Disclaimer: I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any of the regular characters, which is probably harder on me than it is on them. Some of my original characters do appear later in the story - those do belong to me to do with what I please. :-)

A/N: Many, many thanks to Fifilla for her help (and nagging!) with this story. Originally this was going to be a quick two or three chapter story, but thanks to Fifilla convincing me that would not do it justice, it became what it is now. Her encouragement, more than anything, gets me to write these stories. Thank you, my friend.

Thank you to Wenwalke as well for the beta and comments. I appreciate your help, and any mistakes and/or confusion that remains, is all on me.

The idea for this story came from a local incident this summer. Some of the comments about the officer afterwards got to me so I had to write this and get some of that out. This story is completely written so I hope to be able to post regularly. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Danny stood in the aisle at his local drugstore and double checked the shopping basket he held. He had an Ace bandage, ibuprofen, ice packs, crossword puzzle book and a pink squishy football. He glanced at his watch and decided he had time to go down the snack aisle for some treats to keep Grace happy. Rachel had called him almost in a panic, just half an hour before, to say that Grace had had a minor accident at cheerleading practice and had sprained her knee. It was his weekend with his daughter so he needed to make sure he had what he needed for a weekend inside since her doctor had advised her to not put weight on that leg all weekend.

Danny was about to walk out the door after checking out when he heard a shout and short scream from the back of the store. He quickly dropped the sack and rushed to the back of the store where the pharmacy was located. He patted his hip, reassuring himself that his weapon was still there. He slowed to a halt as he neared the corner where the raised voices were located. He couldn't see anything, but he could plainly hear a loud, female voice demanding drugs. The clatter of pill bottles told him someone was complying with the demand.

"C'mon," the angry voice demanded again. "Hurry up! Just dump 'em all in there and hand 'em over."

"Okay, okay," a frightened voice responded, "just don't shoot... Please don't shoot me."

Danny took in his options and realized he really only had one. There was no way to see what was going on without being seen himself, but he wasn't going to be able to help anyone if he was skulking around the corner. He glanced around and didn't see anyone. Danny stepped around the corner and took two steps to the pharmacy counter, arms spread wide so the drug thief wouldn't see him as a threat, "Hey..."

As Danny stepped around the corner to announce himself, he heard running feet and giggling voices approaching behind him that hadn't been there just a moment before. He also saw the drug thief, a young woman no older than 23 he guessed, with wide eyes and a shaking hand swing the weapon in his direction. Out of the corner of his eye, Danny saw an elderly woman walking with a cane appear at the end of the aisle just as the footsteps behind reached him and almost surpassed him. In the split second he had to take in all that was happening, his years of training kicked in and time seemed to slow. He drew his own weapon and fired on the drug thief just as she pulled the trigger of her own weapon. The young woman's gun clicked but didn't fire; Danny's shot hit its mark, and the woman was thrown backwards, blood blossoming on her shirt as she landed awkwardly behind a shelving unit and didn't move.

Danny jumped over the pharmacy counter quickly, gun still drawn and trained on the suspect. He glanced at the still scared pharmacist, "Are you okay?"

The pharmacist could only nod and watch as Danny carefully approached the wounded suspect. She didn't begin to shake from nerves until Danny had reached for a pulse on the thief, and with a sigh, holstered his weapon.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Danny asked, gently steering the pharmacist to the door to get out of the confining area. He guided her to a seat and made her sit before he noticed the throng of people arriving, chattering uneasily.

"Hey, mister," a store employee nervously approached. "I've called the cops so you better stay put."

"What?" Danny was confused for a moment and then pulled out his badge. "Oh... Detective Williams, Five-0. Just direct HPD back here when they get here."

Danny didn't notice the grumbling as he made sure, once again, that the pharmacist was doing okay. He then moved back towards the counter and looked over at the dead suspect. He shook his head at the absolute waste of life. She looked so young, and now she'd never get any older. He shook off a feeling of guilt at his part in that. What choice did he have? She'd been in the midst of a crime, and had pointed a gun at innocent people as well as a police officer though Danny now realized he'd never actually had the chance to tell her that as she'd swung the weapon on him so quickly. Again, he sighed. He'd had no choice at all, but he still felt bad that he'd ended her life so young.

Danny was still brooding a few minutes later when he felt a hand on his arm, "Danny?"

"Oh," Danny jumped ever so slightly. "Duke."

"You're the shooter?" Duke inquired. "What's Five-0 doing here?"

"I'm not here officially. I was just here picking some stuff up for Grace. She sprained her ankle at cheerleading practice. I heard the commotion in the back and came to see what was going on." He jerked his head in the direction of the dead thief. "She had a gun on the pharmacist and then turned it on me. Her gun jammed... mine didn't."

Duke nodded and glanced at the dead woman on the floor. She looked young and Duke knew that most officers were affected in some way by killing someone even if that person may have been in the wrong. It was especially worse when it was unexpected and you didn't have time to prepare yourself for the possibility. He put a hand briefly on Danny's shoulder, "Why don't you go home to Grace? We'll get the witness statements, and you can file your report later."

"Thanks, Duke," Danny tiredly smiled and then turned back as a thought occurred to him, "How'd you get here so fast, anyway?"

"We were across the street providing some extra security for Senator Grimway when the call came through," Duke frowned slightly. "Watch out for reporters on your way out. They're already sniffing around for a story."

Danny nodded and walked out of the drugstore, scooping up his discarded sack as he went.