Take Two: Chapter Three
The night went smoothly at the Williams house, much to Danny's pleasure. Charlie knew to take his pills. All Danny had to do was give him a glass of water, and later help him into his pajamas and put toothpaste on his son's toothbrush. Charlie kissed his father goodnight. Afterwards, Danny and Grace spoke about school, Eric's obnoxious morning routine, and cheerleading. The conversation was constantly interrupted, however, by a slew of texts from Steve McGarrett.
Blue pill? Pink pill? Did he brush his teeth? And what about Gracie?
All of these texts were promptly ignored by Danny until one in the morning, when Danny finally crawled into bed himself. All done, Danny typed out, leave me alone.
Steve had had an equally productive night. Well, Eric had had a productive night, and Steve was there to listen whenever Eric eagerly "needed" to point something out to Steve. Meanwhile, despite the late hour, Steve called Kono, just to check on her. She assured her boss what seemed like the thousandth time that she didn't need to be checked on, and that she was perfectly fine. She was going to be okay. Later, Steve called Chin. Chin told Steve Joel had not received word from whoever kidnaped his brother since the initial blocked call. Joel had money he was willing to give for ransom. He just wanted his brother back.
Lastly, around three in the morning, Steve called Lou.
"If you check your goddamn email once in a blue moon you would see that I already emailed you everything you need to know about Michael Novak's work. Now can I please go back to sleep?"
"Sure, buddy." Steve said quickly, taking a mental note of Lou's grumpiness. This call would come back to bite him in the ass tomorrow morning.
Abby was awake, however, and easily filled Steve in. At this point in the night, Steve was struggling to stay awake on just his willpower.
"Geez, commander, do you always call your team in the middle of the night?" Eric asked in amazement before Abby had picked up the phone.
Steve shrugged back. "They're used to it."
"Steve." Abby greeted him easily. She knew exactly why he was calling, and cut the pretense. "Michael Novak's coworkers described him as pretty forgettable. Honestly, some had to be reminded who he was."
"That doesn't make sense, if he was receiving raises. You would think he was a star employee."
"Well, sure, but that was just Joel's theory." Abby countered. "I've been thinking about it all night. Something definitely is wrong. Chin and I are going back tomorrow, to speak to his boss."
"Good idea."
"Why wouldn't anyone notice that a coworker has been missing for days?" Abby continued before stifling a yawn. "Anyway. We'll get to the bottom of this."
"No, but you're right. Something has been…off about this case since the moment Joel Novak called Chin." Steve shook his head. He thought back to the similarities between Mattie Williams and Michael Novak before running a hand along his tired face. "I'll let you go, now. Good work. Get some sleep."
"Will do. Goodnight." Abby said.
Steve tossed his phone down on the table and took a seat next to Eric. Eric finished another Red Bull, buzzing slightly from all the energy.
"Sure you don't want one?" Eric asked when he realized Steve was glancing at him.
"For the third time, no thanks." Steve said. "How's it going?"
"Fantastic." Eric answered instantaneously, holding up the hard drive in his shaking fingers. "Well, except for this. This guy is pretty tough to decode. Don't worry though, Commander McGarrett, I'll get it. I've got fingerprints on everything else though. Waiting for results to come in. Should be here, soon."
"Good." Steve said. He rested his head in his hands and briefly closed his tired eyes. "Good."
8:30 a.m. Danny Williams arrived at headquarters. He had already had a full morning. Perhaps it was the relief of finally having his son with him, but Danny nearly slept past his alarm. Grace woke him up cautiously.
"Charlie's hungry." She said, when Danny rolled over to look at her. Danny nodded lethargically, running a hand through his mussed hair. The wake-up call was worth it, however, when he scooped his son into his arms and kissed him good morning.
"You think I forgot about you, huh? You think that?" Danny asked his son good-naturedly as he walked to the kitchen, Charlie resting on his hips.
"No," Charlie giggled.
The three had made pancakes. Thankfully, Grace was able to attend to Charlie while Danny hopped in the shower and got ready for work. It was Saturday, and Grace was going back to bed as soon as Danny took her brother back to their mother's home.
Charlie had been overjoyed to see Rachel. Someday, Danny hoped Charlie would feel the same way about his father. For now, Danny knew his young son would choose Stan over him. Danny had lost three years with his son. He desperately wanted to make up this time, but knew he couldn't overwhelm Charlie. Charlie was still sick, and didn't need the stress. Honestly, neither did Danny. He left Rachel's home quickly after leaving, somewhat sheepishly. He hoped he didn't feel like a kind a stranger around to his son, but there was no way of knowing. Not until Charlie grew older.
Danny looked around headquarters. Chin and Kono were in their offices. Kono was on the phone. Chin was typing on his computer. Abby was in Chin's office, reading off a notepad in her lap. Jerry was on the floor as well, his head sticking in Kono's office. He was speaking enthusiastically, no doubt about something Danny didn't want to pretend he knew.
Lou was near, pouring himself a cup of coffee. He patted Danny on the bag in greeting.
"That for Steve?" Danny nodded towards the coffee.
Lou rolled his eyes. "Uh, no. This is for me." Lou retorted. "Steve, who called me in the middle of the night, can get his damn cup of joe." He glanced at Danny after a moment of irritable reflection. "How was your night with your son?"
"Ah." So apparently Lou knew about this as well. "It went well, thank you."
"You made sure he got his medicine and all that?"
"Thank you. Yes." Danny said for what seemed like the hundredth time.
"Oh, someone's already asked you that, huh?" Lou deduced with a wry smile.
"Many times." Danny poured himself a cup of coffee. "It's a comfort, really." He put a lid on his coffee. "Steve still in the lab or something?"
"Oh, you better believe it. He's been down there with Russo all night."
Danny nodded warily and headed downstairs to the lab. Sure enough, Eric and Steve were still there. Now, however, they were joined by fellow examiners who had trickled in, turned on the lights, and settled into their stations. In the corner, where the two had set up camp, Eric was barely awake. His many energy drinks had worn off, and he was holding his head up by his first, staring open-mouthed at his laptop. Steve stood next to him, expressionless. He had probably been standing for hours.
Steve heard the sound of his partner's shoes against the marble floor and glanced up, blinking. Eric didn't register the noise.
"Hey." Steve nodded at Danny as his partner stared at his exhausted nephew with raised eyebrows. Danny wordlessly handed Steve a cup of coffee. "Thanks." Steve took it gratefully.
"Don't mention it." Danny barely glanced at Steve. "How's the kid doing? You put him through boot camp or something?"
"Do you mean me?" Eric's eyes moved slowly to look up at his uncle.
"Let me guess, you ran out of energy drinks, huh?" Danny laughed at his nephew's grogginess and tousled Eric's hair.
"Yeah, those things wore off like three hours ago." Eric mumbled slowly. He glanced at Danny again. "What's in the bag?"
"Ah." Danny looked at the bag somewhat sheepishly. "This is for Steve. I thought you might want to freshen up." Danny lifted the bag over his slumped nephew and handed it to the grateful Steve. "I would have brought you some clothes, Eric, but I know how you like to settle in to what you're wearing."
"It's a waste of deterngent to wash your clothes every time you wear them." Eric explained. He forced himself to sit up. "You want to know what I found, Uncle D?"
"Ah, no." Danny said, to Eric's surprise. "What I want, is for you to take a cab home and get eight hours of sleep. Rambo here can stay awake for days, but you, my friend, are no Steve McGarrett. Please, go. Don't wake up Grace when you get home." Danny nodded emphatically at his nephew. "Good work, okay? Good work."
"See," Eric smiled sleepily as he stood, "you do care, Uncle D." he patted his uncle on the shoulder. Danny returned the gesture awkwardly. Then, after a long stretch, Eric headed up the stairs.
"Thanks." Steve said once Danny had assumed Eric's seat. He meant about the bag.
"Yeah, well…" Danny let the joke slide. He was more interested in what Eric had discovered. "What'd you find, huh?"
Steve didn't know where to begin. "I…give me four minutes. I'll meet you upstairs."
"Please, take more than four minutes."
Later, with the team gathered and Steve freshened up, Joel Novak once again returned. He stood further away from the table, wary of the technology. He looked just as exhausted as Eric had been. Of course, he probably couldn't sleep, Danny noted. He was worried about his brother.
Steve pulled out the cracked phone first, the phone Danny had found in the trash can. "Eric was able to get the phone working again. There were no text messages, but the phone calls were all international. He also had various emails of a mildly threatening nature. Michael was definitely caught up in something. Like the night of his kidnapping he made many calls to an international number. We couldn't track the number."
"Michael didn't call me. I hadn't received any word from him at all." Joel said. "I haven't heard from Michael or whoever took him in days. I mean, except for this fucking postcard, but I don't know what the hell it could mean."
"Sorry, what?" Steve faltered. "A postcard?"
"Yeah, it came in the mail a few days ago." Joel said. "I don't know why. There was no return address, I don't know who it was from. It was clearly bought in Hawaii, too. All it said was, 'wish you were here.'"
No. This could not be happening. Danny's jaw dropped, but he quickly clamped it shut. His eyes immediately flickered to Steve. Steve was already looking at him, his eyes wide. Wish you were here. That was exactly what Mattie had written to Danny.
"D-do-" Danny cleared his throat. "You have it with you?"
"Yeah." Joel pulled out the postcard. "Of course. Here." He handed it to Danny.
Thankfully, it was a different postcard than the one Mattie had sent Danny. Danny looked it over before handing it to Steve. He couldn't think of anything to say. He was, simply, dumbfounded. As was Steve. Steve took the postcard wordlessly, his mouth opening as if to speak before shutting.
From further away, Chin was beginning to catch on.
"Where is this place?" Lou asked, taking the postcard from Steve's hands. He and Kono remained oblivious to the tension in the air. Kono peered at the card.
"It's the Ala Wai Canal," she answered evenly.
Steve finally spoke. "We'll check it out."
Kono and Lou seemed surprised. Joel was as well. "Why?" he asked. "It's just a postcard. It doesn't mean anything."
"You think it might be important, boss?" Kono asked.
"Trust me, Mr Novak, there's probably a good chance something is important about that canal and your brother." Danny responded. His face was grim. He looked at Steve again, this time with sincerity. Something needed to be done. Steve nodded.
"All right, listen up." Steve rubbed his hands together. "Chin, Danny, and I will check out the Ala Wai Canal, okay? Mr. Novak, if you would, stay with Kono and Abby. Lou, I want you here with Jerry. Check Michael's phone, check his flash drive. Tell me if anything happens. I want to know when we can look at what's on the flash drive."
"You got it, boss." Kono nodded. The team split up. Danny followed Steve out the door with his stomach in knots. He was sure Steve felt the same way. He hoped, for his own sake, there was nothing but water in the canal.