Hi everyone,
What's this? Is this a chapter out on the day I said it would be? Anyway, I've smashed this and a new one-shot out called Circles (which has some pretty cute moments, if I do say so myself), I'll have another one-shot out I the next twenty-four hours. Please enjoy this chapter and be sure to let me know what you think!
Rose xx
Chin had nearly found sleep when the door burst open. He instinctively reached for the sidearm he hadn't allowed the staff to take from him, hand pausing when he realised who was at the door.
"Sorry guys. Howzit?" He ran a hand down his face, attempting to remove the remnant of drowsiness that had been steadily setting there for the last few days.
"We think we've got a sample of the toxin." Danny was grinning like a madman, the mars of lost sleep marring his face, a half-empty water bottle held triumphantly in his hand. Standing up, Chin moved closer to him, intent on inspecting the item for himself. He was less than a foot from Danny when he could smell it.
"My god, are you drunk?" Rage quickly fired up in the normally calm man's eyes.
"Cuz, back off. It's alright. We think the bottle was a plant in the Camaro, one of the ways Johnson's been dosing Steve. There's enough left for the lab to get a sample if it's in there. Danny," she shoved the blonde man back towards the door, "was just heading over there."
As Danny took his cue and left, Chin allowed himself to back over to his char, slumping exhaustedly into it.
"That's great news, Kono."
His cousin walked over towards the bed that held their boss, smoothing her hand across his cheek. The usually strong man's face was pale, marred by a five o'clock shadow and ventilator tube hanging down one side of his face. For a second, the only sound in the room was the mechanical hiss of the machine until Kono followed his lead and thudded down into another chair, hand gently gripping Steve's.
"You said they sedated him?"
Chin nodded, glad to have something to talk about. "Yeah, the breathing was bothering him and when they said they needed to intubate he got combative, partly a side effect of the fever the doc said."
Kono nodded. "We're trying to get a warrant for an apartment out the back of Waikiki. Danny found a rent bill for it in Johnson's name. Hoping he's hiding out there, but we won't be able to go down until tomorrow morning at the earliest."
"Good, good." The room once again lapsed into silence and Chin knew he was close to dozing off once more when Kono's head shot up.
"Kono?"
"It's Bell."
"I thought we established it was Johnson?"
The young woman stood, eyes fixed out the door. "No, here, he just walked down the hall."
She was up and out before Chin could move.
"What do you mean you can't make an antidote from that?" The lab tech looked frazzled, her red hair was only half in the hair elastic Danny assumed she put in at the start of the day and the bags under her eyes rivalled Danny's.
"That's not what I said, detective. We will be able to extract a sample of the toxin from this, and hopefully, eventually, we might be able to synthesise a cure. But we weren't the original engineers on this. It's much harder to understand the intricacies of someone else's work compared to something of your own, or something you've studied."
Danny didn't like it, but the explanation made sense. "I'm sorry for getting mad at you Sophie. It's been a tough couple of days." She nodded. Since the case had come in she had been the tech they'd dealt with most often, and had patiently taken the various rants Danny had thrown at her along the way.
"I know Detective. The best thing you can do now is head home and get some rest. Come back fresh in the morning." She checked her watch. "Well, later this morning."
He smiled. "I might do that. You should too."
He knew if he went back to Steve's room he would never leave the hospital and sleep was beckoning. Pulling his keys from his pocket, he headed for the parking lot. '
Kono raced around the corner, chasing the retreating figure of Bell around the corner.
"Jacob Bell!" She called, trying not to shout given the hour. He turned, eyes landing on her.
"Miss Kalakaua. I was hoping to find you here." He looked frazzled. "May we talk in private?"
She set her face in stone. "Right this way."
Kono led Bell to the nearest unoccupied lounge, allowing him to take a seat. She remained standing.
"I've been meaning to speak to you. I heard from a colleague here that the Bailey girl died." He looked downcast. She must not have been very old. Can't have been much younger than Jemima is was." He ran a hand down his face.
Kono felt compassion begin to curl in her stomach. "Jemima was your granddaughter. What was she like?"
Bell broke into a small, sad smile. "My daughter, Hannah, was sunny and beautiful. But even she had nothing on Jemima. That little girl's smile lit up a room and her laugh, it was the sound of molten gold bubbling down a fountain. Even towards the end, she could make her father smile."
"Mr Bell, why didn't you tell us about your son in law?"
Bell wiped his eyes. "Stephen is a good man. He was a good father. When you came to me, I thought it could be him but, he's like my son and I couldn't turn him in."
Hating what she knew she had to do, Kono sighed. "Mr Bell, I understand why you've done what you have. I'm still going to have to take you in for obstruction of an investigation, especially now that Lane has died, but if you are cooperative, we might be able to work things out." Bell stood, nodding. Kono began stating his rights but forewent the handcuffs. She didn't think the downcast man in front of him was planning on doing a runner. She sent Chin a text, sent Danny nothing in the hopes he was at home sleeping. As they left, despite the fact there was a child dead, two more dying and one of her best friends fighting for her life, for once it seemed that no matter what end they reached there would be no justice.
Nine-am came too quickly for Danny. Still, as the clock ticked over, Danny rocked up at the palace, tie secured, hair gelled and feeling slightly more alive than five hours previous. He'd gone into Steve's office to get a file, pausing two steps inside the door. Kono was curled on the couch, the blanket Danny's mother had made for Steve the last time she'd been on the island draped over her. Danny smiled as he remembered the visit.
They had been in the middle of breaking up a trafficking ring, who were moving children from the middle east to work factories off-of Hawaii. Steve had worked himself stupid, not pausing for a break in the week between the time they found the first 'shipment' of young girls to the time they shot dead the ringleader. The tussle had left Steve exhausted. More so than he had been the rest of the week. But they'd made plans to have a barbeque with Ms Williams, who had flown in the day before, and Steve's house was, as usual, the venue of choice. They'd gotten halfway through the evening when Danny noticed how subdued Steve was. It was when he'd stood to clear the plates that his face had gone sheet white, and he'd slumped to the floor. There had been panic as everyone rushed to the sides of the fallen leader. It had passed when Steve's eyes had fluttered open, then promptly closed as he fell into a deep sleep. Exhaustion. It was stupid that he'd worked himself into the state he had, but there was nothing more to be done. Danny's father had taken his legs, Danny himself, Steve's arms. Together they moved him inside and to the guest bedroom (after agreeing they weren't navigating the stairs) and deposited him gently, his father leaving as Danny settled hi under the covers. When the blanket his mother had been working on for him ended up wrapped on Steve's doorstep two days later after his parents returned to Jersey, Danny hadn't questioned it. When the blanket had been tossed over the back of the couch in Steve's office, he'd smiled. And a week later, when the ex-SEAL had crashed on his couch, exhausted from his latest stint of heroism, Danny had drawn the blanket over him and turned out the lights.
Danny backed away from the door, moving instead to the coffee cart he knew was opening out in the main pavilion. The day was young. His friend was dying and so were some kids. But he had slept, he was getting coffee and they had a good lead. Things could be better. But as he got a text from Chin confirming Steve was holding his own, he knew that things could also be worse.
Nine-am came too quickly for Kono. She'd left Bell for a night in the only holding cell at the palace, allowed him to sleep under the watch of the night-guard while she herself curled up on the couch in Steve's office. It seemed as if the second she fell asleep she was being shaken awake, and opening groggy eyes she saw Danny, smiling and holding a tall cup of coffee.
"We've got the warrant. Ready to get going?"
Nine-am came too quickly for Chin. He'd dozed off around four, and it was only the nine-o'clock shift change that woke him. He'd enquired as to Steve's status, regretting it immediately when the new nurse (who'd introduced himself as Dylan) reported a .5 degree rise in temperature and the fact that Steve was resisting the ventilator significantly less than when they'd intubated him. As Dylan left, Chin stood, cracking his back and letting the knots work their way out. Danny had texted him; he and Kono were headed for the apartment with a SWAT team, Jacob Bell was waiting at the palace. He figured Steve would be alright if he left to grab a coffee. Ass usual, Steve had to prove him wrong. Three steps into the hall, he heard a shrill alarm. And it was coming from Steve's room.
Terrible ending, I'm sorry. Next chapter on Tuesday. Please let me know what you thought. Head over and check out my newest one-shot, Circles. It's Steve/Danny, a 'what if' for 1x23. Until next time,
Rose xx