A/N: Hey Everyone!

So, I was planning to make this a birthday present for Qweb, then I worked on it, cried a little and felt like it was way too sad for a birthday present… So instead, I say Happy Birthday Qweb, but maybe you should read this tomorrow.

To everyone else, if it's also your birthday, Happy Birthday! Beware of the sadness that is this story! Look away and find something happier!

I've kinda changed my mind about this story. It's really only going to focus on the 4 main Five-O's. No one else! Some people may make little appearances, but this is all about Danny, Chin, Kono and Steve and how they are going to deal with the separation. Like in the stages of Death, they are in Denial, all of them, right now.

As always I own nothing.

Enjoy.

Chapter 2: Denial

Kono walked into the office in time to see the shock register on Danny's face. She could tell that there was an argument brewing and then it just died and so did something else as she caught Steve's eye, momentarily, and he looked away. She hesitated a moment as Danny ran his hands through his hair, without speaking, a shocked silence taking hold of the usually flamboyant Jerseyan.

"What's going on?" she asked as she cautiously opened the office door and stepped into the awkward silence.

A look like lightning flashed between the partners as Danny stood and started to pace.

"I'm being deployed," Steve said calmly.

"He is going to abandon us!" Danny stated angrily.

"No, I'm being deployed as we've all known was possible. I'm in the reserves, I have a certain skill set that is useful and I'm being ordered back to active duty! It's not my fault!"

"In civilian terms, Steven is leaving us." Danny yelled as he looked at Kono. "He's abandoning his family, his friends, and his future to go and fight in some god forsaken war."

"When," Kono gasped as she fell into the chair formerly occupied by the admiral.

"A week today," Steve said softly to the woman who was clearly shaken by the news as fear covered her face.

"What?" Danny yelled. "That soon?"

Steve caught the anger in Danny's eyes and fell silent.

"You've been given a week to put life on hold?" Danny growled angrily, "that's just great. Just go then!"

"I've been deployed before with much less notice. I took Five-O on within two days of being back in Hawaii with every intention, prior to that, to returning to my unit in Korea." Steve said in the form of an answer.

"This is different!" Danny yelled hurt and anger in his every move.

"How," Steve yelled back, "How is it any different then me giving up my career with the Navy to stay here?"

"You never gave it up!" Danny hissed viciously letting his hurt come out. "You've always just been waiting for a reason to go. You never really wanted to be here."

"That's not true!" Steve yelled in retort.

"Then why didn't you fight to stay?"

"Because I have no choice!"

A barely suppressed sob caused both men to stop and turn all their angry attention to the young woman who had gone virtually unnoticed until that moment, "please, you two can't fight, not like this and for this reason. We're all going to be hurt by this. There is no point in taking it out on Steve, Danny. It's not his fault." She whispered through her tears. "But you have every right to be angry."

"Kono are you crying?" Steve asked in shock.

Danny rushed to take the seat beside her as silence fell.

"What is so important that they need to take you away from us?" Kono asked her eyes read with tears.

"I don't have any particulars about my mission," Steve said as he stood and came around the desk and knelt down beside her, "but I've been told that I have the expertise that they need, meaning, I've worked a similar mission before." He said calmly.

"How dangerous?" Kono asked as she looked him in the eyes.

"Very," Steve admitted.

"How long will you be gone?"

"As long as it takes."

"I don't want you to go Steve," Kono sobbed as she fell forward.

"I don't want to go Kono," Steve sighed as he held her and Danny reached out and rubbed her back to have some form of contact in the terribly draining situation, his eyes red with unshed tears as he caught Steve's glance.

"Don't look at me like that," Danny hissed.

"I'm sorry Danny," Steve whispered.

"I know." He answered and stood.

5-0

Chin walked into the Five-O bullpen to see only Danny pacing in Steve's office. He was running his hands through his hair nervously and constantly looking back to something that was just out of sight. As he came closer, Chin's heart stopped. He saw his cousin, the young woman who had proved her self to be one of the toughest, well prepared and vigilant cops he had ever known, sobbing in the arms of their commanding officer.

"What happened, Kono?" Chin asked fearfully as he rushed into the office.

"Steve's gotten news," Danny sighed stopping Chin in his tracks.

"What kind of new? Who else is dead?" Chin asked his face white.

"No one is dead. It's not about any of our cases, or Wo Fat, it's fate." Steve said as he looked up at his elder.

"Not again," Chin sighed. "It killed your father to know you were being deployed into such hostile environments, please tell me it's not that."

"He leaves in a week," Kono sobbed.

"Wow," Chin sighed and fell onto the couch in the corner.

"Guys, we all knew this could happen," Steve said seeing the worry and the pain in the faces of all of his team members; his heart breaking and his reserve faltering to see them like this.

"That doesn't make it any easier," Chin said.

Kono sat back on her knees, biting her lip to try and get her emotions under control as she pushed herself away from Steve. "You promise me you'll come back."

"Of course I'll come back," Steve tried to smile but he saw the fear in her eyes. "I've always been ok."

"You could die Steve," Danny stated as he continued his pacing. "And we won't be there to back you up. We won't have contact with you every day. You won't have access to all of our recourses. You'll be alone. You can't convince us that everything is going to be ok."

"I'll be fine," Steve said as he stood, walked around his desk and sat down, as Danny help Kono to her feet and led her to the couch in the corner where her cousin had fallen and remained in a state of shock.

"I've been through this before. It will go quickly and I'll be back in no time to have you rant about my Neanderthal behavior," Steve stated and pointed at Danny.

"Don't, please, don't try to make light out of this situation. It's devastating Steve, can we please just be upset for a minute." Kono asked her eyes watering still, "I just can't believe this. I don't want to believe this. Tell me it's all a lie." She pleaded.

"I'm sorry Kono."

"Being a cop is one thing, it runs in the family and you live in fear for them every day, but this? This is so much worse then that." Kono sobbed as Chin wrapped his arm around her. "How will we know? Do we sit here and just wait? Will men in uniforms show up to our doors and give us the worst news in the world. Or, will we be left in the dark, no news, no ties to you at all? Is this going to be so secret that for months you'll be a ghost? Are we supposed to just forget about you and pretend like nothing is missing? A part of us will be missing. I can already feel the void. You are our brother Steve; we are allowed to be scared for you, to worry about you and to miss you. How are we supposed to go on? How are we not supposed to fear the worst every single day?"

Danny ran his hands through his hair once more and then sat down on the couch as well, on the other side of Kono and linked his arm around her shoulder just as Chin had done. "I completely know the feeling," Danny whispered into her ear as he rested his head on her shoulder and Chin did the same.

"Who is going to lead us?" Chin asked. "How do we carry on as Five-O without the one who brought us together in the first place?"

"Will we be distracted the whole time thinking about you and praying for you because that's all we can do?" Kono asked.

"What if you don't come back?" Danny posed the last and most poignant question.

"You guys have to be strong. You have to keep on going with what we do; for my sake and the people of our islands. You have to fight the fight at home. Believe me; this isn't as easy as it may look. I don't want to go. I'm scared and I miss you already. I'll think of you every day and worry that you'll get hurt without me, even though I know you're the best I've ever known. I want to be here with you, but this is the reality of my choices." Steve said as he stood again and came to stand before the three of them. "I've never had to say good bye like this before. I've never had a family like I do now and it's hard."

"It sucks," Kono stated tearfully.

"Yeah," Steve sighed and felt his own emotion suddenly get the better of him.

The three other members of his team stood in that moment and wrapped their arms around him, in a four way hug, as silence fell between them. I was going to be very hard.