Steve walked outside with Gibbs before pausing in the parking lot. He was pretty sure he knew that the man was looking to have a fatherly discussion with him, which her brother had already gotten to.
“Uh, do you want to take my truck and leave your rental for your partner?” He asked with as disarming a smile as he could muster.
“You know these roads; I don’t,” Gibbs replied. “You drive, but I we should take Pride and your team with us, Elijah and Antoinette Mikaelson won’t be easy to grab if they’re in those condos,” he added before looking at him. “You a sailor?”
Nodding, Steve glanced up at the building. “Yeah, I agree but let’s give them a little time. I’m sure Agent Mikaelson is in the process of ripping my partner a new ass, and I’ll let her have that time,” he shrugged as he pulled his phone out to text Tani and Junior the plan, knowing they would fill everyone else in. He unlocked the truck and waved Gibbs on. “I was a SEAL and in Naval Intelligence until eight years ago. Still a reservist.”
Gibbs nodded as he waited to get into the truck and kept looking at Steve. “Even if we take down our targets, Myriam could still get into trouble with former allies. How far would you go to help her out?”
He glanced over at the older agent before smiling a little. Running his free hand over his jaw before starting the engine, he considered how he would respond. “Has she spoken to you since she came out here? Or since she met or heard about me?”
“Nope,” he replied. “The only thing I heard was that the local LEO’s were a pain in her ass for trying to take her case and wanted to be transferred elsewhere.”
“Figures,” Steve muttered and pulled out of the lot. “Well, it turns out I had a run in with her brother in the past, and I don’t recall it for whatever reason, according to a friend of mine. That is if the information is to be trusted. But, in knowing that, you’d learn that I had made some enemies of my own over the years and seemingly adopted my father’s when I took this job to investigate his murder.”
“And you’re still here.”
“Yep,” Steve nodded. “And I had to go quite far to stop a few of them, so to answer your question, should she have adopted her family’s enemies and they come after her, I’d do anything to stop them from taking her, and keep Hawaii safe.”
“We’d hoped she’d get a somewhat normal life with her transfer here,” Gibbs admitted. “She deserves that. Same with Sheppard.”
Shrugging, Steve looked out the window. “We get that a lot. There’s no guarantee in life, but we try for it every day. Danny has his kids, I got a dog,” he replied before catching what was said. “Sheppard’s placement here was arranged like hers?”
Gibbs nodded. “As it turned out, his parents had dealings with the Mikaelsons, and like Myriam, he didn’t want to have to do anything with his parents’ business, so he ran away and joined the Marines under a fake name. Upon getting caught, well. It could have gone wrong, but you know. They educated him and trained him and worked everywhere before it was decided he had sacrificed enough. He’s quiet but observant.”
“Hawaii is NCIS’ dumping ground?”
“Hell no,” Gibbs barked out a laugh. “It’s a reward for good agents, although I believe that she prefers New Orleans, one Mikaelson in New Orleans means trouble and three Mikaelsons… sends out a signal and could spark wars.”
“And that won’t happen to Hawaii?”
“It’s an island,” Gibbs shrugged. “It’s easier to control things. However, I’m not going to tell you to stay away from her, because that’d be her own choice. Her own decision. But I am going to tell you that she may act tough, she’s fragile. And if you hurt her, there’s no place on this Earth you can hide, because I will come for you.”
Steve let out a long sigh. “Yeah, I figured as much. Her brother said much of the same thing the other night. I don’t know if he was amused by the situation or wanted to murder me. I’ve noticed that a lot of what she puts out is a front, self-defense of sort to protect herself.”
“Also partly my fault. I’m not completely emotionally available to anyone,” Gibbs admitted with a sigh. “But she’s a great girl once she allows you in fully. Did you see her with Auggie?”
He looked back at him, not wanting to jump on that curiosity train like a cat in heat. “Yeah. I’ll admit it had me confused. Yes, I will say I am attracted to her, and then the little games she played, in the beginning, made me back off. Next thing I knew, Danny came back and said she was disappointed I didn’t take her bait. She is one confusing woman.”
Gibbs nodded. “That she is. She and Auggie used to date. Got romantically involved during an undercover op with the CIA, but once they got back and had to settle back in, they discovered that they were simply good friends. He’s a good kid, but Myriam would walk all over him if he let her and she knew that that would be a wrong thing. You have nothing to fear from him. Consider him to be her Danny.”
“I noticed that. They acted more sibling-like than anything else when I saw them together at the hospital. She was very – childlike. I was surprised,” he commented quietly like it was supposed to be a secret. “Auggie had to convince her to go with me to go get something to eat.”
“I’m glad he did because I don’t even think her brothers can make her do that at the moment,” Gibbs replied with a sigh. “Those boys are idiots, but they mean well.”
“That they are,” Steve murmured, taking a turn. “We will be there shortly, but we can wait outside until the rest of the guys arrive. Myriam is going to be pissed about having to stay behind. I wonder who’s gonna volunteer to babysit her.”
“Perhaps no one and they’ll put her in the room with Cullen the entire time.”
The idea made Steve nervous. “That would be a very bad idea. Because if it were me, I’d beat the crap out of her and more after killing my team,” he replied. Glancing at Gibbs’ expression, he shrugged. “Just sayin’.”
“That was a joke, of course, it’s a bad idea to leave her unsupervised with Cullen,” Gibbs took a moment as he thought about the team that he observed for a short time. “She tends to be less hostile towards women so having your female teammate stay behind might be best.”
“Ah, yeah, that might not be the best idea right now,” Steve grimaced, pulling into a parking spot in the apartment complex. “She just found out that Tani has been sleeping with her brother. Hell, we all did when her office exploded so we’re still processing how that came about. So she is on her shit list. After she deals with Cullen, I can see Myriam turning on Tani and me kind of like to keep my team off medical.”
“Pride will stay back with her,” Gibbs replied. “He’s as bad as staying behind as Myriam, but he will stay behind because of her. Besides, to him, this case is personal too. Parsons was the one that shot him.”
“I hope you’re right,” Steve replied. “Because I don’t need Danny on my ass about two short fuses on the island.”
“They’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure about that?” The 5-0 leader questioned as he took notice of the rest of their group arriving. It was only Tani, Junior, and Agent Pride. “Looks like Danny may have lost the argument about who gets to stay behind to babysit.”
As if on cue, his phone pinged with a text asking him to confirm his promise of giving Myriam five minutes with their suspect. “He is not going to have a good day,” Steve sighed as he replied. “This never ends well.”
“Thanks for waiting for us,” Pride said as he approached the waiting truck. “Detective Williams said I could come. I feel for him; he said he would be able to handle her…”
Gibbs shrugged. “Maybe he can,” he said before nodding towards the building. “Whenever you’re ready, let’s bring down our girl’s parents.”
~o.O.o~
Danny sighed as he stared at the text on his phone. He still could not believe that his partner made such an agreement, but at the same time, it didn’t surprise him. Given the opportunity, he probably would have taken five minutes with some suspects over attacks that were personal to him or the team.
Looking up, he found Myriam leaning against their situation table staring at him. “Don’t do that. It’s creepy,” he commented, scowling at her knowing expression. Danny then lets out a breath. “Fine, but you’re going in there without sharp objects, without your gun,” he added as he pointed at the table for her to put them there. “And keep her in one piece.”
“You know I could hurt her just as well without any of that, right?”
“You’re not going in there as a cop.”
“That’s fine,” she shrugged, setting her sig and badge on the table. “It’s not like I need them to get what I need. Just bring me to her.”
Danny shook his head as he brought her downstairs to their holding cell. He could see just how eager she was as they got closer and held a hand up. “Remember, you can’t do anything to harm her. As much as you want to. We have to hand her over in one piece.”
Myriam glared at him, annoyed by the interruption. “I’m aware. This isn’t my first rodeo, cowboy. I know what my limits are and how far I can go with this bitch.”
He could see the clear blood in her eyes, but the control in her temper was conflicting. A promise had been made, and he would not budge about being in the room to make sure that she didn’t go overboard.
Unlocking the door, he held it open, allowing Myriam to step in before him. “Here she is Agent Mikaelson.”
Isabella lifted her head at the name, and her eyes widened to find the woman, her boss of all of two days step in. “What? No. I already cooperated and told them everything. You can’t do anything.”
Myriam glanced over at Danny, who nodded his permission that she could approach. As she got closer, it was clear that Isabella’s nervousness grew but attempted to keep it tempered. She smirked at the girl cuffed to the chair and found herself enjoying the concept of the room. Moving behind Isabella, however remaining just within her peripheral sight, Myriam leaned against the wall and crossed her arms.
Narrowing his eyes, Danny wasn’t sure what the NCIS agent was up to, but he certainly hadn’t anticipated this. “Well, I have some paperwork to finish. You two have fun,” he waved and stepped out, hoping that his lack of presence would help Myriam get what she needed.
“What?! No! You can’t do that! You can’t leave me with her! Do you have any idea who her family is?!” Isabella shouted, attempting to pull away from her seat but went nowhere. Her face fell when the door closed on her shouting. “Please… you can’t do a thing.”
“Just tell me what I want to know and I don’t hurt you,” Myriam calmly replied, coming up behind her and pulled the woman’s head back by her hair.
“I already told 5-0 that I have no idea where Parsons is hiding right now. I don’t,” she whimpered. “I just know that she promised she’d have some lawyer come get me if I got caught.”
Myriam glared as she curiously cocked her head to the side. “Is that so? Just how is she supposed to get you a lawyer if she doesn’t know if you’ve been taken into custody?”
Danny was also curious, knowing that while Isabella lawyered up, she hadn’t made the call to contact one. She simply said she was waiting for the person to arrive. Watching and listening from the video was far less satisfying than in person.
“Who is this phantom lawyer you keep mentioning? As far as I’m aware, you haven’t made any calls or requested to call anyone specific.”
Isabella cried out as Myriam pulled her head back further, waiting for an answer. “I don’t know! Parsons said she had access to someone named Lance and they would know when to come to get me!”
The name was far too familiar with the NCIS agent, and she let teenage memories run through her mind of a man and his cocky daughters. Letting the disgraced lab tech go, Myriam swiftly made her way to the door and determinedly headed for the exit.
“Hey! Wait up!” Danny called after her, chasing to catch up as she passed by the 5-0 doors. “What the hell was that all about?”
Slowing down, Myriam turned to look at him exasperated. “I don’t have time for this Detective Williams. I have someplace to be.”
“I see that,” he gestured to her hurried pace through the hallway. “Now why don’t you explain to me why you are running?”
She went over and set her hands on his shoulders with a smile, brushing imaginary lint off his shirt. “You will understand and figure it out as soon as everyone gets back. I’m sorry for everything, but I have something I need to do. Just let Commander McGarrett know that this isn’t to spite him and that I enjoyed our day. Okay?”
Confused, Danny didn’t know what to make of what just happened and stood there attempting to process it as she turned to leave. He watched her out the door before turning back to his office only to find her badge and weapon still on the situation table. “Oh, shit…” he muttered, grabbing them and running after her.
He reached the doors to find his car leaving the parking lot. “She picked my pockets! I can’t believe she picked my pocket for my keys!” he threw his hands up, more annoyed about his car being hijacked by another psycho friend.
Just as he was going back inside the office, a blond woman walked in with an older man. After securing Myriam’s gun and badge in his desk, he went over to greet them. “Uh, can I help you?”
“We are here to take Isabella Cullen,” the woman stated.
Danny frowned and eyed the two. “Uh, right, sure. How about telling me who you are first?”
The man sighed as he pulled out a business card from his breast pocket and handed it to him. “We are her lawyers. I’m sure she informed you that we would be coming.”
Reading the card, he immediately but the pieces of the puzzle together. Quentin and Laurel Lance. As soon as the name Lance came up, Myriam wanted out of the building fast. “Mrs. Cullen is under arrest. Not detained. I will bring you to her, but I can’t let her leave with you.”
Quentin smiled. “You have no idea who you are dealing with here, do you?”
“Oh, I do. I do know who you work for. Elijah Mikaelson, right? He was behind Parsons’ attack on an NCIS agent in New Orleans too, if I’m not mistaken,” Danny replied, watching the smile fall from the lawyers’ lips. “You know, there are a lot of people looking for your boss. Setting his own children up to be murdered? Well, that’s about as low as one can get.”
“Speculation doesn’t hold up in court,” Laurel replied. “Truth does, and perhaps you think you know what you do, but I would suggest you look into your friends’ history a bit deeper. Their hands aren’t as clean as they appear.”
“Is that what you think? Hm, okay. I’ll pitch the suggestion to my boss when he gets back,” Danny smiled and slipped his hands into his pockets.
“Where can we find him? We can just go to him since you obviously delaying our access to our client.”
“McGarrett? Ohh,” he hummed as he turned to look at the clock on the wall. “Probably doing something stupid like rappelling down the side of a building on the raid they are about to do. I wouldn’t worry about it. You’ll get a call later if it’s successful.”
“Take us to Mrs. Cullen now.”
“Sure, but as I said, she’s not going anywhere,” Danny shrugged as he sauntered off into the direction of the toilets. “Let me give you a tour of the building first.”
Laurel let out an irritated sigh and rolled her eyes at her father. “Is this stalling necessary? Don’t you think that this trick as been played out enough? Bring us to your holding cell or bring Mrs. Cullen to us before we file charges against 5-0 for refusing our client to counsel.”
His cell phone rang as he stared at the lawyer. “Yeah babe?” he greeted before smiling as he listened. “Sounds great. By the way, I have company waiting at the office of the legal variety. A Quentin and Laurel Lance,” he reported, reading the names off the business card and slipped it back into his pocket. “See you when you get back.”
“These games aren’t amusing, and they take up much of your time and ours. Would you just show-”
“Oh, no. It’s no trouble on my part,” Danny modestly replied. “In fact, that was Commander McGarrett. He told me to escort you to our conference room, and he will handle everything once he returns.”
Laurel and Quentin glanced at one another before shrugging a shoulder. “Fine,” she replied. “In the meanwhile, you can bring me a lemon tea while you force us to wait.”
“Sure thing Princess. I’ll just call for our butler to come to take your order,” Danny said, leading them into the conference room and shut the door behind them. “What pompous jerks. No wonder Myriam left running.”