Charlie had brushed his teeth and gotten into his Captain America pajamas which had gotten the reaction he had wanted from his uncle. Steve now understood Danny's comments from earlier in the day and had gushingly approved of Charlie's choice.

Charlie had been tired and was not used to staying awake so late, so he had fallen asleep quickly. When he woke up, it took him a minute to figure out where he was; he wasn't in his bed at his mom's house and he wasn't in his racecar bed at Danno's. All he could see in the dim light was that the ceiling was way too close to his face. He then remembered the overnight encampment and the very close quarters of the sleeping area.

It wasn't unusual for him to have to make a trip to the bathroom in the middle of the night, but now he wasn't on his own turf and he thought about not even bothering. However, he also knew if he had an accident and if any of his teammates found out, especially Tyler, he'd never live it down. Plus, he had told his dad he wasn't a little boy anymore and he wanted to show Uncle Steve that he could manage on his own, too. He gently got out of bed and stood looking at his uncle a moment. He wanted to wake him up, but he was sleeping soundly and he needed to prove to himself that he could be brave just like his dad and Uncle Steve.

Charlie made it to the bathroom he had used earlier that night to brush his teeth, but as he was getting ready to step over the threshold of the door, Tyler grabbed both sides and stepped out to stand directly in his way.

"Can't go in there," Tyler warned in a hushed voice, just above a whisper.

"Why not?" Charlie timidly asked.

"Out of order. You'll need to go to one of the other ones, down the hall."

"I just got to… are you sure?"

"Yep. If you're too scared to go on your own, go get your Uncle Navy SEAL. I'm sure he'll go with you, and hold your hand, too, if you need it."

Charlie pursed his lips into a thin frown. "I'm not scared," he blurted out in a half whisper.

"All right then, prove it. There's another john down the hall on the level below us. The easiest way to get there is that hatch down there. You'll be back in no time."

"They told us to stay in this area… and that's one of those doors we're not supposed to go through."

"Yeah, but they didn't know their bathrooms were going to break down. You don't think they'd keep a bunch of kids from going to the bathroom if they needed to, do ya?"

Charlie sighed an accepting breath.

"Go on. What'cha waitin' for?"

"Okay. I'm going."

Charlie made an earnest effort to be brave and actually made it several steps before hesitating. He turned around to see Tyler leaning against the wall watching him, a big smile plastered on his face. A hint of a reciprocated smile dissipated as soon as he turned back. He knew he had to go on. He had to show Tyler he wasn't afraid. Going to ask Uncle Steve or even finding Ed, the camp administrator, was out of the question. He took a moment to look down at the star on his chest and then stood up as straight as he could and pulled his shoulders back. He lifted his chin upward and started down the passageway again.

Tyler watched Charlie get farther and farther away from him. He was almost out of his sight in the insufficient light, but he was able to see when he stopped at the small alcove that housed the hatch he had spoken of. Charlie moved the small yellow rope that was draped in front of the hatch and supported an "Off Limits" sign and began to disappear down the steps. Tyler was shocked. He truly didn't believe that the smaller, naïve participant in his own personal narcissistic game would actually do it.

"Charlie?" Tyler kept his voice at a loud whisper. "Charlie?" He found himself following after his teammate, somewhat in awe of the boy's demonstrated fearlessness.

~~~~~H50~~~~~

The level below was darker than the one above, but was still lit with safety lights. And even though it had been silent on the upper level, this level somehow seemed even quieter. Charlie pattered along in his bare feet on the cold linoleum tile floor, carefully peeking inside each door on either side of the hallway as he came to it again. Unlike his first time down this hallway when looking for the bathroom, this time he lingered a little longer at each one out of curiosity. After a few turns and backtracking, he was now on his way back to the steps that would lead him up to the level where his team and uncle would be sleeping.

"Charlie? There you are."

"Tyler? Why are you down here?"

"I… I was looking for you. I was gonna tell you, you can use the bathroom now. It's okay."

"Already went. There's one back there." He turned just enough to point down the hallway in the direction he had come from. "I'm going back to bed now." He passed right by Tyler, determined not to be hindered by him anymore.

"Hey! Wait up!" Tyler caught up to Charlie. "Do you know where you're going?"

"Sure. The steps are just up here."

"I don't know. I think we missed a turn."

Charlie stopped and looked back and then in the direction he had been heading. Maybe he wasn't sure.

~~~~~H50~~~~~

"Jim. Hey, Jim, you awake?" Steve hated to wake him but didn't hesitate when he laid his hand on the sleeping man's shoulder and pushed just enough to get a reaction.

"Yeah, what? What's going on?" Jim's gruff, irritated voice started very weak and grew more animated as he became aware.

"Do you know where Tyler is?"

"Try the john. I don't know." He rolled away from Steve onto his side and pulled his blanket over his shoulder.

"I just came from there. He's not there and neither is Charlie. Hey, man, come on, wake up. The boys aren't in bed and they're not 'in the john'. I just checked. They're not around here. We need to go find them. … Jim?" Steve stood upright with his hands firmly on his hips staring down at this sad excuse for a father. "Just forget it. I thought you'd want to know. I'll go on my own."

"All right already. I'm coming." Jim swung his legs off the bunk and put his elbows on his knees as he scratched his scalp with both hands. "Gimme a sec to throw on my jeans." He then took one deep breath and jumped down. He grabbed his jeans that were crumpled at the end of the bunk and pulled them on over his boxers. He patted his back pocket and yawned, not even attempting to hide it, and the two men were off on their way down the hall.

When they got to the mess area where many of the activities had taken place the night before, Steve saw a large Maglite flashlight that had been used in one of the games… uh, team building exercises. He detoured slightly to pick it up, thinking it may come in handy, and they continued with their search.

"Ah, nah, Charlie, what're you doing?" Steve spoke out loud but to himself. They had come upon the open hatch that led to the lower level when he saw the rope barrier had been moved out of the way.

"What? You think they went down there?" Jim asked.

"Well they're not up here and the rope's been moved, so yeah, I think they went down there."

"Well, that's just beautiful. Damn it, kid, you really screwed the pooch this time." This time, it was Jim's turn to talk aloud to the person that wasn't there.

"What'd you say?" With a surprised recognition, Steve shined his light toward Jim.

"Hey, cool it with the light, will ya? Never mind, let's just find them so we can get back to sleep."

"Yeah, sure." Steve removed the light from Jim's eyes but continued to stare. If not at the ball games, where had he encountered this guy before? He shook his head to get back on task and led the way down the narrow opening and waited for Jim at the bottom.

"Come on, this way," Steve asserted his authority in this search as soon as Jim had joined him. He heard the subsequent, annoyed sigh but chose to ignore it as he went down the corridor, assuming Jim was following after him. "Charlie? Tyler?" Every so often, he called out the names of the missing boys, getting no help from his unenthusiastic companion.

"It's hot down here," Jim complained.

Without turning back, Steve countered, "The sooner we find them, the sooner we can get back up where it's cooler. Charlie?"

"Uncle Steve?"

"Charlie," he confirmed to himself. "Charlie?!"

"Uncle Steve? Is that you?"

Steve turned to see Jim looking down a smaller passageway that cut across to the other side of the ship. Although Jim obviously heard the voice too, he stood stationary as he waited for Steve to again lead the way. Exasperated, Steve retraced his steps back and ignored Jim as he stepped in front of him to turn toward the source of the voice.

"Charlie? Where are you?! Keep calling out!"

"We're here."

Steve quickened his steps and the voice that had started as a distant murmur grew louder as they made another turn. Holding the flashlight up at a higher angle, he saw Charlie moving toward him in his super hero pajamas. Relief replaced the uneasiness that had imperceptibly grown into a tenacious sick feeling.

Charlie ran up and wrapped his arms around Steve's legs, clearly unconcerned by any teasing that may ultimately come his way at Tyler's amusement. Steve, in turn, laid a comforting hand on his back, giving him a few pats before squatting down to his level. He set his flashlight on the floor and gave Charlie a legitimate hug.

In the narrow hallway, the newly reunited pair blocked the other father-son duo from their own reunion. The obstruction, however, didn't come across as unwelcome as Steve stood up to move out of the way to allow Jim to connect with his son. Instead, Jim angrily laid into Tyler and insinuated Charlie's participation as part of the reason for his aggravation.

"What the hell were you two thinking? Did you think you were going on some kind of elaborate treasure hunt or something?"

"I was just looking for a bathroom," Charlie confessed to Steve in a whisper, wondering what he had done that was so wrong.

"Damn it, Tyler!" Jim continued his very vocal reprimand.

"Now hold on, Jim." Steve left Charlie and put his hand on Jim's chest, trying to gauge if the man would try anything physical toward his son as an outlet for his anger. Steve purposefully stared directly into his eyes at this close contact and then fell back a step when another déjà vu feeling assaulted him.

Jim slapped his hand away. "Keep your mitts off me, copper, I… I mean McGarrett. Damn it's hot." He removed the elastic band that was wrapped around his wrist and pulled his long hair away from his face into a meager bun on top of his head.

The initial elusive recognition, the "screwed the pooch" comment, the challenging manner complete with the "copper" slip, and now the fully revealed face with the distinct, familiar coiffure… that was the last piece of the puzzle Steve needed. He now remembered where he had seen Jim before. The cartel takedown had occurred three months ago. He had been the gunman to the right of his leader and had somehow been the lone member who managed to flee the scene during the hailstorm of bullets, wearing his hair like it was now and exclaiming to the obviously lesser soldiers that they had "screwed the pooch".

Steve froze as he stared at Jim… too long.

Jim saw it too… the cold icy stare and hesitation. He had managed to stay off this Five-0 guy's radar this long, but he realized the jig was up. He smiled innocently as he covertly slipped his right hand behind him for access to his back pocket in preparation.

This was the first time Steve had seen this man smile and he knew it wasn't genuine. He looked down at Charlie, who was still standing beside him, to tell him to go join Tyler. Taking his eyes off Jim in that second proved to be his mistake. Before he could issue his instruction to Charlie, Jim struck out like a cornered animal. In a fluid movement, he picked up the Maglite and forcibly hit an unsuspecting Steve on the side of his head sending him to the ground. He then dropped the light and grabbed Charlie's arm, pulling him to his body and wrapping his arm around his chest. In the same motion, he produced an automatic knife holding it dangerously close to Charlie's neck.

From the ground, Steve recovered quickly, pushing up to sitting. He saw what was happening and his heartbeat began to race and he knew he had made an egregious error in letting down his guard. "Whoa, hey." He threw up his left hand to calm the situation as he still leaned on his right. "Jim, come on, take it easy now. Okay?"

"Dad?" Standing behind Steve, Tyler's eyes were wide as he witnessed the standoff.

"Tyler, get over here. Now!" Jim kept constant watch on Steve as he gave the order.

Steve unassertively and gingerly got to his feet, swaying slightly at the change in position. He took turns glancing from Jim to Charlie, trying to impart to the child some sort of encouragement and semblance of having things under control so as to abate his fear. He could see tears brimming on his bottom lashes but he was doing one hell of a job holding back an all-out sobbing release of his fears.

Tyler carefully stepped around Steve, having to turn sideways to get past him. "Dad? I… I don't underst…"

"Shut up, Tyler! Just get behind me!"

Tyler did as he was told, sharing a moment of eye contact with Charlie. Even with his own scared, pale expression, he communicated an unspoken apology with his eyes as he disappeared from Charlie's sight.

"Hey, this is your show, man. Come on. What'da you need from me? Huh?" It broke Steve's heart to see the confused and frightened look on Charlie's face. He wanted to be Uncle Steve and speak directly to him, but he had to be in hostage negotiating mode now. A wink and the slightest of smiles would have to be enough for now to convey his encouragement to be brave to his nephew.

"I need you to take a step back. I need space. Back up!"

"Okay. You got it." Steve passively took one large step backward. "See? Okay? I'm back. Now can we just talk? Just let the boys go. We'll talk man to man."

Obviously ignoring Steve's pleading, Jim's eyes started shifting from Steve to his surroundings, looking for his next move. He spied a door behind Steve. "In there! Behind you! Get in there!"

Steve glanced over his shoulder to see where Jim was alluding to and saw the door. Jim jerked Charlie closer to him causing him to squint but he still controlled his tears.

"All right! You got it. Whatever you say." He spoke calmly as he backed toward the door. He only lowered his hands to grab onto the side of the door to help him step over and into the tiny, dark room.

"Tyler! Flashlight!" Tyler knew what Jim wanted as he picked the light up off the floor and handed it toward his father. Jim's hands were otherwise occupied and couldn't take the offered light. He pushed Charlie forward as they walked toward the door. "In there. Shine it in there." Tyler did as he was told. "Back up! Farther!"

Steve knew he was talking to him and backed as far as he could go into the room.

"'kay, kid, you're next. Get in."

"Come on, Charlie," Steve encouraged, eager to get him away from Jim and into his arms. "It's okay. Do as he says."

The process of getting Charlie into the room with Steve was uneventful. Now, having a free hand, Jim grabbed the flashlight from Tyler and flung it into the open door. Steve took hold of Charlie's wrist and pulled him away from the flying object just before it could hit him. The light landed on the floor with a thud and spun around a few times, casting an odd light show on the inside walls.

"You got close again, copper," Jim stated almost admiringly. "Maybe next time," he posed the challenge. At that, he slammed the door closed. He closed and slipped his knife back in his pocket and began looking in all directions until he found what he was looking for. He grabbed the wrought iron directional sign and was able to easily twist the top frame off. He then went back to the room that he'd put Steve and Charlie in and slid the iron bar through the circular handle, affixing it in such a way that it couldn't be turned unless the bar was removed. He grabbed Tyler by the upper arm and headed back the way they had come. "Let's go." Tyler looked over his shoulder, stunned at what was happening, as he was guided away.


~to be continued~

BronsonL\,,,/