FIC: Have a Little Faith (4/8)
Oct. 2nd, 2011 04:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stellarmeadowTitle: Have a Little Faith
Fandoms: Hawaii Five-0 and Profiler
Author: stellarmeadow
Pairing: Steve/Danny, Sam/John
Rating: R for language
Summary: How do you handle a threat against your partner when you're juggling work and a new relationship?
Notes: See Part 1 for extensive notes
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3
Sam watched the two of them walk back into the room. Steve looked happier, but Danny didn't look quite as happy, though he was clearly trying to hide it.
"Lunch will be here in a few minutes," Kono told them. "We ordered your usual."
"Thanks," Steve said, dropping back into the office chair he'd been fidgeting in all morning. Instead of taking the seat close beside him, though, Danny walked over to Sam. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked quietly.
"Sure." She hesitated, glancing at John, but Danny shook his head.
"Just you."
"Okay." She gave John a look she knew he'd interpret as 'stay there' and followed Danny off to a different office she realized must be his, judging by the pictures of him and his daughter on the desk. "Everything okay?"
Danny sighed, perching himself on the corner of his desk. "Steve is determined to go out there and lure this guy in."
"You want me to talk to him?"
"No. I want you to help him. I want all of us to help him."
Sam studied him closely for several seconds. "Look, I know we don't know each other that well, so maybe I'm a little off, but until now I would have said with complete certainty that you would rather lock him up than let him go out and play bait."
"You can remain confident of your profiling skills, then," Danny said with a faint smile, "because you're right." He shifted, putting more of his weight on the desk, as if to rest his right knee. "But see, here's the thing about partners: You don't always get to do what you want. Especially not if what you want is illogical and totally based in fear."
She raised an eyebrow. "Is that his work partner talking, or his partner after work?"
He didn't look surprised or worried that she'd brought it up. "His partner after work would like to lock him up. But his work partner has learned the hard way that you don't say no when he's set on doing something. You help him, or things get worse."
Sam considered her next words carefully before deciding to go for it. "Is that how the two of you ended up on the run from the police?"
"Something like that, yeah." His eyes softened. "Not that it didn't turn out for the best for everyone in the end," he added quietly. "Anyway," he said, all business again, "he's determined. And we all know that this may be our only move."
"George is looking for inconsistencies in the--"
"Yeah, and he told you that he didn't know how long it was going to take, and there's no guarantee that he's going to find anything, either. How long do you think we can sit around waiting for this guy to make his move?"
Sam mentally ran over what she knew about the killer. "Realistically, I think he could easily go a couple of weeks waiting for the right situation. Maybe longer."
"Well, I can promise you that Steve McGarrett won't last being this restricted for that long. Not after everything that's happened the last few months. He'll go off first chance he has and try to lure the guy out anyway. This way, we secure the area, we have lookouts, I'm there with him as backup…it's the only chance he has of not getting killed by going off to do it himself."
She didn't like it. Never mind that she liked Steve just from what she knew of him and didn't want to see him dead; she also couldn't stomach watching the best lead they had die. Literally. "I don't know."
"I studied your case, you know," Danny said suddenly, throwing her for a loop. "How many times did you or someone on your team put yourselves out there trying to lure Jack of all Trades in?
She swallowed, images of John tied to a chair sticking in her mind before she could fully brush them away. "Then you know why I'm reluctant to do it."
"And if you hadn't done it then, you might still be hiding away from him."
He was right. She hated it, but he was right. "Is there an indoor pool where we could control the situation better?"
"I know a place, and I don't think we'd have any trouble getting it secured so it's just us."
She sighed. "Okay. But we wait until tomorrow to see if George comes up with anything first."
Danny nodded, sliding off the desk. "That will give us time to make sure the pool is secure, too."
"Good."
He paused in front of her. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet. He's taking a huge risk. You both are."
"I don't think a day's gone by that I haven't taken a huge risk since I met Steve McGarrett," Danny said, sounding more amused than irritated by that fact. "Come on; let's go tell him the good news."
She followed him out of his office, lagging back a few steps to watch how Steve turned, tense and waiting, as Danny approached.
"Feel like taking a swim tomorrow?" Danny asked.
She immediately wondered if half the reason he pushed so hard to get her to agree was just to see the huge smile that broke out on Steve's face.
***
"It's too risky," John said the moment they were in their hotel room.
Sam had been preparing for this since Danny had announced they were going to use Steve as bait. She would have expected it sooner, but they hadn't been alone, and he would never question her like that in front of others, not on a case.
She turned and smiled at him, laying a hand on his arm. "It's done," she said. "We have to stick to the plan."
"But George--"
"Still might find something before morning. You know he's not sleeping tonight, not with this to work on."
"So then we give George a couple of days."
Sam was already shaking her head before he'd finished his sentence. "I would think you, of all people, would understand how little time we have before Steve takes matters into his own hands. I mean, you gave me, what, three seconds warning before making yourself bait? And it wasn't even your life on the line."
"That's different," John said, staring at Sam's hand, "it was your life."
"Which means you also know Danny's going to help him, no matter what. And they stand a better chance if we're all on board." When he still looked uncertain, she moved her hand up to his cheek, forcing him to meet her eyes. "John."
"I know," he said, leaning into her touch. "I know."
She smiled at the capitulation in his tone, leaning in for a kiss. "We have very few hours before we have to be back," Sam said against John's lips. "Are we done discussing the case?"
"Absolutely," John replied, pushing her toward the bed without another word.
***
Steve lay on his back in the dark, listening to Danny breathing, so loud in the silence. They'd gotten home and fallen into bed with Danny's, "Did you set the alarm clock?" the longest sentence between them. Steve had tried to read Danny's uncharacteristic silence, but it wasn't his usual angry quiet that quickly simmered and boiled over, like a shaking pot on a stove. It was more like he didn't even know what to say. Or maybe he was just waiting for Steve to say something.
"Thank you," Steve said softly, still staring at the ceiling.
"You're welcome." Danny's voice was rough and sleepy, and Steve's body reacted to it. "What, exactly, did I do?"
Steve's hand twitched against the sheet, wanting to reach out, but he gripped the sheet instead. "You went along with this idea, despite the fact that you'd rather handcuff me to my desk than let me do this."
"I was thinking more along the lines of locking you in interrogation," Danny said conversationally. "You'd be out of handcuffs before I could leave the building."
"I'd be out of interrogation before you could leave the building."
He felt Danny shift onto his side. "You could--never mind, I don't even want to know."
Smiling a little, Steve turned onto his side to face Danny. "I know this is hard," Steve said, "but the longer we wait, the more time he'll have to prepare, and the higher the risk of him succeeding."
"You mean the risk of you dying. You can say the word, Steven, it's not like I don't know what 'his success/our failure' means. We've been talking in that code all day long, but it doesn't change the fact that it really means you'd be dead."
"You know," Steve said, slowly, looking for the right words, "I've gone on so many missions I've lost count, and I was never afraid of death."
"Yes, please remind me of how you're not afraid to jump in front of a speeding bullet. That's so helpful. Thank you."
Steve shook his head, his hand letting go of the sheet to move to Danny's shoulder. "I wasn't afraid of death, because service was all I had. If I went out and didn't come back, I'd done my job, and that was all I cared about."
His hand moved to Danny's neck. "It's not all I have anymore. I have family here, and friends, and a team…and I have you." He held Danny's gaze, just barely making his eyes out in the moonlight. "So if you're thinking I'm going to take any unnecessary risks tomorrow, you're wrong," he said, the words coming much easier now. "Because after only recently discovering how much I love you, I'm not about to die before I can enjoy it."
Danny's mouth opened and closed a few times. "Oh," he said, after a moment.
"Oh?" Steve said, unable to tell from Danny's tone or his face how he was reacting, especially since the fact that he'd just told Danny he loved him was still slowly sinking into Steve's brain.
"I, uh…" Danny blinked.
"It's okay," Steve said quickly. "I'm not expecting you to--I mean, I know you only just got over Rachel, and--"
"Steven!"
Steve stopped for only the briefest of seconds. "Danny--"
"Ah-ah-ah! It is my turn to talk." Danny took a deep breath. "Why do you think I was so worried about you that I made Chin, Kono and the FBI help you on your little suicide mission rather than risk you going out on your own?"
"Well, to be fair, you're kind of a mother hen, and--"
"Stop talking. That was a rhetorical question, and also, you're ruining my declaration here."
Steve felt a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth and quickly subdued it. "Your declaration?" he said as seriously as he could manage when all he wanted was to grab Danny and kiss him.
"Yes. I nag because I care. I harass you because I worry. I let you drive my car, and I hide from the police with you, and now I live in your house, all because I love you, and seriously, I worry about your detecting skills if you haven't figured that out yet."
He couldn't hold the grin back any longer. "You know, only you could say you love me and malign me in the same sentence."
"Hey, it's not like you didn't know what you were getting into, babe, or who you were getting into it with."
"No," Steve said softly, his hand moving from Danny's neck to his cheek, thumb running over Danny's lips. "I knew exactly what I was getting into, and I'm not complaining."
He pulled Danny close for a kiss, wrapping his arms around him tightly as if he could keep them both in this moment forever. He knew he couldn't, but he ignored reality in favor of the feel of Danny's skin, the taste of his mouth and the sound of his voice as he completely fell apart under Steve's hands.
Reality would hit soon enough.
***
Chapter 5
Fandoms: Hawaii Five-0 and Profiler
Author: stellarmeadow
Pairing: Steve/Danny, Sam/John
Rating: R for language
Summary: How do you handle a threat against your partner when you're juggling work and a new relationship?
Notes: See Part 1 for extensive notes
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3
Sam watched the two of them walk back into the room. Steve looked happier, but Danny didn't look quite as happy, though he was clearly trying to hide it.
"Lunch will be here in a few minutes," Kono told them. "We ordered your usual."
"Thanks," Steve said, dropping back into the office chair he'd been fidgeting in all morning. Instead of taking the seat close beside him, though, Danny walked over to Sam. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked quietly.
"Sure." She hesitated, glancing at John, but Danny shook his head.
"Just you."
"Okay." She gave John a look she knew he'd interpret as 'stay there' and followed Danny off to a different office she realized must be his, judging by the pictures of him and his daughter on the desk. "Everything okay?"
Danny sighed, perching himself on the corner of his desk. "Steve is determined to go out there and lure this guy in."
"You want me to talk to him?"
"No. I want you to help him. I want all of us to help him."
Sam studied him closely for several seconds. "Look, I know we don't know each other that well, so maybe I'm a little off, but until now I would have said with complete certainty that you would rather lock him up than let him go out and play bait."
"You can remain confident of your profiling skills, then," Danny said with a faint smile, "because you're right." He shifted, putting more of his weight on the desk, as if to rest his right knee. "But see, here's the thing about partners: You don't always get to do what you want. Especially not if what you want is illogical and totally based in fear."
She raised an eyebrow. "Is that his work partner talking, or his partner after work?"
He didn't look surprised or worried that she'd brought it up. "His partner after work would like to lock him up. But his work partner has learned the hard way that you don't say no when he's set on doing something. You help him, or things get worse."
Sam considered her next words carefully before deciding to go for it. "Is that how the two of you ended up on the run from the police?"
"Something like that, yeah." His eyes softened. "Not that it didn't turn out for the best for everyone in the end," he added quietly. "Anyway," he said, all business again, "he's determined. And we all know that this may be our only move."
"George is looking for inconsistencies in the--"
"Yeah, and he told you that he didn't know how long it was going to take, and there's no guarantee that he's going to find anything, either. How long do you think we can sit around waiting for this guy to make his move?"
Sam mentally ran over what she knew about the killer. "Realistically, I think he could easily go a couple of weeks waiting for the right situation. Maybe longer."
"Well, I can promise you that Steve McGarrett won't last being this restricted for that long. Not after everything that's happened the last few months. He'll go off first chance he has and try to lure the guy out anyway. This way, we secure the area, we have lookouts, I'm there with him as backup…it's the only chance he has of not getting killed by going off to do it himself."
She didn't like it. Never mind that she liked Steve just from what she knew of him and didn't want to see him dead; she also couldn't stomach watching the best lead they had die. Literally. "I don't know."
"I studied your case, you know," Danny said suddenly, throwing her for a loop. "How many times did you or someone on your team put yourselves out there trying to lure Jack of all Trades in?
She swallowed, images of John tied to a chair sticking in her mind before she could fully brush them away. "Then you know why I'm reluctant to do it."
"And if you hadn't done it then, you might still be hiding away from him."
He was right. She hated it, but he was right. "Is there an indoor pool where we could control the situation better?"
"I know a place, and I don't think we'd have any trouble getting it secured so it's just us."
She sighed. "Okay. But we wait until tomorrow to see if George comes up with anything first."
Danny nodded, sliding off the desk. "That will give us time to make sure the pool is secure, too."
"Good."
He paused in front of her. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet. He's taking a huge risk. You both are."
"I don't think a day's gone by that I haven't taken a huge risk since I met Steve McGarrett," Danny said, sounding more amused than irritated by that fact. "Come on; let's go tell him the good news."
She followed him out of his office, lagging back a few steps to watch how Steve turned, tense and waiting, as Danny approached.
"Feel like taking a swim tomorrow?" Danny asked.
She immediately wondered if half the reason he pushed so hard to get her to agree was just to see the huge smile that broke out on Steve's face.
***
"It's too risky," John said the moment they were in their hotel room.
Sam had been preparing for this since Danny had announced they were going to use Steve as bait. She would have expected it sooner, but they hadn't been alone, and he would never question her like that in front of others, not on a case.
She turned and smiled at him, laying a hand on his arm. "It's done," she said. "We have to stick to the plan."
"But George--"
"Still might find something before morning. You know he's not sleeping tonight, not with this to work on."
"So then we give George a couple of days."
Sam was already shaking her head before he'd finished his sentence. "I would think you, of all people, would understand how little time we have before Steve takes matters into his own hands. I mean, you gave me, what, three seconds warning before making yourself bait? And it wasn't even your life on the line."
"That's different," John said, staring at Sam's hand, "it was your life."
"Which means you also know Danny's going to help him, no matter what. And they stand a better chance if we're all on board." When he still looked uncertain, she moved her hand up to his cheek, forcing him to meet her eyes. "John."
"I know," he said, leaning into her touch. "I know."
She smiled at the capitulation in his tone, leaning in for a kiss. "We have very few hours before we have to be back," Sam said against John's lips. "Are we done discussing the case?"
"Absolutely," John replied, pushing her toward the bed without another word.
***
Steve lay on his back in the dark, listening to Danny breathing, so loud in the silence. They'd gotten home and fallen into bed with Danny's, "Did you set the alarm clock?" the longest sentence between them. Steve had tried to read Danny's uncharacteristic silence, but it wasn't his usual angry quiet that quickly simmered and boiled over, like a shaking pot on a stove. It was more like he didn't even know what to say. Or maybe he was just waiting for Steve to say something.
"Thank you," Steve said softly, still staring at the ceiling.
"You're welcome." Danny's voice was rough and sleepy, and Steve's body reacted to it. "What, exactly, did I do?"
Steve's hand twitched against the sheet, wanting to reach out, but he gripped the sheet instead. "You went along with this idea, despite the fact that you'd rather handcuff me to my desk than let me do this."
"I was thinking more along the lines of locking you in interrogation," Danny said conversationally. "You'd be out of handcuffs before I could leave the building."
"I'd be out of interrogation before you could leave the building."
He felt Danny shift onto his side. "You could--never mind, I don't even want to know."
Smiling a little, Steve turned onto his side to face Danny. "I know this is hard," Steve said, "but the longer we wait, the more time he'll have to prepare, and the higher the risk of him succeeding."
"You mean the risk of you dying. You can say the word, Steven, it's not like I don't know what 'his success/our failure' means. We've been talking in that code all day long, but it doesn't change the fact that it really means you'd be dead."
"You know," Steve said, slowly, looking for the right words, "I've gone on so many missions I've lost count, and I was never afraid of death."
"Yes, please remind me of how you're not afraid to jump in front of a speeding bullet. That's so helpful. Thank you."
Steve shook his head, his hand letting go of the sheet to move to Danny's shoulder. "I wasn't afraid of death, because service was all I had. If I went out and didn't come back, I'd done my job, and that was all I cared about."
His hand moved to Danny's neck. "It's not all I have anymore. I have family here, and friends, and a team…and I have you." He held Danny's gaze, just barely making his eyes out in the moonlight. "So if you're thinking I'm going to take any unnecessary risks tomorrow, you're wrong," he said, the words coming much easier now. "Because after only recently discovering how much I love you, I'm not about to die before I can enjoy it."
Danny's mouth opened and closed a few times. "Oh," he said, after a moment.
"Oh?" Steve said, unable to tell from Danny's tone or his face how he was reacting, especially since the fact that he'd just told Danny he loved him was still slowly sinking into Steve's brain.
"I, uh…" Danny blinked.
"It's okay," Steve said quickly. "I'm not expecting you to--I mean, I know you only just got over Rachel, and--"
"Steven!"
Steve stopped for only the briefest of seconds. "Danny--"
"Ah-ah-ah! It is my turn to talk." Danny took a deep breath. "Why do you think I was so worried about you that I made Chin, Kono and the FBI help you on your little suicide mission rather than risk you going out on your own?"
"Well, to be fair, you're kind of a mother hen, and--"
"Stop talking. That was a rhetorical question, and also, you're ruining my declaration here."
Steve felt a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth and quickly subdued it. "Your declaration?" he said as seriously as he could manage when all he wanted was to grab Danny and kiss him.
"Yes. I nag because I care. I harass you because I worry. I let you drive my car, and I hide from the police with you, and now I live in your house, all because I love you, and seriously, I worry about your detecting skills if you haven't figured that out yet."
He couldn't hold the grin back any longer. "You know, only you could say you love me and malign me in the same sentence."
"Hey, it's not like you didn't know what you were getting into, babe, or who you were getting into it with."
"No," Steve said softly, his hand moving from Danny's neck to his cheek, thumb running over Danny's lips. "I knew exactly what I was getting into, and I'm not complaining."
He pulled Danny close for a kiss, wrapping his arms around him tightly as if he could keep them both in this moment forever. He knew he couldn't, but he ignored reality in favor of the feel of Danny's skin, the taste of his mouth and the sound of his voice as he completely fell apart under Steve's hands.
Reality would hit soon enough.
***
Chapter 5
