"Gunshot Residue"

Shakespeare's Lemonade

Rating: T

Genre: Friendship/Drama

Summary: The ramifications of Laura Hills' and Governor Jameson's murders go far beyond arrests and suspicion. Steve is left feeling that there is no one he can trust and nowhere to go with Danny in Jersey. Meanwhile, Chin is cut of from his "family" because of his choice to rejoin HPD. Can 5-0 ever come back to life?

Pairings: Danny/Rachel

A/N: This takes place after the events of 1.24. Thanks to SugarMuffin08 for helping me out with this idea. Any suggestions, comments, criticisms, or whatever are welcome. I want to know what you guys think.

Chapter One "Not to Reason Why"

"Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die."~Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "The Charge of the Light Brigade"

The crashing waves never looked the same, and that used to be a comfort. Now, it was a stark reminder that life was as fickle as those waves. That people could not be trusted, friends were useless, and those who should be above reproach were as dirty as the common street thugs.

The lawn needed desperately to be mowed, and the house needed cleaned. It wasn't as if Steve McGarrett had anything better to do with his time. So, after his swim, he didn't bother eating breakfast or showering. He went straight to the shed and started mowing the lawn.

Except the mower broke down about halfway through, and he remembered that it had needed to be fixed for months. So, he gave up and went inside.

He cleaned up and by noon, he was running out of things to clean. He showered and changed into shorts, a t-shirt, and flip-flops. Then he left the house, not knowing where he was going, but needing to get away.

It had been a month. A month since his entire world imploded. There was nothing left worth saving. Steve had never expected much happiness, but this was a whole new level of misery. If he had never taken the job...

Steve usually tried to avoid speculation of that sort, but he could help thinking of how truly blissful the ignorance would have been. Chin's name would have been cleared eventually anyway, Kono would still have become a cop, and Danny would probably still be with Rachel again. Everyone would be happy.

Now, Chin was a lieutenant, sure, but Kono was a surf instructor, and Danny was coming apart at the seams trying to fix things here while starting his life over in Jersey.

Steve drove for a long time, not really paying attention to where he was going. He was a little surprised when he ended up at a small beach. He knew who was here, and he knew the last thing she needed was to deal with him. She was trying to get on with her life.

But Steve got out of his truck and started walking. It was late afternoon and Kono had just finished her last lesson of the day. She was packing up her gear, getting ready to leave.

She looked up as she heard the flapping of Steve's shoes. A small smile appeared on her face.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," Steve replied. "Business good?"

"You didn't come here to talk about surfing."

"No... I don't know why."

"What have you been up to?"

Steve thought over the last month and he couldn't come up with a single thing to say. "Nothing."

The weight of that word sunk in for Kono. As hard as it was for her to leave the force, losing 5-0 must have been harder on Steve.

"Have you seen Danny?" she asked.

"He's been in Jersey since I was released. He's coming back tonight for a while."

"So, he can help you find Wo Fat."

"Yeah." Steve didn't sound convinced.

"Have you... talked to Chin?"

"Not since he told me I was cleared."

H-5-O

"You didn't kill the governor," Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly said, coming into the interrogation room.

"Damn it, Chin. I've been telling you that for three days," Steve said.

Chin didn't reply to that comment. "We didn't find any GSR on you and the doctor's report confirms that you were stunned right before the governor was killed. We also have her fingerprints on your phone. She must have deleted whatever you recorded."

"She confessed to killing Laura Hills," Steve insisted.

"I guess we'll never know."

Chin unlocked the cuffs around Steve's wrists and they both stood up.

"You're free to go," Chin said.

"Thanks, I guess."

"Steve, you know I had to do this."

"Yeah." Steve nodded once. "You were just doing your job."

Just. Chin knew what that meant: Steve thought he was a good cop, but a horrible friend. Maybe it was true.

H-5-O

Steve and Kono walked up the beach in silence. There seemed to be nothing to say, hardly any reason for them to be on the same beach. Finally, Kono stopped and stood in front of Steve.

"What are you gonna do?" she asked.

"I don't know," he confessed. "It's been seventeen years since I've had to wonder what to do with myself."

"I've got this." Kono gestured at their surroundings. "But you... You have to be a hero."

Steve shook his head. "A nuisance is more like it."

"You know that's not true. You did more good... I don't know what this island's going to do without you."

"No one is irreplaceable."

"Yeah. Yeah, you are." Kono nodded with conviction. "I learned more from you in the nine months of 5-0 than in all my years at the academy."

"It could never last, you know. We were... too good."

"And sabotaged from the beginning."

"We sure went out with a bang though."

"Mmhmm. Steve, why are you here, really?"

"I don't know. I couldn't sit around the house. My lawn mower broke. The place smells like bleach."

"So, you're trying to keep busy. How's that working for you?"

"Not so well, Dr. Phil. How are you doing?"

"Better than you... Ha, that's not saying much. At least, I like what I'm doing, anyway. It's not what I want, but it's something."

"And you're good at it."

"I guess I just don't see what surf lessons do for the greater good."

"Yeah. You know what, we need to go find ourselves some radioactive insects and become superheroes."

"Sure, Grasshopper-man. Why don't we just go surfing?"

Steve nodded, smiling genuinely. "Sounds good, Walkingstick."

H-5-O

It was getting dark by the time Steve and Kono came back from the water. They were exhausted and sore, but they both felt better.

As Steve dried off and pulled his shirt and shoes back on, he nodded at Kono. "I have to go pick up Danny," he said.

"Oh," she replied. "Could I come? I haven't heard from him since he left."

"Yeah, I'm sure he'd be glad to see you."

She smiled. "Thanks."

"Kono, I've been meaning to ask," Steve said as they got in the truck.

"What?" she replied as they pulled out onto the street.

"How long since you talked to Chin?"

Kono bit her lip and stared out the passenger window. "The day he arrested you."

Steve was surprised, but thought he shouldn't have been. Kono knew everything Chin had been through with false accusations. She expected him to be different.

The two of them didn't talk anymore as they drove to the airport and waited by the baggage claim for their friend.