"That was Junior," Danny let Chin know after disconnecting the call. "Turns out the hospital cam's got Gabriel, or at least they think it's him, getting in a silver Beamer. He conveniently kept his face turned away from the cameras."

"Hmm, okay, different vehicle," Chin mumbled without taking his gaze off the passing scenery outside the car. "Did they get a plate?"

"Hey, man, you okay? You've been a little preoccupied here lately." Taking his attention off the road at safe, opportune intervals, Danny glanced over at his distracted passenger and the phone he held protectively in his lap, unconsciously swiping his thumb back and forth over the screen. "I, uh, saw you checking your phone in there. Everything all right?"

The comment kicked Chin out of his pensive mood and he sat up straighter and now looked toward Danny. "Yeah, it was Abby. She was just asking for an update."

Danny's honed detection intuition bristled. The itch had started back at the headquarters that morning as a slight tickle. Now, he was having to suppress the strong irritation. "Oh, okay… too bad we don't have much to give her."

"Yeah, too bad," Chin agreed. "So, what else did Junior have to say?"

"Kamekona doesn't have anything hard and fast but he does have some oddities to tell us about. We're heading there now to meet the others at the shrimp truck. Plus, we haven't eaten. Maybe we can get a bite."

"Mmm, sounds good. I've missed the big guy's cooking."

~~~~~H50~~~~~

Unlike Chin, Danny didn't sit down at the picnic table with the others when they arrived. Instead, he stood behind Jerry and Adam with a wide stance and folded arms propping one finger over his mouth in thought. He was pretty much oblivious to the chit chat going on in front of him. He smacked his lips with an audible pop at the exact moment he made his decision to scratch that nagging itch. "Lou, can you take over here? I need to run a quick errand."

"Everything okay?" Kono asked. Chin looked up, clearly interested in the answer as well.

Danny replied with the same perceived sincerity that Chin had afforded him less than an hour ago in the car ride over. "Yeah, Grace left a notebook in my car that she needs for her homework and I'm going to run it by Rachel's. I'll catch up with you later."

~~~~~H50~~~~~

Danny knew he was pulling into the same parking spot he had used earlier, because the same white Camry with the wind deflectors and large scratch across the fuel door was parked in the spot next to him. He wasted no time getting back inside and headed straight for the warden's office where his assistant directed him to the prison's control center.

Leaning over the man's shoulder, Danny held onto the back of the chair and pointed at the screen in front of them. "Right there. Stop." The security technician had been scrolling through the footage of Gio's interrogation. "The angle's right but can you zoom in?" The technician hesitated, realizing what Danny was asking of him.

The warden's assistant who had remained in the room with them but was standing out of the way, reinforced the detective's command. He understood the scope of power that Five-0 had, as granted by the Governor. "It's okay, Jim, go ahead. Let him see what he needs." The technician finally executed the request.

Turning briefly to the warden's assistant, Danny nodded his appreciation then directed his attention back to the screen. "Okay, that's better. Can you go in a little more? Good. Now, can you brighten it up a bit?"

The technician dropped his arms from the keyboard and sat back in the chair knowing he had achieved what the detective wanted. Danny took the que and leaned in even closer. "That's it." He took a minute to read the text that appeared on Chin's phone then pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the screen. While continuing to look at the screen, he patted the technician on the shoulder in appreciation. "Nice work. Thank you." Then he turned and shook the assistant's hand offering the same thanks before leaving.

Even though it was still very much daylight, the long shadows told him it was getting later than he thought and he still wanted to get by the hospital. Mary and Joanie had made it in from California and were spending most of the day with Steve which gave him comfort, but he hated to admit that he was having Neanderthal withdrawals and needed to check in. He left Halawa and headed toward town, calling Lou on his way to get an update of anything he would have missed at the meeting. When Lou asked about his task before hanging up, he vaguely conveyed that his errand had been successful.

Until he decided what to do with the new information, he had reasoned he would keep it close to the vest for now. He wondered how many communications Chin had already had with Gabriel and why the text came to his phone and not Tani's, but that was insignificant compared to the message itself. He wasn't angry with Chin for not divulging the communication with Gabriel to him. He couldn't even say he was truly disappointed, maybe just a diluted version of it. He wished Chin had told him, but he understood. He believed in his same place, he would probably have done the same thing.

Danny stopped by the gift shop before heading up to the room he had visited earlier that morning. He paused outside the door to get an "all quiet" update from the posted guard and then slowly opened the door. Hiding his treasure behind his back, he displayed a toothless version of a Cheshire cat grin. The first thing he saw was Mary standing by the bed, holding a spoon of applesauce in front of Steve. He made a mental note to file away that image to use against his personal tormentor in the future.

Then he looked over to see the little blond five-year-old lost in her dreams with her knees pulled up to her chest and her head falling back to the side of the chair in an uncomfortable looking position. Danny's grin turned upside down in disappointment and he let his arms fall to his side revealing the reason for the grin. He held a stuffed rabbit with iridescent pink satin lining the inside of the ears and huge disproportionate eyes. He pointed the toy toward Joannie and shrugged before carefully positioning it on the nightstand beside Steve's bed as if the toy were watching him.

"Grace loved rabbits when she was little," he explained. "Looks like I'm too late." He whispered so as not to awaken the sleeping girl. "She's already conked out."

Mary propped her plastic spoon in the applesauce cup and placed it on the rolling table in front of Steve so she could give Danny a hug. "Hi Danny, it's good to see you."

Danny was surprised that she didn't lower her voice and he glanced over at Joannie to see she hadn't moved a muscle. "Oh, it's fine," she said as she waved her hand through the air. "Nothing's going to wake her up."

"Where's mine?" Steve asked, pointing to the rabbit.

"Where's… You big schmuck." Danny's volume adjusted to match the other two.

"Well, I'm the patient," he pleaded his case.

"This is not a 'get well' stuffy."

"Stuffy, again?"

"Yes, stuffy." He ignored the comment and continued, "This is a consolation stuffy."

"Consolation?"

"Tell you what, next time you're dragged twenty-five hundred miles across an ocean to visit a sick uncle, I'll make sure to get you one. 'kay?"

Steve pushed out his bottom lip to achieve the best pouting face he could muster. Danny rolled his eyes at him and turned to Mary who was waiting the two out so she could resume her feeding duties. "So, speaking of patients, how's this one doing?" talking to her as though Steve wasn't in the room.

"Uh, I'm right here. I'm fine, Danny."

"Uh," he replicated Steve's tone. "You're not fine. Once again, you were shot and just got out of intensive care. Cool your jets, will ya? You'll get outta here when the doc says you can get outta here."

"Well, of course he's not 'fine', but the doctor did give a good report. Maybe it won't be too long," Mary responded with optimism in her voice.

"Told ya," Steve childishly egged on.

Danny saw Steve look at Mary and then over to Joannie. He knew his partner well and it didn't have to be spoken that Steve would like an opportunity to talk with him privately. He knew he'd want to know about the status of the all-too-personal case. Danny was thankful he had the buffer of his visitors and could easily avoid the topic.

He wanted to tell Steve about the man backing Gabriel's return, but in doing so, it would lead to a whole slew of questions which could wind its way to an accidental slip and he was not ready to share what he had learned from the surreptitious text. Instead, he kept his visit very lighthearted and knowing that Steve would ask Mary for a minute as soon as Joannie awoke, he expedited his exit when the girl began to stir.

"But don't you want to give her the 'stuffy'?" Steve coaxed as Danny moved toward the door.

"You can give it to her for me. Just don't take the credit, like the sandwiches," he growled out through clinched teeth. "See ya later, Mary."

"Oh, okay, bye," she called out confused as to his quick exit and to his reference to sandwiches.

"See ya, partner," Steve grumbled to himself, having been left unsatisfied by the lack of information from the brief visit.

~to be continued~

\,,,/BronsonL