Note: So I know I have a multi fic in progress, but this idea hit me last night and I just had to post it while it's current in real life.
I sneakily asked Phoebe Miller to read through it for me as poor wenwalke has more than enough work from me at the mo. Thank you Phoebe for your help.
Disclaimer: I do not own H50. I just suffer from incurable DWOCD.
The team stood around the smart table, going over their latest case, when Danny's phone suddenly pinged. He pulled it out and looked at it, groaning as he read the e-mail.
"Everything ok?" Steve asked, concerned.
"Yeah. It's nothing, just a message from Eric." Danny shoved the phone back into his pocket.
"E-train. How's he doing?" Steve asked, amused. "Not sending out more half naked pictures of you I hope."
"No, there's only one picture like that one, and I told you it was for charity. I am a caring human being Steven and I like to help out where I can. And to answer your first question Eric is doing very well at college now, thank you. He is enjoying the forensic science course."
"That's good." Steve said returning to the case details.
Lou leaned over and asked. "What's this about half naked pictures?"
Steve laughed. "I still have it; I'll forward it to you."
The team worked hard for the rest of the day bringing the case to a close. They headed out for a drink, but Danny passed, telling them he needed to get home to Grace.
On his way home, he stopped off at the minute mart for some supplies.
"Hey Danno." Grace called out as he entered the house.
"Hey Monkey, you doing your homework?" Danny asked seeing his daughter sitting at the dining room table.
"Yep, then I'm gonna help Amber start dinner."
"That's great." Danny said, putting his bags down on the kitchen counter and greeting Amber with a kiss as she stood peeling potatoes. "Thanks for picking Grace up for me today."
"No problem." Amber replied, and then noticing the shopping bag, asked. "What you got in there?"
"Argh that. That is something I was hoping you could both help me with. I got an e-mail from my delightful nephew today, challenging me to do the ALS ice bucket challenge."
"Oh cool!" Grace screamed. "You're gonna do it? Who are you gonna nominate?"
"I was thinking if I have to do it, so should the rest of the team." Danny smiled. "So I was hoping Grace you could film it and Amber you could do the dunking."
"My pleasure." Amber smiled.
"Well, we might as well get it done now. Then I can take a shower before dinner." Danny reached under the sink and pulled out a bucket.
Five minutes later everything was ready.
"Ok Danno, go." Grace directed.
Danny started to explain. "Hi, I'm Danny Williams and I've been nominated to do the ALS ice bucket challenge by my wonderful nephew Eric. I would like to nominate the rest of 5-0. Steve McGarrett, Chin Ho Kelly, Kono Kalakaua and Lou Grover. You have 24 hrs guys. Ok do it."
Danny nodded to Amber, bracing himself. She picked up the bucket, full of ice and water, and poured it over Danny's head as she and Grace laughed. Danny shuddered as the cold water hit his skin. Total brain freeze.
"That was great." Grace shouted out as she stopped filming and ran to her dad who was bent over, hands to face trying to recover his senses.
Danny breathed out a sigh as the worst of the chill passed and then realised his right eye was starting to sting; in fact, it was really hurt. He put his hand to his face as he straightened up and felt a wet, warm slickness. Moving his hand away and keeping his right eye clamped shut to help with the pain, all he saw was blood.
"Oh my god, Danny!" Amber exclaimed at seeing the blood and immediately moved to his side. "Let me see."
"I think the ice must have cut me." Danny stated.
"Yeah it did, and Danny it's a pretty nasty cut to your eye lid. Grace, can you get the first aid kid?" Amber asked.
Grace ran into the kitchen and returned with the kit, opening it up and passing Amber some gauze which she placed over Danny's eye.
"You should get checked out, Danny. It's probably gonna need stitches."
"Great. I try to help charity and look where it gets me. My eye is really stinging." Danny tried to act cool when in fact he was actually worried. It felt like someone had stabbed him in the eye.
"I'll drive you to the ER." Amber guided Danny to his bedroom where she quickly helped him towel off and change into clean, dry clothes.
Both Grace and Amber led Danny to the car, and they arrived at the hospital in no time. Luckily, there wasn't a long wait and soon Danny was laid on a gurney feeling rather stupid for injuring himself in such a silly way.
"Hi Danny." Dr. Pearce said entering the room. "I hear you've been in the wars AGAIN." She emphasised the again with a frown, and then removed the gauze from his eye, examining it. "How did you manage this?"
"Cut it on some ice." Danny simply answered, hoping he wouldn't have to explain more.
Dr. Pearce stood back and asked. "Ice?"
"Danno was doing the Ice bucket challenge." Grace stated proudly. "But some of the ice must have been really sharp and cut him."
"Really." Dr. Pearce replied, amused. "Well, we better get you all patched up then so you can see to make your donation."
"Thanks Doc." Danny replied.
"Don't thank me yet, this is quite a laceration. It is going to need stitches, but I'm more concerned about it's depth and whether the ice has scratched your eye. I'm going to ask for an ophthalmologist consult, and contact plastics to do the stitches."
"My actual eye is stinging a lot." Danny informed her.
"We definitely need that consult then." She said before leaving the room.
5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0
Danny sat nervously, his forehead and chin resting on cold metal plates of the machine the ophthalmologist was using to examine his eye. The room was dark, and all he could see was the bright light shining in his eye to illuminate the blood vessels, which spread out like the branches of an old oak tree. He had some temporary relief from the pain as the doctor had put some special drops in his eye, allowing him to examine it more closely.
Finally the bright light disappeared, and the doctor slowly raised the overhead lights in the room, before moving to replace the gauze over Danny's eye.
"You're lucky, although I bet it doesn't feel like it. Your cornea is scratched but it's not too bad. I'll prescribe you some eye drops and you will need to wear an eye patch for a few days, but it should heal just fine. You can take anti-inflammatories to help with the discomfort."
"An eye patch, great." Danny replied knowing how much teasing he was going to get from the team.
"It's better than losing the eye. Which could have happened had the ice cut any deeper." The ophthalmologist stated. He then opened the door and signalled to a waiting orderly to wheel Danny back to the ER.
As they returned to the room, Danny found Dr. Pearce talking to Amber and Grace along with another doctor. "Well timed, Danny this is Dr. Jacobs. He is a plastic surgeon. He'll stitch your eye lid, and then you can get out of here." She glanced over the ophthalmologist's report. "Why don't we go and get Danny the eye patch he needs."
She steered Amber and Grace away so the surgeon could work in peace.
Two hours later all three returned home. Grace carrying a take out pizza box as they had missed dinner. Danny was now all stitched up and sporting a rather fetching black eye patch.
"I think it looks cool Danno." Grace tried to cheer her father up. "And I'm really proud of you for doing it for charity."
"Thanks Monkey, you might need to keep reminding me of that over the next few days when the team is referring to me as Long John Silver."
5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0
The next morning, Danny took a deep breath before entering the office. Steeling himself for the jokes that were bound to come. Amber drove him to work as his vision was compromised and his left eye was struggling to work on it's own, often wanting to close in sympathy. As he opened the door, he saw the others sitting around, enjoying coffee together.
"Danny, what have you done?" Kono asked as she was the first to spot him.
Steve turned, and upon seeing his partner, called out. "Eye eye, me hearties."
To which Lou sniggered. "Careful Steve, he may make you walk the plank."
"A good morning to you too." Danny replied. "Nice to see your concern for my health. I'll be in my office if you need me. I'm desk bound for the next few days."
The others looked at each other, Steve and Lou feeling a little guilty.
"Guess I better see if he's ok." Steve took a step forward and then stopped as all four of the remaining team's phones beeped. Retrieving their phones, they each smiled as Grace's name popped up on their screens.
"It's from Grace." Steve looked up, realising they'd all received the same message. "Here, I got this." He placed his phone down on the smart table, opening the file.
They all looked confused as a video clip appeared on screen with a message from Grace.
Please be nice to Danno. He got hurt doing an amazing thing to help people, and I'm so proud of him. Watch this and you will be too.
Steve hit the play button and the video immediately sprung to life. Danny explained the challenge and nominated all of them. They realised right away something had happened to Danny as they watched the ice dumped over his head.
"Ok, now I feel bad." Lou sighed.
"Yeah, me too." Steve added.
They all moved over to Danny's office where he was sat squinting at his computer screen.
"You know, the normal response to having freezing water dumped on your head is to close your eyes." Steve teased.
"What?" Danny looked up at the team and then groaned. "Grace sent you the video, didn't she? I told her not to."
"Then you would have suffered for nothing Danny." Kono replied. "What happened? How did you hurt your eye?"
"A sharp piece of ice sliced through my eye lid and scratched my cornea."
"Ouch." The whole team replied.
"But your eye will be ok?" Chin asked.
"Yeah, a few days of wearing this damn patch and eye drops, and it should be fine. The stitches can come out in a week." Danny explained.
"So I'm guessing protective eyewear is the way to go when we accept your challenge." Steve grinned.
"You guys don't have to do it." Danny smiled.
"Are you kidding me? Lou Grover never walks away from a challenge. And besides, it's for a good cause."
"I'm in too." Kono said excitedly.
"Already planning who I'm going to nominate." Chin added.
Danny smiled up at his friends. "Ok cool. But can I suggest you let the ice melt a bit first? Dr. Pearce has seen way too much of us lately. Actually, can one of you nominate her? She looked way too amused when I told her how this happened."
"You got it buddy." Steve slapped Danny on the back. "I'll nominate her, the Governor and Joe."
"Well Joe, is hardly fair. That guy probably takes ice cold showers every morning." Danny quipped.
"The Governor? You're really gonna be crazy enough to nominate the Governor?" Chin laughed.
"Sure am." Steve said proudly. "Now who's going on an ice run?"
THE END.
A big thanks to the ALS Ice bucket Challenge for prompting this story. I thankfully have managed to avoid nomination so far, so as a thank you for the story idea I have made a donation.