Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii 5-0
A/N: Okay I have two other stories on my computer I'm working on, and about two dozen plot bunnies running around in my head. This one came to me a couple days ago, while I was sitting in traffic and David Cook's song Permanent came up on my I-Pod.
Permanent
Even now, weeks later, Steve couldn't believe how quickly that afternoon went from delightful to horrific. One minute he and Danny were walking down the street, heading to lunch, when the front doors of the Hawaiian National Bank flew open and two armed robbers stormed out, directly into their path. It was hard to say who was more startled, the two 5-0 members or the robbers. Unfortunately for the police officers, or more specifically, for Danny, the thieves already had their guns drawn, and neither he or Steve had a chance to pull theirs.
Five minutes later the criminals were gone, and Steve found himself kneeling on the sidewalk holding his partner in his arms, begging him to hold on as he tried to staunch the flow of blood from the bullet wounds.
Steve spent the next days in hell, hoping, praying that his partner, his lover, the man who had become the other part of his soul would survive. The doctors were hopeful, but there had been so much blood, so much damage. Finally after three agonizing days, Danny finally opened his eyes and smiled at Steve and Steve finally felt like he could breath again.
Now four weeks later, he was finally bringing Danny home. Carefully bringing the Camaro to a stop, he jumped out of the car and walked around to the passenger side opening the door.
"I am not an invalid, Steven," Danny griped at him, slowly swinging his legs out of the car. A month in the hospital had left him cranky, and having his partner hover over him wasn't helping.
"Well the fact that you're already out of breath and you haven't even gotten out of the car belies that fact." Steve responded.
As much as he hated to admit it, Danny was tired by the time he made it into the house. He let Steve help him to the couch in the living room, dropping gratefully onto it and leaning his head back, closing his eyes.
Steve left him, there, but was back what seemed to be a few minutes, Kono and Chin in tow. "Hey sleepyhead, look who's here, and they brought dinner."
Three hours later, he was back on the couch, trying very hard to keep his eyes open while Steve said goodnight to the other two members of the 5-0 team.
Walking back into the living room, Steve smiled fondly at his lover on trying valiantly to stay awake. "Hey there," he said softly, "What do you say we get you to bed?"
Danny opened sleepy blue eyes and looked at him. He tried to come up with a smart answer, but truthfully he was just too tired. "Sounds like a plan."
Once upstairs in their bedroom, Steve helped Danny sit on the edge of the bed and then turned to grab a t-shirt and pajama bottoms out of the dresser, intending on helping Danny change into more comfortable clothing to sleep in.
Danny didn't bother to wait though, and had pulled off his shirt when Steve turned back to him. The sharp intake of breath startled the blond, and he looked up at Steve. He hated to admit it, but the look on Steve's face actually scared him.
"Steve, what's wrong?" he asked.
Steve didn't say anything. Dropping the clothes on the floor, he walked over to the bed, and sat next to Danny, his hand moving to Danny's chest, fingers lightly touching the still red, puckered scars from the bullet wounds.
Danny caught Steve's hand in his, and brought it up to his lips, kissing it gently. "Hey, babe, what's going on in that head of yours?" he asked, concern in his voice.
Steve's voice was just a whisper. Still staring at the wounds, he said. "Do they still hurt?"
Looking down, Danny realized that this was the first time Steve had actually seen the damage that had been done. His doctor had just removed the bandages today.
"The doctor said they'll be tender for a while, but it only really hurts when I move wrong, you know, like stretching."
Steve still couldn't tear his eyes off the scars, so Danny reached over and took his face in his hands, forcing the Navy Seal to look at him. He was shocked to see a look of pure desolation in his partner's expressive eyes.
"Steve, I'm fine, the doctor wouldn't have released me if I wasn't."
"It's not that Danno, I..I know you're fine, now. It's.." Steve's voice broke. "It's just that I can still see you there, lying on the sidewalk. There was so much blood and no matter how much I tried I couldn't stop the bleeding. I kept pleading with you not to die, to open your eyes, but you didn't. God I thought you were going to die in my arms."
Steve was crying now. " I…I thought I was going to loose you. I can't loose you."
Danny reached out and brought Steve into a tight hug. "Hey, hey, babe, it's okay. I'm okay. I'm not going anywhere." he soothed, tears forming in is eyes too.
"You can't promise that" Steve said bitterly.
Danny sighed. "You're right, I can't and neither can you. Even if our jobs weren't dangerous, hell we could go swimming tomorrow and get eaten by a shark. But what I can promise you is that I'm yours for as long as I'm here on this earth. How's that?"
Steve gave a small smile. "Shark huh? I keep telling you that it's safe to swim here, the sharks in the water aren't large enough to eat you."
Danny leaned over and gave Steve a kiss, 'Well I'll take your word for that. Now come one, I for one am exhausted, and from the looks of you, you could use a good nights sleep as well."
After helping Danny finish changing, Steve got ready for bed himself, and slipped into bed. Turning off the light, Steve sighed, he'd had plenty of dark moments when Danny was in the hospital, lying in bed by himself, thinking that life would never be right again. But Danny was home now, in bed with him, right where he belonged. Danny was right, neither of them could promise that they'd grow old together, no matter how much they both wanted it. But they were together now, and that was as permanent as it could be.
Snuggling closer, he wrapped his arms his lover, and leaned in close, whispering into his partner's ear. "Love you, Danno", stealing the endearment that Danny shared with his daughter.
His heart swelled at the whispered answer, "Love you too, Steve."
Fini