With the investigation going strong Steve felt drawn to be at the office, but then another side of him was drawn to be with Danny.  The two enjoyed dinner that evening, which was becoming a rarity.  Partially through the meal Danny amazed Steve.

"You shouldn't feel guilty about not spending more time with me right now Steve.  I know you're busy and trying to fit me in with whatever you're working on.  It's OK."

Steve was shocked - he never ceased to be amazed at how well Danny could read him.  Even now with most of his memory gone.  "Do you remember that much about us Danno, or do you think no matter what happens to us...we'll always know...really know each other?"

"Have you been talking to Benny again?"  Danny answered with a laugh.  "That is a very philosophical question if ever I heard one!"

"Maybe, maybe not."  Steve joined in the laugh.

Sobering only slightly Danny answered the question honestly.  "I do remember more and more each day it seems.  But I still feel lost and like things are just slightly out of my grasp.  I am beginning to remember events, but not enough where I can say this is who I am and this is where I came from.  I remember you, things about you.  I don't remember work at all, but I do know names.  Benny asked why I thought I zeroed in on you.  All I can say is, somehow I always knew you were someone...well someone important in my life."  Danny wanted to say Steve was special to him, but felt oddly uncomfortable with that confession.  "I trust you and I know you, I know you won't let me give up.  Why I know what's going on with you, I can't explain.  Maybe it's because being a cop is in my blood, even if I don't remember anything about it."

Steve smiled as he reflected on all that Danny had said.  "It'll all come back to you Danno. You'll have your life back."

"Benny wants me to start thinking about going to the office.  It scares the hell out of me to even think about it,"  Danny admitted not venturing a look at Steve to see his reaction.

At first Steve was alarmed since they had a long ways to go on the investigation, but after some thought he saw it as an encouraging sign.  "As soon as this case is over Danno, I think it would be a good idea for you to come to the office.  Don't worry, I won't put you to work right away!"

            ******

Alan was there by the time Danny got up in the morning.  Steve had left for work as soon as Alan arrived.

"I thought today was Saturday!"

"It is," Alan answered cheerfully.

"Where's Steve then?"

"Man, you did lose your memory!  Don't you know 5-0 works no matter what day it is when they have a case."  Alan said with a laugh.  "I can't even begin to count the number of times you lost a day off because of work.  Guess someone has to do it." 

Alan knew Steve was working on Danny's case, he also knew Danny wasn't aware of that.  So he was thankful when Danny asked no further questions regarding the whereabouts of Steve McGarrett.

"We're headed to the beach.  We have a board for you, but don't forget your doctor said nothing too strenuous.  Mom has packed a lunch and the whole family will be there.  About time you got every single one of us at one dose!"

"What about Tommy?  David said he was going to try and ease him in."  Danny remembered Tommy only slightly, but was anxious for him to be included in the family outing.

"David told me.  Tommy will be there, I think he's even excited about seeing you now!"

As Alan drove them to the beach Danny informed him that he remembered Alan was the one who taught him how to drive...fast.  "Yeah, Dad taught us all how to drive, I just taught you the fine art of doing it on two wheels!" 

"I remember driving one day, I couldn't have been but 14!  The cops began to chase us for speeding.  I'm not sure who I was afraid of most...the cops, Joey, or Mei." Dan laughed at the memory.

In unison the two agreed, "Mei!"  Then they both laughed at the revelation.   

"I remember we barely got away," Alan recalled fondly.

"Yeah, but you were always pretty quick at finding alternate routes."

 Alan looked at Danny in disbelief.  "Man, I can't believe you remember that, Danny," Alan said quietly.  "I think you're beginning to come back to us!"

            ******

Whatever reservations Danny had about having everyone around at one time was gone within a matter of minutes.  He found he truly enjoyed the chaos and even more exciting were all the memories he felt rushing in on him. 

Over lunch the entire clan reminisced and Danny was even able to join in.  Tommy was glad he came.  He was silly to shy away from Danny, but there was something different.  He knew Danny suffered from amnesia and was quickly regaining much of his memory.  But something didn't seem right...actually something seemed strangely familiar.  He recognized the way Danny avoided certain subjects or would shut them out all together.  It was the same reactions and personality conflicts he saw in soldiers in 'Nam.  Soldiers who came back from hideous attacks, or survived horrific battles.  Tommy would enjoy this day but as soon as Steve picked Danny up, he would ask to see if he could talk privately with him.

"I remember racing our bikes...we were in Maui I think.  Yeah, it was Maui and we were racing our cousins.  Alan and I were on David's team. David said no matter what, don't quit.  I went racing down some hill going as fast as I could and then felt one of our cousins pushing me.  Finally he pushed me so hard that I hit a board sticking out of a rubbish pile on the side of the road.  Oh man I remember that hurt!"

"I'll never forget that as long as I live!"  David added.  "We all stopped and ran over to you.  We just knew you were dead!  You were struggling desperately to breath.  Finally you caught your breath.  When I asked why you didn't slow down or quit, you said...'David, you told me not to quit....No way I was going to let him by without a fight!'  Sounds dumb now, but I was so proud!  I hated that you got hurt, but our cousins knew from then on without a doubt that the Punana brothers never went down without a fight!"

"Tell him the rest!"  Alan said laughing. 

"You're the one dying to tell him," David laughed at Alan.  "So...you do it."

"We were told not to ride our bikes on the hill, so the last thing we wanted was for our folks to find out that was exactly what we did.  Our cousin, Sandy, went to the house and brought back some of Aunt Liz's make up.  Everyone knew we didn't have any shirts on when we left, so we had to find a way to hide the nasty bruise you got.  We put so much makeup on your stomach that it wasn't even funny.  Came close to using ALL of her make up.  But we did it.  We got you into the house without them even noticing.  After that we were told to get cleaned up for dinner and dad told us to put our shirts on.  Boy were we lucky!"

"We weren't so lucky,"  Danny interrupted.  "I remember Joey called me out to the hallway as we were getting ready for bed.  He asked if I was OK.  When I said sure, he told me it would be best if I wore my shirt the rest of the time.  He said whatever it was we put on my stomach didn't work very well."  Danny said smiling fondly at Joey as he remembered the incident.

"Is that what you boys put on him?  Your Aunt Liz's make up?"  Joey busted out laughing.

"Man, I missed too much!"  Kenny broke in with a laugh.

"Yeah, you were so deprived!"  David teased.

 "You didn't miss much Kenny!" Amy teased.  "Like my first date where all four of you us everywhere.  You guys were so proud that I didn't know you were watching my every move."

"How did you figure us out?"  Kenny asked.

"I'll never tell!"

The stories continued until a surfing challenge was brought up.

As David came in from his first ride he saw Danny on the beach off in his own world. 

Sitting next to his brother he remained silent. 

After several minutes, Danny managed to ask the question that was plaguing him, "I'm beginning to remember most of my life, there's still so much I'm missing.  But I don't remember anything at all about being a cop or where I work or any of that...and it's like I don't want to remember any of that.  Do you suppose I'm hiding something?  Something I did or maybe I hurt someone?"  Danny asked afraid of the answer.

"No!  Never!"   David was quick to answer.

"How can you be so certain?"  Danny questioned.

"I know you, Steve knows you...anyone who knows you Danny would know you could never hurt anyone intentionally.  And I've never known you to hide.  Even growing up, mom and dad always knew you would be the one to be honest.  Whenever you did something wrong, you would stand up to the consequences.  Have you talked to Steve or your psychiatrist about this?"

Dan looked around and felt like he could cry.  The feeling had been hanging on him ever since his memory slowly began to return.  He did his best to hide his feelings, but now they were overwhelming.  Managing to keep his voice stable and the tears from starting Danny confessed that he had not.  "You're the only one I've said this to."

"Danny, you should at least talk to Steve about it.  The two of you are close and I know Steve will help you find the answers you're so afraid of."

******

Steve was sorry that he was going to miss the outing with the Punana's, but he felt they were making some headway in the investigation.  To his knowledge, Danny was still not aware it was his case they were working so diligently on.  As soon as he dropped Danny off he headed to the office where his team had already assembled.  His men were always on top of things, but when it involved one of their own...things took an even more serious commitment. 

Kono handed him a fresh cup of coffee as he sat down behind his desk.  In front of him was an updated report on the investigation.  He never needed to read the reports placed on his deck, his men always briefed him before he could look through the folder.  Steve liked this interaction and he felt he could catch more from their voices than the reports many times.

"What have we got?"  Steve asked as he took a sip of his coffee and began to open the file.

"Danny's car was at his home so wherever he went, it was in walking distance.  The girl, Mary Leipua, her car was found at the house where the party was."  Chin stated slightly irritated.  

Kono cut in with the same frustration in his voice.  "There was a van at the house with spots of blood in it.  Chief Dann did one right thing - he had the van impounded.  That and he had a lab team go over the house."

"One right thing?  So what did he do that wasn't right?"  Steve knew he would hate the answer, especially from the tone of his two officers.

"He didn't have the girl's car checked before releasing it back to her parents.  The only person obviously a victim and in the room with Danny and he doesn't check out her vehicle!  As a matter of fact, he didn't have any of the vehicles checked!"  Chin answered shaking his head.

"There were two other vehicles along with the van not claimed after notification was served to the families involved.  I did a registration check," Kono added.  "Two of the vehicles belonged to a Jonathan Taylor, III.  The house was rented by a Jonathan Taylor, II."  Both Kono and Chin rolled their eyes with the mention of the names.  "It was Jonathan, William Floyd and a Douglas Powell found in the room with the girl and Danny.  The van was registered to Powell.  Chief Dann failed to have any of these vehicles checked.  They're all in impound now."

"Have Che get a group to go over them." 

"Already done that Steve," Chin replied.  "Che is at impound now going over them.  He called just a minute ago to say there was blood in the van, but only a little."

Steve looked at his watch impressed that Che acted so quickly on their request.  He wondered to himself how he convinced his team to come in so early.  "The blood, was it human?"

"Che can't say for sure, but he's betting it is.  He said he would let us know as soon as he can about what they found."  Chin answered, thankful Che was working as hard as they were for Danny.

Satisfied with that end of the investigation, Steve continued with another aspect.  "Do either of you know how many record stores are close to Danno's apartment?  I know of one in that strip mall about a mile from his place, but I've never really looked before."

"Hard to say."  Kono answered.  Other than Steve, he had been to Danny's place the most.  "Depends on what direction you go.  But if you were walking I can think of about three."

"Check them out.  If no one saw Danny recently, widen the search.  Go by the Leipua's house to get a picture of their daughter and get a picture of Danno out of his personnel folder. Show the pictures to everyone who worked in the stores that day.  See if anyone remembers seeing either of them."

As Chin and Kono left with their tasks, Steve decided on a visit with Doc.  He knew what happened that night. 

As he reached his office, Che called.  Hopefully Che wouldn't be as hard to information from.

"What have we got Che?"

"A good bit Steve.  The blood is human and matches Danny's blood type.  The van is an old utility van.  No windows other than in the front.  The back has double panel doors.  Perfect for hiding someone.  The floor of the van isn't carpeted and is white or was at one time.  It hasn't been cleaned in years.  But, there were fresh dark marks on the floor. Fresh shoe marks.  I tested the marks and it's from a rubber sole, just like the shoes you wear, and the ones Danny had on when he was brought to the hospital.  I checked with Doctor Bergman just a moment ago, all of the assailants wore tennis shoes as did the girl. All of them had light colored soles on their shoes.  Danny was the only one who had dark colored soles.  I don't think it would be much of a stretch to guess that the marks came from Danny's shoes.  I can take a look at his shoes and see if there is any unusual wear."

"The marks were that significant?"

"They sure were!"

"Possibly from a struggle?"

"That would definitely fit with where the marks were found and how deep they were."

"So maybe Danno struggled and after they got him into the van they stabbed him."

"No.  The amount of blood is too small for a stab wound, even a small one.  However, there was enough for it to be smeared when the body was moved."

"Che, help me out here..."  Steve said with a laugh knowing how Che hated to give him his thoughts on how a crime happened.

"Measuring from where the shoe marks were and where the blood was found, I would imagine the person got hit on the head and was rendered unconscious.  If it were Danny, it would fit."

"How would it fit and why unconscious?"

"Doctor Bergman told me Danny suffered a head injury.  Danny's height would fit exactly with where the marks were and where most of the blood was pooled.  My guess, is he was in the van when he sustained the initial injury.  Then was dragged out once they reached their destination.  The blood was not smeared enough to indicate any significant movement.  So either Danny stayed very still or he was unconscious."

"Doc said Danno was hit with an object that matched the end and side of his own gun."

"He mentioned that to me also," Che said.  "There was nothing in the van to indicate it was used as the weapon, nothing else had blood on it.  Same as in the house."

"OK, thanks Che.  Good job."

Steve hung the phone up carefully as he allowed all of the information gathered so far to sink in.  If the record store checked out, he knew exactly what happened.

******

The following day Tommy dressed early so he could leave before Steve dropped Danny off at the Punana house.  He was able to talk with Steve the evening before and arranged to meet him at 5-0 first thing.  He wanted to be gone to avoid Danny asking him where he was off to.  Danny may have amnesia...but he could still tell when people weren't being straight with him.  'Guess no matter what...you can't take the cop out of the man!'

Calling out to Mei that he had an early morning appointment he was out the door before she could reply.  He stopped cold in his tracks when he saw David's car in the driveway, with David leaning against it. 

"Where you off to man?"  David asked nonchalantly.

Taking a deep sigh, Tommy knew he couldn't get this past David.  He obviously knew something was up.  "I have an appointment with Steve McGarrett about Danny."

"I'd like to be included.  I've waited for answers about what happened and this might be my only chance."

Tommy smiled, "Yeah, I have questions too."

Tommy thought it felt odd walking into McGarrett's office.  The last time he was there was when he was a kid and charged with killing a cop.  He was glad David was with him.

Kono brought them each a cup of coffee while they waited and talked idly about surfing and how Danny was beginning to recall a few things.

Steve had arranged the meeting so that Tommy would only be there a few minutes ahead of him.  When he walked into his office, he wasn't surprised that David had accompanied him.

"I know you both are busy, so why don't you come right out and tell me what's on your minds."  Steve asked giving them his undivided attention as he sat behind his desk.

"Mr. McGarrett, when I was in Nam I saw the affects soldiers went through after being involved in traumatic situations," Tommy began.

"Anytime a soldier is in battle is a traumatic situation Tommy,"  Steve replied not sure what Tommy had in mind.

"Some worse than others Mr. McGarrett.  You know that just as well as I do."  Tommy stood and began to pace in front of Steve's desk.  "Men placed in extreme situations, those that made it back, always acted like Danny.  I later learned that it was a form of emotional amnesia...what happened to them was more than they could handle so their brains would shut down and the guy wouldn't even know it.  I know he acts just like those men.  His reactions to certain situations are the same also.  Joey has said that he won't discuss anything police related - not even if it was on the news.  I know Danny received an injury, but he's getting his memory back quickly...at least the part of his life before becoming a police officer.  I don't think it's a coincidence Mr. McGarrett!"

"Danny avoids any conversation about his work. He acts really scared when the conversation turns to him returning to the office - even for a visit,"  David added not revealing the conversation he and Danny shared the day before.  "Do you know what happened to my brother?"

Steve sighed deeply and began to massage his eyes.  Tommy described the same thing Benny had mentioned that first time he saw Danny...emotional trauma...emotional amnesia.  Looking back at Tommy, he pointed to the chair that Tommy vacated inviting him to sit again.  Steve knew they deserved to know, he wondered if it might not make it easier on Danny somehow. 

"I can't release everything we've uncovered, but I will tell you what we know so far."  Steve relented.

"I don't mean to be...well...I know Danny sometimes has an idea of what happened even if he doesn't have all the evidence.  That's what I would like to know - what do YOU think happened?"  David asked with pleading eyes.

After a few moments thought and studying the two men in front of him Steve opened the file in front of him.  "I believe that Danno and a teenage girl were abducted, possibly from a local store. They were put in a van where Danno was involved in a struggle How that came about I don't know.  Danno was knocked out and taken to a house along with the girl.  The girl was tied down to a bed in the house and Danno's handcuffs were used to cuff him to an iron ornament built into the wall of the house.  He regained consciousness and attempted to free himself..."  Steve stopped and looked at the men dreading what he would say next.  "I believe Danno was forced to watch them sexually assault the girl.  From the shape of Danno's wrists, I have no doubt he fought to free himself until they nearly killed him.  He was repeatedly beaten and at some point stabbed, I feel they either wanted to beat him for the thrill of it or they wanted to shut him up, maybe both.  The girl was given some of the drugs, which is what killed her.  There is evidence that they may have tried to drug Danno also.  In the end, everyone in the house died from bad drugs.  When Danno was found by the police, he was unconsciousness and bleeding badly.  At the hospital when he regained consciousness, he kept calling out for me but had no idea who I was.  The rest you know."

There was silence in the room for what seemed like an eternity.  David and Tommy both fought to keep the tears from spilling over as they pictured in their minds all that Steve had revealed.  Quietly Steve finally broke the silence, "I guess you may have something to the emotional amnesia idea Tommy.  I've got a call into Benny now to let him know what I just told you.  There's no doubt in my mind that Danno can fill in the blanks, but I also have no doubt that it played out just like I said.  I can't begin to even imagine what Danno went through. If it were me I wouldn't want to remember it either."

"Danny is what matters most," David said, tears escaping and falling down his cheeks.  "I love my brother, I've always tried to protect him.  I guess since he came to 5-0 I silently handed that job over to you Steve.  I won't tell anyone what went on, neither will Tommy.  But remember who you have under your wing.  You may think of Danny as your little brother...but he IS my little brother...and...just take care of him.  Please."

Steve could feel the sting of his own tears as he fought for control.  He found he couldn't answer David so he simply closed his eyes and nodded in agreement.  Steve heard the door open and looked up to see both men leaving.  Their heads down, devastated by what they heard and what they knew their brother had been through.  His voice inaudible Steve promised "I'll take care of Danno."