No time as the present

Never thought it would get so far as I started it, probably it was supposed to be below 1k words, just a small talk, but it's always like that with my muse. So, I hope you'll enjoy this post ep fic.

Tell me what you think.

Steve was beyond furious. He was mad. Angry. Blood boiling to the point of burning him on the inside. He lashed out at the dashboard in front of him, hitting the steering wheel few times for a good measure.

Many times Steve asked himself if he took on some of Danny's traits after the liver transplant. Because Danny was the one that lashed out at inanimate objects when he felt like Steve felt now. The wall in his office, the Camaro, the wall in his kitchen... it all ended up with split skin and bruised knuckles, with no lessening of the turmoil inside.

Steve was running on adrenaline. Just half an hour ago they found the picture where it said "He deserved to die". Who wanted Danny dead? Who would go at great lengths to attack his partner, in a place where they all felt safe? The most important question of all was, how did the guy know that they were in quarantine and where exactly in the hospital they were living for the last few days?

Those were just some of the questions that occupied Steve's mind as he drove towards the hospital to see Danny. Grover almost shoved him in the Silverado and said "Go to your boy", before he and Tani met HPD officers to process the scene and collect evidence in case there was something more to the puzzle that was the last couple of days.

Steve was still not over the fact that he had to cut Danny open and to stick a finger inside him to stop the air from bubbling inside his punctured lung (he'd prefer another use of the finger if he was being honest, not that it was the time to think of THAT, Steven!). It was the first time he ever did that. And if Steve had any say to whoever found themselves in a similar situation as him (God forbid!) - it's not that easy when you do it, as it looks in practice.

Steve parked the Silverado at the hospital lot and rode the elevator to the floor where Danny's room was.

He had to stop at the door, because a beautiful sight met him when he laid eyes on Danny. Well beautiful was maybe a bit overreacting, considering what just transpired not 48 hours ago, but in a way, it was just what Steve needed. Beauty was relative, after all, and nothing to do with what you had inside.

It was evident Danny was exhausted, the fatigue showing on his face, nose twitching from time to time, the bags under his eyes that shadowed his handsome features (really, Steven, you sap?) and the constant drooping of his eyes... like now.

Steve knew Danny must want to sleep into next year, but he was desperately trying to stay awake. Steve smiled at the resilience with which he was met, Danny was the most stubborn man he knew in his entire life.

"You stare too loud." Came the quiet and rough voice from the direction of the bed.

Steve shaked out of his catatonic-like state and smiled at Danny.

"Learned that from the best."

It was Danny's turn to smile. His eyes were half-lidded, but still he waited for Steve to come and sit with him.

Danny liked the attention he got, evidently, and the love that came with it, but he started feeling a little claustrophobic with everyone in his room, making jokes, trying to get his mind off overanalyzing everything that's happened. But, he never complained when Steve was around. Because Steve's presence was like a life-line. Yet, he found his partner less and less in his presence. Which bothered Danny to no end.

He could tell Steve was tightly wound up like a guitar string and was about to snap in two soon.

"Hey, babe. I'm glad you are back."

"Me, too. Wouldn't be anywhere else right now."

"Something's up, Steve?"

"No, Danny, nothing's up. I'm just tired, is all. Now that I know you are good, I think the exhaustion is catching up with me."

Danny made a dramatic move to the nightstand to get his phone and put it in front of Steve's mouth.

"Can I have that in recording?"

Steve raised a brow in question.

"I mean big badass SEAL McGarrett admitting he is exhausted... That's big. One would think he wouldn't say anything for the sake of it."

Steve laughed, and it was the first honest laugh that came out of him in a very long time.

"You are really a funny guy, Williams."

"So, I've been told."

Steve didn't elaborate further and Danny sagged even more into the bed.

"You know, Steve, I know that the thing with not washing your hands has bothered you... I just wanted to tell you that it's okay with me. Fuck germs, cooties, and bacteria. You saved my life. And that is something that I'll be forever grateful for. I just suck at expressing it sometimes."

"It's nothing Danny. You would have done the same."

"Nah, I'd probably be screaming and panicking and you would have died by that point. So thank you."

Steve squeezed Danny's shoulder and smiled at his partner.

"You are very welcome, Danno. Always and forever."

"Is that a promise you'll grow old with me, Steve?"

"Yes, that's a promise that I'll grow old with you, Danny."

"Good. Gotta make good on that promise. I want my dream to come true."

"What dream?"

Danny bit his lip at Steve's question and caved, turning his head towards the wall so Steve could not see what was happening inside him.

"Something wrong?"

"Nah, babe. It's all good."

"You... What happened to you while we were...? While you were shot and I tried to keep you alive long enough for..."

"I... Nothing happened."

"You kept mentioning Gracie and Charlie. You said you have to call them. Then babbling about the restaurant and how cute I was while you fed me the cook's newest recipe." Danny grinned at that one. "Then you mentioned a wedding and a graduation."

Danny sighed and looked at Steve, again.

"I dreamed of my future. Our future to be exact."

Steve settled further on the bed and put his hand on Danny's knee. "I'm all ears."

Danny proceeded to tell Steve all about his dreams/hallucinations, he wasn't even sure what they were anymore. And Steve listened, like he never did before, his supporting presence overwhelming.

"Okay, now you can laugh and mock me all you want." Danny finished, averting his gaze once again.

But, when he felt warmth on top of his hand he turned around and looked at where exactly Steve had put his hand. It was all levels of heart-warming and Danny felt the tears before they slipped down his cheeks, while he was simultaneously grinning. He must've been a real mess that he could display such contradicting emotions at the same time.

"Hey, hey, I'm not gonna laugh nor mock you, Danny. It's not like you are the first one that felt like that and saw things so... Just don't give yourself that heartache. Okay, buddy?" Steve gently caressed Danny's cheek in attempt to wipe the tears away.

It felt soothing and the ache in Danny's heart deepened by the seemingly innocent gesture.

"What do you mean?" Danny's grin died, but the tears continued to fall occasionally.

"When Wo Fat kidnapped and tortured me years ago, our last encounter. I... I had a similar experience. I dreamed of a slightly different reality to the one we have lived so far."

It was Steve's turn to tell Danny all about it.

Danny was shocked when Steve finished. The tears have stopped halfway through the story, but they were about to fall again. Because Steve never told him about it, never even came close to opening about what Wo Fat's torture did to him. It was like pulling teeth, because he barely confided the details about Doris' involvement in Wo Fat's life to Danny, or to anyone else for that matter.

So, it really came as a surprise when Steve shared the other details. The ones that froze Danny in place.

Danny was hit hard by it. Because with it came a realization. While Danny imagined his life to be full of Steve, everywhere around him, Steve's life was full of thoughts that didn't involve Danny, at all, not until they met (and if Danny was honest with himself, Steve sounded a little bit dejected when he was telling Danny that. It seemed like Steve wanted to stay by Danny's side, but he had to reluctantly go back to his former life).

It was different, Danny was not trying to compare both situations, not by a long shot, but at the same time, they were similar, because they both dreamed of things that could possibly happen, if there was such thing as alternative reality that existed out there.

It was Danny's turn to reach for Steve's hand that was still on top of Danny's and squeeze gently.

"I love you." Danny blurted, all of a sudden.

Steve stared at him because the exclamation of the three words came unexpectedly, and totally off topic to what they were talking about. But, at the same time, Steve was trying to think of when was the last thing Danny said that to him.

Danny was thinking about the same thing. Because he made sure his deeds and acts told Steve about the love he felt, but saying the words… It's been a long time since he has said them. Well, he said them now, so no turning back.

"If there's something I realized in the last few days is that all we have is now, babe. I know that you are probably wondering where I came up with all of this, and that I'm probably hit in the head. Well, I probably am hit in the head, because it took me a long time to realize this, but I just had this thought that I don't say it enough, but that doesn't mean I don't meat it. I love you Steve. Very much. I want you to know this."

"I love you, too, Danny. What's the problem?"

"There's no problem at all, Steve, don't you see that? It's just that… I fucking got scared."

"Scared of what?"

"That I'll ruin whatever we have between us, because if I acted on my feelings before all of this happened I would ruin the best thing I ever got to have in my life. Because, I was fucking scared I'd chase you away from me, from the mess that's Danny Williams, but all I did was pull your closer. Why do you think Melissa and I don't fucking communicate anymore? Because she got tired of waiting for me to fall in love with her. Tired of me asking about you via Lynn."

Steve stared at Danny, mouth gape, because this was Danny being as open as he could get in the last few months… Years, maybe? He felt the hurt and the pain from the numerous times he thought he had his best friend figured out, but Danny proved him wrong. And what he was saying now… No, it can't be. No way was Danny feeling the same as he did.

But, what he said? It was true. Because Lynn broke up with him for the same reason. She said to him that all he could talk about for was Danny, Danny, Danny, and she got tired of hearing that.

In the split of the second, the realization hit Steve, too.

"Danny what are you saying?"

"I'm saying I love you like I really love you. Not as my best friend or brother. Well, you are my best friend, but still. Do you see my point? I love you."

Every word burned a pattern inside Steve's heart. The air was stuck in his lungs, he couldn't even properly breathe, because here it was, finally, what he was hoping all along. And he wasn't far off in his assessment that Danny was trying to figure this out, and that he was always here, just he was making strategic retreat.

Danny never lied to him, well he kept some things to himself, but didn't they all? They all came with a baggage and things they didn't share with anyone (much like his life as a SEAL and all the classified missions he worked on).

There was no more chickening out, no more holding the feelings inside. No more the past or the future. Just the here and now. The present.

No more.

Danny, sweet Danny that looked at him like Steve held the world in his hands, that loved him, loved him, Steve's heart was singing, was finally his to have. And suddenly all the fears, all the problems, all the questions that were unanswered, all the things left unsaid; they just vanished in thin air.

Because Danny loved him, and Steve loved Danny back. And between them, they could make it work. By piecing back together the broken parts of their souls. Together.

"I love you, too, Danny. I always had, always will. I'm so glad you feel the same." Steve said, relieved, but it came out rushed, so Danny had trouble with forming separate words that will make sense in the order Steve spoke them.

"I guess there's not a better time than the present, huh, babe?"

Grin split Steve's face in half, and despite the burning pain of his wound and incision, Danny started lifting himself off the bed to meet Steve and just show him how much he wanted this to happen. But Steve was faster and gently pushed Danny back on the bed, so he could lay there, comfortable, and kissed him. It was just a peck on the lips at first, but it was enough for Danny's mind to blank out.

There were so many things he wanted to tell Steve. So many things. First and foremost to apologize. And to make up on the lost time between the two, for they were idiots. But, as the kiss deepened and Steve took the lead (go figure!) Danny decided that all those things could wait.

Because he finally admitted to Steve how he felt, and Steve felt the same.

Yes, Danny thought, no time as the present, as he returned Steve's kiss with all of him in it.