When we last left Steve, he was unconscious on the bank's floor after being hit by four bullets. While we could give you a long AN, you'd probably rather pick up right there... ;-)

A Wrinkle in Time
by Cokie316 and Sym64

Chapter 11 – Aftermath

Steve blinked his eyes to clear his vision. He knew he could have only been out for a few seconds; he still lay where he had fallen and no one was yet attending to him. He struggled to draw in a deep breath to clear his fuzzy brain, but groaned when it resulted in a sharp pain in his left side.

He became aware that he was lying in a growing pool of blood and wondered where that was coming from. He was having difficulty breathing and his head felt like someone had hit him with a hammer.

Suddenly there was a hand on his back and someone was talking to him, but he couldn't understand what was said. He gasped in pain when he was rolled onto his back; his bruised hip and leg muscles again not happy with that movement.

"Steve!" he heard a voice simultaneously in his ear-piece and in front of him.

" 'm good," he mumbled.

Steve finally managed to focus on the person kneeling next to him, and tried to give Cath an encouraging smile. But he probably failed miserably. He tried to get up, but was pushed down by Catherine. He then realized that maybe he had been out for a bit more than he had originally thought. Danny and the pregnant woman were no longer there.

"Stay put. You got shot," she called out.

"Nah, vest took the bullets," Steve panted out while trying to sit up.

"Not the one to the head," Catherine said with worry in her voice.

"Huh?" Now he knew why his head was pounding like crazy. "How bad?" Steve asked and finally sat up. "Ugh."

"Can't you stay down for one minute?" Catherine called out and tried to push him back.

"No, I'm fine," Steve assured her and leaned against the teller counter. He pressed on the wad of gauze Cath had put on the graze on his left temple. "Is everyone OK?"

"Hostages are fine, suspects are dead," Grover said when he stepped next to them. "That was a close call. Why the hell did he start shooting?"

"He saw Danny's holster," Steve said and looked around for the detective.

"He's with Peggy. They are both OK. You saved their lives, man," Grover said.

Steve took the hand Grover offered and stood on wobbly legs, looking at the damage the short shooting had caused.

"We used flash bangs, but Pent wasn't impressed. I'm sorry, we had no choice but to shoot him," Captain Bings said when he joined the small group. "You OK, McGarrett?"

"Yeah," Steve replied but kept his hold on Grover. "Thanks for your quick reaction. It saved the hostages."

"Just doing the job," Bings said with a smile. "You should get checked out. That's a nasty graze."

"I will," Steve nodded, and was glad his head wasn't pounding as fiercely anymore. He finally let go of Grover and turned to his friend. "Thanks."

"Anytime."

"John?"

"Son, are you alright?"

"I'll be fine. Did you record everything?" Steve asked and took the fresh gauze pads Cath gave him. He discarded the soaked ones onto the floor. His gaze fell onto the huge pool of blood, and he now realized that Tom Pent had been the source for it; his own blood only contributing a very small amount to it.

"Yes, I did."

"Good, we'll need it for the report. I want a full analysis. I want to know exactly why this went so wrong," Steve said.

"It went south because your partner had a gun," Bings said.

"The holster was empty. No gun. But we will look into that. Trust me," Steve said and wasn't sure who he was more angry at. Himself for not preventing this disaster, or Danny for not taking off his fucking ankle holster.

"Come on, let's get you checked out. EMS is outside," Catherine said and gently pushed him toward the front doors.

"Not going to the hospital," Steve made clear. "I'm fine. Look, it even stopped bleeding."

"Uh huh," Cath wasn't exactly impressed. "Why don't we let the professionals decide?"

On their way outside Steve opened the vest and was glad that the pain in his side from earlier was down to an annoying throb. His arm still hurt and his head was pounding, but he knew he had gotten away rather lucky.

When they came outside, the first he saw was the news crew interviewing the bank manager who had been among the hostages. Steve turned to look for Danny, but couldn't see him anywhere.

"What are you looking for?" Cath asked as she guided him to one of the waiting ambulances.

"Danny."

"Maybe he went with Peggy to the hospital."

"Why would he do that? Could you go and find out where he is?" Steve asked and took the offered help to climb into the back of the ambulance.

"Sure. Be right back."

Steve watched her leave and closed his eyes when a wave of nausea swept over him. It had started as soon as he stood up, but so far he had managed to keep it at bay; he had no desire to puke in front of Catherine.

"Commander, do you feel sick?" One of the medics asked and helped him sit down on the gurney.

"Yeah, a little bit. Maybe from the flash bangs and the..."

"Looks more like you were hit in the head pretty good."

"Hmpf," Steve didn't comment on that. At least not in a manner anyone would understand. He had been exposed to flash bangs before, and knew that the loud noise and extreme light could cause nausea. Of course he also knew that the bullet to the head didn't really help.

"You should go to the ER, get a thorough exam," the EMT said while he cleaned the small groove the bullet left.

"I'm good. Just clean it and put a band aid on."

"Well, it's your head," the medic mumbled. "If you experience any further nausea, dizziness or blurred vision, please report to a doctor. And you shouldn't be alone for the next 24 hours."

"That won't be a problem," Steve assured him.

"What's with your arm?"

"Huh?"

"You're holding it protectively like it hurts."

"I fell on it. At least I think I did," Steve added. He was a bit hazy about how it all went down. He mostly remembered the loud noises and shouting from the entry, and then the bullets slamming into him.

"Let me have a quick look," the second medic said and gently took Steve's left arm. He moved the fingers and checked the cast for any cracks. "No swelling of the fingers. If you experience this pain for longer than the next hour, or the cast starts to feel tight, go see a doctor immediately."

"Will do," Steve promised.

"OK, we're all done. I think you're good to go… for now. But remember to check back if you start to feel worse," the first EMT reminded him.

"My watchdog will make sure I will," Steve said and grinned at Cath who just came back from her search for Danny.

"You're not taking him to the ER?" Catherine asked.

"No, ma'am. He doesn't need urgent medical attention," the medic replied. "The graze isn't as deep as it first looked, he was very lucky."

"He is here, you know," Steve grumbled and gathered his stuff.

Steve slowly stood up from his sitting position and was happy that the nausea from earlier didn't rear its ugly head again.

He surveyed the area once again before turning toward Catherine. He still didn't see Danny.

"Did you find Danny?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah," Cath replied, making a questioning face. "He's around the side of the bank and in deep discussion with his wife, I think. From what I gathered, she saw either him or the robbery on the news and freaked."

"OK, he needs to get off the phone and get to work," Steve said in a clipped voice. He reached for his phone and told her, "I need to call the governor. I'm sure he is also watching the news feed."

H50 – H50 – H50

Five-0, HPD, SWAT and IA finally left the bank in late afternoon. The bodies had been taken away earlier but the blood stains on the floor were still clearly marked. Steve doubted the bank would open for a few days. The news crews had packed up and most of the onlookers had finally walked away. The excitement of the day was over.

"Want to ride back with me?" Steve asked Cath.

"Sure," she agreed. "But how about—"

"Hey, Lou? Cath's with me. Meet you and Danny back at HQ."

"Got it."

Catherine swiftly plucked the keys from Steve's fingers and moved quickly to the driver's side.

"Hey!"

"I haven't got to drive the truck yet," she told him, grinning. "And you still look shell-shocked from the flash bangs and hit to the head. Sit back and ride shotgun."

"This could be considered mutiny," Steve said although he gratefully climbed into the passenger seat.

"Guess you'll have to write me up then," she agreed. "How was your talk with the governor?" Cath asked after they left the scene.

"No problems," Steve replied, "but I have to call him later this afternoon for a more thorough debrief." He removed his comm link and set it inside the small case in the truck's console then motioned for Catherine to do the same.

"I've got to talk to Danny," he quietly said.

"Yeah," she agreed. "He's been acting strangely all day. What's up?"

"Negotiations were going good until Danny bent down to help Peggy. Pent saw his ankle holster and that's when all hell broke loose."

"You told him to lose the holster," Cath replied.

"He unclipped the holster from his belt," Steve said, "and took the gun from the ankle holster, but left the holster in place. Hell if I know why." He rubbed one hand across his face. "This could have ended with those guys in custody instead of in the morgue."

"But you saved the lives of two people, Commander. I am very proud of you."

He sighed again. "But they didn't have to die."

H50 – H50 – H50

It was past midnight when they finally made it home. Dinner had been pizza someone from HPD had brought to them. By the time it had been eaten, the cheese was congealed and the dough was soggy. But they had all eaten worse.

John, who had left around ten, met them at the door. "You two look like you could use a drink," he told Steve and Cath. "And maybe some decent food. I made sandwiches."

Steve looked longingly at the couch and knew that if he sat there, he probably wouldn't get up without help.

"I'm starved," he said, heading toward the kitchen.

"Go sit outside," his dad said. "I'll bring the food." He turned to Cath and asked in a quieter voice, "You sure he's OK?"

"I think so," she whispered back and grinned at him. "Now who's being the mother hen?"

"Touche."

After finishing half a sandwich, Steve sat back in his chair and took a long drink of his Longboard. "I swear I never knew there would be so much paperwork."

John shrugged. "Police work isn't all action. A major part of it is spent behind a desk."

"You could'a warned me," Steve said with a tired grin.

"The governor seemed pleased with how things turned out," John said. "He got his news coverage although it wasn't what he had planned."

Steve nodded and set the bottle on the table. "Yeah, he had a lot of good to say. Of course, glad that the hostages were unharmed even though there was bloodshed. Said we did a good job."

"You handled it well," Catherine quietly said. "Although you made sure you will be black and blue for another couple of weeks. How do you feel?"

"Tired and achy," Steve admitted. "But the vest did what it was supposed to do."

"Did you get any more update on the pregnant girl?" John asked.

Cath nodded. "She was dismissed from the hospital later this afternoon. She had twisted her ankle in the first few minutes of the hold up, but both she and her baby are fine." She looked to Steve. "Thanks to you."

Steve shrugged his shoulder and then grimaced. "Part of the job. I'm glad I was close enough to make a difference. This could have ended a lot differently."

"Saw you talking to Danny. What was the outcome of that?" John asked.

Steve shook his head and reached again for the Longboard. After taking another drink, he said, "I'm not exactly sure..."

After everyone had made it back to HQ, they debriefed in the conference room. Once that was completed and everyone knew what paperwork needed to be filed, Steve motioned for Danny to meet him in his office.

"What?" Danny asked, leaning against the door jamb.

"Close the door and have a seat," Steve said, carefully sitting down in his chair. His leg had held up well in his fall to the bank floor but it was making its presence known now, throbbing from his hip to his knee. Also joining the party were his pounding head and the three new bruises where the bullets hit his vest. He sure was lucky to be alive, but was hurting big time. And he knew it would only get worse when the bruises had time to set.

"We need to talk," Steve began.

"Yeah, you're pissed, I get it," Danny interrupted and began to pace. "I didn't get Peggy out of the bank before the shooting began."

"No, that's not the issue at all," Steve said, leaning back in his chair, hoping to get one of the kinks out of his back. "The problem was your ankle holster."

"Huh?" Danny said, waving his hands in front of Steve's face at an alarmingly fast pace. "What's my holster got to do with anything?"

"Everything," Steve began. "Danny, please sit down; you're making me dizzy," he urged and closed his eyes as his headache began pounding in earnest. "Negotiations were going as planned until you bent down to help Peggy up. Pent saw the holster."

"So? It was empty. You made me go in there without a weapon," he accused.

"Tom Pent didn't know it was empty. He saw it and that's when he started to fire. I asked you to remove your holster."

"And I unclipped my holster from my belt. I thought you were in a hurry to get in there, so I just removed the weapon from my ankle. Hey, thanks for the save, by the way. I'm glad your vest took most hits and you aren't hurt."

Steve touched his fingers to the Band-aid above his eye. "Tell that to my aching head." He paused, then added, "Danno, we are all friends here. We need to learn to work together as a unit and I know with time, we will do that. But while we are friends, I'm the leader of this team. When we are in the field,I will need to give orders. I expect my team to listen and act on that. I need to trust all of you to do as told. I can't check every time if my orders were followed. Do you understand that?"

Danny stared at Steve for a moment; for once, his hands were still. But when he opened his mouth, his hands 'talked' with him again. "I'm a cop," he began. "And I'm a good cop. I see things; I react. But I'm not a ninja soldier like you. So please don't expect me to be one."

"For one, I'm a sailor, not a soldier," Steve made clear. "And I am certainly not a ninja. All I'm asking is that you follow my lead when out in the field. Is that understood?" Steve looked at Danny and continued. "It is critical for you to do everything and not argue or second-guess what is going on. When everything is over, you can question, scream at me, whatever, but out there," he pointed toward his window, "you need to follow my lead. There is no room for disagreement. Do you understand?"

"Aye, Aye, Commander." Danny said and stood. "And I now have some police business to take care of if that's all right with you. You know, the grunt paper work."

Steve sighed and ignored the sarcasm. "Yeah, looks like we have a lot of it to finish."

Steve finished relaying the conversation to Cath and his dad. "I'm not sure if he really listened to what I had to say or not."

"Danny's smart," John said. "No doubt about that. And he is a good cop. This is a learning curve for him."

"Sorry, Dad, but no. There is a chain of command, always has been. Danny doesn't even see that he did something wrong. That by not doing as he was told, he endangered himself, the hostages and everyone involved. That has nothing to do with that this is all kinda new," Steve argued. "I think it is not only a challenge for him but also for his wife. Dad, have you met her?" Steve asked and stretched out his hurting leg.

"Once. She's British, a bit standoffish, but they seem very close. Why do you ask?"

"Today after the shooting, I didn't see Danny. Cath found him around the side of the bank in deep conversation with his wife who apparently had seen news footage and wasn't happy. I expect my team to be focused on the job at hand. In the middle of a tense situation, talking to your wife needs to take the back burner."

"Why don't you give him the benefit of the doubt on this one," Cath said. "She probably isn't used to seeing him at a crime scene on live TV. It may just have been a one-time thing."

"I hope so," Steve said. "And on that note, I really need a shower. This has been a long day… and it's only Monday."

"Good job today, Son," John told him. "You, too, Cath. I think you showed the governor that he made a good decision."

"Thanks, Dad. I think everyone did a good job. Even Danny despite the holster. He protected Peggy, and would have taken the bullets for her. And don't forget, it got me out of a press conference, too." With a grin which turned into a groan when he stood up, he made his way back into the house for his much-wanted shower.

H50 – H50 – H50

He never saw it coming.

Hell, the man was so crazy in the head, he probably wouldn't have recognized a semi heading his direction.

He had been seated on the sidewalk in easy striking distance. An accident had been one option, but she hadn't needed anything of that magnitude. In the end, it was actually very simple. First, she had showed up and initiated conversation. Which she found wasn't easy when it appeared he enjoyed talking to himself more than he did anyone else. But the next evening, a freshly-baked batch of cookies and a little chit-chat from a friendly face was all it had taken. Even in his delusional state, he had seen her as someone 'safe' and non-threatening and he had accepted her gift.

Little did he know…

H50 – H50 – H50

Steve heard the phone buzzing, remembering that he had turned off the ringtone the night before. After they had fallen into bed way past one in the morning.

" 'lo?"

"Steve?"

"Chin?" Steve asked and tried to come fully awake. "What's up?" A glance at his watch showed him that it was not even six in the morning.

"Can you meet me at the ME's office?"

"Did we catch a new case?" Steve asked as he swung his legs out of bed.

"No, not really. Just come here, please?"

"Give me half an hour. I'll meet you there," Steve told his older friend and disconnected the call.

"Who was that?" Catherine asked, still half asleep.

"Go back to sleep. Way too early to get up."

"You're up," Cath replied and made to get out of bed.

"I'm going to meet Chin; you can at least sleep for another hour. I'll call you if we need you," Steve told her on his way to the bathroom. "Go back to sleep."

"If you insist," Steve heard the mumbled reply and closed the door to their bedroom.

Twenty-five minutes later he pulled into the parking lot at the ME's office.

H50 – H50 – H50

"Chin, good morning," Steve greeted his friend who had waited for him outside Max Bergman's office. "What's wrong?"

"I received a call from Dr. Bergman this morning."

"Chin, it's just six; when did he call you?" Steve wondered and handed Chin a cup of coffee he had bought on his way in.

"Thank you. Right, you don't know Max yet. Well, he's unconventional and the time of day is not really important to him. I bet he didn't even know how early it was," Chin explained.

"Oh-kay. So, he called you? About what?" Steve took another sip of his own coffee, hoping to help ward off the last residue of the headache he had woken up with.

"The last few weeks we have had several homeless people turning up dead," Chin began to explain. "There is an open investigation, but nothing concrete has come to light so far."

"Yeah, it was mentioned in the briefing last week. Six dead I think?

"Now seven," Chin said and opened the door to the ME's office.

Steve followed his friend through an office that had a piano sitting against the wall and many boxes stacked against the other wall. He stopped in the doorway to the inner sanctum where the ME was busy preparing to perform an autopsy.

"Max?" Chin called and Steve could see that Dr. Bergman had not heard them coming. "Max, this is Commander McGarrett. I told you about him."

"Dr. Bergman, pleasure to meet you," Steve said and extended his hand, which was ignored.

"Good, you're here," Bergman said and turned back to his computer screen.

"Uh," Steve looked at Chin and wondered what he had done wrong. Seeing Chin shaking his head, he guessed that it wasn't anything he did.

They waited another minute in silence for Bergman to finish whatever he was doing. Finally, he turned back to them. "Oh, I see you brought a friend, Captain."

"Uh, hi. I'm Steve McGarrett, nice to meet you," Steve said and again extended his hand.

It was again ignored, but at least the ME turned toward him. "You're Commander McGarrett, head of the governor's task force. Nice to make your acquaintance."

"Likewise, Dr. Bergman," Steve replied and wasn't quite sure what to think of this man.

"Steve, I called you because I would like for us to take over the investigation of the 'homeless-murders'," Chin told him.

"Why? Do you think they are not in capable hands?"

"No, it has nothing to do with that," Chin was quick to explain. "But, this one is personal. Max, would you please?" Chin asked and motioned for the ME to reveal the dead body on the exam table.

Dr. Bergman pulled the sheet away from the dead person's face.

"I've seen this guy," Steve exclaimed.

H50 – H50 – H50

OK, before you all scream bloody murder; yes, we know that Max was not the ME in 507. But we took a little creative license with it. We love Max too much to not have him as our ME.