A walk through the Jungle

He opened his eyes to a whole lot of green. Strange. He didn't remember falling asleep in a place as green as this. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't exactly remember how he had gotten to this green place. In fact, there were only a few, and pretty confusing things that he could remember.

He could remember been dragged by his crazy partner to some crazy firefight. There was a piercing pain on his shoulder, so he must have been hit. Next thing he knows, they're in a chopper with the bad guys, and Steve is trying to pull some Super SEAL stunt. It didn't quite go as expected, because he could swear that he saw his partner getting shot and falling off a flying helicopter. He can't remember whether they were over land or over water, but either way, he's pretty sure that that's the last image he'll have of his partner, his best friend.

After that things get even more confusing. He must have fought them, or tried to at least, because he can remember being beaten. He remembers the feeling of falling, but it couldn't have been from a high altitude, or he wouldn't be here, wondering what he's doing laying on something so green.

He moved his head around and what do you know. There is the sky! But how come that it's getting dark already? The shootout was just this morning, wasn't it?

Well… if it was getting dark, he might as well get some rest… He was getting kind of tired after all. Too bad that the green bed didn't come with a blanket.

"Steve!"

He woke up to the image of Steve falling from the chopper, but found himself face up over what looked like broken tree branches and surrounded by trees. Worst of all, he hurt, a lot.

He took a minute to wiggle his fingers and toes and to take stock of anything that might be broken.

He decided that his bad knee was going to hurt a lot when he tried to get up, his left wrist was either broken or badly sprained, and his shoulder had a bleeding hole that looked bad. Well, it wasn't bleeding that much anymore, but it looked red and inflamed. The fact that he felt like that time he had caught the Flu and couldn't get out of bed for a week wasn't giving him exactly a good feeling about his whole situation.

Alright, he needed to move, he needed to find help… Or find some place where he could be easily spotted, supposing someone was looking for him. It would help to know in which direction to go, but he didn't even know in which bug infested jungle the kidnappers of the week had dropped him, so he'd have to pick a direction and stick to it.

First things first. He needed to stand up, which was easier said than done.

Using a tree for support, he slowly managed to get to a somewhat upright position, which translated to him hanging from the tree, trying not to put any weight on his bad knee. He knew he wouldn't go anywhere unless he risked it, so he tested how much weight he could put on it.

The next thing he knew, he was sprawled, face down, on the forest floor. He took a minute to wallow in how much of a mess his life was right now, until the sound of a familiar voice made him turn his head.

'Come on, Danno. You need to get up.'

Danny looked at the figure of his partner, dressed in an over the top camouflage suit, his face streaked with mud, infuriating grin in place. "I know I need to get up! You could get your ass over here and give me a hand, and we could be on our way!"

Steve smiled sadly at his friend. 'You know I can't do that right now, Danno. But you need to move…'

Danny sighed. "Yeah, yeah… I know. Give me a minute will you?"

It took more than a minute, but with the help of a sturdy tree and using a large stick that he found nearby, Danny managed to get into something that resembled an upright position.

He leaned against a tree, looking around him. His sight was wavering a bit, but it wouldn't make much of a difference. Every way he looked, there were trees, bushes, more trees, all kinds of shrubbery and of course, more trees. He sighed, looking at his smirking partner. "Alright, Super SEAL. Which way do we go?"

Steve looked around as well and gave Danny a goofy smile. 'Sorry Danno, but if you don't know which way to go, I don't think I can help you.'

Danny rolled his eyes. "So you're not even going to give me a clue? Can't you lick your finger and lead me in the direction of the wind or look at the way the sun is moving or something like that? What good are you for?"

Steve shrugged. 'I'm here to keep you company, Danno. I could still lick my finger and check which way the wind is blowing if you want.'

Danny sighed. Looking around he could barely see behind the trees what looked like a hill, and in the opposite direction, there was no hill. Well, downhill should be easier, right? "Alright, let's go this way…"

"You know… I have no idea… what is it that people… like soooo much about this place! I mean… shark infested waters… bug infested jungles…" After a couple of hours of making his way slowly down the forest, Danny's mood was reaching an all time low.

'This is not a jungle, Danno. This is a rainforest.'

Danny snorted. "I'm sorry! Of course that… a bug infested rainforest… is much better than a jungle!" Danny's sight went blurrier all of a sudden. "Shit. I need to sit down…" Danny's knees folded, and he ended up slumped against a tree. Right then he would have given anything for some water.

'Did you know that you can drink the water from a young coconut?'

Danny didn't even bother to move his head to look at his friend. "Sure, supposing I could climb a coconut tree, I'd end up looking like the squirrel from Ice Age, running around with the freaking thing under my arm, trying to find something to crack it…"

Steve chuckled. 'The squirrel from the Ice Age didn't want to crack the acorn. He was just trying to find a safe place for it! I think you're mistaking it for the old cartoon of the squirrel stealing a coconut from a store and trying to crack it by dropping it from a tree…'

Danny was blinking tiredly. "What d'you know… about cartoons… anyway? You prolly watched military recruitment videos… when you were… a kid…"

Danny somehow knew that Steve was looking at him concerned. 'You shouldn't sleep, Danno…'

Danny shrugged his not-so-injured shoulder. "Don't have much of a choice… Wake me in a couple' hours?" And with that, he closed his eyes.

Some time later, he opened his eyes to the same sight as before; a blurry forest and his partner, looking down at him with a concerned expression on his face. 'It's time to move, Danno.'

Danny blinked tiredly, not making any real effort to move. "Don't think I can, babe…"

Steve raised his eyebrows. 'Seriously? You're just going to give up? You're just leaving Gracie here, without a fight?'

Danny's eyes filled with tears. "You know what? Fuck you! It's… It's not like I chose to be dropped in the middle of nowhere! I… I have a gunshot wound on my shoulder… Some broken bones… My knee hurts like a son of a bitch… and I generally feel like shit! The fact that I keep talking to my dead partner should tell you a bit about how messed up things are right now!"

Steve crouched next to his friend. 'Come on, Danno… Let's move!'

With a weary sigh, Danny made his painful way back to his feet and kept moving. "I hate you… you know…"

The sun was starting to set when Danny noticed two things. First, he could hear the sound of the ocean nearby, and second, he could actually see the sun setting, just behind some trees in front of him. He had the idea that reaching the shore would be a good thing, but he had no idea why. 'If you reach the beach, it makes it easier for a boat or a chopper to find you, Danno.'

Danny rolled his eyes. "Of course… I knew that…"

He finally reached the edge of the forest and was surprised to find himself not in front of a sunny beach, but in front of the edge of a dangerous-looking cliff. Sure, the sea was nearby, only past some sharp rocks, about 100 feet below. He moved closer to the edge, sitting tiredly against a rock. "Ok, now what?"

'Do you have any way to make a signal, in case anyone passes by?' Steve was crouching next to him, giving him his concerned face.

Danny looked at his friend confusedly. "A signal?"

Steve nodded. 'Yeah. Something to get a small fire going, or a flashlight. Something that would make anyone passing by look this way…'

Danny started patting his pockets. "Right… I knew that…" After coming up with nothing on his front pockets he looked up at his friend. "Wait… You want me to set the forest on fire?"

Steve smiled, shaking his head. 'No Danno. It's only a small bonfire; you don't need to torch the whole forest.'

"Oh…" He said, while wiggling in his seat. He took out something that had been poking at his butt cheek for a while, and it turned out to be his phone… Or what was left of it. "Well, don't have a lighter or a flashlight… You think this could work?"

The phone in question was smashed, a corner chipped right off. Danny turned it around and presenting it to his friend. 'Did you try pressing the buttons?'

Danny glared at his friend. "Pressing the buttons? Don't you have some MacGyver technique to turn this thing into some kind of tracking device, using a couple of twigs and a shoelace?"

Steve gave him a sad smile. 'I probably do. But we both know that you're on your own on this one, Danno.'

Danny looked down sadly and started pressing all the buttons. "Yeah, I know…" He said.

The screen wouldn't turn on, but suddenly the back light started turning on and off, and the phone started making that clicking sound of the camera, over and over again. "Ok… What did I do?"

No matter what buttons he pressed, the phone wouldn't stop, so Danny finally gave up and let it be. He left the phone leaning against the rock next to him, the light looking in the direction of the sea.

With nothing else to do, Danny felt exhaustion coming back with a vengeance. He started blinking tiredly, feeling more tired and achy than anything he could remember.

'You need to try to stay awake, Danno.' Steve sounded worried.

"Yeah… I know… Don't think I can for much longer though…" He said, twisting around to try to find a less uncomfortable position.

'Danno… What about Grace?' Danny's eyes had closed, and he couldn't manage to open them again, but he could picture Steve's Kicked Puppy expression on his head.

Danny took a shuddering breath. "At least she knows Danno loves her…" And with that he let his chin drop against his chest and his consciousness fled. He didn't hear the sound of a chopper nearby.

He was brought back by someone poking annoyingly at his chest. "stopit" He would have batted the hands away if he could figure out how to make them work, but it was taking too much effort. He was lying down on the uncomfortable floor. Huh… He didn't remember lying down.

There were voices as well. Some strange voices and some familiar ones. "Danny? Come on, open your eyes…"

The poking was getting really annoying, so he figured if it made them stop, he'd make the effort. He cracked his eyelids open and found himself seeing nothing but blurry figures. "Danny?"

His friend's voice sounded strange, gruffer than he remembered. He blinked a couple of times, trying to get something to focus, and figure out what the problem was. When he could finally see his friend, he noticed that something was missing. "Wha' happn to yur cmmando costume?"

Steve smiled, patting Danny's hand. "Don't try to talk Danno. We're taking you home, ok?"

Home… He really wanted to go home… "Phone work?" He wanted to know how they had found him.

Steve smiled shakily. "Yes, the phone worked, Danno… You did great…"

Danny would have squeezed his friend's hand if he could. "Thanks for the company, babe… Wish you weren't dead…" These guys were taking him home, he was tired, sore, and he kept talking to his dead friend in front of these strangers, so he decided to let them take care of him for a while, closing his eyes and relaxing for once.

After that, things turned strange. He was in pain, he felt hot and cold at the same time, and he was haunted by nightmares.

After a while, everything would go away, only to come back in full force later. Through all of this, Danny tried to wake up, to open his eyes, to respond to the voices just on the edge of his awareness, but his body was not too cooperative at the moment.

Little by little, the pain and the general discomfort were receding, leaving behind an all consuming exhaustion. Danny was really getting frustrated with this, he enjoyed sleep as much as any normal person did, but he had the feeling that he had slept long enough.

Somehow he managed to fight the hold of sleep, and he started to take note of his surroundings while still keeping his eyes closed. He was on a soft bed, softer than his pullout sofa for sure. There were plenty of bandages wrapped around various body parts, but he was thankful that he was not feeling any pain so far.

He finally opened his eyes and looked around his room, his eyes resting on a familiar figure. He blinked a couple of times, trying to clear his vision, but the sight before his eyes didn't change too much.

With a trembling hand, Danny reached out for the call button, and started pressing it frantically. At the same time, the machines around him started a frantic beeping that did nothing to control Danny's panic.

All the commotion made the man on the chair jump from his seat. "Danno! What's wrong?"

Steve reached out to take Danny's hand, but Danny scooted back as much as the bed allowed, trying to curl up into a tiny ball. His injuries protested loudly, which helped to increase his panic. "NO! STAY AWAY! GO AWAY!"

A nurse rushed into the room, taking in the scene in front of her and promptly approached Danny, with a needle on her hand. "Don't worry, detective Williams, we'll give you something to help you relax a bit, ok?"

After that, things started to get fuzzy again. The panic was gone, but consciousness wouldn't be far behind. Danny didn't want to sleep so soon. He didn't want to leave Dead-Steve with that kicked puppy face, so he tried to explain it as best as he could. "Babe… 'm sorry I got you killed… but… please… don't want you to haunt me anymore…" Things were still fuzzy, so he decided to close his eyes for a while. Hopefully after some sleep he wouldn't be as fucked up in the head as he was right now.

His next awakening started much better than the last one. He figured there were some good drugs still running through his system, because he was feeling no pain, and he wasn't even a little concerned by his previous freak-out.

The chair next to his bed was occupied again, but this time Kono was the one keeping him company. When she saw Danny's eyes open, she came closer, taking his hand. "Hey brah. How are you feeling?"

Danny smiled, squeezing her hand. "'m alright… 'vrthing's a little fuzzy though… How bad 'sit?"

Kono smiled. "Well, I'm sure the doctor can give you the full tally, but the wound on your shoulder got badly infected, you were burning in fever when they found you. They got you to surgery, fixed you up and pumped full of antibiotics. Your knee was a little banged up too; you had a concussion, cracked ribs, a broken wrist and lots of scratches and bruises. You were out for two days, we were very worried, Danny."

Danny raised his eyebrows. "Wow… That's a lot…"

Kono chuckled. "We've never known you to do things in halves, brah…" She squeezed his hand, trying to catch his attention. "Danny, do you remember what happened? How did you get to that cliff?"

Danny thought for a minute. "Some parts are kind of a blur. We were meeting a guy that had information about the kidnappers, they were near an airstrip, I think. Turned out the kidnappers were there, they opened fire and caught us unawares. I was hit, and when Steve came to check on me, I think they hit him over the head… They put us in a chopper; I think they wanted to throw us into the sea… I… I think Steve woke up… He…"

Danny took a shuddering breath, not really wanting to get into the next part of his story. He was comforted by Kono gently squeezing his hand. "He went Commando on them, but… But they had guns… They sh-shot him, prolly hit his vest… b-but he still…" His breath hitched, and he looked away from Kono. "He f-fell… he fell from a flying helicopter!"

He closed his eyes, trying and failing to keep some tears from falling. He could feel Kono coming closer and rubbing his good arm. "What happened next Danny?"

Danny opened his eyes, looking at Kono apologetically. "I… I'm not sure… I think I went a bit Commando as well, and got thrown from the chopper too, 'cause the next thing I know I'm waking up over a mess of twigs, leaves, and the occasional tree branch, hurting like hell…"

Kono squeezed Danny's arm. "We got them, the kidnappers… They said that you went for the pilot, and almost brought the chopper down. They managed to throw you out and get the chopper under control, but thankfully it must have been low enough that you survived the fall. What happened next?"

Danny gave a small shrug. "Things get real fuzzy after that… I started walking, thinking that I was going downhill, because there was a hill behind me at some point. I think I walked and slept, and walked and must have passed out a couple of more times and then I kept walking, until I reached that place… I didn't know I had the phone, but once I found it I started pressing the buttons to see if it would work. The camera went nuts, so I left it there in case anyone could see it." He finished, not looking at Kono.

Danny looked up at Kono, but looked down again quickly "I… I'm not sure if it was the fever, or getting conked on the head too many times, but… When I first woke up in the forest… Steve was there… He… he was there the whole t-time… Badgering me to move… telling me what to do… The phone was his idea…" He chuckled mirthlessly. "I-I knew he was gone… You don't survive a fall from a chopper like that! But… I-I wanted him there… I needed him there… a-and he helped… He helped me to stay alive… But when I woke up here, he was still around… a-and I freaked! I thought I was going crazy… I wanted him to be here, but not as a ghost inside my head! He should be alive… I-I wanted him to be alive!" Now the tears came with a vengeance, especially when Kono drew him close and held him.

A few minutes passed before Danny moved away from Kono's embrace. He used the sheet to wipe his eyes and looked at her apologetically. "Sorry babe…"

Kono smiled at him, rubbing his arm, but she looked nervous. She sat back down in the chair, taking Danny's hand. "Danny… There's something I need to tell you, but I need you to remain calm. Ok?"

That was the worst way to get Danny to calm down. "What's wrong? Did something else happen?"

Kono shook his head quickly. "No Danny… I just have you to tell you something, but I need you to let me finish before you jump to any conclusions. I don't want you to freak out again, ok?"

Danny just nodded, not trusting his voice right then.

Kono smiled at him, squeezing his hand. "Danny, when Steve fell, the chopper was flying over the water…"

Danny's eyes opened wide. "Did you… did you find his body?"

Kono shook his head. "Danny, we only figured something was wrong about two hours after you left. We started the search probably five hours after Steve fell… When we found him, he had been in the water for about 8 hours. He had a broken leg, and was hypothermic and dehydrated, but he was alive…"

Danny started shaking his head. "No… he fell! I saw him fall!"

"Danny! Remember, no freaking out!" Kono shook his shoulder gently. "He is alive, he's fine… A little banged up, but he'll be fine!"

"Then where is he?" He wouldn't believe it until he saw it with his own eyes.

Kono stood up and went to the door. "I'll bring him here, but I need you to stay calm and wait for us, ok? No freaking out, or he's not coming, deal?"

Danny nodded, and waited patiently for Kono to leave the room before he started to freak out. He started doubting everything he had experienced since he woke up. Hell, he could still be in that forest and this could all be a dream!

He didn't have enough time for a decent panic attack, because not a minute later, Kono came back, giving him a reproaching look. "Danny? Steve is here…" She moved to the side, leaving the way free for Chin to wheel Steve into the room. He was sitting on a wheelchair, a cast on his right foot, wearing a hospital gown much like the one Danny was using and an IV attached to his arm. He looked tired, and his skin had a tone resembling a red lobster.

Danny stared at him for a while, taking everything in, and then gave his friend a relieved grin. "Why do you look like a baked potato?"

Steve chuckled. "I may have been in the sun too long, Danno."

Danny lifted his eyebrows. "So you're saying that after being shot off a flying chopper all you got was a broken leg and a suntan? You were really there too, weren't you? In the chopper that found me? Don't know how you do it you crazy ninja…" He shook his head with a sigh.

Steve gave him one of his goofy grins. "I've been trained for it, Danno… I'm more interested to know how you managed to survive being dropped from a chopper into the middle of the jungle, a long walk through that same jungle, and still finding a way to signal for help."

Danny shrugged. "I had help." He said, smiling at his friend.

He looked around the room, glad to have his ohana nearby, something he thought he would never have the chance to enjoy again. He stifled a yawn, trying to keep his eyes open, but his friends were having none of that.

"Get some rest Danno, you look like shit." He could hear the smirk on his friend's voice.

"You too, Super SEAL, being a super hero must be hard work…" It came out like a tired mumble, but what the hell; he had had a long day.

The next time he blinked, Chin had come closer. "Don't worry Danny, we'll make sure he rests, ok? We'll try to get his bed in here. Unless you don't want him as a roomie?"

"'t's alright… He can stay." He would have said something else, but he was tired. He tried to relax, to let sleep claim him.

He smiled sleepily when he felt a hand holding his own and he thought he heard Steve say "I'm glad you're ok, Danno" before he finally felt safe enough to sleep.

The end.

A/N: I keep wondering why don't they ever take Danny to those excursions to the jungle, so I figured that the only way to get him in the jungle alone would be if someone dropped him agains his will... And this came out of it.

Thank you very much for reading, I hope you'd like to leave a review!