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

Notes: This goes hand in hand with my prior story 'Ka Lilo Keiki'. I've attempted to make it standalone, but it may be helpful to see the first installment for more background. Work = icky; therefore = new story for my sanity.

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Chapter 1

"It's done!" Mike Ramirez announced as he finally yanked off the hot workman's gloves and backed up to survey their grand creation.

Danny was grinning from ear to ear as he took a big swallow from the bottle of beer he held in his hand. He was standing next to his friend who easily was as tall as his intimidating half-brother, Doctor Alphonse 'Ponch' Ramirez, though Mike lacked the breadth and sheer stature of the large doctor.

"That it is. I wonder what your brother is going to think of this." He added coyly because it took up a good portion of the corner Ponch had reluctantly allocated for the vile little furry creature his niece so loved.

"Ah, he makes a big fuss but he won't mind!" Mike smiled with a pleased laugh. Though they spent a lot of time at his brother and sister-in-law's rambling, private house, Mike and Rebecca really lived downtown in a condo which was no place for a beloved rabbit. So by default .. or perhaps, design ... Becca's loving Uncle Ponch and Aunt Ellen kept Finster in their backyard which only encouraged more family time for everyone.

But still, Danny couldn't help laughing at the over-the-top creation. "It's really big, Mike!"

Turning to both girls, the men bowed gracefully and then gestured grandly towards the rabbit hutch. "What do you both think?"

"It's the best!" Becca was cuddling her sizeable rabbit to her chest. In unison, she and Grace laughed and beamed happily at Finster's new home which might even rival Mrs. Hoppy's grand abode at the Edwards' McMansion.

"Thank you!" Becca was so excited, she practically dumped Finster in before she and Grace had even stuffed the den part with heaps of fresh straw and hay. Then Becca flung herself into Mike's arms and anchored her arms securely around his neck. It had been a full year since Steve and Danny had stumbled across the little girl who had been lost to the Ramirez family for three long years. Taken by her unstable mother and living under new identities, Becca had crisscrossed the mainland until her mother had fled with her to Hawaii after falling into hard times and a scheme with a dangerous Las Vegas mobster. Her mother had lost her life and alone, a frightened Becca had latched on to Steve one day after a failed pickpocket attempt.

Clues and secrets slowly revealed her true identity and Rebecca Anne Ramirez shed her old, frightening vagabond life as Kasey Pearce. Her father, Mike, had come to Hawaii to reclaim his daughter and then stayed with not only his half-brother's pestering, but also due to Danny's urgings. Something Steve in particular endlessly found amusing for the man who had once so adamantly denied the islands. But it was only natural that the two doting fathers had immediately struck up a strong loyalty coupled by their daughter's instant friendship.

"I love you, daddy." Becca whispered it in his ear as he hugged her back and walked to a private area where he covered her warm cheeks in kisses.

"Even if Fiona bunny turned out to be Finster rabbit?" He kiddingly joked with her about the accidental girl versus boy rabbit purchase. Everyone was still anxiously holding their breaths to see if Fiona-Finster had not quite so accidentally gotten Grace's little doe pregnant yet again. Though accident was loosely defined if you were parent, child or afore-mentioned rabbit.

Rebecca laughed and giggled incessantly as he tickled her. "Yes!"

"Well then, I guess I love you too." He stressed back before giving her another hug and soaking in her bright eyes. Mike counted his blessings every day and was thrilled that Rebecca had so thrived in their new home. In fact, though Ponch often complained his younger brother still didn't quite eat enough or sleep enough, Mike was thriving too after making the decision to stay and lay down his own roots.

"I think I might love you too much, in fact." She laughed again and almost forgot about Finster, the hutch and their company as she rested her head on his shoulder. Sometimes she felt like she was five years old and not eleven as he held her so close in their perfect home.

"Tired?" Reading her absolute contentment wrong, Mike was surprised when she blurted out a quick and demonstrative no before squirming down and returning to help Grace.

"We still have a lot to do to make Finster happy." She hollered over her shoulder. Mike chuffed out a confused snort as his daughter ran back to the rabbit to heap in its bedding. To Danny he quirked an eyebrow and raised his own beer for a congratulatory cheer.

"If that damned rabbit isn't happy, then he needs to be shipped off somewhere else."

Danny chuckled at the truth of it as the two left the girls to sit quietly in the shade and finish their well-deserved beer after the hot work. They had Mike's brother's house to themselves that weekend while they built the kingly rabbit hutch of all hutches. Finster had grown in leaps and bounds during the year and he'd sadly outgrown his first home. With promises of a simple barbecue and a cold brew, Mike had enlisted a willing Danny to help with the new, improved version much to the girls' combined delight.

"Where are you off to, Monkey?" Danny asked as Grace walked across the lanai towards the sliding glass doors.

"Dad!" The rolled eyes were a bit indignant at his having to know everything. "I need the ladies room." She hushed out the whisper dramatically as she disappeared into the cool interior of the house. He grinned and looked away to watch Becca by the new hutch as the slider's clicked shut.

Near the little girl, the dark shadow caught his attention first and he frowned at the oddity of it. Then, the next few minutes were a complete chaotic mess from the time the sliders clicked shut to Rebecca's terrified single scream that was cut off as a gloved hand covered her mouth and a strong arm lifted her into the air.

Three other dark-clad and hooded men seemingly came out of nowhere to point guns at both fathers. Beer bottle tossed to the ground, Danny was up and on his feet to take on the men. His hand automatically strayed to where his gun should be, but on a beautiful Saturday afternoon when he was supposed to be off and relaxing, he'd left his gear locked in the trunk of the car. Forced to stop by the weapon aimed threateningly at Rebecca's head, another was aimed directly at his own unprotected chest. The men were organized and finalizing a treacherous decision as they leveled their remaining weapons at Mike Ramirez.

"Mike! No ... stop!" Danny tried but he swore that his friend did exactly what the intruders not only expected, but wanted. Regardless of the poor odds, Mike tried to roar past as Danny missed the desperate grab at his arm to stop the inevitable as one loud puff sounded and he went down in a bloody mess.

Felled before he could take more than five furious steps towards his daughter, Mike clutched his abdomen and stared at the bright red blood oozing between his fingers. Above him, he heard Danny shouting his name but Becca had suddenly become deathly quiet.

"Becca." His mouth refused to work as well as his eyes for his dwindling strength. Mike was stunned by the overwhelming agony as the bullet went completely through him to settle in the solid wood of the Alpine chair he'd been sitting in. Groaning in pain and weakly trying to gain purchase in the grass, he was horrified when everything faded away in a darkening rush.

"Mike!" Between the two sides with hands out-stretched plaintively, Danny was torn between his fallen friend and the screaming child. Then there was his Grace in the house and Danny didn't know which way to turn as the men surrounded him. All were wearing exactly the same clothes and holding intimidating weapons with silencers to minimize attention.

"What do you want?" Danny demanded as he clenched his fists in frustration and sized up the coming confrontation. Simultaneously, his mind pleaded with Grace to stay inside and hidden.

"Who are you and what do you want? Put the girl down .. and let her go .. you can't possibly want a kid."

He was breathing hard from the stress as Mike moaned painfully at his feet. Rebecca was kicking her legs and squirming to get free, but the first man merely tightened his hold and she gasped in pain when the arm around her middle took her breath away.

"You're hurting her. I'm going to ask you one more time to put her down." Danny growled in warning as another gun was aimed directly at his head. He tightened his stance for the pending fight when he heard a subtle unimpressed chuckle but nothing else.

Frozen now, Rebecca was heaving in shocked little spurts of air as she stared numbly at her father's body. He had moved just once and now as blood spread into the grass, he stilled on a deeply pained exhale.

No one spoke and Danny never knew which black figure was the leader nor the signal given that pummeled him mercilessly into the Ramirez's grassy backyard as he charged forward in a ludicrous attack. It never dawned on him that he wasn't shot down in cold blood as Mike had been. He didn't realize at the time that they wanted him alive.

On the defensive, Danny managed to plant his fist securely into one cowled face once, and then twice. The hutch dangerously wobbled on it's legs and Finster bolted to a far corner to hide as the man lost his balance. Danny was delighted when the man he hit fell into the edge of the new rabbit hutch and hissed angrily when his upper arm connected with the sturdy wooden structure. The man's black shirt snagged, tore open and a long bloody scratch opened up as he sliced his skin on a sharp hinge. Danny's next immediate backwards motion connected his elbow directly into a muscular chest which jarred up into his shoulder, but he could tell he at least winded the second attacker by the sharply stunned wheezing sound.

For all he tried though, Danny soon collapsed near Mike as the three men converged on him in a synchronized attack. He fell bleeding and badly concussed as his wrists were tied securely behind his back and his pockets were emptied. In no more than twenty seconds, an unconscious Danny Williams and Becca Ramirez were gone. Mike Ramirez was bleeding out in his brother's backyard and Grace was trying not to scream in terror from her hiding place in the house.

~ to be continued ~