A/N: I was asked by a reviewer to write an episode tag for the season 6 finale. I thought long and hard about it, but couldn't come up with anything different to what is already out there. So this is my tag set 6 weeks after the hospital room scene.
Thank you to Phoebe for the super-fast edit.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any of the characters.
I Do It For You
"Code seven in progress. 1124 Koloa street."
"This is Detective Danny Williams. Five-0. Badge number 7576. I'm on route."
"Whoa, what the hell are you doing?" In complete and utter shock, Danny momentarily took his eyes off the road to glare at his partner.
Steve put his hand up to stop any further interruption to his radio conversation with HPD dispatch.
"Please be advised. Suspect is believed to be armed. The residents are currently on vacation. The call came in from a neighbor."
"Ten four." Steve's clipped response.
"Are you out of your mind, Steve? We are not doing this." Danny reached for the radio only to have the receiver snatched out of his reach.
"Too late. Now take the next left." Steve pointed to the road sign up ahead.
"I know where Koloa street is." Danny ground out, steering his car around the corner.
"You got your gun?" Steve opened the glove box and started rummaging through it.
Danny sighed heavily. "Not in there, you idiot. And you won't find any grenades either."
Steve grinned mischievously. "Lock box?"
"What do you think?" Danny pulled the Camaro next to the curb a few houses down from their target. "Fuck, Steve. I'm on desk duty. I only got cleared to drive yesterday. And you..."
Danny exited the car, and Steve followed suit. "I can't sit around all day and do nothin', buddy."
"Don't buddy me. You've been out of the hospital less than two weeks." Danny opened the trunk and retrieved his firearm. "Seven weeks since you underwent major surgery." He slammed the lid shut.
"Where's your backup piece?" Steve pointed at Danny's sidearm..
"You, my friend, are staying put." Danny checked his weapon for ammo and headed toward the house.
"You're not going in there alone."
Stopping dead in his tracks, Danny rounded on Steve, jabbing a finger at his partner's chest. "Sit in the car. And since I'm on desk duty and you aren't even cleared to work. I'm in charge. Got it?"
"Danno-"
"What did I say, huh? We don't have time for this, and since you volunteered us for this impromptu op, we don't have comms." Danny pulled out his cell and thumbed the call button. Steve's phone began to ring. "We'll have to improvise. Keep this line open."
Steve climbed back into the passenger seat. A sullen expression on his face. He watched his partner cross the road.
"Take that look off your face, and make sure you keep any nosy neighbors away."
"I haven't got a face, Danno. And how would you know, from all the way over there?"
"You always have a face."
"It matches your tone."
"Keep quiet. I'm here." Danny whispered back.
H50 H50 H50 H50 H50
Danny looked at his cell. This ain't gonna work. He shoved it in his trouser pocket. The front door was already slightly ajar. Gun held in both hands, he used his foot to push it the rest of the way open. He tentatively made his way inside.
It looked like your average family home except for the mess. Broken photo frames littered the floor. The happy faces of three young boy's looking up at Danny. A couple's wedding day on another. He froze when shattered glass crunched under foot. When the house remained silent he continued on, making his way cautiously through every room. Each one ransacked as much as the other. Finally, Danny made his way down the hall and out into the backyard. Whoever had been there was long gone.
Danny pulled out his cell. "All clear. Place is trashed. Get an HPD unit over here to finish up. I'm on my way back out."
"Copy that."
H50 H50 H50 H50 H50
Steve didn't say it, but he was relieved. Listening helplessly while his partner cleared the premises wasn't what he'd planned. He was in no shape to help, and in hindsight this had been a stupid move. Not the actions of the leader of an elite task force. He mentally kicked himself. He was way off his game.
He was reaching for the radio when shots rang out. Without a second thought Steve dove from the car, sprinting down the road. A few residents stepped out onto their front porches.
"Please stay inside. HPD are on route." Steve waved frantically at them in the hopes they'd listen. With no badge or gun he looked like just an ordinary guy.
Steve stood by the entrance trying to get a look inside without giving himself away. He was about to move when his cell started to ring. He looked at the caller ID to see Danny's image staring back at him.
"Danny, where are you?" Steve kept his voice low in case the intruder was nearby.
"Get in here...I'm hit...perp's dead." Pain evident in Danny's words.
Steve was at his partner's side within seconds. He was slumped up against a kitchen cupboard, his hands clutching at his thigh. Red staining his slacks. The dead guy lay off to the side with blood pooling around him. Danny had hit him center mass.
Steve pressed the call button on his cell. "This is Commander Steve McGarrett, Five-0. I need EMT and HPD to 1124 Koloa street. Officer down."
After listening intently for a minute, Steve ended the call and tossed his cell on the floor. He then proceeded to take off his outer shirt.
"It's through and through." Danny grimaced.
"EMT are on their way, but they may be a little longer than usual. There's been a multi vehicle crash on the Lunalilo freeway." Kneeling down by his partner's side, he tied his shirt around Danny's leg, pulling it tight, which elicited a cry of pain from his friend. "I just need to keep pressure on this."
"Great. If I haven't suffered your bedside manner long enough."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Really? I need to explain. We shared a room for two weeks, Steven."
"Yeah, two weeks listening to your whining."
Steve rested back on his calves, trying to ease the pull on his still tender abdomen. Recognizing his partner's uncomfortable demeanor, Danny pushed his friend away and grasped his thigh with his own already bloodied hands.
"And don't forget my negative attitude."
"Yeah, that too."
Steve unbuckled his belt and pulled it off, securing it around the top of Danny's leg. "It's still bleeding, but it's slowed up. Doesn't look like the bullet hit anything major. This should help."
Danny leaned forward and groaned. "You know what. I hate you."
"Love you too, Danno." Steve smiled at his friend.
"No. I really do hate you. I can't do this anymore." Danny rested his head back, looking toward the ceiling.
"I was kidding around with you."
"So you think comments like my son growing to hate me are funny, huh?" Danny now stared at him in disbelief.
"It was a joke, Danno."
"What did I say? Don't call me that. Or babe or buddy." Danny retorted angrily.
"Whoa." Steve held his hands up, taken aback by his friend's unexpected outburst. "What's got into you?"
"You undermine me at every opportunity. You say I'm your partner, but you spend most of your time with Lou on and off the job. He's more your friend nowadays than I am."
Steve looked mortified by Danny's revelation. "It wasn't deliberate. You've been busier since Charlie came into your life. You're like a brother to me. I owe you my life. I'd never intentionally hurt you. And I'm sorry I dragged you into this mess. It was a dumb move."
"I get it. I understand how hard this is gonna be for you - we all do. This." Danny gestured to the scene surrounding them. "That's what this is all about?"
"I guess. I need to feel alive. For the first time in my life, I actually thought I was gonna die." Steve moved so he was sitting next to Danny, back against a cupboard door.
"We'll get through this. You'll adapt." Danny rubbed Steve's arm.
"We? I thought you hated me." Steve gave Danny a lopsided grin.
"You got me shot again. I was angry."
"Charlie will never hate you. I don't hate you, Danno."
"I wanted to do nothing else, but help you. I still do." Danny giggled. "The cards and balloons. You really think my children wouldn't make me cards, give me balloons and presents? What four year old child sits in a room filled with balloons and doesn't once attempt or ask to play with them? I wanted you to have it all. What you went through - are going through - is life changing. I can carry on relatively unaffected. Look back at the news headlines calling me a hero. You...you have a lifetime of meds and hospital visits to contend with."
Steve scrubbed his face, and turned his head to face away from Danny.
"Hey, babe. You okay?"
"Yeah." Steve's answer barely audible.
"What's the matter? You upset because I got more cards and balloons than you?" Danny attempted to lighten the mood.
Steve shot a look of consternation in his partner's direction. "Buddy, there is no way you got more than me."
"Really. We'll see, babe. I kept the cards. I'll have to count them."
"I got twenty six balloons and fifty five cards." Steve replied smugly.
"Why does the fact you counted them and recorded them to memory not surprise me. You have issues that run far deeper than my liver."
"Hey, it's mine. You gave it to me. I own it."
"Maybe you'd like me to donate you some more body parts, 'cause if this ambulance takes much longer, I'm gonna bleed out." Danny hissed, when he tried to shift position.
As if on cue, they heard sirens wailing in the distance.
"Your organs are safe, Danno." Steve smirked.
"I dunno why you're so happy. You have to explain this to the Governor."
"I'm not cleared to work. You were in charge."
"No way, Steven. You got me shot, again. You owe me."
"Will you stop with the again. But you know what Danno? I do owe you. I owe you for landing that plane and for always having my back." Steve squeezed the back of Danny's hand as it rested on his injured thigh. "Thank you."
"Did a little piece of your soul just die when you said that?" Danny held up his thumb and finger to indicate how small.
"Hey, I was being serious, and I thought you said you couldn't do this anymore?" Steve nudged Danny's side gently with his elbow.
"Nah. We wouldn't survive without this thing we have." Danny waved one hand between the two of them. "It's what makes us unique."
"I guess that's one way to describe us. Unique and dysfunctional." Steve checked on Danny's wound. Lifting the bloodied materiel. "It's stopped bleeding."
"Easy, that hurts." Danny batted his friend's hand away. "Unique and dysfunctional. Beats old married couple."
The sound of sirens outside were quickly followed by HPD and EMT bursting through the front door.
"The cavalry's here." They said in unison before descending into fits of laughter.
Collecting themselves, they studied one another, an expression of fondness evident on their faces.
"I love you, Danno." Steve put his arm around Danny's back and pulled him into a sideways hug.
"Love you too, babe." Danny rested his head on his best friend's shoulder.
~ the end ~