Hi! Wow, thank you so much for all the wonderful comments! I'm really pleased you're liking this one :o) (Tickled pink, I am hee) Bryce x

On with the fic...

Steve couldn't believe it; the fucker had shot Danny! He lunged forward just as his partner's knees gave out and caught him before he hit the deck, carefully easing his descent.

"Hold on, you're gonna be okay... Let me see, Danny..." he murmured prying Danny's hand away from the bloody wound. He could see the man still waving the gun at them both in his peripheral vision, a stunned, shocked look on his face, and carefully moved so his body was shielding Danny's.

"St-steve..." Danny gasped, grinding his teeth against the pain. "Fuck, that hurts!"

Gently pressing onto the bloody muscle, Steve assessed the damage and bit down hard on his lips when he found an exit wound just above the shoulder blade on his back. A through and through. While a gunshot injury was bad enough, at least the bullet wasn't still in there wreaking havoc. He looked back at Danny's pale face, saw his eyes closed and the tight lines of pain around his mouth.

"Hey, look at me, Danno, stay with me," he murmured pressing harder trying to slow the bleeding.

"I...I, I didn't mean to do that, it was an accident," the man shouted harshly. "You, you should've just let me have the boat!"

"Just put the gun down and back away, man," Steve suggested lowly, looking over his shoulder. "We're Five-O. You just shot a cop!"

But the man wasn't listening. Danny opened his eyes when he heard frantic pacing and mutterings behind Steve, his focus wavering slightly when the pressure on his shoulder increased.

"Jesus, Steve," he hissed painfully.

"Sorry, buddy, just gotta stop you leaking blood all over Chin's Uncle's boat here," Steve murmured, although the worry and concern belied the lightness of his words. He glanced over his shoulder and frowned. The man was clearly agitated, their predicament was not good. He had to do something, or both he and Danny were dead.

Danny saw the look and pinned his crazy SEAL partner with a glare. "No, Steve, think about this carefully," he whispered quickly, throwing another look at the gun aimed at them both, shaking in the man's white knuckled grip.

Seeing the blood oozing through his fingers, the precious warm fluid pulsing freely with every beat of his friend's heart, Steve looked up sharply. "Danny, I-"

"Hey. Hey!" the man shouted stopping whatever Steve was going to say. "Get up. I said get up! Now!"

Steve slowly turned, holding one bloody hand up, the other still pressing onto Danny's shoulder. "He's losing a lot of blood, man. We need to get him to a hospital," he tried calmly.

Stepping forward, the man pointed the cold barrel of his gun two inches from Steve's head, his shaking finger tight on the trigger. "I don't give a fuck," he growled menacingly and Steve knew then the situation was hopeless; there was no reasoning with the man. "I'm taking this boat. Now get up!"

Nodding, Steve assisted Danny unsteadily to his feet, holding onto him as the boat unhelpfully rocked in the waves, making sure their movements were unhurried and non-threatening. He could feel his partner trembling in pain, but kept his eyes firmly on the man and that gun as his mind rapidly worked out a way where both he and Danny survived this.

Their options were severely limited.

He could see the back pack tucked just inside the entrance to the galley, where both their Five-O credentials and weapons were safely stored for the trip, and was just about to try reasoning one last time as a subtle way of distraction when the man suddenly stepped forward, and with a crazed look in his eyes, and shouted, "You have two seconds to jump in the water, or one of you is gonna be shark chum! NOW!"

Realising that any hesitation now would only result in Danny, or himself, being shot again, Steve grabbed his partner and they both jumped overboard into the ocean. He kept a hold of Danny, keeping the blonde head above the water, and kicked away from the boat as fast as he could when he heard the rapid fire of two more gunshots exploding sharply over the sounds of the waves.

Spluttering when the sea water slashed in his face, Danny cried out, unable to keep quiet anymore as each movement shot agonising bolts of pain from his shoulder and through his body. The world swam in swirls of blurred colours, and he could feel the cold tendrils of darkness pulling at him under, and Danny sluggishly wondered if drowning would hurt if he was unconscious anyway.

Hearing the engines of the Aigle De Mer start up, Steve felt numb; his mind whirling with hopelessness... How the hell were they going to survive this? The chances of swimming back to land, with an injured and bleeding man in tow, were about as nonexistent as another boat sailing by and picking them up. The analogy Needle in a Haystack unhelpfully came to mind and Steve felt like screaming out at the unfairness of it all.

It was a veiled blessing that Danny wasn't exactly compos mentis at the moment, because drowning was a hell of a way to die.

He pulled his friend's body closer to his own, and held on tighter. A forty mile swim normally wouldn't be a problem for Steve, but this far out, and severely hampered with his precious burden, there was no way he'd be able to fight the merciless and unforgiving power of the ocean.

The boat sailed away and Steve found himself automatically futilely swimming after it, but then he stopped, his eyes widening when he saw the dinghy bobbing in the churning water. The man had cut the craft adrift! Steve didn't hesitate, his survival instincts in overdrive, and with a silent prayer aimed at the heavens, he quickly started swimming towards it.

Not taking his eyes off his target, Steve shook his head when a wave hit him full in the face, and called out, "Hey, Danny. You still with me, buddy?"

"Mmmmm..."

"Good. We're nearly there, Danno... just a few more feet, alright?" Steve kicked faster when he felt Danny's body sag even more. "C'mon, man, don't give up on me now. Hold on, nearly there..."

"S'okay, Steve, won't hurt... be okay," Danny slurred softly opening his eyes and looking at the red tinged water slashing around them. He frowned confused. "The water's all red. Thought the ocean was blue."

Relieved that Danny was still with him, still talking, (even though the slurred words scared him), Steve pushed into his energy reserves and closed the distance between them and the dinghy, shaking the salty water from his stinging eyes with each stroke.

"Actually," he spluttered breathlessly. "It's the... water filtering the sunlight... that gives it the colour blue."

A light chuckle warmed Steve's ear. "Steve the Science Guy's back. I knew that... about the light. Gracie... homework last month."

"I'm sure... you did, Danno," Steve huffed. The dinghy was then within reach and he grabbed the rope panting heavily, and turned them both to face it. "Okay, Danny, gonna need your help here."

With a heave, he pushed his partner up out of the water while Danny tried his best to hang on and climb aboard. In a matter of moments, he was slumped in the well of the small boat staring at the hissing holes spewing air.

Steve launched himself out of the ocean, and after seeing what Danny was staring at, (the bastard boat-jacker had shot the dinghy!), he frantically looked about and saw the small rubber hose in the gas can, immediately getting to work plugging the holes with it.

"Danny, I need you to hold this, right here," he instructed guiding Danny's hand to one end of the knotted hose. "Hold it tight..." He pulled and knotted the other end, and then slowly slackened the stretch until the knots plugged the holes. "Let go..."

Danny's shaking hand released its hold and he looked at the repair. "Is it alright?"

Steve sat back panting. He nodded, "That should slow the leak." Satisfied, he turned back to Danny and carefully peeled back his shirt away from the bullet wound. It was still bleeding badly, obviously aggravated by the impromptu swim in the ocean.

"How much time is this gonna buy us?" Danny asked as Steve carefully helped him out of his shirt, his voice tight with renewed pain. Ripping the shirt into strips, Steve concentrated wrapping Danny's shoulder in a makeshift bandage as best as he could. Danny, however, wasn't too impressed with what Steve had used.

"I dunno, it's not gonna hold forever."

"Well, that's just great," he muttered to himself, hissing when Steve secured his arm to his chest with the wet material.

"Should slow the bleeding," Steve said wincing at the red tinged pool in the bottom of the dinghy. He looked at Danny's pasty face, blushed already with a slight sunburn, and the glassy eyes trying to stay open. Shock was now a huge problem, and one Steve would rather not have to deal with. "Hey, how are you doing?"

"How am I doing? Are you kidding me?" Danny gawped, his one remaining free hand raised and waving about. "I got shot, Steven! I have a hole right through my left shoulder! How do you think I'm doing?!"

"Yeah, I know, Danno," Steve nodded actually, for once, thankful to hear Danny ranting. He placed his palm on Danny's forehead, sighing in relief when the heat there was no more than the slight sunburn he had.

"Hey, hey, stop that, I'm fine," Danny scowled, grimacing as he moved to sit up higher in the dinghy. Steve leaned forward to help until Danny put his hand up to stop him. "I'm good. I got this."

"Just let me know if you start feeling sick or dizzy, alright?" Steve said seriously.

Too late, Danny thought miserably, he was already feeling dizzy, and the now constant nausea was threatening to end his new No Puke streak he'd had to restart shortly after the crazy SEAL came into his life and turned it on his head, with stomach lurching car chases and heart attack inducing stunts. But he nodded, swallowed down the bile in his throat and sighed.

"So, we're in a boat, a leaky boat. Sounds like sinking to me, Steve," he pointed out, eyes glancing at the temporary repair again before watching Steve checking out the small motor.

"Technically it's a dinghy, but we're not sinking, okay?"

If he knew it wouldn't hurt like a son-of-a-bitch, Danny would've laughed out loud at that. Instead he pinned his annoying partner with a glare. "I stand corrected. We're stranded in a slowly leaking dinghy!"

"We're not stranded," Steve insisted looking up, but Danny's fuzzy mind just didn't get it. What the hell was Steve talking about?!

"Hey Steve, I don't know if you've noticed but we're in the middle of the ocean, okay?" Danny said in a loud voice. "How... how's that not stranded?"

"You done?" Steve, the impossible pain in Danny's butt, asked with a raised eyebrow that just riled Danny up even further.

"No, no, I'm not done. In fact I haven't even got started yet, and as of today I am done helping people in boats, specifically ones with guns, okay? I have been there, I have done that, and I got shot!"

Hearing the tight edge of pain and fear in his partner's voice, Steve quickly apologised. He was seriously concerned about the blood loss and although Danny ranting meant he was still with him, he didn't want his friend any more worked up than he already was.

"Okay, I am sorry about the gun, I didn't see the gun, and I'm sorry I got you shot," because he remembered Danny's rule that when you got someone shot, you apologised. "But I thought the guy was in trouble."

"Was in trouble, Steve," Danny emphasised. He slumped back with a pain filled gasp. "Now he's not 'cause he's got our boat. Oh, and acceptance of your apology is contingent on whether we make it home alive, Steven. Therefore it is duly noted."

"You let me know," Steve answered softly, repeating the familiar words spoken a lifetime ago. It was a dance they knew well.

Danny nodded with a tired smile that didn't reach his eyes. He fumbled awkwardly in his pocket for a second and pulled out his water-logged cell phone, looking at it forlornly before pitching it into the ocean. "You owe me a cell phone, and a new shirt, too."

The breathless slurring quality to Danny's voice made Steve look sharply at him, frowning when he saw the almost grey pallor under the sunburn, the listless slump of his body and closed eyes. He left the motor and quickly pressed two fingers against his friend's neck.

"Danny?"

Washed out blue eyes opened and blinked rapidly. "You're violating my territorial bubble."

Snatching his hand back, Steve bit back a smirk recognising the familiar quote from the other night when he and Kono had made Danny sit through The Frighteners, (a movie surprisingly enough actually chosen by Chin). "You quoting movies at me now, Danno?"

"I hate you," Danny mumbled by way of an answer.

"No, you don't." Steve's worry notched up when Danny's eyes slid closed again and he gently tapped his cheek. "Hey, stay awake, y'hear? Stay with me, Danny..."

"Nowhere t'fuckin' go other than a dip in the ocean," Danny muttered, taking a deep ragged breath and sitting up straighter. "Oh, yeah, done that already," he bitched.

Wiping a shaky hand over his face, Steve blew out a harsh breath. They were in a heap of trouble, and although he would never admit it out loud, Danny was right. They were stranded in a slowly leaking dinghy in the middle of the ocean. Their time was running out, and no one knew where they were. Add the fact that they had no water and Danny was already becoming dehydrated due to the blood loss, and probably starting to fight an infection from the bullet wound...

The one thing he had to do though was keep his ailing partner awake and alive, and the only way he could think of was baiting him, deliberately provoking Danny into doing what Steve assumed was a Williams family trait, a genetically ingrained need to rant.

"Why don't you sit there and keep complaining while I figure a way outta this, alright?" he bitched right back and turned to the motor again, closing his eyes briefly at Danny's quick retort.

"Fine. Just please do me one little favour and tell me we have gas, please!"

Oh, if only life was as simple as that... "Negative, we do not have gas," he reported and ditched the engine into the sea with a splash.

"Why did you do that?" Danny looked shocked and dismayed. He couldn't believe Steve had just done that!

"It was busted."

"You could've fixed it. You could have snapped some technical Navy SEAL knowhow on it and fixed it," because seriously, what the fuck where they going to do now?!

Steve shrugged. "Maybe, but we're outta gas, okay? And it was weighing us down," he explained, "but we have rope."

Rope? Danny looked at Steve as if he'd grown an extra SEAL head, another just as insane as the one already there. "Martha Stewart, please do me a favour and tell me how macramé is gonna help save us right now!" A rope? God help us, Danny thought. His shoulder ached and he had to swallow down another wave of nausea as he watched Steve futz about with the rope. Hmmm... Maybe they could lasso a dolphin or a whale... a nice big whale and hitch a ride back to shore... Or even two turtles like Captain Jack Sparrow in that movie Grace liked so much. Yeah, that'd work with Captain Lt. Commander McGarrett's stupid rope...

"Hey, Danno, open your eyes," Steve urged with a not so gentle nudge. "Stay awake, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah..." he murmured forcing himself to look at his partner. "Seriously, Steve? Macramé?"

"I'm tying a tow rope." No. Just no... The whole lassoing sea creatures was too much, even for a SEAL.

Danny flicked his hand up and cupped it to his ear, "Oh good! Now all we need is a tow, or a phone to call one with!" Unbelievable! He stared out at the horizon, silently willing it to stop wavering in and out of focus and making him dizzier than he already was. "Just tell me which way is land."

Checking the position of the sun, Steve pointed in one direction, "That way."

"This way," Danny mumbled, gasping as he tried to turn and get his free hand into the water.

Dropping the rope and steadying Danny when he slipped against the blood slick side of the dinghy and cried out in pain, Steve helped him to sit back again, frowning hard at the shallow panting and unhealthy hue of his skin. "What're you doing?"

"What am I doing? I'm exercising, what does it look like I'm doing? I'm paddling!" Danny immediately griped and wiped his hand over his face before pressing it to his shoulder.

"Save your energy, I'm gonna tow us, okay?" Steve stripped off his vest and secured the rope around his chest.

"How are you gonna tow us? We're miles away from land! Huh?" A breathy laugh escaped his lips. Steve the Super SEAL! Maybe lassoing sea creatures wasn't so far off after all...

"What?" Steve frowned, checking Danny's pulse again. It felt rapid under his fingertips, and it alarmed him that Danny didn't even seem to realise he was touching him. "What's so funny?"

Smiling, Danny pointed at Steve and murmured, "Towed by a seal," before chuckling softly to himself. Steve frowned harder and just looked worried and confused. "Sorry. I'm just rambling," Danny sighed and tipped his head to the side looking at the rope now looped around Steve's body. "So, you're really gonna tow us, huh?"

Now, Steve knew the islands were habitat to a variety of sharks, including the Great White (even though those were rare in Hawaiian waters), and was extremely nervous about getting into the water, because he was a little anxious that Danny's blood could have attracted uninvited predators to the area. But their dinghy was slowly sinking and he had to do something.

"Just relax, Danny, I've done it before," the SEAL told him with more confidence than he actually felt.

"Oh, you've done it before?" Danny repeated. "Oh, I see, 'cause you like this, huh. This is fun for you. You enjoy this. This is a challenge for you, right? Skills test, be all you can be and all that crap, huh?" he laughed as if he couldn't believe that this was his life right now. Steve, of course, wasn't helping any.

"That's the army," he corrected patiently and twisted ready to jump into the water. "Alright."

Danny panicked, "Hold on. Hold on... just stop for one second. What am I gonna do?"

Looking hard at his partner sitting in a puddle of his own blood, Steve could see the fear and pain in the blue eyes locked onto his as if his life depended on it, and in a way it did. He leaned forward and cupped Danny's warm face with one hand, "You stay awake, Danno. You stay awake for Grace, understand me?" he said sternly. "You keep watching me out there as I tow the dinghy, but promise me you'll stay awake. Promise me, Danno..."

"Yeah," Danny swallowed thickly, "promise, Steve. But... what if-"

Steve got it; Danny was scared that he'd slip away while he was all alone in the dinghy, and he looked around and found an empty water bottle. "This is what you do; I want you do bail, okay? Take this... bail."

"Okay," Danny nodded taking the bottle in his one hand. He shuddered out a breath, "Woah, oh, ah, it's a dinghy, right? So, like, it can't sink..." He looked at Steve, desperately wanting that confirmed, but the man just pursed his lips.

At the terrified look on Danny's face, Steve wished he could tell him what he wanted to hear, but he wouldn't lie to him either. He just prayed that setting the man a simple task would be enough to keep him fighting, keep him awake... and keep him alive.

"Just bail," he repeated. "Think of it as busy work to keep your mind off the situation."

Situation? Other than the fucked up mess they were in now? Danny quickly needed to know, "What's the situation?"

Crap. "There is no situation," Steve said, annoyed at himself for his apparent poor choice of words. "We're gonna be fine, just trust me."

"Trust you! Trust you... trust you!" Danny grumbled. "Hey, I was happy sitting at home on my couch in my underwear watching the Jets, okay? But no, you wanted me to catch a tuny-fish!"

At least Danny was still alert enough to rant, even if there was no real strength behind the words. Steve would take anything and hang onto it with all he had, baiting Danny even more. "You gotta admit, it was just a little bit fun reeling in that big fish though, huh? Huh?"

"It was..."

"Wasn't it good?"

"It was fun, ah, but the boat... the boat jacking not so much fun," Danny agreed cracking a tight smile as Steve grinned at him.

"Stay awake, Danny, keep watching me and start bailing," he said, stood up and dived into the ocean. Danny flinched when the water splashed him.

"Jesus! Thanks, Steve," he bitched swiping his forearm across his face. "S'not as if I wasn't already wet!"