FIC: Deja Vu All Over Again (4/4)

[stellarmeadow]

HPD arrived and took custody of Doran and his girlfriend. Steve made sure Doran heard him tell the officer to put him in a cell that could be easily cleaned if Steve had to visit him later. Doran's claims that they'd been one place and then another in the blink of an eye had Steve mimicking smoking pot at the officer, who just rolled his eyes at Doran as he shoved him into the back of the cruiser.

As soon as Danny was in the passenger seat, Steve took off towards Honolulu. "We need to find Sang Min," Steve said before Danny could talk.

"We do," Danny agreed. "Do you have a way to find him that you failed to mention earlier?"

"No." Steve glanced at him. "You've been a cop here longer--don't you have any CIs?"

"I haven't been here long enough to make any contacts." Danny folded his arms over his chest. "You were in Naval Intelligence--don't you have any contacts?"

Steve considered the potential issues of calling Cath from the car with Danny around. What the hell--might as well get the past out in the open. "Maybe." He picked up his phone and found her number and pressed it, letting the call go through to the car.

On the first ring, Danny nearly jumped out of his seat. "When did you have time to hook your bluetooth to my car?"

"I thought we might need it on the drive back, so while we were waiting for HPD and you were talking to Grace, I synced it."

Danny blinked at him. "I--" He pushed his hand through his hair. "You--"

Cath's voice through the speakers cut him off. "Hey, sailor."

"Hey, Cath. How's the high seas?"

"Be better in about a week--we're due to hit Oahu. Got some time free?"

Steve would've had to close his eyes completely to miss the change that came over Danny. He supposed it was stupid to hope that a detective wouldn't catch that. "Um, yeah, we need to catch up on a few things."

There was a long pause on the other end. "I see," Cath said at last, because she was at least as good a detective in her own way as Danny. "So what did you need?"

"We're trying to track down a smuggler named Sang Min. Name ring a bell?"

"Nope. What's he smuggle?"

"Not a hundred percent sure, but I think people."

He could already hear her tapping on her keyboard. "Let me see what I can find out and I'll call you back."

"Thanks."

"No problem. Oh, and Steve?"

"Yeah?"

"When I call back, I expect to hear a very interesting story."

"Roger that."

He hung up and focused on driving, even though he could see Danny getting more annoyed by the second. "So," Danny said finally, his frustration evident in his voice, "Cath?"

Steve nodded, keeping his face as blank as he could. "Catherine. A friend in Naval Intelligence."

"A friend, Steven?" Danny sounded amused in a way that totally wasn't. "Do all your friends answer the phone, 'Hello, sailor?'"

"Well, I am actually a sailor, Daniel. That's what they call people in the Navy."

"Steven."

"Okay, Danny," Steve divided attention between Danny and the road. "I'll tell you about Cath, and then you can tell me about Dr. Gabrielle Asano."

Danny opened his mouth, then closed it again. "What did you do," he asked after a long moment, "run a background check on me?"

"Actually, no," Steve said. "Dad mentioned your girlfriend when he was trying to get me to give up on you."

"Then he might have intentionally neglected to mention that we broke up a month ago. Also," Danny added tersely, "she never answered the phone 'Hello, sailor.'"

"Well of course, that would be silly, you're a cop. She'd say, 'Hello, officer.'"

"She didn't do that, either."

Steve gave him a longer look than he probably should've while driving, before putting his eyes back on the road. "My point is that we both have pasts. But they're not the present."

"'Cath' sure sounded like she thought she was."

"Cath and I are just friends who occasionally had benefits. There's nothing there to break up, because we weren't really together. She just hadn't heard yet." Steve gave him another look. "I have been a little busy the last week."

Danny took a deep breath and let it out slowly. And loudly. "All right," he said, finally, "past in the past."

"Good."

"And speaking of time and past and all that, how about that thing where you stopped time earlier?"

Shit. "Can't we just go back to talking about ex-girlfriends?"

"I thought you said she wasn't your girlfriend."

"She wasn't."

"Then there's nothing to talk about. Except, oh, right, you stopped time back there."

"Are you saying if I hadn't, you wouldn't have gone back and fixed it after you got shot?"

Danny shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. Sometimes mine works, sometimes it doesn't. How about yours?"

"How the hell should I know? I don't even know what I did. One second everything was normal, and then you were about to get shot and everything...wasn't normal."

"Everything froze."


"Except us."

"Except us," Danny repeated.

Steve ran a hand across his hair and down to his neck, rubbing at the tight muscles there. "Look, I don't know how I did what I did. I just know I'm grateful you're not hurt and we got the guy. What more is there to talk about?"

"But if we could figure out how we trigger our powers," Danny said, "then maybe we could use them with more accuracy. Maybe it wouldn't be so hit or miss."

"That's great in theory, Danny, but I don't know how I did it. You were in danger. I wanted to protect you. It just happened."

Danny drummed his fingers on the car door. "Like it just happened that first time we had sex."

"Like that."

"So maybe yours is tied to emotions."

"But yours isn't?"

Danny scoffed. "Unlike you, SuperSEAL, I am in touch with my emotions. They're out there all the time. If it was just emotions, I'd be able to roll back time every time someone called me 'haole.'"

"Maybe that's the problem," Steve countered. "Maybe you're so emotional your powers think you're the boy who cries wolf every five seconds."

"How does that even make sense?"

Steve's phone rang, Catherine's picture on the screen. Steve hit talk. "What did you find?"

"A big bunch of nothing," she said. "Whoever this guy is, he's covering his tracks well, or someone's covering them for him. I think a few of the intel boys would like to know what you find, though, seeing as how a smuggler may have been operating right under our noses and we didn't know."

"Okay, I'll fill them in on whatever we find, if there's any point."

"Steve. Don't do anything stupid."

Danny snorted. "Like telling him that'll help."

Steve winced into the silence before Cath said, "It never does, and yet I always try. But I'm gathering you'll figure that out."


"Oh I've figured it out," Danny said. "And yet I keep trying. Danny Williams, by the way," he said, raising an eyebrow at Steve, who kept his twitching fingers firmly on the wheel so they wouldn't hit the end call button.

"Catherine Rollins. Nice to meet you, though we really must meet in person. Beers on me."

"I will take you up on that," Danny said, smirking at Steve now.

"Great. Next week. Steve can give you my number. Good luck catching your smuggler, Smooth Dog. Bye."

She disconnected, and Steve slumped down into the seat, wishing Honolulu was a lot closer. At least they were closing in on Pearl, which meant it wouldn't be that much further.

"Smooth Dog?" Danny asked after a moment. "Smooth Dog?"

"It's my nickname from the SEALs." Steve bit the words off, but Danny didn't get the hint.

"And how did you get that name, exactly?"

Steve gave him as long a look as he could while driving. "It's classified. I could tell you," he said, "but then I'd have to kill you."

"Never mind. I'm sure the story can't be anywhere near as funny as the ones I'm coming up with in my head."

Steve was sure it wasn't, but he wasn't about to give that impression. He turned on the radio, flipping through stations until Dr. Hook came on, and he turned it up.

"Seriously?" Danny yelled over the music. "Torturing me with music is not going to make me forget your nickname, Smooth Dog. Even music as bad as this."

Steve gave him a grin and started singing along.

***

"I'm just saying that your obsession with easy listening is definitely an area we need to work on," Danny said as they walked up to the house.

Steve grinned sunnily at him. "Or maybe you'll just have to accept that you have the hots for someone who loves 70s music."

"Not just 70s music. Easy listening," Danny said on a groan. But he didn't deny the rest of it. Because there was no point in denying the truth.

They walked through the house, finding John in the dining room looking at files. "Any luck?" John asked, looking up at them as he closed a file.

"We managed to take down Doran before he could shoot Danny," Steve said.

"And whose fault was it that he was about to shoot me?" Danny asked.

Steve gave him a look that made Danny want to smack him and kiss him at the same time. "Well, you did go running up to the door."

"The door that I told you repeatedly we shouldn't have gone up to without back up."

"Are you saying we'd have fared better if HPD had been there to watch us?"

Danny thought about that for a moment, imagined there being witnesses to Doran being upright and shooting one second, on the ground with his hands behind his back the next. "Doran gave us a name," Danny said, deciding to ignore the argument in favor of working the case. "Sang Min. A smuggler that may have gotten Hesse onto the island."

"What's the connection?" John asked.

"Sang Min paid Doran to give Hesse the gun," Steve answered. "Trouble is, we're having a problem locating Sang Min. Doran didn't know where to find him. I talked to a contact in intelligence, and they've never heard of him."

Danny positively did not glare at Steve at the mention of his contact. "Do you have any contacts who might know where we can locate him?" Danny asked John.

"I've never heard the name, but a lot of my contacts are old. I haven't really gotten in with the new guard." John scrubbed at his face in a move that reminded Danny of Steve. "I know someone who might be able to help, though. Chin Ho Kelly."

"The Kukui High quarterback?" Steve said at the same time Danny said, "The dirty cop?"

"He wasn't dirty," John bit out.

Danny held his hands up. "Sorry. I don't know him or anything about the case. Only what I'd been told."

"First rule to remember in police work. People lie."

"Fair point," Danny said.

"And yes," John said to Steve, "the Kukui High quarterback." John looked at Danny. "Chin was a legend until Steve broke all his records."

Danny shook his head. "Star quarterback?" he said to Steve. "Why am I not surprised?"

Steve shrugged. "I'm naturally athletic."

Every single response that came to Danny's mind was so inappropriate to say in front of Steve's father, and he could tell by his smirk that Steve knew exactly what was going through Danny's mind and finding it very amusing. Shooting Steve a 'you will pay' look, Danny asked John, "So do you know where to find Chin Ho Kelly?"

"He works security at the Mo."

"Will he talk to us?" Steve asked.

John nodded. "I think so. You two go talk to him. I want to finish going through this stuff and see if there's anything we missed."

Steve frowned at John. "You don't want to come with us?"

"My leg isn't up to riding up to Pearl and traipsing all over the Mo looking for Chin," he said. "And someone needs to read the actual files--I know better than to think you'll read them all when there's action to be done."

It was said teasingly, but Steve tensed up nonetheless. "Okay." Steve turned to Danny. "Let's go," he said and marched out without another word.

Danny waited until they were in the car--and he was somehow still the passenger in his own car--and out onto the road before he brought it up. "You know he was teasing, right?"

"Sure."

Never had anyone sounded less sure of anything. "He was joking, Steve. Seriously."

"I know."

"He said in a tone that made it clear he did not," Danny said. "What gives?"

Steve glanced at him, then fixed his eyes firmly back on the road. "I've read so many files I lost count. I was known for being the most informed person on our missions. Hell, I was in Naval Intelligence. And he acts like I've never been able to read one file."

"That's not what he meant."

"I know."

"No, you don't. So stop it." Danny put a hand on Steve's thigh, feeling the tension that ran through his entire body. "He meant that given a choice between reading a file and actively doing something on a case you'd pick action every time. Was he wrong?"

Steve sniffed loudly. "No," he said finally.

"I didn't think so. It wasn't an insult. We all have parts of our jobs we prefer and parts that we do well even though we don't like them. He was just dividing the team into its strengths to help the case. That's all there was to it."

He felt Steve relax just a little bit. "You think so?"

"I know so. I know his leadership style. I've worked with him a lot in the last six months. He's good at identifying what people are best at and building the strongest team accordingly, then using them to their best potential." Steve gave a strangled half-laugh, and Danny studied him closely. "What was that?"

"I was just amused," Steve said, glancing Danny's way. "That's pretty much what my Navy file says about me."

"How did you read your Navy file?" Steve raised an eyebrow with a half-smirk, and Danny realized he knew that look. "No, wait, let me guess. Classified?"

"You catch on quick, Danno."

***

They drove up to the shuttle stop at the USS Missouri, Danny flashing his badge at the volunteer who started to tell them they couldn't park there. As they walked through the rows of flags, Danny stared up at the ship, trying to picture Steve in Navy camo, working on a ship like that. "You ever sail on one of these?" Danny asked.

"That's a battleship," Steve said.

When he didn't say anything else, Danny said, "That's not an answer."

"The last battleships were decommissioned when I was still in high school," Steve replied. "Is that an answer?"

"Hey, don't get testy with me just because I'm not up on my Naval history."

"Don't worry," Steve said, flashing him a grin, "you have time to learn."

Before Danny could respond, Steve tapped him on the arm and pointed at the canteen. "I think that's Chin."

They caught up with Chin as he was telling off a kid who apparently had maybe stolen something. The kid was only too happy to run off when Steve interrupted. "Chin Ho Kelly?"

"Who's asking?" Chin said, then his eyes narrowed as he studied Steve's face. "Steve McGarrett?" he said, face breaking into a smile.

"Long time no see," Steve said, shaking hands with Chin before putting a hand on Danny's shoulder. "This is my partner, Detective Danny Williams."

Danny didn't miss the wariness that crept into Chin's expression at the word 'Detective.' "So what does the HPD want with me?" Chin asked, sounding suddenly tired.

"Not HPD," Danny said. "Not anymore. Steve and I are part of the governor's new task force. We work for John McGarrett."

At that name, Chin's expression cleared. "John's a good man," he said. "I heard about his leg. How's he doing?"

"Much better, thanks," Steve said. "We were hoping you could maybe help us with something we're working on, though."

"Sure. Not sure what good I could be, though--I'm a security guard."

"But you were a cop," Steve said, "and by all accounts a damn good one."

Chin nodded. "Until they drove me off the force. So, I repeat, not sure I could do you any good."

"Maybe, maybe not." Steve looked at Danny. "Tell him about Doran. I need to make a quick phone call."

Danny frowned as Steve walked several feet away, dialing his phone. He filled Chin in on what had happened earlier with Doran, all the while keeping one eye on Steve and his relatively short phone conversation. "So we were hoping," Danny was saying as Steve joined them again, "that you might still have a few contacts, maybe an old CI or two who might know something."

"I might," Chin said. "But he won't talk to you."

"Then go with us," Steve said.

"I have a job."

"Quit."

Danny was pretty sure the look on his face matched the one on Chin's. "I can't just quit my job, McGarrett," Chin said.

"Sure you can. We're offering you a better one. On the task force."

"I thought your father was running the task force."

"He is." Steve held up his phone. "I just talked to him to make sure he was okay with it before I offered you the job."

Chin stared at him for a few seconds. "You heard the part where they drummed me off the force, right?"

"Danny told me the whole story on the way up here. Did you take the money?"

"No."

"Okay, then."

Chin stared some more. "Just like that?"

"Just like that. My father doesn't believe you took it, the evidence is thin, even for circumstantial, and I don't believe you took it. Danny?" Steve asked, looking at him.

Danny shook his head. "I don't think you did, either." Not that he had any evidence to the contrary, but everything in his gut said Chin was a stand up guy.

Chin shook his head. "You don't know what you're getting into," he said, pulling his radio off his belt, "but okay."

***

Chin had given them directions to a shave ice stand on the edge of Waikiki. They beat him there, because Steve drove as if he was trying for the Indy 500, and were waiting for him in the car. "So," Danny said, staring out at the throngs of people on the beach getting fried to a crisp, "you just decided to offer him a job?"

"I asked Dad first."

"Which actually alarms me even more. Because I would have expected you to just offer it and then worry about the consequences later."

He heard Steve shifting in the seat and turned to find Steve looking at him. "I didn't want to offer him the chance and then have it taken away," Steve said. "So I took the precaution."

"Good to know you can actually take precautions on the job," Danny teased.

Steve rolled his eyes then straightened, peering out the window. "There's Chin. Let's go."

Kamekona wasn't very impressed with Danny or Steve--even after Steve showed off his bizarre Hawaiian language skills--but he did give Chin information on how to contact Sang Min, though even he apparently had no address.

"Let's go regroup," Steve said. "You know where my dad lives, yeah?" he asked Chin. At Chin's nod, Steve said, "We'll meet you there," and got into the car.

***

"It's simple," Steve said as they got out of the car at his dad's house, "we send someone in to pretend they want to bring their family over, once we get him on tape, we squeeze him for information."

"It's cute how you think it's that easy," Danny said, falling into step beside Steve as they walked up to the front door. "But where are we going to find someone to do that?"

Steve opened the door, and stepped through, Danny close behind. "There's an entire police department," he said, spotting Chin pulling up to the house and waiting at the door. "How hard can it be?"

"How hard can it be? Let me tell you how hard it can be. No, wait, I'll let Chin do it." Danny waited a couple of seconds for Chin to get into the house. "Chin," Danny said, the three of them starting through the house into the dining room as he spoke, "Steve here thinks that we can easily find a trained police officer to go undercover and trap Sang Min into making an illegal smuggling deal."

"Right." Chin raised an eyebrow at Steve. "You do know this is an island, right? And not a particularly big one?"

Steve tamped down on the urge to hit something. "Your point?"

"That everybody knows everybody when it comes to cops and robbers. We need undercover work, we usually bring in someone from the mainland. We have deals with LAPD and a couple of other southern California departments. But it takes time to set up."

"We don't have time. Doran or Kamekona let it slip we know about Sang Min and it'll be all over."

"What will be all over?" John asked. Steve noticed he had stopped looking at the files and had the tool box open, random pieces from it spread out around the table in front of him.

"Any chance we have of making a break in this case," Steve replied. "We need to move now if we're going to catch Sang Min before he holes up somewhere because he knows we're looking for him."

Danny put his hand on Steve's arm, and Steve let the warmth break into his focus just a little, taking a deep breath. "We all agree on that," Danny said. "But sending someone in that they recognize and blowing the whole thing not only gives us away, it's likely to get a cop killed. Is that what you want?"

"Of course not." Steve started reviewing a mental list of Navy people who could do the job, but no one he trusted was anywhere near enough to the island to help.

"I have an idea," Chin said slowly. "My cousin graduates the police academy in a week. She's good. And because she's not officially a cop yet, they won't know her. She's too new."

Steve frowned. "If she hasn't even graduated the academy yet, she's too new to be going undercover."

"No, brah, trust me. She's good. And she's our best shot, unless you can think of someone else?" When Steve couldn't come up with another option, Chin pressed the point. "At least meet her. See for yourself."

Steve looked down at his father, who nodded. "Okay, where can we find her?"

Chin checked his watch. "At this time of day? Queen's Beach."

"Then let's go."

***

Chin climbed into the back of Danny's Mustang, and Steve took the driver's seat, grinning at Danny's put-upon sigh. "Why am I not allowed to drive my own car?" Danny asked.

"You were the one who let me get the keys, Danno," Steve said unapologetically.

"No. No, I did not let you get the keys. You distracted me and took them and refuse to give them back."

"And yet I notice that, for all your complaining about it, you haven't actually asked for the keys back."

Steve heard Chin laugh from the back seat and glanced at him in the rearview mirror. "Nothing," Chin said, grinning. "Just wondering how I missed the news that a Navy SEAL and a cop tied the knot."

"Funny," Steve said, but he couldn't help a little sense of satisfaction at the idea that he and Danny already fit that well together. He wasn't crazy enough to push it and risk Danny's ire, but he liked it nonetheless.

It was a short drive to Queen's Beach, and Chin had relatively little trouble finding Kono, despite the fact that she was out on a board. When he pointed her out, however, Steve could see why. Her form was light years better than anyone else on the water.

"She's talented," Steve said.

"Three years on the pro circuit before she blew out her knee," Chin said with pride. "When it was clear she wouldn't be able to surf as a pro anymore, she decided to reinvent herself as a cop. Unfortunately," he added, his voice turning darker, "she's family. Which means she'll never be taken seriously by HPD."

Steve's next sentence was interrupted by Kono getting wiped out by some idiot who'd jacked her wave. "Ouch," he said, wincing sympathetically. "I'm sure she's good," he continued as she got up immediately, "but she has no street experience. Are you sure she's ready for something like this?"

Before Chin could say anything, Kono jammed her board into the sand and stalked over to the man who'd knocked her down. Steve heard her yell something, and then she decked the guy, who was easily twice her size.

He went down like a rock.

"Okay then," Steve said.

Kono spotted them and ran over, smiling. He watched as Chin greeted her, admiring their close relationship. He and Mary might have been like that as small kids--he barely remembered--but he hadn't even talked to her in months.

Chin introduced Kono to Steve, then to Danny, who seemed to have a hard time letting go of her hand until Steve growled his name. Kono's eyes were as amused as Chin's as she turned her attention back to Steve.

"Your cousin says you're graduating the police academy in a week," Steve said. "How'd you like to earn a little extra credit?"

Kono's eyes narrowed speculatively. "I'm listening."

***

Chin rode off with Kono to put their plan into action, leaving Steve and Danny alone on the drive back to the house. "She seems like a good choice," Danny said, thinking about how easily she'd decked that guy, and the strength of her grip when he'd shook her hand.

"Yes, we could all see how taken you were with her," Steve replied.

Danny frowned at him. "Is that jealousy I detect?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said in a voice that only confirmed Danny's suspicions.

"Seriously? It's okay for you to flirt with your former fuck buddy, but I shake someone's hand too long and you go Neanderthal?"

"I did not flirt. And I didn't go Neanderthal."

Danny waved his hand dismissively. "Whatever, Captain Caveman. You just wait until we need an anthropologist on a case."

He watched as Steve opened his mouth, before he tightened his hands on the wheel and closed it again. A moment later, he said, "You have to pick up Grace soon?"

Danny checked his watch and winced. "Yeah, I'll have to leave as soon as I drop you off, which means I will need my keys back."

"I could drive you."

"As much as I--and Grace, I'm sure--would love that, you need to fill John in."

"Right." Steve shot him a glance. "You can bring Grace over for dinner if you want, though."

And really, he'd mock Steve about how much he wanted Danny around, except Danny felt the same way. He wondered if it was just the normal first blush of a relationship, or if it had something to do with their powers. And if that was what had drawn him to Hawaii and to Steve somehow. "Sounds great," Danny said. "Should I pick anything up on the way back?"

"Nah," Steve said, then laughed softly to himself.

"What?"

"Nothing," Steve said, shaking his head with a grin. "I just had the sudden realization that Chin was totally right."

Danny had to think for a moment before he remembered Chin's marriage comment. "Oh, God," he said, leaning his head against the window. "You're right."

But it didn't bother him in the least.

***

Steve left Danny with restored control of his driver's seat, leaning in through the window for a few kisses that he couldn't resist taking. He watched until Danny drove off before going into the house.

John was standing at the window. "Danny coming back?" he asked, joining Steve to walk into the kitchen.

Steve nodded. "He had to go pick up Grace from school, but they're coming back for dinner."

"You could've gone with him."

"No, I thought I'd come fill you in." He left out the fact that it was Danny's idea. "Chin's cousin looks good. I think she'll be able to pull it off."

"She's not too young?"

Steve opened the refrigerator, checking to make sure there was enough food for dinner. "No," he said, closing the door after grabbing two beers. "I get the feeling she may have had to deal with her share of comments over Chin's situation the last few years, and she clearly held her own on the pro circuit. I think she can handle whatever gets thrown at her."

"Good." John leaned against the table as Steve handed him a beer. "Think we should request her for the task force after she graduates?"

"Probably, especially given her relationship to Chin. I have a feeling HPD would be wasting an excellent cop." Steve opened his beer and took a drink. "We'll see how she handles the op, though."

They went into the dining room, which had become their makeshift office, and went over the plans for the next day until Chin called. Steve answered, relieved when Chin told him Sang Min agreed to the meet, and told him to have Kono meet at their house early the next morning before hanging up.

"We're on," he told his father. "They'll be here at 7 tomorrow."

"Good."

Steve looked around the dining room. "We're going to need somewhere other than this to work at some point."

"Actually, I heard from the Governor earlier. Our new HQ should be ready early next week in the Supreme Court building."

Steve blinked. "The Ali'Iolani Hale?"


"No, the US Supreme Court," John teased, but he was smiling. "Yes, the Ali'Iolani Hale. We could do worse."

"She's definitely taking this seriously, then."

"You thought otherwise?"

Scratching his neck, Steve moved the evidence around on the table in front of him. "No, it's just...." He eyed his dad. "Something seemed odd between the two of you at dinner. There was something under the surface that I couldn't figure out."

John looked as if he was choosing his words carefully. "I trust the people on our task force," he said slowly, "and maybe one or two other people at HPD. Anyone else I treat with caution."

"You think the governor is dirty."

"I think that there are a lot of things that don't add up in the government at a number of levels. Doesn't mean she's involved."

"Doesn't mean she isn't."

John acknowledged that with a slight inclination of his head. "It's a possibility. But one that needs further careful exploration before we do or say anything."

"Don't want to spook the suspects," Steve said, nodding. "Got it."

Taking a long drink of his beer, John eyed Steve until he had to force himself not to squirm under the scrutiny. "You've turned into a fine detective," he said at last. "I mean, I knew you were amazing at your job, I guess I just never realized...well, it's one thing to hear reports. It's another to see it in action."

Steve took a drink while he tried to figure out what to say to that. "Thanks," he said after a moment. "It's nice," he added slowly, "getting to work with you. When I was a kid, there was something so mysterious about what you did. As I got into Naval Intelligence I started to understand it more, and I...." He rubbed a hand at the back of his neck, studying his beer for a moment before looking up at his father. "I wanted to talk to you about it, but I didn't know how."

"I know, and I'm sorry." John leaned forward, putting his hand on Steve's wrist where it lay on the table. "I pushed you away to protect you from all this, and that was my mistake. Once you were old enough, you deserved the right to decide for yourself if you wanted to be involved. But no parent ever wants to let their child near danger."

Steve let out a little laugh. "Danny hammered that point home for me, thanks."

"What?"

"He said when you have kids you'd do anything to protect them. And having met Grace I understand a little better."

John gave Steve's wrist a squeeze before sitting back. "I think you and Danny are good for each other," John said. "I'm sorry I tried to stop you."

"It's okay," Steve said, because even though it wasn't at the time, it was now. "I think you'd have had better luck stopping a tsunami," he said honestly. "I tried to resist for all of a day before even I knew there was no point."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No. Not at all. I'm not sure it would have happened at all otherwise, you know?"

To Steve's surprise, his dad laughed. "I know, believe me," he said. "Your mother was the same way. I was hell bent on giving everything I had to the force and not endangering a wife and kids along the way. But Doris...she didn't take no for an answer. I didn't have it in me to resist for long. And giving in was the smartest thing I ever did."

"Even with the way it all turned out?"

"Even with. Who's to say how it would've turned out otherwise?"


"Good point." Steve took another long draw of his beer. "Whatever happens with Danny," he said, "I don't think I had any other choice. Not really. And I'm okay with that--even if the idea of needing someone else is not high on my list of things to do with my life."

John smiled. "Only in needing someone else do you find real freedom."

Steve tried to place the quote, but couldn't. "Who said that?"

"I don't know, but it's true nonetheless."

The front door opened, and Steve could hear Grace chattering away as she and Danny walked through the house into the dining room. Steve looked around to make sure no upsetting pictures were lying around, but the table was safe.

"Steve!" Grace squealed, running around the table to give him a hug. "Are we going swimming?"

"Uh...what did your dad say?" he asked, looking up at Danny.

"I told her she'd have to ask you."

Steve heard his father's chair scrape the floor as Grace finally let go. "I'll fix the steaks," John said, "and go over the plan with Danny. You go play fish with her."

"Okay, kiddo," Steve said. "Swimming it is."

Steve ran a hand over Danny's shoulder as he walked by on his way to get his suit. When he came back, Grace was in her swimsuit, her hand on the lanai door. "Let's go!"

He let her drag him out to the beach and into the water, keeping one eye on her at all times while sneaking glances at the lanai, where his father and Danny were talking and grilling. He caught Danny's eye frequently, giving him a smile when he did.

Grace, as it turned out, was easy to talk to. She talked constantly, about anything and everything, letting him know when his input was required. He wondered if all eight-year-olds were this easy to talk to. He answered questions about the fish that might be in the sea around them, and whether tsunamis were really as tall as skyscrapers and as fast as racecars. He also promised to get her to the top of a mountain if one came.

By the time she'd tired out, dinner was ready. Steve led her back up to the lanai, where Danny was waiting with two towels, one he tossed to Steve, and another he used to dry Grace off. She threw her sundress back on over her bathing suit and sat down to eat with them, but by the time dinner was done, she was nodding off, propping her cheek up with her first.

"I think it's time to get her home," Danny said, smiling at Grace in a way that made Steve's stomach flip. When a slightly different, but no less warm, smile was directed at him, Steve swallowed hard. "You coming with us?" Danny asked.

Steve nodded, glancing at his father. "Let me just clean up a bit first."

"I'll get it," John said. "You go on."

"No, it's okay," Steve said. "I'll help."

Danny pushed back his chair. "I need a few minutes to get her into bed anyway," he said, picking Grace up and settling her in his arms. "Just come over when you're done."

"I'll help you with the door," Steve said, leading the way back through the house and holding open the front door. He went to the car, opening the passenger door for Danny to put Grace into the seat.

Danny reached up to pull Steve's head down for a kiss. "See you in a few minutes."

"Yeah."

He left, and Steve went back into the house to find his father already clearing things away. Steve jumped in to help, clearing away the last of the dishes and taking care of the grill. His father was putting the dishes in the dishwasher when he rejoined him in the kitchen.

"Is that the last of it?" John asked as Steve handed him one lone fork that Grace had apparently knocked under her chair.

"That's it."

"Then you should head out."

"You sure?"

John turned around, leaning back against the sink. "Yeah. Go see Danny."

"Dad...." Steve moved forward, giving his father a hug for a long moment before pulling back. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Everything."

John gave him a bemused smile. "That covers a lot. But you're welcome."

***

Danny had just come downstairs from putting Grace to bed when he heard the faint knock at the door. He opened it to find Steve on the other side. "I left it unlocked," he said. "You don't have to knock."

"Oh." The look on Steve's face made it clear he'd never even thought about that possibility. "Okay."

Clueless should never look that adorable. Danny shook his head, leaning in for a kiss before leading Steve over to the couch and dragging him down beside him. "Hi," Danny said, twisting himself until he could lean in comfortably for a few more kisses.

"Hi," Steve said against Danny's lips between kisses.

Danny tasted his way across Steve's cheek to his neck before he sat back a little, frowning. "You took a shower."

"A quick one, yeah. I was still a little salty from the ocean."

Danny was absolutely not pouting. "You didn't wait for me?"

"Sorry," Steve said, leaning in to capture Danny's lips. "But I can take another one. In fact," he added, lips trailing back to speak in a low voice right at Danny's ear, "I'm sure I missed a few spots that I might need help with."

Shuddering at the voice and breath in his ear as much as the images those words provided, Danny grabbed Steve's hand. "I will happily take you up on that," he said, pulling Steve to his feet and leading him back to the bathroom off Danny's room.

***

They were drowsing in bed much later, legs tangled, sheets kicked off the bed, hands absently roaming across skin, when Danny asked, "So what were you and your dad talking about earlier?"

"Mmm?" Steve said, clearly too busy learning the contours of Danny's left elbow to put much effort into the question.

"Earlier, when Grace and I got to the house. You looked serious."

"When don't I look serious?"

"More serious than usual."

Steve laughed. "We talked about a lot of things. The case. My mom. You."

"Me?" Danny looked up to meet Steve's eyes. "What about me?"

"Nothing much, nosy." Steve kissed him on the tip of the nose for emphasis, laughing at the glare Danny gave him in return. Steve told him a little about the conversation with his father, and how they'd bonded--Danny's word, not Steve's--over police work and relationships.

Danny kissed Steve on the chest, the nearest skin he could find, when he was done. "Good," he said. "I'd hate to see the two of you at odds for long. It was eating at him, I could tell."

"What about me?"

"You, too. But I'd known him longer, and I could tell it was hard having you so far away--and not just the miles. Fathers and their kids," Danny said with a shrug. "It's a thing."

"A thing?"

Danny nodded. "A thing."

"You and Grace seem close," Steve said after a moment. "She's a great kid. And you're a great father."

"Yeah, maybe...I don't know."

Steve tilted his head at what looked like an uncomfortable angle to look down at Danny. "You don't know?"


"Well, there's the fact that any given day I could get myself killed chasing after some meth-head scumbag. Then what kind of father would I be?"

"I always looked up to my father for that," Steve said. "Even with everything else, I admired that about him. That he had the strength to do that, no matter what the cost might be, and all the sacrifices involved. I'm sure Gracie will feel the same way."

"Maybe. Either that, or she may think I'm just a selfish son of a bitch. Because the truth is...I need this. I need to do what I'm good at, and be reminded I'm good at what I do. And I need to know that this power I have is here for a reason. From the moment I realized what was going on, I knew I had to do something with it, y'know?"

Steve was silent for a long time. "I can't help wondering," he said eventually, "how many lives I could've saved over the years if I hadn't blocked it out, or whatever I did."

"You didn't know," Danny said. "You can't beat yourself up. Believe me, I've been down that road all the times that I tried to rewind and it didn't work."

"I know."

Danny could tell from the tone that knowing was making no difference in Steve's massive guilt complex. He also knew from experience that it would take time to reconcile everything. He couldn't make that happen. But he could help distract Steve when he started to brood too much.

He rolled over, half on top of Steve, hand drifting down Steve's chest and across his abdomen. "So, that thing about SEALs not really needing a lot of sleep--is that true?"


"Maybe," Steve said with a half smile. "But don't cops need sleep?"

"Ever hear of stakeouts? It's our own version of Hell Week, only it's every other month."

"In that case," Steve said, thrusting into Danny's hand a little, "let's see what we can do with all that time we don't need to sleep."

***

The thing about criminals is that when you chase them long enough, you stop expecting them to be smart. Danny had drilled Kono on all the usual possibilities that could come up that morning until Steve had dragged him away, leaving her in John and Chin's hands, but anyone who'd ever done undercover work knew you couldn't account for every possibility.

Like sand. You'd have to be pretty paranoid to suspect someone of being a cop because they have sand in their hair in Hawaii. Kono covered, but Sang Min had connections they didn't know about--connections in his own precinct that he would be tracking down later. And she was made.

And then Steve, being completely insane, had driven their surveillance truck through the wall to protect Kono. Danny spent the next few minutes trying to take out the bad guys and keep himself alive, but everything came back into focus when he heard Steve yell, "No!"

The firing had stopped, and Danny looked around, expecting Steve to be hit, but he wasn't. He was standing over Sang Min, who was lying dead on the floor. Danny ran over to him. "What happened?"


"He's dead." Danny had never seen such a desperate look on Steve's face. "He was our only chance at finding out who's behind all this."

Danny knew he didn't have time to waste. He reached for his control of time and a second later, they were in a firefight all over again, only standing next to Sang Min, who Steve immediately disarmed and knocked to the ground.

The guns stopped again, and Danny heard John calling out from the truck checking to see if everyone was okay. When everyone was accounted for, Danny let himself breathe again. Steve had zip tied Sang Min's hands behind his back, and was hauling him to his feet as he came around.

John was limping over the rubble with Chin and Kono to check on the rest of Sang Min's men. Danny followed Steve over to an adjoining room that hadn't been damaged. Steve pulled out a knife and slit the zip tie holding Sang Min's hands before shoving him into a chair. When he'd used two more zip ties to secure Sang Min to the chair, Steve straightened.

"Stay there," he said to Sang Min, as if he could go anywhere. He turned and joined Danny a few feet away. "You okay?" he asked Danny.

"I'm fine. How are you?"


"I'll be better when this asshole gives us the name of who hired Hesse." Steve took a deep breath, rubbing his eyes with one hand. "Thanks," he said quietly, "for...." He moved his hand around in a circular motion that Danny interpreted as 'rewinding.'

Danny put his hand on Steve's shoulder. "No problem. Now we just have to convince him that it's in his best interests to tell us what we want to know."

"I might have an idea how to do that," Steve said, staring a corkboard on the wall. He pulled out his phone. "Be right back," he said as he walked out a side door.

John joined Danny at the edge of the room. "Kono's outside coordinating with HPD. Chin's bringing the audio so we can show him what we've got on him." He looked around, frowning. "Where'd Steve go?"

"He had to make a call, apparently," Danny said, nodding at the door.

Chin walked in with the recorder, placing it on a table near Sang Min and hitting play. Sang Min's voice came through the speakers. "Getting them out of China is easy. Paying for it, that's the hard part."

"Laser audio surveillance," Chin said. "Wires are so last century."

"I'm gonna sue you for entrapment," Sang Min said, having the balls to sound amused. "And when I'm done collecting, I'm gonna find that little hottie you sent in here. And this time, I'm gonna be less of a gentleman."

And really, if Chin hadn't smacked him upside the head with an ashtray, Danny would've done it with the nearest solid object himself.

"That's police brutality!" Sang Min shouted.

"I didn't see anything," Steve said from the doorway, where he'd clearly been standing at least long enough to see. He looked at Danny. "Did you see anything?"

Danny shrugged. "Not a thing." Danny turned to John. "You?"

"Nothing."

"You're all gonna pay when I sue this whole department!" Sang Min pulled at his restraints, but it didn't do any good. "That son of a bitch hit me!"

"You want to file a report, you're going to need a witness," Steve said calmly. "Do you want to file a report?"

Sang Min glared at him. "I wanna go to jail now."

Steve continued to look at him calmly, and that look was starting to concern Danny. "As soon as you tell us who hired Hesse to come after my father."

"Hesse didn't need a reason--you had his brother. That's what we call motivation."

"Maybe. But Hesse didn't have the contacts to get the info and come here--I know, I hunted the man for years, and I'd have gotten wind of it. There's someone else behind it. Tell me who it is and where to find them."

Sang Min sat back, giving his best stony look. "I don't know anything."

"Well, see," Steve said, moving to the corkboard, "I do know something." He reached up and pulled down a picture off the board. "This is your wife and kid, right?"

When Sang Min just raised an eyebrow, Steve said, "Do you know where they are right now? I do. Your wife is getting her nails done on Kalakaua Avenue. And your boy is at his private school in Diamond Head."

Sang Min was looking less smug now. "You wanted to go to jail?" Steve asked. "You're going to jail. For a long time. Your family is about to lose a husband and a father. In my eyes, that makes them your victims. The trouble is, the law doesn't see it that way. Your wife, she's from Rwanda. She'll be sent back--they both will. If they're lucky, they'll make it to a refugee camp. And your son? Seven's old enough to hold a gun for the Hutu militia."

Steve shoved the picture at Sang Min, who looked as if he might cry. "I can prevent all that," Steve said. "But I don't help people who don't help me."

"What kind of cops are you?" Sang Min said, his voice breaking.

"The new kind."

After a moment, Sang Min nodded. "Okay. Okay."

"Give me a name," Steve said.

"Wo Fat."

Danny heard John make a sound, and turned to look at him, but John waved him off, so he went back to watching Steve.

"Where can we find Wo Fat?"

Sang Min closed his eyes. "Building on King and Alakea--the one with the construction up top. On the penthouse that's being renovated. He's making a deal there before he leaves. I've got him on a freighter tonight at Honolulu Harbor at ten."

"What kind of deal?"

"I don't know. Meeting his banker or something. He didn't tell me and I didn't ask."

"What time?"


"Now, I think. I can't exactly see my watch. But anytime now."

Steve looked at Danny for a long moment before turning his attention back to Sang Min. "Chin's going to take you to a cell," Steve said slowly. "And if I find out you're lying, I'm going to video tape your wife and kid leaving the country and bring you a copy."

He turned and looked around. "Where's Dad?"

Danny looked behind him, but John was gone. "He must've gone outside."

"Chin," Steve said nodding at Sang Min, "you got this?"

"Yeah. Go."

Steve tapped Danny on the arm and led him out the door. Kono was talking with an HPD officer, but stopped when they walked up. "Have you seen my dad?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, he got into a cruiser and took off like a bat out of hell."

Steve stared at Danny in dawning horror. "He went after Wo Fat."

Danny was already running for the passenger door of the nearest cruiser before Steve snapped out of it and ran for the driver's side door.

***

Steve drove as fast as he could as Danny tried over and over again, save for one call for backup, to get John on his cell phone. He'd had no luck by the time they pulled up to the building, another cruiser already there, lights still flashing. Steve jumped out of the car, not bothering to shut the door, Danny close on his heels.

They jumped into one of the main elevators, but pressing the button for the top floor did nothing. Danny grabbed Steve's arm and pointed at a sign. "Top five floors accessible from freight elevators only."

"Fuck!" Steve raced back out of the main elevator, finding the freight elevator tucked away in a corner and jabbing the button.

"Your dad's a smart man," Danny said, while Steve continued to hit the button, as if that would make it come faster. "He's not going to get into a situation he shouldn't, not without backup."

Steve turned and gave Danny a look. "This is personal for him. You think he's going to rationalize every move?"

The elevator dinged, saving Danny from an answer, and they jumped inside, hitting the top button. Steve checked his gun for lack of anything better to do, willing the elevator to go faster.

They jumped off as soon as the doors were open enough to let them out, running out onto the top floor, finding an area laden with construction materials and equipment. There were no voices, but Steve could hear a strange, strangled sound from the other side of the floor.

He ran over, blinking several times at the person on the ground, but it didn't change the fact that it was his father, lying there, a growing patch of red spreading across his beige aloha shirt. "Dad!" Steve holstered his gun, dropping to the floor beside his father to rip his shirt open and look at the wound.

Too much blood. There was blood everywhere, and Steve put his hand over the wound, but the blood just kept flowing over his fingers. "Danny!"

Some sort of large fabric appeared in front of Steve and he grabbed it, pressing it hard against the wound. "Dad, come on. Hang in there."

He saw his father swallow, felt his hand on Steve's wrist, just above where it held the cloth on the wound. "Steve."

"Hang in there, Dad. Help is on the way." He'd heard Danny talking in the background, and assumed it was to call an ambulance. "Queen's is just five blocks away. They'll be here any second."

"It was Wo Fat," John said, his voice sounding thinner by the second, and Steve gathered him closer, until John's head was resting on Steve's lap. "You have to go after him."

"HPD was right behind us," Steve said. "They'll find him." He darted a glance over his shoulder to see Danny on the phone, but his eyes were on Steve, and he nodded at Steve as he talked. "He won't get away."

John's chuckle came out as a raspy cough that made him wince, and Steve pushed even harder on the wound. "He always does," John said, making Steve frown.

"How do you know?"

"Toolbox," John said, and his grip on Steve's wrist was almost painful. "In the toolbox."

"Okay, Dad, you can show me when we get home."

John shook his head. "I'm proud of you, son," he said quietly, and Steve had never had flashbacks to missions before, but he was having one now, to that phone call thousands of miles away.

"I'm proud of you, too, Dad."

There was another squeeze on his wrist, fainter than the last. "You and Danny..." John said, his words interrupted by a coughing fit that made Steve's chest hurt in response, "you're good. For each other. For Hawaii."

"Yeah, and you'll make us better. Just wait and see."

John shook his head, and Steve wrapped his arm more tightly around John's shoulder. "Come on, Dad. Stay with me."

"I love you, son."

"Love you, too, Dad, but we're gonna have time to--"

Steve felt the difference. John's hand went slack around Steve's wrist, his eyes becoming unfocused and free of pain, and his body going suddenly limp. "Dad! Don't you fucking die on me!" Steve let him down onto the floor and moved over him to start CPR.

He didn't know how long he'd been doing it before he felt strong arms encircle him from behind. "Steve. Let him go."

Steve stopped compressions, staring down at his father's lifeless face for a long moment as he felt everything shift, that weird silence descending, as if the world had been plunged under water. Everything else went still except Danny, whose arms were still around him, his mouth pressed against the side of Steve's neck, saying words Steve couldn't even comprehend.

A minute must have passed, because things started moving again, the world continuing on, except for his father, who was still as motionless as he had been when time had stopped.

Steve let Danny pull him to his feet and away from the body as paramedics went to work, but he knew it wouldn't make any difference. No one could cheat death twice.

He closed his eyes, unable to look at the scene anymore as he leaned into Danny, taking comfort from his warmth.

***

Steve's arms were straining to make every stroke as he swam the last 50 yards to shore. As he trudged out of the surf onto the sand, he saw Danny standing on the lanai, waiting. And watching.

Nothing new there. Danny had been watching every minute of the three days since Steve's father had died, carefully waiting for Steve to break. But Steve had no intention of breaking.

"Hey," Danny said, as Steve stepped onto the lanai. "How was China?"

Steve couldn't help but laugh--Danny was good at managing that. "Still there," he said. "Sorry, I'd have brought you some rice, but I forgot my dry bag."

"It's okay, we can order out later, since Hawaii has decent Chinese."

Steve stopped in the middle of drying his hair, one eye covered with the towel. "I didn't know you liked Chinese food."

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me yet," Danny said.

Which felt weird. Because it was like they'd known each other for a hundred years in some ways, and then Danny would reveal something that totally surprised him. "Someday you should have real Chinese food. In China," Steve said, surprising himself with how much he wanted to be the one to take Danny there. He wasn't usually keen on revisiting areas that held such memories of operations, but he had a feeling Danny could make a lot of places new again.

"You ready for this afternoon?" Danny asked, his voice growing softer.

Steve nodded, covering his whole face with the towel, even though he was dry enough. He had to go upstairs and shower and put on his uniform and go say goodbye to his father. Mary had called to say she couldn't make it in time, something about a new job and being unable to get time off, which Steve wasn't quite buying.

He couldn't blame her, though. If this had been ten days ago, and the call he'd had with his father had gone differently, he'd be feeling the same kinds of resentment and regrets.

Instead, he was standing here with the man who'd saved his father. Who'd saved Steve from a host of resentment and regrets, and who Steve was starting to think could save him from lifetime of the same.

Sliding the towel off his face and down around his neck, Steve stepped forward until he was pressed against Danny, ignoring Danny's protests about getting him wet. "You're wearing shorts and a t-shirt," Steve said, leaning in for a kiss. "You'll dry."

"Okay, but if you do this every morning before we go to work, when I'm dressed appropriately, I'm expensing my dry cleaning bill."

The thought of Danny being there every morning before work left a warm feeling in Steve's gut. Danny lived a couple of blocks away with his daughter, sure, but he was renting, and his lease was up in a couple of months. And Steve now owned a house--or he would soon enough.

"We have a lot of work ahead of us," Steve said, keeping his ideas about living arrangements to himself for the time being.

"We do." Danny was back to that watchful gaze that Steve had learned not to frown about the last few days. "You're sure you want to stay and run the task force? I mean, I know you told the Governor you had to, for your father, but--"

"But nothing. Wo Fat's still out there. And the governor may know more than she's letting on." Steve leaned forward and rested his forehead against Danny's. "I have to do this. Not just for Dad. But because it's right, and I can."

Danny smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes, Steve could tell, even when they were this close. "Okay. Then that's what we'll do."

He wondered if Danny had the same apprehension at the idea of the two of them being apart that Steve did. He'd never met anyone in all his travels that had a gift like either of theirs. And that sense of connection between them was impossible for Steve to ignore. He didn't want to be separated from Danny, he wanted to stay and explore their gifts, maybe find out where the hell they'd come from.

Most of all he wanted to stay and explore Danny. He thought maybe Danny felt the same way about being separated, and wondered briefly what might have happened if Steve had decided to go back to the SEALs. If Danny would've enlisted just to follow. But Steve didn't want that. He needed Danny to challenge him, and the Navy would never allow that kind of environment.

Besides, that would have taken them both away from Grace, and Steve would never allow that.

"Come on," Danny said, tilting his chin forward until their lips met. "We need a shower."

Steve sniffed. "You seem clean enough."

"You need a shower, then," Danny said, "and I feel like joining you. Got a problem with that?"

"No problem with that ever," Steve replied, stealing one more kiss before he let Danny pull back just a little, grabbing his hand and leading him through the house to the stairs.

---
END