Author's Note:

2/5/2019: Happy Birthday to my awesome beta reader and dear friend, Katbybee! A few months ago, I asked her what she would want for a birthday story from me. She specified Hawaii Five-0 and Danny whump, and I have tried to deliver.

This is, of course, only the first chapter in a longer story. I will try to have a chapter up at least every other week, if not more frequently, but I've also got Forsaken to finish.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the 5-0 characters, but they somehow got inside my head and started talking, so I had to start writing. I make no money from this, I promise, and I will send them home in their full working condition when this story is done.

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Steve frowned as he checked his email. Today was the day, right? He was supposed to meet Danny at the airport, and they were going to take Charlie out for ice cream. The little boy had really missed his dad while Danny was on a two-week vacation, skiing in Colorado. Steve had tried to spend a lot of time with Charlie, but he was at that stage in life when he really wanted time with his dad more than anyone else. Uncle Steve just couldn't cut it.

For the first week of his trip, Danny had called Charlie every day, just as he'd promised. He'd checked in with Steve a couple times, raving about the slopes and the quality of the snow. He'd been really stressed out when he left, and Steve was relieved to hear how relaxed he sounded after just a few days away from work. But then the calls had simply stopped.

Steve had tried calling him a few times, but the phone just rang till it went to voicemail. Most likely, the idiot was spending every last minute he could with Miranda before he had to go home. He'd told Steve about the woman the last time they'd spoken, the day he'd first met her. Petite, with red-gold hair and emerald eyes, she had captured Danny's attention the first time he'd seen her.

"She's gorgeous, Steve, and when our eyes locked across the room, I just knew it was meant to be. And get this... she's not only beautiful. She's brilliant. Smarter than I am, to tell you the truth, but she's not flashy about it or anything — I can just tell, listening to her talk. Seems like she knows something about everything. She's got a degree in engineering, if you can believe it."

Steve had been a little surprised — everything he'd seen at home indicated that Danny and Rachel were falling in love again. Typically, Danny wouldn't let him get a word in edgewise, and suddenly cut the call short with a "Gotta go... we've got dinner reservations." All Steve had gotten since was a daily text saying, "Having a great time. See you when I get home."

The texts were the main reason Steve had not thrown down everything and gotten on a plane to Colorado. Well, that and work. If he weren't so damned busy, he would have gone anyway, but a visiting senator's daughter had been kidnapped, they had intelligence that a Chechen terrorist was holed up in Kailua, and to top it all off, a rash of museum burglaries had demanded the team's attention. No way the governor was going to approve him taking off to find a vacationing detective who was having too much fun to make a phone call to his kid.

Now Steve was regretting that decision. Because today was the day Danny was supposed to return. Steve had been sitting here in baggage claim, watching as the people from Danny's flight flowed past him to get their luggage. Danny wasn't anywhere among them. Steve had checked his email three times, making sure he remembered the date and time correctly. Danny should at least have texted or emailed him if he changed his plans.

Finally, when the last of the stragglers from the flight had filtered in to baggage claim, grabbed their luggage, and left, with no sign of Danny, Steve made his way to the airline counter and flashed his badge. "Steve McGarrett, 5-0. I need to know about a passenger who was scheduled to be on Aloha Airlines Flight 832 originating in Denver. His name is Daniel Williams. Did he check in for that flight, or did he change his reservation?"

The agent looked up from her computer and checked his badge, then peered at the screen as she typed on her keyboard. Finally, she looked up again. "I'm sorry, Sir. I have no record of a Daniel Williams scheduled on that flight."

Steve slapped the counter in frustration. "No record?! But he forwarded me his itinerary." He pulled up the email on his phone and showed it to her. "There it is... confirmation number and everything. Can you put that information in?"

She frowned, but typed in the confirmation number. A moment later, she shook her head. "No, sorry. There is no record at all of that ticket."

With a sigh, Steve put his phone away. "Look, there has to be something you can do."

Without looking up again, she passed him a card. "You can try calling our customer service offices, Sir. I'm sorry I can't do more to help you. Have a good day."

He opened his mouth to say something else, but then snapped it shut again. She was already beckoning the next person in line to take his place. And clearly, she didn't know how to get the information he needed. Someone higher up in the chain would be able to do more. He knew that ticket existed. There had to be a record of it somewhere, and he was going to find it. "Thanks for your help," he finally said. "Good day." As he stepped away from the counter, he scrutinized the card. No address, just a phone number. He slipped the card into his wallet. Jerry could get him an address. He would rather talk to someone face to face than over the phone.

Damn... what am I going to tell Charlie? They were due to pick the little boy up from school in half an hour. Steve strode briskly through the airport, out the door, to the spot where he'd parked his car in the lot. As he slid behind the wheel, he dialed Danny's ex. "Rachel? Yeah, hi. No, I haven't got Danny. Listen... we've got a problem."

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On the way to Charlie's school, Steve made several calls. First, to Jerry, to get the address where he could meet with an Aloha Airlines customer service rep in person. Second, to Tani, to get her to call Danny's hotel in Breckenridge and find out whether Danny had ever checked out. Third, to Junior, to arrange for him to house sit and take care of Eddie. Finally, he made sure that Lou was ready to take the lead on the cases they still had open, because Steve wasn't about to stick around here now that he knew something really was wrong.

He picked up Charlie as promised, his heart aching for the little boy as he came running out, full of excitement, to his daddy's car, only to discover that his daddy wasn't there. Steve came around the car and knelt down to Charlie's eye level. "Hey, buddy. I know you're disappointed. Your daddy had trouble getting on his flight today, but I'm going to go help him out and make sure he gets home as quick as I can. And when he does, we'll have that ice cream together, OK?"

Charlie gulped a little and rubbed his sleeve across his face to dry his tears. Then his arms went around Steve's neck. "You promise, Uncle Steve?" The level of trust this little boy placed in him to bring his Danno home humbled Steve. It meant more to him even than the governor's trust.

He hugged Charlie tight, then saw Rachel walking up from her car. "Hi, Rachel," he called.

Charlie let go of Steve's neck, then turned and ran to his mom. "Mommy! Danno didn't make it home today but Uncle Steve's gonna go get him."

"Uncle Steve is a good friend." Rachel hugged Charlie, then straightened and looked to Steve. Her quiet glance spoke a thousand words. Find him, Steve. Please. Bring him home. Grace and Charlie still need him. She couldn't give voice to her worry in front of her son, but she didn't need to. Steve nodded, his own gaze carrying a solemn promise that he would not rest until he had done as she asked.

He watched as, hand in hand, mother and son walked back to their car. Then he slid back behind the wheel of Danny's Chevy Camaro and headed to the Palace.

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"All right, what have you got for me?" Steve asked as he strode through the office doors. They swung shut behind him and he moved directly to the table-top computer in the middle of the room. Tani already had the pertinent information on the screen. "Not a lot, Boss. None of the hotel staff seem to have any memory of Danny and they can't find any record of his reservation."

Steve frowned. "And you tried pinging his phone?"

She nodded. "Yes. Nothing at all. Either his battery died or he removed it."

"How about data on where he was the last time it was turned on? Is that available?"

She tapped the tabletop, bringing up a map. "The most recent data is from yesterday and shows him in the mountains near Golden, Colorado."

"Well, that's a start at least. Hopefully the phone will come online again. Set it to alert you if it does. And get Danny's picture out to the Colorado state police and all the hospitals in the Denver metro area. Now, how about the airline, Jerry? Do you have an address for me?"

"It's back at the airport. Sorry, you'll have to drive it again."

"Not a problem, because I intend to be on the next flight out." Steve stepped into his office briefly to grab the bag he kept packed and ready for emergency travel. "I'll be back when I can. Lou's taking lead on our cases. He's on the way in now." With that, he hurried out the door.

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Two hours later, Steve was boarding a flight to Denver after an unsatisfactory conversation with the airline's customer service representative. At least Julian Chambers had tried to figure out the problem, but somehow all record of Danny's ticket had been wiped out of the computer system and could not be recovered. Steve wished he had listened to his gut the first time Danny failed to call Charlie. It just wasn't like him. Danny was so proud of his kids and thoroughly committed to being their dad. He wouldn't have let any woman distract him from that.

He paid for the Wi-Fi access on the flight so that he could keep in contact with the rest of 5-0. If they heard anything, he wanted to know about it. About three hours in, his phone buzzed, and he whipped it out. Tani had messaged him. Swedish Medical Center in Englewood has a John Doe who fits Danny's description. See Dr. Dana Phillips. She included a phone number and an address. Steve frowned. John Doe... that meant Danny wasn't able to tell anyone who he was and he didn't have his ID on him. If it even was Danny. It could just be some guy who looked like him.

He pulled up the onscreen keyboard to write a response. Ask them to send a photo, then forward it to me.

Her answer came seconds later. Already asked. No dice — privacy laws. You have to go there and speak to them first.

Steve thumped a fist on the tray table, startling his seatmate. "Sorry."

The remaining four hours of the flight seemed to stretch on a lot longer than that. When the plane finally landed at DIA, Steve lurched out of his seat the instant the fasten seatbelt light turned off. He grabbed his bag and was the first one up the jetway. He hadn't checked any luggage, so he was able to go straight to the car rental desk and get his vehicle.

Normally, so he'd heard, the drive from the airport to the hospital would take about thirty minutes. Today the roads were icy and a heavy snow was falling, forcing traffic to a crawl. Steve made it in about 45 minutes. If Danny had been with him, he'd have been complaining non-stop, certain that Steve was about to get them both killed. And just now, Steve would have given anything to hear it.

He pulled in to the parking lot at Swedish Medical Center and parked the rental car, then hurried in, hardly noticing the cold. At the reception desk, he flashed his badge and asked for Dr. Phillips.

Five minutes later, the slender grey-haired doctor was escorting him upstairs to the second floor. "The patient was found unconscious in an alley about ten blocks from here. Looked as if he'd been living... well... pretty rough. He awoke briefly but didn't speak at all... at least not coherently... before he lost consciousness again. One of our volunteers gave him a shave earlier this afternoon. That's when I realized he matched the description your colleague sent."

She gestured for him to take a right at the end of the corridor and then conducted him to the third room on the left, stopping just outside the door. "If this is your friend, I will need permission from his next of kin before I can tell you anything more. I understand that you are a member of Hawaii's law enforcement, but of course, you have no jurisdiction here and I am bound by privacy laws."

"Well, I can ease your mind on that." Steve dug in his pocket and pulled out his wallet for the notarized document he had brought with him. "Had a feeling this might come up. I am his next of kin, and there's your proof. Now let's see if this is my friend."

Dr. Phillips glanced at the document, then pushed the door open and allowed Steve to enter ahead of her. "Well?" she asked as she stepped in behind him.

Steve stared at the man in the bed. All the way here, he'd convinced himself it would be this easy, just stepping into the hospital and claiming his friend. But nothing was ever really that easy. The fellow on the bed really did look like Danny — so close they could almost be brothers. He shook his head and breathed out a heavy sigh. "No. It isn't Danny. I'm sorry I wasted your time."