As soon as the plane touched onto Jersey soil Danny turned his phone back on and smirked at the 20 text messages that all came through at once, mostly from Steve. He scrolled past the ones that just had an 'image attached' logo and no message, having learnt from previous experience that those are best opened in non-public places. It was 6AM by the time he'd found his bag and managed to get outside to wait for a cab, Danny was exhausted – he could never sleep on planes – and just wanted to see his family and then crash. But his face still lit up as Steve's face filled the phone screen with an incoming call.
"Shouldn't you be asleep?" Danny said as he accepted the call.
"No, I should be there with you. Remind me why I'm not?"
Danny sighed. "Steve, you can't just up and leave in the middle of a serial killer case because your partner is taking a few days off to visit family, you're the leader of Five-0."
Steve grumbled his agreement into the phone as he pulled the bed covers up over himself. "Hmm okay, got me there. So… when are you back?"
Danny smirked. "Why, missing me already?"
Steve glanced at Danny's empty side of the bed, a sad expression on his face. "You're deflecting."
"So are you, babe."
"… Of course I miss you, Danno." Steve admitted. "It's too quiet in the house."
Danny laughed, wrapping his jacket around him with his free hand. "I miss you too, Steve. I guess I'll have to, uh… make extra noise when I get back to make up for it?"
Steve snickered. "I can think of a few ideas…"
"Oh I'm sure." A cab pulled up outside the airport and Danny hailed it over. "I've gotta go now babe, cab's here now and you need to sleep. Aren't you meeting with Dr. Gray tomorrow with Alicia?"
"Yeah."
"Well, let me know how it goes. I'll be back in a few days, alright?"
Steve sighed. "Okay, Danny. I'm sure I'll survive without you."
"Hmm, I'm not so sure. Besides, you forget – I know what you're like, babe. You're a big soft marshmallow." Danny teased as he put his suitcase in the trunk of the car. "Right gotta go now. Love you."
"Love you too, Danno." Steve said before hanging up and tossing his phone onto the bedside table, getting comfortable facing Danny's side of the bed.
And if he was wearing one of Danny's old NJPD shirts with the sleeves ripped off, well, nobody else had to know.
Danny walked through the front door and closed it as quietly as he could before punching in the security code to set the alarm. He crept up the stairs, taking them two at a time, but paused when he got to the doorway to their bedroom. He was tired; as soon as Lou had phoned him to ask if he'd heard from Steve, and eventually told him that his boyfriend was missing, Danny had gotten on the next available flight back to Hawaii, only touching back down an hour ago.
The entire flight back he'd thought about what he'd do when he saw Steve – threaten to tear him a new one about getting kidnapped again , remind him that six weeks previous he was in hospital receiving half of Danny's liver and I swear to God, Steve, it had still better be there – but now that he was standing in the doorway and looking at his battered and bruised body, Danny didn't know what to do.
Steve seemed to be asleep, but his face was illuminated by the moonlight coming in through the window, and showed familiar crease lines that came from either unpleasant dreams or from pain. Danny figured probably both. He'd seen those lines on Steve's face too many times to count now.
Danny was stunned out of his trance by Steve rolling over onto his back. He woke with a start, crying out as pain ripped through his body. His fist clenched and he slammed it down onto the mattress with a moan, eyes blearily opening. Steve scanned the room subconsciously and a figure in the doorway caught his gaze. His face broke into a relieved smile as he saw who it was. "Danny?"
"Hey." Danny crossed the distance between them and sat on the edge of the bed as Steve rolled onto his stomach, grimacing as that aggravated the scar on his chest. Sighing, Danny grabbed a pillow and convinced Steve to lean up so that he could place it under his belly. "That better, babe?"
"Yeah, thanks." Steve sighed as he lowered his body back down, this time without much discomfort from his front.
"Good." Danny bent down and pressed a soft kiss to Steve's forehead.
"You should be in Jersey." Steve said as he turned his head turned to gaze in amazement at Danny, as if he didn't believe that he was here. "I can't believe you came back."
"I'd only been there a few hours when Lou phoned and asked if I'd heard from you… then I got out of him that you were missing, so I got on the first flight back." Danny smiled down at him. "Told you that I wasn't so sure that you'd survive without me. Trust you to get kidnapped as soon as I leave the island."
"Wasn't my fault…" Steve mumbled.
"Hey, I know that, I was kidding." Danny lowered his head to softly kiss Steve's lips. "I'm sorry."
As he pulled away he cringed as he saw the state of Steve's bare back. "Uh, did the hospital send you home with spare dressings for that? I need to change it." Steve nodded and pointed to the pile that he threw onto his bedside table before he collapsed into bed earlier.
Danny carefully peeled the soiled dressing off of Steve's back before he set about cleaning the small amount of blood that had oozed through the stitches, whispering soothing words as the damp pieces of gauze that Danny used to clean stung Steve's skin.
He listened attentively as Steve told him everything that had happened, how Dr. Gray had gotten two criminals that the FBI had been after to drive them out to the rocky coast and attempt to drown them, and how Chin and Kono had followed their van and gunned them down.
"I bet the sea water didn't help much, either." Danny said as he cautiously applied the new dressing.
Steve shook his head into the pillow, gripping it tight in his fingers at the memory of falling into the salt water. The mere thought of it sent a shiver down his spine.
Danny sighed as he slowly massaged Steve's shoulders before working his way down his spine, feeling the knots of muscle and urging them to relax.
"Was Alicia okay?"
"Hmm… Kono drove her back to the Hilton, she's still got security around her I think. That reminds me, I don't know what happened to my truck –ohhhhhmyGod, Danny ."
Danny was relieved as the massage seemed to do the trick and Steve all but melted under his hands, so Danny shucked his clothes, wrinkled and sweaty from almost 24 hours of travelling, and joined Steve under the covers.
Steve took the pillow out from underneath him and carefully settled on his side to face Danny. The blonde man carefully took him into his arms, but sharply pulled his arm back from where it was over Steve's back and apologised as the other man grimaced.
"Is any part of you not hurting that I can touch?"
Steve smirked, looking down at his boxer-clad crotch before gazing up at Danny. "Well…"
Danny rolled his eyes. "No, Steve."
"Aw, come on,-" Whatever Steve was about to say was cut off by a loud yawn that he tried to muffle but failed.
"I didn't come back from Jersey hours after getting there to have you fall asleep during sex, babe. You're exhausted." Danny grinned as Steve yawned again. "I promise, once you're not so tired and in pain I'll rock your world, babe."
Steve chuckled as his eyes began to close, but as he tried to nestle into Danny he aggravated the scar on his chest. Danny gazed down and could see that it was red and angry, most likely due to Steve's ill treatment and being bashed around in the water. Each time Steve tried to get comfortable he'd end up landing on a bruise or a sore spot.
He huffed as he even tried laying on his front with his knees partly drawn up so his belly wasn't touching the bed, but that slightly pulled at his back and various bruises scattered across his body. He slumped back onto his side with a string of curse words that would make Danny's mother blush if she could hear them.
"This is fucking ridiculous, Danny." Steve moaned, face screwed up in frustration. "Everything hurts." He admitted reluctantly, hating how this seemed to be his life lately.
Danny rubbed his shoulder. "I know babe, but I've got an idea." Danny got up and grabbed the spare pillows from the wardrobe. He tucked two under the bottom sheet behind Steve, tight against his back and a thinner one against his front. Danny then settled on his back and wrapped his arms around Steve as he cautiously settled against his side. The pillow in front did its job and prevented too much pressure being put on Steve's chest and belly, and the one behind him would stop him from rolling over in his sleep.
"Thanks, Danno." Steve closed his eyes again as his head rested on Danny's shoulder, arm slung tightly over the smaller man's belly. Finally he felt relaxed enough to drift off to sleep. "Love you."
"Love you too, babe."