Words Can Kill

Synopsis: When an argument between Danny and Steve spirals out of control and they both say things they don't mean, can one of them survive a deadly accident to apologize? DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-O and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I haven't ventured into the Hawaii Five-O space yet…so here goes.

Apologies to anyone that is getting double notified here, I posted this in the wrong section of the TV Series, under the old series and not the reboot. Please forgive the mistake.

Please take a second and let me know if you're interested in this being continued.

Chapter One:

Words and Bullets

Detective Danny Williams had never thought that words could hurt as much as a bullet, but as he stalked away from his partner, Steve McGarrett, he realized he'd been wrong. The man that he'd been friends with for over four years had just expressed, in no uncertain terms, just how little he valued the Jersey native. Danny scrubbed his hand through his blonde hair in irritation and blew out a loud breath before he crawled behind the wheel of his Camaro. He couldn't help the old feeling that erupted in his chest when 'it feels all wrong'. He made the payments every month and yet he almost never got to drive his beloved black car. It actually irritated him to no end, but there was a part of him that accepted it as part of the package that was 'Super-SEAL-Steve'. At least that's what he called the man behind his back. And sometimes to his face, it just depended on how irritating the taller man was being at any given moment. He supposed that it was like Steve calling him 'Danno'. Even though Danny had asked vehemently that he not do it. From the first day they'd met, four years ago, Danny had been asking the navy man not to use the name.

A light Hawaiian breeze picked at his blonde hair as he threw the car into reverse and backed out of the muddy parking area. Raindrops started to splatter across his windshield and Danny frowned. Light passed through the trees into the opening he'd just pulled out of. The crime scene was lit up in bright white as HPD officers milled around. Anger flared in his chest and Danny hit the steering wheel in frustration.

"What the hell, Steven?!" His jersey accent hung thickly in the unusually silent air of his car as he slammed it into drive and peeled out of the area. The bright white of the halogen lights illuminated the edges of the dirt road and mud splattered all over his recently washed and waxed vehicle. Chin and Kono were still at the campsite where the cache of guns had been discovered, so he knew that there was no one at headquarters to pester him as he worked through his anger at partner.

In typical Hawaii fashion it started to rain. Hard. He'd lived in this pineapple infested hellhole long enough to know that these little tropical storms, as Steve liked to call them, could easily turn into torrential downpours and this one had all the makings of a nasty one. Danny ignored the small inner voice that warns him of the declining conditions, it sounded annoyingly like Steve, and pressed down harder on the gas pedal as he swerved around a tight corner. His thoughts drifted to his partner and he clenched his teeth as the Navy man's biting words replayed in stereo inside his head.

H50 H50

"Steve, Chin and Kono are almost here. We need the backup. Hell, we don't even know why those men are out here. Or how many of them there are." Danny trudged along behind his partner, his anxiety rising in spades the further from the trailhead they got. He shifted the backpack on his shoulders and shook his head at Steve's insistent need to 'be prepared'. Danny knew from experience that there would be everything from duct tape to protein bars inside the survival pack. Not that he was ever eating one of the cardboard tasting, cellophane wrapped pieces of filth. They ranked right up there with pineapple on pizza's…it's just wrong on every level.

Steve turned and looked over his shoulder, throwing Danny one of his many 'faces'. "And by the time they get up here, those men can hide those guns and we'll never find them. There're caves all over these mountains, Danny. Well not caves, but old lava tubes."

"And if we tumble to our deaths, they'll definitely get away with the guns." Danny couldn't help it as his blue gaze drifted over the side of the trail they were currently making their way along. A long drop that ended in a rocky grave stared back up at him. He shivered. "This is not how police investigate potential gun stashes, Steven." He jumped over a root that tried to trip him, throwing an irritated glare at the plant. "And don't tell me, I know, that we are Five-0, not regular police but still, would it kill you to wait for back up?"

Steve finally stopped and turned to pin Danny with an annoyed look. "What did I tell you the first day we met?" A bead of sweat dripped down his face and he swiped at it haphazardly.

Danny couldn't help but roll his eyes at the unwanted reminder of that 'fateful' day. The day that one Lieutenant Commander Steven J. McGarrett had completely and utterly blasted into the detective's life and had then, blown it apart like C4. Danny had never hated anyone as much as he hated the Navy SEAL on that day. The man had threatened him, stalked him, forced Danny to be his partner, gotten him shot, and almost gotten him killed on a Chinese freighter. But Steve had also managed to apologize, gain the detective's grudging respect, and give Danny and his daughter, Grace, one of the best weekends they'd had since the detective had moved to Hawaii. So the man had earned some 'grace' points…Danny almost chuckled at the phrase.

"Danny? You ignoring me?" Steve whined.

"What? No. You told me I was the backup." He answered almost absently and Steve nodded with that irritating little smirk that he used on special occasions to piss Danny off. "Shut up." Danny blurted out and shook his head in mock irritation.

And then all hell broke loose.

Bullets were flying and people were running. Danny found himself dodging some asshole with a damn bowie knife and he'd completely lost sight of Steve. The jungle wasn't helping him either; Danny tripped over a collection of vines and slid down the side of the mountain until he crashed into a tree, which forced all the air from his lungs. He hated bruised ribs, almost as much as he hated Steve at the moment. Groaning, he rolled over and took a moment to breathe through the pain. But as the report of multiple weapons echoed above his head, Danny knew that he needed to get back up where his partner was. What he hadn't expected was...that the bastard with the knife would come tumbling down the hillside after him.

Danny rolled up to his knees and forced himself to his feet barely managing to deflect the blade as it slashed down toward Danny in an impressive arc. He hissed when it slid along his left forearm and blood spilled down his hand, dropping onto the jungle floor. "Son of a bitch." He spat and spun away managing to put some distance between the man and himself. His eyes landed on his gun just up from where he stop. "A camp full of guns and the best you can find is a pig sticker?" He knew he was egging the guy on, but Danny needed a distraction so he can get to the pistol.

"Seems appropriate considering I'm gonna stick you, pig." The guy spat out in anger. Like literally, he spit on the detective he was that close. Guy thought he had Danny on the ropes. But this wasn't the first, or even nearly the first, time the Jersey detective had had a knife thrust in his face. Danny was slowly working his way backwards along the hillside, up toward his abandoned weapon.

"Really? The pig thing? What is it with lowlife scumbags calling cops 'pigs'? Can you explain that to me? Because to be honest I've never understood that. I mean I go the gym, chase around thugs all day, and I only eat donuts when someone leaves them in the office." The guy stares at Danny like he was crazy, so he kept talking. "So how does that make me a pig? Now my partner…yeah, he could be classified as a pig. Although, he's in better shape, likes to swim for miles, is there a pig that can swim? The guy can hold his breath for like ten minutes, and he likes to kill people with things like twigs and pens. Come to think of it, pigs can't do any of that." He was cut off when the guy suddenly jumped toward him just as Danny's fingers slipped along the handle of his gun.

Another gunshot above him had him worried for Steve's safety, but he needed to deal with his own problem before he could help his partner. Danny managed to get the guy in the abdomen with a well-placed shot before the man could disembowel him, which was what Danny thinks the SOB had been going for. The guy collapsed in a heap of flesh and the detective scrambled back up the hill toward the continuing gunfire. The longer he was in the jungle the more he was reminded about how much he hates jungles. Every time he'd been in a jungle, with Steve, something bad had happened. Like North Korea or the Aloha Girls camping trip or any number of other 'bad things' that have happened over their four year partnership.

The sudden silence above him had Danny lighting a fire under his own ass and clambering over roots and vines to reach the trail. And then he heard it. A man with an accent and he had to be talking to Steve. Because no one can piss someone off as fast as Steve McGarrett.

"I swear to God I'm gonna enjoy this." A sudden 'oomph' had Danny wincing. He snuck through the foliage and managed to catch sight of his partner, on his knees, in front of two Asian men. Both looked pretty serious about the threat and the detective looked around for any advantage. The guys were too close to Steve for him to rush them, but they were also too far away for Steve to take them both out before one of them managed to put a bullet in his head. Danny pressed his lips together in thought.

It only took a moment for Danny to assess the situation. As much as McGarrett liked to give him shit about his abilities, he's confident in his capabilities; it's one of the reasons they get along so well as partners. There was no doubt that they've got each other's backs. His plan was crazy and he knew it the second Grace's face flashed in front of his eyes. Danny sent up a silent prayer that he isn't about to leave his young daughter fatherless with this harebrained scheme, but he doesn't have another choice. It was his job to keep his partner safe, at least as much as Steve will let him.

Taking a page out of Die Hard, Danny carefully placed the handgun between his shoulder blades and secured it there with some duct tape from the backpack that Steve packed. Because a guy from New Jersey never would have thought to throw tape into a pack when heading out for a 'quick peek' at an old campsite.

"We know you're out there." The one with the accent yelled. "Come out or I put a bullet between his eyes."

Another grunt from Steve had Danny stepping out of the foliage and onto the open trail.

Blood dripped from his partner's lip and a small gash above Steve's eye. Danny furrowed his eyebrows at the evidence of injury. Steve's blue-green eyes flashed up and widened when he saw Danny standing there, hands raised and weaponless.

"Uh, guys? I know he's annoying and all, but he's my partner. So I can't just let you kill him." Danny tried to express that 'he had a plan' to Steve in his eyes. But all he saw in the other man's gaze was the anger that simmered beneath the surface. Like Danny had done something wrong in trying to protect the damn stubborn Navy SEAL.

"Two for one? Very nice." The lead man said as he nodded toward Danny. In the split second that he was focused on the detective, Steve, the dumbass, jumped up and tried to take down the guy. He managed to get shot in the shoulder for his trouble. But it was Danny that took control and in a move that would make Bruce Willis proud, he pulled the gun from his between his shoulder blades, ignoring the searing pain in his arm, and took down the two thugs. A bullet zings past him and lodged in the tree trunk not six inches from his head. Too close. He thought quickly.

Steve struggled to his feet and glared at Danny, 'What the hell had his partner been thinking?' It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the save, but Danny should've known better than to put himself in danger. Not even for Steve. That's what led to an argument that quickly spiraled out of control.

"You're a selfish bastard, you know that?" Danny finally spat out angrily.

"I'm selfish?" Steve's voice gained strength as he got more animated. He'd been scared when Danny had gone over the edge of the mountain. And all Steve could picture was his partner lying dead at the bottom of the ravine. But then the blonde had shown up and immediately put himself in mortal danger, again. And it sparked something inside Steve that was begging to be let out. "I'm selfish? Why? Because I don't want to bury my partner? Because I don't want to explain to your little girl why your dead and I'm not? I'm not the father here, Danny."

Danny was shaking, he was so angry. It wasn't that he had a problem with Steve being worried about his well-being. In fact Danny actually appreciated that the man worried about that, cuz he was fairly sure that Steve didn't give it a second thought. But he couldn't believe that Steve was using Gracie as an offensive weapon. He hadn't even noticed the blood dripping steadily down his own arm. "Are you kidding me? Did you just use Grace as a point in an argument?" Steve threw his hands up in anger and Danny felt his own blood pressure sky-rocketing. "Don't. Ever. Use. Grace." He took a menacing step closer to the taller man and nearly thrust his finger into Steve's chest, but he remembered the quick reflexes of the seal he clenched his fingers into fists instead. "My life isn't any more important that yours—"

He didn't even get to finish the sentence before Steve cut him off emphatically. "—Not true. You have a daughter that needs you and you can't—"

"—What? Do the same thing I've done for the last four years? Back you up? Jesus, I didn't even want to come without backup, but 'oh no', Mr. be-all-you-can-be thinks we can handle one little 'possible' gun stash site. What the hell is your problem, McGarrett?" Danny almost never reverted to calling Steve by his last name anymore. More affectionately he generally called him 'ninja', or 'super-seal', and on a really good day, 'Steven', but almost never 'McGarrett'.

The one thing that Danny couldn't see was the fear inside Steve's head. He'd been certain when he'd seen his partner careen over the edge of the trail that he'd lost the sarcastic, snarky Jersey cop. With everything else going on in Steve's life at that moment, he couldn't handle the thought of losing his best friend too. Because as much as he and Danny fight, it all comes from the same place, they were like brothers and brother's fight. Steve had only felt that level of fear a few times since they'd started working together, the Saran incident (which Steve hated even thinking about because it involved Jenna Kaye), Danny almost getting himself blown up after taking down a terrorist, and when the building exploded a few months ago. Steve had been terrified when Danny wouldn't answer him.

So he exploded on Danny.

H50 H50

Danny cranked the wheel of the Chevy around another corner and gripped the steering wheel tighter, his knuckles were going white from the intense pressure. The bandage around his forearm had a suspicious red stain and he knew that it needed stitches. But he was so angry and hurt that he decided not to wait for the paramedics, he;d just wrapped the cut with some gauze from the small first aid kit that Chin brought and then taken off.

He'd been grateful that the other man was more prepared than him. The rain picked up and a small part of Danny felt bad that he left his team on the side of the mountain in a storm. But he also knew that they were just picking up the pieces at this point and that Steve would be escorted to the hospital to deal with his own bullet wound soon enough. The unusual silence inside his car was disrupted when his phone started ringing. Danny glanced down at the caller ID and gritted his teeth when he saw 'Steve McGarrett' pop up.

"Not right now, Steve." He muttered angrily and with a single swipe he sent the call to voicemail. Danny lifted his gaze back to the road and his eyes widened in surprise and he slammed on the brakes before pulling the wheel to the left. A huge wild pig was standing directly in the middle of the road. The rain had hidden it from Danny's view. The tires, already saturated with mud and rainwater, slid across the surface of the road and the Camaro started to spin out of control. He barely heard the squeal of the pig, but he definitely felt the distinct thump as his front bumper as it struck the large animal. The car continued to spin dangerously and Danny was frantically trying to get control again. His eyes had blown wide when he saw the edge of the road getting far closer than he was comfortable with.

It all happened in the blink of an eye. One minute he was sliding and the next he's falling. The car flipped end over end as it rolled down the side of the steep mountain. Danny felt his chest slam into the seatbelt and pain rolled through him like a tidal wave. His arms flailed about like pieces of paper flying on the wind. His right arm cracked against the console and he felt the distinct crack as it broke, a burning pain raced up his arm. And still he was rolling… The crunch of metal when the car crashed its way through the Hawaiian jungle was nearly deafening and then it hit something and came to a shuddering halt. Danny's head crashed against the window and he felt the glass shatter when the airbags finally deployed, hitting him in the face. Pain. His entire world was now comprised of nothing but blinding, soul crushing agony.

Before the darkness could claim him, almost like the universe was playing a cruel joke, Danny's phone began to ring again. Steve's face popping up. It was the last thing Danny saw before his body effectively shut itself down.

H50 H50

Steve stared at his phone in anger. Not because he was completely soaked and standing outside Chin's nice warm car to get a decent cellular signal, but because he knew that Danny had 'ignored' his call. It was bad enough that he'd gone completely off the rails with his partner earlier, but to have the detective ignore his attempts to apologize too? Insult to injury.

His shoulder was killing him and he knew that he needed to get to the hospital and let them dig the bullet out, but Danny's angry red-flushed face kept popping up in front of him. Steve needed to fix this with his partner before he can do anything else. He hadn't meant to call Danny's instincts or his considerable skills into question, but he had. Steve had accused his partner of relying too much on what he'd done in the past and ignoring the more recent practices that Steve was an expert in. And then he'd used Grace as the last nail in the coffin of his argument. He'd known that that was a very bad idea where Danny was concerned. The man was fiercely protective of his eleven-year-old 'monkey', as he liked to call her. Steven knew that and he'd done it anyway.

"So you're calling me out for being a father, being a cop, and for not being a military special ops guy? Are you serious right now?" Danny's voice held an edge of disbelief, which was quickly replaced with white-hot anger. "In case you've forgotten, Commander McGarrett I was a cop for ten years before I ever met you and I was pretty damn solid at my job. Granted I wasn't getting shot at on a daily basis, but I was a good detective. So no. I didn't join the Navy and go off to war. I stayed home and fought one here. On U.S. soil."

Danny pulled in a ragged breath and turned away when he heard footsteps behind them. Chin and Kono were staring at their teammates in shock. They'd gotten there just in time to witness the last part of the argument. "As I recall, my detective skills are why you picked me for Five-O, so what's changed?" Danny looked away and finally swept his hand through the air dismissively. "You know what? I don't actually care. Catch a ride back with Chin, I'm gonna go get my arm checked out."

Steve wanted to say something, but he had no idea where to start. He hadn't meant to imply that what Danny had done as a cop was less important or less dangerous than what Steve had done as a SEAL. But somehow he'd done exactly that. Steve definitely hadn't needed Chin to call him out, but it certainly dug the shards of regret deeper when the older cop does exactly that. And now the stubborn son of a bitch Jersey native was ignoring his phone calls.

The rain poured down and lightning flashed in the distance. The storm was getting worse and that worried Steve. Shaking his head, he hurried back to the car and crawled inside. He winced when he realized that he was soaking the other man's leather seats. "Sorry." He muttered when Chin tossed a towel at him.

"Its okay, brah. Not the first time I've gotten water on these seats." Chin swallowed and watched as Kono pulled out of the small parking area at the trailhead. "Any luck getting Danny on the phone?" He asked in an attempt to break the silence.

"No." Steve answered quickly. He wiped water from his ears and winced when his shoulder twinged painfully. "I'll catch up with him at the hospital."

Chin simply nodded. He knew that his friends fought and make up. It's what seemed to work for Steve and Danny's relationship. They were definitely friends. More than friends, they were Ohana, family. And unfortunately families tend to fight. But that didn't mean that he liked it when things get out of hand with the two fiery tempered partners. Steve might be the undisputed leader of the Five-O task force, but Danny was the balance of that power for the military man. And when the two of them clashed? It was like a hurricane meeting a tornado, lots of destruction in its path. It was better to find shelter than try to ride it out.

Red taillights have Chin slowing as he rounded a curve. Kono's car was stopped in the middle of the muddy two-lane road. Chin looked over at Steve who shrugged and quickly dialed her number.

Kono picked up after one ring. That's how you answer the phone call from your partner, Danny. He thought absently. "Steve, I think someone went over the edge here." She said immediately after answering.

Steve's eyes shifted to the spot where her headlights were trained and he squinted. There was definitely a large disturbance in the foliage. "Can you see anything down there? It might not be recent."

"I can't tell. The rain washed a bunch of the dirt away. It could be old." There was a pause before she went on. "I think we should check it out, just in case. This is a bad spot to get into an accident."

The bullet in Steve's arm disagreed with his decision to go take a look over the side of the road. He rolled his shoulders and held his arm against his stomach as he approached Kono's position. Chin had grabbed a mag-light from his trunk and jogged up behind him. The rain was still coming in sheets and it was difficult to make out anything that was more than twenty feet directly in front of them.

"See anything, cuz?" Chin handed her the light and she shined it into the blackness.

"Whatever went over, it cleared a hell of a path. I can't even see where it stops." She leaned forward before flashing the light around hoping that maybe they get lucky and it reflects off something.

And then she saw it. A light was blinking several hundred feet below them. "That's a car. We need to get someone down there, whoever that is could be in real trouble." She was silent for a second before adding. "If they're even alive and I wouldn't bet next weeks paycheck on that."

TBC…

Author's Note: This is my first foray into the Hawaii Five-O space. I've watched the show, but hadn't felt a need to play with the characters until recently. I'm finding that I like to mess with Danny, something about his snarky personality appeals to my inner writer. I plan on updating this a minimum of once of a week, though I may update faster depending on how fast I write. This shouldn't be a terribly long story, just a blip in the Danny and Steve world.

PLEASE REVIEW: LET ME KNOW IF YOU'D LIKE TO SEE THIS CONTINUED. Thank you.