Chapter 14 "Reactions"

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A/N: Wow, there were some really varied and fascinating reactions to 13! I'm so glad to read what people think, and why! It's truly helpful to me to see where people think this may be going, and of course I won't say if you are right or wrong. The story will tell in due time. I know we have barely scratched the surface. There are a lot of clues that have yet to be brought into the light.

Yes, there will be a twist. Eventually. Good call, Cubit2! Not necessarily the twist you mentioned, but would I leave out some kind of a twist? *Innocent smile*

And, thank you to everyone who reads and reviews! Likes and favorites always astonish me, and you are soooo kind to do that! I'll try to keep giving you good stuff to read and review!

I want to thank the guest reviewer who pointed out an initial mistake in this chapter. I had Eric listed as cousin, not nephew, and after the review I fixed it! It was a silly oversight on my part, but I would not have caught it unless that guest had pointed it out. So a special thank you to you!

Someone else I want to single out for thanks: stefrosacarnevale, who is one of those readers who always encourages writers all over this board for putting up chapters, and that is such a kindness! Writers need encouragement, and stefrosacarnevale gives it, and I think that's definitely praiseworthy.

Disclaimer: CBS still owns Hawaii Five-0, but they let us play with it. They make money, we don't. It's all good.

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Chapter 14 "Reactions"

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(Tuesday, 21 December, 4pm)

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Steve and Kono let themselves out of Rachel and Stan's house, since Grace did not come back down after writing that very loud, accusatory word on Steve's cast. He had covered it with his sling, but just knowing his cast now said LIAR in bold Sharpie … stung. He began walking through the rain to Kono's car.

Kono, on the other hand, while sympathetic with Steve, was thinking about the way the whole conversation -if you could even call it that- had gone with the Edwards. "That was very different from how I thought it would go."

"Yeah," agreed Steve as they both took their seats in Kono's compact car. "Stan surprised me, and Grace really surprised me."

Kono grinned. "She's her father's daughter. And she can spell."

Steve huffed. "Aren't you the ray of supportive sunshine." Which made Kono laugh, as she let the windshield wiper swipe slowly at the raindrop-covered windshield. Steve frowned in disappointment. "I thought Gracie would forgive me, and I thought they all would ask more questions."

"Mrs. Lane's house?" she asked, before backing down the driveway.

Steve nodded and looked back at the wreath-decorated front door of the house they had just left. "Yeah. Got the address?"

"Yup. Seriously, Boss, they probably will ask more, when this really sinks in. Rachel clearly is preparing herself to hear that Danny is dead, which I think is strange, but she is on the pregnancy hormone roller coaster. Stan, on the other hand, is just a jerk."

Steve turned toward Kono, and now his voice was disgusted. "It's like he blames Danny for being kidnapped. The only things he seems to care about are his kid and his wife. Not a word of support to Grace! I don't even think he looked at her once, and we were only talking about her missing dad. No big deal there, huh? 'Jerk' is putting it mildly."

Kono was a good driver, keeping her eyes on the road and the surrounding area. "One thing Rachel told me when we used to talk sometimes, after you and Danny had the liver transplant: Stan has never forgiven her, she believes, for letting him believe for years that Charlie was his kid, when all along he was Danny's, and she knew it." Kono turned the wipers so they swiped the windshield every 3 seconds. The rain had let up just enough to warrant the action.

Steve was not surprised. "I don't think many men would have an easy time forgiving that. I know it's not fair, but women get blamed more for being unfaithful than men do. And Rachel would have kept that lie going, but Charlie got sick. She hid Danny's son from him for three years, and if Charlie had not become sick with something she needed Danny's bone marrow to cure, he still would not know. That's big." He shook his head. "And Danny still loves her."

Kono glanced, surprised, at Steve before fastening her gaze back on her driving. "He is? Did he tell you?"

Steve glanced down at that word written on his cast, so he could see it staring up at him. Grace had written it upside down and backwards, so he could even see half the letters if he looked at it in the sling. "Oddly enough, he told me last night, after Rachel left. I had to pull teeth to get him to open up, you know how he is. This was just before things went south and the drugs hit. He's been having problems with Rachel's pregnancy, because it changes so much for him. He had wanted them to get back together, because Rachel keeps telling him that she and Stan are having problems." He stopped looking at his cast. "But they sure seemed the solid couple today, didn't they?"

Kono's face bore a worried expression. "No wonder Danny is so emotionally raw. He has to live with an ex-wife nearby who probably tells him what she wants him to think, while the truth, I think anyway, is that she thinks only about herself. I know she loves Stan's money, but I never got the feeling from her that she actually loved him. I think maybe she does love Danny, but she can't have him anymore."

"I think that's a good thing, Kono," stated Steve, with quiet conviction. "She's no good for him."

Kono picked up on his undertone. "You don't like her."

"No, I don't," Steve answered. "And there are a lot of reasons. She never accepted the real Danny Williams, and she uses and abuses him emotionally. She divorced him, remarried quickly, moved so far away I bet she never thought he'd follow -which shows how little she really knew him, not to mention how she won't hesitate to hurt him- and then files to try to take his meager time away by trying to move Grace to Nevada." Steve made his disgusted face. "He needs someone else. What was the name of that nurse again, the one Gracie said Danny liked?"

"Dr. Cornett's daughter? Uh, Becca? The Pediatric Nurse Practitioner."

"That's the one. We need to vet her, see if she's good enough for Danno."

"Boss!" Kono swatted his left arm. "You playing matchmaker for Danny?"

"Ouch!" But he smiled, albeit with his lips tight and his eyes not getting the memo. "If it will keep him away from Rachel, and bring him some real happiness, you bet." His eyes got the memo, briefly. "First time for everything."

Kono and Steve exchanged smiles. "Hey, count me in. If we can fit vetting Becca Cornett into our busy schedule, I say we go for it. Danny needs some real happiness." She hesitated, before asking, "Any more partner vibes from Danny?"

Steve shook his head. "Not for a bit. I'm hoping that means he's sleeping."

Kono murmured, "Sweet dreams, Brah. We'll find you." She sighed, all smiles gone. "Boss, I want to run some checks on Rachel and Stan. Just to make sure. I don't have a feeling, exactly, but I'd like to rule them out as suspects, or …maybe get lucky, I guess. I mean, as a precaution. After all, Rachel was the last person you and Danny talked with before you got drugged."

"I sure don't object. I was even thinking it." Steve added, non sequitur, "I didn't even know Stan could get angry. He's so bland."

"He sure doesn't have much of an emotional repertoire: Boring, and Not Quite Boring. Still, you never know. So let's see if Rachel really did pick Stan up at the airport last night. Passenger lists, some airport security footage should do it."

"Go for it." Suddenly Steve laughed. "I almost lost it when I saw that tea cozy."

Kono laughed too. "I about drew blood biting the inside of my lip when I saw that. Rachel has him well trained. I just can't see Danny using a tea cozy. Reason For Divorce: Refusal to properly use a tea cozy."

Steve smiled even wider. "I will buy dinner for the whole Task Force at Bob's Big Burgers if she ever had Danny trained to use the tea cozy."

"Dinner at BBB? Shoot, Boss, now I hope she did have him cozy trained!"

Steve's smile faded, slowly. "We'll ask him when we find him."

Kono understood where his smile had gone. "I know. I just want him back, too."

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H50 H50 H50 H50

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The Lane house was modest, neat, and homey, with personal mementos and photos, decorated with things that showed a love of family, and a love between husband and wife. The instant the pretty widow welcomed Steve and Kono into the house, Steve felt the job of telling her that her husband was deceased become a lead weight the size of Hawaii. He knew instinctively that Lisa Lane would be dignified, and devastated.

She was also hospitable, but in an entirely different way. Her hand shook as she poured them cups of coffee, offered them homemade chocolate chip cookies. "I bake to relieve stress, and because Neil loves my cookies. Except macaroons. He was never that fond of coconut, so I usually don't use it in baking." She suddenly looked lost. "He's dead, isn't he?"

Steve felt the lump in his throat. This was never easy. "Yes, Mrs. Lane. He was murdered. We are so sorry for your deep loss."

She nodded, sitting on what was obviously her side of the loveseat she had probably shared with her husband a thousand times. She was fingering her wedding and especially her engagement ring, which had a bright green stone. "It's so funny, because I just knew. I just knew, because we were like that. Sometimes we had whole conversations without saying a word."

Kono handed her a kleenex, which she took with thanks, and returned to her rings after she wiped her eyes. "When I knew he was going to ask me to marry him, I kept thinking, 'Don't spent a lot of money on some big diamond.' I'm not a diamond kind of woman, you know? So when he got down on one knee, and opened the box, and there was this peridot and two teensy diamonds, I knew beyond any doubt that he was my soulmate, because he knew. He knew. He got me the stone of joy, he called it bright, like my soul, and he would have got me a house made of it, but how practical would that be?" She laughed, a watery sound that almost made Kono cry. "And then he said the joy was our life together, and we were the diamonds getting to share it. He said I should have a diamond, even if it was tiny."

"He sounds like he was a wonderful man," Kono said, and Steve could tell Kono's throat was tight with emotion. Her own hand was fingering the simple wedding band Adam had given her the day they married.

"He was," replied Lisa. She tucked her chin-length blonde hair behind her ears, nervously, and asked, hesitantly, "Did … did he suffer?"

"It was quick," said Steve, eyes full of sympathy, but dogging it through this as best he could. Danny was the pro at this, even if it always cost him a lot emotionally. "He was asphyxiated late yesterday afternoon. It was quick." The rest of the details could come later. This was enough of a shock for now.

"Mrs. Lane," began Kono. "Do you have a friend or family member who can stay with you as you … so you won't be alone?"

Tears were streaming down her face, but she was still beautiful, in that girl-next-door way. "I can call my sister, Mia. We're close." She gazed through her tears from Kono to Steve. "Commander McGarrett? Would you please catch the person who hurt Neil?"

Steve reached across the divide between the chair he was sitting in, and the loveseat, and took her hand in his. "We sure will. You have my personal guarantee."

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H50 H50 H50 H50 H50

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Back in the car, with the windshield wipers no longer needed, Steve and Kono were silent for several blocks, as they made their way now to Tripler. "That was hard," said Steve, and Kono nodded. She deftly pulled the car over into a car wash parking lot and stopped the engine, burst into tears, and Steve undid his seatbelt to lean across and bring her into a hug. Neither of them needed to say a thing.

Several minutes later, they were on the Moanalua Freeway, heading for Tripler. Oddly enough, they were duplicating the drive to Tripler Army Medical Center made the day Danny had crash landed the doomed plane on Waikiki beach, after Steve had been so gravely wounded.

Steve had called ahead, and Dr. Cornett was waiting for him. After that, he said to Kono, "Call Adam, okay? You were apart for a long while, and … you know."

"Yeah. I will. And I'll check in with Chin and Abby. When we are done at Tripler, maybe we could pick everyone up some dinner."

It was close to sunset, and the street lights were coming on, while after the storm had passed it was as if the sky was trying to make up for the gray day with a sunset worthy of everyone's dreams of color and beauty.

Steve said, "I wish Danny could see this."

Kono reached over and took Steve's left hand, briefly. "Let's watch it for him."

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H50 H50 H50 H50 H50

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This time Steve met with Dr. Cornett in his office, which Steve had never seen before. Kono greeted him before excusing herself to make calls.

Even though Steve was tired, he looked around the office quickly, being drawn immediately to the family photo on the wall behind Dr. Cornett's desk. "Oh, are those your kids?"

Cornett smiled like a proud father. "Yes, and my beautiful wife, Noelle." He gestured for Steve to come around the desk so he could point out his wife and kids. Noelle was indeed beautiful, and obviously happy. She was short with stylish wavy white hair. David, the doctor, was easy to spot, because he had a strong resemblance to his father in both height, build, and coloring, although his hair was still brown with copper highlights from being in the sun. There were two adult daughters, one tall, the other short, with polar opposite coloring. The tall one was Hannah, and Steve noted her dark blonde hair, worn a lot like the style Kono adopted. "She's a kindergarten teacher at a private school in Honolulu."

Steve's eyes moved to the other woman. This had to be the one Danny liked, who liked him, according to Gracie. "This is Rebecca, and you might see her around the hospital here, as she's a…."

"Pediatric Nurse Practitioner," finished Steve, looking at her closely. She was nothing like the usual woman his partner dated. He went for blondes, usually tall and slender, more like Hannah. Becca was no taller than her mother, which Steve guessed was around 5'3", and had a build definitely on the athletic side, but feminine. Her hair was short, dark, and somewhere between wavy and curly. She had smiling brown eyes, and an infectious happy air about her. Steve liked her without even having met her. In his mind he tried to pair Danny and Becca, and decided they made a potentially perfect match.

"Did I already tell you Becca is a Nurse here?"

"No! Oh, sorry. Wait, you did. I think. I'm really tired." Steve moved away from the photo and took a seat in front of the desk. "Someone told me. She tended to Danny's daughter at Thanksgiving, when she broke her arm in a cheerleading accident."

"I remember! How is Grace?"

Steve inhaled, exhaled, and slipped his sling off. The accusatory word on his cast was easy to read. "Right now she is angry with me. I didn't want to tell her earlier today that Danny was missing, and when I had to, she pulled a one-word rant on me."

"Ah. Um." Dr. Cornett studied the lettering. "Sharpie? It looks like it soaked fairly far into the plaster."

"Yeah."

"Let's replace that cast. I can tell you about your labs while doing that."

Steve sighed and nodded. "Might be good. I can't go around with people reading that on my arm."

"Rest while I go get the stuff. Oh, hold on. Still having pain?" Dr. Cornett was taller than Steve by an inch and a half, so Steve looked up at him.

"Yeah. Headache, too. Long day. Not much sleep."

"Eaten anything?"

"No. Yes. A couple cookies, but after this, I get dinner."

"Make it substantial and healthy. Here." Cornett handed Steve a cup of water and a little paper cup of two identical pills. "Tylenol."

"Thanks." Steve took the pills, then reached for the cup and drank all of it. Then he sat back with his eyes closed until Cornett returned with the saw to cut through the plaster, and all the stuff to make a new cast.

"No, you can keep your eyes closed, as long as you don't actually fall asleep. And don't move your arm." Once the plaster was cut through in two places, so the cast slipped right off, Cornett began the lab explanation. "There are a whole host of so called date rape drugs, so I tested for all of them. I was mainly looking for traces of gamma hydroxybutyric acid or GBH as it is more commonly known, ketamine, and rohypnol. Those are the three easiest to obtain illegally. What we found were traces of rohypnol, which is what I most suspected we might find."

"Roofies," said Steve, and sounded mildly disgusted.

"Yes." Dr. Cornett was wrapping gauze around Steve's arm, while the plaster strips were soaking in water. "You presented the effects, so it's no surprise. The nice thing is that in a couple more hours, assuming you were drugged around 8pm last night, it will have no more effects at all on you, and the dose you were given did no harm to any of your organs."

"How did you arrive at 8pm administration time?" asked Steve, opening his eyes.

"I should qualify that by a margin of error of 15 to 20 minutes, by the amount of drug still in the test samples of blood and urine."

"It is probably safe to assume the same drug was given to Danny," murmured Steve.

"Very likely. But to be sure, we would need to sample Danny within 72 hours of ingestion, and the tests would be a lot more difficult and sensitive to get a reading after even this much time has passed. If you find Danny in that time frame, we will definitely test him. Any … leads?"

Steve smiled, as the wet plaster strips were being wrapped over the gauze. "You got attached. I don't blame you; Danny is that kind of guy."

"What can I say? He sent me a Christmas card, and my daughter knows his daughter."

"And he's that kind of guy, and you are that kind of doc. He actually needs that kind of doc. Not all would give a damn about the needs of a cop with deep anxieties and phobias, who can argue and out-stubborn and out-rant just about anyone and still not hesitate to give his dying partner half his liver and who turns to mush when his daughter breaks her arm cheerleading." Steve rubbed his eyes. "No leads yet, but we have some that could lead to leads. If that made sense. But we know he's alive."

"You do? That's a relief." Dr. Cornett smiled, genuinely relieved, and then snapped back into his usual caring mode. "Let the plaster set. You know the drill. It feels uncomfortably hot for twenty minutes, but you will not be burned. How do you know he's alive?"

"Partner intuition. Similar to twin intuition. I just know."

"Hannah and Becca are twins, and they have that. So it makes sense that you would have it with Danny."

"Doc?" Steve's worry was rising. "He's locked in a box."

"What? That's sick!" exclaimed Dr. Cornett, and his usually calm expression was now one of deep horror. "He's claustrophobic! Is he … can you tell how he's handling it?"

"He's fighting through. But then, uhm, it got dark, really dark. And then he lost it. And he …." Steve paused, because his partner sense was active again, and this time he felt such relief, such incredible relief. And he felt something else. His left hand rose to his chest, and he cupped his hand around something that wasn't there, and felt soft fur. "He's awake. The lights came back on. And … he's got something with him, like a plush ... toy. It's soft. And small. He's clutching it, and smiling, Doc." Steve was smiling the brightest, happiest smile a human being could smile.

And so was Dr. Cornett, all the way to his hazel version of Steve's eyes. "He has a sick captor, but let's hear it for lights and plush toys!"

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H50 H50 H50 H50 H50

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Danny felt a soft paw pat his nose three times, and a purr was rumbling just below his chin. Angel was still there, and she was waking him up. His eyes began to open, then memory invaded, and he hesitated until he realized there was light beyond. He opened his eyes, and turned to face the Christmas lights, blazing as brightly as the small strand could.

Instantly he sat up, clutching Angel to him, while she purred and made sounds between "meow" and "mew". Danny held her up and showed her the lights, then clutched her to his chest again. "We made it through, Baby Girl. We made it through."