A/N: In the next few chapters some things will be mentioned that take place in the season 1 finale and the first episode of season 2. For the most part I'm not going to go into great detail about these events, and I am changing a few things. Also, the canon events are only a small part of this story that are being used to move things forward.

I hope you enjoy the chapter. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 21

"Where's Uncle Nate?"

Natalie's eyes popped open. She blinked several times trying to remember where she was and how she got there. It came back to her slowly. She had a bad dream, ran downstairs, and then her daddy put her in his bed. She sighed as she rubbed the last of the sleep from her eyes.

She heard the water running in the bathroom. Daddy must be in the shower, she thought. I wonder if Uncle Nate's up. Tossing the blankets aside, Natalie slid out of bed, and crept down the hall. She peered into Nate's room only to discover he wasn't there. Maybe he's making breakfast.

Natalie hurried down the stairs, but Nate was nowhere to be found. All the doors were locked and the alarm was on. She scurried to the front window and pulled back the curtain. The silver Corvette that had become a familiar sight was gone.

She ran back upstairs and knocked on the bathroom door. "Daddy, where's Uncle Nate?"

"Go get dressed. I'll be out in a minute."

She banged on the door. "Uncle Nate's gone. Where is he?"

"Stop hitting the door, Natalie."

"His car is gone. Where'd he go?" She pounded on the door with her fists. "Why did he leave?" The door jerked open, and Natalie stumbled forward before regaining her balance. She looked up at her daddy. He looked upset.

"That's enough," Steve said, staring down at her.

Natalie never realized just how big and scary her daddy could look. His eyebrows were knotted together so tightly it looked painful,and the muscles in his neck seemed to be alive as they moved in and out. She swallowed. "Where's Uncle Nate?"

Steve put his hands on his hips. "I don't know."

"When will he be home?"

"I don't know."

Natalie's arms hung at her side. Her hands balled into fists. "Why don't you know?"

"Because I don't." Steve ran a hand through his hair. "I don't have an answer for you, Natalie. I wish I did."

"Well, he wouldn't just leave!" Natalie surprised herself with her harsh tone, but she couldn't stop. "He didn't even say goodbye."

"Sometimes people leave…and they don't say goodbye."

Natalie stared at him. Steve noticed her chin began to tremble as tears welled up in her eyes. He should have chosen his words more carefully.

"Natty I..."

"I don't care what you say! Uncle Nate's not like the rest of you! He would never leave without saying goodbye!" Natalie turned and ran from the room.

* * * * * * H50 * * * * * *

When Steve arrived at work a manila envelope waited for him. He ripped it open and dumped out the contents. A gold key rattled onto his desk. He looked at it a moment before pushing it aside. He didn't want to think about the items from his father's tool box. He had enough on his mind.

Natalie's words still plagued him. The idea that she had dumped him into a category of "the rest of you", and placed his brother on a pedestal, bothered him. What was it about Nate she idolized so much? It wasn't that he was jealous, he just couldn't understand the secret bond that had formed between the two of them in less than three weeks.

Steve leaned back in his chair and rubbed his hand over his forehead. He wished he had answers to all his questions. Maybe he'd sleep better at night.

It didn't take a detective to notice that something was wrong with Steve. Danny stood in the doorway of his office, hands shoved in his pockets as he studied his friend. He had a feeling that some of his partner's behavior was brother related. After Nate's departure the previous day, Danny had worried that the two McGarrett brothers were getting dangerously close to an irreparable rift.

Danny's phone rang. He walked over to his desk and picked it up. It was Kono.

"Everything okay?" Danny asked.

"Sort of. I only have a minute, but I just wanted to know if you talked to the boss at all today."

"No, I only got a nod and a mumbled 'hello'. I didn't think talking to him was a good idea. Is there any particular reason you're asking?"

"Well, when I met him and Natty in the parking lot a little while ago things seemed to be pretty tense between them. When I asked Natty about it she said Nate left and Steve kept telling her he didn't know why or where he went. She's really upset, Danny. I tried to cheer her up, but nothing worked."

Danny exhaled. "As if Steve's life needed to get more complicated. I'll try to talk to him."

"Okay. And Danny…" Kono hesitated.

"What?"

"Let me know if you find out anything about Nate?"

Danny smiled. "Yeah, I'll do that. Have fun at school. And say hello to Grace for me."

"Will do."

Danny ended the call and placed the phone back on his desk. Then his eyes drifted back to his partner, but before he had time to think about what to do, an explosion rocked the building.

* * * * * * H50 * * * * * *

Paul Keller leaned back in his chair. He just finished his midday meal and felt rather sleepy. Perhaps an afternoon nap would be in order. Jason Lynch, who had hardly touched his food, sat across the table from him.

"Why so blue, J.J.?" Keller asked, his eyes nearly closed. "We are living the life here?"

Lynch glared at him. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe my arm hurts, and I'm sick of being forced to sit in the same room with you."

"Ah, yes, the horror of being under the control of a grouchy old spook. Why do you think I left the Company? It's more fun to be your own boss. I have a job opening. Interested?"

"I'd rather work for a grouchy old spook."

"Then you should get to work," Mr. Hamilton said as he walked into the room. "Both of you."

Lynch spun around. "Those were his words." He pointed to Keller.

"No doubt reflected in your own mind."

Keller tipped his chair, rocking it back and forth. "So tell me, Hamilton, who's the mystery person you're hiding upstairs. Don't deny there's someone up there, I saw Arthur bringing a tray of food up. Normally, my first guess would be a lady friend, but with you it's probably one of those mysterious types who does your dirty work."

"You have work to do," Mr. Hamilton said. "I suggest you get to it."

"Really? You're gonna leave me in suspense? How cruel. Well, you can't keep him, or her, a secret forever." Keller slammed his chair on the floor. "By the way, are you making any headway with Quinn's release from prison? Or did you not take that request seriously?"

"I'm taking care of my end of the deal. All you need to worry about are the details on your end."

"I'm not entirely happy with the way you work out your details. From what I hear, Quinn took quite a beating."

"Do I detect a hint of compassion for a fellow human being?" Mr. Hamilton asked. "That's something new."

"For you I'm sure it is." Keller's chair scraped against the floor as he stood up. "Just know that McGarrett is going to pay for Quinn's injuries one way or another." Keller smirked and sauntered out of the room with Lynch following reluctantly behind him.

Mr. Hamilton let his irritation roll off him. Keller would be dealt with soon if everything went according to plan. As for his mystery guest, he didn't want Keller to know about him until it was necessary, if ever.

"Liam," Arthur said, coming up next to him.

"What is it?"

"The governor's liaison, Laura Hills, was killed in a car bomb outside the Iolani Palace about an hour ago. I thought you should know."

Mr. Hamilton face molded into one of concern. "Make sure Nathan doesn't find out about this."

* * * * * * H50 * * * * * *

Henri Reilly glanced over at Natalie as she slept on the couch. She had insisted on waiting for her daddy there and not upstairs in a cozy bed. Henri turned his attention back to War and Peace, but during the past half hour he only managed to read one page.

He was concerned. It had been six hours since Steve had called him to ask if he and Hannah could take Natalie for the evening. Steve had said he needed to work late on Laura Hills' murder, and there was nothing to worry about, but Henri heard the tension in his voice. He had the feeling Steve had a theory about the bombing and was investigating on his own. Henri hoped he wouldn't do anything reckless. Lately, the younger man had been under a lot of stress, and Henri was concerned Steve might be reaching his breaking point.

Hannah came into the living room. She looked at the little girl on the couch and then at her husband in his recliner. "Why don't you just call Steve and tell him we'll keep Natalie for the night?"

Henri lifted his eyes from his book. "I'll give him a few more minutes."

"Did he say what he was doing?"

"No," Henri said, closing his book. "Something work related I imagine."

"Do you think he's all right?"

"I'm sure he's fine."

She nodded and laid a hand on her husband's shoulder. "Well, I'm going to bed."

Henri rested his hand on hers. "I'll be up shortly."

"I've been hearing that all of our married life, Henri Reilly."

He took her hand and kissed it. "Yes, but I've always made it worth your while, haven't I." He smirked.

Hannah smiled and kissed him goodnight. "I'll be waiting."

Henri leaned back in his chair, a grin on his face, and tried to read again. He was beginning to think that finishing this book might be impossible, especially with all that was going on lately.

Finally, he heard a car door close, and moments later, there were three quick knocks on the door. Henri rose from his chair and answered it. Steve stood on the porch, dressed in black, as if he had been on some covert mission. He seemed anxious, and he looked as if he hadn't slept in days.

"Everything go all right, Steve?" Henri asked.

"Yeah, yeah, fine," Steve said, stepping into the house. "Where's Natty?"

Henri wanted to check on Steve's mental health before he let the younger man leave his house. "So Alex is coming back. Have you two discussed a date yet?

"A date for what?" Steve looked up the stairs. "Is Natty upstairs?"

Henri pressed his lips together and shook his head. "Hold on a minute, son. We need to talk."

Steve turned toward him. "Can it wait?"

"I don't think so. I'm not sure you should take Natalie home."

Steve looked to his left, letting his initial reaction of 'not an option' pass. "Why is that, sir?"

"When was the last time you slept, Commander?"

Steve's mouth opened, but then he closed it again. This wasn't Henri anymore. Admiral Reilly was asking the questions.

"Are you sure you can handle having Natty around?" Henri asked.

"I'm fine, sir." As convincing as Steve tried to sound his voice betrayed him.

"You want to rethink that because four years ago you said the same thing, and you were so drunk you couldn't even stand on your own two feet."

Steve looked at the floor. He didn't like remembering that. It took him three days before Henri finally convinced him to put down the bottle and sober up.

Henri watched as the younger man relived his past for a brief moment before he continued. "Steve, I don't want to hear you say you're fine. I want the truth."

Steve ran a hand over his face. What was he supposed to say? Keller escaped the island, his brother left, and he had just broken into the Governor's mansion, and found incriminating evidence against her? He wasn't okay. How could he be? But all he knew was he had to bring Natalie home. He couldn't relax or even sleep if he knew she wasn't in the room next to him where he could keep her safe.

"Daddy?" Natalie's sleepy voice called.

Steve looked into the living room and saw her sitting up on the couch rubbing her eyes. He glanced at Henri before going over to her. "Hey, Natty." He bent down in front of her.

"I'm sorry I was mad at you this morning," she said, looking down at her hands.

"I know, I'm sorry, too. I wasn't very nice either."

"Uncle Nate's gonna come back, isn't he?"

Steve forced a smile. "I hope so."

She sighed. "Me too. Can we go home now?"

"Well," Steve said glancing at Henri, "maybe you should stay here tonight."

"No. I wanna go home with you."

Steve wanted her to come home, too, but maybe Henri was right. Maybe it was better that Natalie stayed here. If that morning had been any indication, Steve wasn't sure it was good for her to be around him right now. "Natty-"

"Take her home, Steve," Henri said. "Both of you need some sleep and I doubt either of you will get it otherwise."

Steve nodded and lifted Natalie off the couch. She put her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder. "Goodnight, sir," Steve said.

Henri put a hand on Steve's shoulder. "If you need anything…"

Steve nodded and walked out of the house.

Henri watched them leave. As worried as he was about Steve, he felt at this point it did more harm than good to separate him from Natalie. Henri hoped he had made the right decision.

* * * * * * H50 * * * * * *

Steve arrived home to find Danny waiting for him. He was the last person Steve wanted to talk to at the moment. He didn't want his partner to find out that he broke into the governor's mansion. Steve knew he probably wouldn't be able to keep that from him, but it was worth a try.

Steve stepped out of his truck and opened the back door to unbuckle Natalie, who had fallen asleep.

"Hey," Danny whispered, looking at Steve's attire. "Where were you tonight?"

"Out."

"I can see that. Do I even want to know where?"

Steve picked up Natalie. "Probably not."

"You better tell me then."

"I'm a little busy at the moment. Come back tomorrow."

"I'm not leaving until you tell me what's going on," Danny said, raising his voice.

"Shh. You'll wake her up. And I don't want her awake because I wanna go to sleep." Steve closed the truck doors with his foot. "I'm not playing twenty questions with you either, Danny, so go away." Steve marched off toward the house with Natalie laying across his arms.

Danny followed after them. "It's not twenty questions, you moron, it's only one."

Steve reached the front door and realized his keys were in his pocket. He closed his eyes and exhaled.

"What's wrong?" Danny asked.

"My keys. They're in my pocket."

"So what do you want me to do about it?"

Steve turned and thrust his right hip toward Danny.

Danny stepped back and held his hands up. "Whoa. What are you doing?"

"I'm dancing. What do you think I'm doing, Danny? Get the keys."

"I'm not reaching in there," he said, pointing to Steve's pocket. "How about I hold Natty, and you get the keys?"

"If we keep moving her around she'll wake up."

Danny crossed his arms. "Well, I'm still not going in there."

"Daddy?" Natalie mumbled.

Steve looked upward and then at his partner. "Now look what you did."

* * * * * * H50 * * * * * *

Thankfully, Natalie fell asleep again without much of an effort on Steve's part. He wasn't sure what he would have done otherwise. Of course, Danny was still downstairs waiting for him in the living room. Steve knew there was no getting out of the conversation that would follow. He headed down the stairs and told Danny everything.

He started with the key he had received that morning, which unlocked the desk at the governor's mansion. Inside, he had found the missing items from his father's tool box, along with pictures of Laura Hills putting the mysterious envelopes on his truck. Those pictures made it very likely that the Governor was responsible for her death.

Danny shook his head as he tried to process the information. "I thought we agreed we were going to be smart about this, and not do anything stupid. You can't just go all Ninja-like and break into people's houses, especially the governor's."

"I had to know, Danny."

"You're not even thinking straight right now. When was the last time you slept, huh?" Danny didn't wait for Steve to answer before he continued, his voice escalating. "It was probably last week before Keller broke out."

"Danny, keep your voice down," Steve said, glancing upstairs. "If you wake her up again-"

Danny held up his hand. "Let's talk about it tomorrow, then we can discuss it with Chin and Kono. Besides, that's not why I came by."

"Really?"

"I'm here because I heard Nate left."

Steve didn't respond right away. "There's nothing to talk about."

"Well, I think there is. He's your brother. You can't let things end like this."

"He's the one that ended it. I tried…" Steve's voice caught in his throat and he looked away for a moment. "I tried to fix things. I thought we might be getting somewhere last night, but..."

"What do you mean?"

"It's hard to explain."

"Try."

Steve sat down on the couch and leaned back. "There was something in his eyes. I've seen it before."

"Okay. Where?" Danny said sitting down in the chair.

Steve ran a hand over his face. He was hesitant to tell Danny. "In the mirror."

Danny appeared a little surprised. "In the mirror? Okay."

"I know it sounds crazy."

"What causes this look?" Danny asked. Steve glanced at him, but didn't say anything. Danny threw his hands up. "Let me guess, it's classified?"

"Can we not talk about this tonight?"

"If we don't talk about it now we never will." Danny pointed at Steve. "You don't get a second chance at this, Steve. Nate is your only brother. Screw up now and that's it."

Steve rubbed his eyes. "It's from things I've seen, done, lost... Things that never go away that I'd like to forget."

Danny nodded slowly. "Well, let's start by making an assumption. Nate doesn't sell cars. Let's say he's a Navy SEAL and he does things that you use to do." Danny waited for Steve to disagree, to deny that there was any possibility his brother could do such things, but he didn't. He remained silent. Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "Wow, I'm a little shocked you're not disagreeing with me?"

Steve let out a deep breath. "Nicole is a CIA assassin, Danny."

Danny's eyes widened. "Oh... So do you think maybe Nate... Nate's not really the assassin type. Do you think they're partners?"

"I don't know. But he had scars on his back. He didn't want me to see them."

"Scars? From what?"

"One was a gunshot wound. I don't know what the others were from. But he had another more recent injury. His ribs were wrapped and I found pain medication in his room. He said it wasn't a big deal. It was just some sporting accident."

"Do you believe him?"

Steve stood and walked across the room. "No. I don't." To hear himself admit that filled him with an agony he couldn't describe. Trust was something he didn't give easily to people. And the thought that his brother had betrayed his trust was about the worst thing he could imagine.

* * * * * * H50 * * * * *

It had been an hour since Danny left, and Steve lay awake staring at the ceiling. He hated the feeling of being exhausted and not able to sleep.

He sat up suddenly. He thought he heard someone whispering. After a few seconds, he determined it was coming from Natalie's room. He fell back onto his pillow and closed his eyes. If she was awake, he didn't think he could handle whatever it was she was going to need from him.

Finally, he threw back the sheet and blanket and went into the hallway. He could hear Natalie saying something, but to whom he didn't know.

"You shouldn't stay long," she whispered. "If daddy wakes up he'll be grouchy because he's so tired. He probably won't understand you and he might ask you to go away."

Steve inched closer to her room and peered around the door frame. There was no one in the room but Natalie. He wanted to walk in and ask her who she was talking to, but her next words stopped him.

"No, he's not mean," she said. "He'll just be worried because he probably can't see you like I can." She paused for a moment. "No, I think he would like you if he met you."

Steve flattened himself against the wall. Alex never mentioned Natalie having an imaginary friend, and he was sure she didn't have one last week. Or at least he thought he was sure.

Natalie yawned. "It's hard because Mommy's gone, and now Uncle Nate's gone, and I don't have anyone to talk to." Natalie was quiet, apparently listening to her friend. "No, I can't tell daddy I'm not okay because he's pretending he's okay. That's why I have to pretend I'm okay. But it's really hard." Natalie yawned again. "We better get some sleep. Thanks for talking."

Steve slid down the wall to the floor where he sat resting his head in his hands. He wasn't okay, but he told everyone he was. And without realizing it, he had taught Natalie to do the same thing.