Chapter Text
Captain Danny Williams drummed his fingers impatiently on the arm of the chair. For 45 minutes he’d been sitting in the ante-room of the Governor’s office waiting to meet with “his highness.” The Governor had called Danny just over an hour ago demanding that the head of Five-0 drop everything and come to his office to meet a Very Important Person. The Governor had sounded almost giddy when he made the invitation and Danny assumed this could mean nothing good for himself or his team.
Danny rolled his eyes when another roar of laughter came from Denning’s office. He shifted anxiously in the chair. Five-0 was in the middle of tracking down a major gun smuggling ring and here he sat cooling his heels in the Governor’s office while Denning entertained some big shot.
The Captain checked his phone once more and was about to stand up and tell the Governor’s assistant that he had to go when her phone rang. The assistant listened for a moment then said “yes sir.” She looked up at Danny and nodded. “You can go in now, Captain.”
“About friggin’ time,” Danny muttered under his breath before getting up and entering the Governor’s office.
The tall, distinguished looking African American Governor was standing by a window talking to three other people, one of whom caused Danny to stop dead in his tracks and stare open-mouthed. Standing beside the governor and smiling brightly was one of the most gorgeous men Danny had ever laid eyes on.
Danny Williams was comfortable with the fact that he was bi-sexual and he had had several short-lived relationships with men and woman before and after his marriage to Rachel. He prided himself on being calm, cool and collected around good-looking people, but one look at the tall, dark-haired, tattooed and muscular man standing next to the Governor left Danny feeling like an infatuated teenager.
The Captain swallowed hard and had to stop himself from licking his lips before he dragged his eyes away from Mr. Perfect to give his attention to the Governor who, he now realized, was speaking to him.
“…told him you’d be happy to have him ride along with you for a few days,” advised the Governor proudly.
Danny blinked several times.
“Huh?” He cleared his throat and shook his head slightly. “I’m sorry, sir. What?”
Dennings huffed in annoyance.
“I said that I’ve told Mr. McGarrett here that you would be happy to have him ride along with you for a few days to help him with his research.”
Danny blinked again, looked at Mr. Tall and Gorgeous then back to the Governor.
“I’m sorry, sir, I don’t understand. Who is Mr. McGarrett and what kind of research is he doing?”
Despite the Governor’s dark complexion, Danny could see him blush then throw him an annoyed look. The Governor pointed towards the handsome man.
“This is Mr. McGarrett. Steve McGarrett. He’s an actor, I’m sure you’ve seen most of his films,” the glare Dennings gave Danny made it clear the Captain better pretend to know who Steve was. “He’s going to be filming a movie in Hawaii and since he plays the head of a police task force, he asked if he could follow you around for a week or so and I said yes.”
Danny stared at the Governor for a moment in horror.
“Sir I…the work we do is dangerous. Mr. McGarnet…”
“McGarrett,” chimed in four voices.
“Yes…sorry, McGarrett could be placed in danger and I…”
“Oh, I can handle myself,” announced Mr. McGorgeous with a happy grin. “I played a cop in my first movie Fists of Death so I know how to use guns and stuff.”
Danny gave the man a dry look and did a manful job of not rolling his eyes.
“Yes…I’m sure you do, Mr. McGarrett, but this isn’t a movie. This is real life and it’s dangerous.”
The Governor favoured Danny with a cold smile.
“I have every confidence that you will watch out for and protect Mr. McGarrett, Captain. I’ve already promised him that he can ride with you and that you will be more than happy to share your knowledge and experience with him.”
Danny drew in a long, slow breath and fought to keep his temper in check.
“Governor…”
“That’s all, Captain,” the Governor replied briskly turning his back on Danny and giving his attention to the handsome actor.
“It was a real pleasure meeting you, Steve,” the Governor in his smooth politician’s voice. “If there’s anything you need you be sure to let me know.”
McGarrett gave his most dazzling movie star smile and shook the Governor’s hand before turning his blinding smile on Danny – who refused to be captivated by it, damn it!
With a barely contained huff of annoyance and indignation, Danny spun on his heel and marched out of the office with McGarrett and what Danny assumed to be his entourage, hurrying to catch up.
Without warning, Danny stopped dead and turned around almost causing the three men to crash into him.
“Are all of these people planning to ride along too?” he snapped.
Steve chuckled happily.
“Oh…no, this is my agent and my publicist,” said Steve gesturing to each man with his thumb, “They’ll just stay with me until they see where my office will be then they’ll leave.”
“Your office?” Danny asked incredulously causing Steve to look a bit embarrassed.
“Well, the Governor said I’d have my own office, but if that’s not convenient it doesn’t matter.”
The Captain ran his hand over his face feeling a bit like he’d just fallen into a rabbit hole.
“We can’t…you won’t…” Danny released a beleaguered sigh. “Just…come on.”
The blonde man turned again and marched out of the building with Steve striding easily beside him while McGarrett’s two minions scurried along behind.
********
Kono was openly staring at Steve as he stood in the middle of the bullpen being introduced to the team. Danny glanced over at the beautiful Hawaiian officer just as she was lightly biting her bottom lip and running her eyes up and down Steve’s lean frame.
“Mr. McGarrett this is Officer Kono Kalakua,” said Danny shooting Kono a look she quickly interpreted as saying ‘put your tongue back in your mouth and straighten up.’
Kono blushed as Steve favoured her with his most dazzling smile and took her hand in both of his.
“It’s a real pleasure to meet you, Officer Kalakua,” murmured Steve softly. “I look forward to working with you.”
Kono smiled happily and stared up into the taller man’s eyes.
“It’s nice to meet you too. I’m a big fan. I loved you in Six Hundred Guns to Cincinnati.”
Steve grinned proudly.
“Thank you. I enjoyed that movie. I learned to ride for that one. Got pretty good at it too, if I do say so myself.”
“I’m sure you did,” purred Kono.
Danny cleared his throat loudly.
“OK so, Mr. McGarrett…”
“Steve,” Tall and Gorgeous interrupted with an easy smile.
“Steve,” Danny repeated, “is going to be working with us for a week. He’s doing some research on a movie he’s apparently filming in Hawaii...”
“Oh? What’s the movie, Steve?” Chin interrupted excitedly.
“It’s tentatively titled Blood in Paradise,” Steve announced causing Danny to roll his eyes. “I play an ass-kicking former Navy SEAL who runs a special police task force on the islands. It should be pretty exciting.”
“And totally implausible,” muttered Danny under his breath.
“Sounds wonderful!” cooed Kono. “I’ll bet you’ll be awesome in it.”
Steve grinned at her and Danny felt an unexpected and totally uncalled for twinge of jealousy.
“Yes, well,” Danny snapped a little too loudly as he stepped between Kono and Steve. “I’m sure we’ll all have a chance to hear about Mr. McGarrett’s movie adventures later. Right now what say we do some police work?”
As the team members split off to their respective offices, Danny gestured for Steve to follow him to his own office.
Danny sat down behind his desk and invited Steve to take one of the guest chairs while the agent and manager formed a mute rear guard behind the star.
“So Mr...Steve,” began Danny working to keep his voice reasonable. “I’m sure you can understand my reluctance to take part in this…fact finding mission of yours. Five-0 is a very busy unit and we take on the most demanding and dangerous assignments in Hawaii.”
Steve nodded excitedly. He reminded Danny of Grace when she got a new toy.
“If you’re going to stick with us,” continued Danny, “there has to be some ground rules.”
McGarrett deflated slightly in his chair. As an apparently famous Hollywood actor (Danny hadn’t seen a grown up movie since Grace was 2 years old so he had no idea if Steve was famous or not) he was obviously not used to people suggesting he had to follow rules.
“Number 1,” Danny began ticking the rules off on his fingers, “you stay behind me or whichever team member you are with at all times when we enter a home or crime scene. Number 2, you obey our orders instantly. Number 3, you are not to speak while we are questioning witnesses or interrogating subjects. Number 4, you are not to complain about the work, whether you find it boring or not or whether you are tired or not. We put in long hours here and you’ll be expected to keep up. Is that understood?”
Steve’s megawatt smile illuminated the room again.
“Completely. And don’t worry about long hours. On my last movie The Claws of the Beast, I did 14 hour days in the Brazilian rainforest!”
“Yes.” Danny replied flatly. “That’s nice. Now, I have some paperwork to do so you’re welcome to use the office across from me,” Danny pointed out the small, dark office the team avoided using whenever possible, “until I’m ready to leave again,”
The Captain gave McGarrett’s two shadows a meaningful look.
“And I think this is a good time for your friends to say goodbye. They can call you later if they’re worried about you.”
With one last unquenchably happy look, McGarrett sprang to his feet excitedly and gestured for his agent and publicist to leave the room ahead of him.
“Thanks, Danny. Just let me know if you want me for anything,” Steve chirped before following his people out of the room.
“Yeah, I’ll let you know,” deadpanned Danny.
**********
Williams looked up from his computer just over an hour later to see Steve posing in front of the unit’s tech table while a photographer took his picture. The Captain huffed in annoyance as Steve pretended to be consulting something on the board, his face a picture of concentration and gravitas.
Danny had to swallow hard and press his hand to his twitching dick when Steve then straightened up and leaned against the table insolently, a flirty smirk on his face, while the photographer moved about taking photo after photo.
The captain slammed his fist on his desk to snap himself out it. This was a goddamned place of work not a red carpet. He shot to his feet – his chair spinning off across the room – and marched out into the bullpen.
“What the hell is going on?” he demanded fists tight on his hips.
“Oh hi, Danny,” called Steve cheerfully with a little wave of his hand. “Just snapping a few publicity stills for the movie. They’ll probably be on the extra features section of the DVD as well. In fact, I was hoping to talk to you about your team members appearing…”
“Mr. McGarrett!” Danny interrupted sharply. “There will be no more publicity stills, there will be no video, my team will not model with you and a frigging camera crew from Entertainment Tonight won’t be following you around, is that clear? This is a police station. We do police work here. We catch criminals. We put bad guys in jail. This isn’t some set you tear down after you’re done with it. This is real life. I thought you understood that!”
Steve stood frozen in place next to the computer table. His shoulders were hunched defensively and his face took on an expression reminiscent of a kid finding a lump of coal in his stocking. Danny thought for a moment that his bottom lip was quivering.
“I’m umm…I’m really sorry, Danny,” Steve replied quietly, his eyes dropping to the floor. “I didn’t mean to inconvenience anyone. It’s just these silly things are important to the studio.”
Danny sighed inwardly. Now he felt like an asshole. He looked over at the photographer, a young Hawaiian man whose eyes were wide with fear.
“Do you have everything you need or do you require a few more shots?” Danny asked the man, trying to keep an even tone.
“Ummm, no I think I have what I need.”
Danny gave him a pained smile.
“OK then. Maybe you can leave and we can get back to serving the good people of Hawaii?”
The photographer snatched up his camera bag and shoved his equipment into it. With a last look of adulation at Steve, he scurried out of the offices. The taller man turned to Danny and gave him a sheepish smile.
“I’m really sorry. I should have asked your permission.”
Danny waved his hand dismissively.
“It’s ok. I overreacted. I’m not used to Hollywood types I guess. Just…if the studio asks you to do anything else that will involve my offices or my team, please check with me first.”
Steve grinned happily and Danny’s stomach absolutely did not flutter at that.
“Yes sir! I’ll do that.”
Danny couldn’t help but return the other man’s smile. What was it about this guy that you couldn’t be mad at him?
“Why don’t you do me a favour and ask Chin and Kono to come here and we’ll do a briefing ok?”
With a pleased smile, Steve jogged off to do Danny’s bidding giving the Captain a necessary minute to take deep breaths and focus his mind back on the investigation and away from the tattoos peeking out from under the sleeves of Steve’s shirt.
“He’s hot isn’t he?” Kono whispered from behind Danny causing her boss to startle and spin around to face her knowing smirk.
“What are you talking about?” Danny answered his voice a bit too high pitched. “He’s a pain in the ass!”
Kono shrugged slightly.
“Yeah, but he’s gorgeous and,” she leaned closer to the blonde man and whispered to him confidentially. “I’ve heard rumours that he’s not…well…quite as heterosexual as he’s been portrayed.”
Danny’s eyes flicked unconsciously towards Steve who was standing in Chin’s doorway laughing about something the older detective said. The Captain looked back at Kono and lifted and dropped one shoulder.
“So? That’s not my business. I’m not going to start dating the guy. All I’m concerned about is keeping him alive and out from under foot for the next week until we can send him back to La La Land.”
Kono nodded sagely, her lips pressed together.
“Of course, boss, of course.”
Danny growled at her and turned back to the tech table. Sometimes he hated that woman.
*********
“HPD still has Donaldson under surveillance but so far he hasn’t put a foot wrong. He’s made no contact yet with the guys we think are smuggling the guns and I’m still thinking Donaldson is not the brain of this operation,” reported Chin as the team stood in a half-circle around the tech table.
“Has he met with anyone who might be the boss?” asked Danny glancing over at the older detective.
The Hawaiian man shook his head.
“Just the usual friends and family that we already know about; no one who rings any alarm bells.”
Danny sighed in exasperation. The team knew from their sources that Ronald Donaldson (his parents must have had a sick sense of humour) was handling shipments of weapons from a group that Five-0 had been tracking for weeks but so far, Donaldson hadn’t shown any sign of having taken charge of a new shipment. Five-0 had almost enough evidence to arrest the suppliers but they wanted to take down the entire distribution chain.
“What about the former cell mate he met up with last week?” continued Danny, trying not to let his frustration show.
Kono shook her head.
“That guy appears to be on the up-and-up. He’s got a wife and a new baby at home and he’s been holding down a steady job for months now. When he’s not at work he’s at home with his family. The meeting last week seems to have been an accident and there are no calls from Donaldson’s phone to the former cellmate.”
Danny scrubbed his hands over his face and was about to make another suggestion when Steve spoke up.
“You know…this reminds me of my third movie,” the tall man announced, one finger tapping contemplatively against his chin as his eyes took on a far-away look. “My character, Jake Steele, was trying to find a guy who had a nuclear device he was going to use to blow up LA. For most of the movie, Jake thought this guy Waters was the bad guy but it turned out that it was actually Waters’ sister-in-law that was the brains of the operation.”
Chin nodded knowingly.
“That was Countdown to Doomsday! I remember that movie.”
Danny rolled his eyes and sighed.
“I feel the need to point out once again that this is not a movie! It’s real life.”
“Still…” Kono mused, her eyes skimming over the tech board now displaying images of Donaldson and his known associates. “Donaldson’s brother is a mover and shaker in Honolulu. He runs that grocery supply business and he’s pretty bright. We checked him out and he came up clean but maybe we should look at him again. He’s the last person anyone would suspect.”
Steve nodded vigorously.
“Yeah, exactly! In the movies the bad guy is always the last person you suspect!”
Danny opened his mouth to mock this suggestion when Chin butted in.
“Wouldn’t hurt to give Andrew Donaldson another look, Danny,” he suggested reasonably.
The Captain opened and closed his mouth for a moment then let out a gust of air and slumped in defeat.
“Sure, why not? God knows we’ve got nothing else to go on at the moment.”
**********
Steve and Danny climbed out of the Camaro in front of Andrew Donaldson’s food supply warehouse. The movie star began to stride purposefully towards the doorway of the metal-clad building but Danny grabbed him by the arm to stop him before he could enter.
“Remember our deal, Steve,” Danny cautioned as he looked up at the taller man. “I do the talking.”
Steve nodded in understanding but his excited grin made Danny’s heart plummet. With one last warning look at the actor, Danny opened the office door and stepped inside.
Andrew Donaldson, a pudgy, slightly balding man in his later 40s, was bending over a desk talking in a low voice to a tall, leggy blonde woman who was giggling at something he said. He straightened up almost guiltily when Danny and Steve entered.
“Oh umm, can I help you officers?” Donaldson asked, spotting the badge on Danny’s belt.
“Andrew Donaldson? I’m Captain Williams from Five-0. I’d like to ask you a few questions about your brother.”
Donaldson, who was now staring curiously at Steve, spared a glance for Danny before looking back at the taller man.
“I already spoke to the police about Ronald. As far as I know he’s not doing anything illegal.”
“Yes sir,” Danny replied neutrally. “But we’d still like to talk to you.”
Suddenly a grin of recognition spread over Donaldson’s face.
“You’re Steve McGarrett aren’t you?” he asked hurrying towards Steve with his hand outstretched. McGarrett took the other man’s hand and shook it but threw a nervous glance at Danny.
“Uh, yes, but I’m just here observing. Captain Williams is asking the questions.”
“I loved you in Death Parade,” continued as if Steve hadn’t spoken and now ignoring Danny completely. “I couldn’t believe that ballroom dancing scene you did.”
Danny knit his eyebrows together in confusion and mouthed ‘ballroom dancing’ to himself before clearing his throat loudly.
“Mr. Donaldson, I know you’re a busy man as am I. If we can get to these questions, we’ll be out of your hair that much faster.”
Donaldson dragged his eyes away from Steve and nodded at Danny distractedly.
“Yeah, sure, whatever you want. Why don’t you come to my office?”
As Danny followed the businessman and Steve to the small office, the Captain watched Morrison’s all female staff wave at Steve, several of the women smiling broadly and at least one surreptitiously opening another button on her shirt before leaning forward on her desk to show off her ample bosom. Steve waved at them politely but continued to follow Donaldson.
**********
“So, what can I do for you, Commander?” asked Donaldson dropping into his desk chair and gesturing lazily for Danny and Steve to sit in the chairs opposite him.
“It’s Captain,” Danny repeated through gritted teeth, “and we’d like to know what business your brother is in.”
Donaldson smiled but the smile did not reach his eyes.
“Ronald? Well, he does a bit of this or that. He’s not the most motivated guy in the world.”
“And yet he owns a house and drives a Lexus,” Danny offered dryly.
Donaldson shifted in his chair.
“I help him out with money sometimes and, I don’t know, maybe he gets well paid for the things he does.”
“But you don’t know what work he does specifically? That seems a bit odd, Mr. Donaldson. He’s your brother after all. It doesn’t come up in conversation?”
The other man shrugged: a study of nonchalance.
“We’re not that close.”
Danny raised his eyebrows in an air of disbelief.
“I see.” Danny knew the other man was lying since the HPD surveillance unit had reported Ronald regularly visited Andrew’s home and work but he couldn’t reveal that information to Andrew.
“What kinds of things to you ship out of here, Mr. Donaldson?” piped up Steve earning an angry glare from Danny.
“Actually we import more than we ship,” responded Andrew Donaldson, suddenly animated now that he was discussing his business with a Hollywood movie star. “We bring in food to supply many of the Islands’ grocery stores. We do occasionally ship crates of pineapples and such to the mainland.”
“Do you use shipping containers?” continued Steve, ignoring Danny’s warning glances.
Donaldson nodded slowly suddenly wary.
“Yeah usually. Why?”
Steve shrugged and smiled.
“No reason. In my fourth movie I played a longshoreman who worked the docks during the day and was a vampire at night. We filmed around a lot of those containers.”
Donaldson smiled happily, obviously satisfied that Steve was harmless.
“Wasn’t that Blood on the Docks? That was a great movie.
Steve nodded as Danny made a disgusted sound in his throat.
“If we can return to reality here just for a moment. Mr. Donaldson, would you be open to having a team of police officers inspect this building and its contents?”
Donaldson snapped his head to Danny and gave him an offended look.
“Why? Do you think I’m doing something illegal?”
The Captain shook his head.
“Not necessarily, but we’re not sure about your brother. He may be using your shipments to smuggle guns into and out of Hawaii.”
Donaldson snorted in derision.
“I don’t think so. Ronnie’s not smart enough for that. Besides, I’m an honest businessman. I pay my taxes and I’m a friend of the Governor. I won’t allow a bunch of heavy-footed cops tramping all over my warehouse and damaging things.”
“Mr. Donaldson I assure you…”
“Forget it, Captain. The answer is no.”
Danny nodded, seemingly chastised by Donaldson and the implied threat of his friendship with the Governor. The Captain climbed to his feet.
“Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Donaldson. We won’t be bothering you any further.”
With that Danny turned and walked out of the office with Steve following behind him. Danny could feel the annoyance radiating off Steve but the actor wisely waited until they’d climbed in the Camaro before venting his frustrations.
“Is that it?”
Danny threw him a confused glance.
“Yeah?”
“We’re just going to walk away when we know he’s involved – or at least his brother is?”
“Not much else we can do at the moment,” responded Danny as he started the car.
“We could sneak in…”
The Captain held up one hand palm out to stop Steve’s words.
“We’re not sneaking in anywhere. Donaldson has the right to refuse to let us inspect the factory until we get a warrant. That’s what we’re going to try to do. This is Five-0, we follow the rules.”
“But he was lying!” blurted Steve. “I’m an actor. I can tell when someone is lying. I’ll bet you $1,000 he’s working with his brother on shipping the weapons.”
Danny shrugged slightly before backing the Camaro away from the building and driving out onto the main street.
“Well, A) I don’t have $1,000, Steve and B) I know he’s lying but until we have hard evidence against him, there’s nothing more we can do.”
Steve let out a frustrated sigh and slumped back against the seat.
“In my fourth movie I played a…”
“Steve,” Danny interrupted the taller man with a withering look. “Real life police work isn’t like the movies. We can’t shoot the tires of a moving car, we can’t enter people’s homes or property without an invitation or a warrant, we can’t build an entire case around a piece of carpet fiber and we don’t solve the crime in 48 minutes ok? Police work is about questioning people, following leads, working clues and sometimes going through tons of documents for hours on end. It’s 90 per cent boredom and 10 per cent sheer terror, ok?”
Steve nodded his head but Danny thought he could see disappointment in the taller man’s eyes. The Captain couldn’t blame him. When you played a cop on TV or in the movies it was all action and ass-kicking and catching the bad guys every time. It wasn’t quite the same in reality.
Danny reached over and tapped Steve gently on the arm.
“Hey, how about I buy you lunch?”
The handsome actor sat up straight in his seat and smiled.
“Yeah, sure, Danny. That would be nice.”
**********
Steve fiddled with his fork as he looked up at Danny briefly then back down at the table.
“So…is there a Mrs. Captain Williams?”
Danny smiled and shook his head.
“There’s an ex-Mrs. Captain Williams. She married a local guy and brought my 10-year-old daughter Grace here, which is why I’m now living on this pineapple infested hellhole instead of beautiful Newark, New Jersey where I belong.”
Steve looked back up at the smaller man in shock.
“You don’t like Hawaii?” he asked incredulously. “Who doesn’t like Hawaii?”
“I like cities, you know, skyscrapers. Besides, I miss the action and the crowds. I miss Sal’s. I miss Manny’s.”
“I take it those are restaurants?”
“The best in the world,” enthused Danny as he nodded his thanks to the waitress who delivered their food. He needn’t have bothered as she only had eyes for Steve.
Danny took a bite of his hamburger, chewed it then swallowed before speaking again.
“You, I suppose, go all the posh restaurants in Beverly Hills or wherever.”
A small, sad smile flickered over Steve’s face as he dug his fork into his salad.
“Only if I have to; I’m really more of a home body. I like to cook or read or watch movies. I’m not much of a social butterfly.”
Danny tipped his head in surprise.
“But you’re a big star and a celebrity. I thought people like you needed the limelight to live.”
Steve snorted and shook his head.
“Not all actors are the same, you know. And I consider myself an actor, not a celebrity. In fact I hate being a celebrity. I hate people staring at me all the time and having the paparazzi follow me around. I try to be nice and give people what they want because I know that without my fans, I’d be nowhere. But sometimes I wish I could just be…normal.”
Danny nodded as he swallowed another bite of his hamburger.
“I get that. I couldn’t do what you do. Making nice for everyone and pretending to be interested in everything you have to do.”
The taller man looked up and smiled shyly.
“I am interested in this. In you and what you do. I think it’s so important.” He dropped his eyes again and pushed his salad around on his plate. “What I do seems so silly and meaningless in comparison.”
Danny smiled at the pained admission and reached over to grasp Steve’s wrist.
“What you do is important, Steve. You bring happiness to millions of people. You get them out of their heads and their lonely or stressful lives for a while. I think that’s important.”
Steve looked up again, his eyes bright with pleasure.
“You do?”
Danny’s smile grew bigger.
“Absolutely.”
The two men stared at each other for a moment until Danny realized he was still holding Steve’s wrist and, worse than that, his thumb was slowly caressing the taller man’s pulse point. With a nervous clearing of the throat, Danny pulled his hand back like it was on fire and locked his eyes on his hamburger.
“How’s the salad?” he asked hurriedly.
Steve stared at the other man for a moment before nodding.
“Good. It’s good.”