Disclaimer: Hawaii 5-0 and all of its characters belong to Peter Lenkov and CBS Studio Productions.
"I'm coming home, I'm coming home, tell the world that I'm coming home.
Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday.
I know my kingdom awaits, and they've forgiven my mistakes.
I'm coming home,
Tell the world that I'm coming home."
-"I'm Coming Home" J. Cole
McGarrett woke up as if he was coming out of an exorcism, shooting straight up in bed and reaching for an imaginary gun at his hip. He cursed under his breath when he realized he was not, in fact, wearing his uniform but instead was clad in a charcoal pair of boxers. He tried to shake the cold feeling of water in his lungs that had plagued him in his sleep.
He'd been sent home from his most recent mission with the SEALs after being captured, waterboarded, and rescued just when he'd all but given up. The nasty case of bronchitis that had overtaken him when he'd been on the plane ride stateside was expected with the amount of water that had been forced into his lungs, but hell if it hadn't knocked him right on his ass.
Steve had been home for a week to the day, and he had still yet to see anyone from Five-0. He hadn't want to call and tell any of them that he was back because he didn't want them to see him that sick, it would only worry them. But, even more than that, he hadn't wanted to face them. He knew that they were pissed when he'd left without saying goodbye again; Chin and Kono had left lengthy messages on his voicemail to that effect, but what bothered him the most was the lack of correspondence from Danny.
No texts, no voicemails, nothing. That was unlike him, and it frankly terrified Steve to think of what it meant. They had been...he didn't want to call it dating, because they hadn't made it past the sex part of their relationship. Dating implied wine and dinners, right?
No, they never got that far into their evening, not for lack of trying, though. Steve had made reservations at the only 'city themed' restaurant on the island, he'd even thrown on a tie to appease Danny, but the second that the smaller man had walked in and caught sight of him it had ended the same way it always did; with their clothes strewn about the bedroom and soft sighs getting lost in the fluttering drapes.
He shuffled himself out of the bed, squinting at the sunlight streaming through the window and glanced at the clock. He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept until ten in the morning and mentally cursed himself as he stretched out his taut muscles. Steve was hunched over, touching his toes, when he heard the sound of something crashing downstairs.
Snagging his weapon from the dresser, he quickly moved out of his bedroom and down the staircase. He made sure that his barefeet were silent on the wooden stairs as he moved, the gun outstretched in front of him. He was rounding the bottom of the stairs when he caught sight of the movement in the kitchen.
"Hands up!" He barked as loudly as could through the rasp of his cold.
"Jesus, fuck!" Came the response of the figure in his kitchen. There was a loud clatter as a watering can fell into the sink, spilling droplets of water onto the tile floor.
"Danny? What the hell around you doing?" Steve questioned, letting the gun fall to his side before disengaging the hammer and setting it onto the kitchen counter. Danny wiped angrily at the water on his t-shirt before lifting his arctic blue eyes to glare at Steve.
"I'm watering your plants, you ass. I have been every week since you took off without telling anyone. Again." It was impossible to miss the disdain and anger in Danny's voice, and it twisted Steve's heart in his chest.
"Look, I know you're pissed at me, Danno, but-."
"Oh, no, don't pull that 'Danno' shit with me today, Steven." He gestured to the garbage can which was full of take out containers and the recycling can which was half full of beer bottles. "How long have you been home?" Steve kicked at an imaginary spot on the tiles.
"A week." Danny's jaw dropped open and his eyes nearly doubled. Frankly, he would have looked comical, if not for the fact that Steve knew he was beyond pissed at him.
"A week?! A week without so much as a phonecall to say 'hey, I'm back from the war zone, you can stop worrying yourself sick' or a 'sorry about that ulcer I gave you Danny'? Do you know what you do to me every time you do this? You take ten years off my life! That's what!" Danny was in full on rant-mode by that point, his hands flying and his eyes wild.
"Danny, just listen-."
"No! You listen, McGarret, you don't get to just waltz into my life, make me fall in love with you, and then just waltz out whenever the military says that they need you to go play G.I. Joe in some jungle! You can't keep doing this to me! To us! Do you know how worried Chin and Kono have been?" Steve let his gaze drop to the floor, suddenly feeling more then a little bit ashamed at the way that he'd left things with them.
"I know, they left me a couple messages." Danny just stared out the window over the kitchen sink and sucked ragged breaths through his nose. "Danny, why didn't you call me?"
"Because," He paused and shook his head with a chuckle that bordered manic. "Because I know how happy playing super SEAL makes you, and I knew that if I called you, begging you to come back, you would. Because you're a good man. I couldn't do that to you. As much as I hate to admit it, and believe me, I hate it, the country needs you more than I do."
"Danny, I...I didn't know that you would be so upset about me leaving." Steve stammered, taking half a step closer. Danny backed up instinctively, his back connecting with the counter top. He winced as the counted dug into his lumbar when Steve crowded him, his chest hovering just outside of close enough. He could feel the heat of Danny's chest soaking through the other man's shirt and reaching out to nip at Steve's bare chest.
"What, pray tell, would ever possess you to think that I wouldn't be upset by you leaving? I love you, which I have to say, is the second time that I've said that in this conversation, and I hate having to spend an hour away from you, let alone the two months that you've been gone. And, if that makes me needy and pathetic, I don't even give a damn because it's how I feel."
"You...you love me?" Steve questioned, reaching out and wrapping his hands around Danny's hips.
"Yes, I do, you big dope. Where the hell have you been? I fell in love with you the first time I punched you." Danny shook his head and quirked an eyebrow at Steve, who was simply smirking at him. "What in God's name are you smirking at, Steven?"
"You love me." He mumbled, leaning his head down and brushing his nose against Danny's.
"For some reason that I can't quite comprehend, yes, I do." Danny nodded, pressing his forehead against Steve's and reaching his arms up to wrap around the other man's neck.
"I love you too, Danno." He whispered, his thumb brushing over Danny's hip underneath his shirt. "I missed you, you know."
"I missed you too, you goof." Danny chuckled, brushing his lips over Steve's in a chaste kiss. "So much. You're not leaving again, are you?" He whispered, and the hurt had crept it's way back into his voice again.
"Danno, you know I can't promise that..." Steve whispered into the top of Danny's hair, pressing a kiss his temple before moving down to look Danny in the eye. "But, I do promise that I will do my best to come home to you every time."
"I guess that's enough. For now." Danny said on a sigh, nodding and wrapping his arms tighter around Steve's neck. "You sound like shit." Steve let out a raspy laugh.
"Gee, thanks, Danno."
"I'm just stating a fact. What happened?" His hand was stroking a soft pattern up and down the side of Steve's neck, sending shivers through the other man. It had been far too long since he'd touched him like this, and it was effecting both of them.
"I..." The protest of 'classified' died in his throat, when he looked down at Danny. "They got me cornered, and they held me. Waterboarded me." His eyes glazed over as he recalled the rusty, dirty water that had filtered through the hood over his head and invaded his body. He could still taste the copper tang of the water, thick and heavy on his tongue.
"Steve..." Danny breathed, his hand coming to cup Steve's cheek to brush his thumb over a sleek cheekbone that was a bit more distended then he remembered. "I'm so sorry."
"You were what kept me going, you know?" Steve choked out, shaking the memory of a glorified wood shed that they'd kept him tied up in.
"What?"
"When I thought that I wasn't going to be able to make it anymore, I just thought of coming home to you. And to Gracie. I didn't want to leave you guys."
"I'm glad that you came home for us." Danny murmured, his fingers carding through Steve's hair. He smirked softly. "Your hair is longer."
"Yeah, I, uh, didn't have a chance to cut it. I was going to go tomorrow." Danny twirled one of the curls around his index finger and tugged gently.
"Don't. I like it like this." He whispered, pressing a deep kiss to Steve's lips. When they broke apart, they were both breathing roughly. "Welcome home, Steve."
"You don't know how good it feels to be home, Danny." Steve chuckled, muffling a cough into the crook of his arm before giving Danny an embarassed grin. Danny simply smooth his thumb over Steve's lower lip. "I love you."
"Danno loves you too."
With those four words, he felt as though he had finally, finally, come home.