Aloha! Thank you to everyone who's following and favoriting and reviewing this story.

Hope you enjoy this next part, I had fun writing it!

Oz

Steve once again found himself pacing and wound up tighter than a guitar string. This time however the wait was I'm his office and this was an angry wait not a concerned one as it had been I'm the hospital waiting for news on Danny.

Late last night Steve had been all but escorted out at gun point to go home and get some rest. Danny's had urged him in his brief conscious moments as had the team. It was only when Chin found him nodding off in the cafeteria despite having a nearly empty cup of coffee in his hand, did he relent to his friends requests and head home.

Truth was, his own bed was exactly want he needed to regroup and gather his thoughts of how to proceed with their current case.

He'd showered, ate and instantly fell asleep when his head hit the pillow. The next morning he'd made a quick trip to the hospital only to be informed by Danny's HPD detail the detective had been taken for more tests and was expected to be gone for another hour and would sleep several hours after.

Frustrated but knowing his partner would understand if he wasn't there the second he was back in his room; the Navy Seal headed to the office. On his way to the hospital that morning, Chin had sent him a text saying the two SWAT officers that were with he and Danny in the gun fight, had been given permission by their Sergeant to come see him.

So far the report from the scene of the shoot out had only turned up some scary news and more questions. Evidence of bombs being constructed was there but the bombs weren't. And there was still the issue of the head terrorist Utzel somewhere on the island at large.

All government buildings had increased their security but there was really nothing yet the Governor could say to the media and people of Hawaii. He had spoken to Steve last night before the man had gone to bed however; his message;

"You deserve a good rest considering what happened to your partner McGarrett and because I expect you to find me answers soon."

Steve cleared his throat thinking about that brief but pointed conversation with the Governor as he looked at the evidence and reports all over his desk. The answer was there somewhere and focusing on it helped take his mind of the fact that Danny, his friend might never walk again.

Finally Steve stilled and was struck dumb for a moment; the idea of not having Danny next to him, of the governor telling him he needed to find a new partner... Made him twitch, hard.

"Steve?" The SEAL was brought from his mild panic attack by his teammate's voice. He looked up to see Chin and two well armed familiar SWAT officers standing behind him.

"Officers Dorsey and Hapuka?" Steve asked.

"Yes sir," Dorsey nodded. "Sorry about the gear Commander, we're heading straight out on exercise after this meeting. This won't take to long will it?"

"It'll take as long as it needs too," Steve snapped a bit harshly.

"Steve," Chin said with a warning tone. "Do you need me to stay?" What he was really asking was if Steve was going to be able to keep a level head and not jump to conclusions without all the facts first.

Taking a breath, Steve shook his head.

"I'm good," he replied. Chin gave him one last pointed look before leaving the three men to their meeting.

"Sit down, close the door," Steve told them. The two men did so before the SEAL took up his own position leaning against his desk. For a moment he just looked at the two officers, reading their body language. Neither seemed concerned but rather a bit confused with each passing second.

Finally Hapuka cleared his throat and sat up a bit.

"We heard about Detective Williams sir, I'm sorry he got hit. Is he going to be okay?" Steve worked his jaw a bit reminding himself that at the moment neither of these officers had done anything wrong.

"At the moment he's paralyzed from the waist down, don't know if it's permanent or not," Steve explained. When both officers paled and glanced at one another Steve knew there was a story he needed to hear. "Where's Officer Hadley?" He asked not giving them the chance to think too much.

"He's on leave sir," Dorsey explained. "His mother's sick and he had to go back to the mainland." Steve bristled, his arms folded across his broad chest and he worked his jaw.

"Out of respect for your storied careers I'm going to ignore the fact that you just flat out lied to me and repeat my question," the SEAL replied as calmly as possible. "Unless you expect me to believe Hadley left an active firefight so he could catch a plane; where is he?"

Again the two men glanced at one another and this time Steve knew they were holding out on him.

"Gentlemen," he said breaking them from their silent conversation. "As evidence stands, my partner was shot in the back... From behind, do you know what that means?"

"He couldn't have been, we all cleared the area behind us," Hapuka said. Steve narrowed his eyes, stood up and straightened his spine.

"Exactly," he snarled. He let that sit in the air as the two men stared at him in confusion. It took three solid seconds before their eyebrows went up in horror and shock.

"Friendly fire? You... You honestly think we shot your partner, a fellow cop, in the back?" Dorsey exclaimed.

"Not you two but boys, you're missing a man and clearly hiding something from me," Steve replied. "So either Hadley's guilty and on the run and you're giving him a chance to get away or he's in serious trouble and you need to tell me so I can make sure the three of you don't all lose your careers over this."

"Hadley's not a guy to shoot anyone especially another officer in the back," Hapuka snarled. "He's a good officer and anything he's ever done is for these islands and his brothers working next to him on SWAT. In fact, I seriously resent your tone right now Commander McGarrett."

"Easy Chuck, he's just doing what any of us would do," Dorsey soothed. Chuck Hapuka pursed his lips and sat back in his chair turning away from Steve as if to compose himself.

Steve watched him for a moment before turning to Dorsey.

"Just tell me what you're protecting him from and where he is," the SEAL asked as calmly as possible. Dorsey took a breath and shook his head.

"We don't know where he is and that's the truth," the officer replied. "I swear it."

"Okay, so run me through what happened at the warehouse," Steve pressed. Hapuka seemed to have reined it in and spoke next.

"We were pinned opposite your position," he recounted. "Hads, sorry officer Hadley was in between Officer Dorsey and I and we we're firing back covering as much as we could considering you and your partner had less cover than we did."

"Just as you headed up the stairs to take out the sniper all of our radios on SWAT frequency let off a series of clicks," Dorsey continued. He shrugged; "we all thought it was just a bad connection cause it had happened a few times before. Considering we were in a firefight, we ignored it but then Hadley started acting weird. He said he needed to get a better position and took off."

"We didn't have a choice," Hapuka added. "Detective Williams ordered Dorsey to find ground and cover your move toward the sniper while I followed Hadley." Steve inwardly cursed himself knowing Danny wouldn't let him run around without back up. His actions had in fact left Danny with zero protection from all angles. And they had been more exposed then the SWAT guys.

"Did you catch up with Hadley?" Steve asked ignoring his guilt.

"I did, he looked freaked, said he had to go and begged me to cover for him for a few days," Hapuka replied. "I tried to get him to tell me why or let me help but he said it was on him and no one else."

"You let him go?" Steve asked. Hapuka frowned but then turned his head to reveal two angry looking burn marks.

"No, then he tasered me in the neck and I blacked out for a second. I came to he was gone and the fight was over," he replied. Steve leaned against his desk once more as he processed the information. He turned to Dorsey and waved a hand at him.

"I don't remember seeing you until after everything was over; if detective Williams sent you to back me up where were you?" He asked. Dorsey rouged a bit with guilt before unlacing his boot, raising his pant leg and revealing an angry bruise covering a good portion of his right leg and a tensor wrapped around his knee.

"I uh... I may have uh… tripped," he muttered. Beside him Hapuka laughed and shook his head.

"Over an empty crate that smashed and he twisted his knee, pretty impressive for a guy who's supposedly the fittest of us all," the SWAT man chuckled.

"Shut it Puke or have it shut for you," Dorsey snarled. However he quickly turned back to Steve who still sat none to patiently waiting. "You have to believe me Commander by the time I got myself up again you were already radioing that the sniper was down and reinforcements had shown up. I figured I'd do more harm than good so I found officer Hapuka who was dazed and radioed our Sergeant that we were coming out... You should have heard that call sir."

In truth he'd probably missed a few calls. His ear piece had been dislodged during his fight with the sniper and he'd only held it to his ear long enough to make the call before going back to find Danny. After that he hadn't even bothered with the thing until he'd taken it off completely and handed it to Chin to take back to the office.

Realizing at last that maybe he was being a little too hard on the two officers before him Steve sighed.

"Look, I should apologize, I came on to strong but I think you both can understand why," he said genuinely apologetic. Both men eased in their seats and nodded.

"We know Commander, and believe me we're just as confused to what's going on as you are," Dorsey replied. "And I hope you can understand that to us the very idea that Hads is involved in anything that would hurt a fellow officer or innocent people is as absurd as someone accusing Detective Williams of the same thing. He said he was having family trouble so we covered for him. It was wrong, we know, but can you honestly say you wouldn't do the same?"

Steve didn't answer that question because the answer was obvious. Instead he pulled out a pen and paper handing it to the men.

"I'll do everything in my power to help Hadley but I need to find him first," he replied. "I need any and all contacts he might have including his own home phone and address. I'm not out to crucify guys, I just have a bomber on the loose and maybe he's got leverage against your man and is forcing him to do things he'd never do willingly. It's not the first time it's happened and won't be the last in our line of work."

The two SWAT officers nodded and quickly wrote down their friend and coworkers information. As they stood to hand the information back to Steve he made them pause for a second before leaving.

"For now, Hadley stays "off island" with family until I have reason to suspect otherwise, understood?" He asked. The two officers looked more than relieved and extremely grateful.

"You're a good man Commander, I hope the Detective makes a full recovery," Hapuka replied. Steve simply nodded as the men left him with a handshake and his own thoughts. He didn't feel like a good man at the moment but he knew his guilt would have to wait until everyone was safe.

Four days later Steve was ready to ready to pop, figuratively and literally. Pop by going absolutely certifiable at the piles of misinformation in his way and literally in terms of the next person that lied to him was going to get punched in the face.

Something was wrong, very wrong and Steve was now convinced Officer Mitch Hadley was right smack in the middle of it all. Over the past few days, calls had gone out to his family and friends.

His mother on the mainland, who was in fact in perfect health; said she hadn't heard from her son in two weeks and thought he'd just gotten busy with his work. Five-0 called Hadley's actual brother who lived on Kauai who said the last time he'd spoken to his brother; Hadley'd said he was going to go to the mainland for a while.

Each time another phone call was made to someone who knew the SWAT officer; Five-0 would receive another contradictory answer. So fart they'd gotten everything from he was visiting the mainland to he'd supposedly gone on a year long retreat in China.

So either the missing officer was so liked by everyone he knew that they were all willing to lie to him or the truth was, no one actually knew where he was. Since their first meeting Officer Chuck Hapuka and Officer Matt Dorsey had fed Steve and the remaining Five-0 members as much information as they could on where Hadley might be. The problem was, every time they handed off a new number or contact, another even more farfetched lie would add to the teams list of places to search.

Steve still wasn't sure where the officers sat but he did have a few solid facts that could not be disputed. One, Hadley had put in for a leave three weeks ago but was denied when he failed to provide an acceptable reason why.

Two, the man was definitely still on the island as his passport hadn't been used anywhere in the world and his face hadn't shown up in any of the hours of Hawaiian airports and seaport videos Steve had forced their HPD techs to search through.

Three, and the most curious certainty of all, was the fact that Hadley's just outside of downtown Honolulu had been completely ransacked from bedroom to bathroom and everything in between. In fact, the place was so much a mess that forensics was still going over it to put all the puzzle pieces back together.

The other issue was that Oliver Utzel was still at large as well and as much as Steve wanted to find the missing officer, a bombing terrorist was his priority. He'd been following every lead he could to find Utzel while Chin was really the man heading up the search for Hadley.

So far, Utzel was in the wind but again, there'd been absolutely no footage at airports or seaports to indicate he'd left the island of Oahu.

A saving grace had come earlier that morning when Chin had told Steve, Lou, who'd been on vacation for the last two weeks was coming home. If anyone could get the SWAT officers to cough up the right information, better yet, read those officers right, it was him.

Frustrated, angry and still a might guilty, Steve had snapped at Max a half hour ago, at which point Chin had reined him in and told him to go see how Danny was doing.

In truth, Steve hadn't seen his partner all that much. To his shame, he'd honestly been too afraid to not that he would admit it. Danny and the word paralyzed kept running through his head and it had made him feel unworthy of a visit to the hospital.

He'd only been once since Danny had been admitted and it was a late night visit when the Detective had been sleeping. Steve had stayed for several hours making sure his partner was comfortable every time lines of pain would crease the mans face. Steve hadn't dared talk to Danny's doctor's as he was to afraid of the possible truth and he knew he didn't need that distraction from finding a terrorist and a missing SWAT officer who may or may not be deeply involved in what was going on.

It seemed however everyone else had finally caught on to what he was doing. Max hadn't even flinched when Steve snarled and yelled at him wondering why the autopsies of the dead from the warehouse firefight were taking so long. All he'd done was make a phone call so when Steve showed up back at the office, Chin was there with a gentle hand easing him back toward the door.

"The hospital called," Chin said. "Danny's asking for you." Steve knew Chin and Kono had been to see Danny the past few days, hell probably even Kamekona and half of HPD had gone but he'd pushed that to the back of his mind. He was pushing himself to work harder for Danny's sake, for justice and for the safety of Hawaii.

That said, if his partner was specifically asking for him it didn't matter how hard it would be, how much it would detract him from finding their terrorist bomber and missing officer; he had a duty to go.

Walking down the hall to his partner's hospital room felt like he was walking down death row. Danny hadn't called him directly, he'd told the hospital to call Chin and to tell Chin to let him know his presence was requested.

It felt like a punch to the gut but all the same, well deserved.

As quietly as he could Steve gave a nod to the officer standing watch outside Danny's hospital room then pushed through the door as quietly as possible.

Danny had been elevated slightly into a leaned back sitting position but still looked pale and in pain. The moment Steve entered however the Detective's eyes popped open and he moved his eyes towards his partner.

"Startin' to think you forgot about me," Danny said with a bit of a croak. Steve took a deep breath and blew it out shaking his head.

"I'm sorry Danno," he replied. "I've been trying to track Utzel down and we've got a missing SWAT officer but all we're getting is lies."

"Yeah, Chin told me... he told me two days ago," Danny replied pointedly. Steve shrank back a bit unable to meet his partner's drugged gaze.

"I'd give anything to trade places with you Danny, anything," he replied. "You've got a kid and a girlfriend."

"A kid who visits me as often as possible and a girlfriend who's still called me twice a day despite being off island for the next two weeks," Danny replied. Steve shut his eyes at that, took a breath then opened them again this time looking his partner in the eye.

"Danny I…"

"No, I'm talking now before the drugs take me off to la-la land again," the fiery detective croaked out. "You feel guilty, I get it, it's stupid and self-sacrificing but I get it, I'd feel the same way. Ignore it, not just to find the bad guy but because when I'm better I'm going to beat it outta ya. The next thing, you stiff me with not even a phone call every day and even when I do walk out of here, you're still going to have to find yourself a new partner, get me?"

"I hear you," Steve replied instantly. He finally closed the last few feet to his partner's bed knowing it made it easier on his partner to look at him properly.

"Another issue that your knuckle dragger kills everything that moves before you feel emotion brain has been missing is this… look down," Danny instructed. At first Steve was confused and looked just to his partner's waist at which point the Detective let out a pained chuckle. "Not my privates you perv, look farther down." Steve did as instructed and was elated to find Danny's toes wiggling under the blanket ever so slightly.

"Danny! They're moving!" he exclaimed a smile bursting onto his face.

"Just," Danny said smiling with equal fervor. "Doc says I'm lucky, the bullet fragments did cause swelling and nerve damage but nothing is permanent. A month or two of physio once I'm cleared from the hospital and I should be back to putting a leash on your insanity." Steve couldn't help himself; he snorted out a laugh and dropped into the chair next to Danny's bed side.

"When the hospital called Chin telling him you wanted to see me... Damn Danny I thought you were going to rip me a new one," Steve said honestly.

"And I might still do. I get your reasons Steve but that doesn't mean it hasn't been a bitter pill not having you at least call the last few days," Danny said quickly nipping Steve's elation in the bud.

Sobered immediately by his partner's words, the SEAL nodded and looked at his friend.

"I won't screw up like that again buddy," he said honestly. "And anything you need, I'll be right here. I promise you that. Anything."

"Good," Danny nodded oddly and suddenly looking satisfied with that response. "Because there's one more thing we need to handle." Steve furrowed his brow and leaned forward at the unreadable but intense look on his partner's face.

"What's that?" he asked. Danny looked up and met his eyes never letting the gaze waver.

"Our guest," the detective replied. Steve barely heard the washroom door open before turning and standing to find their missing SWAT officer; and officer with an extremely guilty look on his face. "Commander McGarrett meet Officer Mitch Hadley," Danny introduced needlessly.

"Commander… I'm sorry," Mitch blurted out. "I never meant for any one to get hurt."

"Just tell me what's going on Hadley," Steve said making sure he was between Danny and the officer while raising his hands in the air. Mitch let out a short sob before sucking in a breath and shaking his head.

"I'm sorry… sorry for shooting your partner," he replied. Steve's eyes went wide with rage and every other emotion at the admonition but they were all null and void when the officer before him pulled out a gun, tears streaming from his eyes and silent sobs shaking his body.

The obviously distaught man aimed his weapon dead center of Steve's chest before adding with a trembling voice;

"And I'm sorry but… I have to shoot you too."

I'm sorry too... sorry that's the end of this chapter. Ha ha. More soon, I promise!

And I have to ask, how many of you cried during that last show when Steve started flipping through those pictures? I did, no shame, I blubbered like a little girl. Course it could have been because of the no Danny in that episode aspect but hey... maybe Scott Caan's got something else going and can't film regularly with the show.

Hope to hear some feed back on this chapter, if not, tell your friends to read up and enjoy!

Oz