Hidden In Plain Sight

by JeanBlythe

Someone has tried to murder Steve and convince everyone that a body found is Danny's. But Five-0 realizes there is hope that Danny is not dead. They begin a frantic search, with scant clues to go on. How will they keep up hope that they will find him? What they do not know is that Danny has been locked away and abandoned. He must try to escape. But time is short. NOT A DEATHFIC!

22. Chapter 22 Realizations & Evidence

Chapter 22 "Realizations & Evidence"

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A/N: (7 September 2016) You are the most amazing readers! Thank you so much for the reviews for Ch 21, featuring Stiff McGrit and his jello brain! I even managed to thank all signed reviews, and am very grateful to all who reviewed! The Cornett daughters will be making more appearances. I neglected to mention that Ch 21 was lovingly dedicated to my friend Nancy, who has been a great source of encouragement. All Angel scenes are also dedicated to her, and more to come! Thank you, Nancy! 3

As much as we have seen of Steve, this story features Danny, and he's not forgotten. The only reason he wasn't in the last parts was because the solving of the crime doesn't involve him until later on. Still, he is a vital centerpiece for this story. He will be back in this chapter, but there's some stuff that has to come first, but then it's gonna be Danny! :D We needs our Danny! (And oh gosh was he gorgeous in his dove gray morning coat when he received the George Cross from Her Majesty the Queen of England in Friday's episode! They even let him look better than Steve! About keeled me over! [I actually had to research that medal, and they did change it a bit from the authentic George Cross, but that's fine.])

I already had Abby as a member of Five-0 before the season made it clear she was working with HPD, so I'm keeping her Five-0 for this. This is AU anyway.

Disclaimer: CBS owns Hawaii Five-0, and so far I like how they are treating Season 7.

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Chapter 22 "Realizations & Evidence"

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(23 December 2016, 4 a.m. Wednesday)

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Half an hour after Steve spilled his ice water on himself, he found himself wrapped in a thick towel and fluffy slippers, as everything he had been wearing was soaked and was tumbling in the Cornett dryer, including the sofa cover which was waterproof and there mostly for the grandkids descending in another day, but also for just such guests as Steve, who either were just clumsy, or caught their first glimpse of the eldest twin daughter, Hannah, while holding a glass or cup of liquid.

Hannah, after accepting Steve's invitation to surf, had qualified that she knew their date had to wait until he'd found his missing partner, Danny, because of course he was uppermost in Steve's mind. Steve kept his glow down to something only requiring extra-dark sunglasses, so appreciative was he of Hannah's compassion and understanding. He had actually managed to reply to her in almost-normal English, using two words, "Thmank you."

Then she led Steve off to the main bathroom so he could get out of his wet things, and got out the huge fluffy sky blue towel and found him a pair of fluffy blue guest slippers. When he reappeared in them, feeling about as self-conscious as it was possible to feel, only Dr. Cornett and Officer Kai were still in the living room, and Kai was texting happily on his phone. That was when Steve and Dr. Cornett worked out that he was welcome to stay at the house and get some sleep, because he knew Steve had a busy day ahead of him. He wanted Steve to get a good 4 hours of sleep, 5 if he could manage it, and then they would run those tests at Tripler Army Medical Center. He could ride in with the doctor and Becca, who would be working a shift as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner.

Steve accepted the offers, sent Pua Kai on his way, so he could get some sleep too, and called his ohana at the Task Force to tell them to get some sleep, and be ready to hit things hard again in the morning. They in turn told him that more solid information had come in: the linseed oil in Lou's garage did not match what had been used at Danny's house. They knew the brand, though, and it was not the most common one. They were tracking down any sales of that brand in the past two weeks. It was only sold at 4 stores locally, none of which were near Lou's house, but one was quite near the Edwards' home, and another was only a half mile from Danny's house. There was a good chance they might get a hit on who had bought the linseed oil at either of those stores. They were already running through the security footage using Stan's photo.

A sketch artist was working on drawings of what Stan and Rachel would look like in their disguises, and once those were finished, they would be shown around, and the camera footage would be gone over again to see if it picked up either of them in their disguises. Stan was being anything but a model prisoner, and Rachel hadn't stop crying so her mug shot looked like something spooky from Halloween, and both were in solitary cells away from the regular population and each other, and would spend time in separate blue rooms later on the 23rd. They were going to double cuff Stan and cool the room a bit more than usual, because they could, and would let him stew while they spoke to Rachel in a different room.

Also, there was a witness alibi-ing Lou and his wife the night Danny and Steve were drugged. They had in fact been seen celebrating their anniversary, and making a romantic night of it. The witness had assured them there had been "sound effects." Witnesses also placed Lou in his office at the time the arsonist would have been busy at Danny's house: the postman had seen him sleeping, and later on a delivery person had too, so Lou was neither involved in the kidnapping of Danny, nor the attempted murder of Steve, nor the arson. He was clear.

Everyone was still angry with him, so he'd spend the rest of the night in jail, and Steve would talk to him in the morning, after the tests had been run at Tripler. After talking with Lou, he and Chin and the rescue crew of the homeless man still recovering in Tripler's ICU, would head up and see where he had been found, in case there was anything missed since so little had been expected to be found the day he had been stumbled upon.

Becca was the one who showed Steve to the guest room, with the promise that his clothes would all be waiting for him on the dresser in the morning. It had given Steve a chance to give Becca another look, and she was one of the nicest people he had ever met, radiating kindness and compassion. She also asked about his arm, and reminded him of Grace's appointment to have her cast checked late the next afternoon. She offered to take her in herself, or however Steve wanted to handle that. She was very concerned about Danny's daughter, and Steve could tell part of that was because she was so concerned about Danny.

Steve thanked Becca, and they talked briefly, but substantively. Now that Steve was officially smitten with Hannah, he looked at her sister differently. She was actually beautiful, radiantly so, but in an entirely different way than Hannah. And Steve wondered if what Danny had been doing wrong in his search for women was to go for the exterior more than the interior. Danny's "type" was tall, slender, leggy, long haired and usually blonde, since his ex-wife had light brown/almost auburn hair.

But here was Becca, shorter than Danny, with rich brown, wavy-curly short hair, an athletic figure not, however, shaped like an hourglass. She was on the muscular side without losing any femininity. And she was everything Danny needed, in Steve's opinion: loyal, supportive, happy and bright, with a quick wit and resulting fun sense of humor, and emotional strength enough to let Danny lead while being capable of leading when Danny needed that. They were equals, and complemented each other's strengths and weaknesses. Danny and Becca were already friends. All they had to do was make that leap beyond friendship, and Steve really believed the rest would take care of itself. Becca, he thought, was already there, but too respectful of Danny's feelings to push him into something he didn't want or didn't realize he wanted. Steve was definitely going to suggest a double date in there somewhere, to see if Danny needed pushing or was going to open his eyes to what was right in front of him.

Steve crawled under the light down comforter and fell asleep while thinking of himself dating Hannah, and Danny dating Becca, and how it would feel to do that. It meant that he would find Danny alive and well, and the future would hold good things for all of them. He really liked those thoughts.

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H50 H50 H50

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Danny was sweating as he worked hard on the link. He was making progress, even if it was slow due to the conditions under which he had to work. He had a short plate to grind the link back and forth across, and the constant fanning and heat production was turning the box into a sauna while his muscles everywhere were becoming more and more fatigued and just plain sore. He kept up on his water consumption, and rested when he had to. Two fingers were almost blistered, so he was being careful.

He didn't know why, but as he rested, he found himself thinking about Steve and his lack of a girlfriend. Steve had loved Catherine Roll for years, but when he was about to propose to her, she had sensed it and run for the hills, ending their chance of ever again getting back together. Steve knew that was why she had run, but to top it off, she had lied to him about where she was going.

She was the one woman Steve had ever truly loved, and she had run and lied to end things with him. Since then, Danny's partner had been a bouncing ball between one or two-time dates with benefits, just to keep himself sane.

Danny wanted to live to see Steve settled. He also wanted to see himself settled, too. His kids deserved one parent happily married, since he didn't believe Rachel was really capable of being happy with anyone who didn't say "how high, Dear?" when asked to jump. Danny was not that guy, and that was pretty much the end of his thinking about Rachel, because it hadn't taken much for him to realize that her emotional manipulation of him was exactly that, and if there was one thing Danny would not ever tolerate again, it was being emotionally manipulated. He did not love her anymore. He didn't hate her, because she was the mother of his children. If not for that, his emotions might have gone much further towards dislike.

If he was honest with himself, his relationships had been well-intended, but not what he needed. Gabby was too career-oriented to make a good fit with a cop, plus Danny had never really shared her consuming love of antiquities and art. They had made great friends, and happy lovers, but that quality of soulmate love was entirely missing.

The same thing was true with Melissa. She was damaged in pretty much the same ways he was, and therefore they brought out the worst in each other, beyond the sex, which was quite good. But not good enough to hold Danny's interest. He cared about her, and his innate "fix it" nature had been engaged when he learned about her abusive ex-husband. Then he had come to realize that the reason he could not tell her he loved her was because he didn't. When Melissa had been dealing with her issues regarding PTSD and Danny being unable to say those three little words she so wanted to hear, he hadn't felt it was a good time at all to end things with her, even though he had realized they were not going anywhere with their relationship. She was hurting, down, and if there was one thing he knew, you never kicked someone when they were down, unless they had a gun on you. Then all bets were off. He had always intended to wait until Melissa was stronger before breaking things off with her.

Unfortunately for him, Melissa didn't have a problem kicking him when he was down, and had split to New York when he was dealing with learning his ex had lied to him about Charlie being his son. She had said she was taking a leave of absence from her job to settle her affairs in New York, now that she had inherited some things from her deceased ex-husband. The truth was that she used that as an excuse to leave without telling Danny she would not be back. He still had not heard that officially from her, so he was going to end things himself with Melissa as soon as he got out of this box. She had called a couple times, dutifully, after he had donated half his liver to Steve, but the calls had been short and awkward. It was time to put his own life in order. He had to think about his kids. And himself.

Danny knew he needed a soulmate. For one thing, he needed to show his children that such powerfully happy unions did exist. He had failed them both in that regard. When he got out of the box, he was going on a search for his soulmate.

He thought again about Steve. He thought about anyone he knew who might fit the bill for Steve. Right now Danny had one new and special friend, Becca Cornett, who he had known almost at once was one of those one-in-a-million wonderful people. The problem was that she wasn't his type. Becca was everything but tall, blonde, and she wasn't the kind to hop in the sack right off the bat, not to mention she was the daughter of his doctor.

Danny stopped and realized how shallow that thinking was. Was he looking for a Melissa replacement or a soulmate? Did he want his soulmate to be the bed-hopping type, or a good friend, no, a great friend, with whom he could grow old and love forever with all his heart? Someone who loved him as much as he loved her?

Becca had already become a good friend, in just a month. Was she soulmate material? He thought she might very well be, because he felt good when he was around her, looked forward to seeing her, and she had that look in her eyes when they talked that said she was not just listening vaguely, but was giving him her full attention -like she cared about what he was saying, and she remembered what he said, and why hadn't it ever occurred to him to ask her out?

"Because I'm an idiot," he said to Angel, petting her while she waited for him to toss her paperwad ball again. "I am an idiot. I am going to ask Becca out when we get out of here, provided she likes you. I know she already has a cat, but I have not yet met Clarence. So you have some say in this, Angel. If you can't stand Becca or Clarence, it's a no. I really hope you like them, though. And that I like Clarence too, because he is after all a cat. Which makes me sound as shallow as a puddle in sunshine on a hot day."

There was another plus to Becca, which he found himself thinking of. She had a gorgeous sister Steve would probably go mush-brained over. Come to think of it, there had to be something very special about Becca because Danny hadn't gone mush-brained for the gorgeous, ethereal Hannah, Becca's fraternal twin sister. That was something to think about. Normally, he would have forgotten all about Becca when he laid eyes on Hannah, and yet he hadn't even given her a thought, beyond that she was Becca's fraternal twin. Huh! But she could be perfect for Steve, because he knew Hannah was athletic, strong, and the opposite of a trouble magnet. She taught kindergarten at the same school Grace attended.

Hannah aside, Danny found himself picturing Becca's face, her to-die-for smile, her eyes that glowed, the voice he could very happily listen to for the rest of his life, the lips he wondered incredulously why he hadn't thought before about kissing, watching Grace laughing and being friends with her, which he had already seen a few times since Grace had broken her arm and Becca became her Nurse Practitioner, then chum, then friend. They already got along better than Grace did with Rachel, or any of his former friends with former benefits. He didn't think about Becca that way. He thought of her in the long-term way, if she liked him the same way. Interesting to talk with, interests in common, sense of humor to spend a lifetime enjoying, incredibly smart, gorgeous athletic body, curly hair to run his fingers through…someone he wanted to make happy for the rest of her life. Someone to find out if he loved. He knew he didn't know her quite well enough to say, and anything he was thinking was colored by the fact that they were separated by this box. But Danny had a feeling being outside the box again would only enhance his feelings for Rebecca Cornett.

Who would take Grace to her appointment this afternoon, with Becca? Nurse Cornett. No, Steve would work that out, or his ex and Stan. He was glad Grace would get to spend time with Becca this afternoon. He would send them both his own thoughts that he wanted to be with them, too.

What if Becca met someone else while he was locked in this box? Had he missed his chance?

The thought terrified him.

"I AM and idiot. I didn't see her right away for the crown jewel she is," Danny murmured. "And Steve would fall for Hannah like a ton of brick Jello, if those two meet. I will see to it that they do. Which means I need to get us out of here." Danny petted Angel again, who purred, patted his water bottle, so he took another drink, before he tossed the ball again and she went back to her crazy kitten antics chasing it while he picked up the notebook fan and the link of chain, and got back to work sawing slowly through it, while wondering if Becca Cornett missed him as much as he realized he missed her. Did she like him the way he liked her? Now that he had thought of her, he couldn't stop.

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H50 H50 H50

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Steve awakened to the smell of waffles, bacon, and he wasn't sure what else, except that it made his stomach do FEED ME somersaults. He looked around for a moment, trying to figure out where he was. Memory came flooding in, and he noticed his clothes in a nice folded pile on the edge of the dresser, along with a plastic sleeve to protect his cast while he showered. He also noticed that he was nude, with one leg sticking way out from under the comforter, almost showing a whole lot more of himself than he wanted anyone to see, with the exception of the doctor, who would have ignored it because everything about Steve was old news. Oh how it plagued him to wonder if one of the ladies had come in with him displayed almost too entirely for … Hannah? If she had brought in his clothes, he would die on the spot.

He gulped, wrapped up in the towel and stuffed his bare feet into the slippers, and headed silently for the hall bath. He took a very quick shower, wiped everything down, and made haste to get into his clothes. He would simply pretend the Doc had done the delivery, even though he was 90% sure it hadn't been him, and found his way to the kitchen, where the entire household minus Hannah was having breakfast. Charlie was happily making a mess of his waffles and bacon, his little fried egg, and his glass of orange juice had more fingerprints on it than…well, he was only four.

Grace was eating, but slowly, and it was clear she had been crying. Becca was with her, and they were talking softly, while Mrs. Cornett hovered near in case she was needed. Dr. Cornett was scanning his iPad to see what awaited him when he arrived at work.

He was the one who first noticed Steve, and apologetically reminded him he had to fast for the tests they needed to run, so they would pile a plate high and bring it with them to eat after the tests were run. Mrs. Cornett invited him to do his own piling, since he knew how hungry he was, and what he preferred. Steve thanked them both, and ruffled Charlie's hair as he passed him, and knelt by Grace to give her a hug. "You okay, Sweetheart?"

Grace brushed tears aside and gave Steve a long hug. "I really miss my Dad. I need my Dad."

"We have some leads, and more should come in soon, Gracie. I promise, I won't rest till we find him."

"I know, Uncle Steve. I know you will find him."

Somehow, in the car, the clothes delivery had come up. It turned out the doctor had been the one who brought them in, but didn't wake him as sleep was what he needed, and he knew Steve was the type to wake up when his body said he'd had enough.

"Besides, I remembered you weren't, uh, dressed."

Steve felt instantly relieved, and oddly disappointed that it hadn't been Hannah. Which was weird, because he had already decided he would die if he found out it had been her. He was in uncharted territory, and he knew it.

He had received an update by phone from Duke. The lab had been working on many things all night long, and with the now-completed sketch of Stan in and out of disguise, and Rachel, they had had a hit on the disguised Stan at the hardware store close to Danny's house. Just in time for him to become arsonist Stan. Plus, in the searching of the Edwards house, a torn up sheet had come to light, stuffed deep in the trash. The weave, make, and color, fiber content, everything was an exact match for what had been used with the linseed oil at Danny's ruin of a house. Plus, his disguised self had not managed to evade all cameras in Danny's neighborhood. The most recent one, set up the day of the arson, had clearly caught him ditching his car a block away, carrying a backpack into the house, using a key to gain entry, and speeding off while pulling off the wig and hat disguise as he drove away. Facial rec had identified him within a 99.99 percentage. They had Stan cold.

The tests at Tripler had been quick. After the first blood draw, Steve scarfed waffles, bacon and eggs, juice, and some glorious slices of fresh pineapple he was making happy noises about along with Dr. Cornett, who was also a fresh pineapple fan. "You realize Danny does not like pineapple," Steve had said, and then regretted it. He didn't want the doc to think ill of Danny for even the smallest of character flaws.

But Dr. Cornett had only smiled. "I think Becca can change his mind about that." Which got Steve to wondering if the good doctor was eying Danny as a potential match for his younger twin.

Interesting thought. But then the doc took another bite, and mushed Steve's brain by casually mentioning that, when Hannah had the chance, she took a morning swim before breakfast, and this was exactly the kind of thing she liked to have, only not as much as they were having.

"Rilty?" asked Steve, impedimented again. "She smims fefore wiffles, begs, 'n shmam? Ark! My can't I spreak?" He scowled and shut up while the doctor choked on pineapple because he was laughing so hard. When he recovered, he simply said, "Because you like her. Hannah is beautiful, and we have seen many men react to her, but never anything like this. I find it refreshing, and I'll tell you something, Steve: she told me last night that she does too. I think she likes you. Untangle your tongue, your phone is ringing."

Steve's brain nearly short-circuited at the news that Hannah liked his reaction to her, only to have to do a one-eighty and try to focus on the incoming call. Luckily it was a conference call from Kono, Chin, and Abby, and all he had to do was pick up before they all started talking. "Boss, we got a lot of info overnight. The fake Stan from the airport was picked up on a camera, renting a boat at sunrise the day after you and Danny were drugged," said Kono. Abby picked up the story. "And the disguised Stan was seen at the marina, and it is believed he snuck onto the boat Mystery Man rented, because later in the morning, Stan out of disguise but carrying a small duffle, but wearing Mystery Man's clothes, returned the boat to the marina."

Now it was Chin's turn, because he had been on another line, and came to the smart table with fresh news. "We just got an ID on Mystery Man. Jason Black, and guess what? He and Stan used to work together, and had exactly the same job, and were often mistaken for each other. They bear a striking resemblance, and Jason has not reported in for work since he took a week off to 'go fishing', a trip he returned from precisely when Stan returned from Singapore."

Steve asked, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking? That Jason filled in for Stan on his trip, Rachel picked him up, and then Stan killed him?"

"Stan is racking up the bodies, isn't he?" remarked Abby, adding, "Potentially. When will you question him?"

"I've got another hour here before I can go and search where the homeless man, Mo Morris, was found. Who wants to come with me?"

Chin was elected, and would meet Steve at Tripler in an hour and drive them both to the helipad.

Steve had his last blood draw, to make sure he was metabolizing food properly, and was sent on his way very compassionately by Dr. Cornett. "I'll call you when the results are in. I think you're okay, but we need to make sure. Take it easy. I don't want to see you as a patient in my trauma ward for a long long time. Are you closer to finding Danny?"

"I sure hope so," sighed Steve. "We know the who. Now we just need to know the where. How is Mo Morris doing?"

"Not good," frowned Dr. Cornett, showing his concern. "But no worse. We are in limbo right now. A couple more days may make a lot of difference."

"A couple more days and it will be Christmas," said Steve.

"It's the perfect time for a miracle."

"If Stan won't talk, we will need one."

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H50 H50 H50

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Danny was focusing hard on his work, but he was also incredibly hungry, and tired through to his bones. His hands were shaking, but he kept sawing away at the link. The end of it was now shaped like a V rather than a U. If he just kept at it … just a little longer before he rested again. Just a little longer, while his fingers ached from the heat. He was this close to a blister, but he had to push himself.

But he had to take another break soon. The link was so hot, and the plate he was sawing against was too.

Suddenly Angel stopped playing and rushed toward Danny as his hand slipped. The link dropped as he said, "Ouch! Dammit!" His right thumb, already red and inflamed from almost being burned, caught on the same edge his knee had and he ripped a gash in it, which bled even with more enthusiasm than his knee. It was burned, blistered now, and gashed.

Immediately, with Angel at his side, he used his second and third fingers to run the link hard and fast across the side of the plate, to create enough heat to hopefully cauterize the wound. He had to wrap the link in cloth to keep his fingers from blistering, and when he could not get the link any hotter, he took a deep breath, and pressed the V to the cut on his thumb, and gritted out a long groan as the flesh seared. He succeeded in stopping the bleeding, but the pain was as intense as any he could remember. There were many types of pain, but Danny had a particular fear of burns, because they continued to damage the tissues until the heat was released, and he had no way to cool down his thumb, and the pain was so utterly unrelenting.

Quickly he used a piece of another paper plate to make another bandage, and wrapped it with the strip of cloth he has used to shield him from being burned by the link. He would give anything for some ice, anything cold. His thumb was burned badly now, and even though it was risky, he poured water on the bandage, and turned the notebook fan on it to cool it. As bad as his knee was, this was worse because of the burn.

He gathered Angel to him with his left hand when he finally gave up on cooling his burned thumb. It wasn't any better. "You always know when something is about to happen," he whispered, his voice pained. "You were trying to warn me." Angel rubbed her head against his jaw, and mewed sadly, then very carefully leaned her head on his injured hand, careful to avoid his thumb, then reached over and tapped one paw against the rest of the little paper plate. She looked at Danny, the plate, Danny, the plate, Danny, his thumb, the plate, Danny.

"A small fan?" Danny picked it up and used it as such, and it helped a tiny bit, but it did help. "Thank you, Angel Baby." The pain was still so intense.

"Steve," he whispered, while fanning his thumb. "Please find me quickly. I'm in trouble."