Busy writing something else just now, but yesterday my funny-looking dog gave me an extended funny-looking stare while I was sitting on hold with my IT helpdesk. I was on hold for 2 hours in the end, during which time this came out. It's the dog's fault. Bad dog. Two hour fic... might be a bit Ruff? (groan. sorry.)
Disclaimer- Just borrowing, own nothing.
Acknowledgements- ECT for the read through, KQ, IC and PP for putting up with my shit and being generally lovely.
Warnings- bit of language. Danny whump. Dog fluff.
A FLUFFY DOG STORY
One gap between the newspapers covering the kitchen floor, just one… and that was where the puppy had crapped. Of course.
It looked up at him, head slightly to one side, wagging its tail as it sat there. Its long, wet tongue lolled out, completing the look of idiocy on its face.
Steve sighed and took a step towards the crap. The puppy jumped to its feet, bounded happily towards him. Ran straight through the crap. Papers scattered. Dog crap paw-prints on the tile. It jumped up at him, smeared the stuff on his cargoes, then scrabbled excitedly at him with its front legs until it was covered in it too.
Steve sighed again, deeply. One floor to clean, a change of clothes now required, and one puppy to wash if she was going to be fit for purpose today. How the hell did he get himself into these things?
…...
"A puppy? Are you serious? How you gonna find time for a puppy?" Steve's face twisted into a look of scornful disbelief.
Danny glared at him incredulously. "Can you please just watch the road? Could we not have had this conversation an hour ago when I actually told you about the freaking puppy? Remember? When we were sitting drinking coffee in nice comfortable chairs in the nice safe office and you basically ignored me? So, what, you felt you had to wait until you were pursuing gun-toting madmen through the streets of Waikiki at 150 miles an hour before you could even acknowledge that I'd said anything out loud? What the hell is the matter with you, huh?"
Steve threw the Camaro into a stomach turning sideways skid. "What? I wasn't ignoring you. I was thinking it over. It's a big commitment. Have you thought it through?"
Danny cringed as the Camaro bounced up onto the sidewalk, narrowly missing a random pedestrian. "Of course I thought it through! And now you actually appear to be listening, I'll tell you again, see if the information can penetrate your thick skull this time. It's not for me. It's for Grace. I said that. It's her birthday in two weeks and since the other dog died a while back and Rachel and Stan have never seen fit to provide my baby girl with a replacement… I thought it would be perfect."
Steve pulled on the handbrake and spun the steering wheel, eyes fixed on the perps' car as it reversed rapidly past them. "Oh okay. And what does Rachel think about this?"
"Rachel…" Danny was speaking through gritted teeth now, maybe for more reasons than one. "Rachel is a liar and everyone knows she is a liar and she is doing her damndest to ingratiate herself to me right now, no doubt to discourage me from suing her ass for what she did to me."
Foot to the floor and they were off again, landscape flashing by in a blur. "I see. So you've not asked yet but you're gonna take advantage of her current co-operative attitude to inflict a pet on her which needs a lot of attention and is going to be a long-term commitment. Bearing in mind Gracie will be leaving home and going to college in about 4 years."
"Hey, don't remind me. And okay, so Rachel's current frame of mind does make things easier in a twisted, sick, gut-wrenching kind of way… but no, that is not what I'm trying to do, Steven. I'm trying to do something nice for my daughter. And I figure even when she does leave home, not that we're even thinking about that, it will be a pet for Charlie too. Every boy should have a dog."
"So it's a present for Charlie in the guise of a present for Grace. That's cheap."
"Shut up."
Danny flinched as a bullet pinged off the windshield, then wound down the window and returned fire.
"What sort you gonna get?" Steve had to shout to be heard over the sound of rushing air.
"What?"
"What breed?"
Steve brought the Camaro to a screeching stop as the vehicle they were pursuing left the road in front of them and rolled down a steep embankment. And the crazy bastards must have had their explosives in the vehicle with them because the blast that followed was fucking enormous.
The partners got out the Camaro then stood side-by-side, watching the inferno. No one was getting out of that. Distant sirens approached, signifying the impending arrival of HPD, who had at one time been hot on their heels.
Danny holstered his weapon and leant against the hood of his car. "There's a litter of Golden Retriever puppies that's gonna be ready next week over in Wahiawa. They're not cheap but the breed is perfect for kids."
"And plenty of hair for Rachel to have to vacuum too, right?" Steve smiled a knowing smile, eyes following the billowing smoke up high into the perfect blue sky.
Danny snorted. "Rachel has a cleaner. It's not even a consideration."
Steve raised his eyebrows knowingly and shot Danny a sideways look and okay, so Danny couldn't conceal the smug little grin that suggested if Rachel's 20000 dollar suite got a little hairy that wouldn't be such a bad thing. Steve let him have that.
At that moment the first HPD car arrived at the scene and they started to walk over.
"Although," said Danny, "I'll go look in the animal shelter first. If there's something needing a home that fits the bill, so much the better, right?"
Steve couldn't argue with that. But he couldn't let Danny have two free wins in a row either. "Okay but I'm coming with you. You'll need guidance."
"Are you serious? To choose a puppy for my kid?"
"You'll thank me. Trust me."
…...
Steve let go of the puppy for long enough to reach for a towel, only to get showered with water as the thing shook itself. He turned back. It looked at him, pretty pleased with itself, tongue lolling again.
It looked ridiculous. Even fluffier than it had pre-bath. At least it wasn't covered in crap any more.
He wrapped it in the towel, picked it up and started to walk out of the bathroom. It twisted its head around and licked his cheek, telling him in no uncertain terms that it loved him and life and everything with its whole tiny heart.
Suddenly he couldn't breathe. He sank down to the ground, back to the wall and buried his face in the towel and the wet puppy fluff and tried to breathe, just tried to breathe.
…...
"It's not Grace's birthday till the end of next week, right? What you gonna do with it if you get one now?" Steve asked as they wandered up and down the line of cages, perusing the hopeful faces inside.
"Well, seeing as you've decided to be so involved, I thought it could stay at yours."
Steve stopped, stared at Danny for a second, wide-eyed. Then he saw his partner's mouth curl into a smirk. "Funny."
"No, clearly I'm kidding. I wouldn't inflict that on any animal. It'll stay with me. I already spoke to Mrs Ailani next door. She said she'd take it while I'm at work. See? Organised. That's what I am."
Steve nodded absently, then pointed to a nearby cage. "Here, this is the one."
Danny glared at him, incredulous. "That is not the one."
"Come on! He's sleek, he's intelligent, he's fit. Look at him! Bet we could train him to bring down a perp. He's got that focused look in his eye."
"Steve, okay. Number one, we are shopping for a dog for my daughter, not recruiting a new member of Five-0. Number two, it's not even a puppy, it's a full grown Doberman! I'm looking for cute, not potential killing machine! Cute! Think less canine version of you and more canine version of, I don't know... Jerry! Well, without the paranoia. And number three… number three just shut up! I didn't ask you to come, you don't even like dogs, you prefer cats! You do not get to have an opinion!"
Steve held his hands in the air. "Hey, I'm just trying to help. Anyway, animal behavior is all about the owner, not the breed. There's nothing wrong with Dobermans, Danno." Then realization hit him and he frowned theatrically, grabbed Danny's arm. "Hey, wait a minute... you think Jerry's cute? Something you want to tell me, partner?"
Danny glared at him even more intensely as he pulled his arm free, and Steve shrugged, smirking. He looked around again. Cute. Steve mouthed the word silently, trying to picture what might pass for cute in Danny's mind. "Okay, what about this one?" He strode off down the row of cages, then realized Danny wasn't following and turned back. "What?"
Danny was standing, staring into a cage, transfixed.
Steve walked back to his side, turned and looked in. There was a puppy inside, sitting staring right back at them, head cocked. It was stupidly fluffy and mostly white, one black splodge over its left eye, which was blue, the other being light brown. It wagged its tail, highlighting the fact that that particular appendage was way too long, seriously out of proportion with the rest of its body. In fact, Steve realized, the whole thing just looked plain weird. It was like someone had put together a dog from left over mis-matched dog parts then stuck tufts of cotton wool all over the result. Danny wanted cute. Was it cute? It looked… wrong.
"Its ears are wonky." Steve pointed out as a starter.
"I know," Danny murmured in a tone that suggested that Steve's observation was nothing short of a heart-felt compliment.
Steve screwed up his face. "Cute? Seriously?"
Danny turned a disbelieving gaze on him. "Yes. Yes it is. It's okay, I don't expect you to get it because you do not think like a normal human being. However, trust me when I say it's perfect."
…...
Nervous. Steve was actually starting to feel nervous about a freaking puppy and a girl's fourteenth birthday. When had his life come down to this?
He'd dried the fur already. He brushed it, tried to tame it into submission then gave up. It was always going to be fluffy. Was that cute? It certainly wasn't smart. Maybe it was cute. He picked up the stupid pink silk ribbon with the overlarge bow and secured it round the puppy's neck.
The puppy sat back on its haunches, surprised, then tried to turn around to look at the bow on the back of its neck. It ran round in circles then fell over. It stayed there on its back for no good reason, wiggling its paws in the air and snorting.
Ridiculous. Or cute? Okay, maybe. Maybe Danno had been onto something.
…...
Steve glanced at Danny. "So what's the big plan? Gracie coming over to yours on her birthday? You gonna put it in a box?"
Danny screwed up his face, gave Steve a pitying look then went back to peering at the boat moored fifty yards away from them. They were lying in wait for the surviving members of the explosives gang, hiding behind a handy stack of ubiquitous crates. "Put it in a box? What the hell are you even saying, Steven, you can't put a puppy in a box! And anyway, no, I'm not getting Gracie on her birthday. Rachel and Stan are taking her to the Big Island to look at volcanoes as a surprise. I'll get her for the weekend when they get back."
Steve frowned. "So you don't see her on her birthday at all? That sucks. Why'd you agree to that?"
Danny sighed deeply, clearly resigned, and Steve felt the sudden urge to murder Rachel. Not for the first time.
"I agreed because it's educational and I know she's been wanting to go. I can't say 'no' to that without looking like a dick. Anyway, I figured I'd go see her when she's leaving. Take the puppy. She can meet it and I'll keep it till she comes back." He smiled a sad little smile.
"Aaah, I get it. So you get to see her and you get to steal their thunder."
Danny shrugged, because yeah and so what. He laughed a funny little laugh.
"What?"
"Promise you won't laugh?"
"No. Tell me anyway."
"Okay, I've just got this image of Gracie coming out the front door of that stupid mansion on her way to the private super-helicopter or whatever, and she spots the puppy playing on the front lawn. And it's got this big pink bow round its neck so it kinda looks like a present, yeah? But she's not sure and she walks over and gets this look when she realizes it's for her. She just smiles at me then runs over and picks up the puppy and she looks happy. And I get to know that I put that look on her face. Stupid, huh?"
Steve stared at him, blinking, because sometimes Danny could cut through all of Steve's barriers by saying the simplest thing and just fill him full of stupid affection and make him want to hug the man and punch every single person who'd ever hurt him in any way whatsoever square in the face all at the same time. He cleared his throat. "No. No, that's not stupid. I get it."
Danny let out a long breath. "Yeah well. I don't know if I can pull it off like that but I'm gonna try. I guess it's important, I don't know why."
Steve reached over, squeezed his shoulder. "You're a good father, Danno."
Danny snorted, but then there was movement on the boat and two figures walked ashore. "Here we go!"
…...
Steve stood with the puppy, remembering the way Danny had wanted the present hand-over to go down before everything had gone to shit.
He saw Rachel at the window, checking he was in position. She gave a little wave when she spotted him then moved out of sight. The plan had been altered, of course, the trip to Big Island put off indefinitely, but the puppy thing could still happen the way Danny had wanted it to. Steve had spoken to Rachel about it and she was on side for once. It was a small, small thing in the big scheme of things… but it had been so important to Danny.
Steve let go of the puppy, threw a squeaky toy for her onto the front lawn and watched as she chased it. He looked up as the front door opened. He pulled out his cellphone and hit 'record' because this was important. He was doing this for Danny and he wanted to remember it, wanted to watch again to see if he'd gotten it right.
He watched as Gracie stepped out onto the front porch and looked over at him, plainly puzzled. His heart clenched. She'd been forced to grow up rapidly over the last two weeks. The child-like enthusiasm her birthday had brought her just the previous year was gone. She looked composed, but so deeply, achingly sad that Steve just wanted to hold her close and never, ever let anything hurt her again. He watched as her attention was caught by the puppy rolling comically on the front lawn. He watched her frown, confused, then look from him to the dog several times. He watched as she took in the ridiculous pink bow, the fluffy coat and the happy face of the little animal. He watched as realization dawned and she smiled, just a little. The sadness seemed to drop away for a long, precious moment. Steve couldn't help but smile too. It was a pale echo of what Danny had hoped for… but that smile had been genuine and that was a miracle in itself.
Still flicking her gaze between the puppy and Steve, Grace began to walk over to him, a question in her eyes.
He put away his cell and wrapped his arms around her, pulled her close. "Danno chose her for you sweetie. Before…" He felt his own voice breaking and he stopped.
She clung to him then and he could feel his shirt getting wet as she wept silently, then she turned away and picked up the puppy, holding it close. It licked her wet face enthusiastically and she giggled. She looked back to Steve then, and he saw just an edge of joy in her sad brown eyes. "Thank you," she whispered.
…...
"Danny!" Steve shouted into his radio as he ran. "He's coming your way! Stop him!"
He rounded the corner seconds later only to see Danny bent over double, down on one knee, gasping for breath and clutching at his back.
Steve ran up to him, put a hand on his shoulder. "Danny? You good?"
"'nother guy." Danny wheezed. "Was hiding… here. Lucky… punch. Kidneys."
Steve winced, because kidney punches fucking hurt. "Which way'd they go?"
Danny pointed.
"You stay, get your breath."
"No. M'good."
Steve clapped him hard on the back and pulled him to his feet. Then they were running, Steve barking instructions to Chin and Kono and Lou over the radio to get the slippery little bastards boxed in.
"There!" Danny rasped out.
Steve looked, caught sight of the figures up ahead making for a van and just no way were they getting away. No way. Shots were coming their way and, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Danny take cover behind a crate then open fire. Steve moved to the side, following suit from a different angle in a well-practiced pincer movement. A volley of shots took out the perps' tires, took the legs out from under one. The others ground to a halt, laid weapons down and turned slowly, hands on heads.
Kono materialized from the other side, gun drawn, looking every inch the badass, and Steve smiled broadly in satisfaction. They had them. They already had reams of evidence to prove their guilt. Bomb plot foiled, surviving bad guys virtually guaranteed to spend the rest of their natural lives in Halawa. Job done. He strode over, pulling zip-ties from his TAC vest as he went.
Kono beamed at him as she secured the squealing man with the leg wound, then she looked beyond him and her face fell. She frowned in concern. "Danny okay?"
Steve turned, saw Danny sitting back against the crate he'd taken cover behind. "Yeah, kidney punch. Still winded I guess." Danny must have seen them looking his way. He raised a hand to indicate he was good and pushed himself to his feet, started walking towards them slowly.
Then Chin was there, Lou was there, HPD were (finally) there, the bad guys were being frisked and thrown into marked cars, hauled off for medical attention/questioning as appropriate. A good result. Nothing left to do but procrastinate over paperwork and drink a celebratory beer or three.
Steve grinned smugly. "Beer?" he called over in Danny's general direction. Steve had been aware of him settling against another crate a little closer to them, had given him time to get his breath while the mess was being mopped up. Recollection hit him. "No. Puppy first, right? We've gotta collect the puppy from Mrs Ailani. Then beer. Well, I'll drink beer while you clean up dog crap." He smirked, waited for a caustic response. When none was forthcoming he turned his head, looked at Danny.
Danny was standing now, like he'd taken a step towards Steve but then stopped. He was swaying on his feet, white as a sheet, sweat running freely down his face. What the fuck?
Steve pushed himself up off the crate he'd been leaning against and took a step closer. "Danny?"
"S-Steve?" The voice was faint, confused, scared, and prompted Steve to stride towards him, close the distance between them. He almost made it to Danny's side before his partner went down on his knees.
"Shit. Shit. DANNY! Somebody call a bus!" Steve shouted, never looking away from Danny. He ran the last few steps, skidded to a halt on his knees in front of him, grasped his shoulders.
With marked difficulty Danny's eyes found Steve's.
"Danny? Talk to me. You hit?" And just like that Steve was transported to another hellish time and place when Danny had been exposed to sarin. Danny looked at him, pain and confusion and fear in his wide blue eyes and it was the same, it felt the same. Steve shook the feeling, told himself it wasn't the same.
Danny was trying to speak, his lips were moving like he was trying to answer but no sound came out.
"Okay, you're gonna be fine." Steve pressed his fingers to Danny's neck, still holding his gaze. Rapid, weak pulse. Kidney punch, that was all. Painful. Plus adrenaline crash maybe? Please please please let that be all. He tore off Danny's TAC vest, eyes roving the white shirt beneath for blood as he did so.
The rest of the team was with them now, he was vaguely aware of that, and Chin moved in to hold Danny upright, gripping his shoulders as Steve moved behind him, searching. He saw a red stain low on Danny's back, a hole in the material. He pulled up Danny's shirt. Fuck. A neat little wound, just to the right of his spine, below his ribs. It was an inch across and bleeding by just the tiniest amount, the appearance clearly belying the seriousness of the injury. Danny hadn't been punched at all. He'd been stabbed. The knife had gone in just below his vest. Steve ducked his head for a moment, squeezed his eyes shut, then moved back round in front of Danny.
He grasped Danny's shoulder, hand beside Chin's. "Okay, just take it easy. There's a bus on its way. You're gonna be fine, you hear me? We've got a puppy to collect. Even if it is funny-looking. Right?"
A vague smile and blue, blue pain-filled eyes held his gaze, lacking comprehension, searching for an answer. But then those eyes lost their focus and Danny's head lolled limply to the side.
The evidence added up rapidly in Steve's head, training kicking in. "Internal bleeding. Shock. He's going into shock! Lie him down, hold his legs up. NOW! Where the hell are the EMTs?!"
Then people were running, shouting around them as he knelt by Danny's head, his partner now unconscious on the hot concrete, his eyes still open but blank and empty. Steve was shouting in his face, digging fingers into his shoulder, his cheek, trying to sound like he was issuing commands, trying not to sound like he was panicking. But those lips were turning fucking blue and they couldn't lose Danny. "Danny, you stay with me, you hear me?" And he was trying to fucking make him fight with the harsh tone of his words alone. "You just keep fucking breathing, you hear me? You do not fucking give up. Keep breathing. In and out. You're doing good. You're gonna be just fine."
…...
Steve watched as Grace, kneeling on the grass, cuddled the dog, kissed it, held it close like it was the most important thing in the world to her for all she hadn't known the thing even existed two minutes earlier. "What you gonna call her?"
Soulful brown eyes turned to look at him. "Did Danno give her a name?"
Steve shook his head. "He wanted you to name her."
Gracie frowned for a few moments. "I might let Charlie name her. What do you think?"
He thought he couldn't breathe past the lump in his throat, that was what he thought. "I think Danno would be proud of you for that, Gracie," he choked out.
…...
Danny's face. Those scared, wide eyes.
Danny's hand, limp in his own. Cold.
Paramedics barking frantic instructions to each other as the bus tore along. As they fought to get him back.
The face of the ER doctor. A practiced expression, firm but sympathetic as she described the injury that had caused Danny's strong heart to stop. Single stab wound to the back, angled up. Not deep, but it had pierced a kidney. Danny had bled heavily internally, had gone into hypovolemic shock before anyone had even realized he was injured. Then a heart attack. He'd suffered a heart attack.
The images, the words, looped in Steve's mind as he sat, head bowed. His hands shook. His cheeks were wet and he didn't even care. He was still in the waiting room. They'd told him to go home and someone had to pick up that fucking dog. But he couldn't remember how to walk.
He couldn't quite believe Danny had done what he had done. Running, shooting, having Steve's back right to the last, right till he'd finally gone down. He should have checked him over when he'd found him in pain, not dragged him round the docks chasing freaking perps.
He was never gonna forgive himself. Never.
…...
Steve played the clip of Grace and the dog over and over and over again. He watched Gracie's smile, that moment of surprise and pleasure layered amongst all the shock and the grief that had gone before.
He thought about Grace and the little puppy. Not such a little puppy any more. It had sprouted over the last four weeks. It was big enough to leave a trail of chaos in its wake, sweeping ornaments to the floor with its ridiculous, happy tail.
It had kept Gracie going and that was the only thing keeping him going.
He looked up. Danny's eyes were open again and Steve held the cell up towards the blank face, played the clip for his partner for the hundredth time. Maybe he would see it this time.
"What do you think buddy? Not quite how you wanted it but I tried. Did I do okay?" He didn't expect an answer. He wasn't letting himself hope anymore. Wasn't letting himself dream that Danny was still in there, that brain damage hadn't taken everything that was him away from them. Left them with an empty shell.
But this time Danny smiled. His lips moved hesitantly, formed the word 'yeah'. No sound came out, but Steve heard it as sure as if he'd yelled it in his ear.
The cell fell from Steve's fingers as he bent close, cupping Danny's cheek, looking into those blue eyes in disbelief. Danny looked at him. For the very first time since the nightmare on the dock that familiar gaze fixed on his… and there was a question there.
Steve snorted wetly. "Yes, okay you were right, I admit it. The dog's cute. I get it now. It really is perfect, okay?"
Danny smiled a little wider.
THE END
Didn't want to say too much at the start and give it away or anything... This specific whump I've been wanting to incorporate in something for ages. I saw this happen just like this with my own eyes a few years back, with the running and the carrying on and the not realizing. The outcome was different- they got him back four times over a day or so but then he died. Clearly I couldn't let that happen to Danny!
Anyhoo, please review. Love reviews. FF Writer fuel. Make me write more (not for this).