Author's note: It looks like we might have lost a few readers with the last chapter. I'm not sure if people are busy this week or if I scared them off. (And if I did, that's ok. This story might not be for everyone.)

But I do want to thank all of you who are hanging in there with me. I really do appreciate it and I'll do my best to not let you down.

Chapter 6

"Steve?"

Danny quickly glanced at Kono. She had stopped working and was watching Steve as well, looking as concerned as Danny felt.

Danny turned back to look at his partner, who was zoned out and staring into space. He had seen that look before—last night, when Steve had a flashback in the car. However, he had been distracted by driving at the time and, for a while, thought his friend had fallen asleep. But now that Danny was watching a memory unfold up close and personal, it was a bit disturbing. Not to mention, it reminded him a lot of Zombie Steve and Danny had been hoping to never see that person again.

All of a sudden, Steve seemed to snap out of it and sucked in a large breath of air, his eyes wide.

"Steve?" Danny asked again, worried, as he reached out and touched him on the arm to ground him.

Steve jerked his arm away, startled, and Danny wasn't even sure if his partner even knew he was there.

"Hey, look at me," he said, trying to get his partner's attention.

It didn't work.

Steve jumped up and fled the room.

"Kono, cover the exits," Danny commanded as he left the room, following after him.

Steve quickly walked past his office, which surprised Danny, and headed straight for the men's room. He stiff-armed the door and before Danny could get there, he heard a loud crash.

"Chin!" Danny yelled to the lieutenant, who had looked up from the smart table when he hurried by, "call Max!"

Chin nodded, a response Danny didn't see because he was too busy throwing open the men's room door, afraid of what he might find on the other side.

The good news was there was less blood than he was expecting.

The bad news was there was still blood.

"Hey," Danny asked gently, holding out his hands in front of his body, palms out, in what he hoped was a non-threatening manner. "You ok?"

Steve didn't reply. He didn't even look at Danny. Instead, he was pacing in small circles in the lavatory area, his hands on his hips. His right hand was bleeding profusely, three of his knuckles split open. Blood was running down onto his cargo pants but he didn't seem to notice. A metal paper-towel holder lay mangled on the floor, apparently the victim.

Danny took a step closer. "Steve?"

Steve still didn't respond; didn't acknowledge him in any way. And Danny wasn't entirely sure if his friend knew he was there or not.

"McGarrett!"

This time, Steve stopped pacing and looked up. He was still visibly upset, but not quite as crazed as he looked in the conference room before. Apparently, knocking the paper towel holder off the wall helped calm him down in some sort of backwards-logic Rambo kind of way.

"You ok?" Danny asked.

Although, he already knew the answer. Danny had been able to read his partner like a book from day one and today was no exception. Steve was upset. He was confused. And he was angry. Very , very angry.

So, in a nutshell, no, Steve was not ok.

And Danny knew it. The question was- did Steve?

"No, Danny!" Steve yelled, the vein in his neck bulging. "I'm not ok!" He kept pacing in circles; erratic, frantic circles.

"Ok," Danny responded calmly, glad that at least his partner recognized how off-kilter he was. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No!"

Danny blew out a large breath. That wasn't quite the response he was hoping for, so it was time to approach the situation from a different angle.

"We want to help you, Babe. We do," Danny said, using his best hostage negotiator voice. "But we can't do that if you don't tell us what's going on inside that head of yours."

Danny could only hope his appeal to logic would work. After all, what he said made sense. A whole lot of sense, actually. There was no way Five-0 was going to catch the bad guys without Steve and his memories. Danny, Chin, and Kono all knew it and it was clear Steve seemed to be considering it, too. Danny could see the wheels turning in his partner's head as his pacing grew gradually slower and slower. Danny didn't say anything while he watched, afraid he might jinx it, but the second Steve stopped pacing altogether, he knew he had him.

"Good," he said with a nod. "Now, would you like to tell me what you remembered?"

"I'm not sure you want to know," Steve said quietly, not meeting his partner's eyes.

"Try me."

Steve sighed heavily and stared at the ground.

Danny waited.

Finally, Steve looked up, pain evident in his eyes. "They were trafficking girls," he said, his voice cracking a bit. "Little girls."

Danny was stunned.

He had slept miserably the night before, tossing and turning, afraid of what horrors Steve might dredge up if he got more of his memories back. And of all the terrible scenarios he envisioned, the trafficking of little girls had never entered his mind. Not even once.

He stared, watching as Steve looked back down and chewed on his bottom lip to keep his emotions in check. And Danny felt sick. Just sick. On a scale of 1 to 10 for repulsion, he personally placed anyone who harmed a child at about a 100. No wonder Steve was so upset.

But Steve was also right. Danny really didn't want to know. The disgust he felt as a cop for people who trafficked children was totally eclipsed by the horror he felt as a father to a daughter. A part of him wanted to just end the conversation right there; just to pretend it never happened, that the words had never been said. But Danny didn't join the police force to bury his head in the sand. And he didn't sign up to be Steve's partner and friend just to bail on him when he needed him the most.

As much as it bothered him, the only way for him to help McGarrett and catch the traffickers was to get more information. He allowed Steve a few more moments to collect himself before pressing on.

"Who were?"

"The guys on the freighter."

"The same guys as before?" Danny clarified. "The one with the tattoos and the two thugs?"

Steve nodded. "Yeah."

"How do you know they had girls?" Danny asked gently, knowing he was treading on a potential landmine.

But instead of exploding in anger, Steve crumbled. He looked down and closed his eyes tightly, his hands still on his hips as he breathed in even, measured breaths to keep it together.

Finally, he was able to respond.

"They brought a girl into the room. She was nine, maybe ten; tiny and thin. And scared to death." He paused, took a few deep breaths, and then continued. "They put a gun to her head and said they said if I didn't help, they would kill her; her and all the other girls," he finished quietly, then brought his injured hand up to shield his eyes.

Danny's stomach dropped even farther. It was even worse than he imagined. Danny liked to talk and rant and complain and was rarely at a loss for words. But this time, he was. He simply had no idea what to say.

But he knew what to do.

He reached out and grasped Steve on the shoulder, giving it a light squeeze as his partner regrouped. Finally, Steve rubbed his eyes and dropped his hand, leaving smudges of blood on his face.

"You ok?"

Steve sniffed. "Yeah."

He really didn't look ok but Danny decided "ok" was relative at this point. And he had to hope, to trust, that getting Steve to talk would also help him sort out his emotions so he could feel better. Although, he realized, "better" was also relative. Still, he had to keep going.

"What happened next?"

Steve shook his head. "I don't know. That's all I remember."

Danny sighed. He couldn't decide if not knowing what happened next was a blessing or a curse. But one look at his partner's face told him it was probably the latter.

"Ok, then," he said, squeezing Steve's shoulder one more time before dropping his hand. "How about you get washed up and then we'll let Max take a look at that hand of yours?"

"Max is here?" Steve asked, his brows knit together in confusion.

"He probably is by now. I asked Chin to call him when you were going all Muhammad Ali on the towel holder. And you know how he likes to drive fast, even without a reason."

Steve looked down at the dented metal, chagrinned. "Yeah. Sorry about that."

Danny rolled his eyes and gave a small grin. "Whatever. Just get cleaned up. You look like a red raccoon."

Steve washed his face quickly and was drying it when he stopped and looked at Danny through the mirror.

"D?"

"Hmm?"

Steve threw the paper towel in the trash, turned, and rested against the sink, looking down.

"What if I helped them?" he asked, quietly.

"Where did that come from?" Danny replied, surprise evident in his voice.

Steve shrugged. "If I didn't, why did it take so long for me to turn up? If I refused, they would have killed me and my body would have washed up on shore 19 months ago. If it was ever found at all."

Danny hated to admit it, but Steve had a point. A horrible, gruesome point, but a point nonetheless. But one that he would reject on principle alone.

Danny shook his head. "There's no way you would have helped them. There's got to be another answer."

"Like what?"

Danny threw up his hands. "I don't know! Maybe you overpowered the bad guys, then drove the ship to Tahiti and drank Mai Tais on the beach until you came to your senses and came home! The point is you didn't do it. You just wouldn't, never in a million years. And that's all there is to it."

Steve appeared to consider Danny's words. And after a moment, he slowly nodded and looked up. "Piloted," he corrected. "You don't drive a ship, you pilot it."

Danny was tempted to get irritated but was so glad Steve was starting to sound more like himself that he let it slide. "And here I thought you would balk about the Mai Tais."

A hint of a grin tugged at the corner of Steve's mouth. "Well, that too. But I know how you like girly drinks, so I wasn't going to bring it up."

"Yeah, yeah," Danny waved his hand and grinned, then opened the door and held it. "After you, Ali."

*H50*

"Be sure to keep these dry for at least 24 hours," Max said as he finished stitching Steve's right hand. Then he began wrapping over the knuckles with white gauze to keep them clean. "I will also ask that you refrain from assaulting unarmed bathroom fixtures in the future. While I am eager to help, my schedule does not always permit me to render my services."

"I'll keep that in mind," Steve said with a nod. "And thanks, Max."

"My pleasure, Commander," Max replied as he taped the gauze.

"You done?" Kono asked as she popped her head into Steve's office.

"Why? You got something?" Steve asked.

"Not yet," she admitted. "But we could use your help."

"Then your timing is fortuitous," Max said, tucking the last of his supplies into his bag. "I was just leaving."

They all left Steve's office together, Max making his way to the door while Kono and Steve stopped at the smart table, where Chin and Danny were already looking at port records. They had quickly gotten to work after Danny filled them in.

"What have you got?" Steve asked.

"Not much yet," Chin confessed. "The manifest that triggered your memory was for a ship named The Hinuhinu. It's based in Vietnam and primarily does runs between Ho Chi Minh City and Honolulu."

"And where is it now?" Steve asked.

"Somewhere in the middle of the ocean," Chin replied. "It left Ho Chi Minh City ten days ago and it's not scheduled to arrive until late tomorrow afternoon."

"So it's too far out to fly a helicopter to it," Steve mumbled.

Chin nodded. "Not to mention, it's in international waters. We'd have no jurisdiction."

Steve scrubbed his hand over his face in frustration. The last thing he wanted to do was wait over 24 hours to board the Hinuhinu. "So where does that leave us? We can't just sit around while we wait for it."

Chin shook his head. "We're not going to."

"That's why we need your help," Kono interjected, looking apologetic. "We have to consider the possibility that the Hinuhinu is not the only ship in the operation."

Steve closed his eyes as the implication sank in. More ships… and more girls. Just when he thought it couldn't get any worse.

And that just made it more unbearable—the fact that he hadn't thought of it. He knew he was exhausted and running on fumes. He also knew he had a concussion, which was undoubtedly slowing his thought process, although he was ignoring it along with the headaches and fatigue, pretending that if he didn't acknowledge them, they didn't exist. But none of those reasons were an excuse for missing the obvious- that the Hinuhinu might only be one player in a larger operation.

He opened his eyes again, looking at the ceiling as he thought out loud. "We need to check the manifests of all the ships docking in Honolulu."

Chin nodded. "The Port of Honolulu receives thousands of cargo ships a year. Combing through all of the manifests is going to take too long. Do you remember anything else that could help us narrow down our search?"

Steve concentrated, trying to place himself back on the ship. He remembered he was on a freighter, a small one. And he had sensed movement, which meant they were moving at a good clip. "It was a small freighter, but I don't think it was loaded that heavily."

"Why's that?" Danny asked.

"It was moving too fast," Steve replied.

Chin flicked the Hinuhinu manifest up on the board. "It shows the Hinuhinu was carrying furniture as well as raw silk. Are you saying the furniture wasn't on board?"

Steve shook his head. "I don't know. It could have been carrying aluminum patio sets or some other lightweight furniture. All I know it was making good time."

"How good?" Danny asked.

"Ten, maybe fifteen percent faster than normal."

"Based on what we've seen, an average trip for a freighter that size is 13-14 days," Kono said. "If they shaved off that much time, they could probably make the crossing in 11-12 days."

"So we need to look for small freighters with a shorter than average time between docks," Danny reasoned.

Chin nodded. "We should be able to do that. Then we'll check the manifests of any of the freighters that match our criteria." He looked at Steve. "But it's going to take some time."

That was the last thing Steve wanted to hear. "We don't have time. More importantly, those girls don't have time," he replied as he pointed to the smart board, getting agitated.

"Hey," Danny intervened, "we'll get them, remember?"

"We'd get them a hell of a lot faster if I could just remember what happened," Steve pointed out, his voice growing louder.

"And you will, Babe. It's only been two days."

"Yeah," Steve agreed. "Two days of me doing nothing. Just like I've apparently been doing nothing for 19 months."

"We don't know that Boss," Kono pointed out.

"Then what exactly have I been doing?" Steve questioned, throwing his hand toward the manifest on the screen. "Obviously, I didn't stop it. The Hinuhinu docks again in tomorrow afternoon, carrying more raw silk. More girls. So just what the hell have I been doing?"

Steve wasn't really expecting an answer and the three blank faces staring back at him confirmed he wouldn't be getting one.

Because the truth was nobody knew what he'd been doing during that time, not even him. And that just made it all the more frustrating. His friends believed in him, trusted him.

And now, he didn't even know if he trusted himself.

"You know what? I'm going out," he announced, then turned and walked out the door.

He didn't know whether to be relieved or upset when nobody followed him.

*H50*

Steve would have loved to have gone for a swim to clear his head, but after Max went to all the trouble to stitch up his hand, he thought he should at least honor the Doctor's wishes and keep it dry. Besides, he was out of plastic bags.

So instead, he settled for taking a drive in the Marquis. He was somewhat surprised that it still ran but apparently Mary had been firing it up once in a while to keep the battery charged. He'd have to remember to thank her later.

As he topped the Pali highway, his replacement cell phone rang again. He didn't even need to glance down to know it was Danny calling. He didn't know this because he had already assigned a silly ringtone like Danny did on his phone, but because Danny had been calling him every 5 minutes for the last half-hour. Apparently, he was slow in getting the message that Steve didn't want to talk.

That was another reason he was glad he was in the Marquis. If he was driving the Silverado, Danny would probably be calling him over the police radio as well. At least here, with the top down and the engine humming in the breeze, he could ignore the cell phone a little easier.

It was a little harder to ignore the Camaro when it pulled up behind him.

Steve sighed. Obviously, Danny was in a stubborn mood today.

Well, Danny wasn't the only one.

So Steve kept driving.

Finally, Danny apparently had enough and squawked the Camaro's siren at him a few times before turning on the police lights. Then he sped up and around the Marquis, passing the car and cutting him off. Steve had no choice but to stop.

Danny stepped out of the Camaro, looking displeased, and brusquely walked back to Steve, who was still sitting in the car. "License and registration?" he deadpanned.

Steve rolled his eyes. "How did you find me?"

"Chin activated the GPS in your phone."

Of course. Steve made a mental note to leave his phone at home the next time he wanted privacy.

"So what do you want, Danny?"

"I want you to stop being a moron, for one. Why didn't you answer your phone?"

"Because obviously, I didn't want to talk," he replied, plainly.

"Well, then I guess it's a good thing I'm not here to talk," Danny countered.

"Then why are you here?" Steve asked, his face scrunched up into something Danny would have a name for.

"I'm here because we found another shipment of raw silk coming into dock. Which of course, you would've already known if you'd just picked up your phone."

Point taken, Steve moved on. "When's it coming in?" he asked.

"At ten," Danny replied, looking down at his watch. "That gives us almost three hours to get ready."

Steve nodded, resolutely. "I'm coming with you."

Danny snorted. "Of course you're coming with us. Why else would I track you down?"

Steve shrugged. "I thought you just wanted an excuse to lecture me and use your lights."

"Well, that too." Then Danny grinned. "Now, let's stop wasting time. We've got some little girls to rescue."

To be continued…