"Bystander"

Shakespeare's Lemonade

Rating: T for violence and audience

Genre: Friendship/Action/Romance

Summary: McGarrett is assigned to protect a witness in a case, but will they be able to stand one another enough for him to do his job and will the 5-O team keep the bad guys from finding them?

Pairings: Steve/OC, Danny/Kono

Prologue

Hawaii had been more of an idea than a real thing up to this point. McKenzie Carpenter wasn't sure what to make of it as she checked into her hotel.

I'm going to live here, she thought with a deep sigh.

"Here's your key," the hotel employee handed her a card.

"Thanks." McKenzie grinned and picked up her suitcase.

Suddenly there was a loud noise, shouting, and a bitter smell. McKenzie closed her eyes. When she opened them, or so she thought, there were police officers everywhere and several body bags being taken out if the lobby. A blonde detective was trying to question her.

"I think she's in shock," he said as a taller, darker man came up behind him.

"What was the question?" McKenzie asked, furrowing her brows.

"Did you see the shooter?" the second man asked.

"What? Shooter... No. Who are you?"

"Detective Danny Williams." The first one showed his badge. "And Steve McGarrett. I told you this when we got here."

"I'm sorry. I must have... I don't know."

"Okay," McGarrett said, "you just witnessed a quadruple homicide. We need to get your statement. Now the hotel employees say you were staring right at the guy who did this."

"I... what?" The confused look on McKenzie's face was pitiable.

"Post-traumatic stress?" Danny suggested. McGarrett raised his eyebrows. "You should sit down." Danny put a hand on McKenzie's shoulder and led her to a seat. McGarret flagged down one of the EMTs to examine her.

"She's in shock," was his conclusion. "We're gonna need to take her in."

"Okay," McGarrett said. "Danno, you go with her and see if you can get her to remember. I'll finish up here."

"Yeah," Danny replied, shaking his head and following the EMT and McKenzie.

In the ambulance, she seemed to get worse. Her eyes wouldn't focus and she would periodically make comments about calling her parents, about moving to Hawaii. Danny learned that she'd just arrived from Medford, Oregon to live closer to her parents. He thought it very ironic.

At the hospital, Danny didn't get much more out of McKenzie. The doctor told him he'd have to wait until they could get her blood pressure down. She continued babbling, but from all Danny could gather, she remembered nothing of the shooting.

From the waiting room, he called Steve.

"She hasn't come back to Earth yet," he said, "and since it's a psychological thing, they're gonna have to call in a specialist."

"How long will that take?" Steve asked, obviously irritated.

"No clue."

"She's the only one who can tell us anything."

"What, no one else saw the guy?"

"No. Not even enough to know if it was a guy or a chimpanzee. Everyone says she was staring at the shooter."

"Yeah, well, from what I can tell, she basically blacked out for about fifteen minutes."

"Okay, well, see if you can get anything else and then meet back at the office. Chin and Kono are going through security videos, but I doubt they'll find anything."

"Right. See you later."

Danny hung up and looked down the hospital hallway. McKenzie was still in the exam room and her parents hadn't arrived yet. He stood and paced back and forth, trying to think of what to do next. Morning turned into afternoon and the psychologist, Dr. Eisner arrived to see McKenzie. They still hadn't gotten a hold of the parents.

When the psychologist finished his evaluation, he had McKenzie admitted and came to talk to Danny.

"I'm not sure what to tell you, Detective," he said, as they sat down. "She's completely repressed the event and it's going to be very difficult and painful to get her to remember."

"So, she has no idea what happened for fifteen minutes?"

"Yes, just that. She was fully conscious, but has no memory of the shooting. This is not uncommon in situations like this. Even if she does remember, those memories may be corrupted by the repression. Her mind could create a scenario that didn't actually happen."

"So we're screwed, basically?"

"You never know. I wouldn't hold my breath on this witness, though."

"Okay, well, thanks. Could you have her call us if she remembers anything."

"Of course. I'll keep you updated on her progress as well."

"Thank you, Doctor."

They stood, shook hands, and Danny left.

H-5-O

McKenzie slept soundly in the hospital until a loud noise woke her. She shot up in bed, screaming, but not knowing why. There was a shuffling of feet, more shouting and lights coming on. Someone in black was running away and someone was shouting for someone else to call the police.

The doctor came over to McKenzie and asked if she was all right.

"My shoulder hurts," she said. Then, looking at the object in question, she saw blood soaking the sleeve of her hospital gown.

"He shot you," the doctor said. Immediately, her bed was wheeled into another room, and her injury was tended.

It wasn't bad, but she had to answer a lot of questions again. Or, rather, try to answer. She didn't really know what to tell the police.

"We're going to need to get 5-O in here," said one of the officers.

Chapter One "Not the Plan"

"This wasn't exactly the plan," Governor Pat Jameson said, handing Steve McGarrett a file. "But she's the only lead and whoever did this is trying to kill her. You're the best man for the job."

Steve nodded. "Unfortunately. How am I supposed to keep up with the case?"

"You won't. We need you to be untraceable. Even her parents can't know what happened."

"What will you tell them?"

"She's in witness protection. That's all they need to know."

"Witness protection. Not exactly in the job description."

"Well, if it weren't for Williams' ACL..."

"I know." Steve cocked his head. "Where is she?"

"Waiting at the hospital. You'll switch cars there. The directions will be in the glove box. I'll need your phone and any other traceable electronics."

"Sure. Hey."

"What?"

"What's her name?"

"McKenzie Carpenter."

"Right. Carpenter."

Steve left the office, without a word to his team. He drove to the hospital and found the girl waiting for him at a back entrance. She followed him silently to the car and once he was sure they weren't being followed, he asked her to open the glove box. Inside were directions to a house outside of Honolulu.

"So you're Steve?" she asked.

"Yeah," he replied, shortly.

"I met you yesterday, I guess. Do my parents know where I am?"

"They know you're in witness protection."

"Oh. I really didn't see anything. I don't know why this person is after me."

"Let's hope that's not true."

"What?"

"You're the only person who saw anything." Steve finally looked at McKenzie. "And you can't remember."

"The psychologist says I have PTSD, but I honestly remember nothing."

"Well, Dr. Eisner will be visiting you regularly to try to fix that."

"But do I really want to remember?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe we should just let this guy kill whomever he likes." Steve didn't mean to sound as annoyed as he was.

"Sorry," McKenzie replied in a small voice.

Steve looked over at her again. Her small frame seemed to retreat into the car door. He sighed and changed the subject.

"How old are you?" he asked.

"Twenty-four," she replied, still quiet.

She looked seventeen. "What do you do?"

"I have a degree in elementary education. I was hoping to get a job here, closer to my mom and dad."

Steve frowned. "Why were you staying at a hotel?"

"They didn't get back from a business trip until this morning. I thought it'd be fun to spend one night as a tourist before settling in."

"Some vacation."

"Yeah. So how about you?"

"What?"

"Well, you can answer all the questions you asked me."

"It's my job to ask questions."

"So, why is it so hard to answer them?"

Steve stared at McKenzie. Large freckles stood out on her round nose. Her wispy red hair framed bright blue-green eyes. He looked back at the road.

"Fine," he said, "I'm thirty-two. I was in the Navy. I came back here after my father's murder. Now I run the Five-O task-force."

"I'm sorry... what's Five-O?"

"It's... never mind. It's just a name."

McKenzie shrugged into the door again. She would soon become used to Steve's irritability.

H-5-O

Danny had the unpleasant task of informing the Carpenters of their daughter's situation. Not that the Carpenters were particularly difficult. He just didn't like telling people bad news.

"So, she'd safe?" Mrs. Carpenter asked.

Danny wanted to say something sarcastic about Steve, but knew it would be a bad time. The truth would be better. "In a situation like this, I would want him protecting my daughter," he said.

Mr. Carpenter's eyes brightened. "How old is your daughter?"

"Nine," he replied.

"You can imagine this is difficult for us."

"Of course. I just want you to know that she is in the best possible hands. We'll inform you of any new developments as soon as we can."

"Thank you, Detective," Mrs. Carpenter said.

As they left, Danny felt sure that could have gone much worse. The family was satisfied for the time being, so he and the others could get to their job.

H-5-O

The house was back in the woods far enough that it couldn't be seen, but that those in it could see if anyone approached.

Getting out of the car, McKenzie gazed up at the trees with wide eyes.

"Never seen trees before?" Steve asked, getting their things out of the trunk.

McKenzie looked back at him. "No, this just reminds me of home."

"You lived in Oregon right?"

"Yeah, Medford. It was a sort of rainforest."

"Well." Steve unlocked the door. "This is going to be home until my team catches the guy who's after you."

Inside, the house was airy and spacious. The two bedrooms were next to one another right off the main living area. The kitchen/dining room/living room was all one big area with a glass door on one end leading to a small patio with stone railing. Along one wall was a bank of computer monitors, displaying all the security cameras.

McKenzie took all this in in a few seconds. She began to feel a little nervous about sharing this space with a stranger who would be watching her all the time.

"The phone is for emergencies only," Steve was saying. "That means, you don't pick it up until I'm dead." McKenzie hoped he was joking, but she didn't think so. "Don't go outside without telling me first and don't go out of sight of the house. That includes the balcony."

"Okay," McKenzie said. She meant it. She was quite ready to be cooperative.

"Dr. Eisner will be brought out here once a day to visit you. He'll be blindfolded on the ride so he won't know where we are."

"Unless he's Sherlock Holmes."

"Let's hope not, huh?" Steve didn't seem to think it was very funny.

McKenzie wondered how nice it would be to live in the same house with him. It wasn't off to a good start.

He sat down at the desk with all the computers and checked all the monitors. McKenzie decided to get settled in, not having any idea how long she would be living there. Thankfully, she had all the things she brought to the hotel. Her room was large and the bed looked comfortable. She was tempted to jump on it for a second, but thought better of it. The noise might alert her protector, she thought.

So, she sat on the bed and looked around the room. There was a large closet with a mirror on one door, a high, opaque window, and a large dresser. She laid back on the red comforter and sighed. This wasn't exactly how she pictured her first twenty-four hours in Hawaii to be. First she was traumatized, shot, and apprehended by the government. Now she was stuck in a house with an admittedly good-looking, but uptight bodyguard.

As if on cue, Steve called her out into the main room.

"Carpenter," he said. "You want some lunch."

She came out of the bedroom, hands on her hips. "My name is McKenzie," she said.

He looked at her with a mixture of confusion and apathy. Not being used to his strange expressions, she was initially shocked.

"What?" he asked at her frown.

"You made a very strange face."

"Oh, no, don't start that."

"Huh?"

"I do not make faces. Now are you hungry?"

"Yes. Do you really care, or are you just trying to keep me alive."

"Same thing."

"No they're not."

"Okay, I made sandwiches. If you want one, it's there, if not, whatever."

Steve took his own lunch and sat down and turned the TV on.

"So are you trying not to like me, or are you just a jerk?" McKenzie asked, sitting next to him with her own lunch.

"What?" Steve seemed genuinely confused.

"Well, you made me lunch. That was nice. But you seem annoyed at me most of the time."

"The circumstances are annoying."

"Well, I didn't ask to witness a quadruple homicide and not remember it... this is good."

"Thanks. I know you didn't mean to be an obstacle, but you could try to remember."

"How?"

"I don't know. I guess Eisner will help with that."

"So, you'll be nice to me now?"

"What?"

"I'm very sensitive."

"Yeah, well, I'm not sure being nice is in the job description."

"Is protecting witnesses in your job description anyway?"

"No. Usually I'm the one chasing after drug dealers and terrorists."

"Then why are you doing this?"

"'Cause my partner tore his damn ACL."

"Huh?"

"Plus I'm the best person for the job."

"You've lost me."

"The Five-Os are very exclusive... there are four of us. Chin and Kono do a lot of the technological stuff and me and Danny chase the bad guys. Danny re-injured his ACL. He blames me, of course."

"Why?"

"Apparently I have a penchant for getting into violent situations. Danny got shot the first day on the job."

"Ooh, you fill me with confidence."

"We're not going after the perp. This is going to be boring."

"Now you're just humoring me."

"Yeah, well you have PTSD. I can try to be nice."

"That's good enough I guess."