I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.

Notes: darn darn darn DWOCD affliction. I took a short break before the Evil Saber Toothed Plot Bunny purged and made demands. This latest is loosely (very loosely based) on another Starksy and Hutch episode. My thanks to very special friends JazzieG and CinderH.

JazzieG - thank you for the second set of eyes! And CinderH: I'm dedicating this story to your because of all of your help to me! Enjoy! The usual courteous disclaimers apply - don't own nuthin, don't get paid for nuthin, not a doctor, and all that usual obligatory jazz. This is all Saber Toothed Bunny's fault with zero contribution from the gentler breakfast bunny muse so it will be a darkish, whumper with some bad words at times.

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PROLOGUE - Present Day

"Grace, when you get outside I want you to run as far away as you can. Hide somewhere safe and then call Uncle Steve." Danny was biting back sharp pangs of nausea while frantically whispering to Grace as he wedged the window open in the small bathroom. It was a short four-foot drop to the grass below and he was sure that Grace would be okay if he let her down carefully, injured arm or not.

"But Danno .." She was crying by now, truly terrified by the blood on his arm and t-shirt which he'd tried to wrap in an old bathroom towel. She didn't want to leave him, but also didn't want to stay either because she was equally petrified by the crazy woman on the other side of the barricaded door.

"I need you to be brave. And run fast." Danny was already pushing her out the window and then easing her as far down to the grass as he could breathing hard through the mind numbing pain in his left arm and shoulder.

He had to bite back the nausea and overwhelming desire to just lie down as Grace tumbled gently to the grass on the other side. He'd go too if he didn't think he'd only slow them both down. Plus the window was small and he wasn't even sure he'd be able to fit with his vision dimming because of the blood loss. He was also beginning to tremble from shock as he watched Grace now through half-opened eyes make it down to the grass where she fell lightly to her knees. With tears now streaming down her face, she turned to look up at him.

"Go Grace .. don't look … back." He hissed and smiled briefly as she took off across the grassy yard and towards the road with the cell phone tightly clutched in her hand. When he couldn't see her anymore, he slouched back down heavily against the wall leaving a smeary trail of ugly redness. He feebly re-wrapped the thick towel around his upper arm and tried to pull it tight against where Karen had slashed him with the kitchen knife. But the wound started up high by his shoulder-blade and he wasn't sure it was really doing anything more than sopping up the bloody mess.

The banging had stopped for the moment on the other side of the door. But he knew that Karen was only looking for something else to use to get into the room. He could hear her crazily rummaging through the house; her footsteps were angry and heavy as she paced up and down the hallway. The house was old and rambling, but built with a solid craftsmanship and he was oddly thankful for the ancient, thick wooden door. Karen had bought the place with the intention of renovating it to resell. Danny was in the downstairs bathroom where the tub and sink had been ripped out pending the installation of new fixtures, a new tiled floor and wallboard.

After he and Grace had dashed in, he had managed to barricade the door with a metal ladder and long pole that were wedged solidly sideways from left to right. He had slammed it so hard into the wall the legs of the ladder had broken through the old wallboard to become lodged between the wooden two by fours. So far it had worked well because Karen had been trying for many minutes with no success at budging the door open to get into them.

"I would have given you everything." Karen shouted from outside the bathroom. "We were going to get married!"

Danny closed his eyes and allowed his head to sink onto his chest. "Never. Crazy bitch." He whispered to himself, and then forced his head back up to growl a warning to her.

"I never wanted anything from you, Karen. And we were never going to get married – that was part of some fantasy you made up all by yourself. But you .. you need help!" And then Danny wasn't sure that she even heard him because his voice unexpectedly cracked and he coughed as a dizzying pain rattled into his shoulder.

The severity made him bite his lip and he tugged harder on the towel but it wasn't doing a good job as a make-shift tourniquet.

"God." Danny gagged suddenly as the pain skyrocketed and he nearly passed out again. But he was rocked out of his thoughts by the softly subtle smell of smoke.

"What did you do?" Danny whispered in alarm, and then held his wounded arm against the pain as he yelled out to her. "Karen! What are you doing .. Karen!"

He could see the shadows of her feet moving back and forth in the hallway under the closed door and wedged equipment. The smell of smoke intensified and he looked around at the room he was now going to be trapped in versus safe. There was no water and he was sure now that the window was woefully too small for his body to fit through. Thin tendrils of smoke began to come through the ceiling vents, as well as rise through the holes in the floor where the plumbing would soon be installed for the new tub and shower.

And then he saw the shadow grow under the door as Karen obviously lurked outside. "I loved you Danny. I really did. I even picked out a wedding dress. We were going to get married on the beach. I spoke to a caterer too. I was going to surprise you."

She was kneeling down on the other side and whispering loudly. "This is the only way. The only way we can be together .. just us. Danny let me in." Her voice was keening with sadness but he knew from experience how quickly that could so drastically change. How she wasn't what she seemed. The slashing knife wound in his arm proved that; as did Grace's tearful confession that she never liked his newest girlfriend.

Rather than answering her, Danny tuned her out and leveraged himself up to his knees so he could feel the fresh air on his face. The smoke wasn't bad … yet. In the distance, he was surprised to hear sirens and wondered how Steve was getting there so quickly, but then Karen's house wasn't all that far off the beaten track. And though terribly frightened, Grace had undoubtedly done exactly as she was told to do.

However, the house was old and being renovated. Exposed wood and new construction materials for the renovation were on every floor and would burn fast .. faster than a blink of an eye. Danny closed his eyes as darkness danced around his peripheral vision and he sank weakly back down the wall unable to hold himself up.

He groaned when the rhythmic thumps started again on the bathroom door and Karen's voice sobbed through to him.

"Danny, please just let me in .. I love you so much."

~ to be continued ~