Chapter four

A/N: As promised, here's another chapter. Let's see what Mary has to say and how the story's going to continue.

A big thank you to everyone who took the time to comment on the story, and thank you to everyone who will. Even if it's just one line, let me know how I'm doing.

"Mary? Mary, are you all right?" Danny asked, concern straining his voice. He moved in the semi-dark of the apartment to close the living room door so the kids could sleep undisturbed.

On the other end of the line, silence reigned for a long, tense moment.

"Yeah," the woman finally replied.

"Where are you?"

"I had to leave, Danny," Mary chocked out. "I— I just couldn't stay. You understand that, don't you?"

He leaned against the wall, running a hand over his tired face. "No, Mary, I don't understand. We were worried about you."

"…But then I heard on the news that Steve's been arrested and— oh, God, Danny, what have I done?" she cried. "Is it true?"

Danny blew out a long breath. "Yes. He's in jail. He confessed to the murder."

"No…" Mary pleaded.

"What happened, Mary? What'd he do?"

"I didn't want him to get involved, I swear. That's why I sent him away," she said quietly, but the heartbreak in her voice was hard to miss. "You have to believe me… He's the only family I got!"

Danny felt his chest tighten. "Mary, I need you to be honest with me, alright?" he urged. "Did he kill Anthony?"

The words seemed to hang between them for a while. Danny held his breath, straining to maintain his composure.

"No," she admitted, just barely loud enough for him to hear. "I did. I killed him." Her breaths were ragged and rapid over the phone, as if Mary was having trouble drawing air into her lungs. "He—he wanted to…" her throat closed as she tried to finish her sentence. "I had to do it."

A massive wave of relief crashed over Danny as the implications of what he'd heard registered in his brain.

Steve was innocent.

He knew it, could've sworn it on his life, but having it confirmed lessened the crushing weight on his chest, allowing him to breathe easier.

"Mary, you have to turn yourself in. I promise you, Steve and I will get you through this, but you need to tell us what happened."

"I can't."

A lump of fear rose in Danny's throat. "Listen to me," he insisted, starting to lose his temper. He'd heard Steve complain about his sister's stubbornness many times over the years but had never experienced it firsthand. "Did you hear what I just said? He confessed! If they find him guilty he's gonna spend the rest of his life in prison!"

Mary's breathing was erratic now, the sound of panic catching in her throat.

"You tell them he didn't do it!"

Danny sighed in exasperation. "It's not gonna be enough!"

"You tell them, Danny. Please. Please get him out of jail..."

"Tell me where you are, Mary. I'll come pick you up."

"Is Joanie alright?"

"She's with me, she's alright. Mary, you have to—"

"I'm sorry," she apologized, and disconnected the call.

Danny stood there, phone cradled in his hand, mouth half open to utter a reply. Mary had hung up on him, leaving him with a confession that had no legal value, a startling revelation that he would probably be unable to use to get Steve out of jail.

He placed the phone on the coffee table and closed his eyes, hoping he'd gotten through her before it was too late.

"Danny!"

Lou Grover strode across Five-0's headquarters towards Danny's office, his baritone voice echoing loudly inside the vast space. Bloodshot eyes, shirt rumpled as if he'd collapsed into bed and dragged himself out of it without even bothering to change, he looked like he'd had a wild night and was regretting every single minute of it.

He opened the glass door with so much force it rattled. "What the hell happened, man? I heard about McGarrett!"

The blond detective sighed. "Tell me something I don't know."

"Why didn't you call, man? How's he doing? "

Danny fixed him with a disbelieving stare. "Why didn't I— As a matter of fact I did, Lou. I called. Six times. Got your voicemail all six."

The older man hung his head, guilt flaring inside his chest. He barely remembered getting home and passing out on his couch the night before, the same spot where Renee had found him in the morning. After a long lecture on trust between spouses and the dangers of too much alcohol in a man his age, she'd told him about Steve's predicament and all but ordered him to get a shower, drink some coffee and do something about it. In the haste to get to the office, he had inadvertently put on the same shirt he'd just discarded and only realized it halfway through his drive to the Palace. "I'm sorry man, alright? I had a rough night."

Danny stared at him with a look between a scowl and a grimace that said 'yeah, me too' and Lou felt even worse for not being there for his friends. But he was here now, and he intended to do whatever was in his power to help fix this mess. "Well, what are we doing here? We need to do something. Can't have an innocent man sit in jail!"

"You don't think I know that?"

"I mean, murder? What are they, insane? McGarrett didn't do it!"

"And you know that because?"

"We were together, man. He was with me while the guy got murdered," he replied in obvious disconcertment.

Danny's eyes widened. That was one piece of information he hadn't expected. "What you mean you were together? When?"

Lou took a few steps forward and sank into the couch in front of Danny's desk. "We met at a bar last night. Had a few drinks together."

Leaning back in his chair, Danny absorbed the news. While it was odd that Steve had gone drinking, something he rarely did especially since the transplant, the detail corroborated Mary's version of the story and could be used to clear his name and get him out of Halawa.

"Where? Where did you meet?"

"Some joint in Waimanalo. He showed up while I was commiserating about my life and drinking myself into stupor." He closed his eyes and rubbed the spot between his eyebrows. "Got the headache from hell to prove it."

"How long?" Danny asked.

Lou frowned. "What?"

"How long were you guys together?"

"An hour. Maybe two," he replied, scrunching up his face in concentration. He had been pretty wasted and didn't remember much about the time they'd spent together but decided Williams didn't need to know that.

Danny's lips curled into a smile.

Leave it to OG Chicago to clear his best friend of murder.

Grover's account would help Steve's case considerably, and a simple drive to the bar in question would easily confirm his statement and hopefully drop all charges against him.

The two men stared at each other for a moment, then nodded in unison and headed for the door. Fifteen minutes later, they were standing in Detective Kao's office. The Asian man regarded them with an annoyed look, arms crossed over his chest.

"Wanna tell me why I had to drag myself into work at this God-forsaken hour?" he asked. "I didn't even get my coffee!"

Danny bit his lip, pushing the retort he was about to voice back down his throat. Not now, he chastised himself. Not when he needed him on their side. If they managed to get Steve out of jail he would treat him to coffee, malasadas or whatever it was that the man ate for breakfast. Hell, he would even buy him dinner.

"I got a call from Steve's sister last night."

The revelation got man's undivided attention.

"Where is she?" he asked.

Danny's shoulders sagged. "I don't know. She hung up before I had a chance to reason with her."

"Did she tell you what happened?" Kao inquired.

The Jersey native paused, trying to decide just how much to admit without getting Mary into more trouble.

"Detective Williams?" he pressed.

"She said she shot her ex-partner in self-defense."

The lie tripped off his tongue without hesitation, stunning him into silence for a moment. Danny Williams, the kick-ass detective who prided on integrity and believed in the greater good, had just acknowledged that there was more to just black and white in the justice system.

"She did it?" Kao asked, surprise spreading across his face. "Damn," he muttered to himself. Apparently, things were about to take a turn for the worse and he sure didn't wanna be in McGarrett's place when they found the woman. He shrugged. People never believed he had feelings. He did. Just buried so deep that he usually got tired of looking for them.

"She heard about the arrest on the news and begged me to get her brother out of jail," Danny explained. "I told her to turn herself in but I guess she was afraid we'd arrest her too."

"Smart woman," the detective stated, pushing his glasses up into his hair.

Danny pinned him with an icy glare.

"What?" he asked, "She is gonna be arrested."

"I know," Danny conceded. "As soon as we get Steve out of Halawa we can—"

"Are you kidding me?" Kao interrupted him, wondering if he'd lost his mind. "We're not getting anyone out of anything! We still got no proof to corroborate either story."

"We have a confession!" Danny snapped.

"Which is totally useless in a court of law. For all I know she's the one covering for him!"

"Oh, for the love of God, did you just hear yourself? That's crazy!" he cried out. "If you don't want to believe her you're going to believe Captain Grover over here, who spent over two hours last night with Steve at a bar."

"Seriously? One of his own people covering for him, that's the best you got?"

Lou inched closer and put his hands on his hips, his big frame effectively towering over the diminutive Asian man. "I don't like what you're implying, detective. I've been on the force for over thirty years, you're not questioning my credibility here, are you?"

"It just seems convenient, is all."

"Well then go to that damn bar and ask the staff if they remember us! If somebody's lying here that's definitely McGarrett covering for his sister."

Sensing that Kao wasn't entirely convinced, Danny threw his arms up in frustration. "Listen to me, I'm gonna get him out of there, that's not open for discussion!" he announced before storming out of the office.

"Williams!" the detective called, but Danny was long gone. He turned to Grover, who just chuckled as he shrugged and walked after him.

The tray of food lay untouched on the ground.

A cockroach scurried towards it, paused to inspect it for a second and then moved over, disappearing into a crack between the pavement and the wall.

Steve watched the scene from his bunk, knees pulled up to his chest, arms tightly wrapped around his legs. A faint smile touched the corner of his lips.

Smart move, pal.

He hadn't even bothered to sleep. He knew better than that. He'd mostly stared at the walls, painted a shade of gray that seemed to suck up all the light.

The words 'voluntary statement' from the investigation report stared back at him in black, bold letters as if they were printed everywhere around him, and he started to wonder if he would survive a week in this place, let alone face the life sentence that his confession would undoubtedly earn him. Maybe ten years ago, his cocky and arrogant self would've breezed through it without a care. Not the man he was today. He just didn't have the strength anymore.

Please...

Hopefully God, or whoever was in charge up there, would finally hear him this time.

He covered his face with his hands.

He remembered his fingerprints displayed on the computer screen after the booking, the air growing thinner with each step as they led him to his cell, the chill that ran across his spine as his hand ran along the pitted cinder block.

Shaking his head, Steve tried to drown the sound of yet another cell clanking shut and let his eyes roam once again from the stainless-steel toilet and sink to the barred door, down to the insulated plastic tray of inedible food. Of course he loved his sister, and if he had to re-live the moment of sheer desperation in which he'd realized there was no other way out he probably would've done the same thing. Over and over again. That just didn't mean he liked it or didn't wish there was another solution.

A noise drew him away from his thoughts. Footsteps. His stay had been pretty quiet so far, no doubt courtesy of Danny who had gone out of his league to make sure he wouldn't end up with another scar on his already battered body, and he intended to keep it that way. Ignore everyone, and maybe they'll ignore you.

"McGarrett," a voice said.

So much for being ignored.

He looked up to see an officer standing on the other side of the bars, a square-shouldered guy with deep-set eyes and a buzz cut.

"Get up," the man ordered, knotting his hands together at the buckle of his belt, his expression unreadable. "You're a free man."

Steve stared at him with shocked, bewildered eyes. Then the door to his cell screeched open and he found himself walking in a daze onto a narrow, gray catwalk.

For one long, blissful moment, he did not wonder why he was being escorted out of prison, or ask himself what had happened in the few hours since he'd last seen Danny. Selfishly enough, he was just glad it was over.

Outside, the breeze felt wonderful. It snaked into Steve's lungs, bigger and fresher than the air he'd breathed in jail. He took deep, cleansing breaths and lifted his head upwards. A ray of sunlight filtered through the clouds, soaking his cheeks, and his knees almost buckled under the overwhelming weight of freedom.

He stood still as one second rolled into another, slowly marking the passage of time until he realized that it had started to rain. Mesmerized, Steve held out his hand. A few fat raindrops landed on his palm. He lifted both arms and closed his eyes, fighting the tears that threatened to spill.

Danny watched him from a distance. Sensing that his friend needed a few minutes to himself, he leaned against the hood of the Camaro with his arms folded against his chest and waited.

"Hey," Steve whispered when he finally approached him.

Danny smiled at him, opened his mouth to speak and shook his head. He couldn't really ask him how he was doing, could he? "Hey, yourself."

Steve wasn't looking at him, gazing instead past the barbed-wire fence that cordoned the facility. "What happened?"

Danny pursed his lips.

Where do I start?

"You hungry?" he asked, hoping to gain some more time to gather his thoughts.

"Starving," the Five-0 leader admitted.

"That's good. Let's go get something to eat and I'll explain you everything."

Steve didn't reply. He turned and absently walked to the car, sliding into the passenger seat.

Danny sighed, concerned about his friend's unusually quiet behavior. Steve had barely said a word since they'd led him out of the building. Was he still processing the whole ordeal or was there more to it? Had something happened in jail? He'd been expecting a rush of questions and yet only one had been asked so far.

Swallowing hard, he took the keys out of his pocket and climbed inside the Camaro, stealing another glance at his partner who appeared to be staring at the rain, lost in thought.

He started up the engine and then killed it.

The silence was getting on his nerves. He needed to say something.

"Your sister called me," he finally stated, hands gripped tightly around the steering wheel.

His words seemed to bring life back into Steve's almost deflated body. He jerked his head up and turned towards him. "She alright?"

"I think so."

Steve desperately wanted to ask him what he knew but couldn't bring himself to say the words, afraid of the truth behind them, so he silently urged his best friend to keep talking.

"She killed him, Steve," Danny said almost in a whisper, as clearly as if he'd read his mind.

The former SEAL went pale as a sheet, the realization hitting him just below the breast-bone with a physical ache that would've made him stumble if he wasn't already sitting. He rested his elbow on the window, leaning his head against his fist, and averted his gaze back to the world outside.

"Did she... did she say why?"

Danny shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "It's, uh... It's complicated."

"How?"

It came out almost as a plea, as if he was begging him to help him understand why all of this had happened. He needed to rationalize it, to find out the motive behind the action. That was how he'd been trained to operate. 'Actions have consequences', Joe White had drilled into his mind. 'Whether you're in a battlefield or in the safety of your own house. Be prepared at all times. Gather up your intel, and execute your plan.'

In this case, he had no intel to work with and no plan to execute.

He felt lost, unhinged, with no purpose other than staring into his best friend's eyes searching for a truth he wasn't even sure he was ready to handle.

"She, uh... she said she had to do it," Danny explained, feeling the desperation in Steve's tone and wishing he could do more to help. "That she didn't want you to get involved, and that's why she sent you away."

Steve's face paled even more as he digested each word, his whole body flinching as if he'd been hurt. Mary had wanted to protect him. The irony of his baby sister doing what he should have done in the first place wasn't lost on him and he inhaled sharply, taking a moment to gather himself together.

"It's gonna be alright, you hear me?" Danny promised, sliding a hand onto his partner's thigh and giving it a gentle squeeze. "It's gonna be okay. We're gonna find her, and we're gonna help her through this."

Steve nodded unconvincingly, the rush of blood to his ears muting his friend's words to a mere background noise. He felt like he was going to explode, his growing anger and the overwhelming desire to hurt something— someone, so intense he needed to unleash it. Now.

He got out of the car before he could stop himself and slammed the passenger door shut. For a moment he simply stood there, hands balled tightly at his sides, staring up towards the sky as if begging for an answer from above. Then he raised a fist and Danny instinctively shrank in his seat, fearing it would connect with the hood or worse, the window. But nothing happened. The arm stilled in mid air until it dropped to his side again and he leaned both hands on the hood, lowering his head and focusing on taking long, deep breaths to slow his heart back to a normal rhythm.

Get a grip, McGarrett.

There was no time to dwell on his own feelings. He had to find Mary and help her out of this mess. The sooner, the better. He would deal with the rest later.

When he slid back into his seat, Danny saw tears shimmering on his lashes. Steve dashed them away with a quick swipe of his hand, unwilling to reveal the depth of his pain more than he already had.

"Where is she?" he asked in a whisper.

"I don't know. I offered to pick her up but she ended the call before she could give me an answer. I'm sorry, man. I know this is hard for you. If there's anything that I can do or anywhere you'd like to be..."

"Where I'd like to be, Danny," he admitted in a broken voice, "is a few years back. But I guess that's just not possible, right?"

There it was. That lost look that always broke Danny's heart.

"Can you drive me home? I need to, uh..."

"Of course." Danny buckled his seatbelt and brought the engine to life. And once again, killed it. "Steve, there's something else you need to know." He lowered his gaze, unsure of how he'd react. "I told Kao she shot him in self-defense."

Steve stared at him as he let the words register in his brain. Danny was offering his sister a get-out-of-jail free card. His anger quickly turned to disbelief and then appreciation for the risk he'd taken. He'd basically lied to HPD for her.

How do you respond to that?

Unable to trust his words he held his friend's gaze, doing his best to convey all his feelings like they'd both done countless times in the past.

Danny nodded, acknowledging the gratitude in Steve's eyes.

Distraught by worry and everything that had happened in the last 24 hours, he'd barely had time to process what he'd done, but as the words replayed in his head he marveled once again at the ease with which he'd spoken them.

'She said she shot her ex-partner in self-defense.'

He'd do anything for Steve.

No question asked.

There might even be some truth behind his statement. Mary was obviously distraught and afraid for her and Joanie's life when she'd shot Morris. And yet he had to admit to himself that pre-McGarrett Danny would have never lied to cover a crime.

NJPD Detective Williams would have stuck to the truth, no matter what.

"I need to find her, Danny."

"I know you do. Call me if you need anything."

Steve told him he would, thanked him for taking care of Joanie and stepped out of the car. Danny's eyes followed him until he disappeared inside the house. For a few minutes he sat there with the engine running and the wiper blades sweeping back and forth, then he pressed the accelerator and drove the Camaro around the corner and to the parking lot of the Lutheran Church right next to the property.

TBC