Who the duck is Alice?

Disclaimer – not my characters or premise, no money is being made from this story

Warnings – mild potty mouth

0o0o0

Lou Grover was a big enough man to admit that he wasn't especially fond of Danny Williams. He liked the guy well enough, but Danny was risk-adverse, undertrained, and therefore underprepared, for the league he ran in. Most of the team had specialist training and specialist skills – they could out fight and out shoot Williams to a woman – whereas Williams was in fact just a detective. A very good one, but not a specialist like the rest of them.

So, a small part of him enjoyed the times when Danny was on leave and the team worked without him. There was no one trying to reign them in, no one nagging about procedure and rules. No one getting McGarrett wound up and even more determined to carry out whatever plan he was working on. Lou liked to think that he was pretty good at keeping McGarrett grounded, so when Danny announced that he was going to New Jersey for a week to attend the retirement of an old mentor, Lou saw it as a sort of working holiday.

That's not to say Williams wasn't missed. McGarrett, for lack of a better word, moped without the loudmouth he called his partner, though Catherine certainly seemed to cheer him up in her own way. Chin Ho seemed to miss Williams as well, though he had his own concerns to keep him busy.

So, when an unexpected but much needed quiet Friday of paper work is interrupted by a call from the Governor and Steve erupting from his office with aneurysm face, Lou is fleetingly glad that Williams isn't here to wind Steve up further. He regrets it almost immediately when Steve turns on the plasma and there is breaking news from New York City.

One of those stupidly tall high rises, Nordstrom Tower, on what the media are referring to as 'billionaires' row' is on fire, and there are hostages on the top floors. Specifically, the four-year-old daughter of an insanely rich man (Lou doesn't care who the man is, except that a kid is in danger and that is not ok) and Detective Danny Williams formerly of Newark PD, currently assigned to the Five-O task force in Honolulu.

Before the team can finish shouting corrections at the plasma – 'he's not assigned to us, he's one of us' is the politest comment that crosses people's lips – Jerry Ortega comes running and panting in from the basement yelling have they seen the news, only to realise they are in fact watching the news and subsiding to catch his breath.

"How the hell did Danny end up in the penthouse of the tallest residential building in New York?" Jerry asks as they watch the coverage.

"When I get there, I'll ask him," Steve replies tersely from where he is working the table. A glance shows he is buying a direct ticket to New York, but the next flight is not for another six hours. By the time Steve boards the plane it will likely be over, and it's a nine plus hour flight on top of that. But Steve McGarrett is not the type to leave a friend in the lurch, so he will go, even if all he can do is assist with the retrieval of Danny's body. At a height of 1,550 feet, Nordstrom Tower will take a long time to burn completely, but that seems to be the point of the fire – it's holding the fire department and other rescue squads' full attention at the upper, almost impossible to reach levels, which in turn is putting pressure on Daddy Insanely Rich to pay the ransom quicker so his daughter can get out before the fire reaches her. Or at least that is the gist of the news reporting.

In the next hour, the news stories become a bit more informative, as the news crews work out how Danny Williams, a nobody from Newark, came to be in the luxury penthouse of one of the richest men in the country, if not the world.

It seems Detective Williams, and they at least give the man his title, was outside the building, taking a picture for his daughter, when 'little Yasmine' (the rich man's daughter) was accosted on the street. Her nanny was hurt in the struggle and Detective Williams moved to protect the girl, before being forced at gun point to enter the building. There is shaky phone camera footage of this, and when Danny takes a round to the side Steve nearly snaps the table in half from his grip.

"Uncle Steve!" there is a voice at the door and then Grace is there, wrapping her arms around Steve and he hugs her tightly, looking a little bewildered.

"Grace, why aren't you in school?" Chin Ho asks quietly, and Grace shakes her head. She's in her school uniform, which means at this time of day she should be in class, not here with them watching a disaster unfold on the other side of the country.

"It's on the news, and the other kids are all saying that Danno is going to die. That's not true is it, Uncle Steve?" Grace is on the verge of tears and Catherine swears under her breath. With phones in schools, the news and any other bad stuff that most kids would never need to know about is but a click away, and the story is trending. Even if Grace didn't have her own phone, her so called friends would tell her all about it, thrilled that they can be a part of the drama. Pre-teen girls can be so damn thoughtless at times.

"Grace, we don't know what's happening with Danno at the moment. Does your mom know where you are?" Steve gets a visible grip on himself, which Lou is pleased to see. Even when he's not here, Williams is capable of riling McGarrett up and shaking his confidence.

"No," Grace admits, "But I had to come! Are you going to save Danno, Uncle Steve? He says you do all the time."

Lou manages not to mutter 'he shouldn't need saving all the time' under his breath, well aware that his opinion of Williams is an outlier. This unit is more like a family and while they have welcomed him with open arms, Lou knows better than to rock the boat by introducing friction.

"I'll call Rachel," Chin Ho pulls his phone and heads to Steve's office for some quiet.

"Gracie, Danno is on the other side of the country," Steve's voice is pained, "I can't get to him in time."

Grace's face crumples and she buries her head in Steve's chest, her shoulders shaking as she cries. Steve holds her tightly, his own pain apparent. Kono and Catherine go to join the hug, as does Jerry, and Chin Ho when he comes out of the office and they stand there for what seems like a long time. Lou watches the plasma helplessly as the news cycle resets itself. One of the stations has a chopper in the air with a long-range camera on it, and they are getting some admittedly incredible footage of the tower as it burns. There are not many residents in there at this time of day, which is a blessing in disguise, and the reporters seem genuinely pleased to be able to say that all of the residents that were present in the building when the fire started have been accounted for.

The group hug has broken up by now, and Grace agrees to go with Kono to wash her face. Steve's phone rings and he snatches at it, heading into his office to take the call.

"Who was that?" Jerry asks when Steve returns, with Grace and Kono also coming back into the room.

"Danny's old captain. He wanted to know if we've heard anything from him," Steve sounds frustrated. Kono, Chin Ho, Jerry and Catherine all check their phones, then leave them lying on the table, just in case Williams does call them instead of the people in the same city that could reach him. Lou adds his phone as well, though the chances that Williams will call him are slim to none.

Duke appears with Rachel and little Charlie in tow, and scolds Grace for ditching school. Grace takes Dukes scolding much better than her mothers, which is a lot more emotional. While Lou agrees with her in principle, given the news about her father he can at least see why she did it. Just as it looks like mother and daughter are going to get into a battle royale, Steve intervenes and Rachel agrees to wait in Steve's office with the children.

"You're better with his ex than Danny is," Chin Ho mutters as Steve returns from getting them settled.

"After what she's done to Danny," Steve shakes his head, "She is Gracie's mom though, so I play along."

Lou turns as the door opens again, reflecting that they sure are popular today, and the weird coroner man, Dr Bergman enters, wringing his hands as he hurries towards them.

"Has there been any news of Detective Williams?" Dr Bergman asks, stopping beside Kono and glancing anxiously about. Lou isn't sure why the coroner is so fond of Williams, especially when he and Williams seem to butt heads so often, but there is no doubting that the shorter man is genuine in his concern.

"Nothing yet," Chin Ho says heavily.

"I do have some good news, for a limited value of 'good'," Bergman announces, "I have thoroughly analysed the news footage of Detective Williams' shooting and the wound, while painful, would not be immediately life threatening. It would need treatment; however, Detective Williams would be able to survive for quite some time without medical intervention."

"That's a relief," Jerry slumps, "Thanks Max."

"You are welcome, Jerry," Bergman nods in the consultant's direction. Lou can see his own relief on the faces of the team around him. Steve checks his watch and grinds his teeth. The flight is still hours away, and there is no new news from the scene.

"Look," Lou takes his life in his hands. "We need to be realistic here. While we're waiting for the time to take Steve to the airport everyone should eat something, at least. And Steve, you should go home and pack. We're not doing Danny any good standing around here."

"I have a go bag in my trunk," Steve dismissed the idea of leaving with a frown, "But Lou's right. You guys should go get something to eat. Catherine, would you mind getting something for the kids and Rachel too?"

"I'll bring you back a sandwich as well," Catherine threatened and went to collect her purse. Chin Ho took a quick lunch order from everyone and went with Bergman and Catherine to go bring the food back to the rest of the team. Lou contained a sigh, but it was better than nothing, and having them at least eat would keep their strength up for whatever lay ahead. The fire was inching closer to the top floors despite the NYFD's best efforts, and the reporters were beginning to use that tone of hushed excitement as they foreshadowed 'little Yasmine's' impending death, along with that of her 'brave protector'. It was disgusting to Lou that these ghouls were already anticipating the deaths to come, but that was modern reporting for you.

"Steve, I've got reporters on the phone, wanting a comment from you," Duke announced as he held the door for the returning trio and their bags of food.

"I'm astonished they're not calling you directly," Lou muttered. He was also astonished it had taken the reporters this long to track down Five-O's phone number.

"I have a block on the exchange for all your land lines," Duke gave him a reproachful look, "And no one is going to give out cell numbers to reporters."

"Thanks Duke," Steve leaned wearily on the table, "I should give a statement or something."

"Or you can say no comment," Chin Ho spoke up before Lou could, "Best not to get involved in that mess, Steve. If you feed the sharks, they will keep circling."

"I'll pass that along," Duke grinned, "The 'no comment' part, not the sharks."

Chin Ho laughed as Steve thanked the veteran cop. He went with Catherine to deliver the food to Grace and her family, ruffling Charlies' hair and smiling at the kid, who was busy drawing pictures, positioned on the floor where he couldn't see the plasma.

"Does he know what's going on?" Kono asked as Steve conceded to Jerry's not so subtle insistence that he sit down to eat. The ex-Navy Seal chewed unenthusiastically on his sandwich, though he'd thanked Catherine for it when she'd passed it to him.

"No, he thinks they're just visiting," Steve frowned, "Rachel doesn't want to upset him, and Grace is playing along. For now."

They'd finished eating and cleared their trash to an office trash can, when the commentary on the plasma took off again. The anchors had been discussing the problem of tall towers that relied on fire suppressant systems that were unhealthy for the occupants. Apparently NYFD had been forced to turn the systems off to avoid smothering the people in the top floors of the building, which was letting the fire take a greater hold. Now the news chopper had focussed on the roof and a group of four men who were dragging duffel bags along with them as they climbed the stairs to the largest flat part of the roof. Three of them began unzipping their bags as the fourth looked around, scoping the lay of the land.

The reporters were now saying that the NYFD had confirmed that they were unable to proceed up the stairs to the penthouse where the hostages were, with all the dark predictions that came with such news. Bergman had both hands over his mouth, looking horrified and Lou began to prepare himself for the fallout when Williams was found dead.

"What are they doing?" Bergman asked, peering at the plasma as the other three began laying out what seemed to be lengths of rod and snapping them together.

"Not sure," Jerry mused and called some of the footage to the table, blowing the images up and trying to identify the shapes.

"I've seen that before," Kono frowned, leaning over to look as well, "Where have I seen this?"

"Holy shit!" Catherine gasped, then shot a guilty look at the office where Williams' family was waiting. Lou seconded that sentiment though. The fourth person on the roof had walked back to his compatriots and pulled his gun, shooting all three before kicking them over the side of the platform, and out of sight. While the newscasters went into a frenzy, the shooter dropped his gun and unzipped the coveralls he was wearing.

"That's a wing suit!" Steve exclaimed, and while Lou swore quietly under his breath, the shooter ran to the edge of the building and jumped off.

"Grace!" Rachel called, as Grace emerged from Steve's office, and a glance showed that Williams' ex-wife was torn between going after her daughter or staying with her son. Charlie won out, clearly having realised that something bad was happening and demanding answers from his worried mother.

"What's happening?" Grace asked, and Steve wrapped an arm around her, clearly debating how much to say. Before he could decide, Grace spoke again, leaning closer to the table to look at the images Jerry and Kono were working on, "Wait, is that a hang-glider?"

Steve leapt for his phone, as did Kono, Chin Ho and Jerry. Grace pulled hers out of her skirt pocket and had it to her ear, the dial tone sounding, followed by the engaged signal. Danny's phone was at least operable, if not in his immediate reach.

"Tell him to call me," Steve was texting like fury, and so were the other three.

"I don't understand," Lou admitted to Catherine, "What the hell is Danny going to do with a hang-glider?"

"Get off the roof, I assume," Catherine replied, reaching for her own phone on the other end of the table.

"But a novice could not hope to complete the assembly of such a contraption, let alone fly it," Bergman voiced Lou's own doubts. Steve grinned; a tight thing so devoid of real joy that it was almost a grimace.

"Danny has his own rig, here on Oahu," Steve told them, "He takes videos of his flights for Grace and she puts them online. He's got quite the following, just not under his own name."

"I had no idea that Detective Williams engaged in such risk-taking behaviour," Bergman mused. Lou was flat out shocked. Mr safety-first, stop-taking-stupid-risks, is-this-really-necessary, went hang-gliding? That had to be the strangest thing Lou had heard all day.

Steve's phone rang and he answered at once, putting it on speaker.

"Steve, I'm kind of busy," Danny's rasping voice was as welcome as it was familiar.

"I can see that partner," Steve hugged a bouncing Grace tightly to his side, "Danny there are hang-gliders on the roof. The kidnappers left them there."

"Does this look right, Danny?" a child's voice called and they could hear Danny pull the phone away from his ear a bit.

"Looking great Yasmine. That will definitely help with the heat," his praise was light and warm, just what a scared four-year-old would need to hear, "Steve, I don't think that's a good idea, man. My old Captain says that if we're quick, we might make it down past the fire line."

"You don't have time, Danny," Bergman said suddenly, eyes glued to the screen, as the fire flashed out of a window, showering glass and embers on the street below. The smoke was becoming thicker too, which meant the inside of the building would have been hellish. Bergman met Steve's eyes and touched his side meaningfully, glancing at Grace as he did so. Lou thought he understood the message. The wound would slow Williams too much to get them both to safety in time.

"Is that your best opinion, Doc?" Williams sounds tired, and Bergman nods slowly, saying yes in a quiet voice.

"Yeah Danny, that is his best opinion," Steve backs Bergman up who looks pleased, but conflicted. Lou can understand. It is a lot to ask a man, to give up the recommendations of those in the city with him and listen to the team on the other side of the country.

"Ok, flying it is. Steve, call my old captain, would you? Tell him we're going up and they should pull the NYFD back to safer distance. And tell him that once we're on the roof NYFD should turn on the fire suppressant systems. We won't be going back in the building either way, so it won't matter."

"Take your phone with you," Jerry called and Danny acknowledges before hanging up. Grace lets go of Steve and lets Kono wrap an arm around her instead as Steve stalks off, his phone to his ear. She is crying and Lou hates to see it, but it is her daddy in there, and there is no way she is going to go back to the office now.

Almost ten incredibly tense minutes pass, then the news chopper zooms in on the roof again (they had been trying to get a shot inside the building, and had some intense pictures of the blaze). Danny and little Yasmine come out of the access door and onto the roof, heading up the stairs to the now empty platform and its partially assembled hang-gliders.

"Danno! Oh no!" Grace blurts as the chopper gets its first clear look at them. Yasmine is bundled in long sleeved clothes, with a scarf wrapped over her hair. Only her eyes are visible, and clearly Williams is trying to ensure that the least amount of heat and smoke can get to her. Williams is also wearing a scarf around his lower face, but it is clear from the marks on his clothes that he has been beaten, and the blood from the wound in his side is clearly visible.

"Should I get Rachel?" Lou asks quietly and Chin Ho hesitates for a moment, then nods. Williams clearly knows what he is doing as he rapidly clicks links together, with Jerry murmuring approval under his breath. The consultant has brought up the specs of the model that Williams is assembling and is following along on the table, checking the news footage as he does. Rachel joins them, having somehow persuaded Charlie to stay in the office, as Steve comes back, but Grace chooses to stay with Kono, which Lou finds interesting. He shelves that for later exploration though, as the news cycle now begins to dissect the feasibility of hang-gliding to a safe landing off the top of Nordstrom Tower. Various helipads are mentioned, as is the nearby iconic park. Lou can't see how Williams could get a clear shot though, as the wind from the buildings around the park would make getting there extremely hard.

On the screen, Williams is using what appears to be a torn sheet and a roll of duct tape to secure Yasmine to his body, before disappearing with a slight stagger under the rig he has now assembled.

"The danger, of course, is the wind shears," a reporter is saying solemnly as the rig lifts up and Williams steps it backwards towards the smoke, "In addition, if they are caught in the smoke from the fire, they are likely to suffocate before they can land."

"Shut up!" Grace shouts at the screen, echoed by the normally reserved Bergman, who looks furious.

The rig moves forward jerkily at first and then with speed as it approaches the edge. For a moment it seems it will be blown backward over the roof and then it jolts up at a shocking speed, circling around the building.

"He's using the thermals!" Chin Ho exclaims, and Catherine gasps.

"That's brilliant! If he can get the thermal current from the fire to lift them high enough, they can avoid the smoke and fly for a greater range without all the cross winds!"

The news chopper and NYPD choppers all bank away from the hang-glider, to avoid catching it in their downwash. For a moment the channel loses sight of the hang-glider, then regains it. The image is jerky and they are small on the screen, but Danny is clearly fighting to get the hang-glider higher, just as Catherine surmised. The entire room barely breathes as the glider circles four times, getting higher and higher then breaks from the thermal and heads towards Central Park.

Once out of the thermal current they begin to drop, but Lou (and the 'pundits' suddenly all over the airwaves) are all confident that Williams will make the park, and hopefully land in an area that is not the large body of water, or any of the wooded parts. The reporters state that NYPD and emergency services not dedicated to the extinguishing of the fire are converging on the park.

And Williams does it. Lou is impressed by the skill as the man slips air from the canopy above him and drops altitude while circling a large open area. Danny Williams clearly has a hidden side that Lou had never noticed, and as the glider starts the final approach Lou makes himself a silent promise to think again when it came to the unit's outlier.

"Slow down, Danno," Grace says suddenly, "He's coming in too fast!"

Lou thinks, but manages not to say, that Williams may not have the strength to fly much longer, and may need to land before he passes out. Bergman is clearly thinking the same thing if the worried glances he is shooting at Steve are any indication. Even the news people fall silent as the glider slips the last of its air and skims along at ground height. The tip comes up, acting as a sort of last-minute parachute, and then it is still, canted awkwardly to one side.

"Do you think he's ok?" Jerry pipes nervously, and then there is movement on the screen and Yasmine crawls out from under the rig, the tape on her body clearly cut. She looks around wildly and then starts jumping up and down and yelling, though they can't hear her, signalling to a motorcycle cop who is racing across the grass towards them. He parks his bike and Yasmine grabs his hand, pulling him down and pushing him to get under the rig. Ambulances can be seen racing along the pathways towards them as the rig shivers then heaves and topples to one side, revealing Williams, slumped on his side awkwardly, with Yasmine kneeling next to him while the cop pushes the rig onto it's back away from them both. Yasmine pulls her scarf off and kisses Williams on the cheek, her arms around his neck. When she pulls his own scarf down, he is smiling that crooked smile at her.

Cheers erupt as Williams waves up at the choppers overhead, and then the ambulances arrive and the news choppers are ordered away by NYPD.

"He's ok!" Grace is jumping up and down and goes to hug her mom, then whirls on Steve who looks a bit pale. Lou is grinning so hard his cheeks ache as the team celebrates something that could be classified as a miracle.

"Gracie, I gotta go, honey, I gotta make my flight," Steve can be heard under the chaotic noise and Grace lets go of her uncle reluctantly.

"I'll drive you," Catherine announces, clearly thinking that Oahu traffic does not need to deal with Steve in a mad hurry. Lou agrees with that assessment and is glad Steve accepts her offer without arguing.

"I'll call as soon as I am with him," Steve promises the room and he and Catherine head for the door at a brisk pace.

0o0o0

To make it easier on everyone, Steve sends a text when he lands, informing the team he will call Grace first, then the rest of them. By agreement, they all meet back at HQ, and it is Catherine's phone that rings. They're all sitting around the table, so she puts it on speaker and lets the table pick up the call, making the sound easier to hear.

It's not a good sound. There is a heart monitor beeping in the back ground.

"Hey Catherine," Steve sounds exhausted.

"Hey Steve, we're all here, you're on speaker," Catherine replies, "How is he?"

"He's pretty banged up," is the discouraging response, "The bullet fractured a rib, and when he landed it pierced a lung. He broke his leg in the landing too, and he's got several fractures from the kicking they gave him during the course of the whole thing."

"The possibility of a punctured lung did occur to me," Bergman admits nervously, "I was hoping it would not eventuate."

"Me too, Doc," Danny's voice is not very strong, but it's clear enough to make everyone smile in relief.

"I am glad to hear your voice, Detective Williams," Bergman beams and the team add their own hellos.

"Sorry if I worried you," Williams sounds exhausted, "But did you have to send Steve over here?"

"Hey, if you didn't insist on risky behaviour, partner, I could be home with Catherine right now, enjoying our weekend," Steve protests from the speakers and there are a few catcalls and chuckles.

"You're not living that one down any time soon, Danny," Lou muses, and there is a rattling sigh, followed by a nasty cough.

"I will remind you," Williams gasps when he can speak again, "That I threw myself off a building at your insistence."

"Fair point Steve," Catherine's light tone is at odds with her worried expression. That cough had sounded painful.

"No one's on my side," Steve mumbled. They cut the call short, out of deference to Williams' obviously weakened state, with Steve informing them he'll be back in a week or two. Obviously, he felt the need to ride herd on his partner while the man was in the hospital, though Lou was betting that urge would wane pretty quickly. Williams didn't strike him as an ideal sort of patient.

In fact, it is three weeks before Steve arrives back in Oahu, with Danny in tow. The punctured lung meant no flying, so after a week in the hospital Steve drove them across country with a nurse friend of Danny's and his partner along to make sure Williams was ok, followed by a berth on a cruise ship from Los Angeles to Oahu. They arrived the day before Grace's birthday and the plan was for Danny to go see her as a surprise, though neither could agree if he should be gift wrapped or not. (Danny's vote was a firm no.) (Steve stuck a gift wrap bow onto Danny's shirt at the last second as a 'compromise'.)

Both men agreed that the road trip was immensely better than the cruise.

Neither would say why.

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