could walk them through the autopsy, they quickly followed after her, neither of them commenting on the fact that she somehow knew who they were and why they had never noticed her before.

"Maria Holden," Grace started and gently pulled the sheet of the victim's face, gently placing it under her chin. "26 years old, works as a paralegal at Carlsmith Ball LLP, lives alone with a German Shepherd puppy and a goldfish, no criminal record, no underlying or genetic health issues, no visible cause of death and nothing in her blood work that indicated she was poisoned."

The two men didn't say anything, expecting her to continue and reveal the cause of death, but she didn't. Instead she started typing on one of the many computers, looking at bunch of different x-ray photos. They looked at each other for a few second before Steve finally opened his mouth and asked what the both of them wanted to know. "So what killed her?" he asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice. Still with her back to the boys, she smiled slightly, a little surprised it took them an entire minute to ask the question she knew they were dying to know. She turned back around to look at them, understanding what Max meant when he said they weren't the most patient or subtle people. Specially not Steve.

"A broken heart." Was the only thing she said, wanting to see how they'd react while knowing she's not giving them all the information all at once, like her colleague Max would. "I'm sorry what?" this time it was Detective Williams, Danny, who spoke. Steve just looking at her like she'd lost her mind. "Maria Holden died of a broken heart," she said again causing them to look even more confused. "Ok look, I know I'm not a doctor, but I am pretty sure you can't actually die of a broken heart." Danny said more questioning than sure.

"That is probably because when you think of a broken heart, you picture a cartoon drawing with a jagged line through it. While in reality broken heart syndrome, also called stress-induced cardiomyopathy is a real medical condition. It is experienced as sudden, intense chest pain — the reaction to a surge of stress hormones — that can be caused by an emotionally stressful event. It could be anything from the death of a loved one to betrayal, romantic rejection and even physical separation. It could even happen after a good shock, like winning the lottery. It is very often misdiagnosed as a heart attack because the symptoms and test results are similar. But unlike when you actually have a heart attack, there's no evidence of blocked heart arteries in broken heart syndrome. When you do suffer from stress-induced cardiomyopathy a part of your heart temporarily enlarges and doesn't pump well, while the rest of your heart functions normally or with even more forceful contractions. Luckily broken heart syndrome is usually treatable. Most people who experience it make a full recovery within weeks, and they're at low risk for it happening again. But in more serious cases it can lead to severe, short-term heart muscle failure and in the worst cases, like this one, it can be fatal."

Neither Steve or Danny thought Grace was serious when she said the victim died of a broken heart, but now they both realised they'd made a mistake underestimating her because of how she presented the case compared to how Max does it and more importantly because of the way she looks. "So cause of death is natural causes?" Steve asked, a hint of disappointment sneaking up on him since that would mean he wouldn't get to see her anymore throughout the day. "I'm not so sure," she answered, pulling the sheet back over Maria's face and gently pulling out one of her hands from under the sheet. "She has ligature marks and bruising on her wrists and ankles, consistent with being restrained over a longer period of time, along with defensive marks on her arms and legs and she's also dehydrated and malnourished. If I were to guess, she's not had any proper food or liquids for anything between 1-3 weeks." Shocked by the new information, Steve realised that this case might not be as easy as he had initially thought. Danny thought the same thing, noticing anger slowly creeping up on him.

"So cause of death is natural causes under suspicious circumstances?" Steve rephrased his earlier question, now a hundred percent sure that this girl didn't die because of a bad breakup. As Grace was about to answer Tommy, her Forensic Pathology Fellow who came with her when she accepted the job, walked in with a piece of paper in his hands. "I got the test results you asked for," he said and handing her the piece of paper. She quickly read it and furrowed her brows at the information. She knew when she got into this line of work that she would get to see some of the worst humanity had to offer, but it still didn't make her feel any less angry and sad anytime something terrible happened to good people. "She was murdered. Whoever held her captive may not have physically caused her death, but they definitely killed her. According to these test results her body was flooded with adrenaline, which means she was absolutely terrified when she died." She said, feeling like she had to punch something or someone.

"I'll call Chin and tell him we're definitely dealing with a homicide and that we need to start looking for people who might've held her captive," Danny said and walked out of the room, not only to make a phone call but to cool down. The only thing he could think of is how scared Maria must've been and that he wants to physically harm whoever did this to her. Knowing that she had other cases to attend to, in addition to have to prepare for court, Grace politely excused herself and walked out of the room and headed for the elevators. The only place she could get some peace of mind in the midst of all the chaos was the roof, so that was where she was going.

Now all alone in the room with Tommy, whom Steve had met once or twice before while working with Max, Steve decided to take this opportunity to ask about Grace and where the hell she came from. "So, Tommy. Dr. Ó Máille, what's her story? She been working here long?" he tried saying as casually as possible. Tommy couldn't help but be amused and crack a smile, he had known that eventually Grace and Steve would meet and that something like this would happen. Steve may have a girlfriend, but so far Tommy hadn't met a single man who didn't notice Grace's good looks and asked about her marital status, even the ones in relationships.

"She's been working here for three months, same as me. I came here with her when she got the position as Deputy Chief Medical Examiner. She is one of the best forensic pathologists in the world in addition to being a forensic anthropologist, with a masters' degree in both epidemiology and immunology. By the time she was twenty she had already been a doctor for 2 years and was well on her way with her PhD in forensic anthropology. She's worked with doctors without borders, as trauma leader at the ISAF field hospital in Kandahar and for five years before coming here she was the head of the Prescott Centre in London. Basically she's who everyone goes to when they want a second opinion, can't figure out a problem or simply just want help from the best in the business. Even Max looks up to her." Tommy said, smirking at Steve's obvious surprise and what seemed like admiration.

Without another word, Steve only gave a small nod to signal he'd heard what Tommy had said, both men walked out of the room. Tommy back to the lab and Steve out to the car and Danny.

A/N: I own nothing except my characters Grace Ó Máille, Tommy Hodgson and the Prescott Centre(it does not actually exist).

All information about broken heart syndrome was found online, I am in no way a doctor so if any of the information is wrong I apologise.

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XOXO

Hannah