Justified – Story 1 in the Unbreakable series

Disclaimer: Characters belong to the writers & producers of Hawaii Five-0. My own characters belong to me :-)

Rating: T (for romance)

Pairing: Steve/OC, Steve/Danny (friendship - no slash)

Author's Note: Reviews have been dropping off - if you can give just a quick note, it helps me to know what you like & don't, and to see that you want the story to continue. Love all of the favorites and regular reviewers! Big Mahalos!

EMS had arrived and was patching up Kono's arm. It wasn't serious, just a through and through but they wanted her to go to the hospital to have it stitched up and examined. Steve ordered her to go to the E.R., something she was reluctant to do, but when Steve insisted, she knew she had no choice in the matter. Chin offered to follow Kono over to the hospital with her car.

Steve started to walk over to Julia, who had removed her tac vest and was being debriefed by HPD. Watching her, he wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and hold her close. He saw that she was trying to appear confident and calm, but he saw an undercurrent of fear that she was trying to keep at bay. Julia caught sight of him and smiled softly, embarrassed at the fuss over her. Steve couldn't get the image of her being held at gunpoint out of his mind, and his brow furrowed as he wondered if she was really as okay as she appeared. He needed to get her out of here and make sure she was all right.

"Commander McGarrett, there's something you need to see," one of the officers on scene said to him.

He paused, reluctant to leave her. He looked to his partner and nodded toward Julia. "Danny, can you…"

"Steve, I'm fine, go. Really." Julia insisted, nodding her head. Danny waved off the HPD officers and took Julia aside, gently taking her by the arm to his car and helping her inside. She leaned back into the Camaro and tried to breathe through the adrenaline still rushing through her system. They got them, they really got them, she kept thinking. It's done, and I'm okay. I'm fine. Steve's fine, I'm fine, everyone's fine. Kono will be fine. Everything's okay. We've got them. Her thoughts and emotions jumbled in her head in an endless loop.

Danny pulled out of the lot and onto the main road, looking at Julia, concerned but also confused. She avoided his gaze for a bit, looking silently out the window but she could feel his eyes boring into her. She was already near the end of her rope, and having Danny stare at her was driving her nuts. After a few minutes, she turned to him and raised her brows at him. "What? Ask already! You know you're going to!"

"How the hell did you do that? You know, a normal person would quiver in fear, cry, beg, whatever. You winked. Winked! And then bashed in her face with your elbow before you flipped her over your head. Did Steve teach you that move when you two snuck off earlier today? Is this what happens when you start sharing smoldering looks with a commando?"

In spite of her physical and emotional exhaustion, she started to perk up a little as Danny became increasingly animated. His diatribe was oddly entertaining, and a welcome distraction from the mess of emotions she was feeling at the moment. "I took a self-defense class in college."

"A self-defense class? That's just a 'hit the creepy guy in the groin and poke out his eyes' class. There is no flipping in those classes. No punching with an elbow. No broken noses. There is no flipping!" Danny exclaimed.

"It's true. I took a class. Pull my transcript. I got PE credit for it and everything. It was a useful class. Sophomore year, I think." She knew she was provoking him, but like picking on her older brothers, it was something she found irresistibly entertaining.

"There is something that you are not telling me. Something doesn't make sense, and when it doesn't make sense, it's not true!"

Julia sighed. "I'm not sure why this is of such great interest to you. You should be happy. Your team just picked up Jennifer's probable killer, and possibly an accomplice as well. Now you get to interrogate a real suspect instead of me. Won't that be fun? Besides, in the end, does it really matter?" Julia knew better than to smile at Danny right now. She had a feeling that if she did, he'd really go ballistic.

Danny glared at Julia. It did matter. Her story did not make any sense. Here was this woman, a professor, who knows far too much about solving crimes for someone who previously worked in a think tank (whatever that is), and then badda-bing, she whips out this superwoman power and flips suspects over her head in a single bound. He alternated between watching the road and glaring at her.

Julia was tired and worn out, but there was something comical in Danny's passionate Jersey-ish argument that she couldn't resist, yet she barely had the energy to engage him. "Fine. I did take a self-defense class in college, and that is where I learned that particular move. But I am also a brown belt in Kempo Karate, which helps particularly with the flipping. I also knit, I like to kayak, and I'm a triathlete. I'm not too shabby at the guitar and cello. I sing in the shower, I make a mean martini, and I like to do the Sunday New York Times' crossword in pen. Now do you know enough about me to just leave it alone?"

Danny was ready to offer a snippy retort when he realized he didn't have one. He grudgingly admitted that her reasoning made some sense. He still had a strong feeling that he wasn't getting the full story, but he also knew that pushing her probably wasn't going to work. He decided to leave her alone. She was just a civilian, after all, and she had just been attacked at gunpoint while helping them at their request. There was also the added fact that Steve would never forgive him if he pushed her too hard particularly given what she'd just been through.

Julia exhaled deeply, her body shuddering a little as she came down from the adrenaline rush. Her face paled noticeably, but she cracked the window slightly and closed her eyes. Danny looked over at her with concern. Before he could say anything, she headed him off. "I'm fine, really. Just a long day catching up with me, and I didn't expect it to end with a gun to my head. I'll be all right."

She didn't look well at all, Danny thought. "I should take you home."

"No, please, let's just go back to headquarters. I'm so close to connecting Lenola to the person who hired him. I know I'll get him now. Plus, I won't be able to sleep until I do, so it's pointless for me to go home," Julia pleaded softly with Danny as she tried to calm herself. She felt nauseous and drained but she had to finish what she'd started. She had to finish it.