By
AS
PG-13 for emotional intensity
“Three weeks and
counting,” Chin’s long suffering comment as he entered
the office with Duke Lukela close at his heels.
Duke’s response was a slight nod.
Both detectives had been with the team a long time and knew that the
planning and subterfuge that had already probably been
quietly started would be on the front burner from this point on. Duke glanced in the cubicle nearest
McGarrett’s office, a little surprised to find it empty. He nudged Chin and pointed it out.
“Man, I know Danny
always goes all out with these birthday plans. But he better shake it and get
in here or he’s gonna have some major pilikia to deal with as well as birthday
plans.”
As if on cue, the
office door opened and Danny Williams walked in. Heading to his own office, he accidentally
bumped into the corner of the secretary’s desk.
This earned him a little good natured ribbing
from Duke who couldn’t help himself.
“Hey Danny – aren’t you getting a bit old for the late night routine and barely making it to work on time?”
Dan turned
confused. He wasn’t
sure what Duke meant. But
before he could question him, Chin cut in.
“Out late? No, it’s called
birthday planning too late into the night and too early this morning
probably. Going to get the boss good
this year, aren’t you?”
Williams was saved from answering by the sudden arrival of Steve
McGarrett as the door opened and the taller, dark haired man blew through the
front office. He spared a glance at his
three detectives and an eyebrow went up.
“Nothing to do
this morning?”
In lieu of a reply,
Chin ducked into his cubicle, intent on at least appearing
to be busy lest the boss find something that would occupy way more of his time
than he wanted. Duke moved a little
slower to his office as he wanted to see if Steve was suspicious
of whatever Danny was planning. Just at
the door to his office, Steve turned.
“Danno, come on in
here when you’ve got a minute.”
“Sure, Steve.”
McGarrett’s reasoning for wanting Williams in his office to talk was
two-fold, business and personal. There
were cases that he needed to go over with his second in command, but even more
importantly, he needed to try to ferret out clues as to what Williams was
planning this year in regards to his birthday.
He knew he wouldn’t be able to find out much,
if anything. However, he needed to try
anyway. Once Williams joined him, Steve
pursued the birthday questioning first.
As was expected, Dan played wide-eyed innocent and Steve shook his head
in mock frustration. He would never let
Danno know, but over the years he had come to
anticipate and enjoy the celebrations that his friend engineered. Well at least he knew he did not have that
much longer to wait to find out what the plot was this year.
****
“GGGGRRRRRRR.”
Williams was
irritated and growing even more so later in the day as he sat in his office
trying to wrap up the paperwork on the latest Christmas bandit. It wasn’t the case
he was frustrated with. They had been able to crack this one fairly
quickly, holding down the number of victimized holiday shoppers. No, the subject of his irritation was the
headache that had plagued him through out the day. He knew he had probably already surpassed the
alleged limit on aspirin but he needed to do something to get rid of it.
“Well I see at least
this time you’re paying the price for burning the candle at both ends the last
couple of days, Danno.” Steve McGarrett couldn’t help the joking comment as he leaned against the
doorframe of Dan’s office, a small grin flashing across his face.
“Whoever said
anything about burning the candle at both ends?
Can’t a guy simply have a headache without everyone he knows jumping to
conclusions?”
The annoyed retort
surprised McGarrett, put him on the defensive.
“Hey I was just joking. What put
you in a mood?”
Williams swallowed
the pills by themselves, grimacing a little at the awful taste they left in his
mouth. He opened a desk drawer and threw
the pill bottle into it before answering McGarrett.
“Had a headache
since I got up. Gets to you after a while, you know?” Dan glanced up. He knew Steve could relate to headaches
considering the stress he endured as head of Five-O. Yet he was also cognizant of the thought that
he should not have snapped at his friend.
“Sorry, Steve.
I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”
McGarrett waved him
off, assuring that the apology wasn’t necessary. “Thought I’d see if you
wanted to get some dinner.”
“Thanks for the
offer. But actually I just want to go home and go to bed for the next week or
so.”
McGarrett’s brow
furrowed. This was not something he had
expected and was very out of character for his friend. “Are you getting sick?”
Williams insisted he
was fine, just tired. Worn out actually,
but he would never admit that to McGarrett.
He was positive there was nothing wrong.
Just an overdose of all of the stress that usually
went with the approaching holidays.
Yet when he finally got home that night and lay down, he was surprised
at the way the world seemed to spin around him.
He didn’t normally think about it, but maybe he
was getting sick. He decided to wait a
few days before he did anything about it.
For
McGarrett, Dan’s refusal on dinner meant that he had to scramble to cancel
previously made plans. The dinner invite
had been an excuse to get Dan to where the rest of the staff was waiting. After Dan left, McGarrett went back to his
office and made several phone calls – the main one being to the restaurant. He ended up speaking to Duke who was amazed
that Danny had simply wanted to go home.
He questioned whether or not Danny was trying
to circumvent the birthday celebration.
Steve had to admit that he wasn’t sure, but
that it did not appear that way.
Restless, McGarrett moved to the lanai and then back by his desk. Finally, he reached for his jacket and
slipped it on. As he reached to switch
off the desk lamp, his eyes fell on the calendar. Not wanting to give too much away this year,
in the evening part of the day he had simply written
the letter ‘D’ there. Now he tapped it
with his finger.
“Hauoli la
****
Danny slammed the
apartment door shut behind him, frustrated with himself. He’d felt fine when
he had first gotten out of bed this morning.
But by the time he had returned from jogging
with Steve and gotten ready for work his head was pounding and his right leg
felt strangely numb. By mid afternoon,
he had felt like a complete klutz as he tripped over a few objects that no one
but he could see. Then the proverbial
icing on the cake as McGarrett decided that, since it was fairly
quiet, it was a good day to run through preliminary re-qualifying at the
shooting range. The pistol had been so
heavy in his hand and his score showed that there had been problems. Steve had looked at him questioningly but
seemed to accept his lame explanation.
His hand trembled and felt weak for the remainder of the day – a fact
that he had barely been able to hide from McGarrett. Weary to the bone, he collapsed on the sofa,
not even bothering to open the lanai doors as he usually did. Two days prior when he had
snapped at McGarrett over his headache he had silently decided to call a doctor
if he still felt ill in a few days.
He drifted off to sleep after deciding that he needed to call a doctor
in the morning.
****
He ran down the steps
of the office building to the parking lot.
Steve was going to be in a rage when he finally got to the Palace. But then he had not
expected the doctor’s appointment to take as long as it had. That was what he got for not going to Doc
Bergman. Yet he had picked this unknown
doctor because he wasn’t Bergman, wasn’t in any way affiliated with Five-O, did
not have a chance of knowing McGarrett personally or telling him that his
second in command had been in to see him before Williams was ready to tell him
himself. Not having seen too many
doctors outside of Bergman for the past several years, Dan had been surprised
by the length of time, amount of questions & tests the doctor had asked and
done. He hadn’t
seemed very concerned about anything though so now all Dan had to do was wait
for the results to come in sometime during the next seventy-two hours. Well, he figured he had waited almost four
days since the start of the headaches so he shouldn’t
be too uptight over waiting another seventy-two hours to find out their
cause. He got in his car and hurriedly
set out for the Palace.
McGarrett sat at his
desk working his way through a pile of paperwork. Outwardly, he appeared to be nothing more
than the calm efficient paper-pusher he felt he spent most of his time
being. On the inside, on this morning he
was like an ancient Irish clansman with the fire of his temper burning bright
inside his gut. It was now approaching
A knock sounded on
his office door and in walked Williams at a fairly quick
pace.
“Sorry, Steve. Had an appointment
early this morning that took way longer than I thought it would.”
“Everything
all right?”
McGarrett forced his
voice to be calm and level. This was not
the time for what might be an unnecessary confrontation. He observed Danny as unobtrusively as one
cop could another. There did not appear
to be cause for concern.
“Sure – as far as I know anyway.”
Lord, he hoped there was nothing wrong. For now, he would keep his concerns to himself. One of them worried at a time was more than enough! Plus he did not want the constant worry and questions that telling McGarrett would net him. Over the years the head of Five-O had become Dan’s closest friend, a relationship with emotions that he knew Steve reciprocated. However while having your boss also as your best friend had a few advantages, the biggest disadvantage was Steve’s tendency to ‘flip out’ whenever Danny faced a dangerous situation or was injured. He would do anything to circumvent that concern. Although he wasn’t sure what would be worse – having his friend worry about him or the wrath he would incur when Steve learned of the secret he kept. He’d take the chance and cross his fingers that there would end up being no reason for the revelation.
McGarrett succinctly
brought his second in command up to date with the goings on of the morning, but
the phone rang before he had a chance to ask for an update from him.
“Yes, Lani – ok tell
the chief we’ll be there shortly.”
He stood and blindly
reached behind him to grab his suit jacket off its hook. Starting around the desk, he motioned for
Williams to join him as they went to the crime scene of yet another holiday
bandit.
****
Barely forty-eight
hours later and in pursuit of yet another holiday criminal, McGarrett
and Williams entered the Palace at a quick pace. Danny found he had to
practically run up the stairs to keep up with the steam-rolling
boss. Annoyance made Steve even faster
paced than usual but it was understandable.
The bandit had struck again early in the morning right under the
watchful noses of HPD. McGarrett already
knew that the press was going to have a field day with this case. That would mean only one thing – heat from above. It was
something he was used to but not something he liked.
They entered Five-O’s
offices and started towards McGarrett’s office.
As they passed by the other offices, Steve called to Duke and Chin Ho to
join them. Lani stopped the men as they
started to pass her desk, handing a couple of messages to Steve and one to Dan.
“The woman acted like
this was important, Danny.”
He glanced quickly
down at the paper and noticed the name and phone number of the doctor’s office.
His brow furrowed as he wondered what the doctor wanted this time. Shoving it into his pocket, he endured the
hoots and snickers of his co-workers as they relentlessly teased him. Looking over
at McGarrett, Dan saw an eyebrow arch and a questioning look appear on his
face. He knew that too much had been
going on of late with what this doctor expected from
him. He would need a plausible
explanation soon if he wanted to avoid the jokes from Chin and Duke as well as
endless friendly interrogation from Steve.
He wasn’t sure which one he was more anxious to
avoid.
“Can it wait?”
“Sure, Steve.”
“Then let’s go,
gentlemen.”
****
The next morning
Dan’s phone rang in his apartment just as he was preparing to leave for the
Palace.
“Mr. Williams, this is
Caught off guard, Dan
was unsure how to react until he remembered he had never called the doctor’s
office back the previous day. This must
have been what they had wanted to talk to him about. He wondered what it was for and why, now wishing he had put Steve off long enough to return
the call. For some unknown reason, he
found himself stuttering as he explained that there was no way he could be
there at that time. Fortunately
the person on the other end of the phone was extremely accommodating and was
able to change the time to four-thirty in the afternoon. He assured her that he would be there for the
appointment at the same time he silently wondered what he was going to tell
McGarrett this time.
Late that evening,
Dan opened the door to his apartment, completely exhausted. It had been over thirteen hours since he had
left it that morning. Somedays he
wondered why he bothered with the monthly rent.
It would be cheaper to somehow store a mattress
at the Palace. Stumbling as he moved
into the living room, he shed his suit jacket, laying it on the closest
chair. He thought about food, realizing
he had not eaten anything since grabbing an early lunch. In the same instant
he acknowledged that he really wasn’t hungry.
Three days – that’s how long the technician at
the hospital said it would take before the test results were back. He knew he was too weary to worry about much
of anything at the moment. Walking into his bedroom, stumbling a bit
because it felt like he was losing feeling in his leg, Dan collapsed on the bed
and fell asleep.
****
Danny sat in the
doctor’s actual office this time, not one of the examining rooms. As he waited he
thought back to the phone call he had made to the Palace early this
morning. Steve had not been very happy
with the news that he would be running late because of a last minute
appointment. Williams had not told him
what kind of an appointment it was but had promised the boss that he would explain
it all later as well as make up for all of the missed time. It was now four
days after the CAT scan and he hoped this appointment would be the end of the
mess of all of the half-truths he had been forced to
tell. He did not know how much longer he
could keep the truth hidden from Steve, Chin and Duke. For his part, McGarrett had simply reiterated
that he needed his second in command in the office as soon as possible so that
they could go over ideas for nabbing the latest
holiday bandit to aggravate his ulcers.
Finally, the doctor
entered and moved to sit down behind his desk.
He picked up a manila file folder, studying it carefully for several
minutes.
“Well, Mr. Williams,
the test results are all back, including the emergency ones we had you come in
for yesterday. You have what we call
meningiomas.
“In English, Doctor,
please.” Unconsciously, Danny rubbed at
his hairline, trying in vain to ease the headache that had again woke him up during the night. It had intensified as the hours passed and he
knew it would only get worse throughout the day.
“A brain
tumor.”
Danny sat there,
stunned into muteness, unable to react, not knowing how to. Tumors – people usually died from those. He briefly wondered if he was about to be
given his own death sentence and thought about how much time he might have
left. How was he going to explain THIS to Steve? The question leaped into his mind. He found he could not answer it. His head now also pounded from the thumping
of his heart.
“Now the good news is
that from the placement of yours, we believe that it can be completely removed
with surgery. There is, of course,
always some risk with brain surgery, though so you need to carefully think
about all of the…”
Danny stopped
listening. A brain
tumor, surgery, risks, alternatives…
“I need to go. I’m late for a meeting.”
“Mr. Williams, there
are many things we still need to discuss. “
“No, I’m late as it
is. I need to think about this. I’ll call you tomorrow with a decision.”
The doctor was aghast. This was typically not a
reaction that he saw in most of his patients. Didn’t this man
realize he had very few options available?
Didn’t he hear him tell him that the surgery
had already been scheduled? Didn’t he understand that there were other decisions that
needed to be made, forms that needed to be completed before the surgery, before
the tumor got worse and he was unable to make a conscious decision if it came
to that? Hurriedly the doctor wrote out
several prescriptions, explaining what they were for – pain relief,
anti-inflammatory, and seizure medicine if it came to that point.
Completely unnerved,
Dan grabbed the small pieces of paper and fled the room.
Arriving at the Palace, he encountered the glowering face
of Steve McGarrett. Yet shock still
insulated his thoughts and emotions so he did not react the way he normally
would have to Steve’s Irish temper. In fact he had nearly no response at all to
the boss – a detail that was not lost on McGarrett but simply filed away to be
discussed at a later time. Danny, Duke and Chin Ho joined Steve in his
office to discuss plans for nabbing the thief who had
turned holiday shopping into a miserable experience for most of
“Gentlemen, we need to discuss who is going to handle Christmas – especially if we don’t get our hands on this guy before hand.”
Chin and Duke
uneasily looked at each. Neither one wanted to be on call that day, preferring instead to
enjoy the holiday with their wives and children even if the children
were nearly grown. However
both knew that it was not fair to put the entire burden of holiday coverage on
the boss. Steve routinely covered the
holiday so that his two married detectives could enjoy the day and his second
in command could fly east to visit his aunt if the caseload permitted.
Williams, who had
barely been paying attention throughout the meeting, focused on what he had
heard the doctor say earlier about the surgery.
He thought about how he had said that the surgery was already scheduled
for December Thirtieth. He thought about the various prescriptions
that he had been given, about how miserable he had
been feeling and how he really just wanted to go and crawl under a rock for a
few days. Instantly he knew he would not
be traveling anywhere this particular holiday.
Glancing at Steve, he realized how tired he looked and knew what he
needed to do for his friend.
“I’ll cover it.”
“Danno –“
“No big deal to
me. I’m not going anywhere this year so
you guys take the day off.”
McGarrett nodded in
agreement and the other two sighed in relief.
Privately Steve wondered what had made his friend decide not to make the
trip this year. He’d
have to remember to ask him about it later.
As busy as they seemed to be this year, he wasn’t
sure when he would actually have the time to talk to his friend. He hoped it was soon. There was a certain lack of talkativeness
about Danno suddenly. His second in
command usually waxed verbatim about any number of things. Lately he never seemed to be around to talk
after everyone left – a fact that was beginning to irritate McGarrett.
****
As the four men
entered the office a collective sigh of relief could
be heard. The latest holiday bandit was
finally in HPD lockup and just in the nick of
time. Last minute holiday shoppers and
early revelers would be safe from the annoyance. Entering McGarrett’s office, each man
collapsed in to a chair. No one said a
word. Each knew the relief that everyone
felt. Finally Steve spoke, telling the
team to go home. No one argued with the
boss. Chin and Duke left quickly before
he could change his mind. Steve glanced
at Dan who was still sitting on the sofa.
“In a hurry?”
Williams shook his
head in answer.
Steve slowly rose and
walked over to the lanai doors, opening them.
“Join me?”
Danny reluctantly rose and followed him out to the lanai. He leaned against the railing, silent, squinting his eyes in the slowly setting late afternoon sun. McGarrett glanced over at his second in command. Danno had been so quiet all day it was almost unnerving to McGarrett. He found himself not sure how to start a conversation with his friend.
“Well I guess another one bites the dust so to speak.”
Williams made a noise
in response as he wondered how soon he could get out of the office and go
home. The last several days had
exhausted him; his leg felt like it was growing number each day and his arm
trembled uncontrollably whenever he was not consciously trying to control
it.
Steve shifted,
turning to face his friend. He strove
for a conversational tone, to not sound like he was
interrogating Danny. “So what made you
decide to work Christmas? You know if
you want, you could still go visit Clara and I’ll cover the day.”
“I said I’d do it.”
Dan briefly regretted his short terse response, knowing it was unnecessary and also likely to get Steve to start asking questions he wasn’t prepared to answer. He had resolved to not tell Steve what was going on until it became an absolute necessity. Snapping at his friend unnecessarily was not the way to hide what was wrong. It would only serve to fuel McGarrett’s insatiable curiosity – not something Dan wanted to spark. Explaining things to Steve – Dan shuddered every time he tried to think of a way to do it, which was why he was attempting to deal with this particular issue without the support of his closest friend.
Momentarily, startled by the abruptness of the reply, Steve at first
did not know how to respond and then found that he needed to quell his surging
irritation. Danno never had the attitude
with him that he was showing of late. What was
going on? All he had wanted to do was give him the option of leaving town
and if Williams still insisted on covering the day, then he had planned on arranging something so that they could celebrate the
holiday together. Not normally a
sentimental person, he simply blamed his mood on the season. However a little voice in his head told Steve
that he needed to proceed very calmly and carefully.
“Sounds like
it’s going to be a pretty quiet day. What are you going to do?”
“Haven’t
thought about it. No big deal anyway – just another day.”
Williams barely knew
the specifics of what they were talking about, did not realize that he had
snapped out a reply. All he could
concentrate on was the nausea that had suddenly cropped up. He knew he needed to get out of the office
soon. His headache was severe enough
that it made his eyes hurt. Lately,
because of the long hours he worked his vision had not been the best – blurring
at times, causing him to see double at other times. He did not remember the doctor mentioning the
complication.
Annoyed beyond any
measure of control, McGarrett lost his temper.
“What is going on with you lately? It’s like you don’t
care about anything. Or at least that’s the way you’re acting.”
Steve instantly
regretted lashing out at Danny. It was
not something that either one normally did to the other. Both understood the pressure involved in
their jobs and usually gave each other a lot of leeway when it came to stress,
habitually going out of their way to avoid an emotional eruption with each
other, even though both knew that it was possible to do so and have the other
understand where it was coming from.
“Maybe I don’t,” Dan’s quick comeback was as angry as the question had been. “Maybe I just want you to leave me alone for once.”
Dan’s voice was both aggravated and resigned. His fists gripped the railing before he turned and stormed back into the office, tripping over who knows what as he walked. He was SO tired. He wanted only to go home and take one of those magic little pills that knocked him out to where he did not feel his head hurt. He heard the angry footsteps behind him and sighed, nearly falling yet again over probably nothing.
A hand reached out to grab his arm, breaking his fall. The hand moved across his shoulders, gripping them and holding him steady until he could pretend to have regained his balance. Instinctively, he leaned into the support of that hold and felt it grow tighter, surer.
“What’s wrong, Danno?
Can I help? ”
Watching Williams trip not once but twice had started bells of worry
clanging in his head. The anger he had felt a few minutes prior dissipating as
he felt his friend not only accept but lean into the support he offered. The hair was starting to rise on the back of
McGarrett’s neck. He had an eerie
feeling that something was wrong – very wrong.
When he had first tripped, Steve had instinctively started after
him. Dan tripping for a second time
caused Steve to practically lunge to grab him, helping
to hold him steady for several seconds.
The voice sounded
very close behind him. The sudden
softness of the tone made Dan pause briefly as the
questions tickled something in his mind, a memory. Not remembering why he knew, Williams knew
that any other time he would have caved in to the soft questioning and offer of
assistance. This time
his physical discomfort and growing fear of what was about to happen over rode
all of it. He honestly did not know what
was causing him to act so irrationally – especially towards his friend. Not bothering to answer, just wanting to go
home, Danny pulled away and, without another word walked out
of Steve’s office and left the Palace.
Confused at what was
going on with his second in command, McGarrett returned to the lanai. He observed Williams walking in the parking
lot below and stumble, nearly falling.
Saw him reach out a hand and steady himself against the Mercury. Briefly, he wondered what was going on but
decided that whatever it was had more to do with the
holiday stress then anything else. If
Danno was still this argumentative and obnoxious after
the New Year, then the two of them would need to have a very long chat. There was no way that McGarrett would allow
dissension in the ranks – not on his team.
Not from his second in command, his friend. For the present, he grudgingly decided to let
Williams have the space and solitude he apparently wanted.
****
“Happy
Christmas Eve, everyone!”
The call from the
doorway turned several heads. Faces
broke out in spontaneous smiles and the detectives, including the normally
taciturn boss, rushed forward to greet the visitor.
“Jenny!”
“Knew you
couldn’t stay away, Jenny.”
“Merry Christmas, Jenny.”
“Merry
Christmas, Steve. So does anyone miss me?”
“I do!” Lani’s instant
response drew chuckles from the three men in the room.
The small holiday gathering was merrier with Jenny’s surprise visit. Even McGarrett found himself staying in the outer office longer than normal. Finally the staff began to drift away to their own celebrations. Soon it was just the three men and Jenny remaining. She broached the subject that had been on her mind since shortly after her arrival.
“Ok, what did you
three do with Danny this year?”
She was surprised to
watch the men’s facial expressions all change.
Chin’s face had become inscrutable and Duke was unable to hide the ire
that had been burning and building in him for several days.
“We didn’t do
anything to him, Jenny. He hasn’t been
around much lately.”
Jenny looked
carefully at both Chin Ho and Duke. She
knew they weren’t kidding but was surprised to see a
lack of concern in their faces. Instead, she saw mild irritation. She turned to Steve and stared at him for a
few minutes. McGarrett’s expression was
blank, carefully neutral and bordering on nearly cold. Even his eyes held no expression or feeling
in them.
“Steve?”
“Don’t worry about it. He’s a grown man, Jenny. I don’t think he needs a mother – or anyone else for that matter.”
The last part of his reply was a flippant whisper that was not supposed to be heard by the others in the room. However from the look on his former secretary’s face, Steve knew she had heard. He strove to assure her that there was nothing to worry about. She found herself appalled at the lack of concern she was witnessing. What had happened to the team in her absence? More importantly, what had happened to the nucleus, the glue that had held the team, the whole office, together for so many years? What had happened to the friendship between McGarrett and Williams?
****
The irritating ring
of the phone roused Williams from a half sleep.
He glanced at his watch before answering – almost
“Williams”
“Danny, its Aunt Clara. Merry Christmas!”
He nearly groaned out loud, not really wanting to talk to her at the moment. Fortunately, she had very busy social calendar for the day but wanted to call since he had not been able to make the trip over as per the norm. She hoped he wasn’t working that hard. Danny assured her that he wasn’t and then promised that he was not spending the day alone as she feared. He was getting together later in the afternoon with McGarrett. She couldn’t stop from commenting that she hoped it was for some relaxation and not for work. She hung up shortly after that.
Danny ended up getting what he wanted for Christmas – a very quiet day with no interruption from work. Thankful for that, he never left the apartment. It would not have been a very smart idea. He spent the day on the sofa experiences growing waves of dizziness and nausea, had even gone as far as taking an extra pain pill as well as the anti-seizure drug that had been prescribed. He drifted in and out of sleep for most of the day, dreaming disembodied scenes that made no sense to his muddled, drugged mind.
Steve let the phone
fall back onto its cradle, perplexed. He’d already spoken with dispatch earlier in the afternoon
and had known it was a very quiet day – so quiet that Williams had not gotten a
single call. That meant he should have
been home, should have answered the phone.
Unless, of course, he had gone out for some holiday
cheer but a quick call back to HPD confirmed that the Five-O second in command
had not changed his contact number for the afternoon. That meant he was home. Then why didn’t he
answer the phone?
McGarrett moved out to the lanai, impatiently snapping his fingers. He knew in his gut that something was wrong, had been wrong with Danno for a while now. With the knowledge that Williams did not think it necessary to share whatever was bugging him came both ire and amusement. The ire was automatic. Its roots buried deep in years of friendship and the incredulous thought that Danny apparently didn’t trust him. McGarrett argued the thought down, knowing that the truth was probably simpler than that. He knew his second in command well. Williams was never able to keep a secret from him for long except of course his yearly surprise parties. Steve grinned a little to himself, amused at the elaborate ruses his friend managed to concoct each year. Soon enough this year’s schemes would be revealed and/or Danno would spill whatever was currently bugging him. He fought down a building urge to drive over to Danno’s place to simply check on him and see for himself that everything was fine. Finally, Steve leaned back in his chair, somewhat content to simply enjoy his island paradise.
****
Williams walked out of the office. It was the day after Christmas – even though he had been on call he had been able to sleep most of the day. Then why had he been SO tired all day? The enormity of what was about to happen in a few days weighed heavily on his mind. In fact it was all he could think about. Funny how none of the people upstairs in that office thought there was anything wrong. Not even his closest friend thought there was something wrong. He did not think he was hiding it THAT well.
“Danny, wait.”
He turned and saw
Duke coming down the stairs of the Palace.
Wondering what Duke wanted, Dan hoped it wasn’t
something too involved. The stress of
the last several days was beginning to catch up with him. He was tired, wanted nothing more than to lay
down, and for some reason his right leg felt weak as if it could no longer
support his weight.
“Just wanted
to know if you needed Chin and me to do something for the thirtieth this year. Or
do you have everything under control? “
‘The thirtieth?” Briefly
Dan feared that the detective knew what was going on but then realized that
there was something else happening that the Hawaiian was referring to.
“You know, “Duke
continued. “I don’t know who looks forward to this day more – you or Steve!”
Dan sighed. He had no idea what Lukela was talking
about. Although with the stress of the
anticipation he supposed that he really would be glad
when the thirtieth was over.
“You know, you and
Chin keep talking about the 30th and looking at me like something is
going on and I really wish I knew WHAT you were talking about.” The angry tone of Dan’s retort had been on
purpose. He was completely sick of the
way his ‘friends’ thought they knew what was going on and in a self pitying
spurt, wished someone would explain what the 30th meant as well as
actually care enough to coerce an explanation out of him.
Duke stared,
stunned into near silence by the tone of Dan’s reply. As Dan moved to his
car, he tripped over what must have been a rock, but Duke couldn’t
see it. Before Duke could ask if
everything was all right, Dan got into the car and drove
away. Several seconds later,
Lukela was joined near the stairs by Chin Ho Kelly. Duke turned and told Chin that he had spoken
to Dan and had a feeling that there was nothing planned for the thirtieth.
“Danny always plans
something for Steve’s birthday!”
“Doesn’t sound like
he’s doing it this year, Chin.”
“Well I wish we would
have known that before now. Kind of hard to plan something to top what he usually does
on this short of notice. Why didn’t he
say something?”
Duke assured Chin
that he really had no idea what was going on but then commented that Dan was
acting very strangely. Chin agreed that
he too had noticed the strange behavior and then suggested that maybe it was a
ruse to cover birthday plans.
“Not this year, I
fear.”
****
Late the next
afternoon, Danny sat in his office knowing that he could not put off the
inevitable any longer. He’d been avoiding the office since he got back from the doctor
late this morning. He’d
known from the way Lani had acted when he came in that Steve wasn’t happy with
his hastily scribbled note from the previous evening that he would be in before
lunch today.
She had confided that
McGarrett had questioned her for reasons and had not been happy that she had
not known where he was and why. Lani had
neglected to mention that the boss had also asked if anything strange had been
going on of late. But
it wasn’t like she would have been revealing anything. She had told Steve that she
had not noticed anything unusual but then what was she? Their secretary? Or their
babysitter? It wasn’t
up to her to keep track of their comings and goings and what was going on in
their lives outside of the office. Jenny
might have been a mother hen but she certainly wasn’t. Yet Lani had not mentioned any of that to
McGarrett or Williams. She was too
professional for that. She had simply
forewarned Williams to expect a lecture or questions at some point in
time.
Now Dan was in his
office – everyone else had already left for the day but he remained. His objective was two-fold. First he needed to
catch up on as much of the ongoing paperwork on his desk as possible. Second he had
finally decided that he could no longer put off telling Steve what had been
going on the past several weeks. He
needed to in order to fully explain the contents of
the envelope he intended to give to McGarrett.
So engrossed in his
thoughts as he stared blindly down at the papers on his desk, he never heard
the door open in the office until a shadow crossed his desk. He looked up and at Steve McGarrett, noting a
not very pleased expression on the boss’ face.
“Hi, Steve.”
“Here kind of late,
aren’t you? Or are you just making up
for some of the time you’ve been missing of late?”
Dan winced at the
tone of the voice. He’d
known the subject of his morning absences would eventually come up, but he had
wanted to be the one to bring them up.
“I wanted to talk to
you about that.”
An eyebrow arched up
nearly to the dark hairline. “Really?”
Uh-oh – Dan thought to himself. Steve was really upset about it. He had not planned on that. He’d kept Steve in the dark about what was going on because he had not wanted him to worry, to go into his ballistic, insanely over protective mode the way he sometimes did. Perhaps he had been wrong. He knew instantly that he needed to level with his friend – tell Steve everything that had been going on since the beginning of the month without sugar coating a detail. For reasons that he could not define, he again felt abject fear over the notion of telling Steve. As he considered the option, Dan felt his stress level start to climb.
“Yeah, I…”
He stopped. His head was starting to pound again. He’d noticed it now
happened with growing regularity. His
hand was starting to tremble also. Three
days – he only had to make it three more days!
Placing his hand underneath the desk, he glanced at Steve. The darkness of the blue eyes meant the Irish
temper was up. He sighed, knowing there
was little he could do to prevent an eruption, deciding quickly that he could
not tell Steve the truth tonight. Briefly he wondered if he would ever be able to tell him.
“Never mind,
Steve.”
McGarrett’s anger calmed a bit at the resigned, nearly morose tone in Dan’s voice. Other alarms began to ring inside of him instead. He could not figure out why the hair was practically standing up on the back of his neck. He abruptly forced down the ire over what he saw happening over the last month and struggled to verbally reach out towards his second in command.
“Danno, look, if
something’s going on and you need some time –“
“Everything’s shaka, Steve. It won’t happen again.” Dan cut him off, suddenly anxious for the entire train of thought to disappear.
“Ok. Night Danno,” Steve nodded and left the
office.
The nagging doubt
that something was wrong sang like an annoying alarm clock in his head. He pushed it down. Danno had said that everything was fine and
Williams had never been able to keep a secret or hide almost any type of
emotion from McGarrett. He grinned a
little in spite of himself. Besides he had a sneaking suspicion that whatever
was going on with Williams had to do with his own approaching birthday. Three days – it would all be over and he
could find out what the plan had been in three more days.
****
McGarrett sat at his
desk drumming his fingers on the file he was ‘working’ on. Where was he?! After ten o’clock in the morning and his
second in command was not in the office yet!
Both of his cars had been at the apartment when Steve had stopped by to
see if he planned on jogging but there had been no answer when Steve had rang
the door bell.
Now with Williams running late yet again, he had to admit that he was
more than a little frustrated with the new attitude and the prevalent lack of
respect for the job, the team, the stature of Five-O and, grudgingly he
admitted to himself, Dan’s sudden lack of respect for Steve.
A knock at his door
preceded Duke’s entrance into the office.
Steve forced himself to pay attention to the Hawaiian detective. Still irritated, he watched Duke walk out of
the office and then reached over and picked up the phone, dialing a number from
memory. It rang several times before
there was the sound of something falling or being knocked
down at the other end. His
fingers drummed an ever-quickening pattern on the desktop. Finally –
“-lo…”
“Danno! Do you KNOW what
time it is?” Steve’s patience was being severely tested.
“ate?”
“No, not eight – try
after eleven AM. Did you plan on joining
us today?”
There was a long
pause. In his mind’s eye, McGarrett
could picture his second in command processing both the words and the tone,
coming to the realization that Steve was seriously upset and he was in
trouble.
“ow
m ay” The mumbled response.
Irish temper boiling,
he didn’t reply but simply tossed the handset back on
its cradle. He briefly wondered if Dan
had been out late the previous evening.
His voice had sounded strange, like he was
having difficulty speaking. Rather than
alarm him, the thought only fueled his rage as he assumed that the scuttlebutt
of Dan’s new girlfriend that he had heard around the office was correct.
A short time later, Dan arrived but stayed as far away from McGarrett as possible. The two men barely spoke for most of the afternoon. Lukela and Kelly left the office early, each coming up with a plausible excuse for the boss. Both were on their way to different areas of town as they scrounged together a birthday party for the boss. It had been Duke’s idea, one that Chin had fought at first. He had been certain that Danny was planning something and did not even want to let them in on it this year, but Lukela was adamant. He was as certain that there were no plans in motion and they, at least, had to come up with something so as not to make it seem like the birthday had been completely forgotten.
Dan approached
Steve’s office, envelope in hand this time instead of in his jacket. It was now or never he had
decided. He knocked on the closed door
and entered, finding Steve at his desk working his way through a seemingly
endless amount of paperwork.
“Got a minute,
Steve.”
“Not much more than
that. What’s up?” McGarrett heard Williams enter the office but
forced himself to not look up. He did not want to admit to even himself how
much Williams’ new attitude and habits were bothering –no, how much they hurt
him. Maybe if he could appear busy…
“I wanted to talk to you about yesterday – and this morning.”
“Yesterday. Would that be the promis