Summary: 5-0 is forced to look at responsibility and teamwork when Danny nearly dies in a blown investigation.
Author's Notes: I own very little and nothing at all in connection with Hawaii 5-0. I tried to write something a little longer. I am unconvinced that I did anything good here. I really just wanted to get the little scene at the beginning out of my head.
"He was swimming in a sea of
other people's expectations.
Men had drowned in seas like that."
-Robert Jordan
5050505050505050505050505050 505050
Kono struggled to pull Danny up the shore. He might be short, but he was solid muscle and heavy as hell. She stumbled to her knees and pushed her dripping hair away with trembling hands. She bent down, her ear to Danny's chest.
Nothing.
Cold fingers fumbled at his neck.
Nothing.
"OK, we're not playing this game, Danny," said Kono calmly, tilting his head back. She sealed her lips over Danny's and breathed four breaths. She felt through shirt and muscle until she found the end of his sternum and laced her finger, driving them into Danny's chest.
Time had no meaning. It could have been hours, it could have been seconds. Sirens and voices, but Kono couldn't stop. The rhythm made sense. No thinking, no emotion, just breath and force. So when shockingly warm hands pulled her away from Danny, she screamed.
5050505050505050505050505050 505050
Chin had no idea what had happened. All he could see was the kinetic energy that was Danny Williams stilled and all he could hear was his cousin's harsh panting.
The paramedics were trying to move in, but Kono wouldn't budge.
"Kono." She didn't look up. "Kono, come on, you have to move." It was almost like she didn't even realize anyone else was there. When a paramedic looked at him with pleading eyes, Chin reached out and pulled Kono away from Danny. When she screamed, he almost lost his grip. It was raw pain and he was afraid he'd hurt her.
"Kono...Kono, what happened? Are you hurt?" Her dark eyes were wild, looking straight through him. "Kono?" Chin grabbed her face and tried to meet her gaze. Slowly, her eyes focused on his. "Hey cuz," said Chin gently. "You with me?"
"Chin? Chin, we were in the water and then he wasn't moving and then he wasn't breathing and..." her words tripped over each other and her eyes snapped back to the scene behind him. "Danny," she whispered. Suddenly, Kono was flying past him, back to Danny.
Chin caught her around the waist just before she plowed into the working paramedics.
"Danny!" screamed Kono. "Danny, don't do this!" She clawed at Chin's arms, trying to break free. "You don't get to die!" Chin wrapped his arms around Kono, trying to still her struggles, his soft voice could do nothing to stop her heartbreaking cried.
"Daniel Williams, you listen to me! You can't die! What about Grace?" Kono's thin fingers reached out, trying to connect. "What about Steve? Who is going to keep him in line, huh? What about Steve?" Her voice was raw and breaking. "Danny, he will never forgive me!" Abruptly, the fight went out of her and she slumped to the sand and sobbed.
"Steve will never forgive me, Danny. Not if you die. Not if you leave us."
Chin held Kono's shivering form close and blinked his stinging eyes. The blonde New Jersey native was ohana. He held them together, made them better investigators, kept them honest. Chin realized a part of himself wanted to scream denials as much as Kono had.
5050505050505050505050505050 505050
When Hurricane McGarrett hit the doors of the hospital, Chin was waiting to intercept him.
"Where is he?"
"He's with the doctors, Steve, I don't know anything yet."
"Was he breathing?" Chin raised placating hands.
"Steve..." The color dropped from Steve's face.
"He wasn't...how..."
"Hey, calm down," murmured Chin, gripping the younger man's shoulders. "I genuinely don't know. No one has come out to tell me anything yet." Steve forced a deep breath.
"What the hell happened? How did he end up in the water?"
"We don't know. Kono didn't see him go in. She got tossed off the dock by one of the perps, and then she saw him. He was already unconscious."
"Where's Kono?" asked Steve, moving again.
"She's getting checked out, but Steve...Steve, stop!" McGarrett spun around to face Chin. "She doesn't know anything else. It all went bad, man, all of it. You and I running down tips that turned into goose chases? Danny and Kono facing an entire gang on what should have been recon?"
"I should have been with them," interrupted Steve. "I should have known!"
"How? How should you have magically known that this was what would happen?"
"If I'd been smarter, looked at the tips we were getting," said Steve, his voice rising, " and realized we were being split up and diverted..."
"We." Steve stopped and look at Chin with confusion. "We decided what to do, Steve, not just you. The four of us. We made a plan of action. Danny and I have years of experience on you, McGarrett, though you like to pretend otherwise. We all did this. The only people I blame for any of this is the guys who are sitting in lock up and I intend to make them pay with all of their days spent behind bars and barbed wire." Chin Ho Kelly's words were soft, but not gentle. "I suggest you get that through your head now and save Danny the work later." McGarrett stared at Chin for long moments, his jaw clenching.
When he finally spoke, Steve's words were a broken whisper.
"If he dies..."
"Then he died doing his job," responded Chin firmly. "But let's hold off on that until we know something, okay?"
Mercifully, the wait was only a few more minutes when a nurse called out across the waiting room.
"Chin Ho Kelly?"
"Yes, that's me."
"I can take you to Officer Kalakaua, if you'd follow me." He led Chin and Steve down a hallway to an exam room. Kono was wearing scrubs, wrapped in a blanket and looking relatively unharmed. She sat up straighter as they entered the room.
"Boss, I'm so sorry! I never saw Danny go into the water. I didn't realize he was gone until...and then I was too late! I tried and I tried, but he just wouldn't breathe!" Steve stepped over to the young officer and wrapped her in his arms.
"Shhh...it's not your fault." He looked over her head at Chin. "We couldn't have known."
5050505050505050505050505050 505050
"Stop it."
"Stop what?" responded Steve before he realized he was talking to Danny. "Hey! 'Morning, Sunshine."
"The face," muttered Danny, his voice rough and low. "You're making a face."
"Oh yeah? Which face is it this time?"
"The Brooding-Guilt-ridden Face."
"Brooding can be hot."
"Self-flagellation never is." Steve dropped his eyes to the thin hospital blanket.
"I wasn't there."
"No, you weren't," replied Danny. "But I wasn't alone, either."
"It's supposed to be me! You're my partner, it's my job to protect you!"
"Wow," breathed Danny. "I swear, sometimes, it's like you don't even listen when you talk, it just flows out and you have no idea what you've said or you do and it only means what it means situationally, not, you know, all the time, like it does with other people. Words only mean what you want them to mean when you want them to mean it..."
"Danny..."
"No!" The blonde detective's voice rasped sharply. "You don't get to do that! You don't get to, on one hand, throw yourself into dangerous situations with no regard for yourself or your partner, who will follow you into said situations, and on the other hand wallow in your guilt when all that danger actually hits home." Danny paused to take a few breaths. "This is the job, Stephen. You say it all the time, our job is dangerous, calculated risks, tactical solutions, blah blah blah, but you aren't listening!" The last word was nearly a shout and it led to a coughing fit that left Danny breathless. When Steve reached for the call button, Danny's hand shot out and stopped him with surprising strength. "You don't get to hide from this behind some nurse," his voice a harsh whisper. "What do you think I'm always warning you about, dummy? Huh? This!" His free hand swept out to encompass the bed, the wires, the room. "This is what happens in dangerous situations. I don't want something like this to happen to you anymore than you wanted it to happen to me. I'm the careful one and I still ended up in a hospital bed."
"I can't stop being me," said Steve. "I can't forget the training or let the bad guys get away! You are a member of my team and as such, It's my job to protect you!"
"And what's my job? Pray tell, what I am doing on this team? Is it the paper work? Because it doesn't seem to be to watch your back or be privy to your insane plans. Distractions for gun wielding lunatics, bait for snipers, hand grenades in my car that I never get to drive!"
"What am I supposed to do, Danny?"
"You can communicate with your team better, you can find solutions that aren't so damn dramatic, you can stop acting like the last action hero who has to do everything himself!" Danny released Steve's wrist and closed his eyes. "You'd think you could trust me by now."
"You think that's why...what this is about?" said Steve with awe. "That I don't trust you? That I don't think you're capable?"
"You can say whatever you want, Babe," responded Danny, never opening his eyes. "But your actions say you don't."
"Danno." Steve waited until Danny's tired eyes met his. "Danno, there is no one in this world I trust more than you. And I'm sorry that it seems like I don't. I just...don't want anything to happen to you."
"I am fully capable of taking care of myself, you freak," a slight smile softened the words. "If you wouldn't make it so damn hard all the time."
"I'll work on it, partner. I can't promise miracles." Danny snorted softly.
"I stopped hoping for miracles a while ago. The Army ruined you but good."
"Navy," correctly Steve automatically, but his face was serious. "Don't give up on me yet, Danno."
"I don't give up, Steven. Not on stuff that matters."