Chapter Five "A Dream of a Dream"

Thanks again for all the reviews. Hopefully, I'll keep updating regularly, but it might slow down. You have been warned.

McKenzie slept late and since he'd been up since four, Steve managed to get to the end of "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe." He was beginning to see what McKenzie meant when she talked about the book.

Around ten he decided to make breakfast. McKenzie began to stir when the smell of bacon and coffee permeated the house. Just as she was waking, Steve heard a muffled word escape her lips.

"Mom."

"Well, I'm not your mother, but breakfast is ready," Steve said, as McKenzie sat up.

"It's the coffee," McKenzie said, stretching. "My mom always smells like coffee in the morning."

"I guess there are worse things."

McKenzie shuffled to the kitchen. "That was a joke," she observed.

"Wow, you're sharp." Steve smirked and set two plates on the table along with the coffee pot and two mugs. They sat down, but instead of reaching for her coffee, McKenzie gripped the edge of the table. Steve felt it shift and looked over at her.

"What is it?" he asked.

She didn't respond. Her wide eyes stared past him and her knuckles turned white.

"McKenzie." Steve raised his voice. "Listen to me." He reached across the table, but she stood up, knocking over her chair and dragging the table a few inches. The coffee spilled and McKenzie let go of the table, spreading her arms wide and taking long strides backward. Steve jumped up and rushed around the table. He tried to calm McKenzie by putting a hand on here shoulder, but she slapped him away. He was shocked by the force of the blow. Her hand went on to smash into the cabinets above the kitchen counter. Blood smeared across the white paint. Her arms continued flailing until Steve wrapped his arms around her and pinned her to his torso.

"Hey, hey, hey." He spoke quickly, but McKenzie didn't seem to be listening. She kept struggling and kicking. A few times she tried to bite him.

Steve knew then what was going on. McKenzie was having an attack, episode, whatever. Now that she remembered the shooting, her mind was completely open to the effects of post-traumatic stress.

Steve held on to her as she continued to thrash and then as she began screaming. At first it was a sort of choked cry, but it turned into a violent shout.

Steve wasn't sure how long it went on, but he knew if he let McKenzie go she would hurt herself and maybe even him. When she started to calm down, he began whispering calming words.

"It's okay," he said. "You're safe. It's okay."

After a few minutes, McKenzie's screams turned to sobs and she was no longer struggling, but clinging to Steve like she would die if she didn't.

H-5-O

Danny made his way into the office thinking of the night before. Dinner ended up being milkshakes and french fries because neither of them were presentable enough to go into a real restaurant. Then Danny and Kono had sat in a booth talking until about midnight at which time she took him home. Looking back on it, it was sort of lame. But even then, it was real.

Upon walking into the office, Danny saw that Chin and Kono were already there. Chin looked up at him with an expression Danny couldn't read. It wasn't until Chin had crossed the room and was actually hugging him, that Danny knew what was going on.

"Oh, okay," Danny said, not knowing what else to say.

Chin just grinned at him and went back to his desk.

"Just so we're clear," Danny said, going to his desk, "this isn't going to be a habit is it?"

"Don't worry about it," Chin said, and chuckled to himself.

"So, what do we know about this cult thing?" Danny said, sitting down.

"Not much," Chin said. "I did find one person willing to talk to us this afternoon via video conference. Says he's a priest of the order or something."

"So, what exactly are these people?" Kono asked.

"From what I can tell, their beliefs stem mostly from animism, that there are good spirits and bad spirits struggling for control of the universe. That's the dummy version anyway."

"Okay," Danny said, "we need to be careful when we talk to this guy not to offend him. We obviously have no clue what we're working with here, so we want to get as much information from him as possible."

"In the meantime, I have some bad news about Mrs. Lee," Chin said.

"What's that?"

"I can't find any communications between her and the victims regarding this cult and she was not forthcoming."

"Well, I could have told you that."

"What do we actually know about her?" Kono asked. "She's the wife of the unofficial leader, she supposedly worked closely with them in Chicago, but we have no record of that. Was she even on the payroll of their company?"

"Not as far as I can tell," Chin said, "though Chris Lee did make more than the others, and that could have been because of her contributions."

"But there's no way to know that," Danny said. "She seemed awful quick to say she'd never seen those e-mails, and yet she wanted me to believe she knew everything about her husband. That doesn't add up."

"She is certainly a person of interest," Kono said. "There's no reason to think she was involved in the shooting, but she might know who was."

"And is she afraid of them, or in league with them?"

"Unfortunately," Chin said, "I think we're going to have to ask her."

H-5-O

McKenzie's vision was blurry when she opened her eyes. She moved her hand to wipe away the moisture and something shifted underneath her. She discovered she was curled up in Steve's lap and he was sitting on the floor against the wall. He had one hand between her shoulder blades and his other arm was wrapped around her knees.

"You okay?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," she said, but it was more of a question. Her left ear was against his heart and the steady beat calmed her otherwise frayed nerves.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

McKenzie felt a tear slide down her nose. "No."

"Okay, okay," Steve said. "I think your hand is bleeding."

McKenzie looked at her left hand which was resting next to her head. The first knuckles were all blood. Then it started to sting.

"I'm sorry," she said sitting up.

"Don't be," Steve said, helping her to her feet. "We can clean that up in no time."

"I don't know what just happened."

"It didn't just happen. We'd been sitting there for about half an hour. I don't know how long it was before that."

McKenzie was about to bring her hand up to her head, but Steve reached out and stopped her. It was her bloody hand. She noticed three long red marks on the inside of Steve's wrist.

"What happened to you?" she asked.

In answer, Steve turned her hand over and showed her the skin under her fingernails. Her other hand flew to her mouth and he had to resist a laugh.

"That's not the worst of it," he said. "Come on." He led her into the bathroom and found a first aid kit.

"Did I really hurt you?" She asked as he cleaned her hand and tapped up her knuckles.

He smirked. "Not really. Just the scratch and some bruises probably."

"I'm really sorry."

"Shut up." Steve shook his head.

"What?"

"You were having a... an attack or something. The state of my midsection is the last thing we need to be worried about... you do have very sharp elbows though."

"What happened?"

"You don't remember?"

"I remember coffee and then epic terror and then sitting on the floor."

"You started flailing around and I held you still until you stopped."

"And I elbowed you?"

"Amongst other things. Don't worry about it." Steve finished tapping her hand and let her go. He put the first aid kit away and they went back out to the kitchen to clean up the mess.

H-5-O

Danny really tried to be objective, but he did not like Jenny Lee. Maybe subconsciously, she reminded him of Rachel. He had considered the possibility. She was, if possible, even less helpful in the second conversation. Oh, she got teary, offended, and every other possible emotion, but didn't give them any useful information.

"You buying lunch, Brah?" Chin asked as the three of them left the hotel.

"Why am I buying lunch?" Danny replied, unlocking the car.

Chin glanced meaningfully at Kono. "We're celebrating."

Danny feigned smacking his forehead. "Right. Why don't you buy lunch then?"

Kono rolled her eyes as she slid into the passenger seat. "Why don't we go back to the office and actually work and have a real celebration when Steve comes back?"

"You're right," Chin said. "Our video conference is at one anyway."

"Sounds like a plan," Danny said. "Did I tell you Steve called me this morning?"

"He did?" Kono balked.

"Yeah, said he wanted to make sure we were all okay, which was weird, but he also said he had a knack fro bringing back bad memories, so we might get something from the witness after all."

"That's great," Chin said, "but why would he call?"

"I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. He said the phone was for emergencies."

"That's okay, we're not anyone," Kono said.

"That's not what I meant."

"I know," Kono said, grinning.

"It is seriously weird though," Chin said.

"Yeah, let's just keep that bit of information to ourselves," Danny said.

H-5-O

By noon the kitchen was clean. McKenzie had been quiet since the bathroom and Steve was starting to get concerned. She was a quiet person anyway, but she was staring blankly and moving slowly.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he put the last of the dishes away.

"I don't know," she said, scratching her forehead. Her arms hurt and she rolled up her sleeves. Dark purple bruises were starting to form from where Steve had held her. He watched as she stared at them intently.

"I'm sorry about that," he said.

"It's not your fault," she replied and rolled her sleeves back down. "It's mine."

"You don't want to do this to yourself."

"What?"

"Yes, there is a problem, and unfortunately we'll have to bring it to the shrink, but blaming yourself will only make this harder."

"I know I need to remember. I do. But I really don't want to."

"That's not the point."

"Yes it is! All these other things are just distractions. I have to remember, but it's so hard."

"McKenzie." Steve went over to her and held her chin to keep her from breaking eye contact. "You're never going to stop being afraid of him, you know why? Because he's a bad guy who murdered four people right in front of you. But that none of that is your fault; it's his. You don't want to remember it because it's so horrible that no one should have to. It's not fair that we're asking this of you."

McKenzie tried to nod, but found she couldn't move her head in Steve's vise-grip.

"I know he can't hurt me," she said, "but that doesn't make it any less terrifying."

"'He's not safe, but he is good'," Steve quoted.

McKenzie had to laugh. "You're that far?"

"I'm a fast reader."