I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.

Notes: warning: whumpage alert! whumpage alert! umm, yeah - and a bit of a cliffie. My continued thanks for your patience with these obstinate muses.

Ko`u Aloha = My Love

H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O*

"All extremes of feeling are allied with madness."

― Virginia Woolf, Orlando

Chapter Nine: No Kau a Kau ~ For Eternity

Prior to getting in his truck, Steve paused long enough to slap Danny's sling back onto his body, angrily mumbling about the photojournalist being unable to see what he was doing when his friend objected the oddly gentle manhandling. The second spat of complaints faded quickly for a number of reasons. Primarily because Danny thought Steve's was probably a valid statement for the mind-numbing glare of the setting sun and the way the large truck had been parked. The pool of light had made seeing from Reid's front door quite literally, impossible. Secondly, Danny stopped talking because he was just too tired to care.

The sun was setting rapidly, but not fast enough. Even though he was now in the shade, Danny grimaced since the first swell of overly bright glare from Reid's front door had pushed what he'd thought the threshold of his migraine up another incomprehensible five notches. He could hardly help Steve when his arm was threaded carefully through the material. Nausea was now a definite and he automatically put his left hand out to stabilize himself against the side of the truck when Steve velcro'ed the fabric around his back. "Need to sit," Danny admitted, his eyes closed as sweat beaded his forehead and a dire warning floated through his stomach. He was going to be sick, but damned if it would be in the middle of Topher Reid's lovely crescent-shaped drive.

"Steve," he whispered airily as a sour gorge rose in his throat. An ill chill and a sick feeling stole any other comments, leaving him to solely focus on breathing in an attempt to squash what was on their heels.

"Gimme a second," Steve cursed as he finished the last strap and got a new look at Danny's face. "Shit, Danno. Get in the truck." If his partner had been under the weather before, he suddenly looked as if he might literally keel over on the spot. Steve's hands were deft as they quickly supported and moved Danny into the passenger seat, his concern mounting when all conversation ceased.

Still, Steve's mind was simultaneously miles away as he rehashed Reid's worrisome demeanor. There was no doubt that he was their man; yet, where he'd hidden Kono was a complicated mystery. He looked up as he jogged around to the driver's side, catching Chin's eye to share a short message about the evidence taken from the photographer's house. Once on the road, they'd contact each other via hands-free and discuss their next steps. But until those few minutes were gained away from Reid's property, the grim smile was all Steve required to understand that Chin was relatively satisfied with his cache. Regardless of what they would discuss next, he would be driving once more to the CSU labs for urgent processing.

Danny winced and wearily closed his eyes as the door to the driver's side of the truck firmly closed and the engine roared to life. His head rocked against the glass window as he allowed the curve of the truck's path to push him in that direction; then there was a double bump as they hit the pavement to the tertiary road. He hissed under his breath when his lazy slouch to the right jarred his bad shoulder. With an effort, Danny readjusted himself off the door to rest deeper into the bucket seat, but it wasn't much better. The desire to vomit was becoming overwhelming and he simply couldn't find a way to comfortably place his head to find any relief. Making matters worse, he had nothing left in his physical reserves and wasn't entirely sure as to why. He shivered as the air conditioning hit his face and then leaked almost painfully through this sweat-stained dress shirt. Like both this friends though, and despite his body's increasing failures, he was dwelling on Reid and Kono.

"What did you get?" Steve had speed dialed Chin who was leading their way back to the main highway. His voice was deep, demanding and it thudded the ache in Danny's head.

"Two evidence bags," Chin replied, his voice echoing over the hands-free speaker in the cabin of the truck. "One from the hair brush in Reid's bathroom and the second, from a comb just in case ... we'll get DNA off one or both of these. I'm hoping the lab gets us a break with the damned toy bear ... or the ankle bracelet. Something ... anything."

"He ha'sh ... has 'er," Danny whispered sloppily. His eyes were closed and his face pinched in pain. Steve's lip twitched in concern when he glanced to take another look at his partner. The short sentence was almost too soft to hear and Steve wasn't certain at first what Danny had said.

"Agreed," Steve noted to both his teammates, rightly assuming the general tact. "Reid's our man. There's no doubt. None." He was dividing his attention as he drove and watched Danny, yet he nearly smiled when he heard the chuffed disgusted sound from Chin though the hands-free. There was a slight quirk to Danny's lip despite his closed eyes and Steve felt his unease slightly level off.

"Did Ch'n say there's a br .. brsh?" Danny frowned blindly when he pictured a hair brush in his brain but barely got the actual word out. He chastised himself for his error and need to rephrase his question. "Brush. I meant ... brush. Lab ... should process it."

"Yeah, Danny. He did and he's going to the lab right now," Steve affirmed, as he glanced once to the road and then back to his partner, before coming to a particular set of conclusions. His unease tingled when Danny stated the obvious about the lab, as if he hadn't heard what Chin had just said or understood how they'd be dividing their time. And even though he knew Danny's jaw was painful, something else seemed to be going on with his speech pattern.

"The only issue is where he's got Kono. Chin, touch base with me when you get to the lab; we'll need a plan regardless of their findings," Steve quietly added. Another quizzical look was aimed Danny's way, but his friend remained unnaturally subdued.

"We're not waiting," Chin said. His voice was an interesting combination of demand, expectation and question. "I've left the unmarked patrol unit on the street."

"No and good," Steve replied with a haughty smirk. The unmarked HPD unit would be their eyes and ears in the short-term, because they would be returning that very night. He sobered though with another glance at his weakly slouched friend. Danny was coated in a sheen of sweat. Spasmodic swallows were becoming desperate and Steve shook his head ruefully when a dry gag emanated to his right and Danny feebly moved his knees under the dashboard. The unease in his chest fluttered warningly and the second half of his decision was easily validated as he mentally charted the proper route to the hospital from their current location. "Chin, I'm taking a short diversion for Danny. Stay on course."

"W'ass m'tt'r?" Danny muttered as he pried his eyes open just enough to see the blurred outline of Steve's profile. He had more to say and tried. A funny thought about Steve doing a thing back in Reid's house skittered through his head and his lip quirked up in self-amusement. But his eyes were sliding closed again as the top of his head was drilled as if by a hot poker and his stomach twisted. He gagged dryly, unable to bend in half as his body so badly wanted but was trapped by seatbelt and slung arm. Instead, he settled for fisting his shirt with his left hand near his middle when a roiling pain settled in his stomach.

"I did ... 'n do," Danny softy mumbled, a tiny smirk lifting one side of his mouth. "Def'nitl'y ... do. Yeah."

"What?" Steve did a stunned double-take, his face completely altered now to one of alarm. His partner's eyes had yet to open through the short litany and a confused frown creased his sweaty face. "You do what, Danny?"

Danny's mouth soundlessly opened and then closed as he inhaled weakly through his nose to vainly crush another urge to vomit. He coughed again and gagged helplessly. His last thoughts were that he wanted to go back and tear Reid's place from to bottom.

A thing ... Steve should have done a crazy-assed thing.

He would have approved the dangerous tactic this time and Chin would have more than agreed, too. Heart and soul fully invested, Danny did want to go back because he knew Reid had Kono. But his body was about to fail. He could feel it coming with every rotation of the truck's heavy tires. Danny's hands fisted as he fought to regain his equilibrium and train of thought. Both were impossible though. There was a vise around his head and yet, he felt like his brain was dissolving and leaking away like grains of sand.

"Steve?" He barely whispered his plea. Confused by his body's sudden refusal to respond, he breathed out heavily. He breathed out just once and then simply fell silent.

"Danny? Are you alright?" Steve's voice tunneled and ebbed back. Danny clearly heard him, but couldn't find react as his head slid to the left towards the center console where only the strap of the seatbelt stopped him from sliding even more. "Danny! What's wrong?"

"Danny! Shit, Chin!" Steve couldn't prevent the disbelieving gasps from leaving his mouth as Danny literally passed out before him, his free hand falling limply away from a badly bunched up shirt. Over the hands-free speaker, he heard Chin's startled questions and glanced over the hood of his truck to spy Chin's head bobbing as if he could see them more clearly in his rearview mirror.

"Steve? What the hell's going on in there?" Chin's car briefly swerved as he took his eyes from the road. "What happened?"

"Something's really wrong with Danny and I'm hitting the lights ... I'll call you from the hospital. Get to the lab." The frenetic tone and acceleration of the truck combined and blended with other orders for Chin to attend to his original plans with the CSU lab. Sirens clamored to an impossible din and Steve bypassed Chin's smaller car as if it had been standing still. In reaction, Danny's upper body began to sway with the increasing motion of their travel while Steve wove through traffic. With his last conscious memory, Danny more sensed than felt Steve's fingers fumbling for his neck.

There was another stunned flurry of curses and then ... Nothing.

Whatever happened next, Danny missed it all as the loud hum of the Silverado's big engine sucked him under.

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Kono woke with a thick, sticky film covering her tongue which also left her lips feeling as if they were glued shut. However, her head was more clear than it had been in hours. She lay there measuring her stores of energy and attempting to cope with her situation. Still, a feeling of depression descended upon her, stifling in its intensity, as she surveyed her surroundings with a hateful expression.

"They'll come," she murmured softly. She knew that Steve and Chin would be searching for her. But Danny ... she still didn't know about him and could only hope that he was okay with Topher being so close-mouthed.

"Damn it," Kono said, feeling the unwanted heat of tears threaten her eyes. She heard a distant sliding sound and knew what was coming. She didn't want to deal with him or his much too timely doses of sedation. She tried to will Reid away, yet she distinctly heard the movement on the outside of her room well before the heavy first door slid open. Footsteps descended towards the smaller door to her room a few seconds later and Kono couldn't deny that she was truly afraid. There was no point to trying to convince herself of anything else because it would be a blatant a lie. What she focused on though was using the fear to be aware and look for an opportunity. Her anger dried any actual tears even though her heart refused to stop its rapid beat which she could feel clear into her throat.

He'd restrained both her hands for the duration of his long absence and she had to squirrel herself more upright to a sitting position. The change made her head spin, but she forcibly pushed the feeling away to focus with a firmer intention. She was terribly thirsty and her stomach was uncomfortably empty. But the sounds of Reid's coming entry galvanized her into action. Her arms were splayed to the sides, yet she still managed to get her back braced against the ornate headboard. She naturally wanted to sit on her knees to raise her upper body even higher, but that would inhibit her use of her legs ... and she would need them if he got close enough.

If he did ... because Topher Reid was the epitome of caution. He sensed her strength and seemed to know that she could do any number of things when given a chance. All she required was an opportunity for a well-placed kick or even two, but it would need to be absolutely perfect. Her other issue was something she was determined to ignore. Her general feelings of a physical weakness were alarming. Lack of enough food and untainted liquid were wreaking havoc with her system. She barely needed to use the pitifully small bathroom despite the hours of being left alone. Her prison was cold, too, and she knew again that she was being kept uncomfortable - utterly dependent upon him - on purpose. He wanted her to ask - probably to shamelessly beg - for the smallest of crumbs to gain comfort.

"Not doing it," she whispered to herself. Another sound clicked outside her room as locks were removed and her hands fisted in determination. She was bone-tired down to her very soul from the ongoing use of drugs and the games played which kept her guessing about the passage of time. But Chin and Steve would find her. She just prayed their arrival would be much sooner than her cheating mind was beginning to whisper.

The door swung open as Topher burst in. His eyes were full of a diabolical anger and Kono steeled herself against something she hadn't quite anticipated. Her heartbeat escalated to an alarming level as Reid overwhelmed the room in his rage. He had never returned in a such a state and for a moment, any of Kono's thoughts about finding an opening completely disappeared.

Kono watched him warily, the sound of harsh breathing the only evidence that he might be trying to control himself.

"Detective. Danny. Williams." Topher announced each word as a death knell. His hands were tensely fisted much like Kono's, except his left held a powerful syringe. He smirked as any color in Kono's face dwindled away to nothing. He was intent on hurting her tantamount to what she'd just done to him with her ongoing lies about her student ... her friend. The visit from the Five-0 task force had delivered many messages, yet Topher could only dwell on one fine, particular point. The devoted haole.

"What about him?" Kono's mouth was beyond dry as the tympanic beat in her throat picked up in cadence. She knew without the shadow of a doubt that she'd never shared anything more than Danny's first name. She'd erred on the side of caution, allowing Topher to set that dangerous stage without intentionally giving him more emotional ammunition. However, something had happened and he knew more. He knew things that he obviously didn't like and had likely manipulated into an untruth.

"Your student and so-called friend," Topher spat each syllable out angrily. He minced each one as his face reddened and his body began to shake in reaction. "He was a damned cop. On this ridiculous Governor's task force. You worked with him. Every day."

"He's my friend," Kono was trembling as the tension rose unsteadily in the small room. The fact that Reid was speaking in the past tense didn't escape her, but she refused to go there with what he might be implying. "I'm teaching him how to surf. He's just a friend, Topher. I told you that already."

She also tried to placate him by remaining calm and using his name, again. Kono's trepidation grew as she stared into his face. Based upon his expression alone, Reid was approaching a dangerous level and she had no where to go. She'd never be able to defend herself to the extent she'd need to stay alive. Her mind raced as she readied herself as best as possible, but his next words even took that limited planning away from her.

"Surfing? No. Your damned boyfriend is dead," Topher waited a hairsbreadth for his words to sink in and her response didn't disappoint. "He's dead and gone!" Kono paled even more, her mouth gaped and she inhaled sharply. The physical reaction was strong and was all he needed to justify his belief that Kono and the blonde haole had been having an affair.

"You lied to me," Topher snapped suddenly. His goal was to maim her personally for her infidelity and as Kono lost eye contact with him, he bolted forward to grasp her right forearm. She was unprepared on every level and she found herself trembling at the shock of his rude delivery.

"You lied, ko`u aloha." His lips were next to her ear whispering over and over again as he emptied the contents of the syringe deeply into a vein. He hissed and twisted her trapped arm painfully to intentionally leave what would be thick bruising. "You lied to me about a loser haole who was more than a friend; but that doesn't matter anymore because he's dead."

She barely felt the needle or the strong fingers embedded in her arm. On some level, she felt the frightening heat fill her veins. It flowed through her even faster for the out-of-control thrumming of her heart and her sudden inability to breathe normally. But she couldn't process what he had just said; there was no way that Danny was actually dead.

"No, no he's not," Kono argued back, shaking her head and forgetting her vow to find an opening to escape. She also forgot to watch her words and her genuine response made Reid sneer knowingly. "Not Danny. He's ... he's not dead!"

Real tears filled her eyes, spilling down her cheeks as he grasped her chin to kiss her hard on the mouth. The kiss was brutal, bringing blood to her bottom lip as his teeth scraped along its length. He painfully took away the last of her breath as a line was crossed. When he finally released her, Reid retained a firm hold of her chin between thumb and forefinger in order to force her to look up into his face. His psychopathic expression was one which she wouldn't be able to identify even if her addled mind had decided to cooperate.

"Your detective boyfriend is dead, Kono," Reid hissed. He pinched her chin before letting her head drop. "He's dead. Your cousin is next. And you ... you aren't going anywhere because you're mine. You always have been ... and you always will be."

Gasping wildly for breath and losing a struggle to stay conscious, Kono couldn't even look up at Reid as he backed away towards the door. Danny was dead and then he planned to go after Chin.

"Please. Don't," Kono tried to fight, but she was sinking bonelessly into the headboard. She was steadily losing her balance as the room began to sickly swim into a hazy merging of color.

Topher paused to revel in his damages, smiling with glee as tears streaked down her face to dampen even her neck. "I'll see you later, ku`uipo, when my mood improves," he whispered in promise.

A sob broke through and then another as her head sagged forward, long hair stringy now and clinging damply to her forehead despite his once gentle care. Only then did he leave her, turning off the room's overhead light to leave her in utter darkness. He left her where she was. Trembling from the shock of his singular message, he slammed the bedroom's dungeon like door to her grief and rising terror.

~ to be continued ~