Steve stared at the floor of the hospital waiting room, flipping through the events of the last three days like he was reading a horror story, waiting for news on her condition. It still seemed so unreal to him.
He felt another presence in the room and looked up to see Danny standing in the doorway leaning against the frame, arms crossed, shaking his head with a smug but slightly admiring smile.
"I'm not sure what I'm more amused by," Danny said, stepping inside the room, taking the chair next to Steve, "the fact that you let your feelings for another person cloud your judgment, or that it was me that saved your ass. I could pick either one and be off the charts with complete surprise."
Steve leaned back in the chair. "You're never going to let me forget that, are you?"
"I might rent a billboard in downtown Waikiki."
Steve looked at his watch and ran his hands down his face, "What's taking so long?"
Danny turned to him, "Get used to waiting my friend. You need to learn patience. If you love her like you say you do, then patience is going to become your new best friend. Believe me, she'll test it too."
"Lexi's not like that," Steve defended.
Danny laughed, "Oh I see," he got up and started to walk out of the room, "You found the one woman in the world that will wait for you!"
Steve couldn't help but laugh at him. "I guess I'm just lucky."
"Lucky my ass," Danny snorted. He turned before leaving, "you're lucky you've got me as your partner."
Steve decided just to cave, "Ok, ok," he cupped his hands together, like he was giving praise to him, "Thank you! Thank you! Oh brave and masterful Daniel for saving my ass last night and making my life so complete. My first born will be named Danno, boy or girl, middle name, Book'em," he smiled, knowing that would piss him off.
"Yea, Yea," Danny waved over his shoulder, "That was a little funny. I hope you are cursed with five girls and no sons." he walked out smiling.
Steve moved his attention to the Dr. walking past the room, hoping he would stop, but he didn't. He sat back in the chair and looked at his watch for the hundredth time since getting there three hours earlier. He replayed the dramatic events of the last few days in his head again. It was the worst three days of his life, but he couldn't help but smile, it was also the best three days of his life…
Three Days Earlier…
The call came in at 4:28am from the Governor's personal line. Steve was up and in the shower by 4:35 and out the door by 4:45. The Governor's flunky wasn't very generous with details. He only requested that Steve come to the Tradewind condos, room 314, as soon as possible at the Governors orders. He was instructed not to contact anyone on his team, to come alone. An unusual request, but it came from the Governor's office, 'He's the boss,' Steve thought.
By the time he pulled into the parking lot, the morning sun was just beginning to turn over the horizon. Diamond Head cast a large shadow on the south end of Waikiki Beach. The streets were still barren of delivery trucks and the hundreds of tourists that would head to the beach, claiming their spot in paradise for the day.
He took the stairs two at time. They must have been watching because the door to room 314 opened before he had a chance to knock. Steve didn't recognize the man from the Governor's service department. He was slightly taller than his own 6ft plus height and had about a good 40 lbs on him as well. Before he even flashed his credentials, Steve knew he was FBI. 'They all had the same demeanor,' he thought to himself, 'as if a part of their training was to act like you had a stick up your ass.'
"Commander McGarrett." He moved out of the way to allow Steve to enter the room, "Thank you for getting here so quickly"
"No problem," Steve replied. He mentally took in every aspect of the room, including the two dark haired Asian men sitting on the couch, who were studying him.
"I'm Special Agent Jack Powers from the FBI." He showed his credentials.
"Yea I figured," Steve replied, crossing his arms. "Why exactly am I here? The Governor wasn't very forthcoming with information over the phone."
"Are you familiar with the name Michael Lenes?"
"No" Steve replied.
"He committed a murder in Los Angeles four days ago."
"In LA?" Steve questioned, "Why do you need Five O and HPD involved?"
"The FBI doesn't want them involved." Powers replied.
Steve was becoming impatient with the way in which he was stalling, "Have you tracked illegal activity in Hawaii that can justify a warrant?" he asked in a more annoyed than professional way.
"Not exactly, Commander. We have a witness to the murder that has come forward."
Steve wanted to shake the information out him, "OK, how can Five O help?"
The three men looked at each other, "We don't wish to involve your task force, just you. We contacted the Governor and he highly recommended you for the job."
Powers picked up a manila file that was sitting on the table, "I looked over your resume from intelligence, Commander," he flipped through the pages seemingly admiring the classified missions that Steve had been assigned in the past. "Let me ask you something, why would a highly decorated Navy Seal working intelligence for the CIA on top secret missions choose to join the Honolulu Police force?" He set the folder down, crossed his arms and stared with a puzzled look at Steve, "It's obvious from what I've read that you could be working operations in any branch of the Federal Government you chose," he looked over his shoulder at the other men in an attempt to get answers to questions they had obviously discussed before Steve's arrival, "instead you work here, with a team that isn't," he tried to find the right words, "well to put it bluntly, isn't trained to meet our standard of qualifications. Why is that Commander?"
Steve's demeanor changed instantly. He stared into the man with what Danny would describe as, 'cold and void of feeling'. "Let's just say I have some personal business that keeps me close to the islands." He took a step closer to the man, "and as far as my team goes, those people that you so casually mention are Detective Daniel Williams, Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly and Officer Kono Kalakaua. They may not have the training that you or I have but I would walk side by side with any one of them into a hostile situation and know without a doubt that I could trust them to have my back and resolve whatever comes at them. I would choose this team over any other that I have worked with in the past, and that includes the FBI."
"My apologies Commander, I didn't mean to imply that your team was in any way unprofessional."
Steve refused to waiver, "I'm sure you didn't Agent Powers. Now, what do you want?"
He moved past Steve to get away from the angry glare, "We have a witness that is hiding here in Oahu and is willing to come forward and testify that Michael Lenes murdered Julio Sanchez, but she will only make contact with a member of the Hawaiian Police force."
"Why? Why not the FBI?"
"It's seems she has some reservations about cooperating with us."
"Really?" Steve hissed, "I can't imagine why."
Powers ignored the obvious sarcasm, "We would like for you to make contact with her and bring her in."
"Does Michael Lenes know she's here?"
"We don't think so. He's still in LA so there shouldn't be an immediate threat. We have a place on the North Shore for you. You can hold up there until we come for her. Any questions?"
"I want to see the file that you have on Michael Lenes."
He looked at his partners, "The case really isn't of importance Commander, all we need from you is to keep an eye on her."
Steve smiled, "Well Agent Power's, all I need from you is to see the file. I'm not taking on an assignment until I have the details of what I'm dealing with from all sides. You should know that. First rule of thumb in our business."
The two men eyed each other for several seconds, neither one backing down. Power's reached his hand out to one of his men and snapped his fingers. Steve thought it amusing that the man reacted like a trained dog, producing the file on command. He couldn't help but think what Danny would have done if he would have snapped his fingers in the same situation, probably sarcastically looked around the room wondering who in the hell he was snapping his fingers at.
Powers handed the file to Steve. "The information on how to contact her is in there as well. She'll be expecting your call in the next hour."
'Games,' Steve thought to himself, 'they had the file ready for me, there's probably another one in there with just the contact info incase I didn't ask. Fucking FBI.'
"We'll be in contact Commander." Powers reached his hand out.