Chapter Text
Kono sat at her desk and kicked off her flats, feeling the nice squish of the rug between her toes. She had been working a local case with Chin and they had just wrapped it up the very morning that Danny and Steve were landing in New Zealand.
The office felt strange without them, like it was missing its’ heartbeat. There was no teasing banter from inside Danny’s door, no Danny slouched on Steve’s office couch, his legs in front of him, pants pulled up just enough to reveal a pair of bright funky socks. It was odd that you really did miss someone but only after they were gone.
“Kono?”
Kono didn’t look up from her computer screen. “I’m right here, Cuz. What do you need?”
“Please come out here.”
Something in the tone of Chin’s voice caused a shiver to run down the petite beauty’s spine. She stood, leaving her shoes underneath her desk, and padded out to the bullpen.
Two men, dressed in suits and ties, were standing near their big tech board, faces somber. Kono felt her stomach clench. She knew instinctively they were not there to deliver good news.
“Kono,” Chin said though his voice was shaky, “this is Bill Hirsch and this other gentleman is Jim Weatherbee. They are from the NTSB. They want to tell us something.”
“Related to our case?” Kono asked sweetly. There’d be no more stalling, no more diversion to the news these men were going to deliver and Chin shook his head. He honestly didn’t want to hear this.
“No, Kono. This has nothing to do with our case.”
“We are sorry to inform you,” the man named Jim began, “that the United Airlines plane that Steven J McGarrett and Daniel Williams were on has disappeared over the Pacific Ocean, about 3 hours from New Zealand.”
Kono just looked at him. The words were falling over her like broken glass. Danny. Steve. Missing. Plane crash.
“That can’t be true,” Kono said vehemently. “They... you must have another plane... they... they aren’t...”
She felt Chin wrap his arm around her waist as her eyelids fluttered. She was going to faint. She’d never fainted before.
“Hey Kono come on.” Chin guided her over to sit on the couch in his own office. He perched beside her, rubbing her hand.
“I’m very sorry. We are dispatching planes to check the area. The last communication we had from the pilots indicated engine failure. He was going to try to ditch it in the water.”
The 2 agents looked appropriately sad as they stood off to one side of Chin’s office. It was all Chin could do to think straight. He continued to attend to his cousin but he turned slightly so he could address the agents.
“Steve McGarrett is a trained Navy SEAL. He’d know what to do in case of emergency.”
“We hope so.” Jim looked at his partner and cleared his throat. “We are going to go inform the family of Detective Williams. It says here his next of kin is an ex wife and a daughter? Plus his family in New Jersey of course.”
Chin felt himself start to break apart inside.
What was Grace going to think, to hear her Danno might be lost at sea and never coming home again?
“We should go with you I think,” Chin said. He met Kono’s watery gaze and she but her lip and nodded, tears falling from her eyes and rolling down her cheeks. “His daughter is only 8 years old. And Danny was a good father... IS a good father. You guys are looking for survivors aren’t you?”
“Planes are bypassing the area right now. We hope to find people who escaped the crash.”
“Ok let’s go then.” Chin stood and pulled Kono up. He held her hand, his grip conveying his love, his strength, his determination that Danny and Steve were just fine. “Did you notify Steve’s sister in Los Angeles?”
“We attempted to but the phone number we have isn’t correct so a representative from our West Coast affiliate will be making a personal visit,” explained the one whose name was Bill.
“Oh God, poor Mary...” Kono shook her head. Was Steve’s sister really capable of dealing with something like this?
“Why don’t we meet you gentlemen there at Stan’s and Rachel’s house?” Chin asked. He was grateful to have the time in the car with Kono so they could actually voice their thoughts.
“We will see you there.” Bill and Jim walked out to the elevator in the hallway and once they were out of sight, Kono collapsed into Chin’s arms.
“Do you believe it? That they’re gone?” Kono sobbed. She wound her hands in Chin’s t shirt and beat her head against his chest. “They can’t. They just can’t.”
“Hey Cuz you know that Steve is smart in all things that crash and blow up. He’ll be fine. Danny will just do as Steve says, grumbling all of the time of course but he will listen.” Chin kissed Kono on the top of her head. “Come on. Grace needs us.”
“Yep yeah you’re right, Chin.” She straightened up and pulled a tissue out of her pocket, wiping her eyes and blowing her nose. “Let’s go.”
Grace Williams sat primly on the edge of the loveseat and listened to the strange men in the suits. They talked about her Dad and Uncle Steve being lost at sea. Well her Daddy had been lost at sea a couple times, and had always come back. Look at what happened with the toonie fish! Uncle Steve had even told her many times that her Danno didn’t like the dinghy the 2 men had been on but was brave, so brave that afternoon.
She watched her Mom almost collapse as her cries broke the silence of the house and ran over to her, trying to console her.
“Grace, why don’t you go up to your room? Mommy just has to talk to these gentlemen for a few more minutes.” Rachel allowed Chin to assist her sitting down.
Mommy, I want to stay with you.” Grace wormed her way under Chin so she was leaning against her mother. “Danno will come home won’t he?”
“We don’t... we don’t know Grace.” Rachel started to sob in earnest so Kono gently herded Grace to the door and upstairs.
“Let’s look at your dolls, Grace. I hear Danno got you the newest Barbie Doll. Can I see it?”
Grace allowed Kono to lead the way to Grace’s room, which was all done in pink shades and girly frou frou. Kono was dabbing at her eyes with a tissue and Grace cocked her head.
“Kono, why are you sad? Uncle Steve will make sure Danno comes hone.”
“Oh Gracie I want to believe that so much!” Kono sat on the bed beside Grace as the little girl reached down and got her Barbie doll valise. It was pink and had photos of Barbie doing all of this traveling, from Alaska to Hollywood. Kono took a deep shuddery breath and dove into playing with the dolls, changing outfits more than Dolly Parton on her tv special. As for Grace, the little girl just knew her Danno was safe because Uncle Steve would never let anything bad happen to him.
“How much further?”
Steve stopped and let go of the raft, his hands sweaty and aching from holding on to the big rubbery inflatable. When he’d smashed the plexiglass on the plane to get the raft, Steve had cut his hands in several places. None were deep enough to need stitches but they were sore and achy, adding to his misery on walking more than 7 miles holding on to a cumbersome object.
“Not too long. Maybe another mile,” Steve answered. “We’re doing good. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other.”
Danny grunted in response and waited for Steve to pick up the raft. The sun was going down and it was cold, colder than last night. And it smelled like rain.
“I promise that when we get to those cabins I am going to kiss the floor. Think they have food?”
Steve had started walking again so Danny picked up the pace. He watched as Steve picked his way through the high marshy grass, always a leader, his posture straight and assured. As much as Danny groused about Steve’s SEAL skills, they were on full display here and for that Danny was grateful.
“No idea. I think the structures are here because this island was part of the fur trade. Men came here to club the seals and the cabins were food and supply depots. Though I could be wrong.” Steve ignored the burn in his shoulders as they walked.
“Clubbing seals?” Danny stopped, causing Steve to juggle his grip on the inflatable.
“Yeah you know killing them for their fur.” Steve looked back. Danny had one of those dark looks on his face.
“Bastards. Poor little seals.”
“They don’t do it any longer,” Steve said as they started walking again. “So I’m hoping we at least have some water in one of those cabins.”
“Forget the water. How about a nice plate of lasagna?” Danny teased.
“I don’t think you’ll find any Italian cuisine in them, Danny,” Steve laughed.
Hey Steve? Do you suppose they started looking for the plane? Do you think they.... told ... anyone that it went down?”
Steve had been turning that thought over in his mind. Had they seen any wreckage if they had dispatched helicopters? Steve wasn’t even sure a helicopter was practical as he didn’t know the distance from the islands they were on to New Zealand itself. They’d probably do planes then. And he and Danny would have to get creative in their SOS techniques.
“I don’t know. Probably.” Steve immediately regretted his answer then.
Grace. Of course Danny was worried about Grace and what she would think and how she would react when people she did not know knocked on her door to tell her that Danno was in a plane accident.
“Danny, you know Grace believes in you. She’s not going to just accept that you aren’t coming home.”
The fact that Danny was quiet made Steve feel more like a shit. He should have said something else, added another appropriate response, told Danny anything to prevent his partner from feeling so badly.
“Danny! We’ll be home to her before she knows it! Imagine her face when you walk through that door! Huh! It will be epic!”
“Epic. Yeah. My 8 year old daughter will hear from a couple of suits that her daddy was in a plane crash. Maybe he’s alive maybe he isn’t. We don’t know at this point. But hey keep the faith because he’s a real survivor he is!”
Steve stopped and let go of the raft, turning around to see the look of distress on Danny’s face.
“Danny...” Steve walked back as the blonde let go of the raft. Danny fell to his knees and covered his face with his hands. All the darkness, the fear, the terror, the regret that nobody else survived came out in a loud sob and his shoulders literally shook as he cried.
Steve knelt beside Danny and rubbed his back, finally pulling him into a reluctant embrace that quickly turned into Danny leaning his whole weight against Steve as he sobbed. Steve let his own tears fall too, squeezing his eyes shut and clinging to Danny like they were a lifeline for each other.
“I’m s-s-s-sorry... so sorry..,” Danny wailed.
“No, buddy, you don’t have to be sorry about anything.” Steve let Danny pull away and in the diminishing light, wiped Danny’s tears off Danny’s cheeks. “Gracie is gonna see her Danno again. We’re going to get through this.”
“Yeah yeah... I know... yeah..,” Danny snuggled, feeling like a weight was off his shoulders.
“We’d best get going so we can make those cabins before dark.”
Steve stood and pulled Danny up.
“Hope they have lasagna,” Danny muttered then gave Steve a weak smile.
“Me too, buddy. Me too.”