A/N: I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to review, it's really appreciated. All the alerts are humbling. I'm happy so many people are reading and enjoying my story.

Disclaimer: See Chapter One.

Chapter Two

Steve had drawn his gun at Danny's yell and as he was pushed to the side, he turned and fired just as the man threw the spear. He didn't wait to watch the man fall; he knew his shot had killed him. What concerned him was the grunt he'd hear from Danny. Against all hope, he turned to see Danny lose his hold on the rail and fall, the spear embedded in the right side of his abdomen.

"Danny!" Steve yelled. He had no time to think, he had to act. The raft was by his feet, so he grabbed it and threw it over the side with one hand as he holstered his gun with the other. Then he jumped over the rail and followed right behind the raft.

Steve surfaced beside the raft. He looped a handle over his shoulder and started swimming back towards where he knew Danny had to be. The shaft of the spear was like a beacon to him. He could see the shaft as it stuck up out of the water, glinting in the late evening sunlight. That gave him hope. It meant his partner was floating on his back and not lying face down in the water. No more than two minutes later, Steve was beside him. He lifted Danny's head to rest on his shoulder, keeping the wake of the boat from washing over his face. As he placed a finger at the pulse point on Danny's neck, Steve prayed he was still alive. The pulse was rapid but strong, so Steve moved his hand down Danny's chest to feel if he was breathing. Danny's breathing was shallow, but at least he was breathing.

"I did what you said, Steve. I'm floating on my back." Danny's voice was strained and full of pain. Steve hadn't realised that he was conscious.

"You did good, Danny. Now I'll take over and keep you afloat until I can inflate the raft." Steve looked at where the spear had entered Danny's side and saw that Danny was holding it and applying pressure to the wound.

"Keep as much pressure as you can on your side, but don't let the spear move. I don't want to inflate the raft until I'm sure the boat won't turn back."

Steve looked up to see if the fishing boat had altered course. He hoped not as he couldn't deal with the drug smugglers and keep Danny afloat. But the fishing boat was quite far away already, Steve realised, as he trod water to keep them both afloat.

He stayed like that, watching the boat become a small dot on the horizon, with Danny's head still resting on his shoulder. Danny had said nothing more and his breathing was faster than it had been, but still shallow. When he was satisfied the boat wouldn't be coming back, Steve pushed the bag away from them and pulled the cord to inflate the raft.

While the raft inflated, Steve turned his attention back to his partner. He could see the shaft of the spear rising from the water, but he needed to feel along Danny's back to see if the head had gone through. Steve eased Danny higher on his shoulder as he reached along his back, and could feel no point sticking out. That was both good and bad. Good, because the point would deflate the raft and bad, because that meant he wouldn't be able to remove the spear. With the barbed head embedded in Danny's abdomen, it would take surgery to remove it. Thankfully the man hadn't had time to assemble the spear and it was only the shorter section that he'd thrown.

By now the raft was fully inflated and Steve manoeuvred Danny onto the flat ramp at the front. He knew Danny was still conscious by the moan the movement had elicited, but he neither opened his eyes, nor spoke. Then Steve swam around and pulled himself over the side into the raft.

There was a roof over the raft but Steve managed to pull Danny in so his right side was against the edge of the raft and the spear was sticking up past the roof. By the time he had Danny settled, with his head resting on the side of the raft so he was slightly elevated, Danny's breathing was coming in gasps, and he now had both hands pressed to his side.

"Easy, Danny, try to slow your breathing." No response. If anything Danny's breathing was getting faster.

"Damn it Danny, breathe through the pain, slow your breathing down. You can do it." But apparently he couldn't, as with a final gasp, Danny lost consciousness.

"Danny! Danny! Come on. Don't do this," Steve cried. He reached out for a pulse with one hand and placed the other on Danny's chest to feel if he was breathing. With a sigh of relief, Steve sat back. Danny's pulse was strong, but fast and his breathing was now slower but still shallow. Steve rubbed his hands over his face and just sat there for a moment trying to regroup.

This was his fault. He'd gotten Danny hurt again. He'd told him to trust him, that everything would be fine. But it wasn't. Danny was hurt and they were in the middle of the ocean.

Suddenly, Steve realised that the water in the bottom of the raft was turning red. "Shit!" he exclaimed. Of course Danny had stopped applying pressure to his wound when he lost consciousness. Now there was a copious amount of blood flowing from the wound. Steve quickly stripped off his shirt and wrung as much water out as he could, then wrapped it around the spear and applied pressure to Danny's side. That brought a moan from Danny, but he didn't wake up.

Now that he was able to look more closely at the wound, Steve realised that the spear must have glanced off one of Danny's ribs and entered his abdomen. If he remembered his anatomy correctly that was right where the liver was situated. It looked like the spear had only gone in a couple of inches, but Danny could bleed out if he didn't slow down, or stop, the bleeding.

As he sat beside Danny praying that Chin found them soon, Steve studied the spear. It was about 5/16th of an inch thick and made of aluminum. Steve had seen this type of spear before. He'd even used one once, so he knew there was only one barb on the head designed to hold onto whatever was caught. There was no way he could take it out without ripping Danny apart. It would have to remain in until they could get to a hospital.

Steve checked the wound every few minutes to see if the blood flow had slowed. The third time he checked, he was happy to see that it had tapered off nicely and as long as Danny remained quiet, it should stay that way. But Danny was now showing signs of regaining consciousness. His head rolled from side to side and his breathing increased somewhat. Then his right hand came up and covered Steve's, where it was pressed around the spear.

"Danny, lie still! I know it hurts, but you have to stay quiet and try to keep your breathing slow and even." Steve placed his left hand over Danny's helping him apply pressure. He then placed his right hand on Danny's chest.

"Just concentrate on moving my hand up and down slowly. That's good. You're going to be okay. Chin will be here soon."

"Steve, look after Grace for me. I don't want Step-Stan to be her sole male influence," Danny managed to rasp through the pain, his eyes still closed, "and tell her Danno loves her."

"Shut up, Danny. You're not going to die," Steve sighed. He really needed to tell Danny how he felt, so when Danny said nothing, Steve continued. "I'm sorry Danny. I told you to trust me and everything would be alright, but look what I got you into. You're right when you always tell me I'll get you killed by rushing into something without thinking."

"It's okay Steve. I do trust you. Why do you think I followed you onto that boat?" Danny's eyes were open now and staring at Steve. "I know you would never intentionally lead me anywhere you didn't think we could get out of. But this time Steve, I got hurt because of my own actions, not yours."

"You pushed me out of the way Danny. So how is that your fault and not mine?"

"What? You'd prefer I let the spear hit you in the back? What then? You think I could have saved you from drowning the way you saved me? No Steve. Besides, I had every intention of moving out of the way. I was just a little too slow."

Just then the sound of a helicopter approaching ended their conversation.

"That'll be Chin. We'll have you out of here soon, Danny." But when Steve looked back at Danny, he had slipped into unconsciousness again.

TBC

A/N: One more chapter after this. Please review so I know you're still enjoying the story.