Shadows Of The Past

Disclaimer:
Unfortunately I don't own anything of Hawaii Five-0, it all belongs to CBS. But I keep dreaming…

Notes:
English is not my native language, so please forgive me my mistakes.

Thanks:
As always a huge thank-you to JazzieG, my wonderful beta reader, for the super-fast betaing – don't know what I'd do without you!
rewob17, thanks for all the discussions about the plotline and for the title suggestions, without you I'd probably never finished this story in time before Halloween!

"You are certainly not afraid, are you, Danno?"

Danny Williams stared at his partner, narrowing his eyes when he studied the bright smirk on the taller man's face. He watched silently how the Ex-SEAL slowly crossed his arms in front of chest; the corners of Steve's mouth twitched slightly when he returned Danny's gaze with an unblinking eye. His words hung heavily in the air between the two friends and Danny cocked his head a little bit to the right while he thought about a fitting answer.

"No Steven, I'm certainly not afraid," Danny finally replied with an exasperated roll of his eyes and some sweeping gestures that accompanied his following rant. "I'm certainly not afraid to go downstairs and search that huge dusty cellar for any hints of our lovely old friends, even if they have been clever enough to leave this pineapple infested hellhole months ago and I'm one-hundred percent sure…" He interrupted himself briefly to shake his head and raise his right index finger before he continued forcefully, "In fact I'm absolutely and completely sure that we'll find no new hints because HPD already searched this damn place from top to bottom. Twice, if I remember correctly."

The house they were just starting to search belonged to John Miller, one half of the infamous Miller Gang. He and his brother Jack – who had lived in the house next-door where Chin and Kono were trying their luck right now – had robbed countless jewelers over the last thirty years in at least 23 different U.S. states. The two brothers, both in their mid-fifties, had settled down on Oahu after their last big coup about eighteen months ago but they had hastily left the island when Five-0 had taken over the case and had almost tracked them down. John and Jack Miller had apparently left behind everything they owned, but neither Five-0 nor HPD had been able to find even the tiniest trace of where they had gone – or where the swag from their many robberies was hidden.

"We already searched that musty hole of a cellar the last time we were here and there was nothing, I repeat, nothing at all that gave us a clue about where John and Jack are hiding," Danny resumed his rant, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he angrily stared at his partner who was nonchalantly leaning against the doorframe, his arms still crossed in front of his chest.

Steve's gaze briefly flickered downstairs toward their subject of discussion when he noticed a faint movement out of the corner of his eyes. Squinting he tried to identify any of the gray and black shapes but the long steep staircase disappeared into an all-consuming darkness and he quickly abandoned the attempt when heard Danny take a deep breath next to him.

"Are you done now?" McGarrett asked gleefully as he turned his attention back to his partner, the shadowy movement quickly waved aside.

"Am I done now?" Danny replied agitatedly, briefly circling his hands through the air before he stuffed the left one back in pocket. "Yes, you jerk, I am done," he exclaimed, pointing his right index finger right into his partner's face, fully aware of the fact that he was invading Steve's personal space. "The only thing I have to do is tell you that…"

"Oh good," Steve interrupted him mid-sentence, still grinning when he pushed Danny's hand out of his face. "Because I thought you were just buying time to convince yourself that you're not afraid."

"Oh, for heaven's sake, stop acting like a nine-year-old," Danny puffed out, impatiently elbowing Steve away to reach the light switch at the head of the staircase. He flipped the switch from up to down but nothing happened, the staircase remained in the dark, only illuminated by the daylight that shone faintly through the dirty kitchen windows and the small backyard door.

Danny heaved a deep sigh and threw McGarrett an exasperated look as if it was entirely Steve's fault that the light wasn't working. He tried the light switch a few more times, vigorously flipping it up and down but the effect was the same as before.

"Great, just what I need," Danny muttered grumpily under his breath, wishing nothing more than to finally wipe that smirk off his partner's face. "You don't have a flashlight in one of those many pockets of your cargo pants, do you?"

"No," Steve said with a suppressed little laugh, curiously watching Danny's desperate attempts to get the light to work. "But we have one in the car – do you want me to get it?"

Slowly turning around to face the taller man, Danny finally stopped mistreating the innocent light switch and once more waved his hands through the air. He was just about to start another rant when the two friends heard a faint cracking sound from downstairs and a heartbeat later the old lamp at the head of the staircase flickered to life, barely illuminating half of the stairs.

Thinking back to their last visit to the Miller house Danny remembered that there was a second switch at the foot of the staircase and without another word he gritted his teeth and started to climb down the creaking wooden stairs.

"Have fun, Danno," Steve called after him in a sing-song voice, bursting out laughing when he saw the Jersey cop raise his hands to wipe some dusty cobwebs from his face. "And don't hesitate to call when it gets too scary downstairs."

"Bite me, Steven," Danny said pointedly as he turned around to his partner and flipped him off, which caused the smirk on Steve's face to become even brighter. The two friends looked at each other for a long moment until Danny silently shook his head and murmured a few unintelligible words before he meekly continued his way downstairs.

Neither of them noticed the faint shadow that scurried away from the foot of the stairs or the similar shadow that quickly retreated from the backyard door.

(tbc)