Chapter Eleven:
Danny waits until Mary leaves to go take a shower and sleep for a couple hours before dressing and sneaking down to Steve's floor.
There's a guard on the door, but Danny knows him—it's Idaho.
"Hey, Spud," Danny calls. "Howzit?" Both he and Kale wince at the totally Hawaiian phrase.
"It's going good. Say, are you supposed to be up?"
"Yep," Danny says, big smile. He'd never heard whether he was actually supposed to remain bedridden, but being as he wasn't being monitored as closely as, say, Steve he felt certain he would be forgiven for this little excursion. "Nothing hurts, no IVs, no nurses. Just waiting on my discharge papers. How's Steve?"
He's lying through his teeth about the pain. Despite having a sling, his shoulder still protests every shiver, tremble, and breath he takes.
Kale peeks back into the room. "He's asleep. I'm not really supposed to let anyone in without Chin Ho Kelly's approval."
"But?"
"But, every time he wakes up, Commander McGarrett asks for you."
"So, Idaho," Danny says, straightening his back and trying to hide a wince as his muscles twinge at the movement, "you gonna let me in, or should I call Chin to confirm?"
"If you'd call, please," Kale says. "I really don't want to be responsible for another attack on the commander."
"Understood. Your phone?"
Kale surrenders his phone quickly but stays close to Danny as he enters Chin's number and presses send.
"Kelly," Chin answers on the second ring.
"Hey, Chin, it's Danny. Can I get in to see Steve or did I make a wasted trip?"
"Go see Steve. Kale keeps telling me he's been asking for you."
"Good. Thanks, bye." Danny hangs up and hands the phone back to Kale. "Carry on, Idaho." The door clicks shut behind him, and Danny pauses to take in the pulled curtains diluting what little sunlight there is and the way a machine by Steve's bed hums, loud in the otherwise silent room.
He makes his way through the semi-darkness, settling onto the foot of the bed. Steve opens his eyes as Danny's weight shifts the bed. Danny, using the hand not in a sling, grabs his hand, fingers smoothing a circle on Steve's cold flesh.
"Hey," Steve breathes, voice rough and catching on a cough.
"Hey yourself, Steven," Danny says back.
"Danny, Danno, Danny," Steve says. "Danny, I'm so sorry." Like it's his fault Danny almost had an arm amputated by a stabbing maniac.
"S'okay," Danny murmurs, good hand leaving Steve's to run through Steve's hair. "You didn't do it."
"But I—"
"Don't," Danny says sharply. "Do not blame yourself, Steve. You are not the one that did this."
"But it's because of me," Steve argues. "I could have killed Wo Fat back at the trailer. There was a woman there. I-I didn't think she'd attack me."
Danny sends a silent thank you skyward. Last time he'd talked to Steve, before his little run in with Wo Fat's mercenaries, Steve'd had no memory of anything that had happened after the torture at his house.
"Wo Fat did something to me," Steve says, and Danny hears all the things Steve's not saying in that shaky voice. He hears pain, fear, a little bit of anger, and a whole lot of sad. "He used things on me—in me." And Steve's resolve vanishes with a choked sob.
"Babe," Danny whispers, pushing at Steve's side until he moves over enough to allow Danny to crawl next to him and hold him with his good arm, mindful of Steve's still healing shoulder. "Babe, you're better and stronger than him, than what he did to you. I can't promise it won't take a while, but you will get better. I will not leave you to suffer alone." He presses a kiss to Steve's forehead, as he would with Grace if ever she needed him like Steve needs him now. "I promise you, Wo Fat will not get away with hurting you. He—"
"Shut up, Danny," Steve interrupts him, squashing his face against Danny's chest. "I believe you."
Danny laughs quietly, surprising himself when he starts choking on sobs too. "Don't die on me, Steve."
"Wasn't planning on it," Steve responds. "How long can you stay?"
"I don't know. We should ask Idaho to call Chin again."
"Who's Idaho?"
"Cop from Idaho. He helped catch Joe White and ran protection detail on Mary. He was undercover in Wo Fat's circle of jerks. He's manning the door right now." Danny rolls Steve off his arm carefully, so as not to aggravate any injuries on either of them. "Let me just grab Idaho's phone, since I don't have mine on me anymore."
He's half-raised, legs already sliding onto the floor when Steve grabs at him, hands clutching Danny's tightly. He pulls Danny back onto the bed, tangling their feet together. "Don't leave," he gasps, "please." The fear is back and it brought friends with it.
"It's okay. I'm not going anywhere."
"Please don't." Steve's face is back against Danny's chest, and his tears soak Danny's shirt. His sobs cut Danny's heart. "Please don't leave me here alone."
"I won't. I'm not. Steve, babe, I'm right here. I am not going anywhere."
Openmouthed breathing is his only response. Steve's fallen asleep on him. It's not entirely uncomfortable—yet—but still Danny squirms out of under Steve's weight. Immediately, Steve's grip tightens. Steve's hurt and scared, Danny thinks, and it makes him want to kill Wo Fat a hundred percent—a thousand percent—more.
ooOoo
The sketch artist is good, as is Hainey's descriptions, and Fong has a coherent face to run through his recognition software. While he waits for results, he talks to Max Bergman. They trade information on the case over finger sandwiches Max brought with him.
Fong knows Steve was poisoned—injected with venom, actually. He was able to isolate the compound and narrow the supplier. He's heard that Steve's treatment has gone well.
Max reveals that the charred woman pulled from the trailer where Steve was thought to have been tortured was killed by Wo Fat. He also, after swearing Fong to absolute secrecy, told him that Steve had been sexually assaulted.
"I know," Fong says, words spilling out before he can quite stop them, "I had to process the speculum."
They sit in silence for a long while, sandwiches discarded while they sift their thoughts. Five minutes in, a harried tech enters, a long printout hanging from her fingertips.
"Your results on the sketch," she says, stealing one of the plates of food on her way out again.
It's a man with a rap sheet longer than Santa's Nice and Naughty lists combined. Max disappears while Fong calls Chin to tell him about their suspect.
"Be careful," he says. "This guy's got at least four murders he may have committed, along with conspiring to blow up a federal building."
"Will do," Chin says, and the line clicks off before Fong can ask for updates on Danny and Steve.
"Have to hope they're okay," he mutters to himself before going back to the rest of the evidence collected from the burned trailer. This case, he promises no one in particular, will be airtight. It's the only revenge he can enact on Five-Oh's behalf, and it's got to be enough for him.
ooOoo
Kono stands with her feet set apart and her gun drawn. The man running from her cousin turns in her direction and she flips off the safety. The man—tall and thin with buzzed red hair—isn't looking where he's going, too busy focusing on Chin barreling after him, and she smacks him with the butt of her gun, sending him sprawling.
"Hey!" he cries out. Kono steps on his chest, putting enough weight to keep him pinned until Chin, limping and wincing, is able to handcuff the man.
"You're under arrest."
"I want a lawyer!"
"Very well," Chin says, yanking him upright and then shoving him towards Kono's car. Frederich Buchanan, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used in a court of law to prosecute you. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you. Do you understand these rights as they've been read to you?"
As soon as Buchanan nods, Chin throws him in the backseat.
"He didn't waste any time lawyering up," Kono observes. "You okay, cuz?" Chin's still limping, and now he's shaking out his wrist.
"Nothing I haven't had before. Let's interrogate this guy and get a search warrant for everything he's got."
"Got it," Kono says and she climbs behind the wheel while Chin buckles into the passenger seat.
ooOoo
Max waits patiently while Kono and Chin stash their prisoner in the blue interrogation room. He hums softly to himself while they wash up, wiping layers of dirt and tiredness from their faces.
Then, "I can prove that the lawyer killed Niko Pokani-Puka."
"Yeah?" Chin says, voice flat and uninterested despite the way his eyes light up. "How so?" He leans over the data table, staring at the files Max pulls up for him.
"I analyzed the chemical composition of the specific cyanide used to kill Mr. Pokani-Puka. It turns out; a shipment of potassium cyanide was hijacked three weeks ago. A man named Jems Cuask was the main suspect. He is now deceased. His body was pulled from the harbor two days ago."
"How was he killed?" Kono asks.
"A gunshot wound to the left temple. Ballistics matched a .45 belonging to Shannon Triste, the lawyer for many of Wo Fat's low-level employees."
"She kept some of the cyanide after killing Cusac. Why was Cusac killed?"
Chin scratches the back of his head before focusing on the data table and typing furiously. "Cusac had a plea agreement with HPD about the cyanide heist. He was going to give up Wo Fat."
"So," Kono jumps in, "Triste disposed of him. And then she killed Pokani-Puka to keep him quiet. Wo Fat really doesn't know how to hire, does he?"
"I'll get the paperwork in motion to get a warrant for Triste's arrest. Thank you, Max, for your information. Go update Fong, I'm sure he'll appreciate it. Kono, go talk to Buchanan. Try to get as much out of him as you can before he either asks for a lawyer or one shows up unannounced."
"You got it, cuz," Kono says, heading towards the interrogation room. Max shakes Chin's hand delicately, assuring him that Fong will indeed approve of being kept in the loop, as it were.
"Off you go, Max," Chin says, already bent over his next task, fingers flying as he types a request for the prosecuting attorney to review for a search warrant. "We'll try to keep you updated as well."
"Very good," Max whispers to himself. "Very good."
ooOoo
It's not often that Grace disobeys any of her parents, so it's with a guilty conscience that she tells her mom and Step-Stan that she needs the bathroom.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Mom asks.
"Danno lets me go by myself," Grace says, folding her napkin neatly and laying it next to her plate. "Please, may I be excused?"
"Yes," Stan says and Mom nods.
Grace doesn't run—they're in a restaurant and too many people are watching—but she doesn't not hurry either. The bathroom can't be seen from their table, so Grace makes a token detour to push the door open but not step inside. Then she hurries to the entryway.
She manages to slip around the hostess and escape into the mid-afternoon sunshine. As promised, Mary McGarrett is waiting for her.
"Okay, kiddo," Mary says, flicking an unlit match from her mouth, "let's go see your dad."
The ride is uneventful right up until they get to Danno's room. Her backpack is on the chair her mom had been sitting in, one pocket unzipped—the one she keeps her cellphone number in for easy access. But her father isn't in his bed anymore.
She turns to Mary, tears in her eyes. "Where's Danno?" she sniffles.
"Let's ask a nurse, okay, kiddo?" Mary smiles, but Grace can see it doesn't make it to her eyes. Before they can leave the room, Mary's phone goes off. "Hey, Sammy," she says brightly. Then her face scrunches down into confusion. "Okay, thanks." She puts the phone back in her pocket.
Grace grabs her backpack, scrutinizing Mary while she makes sure everything is still in there. She knows it was Mary who left the pocket unzipped. "Who's Sammy?"
"Sammy is guarding Steve's room. He said Danny's there."
"So let's go!" Grace runs ahead, waiting impatiently at the elevator as Mary ambles along. "Come on, Mary!" she calls.
Mary smiles and takes Grace's hand, holding it all the way to Steve's room even though there is no crowd of people to lose Grace in.
There is a policeman in uniform standing guard in front of the door. He smiles when he sees them.
"Sammy," Mary says, and the policeman opens the door.
"Commander McGarrett is not himself, still," Sammy warns. "Good luck, Ms McGarrett."
The lights in the room are off and the curtains shut, but Grace can still see the bed. She tiptoes to it, staring at her dad as he pats Uncle Steve's back carefully and sings a soft lullaby.
"Hey, Monkey," he says when he notices her standing there. Steve lifts his head from Danno's chest and gives her a tired-looking smile.
"Hi," she says, and then, "Mary brought me."
"Does, uh, does your mom know you're here?" Danno fixes her with a stare that promises he'll protect her as best he can but she knows she's in trouble.
"Not exactly," she says and shrugs. "I told her I needed to use the bathroom. It's not as if I said where that bathroom was." Steve laughs suddenly, and Danno glares at him.
"I don't have my phone," Grace says. Mary turns on the lights and they all blink, squinting until their eyes adjust.
"Fine," Grace sighs when Danno won't quit looking at her with his disappointed eyes. "Can I borrow your phone?" she asks Mary.
Mary gives it to her and starts dragging one of the chairs close to the bed.
"Hi, Mommy!" Grace says cheerily when her mom answers her phone. She steadfastly ignores the panic and relief she can hear in her mom's voice and says, "I'm with Danno. We're okay. Bye." She hangs up and hands the phone back to Mary. Then, she pulls an essay to work on from her backpack.
"So, Grace," Steve says. "How'd you get my sister to bring you out here?"
"I promised her a game of tennis."
"Easy," Danno snorts. "Look, Grace, you cannot sneak away from your mom like that. It's not fair to her."
"But she wasn't going to let me see you again!"
"So you worried her needlessly? Baby, she only has your best interests at heart."
"She doesn't want me to love you!"
"Yes, she does," Steve whispers. "Maybe she's just afraid that you won't love her as much as you love Danno, so she tries to keep you away so she won't get hurt."
"Maybe," Grace says sullenly. "It's still really mean of her."
"Yes," Steve agrees, pressing his face back into Danno's chest.
"Stop yawning on me," Danno immediately complains. "Go to sleep, Steve. I'll still be here when you wake up."
"I'm tired too," Grace says.
"Finish your homework, Monkey," Danno says. "Mary, can you find another cot?"
"Sure." Mary shrugs, feigning disinterest. "Is Steve asleep?"
"Mostly. Just…don't be scared when he wakes up."
Grace glances at what she can see of Steve's face. "Nightmares? I can help too." She'd seen a shrink after she'd been kidnapped and she'd used what she'd learned to help her friends at school.
"Okay, Monkey," Danno says, and he doesn't sound like it's only to appease her. "I'll have him talk to you once he's calmed."
"Good." Grace returns her attention to her paper—topic of what she wants to be when she's grown up—not glancing up until Mary and Sammy the policeman set up a cot in the corner farthest from the bed.
"Good night," she says to no one in particular and lies down on the cot. Mary throws a blanket over her, and Grace falls asleep before the lights are turned off again.