Four days later
I was pacing the hospital room and getting more annoyed since the doctor hadn't been around yet to discharge me; I knew I was healing quickly and I had no more vision or headache issues and I had passed my physical with flying colours. It was just after 6am that the doctor eventually came in and smirked as he saw me dressed for work in my usual cargo pants, top and black chukka boots – my badge and weapon were in the safe at the house after I had been admitted, my first stop was to get them and then get back to work with the drive Marcus gave me. I had chucked both Steve and Danny out of the room over a day ago and told them to get back to work and start on any leads with Chin and Kono – they left the room because I was being a temperamental bitch who scared them slightly!
"You better have good news for me doc, and they better be my release papers?"
He looked up at me and grinned, he was a good guy and didn't hide behind the bullshit; he just told you what you needed and let me deal with the issues as I saw fit – he understood the military mind and knew when to back off.
"Okay, someone hasn't had their coffee yet! Yes, you are free to go now but any impaired vision or dizziness then you know to come back aright – and please – I don't want to see you in here again for months – that goes for the rest of the team as well!" he replied.
I grabbed my bag and blew him a kiss as I ran out of the room and down to the main entrance where I could catch a cab to the house to get cleaned up and grab my gear from the safe; the guys should be at the HQ already unless they were chasing someone – gave me time to get back into the swing of things and have a look at the drives before they came back. The cab eventually dropped me off at the house and I ran upstairs to get myself cleaned up and pack another 'Go Bag' for the back of the car. Thirty minutes later I had grabbed all my gear again and finished my massive smoothie that Steve had introduced me too for breakfast and I headed back to the car outside.
I parked up outside the office, I really needed to stop calling it the office, its official title was the Iolani Palace and was the Governor's HQ – we just had a floor on it! I shook my head off the stupid bit of information and headed up the main stairs that lead to the sealed doors of our HQ, you couldn't get in without an escort by the uniform outside and the place was currently empty at the moment – I wandered in and put my stuff down on my desk. I grabbed my laptop out of my drawer and plugged the drive into the socket and clicked on the link – thankfully it was encoded and I typed up my old password from Skapa and it unlocked the files for my attention. Marcus has labelled everything chronologically and pockmarked the main bits of Intel that would be useful to investigations. I sat reading from day one, getting a background on this asshole and then I came across the name Jenna Kaye – the woman who had betrayed Steve and got them into North Korea. I clicked on the folder and read up on her background from the CIA and when she worked with the team before disappearing onto a remote island – shit – she should be thankful she is dead!
It was a couple of hours later that the team walked in one by one, the usual Sunday morning late start unless we got called in, no one had expected me back to work and I was busy looking over information on the main computer system and had stacked up loads of notes onto my laptop and saved them onto my drive that Marcus has given me. Due to the way I had my office I was pretty much hidden for the time being until, maybe an hour later, my door swung open and a rather annoyed Danny walked in and stared at me.
"When the hell did you get out of the hospital, did you not think about letting us know that you may need a lift – or where you were going afterwards?" he demanded.
"You didn't say I needed to call you, and I stayed until they discharged me – that is an improvement of biblical proportions Danny! Anyway, I'm done here and I'm heading home so I can go and have a couple of hours nap, surf and then cook a nice meal for everyone in the house – please bring Gracie!" I replied.
Just then I saw a very pissed off Steve walk past the door and then reverse course and walk into the office, he looked me up and down and I rolled my eyes at the same lecture he was giving as Danno. I grabbed his face and planted this massive kiss on him and he grabbed me back just as passionately and held me close to him; Danny threw his hands in the air and walked out the room mumbling about stupid actions and reckless behaviour.
"Are you alright, what did the doctors say to you?"
"That we needed to stop hogging the bed space and he doesn't want to see any of us for a few months, or better still never. Look, I'm sorry I didn't call but I was in a rush to do some stuff and I'm now going home as everyone is coming for dinner tonight including Gracie – I'll go do the shopping and rest up – you guys have a quiet day alright!" I replied.
I headed out the open area and waved to everyone who was surprised to see me in the building, I grabbed my car keys and headed to the shops and then home a few hours later for a long overdue nap on my own bed.
Danno had dropped Gracie off at the house an hour or so ago and after helping her with the homework on biology and her helping me with making some marinades for the meat, we got changed and headed to the water outside; it was a beautiful afternoon and the water was warm enough for us to go for a quick surf. I took Gracie by the hands and we hit the smaller waves and raced each other to the shore for a while before she wanted to watch the whales breach the surface; I paddled boarded out with her and sat her in front of me as we watched them breach the surface – they came incredibly close to where we were.
"Are you feeling better now Sadie, Danno said you hurt your head?"
"Yeah I'm feeling a lot better now babe, just a little bump and Steve got protective – how are you feeling after the surgery?" I replied hugging her.
"I'm good, the pain is gone and the swimming helps take the ache away – I now have a cool scar like you!" she replied innocently.
I laughed and pulled her back against me as a small wave hit our board and we wobbled slightly, it was incredibly soothing to do this and it gave us girls some time to relax. Gracie looked at me and as I looked down at her she blushed and looked away.
"What is it hunny, you know you can talk to me about anything!" I whispered.
"It may sound silly? Do you sing when you do this by yourself, out loud or in your head?"
I nodded and explained to her that I used music as something to help with painful memories and they soothed me, much like Danno reading to her in Italian did for her; she nodded and then looked at the horizon.
"Do you want me to sing for you, might help you relax a little?" I whispered.
She grinned at me and she requested a song she had never heard before, I had to think about that one – but came up with a good one. I started to sing and she leaned back against me and closed her eyes for a moment before she looked back over the ocean – what we didn't know is that we had two people looking at us from the shore and they both heard me starting to sing.
'Long Ago, your name a shadow in my dreams, the white brave still searching, Raining Winds, fall apart. I believe your heart, tell me now, what you see tell me what you feel now you're here tell me.
Tell me now, what you know, never let me go, tell me now, what you see!
Who cries from the hill? The mist creeps from your eyes, your banner will promise let's remember the start I believe, your heart. Tell me now what you know never let me go, tell what you see; tell me now what you see. Tell me what you feel, now you're here, tell me; tell me now and what you know – never let me go – tell me now for what you see'
Both men on the shore listened in silence as they watched their whole lives rock gently on the waves in front of them; they looked at each other and knew that both of them were hurting for some reason and they needed to find out why.
I looked down at Gracie who was crying and I held her tightly as she whimpered, I pulled her into my arms and looked at her to make sure she wasn't ill again; it was very unusual for her to cry all of a sudden and then it dawned on me.
"Gracie, do you….do you need another lady to talk too since your mom isn't here?"
She nodded and burst out into tears again; I pulled her in for a deep hug and got her comfortable on the board so she could get everything out before we went back to shore. It took a few minutes but she gripped the board and we landed on the beach moments later and she ran up to Danno and hugged him tightly; I cuddled into Steve who kissed my head and I took Gracie in to get washed up and to do the honours of getting her organised.
"That is some voice she has, damn sand!" Danny whispered rubbing his face.
"Yeah, don't rub your eyes Danno – cold cloth works better!" he replied doing the same.
An hour later I had spoken to Gracie and told her not to be embarrassed and that it was perfectly natural, I did have to warn her that I needed to speak to Danno and head to the shops if she didn't want to learn how to use the supplies right now – like a trooper she took the box and leaflet and headed to the bathroom. I was like a nervous hen outside and smiled as I heard the toilet flush and Gracie come out with a slight rub of her stomach.
"Little secret between us girls – chocolate ice cream – cools the belly down and helps the hormones – come on – you eat while I go traumatise Danno!"
She grinned and laughed as she hugged me and we headed downstairs, I got her set up on the couch watching cartoons and headed to go speak to Danno who was on the Lanai outside with Steve.
"Danno, can I borrow you for a second?" I called gently.
He came over to me and we headed out of ear shot and I got him to sit down on the rocks as I explained to him what was going on.
"Just so you know, your little girl is now a young lady and I've done the honours for you so there won't be an embarrassing moment for you the next time you go shopping!"
He just looked at me and his face went red, I held back the smile and he rubbed his face; I couldn't contain it and I chuckled – he looked at me and I sat beside him on the rocks.
"Least that explains the mood swings and her not wanting to do sports this week – do I need to be warned about anything else?" he inquired.
"You have three sisters Danno, I think you know everything else and I've let Rachel know so she is prepared too – Gracie is fine and sorted for the time being but she is mortified and needed some cheering up when we were surfing." I informed him.
"That explains the singing, beautiful song – Super Seal was tearing up badly!" he replied.
I flushed pink and grinned after he bumped me, we headed over to the Lanai again and grabbed a beer as we all got organised for the BBQ and the arrival of everyone else; Steve took me to the side and planted a big kiss on me as he held me flush against him and grinned.
"Commander McGarrett, someone has big appetite for tonight huh!" I whispered.
"VERY big appetite and you are the main course and dessert – can't wait to get you alone!"
I grinned and pinned him to the wall as I kissed him and grabbed some soda for Gracie and the steaks from the fridge before heading back out; Gracie had joined us and was humming away to the tune I was singing earlier on, she was actually good at it and she wanted me to sing it again as I sat on the chair.
"We could hear it from a distance but would love to hear it again?" Steve whispered.
I flushed and started to sing the song again as Gracie hummed along to it and Danno lit the candles up to give us some light as the sunset hit the horizon; he went to Gracie and picked her up as he cuddled her and rocked on the spot as I snuggled into Steve and waited on Chin and Kono arriving.