Aumakua ch 2 of 10
Disclaimer: Hawaii 5-0 and characters belong to CBS, only the story is mine.
Spoilers for episode 1x3
Ho'oku'i
Crash
With a jolt, crunch of metal, and breaking glass the helicopter hit the ground causing the landing gear to crumple tilting the chopper to the side. It took a few minutes after the crash for Steve to regain his senses and try to catalogue any major injuries that would keep him from walking quickly. Once he found that he was only bruised he undid his harness as he looked around to determine the state of Grace, Danny and the chopper. “Let’s get out of this chopper now, we can check for injuries later. Grace you will have to come out my side.”
Grace looked up at him, tears rolling down her face as Steve helped her undue her harness. “O-okay ΄Anakala Steve.” She says shakily. Once she was free Steve turned and opened his door and climbed out quickly Noting Danny doing the same. As soon as he turned around Grace was there. He grabbed her to his chest as she wrapped her arms and legs around him, and he started for the nearby trees at a run, Danny hot on his heels. They made it about 20-30 feet before an explosion knocked them to the ground. Steve did his best to turn so he took the brunt of the fall then rolled so that he could protect Grace from any falling debris.
Once the sound of falling debris stopped Steve lifted up his head to check to be sure that it was over. Satisfied, he sat up with Grace in his arms and started to check her for injuries. “Are you okay Leia?”
She sniffed. “My head hurts here.” She pointed to her forehead, then her arm. “My arm hurts too. Daddy, are you okay?”
Steve looked at Danny wanting an answer too. He noticed the blood on his friends face, but didn’t say anything yet.
Danny groaned. “Yeah I think so; I bumped my head when we crashed. Other than that I seem okay.”
Steve nodded at Danny as he grabbed his bag and handed it to him. “Okay Danny. I’m going to finish checking Grace; meanwhile can you get the first-aid kit out. You need to put some gauze on your right temple, it’s bleeding. Now, let me have a look Grace.”
While Steve was checking Grace’s head Danny found the first-aid kit, pulling out some gauze and held it to his temple. He would have preferred to just wait and watch as Steve tended to Grace, but knew his partner would take good care of his daughter. Once he placed the gauze on his head, he realized that Steve hadn’t told them about his condition. “What about you Steve? Are you okay?”
Steve finished his inspection of Grace. "Just battered and bruised Danny. Grace doesn't have a concussion, and her arm seems fine. She's got a couple of cuts that will be cleaned up and bandaged in no time.” Danny held out the first aid kit for Steve, to make his work easier. Steve quickly and efficiently cleaned and bandaged Grace’s cuts. Once he was done he gave her a quick smile and hug before handing her over to Danny.
Danny sighed in relief reaching for his daughter. He hugged her tightly, mindful of her cuts and bruises. “Thank God you’re okay Monkey.” He looked at Steve and mouthed Thank you.
Steve nodded smiling while giving Danny another look checking for injuries other than the head wound. “Alright, time to look at that head wound Danny." Steve grabbed the first aid kit, pulling out some gloves, since it was bleeding freely.
Grace pulled back sniffing to look at her father so she could get a good look at him. "It sure is bleeding. Does it hurt a lot Danno?”
“It hurts some Monkey, but not too bad.” He told her honestly.
Steve turned back to the two Williams with his supplies. "I'm sure it's nothing Leia. Head wounds always bleed a lot, even when they’re not serious. I need you to get off your dad's lap while I check this wound. Would you hold the first aid kit for me while I take care of your dad?"
Grace crawled off Danny's lap and grabbed the first aid kit holding it for Steve. "Can I help? I can give you the stuff you want."
Steve smiled at her. "I'd like the help Gracie, thank you." Steve looked at the wound carefully after putting on the gloves. "Gracie, I’m going to need a bottle of water and another square of gauze." Grace handed him what he asked for. She watched him as he wet the gauze with some water and cleaned Danny's wound carefully. "Could you hold open the bag I used for your trash?” He dropped the used gauze into the bag. “I'll need a new square of gauze, the special tape for securing gauze and the antibacterial cream." She pulled out another package of gauze and looked for the tape. It didn’t take her long to find it. She also picked up the antibacterial cream he had used on her and gave it to him. Steve applied the cream before he carefully bandaged the wound. "There all done. Thanks for your help Gracie."
Grace beamed at him tears forgotten. "You're welcome ΄Anakala Steve."
Danny was impressed. Grace seemed so calm now, despite the situation. He realized that Steve had asked for her help to get her mind off the crash. “Now that everyone has been checked out, how are we going to get out of here?”
Grace spoke before Steve could. “What about ΄Anakala Steve? You didn’t check him for injuries Danno.”
“Well, Grace, I checked myself briefly after landing. I’m pretty sure that I’m fine. But I’ll let Danno check me just to be sure.” Steve reassured Grace. He knew from experience that his ‘I’m fine’ would not satisfy Grace.
She nodded with a worried frown.
So Steve allowed Danny to check the bump on his head and pointed out the bruises he knew he had. He did have a couple of cuts, he had thought were bruises. “Well, it looks like you have a couple of cuts to go with your collection of bruises. I bet Grace could take care of them for you.” The cuts were minor, but should be cleaned and covered. Since they were minor, Grace could take care of them.
Grace beamed at being asked to take care of Steve. “Can I? Danno has shown me how to use band-aids.”
Steve smiled at Grace. “Of course you can. Danno can show you where they are and he can hold the bag for you.”
Danny showed Grace where each cut was and let her do the work herself. He held Steve's shirt out of the way and the bag for Grace. Danny and Steve tried not to laugh; Grace was so focused she didn’t realize that she had her tongue poking out slightly.
Grace smiled and hugged Steve when she was finished. “All done! Did I put them on right?”
He returned her hug, kissing her on the forehead. “Thank you Leia, you did a great job. Now let me answer your dad’s question.” Steve reached into his bag again and pulled out a phone. “My satellite phone will allow us to contact Chin and Kono.” Steve hesitated.
“What’s with the face? What are you waiting for Steve? Get on that phone and get us out of here.” Danny ranted.
Steve looked away from Danny to speak to Grace. “Gracie, would you excuse us for a minute? We need to talk in private.” He noticed her hesitation, and spoke to her reassuringly. “Don’t worry Grace we’ll tell you what’s going on, but our discussion could get loud. You know how your Danno gets.” He whispered loud enough for Danny to hear.
She giggled. “Okay ΄Anakala Steve. I’ll sit right over there. You can still see me and I won’t hear you fight.”
Once Grace was sitting down Steve looked at Danny seriously. “Have you forgotten that someone tried to kill us Danny?” He held up his hand forestalling Danny’s answer. “That was rhetorical. Right now that person thinks that we're dead. It will be safer for us to let him think that for now. We can contact Chin and Kono and let them know we are okay. They can do some discreet investigation before we reappear. We have enough food and water to last for a couple of days, and I’m sure that we can find plenty of fruit and nuts to eat.”
Danny interrupted arms flailing in agitation. “Are you out of your mind? Wait, don’t answer that, I know you’re out of your mind. We are NOT staying here any longer than necessary. We can do more good by helping Chin and Kono rather than staying here. Besides I will not have my daughter sleeping on the ground without a tent. The ground is crawling with bugs and snakes, she is a little girl, not a SEAL recruit!”
Steve interrupted voice low and furious. “You really think that I'm trying to recruit Grace? You know, the little girl I think of as a niece?!? That’s just hurtful. I am trying to keep her safe.” Steve took a deep breath to calm down donning his stoic face; he didn’t want to say something he would later regret. “As long as the perp. thinks we’re dead, Grace will be safe. I would like to avoid a repeat of that.” Steve pointed to the smoking helicopter. “Our saboteur obviously has contacts here on the island. We're isolated here, his contact could try again and nobody would know! If we stay dead, I can get us out quietly. So there’s no tent, we can fix up an area to sleep that will be comfortable. We'll probably have to hike to the coast but I think that it is the best way to keep Grace safe and blindside our saboteur.” He turned away from Danny trying to bury the hurt Danny’s words caused. He really hadn’t wanted to fight in front of Grace, but dammit that hurt.
Danny’s practical side had finally gained control over the scared and freaked out father. He reflected on what he said to Steve, and Steve’s answer. It made him feel like a heel, especially when he remembered that Steve admitted the words hurt. He knew that Steve would protect his daughter without hesitation. So why did he attack Steve? Danny looked at the ground realizing that he was using Steve as an outlet for his fear and anger instead of saving it for the responsible party.
Once Steve had himself under control he turned around to finish the discussion with Danny. Before he could continue Danny spoke looking ashamed. “I’m sorry Steve; I was way out of line. I get a little crazy when something threatens Grace. I’m angry that someone tried to kill us, and I’m taking it out on the wrong person. You don’t deserve it, especially not from me. Your abilities as a pilot allowed us to walk away from a helicopter crash relatively unscathed. I knew that you would take care of Grace when the chopper crashed, if I didn’t, the bags would be burning with the chopper. I do know how much you love my daughter. Can you forgive me for being an irrational idiot?”
Steve studied Danny for a moment. He knew that Danny ranted to blow off steam. He thought about the recent custody battle which had really shaken his friend, increasing his fear of losing Grace. It was one of the reasons he helped plan this trip, he had hoped to help Danny relax and have some family time with Grace. He took a deep breath dropping the stoic mask. “Forgiven. I know that recent events have had you more on edge that normal. Now do you want to hear my plan?”
Danny smiled gratefully before his look turned wary. “You know, I’m normally leery about your plans because they usually end with us being shot at or things being blown up. However, this is more your bailiwick than mine; so let me hear it. Then I can explain it to Grace.”
Steve nodded. “As long as this idiot thinks we’re dead he is more likely to get cocky and make more mistakes. He of course has already made several mistakes. His first mistake; he tried to kill us while we have Grace. His second mistake was in underestimating Chin and Kono who will work twice as hard to find this guy. As for us, we'll hike towards the coast. I’ll have to check the GPS and our map, but I think we’re a comfortable two day hike from the Napali Coast Wilderness Park. I’m not going to worry if it takes longer; we have plenty of food and water. If we run low it will be easy to gather more if needed on this island. We can get someone to pick us up at the park. I don’t want us to be anywhere near the chopper when search and rescue find it. Since they will have to dig through the wreckage, it will take longer to determine if there are any bodies. I can contact a couple of people that I know who like to take long fishing trips from time to time; they should be able to pick us up without creating any suspicion. Before you ask, the two young men are brothers and we grew up together. It doesn’t hurt that they owe me more than a few favors. Well, they owe my dad really, but I helped them out too before mom was killed. Once my friends have picked us up, we can arrange for Grace to be protected while we join the investigation.” He sighed. “I’m not sure what do to about Rachel. I’m afraid that if we have Chin let her know we are alright she won’t keep it a secret.”
Danny considered Steve’s plan carefully before replying. “You know that might actually work.” Steve raised his eyebrow as Danny smiled. “You know that I trust you Steve, with my life and Grace’s life. I agree about Rachel, no matter what we do, she will try and use this against me.” Danny sighed. “Let me talk to Grace and we can do what needs to be done.”
Steve smiled at Danny truly touched. “I’ll make the call to Chin while you talk to Gracie, okay?”
“Good idea partner.” Steve clapped Danny on the shoulder as he moved to talk to Grace. Danny joined Grace on the rock she was perched on. “I’m sorry that you to wait over here. I think that Uncle Steve knew that I would make an idiot of myself when I Iheard his plan.” Grace giggled. “He was right; I did make an idiot of myself. We talked and we have a plan.”
Grace looked up at her father nodding. “I think I understand. I saw your hands waving in an angry manner. Did you get mad at ΄Anakala Steve? He had his I don’t have feelings face.”
Danny nodded sheepishly while being impressed with his daughter’s powers of observation. “Yeah I did, a little. Once I calmed down I apologized and we talked, so we’re okay. So do you want to hear our plan?”
Grace nodded. “Will we be staying here?”
“No, we will have to do some hiking. We want to fool the bad man into thinking he was successful. So Uncle Steve wants us to be somewhere else when the chopper is found. We’ll be okay. Uncle Steve was trained for this sort of thing and will make sure that we make it out okay.”
Grace looked at her father trustingly. “I know ΄Anakala Steve will take care of us. He protected me today and made sure that we were both okay. What about mom? She’s going to think we’re dead.”
Danny hugged Grace, he wished he could save his daughter any hurt, but he was more concerned with keeping her alive. “I know you’re Mom is going to think we're dead. Sadly, Since your mom is mad at me, Steve is afraid she won’t keep our secret. We're going to tell Uncle Chin and Aunt Kono we're okay, but not your mom.”
“If we don’t let Mom know I’m okay, she’s going to be sad.”
He pulled back to look at Grace’s sad face. “I don’t want to make your mom sad, but your safety is more important to me right now. I think that if she and I were getting along better, she would agree with me. Since I don’t know what she will do, we have to keep our secret.” He pulled her close kissing her forehead. “Now why don’t we see what Uncle Steve is doing? We want to be sure that he is staying out of trouble.”
Grace smiled. “Let’s go. Maybe ΄Anakala Steve needs some help.”
Steve called Chin while Danny and Grace were talking.
“Detective Kelly.” Chin answered.
“Hey, Chin. Don’t talk until you get to someplace where no one can hear you.” Steve spoke quickly ensuring that Chin did not say his name out loud.
“Okay, I’m in my office with the door shut. What’s up? Aren’t you, Danny and Grace supposed to be touring the Napali Coast?”
Steve sighed, running his hand through his hair. “Yeah, we were. Someone sabotaged the helicopter and we crashed.”
“WHAT! Is everyone alright?” Chin asked concerned.
“We’re fine, just some bumps and bruises. The guy is a new player in Hawaii, so I need you and Kono to quietly check into any new players who are looking to set up shop. The scumbag called us to tell us what was done to the chopper and that he did it to get rid of Five-0. Stupid move on his part, gave me time to get the chopper close to the ground before the engine stopped.”
Chin snorted. “That was stupid, it’s not like you’re an inexperienced pilot. Kono and I will get right on it. I’ll also call search and rescue…”
Steve interrupted. “Don’t call search and rescue. I want that scum to think we died. He must have someone here that works for him in order for the chopper to be sabotaged. Plus the chopper blew shortly after we landed indicating that he didn’t want to risk any survivors. Since it is always a possibility that a chopper can blow, I made sure that the three of us got off the chopper and ran just in case.”
Chin sighed seeing the sense in Steve’s plan. “How will you get off the island?”
“I have a couple of friends that I can contact who would pick us no questions asked. They owe me more than one favor. Just in case, Danny, Grace and I will hike some distance from the crash site and stay a couple of days before I arrange for pick up. Speaking of which, I should get going, I had arranged to rent the chopper for two hours and we should get on our way soon.”
“Alright brah. I’ll tell Kono what’s going on and we’ll get to work. Call me tonight so that I know that you guys are okay. Are you calling me with your satellite phone?”
“I am. Oh, one last thing. Don’t tell Rachel that we made it. I’m afraid that she won’t keep our survival a secret, not with the way things are between Danny and her.”
Chin sighed. “You have a point. Do you want me to let the governor know?”
“Yes. She can keep a secret. Thanks Chin.”
”Pamaika’i brah.”
Once Steve hung up he started to remove any traces that they escaped from the chopper.
“΄Anakala Steve, what are you doing?” Grace asks curiously.
Steve looked up to see Grace and Danny watching him. “Hiding our tracks. This will help us maintain the illusion that we didn’t make it.” He continued his work.
“Is there anything we can do to help ΄Anakala Steve?”
“You and your dad can put your backpacks on. I’m almost done here. Then we will do some hiking. I’ll show you how to hide our route so you can help as we go.” Steve knew that keeping busy was the best way not to think about the crash or their circumstances though he did expect some kind of reaction from her at some point today.
Grace smiled. “I won’t let you down ΄Anakala Steve.”
“I know you won’t Gracie. You’re an akamai a me koa keiki.” She beamed as she went to get her backpack.
Danny nodded in acknowledgement of Steve’s ploy to help Grace cope and went to the packs with his daughter. While Steve finished up in the clearing Danny helped Grace put on her pack, than his own. Steve joined them and checked the straps on both Williams before donning his own pack and securing it. Steve double checked the GPS before starting their hike.
TBC
Akamai: smart
A me: and before a noun
Koa: brave
Keiki: child
Pamaika’i brah: good luck