Ok, so I have some kind of big news, but first, Happy New Year! Anyway, Mitch and I were walking around Ibiza, Spain today and we passed all these cute little shops. All the sudden, Mitch puts his hands over my eyes and leads me into one of them. When he takes his hands away, I see we're in this dress shop filled with the prettiest handmade wedding dresses you've ever seen. So, I think, what the hell? Might as well try some on. The very first one, and I fell in love. We got it fitted, right there as well as got this beautiful, lacy, cathedral length veil! I know that there's a superstition about not letting the groom see you in the dress before the big day, but honestly, he's my best friend and I wouldn't want to do this with anyone else. So after we get the dress, we go for a walk on the beach where we decide we can't wait until October like we planned. So, the wedding is January 24th! Alright, I'm done, I promise! Here's a story!

The smoke was thick and heavy, making it nearly impossible to breathe. Steve held the cloth over his face, leaving only a small slit for his eyes. He had tried screaming his partner's name, but he had yet to hear a response. It didn't matter now, anyways. He had almost no voice with which to yell anymore. If Danny could see him, he knew the man would be reprimanding him for his recklessness. But Danny couldn't see him. Steve didn't know if he'd ever hear his partner's scolding again. The flames around his burned higher and hotter by the second and the old building threatened to collapse with every groaning shudder. Debris shifted beneath his feet and he nearly lost his footing. He tried to call for Danny again, but it was useless. Only a dry whisper escaped his chapped lips, followed by a fit of coughing. Still, he trudged on. Danny had been somewhere on the top floor when the building had started to burn. Children lived in this house, so it made sense that Danny was up with them. All five of the little girls made it out, but Danny hadn't emerged yet. The oldest girl had told Steve that a man fitting Danny's description had lifted the beam that had held the door shut. She told him how as they made their way down the stairs, they started to give way beneath them. Danny had put them all in front of him, telling them to run and not to stop until they made it out. He had promised he would be right behind them, but that had been fifteen minutes ago and Danny hadn't emerged from the house yet. So, Steve had relieved a fireman of his jacket and had run into the unstable building, ignoring the shouts behind him. Now, he finally reached the stairs where he Danny had last been seen, but there was no sign of him. Desperately, Steve pawed through the rubble, but found nothing. He was about to find a way up the broken stairs when something caught his eyes. Clearing the ash away to reveal something shiny and gold, Steve knew what it had to be. Moments later, he held Danny's badge in his hands. Danny had been here. Suddenly, a terrifying thought struck Steve. He had found the badge near the gaping hole in the floor. A hole Danny might've fallen into. He tried yelling Danny's name again, but the result was the same. Mindful of the crumbling floor he crouched on, Steve neared the hole and peered down. At first, he saw nothing. Then his eyes fell on a pale hand sticking up from beneath a pile of ash and debris. His heart sped up. Without a second thought, Steve jumped down and rolled to a stop next to the hand. His fingers fumbled with Danny's wrist until he felt a pulse beneath them. With manic intensity, he began to clear away the fallen objects on top of his partner. When at last Danny's body was clear, Steve began to assess his injuries. Judging by the deep cut on Danny's temple and how, despite his best efforts, he couldn't wake his partner, he guessed that danny had a severe concussion. Steve winced inwardly when he felt movement beneath his fingers as he gently palpated Danny's chest. There were definitely broken ribs in there. Carefully, he moved down to Danny's legs. The left one looked alright, but the right one made Steve glad Danny was unconscious. It was a burned and bloody mess that stuck out at an unnatural angle. Beneath one torn pants leg, Steve could see the tip of bone poking through his shin. The sight of it made him feel sick, but he took stock of it anyway. Squeezing Danny's shoulder gently, he offered a reassuring smile.

"I got you, pal. I'm gonna get you out of here." Taking as deep of a breath as he could manage, Steve stood and began to pick his way through the wreckage to to find a way out. Fortunately, they were on the main floor now and the front door was in sight. After clearing away a fallen bookshelf and sliding a ruined couch over, he wiped the sweat off his brow. Foolishly, he once again tried to yell for help, but his almost nonexistent voice was swallowed up by the roar of the flames. Knowing that he needed to get danny out as soon as possible, he returned to where he had left him and carefully draped one of Danny's arms over his shoulder. Slowly, they made their way out. The light rain that splattered his face was heaven on his burning skin. He greedily gulped in the fresh air. Strong hands were taking Danny off of him and Steve immediately collapsed on all fours, coughing. Chin and Kono were at his side in moments, instructing him to take slow, deep breaths as they rubbed slow circles on his back.

"Danny?" he finally gasped.

"They got him now. He's getting help." A wave of relief washed over him as he climbed to his feet, aided by his team mates. He made it a few steps before he began to falter.

"Whoa, easy boss. Maybe you should sit down." Kono suggested. Steve shook his head.

"Nah, I'm good. If s'all the same t' you, 'm gonna pass out now." Steve mumbled as he went limp and lost consciousness.

H

5

0

"Steve? Hey, wake up, brah. Come on." A voice encouraged. Chin, his mind supplied. Slowly, he peeled open his heavy eyelids to reveal Chin and Kono's smiling faces.

"Hey boss." Kono said with a glowing smile. He smiled back and tried to return the greeting, but he ended coughing instead. Chin quickly spooned an ice chip into his mouth and his throat was instantly soothed by the cold liquid running down it.

"Th-thanks." he managed to stutter out.

"No problem."

"How's D-danny? His leg was a mess." Kono nodded.

"Yeah, we saw that. He's resting now, but they say he's gonna make a full recovery."

"Where is he?" Steve asked, attempting to disentangle himself from the sheets. Chin gently pushed him back down.

"He's right there, Steve." he said gently, pointing to a bed a few feet away. "The doctors here know your reputation, so they figured they might as well put you two in the same room, since it was bound to end up that way in the end."

"Why am I here anyway? I get hurt or somethin'?"

"Well, right after you got Danny out, passed out on us. Smoke inhalation did a number on your lungs." Kono explained. For the first time, Steve noticed the nasal cannula beneath his nose. he yawned tiredly and felt his eyes begin to close.

"Get some sleep, brah. Maybe Danny will be awake next time." Chin said kindly. Try as he might, Steve couldn't resist the pull of sleep and he let himself drift off.

H

5

0

"Mmmphh…" Danny groaned as light streamed through his slitted eyes. He slammed them shut again, taking stock of his body. Well, everything hurt. Mostly his head, but his ribs were pretty bad and, though it felt strangely numb, his leg tingled unpleasantly. Once more, he tried to open his eyes, this time with more success. He blinked blearily around at his surroundings, recognizing that he was in a hospital. As his eyes roamed the room, they fell on his partner's sleeping form in the bed next to him. Knowing that whatever had landed him here had to be directly related to Steve, he tried to call out to him, but his voice was little more than a hoarse whisper. Ever the resourceful detective, he grabbed the cup of ice chips on his bedside table. Taking one in his hand, he threw it so that it landed on Steve's face. The SEAL's nose scrunched, but he did not wake. Rolling his eyes, Danny lobbed another one. This time, Steve stirred and allowed his eyes to flutter open.

"Wha' the 'ell?" he mumbled, almost unintelligibly. "Danny? Danny! You're awake!" he croaked, tumbling out of bed and throwing the tube around his ears off. He stumbled into the chair next to Danny's bed and put on his best goofy smile. "How ya feelin', Danno?"

"Oh, just peachy. What happened?"

"The arsonist we've been after hit another house. You were on the top floor with some kids when he lit the place up. You got the kids out, but ended up falling with the stairs when they collapsed. You have a pretty nasty concussion, three broken ribs, and your leg's kinda messed up."

"What do you mean, 'kinda messed up'?" Danny asked.

"A lot of second degree burns, a couple third degree, some deep gashes, oh, and a compound fracture. But don't worry, the doctors said it would rehab just fine."

"Well, thank God for that. So what happened to you?"

"Well, I, uh, I went back in there to get you. When you didn't come out, I got worried and-"

"Let me guess, your Super SEAL senses were tingling and you had to come save the day?" Danny guessed. Steve shrugged sheepishly, expecting a rant about safety. He was surprised when Danny smiled. "Thanks man. I owe you one."

"Wow, I was kind of expecting a rant there, buddy. What gives?"

"Well, I figure I should reward good behavior. You saved my life Steve. No matter how irresponsible you were, I can't thank you enough for what you did." Steve returned Danny's smile.

"I got your back Danny, a hundred percent. And I know you've got my mine. That what partners do, right? Have each other's backs?"

"Well, out of all the things about being a cop you don't know, I'm glad you at least decided to learn that one."

Well, there it is then. Well, it's like 11:03 p.m. here, so I'm going to go upload this, then Mitch and I are going dancing!