Hi all! I can't believe it's been over a month since I updated my story. First, I want to apologize to all of you. For a moment there I had a writer's block and had to take a break and then I went back to work which could get very time consuming hence such a long delay. Again sorry for that. I hope you won't have to wait so long for another chapter. For consolation let me say that this chapter is one of the longest in this story. So now have a nice reading and we'll meet again at the bottom of this page:)

Chapter 37

"No, no, no! Magnum, don't do this to me!" Juliet cried out and shook her partner, desperately trying to wake him up. Rick couldn't believe his eyes. It just wasn't happening, they couldn't lose TM. It would be so unfair – that man have already gone through so much in his life – he lost his dad as a kid, was held for so many months by the Taliban who almost killed him and then he lost his mom while being there. Through all this time his spirit never wavered and he always helped others in need. And now, just when he found peace and quiet on this island which he could surely call home, would his life come to an abrupt end? No, that wasn't right. They weren't going to lose their friend today.

TC checked Magnum's breath and pulse. It wasn't that bad but his pulse was slowing down. He exchanged glances with Juliet. They both knew that if Thomas wasn't getting help any moment now, his state could be critical. Silence fell over them and then Gordon thought he heard something behind him and looked that way.

"Hey, we're over here!" The detective shouted and waved his hand in order the paramedics to know where to find them.

"Thank goodness." Higgins murmured and leaning over her partner, she whispered to him. "Thomas, help is here. They're going to take you to the hospital and before you know, you'll be as good as new. I promise you that. Just hang on and don't give up. You have the reason to live for."

The paramedics finally arrived, taking care of Magnum and making everyone step away from him. They worked very quickly and put him on a stretcher, taking him inside the ambulance. They wanted to help Juliet too but she refused.

As soon as the back door of the ambulance closed and it drove away, Juliet turned away and started walking or rather limping towards TC's car.

Seeing that, TC asked. "Er, what are you doing, Higgy?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm going after Magnum to the hospital. I want to know how he is." She replied, glancing over her shoulder.

"Juliet, wait. That leg of yours needs to be looked at, plus I'm pretty sure there are some other injuries too. And the second ambulance is on its way." Katsumoto stated, being reasonable as usual but the woman didn't listen to him.

"You know, it wouldn't have been needed if you just let these paramedics take care of you too." Rick added.

Higgins turned and looked at her friend. "Rick, I couldn't do that. Thomas' state was getting worse and it was really important to give him all the necessary medical help. My injury isn't as grave as his may be. So without any further ado, will you help me get to my partner?" She said.

Her short speech made a strong impression on Rick, TC and Gordon. They exchanged a look. They knew that none of their words would make her change her mind so they just nodded their heads in agreement.

"All right, Higgy. Let's go." TC said what the other men thought.

Juliet smiled gratefully and they went to their cars, speeding back to the city, right to the hospital Magnum was taken to.

It was quiet and really peaceful in the place where Thomas felt he was. He didn't feel any pain, everything seemed to be perfect and he should be very happy, however, something was bothering him – an internal feeling gnawing at him. At the beginning, he had no idea what it could be but then a powerful emotion hit him – it was loneliness. Once again he was alone there, just like it happened not so long ago when he was knocked out by Burt and lost consciousness then. There was none of his friends, neither TC, Rick, Gordon nor Kumu. What's even worse – Juliet wasn't there either. He missed her warm smile, her eyes shining as bright as the stars in the sky, her soft lips he was so lucky to kiss. He even missed their everyday teasing, he couldn't imagine life without it anymore. And now all of this was gone.

For a moment there, he feared that he was dead hence those feelings. But then a thought flashed across his mind. No, it couldn't be true, it couldn't be the end, he had just found out that his partner felt the same way. Finally, after all this time, he had a real chance of being loved and maybe living a family life. It wouldn't be fair to just lose this.

Suddenly, he felt something strange. At first, it was extremely delicate. It was as if someone was caressing his face, starting from his hair and forehead, his cheek and ending with his lips. He wasn't sure if it was real or he just wanted it to feel. And then it was again, this time it was his hand and this touch was much more noticeable. He looked around, frantically trying to find out what was happening but still he couldn't see anybody, yet he felt someone's presence. And as he was racking his brain, wondering how it was possible, he heard a voice. Unfortunately, it was quiet and incomprehensible and although he couldn't understand a word, somehow he was sure it wasn't just some unidentified noise, someone wanted to tell him something. He tried as hard as he could to focus on the mysterious sound and soon he started to distinguish particular words.

"…have to…strong…come back."

With each passing minute the words were merging into sentences and he finally managed to get what the person was saying.

"Magnum, I'm not sure if you can hear me…"

Now, he knew whose voice that was – his partner's.

"You said that last time you were unconscious you heard me well so I hope that now it's the same. I just want you to know that I really need my partner now. I need to hear your voice and see that smile of yours that together with the soft look in your eyes make me weak in my knees. You know, I would never tell you this if you weren't lying here unconscious."

She sighed and fell silent for a long moment. She just sat there on a very uncomfortable plastic chair, holding Thomas' hand.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but I already miss our banter. Really. Wherever you are, it's time you came back, came back to your life here, your job, your friends and…me." She added quietly. "I love you so much. I'm still getting used to saying these words. You have to wake up. I couldn't go on without you." Juliet's words were getting quieter and softer. She became so emotional, she felt her eyes filling with tears and she instantly closed them, taking deep breaths and trying not to fall apart in this place. It wasn't something Magnum needed right now.

"Yes, you could. You're a strong woman, Higgy. Don't underestimate yourself." Juliet suddenly heard.

She couldn't really believe it and she looked at her partner. Their eyes met and a broad smile lightened her face.

"Now, that's much better. I prefer it when you smile and not cry." Magnum said, his voice quite weak and raw.

"I wasn't crying, you know?" She replied, going back to being herself and teasing him.

"Sure, you were trying not to cry although you sucked at it."

"You don't know that, you were unconscious. My eyes were just tired, that's why they got all watery."

The PI chuckled at that and instantly hissed in pain.

"Are you okay, Magnum?"

"You always have to have the last word, don't you?" He said half-seriously.

"Don't change the subject, Thomas. You need to be careful with your arm. You were in the surgery and you almost died because you lost lots of blood. I almost lost you… again." Juliet said, her smile vanished and her face got more serious.

"Hey, it's just a graze." Magnum told her when he noticed that suddenly her eyes started to fill with tears.

She gave him a tiny smile while trying not to start crying in front of him. She sniffled and quickly rubbed her eyes.

"You were lucky." She said.

"Yeah," he agreed, "I'm very lucky." He added with a smile.

All this time he didn't took his eyes off her and Juliet felt a hot wave flooding her whole body. Thomas could easily see what effect he had on his partner, it was especially evident with her rosy cheeks.

"Aww, you look so adorable when you're embarrassed." Magnum murmured, his eyes shining with mischief.

"I'm not embarrassed." She protested at once.

She wanted to add something more but at the same moment there was a knock at the door and seconds later the room was filled with their friends – it was Rick, TC and Kumu.

"Yes, you are." Thomas whispered so only Juliet could hear him.

She squinted her eyes at him. Now it was him who had to have the last word.

"Hey, man. It's good to see you alive. How are you feeling?" TC said as soon as he entered the room.

Thomas and Juliet breathed with relief that their friend didn't notice anything between them. However, Rick was much more alert and observant.

"Are you two okay? We aren't interrupting anything here, aren't we?" He surprised them greatly.

"What? No. Why?" Magnum spoke quickly. Maybe too quickly. Juliet was afraid that her partner's reply may seem suspicious to Rick and he would poke around. And for the two of them it was so fresh that she felt that first they should get used to their uncovered feelings and explore them in private before revealing them to the rest of the world. That's why she decided to help Magnum here and act casually.

"I don't know. I thought we stepped into something between you." Rick continued, watching both his friends closely.

The PI didn't have the chance to reply to that because Higgins stepped in.

"What? No. We were just arguing over who saved whose life during the last couple of days."

"Oh and who was that?" Rick asked, not really buying this story.

"Well, me of course." The woman replied.

"I don't remember that." Her partner stated.

"That's because you were unconscious," she said and then added quietly, "dead even."

Having mentioned that awful experience, she didn't feel playful anymore.

TC noticed that it made the atmosphere heavier and he felt that it wouldn't do any good to anyone in the room so he decided that it was time to change the subject.

"Rick, just let it go, okay? These two went through a lot these past few days. Give them a break." TC told his friend and seeing that he was still hesitating, he sent him a meaningful look. Finally, Rick got the message and nodded his head slightly.

"Great. TM, tell us how you are feeling now."

"Actually, I feel better than I look." Thomas said, obviously referring to his swollen lip and bandaged arm and chest. "I've been in a much worse shape." He added.

Rick and TC just nodded their heads in understatement. They knew that what he had in mind, was their time as POWs in Afghanistan.

"Okay, now it's my turn for a question. How did you manage to find us?" Magnum asked.

"Well, at first we didn't knew you were missing." Rick started.

"Oh, good to know." Thomas said sarcastically.

"Yeah, but when both of you stopped answering your phones, it made me thinking – maybe you were caught up in a new case." TC explained.

"Or in other things." Rick added, wearing a mischievous smile on his face.

"Rick, stop that." Kumu reprimanded him.

"Sorry." He replied, full of remorse but the moment he looked at Thomas and Juliet, he could swear that they shared a look, and then Juliet blushed and TM seemed to be embarrassed. However, it happened so quickly that Rick wasn't really sure if it wasn't just his imagination.

"Anyway, we knew that something was wrong because Jules didn't phone back and you didn't give us a call to ask for another favor." TC's words made Magnum protest at once.

"Hey! How can you think so low of me?"

"Because it's true. The numbers of those favors are pretty big, you must admit." Rick spoke again.

"Maybe but you're my friends and friends support each other, don't they?' The PI replied. "Besides, I know you gladly do it."

Before the discussion turned into something more serious, Juliet decided to change the subject.

"Gentlemen, can we go back to your story of finding us?"

"Finally, a voice of reason." Kumu said with a smile.

Rick, TC and Thomas shared a serious look and the room fell silent for a few moments but then all three men burst out laughing.

"Relax, Higgy. We're just kidding. We're like siblings, and siblings sometimes tease each other, right guys?" Magnum explained but the men's faces instantly went blank. Seeing that, the PI turned to his partner. "It's like us and our constant teasing."

"We're not siblings." Higgins replied.

"Oh, you're definitely not." Rick muttered quietly but everyone in the room heard him anyway.

"Okay, let's stop that and continue the story."

"Thank you, Kumu." Juliet stated. She was really glad about the change of the subject.

"So, I checked Robin's Nest and when I found the broken vase, I felt something bad must have happened to you and the security footage only verified that. We knew that we'd need all the help we could get so we called Gordon who brought in reinforcements and they tried to track you down." Kumu said.

"Something tells me that they weren't the only ones looking for us." Juliet said and Kumu smiled at that.

"Of course, we just couldn't sit and do nothing when you needed help." TC said. "Our first thought was that your kidnapping was connected with one of your cases. We also checked that footage time and time again and we saw the dark van that took you away but neither we nor the police could find it."

"However, eventually we got the lead on the WWII bunker you were held in and guess who gave it to us." Rick stated.

"I don't know. Was it Gordie?" Magnum asked.

"No, actually it was Jin." Kumu said.

"Oh." The PI couldn't quite believe it. "Remind me to thank him."

"The HPD got a lead too. They found out that Harold Jones escaped from prison."

"Harold Jones? Wasn't it the man convicted of money laundering" Juliet spoke.

"Yeah, the same. Gordie thought that the guy wanted to get even with both of you and it was partly true." Rick added.

Thomas and Juliet exchanged a surprised look.

"How so?" The woman asked.

"He was planning to kidnap you but he was late and you were already taken away."

"Wow, I see we are quite a popular kidnapping target." Magnum said and everyone chuckled at that.

Suddenly, a thought appeared in Higgins' mind. "I don't understand one thing though – you said that you knew about the bunker but you didn't rescue us from there."

"That's because when we came there, you had already been moved to the other place." TC explained.

"So how did you manage to finally find us?" Thomas asked.

"Oh, it was a real team work. Once again, we analyzed the events of that faithful day they took you and remember when we were singing in La Mariana and that tourist came in asking for help for his friend?"

"Yeah." Both Juliet and Thomas said at the same time.

"We looked through the camera footage and it turned out that there was a third man who slipped in while all of us were outside and put something in your drinks." TC stated.

"Yeah, I still can't believe that we fell for that and we didn't check it." Rick murmured sadly. "How could we be so gullible?"

"That's because you care for people and you're definitely not gullible, you're compassionate." Higgins said softly.

Rick, TC and Kumu smiled at her words and then Rick went on.

"We gave the photo of those men to Katsumoto and the police started looking for them. At the same time, my buddy, a very talented hacker got in touch with me. I don't know how he managed to hack into the MI6 agents' files but we finally got the details of the cases you were working on back in the old days." He addressed Juliet. "Plus, we found a very interesting information – there was a warning of an extremely dangerous convict Peter Burns being on the loose, possibly looking for revenge."

"They knew about him." Juliet whispered, totally flabbergasted.

"Yeah and they never warned you of the danger you might be in." Rick stated with a serious face, really feeling for his friend.

TC continued. "When we saw that it was you who put him behind the bars, we were sure we had our number one suspect."

"It was just a matter of time before Gordon got the lead on that man and found the villa he was using here on the island. Luckily, it was the same place you were being held in." Kumu said.

"All in all, it was a long and winding road but the most important thing is that we finally got you back and now you're safe and sound. Well… almost sound – you, TM with that arm and ribs of yours and Higgy…" TC didn't finish the sentence as there was a knock on the door and when it opened, they saw Katsumoto standing there.

Magnum became worried when TC mentioned his partner so he glanced at her but she obviously avoided looking at him. He really wanted to know more about Juliet's state but now that Gordon was here, he had to let it go. He didn't know that soon he would learn about it.

"Hey, Gordie." Thomas greeted the detective. "It's so nice to see you."

"Likewise." Katsumoto replied and Magnum could swear that he saw a tiny smile flashing across the man's face.

"Gordon, we want to thank you for what you did for us." Higgins spoke.

"You don't have to. I didn't do it by myself. It was really a team work – Rick, TC, Kumu, even Jin helped a lot, plus the whole HPD worked on it." The detective replied humbly.

"Nevertheless, thank you." Juliet said again, sending him a grateful look.

He knew what she had meant – it wasn't only the whole police work he had done but the fact that he shot Burt and saved their lives. If it wasn't for him, they might not be talking here right now.

Katsumoto nodded his head. "You're welcome."

"Yeah, thank you all." Magnum said to his friends.

"Is this mean that now you own us and we can ask you for a favor whenever we feel like it and you won't say 'no'?" Rick asked, surprising the PI.

"Oh, it's a great idea. I can't wait when you're out of here and I'll ask you to help me wash my chopper." TC stated at once, picking up Rick's playful tone.

"Hey, guys, guys. Hold your horses. Of course, I'm grateful for all the things you did in order to find us and help us get out of there but I know you and you're not like this – you didn't go to such extreme lengths just to get some favors from me."

"Oh, are you sure about that?" TC asked. "Then why do you think we did all of that?"

"Because we're family and you care about each member of this family." Thomas replied.

Rick and TC didn't say anything, just shared a long look.

"Well… I don't know… Maybe you're right." Rick admitted, dragging the words on purpose.

TC, Juliet and Kumu could barely hold it, even Gordon looked like he was really amused. Soon, all of them were laughing wholeheartedly until they heard another knock on the door.

Who can that be? Thomas wondered and a few seconds later a doctor appeared.

"Hi, I'm doctor Hoffen. I treated your injuries when you were brought in here, Mr. Magnum. I see that you look and feel much better now."

"Yes, thank you so much for patching me up. You did a great job." The PI replied gratefully.

"You don't have to thank me. I'm glad you're okay and I hope I won't have to work on you again." The doctor said with a genuine smile and then he turned to Juliet. "Of course, this doesn't apply to you, Miss Higgins."

The doctor's words made Thomas wonder what he had meant by that.

"Higgy? What's going on?" He asked, waiting anxiously for his partner's answer but she remained silent and avoided looking him in the eye.

When her answer didn't come, it was Rick who explained everything. "Well, imagine that Higgy refused to be treated by the paramedics that were waiting outside the villa, making them help only you instead and then she refused again to wait for the other ambulance that was on its way because she wanted to see how you were doing as soon as possible."

Magnum's eyes widened in surprise. "What?! That's insane. How could you do that? You were injured." He cried out.

"So were you and I think that I don't have to remind you that your injuries were much more serious than mine." She shot back.

"At least you could've waited a bit for the second ambulance." He said.

"I finally got to the hospital, didn't I?"

"True but the only thing you let them do to you was to bandage your leg, nothing more." Kumu cut in.

"I simply wanted to be here when Magnum woke up." Juliet replied.

Yeah, it's so typical of Higgy, being stubborn as always. Magnum thought.

"So, now that your partner here feels better, would it be okay if I took you away for a while and examine that leg of yours?" Doctor Hoffen asked, unsure if the conversation he witnessed was over.

"Yes, doctor. Please, do that at once." Thomas stated before Juliet could.

She instantly sent him a look. "I can say that myself, Magnum." She hissed.

He smiled at that. "Oh, I know that, Higgy. I just wanted to make sure that you'll finally let yourself get the help you obviously need right now."

"All right then." The doctor said, highly amused by the whole situation and the undeniable chemistry between those two here. "Nurse, can you come here?" He asked and a moment later a woman with a friendly smile entered the room.

"Doctor, is this really necessary?" Higgins asked at the sight of a wheelchair being pushed her way.

"Yes, we don't really know how bad your leg is so it's better not to strain it unnecessarily." The man replied.

Juliet knew that it was a voice of reason, still she was hesitating because she was always so strong and self-reliant, and she wasn't used to such treatment.

"Come on, my dear, hop on." The nurse said and then she leaned closer to Juliet, whispering to her ear. "Sometimes it's good to accept help someone is offering to you."

Higgins met her eyes and then nodded her head. She finally moved and when she tried to stand up on that leg, she wavered and almost dropped to the floor. Luckily, TC caught her in time and saved from painful fall. The nurse moved the wheelchair and the man helped Juliet sit in it.

Magnum was observing that scene with dreadful fright. Judging by her nearly fall and a sudden grimace of pain appearing on her face, his growing fears were coming true – it was serious. To make it even worse, he noticed a blood stain on the bandage that was dangerously growing bigger with each passing second.

Before the nurse took Juliet away, the partners' eyes met and it was as if silent communication took place between them.

"We'll talk about it, Higgy." Magnum said quietly.

"I can't wait for that." She replied and they both smiled.

Then she was wheeled out of the room and the doctor went with her.

"It's time for me. I have a lot of paperwork to do." Gordon stated.

"I think we should leave too. You need to take it easy and rest for a couple of days before you'll get back in shape. We won't bother you now." Kumu told him.

"You're not bothering me. I'm so glad you came." Magnum replied, trying to give them a smile but it was obvious he was tired or was it something else?

"Kumu's right. Just relax and take your time to heal." TC said.

"Yeah, goodnight, TM. We'll drop by tomorrow." Rick added and soon Magnum found himself alone in the room.

Hi again. Now that you've read the chapter, I wonder what you think about it. Feel free to share it with me.

Dsnygal - I hope that the way I explained the process of getting our PI duo by the Ohana was okay, even though I spared some details. Let me know how you see that.

MickeyMouse427 - thanks for your review, I hope this chapter didn't disappoint you.

There won't be many chapters, we're almost at the end of the story - Thomas and Juliet are safe now, everything is clear. However, there may be a thing or two which turned up during my writing and I think that it would be a good idea to include in it, so I have a feeling that you'll have something to read in October:)

That's it for now, have a nice day or evening (depending on where you are). See you next time!