A/N: Hi all!

Well, this is something that has been running inside my head ever since 3X14. It could have some spoilers for the episode but it's mostly AU.

Enjoy!

Steve and the Governor were halfway down their beer when Steve noticed that Danny hadn't come back from his phone call. He looked around and back towards his house, but the blonde detective was nowhere to be found.

With a muttered apology to the Governor, Steve moved inside the house, checking if his partner had gone to the bathroom or to look for something in the kitchen, but he didn't have any luck in either room.

He moved to look out the window to check if the Camaro was still parked outside, but the car was gone as well. Growing even more concerned, Steve stepped outside, taking out his phone and dialing Danny's number. The feel of something crunching under his feet made him look down at the same time that Danny's voicemail came over the phone. The sight of Danny's phone on the floor, crunched to pieces explained why.

Steve knew right away that something had gone very wrong with Danny's call, and he would be damned before he let his friend face it alone, so he pressed Chin's speed dial, moving into the house and muttering a short apology to the Governor before he was in his truck and speeding away.

Danny didn't really know where he was going. His first instinct was to drive to Stan's house, break in and take his daughter away, hide her somewhere they couldn't take her, probably Steve would know of a bunker or a deserted island that would do the trick. Unfortunately, he knew that he wouldn't go through with it, and in the end it would do more harm than good.

He also considered the idea of running the Camaro down a cliff, one of those rocky ones, to guarantee the painful demise of the beautiful car and its owner, but, damn him and his conscience, he couldn't bring himself to leave his Monkey to grow up without him. He knew that he would end up following Grace to Vegas, and that even though the judge's decision gave Rachel the power to completely cut off any contact between him and Grace, he would still do his best to keep the place safe for his girl.

He drove away from the city, not taking notice of the time or his surroundings, trying to come to terms with everything he would have to give up, and how his life was going to change.

He needed to think and to breath, and after a while the Camaro started to feel confining, so he looked around, trying to find some place to stop.

He stopped his car by the side of the road, where the trees opened up to show a view of the ocean a few feet down and the rocky cliffs nearby.

He leaned against the hood of his car, looking at the amazing view around him for a few minutes. With a deep breath he dropped his head, giving himself a moment to break, wallow in his misery and generally recount all the reasons his life sucked right then.

He closed his eyes, focusing on the sound of the ocean. The same sound that had haunted his nightmares for so long now had become some strange kind of comfort, one he would grudgingly miss when he followed Grace.

The sound of the ocean was suddenly interrupted by the sound of frightened voices.

"Joey! Be careful!"

"No, Stop!"

"Pull me up! Pull me up!"

Danny looked around and down towards the nearby rocks and found two teenage girls and a boy standing precariously over some rocks, with the waves breaking all around them. The soaked clothes of the boy showed that he had tried to brave the waves, but without too much success. It was clear that the tide was rising, and the waves would pummel them against the rocks if they didn't get out of there soon.

Danny moved back towards the Camaro, checking his pockets to get his phone. That's when he remembered that back at Steve's he'd thrown the phone to the floor and stepped on it repeatedly, so with a shake of his head, he opened the trunk, hoping that his crazy partner had put some of his commando stuff that would help him in this situation.

He found some rope and a first aid kit, but decided against taking the kit. He needed to get the kids off the rocks quickly, so there wouldn't be time to check for injuries.

With the rope over his shoulder, Danny moved towards the cliff, looking around for a place where he could tie the rope, climb down and that was not to steep to climb back up with the kids.

He found a sturdy tree, tied the rope, secured the harness around his hips and started the slow descent towards the kids. His patent leather loafers didn't give him the better purchase, so the death grip he had on the rope was at times the only thing keeping him from tumbling towards the rocky floor.

It took a lot of curses, plenty of scratches to his arms and knees and completely ruined slacks, but finally Danny managed to lower himself to a ledge closer to the rock where the kids were trapped. They had been following his progress and now that he was at arm's reach, figuratively speaking, they were getting overly anxious to get out of there.

He moved closer to their rock and tried to get them to calm down. "Hey guys, I'm Detective Danny Williams, I'm gonna get you out of here, but I need you guys to stay calm, ok?" He said, looking around for a way to reach them.

Unfortunately, the only solution he could find was a crazy move worthy of Spiderman, or at least of his crazy Super SEAL partner. Another look around his surroundings didn't bring any other solution, so he just braced himself for what he would have to do.

First of all, he needed the kids to give him some room to 'land'. "Guys, I need you to move away a bit. Be careful!"

When the kids had moved, Danny took a deep breath, moved a couple of steps back, gripped the rope as tightly as he could and took a running jump towards the nearby rock.

His landing was less than graceful, but other than slipping on his completely inadequate shoes and adding a bruise or two to his already battered arms, he managed just fine. "Hey guys? You wanna get out of here?" He asked the two girls and boy with a smile on his face.

The kids nodded vigorously, trying desperately to keep a hold of their panic. "Yes, please! Get us out of here!" Said the smallest of them, moving to squeeze his arms, trying to make sure he wouldn't disappear on them.

Danny squeezed her hand reassuringly. "Don't worry, that's exactly my plan! Why don't you tell me your names?" He asked them with a friendly smile.

"I'm Kelly…" The smaller girl said. She hadn't let go of Danny's arm and out of the three was the one whose clothes looked less soggy.

"I'm Nat, I'm Kell's sister" Said the other girl. Danny could see the resemblance, and understood that Nat had been trying this whole time to keep Kelly as far away from the water as she could.

"I'm Joe…" Said the young man. The scrapes on his arms and legs and his soaked clothes showed he had tried to brave the waves and hadn't been successful, but he seemed to be keeping it together for now.

Danny looked around and noticed that the waves were breaking even closer to their precarious perch, so he needed to move quickly. His first priority was to get the kids to the ledge where he first landed. It was far better protected from the water and from there he could try to climb back to the car with them. With that plan in mind, he turned to the kids. "Alright, who wants to go first?" He asked with an enthusiastic smile that he really didn't feel.

"She goes first!" Nat said, propelling her little sister towards Danny without any hesitation.

Danny had fully expected it, since it was exactly what he would have done if he and any of his siblings had found themselves in this situation. "Alright Kelly. We're kind of short on gear right now, so I'm going to need you to hang on real tight, ok? We are going to pretend I'm Tarzan and you are Jane, Ok?" He asked, getting panicked look from the younger girl. "Joe will get to play Cheeta, the monkey later…" He said with a smile, finally pulling a smile from the frightened girl. He reached to take Kelly in his arms like he usually took Grace. Although Kelly was a good couple of years older, and therefore much taller which made for an awkward grip on both sides, Kelly's grip seemed secure.

"Alright Kell… On three you hang on real tight, ok? One… two… THREE!" He said, taking his running jump back to his initial perch. The landing was even less graceful than the first one, with Danny taking the brunt of it with his shoulder, but they made it mostly in one piece. It took Danny some effort to convince Kelly to let go of his neck, but the reminder that he had to go back for his sister and their friend made her let go finally.

The second trip was both better and worse than the first one. Better because Danny knew what to expect about both landings, and worse because he was carrying a girl about his own height that while skinny, still weighted much more than he was used to. The speed in which he had to move also made the second landing more uncomfortable for his shoulder and back, but the waves were coming up more swiftly, Joe was running out of time and he hadn't wanted to leave Kelly by herself on the ledge for too long, so he ignored the pain, focusing on getting the job done.

Danny was getting ready for his third trip when a strong pull on the rope made him look up and find the welcome sight of a uniform looking down at them. "Detective Williams, do you need assistance?" The young cop yelled.

Danny would have rolled his eyes, but figured it wouldn't really help in this situation. "Yes! Get the coast guard or firemen down here! We need these girls up there, and I'm going to get Joe over there off that rock!" He wondered how the cop knew his name, and what was he doing here, but didn't have time to dwell on it, because by now Joe was hanging on for dear life and needed help now.

Danny made his jump, but not before a large wave swept Joe off his feet and into the water. He didn't have any time to formulate a plan, so he just took off his harness and jumped into the water behind the sinking boy.

Danny expected to have trouble moving in the churning waters, but he never expected to find out in real life how it felt to be inside a blender. By some miracle he managed to get thrown against something that felt more like a human being than like the hard rock around him, so he twisted himself around and latched to the unmoving body with all his strength.

He really needed to come up for air at that point, but he knew it wouldn't be as simple as swimming upwards, so he tried to time his movement with a retreating wave. He broke the surface with a breathless cough and was relieved to hear Joe coughing weakly next to him, but Danny knew they weren't out of danger yet.

He looked around, trying to find some place where the waves broke more gently, but he could only see a nearby ledge that, if he timed their exit right, would see them coming out of the water without too many bruises.

Joe was too limp in Danny's arms to be of any help, but Danny was thankful that he could feel on his arm the soft puffs of air coming from the teen.

He waited for the right time and started using his free arm and his legs to move himself towards the nearby rocks. He was kicking with all that he got, but unfortunately it wasn't enough as a large wave broke over his head, pulling him and Joe under. He barely managed to resurface when another wave came, throwing them against the unforgiving rocks. The cycle repeated at least three more times (Danny had lost count by now) when he finally managed to take a weak hold of the rocks in front of him. It only lasted until the next wave came and made them go under again.

Danny never heard the sound of a body jumping into the water or the two people moving swiftly through the rocks towards his position.

He had finally managed to get a good hold on the rock and was trying to figure out how the hell was he going to get Joe out of the water when a pair of strong arms wrapped firmly around his body, anchoring him safely to the rocks. "Easy Danno, I've got you." Said a familiar voice.

Danny didn't even have time to be relieved before two pairs of hands pulled Joe away from him and into safety. He would have looked up to see who the hands belonged to, but he had barely enough energy left to keep himself afloat, and in any case he had a suspicion that the hands belonged to the rest of his team.

His suspicions were proven right when the same hands pulled him out of the water and sat him on the hard rocky floor. He started coughing up half of the ocean out of his lungs, feeling like his whole body was one big painful bruise. He felt as limp as a rag doll and would have slipped to lay on the rocky ground if it wasn't for a strong body holding him in place. "'teve?" He asked, instinctively knowing the owner of the cargo pants he could see beside him.

"Yeah Danno, I've got you… Just save your breath, ok? We're getting you guys out of here pretty soon…" Steve said in a gentle voice.

Danny frowned, coughing a couple of times and remembering the other two girls still stranded by the cliff wall. "The girls… Kelly and Nat… They… they are alone…" He said between coughs, trying to lift his head and look for them.

Steve patted Danny's back softly. "Kono is going back to them right now Danno… They're alright, thanks to you. HFD is on the way to get them out of here, and we called in a chopper to get you and the kid out of here, ok?"

Danny nodded tiredly against Steve's chest. "His name's Joe… 's he aright?" He asked softly.

"He's a bit battered and waterlogged, just like you, but he's conscious and coherent… You did good buddy…" Steve said, patting Danny's back again.

Ok, everyone was safe, so Danny could finally relax. There was just one more thing he needed to know, to make sure. "Grace?" He asked, blinking slowly.

He could feel Steve tensing at his side. "She's at home with Rachel Danno… You didn't pick her up on your way here, did you?" He asked in a far too calm voice.

Danny opened his eyes and thought about it for a while. He knew he wasn't with Grace when he got here, but something had happened with his little girl. The memory of it sapped the last of his strength. "No… Tha's not it… I lost her, didn't I?... She's leaving… I lost her…" He muttered sadly before he finally closed his eyes.

"No Danno… We'll fix it… You'll never lose her…" Danny didn't hear Steve's heartfelt declaration or feel his partner's arms tightening around him, trying somehow to protect him from his painful reality.

TBC…

A/N: Well, I'm not sure if this qualifies me to be part of the DWOCD, but if there's some place to apply, consider this my application. This story shouldn't be too long, specially since it was supposed to be a oneshot in my head, but I'll try to update regularly.

I'd really love to hear what you guys think, so feel free to drop a line!

See you around!