THE SUN WILL RISE TOMORROW
A/N This story has been a long time in the works. It's my first chapter story, and I have come to realization that I am not a fast writer! What we have here is the product of a lot of nagging from certain writers who informed me I could do this, so quit quibbling and just DO IT! They might be sorry for being so insistent. I guess time will tell. There will be Danny whump, well, you'll find that out quickly enough!
This story is completely written. Many, many thanks to Wenwalke for her encouragement and for being willing to take on another writing newbie to beta. Updates will be in a timely fashion...barring any recalcitrant muses. I must say, I have a very handy device sitting alongside my computer to shock the muse back into line!
DISCLAIMER: I want to say, "YES! THEY'RE MINE...ALL MINE! But CBS would undoubtedly come after me with the straight jacket in hand, so I must sadly say, I don't own any part of H50 or it's characters. If CBS ever changes it's mind, though, I call dibbs on Danny! Any OC is mine, all mine!
PROLOGUE
Friday, 4:30pm – Haleakala Crater, Mau'i, Hawai'i
"How did this happen? How, exactly, could this happen?"
Shocked beyond words by the events that found him bent over his prostrate partner on the hard packed, red dirt floor, of a rain and wind warped wooden shed. Pressing his tee shirt deeply into the gaping wounds in Danny's side, Steve tried to control his own emotions and allow his ingrained training to take over. He had to stop the bleeding. The green tee shirt was already soaked through with Danny's blood.
"Steve? Steve!"
He looked up from his attempts at first aid, and saw two frightened blue eyes boring into his own, as if pleading with him to tell him it was all a mistake, and he was fine.
"Danny! Its okay, man, I've got you. You got tossed pretty hard, and there's a little bit of bleeding. I'll get it stopped soon then I'll call for help." Steve knew he was lying through his teeth. It was bad. He'd never seen such jagged wounds outside of Afghanistan, and he didn't have anything to really alleviate the bleeding, other than his dirty shirt. But he couldn't let Danny see his fear, because Danny could read him so well, and he'd know. He just couldn't bear to hear Danny beg him to tell Grace her Danno loved her yet again. So, God help him, he lied to his best friend.
At least, it seemed to calm his partner down. Unfortunately, Steve realized too late, Danny was lapsing into shock instead of calm.
"Oh! Fine then…I think I'll just lay here and rest a bit. I'm … I'm kind of tired." The initial excruciating pain radiating from his side in all directions was now devolving into a sweet sensation of numbness that, coupled with Steve's soothing words, lulled Danny into thinking he wasn't so badly hurt after all. Somewhere deep in his brain, Danny knew that was just not true, he really was in a bad way, but he just didn't have the strength now to worry about it. He couldn't figure out how this had happened to him, either! He just didn't seem to catch any breaks. Fine! It was much easier to just float away. Just for a while. Just … until he got his strength back…
"Danny! Come on, buddy! Stay with me, man!"
Steve felt, rather than saw, Danny slip into unconsciousness. He was still pressing hard on the wounds and he thought he was making progress getting the bleeding stopped - or at least under control. He sensed Danny's body relaxing, going slack under his pressure, and heard his breathing become more shallow and erratic. Not good signs at all.
"No! No, no, don't do this to me, Danny!" Steve pulled out his phone and attempted to call for help. Nothing but silence greeted him. "Mother Fucker!" Looking down, Steve realized with a curse that he had actually found a place on the island with no cell service. Desperation started to set in. He needed to get Danny medical help, and he couldn't do that from a field in the middle of nowhere.
Taking Danny's clammy hand in his own bloodied one, Steve bent down to Danny's ear, and putting his other hand on his friend's forehead for comfort – although he wasn't sure if he was comforting Danny or himself – he calmly spoke to his partner.
"Hey, D., I need to find us some help here. Think you can stay put and out of trouble for me? I promise I'll be back with a nice, warm blanket, and a pretty EMT to take care of you. Don't do anything stupid, okay?"
Getting no response, and not really expecting one, Steve tried to make Danny as comfortable as possible. He piled some straw under his head, and around his body, to help keep Danny's temperature from falling too low. Feeling around on the straw-strewn ground until he found what he was looking for, Steve shoved Danny's gun into the waistband of his partner's pants – just in case. Patting his best friend's cheek, and praying he could find help sooner rather than later, Steve took off on a jog across the pasture towards the path leading back down the mountain side.
Once again, he asked himself how they could have possibly ended up here, alone in a remote summer pasture in the middle of Maui, with Danny fighting for his life. The day had certainly started off very different!