missmara13

Another continuation of a long ago fic that never got continued... in this one, I transplanted the Atwoods to Hawaii, where Frank was basically running a cartel type gig. 5-O (from Hawaii 5-O) busted him and Ryan agreed to testify and tell everything he knew, but he mentioned they better record it, because he doubts he'll live long enough to testify, Frank will have him killed. So McGarrett took Ryan home with him to keep him safe and hidden.




Ryan froze as he heard a noise outside, and glanced over at McGarrett, who quickly lifted a finger to his lips as he got up and gestured for Ryan to follow him.

McGarrett opened the hallway closet and gestured for Ryan to get in. "Stay here, stay quiet," he instructed quietly.

Ryan nodded, sinking down to sit on the floor with his knees drawn up to his chest. He was used to being in a cramped closet, Frank shoved him in one all the time to get him out of the way, but this time at least it was to protect him, not as punishment or to make sure he couldn't escape. He flinched as he heard something shatter in the living room, followed by gunshots and Frank's angry voice.

"Where is he?" Frank asked.

"How stupid are you, breaking into a cop's house?" McGarrett asked.

"Where the hell is my fucking kid?"

"The one you terrorized to the point that he wouldn't tell us jack shit?" McGarrett said. "He's in lock up."

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Frank asked. "The little shit would rat me out in a heartbeat, and I know you're keeping him close. Tell me where he is, and maybe I'll just put a bullet in your head and kill you quickly, instead of slowly like I'd prefer."

Ryan knew that Frank wasn't lying, he'd kill McGarrett without hesitation, and decided he had to do something to help McGarrett, so he slowly opened the closet door and slipped out.

~~~

McGarrett was hoping Ryan would have the sense to run, to go out the back while Frank and his goon were distracted, and sure enough out of the corner of his eye he saw Ryan slipping out of the closet and down the hall. "He wouldn't tell us anything, kept saying he didn't know anything about your business. All he gave us was enough to arrest you for neglect and maybe child abuse," McGarrett said. "I sent him off to lock up, thought a couple night in a cell might get him to talk..."

"You're lying," Atwood said. "He's smart, he listens to everything, and he hates me, he'd tell you just to fuck me over. And you think I don't have contacts? I know you brought him home with you. So, where..." The man cut off as something broke in another room. "Check it out," Frank told his goon.

The man headed down the hall, returning a moment later. "Open window, a lamp was knocked over and broke when it fell outside."

"Fuck... go after him. I want the little shit alive until I find out what exactly he said. I'll take care of this one." The goon nodded and ran out the door, and Frank looked back down at McGarrett. "You could have made this easy for yourself," he said, aiming the gun at McGarrett's stomach.

McGarrett braced himself for the shot, but it never came as suddenly Ryan appeared from down the hall, carrying one of McGarrett's scuba tanks and using it like a battering ram to slam into Frank and knock the startled man to the ground. Before Frank had a chance to recover from the surprise, Ryan slammed the tank down on his gun hand three times in quick succession, the sound of bones cracking and Frank's scream of pain having satisfying ring to McGarrett's ears. Ryan raised the tank again, shifting his aim towards Frank's head, and McGarrett called out. "Ryan, don't," he said, grabbing the gun he'd tucked behind the couch cushions earlier in the night, just in case.

"You don't..." Ryan began. "You don't know what it was like. Getting hit for anything the least bit wrong I did. Watching him... he beat Trey until he could barely move, and then he took us out to the jungle, and he made us dig the graves... and then he made Trey kneel by it and he... he shot him in the stomach, and kicked him into the grave, and he... he made me start shovelling the dirt back in... Trey was still alive and he made me bury him! He... he said if I ever told anyone I'd be in the other one... I was eight years-old and he made me bury my brother..."

"And he's gonna pay for that, and for everything else he's done," McGarrett said, even though he was tempted to pull his gun and put a bullet in Frank right then and there. "But you are better than him, Ryan. You aren't a murderer, you are a good kid..."

"He's a dead kid," Frank growled. "I shoulda just shot him in the head that day, but he made me too much money."

"Shut up," McGarrett ordered him. "Ryan, don't let him make you into as twisted a person as he is. You're not a murderer."

"He's not gonna let... he'll keep coming after me..."

"He'll be locked up, for good. Attacking and attempting to kill a cop is a serious crime. Add that to everything else, and he's not getting out of jail until he's too old and decrepit to hurt anyone," McGarrett said. "Come on, kid, just put the tank down. I promise, he's going to pay."

Ryan hesitated again, and there were the sounds of brakes screeching, shouting, and gunshots from outside. A car roared up to the house, blue and red lights flashing, and Ryan dropped the tank, letting it drop down onto Frank's groin, causing the man to scream in pain again as the door flew open, letting Kono, Chin, and Danny in, their guns drawn.

Trusting them to make sure Frank didn't get back up, McGarrett dropped his gun onto the couch and moved to pull Ryan back as the teenager broke into heavy sobs. "It's okay, kid," he said. "You did the right thing, and he's going to pay, I promise you, I will make sure of it."

~~~

When all was said and done, there was no doubt of a conviction. Just breaking into McGarrett's house was enough to get Frank locked up for a good long while, but all the other evidence was icing on the cake. McGarrett managed to convince the feds that Ryan's testimony wasn't needed, they had enough evidence just from the raid and from Frank's attack on McGarrett, and since Ryan was no longer a key witness, social services started sniffing around. They took him to a foster home, but two days later McGarrett got a call that Ryan had run off.

He had a gut feeling, and headed to a quiet section of beach, near where Ran had told them Trey was buried, and sure enough there was Ryan, sitting on a rock, staring out at the water.

"Didn't like the accommodations?" McGarrett asked as he sat down in the sand next to the rock.

After a moment, Ryan shifted to sit down next to him, drawing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. That sat like that for a few minutes, the sun disappearing below the horizon, before Ryan spoke.

"When the social worker dropped me off it was fine," he said. "Room to myself, clean sheets, dresser... no closet. It seemed okay."

"Then?"

"While the rest of us ate dinner, the guy disappeared and I heard a drill. Then when I went to go back to my room... there was a padlock on the outside. They said... they said they knew who my father was and they didn't trust me... I tried to run, but... they made me go in and they locked me in... the window was nailed shut... I couldn't get out..."

McGarrett clenched his jaw, wanting to get the address and go straight there to deal with it, but instead he lifted an arm and loosely wrapped it around Ryan's shoulders. "Okay, you are not going back there. I'll get your stuff myself."

"You can't do that."

"I'll do everything I can to keep it from happening," McGarrett promised. "Come on, let's get some food and then get you back to my place, you'll stay there for the night at least."

Ryan nodded. "Okay," he whispered.

~~~

The next morning, McGarrett got Ryan up fairly early. "I have something I have to do today, and you are going to help Kono out," he said.

"What could Officer Kalakaua possibly need help with? She's kick ass," Ryan replied.

"Babysitting," McGarrett said. "She's helping Danny teach his son how to surf. They'll be distracted since he's four. Someone has to keep the boys away from Danny's daughter Grace."

"So... I'm playing cock block?"

"You're protecting an innocent girl from some dirty minded boys that are way too old for her."

"This is why people think you and Williams are a couple," Ryan pointed out. "Because you sound like a concerned dad to his kid."

"I'm Uncle Steve, I'm protective," McGarrett said. "Now come on, let's go, they're waiting.

~~~

"Those guys are too old for you," Ryan said a couple hours later as he spotted Grace smiling at a couple boys closer to his age than hers.

Grace sighed. "You're as bad as Uncle Steve."

"Well, he did instruct me to keep boys away from you," Ryan replied with a chuckle. "I think it's pretty cool you've got people looking out for you. I wish I did."

"But... you've got Uncle Steve," Grace said. "He's looking out for you, isn't he? And Aunt Kono, and Uncle Chin, and Danno... they're all looking out for you."

Ryan glanced over at her, then out at where Danny and Kono had little Charlie balanced on a surfboard in the water. "Yeah, I guess," he said.

"Hey, everyone having fun?"

"Uncle Steve! Uncle Chin!" Grace said happily.

"He keeping the boys away like I told him?" McGarrett asked the girl as he sat down between them.

"Yeah, he is," Grace complained.

"What part of 'they are way to old for you' are you have trouble with, pipsqueak?" Ryan replied, tossing a small handful of sand at her feet.

"We brought food, how about you go see if they're getting hungry?" Chin suggested.

Grace nodded and got up, running towards the water.

"You're not going back," McGarrett told Ryan. "We went to the house with your social worker. They hadn't even taken the lock off. All the kids are being moved somewhere else."

"Good."

"Your stuff's already at your new place," McGarrett went on. "I think you'll be okay there."

Ryan nodded, looking down. "Sure."

"You're staying with me, kid," McGarrett said.

"Until they find somewhere else."

"Until we get completely fed up with each other," McGarrett said. "I kinda liked having you around."

"Really?"

"Yeah, kid, really," McGarrett promised, put an arm around him. "You've got family, Ryan. Right here. We're gonna look at for you."

Ryan smiled slightly, remembering Grace saying the same a few minutes before, and leaned against McGarrett. "Okay."

"What'd you get for lunch?" Danny asked as the others returned. "Please not more of Kamekona's shrimp experiments."

"I hope not, I'm allergic to shrimp," Ryan commented.

"Yeah?"

"Hives, throat closes up, the whole thing," Ryan said. "Not pretty."

"I'll remember that," McGarrett said. "No shrimp in the McGarrett house."

"Oh?" Kono asked, already smiling.

"Kid's blackmailing me into letting him stay," McGarrett said with a grin, nudging at Ryan's shoulder. "For good."

"That's great," Kono said, giving Ryan's forearm a squeeze.

Ryan smiled, ducking his head.

The End

I just see Ryan fitting right into their crazy family. I can see him giving McGarrett a hard time about being reckless (and maybe Danny pointing out that McGarrett is literally all Ryan has, so it has to be scary to keep hearing about McGarrett putting himself in danger...) and McGarrett and Kono end up getting together because Ryan could use a bad ass mom who'll love and protect him... and Ryan is protective of his little 'cousins' Grace and Charlie... and Ryan is actually happy and safe and secure in his life which, no matter how I love the drama and angst, is what I always want for Ryan in the longterm

Think about, most of my fics, no matter how bad it gets, they end with Ryan happy. And if it's more of a sad or bittersweet ending, like 'Heavily Broken', I write future snippets where Ryan is happy in his life... that's part of why I'm writing some 'Lay Bare Your Heart' future ficlets, because the LBYH 'Verse will have a LOT of downs and a handful of ups, but I want everyone to know it's leading towards Ryan having a very happy ending where he loves and is loved in return...