So, here we are, at the end... Thank you so much for sticking around until now and for all your great reviews. I hope you had fun (I certainly had!) and I hope you enjoy the final chapter.

Another huge thank-you to sherry57 for betaing, I can't say it often enough, you're doing an amazing job! Merci beaucoup! :-) You're the best!

Happy Birthday, FlamMabel :-)

Chapter 27:

Steve only vaguely remembered the last few times when he had been awake briefly, when every breath had been a struggle, every heartbeat had thundered mercilessly against his ribcage and the annoying beeping of a heart monitor had been a constant background noise in his fuzzy consciousness.

He hadn't really been aware of the hectic action around him, of all the doctors and nurses in the ICU who had desperately tried to stabilize his fluctuating heart rate or of his teammates who had been constantly keeping vigil by his bedside during the last two days and nights. The only thing he had really perceived was the painful pressure in his chest and the terrifying feeling that every struggling heartbeat might be his last.

This time his awakening was a little bit less uncomfortable, the beeping was gone, the room he was in was calm and quiet. Steve still felt like at least three identical copies of Kamekona were sitting on his chest and every muscle in his body hurt like hell with every thudding heartbeat, but at least his heart was beating and therefore he was more than graceful and happy.

"Ah, looks like that stupid partner of mine is finally ready to wake up."

Weakly rolling his head toward the familiar voice, Steve swallowed laboriously, his eyelids only slightly fluttering as he tried to open his eyes.

"Come on, you moron, you slept long enough, time to show me your infamous SEAL death glare."

Summoning all of his strength Steve finally managed to force his eyes open. Blinking a few times to clear his vision, his gaze fell on his partner who literally beamed down at him.

"Will you… finally… shut up… Danny," Steve groaned hoarsely, glaring tentatively at the other man.

"Nice try, McGarrett, but I'm sure you can do much better."

The smirk on Danny's lips stayed for another moment as he held Steve's gaze. Then suddenly the smile dropped from his face and he breathed out a long, tired sigh as he cautiously lowered himself onto the chair next to Steve's bed.

"Man, you really scared us," Williams said quietly, awkwardly rubbing his hands across his face. "Don't do that ever again, okay?"

Furrowing his brow, Steve breathed deeply in and out a few times until the pressure on his chest finally abated noticeably. At the moment he had only a vague idea of what had happened, but noticing the clavicle strap around Danny's shoulders and the way his partner carefully massaged his left thigh, his memories returned sluggishly.

"You alright?" Steve asked worriedly, the image of Danny's blood on the white tiles of their prison cell flashing through his mind.

Waving him off with a short flick of his wrist, Danny said with a little smile, "I think I told you before… I'm a Williams and we don't get put down and out by a simple gunshot wound."

"If I remember correctly, that was much more than a simple gunshot wound," Steve replied, his voice now a lot stronger than before. Looking around he found the device to adjust the bed, and by pressing the button he brought himself into a sitting position. A faint wave of dizziness rolled over him but after a few deep breaths it vanished as quickly as it had come. "Honestly Danny, are you alright?"

Rolling his eyes, Danny stared at his friend for a moment before he answered solemnly, "Yes Steven, I'm alright." Shrugging his shoulders as far as the clavicle strap allowed, he added, "I need to wear this stupid thing for at least four weeks to give my fractured collarbone time to heal, and I can tell you that I already hate it after barely one day." Gesturing to his left side he pointed at the cane that was leaning against his chair, "And my old cane is back in use because I can tell you that walking with a gunshot wound in one's thigh is quite painful."

Interrupting himself briefly, a wry smile crept across his lips, "But my daughter thinks the cane is cool so I have no problem using it."

"But you know what the best thing is, Steven?" McGarrett narrowed his eyes when he heard the glee in Danny's voice. "The best thing is that I was released this morning while you, my almost invincible friend, have to stay at least two more days."

Closing his eyes in distaste, Steve let his head drop back onto his pillow as he suppressed an irritated groan. "Two more days?" he asked gloomily. "You can't be serious." Involuntarily rubbing his hand across the left side of his chest, he remembered the pain he had been in, and he had to admit that maybe two days in a hospital bed were a low price to pay for his life.

"What happened anyway?" he wanted to know as he ran his right hand through his hair. All he remembered was that raw pain in his chest and the inability to draw a proper breath.

"You mean other than that your fear of needles resulted in giving yourself a heart attack?" Danny joked but there was an underlying hint of seriousness in his voice.

"Very funny," Steve huffed out, glaring at his partner.

"Now, that's better," Williams beamed at the sight of Steve's face. "You're almost back to your distinctive death glare."

"Danny, please, can't you be serious and simply answer my question?" McGarrett begged tiredly. "Just for once?"

"No, Steven, I can't be serious," Danny retorted testily, heaving a deep sigh before he continued. "And why would I be serious? It's not as if my partner almost got killed after he injected himself with an unknown drug. Oh wait, if I think about it, that's exactly what happened." He waved his hands through the air and stared at his friend for a long time. "I mean it, Steve," Danny finally said quietly, "you really, really scared us this time."

Noticing the blank look on Steve's face, Danny sighed again and explained patiently, "Baines' drug played havoc with your system, especially with your heart and on the way to the hospital you decided to check out on us…"

Danny let his voice trail off and after noisily clearing his throat, he said hoarsely and with another large gesture of his hands, "Anyway, you're fine now. Doc said, the drug is almost completely out of your system, you're young and healthy, you're supposed to make a full recovery, yadda yadda yadda. They don't expect a relapse but they just want to monitor you for another 48 hours to make sure."

Without giving Steve the time to interrupt, Danny immediately continued to rant, "And beside all that, you really deserve a good lecture for the fright you gave us. I mean, what the hell were you thinking, Steven? Which part of 'Don't do anything stupid and, under no circumstances, ever use that syringe on yourself' did you not understand?"

Locking eyes with his partner, Danny sagged back in his chair as he sighed once more and whispered quietly, "The drug could have killed you, you jerk."

Returning Danny's look, Steve nodded slowly. "Yeah, I know," he admitted hesitantly. "But you know that I had no other choice. Baines would have killed you, Danny." A shudder ran down Steve's spine when he remembered the look in Baines' gray eyes and the weapon he'd pointed at Danny's head.

"I do know that, babe, but that still doesn't mean I like what you did," Williams replied. Leaning on his cane he laboriously dragged himself to his feet and stepped closer to Steve's bed. "But I'm extremely glad that we're both alive," he said solemnly, raising his right hand to exchange high-fives with his partner.

"Me too," McGarrett replied after a brief moment, also stretching out his hand. But instead of returning the high five he grabbed Danny's hand and squeezed tightly. "Me too, Danno."

Grinning at each other the two partners remained silent for a minute until Danny finally released his grip and cleared his throat once more, a bit embarrassed about that unusual display of feelings.

Leaning a little bit forward, he swiftly pressed the call button next to Steve's bed before he dropped back down in his chair. "Doc said he wants to check on you as soon as you're awake," Danny explained, cocking his head a little bit to the right when he noticed Steve's inquiring gaze.

Studying his partner for a moment, a sly smirk slowly crept across Danny's lips. "And now that your heroic actions have proved that you've overcome your fear of needles, you certainly don't mind the nurse drawing a little bit more of your blood," he smirked, laughing out loud at the horrified expression on his partner's face.

Two days later the ghost of a pressure on Steve's chest was almost the only reminder of his recent near death experience and he was finally released with strict orders not to overdo it in the next few days.

Waiting in front of the hospital for his partner to pick him up, he gave the crutch in his left hand an irritated look, considering seriously throwing the hated thing into the bushes behind him. But the pain that flared through his thigh when he tentatively put some weight on his left leg immediately made him forget that thought.

Shaking his head in disgust, Steve puffed out a long, frustrated sigh. He still couldn't believe that he suffered from a very rare side effect the injection with the EpiPen had caused. First the injection site had become inflamed and soon after that a huge abscess had developed, so that a quick little surgery had even been necessary to remove the affected tissue. His whole leg felt if it was on fire and walking without the crutch was almost impossible. According to the doctors it wasn't a case for concern now that the wound had been cleaned but the muscle needed time to heal and until then Steve was dependent on the crutch, whether he wanted to be or not.

Leaning heavily against a metallic railing, Steve threw an impatient look at his watch and then along the street. When there was still no sign of Danny's silver Camaro he shook his head, thinking back to the conversations with Kono and Chin, what they had told him and Danny about all the events that had finally led to their rescue.

x~x~x

"Duke, what's wrong? What's happened?"

As soon as Kono had asked those questions a few days before on a chilly night on Molokai and had heard Sergeant Duke Lukela's answer, she was from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye.

Kono forcefully shoved her cell phone into the right back pocket of her jeans and breathed out a deep, shaky sigh. She couldn't believe that Steve, Danny and Gabby were missing, kidnapped from Gabby's apartment while a black-and-white had been parked directly in front of the building.

Not hesitating a second longer, Kono whirled around and leaped into action.

Only thirty minutes later she had talked to the other teachers of the youth camp, organized a flight back to Oahu, had woken Grace and had tried to tell her about what's going on without frightening the little girl too much.

As soon as Kono and Grace arrived in Honolulu and Danny's daughter was asleep safe and sound on the couch in McGarrett's office, Kono started to look through all the case relevant files. Somewhere amongst all that information there must be a hint about what had happened to her two teammates.

It was almost eight hours and four cups of disgusting coffee later – just when she was about to scream in frustration – when Kono finally found what she was looking for.

"That's it!" Kono gasped out wide-eyed, then she involuntarily hold her breath as she skimmed through the information on the screen.

The search for Baines' silver Volkswagen had led HPD to an expensive quarter near Diamond Head where the car had repeatedly been seen over the last few days. Neatly checking all people and buildings in that very area, Kono had finally stumbled onto one special house.

Staring at the display, Kono blinked slowly, over and over reading the owner's name of said mansion – Mrs. Eliza Kalili, who happened to be Paul Baines' deceased foster mother.

Shaking her head, Kono wondered why that connection had never raised suspicion before, but she quickly discarded that thought. The only important thing was that she had found the connection and the longer she looked at the name on the screen the more she was sure that this was the missing piece of information she had been looking for. That very house must be Paul Baines' secret hideout.

The next few minutes passed in a blurry rush, calling Sergeant Lukela, organizing a SWAT team and preparing her own equipment and took Kono's full concentration. There was only one other problem to solve but before she could even think of what to do with Grace who still slept peacefully in the next room, Kono startled in surprise when the big glass doors to the Five-0 headquarters burst open and her cousin limped into the office.

x~x~x

Heaving an impatient sigh, Steve shifted his weight a little bit, grimacing with pain when he involuntarily put too much pressure on his left leg. He let his gaze travel left and right along the street but there was still no sign of his partner. Steve's right hand automatically moved toward his pocket to pull out his cell phone but he stopped in mid-movement when he remembered that his phone was gone and he was still waiting for a new one to be delivered.

When Paul Baines had disappeared from the crime scene – however he had managed to get away without leaving a single hint of where he had gone was still beyond everyone's grasp – he had taken not only Steve's and Danny's cell phones but also their weapons and badges. All that HPD had found in the empty house where two dead bodies of what had apparently been Baines' accomplices and a fully equipped laboratory with hundreds and hundreds of small vials, all filled with different clear, colorless liquids.

Charlie Fong immediately had started to examine the contents of the bottles and even if he was unable to tell what exactly the purpose of all the different drugs were, he'd found one special substance in all of the samples – the very same synthetic carrier he'd already extracted from seven blood samples over the last few days.

Or eight, if you count the one that had been flown in from Canada the day before, the blood sample from a young snowboarder who had been found dead in his hotel room after an accident with two Hawaiian tourists…

x~x~x

"Cuz," Kono exclaimed, surprised and relieved at the same time as she wrapped her arms around her cousin and hugged him tightly. "I'm so glad you're back. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, but what happened to your leg?" Chin answered quietly, returning the hug before he gently made a step back and looked at the young woman.

"Kind of a surf accident, I'll explain later," Kono waved him off, immediately returning the question when her gaze fell on the cast on Chin's right leg. "What about yours?"

"A crazy snowboarder tried to run Malia over," Chin replied equally clipped. Noticing Kono's Kevlar vest and the bunch of weapons he narrowed his eyes as he continued, "It's a long story and I don't think we have time for it right now." Pointing at all the equipment, he asked, "What's going on? Where are Steve and Danny?"

"Run over?" Kono gasped worriedly without answering Chin's questions. "Where is Malia? Is she alright?"

"Yeah, she's fine, I got there just in time to push her out of the way," Chin reassured her with a little nod towards his right ankle, looking up when he heard Kono breathing out a relieved sigh. "She's waiting downstairs in the car, I just wanted to say hello before we go home, especially after the five thousand missed calls I found on my cell phone." Throwing his cousin an inquiring look he earnestly repeated his former question, "Kono, what's going on here?"

Slipping on her vest, Kono gave Chin a wry smile. "Okay, cuz, your holiday is officially over right now," she said, locking eyes with the man in front of her, "Steve and Danny need our help."

Without waiting for Chin's answer she turned around and headed toward McGarrett's office. "Go, get your equipment, I'll explain everything when we are on the way," she said over her shoulder. "And I need Malia to take care of Grace and wait at HPD for our return."

x~x~x

Closing his eyes, Steve turned his face towards the sun and leaned back against the railing. Battling down the emerging worry he decided to wait two more minutes before he'd go back inside the hospital and gave his partner a call. After all, Paul Baines was still on the run and having met the man and learned about his attitude toward Five-0, they now knew what he was capable of. It was crucial that they all were on guard always and everywhere.

After exactly one minute and twenty-three seconds McGarrett opened his eyes when he finally heard a car stop in front of him. Steve blinked in surprise when instead of Danny's silver Camaro his own dark blue Silverado showed up, Kono behind the wheel, Chin and Danny on the back seat.

"How long do you want to stand there and stare into oblivion, Captain Ahab… or is it Lieutenant Commander Ahab?" Danny smirked with a look at Steve's injured leg. "Come on, get in, we have an appointment with the Governor."

"You're late," Steve retorted grumpily, leaning heavily on his crutch while he limped toward the waiting car and opened the passenger's door.

"Yes, Steven, we're late," Danny said, turning a little bit to the left and reaching for something next to him on the back seat. "But I figured you probably would like to have your new phone as soon as possible, so we had to wait for Chin to configure it to your wishes." He waited until Steve had sat down then he tossed a shiny black device into McGarrett's lap and grinned smugly at the man next to him, "So, technically speaking, it's not our fault that we're late, but rather Chin's."

"Hey, play fair, brah," Chin said in faked hurt, pointing at his right leg. "Remember that I'm injured…"

"Oh, poor cuz," Kono tossed in, throwing a brief glance into the rear mirror to wink at her cousin before she looked over her left shoulder, pulled the car to the left, and stepped on the gas.

"Yeah, we're all injured, you know?" Williams said, unsuccessfully trying to relax in his seat when Kono rushed the car around a corner.

"But I'm the only one with a cast," Chin retorted, a proud little grin on his lips.

"And the only one without a crutch," Steve said grumpily, his remark supported by a jealous nod from Kono who also still was reliant on her own crutch.

"Hey, I don't have a crutch," Danny said smugly, slightly banging his cane first against McGarrett's shoulder then against Kono's. "A crutch is only for invalids like you two, I have a cool cane."

Steve and Kono looked at each other for the blink of an eye, then they both turned their heads and exclaimed in unison, "Shut up, Danny!"

"I don't believe it," Kono said dumbfounded as soon as they had left the Governor' office.

Standing in the anteroom, the four Five-0s silently stared at the closed door for almost a minute until Steve finally blinked sluggishly, stammering, "Did he… did he really…"

"Did he really giggle at us?" Danny finished Steve's sentence, stabbing his cane toward the door as he shifted his attention to his teammates.

"I think so, brah," Chin answered blankly, shaking his head about the Governor's unusual behavior. Sighing quietly, he let his gaze travel from his own injured leg to Steve's and Kono's crutches and finally to Danny's wooden cane and he couldn't prevent his lips from curling in slight amusement. "But who can blame him? I mean, look at us, at the moment we're not exactly showpiece members of his elite task force."

"It's still not nice to laugh at us," Kono said with a last sullen look at the closed door before she turned around and slowly limped toward the exit. But she had to admit that her cousin was right, the four of them probably looked more than funny with their various leg injuries. Remembering the Governor's contagious giggle – yes, that tree of a man really had been giggling like a little school girl – Kono wasn't able to hide her own grin any longer. Noticing that her teammates didn't follow she stopped in her pace, quickly sobering when she heard Danny's next words.

"No, it's not nice to laugh at us, especially not after knocking the stuffing out of us for letting Baines get away," he uttered with a deep sigh, grimacing slightly when he tried to run a hand over his hair despite the clavicle strap that was restraining his movements.

"But he was damn right about that," Steve replied, his voice laced with anger and frustration. His eyes darkened when he forcefully slammed his crutch onto the marble floor, "We did Baines let escape."

"There was nothing we could have done to prevent that lunatic bastard from getting away," Danny threw in matter-of-factly, pensively twirling the cane between his fingers. "But he must have left a hint, something that tells us where he went or what he has planned."

"And if he left only the tiniest bit of information, we will be able to find him," Kelly said quietly.

"And then we'll hunt him down," Kono nodded in agreement, a determined shimmer in her dark eyes.

Tightening his fist around the crutch, Steve also nodded hesitantly. "We will get him," he whispered hoarsely. "We will get him and he will pay for everything he did."

The four people solemnly stared at each other for a long moment, silently vowing to do everything in their power to find Paul Baines, until Chin finally made a small step back, breaking the tense atmosphere that had settled down onto them. "Come on, let's forget all that crap for the rest of the day," he said, briefly locking eyes with each of his teammates before he placed a light slap on Danny's shoulder. "There are three lovely ladies waiting for us," he added cheerfully, referring to the fact that Malia, Gabby and Grace were supposed to meet them downstairs.

A bright smile crept across Danny's lips at the thought of meeting his daughter and his girlfriend and together with Chin, whose face wore an equally dopey expression, he led the way toward the exit. Steve and Kono followed slowly, heavily leaning on their crutches, the former dark thoughts quickly pushed away by the happiness that radiated from the two men in front of them.

Limping toward the stairs – because none of the four friends would actually admit that taking the elevator would be much easier – they laboriously made their way downstairs and as expected they were greeted by Malia, Grace and Gabby, who had laid both of their hands on the little girl's shoulders in front of them.

However, what they had not expected was the fact that Malia's and Gabby's lips were twitching in amusement while Grace unsuccessfully tried to stifle her laughter by pressing both hands against her mouth.

"Oh no, not you too," Danny groaned in annoyance, "isn't it enough that the Governor has already laughed at us?"

"But you really look funny, Danno," Grace giggled happily and within the blink of an eye Danny's mood lit up. He just couldn't help it, but seeing his daughter smiling and laughing always made him happy too. Looking up, he locked eyes with Gabby and they both smiled tenderly at each other.

"Grace is right," Malia said laughingly as she stepped closer to Chin. "You really look a bit funny, all of you."

"Well, thank you, Malia," Chin replied dryly. "I thought at least you as my wife would have the decency to not make fun of us. After all, I sacrificed my own health to save you." He actually pouted a little bit but soon a smile found its way back on his face, because Chin would do anything and everything for the love of his life.

Coming to a halt directly in front of her husband, Malia looked at him for a long moment. "You're my hero," she whispered with an affectionate smile, gently caressing Chin's cheek before she placed a quick kiss on his lips.

After a few moments of silence, Kono finally noisily cleared her throat when none of them moved. Slightly tapping her own crutch against Steve's she nodded toward the two happy couples in front of them. "Hey boss, I don't know about you, but I'm hungry," she said conspiratorially. "Why don't we go ahead and occupy the best seats?"

"Good idea, Kono, they're obviously not hungry at all," Steve answered with a bright smirk, already turning around and heading toward the exit. "Come on, I have a table reserved at Kam Fung. It's one of the best Chinese restaurants in Honolulu."

"Hey, wait, you Neanderthal," Danny exclaimed, gently pushing Gabby and Grace in front of him as he rushed after Steve as fast as possible. "Who said we were not hungry? I'm starving."

"That's nothing new," McGarrett replied grinning, slowing down to wait for his partner. "You're always hungry, Danno, aren't you?"

"I'm always hungry?" Danny repeated, deliberately ignoring the smiles on the faces of the people around him who quite rightly expected one of Danny's famous rants to come up. "No, Steven, I'm not always hungry and do you want to know why? I'm not always hungry because your passion for explosives, gunfights, car chases and other mortal stuff spoils my appetite, thank you very much." Stopping in front of Steve he leaned on his cane, waving his free hand through the air in a large circle as he glared at his partner. "But right now, I hope you can keep your usual craziness at bay for at least a few hours because I'm accompanied by the two loveliest ladies on earth," he said, the scowl on his face quickly transforming into a happy smile when he looked at Grace and Gabby. "And now, let's go, before your reservations expire," he added, forcefully nudging Steve with his cane. "As I said before, I'm starving, Steven."

"Hey, stop it, that hurts," Steve said, slapping the cane away with his own crutch. Turning his head toward Kono and Chin who only grinned brightly and shook their heads about the behavior of their teammates, he exclaimed whiningly, "Did you see that? That's police brutality…"

Ranting and laughing they all headed out, enjoying each other's company and just being happy about the fact that everyone was alive. They would spend a few peaceful hours of joy and happiness with lots of laughter and delicious food, banishing Paul Baines from their thoughts for a while, before Five-0 started their hunt for the man with all their might on the next day.

Epilogue:

It was a nice sunny afternoon and the tables in front of the small café were crowded with people, courting couples who sat hand in hand, happy families with children who laughed and screamed with joy, and here and there a lone businessman with a newspaper or a laptop in front of him.

The middle aged man who sat alone at one of the tables in the very front row blended perfectly in the crowd without attracting any negative attention. He sat perfectly still, his gaze fixed to the Chinese restaurant at the other side of the street, only grimacing every now and then when one of the children at the tables around him let out an especially earsplitting shriek.

He was sitting there for a good twenty minutes but so far none of the waitresses had shown up to take his order. The man shifted a little bit in his chair but otherwise still didn't move. He didn't mind waiting, patience had always been one of his strongest suits and after a few more minutes he already was rewarded.

Leaning forward in his chair, his eyes began to sparkle as he watched curiously how the entrance door of the restaurant opened and a small group of people strolled out onto the sidewalk. The three men, three women and one child seemed to be in very good spirits, and despite the fact that four of them were obviously hurt and limping heavily, they all chattered animatedly, laughing heartily about something the little girl had just said.

"What do you want?" a female voice broke the man's musings and he looked up, cocking his head a little bit to the right.

Flashing the young waitress a polite smile he replied gently, "Coffee, please."

Smiling back she turned around and headed off to get what he asked for. For the length of a heartbeat the man looked after her before his gray eyes grew cold and he shifted his attention back to the group of people on the other side of the street.

"And revenge," Paul Baines whispered coldly, pensively clicking his tongue as his devious mind already started to plot his next steps.

THE END

Author's Note:
When I started to write this story I certainly didn't had in mind to let Baines get away (again!) but the longer I worked on the story the meaner and cleverer he became and suddenly it didn't felt right that he would be that easy to catch. But I'm sure next time their paths cross Five-0 will cook Baines' goose!