A/N: I originally wrote and published this back in mid-2011, but left for a little while and took all my stories down. I'm putting this one back up because a) I really enjoyed writing it and was rather pleased with how it turned out, and b) I didn't have it saved anywhere useful. Also, Sky TV have very kindly put all three series of Hawaii Five-O in their On Demand section so I can finally catch up with all I've missed (their scheduling is notoriously wacky and I ended up missing too much of Season Two to catch up properly). So anyway, I'm slinging it back up, give or take a couple of very minor tweaks here and there, so at least I can find it again when I need it. I might even write another one eventually, who knows. Let's see how this goes first, anyway. If you read it the first time, I hope you enjoy it the second time, and if this is your first time reading it, then hello and thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: Hawaii Five-O is the brainchild of Leonard Freeman. I own the OCs and that's pretty much it. If I had any proper control over Hawaii Five-O then I'd've made sure Danny and Rachel got together and stayed together. The End.

Setup

Prologue

Beep…beep…beep…beep…

Detective Danny Williams rubbed his hands over his face and let out a sleepy groan. Five o'clock in the morning never got any easier.

His eyes still shut in protest, he slid his right arm out from beneath the bedclothes and felt for his alarm clock, which he quickly found and set to 'snooze'. He yawned as he rolled over and waited for sleep to overtake him again, which wouldn't have taken much effort. Indeed, it would have taken no effort at all, were it not for the fact he rolled face-first into someone's back. His eyes opened in surprise.

"What the-" he began, now completely awake. He pulled away and was surprised to discover the naked back of a woman. She had long, naturally wavy, dark hair down to her shoulder blades. He had no recollection of inviting anyone into his bed in… he frowned at the realisation of exactly how long it had been. He certainly had no recollection of getting on that well with anyone the previous night.

Danny lifted up his bedclothes and looked down. He wasn't sure if he was disappointed or relieved to note that he was still wearing his pyjamas, which hadn't been disturbed by anything other than very heavy sleep during the night.

He suddenly felt rather awkward. He wasn't sure that he had ever had to begin a conversation with anyone with the words, "Excuse me, ma'am, but do you mind telling me exactly what you're doing, naked, in my bed?" Still, on reflection, it was a question he felt he had every right to ask.

"Uhm… Hello?" he began, not sure whether he should have adopted a loud whisper or half-shout, and embarrassingly ending up with a strangled squeak. He cleared his throat when he received no response from the sleeping woman, hoping that may rouse her from sleep, but nothing happened. "Excuse me, ma'am?" he said, raising his voice a little. Still nothing.

Danny shook his head. Someone had decided to take a nap in his bed without even asking his permission, and he was speaking to her like he was some kid in elementary school! "Hey!" he shouted, finally grabbing her shoulder and shaking her vigorously. She still didn't stir. Danny ran a hand through his hair and sighed heavily. He didn't have the patience to be messed around at five in the morning, pre-coffee.

"Listen, lady, it's real nice of you to drop in, but – Jesus!" he gasped, as he rolled her over. Her brown eyes were wide open, yet glazed over in death. His eyes glanced further down and he saw that her lips were tinged blue, so she must have been dead for some time. His gaze travelled down to her neck, where he saw significant bruising. She had been strangled.

Danny hadn't jumped out of bed so quickly since Christmas morning 1986 when he knew he was getting a skateboard. He paced his bedroom floor several times, running his hands over his face and then looking back to his bed, hoping this was just some terrible dream. It wasn't. He tried breathing deeply in an attempt to remain calm, but that didn't help either. He wasn't sure, but he felt that the natural reaction upon waking up to find a dead, naked body in one's bed would, in fact, be abject hysteria.

Finally, he picked his phone up, hoping his fingers would stop trembling – it was adrenaline, not fear, he told himself – just long enough for him to call his partner.

"Where the hell have you been for the last two days?" a grumpy voice began. Danny had obviously just woken him up.

"What the hell are you talking about, I saw you yesterday – you still owe me for the shave ice," Danny said.

"That was Tuesday, Danno," Steve said, impatiently.

"Or, as I like to call it - yesterday," Danny replied, squeezing his eyes shut with his thumb and forefinger. He hadn't called for a lecture on weekdays.

"It's Friday," Steve said. Danny sighed.

"Look. I know I've just woken you up, but I've got no time to argue with you about what day it is! You're not listening to me!" he shouted.

"Danny, do you know what time it is?"

"Look, Steve, we got an emergency here," he began. "There's a naked woman in my bed!"

"You called me at five in the morning just to tell me you got laid? Jesus, Daniel, what do you want, a round of applause?" Steve snapped.

"You don't understand, Steven. She's dead. She's been strangled," Danny said. Steve fell silent for a few moments.

"What happened?"

"I went to bed last night, fell asleep, woke up. Found a dead, naked woman in my bed. Never seen her before in my life," Danny said.

"You go missing for two days and you wake up one morning with a dead, naked Jane Doe in your bed?" Steve asked. Now it was Danny's turn to fall silent.

"Steve – I don't even remember anything past Tuesday," Danny told him, seriously.

"What are you saying?"

Danny paused, trying to think of all the ways he could phrase his next sentence without sounding like a complete drama queen. In the end, he realised there probably was no other way to phrase it.

"Someone's set me up, Steve," he answered, simply.