Within the hour Steve McGarrett was bracing himself to walk through the front door of his house...his house, not his home...Catherine had made this his home and now she was gone. He didn't say a word, he couldn't have spoken if he had wanted to. The lump in his throat was so big that it hurt, he couldn't even swallow. Mary took his hand and they stepped into the living room. They walked from room to room. As they passed the closed door to baby John's room, Steve simply placed his hand on the door and wept. He couldn't bring himself to open the door, not yet. The next room was the master bedroom. Malia had cleaned it from top to bottom and Chin had even purchased a new mattress for the bed.
Steve looked to MaryAnn, "Mare, can you leave me alone for a few minutes here"

She kissed her brother's cheek and she and Danny left him, alone in the room with his thoughts and memories of the love he had lost.
He took a picture of Catherine from the night stand and holding it to his chest he lay down on the bed and curling into a fetal position, Steve sobbed.

He stayed in the room for about thirty minutes and then made his way back downstairs sitting next to Mary on the couch.
"You alright?"
"It's hard Danno...God I miss her..."
"Do you want a beer brother?"
"Sure man, Thanks"
"Mary, do you want one?"
"Yes, thank you Danny"

As they sipped their beers Steve began to ask questions about the case.
Danny let him know about the two intruders in jail as well as the two who were killed. He let him know that they believed Wo-Fat himself had shot Catherine and they believed he may have already returned to Japan.

"What about Joe, Danny?"
"Your postcard was gone, so we can assume that they gave the info to Wo-Fat that he was in Japan three months ago but Steve he has no other leads"
"Yeah, but neither do we Danny. We've got to find him"
"Let's get through these next couple of days and then we'll start tracking him brother. We'll find him Steve, we will"

Steve excused himself to go down to the ocean for a while.
Danny and Mary watched him from the patio window as he sat in his wooden deck chair and stared out at the vast expanse of water.
"He's sure not talking much"
"He will when he's ready...we just need to be there for him"

That evening Malia brought over lasagna, bread and salads. Steve ate a small amount but it was clear his appetite was just not there. After dinner MaryAnn and Malia were cleaning up the kitchen as the men sat on the patio. Danny gave Steve the picture that Gracie had drawn for him and he pulled out his phone to give her a call.
"Hi Rachel, its Steve"
"Steve, I'm so very sorry about your loss"
"Thank You Rachel...can I talk to Gracie for a minute?"

"Hi Uncle Steve, I'm really sad for you"
"Thank you sweetheart. I wanted to thank you for the beautiful picture you drew me, I love it"
"Danno says I can see you tomorrow"

"Good, I can't wait to see you, I could use a big hug"
"Danno gives really good hugs"
"Yeah Danno's hugs are good but yours are even better, I love you sweetheart, sleep good"
"I love you too Uncle Steve, good night"

Steve smiled at Danny, "That's quite a little angel you've got there Danny"
"Well she sure loves you, I can tell you that. Thank you for calling her, she was worried about you"
"She makes me happy everytime I talk to her.

The girls soon joined them and the all visited late into the night.
Danny noted that as the night progressed Steve became more quiet and as much as he didn't want to worry he couldn't help but fear for his friend.

The next couple of days were a blur to Steve, thousands of people showed up for the wake and funeral. He went through everything in a daze. If Danny had not been constantly at his side there were several times when felt he would have simply collapsed. He would never forget to his dying day the feelings that raced through his body as Gracie Williams spotted him for the first time and ran to embrace him. As he held her in his arms he ached for the son he lost while thanking God that he had the love of this precious child. Kono was released from the hospital and able to attend the services although she would remain on medical leave for several weeks to come.

MaryAnn had to return home the day after the funeral and they parted with her promising to return for an extended vacation in three months over the Christmas holidays.

Danny and Chin had not gotten any additional information out of Daiki during his interrogation and after meeting with Governor Denning it was agreed that 5-0 would not take on any new cases for the forceable future until Steve and Kono were ready to return to duty. He assigned Chin to a police squad and Danny decided to take some extended vacation time to help out Steve. Danny continued to stay at Steve's home sleeping in the living room on the couch. Despite Steve's urging that he would be just fine, Danny wasn't convinced as he saw his friend withdrawing even more onto his own thoughts and he still was eating like a bird. Danny was convinced if he wasn't there, Steve wouldn't eat at all.

What concerned him most was Steve's demeanor, other than a couple of times when a single tear would slip from his eyes the man hadn't cried since he entered his home the day after their deaths. Danny's sister, Nicole had lost a boyfriend to a motorcycle accident when she was seventeen and Danny was fifteen. Nicole's depression had become so severe that they had feared she may commit suicide and it had all started with the same symptoms that Steve was now exhibiting. His worst fears nearly became a reality three nights after the funeral.