New story telling starts now :3
The entirety of the drive to Jay's home was in silence. Jay rested his head against the passenger window and Joe respected that he may just need some time to think in silence. Once they arrived, Jay was the only one to get out of the vehicle, and he was hoping he wouldn't have to ask Joe to stay. A second later, he was overcome with relief when Joe opened his door, and followed him to the house.
Joe knew Zach pretty well. He wasn't as close to him as Jay was but he still considered him family. Joe knew that his death was causing his kid all sorts of pain but he also knew Jay often preferred to be left alone. After hearing the name Garrick briefly come up as he entered the Palace he refused to leave him by himself, though. Not while a man who put him in the hospital was on the same island as Jay.
Jay sat his bag down on the kitchen counter and then leaned over it to rest his head on his arms. "I'm sorry about Zach." Joe tells him. "I know how close you two were. He was always a good friend to you." He walks up and takes a half seat on a stool at the counter before continuing. "You think Garrick killed him?" He goes ahead and asks.
Jay continues resting his head on his arms. "I don't know. What I do know, is that Zach had a pre-written message that he had scheduled to send to me if something bad happened to him, and it did." He informs. "It said that he was on the island and that I should tell Steve because he thinks he's going to come looking for me."
"Sounds serious." Joe answers. "And have you? Told Steve?"
Jay let's out a sigh as he stands up straight. "I told him Garrick is on the island," He admits, "but I've not told him that he's, you know, my brother. That would just be too weird."
"You're going to have to tell him at some point." Joe reminds him.
"Do I really have to though? We don't get along at all and he probably wouldn't accept it anyway." Jays says in rebuttal.
"You've known each other for less than twenty four hours." Joe points out. "You should give him more of a chance."
"He handcuffed me to his steering wheel." Jay says and the two of them drop the conversation. "It has been a really long day. I'd just like to hang out with my Dad and try to make what's left of today better than it has been." Jay says, exhaustion evident in his voice. "And I'm starving."
The remainder of the evening was quiet. Jay sat on the couch, he watched a movie with Joe after they ate their dinner, which happened to be pizza. Not long after Jay went up stairs to go to bed. He hadn't slept that great the past few nights and he blamed it on nerves. He didn't think he'd be able to sleep that night either but as soon as he got into bed he quickly noticed how tired he really was. He barely got situated before he fell asleep. His last thoughts were of Zach, how tomorrow would be the first time the sun would rise, and Zach wouldn't be able to see it.
The next morning, almost mid morning to be exact, Jay is in the kitchen with Joe when his phone vibrates. Naturally, he looks at it. The sender is the same unknown number who had messaged him before. "What the hell?" He mutters. "Joe!" He alerts him.
"What is it?" Joe asks and Jay hurries to one of the windows and peeks out. Joe goes to where he is and looks out too. "What are we looking for?"
Jay shows him his phone and an image of him getting out of Joe's truck is on it. His eyes grow dark with concern and anger. "He knows where I live, Joe. That's really bad."
"Go pack a bag." Joe tells him. "And make it quick."
Jay doesn't argue. He quickly goes to his room and grabs a few shirts and pants along with some socks and underwear. He grabs his hygiene essentials and most importantly he grabs his pillow. "Alright, I think that's everything." Jay mentions as he renters the kitchen. "Where are we going?"
Joe is looking out a different window when he sees the sunlight glinting off of something. "Jay, get down!" He yells and is on top of him in seconds knocking him to the floor. Bullets begin breaking windows and flying above them. "Stay down." Joe instructs.
"You dont say." Jay says sarcasticly from underneath him.
Joe leaves him there and Jay scurries behind the counter. Joe is creeping along so that he can get a better look from a different angle when he hears footsteps on the porch out front. The person fires off more shots. They spray into the house aimlessly, one of them nearly hitting Jay as it passes through the wooden counter base, and that startles him. The man opens the front door, his hands are gloved, and he's wearing a black ski mask. He creeps inside and Joe takes the chance to subdue him.
Jay hears the scuffle and peeks over the counter to see Joe beating the crap out of the guy. "What do you want?" Joe demands but the guy doesn't answer he just laughs in response. "Did Garrick send you?" The man gives him a bloody grin in return. "Jay, get me the duct tape." Joe commands and Jay acts quickly.
By the time Joe has the man restrained HPD and McGarrett are showing up at the house. Jay is reluctant to see the Neanderthal again but figures it's in his job description to respond to calls like this. "What happened?" Steve asks as he approaches them and Joe answers.
"Seems like the person who wants Jay dead has been successfully keeping an eye on him. Sent a picture when we first got here last night. Maybe five minutes later he started spraying the place with bullets." Joe points to the man he had fought.
Steve turns and looks at him and then looks at Jay. "Is that Garrick?"
"No, just some guy who works for him." Jay tells him and Steve's look grows more concerned. "Where am I supposed to go if he's already having people follow me home?"
Steve looks at Jay, and then Joe, and then back to Jay. "You can stay with me." Steve offers.
Jay is overtaken by a laugh that he didn't really mean to escape. "You got me with that one."
"I wasn't joking." Steve says and Jay stops laughing.
"Wait, what? You can't be serious." Jay says in surprise.
"It's the safest place you can be." Steve tells him. "Joe can take you there and I'll be home later. It'll be a great time." He pats Jay on the shoulder and then walks away. He goes and meets up with a man he recognized as his partner, Danny, who had just arrived.
"Joe, c'mon, you can't think that this is a good idea." Jay pleads.
Joe smiles, "I think it's the perfect idea, son."
To say that Jay was not pleased to be back at the McGarrett residence was an understatement. Joe got him settled and then had Kamekona come babysit him while he went to take care of some unspoken thing. Jay tried to tell him that he didn't need supervision but Joe wasn't convinced. At least, not when some maniac was actively trying to hurt his kid.
An hour later, when Kamekona showed, up he brought one of Jay's favorite foods with him.
"You are the absolute best!" Jay tells him and starts devouring the food before him. Jerk chicken with rice and pineapple was a win meal for him every time. Kamekona stares at him in silence and it makes Jay uneasy. "What?"
Kamekona shakes his head and smiles. "Y'know, you never told me why you were hanging with those two yesterday, though, after what happened I would say it was a good thing."
"Oh, that." Jay shrugs. "Joe is my adoptive father. Has been since I was six." He tells him and Kamekona's expression doesn't change. "The real juicy Intel comes with McGarrett, though. He's my brother."
Kamekona seemed unfazed by his revelation. "You and McGarrett are related?" He asks and Jay confirms.
"Unfortunately, but he doesn't know yet. I've been meaning to tell him, it's just, we only just met yesterday morning. I don't think throwing that out there is going to be the best decision in the world, y'know?" Jay explains as he continues eating.
"Perhaps not. Don't worry little man your secret it safe with me." He reassures Jay. "I thought you seemed familiar when I first met you. Another McGarrett running loose on the island." He shakes his head again.
"Hey, I am nothing like him. He's an animal, but thanks, Big Guy." Jay smiles. "You know, you really don't have to stay if there's things you gotta do. Joe can be a little overprotective."
"Nice try." Kamekona says. "But I respect Joe, and if he thinks you shouldn't be alone, then I'm going to stick around until I'm relieved of duty."
Jay nods, "Well, it'll be fun to hang for a bit then." He throws his food container away and then heads towards the backyard. "You coming?"
They sit out by the water for awhile. They talk about random things and how much Zach is going to be missed. "This Garrick guy," Kamekona begins, "I've heard about him, he's extremely dangerous, what could he possibly want with someone like you?"
"Actually, Garrick and I have history, believe it or not." Jay answers. "I was a P.I before I came to Hawaii. He was the guy my last contract hired me to investigate. Things got messy, I spent a night in the hospital, and then not too long after he was supposedly shot and killed." Jay was heavy on the emphasis he put of the word supposedly. So much for rumors making you believe something that isn't true.
"I can reach out to someone I know." Kamekona suggests. "Maybe I can get McGarrett some information to put him away for good."
"You don't have to do that." Jay responds. "What's the point of endangering yourself?"
"If it helps my friend then it's worth the risk." He says. "Besides, you don't gotta worry bout me. I can handle my own." They both hear gravel crunching under tires as Steve pulls into the driveway. "Looks like your new baby sitter is here."
Jay rolls his eyes. "He's not my baby sitter." He argues. "He's a thorn in my side at best." Kamekona chuckles and stands.
It doesn't take Steve long to make his way out back. "Where's Joe?" He asks immediately.
"Oh, y'know, something he had to take care of." Jay tells him. "Kamekona was just keeping me company."
"Uh huh," Steve remarks, "I'm sure."
"Speaking of things to do, I should make sure my cousin hasn't caught anything on fire." Kamekona excuses himself. "I'll catch you later Jay."
"See ya, Kamekona!" Jay hollers after him as he makes his exit. "So, you're home early."
"Danny is following up on a lead with Kono. Figured I'd come make sure you weren't causing any trouble." Steve tells him and Jay nods.
Steve takes the seat next to Jay and they sit their in awkward silence. Steve doesn't particularly mind it but he noticed that Jay does. He's fidgeting again. "What's the M stand for?"
"Huh?" Jay looks at him. "Ah, I see, you've looked into me."
"I ran background checks on both you and Zach. Both came back clean. Seems that you've not been lying but I am curious as to what the M in your name stands for. No matter how much I dug I couldn't link a name to it." Steve informs him.
"It's nothing." Jay attempts to convince McGarrett but can see he's not fooling him. "Just leave it alone, please."
"Secrets don't make friends." Steve answers.
"Who says I want to be friends?" Jay answers.
"Touché." Steve raises the beer in his hand that he had grabbed before making his way outback. "I also looked into this Garrick guy. He has a record of armed robbery, petty theft, and he's been suspect in several missing persons cases but never convicted of murder. He's on the island, but no idea where, or why."
"That's really reassuring." Jay says. "But not very surprising. He evades the law and consequence like the plague. They've been close to getting charges to stick but have never quite succeeded." Jay looks down at his hands. "This game hasn't even started yet. He's the king of cat and mouse."
"I'm not going to let anything happen to you, Jay." Steve tells him. "He'll have to get through me first. Joe too."
Jay doesn't say anything. He continues looking at his hands and then looks out at the water. "He's not going to stop until he gets what he wants, y'know. Sooner or later, you're going have to decide whether or not it's worth protecting me anymore."
"We're going to get him." Steve tries to reassure him but it doesn't do much. The silence grows again. Just the sound of a light wind and the water crashing onto the shore. "We'll get him." Steve mumbles under his breath.
See you next time :3