CHAPTER 31

Wednesday evening, Williams residence:

Danny Williams was not the kind of man that just let things go. It was certainly one of his major character flaws but it's what made him such a good detective. Which was why he couldn't let this thing with Steve and Catherine go without at least trying to intervene. Before one of them made a mistake they would regret for the rest of their life.

He pulled the Camaro into his driveway and turned off the engine. He sat for a moment before pulling his phone out of his pocket, pondering his next action.

He thought about the conversation he'd had with Steve earlier. He could understand his partner's concerns but that didn't mean he concurred with Steve's decision to push the woman he clearly loved away for fear of her getting hurt by some obsessed woman.

He sometimes forgot that his partner was a war veteran and had seen the darkness that possessed people to commit atrocities. As a veteran cop, Danny had seen the consequences of wrong decisions and lapses in judgement first-hand. War was something different; a different kind of immorality that infected the innocent.

Although Danny could never understand or experience what his partner had lived, he knew that Steve preferred to believe in the good of humanity and valued all life. To know that your actions caused detriment to another person was the worst kind of guilt to live with.

Of all the times Steve had put other people's safety above his own (and there were many occasions that Danny could think of), never had he shied away from danger. Even now, when he could save himself from pain and heartbreak, the man still chose to protect other people.

All those times Danny accused Steve of being reckless and idiotic and a Neanderthal were a result of his own ignorance. Although Steve certainly had the skills to cause destruction and mayhem without breaking a sweat, he only ever did so with intention of safeguarding others.

As Danny climbed out of the car, he cursed himself for ever thinking Steve was so selfish to put himself in harms way. He'd always thought his partner believed he was invincible because of his training. Now Danny understood that it was all calculated risk.

He tapped his phone in his hand as he thought about what he was going to do. Decision made, he dialled Catherine's number. He waited as it rang out, surprised when it went to voicemail.

"Hey Catherine. It's Danny. Look, I know you're upset and that's probably why you're ignoring your phone right now. I just…I don't know. I guess I just wanted to make sure you were okay. More than that, I want you to know I'm not giving up on him. We talked and he knows he's an idiot so I'd expect an apology from him soon. Call me back when you get a chance."

He hoped that Catherine got the message. He knew Steve would hate that he was interfering but Danny couldn't stand by and let his partner sabotage himself. Not anymore. With a weary sigh, he trudged up the stairs to his front door. He rooted around in his pockets for his keys; his mind focused on finding the first comfortable surface to lay his head and sleep for a week.

He paused when he heard soft shuffling sounds behind him. A sharp pain suddenly erupted in his shoulder and he spun around, grabbing at his shoulder only to find a syringe plunged into his flesh. He looked up into the freckled face of an unknown man and wondered if he should recognise him.

The world started spinning around him and his fingers turned numb. He felt his phone drop from his hand as his legs wobbled precariously.

"Wh-who're 'ou?" he slurred as his vision turned grey around the edges as he reached for the wall.

The man just grinned at him and Danny felt the sudden urge to vomit. His body started to sag against the wall, his body getting heavier by the minute.

"Oh, c-crap," he murmured more to himself than anyone.

It was his worst nightmare. He felt himself being lifted by his arms and tried to pull free but whatever was in the syringe had worked its way through his body far too quickly. So he did the only thing he could think of.

He threw his head back as hard as he could and instantly felt pain at the base of his skull, causing his vision fade entirely for a brief moment. He felt his body drop to the floor as the arms holding him suddenly disappeared.

He heard a howl of pain and would have grinned if he could. 'Gotcha,' he thought as the drug pulled him into darkness.

Thursday morning, temporary Five-0 offices:

Chin glanced at his watch for the third time since arriving at the office that morning. It was quickly approaching ten o'clock and he still hadn't heard from Danny.

"What's up?" Kono asked without looking up from her computer. He shouldn't be surprised that Kono had noticed him checking his watch repeatedly.

"Have you heard from Danny this morning?" he asked.

Kono paused her typing and looked up at the clock with a frown. "No. Shouldn't he be here by now?"

"Yeah," Chin said, nervously tapping his pen on his notepad. He'd been searching through all of Marsden's properties, looking for any sign that she'd returned to one of them.

"Maybe he slept in?" Kono suggested, although her tone indicated she didn't believe her own hypothesis.

"Maybe," Chin murmured. It wasn't like the detective to not check in, especially given their current situation.

"I'll call him," Kono said, clearly picking up on his worry.

She held her phone to her ear and listened, her frown growing the longer the call went unanswered. "No answer. Maybe he's driving?"

"I'll try Catherine. She was supposed to swap with Danny this morning," Chin replied as he dialled Catherine's number.

No answer.

'Not good,' Chin thought.

Thursday morning, TAMC:

"Steven."

The voice was coming from somewhere far away. He turned and strained his ears, hoping to find where it was originating from.

"Can you hear me, Steve?"

It sounded like the voice coming from somewhere behind him. He turned around and saw nothing but an empty space. He frowned, confused.

"I warned you!"

He turned a full circle and stopped when he saw a single red rose lying on the floor. His heart started racing in his chest at the horrifying sight. He took a step backwards and his back hit something hard. A wall, he realised.

"All you had to do was obey." The voice sounded so close now. It was her.

It suddenly went dark. He breathed in gasps as fear held his body hostage. No. No. No! He would never give in to her. Never.

"Steve!" It was a different voice, one that he'd recognise anywhere.

"Catherine!" he screamed. He looked around but couldn't see her, couldn't touch her. "Where are you?"

"You told me to leave."

He felt like he had to explain, to make her understand. "I did, but only to protect you."

"Well, you failed."

Steve froze in shock. "What?"

Silence.

"Catherine?" he called hesitantly.

More silence. He couldn't even hear his own breathing.

"I told you to forget them all!" a voice suddenly screeched. She was back.

Bang!

Bang! Bang!

"No!" he screamed. He couldn't see anything, hear anything. Nothing moved and he knew.

It was his fault. If he'd just stopped fighting, then maybe…

"Cath!"

He felt hands on his shoulders and his eyes snapped open. He was breathing heavily and tried to push the hands off his body.

"Steve, calm down." He recognised that voice.

It took him a moment to recognise his surroundings. Hospital. 'Right,' he thought. He closed his eyes and forced himself to breathe slower. Once his heart started beating normally, he opened his eyes and looked into the concerned face of his doctor.

"Are you okay?"

Steve nodded slowly. "Yeah. Sorry doc. Just a nightmare."

"Mmhm," Doctor Palamo hummed in disbelief as he grabbed Steve's chart. "How are you feeling?" the doctor asked before he pinned him with a glare. "The truth, please."

Steve huffed out a breath. "I'm fine. My wrist hurts and the cuts sting. Nothing I can't handle. When can I get out of here?"

He was itching to move. In his mind, he had traded one prison for another. He hated hospitals and how vulnerable he felt.

His doctor sighed, exasperated. "Look, Steve. You've been through a lot. This particular…incident just compounds the effects from all your previous injuries. You need to let yourself rest and truly heal. I know that's not what you want to hear, but it's the best course of action."

"Doc, I can—"

"No," the doctor interrupted. "You cannot rest at home. You forget we've had this conversation before. You may feel fine, but your body is still recovering. The last time you promised to stay home and recuperate, you ended up in the middle of a hostage situation."

Steve cringed internally when he thought about the day the Governor kicked him out of the office and he'd ended up in caught inside a shop with two gunmen."With all due respect, doc, I need to get out of here."

Doctor Palamo gave him a stern look as he crossed his arms over his chest. "And do what, exactly?"

Steve grit his teeth. "I have to fix something I screwed up."

"And is that something worth your health?"

Steve answered without hesitation. "Yes."

Steve was surprised to find himself smiling as he thought about Catherine. The smile slipped when he thought about the devastated look on her face when he told her to leave. He'd hurt her and had probably lost her forever. But maybe he wasn't too late to make things right?

There was a sharp knock on the door and before either the doctor or Steve had a chance to answer, the door opened and Chin poked his head inside.

Steve sat up straight when he caught Chin's eye. There were stress lines around his eyes; a clear sign something was wrong. "Chin?"

"Hey Steve," Chin answered, trying for casual but failing. Steve's senses immediately went on alert.

"What's up?" Steve asked, sitting up straighter.

"How are you?" Chin asked, clearly avoiding the question.

Steve got straight to the point. "Fine. Why are you here?"

"I was hoping to catch Catherine. I have a question for her," Chin answered, his eyes searching the room.

Steve frowned. Chin looked nervous, distressed even. Chin never appeared nervous, even during their toughest cases. Something was wrong. Seriously wrong.

"Chin. What's wrong?"

Chin exchanged a look with Doctor Palamo. "I can't reach Danny. And Catherine's not answering her phone either."

Steve felt his stomach twist with fear. He swung his legs off the bed and made to stand before the doctor placed a firm had on his shoulder. He flinched but did not shove Palamo's hand away.

"Marsden?"

Chin shrugged. "We don't know. They're both not answering their phones and I was hoping they were here. Kono is checking out Danny's place right now."

Steve felt panic starting to settle in. "Chin, if she's here, then—"

Chin held up a hand. "I know. I know. When did you last see them?"

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed out. He had to focus. "Cath left yesterday afternoon. We…had a fight. She left. Danny was here until almost eleven o'clock last night."

"Okay, so it's possible they are both just tired and didn't hear their phones." Steve appreciated the way Chin side-stepped the argument he'd had with Catherine and just focused on the facts.

Chin's phone rang and Steve tensed in anticipation. "Hey Kono…mmhm. Okay…you know what to do…thanks."

This time Steve couldn't decipher Chin's tells. He was masking his emotions too well. "What did she say?" he asked. When Chin hesitated, Steve growled. "Chin!"

"Danny's not there."

No, no, no! Steve tried not to panic and forced himself to think about it like any other Five-0 case. "What else?" he asked.

"Kono found his phone on the ground next to a few small drops of blood." Steve soared to his feet but Chin took a few steps forward and grabbed his arms and forced him to sit back on the bed. "There wasn't enough blood for a conclusive match, but the blood type is not Danny's. It's not Danny's."

It took a few seconds for the meaning of Chin's words to sink in. "Then whose is it?"

"We don't know. Unless we have a sample to compare it to, we won't be able to run a DNA search on it."

"Figures," Steve mumbled and stood up, ignoring Chin's frown of disapproval. "Okay, let's go."

"Woah, Steve! You are not going anywhere!" Steve turned and glared at his doctor in disbelief. He had never heard the otherwise quiet man raise his voice.

Steve felt the beginnings of a headache starting to form. What was with these people preventing him from doing his job? "I am not asking, doc. My friends are most certainly in trouble and I need to help them!"

"Steve, we don't even know if anything is wrong," Chin said, ever the voice of reason.

"You know we can't take the risk!" Steve growled in frustration.

Doctor Palamo sighed before lowering his voice. "Steve. I get that you want to help the people you love and that you feel like you have no control over the situation, but that is not a good enough reason to risk yourself. You won't be able to help them if you end up back here in the hospital because you overworked yourself."

"No, you don't understand. I have to go!" Steve was growing increasingly infuriated at the situation.

"We do understand. The woman you love and your best friend are missing. You've been injured. You know your limitations and you know that this time, you might not be able to storm in and save the day," Chin answered, keeping his tone even.

Steve bit back his retort when something about what Chin said resonated with him. "I never told her I love her."

Steve stared at the floor, finding it hard to meet anyone's eyes. He said it; he loved Catherine. He'd been so afraid of losing her that he never told her how he truly felt. And now he may never get that chance.

"She knows." The words were spoken softly, urging Steve look up at Chin; his eyes soft with understanding. "Everyone knows. That goofy smile you get when she calls, the way your eyes follow her every movement. You're not exactly subtle."

Steve felt heat rising in his cheeks and fiddled with his cast in favour of answering. He couldn't argue with Chin because he knew everything he'd just said was true. He was more embarrassed that other people figured it out before he had.

He was distracted for a moment when his phone vibrated. "Chin, can you grab that for me? It's probably Danny."

Chin nodded and reached over to the bedside table to grab the mobile device. Steve nodded his thanks and looked at the message. His heart nearly leapt into his mouth as he read the message on the screen.

We need to talk - Rebecca.

Steve nearly jumped when the phone vibrated in his hand again - another incoming message. He glanced at the picture sent via text and suddenly it was like all the air had been sucked from the room. His mouth went dry and his hands started shaking.

"Steve?"

He ignored Chin's concerned voice and stared at the photo. Catherine was blindfolded and tied to a chair. The setting looked familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. Instead, he was focused on the streak of blood he could see on the right side of her face.

He felt the phone being pulled from his grasp; he hadn't even noticed the death grip he had on it. He heard the slight inhale from Chin but his thoughts were too far away to register it.

His brain started running through every possible situational outcome like he'd been trained. Focus. Strategise. Make a plan. Reduce collateral. There wasn't time for anything else. He knew Marsden was taunting him. He also knew there would be a confrontation; previous experience dictated that particular fact. And the stakes were extremely high.

The stakes were Catherine.

Hostage situations were always unpredictable and sometimes the outcome was undesirable. Memories of failed hostage rescues still haunted him to this day.

-Flashback-

The air was hot and dry, begging for moisture to relieve the oppressive heat. The landscape raw; grainy particles constantly rubbing against the surface, eroding structures over time and leaving behind deteriorated shells of what was once something great.

Sweat rolled down the back of his neck. His shirt was saturated with perspiration yet he felt no relief from the heat. He felt another drop starting to make its way from his forehead towards his right eye. Regardless of the minor annoyance, he kept his eyes locked on his target.

"Let them go!" he ordered, gun held steady despite the slippery grip on the weapon.

Four children, all between the ages of six and thirteen, had guns held to their heads and were looking at him with so much hope and desperation. The rebel faction had discovered this small village was sympathetic to the Americans and had decided the only reasonable response was to decimate it.

The midday sun beat down unrelentingly; the world shimmering in the heat. It was the middle of the desert. No shade in sight except the minuscule dwellings the local townsfolk had constructed with their bare hands.

"They're innocent! If you want someone to blame, you're looking right at him." He was stalling, waiting for his team to get into position.

They only needed five more minutes. Just five minutes.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted movement. Later, he would wonder how a simple ratty soccer ball would be the catalyst for so much pain and destruction.

The ball rolled right between the group of hostage takers and himself and stopped right at Asad Saifullah's feet. Both parties stared at it for a moment before Asad looked up at him with a calculated grin.

Steve turned and ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction, putting as much distance between himself and the terrorists as possible. He glanced behind him and caught the terrified eyes of the oldest child.

He slowed to a jog and watched as between one blink and the next, the fear dissolved into acceptance. Steve stopped, caught in a cruel limbo between his need to protect the innocent and his own survival.

He barely had time to decide before a concussive force threw him backwards. He landed with a dull thud on his back, the air expelled from his lungs. He rolled over and covered his head with his hands. His eyes squeezed shut as he heard screams abruptly end and he knew. He just knew.

He'd lost them all.

Two more minutes. That's all he needed. Only two more.

-Flashback-

Shaking himself from torturous memories, Steve vowed that would never happen to his family.

He forced himself back to reality. "… for another message. I'll try to get a trace, but it's probably a burner. Maybe Ortiz can give us more insight."

Steve snapped his head up. "Ortiz? He's in custody?"

"Yeah."

"I need to talk to him."

"Steve," Chin scolded when he tried to stand up again.

"Chin," Steve replied in a similar tone. "I am not going to sit this one out. It's obvious Marsden wants me and that's the only way we are going to get Catherine out safely."

"You don't even know where she is! How is running around using your limited supply of energy going to help Catherine?"

Steve sighed. Chin had a good point. "Hand me my phone."

Chin looked hesitant but passed him his phone anyway. Steve stared at the photo, trying to look at it objectively. He ignored the injured Catherine and focused on the background. He hoped that taking a second look would trigger his memory; something about the pasty yellow walls and wooden floors was familiar.

He paused when his phone vibrated in his hand. Another message. He hoped, prayed, that it was just Danny telling him he was late, that he was fine. The pit of dread in his stomach told him that was wishful thinking.

He looked down at the flimsy hospital gown with disgust. "I need clothes."