Disclaimer: Ideas are fictional; not making any money on this. Hawaii 5-0 belongs to CBS. That's okay because none of this would work on TV.
Spoiler Alert: Contains details from Episode 6.
The first priority of the day was to interrogate their suspects. The last man Danny nailed called for a lawyer but denied involvement in the Griffin case. He dared them to find any property from the Griffin home in their stash of stolen goods. Even though he had served as a parking valet at Griffin's restaurant, he had never met the man. Griffin's sister, Samantha Martel, had been in charge until she had been recently taken off the payroll.
Meanwhile, Max had some interesting information for Lori. Griffin had been shot before being taped to the chair. Back at 5-0, the team discussed the sister's change in status with Griffin's company. The company would only say she left to work with the Griffin's charitable foundation. Steve confirmed that Griffin had opened several gyms to keep the island kids off the streets and out of trouble.
Steve had to step out to take a phone call from Joe; they would be meeting with Mokoto the following afternoon. Joe was returning from a quick trip to the supermarket when he sensed an intruder in his apartment; it was Wo Fat who had thoughtfully removed the bullets from the gun hidden in the freezer.
Wo Fat wanted to know what Joe was up to; Joe responded by asking about Shelburn. Wo Fat's reply to that was menacing. "Tell John McGarrett that his son will be along soon enough." Then Wo Fat pulled a gun on Joe. A fight ensued, with Joe taking the worst of the damage. Wo Fat had a phone cord wrapped around Joe's neck and would have killed him if Joe hadn't hit him with a butcher block. Joe grabbed Wo Fat's gun from the floor but Wo Fat was out the door. It had been a very close call for Joe.
Steve and Danny paid a visit to Samantha Martel. She was now a suspect because she would be in charge of the company until her nephew became an adult. She denied any part in the murder and maintained that she voluntarily left the company to work with the foundation. When asked if she owned a gun, she admitted that Jake had taken one from a fighter who trained at the gym.
A trip to the gym to get the gun yielded some interesting evidence. Some wipes found there matched the same chemical found on the inside of the duct tape used on Jake. The gun was missing from Jake's desk. The fighter who brought the gun in, Vitor Boriero, had a record for robbery. After being warned against engaging Boriero in hand-to-hand, Danny and Steve went in search of the new suspect. Danny found the gun in plain sight in Boriero's Jeep, and the men chased the suspect up to the roof of his building.
Danny dropped out of the chase when the suspect and Steve leapt to the next rooftop. As the pair ran atop one building after another, Danny followed their progress in the Camaro. Finally, Boriero dropped to the ground and ran inside a surfboard manufacturer. Danny and Steve followed him in guns drawn. Unfortunately Boriero got the drop on Steve and knocked his gun away. Steve was forced to fight the big man. Steve finally took Boriero down only to realize he couldn't have murdered Griffin; he was in the hospital at the time of death.
Boriero implicated Marshall Martel, Samantha's husband. He wanted to manage Boriero and other fighters using foundation money, something Jake would never agree to. Martel had only meant to scare Griffin; the death was an accident. The case was really closed now.
There was one small problem. When Steve took Boriero down, he dislocated the man's shoulder. The fighter was booked for a charity match. When Steve discovered this, he volunteered to take Boriero's place. He vowed to put on a good show.
This is how Steve found himself at the Blaisdell Center, fighting former MMA champion, Chuck Liddell. Danny vacillated between being furious and terrified. He knew that Steve was trained in combat but this was something else. At least Grace wasn't with them this week. Steve and Danny had a blowout the night before fight. Danny vowed to stay away from the fight but capitulated at the last minute.
It was Lori who helped Steve tape his hands; Steve thought that she might have been flirting with him but he was too distracted to be sure. He knew he was going to get his ass whipped out there. He hoped at least to get a few good hits in and not get his face re-arranged.
The whole gang showed up. Chin, Kono, Max, Lori, and Kamekona were in the audience. Danny put Steve's mouthpiece in before Steve stepped in the steel cage. Every time Steve went down, Danny yelled at him to stay there. Steve was finally knocked out before too much damage was done. He shoulder would be aching tonight, and he'd be lucky if his eye didn't swell shut.
Danny taped his own hands and threatened to give Steve a beating. The mood in the locker room was part relief and part pride that Steve had held up as well as he did. The good mood didn't last for long.
Steve got a text from Joe White to meet him a Mokoto's now. Joe met Steve on the driveway; Mokoto has been tortured and was dead. Joe told Steve that Wo Fat attacked him the day before and blamed Mokoto's death on their continued investigations. He warned Steve that Wo Fat will cause more trouble if Steve doesn't stop. Of course Steve will not stop.
Steve called HPD to investigate Mokoto's murder. Steve didn't want 5-0 to take point on the case because of his previous involvement with Wo Fat. He gave his statement to the responding detective; Joe had already given his to another detective.
It was early evening before Steve returned home. He was in a very foul mood from the scene at Mokoto's. He resented that Joe kept trying to call him off Wo Fat. He expected Joe to understand. Then he remembered the fight with Danny last night. Although Danny had come to the match, he knew Danny was still upset with him. He expected Round Two once he walked in the door.
Steve walked in the house and expected to find Danny waiting for him. The house was quiet; where was Danny? Steve walked to the kitchen to get a beer. Looking out the back, he saw Danny sitting in one of the two old chairs down by the beach. He had a cooler by the chairs and was drinking a beer. As Steve watched, Danny took another beer out and set it on the arm of the second chair. Steve realized that it was for him. Steve opened the back door and walked out toward the water.
"I heard your truck pull up. Chin called me with the news about Mokoto. I'm sorry to hear about him Steve. I know his information helped clear you. It's not your fault. That bastard, Wo Fat, would have eventually gotten around to him. He was a loose end."
This was not what Steve expected. He expected Danny to start in on him again about the fight. Steve was itching for a fight. God, he needed to yell at someone. He was so angry that Wo Fat had claimed another victim.
"You still want to fight? Because I'm thinking you're really mad now and need to take it out on somebody. Go ahead babe. I can take it." Danny never looked at him, just kept his gaze on the waves rolling ashore.
Steve dropped into the other chair and popped the top off the beer. He took a long drink and watched the waves with Danny for a while. Finally he spoke. "I saw what he did to that old man. Mokoto was in a wheelchair. He never had a chance." Steve took another drink of beer. "I don't want to take it out on you. I thought you would still be mad about the fight."
"I am babe. You and I need to come to an agreement about you taking stupid risks. But that can wait." Danny reached over to snag Steve's hand and just held on to it. Danny knew that Steve didn't need to fight with him now. There would be a better time when they could sit down and talk without all the emotion Danny felt last night. For tonight, Danny just needed to support Steve. He suspected that Joe White was giving Steve a hard time about Wo Fat.
"Have you eaten? I could use some food." Steve was still a little off-balance. He never had anyone to get him through the dark moods that came with his line of work. Steve tried to physically work out his frustrations; when that didn't work, he would turn to alcohol. This would be better.
"No, I haven't eaten yet. There are a couple of steaks in the fridge. We could grill those up unless you need one for your eye. There's a cold pack in the freezer that might be better." Danny turned to Steve to assess the extent of the swelling. He gently touched the bruise on Steve's cheek. "Does it hurt much."
Steve closed his eyes and leaned into Danny's touch. "Not when you touch it like that. I didn't mean to worry you. I knew Liddell wouldn't rough me up too bad. We talked before the match. He knew I had training and could take a punch. He wasn't holding back; he just wouldn't go in for the kill."
"It would have helped if I had known that. I like your face the way it is. In fact, I confess to liking your entire body the way it is. I would hate it if someone re-arranged any of the parts."
Steve laughed now. "Weston said something like that in the locker room before the fight, something about my nose wouldn't look good on the other side of my face. I think she was flirting with me. Maybe she knew we had fought and was hoping for something on the rebound."
Danny frowned at that idea. "You wouldn't do that, would you? You wouldn't get drunk and sleep with her, would you?"
"Danny, that sounds like something that happens in a soap opera. I'm not sleeping with anyone but you. I am completely committed to you. I don't want to be with anyone but you." Steve stood and pulled Danny up for a hug. "I love you Danny. I'm not going to screw this up."
The men finally moved toward the house to fix supper. Their mood was somber; Mokoto's death was a reminder that Wo Fat would remain a danger as long as he was at large. Echoes of the ugly fight the night before still hung in the air.
24 hours earlier
"Steve, are out of your mind going up against that guy? Have you seen him fight? Have you seen what he's done to his opponents?" Danny was pacing the floor in the living room and yelling at Steve. It didn't help that Steve was calmly sitting on the couch drinking a beer. Danny's arms were moving faster than his legs. Steve thought Danny might go up in flames, a case of spontaneous combustion.
"Danny, I know what I'm doing. I don't expect to beat the guy but I don't think he will grind me into the floor either. I'm a trained…", Steve started, only to have Danny cut him off.
"SEAL, yes Stephen, I know. You're a trained SEAL. You can handle anything the badass world throws at you. I accept that occasionally we might find ourselves in a dangerous situation. But for you to volunteer to stand in that cage and let that guy throw punches at you, it's unnecessary."
"Danny, if the Liddell match doesn't go on, the foundation will have to refund the ticket money. Griffin is dead; I can't do anything about that. At least I can see that this fundraiser goes off as planned."
"Steve, you have a family now. You can't keep taking risks like this."
"Yes Danny, I have a family now. I'm domesticated. I take out the trash; I make the beds; I cook and clean. I even braid Grace's hair. Do you want to make me into some kind of house pet? I follow your rules or else." Steve was finally off the couch and yelling back at Danny.
"Yeah, you have such a shitty life now. No more traipsing around the globe tracking down terrorists. You're stuck on this god-forsaken island, eating pineapple on your damned pizza and shave ice for dessert."
"It comes out now. You still hate Hawaii. It's a paradise here and you're still stuck on hating everybody and everything here."
Danny knew the argument was out of control. He had enough of them with Rachel to recognize the danger now. They would say things that they didn't mean. It was time to stop before the damage was permanent. Danny softened his tone and said, "No I don't hate it here. My family is here now, you and Grace. I don't want to lose either of you. I need to go for a walk."
Danny went for a walk on the beach. Steve was gone when he came back and still not back when Danny went to bed. Steve's side of the bed was rumpled the next morning but there was no sign of Steve. Danny found out later that Steve was in the gym at HQ using the punching bag and sparring with Chin. Steve avoided him until right before the match.
Back to the present
Danny grilled the steaks tonight while Steve iced his eye. They ate in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. When the kitchen was cleaned, Danny went out to the garage. Steve heard the freezer door out there open and close. Danny came back in holding two large bags of ice.
"Let's go super-SEAL. You need to ice that shoulder down."
"Danny, what are you planning? You've got enough ice there to keep Kamekona supplied for a while."
"Where do you think I got the ice? I'm going to make you an ice bath for your shoulder and all the other parts of your body that hurt. I talked to one of the trainers after you left and that was the recommendation."
"Danny, you were still mad at me and you took time anyway to help me?"
"Yeah, you big goof. I was mad, and I'm still a little mad. But I hate to see you hurting. I love you."
"I love you too Danno. This is going to sting. And It's probably going to leave me with a shrinkage problem for the next week."
"I'm sure I can thaw you out when you're feeling better."
The tension drained out of the room now. The men dumped the ice in the big tub and added cool water. Steve stripped down and eyed the tub with trepidation. "It's going to be really cold Danny. Are you sure that's what I'm supposed to do?"
Danny smiled sweetly now. It isn't often you can do something to both help and punish someone at the same time. "I'm positive. You need to stay in for 15 minutes. Then you can take a tepid shower. Now get in."
Steve knew it would be worse if he went in slowly, so he just stepped in and sat down. He let out a shriek at the cold. He edged down so that his shoulder was completely submerged. He didn't think that he had ever been this cold, not even in BUDS training.
Danny knew he wouldn't be able to hold back the laughter at Steve's discomfort. He knew it was petty, but it really was the best thing for the big baby. Danny decided to get his own shower. He let out a loud sigh as the steaming water hit his body.
"I hear you in there. You are enjoying this way too much. Wait until you feel my cold feet tonight. I know just where I'm going to stick them." Steve knew what Danny was doing and knew he should be mad. He had to admit that the ice was easing the ache in his shoulder and his back.
Finally, Steve was able to warm himself slightly in the shower. After he dried off, Danny rubbed some balm on his back and massaged the sore muscles. He gave Steve a couple of Aleve and tucked him in bed.
Steve finally spoke. "Are we good here?"
Danny leaned over and kissed Steve. "Yeah, we're good here."
"I hate it when we fight."
"Me too. Go to sleep. Good night Steve. I love you."
"Good night Danno. I love you too."