This one has an OC in it, soz. Thought Danny could do with an advocate at the time. Don't worry, she's not in it much
Danny waited as his partner was checked out at the medical centre a while later. Steve, as usual, had argued the toss that he hadn't needed medical assistance even though he'd been smacked over the head, roughed up a bit and kidnapped. "And saw a bear," Danny had commented lightly as he lead him over to the waiting ambulance.
"It was there, Danny," Steve assured him. "I'm more concerned that you didn't see it," he added as he walked with him.
Danny simply smiled at him and handed him over to the waiting paramedics. "The usual, please," he said to the pair of them sardonically. "I'll follow behind so he can't leap out."
Steve glared at him as Danny pushed him up the stairs into the vehicle and grumbled to himself as he was pushed onto a gurney by one of the paramedics. His threat of retribution to his partner was cut off when Danny simply shut the heavy doors behind him.
Danny walked over to his car parked nearby, after texting Chin and Kono where he was going, and followed the ambulance as one of the EMTs drove it away. He tried very hard not to shake so hard his hands shook the steering wheel.
Steve had been taken when he had gone storming into a crime scene, sans back up, the previous day, forgetting his usual back up was in court, testifying. HPD, Chin and Kono had arrived only a minute of two later to find the house on fire, the truck outside but no sign of their Commander.
Danny had gone ballistic, got out of court and insisted on going to the house to search. Chin hadn't seen him for hours, getting more and more concerned, and Danny himself was a little contrite about that. He had gone though the house, honed in on Steve's scent and followed the faint trail to the house they had just raided. Luckily he had also found some physical evidence linking the two properties together so didn't have to make too much up to his clever colleagues.
And seeing his partner on the ground with a gunman standing over him had panicked him even more. He had lashed out, literally, in the only way he knew how.
He had hoped to remain incognito, he had managed it for some years, but his confusing feelings for Steve had now, could now, cause him a problem.
Now though, as he tried not to shake apart in the car, he concentrated on getting to the hospital in one piece. At least the ambulance wasn't on red lights, Steve hadn't had a problem on the way that they had needed to floor it.
He'd managed to control his shaking by the time he parked his car at the hospital and jogged into the ER. The head nurse recognised him and simply handed him a clipboard and told him the cubicle number, waving him through.
"Is he alright?" he asked as he walked in. The Doctor looked up at him and smiled in greeting. "Danny," she greeted him. "He'll be fine."
"Bob!" he grinned and said happily when he recognised her. "Are you all right? I've not seen you for a while."
"Hey, patient here!" Steve, lying on the gurney Bob was standing next to called out to them. He was pouting, his arms folded across his naked – again – chest, bruises standing out on his skin.
Danny grinned at him, relieved beyond measure he was upright, sort of, and talking. "Then be patient, Steven," he said to him as he walked over.
Steve's expression lightened at his partner's presence, especially when Danny laid a gentle hand on one of his tattooed arms. "You know I can't stop that," the Commander commented, trying not to be too grim.
"That's true," the Detective retorted fondly. "Now shush, I need to speak to Bob."
Doctor Roberta Turpin smiled at him again. "How's Gracie?" she asked as she turned back to Steve and quickly shone her small torch in both eyes, jotting down the results in her notes. "Ready for her sleepover?"
Danny nodded. "She's fine," he replied. "Can't wait for the sleepover. All she talks about. Well," he added with a glance at his partner. "Apart from SuperSEAL here, of course," he added fondly.
"Not so Super at the moment," Steve grumbled to himself as he watched Bob poke and prod his injuries.
"Not for too long though," the doc assured him, and turned back to Danny. "He needs to stay overnight, but he should be fine to leave tomorrow."
Danny rolled his eyes and didn't need to count down for the response, because the Commander started protesting before he could vocalise anyway.
"I don't need to stay, Doc," Steve told her firmly. "I'm fine. I'll sleep it off at home."
Danny laughed quietly and squeezed the arm he held. "You are so predictable," he explained when his partner glared up at him. "You've got a lot of bruises to class yourself as 'fine'."
"I've had worse," Steve snapped at him. "And gotten back up and carried on."
"This isn't the Buttendofnowhere-istan, Steve," Danny sighed. "Please, just do me and you a favour by staying here tonight. I'll know where you'll be, I can spend the rest of the night sorting out this mess and getting the paperwork done," he pleaded with him. "Or you can go home and I'll make sure you do all the paperwork," he added deviously. "For a month."
Really Chin, Kono and the HPD officers would be quite able to deal with the clean up, they were all still on the scene anyway. Danny would, no doubt, have to do the paperwork any way, as he would normally do. But he needed some time on his own to get the blood from under his nails, the residual cramps from his muscles, and a run to stretch out and calm down. Explaining that to his partner would probably make him want to come with him, and Danny was not ready to explain to him yet that going for a run meant on four legs, dressed in spotted or striped fur with a long tail too.
But he could see his partner was going to argue, Steve wouldn't be Steve otherwise. "Steve," he said firmly before he could. "You owe me for not waiting for back up. Seriously. I've got things to go, clean up part of it. I can't deal with that being worried about you, where you are and what trouble you're getting into." He squeezed his arm again. "Don't tell me you won't get into any trouble," he added quickly when he could see the protest forming on Steve's lips. "I spent one day in court, leaving you in the office with the other members of the team, and you end up being beaten to crap, kidnapped, almost killed and in hospital." His eyes darkened when he remembered the scene when he had arrived, if he had been a few moments later..? He shook his head and took a few deep breaths to calm himself; shifting back into a bear would give the game away.
Steve must have seen something in his face, Danny knew he wore his heart on his sleeve and his feelings for his partner were strong at the best of times. "All right," he agreed, but was not happy about it. "But I get out of paperwork for a month, and you pick me up at 8am, no later."
Danny sighed theatrically and looked over at Bob who was grinning at them both. "He must think we don't know him very well," he said to her. "That we don't realise he's caved so quickly because he doesn't want to do paperwork. Not that he's feeling crap."
Bob nodded sagely. "I know," she agreed with him. "We'll give him some painkillers so he can sleep," she soothed. "He'll be fine."
"Er, still here," Steve complained petulantly, looking at them both.
"Yeah, about you, not too you," his partner replied. "Now relax, let Bob treat you, and I'll stay with you until you sleep. Okay?"
That reassurance seemed to be what his fearless leader needed, he relaxed into the bed and let his arms drop from his chest. He wasn't going to tell Danny how scared he had been when the guy had been standing over him. He had faced death before, but not so much since he had met his contradictory partner, and his main fear then had been that he would never have another chance to listen to one of his rants. And then a bear had turned up? He had been drugged before and hallucinated, but he knew that had not happened this time. But a bear? Why would he imagine up a bear? He looked up at his partner and tried to school his face, but Danny could read him easily. "As soon as I get the report from Max I'll bring it over," Danny assured him, knowing some of what was going on in his brain. "Tomorrow morning, okay?"
Steve nodded, relieved beyond measure that his partner seemed to believe him. He let Bob treat his wounds, all the while answering Danny's questions, and didn't really notice how well his partner took his statement until the man in question finished and told him so. And he was also surprised at how quickly he was settled into a comfortable room, Danny beside him, as always. "Are you sure I can't go home?" he asked plaintively as Bob injected some of the strong stuff into his IV.
"When you wake up," his partner assured him, fondly amused. Obviously the drugs were taking affect because Steve seemed to be okay with that and he closed his eyes and settled back. Danny watched him as he quickly fell asleep, and looked up at Bob when he was sure he was out of it. "Is he going to be okay?" he asked her quietly.
She nodded. "He'll be fine," she assured him. Bob knew more about Danny than anyone on the islands did, his old partner in New Jersey had told him about her when he had decided to come here, and they had sought each other out.
Danny nodded and looked back at his partner. "I got there and some guy was just about to shoot him in the head," he explained.
"Ah," Bob replied knowingly. "Bear?"
He nodded, gently ruffled Steve's hair and stood to walk away from him, just in case. Bob joined him in the corner of the room, knowing how he was feeling. "I couldn't help it," he murmured quietly, not looking at her. "I didn't even think. The guy was gonna shoot him, so next thing I know I was ripping his throat out, in front of my partner."
"Did he see you change?" Bobbi asked him quickly, glancing over at the sleeping Commander. She could do something if he had but didn't want to if she didn't have to – loading someone with a concussion full of strong drugs was something she wanted to avoid.
Danny though, shook his head. "I was already half way there when I saw him," he explained. "He was staring at the guy, who had his back to me. And the rest of the team weren't there, I checked. But," he added with a grimace. "He's not gonna let it go, I'm to have to explain eventually."
Bob laid a hand on his arm. "It's not the end, Danny," she tried to assure him. "You never know, he's crazy enough about you to take it in his stride."
"Right," the detective huffed. "Crazy."
Whether he was ignoring the rest of what she had said, just didn't want to think about it, or believe it, Bob didn't know. She shook her head fondly; there was definitely something she did know. "I said he's crazy about you," she reminded him. "Which he is. So don't panic just yet, don't start planning exit strategies. Okay?"
Danny sighed and finally looked up at her. "Okay," he agreed, but was not happy about it. "It's not as if I can leave here anyway," he added. "Grace's here, and he's my …" He paused as he thought about it. "Not mate, but… he locks me here, in this shape," he tried to explain, using his hand to implicate his form.
She smiled and nodded. "Tomato, tomahto," she commented simply and then laughed quietly for a moment at his dark expression. "I'll look after him, Danny," she told him and patted his shoulder. "Go for a run, stretch out, then get some sleep," she instructed. "I'll see you in the morning."
"Thanks, Bob," he replied gratefully. "Tomorrow." He was quite reluctant to leave but he trusted Bobbi with Steve, Gracie and his little secret, so he walked away after a long look at his sleeping partner.
He called Kono as he was walking back to the car, told her Steve would be fine and he'd see them at the Palace in a few, and had to take some time to sit in the Camaro for a few minutes to calm down.
By the time he drove to HQ about half an hour later (scenic route) he was calm enough to face his workmates.
Danny did as much work as possible before his muscles ceased up completely, which normally happened if he didn't stretch. He wasn't a prolific shapeshifter, he didn't shift very often, and he seemed to have shapes that his lizard brain liked to turn him into. Like a bear, when someone he cared a lot about was in danger, or a big cat when he was stressed or needed to run. He could swim like a fish, hell, he was a fish when he wanted to be, and he could be a beetle too. The only thing he couldn't do very well was fly, he never got very far, falling out of the sky like a stone, so many times he still had the scars.
He knew someone people with his particular talent, a couple too who spent all of their time shifting from one form to another, barely retaining their human form. But it was exhausting, he didn't have that much strength, he had tried for a few weeks when he was in college to make himself a foot taller, but after three weeks of constant concentration all he did was rip the muscles and tendons in his ankles, gave himself a stiff neck and migraine it took weeks to get over, and more of a complex about his height.
But the run he was planning had always been his favourite thing to do, feline or canine, it didn't really matter. He tried not to think about it too much as he was trying to get the 2 cousins to go home, he could, and had, spontaneously changed before, hence the bear earlier, and his partner in Jersey finding out about him.
Finally, about time too, Chin tugged Kono from their desks and out of the door. "Tomorrow, Brah," he said to Danny as he stuck his head into his office. "Go home, get some sleep."
Danny nodded and saved his work on his computer. "You too, Chin," he answered with a smile. "Make sure Kono does too."
Chin nodded and left him to it, giving him one of his patent no nonsense looks which basically told Danny to get his ass out of the office and leave.
The detective nodded, waited for them both to leave, and slipped out of the office to his car, pulling his tie off as he went. Getting in the driver's seat was a bit odd, even though it was his car, and he hated that the only reason why that was, was because Steve was asleep in hospital.
He quickly drove away to his favourite spot, deep in the forest in the Ewa Forest Reserve and parked the car in an unobtrusive spot in a small out of the way car park. He had to wait while the other people there left before he stripped quickly, hiding gun, badge, wallet in the bucket under the passenger seat (Steve must not know about that one, there were no grenades or other explosives stashed in there), folding his clothes and leaving them in a bag in the footwell. He slipped the car keys onto a chain that he put over his head, looked around him again to make sure he was alone, and slipped out of his car, into the trees beside him. He thumbed the remote to lock the car, then turned away and started to run.
Between one step to the next he had changed out of his usual form to a jaguar, all long limbed and graceful. To anyone watching they would have seen Danny Williams one moment and a big spotted cat the next, sharing the same space, but Danny felt every change. He felt his muscles stretching out, moving into the right places, his bones cracking, slipping around under his seemingly fluid skin, momentarily itching as fur grew quickly, and whiskers. All of a sudden his eye sight got a lot sharper, his sense of smell much more sensitive, his hearing a lot better, he noticed all the life going on around him from the birds in the trees to the little rodents running away from his sudden appearance.
What was Danny Williams, Detective Sergeant, 2IC of 5-0, worried friend sort of faded into a distant hum as he became the cat he had turned into. With a happy growl he stretched out his claws to feel the earth beneath them, sniffed the air, and loped off.
TBC...