Hello my dear readers! How are you doing during this hiatus? To tell the truth, I miss our favorite duo on the screen but actually so much is going on right now that I don't even have much time for watching the reruns and my writing isn't going the way I'd like it to go. My postgraduate studies and the preparations for my holiday trip got in the way these past few weeks, that's why there's something I want to tell you. You'll have the next chapter in three weeks time - in six days I'm going on holidays lasting two weeks so I'll update this story on 11 June. I'm sorry but I won't be able to update it sooner. I hope you'll come back then:) Now, it's time for something more pleasant. Have a nice time reading.

Chapter 12

The night was warm as usual in Hawaii, a light night breeze was coming off the ocean and thousands of stars were shining on the dark sky. However, TC wasn't admiring the incredible view in front of him. He was just finishing a careful and discreet perimeter check. He tried to be very quiet so as not to alarm Kumu. If she only knew he and Rick went against her wish, he was sure it wouldn't end up well for them. Actually, he felt bad about lying to her in this matter because that's what it really was but he tried to justify it by thinking that all of this was for her own good. Her safety was important to them.

TC let out a deep breath while he slowly approached the lanai. He opened the sliding glass door without making any sound and peered inside. Although there were some spotlights in the garden, the living room remained quite dark. However, he could easily spot Rick who was sleeping on the couch and who was even snoring gently. TC smiled at that. It was half an hour before his shift was to change and Rick never had any problems with taking advantage of the time he had between his shifts back in the army. He had the ability to fall asleep almost instantly no matter where he was. Whereas for TC it was more difficult. When his adrenaline level was high, his mind just couldn't rest. On the one hand, it was useful when he had to take the watch but on the other, when he finally was allowed to take a rest, sometimes he couldn't.

TC tried to shake off those memories and scanned the room. It was quiet as it should be, well except for the snoring sounds his friend was making. Since everything seemed okay, TC slowly backed off, leaving the door slightly open and sat down on the chaise-lounge. He couldn't help it when different thoughts flooded his mind. Obviously thoughts about TM and Higgy, about what was on the security footage and also about what they didn't see there and what must have taken place inside the building as he was sure that his friends didn't go down without fighting. He knew them well. He looked up at all those bright stars and wondered where his friends were right then and if he could do anything to prevent that dreadful event.

The man was sitting with his back to the house and was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice a dark figure moving in the shadows of the room. Suddenly, he heard a faint noise coming from the inside. At first he thought his imagination was playing tricks on him but then it seemed to happen again. It was rather a really quiet click, like the sound coming from the handle being turned to open the door. He instantly stood up and went inside, freezing in the middle of the living room and straining his ears to hear it again. This time it was totally quiet, even Rick stopped snoring for a moment, probably that's why TC had heard that noise in the first place.

He looked around but nothing seemed out of the ordinary so he decided to go to the bedroom and check on Kumu. He didn't want to wake her unnecessarily so he opened the door quietly and looked inside hoping to see her sleeping in her bed but to his great surprise he found the spot empty. After checking the room, he went to the bathroom but she wasn't there either. He wondered where she had vanished.

For a short moment a thought crossed his mind that those kidnappers might have come back and taken her like Magnum and Higgins but that was rather unlikely. He left the bedroom and went to the door. On his way there, he glanced at Rick sleeping soundly, oblivious to what was happening around him and he considered waking his friend but he decided against it and let him rest.

He drew his gun and carefully opened the door. There was no one outside. He looked sideways in case someone was lurking in the darkness but it was quiet. He closed the door behind him and decided to go and check the main building which was the closest one to Kumu's house. While walking there he paid close attention to any potential threats but this whole time he found nothing that would be out of ordinary.

Finally, he reached the place, opened the door with caution and stepped inside. This whole time he had a sense of déjà vu, he felt like he was the main character in 'Groundhog Day'. Once again he was sneaking in the same house with the gun in his hand. Once more it was dark and he made his way to the study, trying to spot any unwanted masked intruders.

All of a sudden, he heard something which made him stop. To him this sound resembled a single pound on the desk. Immediately, he rushed to check that out. He burst into the study and once again was extremely surprised at the sight that greeted him there. No lamp was on but he noticed who actually was the mysterious intruder.

It was Kumu. She was sitting at the desk with Juliet's computer on, the thing being the only source of light in the room, and what baffled TC even more, she was nursing her hand while wearing a not very cheerful face. When the man appeared so suddenly, she jumped up.

"Geez, TC, what are you doing here with that gun again?" She asked, using almost the same words she had used just a couple of hours before. "If you keep doing that, I may finally get a heart attack. Is that what you want?" She stated.

"No, of course not. Sorry, Kumu. I didn't meant to startle you again." He apologized sincerely and drew back his gun. "What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't sleep." The woman replied although she knew her friend wouldn't quite believe this explanation.

"What happened to your hand?" He pointed to it and noticed her hesitation. "Kumu?"

"All right. I got angry and hit the desk… really hard. I'm so ashamed." She finally admitted, avoiding his gaze.

"Hey, Kumu." TC spoke and lifted her chin with his finger. "It's okay. You don't have to be. Your reaction is really understandable. Wait a moment, I know what will help you the most." He told her and fled from the room.

The woman sat there puzzled, curious as to what TC had in mind.

She found that out a few minutes later when her friend came back, holding a small bundle in his hand which he gave to her.

"Here, I've brought you some ice. I know from experience something like that may hurt a lot." He informed her.

"Mahalo." The woman replied, still a little embarrassed. "Did you have a lot of 'experience'?" She asked, applying the compress to her aching hand and glanced at her friend. She wasn't sure if it wasn't too personal for him and she wondered whether he would like to share it with her.

"Yeah." TC spoke, a bittersweet smile playing at the corner of his lips. "You may say I got plenty of this kind of experience, both as a kid and then when I joined the army."

There was a moment's silence before he sighed and continued. "All in all, in the end it's what made me tougher." He said and then asked, "So what were you doing here beside not being able to sleep?" He gave her a knowing look and pointed to the computer.

Kumu smiled at that. She had some experience too – she recognized at once that the man immediately changed the subject on purpose. She let out a deep breath before speaking.

"I came here to check that footage once again and see whether we didn't missed anything. I have to admit that every time I see it, I feel angry and helpless…So helpless that Thomas and Juliet are somewhere out there, maybe hurt and in danger, and I'm sitting here, doing nothing."

"You're not doing nothing." TC protested at once.

"Yeah, all I'm doing is worrying sick about them." She murmured.

"That's not true, Kumu. You came here and it was you who told us something wasn't right in the first place, remember? You had a feeling a fight took place in this room and you thought about checking the security footage. Thanks to that we contacted Gordie and he got his best men to work on this case. First thing in the morning, if there aren't any new leads, we're going to take the matter in our own hands." The man told her with a reassuring smile on his face. "We'll find them. If there's one thing we know about Thomas, is how strong and determined he is."

Kumu nodded her head. "And so is Juliet. They'll get through this." Now her voice sounded much more confident.

"We all will. After all, we're Ohana, aren't we?" TC added.

The woman smiled at that. "Yes, we are."

"All right. Now, let's watch that recording once again, shall we?" The man spoke, then reached for the chair and sat down next to Kumu.

After watching it for a couple of times, their spirits obviously weren't so high anymore and they both got frustrated.

Kumu looked at her friend and when she saw his face, she realized it wasn't just the frustration there. There was something else. She had to try to find out what it was in order to help him. However, she knew she needed to be very careful in this delicate matter.

"TC, what is it?" She asked gently.

"Huh?"

"I know something's bothering you." She continued and when she didn't get any response from him, she said, "I don't worry only about Thomas and Juliet, you know? I worry about you too."

Hearing that he looked her way and then he gave her a tiny smile. "It's nothing." He replied, trying to diminish it.

"Hey, don't even try to do that." She protested. "Your feelings are important here too."

He sighed deeply and then finally spoke. "Well, you know, with this whole situation, for me it all came back."

"What are you talking about… if I may ask?" She told him.

"The kidnapping has brought back not very pleasant memories." He said quietly.

"Back from when you were captured by the Taliban and you were held in that camp in Korangal?" Kumu asked, finally realizing what he had meant.

"Yeah." He replied almost inaudibly and he fell silent for a long moment.

The woman didn't speak either as she didn't want to press him for any painful information and she decided to give him as much time as he needed. So they sat there in perfect silence.

After a while, TC began to say. "It wasn't a vacation, you know? Actually, it was really bad in that place. Our cell was extremely small, we were given tiny portions of food – a minimum just to keep us alive, our sleep was deliberately disturbed in order for us to be constantly tired and to damage our morale. It was a common practice that the enemies took us one by one to the interrogation room and tried to get any military information, such as our strategy, military equipment and many more. They did awful things." He paused for a while.

To Kumu it was evident that it was still very deep inside him. A few minutes passed and he went on.

"There were days back then when I thought we wouldn't make it… I wouldn't make it. It was so hard to bear all of that but then, when I felt I was in the darkest place of my mind, Thomas was there for me. Somehow, he always seemed to know when one of us was having a bad day and he was able to lift our spirits. Despite everything he went through with Hannah's betrayal."

"Yes, that sounds like him." Kumu said and made TC smile a little but then he remembered something and his smile slowly faded.

"To tell the truth, that wasn't all what he had done for us."

"Really?" Kumu asked.

He nodded his head. "Yeah, when he saw that any of us had enough after the interrogation, he often made those men focus on him instead of us."

"How so?" Kumu asked, her voice full of surprise.

"He became cheeky, he messed with the guards and finally attacked one of them. This kind of behavior soon resulted in their taking it out on Thomas and punishing him by locking him in solitary confinement."

Kumu's eyes widened in shock. "Oh, I didn't know that. Poor Thomas." She said quietly.

"He sacrificed for us. He was ready to die just so we could live." TC whispered, not really looking at the woman but staring ahead of him.

"You'll see everything will turn out just fine." She decided that she'd do everything to comfort him. She put her hand on his arm, her eyes fixed on him. "Remember, whenever you need it, you can always come to me to talk about it or just sit for a while in silence."

When TC heard those words, he finally met her worried eyes and spoke, "Thanks, Kumu, I really appreciate it. You're a great friend. I'll remember your offer." He sent her a wide grin.

"Good. I'd be happy to help." She replied with a friendly smile.

"How about we give that footage another try? Perhaps we'll be luckier this time." TC told her and she nodded her head.

Just as he hit the 'play', they both heard a sleepy voice coming from the living room.

"Hey, man, why didn't you wake me up? You know my shift started five minutes ago. I know you can't sleep but now it's your time to rest and I want to be fair with you."

It was Rick who entered the study and was met with two pairs of eyes staring back at him.

"Uh-oh." He said when he noticed that TC wasn't alone.

Both men quickly exchanged horrified glances and then turned to look at the woman, waiting for all hell break lose for what they did but eventually nothing like that happened.

Nevertheless, Rick tried to apologize. "Kumu, I didn't know you were up. I'm sorry."

Then TC joined in. "Yeah, we're really sorry."

"It's okay. Actually, I had a feeling you wouldn't listen to me, do it your own way and go on with this whole protection thing. I just thought I would be able to sneak out without alarming you. But at least I tried, didn't I?" She said with a mischievous smile on her face.

"You're right and I must say you did it quite skillfully. All I heard was the door handle being turned so eventually you should work on that aspect." TC stated, his tone of voice sounded like someone who evaluated his student.

Kumu chuckled at his words. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind next time." She said and all three of them laughed wholeheartedly.

"Okay so would you mind telling me what you two had been doing here before I showed up?" Rick asked when they finally calmed down.

"Sure, we were checking out that security footage again but we couldn't find anything new." Kumu told him.

Rick gazed at her and instantly noticed how pale and worn-out she seemed to be.

"Kumu, are you all right? Maybe you should rest a bit?" He said but he just made her irritated.

"What? Of course I'm all right. Why shouldn't I be all right? Just because I'm a little older than you doesn't mean you can send me away to bed like I was a child."

What she had just said surprised him greatly and he protested at once. "No, Kumu. It's not that. I didn't mean to offend you."

Seeing what was happening, TC squinted his eyes at her and asked with curiosity. "Kumu, did you even get any sleep?"

The woman turned to look at him. She hesitated for a moment before she replied. "Well, I may… have tried but failed." Her cheeks became red with embarrassment. "I did everything to stop thinking about Thomas and Juliet, and what they are going through right now. So finally I decided that I would stop wasting time on trying to sleep and do something more productive, something that may help our friends get back home." She whispered.

"I'm sorry, Kumu." Rick apologized sincerely.

"It's okay. Actually, it's me who should be sorry. I was irritated that we didn't succeed with that," she said pointing to the computer, "and I took it out on you although I shouldn't have. I apologize, Rick."

"Hey, don't worry about it. It's completely understandable that this situation affects us all here." Rick replied softly. "So since we're awake, how about doing some brainstorming and gathering some ideas how to help TM and Higgy?"

"Okay." Both Kumu and TC agreed eagerly and the three friends sat down to decide what they should do next.

How was it this time? Let me know what you think about it. See you in three weeks.