Returning the favour

By

Landon Richardson

Official Disclaimer

The characters of Lieutenant Commander Steven 'Steve' McGarrett, Chin Ho Kelly, Officer Kono Kalakaua, , Adam ' Toast' Charles, Lieutenant Catherine Rollins, Governor Patricia Jameson, Amy Hanamoa, Detective Meka Hanamoa and Billy Hanamoa do not belong to me in any shape or form. I am merely using them for my own entertainment purposes.

The character of Detective Sergeant Danielle 'Danni' Williams probably can be considered to be mine by now. Although she was originally based on male Danny, she soon evolved becoming her own person. She has her own background, her own family, her own history and her own distinct personality. This isn't to say that the Danny Williams we all know and love is completely gone, he still emerges through her at times. I like to think of female Danni as what Danny could have been if everything in his life had gone his way. As in full custody of Grace and a decent relationship with his ex.

The character of Grace has also changed slightly due to the change in Danni. Her surname is Taylor as this is her father's surname and was Danni's married name (Danni reverted back to her maiden name when she was divorced). Her parents also are amicable which has also impacted Grace but never fear, she's still the sweetheart we know and love, if anything she's more a sweetheart now.

The character of Supervisory Special Agent Jack O'Connor, Unit chief Supervisory Special Ryan Moore, Special Agent Kale Mead, Doctor Rosamund 'Rosie' Lange, Duncan Taylor, Alfie Meyer and Roxie the dog also belong to me as does any other character who you do not recognise from the show. Please do not use them, or my version of Danni and Grace without first asking for my permission to do so.

Thank you.

Author Note

Welcome to Returning the favour

This is actually a rewrite of one of my earlier works called someone has to do it. You might be wondering why I'm rewriting this, well the reason I'm redoing it is because I'm not happy with the way I did it before and had to do something about it because I think the plotline isn't a bad one and I can do so much better with it now.

Initially I thought to simply update the chapters onto that story and continue with the old one when it came to updates but it turned out not to work as new chapters emerged ect hence this new story.

I shall be aiming to upload a new chapter at least once a week, you can check out the schedule for it on my profile.

Anyway, please enjoy!

Official Summary

It was no secret in Five-0 that Danni Williams was the Mama of the group, the one who always took care of them when they were sick but when Danni falls sick herself, it's time for her team and her friends to step up to the plate and help her. (McDanni, featuring a female Danni in place of male Danny, standalone story)

Chapter Summary

Danni is well aware she shouldn't be there but if she isn't there then who will be? Crime didn't stop just because she doesn't feel well after all.

Official Romances for the story

Steve McGarrett / Danni Williams (McDanni)

Mentions of past Duncan Taylor / Danni Williams (Dunni)

Mentions of past Steve McGarrett / Catherine Rollins (McRollins)

Hints of imagined Ryan Moore / Danni Williams (Rynni)

Romances mentioned during the chapter

Hints of Steve McGarrett / Danni Williams (McDanni)

Another note

I do not have a Beta so please forgive any mistakes which may creep in, I always do my best to edit the story and check it but sometimes mistakes do happen regardless, this might include English words in place of American words as my brain doesn't always pick up on it being incorrect.

The places I've mentioned in Hawaii are ones which I've made up or which have come from google, including the addresses. I've never been to Hawaii myself in person so I apologise for any mistakes which I may make, these are not intentional.

Saga

Stand alone story.

Chapter One

Should you be here?

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Danni Williams eyes fluttered shut, focusing only on the feel of the cool leather of the steering wheel beneath the palm of her hands as she tried to ignore the feeling of nausea sweeping over her. She was far enough away from the crime scene in her current spot that no one would be able to see her even though they would easily be able to recognise the silver Camaro which she drove. That would give her time to gather herself together before she had to step out of the car.

She opened her eyes, twisting around slowly in her seat and looked out of the back window, focusing her attention on the crime scene as she wondered in passing just how she would manage to get through the upcoming day. A day which given the sheer number of CSU Agents working the scene and the fact that the Medical Examiner blue van was parked on the kerb indicated that it would be a long and tense one.

The minute she stepped beneath that fluttering yellow police tape they would converge on her, eager to give her initial reports while they were still fresh in their minds and while she normally welcomed their enthusiasm, today she was hoping they wouldn't do it.

Her mouth quirked up slightly at her desire to stay hidden away in her car, a sure sign that she wasn't herself since normally she would be our of the door before her partner Steve McGarrett who was normally with her, would even have finished parking the car, always eager to get on with the job at hand.

Danni would be the first to admit that there was always a part of her which resented having to get out of bed, she was someone who loved taking her time in the morning, who loved that period between sleep and awareness when her body felt weightless and her mind at peace before she eventually rolled out of bed for a shower, coffee and breakfast, not always in that order.

Today however she had woken up suddenly, feeling sick and achy, her limbs heavy enough that she had struggled getting out of her bed and every subsequent step she had taken as she had gone through her usual routine had taken all her energy to complete to the point that merely pulling on her clothes had almost sent her crawling back to her bed for a nap to recover.

Danni turned back around, leaning her head against the head rest as she pressed her hand lightly against her stomach as it rolled again. She had clearly caught the same bug which her daughter Grace had caught at school and which had laid the small girl down low since the end of the previous week. Danni had known deep down, even as she had taken care of the sick girl that she would catch it but there had still been that small part of her, the one which always tried to remain positive and look on the bright side, which had hoped that her immune system would be strong enough to fight it off.

Sitting in the quiet of her car, shivering lightly in the air conditioning blasting out from the vents, she could admit to herself that she should have called her partner that morning to tell him that she wasn't going to be in that day and was instead taking the day off as sick but then the call for the latest case had come through to her via dispatch since they had been unable to reach Steve on his contact number which had left her having to tell them that she would head down to the crime scene herself.

She had no choice, the team was already stretched thin as it was since they were working on another case on top of this new one which meant that they needed all hands-on-desk, including Danni's.

She simply didn't have the time to be sick right now, maybe after the case she could speak to Steve about taking some time off but that was a conversation for a later date.

"Okay, come on Danni, you can do this the same way you've done a hundred times before. All you have to do is get out of the car and get to work." She told herself out loud, wincing when she picked up on the huskiness to her own voice before she killed the engine finally.

She breathed out again, meeting the reflection her grey eyes in the mirror and gave herself a determined nod before she reached out and gripped the car handle, opening the door and allowing the hot humid air to rush into the interior. Danni stepped out slowly, gripping the top of the door hard as the world spun around her for a moment before it finally settled allowing her to slowly ease her grip as she focused yet again on her breathing.

She allowed herself another moment to be sure that the latest episode of dizziness had passed before taking a step away from the door and closing it behind her. She locked the car automatically, the habit from her days in New Jersey etched into her DNA, before she moved down the pavement on course to the crime scene. She forced a smile onto her face for the officer who raised the yellow police tape for her to slip underneath and reached automatically into the bag which she carried everywhere with her, retrieving a pair of small adhesive gloves out which she pulled on, her eyes looking around her as she wondered where she should start and where exactly the other members of her team were.

She had sent them a text message with the location of the latest scene and had expected, if she was being honest with herself, that Steve would have dispatched at least one of their team members out here to assist her but clearly that hadn't happened, either because they were too busy or because none of them had looked at their phones yet to see her message.

Until they arrived, she would have to be the sole representative for Five-O.

"Hey Danni, good to see that one of you is finally here, we were beginning to wonder if Five-O was planning on turning up here or whether you were going to pass the case onto the HPD Detectives." A familiar voice from the side of her stated, attracting her attention from her initial sweep of the scene.

"Morning Kale." She replied with a smile at the tall man as he came to a stop next to her. "I'm sorry that I was late getting here, it's been seriously one of those mornings. I'm guessing from your comment that that none of the others from my team have arrived here?" She queried hopefully, her heart sinking when he responded with a shake of his head at her. "Ah well, hopefully they'll turn up soon to join me here."

"Well this is going to turn into a big case from what I've seen so the sooner they do, the better it will be for us." Kale confirmed as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"That's all that we need at the moment." Danni responded on a sigh, her mind already picturing the files which were already on her desk waiting for her to go through. "So, I've got to go and speak to the medical examiner but before I do can you give me a quick outline on what we're actually dealing with here? Dispatch didn't have many details when they called it in."

"That's not a problem." He said with a nod. "From what I've gathered so far the case was called into 911 by the couple who are standing over there in the jogging outfit. I think their names were Gregory and Vivienne Abbott though don't quote me on that. The uniforms who were first on the scene have been keeping them here, no doubt so they can make a statement to you guys. There's only one victim but the ME can tell you all about it when you speak to her. I'll get the updates from my team so they are ready for when you come back to me." He told her. "The body is over there" He added, lifting his hand and pointing to the right of where they stood.

"Thanks, that would save some time if you could do that." Danni remarked, giving him another smile before she turned and began walking in the direction which Kale had indicated.

"Out of interest what's with the long-sleeved dress Danni-girl, is everything okay because I don't know if you've noticed but it is hot out today." Kale called after her suddenly causing her to glance over her shoulder at him, picking up, even over the distance, the concerned look on his face.

"Maybe I'm finally getting used to the heat." She replied with a shrug before turning again and continued on her journey, trying to ignore the full body shiver which was threatening to come over her.

Danni came to a stop beside the dead body, noting absently that the victim was sprawled across the pavement in an inelegant manner before she looked at the familiar red head who was hunched down beside the victim, writing on a large pad of paper, no doubt making a list of her initial findings so she could use them later on when she was writing up her official report.

Rosie Lange was one of the new Medical Examiners who had just joined the Medical Examiner office on the insistent of the Governor of Hawaii who had come to the decision that they couldn't continue to rely on only a small team of Medical Examiners to work for the state. Danni herself hadn't minded the influx of additional staff, understanding where the Governor had been coming from, but there had been plenty of others on the force who had resented the change and were vocal about it, even though the change was in another department from their own which could only help them in the long run.

Danni had met Rosie on the other woman's first day and the two of them had got on together like a house on fire. No doubt due in part to the fact that Rosie was only a year older than Danni was, was also female and therefore didn't care that Danni was a female Detective on the Elite Five-O task force and also had originated from New York. All in all, it gave them a lot in common and a lot to talk about which Danni had been grateful for. As far as she was concerned the more friends, she could make on the island the better it would be for her in the long run.

"Good morning Rosie, what have we got today then?" She asked her friend, looking down at the body again, scanning it with a clinical look as she tried to see if there was a visible sign of death, noting almost instantly the blood centered around the chest area, staining the man's dark green t-shirt.

"You mean other than the fact we're meeting over a dead body yet again?" Rosie replied, keeping her eyes on the page for a moment as she finished what she was writing before she looked up, a slight frown coming to her face when she focused on Danni. "You know don't take this the wrong way or anything but you do not look good today, is everything okay with you?" She asked her, making no effort to hide the concern from her voice.

"Thanks" Danni said dryly before she sighed, reaching up with her hand and gripped the back of her neck, digging her fingertips into the tense muscles. "My daughter picked up that bug which had been going around the schools last week and I've managed to catch it while I was looking after her, the joys of being a mother but don't worry I'll make sure that I'll keep my distance from you so you don't catch it." She promised, slight smile curling her mouth when she noticed Rosie's wince of sympathy.

"Jesus that sucks Danni." The tall woman said, giving her a pitying look before she straightened. "Well since you're feeling ill let me do you a favour and tell you what I know about the body so far, that way you can just disappear quicker."

"I appreciate that Rosie but take your time, I think we both know that the chances of me being able to actually go home any time soon is unlikely, especially as I'm the only member of Five-O here at the moment. Anyway, hit me with what you've got, what's the cause of death? Gunshot wound to the chest?" Danni asked, her voice becoming professional as she crossed her arms over her chest, thankful when Rosie didn't keep her waiting.

"Well it might interest you to know that the victim also appears to be someone who didn't have the luxury of staying home when they were sick even when they should be. It could be that he has the same bug that you have, though you'll be pleased to know that the bug wasn't what killed him." Rosie told her, grinning when Danni rolled her eyes in response. "What did kill him however was the two gunshots he received, one directly to the heart like you pointed out and the other to the side of the temple."

"Two shots?" Danni responded in surprise. "Well, someone was clearly being through if they needed to take those two shots to ensure that he was dead."

"That's right, especially as both shots could have been a kill shot." The red head stated. "Look at this." She continued reaching down with a gloved hand, gripping his chin in her hand and titling his head to the side so she could see the wound which she had missed through her initial glance. "You see the gun residue on the skin, I hardly need to tell you that you can only get that particular pattern from having the gun pressed up right up against the skin, meaning whoever shot it was physically close to the victim."

Danni nodded before she looked back at the older woman, raising one eyebrow in question.

"How do you know that he was sick when he died? I mean he looks remarkably healthy considering the fact he does have two bullet holes in him and already has that death pallor thing going on." Danni stated, nodding her head towards him.

"Because he had a cough sweet in his hand when he was killed which he had been in the process of unwrapping from the look of it, he was probably doing it when he was killed." Rosie commented, using her pen to point down to the man's hand.

Danni breathed out, shaking her head as she lowered herself slowly and carefully to the ground, biting down on her lower lip when the ground proceeded to shift beneath her. She placed her handbag beside her and rested her palm against the ground to steady herself, noting as she did that Rosie had opened her mouth as though she had been about to say something before clearly thinking better of it before shaking her head. Danni glanced up at her.

"You mind if I take a look at the victim and see if he has anything on him that we can use?" She asked the other woman.

"Like you even need to ask me that, you know you're welcome Danni girl." Rosie replied turning her attention back to her notes. Danni glanced back down as she reached out and moved the jacket, he was wearing so she could access the pockets, a quick search revealed a leather wallet which she pulled out and flipped open, looking through the various cards until she found the one she wanted. She took it out and held it against the victim's face, comparing it to the photo on the driver's licence before she smiled. "From the pleased look on your face I'm guessing you've found something?" Rosie queried attracting her attention.

"I did indeed, he happened to carry his driver's licence around with him and looking at his face and the picture we have a visual match. Rosie, meet Alfie Meyer, a thirty-four-year-old male whose driver's license places him living in Chicago, giving how he is dressed I would assume he is here in on vacation." She stated, a shiver going through her which Rosie clearly picked up on.

"Okay seriously Danni where is the rest of your team right now because in all the admittedly short time I've been here and have worked cases with Five-O you have always had this oversized McGarrett shadow looming over you following your every move and the one time when you actually need him because you need to be in bed and not running a crime scene, he's not here? Danni I can literally feel the heat rolling off of you from where I'm standing, if I had a thermometer which wasn't designed to be used by stabbing into your liver then I would use it because you clearly have a temperature." Rosie told her, looking over her head with a searching look.

"A temperature?" Danni repeated in surprise before she shook her head at her friend. "I hate to break it to you but I'm cold right now, possibly for the first time since I moved over here and besides even if I wanted to be in bed it's not going to happen, not when we already have a case we're looking at which was given to us by the Governor herself. So, until the others arrive here then get used to seeing my face because you're stuck with me."

"Fine, fine" Rosie said with a loud sigh which caused Danni to smile. "I'm well acquainted with that look in your eyes but I'm warning you now, as soon as shadow boy arrives here I'm going to tell him that it's my medical opinion that you're not fit for work and should be back home in bed and on top of that I'm going to tell him that you should be signed off work for at least a week to recover from this bug because you're going to be weak as a new-born kitten once the fever breaks." She warned her.

"Is there any chance you can give me a time of death for Mr Meyer or at least a rough ball park time for it." She queried, bringing the topic back to work as she resumed her task of searching the victim's pockets to make sure there was nothing there which she missed.

"Well if I go by the temperature which I took when I arrived earlier and by the way his body is going into rigor mortis, I would estimate he was killed between two and three this morning, which would make it about eight hours that he has been dead." She informed her before she looked past Danni again, her face brightening slightly. "Well, will you look at that, it's seems the rest of your team has finally arrived which means you can go home." She told her.

"Lucky me" Danni murmured tiredly as she turned around just as Kono Kalakaua strolled up to them both, her dark eyes scanning the surrounding area before she looked down at Danni.

"Hey Danni, sorry it took us so long to get over to here, traffic was murder this morning for some reason, there must be an accident somewhere." She apologised.

"Forget about it, you're here now." Danni responded with a wave of her hand. "What is happening with the corruption case we had? We can't have close it already surely?"

"We were working on it when the FBI got involved and yanked the entire case away from us, Boss man put up a token argument about it but honestly the whole case was a proper mess so it was a relief they took it. It would have taken us weeks to go through everything and that was just the initial reports. The Governor was pissed that they did but there wasn't much she could do when the order came down directly from Washington. So, what do we have here? Your text said it was a Homicide case?" Kono asked, her face changing as she took a look at Danni's face closely for the first time. "You're not looking too good Danni, are you ill? Should you be here if you are?" She demanded, sounding worried.

"Well hearing that makes me feel just great first thing on a Monday morning Kono." Danni remarked dryly, placing her palm against her knee and came back up to her feet. She stumbled slightly as the world tilted again, forcing her to reach out and grip Kono's shoulder in an effort to steady herself before she let go and straightened her back, ignoring the twin looks of concern which Kono and Rosie shot at her. "We're definitely looking at a Homicide here, our victim was double tapped, once in the heart, once in the temple. Whoever it was who took him out wanted to make sure he was dead."

"Have we a name for him?" Kono asked, crossing her arms over her chest and making a small shuffling movement which brought her closer to Danni as though she wanted to be near enough that Danni could use her as a support again if she needed it, an action which Danni noticed and appreciated even though she ignored it and simply answered Kono's question.

"Actually, we're in luck there, the killer didn't bother taking the guy's driver's licence with him so he probably wanted him to be identified easily." Danni commented thoughtfully, indicating the driving licence which she still held in her hand. "Kono, this is Alfie Meyers from Chicago."

"If he's from Chicago then he must be a tourist then" Kono said as she pulled on the pair of adhesive gloves which Rosie had passed to her and took the driver's licence from Danni.

"That's what I thought as well" Danni agreed. "Rosie's placed his time of death at around two to three this morning. That's eight hours from him dying and the body being discovered though looking around us, it's not a surprise it took so long. This place is secluded which then raises the question over why a tourist from Chicago would come here in the middle of the night. How did he know about this place and how exactly did he get here?"

"Something or someone must have lured him here." Kono stared, lowering her hand. "Who found the body?"

"Kale said that it was the couple over there who found him while they were out jogging. He said their names were Gregory and Vivienne Abbott though I haven't spoken to them yet. HPD have been keeping them here until we're ready." Danni said nodded towards the couple who were clearly getting antsy about waiting.

"They didn't just find him, the guy actually took a tumble over the body." Rosie piped up as she continued to write in her notebook.

"Well if that isn't enough to put someone off of jogging for the rest of their life then I don't know what else could do it." Kono remarked with a grin, the sight of which caused Danni to smile in response before she looked away, her eyes searching for the rest of the team, noting that they were scouting the area, clearly getting a feel for the crime scene.

Her smile widened when she spotted Steve doing the same, her eyes lingering on his tall, familiar frame as he spoke to one of the uniformed officers who no doubt had been one of the first on scene.

"I'm just going to go and check in with Kale again to get his initial report, he mentioned earlier when I got here that there was something, he wanted to tell me. Rosie, I'll speak to you later on today, Kono would you stay with her for the time being?" Danni ordered lightly as she reached out and gripped Kono's slim shoulder, squeezing down on the muscle before she let go of it and moved away from her heading in the direction of where Kale stood with some of his team.

She was so intent on her task of simply placing one foot in front of the other that she failed to notice Steve's gaze on her or the fact from his frown that he had clearly picked up on her unsteadiness and the fact that her usual fair skin was white even while her cheeks were rosy pink.

"Hey Kale, sorry to interrupt but I'm ready to hear what you have to tell me now if you're free?" She called out to her friend who glanced towards her with a nod before excusing himself and moving towards her.

"Glad to hear it Danni-girl because I've got quite a lot of interesting facts to tell you about this case." Kale replied, flashing her a grin before he began to talk, his hands moving through the air.

She swallowed hard, focusing on his face to keep herself steady as she nodded at the right times, just one wish floating through her mind.

That this day was over already.

Author Note

Thanks for taking the time to read. An especially big thank you if you have left me a review, favourite the story or decided to follow it.

I really appreciate it