A/N: GO BACK AND READ CHAPTER 7 if you haven't already. I'm posting two at once.

EPILOGUE

"Thanks, doc," Steve told the doctor as he shook his hand before he left to check on his other patients.

Steve stepped back into the crowded room. Danny was sitting up in the bed surrounded by his ohana, who, on this occasion in particular, included Ellie. They had just received a good report from the doctor. Danny was on the road to recovery and would be back to work in short order.

"It's about time, babe. We've been waiting on you. Did you have a nice talk with the doctor?" Danny's sarcasm was evident.

"Just wanted to make sure I understood his discharge instructions," he said apologetically in explanation.

"Um, you're not in charge of that," Danny indifferently informed him.

"Sure I am."

"Nope." Danny was shaking his head.

"Will you two please give it a rest?" Lou implored.

"Yeah, come on, guys," Kono added in agreement.

"No, you're not," Danny got in the last word on that topic before moving on. "Can we please hear the specifics about how the timing in your plan was so flawless?"

"Yeah, uh my plan… Ellie?" Steve stumbled even though he knew Danny was just razzing him.

Ellie came through for her friend. "Okaaay, well, basically it was just dumb luck. I had sent my paralegal ahead of me to New York to take care of some things before I arrived. Then, I got caught up in a trial. I held my ticket for the flight though, just in case I could make it at the last minute. I guess that was the flight info Leone's men got, but I didn't make it."

Chin jumped in, "And when you didn't show up at the airport, they panicked. They had sent word back to the mansion and I think you boys were in for some big trouble if we hadn't gotten there when we did. They were on their way back to rendezvous with the others but they unfortunately discovered we were there first."

"But, how did you know?" Danny asked before Steve could.

"Yeah. How did you find out about Leone and where we were?" Steve wondered as well.

"Well, a few things came together," Chin said.

"Yeah, here comes more of that perfect timing thing," Lou added.

Chin took back over, "So, when you two didn't show back up at the palace that day, we figured something was wrong. We couldn't reach either of you on your phones and they had been disabled so we couldn't ping them. The initial follow-up at the storage facility checked out. The worker said you had been there, gotten a file, and left."

"Well, that's just fantastic. The security cameras? The damage to the door from my gunshot? Anything?"

"The cameras weren't working."

"Figures." Danny remembered his jocular interaction with the impotent equipment.

"Door?" Chin questioned, puzzled.

"Yeah, door… to the office… the one they kept locked to keep out the riff raff?"

"There was no door."

"No door? At all? You gotta be kidding me. Guess they didn't want anyone seeing the damage from my bullet."

"The Camaro's GPS confirmed you had been there and left, so we didn't give much more thought to the storage place. We did find the car abandoned at the docks, but that led to a dead end and really, more questions. There were no prints or evidence and we didn't know if you were even still on the island since the car was at the shipping location. We also assumed you were together."

"Okay, sooo… then what?" Steve was eager for more.

"Well, we were pretty much at a loss. Then, we got a random call at headquarters from a Captain Sutter."

Steve smiled in realization.

"Captain who?" Danny looked confused. "Why do you have that smile plastered on your face, babe?"

Chin addressed Danny directly since Steve seemed to know where this was going. "Turns out Captain Sutter had run into a certain, former subordinate of his at the Navy FCU." He tilted his hand toward Steve and smiled at him. "He was reaching out to set up an outing or at least get Steve's number so he could call him directly, but when we heard about his encounter with Steve at the credit union, things got rolling. The security cameras there gave us the facial recognition we needed to identify Gino Leone's right-hand man, Luka Giovanni, aka Lucky."

Ellie added more, "The other thing is, the box had made it to the New York District Attorney. I had sent it with Julie, my paralegal. The first thing she did when she arrived in New York was to deliver it to the DA's office so she could lighten her load and move on with her tasks. That started the process there. The ADA sent the box to the lab and they got what they needed on Gino Leone. The officials had been keeping tabs on him with the reactivation of his case, so they knew he was in Oahu and they communicated their intentions to move in to the governor who, in turn, let your team know what was going on."

"So, we knew the who and the feds let us know the where. We made it a joint operation with the U. S. Marshals. Now, you know the rest. Gino Leone should be going away permanently this time."

"That's one sentencing, I think I'll make plans to be at," Steve declared.

A spark of interest flared in Danny's eyes as he shifted forward by elbowing the mattress behind him. "Let me ask you something. You're... going to go and visit the big city? New York City? You know, there're no palm trees and no driving your own car… or my own car I should say, and then there's all the noise, smells, crowds, concrete, and bitter cold… You know what? I think I'll come along. I miss all that stuff. We can swing over to Jersey and stay at Mom and Pop's and I'll show you around my old stomping grounds."

"Okay, yeah, sure." Steve reluctantly accepted, not being able to come up with a good excuse for changing his mind on short notice. Then he remembered a possible out. "Uh, you know, I may need to finish up with the Barrister case first…"

"Say no more." Kono interrupted, trying to be 'helpful'. "Barrister's been taken care of, boss."

Somewhat rankled and disappointed at Kono's choice of timing, Steve mustered, "Oh… oh, is that so?"

Chin nodded and added, "That's true. You know, it wasn't until we talked to you, that we found out that you and Danny had been kept at separate locations, at least in the beginning. Danny let us know about the storage unit they had held him in, so Lou went back and checked it out and confirmed he had been held on the top floor, the floor that didn't have any renters yet since the place was so new."

"He was secluded and wouldn't be, and couldn't be, heard with the insulation they put in those indoor units now," Lou said. "They had it rigged with a camera, which was the feed you saw, McGarrett."

"You got to see me on the big screen?" Danny spoke with his high pitch voice and smiled at his partner. "So then, you got to see I've got some badass, ninja moves of my own too, huh?"

"Yeah, I got to see you get your badass kicked."

"Hey, it wasn't a fair fight. Two against one with my hands tied…"

"Nah, you did good, buddy. You tried."

"Did you get the punk at the storage place?" Danny asked Lou.

"Yep, got him and finally got what we needed on Barrister while we were at it. I don't know why you and McGarrett have to make things so difficult."

"Hey! It's not me. He's the one always getting us in trouble." Then turning his attention to Steve. "Just try not to get us shot, stabbed, kidnapped, blown up, or shot while we're in New York and Jersey, would ya?"

"Negaholic," Steve succinctly retorted.

Once again Kono and Ellie shared a look but this time, Ellie wasn't confused. She understood they were speaking in their own language.

After a few moments of silence, Steve spoke again and corrected his partner, "You said 'shot' twice."

~verus finis~

A/N: You know, according to the ep, there was at least one other Leone brother, maybe more. Would he/they be a little ticked? …Hmm.

\,,,/ BronsonL