Chapter 7

Danny was leaning against the cab of the truck when Lou called back. "The only contact I found was her supervisor at the flower shop, Liliuokalani."

"Okay, I'll call her." Danny was exhausted, mostly emotionally. He looked at his phone screen, taking in a picture of Grace when she was five and trying to absorb some of his baby's smile.

Taking a deep breath, he called the flower shop and left a message. As he finished, Steve came around the back of the truck. "We need a background on Emma. On the real Emma…the cop. I'll call Kensi at NCIS, see what she knows."

"Steve, just relax, will you? Let's go inside and talk to the doctors, find out what's going on first. Then, we'll talk to the team, and we will be here when she wakes up."

Steve nodded, opening the back hatch of the truck bed and grabbing an old, dirty tee shirt to replace his bloody shirt. "You talk to the team?"

"Done. I left a message at the flower shop, but it's after hours. I might swing by Lily's house to pick her up after we talk to the doctors and get an idea of Emma's condition."

After stopping by a bathroom to scrub their sticky red hands, they harangued a doctor into giving them an update on Emma. The woman was impatient, but compassionate. "Miss Frasier lost a lot of blood; her spleen needs quite a bit of repair. She should wake up a couple hours after the surgery, and we'll monitor her vitals for a couple days until they stabilize."

"Her leg?" Steve asked.

"…will be fine. It's a through and through. She's in surgery right now and will be for the next couple of hours." The doctor paused for any questions, then swept away from the two gruff agents.

Steve pulled out his phone and was dialing. "I'm calling Kensi."

"Steve, you're still going one hundred miles an hour. Slow down. Emma said she was in danger when she left LA. We need to get an idea of what that is, and if we would be causing more harm than good." The phone was already ringing, but the NCIS agent didn't pick up. Danny watched his partner's face curiously, and was actually relieved to see exhaustion in his eyes instead of fire. Steve left a message to call him back, then clasped his hands behind his head, a sure sign that he was reeling from what had happened. "Sit," Danny said, dragging Steve to the chairs against the wall.

After some manipulative words for Steve about how much Emma would need him when she woke up, Danny left to pick up Lily, confident that Steve would stay put. The drive over to Lily's apartment was short, but enough time for Danny to collect his thoughts. He had to make time in every case to do this, to slow down and walk step by step through his memories, trying to pick out details that didn't fit. Details like the way the tail car came out of nowhere, or that a bullet went through a bulletproof vest. And the name that she was murmuring in the truck…Scott.

She had sounded scared of him, but also called him Scottie. Something didn't add up. As he pulled up to the apartment and gave the notification, the thought kept gnawing at him. "Lily, did Emma ever mention anyone named Scott?"

The older woman, eyes red with tears, sniffed thoughtfully. "Scott? No, I don't believe so."

"Did she say anything about her life before she moved to Hawaii?" If the two women were as close as they seemed, Emma had to have revealed something telling.

"Emma never talked much about Los Angeles. I never got the impression that it was a particularly nice part of her life, so I didn't push. We had plenty to chatter about in the shop. She's such a smart girl, and a good listener. I could talk for hours and she'd absorb every word, like a sponge. She's a wonder with the flowers too. Such an eye." Danny didn't wonder how the woman could talk for hours; she had already taken up the whole car ride to the hospital telling him about how global warming was endangering local flowers. He hadn't focused enough to remember which flower specifically, but talking about Emma had drawn him back in.

"Did she say anything about past relationships?"

"She did mention something about a boy when she had to make a bouquet for a young gentleman."

Lily looked out the window and smiled. "Oh! We're here! Did you say I could see her?" Danno couldn't tell if she was distracted, or if she had stopped short of telling him on purpose…his bullshit meter was shot after the day's events, and if he was honest, he didn't really care. He was just happy that Emma would be okay, and she had someone good to look after her.

He escorted Lily to the waiting room and she got caught up talking to a nurse she knew, so he went back to Steve.

He wanted to ask how he was, and if his head was on straight, but that wasn't the way he and Steve worked. "Have you heard anything from Lou?"

"We were right, it was Ito's crew that was following us." Steve stared at the wall opposite him, not at Danny. "It's a mess; they're still processing. You still have your weapon?" Steve finally looked at Danny, seeing the sidearm still on his hip. "They're sending an officer over here to enter them into evidence." Danny nodded and sat down behind Steve, whose phone suddenly lit up.

Steve glanced at the screen. "It's Kensi," he said. Danny shrugged. "Hey Kensi, I was wondering if you could help us. We've got a victim here, we don't know her name, but we know she was LAPD up until a couple of months ago, then she disappeared. Yeah…Sure. And Kensi, keep it quiet. She left LA because she was in danger, and she's hoping that she got away clean. Yeah…good. Thanks."

"Her partner's LAPD, right?" Danny asked.

"Ex-LAPD. He's full NCIS now, but Kensi said he would check into it." Steve had taken his own time to think things through. "They had armor-piercing ammo. Lou found it at the scene. That's how it went through. I guess Ito was better connected than we thought. Gang unit is taking over the scene, getting intel on—"

Danny interrupted. "Who do you think Scott is?"

"He could be anyone. Boyfriend, brother…stalker, mob boss, dealer." Still seated in the waiting room chair, he lapsed into silence. A minute passed, then two, then thirty. HPD internal affairs showed up and collected their guns and statements, and left again. Liliuokalani was still in Emma's room, and doctors and nurses had been in and out of her room intermittently. Danny had been glancing at Steve, and after a couple more minutes, he was fairly certain that his partner was asleep. He rubbed his neck, feeling worry for Steve slowly draining from his shoulders.

Danny knew the guilt of getting Emma shot had to be weighing on Steve, especially after the conversation they had in the car. In the years they had known each other, Danny knew Steve wasn't one to cover up his mistakes or blame others for his failures. No, Steve took the full weight of his responsibility on his shoulders. Atlas, in Navy dress blues.

Both men were pulled from their reverie by Steve's vibrating phone. "McGarrett….Kensi. Yeah. Hang on, I'm going to speaker."

The voice of Special Agent Blye crackled over the phone. "Deeks thinks he found her. I emailed you a pic of Officer Carli Foster."

Steve pulled up the email on his phone and drew in a breath. "Yeah, that's her." They could hear her relay the message, then pass the phone over.

"This is Marty Deeks. I met her a few times when I went UC, she built all the identities and backstopping. I left LAPD a few years ago, and I didn't really keep in touch with anyone. I heard about an LAPD officer going missing, but I didn't realize it was her. LAPD's a huge force, it could have been one of a thousand people I didn't know."

"She said she left LA because she was in danger. She put together her own new identity and backstopped it so well that we didn't find out who she really was until today. I hate to say it, but LAPD might have had something to do with her leaving." There was quiet on the other end of the line, and Steve felt wariness grow in his stomach. "What is it?"

"LAPD were the ones to file the missing persons report." Danny and Steve locked eyes. Suddenly, they had a new investigation. "Reporting officer is Sergeant Mia Hastings. Want me to look into it?"

"Quietly. We still don't know what's going on."

Kensi's soft voice came over the line again, "Whatever it is, you take care of her." Danny could see the guilt, again, flood Steve's face, followed quickly by stiff resolve.

"She's safe, and we're not leaving her side until we're sure of it." Just then, Lou came around the corner, holding four coffees. Steve looked up and nodded his hello to Lou. "Deeks, Kensi, thanks. Let me know what you find out."

He hung up and Lou handed each of the men coffee, before stepping in to hand one to Lily, still sitting in Emma's room. Lou appraised the two of them. "Go home." He said bluntly. Danny and Steve stared at him blankly. "Go. Home." Lou repeated.

Steve sighed. "She needs a protective detail, at least until we tie up all the loose ends and make sure she's safe."

"That's what I'm here for." Lou's deep voice reverberated in a certain way when he was concerned, a way that vibrated in your body, regardless of who he was talking to. The biggest, baddest SEAL in existence was not even immune. He could handle angry Lou, frustrated Lou, impatient Lou, sassy Lou….but concerned Lou hit him hard. The men were the same age, but Lou was so damn good at being a dad that it was like McGarrett Sr. all over again. Lou continued. "Chin is back at the office tying up the case, and Kono is coming here to run security with me. She'll be safe."

Danny didn't protest; he needed to have Grace in his arms sooner rather than later. He nudged Steve with his knee as if to communicate it was time to go, but his partner didn't move. Steve looked exhausted, and blood still spotted his pants and arms. "Steve, you can't do anything here. Take a shower and get a change of clothes. Clear your head, and we'll meet back at the office in an hour. I'll grab some dinner and we'll work for a couple hours more before we go home for the night." Danny knew there was no way in hell that Steve would just go home and relax, but the man still had some reason left in him.

Steve finally acquiesced. "Lou, keep us updated." He stalked away down the hallway.

"Thanks Lou." Danny said quietly.

Lou sat down in the vacated chair and nodded. "Keep an eye on him. He's not himself right now." The two men exchanged a knowing look before Danny finally turned and followed Steve down the hallway.