Boat Trouble and Dangerous Waters
"Morning, Danno." Steve greeted him after Danny opened the front door. "Hey, Steve." Danny closed the door after Steve came in. He was surprised by Charlie who came running around the corner.
"Uncle Steve." He exclaimed, obviously happy to see him. Steve smiled when he saw the young boy runnning toward him. Steve put his arms out, kneeling down to embrace him. "Charlie, it's so great to see you." Steve told him. "You sleep well?" He asked. Charlie nodded quickly. "Look, Uncle Steve, I painted this." Charlie tugged at his hand, and Steve followed him into the kitchen. The kitchen that was a mess, crayons laying around. In the middle was Charlie's master piece.
"This is awesome. I think Danno would love for that to cover his fridge. Right, Danny?" He added.
Danny who had followed them, smiled.
"Sure, let me make some space on the fridge." After some rearranging of the fridge's decoration, Charlie's picture has found its place. "See, Charlie? Your drawing fits there perfectly. Well done, buddy." Steve told him. In return, Charlie gave him one of his gorgeous smiles. He was truly Danny's kid. "Charlie?" Danny tried to get his attention. "Let's go upstairs so you can brush your teeth, will you?" Danny knew he had to get going.
"I'll be right back." Danny told him as he and his son disappeared.
Steve sat down on one of the kitchen stairs, waiting. After another few minutes, even Grace came down the stairs. "Good morning, Gracie." Steve addressed Danny's teenage daughter. "Uncle Steve, it's so great to see you." She said as she saw him in their kitchen. Then she remembered that he was probably here because of the fishing trip he and Danny had planned for some time. "You too, Grace. It's been a while since I've seen you." He said. Grace nodded in agreement. The last few weeks had been crazy with exams and stuff. "I had a lot school stuff to deal with, sadly. I had to study." Grace explained, sitting down next to her Uncle Steve after grabbing an apple to eat.
"You had exams, huh? Doesn't really sound like fun." Grace shook her head, laughing.
"Trust me, it's definitely not fun. I can think of a lot of things that I'd rather do than having to write exams." She added, sighing. "But I guess that's school now." Steve nodded. "Better just get it over with and study. I mean I didn't like exams either when I was your age. I mean who does?" Steve said. "No one." They chorused.
Then they waited in silence for Charlie and Danny to return.
"And I wanted to ask you something." Grace stopped for a second. Steve waited for her to continue. "Out with it, Gracie." Steve gently said as he saw that the girl was somewhat unsure.
"There is this beach I want to go to. On Kauai. Tunnels Beach." Grace began. Steve's eyes lit up when he realized what beach she was talking about. "I know that one, it's awesome. Great for diving." Steve retorted. His dad had brought him and Mary to that beach when they were younger. Steve had loved it there, mainly because it was awesome for diving which he learned when he was nine.
"So I was wondering if you could take me, I would love to spend a day with you and Danno." Grace ended, her hopeful eyes looking right at Steve and he just could not say no.
"Let me talk to your dad, seeing what he says about it." Steve told her with a goofy grin.
"But I do like the the idea. Maybe we rent a chopper and fly along the coast, the Na Pali Coast is beautiful, by the way." Grace's eyes lit up at the prospect. "Danno has to say yes." She said, totally enthusiastic about the whole thing. "Well, Danny has a very particular opinion about me and helicopters." Steve said. "So I can't say yes until after I talk to Danny about this." Grace glanced at him for a second.
"You know Danno trusts you." She simply stated. "Trusts you with his life, with ours. You know that, right?"
Steve stared at her, caught by surprise.
"Danny talked to you about this?" Steve questioned quietly, his eyes glistening.
Grace shook her head. "That's obvious, Uncle Steve. From the way you're acting when you're together... You're his best friend." Grace said as if it was the most normal thing. Steve didn't know what to reply. Luckily, Danny and Charlie returned and saved him from having to answer. Although, Grace didn't expect an answer.
Didn't need one.
"So you and Danno are going fishing today." Grace wanted to know, with that beauttiful smile of hers. As soon as she heard Danny coming back, she switched topics, not wanting her father to know what she had told Steve.
Steve nodded, a grin on his face.
"Yeah, that's the plan for today." Steve answered. "Sounds like fun. Hope you both catch some fish." Grace said. "Well, even if we don't, we still have the beer." A boyish grin on his face causing Grace to break out into laughing. "Right." She murmured. "We're at mom's place today. Not sure what I want to do." She then said. Danny stuck his head through the door. "Grace, we want to depart in ten minutes, okay, monkey?" He then said.
Steve looked at his friend, found himself thinking that Danny was a great father and how well both his children were. Grace had turned into a very special, great girl. Grace nodded and stood up. After she left the room, Steve's eyes locked onto Danny and smiled. "You ready, Danny?" He then turned to ask Danny. "You're asking me if I am ready to catch some fish? Hell yeah." Danny countered with a smile. "That's the right attitude. I'm glad we're doing this, Danny." Steve said.
"Me too." Danny turned to look what his children were doing.
Charlie was still upstairs doing something. Grace was watching them, amused by what she was seeing. The two men hadn't even realized that she had returned, ready to go. She was glad her father found in Steve a best friend, someone they could absolutely trust. "So, you guys ready?" Steve asked. "Yeah." Grace grabbed her bag and waited outside. Danny walked back upstairs to get Charlie. Five minutes later, the four of them were on their way to drop Charlie and Grace off at Rachel's place.
After having dropped off Gracie and Charlie, Steve started the car again. He was looking forward to spending time with Danny alone. Fishing. Nothing but them and the ocean.
His face clearly expressed happiness, that he was looking forward to this trip.
"You thinking about the water, buddy?" Danny asked. Steve simply nodded. "This trip has been coming for a long time." He then added. "I'm not going to ask if you checked the weather report." Danny let the implied question unfinished. Steve looked at him shortly, then refocued his attention on the road.
"Would you please just relax?" Steve replied.
"I will." Danny mumbled.
"We'll be in Hale'iwa shortly." Steve said. "Huh?" Danny's attention returned to the here and now. He'd been looking out of the window, amazed the nature of O'ahu. Something Danny did not think would ever be the case when he first came here. But things had changed now. He had 'ohana here, his children, Steve, Five- 0.
Right now, Danny's life was pretty damn amazing.
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Steve McGarrett smiled as he saw Danny heading toward the pier where their boat was docked. They were now at Hale'iwa Harbor where the boat they rented for the day is docked. He'd filled out the neccesary papers and paid for the boat. Danny and he had the boat for the whole day. Enough time to do some decent fishing. He glanced at the beautiful North Shore coastline as he waited for Danny to return.
"Danny, where are you?" Steve said to himself as he started pacing around.
He'd been waiting for Danny to come back from the store. Apparently, Danny needed to pack some food so they had things to do a little picnic on the boat. "What was taking so long?" Steve asked as he saw his partner approach.
"I went to buy food and water so that we don't starve at sea. Healthy foods, but you know what healthy foods are. And you forget that I still had to park the Camaro." Danny patiently reminded him.
Steve gazed at him.
"I got two packs of MREs. We wouldn't have starved." Steve added with a shrug. Waves were splashing against the pontoon. The sail boats and yachts were moved softly by the waves plashing against them. "I don't even know what that is. And no, don't tell me, I don't wanna know." Danny instantly said.
"It just means 'meals, ready to eat', Danny." Steve defended the food he packed into his bag. "Uhuh." Danny still wasn't sure if he would want to eat it.
"You sound like you are accustomed to that kind of food." Danny mused.
Steve shot him a pointed look. "I am used to it." By now, Danny had figured that much.
"So it's something..."
"Yes, it's military food. And if you are so concerned about food, why don't we go to one of those nice restaurants they have in Hale'iwa? I might even take my wallet out of my pocket and pay." Steve countered as both him and Danny walked over to the boat Steve had rented for them. The owner had insisted they take this boat, for whatever reason. It was a nice boat, the Ocean Molokini'i.
"How generous of you." Danny teased.
Steve just grinned at him, knowing what his best friend meant. To be fair, it was kinda true. "Look, that's our boat." With that, Steve jumped on deck. Danny followed him at a slower pace. Danny shot him a look, then glanced back at the numerous sail boats docked at Hale'iwa Harbor. He was glad he had a day off, sadly, the children are with Rachel today. But that means he gets to spend the day with Steve who has planned a nice little fishing expedition.
After fifteen minutes making sure everything was in its working order, Steve's and Danny's boat made its way through the water, leaving the marina of Hale'iwa.
Steve was steering the boat in a northward direction, heading toward open waters.
"Remind me again of why we are doing this, Steven?" Danny wanted know, his rhetorical and sarcastic remark underlined by an exasperated hand gesture. Steve simply grinned at him. "Because this is fun, Danny. We going deep- sea fishing. And you like to fish. And it won't be like last time." Steve asssured him.
"Knowing you it will probably be a lot worse than last time." Danny gave back. The sun was shining.
It was the perfect weather to go fishing.
"Last time wasn't that bad, Danny. Come on, it could have been worse." Steve replied pragmatically.
Danny let out a laugh, pressed his eyes shut in the next moment as the sun shone at him directly.
Wind shuffled through his hair. "It sure could have been. But let's just focus on enjoying this." Danny replied. Steve, happy, that there was no sarcastic remark coming from his best friend. Soon, they had reached their favourite fishing spot. It was just them, there was no one around for miles. Danny and Steve threw out their fishing rods and waited for the fish to take the bait.
"Maybe we'll get a big tuny fish. Like last time." Steve suddenly said.
"Let's just sit and enjoy this." Danny said, without looking at him. "You're right." Steve agreed and sat down next to Danny. The sky was blue, waves were ploshing against their boat, the Ocean Molokina.
They had no idea what was about to hit them.
No idea at all.
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"I don't know why I agreed to this." Danny grumbled to himself as he watched Steve looking at the control panels of the boat. "Would you relax, please?" Steve turned around and looked at Danny. Danny had no idea when their relaxing fishing trip had turned into this. And he did not like that at all. It was worrying, very worrying to be exact.
"I got this." Steve said, focused on the task at hand, repairing the broken machinery.
"Ah, I see. Is that why this boat is not moving? Because you got it?"
Danny remembered clearly what happened last time they were out fishing. They ended up being stranded at sea and with their luck they found a boat on which someone was murdered. As the Coast Guard arrived, they were the suspects until their team verified their identities.
"I'm fixing the problem." Steve replied, with a straight face.
"Really?" Danny said, faking to be surprised. "Here I thought you were just doing that for fun. Hey, when are you actually admitting that this, whatever it is is irreversibly broken?" Danny wanted to know as he sat back down onto the camping chair on the deck. Steve's head appeared from below the deck.
"You may not be able to do this but I am, if someone is able to fix this boat and get it moving again, it would be me." Steve said, clearly not giving up. "Oh, again, with the SEAL thing, Steve? The thing where you do something stupid, badass kind of thing." Danny ranted. For a moment, he totally forgot that they were on open waters, that they could barely make out the shore of O'ahu.
Their boat not working properly was beaucop bad news.
"Of course, Danno. Because you like it so much."
Steve smiled at the detective.
"It always gets me shot at, Steve. I don't like it. In fact, I despise it." Danny countered.
He stared out onto the ocean. It got a little windier and water started to splash more. Also, the sky got darker. "You're not going to get shot at, Danny." Steve said patiently as he disappeared below deck, trying to repair whatever is broken. Danny sighed. It was clear they would run into trouble on this fishing trip.
He remembered losely that he said something along the lines of 'Never got deep- sea fishing with a Navy SEAL, or more never go deep- sea fishing with Steve.' Because Steve McGarrett is a trouble magnet as trouble follows him wherever he goes, including the troubles that follow him out to sea. Like right now, he can't get the boat to start and they're essentially stuck in the middle of the damn Pacific Ocean. A giant water- filled abyss, with sharks, strong currents, riptides and underwater currents. All those things that can kill you.
"Danny?" Steve questioned, looking at him. "Uh, yes?" Danny said, kind of surprised. "I didn't hear you."
"That I realized." Steve grinned at him.
"Why are you grinning?" Danny said slowly as he took in Steve's face expression. "You fix the motor so that we can get outta here?" Danny said hopeful. "Sorry to disappoint you, Danno, but we are still stranded and it looks like it is not going to change any time soon. So make yourself comfortable."
Danny shook his head.
"You are unbelievable, you know that, right?"
Steve just laughed and grabbed a water bottle. "Here, drink up, Danny."
"Why, I am not thirsty." Danny protested.
"Well, eventually you'll get thirsty and who knows for how long we are stuck here. If nobody comes, I might try and reach the shore myself." Steve suggested. "You are out of my mind, Steve. These are dangerous waters, Steve. You can't just go for a swim, it's dangerous. There are sharks and riptides. You can get caught in a riptide. I don't want to find your body along the shoreline just because you decided it would be fucking good idea to swim ashore." Danny ranted. Steve listened and quickly connected the dots.
"This about Billy Selway, right?" He asked.
Danny nodded. "About him and you."
"But we both had the same thing in mind. Saving you." Steve argued. "Only difference is that Billy was just a kid and I am a trained Navy SEAL." Steve added. "If that is the only thing that is an option, I am gonna do it, Danny. You can try and stop me but I am not about to let you, to let anything happen to you."
Danny shook his head. "This is certifiably crazy, Steve. For now, we'll wait. Maybe the Coast Guard will stumble upon us." Steve let out a short laugh. "Because that went so well last time." He muttered under his breath, an image of him and Danny hand- cuffed to middle of the boat after their last fishing expedition.
"Last time, we ended up on a very small boat on the ocean, Steve. It didn't go over well at all."
"It was a dinghy, Danny." Steve said, with a serious expression.
"Whatever, Steve, nobody cares about usibg the correct terminology except you, for some reason." Danny didn't understand why Steve was so interested in using correct terms to describe a freaking boat.
"Using concise language is important, Danny. Not doing that can result in disaster, especially in the line of work we work in." Steve countered. "You do have a point there." Danny admitted. "However, how that boat is called is not important in a shootout, for example." Danny pointed out, he glanced at the sky again. The blue sky was starting to disappear, clouds were forming. Danny sighed. Of course, the one time he was out on the water with Steve, they'd get caught in a freaking tropical storm with big waves, strong winds and a lot of rain.
They were in for an uncomfortable night.
"Look at the sky, Steve?" Danny pointed toward the darkening sky, as it started to rain. Steve's face expression darkened instantaneously as he risked quick glance at the darkening, cloudy sky.
First it was just a few drops of water, then it got worse.
"We got trouble heading our way, Danny. This is probably going to be a storm like the one Kono was stuck in, remember." Steve sighed as he glanced at the now cloudy sky. "The weather conditions are worsening, Danny. We gotta get out of here." Steve expressed. His spidey senses told him there was trouble waiting for them.
"How do you suppose we do that, huh?!" Danny questioned.
Steve shrugged.
"Don't know yet. If I have a plan, you'll be the first to know."
"This is just awesome." Danny muttered to himself. "Just awesome. Why do I even bother? Every time we went fishing something went wrong. That should tell you something." Danny ranted. "It can't be that bad if you are still able to rant like that. Honestly, Danny, I've never met someone who is that good at ranting. Except you."
"Should that be a compliment?" Danny asked back, eyeing the Navy SEAL.
"I'll leave that for you to decide."
There was a storm brewing when Steve and Danny hit a patch of wild weather during their fishing trip. They'd made half way back to shore when everything happened, where everything went wrong. Their motor stuttered and then just crashed, Steve couldn't get it to work. Also, to make matters worse all means of communication were failed miserably. "We have no radio, it died." Steve stated blankly as he discovered that the radio also did not work.
Danny did not seem like he has heard him. Steve is kind of glad about that as he doesn't want to alarm him if it is not crucial to their outcome. Steve sighed. This situation really does suck horribly. But this situation was easier manageable compared to what was to come.
Out of a sudden, Steve something wet at his feet.
He looked down. There was water in their boat and to make matters worse, the ocean water was steadily rising, centimeter for centimeter. "Danny?"
Steve wanted to get his partner's attention.
"Yes, Steven, what's wrong?" Steve swallowed harshly and then pointed at the boat's floor. As Danny realized what was happening to their boat, he let out a shocked 'oh', Steve nodded in agreement. "So we kind of got a real problem here, do we?"
"Yep."
Steve looked around around. Danny sighed before saying: "I'll radio it in, Steve. That is something we should have done a long time ago."
"You forgot, Danno, that the radio is malfunctioning. It's not working. Everything here on this boat is freaking screwed up." Steve informed him with a sigh.
"You are just mentioning that right now?" Danny exclaimed wildly.
"I didn't want to worry you without a good reason." Steve shot a worried look at the graying sky and then back to Danny. The weather was changing before their very eyes. And their boat was filling with water. Slowly but surely water was rising. And that meant their boat was unstable and more than likely sinking. Before someone finding them. Crap. This is not good, at all.
"You gotta be fucking kidding me, Steve." Danny threw his arms in the air, yelling.
"It's not like this mess is all my fault." Steve gave back in defense. But he felt a tiny bit guilty because this whole trip had been his idea. He should have gone fishing alone, Steve berated himself. If he was honest, he was to blame for their current situation. At sea. If he had, Danny would have been safe on dry land.
With Grace and Charlie.
But Steve had never dreamed that they would be stranded in open water once again. "I am sorry, Danny." Steve let out a deep breath.
Danny stared at him, confused as to why his best friend was apologizing.
"Why are you apologizing?" Danny wanted to know, knowing there was some sort of deeper issue below the surface. "Surely sounds a bit like self- blame and self- doubt, both emotions mostly unknown in the land of Steven J. McGarrett." He concluded, not knowing that this assessment came pretty close.
"If I'd have gone fishing alone, I would not have dragged you into this mess, Danny." Steve said.
Danny shook his head resolutely.
"You're not to blame for this, Steve. This is just a normal Danny rant." Danny assured him. "Let's figure a way out of this." Steve took a deep breath, calming down a bit. He was supposed to know what to do. He was in charge, it was on him to bring the both of them home safe. Especially Danny. "You are right, Danny, and I am sorry." Steve came to senses after his phase of freaking out.
"Okay, we can figure this out." Again, Steve's calm, collected nature came out. He started looking around for things that might help them.
The color of the sky changed.
It got really dark when Danny looked up. Water splashed against their boat.
It started to rain, heavy rain drops were falling from the sky.
There was a lot of rain coming down. Steve and Danny tried to secure the boat. The storm made it really difficult to react on time as the conditions worsened. The rain got stronger as did the wind velocity. Steve should have paid attention to the weather forecast that was on this morning. He should have, that he told himself for a moment. And now, because he failed to listen to the stupid weather forecast, he and Danny were stuck. Not only him but also Danny. Steve blamed himself for that.
He should have checked before taking off with the boat.
Although if the boat had not stopped working they'd be back in Hale'iwa by now. Hopefully, someone had noticed their absence and informed the authorities.
"Steve, what's wrong?"
Danny wanted to know as he took in the lost and helpless look plastering the SEAL's face. "Apart from our current situation, I mean." Danny added.
"I know something is going on in that head of yours."
Steve threw a glance at the sky. He was now officially worried. "I should have checked the weather forecast, Danno. I forgot." He explained, guilt evident on his face.
"Well, we can't change that right now." Danny said diplomatically.
"I put you in danger. I am sorry." Steve knew they had bigger things to worry about, but he had to let his partner and best friend know that he didn't mean to put him in harm's way. Stupid weather. "Steve, just forget about it, okay? It's not relevant right now. We've got bigger fish to fry, figuratively speaking. Also, I could have checked it myself. Not everything is on you, babe." Danny answered.
Soon, Steve had to admit Danno was right and that doing this not helped them one bit.
The boat was getting increasingly unsafe.
The water seemed like it was out to get them. Normally, Steve didn't fear the ocean. He had great respect for it but fear? He'd been trained to withstand, to handle himself in unforgiving environments. But right now, he was scared, for Danno, mostly but also for himself.
But right now he was scared that this wouldn't end very well for them.
How is it possible that a nice day of relaxing fishing goes from a great, sunny and relaxing day on the water to a day like this where the water was dark and wild, when there are waves that are one to two meters. How come that a fishing trip ends in a fight for their lives?
Steve couldn't believe it.
This wasn't fair.
All he wanted to do was spend a day with Danno fishing. Now they were stranded in the middle of the freaking ocean.
Steve can't even make out the horizon which, if he was honest, scared him a little bit. Then a huge wave crashed into their boat, a wave that was higher and stronger than the ones before. This one had the ability to overturn their boat. Their boat rolled to one side, Danny vaguely heard Steve scream his name as Danny fell into the ocean. Steve fell as well but he jumped as he realized the boat was being overturned.
His fast reaction made it possible for him to escape without any visible injuries that might have repercussions.
Water was enveloping him.
Danny instantly held his breath, knowing that breathing in now would for sure drown him, thereby killing him. As the boat overturned it trapped Danny. He was missing the skills Steve had and couldn't hold his breath as long as the SEAL. Danny held his breath as long as he could.
His lungs were burning from the prolonged breath holding.
If Steve wanted to save him in time he would have to hurry. It was harder to keep the urge to breathe at bay. He tried to free himself from whatever was trapping him but his movements were uncoordinated, and to add to that Danny was growing tired.
"DANNY?" Steve screamed for his partner as he surfaced after jumping into the Pacific ocean. He was scared. Scared for Danny. He hoped Danny would come up to the surface again. But nothing happened. Steve knew he had to get to Danny, to make sure he is safe.
So he dove into the water after taking a breath.
Intending to save his best friend from an untimely death due to drowning.
He had his mind set on saving Danny and nothing would keep him from doing that. Danny was not going to die today. Not on Steve's watch. He'd do everything to not let that happen.
