In a remote area of Suruga Bay, Japan, Joe White led Steve to a secluded cabin nestled in the woods of a tiny island. Steve knocked on the door and turned around to realize that Joe had left him alone to face the unknown. The door creaked open and Steve's eyes instantly gleaned over with tears as he set sight on the figure standing before him. "Mom?" he choked out in the breath he'd been unconsciously holding since before the door opened. "No...no this can't be," he refute, shaking his head in utter denial. "This is not happening," he continued to negate, taking an unsteady step backward as the woman extended her hand in greeting. "Joe, get back here," Steve shouted, his body suddenly seized by uncontrollable shudders.

"Steven, honey...it's me," the soft feminine voice assured as she inched toward Steve.

"Stay...stay away from me," he warned, hands held up in defiance to prevent the woman from coming any closer. The jolt sent his mind spiralling out of control; his respiration coming in rapid but shallow breaths as he tried to process what was happening. In complete shock, he stared at the woman, whose meaningful smile and gleaming brown eyes tugged at a part of his heart he'd long buried.

He flinched slightly at the pair of rugged hands that came to rest on his shoulders. "Steve, son, she's your mother." Steve shook his head, his psyche adamantly refusing to grasp at such a possibility. He backed into Joe who gave him a friendly shove forward. "Go on."

Margaret McGarrett extended her arm to her distressed son. He gazed distrustfully at her hand, carefully studying the fine chiseled lines before reluctantly clasping it in his own. Once inside, Joe closed the door to leave mother and son alone to get reacquainted.

Steve recoiled at her touch against his shoulder and instinctively yanked his hand from her grip. An ominous stillness settled in the small room as he slowly cowered away from her, eyes downcast, refusing to meet her gaze. He needed some breathing space to recover his poise.

She stood before him, rather amused by his ghastly expression. "You look like you've just seen a ghost," she jested to lighten the tension.

"I..I have," Steve managed to heave out, his bottom lip quivering. He swallowed hard to contain his overwhelming emotions threatening to engulf him whole. He squished his eyes shut, hoping to awake from another of his countless nightmares. He gasped at the soft hand that came to rest on his cheek and impulsively slapped it away. "I'm sorry, I can't do this now, " he said apologetically, stepping aside to widen the trench between them.

"It's alright. I understand. It's a shock."

"I don't know what to believe here," came the frantic reply, a reaction that was simply alien to his character. Albeit Navy trained to remain calm and composed in any given situation, he now found himself drowning in a sea of confusion and betrayal. The very core of his being had been jarred to the ground. He struggled to regain a speck of self-command in the midst of the storm.

Aware of the whirlwind of emotions brewing inside her newly-found son, Margaret inched up to him with a heartwarming smile. He eyed her dubiously, taking a step backwards as she closed the gap between them. "Look into my eyes. What do they tell you?" she asked, raising her hands to cup his cheeks. "What do you see?"

"I don't know," he choked out, swallowing convulsively. "I just don't know." He gently took her hands and peeled them away from his face. "I'm sorry." He hung his head to avoid her stare and stormed out the cabin. "I'm sorry."

"What's the matter?" Joe asked when he saw Steve running out of the cabin.

"What's the matter?" Steve fumed, eyes shooting daggers. "Why didn't you prime me for this?"

"I didn't think I needed to."

"Well you thought wrong!" Incensed, Steve grabbed his head, fingers digging into his scalp, as he strove to remain calm.

"Son, I don't understand. I thought you'd be happy to know that your mother's alive. For the life of me I never anticipated this kind of reaction from you?"

"Oh you didn't?" Steve snarled. "What do you want me to do then?"

"Go back inside that cabin and talk to her. Get to know her. She wants so much to be close to you."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"BECAUSE..." Steve barked, then breathed in to take it down a notch, "because...oh God, this can't be..." He laced his fingers behind his neck, both entwined hands behaving such as a vice-like grip. He rocked back and forth with eyes squeezed shut to block out the memory of the past few minutes.

Joe edged up to Steve from behind and placed his hands on his shoulders. "Steve, son..."

Steve swiped the intrusive hands off him. "DON'T touch me!" he spewed out with veins in neck standing out in livid ridges. He clenched and unclenched his fists, inhaling deeply to suppress his anger as pangs of anguish gradually suffocated him. "I can't deal with this now. I just can't. I'm sorry." Without so much of a glance back at Joe, Steve tore deeper into the woods.

Seconds later, Margaret came out to the porch. "Joe? What's happening? Where's Steven?"

"He went for a walk. It was a bigger shock than I thought it would be." He fashioned a curl of the lip and turned to Margaret to assure her, "He'll be alright. Don't worry. He'll come around. He just needs time to process."

"Oh Joe," she cried. "I didn't want to scare him. I just..." she faltered as tears flooded her eyes.

Joe held the distraught woman in his arms and ran a soothing hand up and down her back. "It's okay, Maggie. Everything will be fine. I know him. He didn't mean to hurt you. It's the shock of seeing you after all these years that knocked him senseless."

"He's grown so much," she sobbed into Joe's shoulder. "I thought the pictures you've shown me of him were enough to prepare me for this meeting but..."

"Maggie, don't beat yourself up. It's my fault. I should have adopted a different approach to soften the blow. I grossly underestimated his reaction."

"Where is he?" she asked frantically, craning her neck out hoping to spot Steve nearby. "Should he be out in the woods by himself? It's so dark and the wild animals..."

"Don't worry about Steve. He can handle himself."

"I can't help it. He's my baby. I missed him so much," she whimpered.

"Let's go inside and wait for him to come back." Joe clasped Maggie tenderly by the waist and led her inside the cabin.

He angrily thwacked at the thick vegetation hindering his movements, as he aimlessly hurtled through the pitch-dark forest. Physically drained and mentally shattered, he stopped and bent over, hands on knees to catch his breath. In the throes of sheer emotional agony, he clawed at his head with both hands and let out a guttural scream that echoed through the night air. He then collapsed against a tree and slowly slid to the ground. He bathed in total darkness, save for the moonlit beams reflecting upon the waters of a small lake, and welcomed the solace it provided regardless of its looming threats.

He groped his cargo pants pocket and fumbled for his cell phone. He pulled it out and lit up the screen to check the messages. None were from Danny and wondered if he had taken the message he'd left him before he flew off to Japan with Joe. His thumb went to the speed dial, though he hesitated in pushing down Danny's number. Lord knows he needed his partner at this critical juncture to keep him from falling into the abyss, but was also aware that Danny was caught in his own battle to keep Grace on the island.

"Danno," he sniffed, wiping his runny nose dry on his sleeve. He stroked the lit panel of his mobile with his thumb, dithering whether to call his partner. He closed his eyes, inhaled deeply and pressed the number. He shakily put the phone to his ear and waited to hear the friendly voice, the beacon that lights his way and the anchor that keeps him grounded. "Come on, Danno. Where are you? I need you." His heart sank when the ring stopped and the voice mail picked up. He instantly hung up. He wrapped his arms tightly around his legs that he bent to his chest into a fetal position. He started rocking back and forth to curb the emotional turmoil raging inside of him.

Back in Hawaii, Danny was at Queen's Medical Center, keeping a vigil at Kono's bedside. It was by no short of a miracle that she was still alive after the near-fatal drowning. They would have lost her hadn't been for the quick intervention of two night fishermen who spotted her body floating near the dock.

He stood leaning against the bed rail, holding her hand as she lied in a deep coma, hooked to a respirator. The doctors were pessimistic as to her chances of survival, estimating the time of oxygen deprivation between five to ten minutes. Brain damage was a plausible scenario in the unlikely event that she should rouse from her coma.

A prostrate Chin entered the emotional-fraught room and stood by Danny. "How's Kono?"

"No change," he sighed dejectedly. "Any news on Malia?"

"She's still in surgery. It could be another hour before we hear anything. Doctor Chan, they say, is the best cardio-vascular surgeon on the island. I have to believe that," the bleak tone spoke volume.

Danny winced at his friend's shirt smeared with his wife's blood, "Chin, you should go home and change those clothes," he suggested amicably. "One look at you and they're liable to rush you to the ER."

Chin cracked a weary grin and said, "They've already tried that." He flumped down on a nearby armchair and buried his bleary eyes in his hands. "Danny, tell me this is a nightmare. Pinch me, stabbed me, shoot me...do anything to haul me out of this hell."

"Right back at you, bro. I'd love nothing more than to escape this sheer torture."

"Have you told Steve?"

"Not yet. I'm waiting to give him some hopeful news on Malia's prognosis." Chin glanced up at him with a blank expression. "I'm sure she's going to be fine. She's as tough as nail. Probably more stubborn than you are," Danny answered the unspoken question with a compassionate pat on Chin's shoulder.

"Fancy him flying off to Japan again."

"Says that Joe was going to take him to Shelburne," Danny said, returning his attention to Kono.

"Do you believe that?" Chin asked, head leaning heavily against the back of the chair with his eyelids closed.

Danny sighed dismally and squeezed Kono's hand. "I don't know what to believe anymore. It all went topsy-turvy in matter of hours. I feel disconnected, like I'm not really here, inside my body."

"Same here, brah. What's your gut feeling telling you?"

"I have this nagging hunch that he's setting himself up for a major disappointment. In fact I hope that's all it is and that he's not being lured into a trap."

"Joe wouldn't do that to Steve. He considers him like a son."

"Forgive me Chin but I don't trust the man. He gives me the creeps. Something about him isn't right and I can't put my finger on it."

"You wouldn't be considering him a threat to your friendship with Steve? They do spend a lot of time together whenever Joe comes to visit."

Danny stared disbelievingly at Chin. "Do you think I'm jealous of their relationship? That's ridiculous!"

"What is it then?"

Danny shook his head and threw his hand up in the air in resignation. "That's just it, I don't know."

A good thirty minutes elapsed before Doctor Chan walked into the room to find Chin dozing comfortably in his coaster vinyl armchair while Danny had taken the hard wooden chair, slumbering with his head on Kono's bed, holding her hand.

Dr. Chan padded up to Chin and shook his shoulder lightly. "Mister Kelly."

No sooner had his name been spoken that his eyes flew open. "Doctor?" He sprung to his feet and rubbed the fog out of his blurry eyes. "How's my wife?"

"She made it through surgery, but she's still critical. The bullet nicked her aorta and we had to do a bypass in order to repair the damage."

"But she's alright? I mean she's breathing on her own and all?"

"I'm afraid not. We've hooked her to a respirator to assist her with her breathing, which is very labored. Her heart is very weak and we're concerned about possible cardiac arrest."

"What's her prognosis?" Chin asked with bathed-breath and a lump in his throat.

"At the moment, it's sixty-forty. We will monitor her vitals and IV drips for the next 48 hours. Barring any major complication during that critical period, the chances of survival will then increase in her favor."

Chin's eyes dropped like lead at the news. How should he feel? 'Sad or happy?' he wondered. "Can I see her?"

"Wait until we prep her up in ICU then you can see her. About ten minutes?"

"Ok," Chin sniffled. "Thank you, Doctor Chan."

"You're welcomed. Feel free to call on me if you have any qualms or questions."

Chin nodded his gratitude and watched the blue surgical gown -clad cardiologist exit the room. He then turned to Danny who hadn't stirred during the conversation. "Hey Danny!" Chin coaxed. "Danny, wake up."

"What?" His eyes instinctively went to Kono. "What is it?"

"Malia's out of surgery."

Danny ran a hand over his face to wipe the remnants of sleep. "How is she?"

"She survived thus far. The bullet ripped her aorta." The word sent shivers down Danny's spine. "They managed to repair the damage but she's not out of the woods yet."

"Have you been to see her?"

"Not yet. They're settling her in the intensive care unit. I'll go in about ten minutes."

Danny clutched a frazzled Chin into his arms. "She's strong. She'll make it through this."

"I'd ask you to say a prayer but I remember that you're an atheist."

"Nevertheless, I've already sent a large order to your O Mighty upstairs. Even if I'm not one to believe perhaps he'll answer the call? " Danny chuckled. "He'll be busy for a while. I swear if Kono and Malia both get through this, I might convert." A restful silence settled between the two friends before Danny brought up Steve's name. "Well, guess it's time to brief our little wanderer on the latest developments. That is if he keeps his promise to pick up his phone." He groped his pant pockets for his cell phone. "Speaking of which, I must have left mine in my car."

"Once you make that call, go home and get some sleep. I'll stay here to keep a vigil on Kono and Malia."

"I did catch a few winks against Kono's bed, I'm good for another few hours," he stated while stretching his arms.

"You were out for twenty minutes, that's not enough."

"I'll think about it," he said through a yawn that he tried desperately to stifle. Danny and Chin embraced once more before the blond detective exited the room and out to the parking lot to find his car.

He sat in the driver seat and plopped his head against the headrest, closing his eyes and heaving a shuddering breath. He stole a few moments of quiescence to clear his mind and concentrate on the next task at hand: inform Steve about Delano and his killing spree. He reached for his cell phone inside the glove compartment and sped-dialed Steve's number.

In his retreated corner of the world, Steve hadn't budged from his spot. He couldn't have cared less that the cool night air had begun nipping at his skin. Still curled up in his fetal position, he was shivering from both the cold and the shock he'd received moments ago. He gasped at the ringtone of his cell phone lying beside him on the ground. He quickly picked it up. An elated smile lit up his face at the name on the panel.

"Danny?"

"Hey there my little rambler!" came the jovial greeting. "Nice to know you're picking up your phone." Then on a more solemn tone, asked, "Babe, can we talk?" Silence fell. "Steve, are you there? Is this a bad time?"

"D...Danny," Steve sniveled.

"Ohhhh what is it? What's wrong?" Danny straightened in his seat and pressed the phone closer to his ear, eyes taking on a hunted look at the sob in Steve's voice.

"Danno...I..." Steve choked up, his breaths hitching as he tried to speak.

"Steve, you're scaring me. Are you alright?" Again silence and then a small gasp. "Steve?"

"Danno, I found...I found out who Shelburne is."

"And?" there was an eerie breather as he heard Steve trying to even out his breathing. "Steve, come on. It can't be that bad?

"Shelb...," Steve gasped out. He was teetering on the edge, his body convulsing as he toiled to get a grasp on his emotions. "Shelburne...Shelburne is my mother."

Danny's face fell and blenched, his head sagging on the head rest. "What?"

"At least that's what Joe says."

"What about you?"

"I..I don't know what to think. I took one look at the woman and stormed out. I'm losing it, Danno. I just can't get a grip," his voice barely a whisper at the last part as he was coming apart at the seams.

"Alright, okay, just relax. Where are you exactly?" Flustered by the bombshell, Danny nervously reached for a pen and paper on the dashboard.

"I'm in Suruga Bay, just below Mount Fuji. It's a small cabin located on a remote island."

"Ok, how do I get there?"

"Danny you don't need to come. I just...just needed someone to talk to."

"Steve it's not like you to break down like that. I don't like it. You're all alone out there with...with this! I'm coming," Danny said resolutely.

"You have enough problems of your own to..."

"Steven, stop it!" he barked, cutting Steve in mid lament. "Just stop it! Give me directions and I'll find you."

"Fly into Tokyo, Narita airport. Call me back to give me your flight number and ETA and I'll meet you at the airport," he sniffled the last of his shed tears and wiped his nose on his sleeve.

"Tokyo, got it! I'll catch the next available flight and Steve...hang on tight until I get there. Don't go flying off again. If you have to do anything stupid, wait for me."

Steve grinned at that last comment. "Ok."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"You silly fool! I'll see you soon." Danny hung up and sat back in his seat in complete despair. His heart bled profusely for so many of his friends that he feared that his strength would fail him when dealing with his own custody suit. With a forlorn expression, he raised his eyes heavenwards and summoned some desperate divine intervention "I know I don't subscribe to any religion in particular but I do believe there's a force out there and if we ask for help...well...we could use some right about now."

"He's right. This isn't me. Get a grip, dammit!" Steve chided himself. Taking a deep breath he hauled himself up, brushed himself off and started down the pathway, now lit by the dawning of the sun over the horizon. He traced back his steps instinctively through the woods, taking stock of the broken twigs he recalled swatting out of his way during his mad dash.

He arrived at the cabin barely ten minutes later. Heedful not to step on anything that might snap underneath his feet and thus alarm the occupants of the lodge, he proceeded to gingerly make his way down to the small dock where a canoe was moored.

"Where do you think you're going?" roared the commanding voice from behind him.