hapter 11

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The sound of the machine blaring out its distress filled the room. As one, all four turned to the door, intent on finding help. None of them got a chance to take even a step before two nurses speed walked in, completely focused on their patient and ignoring them, other than a quick glance. Less than a minute later, Doctor Mahelona hurried in, having been paged about an issue with Magnum.

He took one look at the crowd in the room and glared at them. "Outside." Rick opened his mouth to respond, but the man beat him to it. "Now." His tone left no doubt that they were to leave immediately. Without even waiting to see if they obeyed, he focused his attention on the man in the bed, carefully checking the monitors and putting his stethoscope in his ears. The four friends quietly left the room.

Outside, they stared at each other, worry etched onto their faces. Rick was the first to speak. "Juliet, I'm sorry. I should never have said that to you. I know you're worried about him, just as much as any of us are. I don't really have an excuse other than I'm so tired and so scared that we're going to lose him."

She nodded and her eyes filled with tears at the beaten down sound of his voice. Without saying anything, she acted out of character and stepped forward to put her arms around his waist, resting her head on his chest. He immediately wrapped his arms around her and held on tight. She had a moment's thought that she couldn't breath but decided against saying anything just yet. The pressure lightened up in a second, but his arms remained.

He looked over her head at the detective. "I owe you an apology as well. I know you only did what you thought best. You were right, our place was here with him. We know that you've been doing everything you can, and on your own time. I'm sure that you two were instrumental in finding the men who did this." He took one hand from around Juliet and held it out to him. Katsumoto nodded and took it. T.C. moved forward and held out his as well. The other man shook it too. The big man then patted Higgins's shoulder, realizing he should have stood up for her after having been the one to find her asleep at Tommy's side, tear marks on her face. She released one arm from around Rick to put her hand over his. The four stood there like that for several minutes without speaking. When the door opened, they moved apart and waited for whatever news the doctor might have to tell them.

Mahelona looked at the four worried faces watching him and almost had second thoughts about the riot act he'd been planning on reading them. Almost. Thinking of his patient in the room behind him, he decided he had to make it clear about what had just happened.

"First of all, why were there four of you in there? You know the ICU rules only allow one at a time. I've been flexible with you, allowing two and allowing 24/7 access. I hope you don't make me regret that." His voice was stern as he folded his arms over his chest.

Katsumoto responded. "We were only there for a few minutes. I was just dropping off Ms. Higgins before going to get something to eat and both Mr. Wright and Mr. Calvin were about to leave."

As if he hadn't spoken, the doctor continued. "Second, what were you talking about in there? Were you arguing or discussing something that you know he has an issue with?"

T.C. blinked rapidly a few times and then said softly. "Are you saying that you think we caused what just happened in there?"

"Your friend's blood pressure spiked dangerously high. I can find no physical reason for it and it's now back to an acceptable level. The only thing I can think of is external stimuli."

Rick's right arm went around Juliet again and she leaned into him, feeling guilty. T.C. swallowed and responded when no one else did. "We might have had a small disagreement as well as a discussion about the fact that the men who did this to him were found by HPD and elected to fight back against arrest. They're dead."

The doctor closed his eyes and sighed. They respectfully waited for him to continue. Opening his eyes again, he said quietly. "Mr. Magnum may be unconscious, but I think this shows you that he still has some awareness of his surroundings. He may not have known exactly what you were arguing or talking about, but he picked up on the tension in the room. You need to be more careful or I will restrict your access. Is that understood?" All four nodded. He looked at each carefully. "I mean this. Something like that could negatively impact his healing."

Rick paled. "Did we…did we…" He couldn't continue as Juliet buried her face in his chest, the last few days catching up to her as a wave of despair swept over her, thinking that they could be the final reason Magnum didn't survive this.

The doctor shook his head. "No, I don't see any deterioration in his condition." At the look of relief on their faces, he held up a hand. "We were lucky this time. Very lucky. Next time, luck may not be on his side. He is still a very ill man and he needs peace and quiet as much as he may need his friends by his side. If I have to chose between the two, I will put a no visitors order into place."

Katsumoto held out his hand. "It won't happen again. I can promise you that."

The man shook it and added one more thing. "See that it doesn't. I meant what I said." His face softened as he looked at T.C. and Rick. "I think you two need to go home to get some food and rest before you keel over." He looked at his watch and then back at them. "I need to go, I'm already late for rounds. I'll check back on him later." He turned and left. The others watched him go and then turned back to each other, Juliet stepping back from Rick and looking at him critically.

"He's right, you know. You look knackered." She looked over at T.C. "Both of you. Why don't you go home and get some rest like the doctor ordered? I'll be here for this shift and Gordy will take over for me in a few hours. Neither one of you should come back until later tonight."

Rick nodded and then decided to address something else that had been bothering him, but in a joking way so that they wouldn't know it was bugging him. He raised an eyebrow and forced a smile. "Gordy?"

The detective smirked. "I hardly think we could continue calling each other Ms. Higgins and Detective Katsumoto with the amount of time we've been spending together."

Rick wasn't sure he liked that answer. He didn't want the dynamics of his little Ohana to change, unless it were between Thomas and Juliet. He wasn't even sure why, other than the fact that he thought they were great for each other. He was also of the opinion that both Thomas and Juliet needed someone good in their lives. Hannah had just about destroyed Thomas and Abby just hadn't been right for him. When the Viper showed up in their lives, he and T.C. had found out about Richard. That she had been in love and lost her fiancé to a violent act, by a man she'd thought was her friend. In the time they'd known her, she'd rarely dated and usually not more than once with the same man.

Katsumoto saw the thoughts chase across the other man's face, his usual ability to keep a straight poker face shot, most likely due to his exhaustion, and he wondered at it. When he realized that Rick was worried about his relationship with the woman, he hid a smile. While he'd thought about it for a split second a day or so ago, he knew he and Juliet Higgins would never work as a couple. The same thought about Higgins and Magnum's relationship crossed his mind now as it had then, and it appeared at least one of Magnum's best friends had the same inclination. This time, he held out his hand. "Rick, I'd be pleased if both you and T.C. would follow suit." He deliberately used the men's first names. Rick took it and T.C. nodded beside him.

"I'd like that." Rick sighed, feeling every second of his age. Turning to T.C., he said. "What do you think, big guy? Time to hit the road?"

T.C.'s response was a huge yawn, followed by a tired. "Yeah. Let's go." He turned to Juliet. "Higgy baby, you'll let us know if anything changes?"

"Of course."

T.C. didn't hesitate, he just pulled her into a hug which she returned. Rick hugged her again and the two men left, their steps dragging. Katsumoto turned to her and tilted his head. "You okay?"

She smiled at his concern. "As okay as I can be right now. Thank you."

"Alright then, I'm going to head out and grab something to eat, take a look at that case file."

"Where are you going?"

"Not sure, there must be a ton of places around here to eat and sit quietly."

She reached into her pocket and then held out the keys to the Ferrari. "Here, take the car if you don't find any place that suits your needs, if you want to head home or to the estate for anything."

He took them hesitantly, hearing her voice haranguing Magnum about the car belonging to Robin Masters. "Thank you. I might end up just sitting it in for a while to read or catch a cat nap. I'll be back in about four hours, give or take."

"That's fine." She hesitated and then said. "I know there have been a lot of apologies being given recently, but I wanted to add mine for not believing in your plan. I wish it had gone differently and we could use one of those men against Seaver. Still, I can't be sorry they're dead. At least they can't do this to anyone else."

"Apology accepted." He sighed. "Sadly, there'll just be someone else to take their place."

"Each one off the street is one less. We got three today."

He smiled and then they looked at each other awkwardly for a second. Juliet pushed down her normal reluctance to show emotions and stepped forward, pulling him into a hug. "You're a good man, Gordan Katsumoto."

He clumsily patted her on the back. "Same to you, Juliet Higgins." They separated and he walked away. She watched him go, wondering at the changes in both their lives. She'd been a solitary workaholic, quietly licking her wounds while living on her employer's estate and the detective had been a staid, by the book police officer. Now, they were family, along with Rick, T.C., Kumu, Shammy and the linchpin that held them all together, Magnum. She knew that the changes in all of them, had been brought about by the man in the room behind her. Shammy had been T.C. and Rick's friend first, but Magnum had enfolded him in with the others, making him part of the bigger whole. Turning, she went in to keep him company.

Entering the room, she hesitated by the door, looking carefully at him. Everything was calm, the heart monitor beeping out a nice steady rhythm. If one ignored the bruises, the machines and the ventilator, he almost looked peaceful, if too pale. She moved to sit in the chair next to his bed and gently ran the fingers of her right hand through his hair.

"I'm sorry we disturbed your rest Thomas. It was just a silly squabble between friends, amongst family. We're all just so worried about you and we miss you. Yes, even me." She leaned in and whispered in his ear. "HPD got the men who did this to you and they'll never hurt anyone again. They're gone forever. You can concentrate all your energy on getting better now." Leaning back, she took the book from the bedside table and opened it to the bookmark that indicated where the last person reading it to him had left off.

"The White Knight was running for his life. But not just his. There were people depending on him. His team, his friends, his brothers. The mission had somehow gone sideways, and he was the only one left who could get them the help they needed."

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Later that evening, Raisa Drozdov finished putting the diamond studs into her ears. She patted her hair into place and stood, moving to look at herself in the full length mirror. She turned to the left and then to right, finally coming back to center. She made a slight adjustment to the amount of cleavage the slinky, shimmery red dress was showing, not wanting to come on too strong, at least not right away.

Satisfied with the result, she asked to the thin air. "How do I look?"

Jonathan Gilmore laughed in her ear. "How do you think you look? This guy is going to be tripping over his tongue when he sees you."

"That's very nice of you to say, Jonathan, but I meant how's my camera?" The expensive looking necklace around her neck was, in fact, a state-of-the-art tiny surveillance camera.

There was mostly silence now, but she was pretty sure she heard some muffled laughter and smiled widely into the mirror. She could always count on Celia to see the funny side of things. She might even be hearing a bit of laughter not belonging to her friend and coworker. It sounded feminine so she guessed it was Josie MacReynolds. The other Navy intelligence officer, Captain Greene, didn't seem like he had much of a sense of humor.

Finally, she heard a sigh. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

"Why, Jonathan, would I ever do something like that?"

"Hell yeah, you would, and you have. You would think I'd have learned by now. Guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks."

"Well, should I ever encounter an old dog, I'll try to teach him, or her, a thing or two and see what happens." She didn't like when her sometime boss talked about his age. She didn't want to see the day when he decided to retire and leave the bureau. She worked with a lot of different people in the FBI field office on Hawaii and even got loaned out to the mainland at times. Gilmore was her favorite and she would hate to see him go.

The tone changed when Greene came online. "Stretch limo just showed up out front and Seaver got out. Looks like he's pulling out all the stops on this one. Everyone remember the plan?"

"Yes, Captain Greene. This isn't exactly my first rodeo." Irina snapped back.

There was a pause and then his voice sounded again. "I realize that and hope I didn't make you think I believed otherwise. It was not my intention."

She figured that was as close as she would get to an apology from the man and cut him some slack. This case was personal for both him and Josie. They were both acting very professional, but it came through on small things, like his worry that everything go to plan. She picked up a small clutch and made sure everything she needed was inside, including a Beretta Pico that didn't take up much space. When the knock came at the door, she was ready and went over to the couch to pick up the wrap she'd left thrown over the back.

She opened the door to find Ronald Seaver standing there holding a bouquet of red roses. He held them out and said. "These pale in comparison to your beauty." She had to stifle the urge to laugh at the clichéd line but instead ooh'd and aah'd over them as she let him into her suite. Something she hadn't planned on doing until later, wanting to keep him on edge and longing for her. She threw the wrap back onto the couch, pulled out a vase the hotel provided in the small kitchenette, filled it with water and placed the flowers in it. She had to admit, they really were quite beautiful.

Placing it on the small kitchen counter, she walked to the couch, picked up the wrap again and held it out to him. "Shall we get going?"

Reluctantly, he took it from her and helped her into it. She was sure he'd been expecting at least a cocktail in her room. Pretending not to know this, she swept to the door and allowed him to open if for her. As they left the room, he tried to stall. "We're a bit early for our dinner reservations, perhaps a drink?"

She pulled the door closed behind her and put her arm in the crook of his. "Sounds like a lovely idea. Let's go down to the bar where we first met."

He had no choice but to follow her lead and they ended up in the same bar, sitting on the same stools, where they each ordered a drink. She coyly looked at him over the rim of her glass and said in her fake heavy Russian accent. "This is very romantic, da? Sitting in the same place where first we met. Drinking the same drinks."

He smiled at her, besotted. Happy that she seemed to have changed her mind about not entering into a relationship with him. She smiled into her drink and took a small dainty sip. He finished his and ordered another, then a third while she was still on her first, encouraging him to drink more. After an hour, he looked at his watch and stood up. "If we leave now, we'll be just in time for our reservation." He took the wrap from the back of her chair and helped her into it again once she stood. Looking at the bartender, he said. "Just put it on my tab Brian."

The man addressed didn't bother to correct the man, again, that his name was Brad. Instead, he merely nodded and said. "Sure thing Mr. Seaver." Raisa smiled at him, showing him how impressed she was that he had a tab at such an exclusive place, and he puffed up.

"Shall we?" He raised his arm and she once again placed her hand in the crook of his elbow, allowing him to lead her out to the waiting car.

Outside, her eyes widened at the site of the waiting limo and she turned to him. "Is all of this just for the two of us?"

"All ours for the night. One of several in my fleet." He said with pride.

"How wonderful! I've been in a limo before, but not one so large." She looked up at him and fluttered her eye lashes at him. "You Americans certainly do everything…big." She meant his ego, but as expected, he took it another way and leaned in.

"Hopefully you'll continue to think so. All night."

She tittered out a small laugh and mock swatted him on the arm. "Uh uh Ronald, now behave." She turned and allowed the chauffeur to help her in. Once sitting, she carefully arranged her dress to show the most amount of leg, without being lewd, while he was getting in behind her. Sitting as close to her as he could get, his eyes traveled from her red pedicured feet in the silvery high heeled sandals she was wearing, to the hem of her dress. Once there, they continued on upward, stopping for a moment on her exposed cleavage and then continuing to her face. "You really are a breathtakingly beautiful woman, Raisa."

She lowered her eyes in fake modesty. She'd have to be a complete moron not to know she was a beautiful woman; she just didn't happen to think it was any of her doing. Just a random accident of DNA and nature. Most times, she found it a hinderance. Especially in her field where people, men AND women, assumed she was an airhead and underestimated her. She enjoyed setting them straight. She lifted her eyes back to him and breathed out. "You are a very handsome man, yourself, Mr. Seaver."

He smiled and leaned in for a kiss. He was almost there when she turned her head slightly and the kiss landed just to the side of her mouth. He looked perturbed and she smiled at him, reaching out and running a long red manicured nail down the side of his face. "We have all night. Let's go and enjoy our dinner. Perhaps go for a short walk afterwards in this beautiful city of yours. See where the night leads us. Hmmm?" She put as much promise into her words and eyes as she could without hitting him over the head with it. He smiled, enjoying the game he thought they were playing. Wouldn't he be surprised, she thought.

Turning back to the front, he pushed a button. A tinny voice responded. "Yes, Mr. Seaver?"

"We're ready. Let's go."

"Very well." The long car pulled away from the hotel and they drove off into the night. No one, other than Irina, knew they were being tailed. Greene and Celia stayed several cars behind the limo as it headed towards one of Hawaii's most exclusive restaurants, where Jonathon and this time Josie, waited for them. It had been easy work to hack into the reservation systems of several of the restaurants in the area that they thought he might choose to impress his date. They'd gotten lucky on the second hit and were able to insert their own reservation for a half hour before Seavers's. The limo pulled up in front of the building and a valet opened the door before the chauffeur could get out of the car. He helped Seavers out and then held his hand out for Irina. She gracefully exited, one long, barely clad leg at a time and the man's eyes got huge. She smiled her thanks at him and walked away, Seavers in her wake after pressing a tip into the young man's hands. Neither paid much attention to the fact that it was a hundred-dollar bill, as they both had their attention on the woman in red as she glided away.

Greene and Celia had parked just down the street and the woman started to laugh. Greene turned to her and frowned. "What's so funny?"

"The way men react to Irina. She attracts them with little to no effort."

"As long as she keeps her mind on the job, I don't really care who she does or doesn't attract. Seavers is our only target."

She tilted her head at him. "You don't go out much, do you?"

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A/N – I was just thinking about the timeline and I'm going to say this was just before Greene set up Magnum on that top secret mission. In the end, they seemed to have reached a newfound respect for each other and I wouldn't mind seeing him pop up in a civilian role at some point, now that he's resigned his commission.