Always the Hero – Part 2
Steve pulled his truck into his driveway and breathed a sigh of relief. There, in his spot, sat Danny's Camaro. He was here. He was safe.
Steve had spent the past several scouring the island for his friend. He had checked every place he could think of. Spoke to everyone he knew. He thought for sure he would find Danny at his favorite spot overlooking the ocean. But when he got there all he found were some horny teens making out in their car. He briefly considering considered pulling out his badge and reading them the riot act because he was just in that kind of mood. But he quickly decided against it. After all, he had been a horny teenager once. So he got back in his truck and preceded to check every park, beach or bar that Danny had ever visited. He even went to Danny's house twice. All with no luck. He called back to the office several times to see if Danny had shown up there, but that only resulted in worrying Kono, Chin and Lou even more than they already were.
"Have you checked your house?" Kono asked him during their last phone call.
Steve really hadn't even considered it.
"I mean, you are the one he always seems to go to when he's upset."
"But he knew I was at work. Why wouldn't he just go there."
"I dunno. Maybe because we are all here too and he really didn't want to face anyone else right now. I mean, he knew you were going to go home eventually. Right?"
Thankfully, Kono had been right and after a quick phone call to let her know. He headed inside.
He was surprise when he came in the front door and didn't see Danny sitting there in the living room waiting for him. Danny always made himself at home in Steve's house, but it wasn't like him to wander the house when Steve wasn't there.
"Danno! Where you at buddy?" Steve hollered as he made his way toward the kitchen. He stopped halfway when he noticed the sliding door out to the lanai was open. Danny must have been outside. He was about to head out when he heard an unusual ringtone emanating from the living. It was the wicked witch's theme song from the Wizard of Oz."
"Rachel." Steve muttered to himself as he headed back into the living room. Danny must have changed her ringtone once again after he found out she had lied to him about Charlie.
Steve found the Danny's phone on the table in the living. He picked it up and answered it.
"Rachel?"
"Danny?"
"No Steve." He informed her.
"Oh thank God. You found him. Is he alright?"
"I don't know." He replied tersely. "I haven't had a chance to talk to him yet. What the hell did you say to him Rachel?"
"I…I…" She stammered in response.
"You know what? Never mind." Steve snapped at her. "I don't have time for you right now." And hung up before she had a chance to respond. He sighed and stared at the phone for a moment feeling guilty. He shouldn't be so hard on Rachel. What she was going through right now was every parent's nightmare. But then again what she had done to Danny…lying to him for three years about his son, was truly awful and reprehensible. Three years that he should have had, bonding with his son gone and now, he might never get the chance. It broke Steve's heart to even think about it.
He tossed the phone back down on the table and headed outside to find his friend.
An empty bottle of Southern Comfort on his patio table was the first indication to Steve that he was on the right path. Then, he spotted Danny's shoes, neatly placed beside the adirondack chairs at the head of the beach. It was at that moment, that Steve began to panic a little. Danny could swim. He had proven that on a couple of occasions. But it wasn't something he did regularly in the open ocean, nor something he particularly excelled at. And being absolutely shit faced wouldn't help him. So when Steve scanned the beach in front of him and did not immediately spot his friend, he began to worry.
He quickly jogged to the waterfront. Looking to his left, he saw nothing but waves crashing onto an empty shoreline. It was only when he glanced to his right that he allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. There was Danny laying in the wet sand, motionless as the water came in around him.
"Danno!" Steve called out as he quickly made his way to where Danny was lying. "Hey Danny." He said dropping to his knees and gently shaking his passed out partner.
Danny groaned and threw his sopping wet arm over his face. The splash of cool water hitting him the face from the sleeve of his wet oxford shirt must have surprised him as he quickly opened his eyes and began spitting the offending salt water from his mouth,
"What the…I'm wet!" He complained to Steve who was staring down at him.
"Yes you are." Steve agreed. "Come on. Get up."
"It was not wet here when I sat down." Danny informed him.
"Yeah, it's called the tide Danno. And it's coming in. So come on. Get up."
He grabbed Danny by the arm and managed to pull him into a sitting position, but in his drunken stupor, Danny was doing very little to assist and when Steve let go to get a better grip, Danny swayed and immediately started to fall back. Steve quickly grabbed him again to prevent him from slamming back into the now hard wet sand.
"Shit! Come on Danny, help me out here. You gotta get up."
"No I don't." Danny mumbled, his eyes nearly closed as his head flopped forward and his chin hit his chest. "I'll just stay here."
"No, you won't." Steve insisted, as he wrapped an arm around his partner and attempted to hoist him to his feet. It was no easy task. Danny may have been small, but he was all muscle and in his current state, he was totally dead weight in Steve's arms. But despite the lack of help Danny, Steve managed to get him on his feet.
"Alright. Now walk." Steve ordered.
"I'm too tired to walk." Danny groaned and rested his head against Steve chest. "Please can we just sit back down?"
"No!" Steve whined. "My God how can someone so small weigh so much!"
Steve tightened his grip and managed to drag his partner up the beach and into the dry sand. He was slowly making his way back to his yard when Danny suddenly planted his feet firmly into the sand to protest further movement.
"Oh God. I'm gonna be sick." He moaned.
"We're almost there Danny. Just little further." Steve pleaded.
"No. I can't." Danny replied and quickly pushed himself off Steve and fell into the sand. Sprawled on his back and seemingly too weak to move himself, he started to gag and Steve immediately dropped to his knees once again and rolled his partner onto his side so he wouldn't choke on his own vomit.
Once Danny had stopped vomiting, Steve dragged him away from the soiled sand. He sat down in the sand and pulled his partner to him so that Danny was sitting between his legs, leaning back against him with his head resting beneath Steve's chin.
"Ok pal." Steve sighed, wrapping his arms around his exhausted friend. "We'll just rest here a minute."
It wasn't long before he could feel his partner's entire body start to shake as he began sobbing uncontrollably.
"My baby is going to die Steve!" He wailed.
"Awe Danno…No! You don't know that!"
"I do! I do! He needed me. I was the only one who could help him and I screwed up! Charlie is going to die. It's all my fault."
"Danny…"
"Why? Why did this happen? Why did this happen to my little boy?"
"I don't know pal." Steve said quietly, his own tears now freely flowing down his cheeks. "I don't know."
Steve's heart was breaking. Danny was in so much pain and there was nothing he could say or do to make it better. So he did the only thing he could do at that moment. He wrapped his arms tightly around his best friend, and together they cried.
To be continued…