Danny tracked as Steve stirred on Tripler's thin ICU mattress. His eyelids seemed to be battling whether they wanted to open or remain closed. Danny could only wonder at what terrors might lay behind the shadows of Steve's eyes.

In all his years of friendship with his trouble-magnet and destruction-prone partner, this was the first time Steve appeared to be broken. Perhaps beyond repair. Not even McGarrett's foray into North Korea with Jenna had resulted in the shattered sailor before him.

The bruises on Steve's face, shrapnel wounds on his shoulders and the various lacerations at the hand of interrogators, were only the outside evidence of the nightmare his friend had recently endured.

Unknown to Danny was the extent of the internal injuries done to Steve's psyche. Cath was gone and only Steve knew why.

All Danny could think about was that she was another in the long line of people who'd left his partner: Steve's mother, deliberately hiding from her son for reasons Danny still couldn't understand; his father, taken away in an instant because of a vendetta the whole team was still trying to decipher; Nick Taylor, whose betrayal affected Steve more than he'd ever let on, because Nick was a brother-in-arms. Freddie, who given his life so Steve's mission would be successful; even poor misguided Jenna, who'd trusted the evil incarnate that was Wo-Fat, and had died as a result.

Steve was running out of people he could count on.

A whispered moan shook Danny from his thoughts and his eyes strayed back to Steve. Pain lines etched around his eyes, and his chest began moving up and down at a rapid pace.

Danny reached over and placed his hand directly over Steve's heart, feeling the up-tempo beats as Steve struggled against unseen demons.

Taking the SEAL's uninjured hand, Danny lightly rubbed Steve's chest with his other, praying the gentle circular motion would be relaxing for his friend.

"Hey babe. It's okay. I'm here and I promise I'm not going anywhere. You hear me. You've got me for the long haul."

Steve turned his face toward Danny, the lines around his mouth and eyes relaxing, eyelids softening.

And for a brief second, Danny felt the gentle pressure of Steve's hand squeezing in response. "I got you babe. I got you."

Danny's mind filled with images. They flashed in and out like an old timey movie projection... memories appeared like photos with curled edges and chemically damaged spots, accompanied by the sounds of the flip-flip-flipping of the movie reel. Flashes of laughter, smiles of celebration, and hugs of welcome-home intertwined with sparks of anger, disappointment, disbelief and hurt.

Danny startled awake. He shook his head to alleviate the last vestiges of sleep and tried to get his bearings. A darkened room greeted him. His body ached from sitting in the same position too long and he rubbed his eyes while he swallowed hard against a dry throat.

"D? No...D?"

Over and over a whispered moan greeted his ears.

"Danny. Danny. Where? Danny?"

Danny scrambled from the hard backed chair to perch on the bed, lifting his hand to Steve's fevered brow.

"Hey. Hey. I'm here buddy. Right here."

Danny frowned as Steve tossed his head back and forth, fighting to climb to the surface of awareness, the infection keeping him buried in terrors and nightmares.

"D? Danny?"

"Steven. I'm still here. Ya hear me you big lug?"

Danny's heart constricted when Steve reached out, grasping the air. Pulling the shaking arm toward him, Danny took care to not tangle the IV tubes that provided precious nutrients and medicines to the wounded man beside him. He covered the SEAL's hand with his own and pressed it to his chest.

"Do you feel that, buddy? I'm here. Feel my heart beating? I'm not going anywhere."

Steve's fingers curled around Danny's hand, seemingly desperate for some semblance of comfort.

The urge to get rid of any food he'd eaten in the past month surged within Danny.

What did they do to you?

Danny closed his eyes but couldn't shut off his mind. The movie projection reel started up again, this time filled with flashes of Steve behind the glass walls of Halawa; his battered face looking up from the back of a truck in North Korea; falling down a cliff in Oahu. These combined with the fresh and horrible memories of McGarrett being carried on a stretcher off the HELO, covered with bandages and a face beaten beyond recognition.

"Danno? Danno?"

Danny bowed his head and whispered a silent prayer to whatever God would hear him.

Please. Please. Help me help him. Please.

Danny felt something wet land on his arm.

Opening his eyes, he realized it was his own tears falling and he leaned his head to press against Steve's fevered brow.

He closed his eyes, flashes of images still flipping through his mind, his shoulders shaking as he sobbed silent tears of desperation.

...

Something lighted on Danny's arm. He waved at it as if it were a fly buzzing about and buried his head deeper on his forearm. He was too tired to deal with anything so inconsequential. The last minute plane ride to Afghanistan, coupled with the stress over Steve's rescue and then the flight back to Hawaii to get him to Tripler had finally worn Danny down. Sometime in the midst of his vigil waiting for Steve to wake up, he'd fallen asleep, head cradled in his arms on the edge of Steve's bed.

Danny's skin tickled again and his frustration grew. This stupid island and its ridiculous animal life. Someone shut the window or something. Could no one get a decent hour of sleep around here? He snuffled into his elbow and sighed.

"Danno?"

Danny's ears perked up. What? For the third time, Danny felt a gentle touch. He lifted his eyes toward the head of the bed and couldn't stop the grin that formed. "Hey buddy."

Steve's fingers whispered against Danny's forearm and Danny grasped his hand and intertwined their fingers. "It's so good to see you awake, babe. Although, you look like you were blindfolded and forced to go eight rounds with a grizzly bear."

Through hooded eyes, Steve glanced around the room and started to lift his head when a pained gasp escaped his lips.

Danny reached over to press his hand to Steve's chest, exerting the tiniest bit of pressure. "Hey now, no need to move about just yet. How are you feeling? Do I need to call the nurse?"

Steve swallowed and glanced back at Danny, and with a light shake of his head squeezed Danny's hand.

"What? Where?"

Steve's voice cracked through the effort of speaking. Danny reached over for the plastic pitcher of water on the nearby table and poured a small amount into a Styrofoam cup, plopping a straw into the container. "How about a drink, babe? Not too much but just something to wet your whistle."

An almost imperceptible nod gave Danny permission to reach around behind Steve's neck and gently lift his partner's head so he could more easily sip the tepid water through the straw. Two swallows were all Steve could tolerate and he pressed back against Danny's hand, indicating his desire to lean back. Danny acquiesced but only moved his hand as far as to the top of Steve's head. Now that his partner was awake, Danny had an uncontrollable urge to remain connected to him, even more so than when McGarrett struggled in unconsciousness.

"D, what's goin' on? E'one's okay?"

Danny held back a frown of confusion and instead plastered a smile on his face. "I'm good, babe. I'm okay."

Steve's voice wavered between whispering and a low timbre as he spoke, evidence of not being used in a while. "Chin and Kono? Grover? Cath? They were..." He closed his eyes, breathing deep before continuing "...out of the building before it came down?"

Danny's heart seized. Steve was talking about the bomb in the parking garage that had almost killed them all several weeks earlier. Steve didn't remember Afghanistan? Cath's disappearance? What was he going to tell him?

"They all got out. They're fine babe." Danny rubbed his hand over Steve's forehead. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Steve shifted on the bed but grimaced at the effort, and he motioned toward the water.

Danny helped him take a couple more sips.

"I don't know. A bomb. Garage came down on us. A grenade and a pipe. Danny! You were injured. The rebar."

The pulse rate monitor on the screen next to the bed began beeping faster and Danny again ran his thumb over Steve's forehead in an effort to calm him down.

"Steve. Hey! Steven. I'm fine. We're fine. Chin and Kono are all okay, Grover too."

Steve nodded "...Good. Good." His eyes drifted closed as the monitor's beeps slowed in accordance with his partner's relaxed state.

Danny breathed a sigh of relief. The doctor mentioned there might be some trauma. With the damage done to Steve's body from the initial IED explosion and the added stress of the interrogation, Danny knew Steve was bound to be confused. If he could just hold off his questions for a little while longer. Let him get stronger and then they could deal with the repercussions from Steve's latest misadventure.

Danny moved his hand from Steve's forehead and stroked his partner's arm, wary of the bruises and bandages along his path. The tension lines on Steve's face reduced with each touch.

Without warning, Steve's eyes flew open and he gasped, "Catherine. Danny, where's Cath?"

Danny hung his head and took a deep breath. He had hoped this would be a conversation they wouldn't have to have right now, although Danny himself was desperate for answers.

He lifted his head and looked Steve in the eye.

Steve gripped Danny's hand, demanding answers. "Tell me Danny. Tell me where she is. Don't lie to me." The beeping of the monitors once again sped their tempo as Steve's breathing became shallow and rapid.

Swallowing hard, Danny squeezed Steve's forearm and let out a breath.

"That's just it, Steve. We don't know."

…

Danny stood at the doorway of the ICU and watched as the nurse adjusted the IV that ran into Steve's arm. She looked over the readouts from the blood pressure cuff and charted her findings. After checking the bag connected to the catheter she shook her head. Danny could tell she wasn't pleased with the results.

Danny wanted to find the rat that'd treated Steve like a punching bag and get him in the Interrogation room at Five-0 - just that worthless excuse for a human and Danny... and his fists. No one should have to endure what Steve did, and all for the noble cause of rescuing a boy from terrorists. Children should be sacred. Danny's thoughts traveled back to when Grace was taken by Peterson. As frustrated as Danny was that Steve had taken off on yet another adventure to a foreign land, he could understand why he did it.

But as Danny looked at his friend's battered face, his skin more black and blue than not; wounds on so many different places on his body; the unknown mental turmoil and the horrific physical torture... well, somehow it was too much. Danny knew that in their line of work, injuries were a part of the job, but this. This was too much.

And Cath. Where in the world was she?

Danny was confident Steve's frantic behavior upon learning that they didn't know where Cath was, was the most scared he'd ever seen McGarrett. Steve's wild-eyes and uncontrollable shaking were not something that Danny would forget in a long time. Most likely, ever. The incessant beeping of the monitor as Steve's heart rate skyrocketed had brought the nurse in within seconds. Only the quick stick of the sedative into his IV had kept Steve from having what Danny was sure would've been a full-blown heart attack.

Danny wasn't sure how much more his partner could take. Steve was the strong one. Steve was the one who lived by the code "fear is a state of mind." Well, if that was the case, Danny's state of mind was off the charts because the only thing ruling it right now was fear; an overwhelming sense that Steve had finally reached the breaking point.

Danny was terrified.

"You can come back in, Detective." The nurse gave him a soft smile and nodded at the chair by the bed.

Danny crossed back over to the bed and gave Steve's arm a quick squeeze before settling in what had become his place of residence the past several hours. Seeing McGarrett so calm was almost disturbing. A small part of Danny nearly desired the crazed Steve from before rather than the almost unnaturally quiet one before him. Steve McGarrett, SuperSEAL was a man of action. This Steve...

"The sedative should keep him sleeping for the next few hours. Try as hard as you can to keep him calm when he does start to waken." The nurse glanced toward the bag hanging off the rail on the side of the bed. "I'm still not pleased with his kidney output...I'm afraid Dr. Rosen may have to consider other options if there's not some significant change in the next few hours."

Danny wasn't fluent in medical speak, but he knew enough to know what she was implying. Steve's kidneys were failing.

Danny scooted over closer to the bed and reached through the bars to grab Steve's hand.

Yep. Terrified. Danny's fearful state of mind looked to be only growing exponentially.

…

Danny could say he was surprised to walk into the ICU waiting room at Tripler and see the rest of the team there, but he would've been lying. Ohana. That's the word they'd taught him several years ago and it seemed to fit better than any other Danny could come up with.

Kono, a determined look on her face, paced the length of the waiting room, fingers flying over the keys to her phone. If Danny had to hazard a guess, she was seeing if Adam could pull some strings to help them figure out what in the world had happened in Afghanistan. Even though her boyfriend wasn't thick into the Yakuza anymore, he still had contacts all over the world. Good girl, Kono.

Chin sat in the far corner in one of those hard plastic chairs that hospitals seem to produce in some back room somewhere. Tablet in hand, Chin's fingers were swiping across the screen. Danny smiled. Chin could never just sit still.

And then there was their newest and perhaps most unlikely addition to their little family. Danny spied Grover at the end of the hall, phone to ear. Danny wasn't sure what he was saying to the person on the other end of the phone, but his stance was one of defiance. Steve and Grover had forged an unlikely friendship in the past few months and Danny knew Grover wouldn't stop until he could get some answers.

Walking toward Chin, Danny's footsteps sounded his approach and Chin looked up and then jumped out of the chair. "Danny, how's he doing?"

Chin's question was just loud enough to garner Kono's attention, and she hurried down the hall to notify Grover. They both walked back toward the waiting room, expectant looks on their faces.

Danny took a deep breath. "Well, he woke up a little bit ago but was disoriented. He asked me if we'd all gotten out of the explosion."

Grover, Kono and Chin all exchanged puzzled looks. Kono finally gave voice to their concern. "Explosion? What explosion"

Danny folded his arms across his chest. "He thought we were in the aftermath of the parking garage explosion. He could remember him and me getting out but his memories are all jumbled and he thought... well, he got real confused. I told him everyone was fine and that seemed to relax him."

Chin nodded and squeezed Danny's shoulder. "It's a good thing you were there, brah. I'm sure seeing your face helped a lot."

Danny grimaced. "Well, I'm not so sure. Something must have flashed in his mind and he woke up yelling and asking where was Cath. It was awful, man. I can't even describe the terror on his face when I had to tell him we didn't know."

"You told him we didn't know?"

Grover's incredulous response on any other day would've grated on Danny's nerves. But right now, Danny could understand it. "I know. I didn't want to tell him but he demanded I tell him the truth. His heart rate was going ninety to nothing and I was afraid he was going to keel over right there. I didn't think I could keep it from him. There've been too many secrets. His whole life has been people lying to him. I couldn't do it again."

Kono's arm came around his shoulder and she pressed her head to his. "It's okay. I'm sure we would've done the same thing. I'm just glad he's awake."

Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Danny sighed. "He's not awake. He got so worked up they had to give him something to calm him down. He...he's not processing things well right now. The nurse gave him a shot in his IV and he's resting."

Kono slumped down in the chair behind her. "Oh bossman."

"That's not all."

All three heads popped back up. "What?"

"The doc's in with him right now. That's why I came out here. He wanted to do another examination. The nurse told me Steve's kidney output isn't what they hoped. And if it doesn't improve in the next little bit..."

Chin's face took an immediate downward turn. "What are they going to do? Did the nurse say?"

"No. But I reckon he could need dialysis or something? I don't know. Maybe surgery? Maybe there's a medicine that could help him?" Danny began pacing down the hall. "I don't know. I don't know anything except that if I could get my hands on the guy who did this to him..." Danny trailed off, fingers trying to strangle thin air. "And if someone, anyone could tell us where in the world Cath is. Why can't someone get us some answers?"

Kono stopped Danny in his tracks and looked him in the eye. "I've got Adam's people working on it. We're going to find this guy Danny. And surely the Navy will do something, don't you think? What about Joe? Should I try and contact him?"

Joe. Maybe that was an option. He'd been more responsive of late when Steve asked for help. Shoot, Joe'd been the one Cath had told him to call when Steve was captured. Without Joe's assistance, they wouldn't have been able to rescue Steve.

But Danny also couldn't help but think how Joe wanted him to keep information from Steve with regards to Doris. He hated to ask Joe for any more favors.

Secrets. All these secrets. Danny was getting pretty sick of it.

"Detective Williams?"

All four of them turned to see the middle-aged man in a white coat who'd just entered the room, yet it was Danny who rushed over, eager for any information on his friend.

"Dr. Rosen, do you have an update for us?"

The doctor's eyes softened. Danny didn't know if it was because he was going to bring good news or bad news."Please doc. Let us know about our friend."

"I ordered an ultrasound and it appears there is some sort of blockage affecting Commander McGarrett's kidneys; most likely a blood clot, which is not surprising due to his condition. Acute kidney failure would also account for some if not all of the confused state he's experienced. When our kidneys don't work properly, the whole body suffers."

Danny brought his fist to his mouth and took several deep breaths before responding. "A blood clot. That's dangerous right? I mean, it could kill him. What are you going to do about it?"

The doctor gestured to the chairs behind him. "Why don't we all sit down?"

Chin, Kono and Grover all moved to sit without saying a word. Danny couldn't get his brain to stop spinning. "I don't wanna sit down, doc. I want you to tell me what you're going to do for my partner."

"Danny."

The quiet yet stern word from Chin stopped Danny from going into a full-on rant. He knew it wasn't the time or the place, but Danny needed to vent. It was how he got through things like this. But he bit his lip and trudged over to the empty chair by the doctor.

"Initially, we're going to see if some blood thinners will do the trick. And we're going to hook Commander McGarrett up to dialysis so we can try and rid his body of any toxins that might be building up in his system. Hopefully that will do the trick."

Grover's normally brusque tone was uncharacteristically solemn. "And what if that doesn't work?"

"If those don't work, then we'll have to consider surgery to try and remove the clot. Although, given Command McGarrett's currently weakened state, we don't want to go that route. His body has been put under a tremendous strain. We have to be concerned about the possibility of pneumonia or other infections setting in. Our goal is to get Commander McGarrett as strong as possible before we have to subject him to any more intense trauma."

Acute Renal Failure. Dialysis. Surgery. Pneumonia. Infections.

Danny's head was spinning as the words replayed over and over in his mind. This was madness. Pure madness. Steve, who worked so hard to be in SEAL shape...now, his body was failing him.

Danny couldn't take it anymore. He jumped out of his seat and raced down the hallway toward the elevators. The sound of Kono saying his name floated across the air but he didn't acknowledge it. Danny needed air. The walls were closing in and he had to get some oxygen. This man, his best friend, who Danny liked to tease "could leap over tall buildings in a single bound while throwing grenades at a target the size of a pinhole", was most-likely dying.

And there wasn't a single thing Danny could do about it.