A/N: Thank you for the lovely notes letting me know that you're still interested in this story. I've been struggling to find time and inspiration, but I feel like I have some vague sense of direction for the next turn of events (vague being the operative word). I sometimes hesitate to write what feels like fluff in the middle of a cloak-and-dagger driven story line, but so many have mentioned really enjoying the family / team dynamic, I thought I'd indulge for a chapter or two. The story is deliberately identified as hurt/comfort/family, so if that's not your thing . . . there's lots of other stuff to read. :-)

Also - I've been delighted (and honored) at several requests for additional Steve/OC stories. FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK. Yes, there is something on the back burner.

#*#*#*#*#

There was a light fog over the mountain as they approached. Joe tilted his head imperceptibly at Steve and then glanced down at his hand. Steve saw it shaking on the controls, and smoothly took over.

"Sorry," Joe said quietly.

Steve looked at Joe's hand again, at the fingers that had obviously been broken. They had healed poorly.

"We're all here to do some healing," he said. He touched the helicopter struts down gently and cut the controls. The rotor slowed and then stopped, as Steve and Joe moved swiftly through shutting down the engine.

Riley was content with Joe's hand on her elbow, steadying her, as they made their way from the clearing to the house. Catherine slipped her hand into Steve's, and he looked down at her as they fell a few paces behind Joe.

"Thank you," he murmured. "Did I take you granted, you know . . . before? Before all this?"

"Little bit," Catherine said, smiling up at him. "But that was before."

"It meant a lot, for you to be there," he said. "For you to be here. I want you to rest, I mean it."

The fog was settled over the house.

"It's a little gloomy," Joe said.

"It's perfect," Riley answered. "Doesn't it remind you of the monastery?"

"It does," Joe said. "Riley, I'm sorry. I should have hidden you away at the monastery."

"One problem with that, Joe," Riley said, as she made her way slowly, painfully up the porch steps. "I'm no nun."

Catherine laughed at Steve's pained expression.

#*#*#*#*#

The house was just as they had all remembered it. Even without use, the house smelled of fresh teak and sandalwood, and a few open windows soon filled the house with the fragrance of the flowers outside.

"The team is bringing groceries and all of our gear," Steve said, as he headed to the kitchen. "I'm sure there's tea, though."

Soon, they were sitting around the smoothly worn table, sipping an exotic blend that Catherine couldn't identify.

"We need to decide how much to tell your team," Joe said.

"We tell my team everything," Steve said immediately. Joe started to object, but Steve cut him off firmly. "Joe, all due respect - and I mean that sincerely - but secrecy has not served us well so far. My team can be trusted. And that includes Charlie and Jerry."

Joe smiled. "Jerry, I worry about least of all."

"Really?" Catherine asked, surprised.

"If you've spent five minutes with Jerry, would you believe that half the things he says are possible? All of the conspiracy theories? UFOs?" Joe asked.

Catherine thought about it for a moment. "I wouldn't have before," she said. "But now I'm not so sure. Well, that's frankly terrifying. But I get your point."

Steve reached over and put his hand on top of Riley's. "Is that okay with you, Riley? For the team to know about the new Shelburne Project, and Joe?"

"I don't want them to be targets," she said. "The more they know . . . this new group, The Elders - won't they go after them, too?"

"Riley, I think that's why they need to know," Steve said gently. "They're already at risk."

"Because of me," Riley said. "I endanger everyone and everything."

"We chose to accept this risk, though, Riley," Catherine said. "All of us - we went into law enforcement and military. There's a reason we all have Kevlar."

"Jerry didn't have Kevlar," Riley said quietly.

"We'll get him some," Steve said, smiling. "I'll have it special ordered. Do you really think Jerry is going to want to be left out of the loop? Do you want to have to keep secrets from one of your best friends?"

"No," Riley said. She thought a moment, and then laughed. "He's going to love this, you know. The Elders. So melodramatic."

#*#*#*#*#

It had been fairly easy to convince Riley and Catherine to go rest for a while before the team arrived. Steve poured another cup of tea and slipped out to the front porch, settling into one of the old chairs and staring out into the forest. He heard the door open and close quietly behind him.

"Mind if I join you?" Joe asked.

Steve gestured to an empty chair. They sat for a while, in silence.

"Do you need medical attention?" Steve asked. His tone was neutral, but not unkind. "How badly are you hurt? What happened?"

"Garrison was under the protection of the Yakuza," Joe said. "They spent some . . . time with me, before I got the upper hand."

"Shit, I'm sorry, Joe," Steve said. He studied Joe, the broken fingers, the scar on his arm.

"Eh, kid, the scar is from a bar fight," he chuckled.

"But not the broken fingers," Steve said quietly.

"This is evidence," Joe said, holding up his gnarled fingers. "Evidence that Garrison sold out to WoFat and the Yakuza. WoFat wants Shelburne - wants your mother - and he wants Riley. He has to have realized by now that the SAD thought that Riley, what happened to Riley, could be duplicated. Weaponized. He wants his hands on that technology. Currently, Riley is the technology."

"He would sell her to the highest bidder," Steve whispered.

"He would trade her for Shelburne," Joe said. "He's insane, Steve, but he's also a genius. He wants revenge. He's insanely jealous of you and your sister. He wants power, and with the government so desperate to get their hands on Riley, he sees her as a pawn. And . . . he wants his mother, the only mother he ever knew."

"Our mom," Steve said. "Shit."

"So, it doesn't much matter to him how he hurts you, or in what order he gets what he wants," Joe said. "In fact, hurting you isn't just a means to an end, it's an end to itself. Punishment, for having the mother that he didn't. But most of that we knew. I'll give you some new intel."

Steve turned to him, intently curiously.

"We thought we were asking the Kkangpae to do us a favor, serving as protection for Riley," Joe said, shaking his head. "Turns out, they'd been a step ahead of us for years. There were rumors of an American woman, a journalist, who'd found herself on the wrong side of the Yakuza. That piqued the Kkangpae's interest."

"I'm not sure I follow," Steve said.

"The Kkangpae are violent, unorganized . . . they're barely a mob, more like a group of street thugs," Joe said.

"Yeah, they have splinter groups, rogue sets," Steve said. "They're chaotic, unpredictable. Any Kkangpae involvement creates a special hell trying to put together intel. There's no commonality among them."

"Ah, except for their intense hatred of the Yakuza," Joe said. "So much so, that any target of the Yakuza is, by default, potentially an object of their protection."

"Simply out of spite," Steve said. "So, Riley and our mom were already on their radar, even before you sent Riley to the University of Tokyo."

"The monks realized that their ability to protect Riley had limits," Joe said. "They don't use weapons, or modern technology . . . they realized she would be vulnerable to things - to people, to organizations - well beyond their control, their reach. The order has a long history of reaching tentative arrangements with members of the Kkangpae. For all their violence, the monks still see them as erstwhile protectors of innocents."

"Lesser of the evils," Steve said. "We had three bodies on the dock. We tried to retrieve them, got pinned down, took fire. But a great deal of the gunfire was aimed at the bodies - we suspected, later, to try to obliterate the tattoos."

"Both monastery and Kkangpae," Joe guessed.

"Riley recognized it," Steve said.

Joe nodded. "She would. Doris made flashcards. It was part of her elementary education."

"Riley's one of the hottest targets on the planet right now," Steve said, rubbing his hand over his face.

"That's why I took the opportunity, when it was presented to me, to throw my lot back in with the Navy and the CIA," Joe said. "I know you find the Special Activities Division reprehensible, son, and I don't blame you. But at the moment, the combined resources of the Navy and the CIA . . . the intel, the firepower, the manpower at our disposal - it's the best way I can think of to protect Riley."

"You're saying we should cooperate," Steve said dully. "With the SAD."

"Steve, there are two powerful factions that would take Riley and use her for their own gain: the Yakuza, under the insane whims of WoFat, and The Elders, under the unsanctioned goal of developing the next super soldier," Joe said. "Can you think of another organization powerful enough to even begin to protect her? Five-O?"

Steve looked at him sharply. "We've done a damn better job so far."

"So far is in the past," Joe said. "We have places, Steve, we have access to -"

"No," Steve said sharply. He was on his feet, standing over Joe, glaring down at him. "You're not taking her."

"Please keep your voice down," Joe said quietly, but it was too late.

Riley was standing in the door, trembling, a blanket clutched around her shoulders.

"Shit, honey, I'm sorry," Steve said. He went to her, wrapped his arms around her gently. "Joe was explaining . . . there's a great deal of risk for you, right now. He thought maybe this new Shelburne program, with him in charge, would be able to keep you safer. But I . . . I can't imagine not having you with me. With us, with Five-O."

He took her hand and nudged her into a chair, tucking the blanket around her.

"We're going to call it something else," she said. Her voice was clear. "Not the Shelburne project."

Joe nodded. "Fair enough."

"And I'll cooperate," she continued.

Steve started to protest, but she shook her head.

"Short of going to ground, how else - Steve, you can't single-handedly protect me, not and still run Five-O, still serve in the reserves . . . still be Mary's brother. We'd have to disappear. Completely. And I'm done running," she said. "Now, I assume that protection for everyone - Mary, the team, Jerry - that can be arranged, yes?"

Joe nodded again. "Already in place."

Riley looked at Steve and nodded. "Then it's settled. The others are almost here. Jerry can help pick a name for the project."

Joe blinked in surprise.

"He almost got killed trying to protect me from the Shelburne project," Riley said quietly. "You owe him helping choose the name, and a hell of a lot more."

Steve could hear the faintest sound of approaching vehicles and glanced at Riley. She glanced back at him.

"We should test it," she said. "How much more sensitive my hearing is than yours. How much more sensitive yours is than Danny's, say. Or Catherine's. Find out what's the altered DNA, what's just our shared DNA, what's training . . ."

Steve sighed.

"Steve. If I can't have a normal life, I'd at least like some answers," Riley said.

Steve hesitated. "We'll discuss it."

"Control freak. I don't need your permission," Riley said. She smiled at Steve fondly when his face fell. "But I want your approval. Here they come. I hope Jerry brought Hot Pockets."

Steve blinked at her rapid change of topic. For someone who had been incoherent with fever not too long ago, her mind was certainly agile at the moment. He watched her, standing at the porch railing and bouncing on the balls of her feet in anticipation of the arrival of their friends.

"The only easy day was yesterday," Joe said, grinning. "I think things are gonna get real interesting from here. That girl is going to keep us on our toes."

#*#*#*#*#

They gathered in the expansive living room, sipping coffee and tea, while Steve updated them.

"I don't like it," Danny said bluntly. "I don't like any of it, this cloak and dagger shit. And I don't trust you, Joe. Not yet."

"That's fair," Joe said. "I will do everything I can to earn the trust of each person in this room."

"Danny, I understand what you're saying, but . . . it isn't just Riley, or me - it's all of you. Your families," Steve said. "This is the only way I see to have a shot at keeping everyone safe. We simply don't have the resources we need, not without cooperating with the SAD."

"Excuse me, please," Rebecca said. She placed her cup on the coffee table with a trembling hand, and slipped out onto the porch.

Danny sighed and ran a hand over his hair. "I'll check on her," he said quietly. He turned to Joe and Steve, and gestured to Riley. "Rebecca was there, remember, the last time Riley . . . cooperated."

Chin watched Danny walk out the door. "Look, it's a lot to process," he said. "And tensions are going to run high. Steve, we appreciate your willingness to read us in - all of us - and we know that you and Riley have a lot of decisions to make. But we also came here today to celebrate Riley's recovery, and to enjoy our ohana, after a very close call."

"Yeah, and I'm starving," Kono said, "so I vote we break for food. Chin brought everything to make his amazing Pad Thai."

#*#*#*#*#

The air was cool and humid on the porch, and Rebecca wrapped her arms around herself. Her hair curled around her face in soft tendrils.

"Hey," Danny said, wrapping a hand around Rebecca's shoulder. "You okay?"

She shook her head. "No. No, I am not okay, Danny. I can't do this again, I can't watch them . . . they tortured her, Danny. Steve knows it, I described it to him and . . . I don't understand, how can they even consider cooperating with these people? Again? What the hell is he thinking?"

"He must be convinced that this is the best way to keep Riley safe," Danny said. "To keep all of us safe. And Riley . . . seems to want some answers. You can't blame her for that."

Rebecca shook her head and brushed tears from her eyes. Danny wrapped his arms around her and cradled her head against his shoulder.

"We'll talk to Steve and Riley, just the two of them, okay," he murmured.

"We?" she asked, her voice muffled against him.

"I'm not leaving you here, upset, to try to take care of Riley," Danny said. "I'm going to stay, at least for tonight, make sure you're okay with being here before I leave. I . . . look, I've learned to trust Steve's instincts, okay? I have to yell at him first - someone has to - but at the end of the day, no one tries to take care of his people more than Steve. So, I gotta think that once we get over the initial shock, we'll understand. But you - you're new to this, and you've witnessed firsthand things that we haven't. So I'm not leaving you here to feel outnumbered and overwhelmed by this."

"Thank you, Danny," Rebecca said. "I can't expect you to -"

"Sure you can," he said. "You can expect me to, Rebecca. You can trust me to be here for you."

"That would be a first," she mumbled, but she was smiling as she looked up at him. "Sorry, I've had very few guys offer, much less promise, even less follow through. I hate to be so cynical, and I know you mean well, Danny, but I'll believe it when I see it."

He brushed her hair away from her face and tidied the collar of her shirt. "So I get to prove it to you, then. I can work with that."

His hand stayed warm and steady on the small of her back as he bent to kiss her. He had intended to give her a chaste peck, with the entirety of the team just inside the door, but plans and intentions went out the window when she sighed softly and her lips parted beneath his.

"Hmm," she said, breathless, when he reluctantly pulled himself away. "I can with work that, too."

"Chin is working on dinner," Steve's voice came softly from the doorway.

"Fantastic," Rebecca said. She brushed at her eyes once more. "I'd like to take a few minutes to check on Riley. I'll go catch up with her."

Steve reached out and brushed his fingers on her wrist as she started to walk by.

"Rebecca," he said, "I know this must be hard for you to understand. We'll try to answer any questions you have. Thank you for coming to take care of her again."

"Just so you remember, that's why I'm here," Rebecca said. "And while I'm happy to do it, don't you dare entertain any notions that you can let people pick her apart and count on me to put her back together. I won't have it, Commander. I can stop and start your heart with chemicals and electricity. Don't think I won't find a way to protect her."

"Noted," Steve said.

Rebecca nodded firmly and squared her shoulders, then went inside in search of her patient.

"She's, um - wow," Steve said.

Danny blinked at her retreating form. "I am not embarrassed to say that I am incredibly turned on right now. And by the way, she is genuinely freaking out over this whole situation. I told her I would stay until you and Joe have put her mind at ease."

Steve nodded. "I understand, Danny, that's fine. Hey, she didn't actually bring . . . chemicals and electricity with her, did she? Danny?"

Steve followed Danny's laugh back inside. Rebecca found Riley, Jerry, and Charlie working on the bank of computers that had been set up on the previous visit.

"This is impressive," she said.

"Last time we were here, Catherine arranged for a secure satellite uplink," Riley explained. "It's still working great."

"Which means, we can try out that new release of our favorite game," Jerry said.

"Yes, and I can also try to catch up on the database work," Riley said. "I can't believe you killed my laptop."

"Steve told me to," Charlie said, smiling. "And I think you can take a couple days off work, Riley."

"I'm sure I'll agree," Rebecca said. Her practiced eye picked up on Riley's pallor, and the faint lines of pain and fatigue etched on her face. "In fact, if I can steal you away a few minutes before dinner . . ."

Riley glanced longingly at the computers.

"You're here to recover, Riley. This isn't going anywhere," Charlie said, gesturing toward the computers. His hand brushed against hers, and he wrapped her fingers in his for a moment, his thumb rubbing over her knuckles. "Go catch Rebecca up on how you're feeling. Jerry and I will program the connection to the Five-O and HPD servers."

Riley nodded and reluctantly followed Rebecca down the hall, toward her room.

Jerry glanced at Charlie, then at Riley, and back again.

"I'm sure Steve will effectively threaten you with torture," Jerry said, "but let me just add: if you hurt her, every computer, every device you touch, will be plagued with a virus the likes of which this civilization has never known."

"Understood," Charlie said.

"Okay. Now, do you think she wants both machines connected to both servers, or more of a one-and-one kinda deal?" Jerry asked cheerfully.

#*#*#*#*#

The evening passed by all too quickly, and soon it was time for Chin, Kono, Jerry, and Charlie to leave. For a brief, obviously arranged moment, Charlie and Riley found themselves on the porch, the others either back inside or climbing into the SUV.

"Well, this isn't at all awkward," Charlie said, taking Riley's hand in his.

"I'm sorry," Riley said, shaking her head. "But - you do realize, right, that I was raised by a CIA fugitive, in relative isolation. And that was before I was sent to a monastery. Pretty sure awkward will be the operational default."

"If I didn't think it was worth it, I'd have backed off when you shot me," Charlie said. "I'm honored that your brother thought to invite me today. And I'm really, really glad that you're okay, Riley."

"I hope now we can get some answers, maybe find and shut down this new faction," Riley said. "Maybe something useful will -"

"Riley," Charlie murmured. "You're not a product, or a weapon. You are inherently valuable, for who you are. Not what you are, not what you can do. Don't lose sight of that, okay?"

She nodded, and he reached out and pulled her into a hug, dropping a kiss on the top of her head.

"When you're feeling better, and I've managed to survive the gauntlet of your brother and your best friend, I'm going to ask you out on an actual date," Charlie said, laughing.

Riley groaned. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't even care, but -"

"You care because they do, and they care because you're pretty special, Riley McGarrett," Charlie said. "Rest. Get well. I'll be in touch."

She stood on the porch, watching as he bounded down the stairs and climbed into the SUV. Kono's teasing laughter drifted up to her, and she waved as they pulled away. Once they were out of sight, she staggered back and collapsed into a chair. In seconds, Steve was on the porch, Rebecca on his heels.

"Riley, honey, are you okay?" Steve asked, kneeling in front of him.

"You were totally snooping," Riley accused, her breath catching as she forced a smile.

Rebecca's fingers were cool on her wrist. "You're running a little hot and a little fast, Riley. What's happening? Anything hurt?"

"I think I just overdid it. I'm sort of achy, and I'm really, really tired," Riley admitted.

"You could have said something," Steve said.

"It came on kind of fast, I was fine and then, not so much," Riley said. "We were - as if you didn't know, you big nosey noser - having a bit of a moment. I wanted to enjoy my moment. They've been far and few between since I got clocked over the head in Tokyo."

"Okay, okay," Steve said. "What kind of moment are you having right now?"

"A kind of awful one," Riley said. She let herself slump forward into his arms.

He looked up at Rebecca. "What do you think we should do?"

"It was a virus - an exceptionally powerful one, true, but a virus," Rebecca said. "It's not at all unusual to have minor relapses of low-grade fever and viral symptoms after a case of influenza, or any other virus. More than likely, that's what's happening here. So, rest and fluids. We don't have much to offer for any virus, other than to treat the symptoms. Even the common cold."

Steve nodded and stood up slowly, pulling Riley to her feet. "Let's get you settled, then, Riley. Sound good?"

"Yeah," she said, yawning. She let Steve guide her into the house, and then she wandered toward her room, blinking sleepily. Rebecca chuckled and followed her.

"Steve, is she okay?" Catherine asked.

"Just wiped out, I hope," Steve said. "Maybe inviting everyone here wasn't a great idea -"

"It made her happy," Danny said. "She's been cooped up, sick - it made her happy, I could tell. So, Rebecca gets her settled, maybe she spends a couple days resting. Probably woulda ended up that way regardless. Speaking of wiped out - the three of you look like you've been pulled through a hedge backwards. I vote we all turn in early. I have a million questions about this new plan of yours, but they'll hold until you don't look like a quartet of zombies."

"You'll get no argument from me, on either count," Joe said. "See everyone in the morning."

"I have been looking forward to a bubble bath since I heard we were coming here," Catherine said. She kissed Steve on the cheek and headed down the hall behind Joe.

Steve sighed and sat down at the kitchen table, running his fingers over the smooth worn surface. Danny poured a cup of tea and placed it in front of him.

"Thanks, Danno," Steve said. "I'm sorry we upset Rebecca."

Danny nodded, pressing his lips together as he contemplated his response. "It's unsettling, you understand that, Steve. For all of us, but . . . I was with her, when you called from the medical facility, while Riley was sick and . . . you couldn't see her, Steve, but Rebecca was really shaken up. Just repeating to you what she had witnessed, what she got caught up in, while she was part of the project the last time. I think we may have overlooked, underestimated . . . there's a lot of guilt, a lot of trauma, from that experience."

Steve rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. "Shit, Danny . . . Rebecca probably has PTSD from - shit. I'm sorry, Danny, I should have -"

"Hold up, Super SEAL, you aren't literally responsible for every single person in your radius," Danny said. "I'm just saying, you and Joe - cut her some slack, keep in mind where she's coming from."

"We will, Danny," Steve said, nodding earnestly. "She did everything she could to help Riley, and we seriously wouldn't have made it out of that bunker without her. There's no way I'm going to forget that. And Danny - make sure she understands that we know she was an unwilling participant - that she risked her life to help us. We don't hold her responsible, not for any of it. She was as much a victim as Riley was."

"She might need to hear that from you, Steve," Danny said.

They heard Riley's door open and close, and Rebecca slipped quietly down the hall toward them.

"Is she okay?" Steve asked.

"A little feverish, a little achy," Rebecca said. "A lot exhausted. All in all, a perfectly natural response to having been seriously ill with a potentially deadly virus. I'm surprised she's not in much worse shape. And you, Commander? You and Lieutenant Rollins appear to be exhausted."

"We're worn a little thin," Steve said. "Nothing a good night's sleep won't cure."

"And Commander White?" Rebecca asked, her voice low. "He's at least twelve pounds underweight, and those fingers were recently broken and poorly set - if at all."

"He had a couple run-ins with the Yakuza," Steve said. Rebecca said nothing, but Steve got the impression that she might have thought he got off easier than he deserved.

"Well, Riley should rest comfortably tonight," Rebecca said. "I gave her something for the fever and the discomfort. Oh - she wanted me to make sure I let you know, she has her white noise machine plugged in and turned on full volume."

Steve chuckled. "Very kind of her, but I think the most she'd hear out of me and Catherine tonight would be snoring." He stopped and grinned mischievously at Danny and Rebecca. "Although, given that there's only one available bedroom left, and Danny has decided to stay . . . maybe it wasn't for my benefit that she mentioned the white noise machine."

Steve laughed at the wide-eyed expressions on Danny and Rebecca's faces as he shuffled tiredly down the hall.

"So, um," Danny said, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. "You take the bedroom, obviously. There's a sofa in the study, I'll sleep there."

"I'm sure there are extra linens in my bedroom," Rebecca said. "Let's check."

Danny followed her into her room, lingering near the doorway as she checked the closet. She emerged with a soft blanket, and grabbed one of the pillows from her bed.

"Here," she said, holding the offerings toward Danny. "I'm sorry, I should offer - to share, if -"

"Nah, babe," Danny said, his blue eyes crinkling in a smile. "I would definitely feel obligated to be a gentleman. And I don't think I can share a bed with you and be a gentleman. So, I'll wait for the right time and place."

"Well, now I'm curious about when and where that will be," Rebecca said.

Danny's fingers brushed over hers as he took the pillow and blanket. "Me too."

#*#*#*#*#