'Uhane
By Montez
Disclaimer: I keep wishing on that star, but so far nada.
A/N: Okay I want to take a second and thank everyone who's reviewed and read my previous stories. I have been trying to respond to the wonderful reviews and hope to get to that asap.
However we all know how story ideas grab a hold of us and don't let go, well this one came to me in a heartbreaking image. It took me some time to figure out how to write a story around that image and this is what i've got. I will warn you now, this is a tragedy and we all know that usually means a character death. Usually I don't do character death stories, but I do have a couple in other fandoms.
I don't do these types of stories lightly, they weigh on me as I write. I know many people don't like to read such stories and I have no problem with that, but know this is never a subject I take lightly. So if you choose to read this, be warned that box of tissues will get a workout, but know I cried right along with you. Thank you-Montez
Chapter one
Gun battles were nothing new to Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett, first in the Navy as a member of the elite SEAL's, then once offered and accepting the job as the head of the Governor of Hawaii's task force, they seemed to follow him with nearly every case. His partner, Detective Danny Williams, always complained about being shot at, especially after McGarrett got the man shot within hours of meeting him. But to their credit none of the injuries had been more severe than grazes. Even with the General Pak shootout at his home when a former SEAL buddy turned out to be the bad guy intent on killing the General the Five-0 team was sworn to protect, only Steve came out of that hurt and it was superficial wounds from his fight with Nick Taylor. But today was different, today was bad, probably the worst since McGarrett's active-duty days.
The gun runners had enough firepower to take over a small country and were not afraid to demonstrate that ability. Yes the Five-0 team had a plan going in, as well as backup from HPD SWAT, much to Danny's delight. Yet when the first rocket launcher blew up the SWAT van just as the officers had cleared it, Steve had a sick feeling that this was not going to end well. SWAT took up positions just as planned from their briefing that morning, Kono and Chin had gone left with six men, Steve and Danny right with another five.
However they soon found themselves separated from their group and now Danny and Steve were pinned down, alone and under heavy automatic gunfire. Steve could hear his partner ranting about his gung-ho attitude getting them separated, that he never liked waiting to have adequate backup when charging head-long into a situation. But the separation was not something Steve had planned, he'd wanted to stay with the group, but a grenade had shattered that plan when he'd had to knock Danny out of harms way, while one of the HPD officers went down with shrapnel wounds, two other's retreated carrying their injured comrade to help. The other two had taken off through the maze of containers, leaving McGarrett and Williams scrambling when someone on the catwalk started taking aim at them.
The first real indication that things were going from worse to completely fucked up was the grunt of pain Steve heard coming from his partner. Turning Steve watched as Danny's leg gave out from under him, a growing dark stain spreading over the man's dress pants. "DANNY!" Steve reached for his friend, pulling him further behind the boxes they were hiding behind.
"Son of a bitch!" Danny growled as he reached his hand out, trying to put pressure on his own wound.
"Let me see." Steve pushed his friend's hand away as he ripped the hole bigger, wanting to get a better look at the wound in his partner's upper thigh. "Shit…" He mumbled as he started to fumble for his belt. "Might have hit an artery." He looked up at Danny, pain-filled blue-eyes watching every move, but not meeting Steve's. "You with me Danny?"
"Yeah." It was weak but it was something, Steve thought.
"Hey man, stay with me on this, you need to loosen this every few minutes." Steve was placing the belt around his friend's leg, hoping it bought them enough time for this damn mission to end and help to get to Danny.
"Where you going?" Danny ground out, feeling himself get weaker with each heartbeat.
"No where, but I've got to cover us and hope the other's can end this soon. You just hold on, keep talking about how this is my fault, about how I always get us shot at…" Steve's words broke off as he watched the paleness continue to steal what little color Danny still had.
"Not you're fault…damn…bad guys didn't go…by the plan." Danny's eyes finally met Steve's, trying to convey that he didn't blame his friend and he didn't want his friend blaming himself.
"They never do." Steve went to move back to his original spot; shots were still pinging off the surrounding containers.
Williams reached out and grabbed his wrist. "You'll watch out for Grace…right…just in case?" Danny's breath was slightly labored as the pain and blood loss was doing a number on him, he could feel the darkness descending as he pleaded with his partner, his friend.
'No', Steve's mind wanted to cry out, he was not letting Danny leave Grace like this. "That's your job Danno, and you're gonna keep doing it, you got that. I'll keep an eye on her while you get better, but you're her dad and she needs you, so you damn well better hold on. This will all be over soon." Steve gripped Danny's arm, just above the hand that held his wrist. "Do you hear me!" a stern look told Williams that Steve wasn't accepting any other outcome.
Danny's tired eyes stared into Steve's frightened one's, "Bossy much?" the corner of his mouth moved up a little, the start of a smirk forming as Danny watched his friends face try to respond in kind. Then Danny felt the world slip away from him as the darkness enveloped him.
"Danny!…DANNY!" Steve watched as Danny's eyes drifted shut, his body listing to the left. "No, no, no this isn't happening." McGarrett mumbled reaching toward Williams' neck, searching for a pulse. A small sigh of relief was released when he felt one, it was faint but there. However Steve had been so wrapped up in worrying about his partner that he hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings as well as he should have been when he heard the slide of a clip being primed behind him.
"Well look at what I found…" The humorless voice of one of gun-runners growled out. "and here I thought Five-0 was the best? Don't seem like much to me. Stand up and turn around!"
Steve looked at Danny's lax face, he had just noticed the silence that had engulfed the warehouse and that meant one of two things; either his team and SWAT had gained the upper hand and this asshole was the last of the stragglers who just happened upon them, or he and Danny were the last of the team that had breached the warehouse and no help was coming for Danny or himself. Either way Steve knew damn good and well he wasn't going down without a fight and he wasn't letting the bad guy any closer to his friend, because as long as Danny had a pulse, Danny had a chance.
"I said stand up and turn around, or I'll just shoot you in the back, but I'd rather face the great Commander of the elite Five-0 team when I kill him!" Steve heard the man take a step forward.
When Danny had fell Steve had slipped his weapon into the chest holster on his vest, making it invisible to the man behind him, giving McGarrett that fraction of a second advantage he needed to end this stand off. "Hang on Danny." Steve whispered as in one fluid motion he reached for his gun, turned, stood and fired.
The discharge of two different weapons broke the silence of the building, then the faint thump of two bodies hitting the floor was just a second behind.
5050505050
Chin Ho Kelly and Kono Kalakaua had been able to stay with their team, especially when it seemed the gun-runner's attention was drawn in the direction of Steve's and Danny's team. "Danny always says trouble follows the boss." Kono grinned at her cousin as they made their way closer to the area where most of the shooting was coming from. An explosion from the other side of the warehouse drew their attention for a moment, the shout of a man down set them all on edge, but they had a job to complete.
A couple of SWAT guys had managed to take care of the two guys on the catwalk. The rest of the team taking down the final ten. Securing the area in the center of all the crates, the remaining two officers that had gone in with Williams and McGarrett came out from between a set of boxes. "Chin…" Kono nodded toward the two men.
Catching the worried glance from the younger woman, Chin made his way toward the officers. "Where's Williams and McGarrett?" Kelly didn't like the feeling that was growing in his gut, a feeling that told him that he'd have heard from his friends if they were all right.
"After the explosion, two of ours took our injured man out and we got separated from the Commander and Detective." The first man responded.
"And you didn't try to find them? Were they hurt?" Kono was beside her cousin who was now in the younger officer's face.
"We heard shooting coming from their position, moving away from us and assumed they were okay." The officer actually took a step back when Chin advanced on him, shoving him against a container.
"You left two cops in a shoot-out, after an explosion and never checked to make sure they were okay?" Kono put her hand on her cousin's shoulder, feeling the tension in them.
"I thought…" The younger man sputtered as Kelly thumped his back against the container again before releasing him.
"You thought?" Kelly almost laughed at the stupidity of that statement. Looking at Kono he motioned, "We need to find them, they'd have contacted us or be here by now if they could." She nodded as Chin shouted over his shoulder. "We need medics in the building now, I want everyone fanning out Lt. Commander McGarrett and Detective Williams are unaccounted for, I want them found now!" Men who weren't securing prisoners took off in different directions, "Let's go cuz." the older man called over his shoulder to Kono as they both took off down the aisle the two SWAT guys had emerged from.
The sound of their friends names being called out over the expanse of the warehouse was chilling to the other two members of the Five-0 team, both knew if the men had been able to answer they would have by now. "Where are they?" Kono asked, only Kelly could hear the underlying fear in the young woman's voice.
Chin tried to push the terrible feeling in his stomach down as he tried to give his cousin a plausible answer. "Probably chasing someone who got past us through the damn industrial park, with Danny ranting the whole time about Steve not calling for backup when they took off." Chin wanted so much to believe that, but looking at Kono he knew, that she knew, he was grasping at straws and didn't really believe what he was saying, but that didn't stop her from going along.
"Glad I rode with you so I don't have to listen to Danny dogging Steve out for that." As the final words left her mouth Chin noticed nearly all the blood drain from the younger woman's face. "Oh God." She whispered.
The scene that Chin took in when he turned around would be with him the rest of his life. The two lifeless forms on the dirty floor of the warehouse looked nothing like the imposing forms of his two teammates, his two friends. Danny was leaning awkwardly against a shipping container; he head hung low, his normally neat, combed back hair now obscuring his eyes. Kelly could see the pool of blood that was under the man's left leg, he noticed the belt just above the wound, placed there, he knew, to try and stop the injured man from bleeding out.
But the most heartbreaking part of the sight was the pale face and still body of Steve cradled against Danny's chest, the blond man's head resting on his partner's dark one. Kelly didn't see any visible wounds on McGarrett's body, no tell-tell signs of a bullet wound at all. But it was as he stepped closer that he could see the blood on Steve's face, just barely visible from where his head lay against Danny's vest. It was then Chin knew it was bad, very bad. Stepping forward, hearing Kono's silent sobs from behind him, he did the one thing he was most afraid to do; he reached down and touched the necks of his friends. The shout from him caused Kono to jump, "I NEED MEDICS OVER HERE NOW! OFFICER'S DOWN!"