Where do we go from here? Part 3

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Title: Where do we go from here?
Companion Series to "It Started with a Question"
Pairing: Steve/Danny
Genre: Angst, slash
Rating: PG-13 (for language and 'concepts')
Summary: Meka's death and the fall out. 
Disclaimer: Don't own them, don't mean any harm, don't gain any ducats, just playing around.
Word count: ~1,900

Thanks purple_spock who helps and encourages me to keep writing :D

A/N: There’s a lot of canon in this that is clearly not mine, I’m only borrowing from the show. I have taken actual quotes from the show as part of the dialog either because its slashy on its own, I wanted to make it slashy, or it just seemed right to add it.

The A03 if you're interested.

The morning started off with Grace’s missing doll. Danny found it quickly enough, but that meant she was out the door. He always hated seeing her leave, but the weekend had been a great one and spending a full three days and four evenings with her did something to his heart he wasn’t quite able to describe. It was something like a sense of peace mixed with too many other happy, positive emotions the dude he used to be before Grace would not have been caught dead talking about.

He smiled at that. He didn’t like to brag, but there had been a number of girls in Jersey who had aimed to tame him back when he was a wild kid, and while Rachel had done a lot to make him change his ways, it had been a seven pound and three ounce bundle that had changed him, trained him, and whipped him. One of the many reasons he started to chase her down when he realized that Grace had Dolphin Annie but not her dolphin.

He was of a mind to call Rachel and maybe take it by her house later, when Grace was back from school, when he got the news that would take his mind off Dolphin Annie, though his mind was never far away from his daughter, she was with him in his heart always. Amy Hanamoa stood on his sidewalk and he could tell she was crying. The thoughts he’d had about talking to Steve before work, or at least working on what he would say after work, flew from his mind. The news she gave him about Meka was the worst news he’d gotten since Rachel said she was moving to Hawaii and taking Grace with her. Things with Steve would have to wait till this was over.

When he found out that I.A. thought Meka was dirty, he wasn’t just angry, he was raging. Then when no one would speak to him about Meka’s work in the last few months, well there just wasn’t a word strong enough for the kind of livid he was.

“Twelve years the guy wears a badge and you all are looking at me like you don’t even know who he is!” He would have liked to punch each and every one of them in the mouth, at the very least, ripped away their badges. How could they think Meka was dirty? He had been friends with these people, trusted them. Part of Danny knew that if they thought Meka was dirty, there was a good chance they thought he was dirty too. Partners were partners, and it had only been a few months since Danny got called to 5-0. Truthfully, he did not give a fuck what they thought as long as they answered his questions, dammit.

Even after he found someone who would talk about Meka’s cases, Danny was still angry, but with no one currently standing in the middle of this warpath, he just charged ahead. Chin called to tell them what he and Kono had found thus far, including a single ticket to Singapore booked the night before he died, which made Danny even more certain that Meka had found proof of something that someone was willing to kill a cop in order to keep it quiet. Chin was going to find out what more he could about Meka’s plans in Singapore, but Steve was making Serious Face #27 which Danny would have found adorable (it made him look a little vulnerable) except he knew in this case it meant Steve thought he was fooling himself into continuing to believe in Meka’s innocence.

“What, what are you thinking?”

“Guy books a flight out of the country the night before he was murdered? It just makes me wonder…”

“Makes you wonder what?”

“Did he know it was coming?”

“Okay, can you please just do me a favor don’t, don’t, don’t.”

“Come on Danny level with me here, you didn’t think that of that for a second?”

There was only one thing that mattered to Meka more than being a cop was his family. Even if he had been dirty (the chances of that were about as good as his own chances of taking down Steve in an MMA match) Meka would not have run without his son. No way. Their dedication to their children was one of the things that had solidified both their partnership and friendship in such a short time.

“No I did not think of that for a second!” Danny knew he said more than that, but his mouth was channeling his anger and the messages were bypassing his brain completely.

The news from Kalao that Meka may have been working on a case involving a cartel called the Ochoa wasn’t technically good, but it was the most logical answer to the evidence they’d found thus far. However, Steve was making a face again, this time The Face (Serious Face #1 which was his third least favorite face – 2nd went to the Grin #2 which proceeded or accompanied Steve’s creation of mayhem meaning Danny getting shot at or Steve throwing a suspect in a shark pool).

“What’s with the face?”

“I don’t have a face.”

“Yes you do, you have a face. Okay? I am a detective. It’s what I do, I read people, and you, my friend have a face.”

“Alright, I want to ask you something but I know it’s going to piss you off.”

“Would you not always be so judgmental with me?”

“I’m not judgmental!”

“Treat me like I’m some hothead who can’t think objectively! I can think objectively.”

“Really?”

“Yes! Really, ask away.”

“Okay, did you and Meka ever have any issues?”

“Any issues? No, no issues, Oprah!” Okay he knew his snark was starting to get a little much, but this wasn’t just about whether or not his friend, his now murdered former partner, was dirty. It wasn’t just that Steve was insulting the memory of a dedicated and good cop by suggesting that he was a leak in the department that had sold Kono out on their first case together.

“It’s not possible?”

“Not possible.”

“Zero chance?”

“Zero chance?! What are you doing? What are you taking Cage’s side now?”

Danny was aware he was being a little juvenile, but this was about trust, specifically Steve’s trust in Danny. Thus far, he had considered the fact that Steve had used the 5-0 clout to get them on the case further proof that Steve was serious about him. He couldn’t shake the feeling that if Steve did care about him as more than just a partner, he’d be helping prove Meka’s innocence, not questioning Danny’s judgment at every turn.

Surely if Steve felt for him what he felt for Steve… he didn’t even know at this point. Too many things were boiling in him, this fight was way worse than any of the others they’d had, and Danny knew a lot of it was his own temper because Steve was trying to be cool and logical, but unfortunately that was only making Danny angrier. He was yelling, a lot, and he wasn’t sure of half of what he said, though he knew he was probably being a dick about it. He was hurting, on too many levels, and afraid of too many things. He needed Steve on his side; he needed Steve to be the man Danny had been sure he was only yesterday.

“I am so glad you’re not a hothead; I would hate to work with someone like that.”

Danny was too angry to show it, too angry to feel anything but anger just then, but he knew that when the anger faded, and the adrenaline abated, he was going to find he’d bled out from that cut.

Danny had never been so grateful for Chin – not that Kono wasn’t helpful – but Chin’s previous experience with I.A. made him an ally, where Kono was attempting to stay neutral. They found pictures of investigators who had been murdered by the Ochoa family, and Chin brought them up on screen in chronological order, showing the escalating level of violence (and warnings to other investigators). The most recent photos showed Federales who’d had their badges shoved in their mouths after they’d been killed, just like Meka.

It was Kamekona who tipped them about the contact for the new cartel who was apparently running a modern art gallery. Danny did not understand modern art, though he was in a much improved moved since it was looking like he might be able to exonerate his friend since the whole team was chasing down the cartel lead and, at least for the moment, Steve had stopped suggesting Meka was dirty and a leak to criminals.

He wanted to still be angry at Steve, but it was difficult not to appreciate him in that suit. The “v” his shirt was making at the edge of his chest was distracting beyond reason and Danny was pissed at himself for persistently sneaking looks.

From the moment he saw the contact, a greasy dude in ridiculous clothes taking sleazy pictures of drunken women from the party, Danny knew he wasn’t going to like the guy. Of course, the guy already had a few strikes against him in Danny’s book since he was connected to the man Danny was sure had killed his friend. Normally, Danny hoped to get through every situation with as little violence as possible. Normally, he hoped that there was none. Tonight, however, he wasn’t so sure it wouldn’t make him feel a hell of a lot better to punch someone in the face.

Danny got his wish. Slimy guys face made a terribly satisfying sound as it hit the table. Yes, he was about to make himself a hypocrite and do something incredibly stupid and truly wrong. It seemed the anger and frustration from the case and things with Steve had disconnected Danny’s body from his brain and actions were coming without thought.

Maybe not entirely without thought, because he had to admit strapping the guy to the hood of his car seemed like a pretty good idea to him.

“Just for the record, if I pulled something like this, you would be reading me the riot act about proper police procedure.”

“No, I would probably just arrest you.”

“Compared to this, hanging a guy off a roof and throwing a guy in a shark cage seem pretty tame.”

“You know what, I disagree. I think the shark tank was way worse than this.”

“Well, whatever, you’re wrong. I’m just saying to be clear, next time I get a free pass.”

It probably should have worried Danny that Steve was wearing a very contented version of Grin #2, but again, this mission was way too personal.

Bobby cracked. Gave them everything he knew and a way to meet with Ochoa, but he also confirmed there was a leak in the HPD. Danny’s temporarily improved mood lasted until HQ. Information on accounts in Singapore that had money transferred from an Ochoa “shell” company had been found on a site Kono said Meka had visited. Steve was back to believing Meka was the informant and Kono seemed inclined to agree. Chin was on his side, but he just couldn’t handle it any more. He couldn’t partner with someone who didn’t trust him and he couldn’t even think about what that meant about the rest of their relationship he had begun to have so much hope for.

“You know what? I’m done, how ‘bout that? Alright, if my word is not good enough for you then I do NOT know what I am doing here.”

(Houston, we have a Master List)

Comments

[kitmerlot1213.livejournal.com]

I really liked how you had Danny's worry and concern for Meka's murder get mixed in with his new and confusing feelings for Steve--very realistic.

[illfindmyway.livejournal.com]

Thanks :) I know things get all mixed up for me.

[whogeek.livejournal.com]

Very good. Love the conflict between worry over catching Meka's killer and proving his innocence, and the damage to whatever relationship is growing between Steve and himself.

(Icon made by shanachie_quill)

[illfindmyway.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!

[abbeyrd62561.livejournal.com]

Wow that is my favorite episode and I love the parts you picked out and how you interjected what Danny was thinking. But now that Danny took off that is such a cliffhanger in the relationship department.....great job

[illfindmyway.livejournal.com]

Thanks :D

More is on the way soon!

[purple-spock.livejournal.com]

Yay, it looks so good. : D This series is really coming together, and people seem to like it. : )

[illfindmyway.livejournal.com]

I'm really excited about this series! <3 Thanks so, so much for helping!