Thank you guys for all the lovely comments! So glad you're enjoying this little revamp :). Here's the next chapter!
Chapter 2
Danny experienced three things at once. First he felt the recoil of the gun as he pulled the trigger; it felt heavier than ever before, heavier than any other time he had had to fire his weapon. Second, he noticed the loud echo of the gunshot bouncing off the building walls in the alley; it seemed extra loud, almost as if a bomb had gone off. Finally, and this was the one that would haunt him for the rest of his life, he watched in horror as his partner's body jerked as the bullet embedded itself within Steve's chest. Danny watched on helplessly as Steve collapsed to the ground clutching his chest to cover the gunshot wound, trying his best to put pressure on it to slow down the bleeding.
Every instinct in him was crying out to run to his fallen partner, and for a moment he forgot about Rick hovering above watching his every move, as he stepped forward towards Steve.
"One more step and your daughter's dead Williams!"
Danny stopped dead in his tracks and it took everything in him to stay there. Steve's white shirt was quickly turning to a dark red and he watched as Steve struggled to keep pressure on the wound. He could hear Steve gasping for air and Danny's knees suddenly buckled at the realization that the bullet had hit Steve's lung, even though he had tried his best to avoid that. He also knew that Steve would quickly lose his battle with consciousness and he could do nothing but kneel there and watch.
Sob after heartbreaking sob wracked Danny's body as he placed his hands on the pavement and lowered his head. He couldn't bring himself to look up, he couldn't bring himself to watch as Steve struggled to breathe, struggled to stay alive, a mere feet in front of him.
"How does it feel Danny, to watch your partner, your best friend, bleed out in front of you, pretty soon he'll probably start to choke on the blood," Rick laughed.
Danny was going to kill him. When all was said and done, he was going to kill Rick if it was the last thing he did. He didn't care about the repercussion, he didn't care if he would spend the rest of his life in jail, he was going to kill Rick, and he was going to enjoy doing it.
"He's going to die Danny, and you were the one who – HANDS UP RICK! NOW! PUT YOUR GUN DOWN! DO IT NOW! DON'T MOVE!"
Time seemed to have slowed once again as Danny heard the familiar voices; voices he would recognize anywhere. Chin and Kono had Rick which meant...
Without a second thought Danny rose to his feet and started racing towards Steve, sliding to his knees at the side of his fallen partner, praying that Kono or Chin had already dialed 911.
"Steve, Steve, babe, you gotta hang on okay," Danny covered the gunshot wound with his own hands as Steve's finally slid down to his sides. Danny's heart sunk as he watched and felt the warm blood seeping through the cracks of his fingers.
"Gr-Grace..."
Danny let out a sob; his partner's love for Grace never seized to amaze him.
"I'll get her back babe, I just need you to hang on okay, please just hang on, I'm so sorry Steve, I'm..." Danny let out another heartbreaking sob as he watched Steve struggle to breathe and stay conscious; his heart completely shattering when he felt Steve place his hand on top of his; even as he lay there dying he was trying to comfort Danny.
"N-not yo-ur faul-fault Danno, n-o choice, Gr-ace is the m-ost impo-rtant...al-alwa," Steve didn't get a chance to finish as his body was riddled by a series of vicious coughs; Danny stared on in horror as Steve started to cough up blood.
Danny slowly turned Steve to his side, not wanting him to choke on the blood. He could tell by the rasp in Steve's breathing that at least one of his lungs was starting to fill with blood; Danny had never felt so helpless in his life.
"Babe please hold on, I can't…I can't lose you…please."
Every second felt like an eternity and Steve's next words confirmed Danny's greatest fear; Steve knew he was dying too.
"Da-nno, you y-ou did, y-ou did the ri-right thing, n-ot your f-fault. I w-a-ant yo-u to know, you y-ou were the best, best p-artner I could've as-asked for, and the b-est friend…"
Danny cut him off not ready, or willing, to hear what Steve thought were his dying words.
"No no no no, no babe, you don't get to do this, you don't get to say goodbye!"
"Te-tell Gracie I l-love her okay," Steve could feel his lungs filling up with blood as it was getting harder and harder to breathe.
"No! No Steven, you tell her yourself, you tell her yourself when you're better!" It terrified Danny that Steve was talking like this. His invincible, larger-than-life partner had been through so much over his lifetime, been in dire situations where he had to fight for his life and had always made it out in one piece, more or less. But right now, the fact that Steve was acting the way he was, instead of telling Danny that he was fine, that he would be okay, only proved further that Steve knew he didn't have much time.
"If-if I can-can't, you t-tell her o-okay. Tell M-Mary too."
Danny closed his eyes as more tears streamed down his face. After a few moments he nodded his head acknowledging Steve's request.
"It's goi-going to be o-okay, Da-Danno, you're go-going to be o-okay, I l-love you buddy."
Steve's words cut through Danny like a knife, how could Steve think that Danny losing him would ever be okay.
"I love you too Steve, please just stay with me," Danny became frantic as Steve's eyes started to close. "NO! STEVE! OPEN YOUR EYES BABE, please. I will not be okay! DO YOU HEAR ME! I will not be okay; you can't leave me…STEVE!"
Danny let go of a breath he didn't even know he was holding as he saw Steve's eyes slowly open.
"That's it babe, that's it, just keep them open, Steve please just stay with me."
"Oh god Danny!" Danny hadn't even noticed Kono coming up behind him as she knelt down on the other side of Steve. "Boss you gotta hang on okay, an ambulance is on its way!"
Steve gave her a small smile before his body started to spasm from another round of vicious blood curling coughs.
Kono watched on in horror as Danny tried to ease Steve through the coughing attack. She looked up at Danny and her heart broke for the man. As painful as this was for her to see, she couldn't imagine what this was doing to Danny. Danny and Steve had a special bond, everyone who had ever met the pair could instantly tell. Rick had also filled them in on what he had made Danny do, and Kono knew that if Steve didn't make it, they were going to lose Danny too.
The next 5 minutes were a flurry of events; the paramedics had arrived just as Steve had lost his battle with consciousness.
"His pulse is extremely weak, we need to get this blood out of his lungs now!" the younger paramedic yelled as they moved Kono and Danny out of the way. Usually Danny would've fought to stay by Steve's side but he knew that in the state Steve was in, every second counted, so he allowed himself to be cast aside, a mere spectator to the horrific scene unfolding in front of him.
Danny felt like he couldn't breathe as he watched the paramedics work on Steve. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion and through the haze that had engulfed Danny's mind, the one thing that stuck out more than anything was the amount of blood in front of him. Blood on the pavement, blood on the paramedics, blood on him, blood on Kono, and all of it, every single drop of it, belonged to Steve.
Danny wasn't sure how long it took from the time they arrived to the time they had Steve stabilized enough to transport him, but the paramedics were finally loading his partner into the ambulance.
Danny wanted nothing more than to go with Steve, if this were any other situation nothing and no one could have kept him out of that ambulance, but he still had to find Grace.
"Don't worry brah, I won't leave his side," Kono gave Danny's shoulder a reassuring squeeze as she saw the turmoil in her second boss's eyes.
"Thank you," Danny gave Kono a small smile, grateful that Steve wouldn't be alone.
Kono jumped into the ambulance with Steve just as Chin walked out of one of the building with Rick in custody.
The minute Danny saw Rick, every fiber of his being wanted nothing more than to kill him, to stop his heart right then and there, but he needed to know where Grace was first.
"Where is she," Danny's voice was calm but lethal, putting aside his fear for Steve, Danny was concentrating on getting his little girl home safe; Steve's sacrifice would not be for nothing.
Rick stood there with a grin on his face. The blood smeared all over Danny's clothes and covering his hands satisfied Rick but it was the utter devastation in Danny's eyes that brought him pure unadulterated joy. He was certain that there was no way Steve could survive that gunshot wound, especially not after the length of time it took for him to get medical attention. The thought of Danny being haunted by Steve's death for rest of his life made him happier than he could've ever imagined.
Danny could see the satisfaction written all over Rick's face and he realized that he didn't even want to shoot Rick, no that would be too quick, he wanted to walk over there and beat the smug smile off his face and keep beating him until he was nothing more than a bloody corpse.
Grace.
Danny had enough sense to realize that he needed to put his hatred, his anger, his guilt, and his pain aside, for now, until he found out where Grace was. Danny looked Rick dead in the eyes, took out his gun and shot his left knee. The scream that it elicited from his former training officer gave him a small sense of satisfaction as he marched over and grabbed him by the neck, pinning him to the ground.
"The next one is in your head! Where is my daughter!"
Chin and Danny raced over to the shipping containers with HPD and Paramedics in tow. The moment Danny heard Grace's voice his heart started to race. Once they had the container opened and made their way to Grace Danny grabbed onto her not wanting to let her go.
As he carried his baby girl out of the container Rachel had just pulled up, running towards them, sobbing as she hugged Grace and Danny.
As relieved and overjoyed as Danny was at having Grace safe and sound in his arms, his mind immediately went back to Steve's lifeless body on the gurney.
After a few minutes of hugging Grace, Rachel took Danny's hand.
"Daniel, I'll take her home, you need to be with Steve." Her heart broke for her ex-husband. HPD had filled her in on what had happened, what Rick had made Danny do in order to save Grace. Rachel prayed that Steve made it out of this alive because she knew that if he didn't, if Steve died because of this, she and Grace were going to lose Danny too.
Her mother's words caught Grace's attention as she immediately looked at her father.
"Is Uncle Steve hurt?"
The concern and panic in her voice was so sincere that it made Danny's heart ache; he wanted to say something, anything to silence the fear he knew was growing inside his daughter but found himself choking on the words. How could he console her when he felt like he was completely broken himself. Rachel squeezed Danny's hand, she could see the anguish in his face and it was nothing short of devastating. Rachel held onto Danny's hand as she looked at Grace.
"Yes sweetheart, Uncle Steve's been hurt, he's in the hospital."
Grace's eyes quickly filled with tears.
"But he's going to be okay right Danno?"
The raw emotion in his daughter's voice pushed him over the edge as a strangled sob escaped him. Danny looked away and took a moment to compose himself, wiping the tears off his face before he turned to his daughter.
"I hope so monkey."
"You have to go be with him Danno, Uncle Steve needs you, I'll be okay, I'll be with mommy."
Danny let out another sob as he grabbed Grace into a hug. He was so proud of his baby girl; she was so brave, so compassionate, so loyal, she actually reminded him a lot of Steve. He wondered if Grace knew how much her granting him permission to go be with Steve meant. With those words she had absolved him of any guilt he would've felt at leaving her side after everything she had been through. Grace loved Steve just as much as Steve loved her and Danny was so grateful for that.
As Danny and Chin ran through the hospital doors of the Emergency Room they could see Kono down the hall with her head in her hands.
Danny instantly froze as a sudden feeling of dread washed over him. Why was her head in her hands, why did she look like she had just received the worst possible news? He imagined walking over to her only to hear that Steve had died on the way to the hospital or that Steve had died on the operating table. Danny finally snapped out of his trance when he felt Chin's hand on his shoulder.
"Don't do that to yourself brah, don't go there."
Chin swallowed the lump in his throat as Danny looked at him with tear-filled eyes.
"C'mon," Chin nodded towards Kono.
Each step towards Kono felt heavy, it felt like his feet were weighed down, and as much as he wanted to ask about Steve, the thought of hearing that Steve hadn't made it was too much to bear. He had watched his partner bleed out for several minutes before the paramedics even got there, he had held onto his Steve helplessly as he coughed up blood and fought to stay alive.
As Kono stood up to hug them Danny tried to prepare himself for the worst…
"He's still in surgery."
Danny just stood there staring at Kono. Steve was still alive…for now. Kono could see the fear in Danny's eyes and she wanted to offer him any sort of solace.
"Danny he's still alive okay, he's still in there and he's got the best team of surgeons working on him. Steve's a fighter; he's going to be okay."
Danny could see Kono's lips moving, he knew that she was talking to him but he couldn't hear a word she was saying. All he could hear were the ragged breathes escaping his best friend's lips as he struggled to breathe, struggled to speak, struggled to stay conscious, he was back in that alley, watching Steve slowly die. Suddenly everything became fuzzy; Kono's face was a blur, as was everything else around him. Within seconds Danny's knees buckled as he b-lined to the floor.
"Whoa Danny!" Kono and Chin yelled in unison as they quickly grabbed him before he hit the ground, lowering him onto the chair behind him. Danny was completely drained. The adrenaline from the last few hours had finally run its course and all that was left of Danny was a broken mess.
"Danny you need to get checked out," Chin looked on concerned.
"No, I'm fine."
"You're not fine Danny! You just collapsed!" Kono chimed in.
Danny scoffed.
"Guess that's what happens when you're waiting to find out if your best friend survives you shooting him," Danny looked at the ground.
"Danny this isn't your fault. You didn't have a choice." Kono had tears in her eyes as she tried to get through to Danny.
Danny shook his head. "You sound like Steve."
"Well Steve is right! You don't get to blame yourself for this, do you hear me! This is on Peterson, not you!"
Danny was too tired to argue; not that arguing would have done him any good. They would never see this situation for what it truly was; an act of betrayal. He had sacrificed his partner to save someone else he loved, granted it was Grace – his entire world, but that didn't matter, in his mind, what he did was unforgivable. Even, if by some miracle, Steve made it out of this alive, Danny was never going to be able to forgive himself. He would also never be able to get the haunting images of today out of his mind; Steve collapsing to the ground as the bullet careened into his chest, Steve fighting for his life as he bled out, gasping for air as he tried not to drown on the blood pooling into his lungs.
"It's goi-going to be o-okay, Da-Danno, you're go-going to be o-okay, I l-love you buddy."
Steve's words would forever haunt him. Danny hung his head as an overwhelming sense of despair settled in, he didn't know how anything would ever be okay again, especially if Steve didn't make it.
Kono looked at Chin as they exchanged worried glances. Danny wasn't talking back, he wasn't fighting back, he looked completed defeated and broken. They had never seen Danny like this and they prayed that Steve would make it through the surgery, because if he didn't, they knew that they would lose them both.
TBC...
