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Missing Scene: Ua Hiki Mai Kapalena Pau. Season 1 x 23

"I'd Rather That You'd Been Hit"

Steve quite distinctly paled the moment he heard the first cough and realized Danny wasn't with the rest of the team as they reconvened in the driveway. Once he turned and saw Danny slide down the foundation of the house, his heart hammered and all he could get out was one desperate word.

"Danny."

How had he not realized that Danny wasn't with them all until he heard that first cough? And then by the time he had first shouted Danny's name and rushed to his side, Danny was already slumped, breathing heavily and holding his chest. He was trying quite unsuccessfully to unfasten his vest and loosen his tie with his free hand.

"Danny! Danny! Are you hit?" He asked lamely, while simultaneously taking in Danny's alarmingly white and clammy face.

He hastily helped Danny take his tack vest off and grew increasingly worried as Danny wheezed out, "No, something's not right. I can't breathe. "

After checking the pulse on the body that he found in the house, Danny had started to feel odd almost instantly. He hadn't thought much of it until he truly couldn't catch his breath upon leaving the house to find the rest of the team. And as he turned the corner on the sidewalk, the coughing had started with his chest becoming increasingly constricted. Very shortly after and as he reached the breezeway, he was surprised to find that he could barely stand. His legs were wobbly and weak, and his vision was graying. He could feel sweat beading on his forehead and was almost amazed when the wall didn't hold him up as he tried to brace himself against it with one hand. He felt himself collapsing in an undignified heap.

Danny and Steve shared a brief shocked look at each other. Usually one of them knew what to do in any situation, but this time was different and they both knew it immediately. Danny would have laughed if he could have at Steve's classic aneurysm face which was at an all new high bordering on fear. In fact, Danny was sure he saw fear in Steve's eyes. And that was oh so NOT good. His increasingly tight chest and inability to breathe was throwing him into a near uncontrollable feeling of panic.

Steve was jolted to his very core even more when Danny continued to breathe with increasing difficulty. He couldn't take a deep breath; only quick shallow gasps that were beginning to sound harsh. His fingers picked loosely at his shirt buttons as he tried to find a way – any way - to breathe better.

"My chest. I don't know. I can't breathe."

In the background, each could hear the rest of the team reacting to the frightening situation. Chin providing soothing words, Kay briefly checking Danny's pulse and Kono quickly calling for an ambulance. Steve could count on them all, but he still didn't know what to do. There were no orders to give, no obvious wounds to treat. He was bewildered, lost and almost incapable of deciding what to do next.

Steve's next words sounded reasonable, but his face continued to speak volumes and he felt almost stupid asking the question. "Just tell me what happened."

As he listened to Danny gasp out a brief explanation, mentally Steve was running through every possible symptom and scenario from a bad meal to a heart attack and then to "god knows what" in milliseconds. It was the "god knows what" that scared him the most. Jenna was the first to react when Danny wheezed out that a body was in the house, so he quickly ordered Chin to stay with Danny and followed on her heels. He was brought up short by her firm direction to not go any further into the room. The stench was horrific and her next words chilled him.

"Stop. Stop right there." Jenna demanded. Her hand was thrown up against Steve to halt his forward motion.

"What is it?" Steve asked. He was nearly breathless as he distractedly took in the dead body of the Hawaiian man, spilled milk and overturned milk carton the tile floor. His thoughts were of Danny outside with Chin.

"I don't know. But whatever he died from might be biological. We have to get Danny to a hospital right away."

"Oh my god." Thought Steve. "Why couldn't you have been hit Danny? I know how to deal with that. I can fix THAT. Please".

Moments later, both Jenna and Steve heard a frantic Kono calling for Steve. As they rushed back outside, Steve could see Danny convulsing against the wall. "Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god," Steve thought continuously as he ran over to Chin in shock. "This couldn't really be happening." Jenna's words about a biological weapon were coming to fruition right in front of them all.

Steve's private thoughts continued to surprise himself as he inanely chanted over and over "Danny. Stay with me. Danny." He thought, "Yes. I'd rather you'd been hit."

But it was true. He did rather that Danny had been shot. THAT he could handle. THAT he could deal with and treat. It was familiar and almost normal in a sick sort of way. But this? This was an unseen enemy that was simply wrong on all levels. It didn't fit or make sense. And Steve was indeed lost. He had no solution; no answer; no control.

As the paramedics arrived and Danny was assessed and loaded into the ambulance. Steve was there and ever so vigilant. But he continued to think his dreadful thought the entire time, knowing it was irrational: "Yes, Danny. I'd rather you'd been hit."

~ fin ~