Chapter Text
‘How is he?' her voice came out almost like a whisper as she entered the waiting room.
The other members of the Five-O turned around, Tani and Junior didn't recognize her, but Lou's and Adam's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. They didn't expect to see her there.
‘Catherine, what are you doing here?' Lou asked.
Catherine was standing in the middle of the room, still in her military uniform, her eyes red and watery, her body totally tense.
'Lincoln called me,' she managed to say in a trembling voice. She looked sideways at Steve, leaning against the wall, head down, and rubbing his hand against his face, completely shattered.
'After he told me about the code, he told me about Danny's kidnap too. Why did I have to find out from someone else that his life depended on it?'
Lou, always trying to be the rational one in the group, approached her and used the same tone he had just used with Tani when she complained about the time their blonde partner had been in the operating room.
'Catherine, we haven't called anyone since this morning. And I know it sounds hard, but we haven't been thinking about anyone but him, let alone calling you. We thought you were busy...' he shut up before her started to remember her leaving, abandoning everyone, especially Steve, who was still in his world.
Catherine swallowed. She knew she hadn't acted right. She knew that it was not the one to reproach, nor was it the time to do so. Adam got up and walked over to her, next to Lou.
'How did you get here so fast, anyway?'
Catherine cleared her throat, looking at the floor, like a little girl who had been caught doing something wrong.
'I may have borrowed a plane that wasn't supposed to fly today.'
The two men exchanged complicit glances. Then Lou turned to Tani and Junior, who were staring blankly.
'Kids, this is Catherine...'
'Steve's ex?' asked Junior, interrupting Lou
'I see Steve has told you about me' -she said ironically- 'I don't blame him if it's not all good.’ She added when she saw the young woman next to Junior glaring at her.
Steve's figure was still, the only thing that showed that he was a human being and not a mannequin were his watery, sunken eyes. She approached him carefully, as if she was afraid he would jump on her.
'Hello there, sailor,' she said in a whisper.
Steve slowly looked up from the ground and fixed his eyes on the pale face in front of him. She expected some kind of reaction: joy, anger, displeasure, maybe a shouting match or even a punch in the face, but nothing. Steve seemed oblivious to any emotion. Catherine raised her hand and caressed his gaunt face.
'He's my friend too,' she said, trying to let him know that his suffering, though not to the same extent, was shared. At that moment the doctor in scrubs came in. Steve reacted for the first time.
'Hey, how's he? What's going on?'
'He's got out of surgery and... he's stable for now.'
'OK' he said with a sigh of relief, but he was still totally expressionless on the outside.
The reaction of the others was similar, Adam's shoulders dropped as if a great weight had been taken off his shoulders, the others remained silent, serious, as if the expression of concern had been tattooed on their faces. There was no laughter, no hugging, no fists in the air as a sign of triumph, no tears of emotion... Everything had happened too quickly in a single day that was not over yet. She analyzed all that while the doctor continued to explain. Steve asked if he could see him and she instructed him to follow her. She knew she shouldn't, but she couldn't help but follow Steve into the room. She didn't even know if Steve had noticed she was with them.
It was shocking. Danny laying in that bed, with all those machines attached to his body, any precaution was too little to ensure that he remained stable. God knew how long he would need to be kept under observation. His face was swollen and cut in several places; his lip, his forehead, the top of one eyebrow... the worst thing was to see the contrast between that motionless, weak, silent man and the grumpy little detective, unable to keep his hands still while he spoke. A sad smile came over her face as she remembered those times when everyone laughed at his way of being. And also how Steve sometimes said or did things looking for that reaction, his face sometimes feigning annoyance, but his eyes always glowing with joy.
Those two men weren't them. She saw Steve standing for a few seconds in front of Danny's bed until he finally took a seat... and then something that made her throat get lumped: Steve took Danny's hand, very delicately. It seemed as though the SEAL was afraid his partner was going to break. Yeah, only one of them was unconscious, but they were both broken.
Her blood boiled inside her veins. With her body back in tension, she left the room and walked through the waiting room. She knew that someone called her, but she didn't listen. She walked to the parking lot, started her car without paying attention to any road rules and called Lincoln on her hands-free.
'Cole.'
'Hey, Lincoln, is Catherine'
'Cath? The code coordinates have arrived safely. I'll let Steve know as soon as...'
'Tell me where you are.' she interrupted
'What?'
'You heard me. I'm in Hawaii... it's a long story. But tell me where you are now. I'll meet you in a few minutes.'
After getting the position of a confused Lincoln, Catherine accelerated further if possible. Who did she think she was? Steve wasn't the only person who cared about the loudmouth detective. It didn't matter what past she and Steve had, or how their relationship ended. Danny was an excellent father, the one she would have wanted when she was like Grace and Charlie. He was the first of the team to know they were dating and supported them; he sacrificed some of the little time he had with his daughter, coming back from a cheerleading competition just to help with the case Billy's murder. Even if he didn’t knew her late boss and friend. Just to be with her. When she was kidnapped, Danny was there too (she regretted having only paid attention to Steve). He met her to beg her not to leave again. Yes, his priority was that he was worried about his friend, but he would miss her too. That moment helped her to see that when she left, Danny would be Steve's biggest support. No one, NO ONE else on the team but him went all the way to Montana when Joe died. And not content with that, he went with them on their crazy mission. Then he went to Washington when Doris passed away...
And that bitch thought he was a bargaining chip for a damn code? It wasn't going to happen! She didn't know Steve at all to begin with. If she did, she would have known that kidnapping his best friend (maybe something else?) would get both the animal and the SEAL out of Steve. By kidnapping Danny, that woman had signed her own sentence. Catherine might later have to answer for her actions, but she would face them without regret. No looking back.