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Neutralized

Shrimp truck, Saturday 1:00 p.m.

Catherine was on line buying their lunch while Grace sat at a picnic table a few yards away waiting for her. They'd stopped to pick up food before going to join Kono for an afternoon of surfing with 'just the girls'.

A group of three teens, two girls and a boy, stood several customers behind Catherine, laughing and talking. She heard them but she wasn't paying too much attention until suddenly, their voices erupted angrily.

"Hey!" From one of the girls.

Followed closely by "Back off!" From the tall blond boy, directed at a second, slightly older boy that had walked up to them.

"What'd you say?" The second boy, a rangy kid of about eighteen answered the first, tapping his opponent on the chest in a clear challenge.

"I said back off! Don't touch Katie. I saw you put your hand on her when you walked by, Loki. Go hang with people your own age and leave us alone!"

A pretty girl of about sixteen, with long black hair and wide eyes put her hand on the aggressor's arm "C'mon we used to be neighbors, Loki, please don't…" She stumbled when he shrugged it off violently and shoved her away.

The first girl, Katie, shrieked, "Don't you ever touch me again and don't you dare push Ana!"

The angry exchange had Catherine's radar up and she'd started approaching from behind the boy, Loki, when the three slightly younger kids had stepped away from him, right before the shove. Seeing how Loki's angry eyes locked onto Katie when she'd defended her friend, Ana, Catherine stepped forward to put herself between them just as Loki clamped his hand on Katie's shoulder.

Catherine dropped the bags she was holding and calmly said, "Let her go."

When, instead of backing down, Loki spun and faced her in a fight stance, Catherine ordered, "That's it. On your knees, Five-0." and told the girl, who was standing there frozen, "Back away, Katie," In a soft voice.

Grace had run to the shrimp truck as soon as she saw what was happening. She and Kamekona were headed back hand-in-hand, by the time her aunt had finished telling Loki to kneel. When he'd swung at her and pulled a pocket knife, Catherine had smoothly dodged the blow. He'd ended up with her elbow to his jaw, which momentarily knocked him cold. She'd rolled the unconscious boy onto his stomach and, glad she was still dressed for work, cuffed him. "Grace, are you alright, Honey?" She asked as soon as she stood up.

"Catherine! You okay, Sista?" Kamekona stood alongside Grace, looking very angry and concerned. "Who da scum pushing a girl an' making trouble for my Ohana at my truck?"

Loki came around and was mumbling when his eyes took in Grace. "Hey, look, it's Williams. What 'cha doin' hangin' with cops, Williams?" The boy mocked her.

Grace glanced toward Ana, the dark haired girl, who was clinging to Katie and turned back to Loki "You shouldn't have pushed a girl." She shook her head. "So wrong."

"What's the matter, you gonna hit me, now?" Loki was a former student at Sacred Heart until he was expelled for behavior issues. At eighteen, he was a very old sophomore at the public high school. "I heard it was you that hit my little cuz a few weeks ago. Maybe I owe you a punch."

Before Catherine could answer, Grace addressed him in a clear, calm voice with an intonation that sounded an awful lot like her Uncle Chin's "If you even tried to hit me, my Dad and my Uncle Steve would put you in jail forever. Your cousin was torturing my friend. I shouldn't have hit him, but he wouldn't stop." Grace calmly moved even closer to Catherine. She'd just gotten off suspension, the last thing she needed was another situation.

HPD officers appeared at the scene. "Want me to take this garbage off your hands, ma'am?" The first one asked.

"Yes, officer …" Catherine checked his uniform name plaque, "Thomas. Start with assault and add assaulting a police officer, pulling a weapon …" she enveloped Grace in a hug and proudly planted a kiss on her niece's head. "You're okay, Sweetheart?"

"I'm fine." Grace nodded and faced the policeman, while remaining wrapped in Catherine's arms. "His name's Loki and he got expelled from my school. He was always in trouble." Grace indicated Ana, who was hugging Katie, not far away, "He pushed that girl, the one with the long hair, and she was only trying to stop him from picking a fight." Grace supplied to Officer Thomas, who smiled at her.

"Thank you, young lady. You're the one who called 911?"

"Yes. My name is Grace Williams. W-i-l-l-i-a-m-s and I called 911."

"I thought you looked familiar. You're Detective Williams' daughter." He'd worked a few scenes with Five-0 and had met Grace at the annual HPD family fundraiser when Danny had brought her along.

Grace nodded and smiled as the officer told her to give her dad his best and complemented her cool head. Thomas grinned at a smiling Catherine, who proudly had an arm draped across Grace's shoulders, before he dragged a grumbling Loki away while his partner took statements from the other three teens.

Grace was looking at Catherine with awe and pride. "You were awesome. Just like Danno. Can we still go surfing with Aunty Kono?"

"You bet. Let's just call your dad and fill him in, okay? Then when he and Uncle Steve get back from having to work on a Saturday, they won't be surprised by our … eventful lunch." Catherine knew Steve would get an activity update since Five-0 was involved in the arrest.

"Okay." Grace nodded as Catherine dialed Danny's cell.

Later that evening, H50 HQ, Catherine Rollins' Office

Danny came into Catherine's office and immediately heard, "Danny, I'm sorry."

"Are you kidding me? Don't you dare apologize." Danny enveloped his friend in a hug.

"I feel badly that I had to take him down in front of Grace, but he was escalating and he'd have hit that girl. Then he pulled a knife …"

"And you reacted perfectly." Danny placed his hand on Catherine's shoulder. "Maybe you taught the piece of crap a lesson. He should be thanking God it wasn't me who…" Danny shook his head. "I trust you to make the right decision when it comes to keeping Grace safe. Always. You know that."

"Thanks." Catherine said softly. "You know I'd do anything for her. I just didn't want it to be a problem, like if Rachel claims your friends are violent in front of Grace."

"You protected Grace. You diffused a situation the way you, with seventeen years of military training, saw fit. Stop worrying. Grace is all kinds of proud of you; she just retold me the entire story and she said you, and I quote 'were awesome and neutralized him before anything bad happened.' My eleven year old said 'neutralized'. Clearly, she's spending too much time with Steve." Danny said to lighten the mood.

It worked and Catherine smiled. "Well, she was great, so you should be proud…"

They turned simultaneously as Steve barreled into her office, his features etched with rage. "Where's that little bastard?" He spit out.

"Whoa, whoa, Rambo." Danny held a hand up to his partner. "Look, I appreciate it, I do, but you can't go down there and water-board him, Steve. As much as I'd like to join you in doing it. Cath took care of him. Besides, Grace is in the break room with Kono so let's not get too loud."

Chin added as he came from his office, "Loki Rhys-David." He handed Steve a file. "He's in interrogation cooling his heels; he'll face arraignment for assaulting a police officer with a weapon. He's eighteen and a repeat offender. He'll do time."

"I'm going to talk to him." Steve hissed, his eyes stormy.

"Steve …" Catherine began, placing her hand on his shoulder, "Danny's already…"

His eyes softened at her touch, but Steve was adamant. "Catherine, please. You can come if you want, but I'm going to have a … talk with him." Steve checked his weapon and left the bullpen, his anger palpable.

Interrogation room

"The famous McGarrett." Loki said cockily. "I just met your nasty-ass partner. Dude threatened to kill me." He scoffed, "and I'd heard you were the crazy one."

When the angry SEAL moved further into the room with Catherine following him, Loki pointed as far as his chained hand would allow. "That bitch assaulted me; knocked me out. I could file charges!" He spat out. With a nasty smile he leered at Catherine, then turned and focused back on Steve. "Bet she likes it rough, huh?"

Steve's SIG was at Loki's jugular in a second. The color drained from the kid's face, bravado gone.

"I'll show you rough, you little shit. That was my niece. My eleven year old niece, you threatened to hit today. If I ever see your face, or your name comes across my radar again …" He let his threat hang in the air and stalked out of the room. Catherine followed without a word.

In the hall, he stopped, breathing like he'd just run ten miles. Catherine placed a hand on his arm.

"I'm good." He placed his hand over hers. "I just had … when I got the report and the UNIs said he threatened to hit Gracie … I needed to make sure he understood. You never know who has connections where and …"

"I get it. Between you and Danny, he's terrified. Grace is safe." Catherine slid her hand down his arm until their hands met.

"Thanks to you." He squeezed her fingers.

"Yeah, well, she did great. As soon as she saw trouble, she backed away from where she was waiting, went to get Kamekona and called 911. She was perfect."

Steve nodded. "When I heard you'd called in an arrest and I knew Gracie was with you …" He shook his head like a retriever sloughing off water. "She did respond exactly right, and Danny said she was fine. I never for a second thought you didn't handle the situation perfectly, I just can't ever have Gracie worried or having to deal with anything like that creep trying to scare her."

"I know." Catherine reassured him. "Steve, you love her. You didn't kill the bastard; you get points for that, Commander." She smiled, trying to lighten his mood. "C'mon let's go see Grace."

Steve followed Catherine back up to the break room where Grace was telling Chin all about surfing that afternoon. She looked bright and happy and no worse for wear. "Gracie?"

"Uncle Steve!" She jumped up to hug him.

"You good, Sweetheart?" he asked.

She nodded. "I'm great. Did you hear what happened?"

"I heard all about it. Also heard you did a terrific job, called 911 so Catherine had backup and …" At Danny's guffaw Steve looked up. "What?"

"My kid's better at calling for backup than you, Babe, that's what." Danny laughed.

Grace giggled and continued "Aunty Cath saved that girl Katie and she arrested that jerk, Loki. It was just like you told me, she neutralized the threat. She was awesome!" She smiled proudly at her aunt who walked over and dropped a kiss on her head.

"You remember me telling you about neutralizing threats?" Steve grinned, clearly proud his beloved niece recalled their discussion.

Grace nodded. "I remember everything you tell me. Assessing situations, neutralizing threats; arresting bad guys, calling for backup. Especially the backup." She turned to her dad. "That's really important, right, Danno? 'Cause maybe if join Five-0 someday and work with Uncle Steve …"

Steve's ear to ear grin wasn't dimmed a bit by his partner's very loud "No! No way! If my daughter ever tries to join this task force Steven, consider yourself … neutralized."

End – Thanks for reading