A/N: thank you for reading my story! please don't forget to review!
Steve's been in the hospital three days, and Danny is ready to snap. It's been three days of watching and waiting, hoping and praying, and nothing has changed. Steve remains dead to the world, ventilator breathing the breaths he can't.
As for their investigation, there are no suspects, no leads. No one knows why Steve was walking through a bad neighborhood late at night, and no one knows why he was jumped. His wallet, keys, and phone were all still on him upon being discovered, and his house was left undisturbed. The not knowing is what's driving Danny crazy.
Finally, he loses that last bit of patience, and decides to take action. Steve isn't going anywhere, and there's unlikely to be any improvement soon, so Danny feels comfortable leaving. Internally, he promises to shake every tree, rustle every bush, until someone can produce a name. The name of the person who did this, who left half of Danny's entire world confined to a hospital bed.
Getting in the driver's side of the Camaro feels incredibly wrong, and he wishes like hell he were getting in the passenger's seat. Tears start to form behind his eyes, but he shoves them away, focusing intently on his self-imposed task. There will be time for tears later.
Xxxx
Hours later, and his search has produced nothing. None of his usual street contacts can give him any crumb of information, and the prison contacts come up short as well. Whoever did this has kept suspiciously quiet about it, which is unusual. Criminals are a prideful bunch, and getting one over on a cop-badly enough to put him in a coma-is no small achievement.
He drives to their spot, the one overlooking the ocean, where they could relish in just being together. It feels wrong to be sitting there alone, but that's been par for the course over the past three days. Steve is so firmly embedded in his life these days, that doing almost anything alone feels wrong and lonely. The tears that were pushed aside earlier have returned in full force, and he breaks down, sobbing over the possibility that he might be alone now, forever alone.
Steve is really one of the only people who's ever gotten him, who's ever understood. Steve sees true meaning behind the angry speeches, sees the pain and the anguish Danny tries so hard to conceal. He's the only one not afraid to call Danny on his shit, to make Danny see he's acting like a jackass and needs to stop. Not even Rachel could reach him like that, even at their best as a couple.
The tears are subsiding when his phone rings. He blindly answers it.
"Detective Daniel Williams speaking."
"Danny, it's Krush. I got some information I heard you might be interested in."
"About what, exactly?"
"About who jumped McGarrett the other night. Heard that a guy named Sander was the one behind it."
"Why would he be behind it?"
"Shit, I don't know. That's your job to figure it out. Now, since I've given you your information, what do I get in return?"
"If you can get me a legitimate address for this guy, I'll give you $100."
Xxxx
The next day, Danny and a team, consisting of Chin, Kono, and officers from HPD, pulls up to Sander's last known address. Emotions are high, because this time it was personal. This time, one of their own was in the hospital, and they weren't sure he'd make it. Danny, already high-strung, is walking on a thin wire emotionally, liable to fall off and crash at any time.
They raid the place, finding Sander in a back bedroom, a little...occupied. Danny feels no remorse at all about yanking Sander into a chair, and then handcuffing him there. Neither would leave the room until Danny had every single answer he came for.
"Why did you jump Steve McGarret?"
"I don't even know who that is!"
"Shut. Up. Do not try to play games with me today. I know it was you, I just wanna know why."
"Man, I'm telling you, I don't even know who that is!"
Danny glances over at Chin, who is standing by the door, making sure the interrogation is kept private. He jerks his head to indicate Chin can leave, but Chin remains firmly rooted right where he is.
"Chin, go," Danny orders.
"No can do, Danny. You're not in a good place emotionally right now, and leaving you alone with the suspect would be akin to watching you commit career suicide. And I'm not gonna do that."
"Chin, I'm serious, leave."
"You're just gonna have to make me."
They glare at each other, locked in a silent standoff, before Danny finally relents. And as it ends up turning out, Chin isn't so opposed to using...alternative methods to get their suspect to confess. He does confess, after about a half an hour of intense persuasion.
As it turns out, there was no real motive, just the fact that Sander was bored and McGarret wasn't on his guard. By sundown, he's sitting in lockup, charged with attempted murder of a cop. And damn does it feel good to slam the door to that jail cell shut.
Xxxx
The next day, there's still no improvement. The doctors are beginning to mention long-term care, but Danny refuses to even consider those options. He can't see any other outcome besides Steve waking up. Steve has to.
A week later, Steve still remains oblivious to the world. Danny slips into his hospital room at midnight, sits in the chair by the bed. He takes Steve's hand, rubbing his thumb gently over the top of it.
"You gotta wake up, buddy. If not for you, than for me. I can't deal with you not being here, ask anyone, I'm a wreck. The Camaro don't even feel right anymore without you in it. So c'mon buddy, please wake up, please open your eyes. Please."
A minute passes, with no response.
Another minute passes.
And then another.
Then, pale eyelids begin to flutter, and eventually reveal a pair of green eyes.