I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.

Notes: my thanks to Fifilla - adding her kindness to the list of wonderful beta readers who thrash the saber toothed bunny into submission!

H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O*

Chapter Four

The only reason Danny allowed Steve to steamroll himself into the consultation with Doctor Ramirez was the gravity of this latest event. At least that was what Danny first told himself after he called Steve from where he'd been decompressing at the overlook. Hs eyes were burning coals in his head and his face was in a constant squint from the brightness of the sun despite sunglasses, but Danny couldn't sleep. Not in the middle of the day and with so much on his mind: or not, depending on how one might want to look at it.

So, Danny told himself that he allowed Steve access, when more accurately, it was coupled with the very obvious fact that now his personal cage had been duly rattled which fittingly also unnerved his partner. The reasoning was so sound after Ramirez phoned to request Danny's presence even earlier that afternoon and he'd notified Steve of the change in time. Danny convinced himself of having personally permitted Steve into the doctor's office despite the fact the man in question had been so arrogantly lounging outside the clinic with his arms folded stubbornly across his chest. Lounging with ankles crossed as he leaned against the white railing of the sweet little establishment with a look, Danny for once, couldn't put words to.

"We ... no, you ...have a meeting," Danny had objected, partly relieved and partially offended by the unexpected appearance. "An urgent one that you especially can't miss. What are you doing here?"

"Chin and Kono can handle the FBI, the Governor and this planning session," Steve refuted his initial claims of work priorities by neatly cutting off Danny's initial objections. After that, he'd offered no other explanation as he followed on Danny's heels up the short steps to the front door. Danny's egregious sigh regarding the non-negotiable demand had been loud, yet he'd permitted Steve to follow.

So, he mentally reminded himself over and over as they now sat in the doctor's office with Steve just off to the side. Danny had just denied feeling sick, other than suffering from a bout of an occasional headache. Nonetheless, he had also shared the unhappy fact of having experienced three other instances of losing time over the last many weeks which had brought the doctor back full circle to how he was feeling.

"No, Doc, I'm fine. Nothing except a few headaches here and there; it's nothing." His temper was frayed and his mood bordering more than sour as he negated any known physical woes. Matters were made worse when Steve softly murmured a nonsensical stunned sound causing Danny to firmly set his jaw in annoyance.

"Maybe I shouldn't have said anything." Danny irritably stated. "I'm wasting your time, Doc." His uncomfortable squirming in the guest chair across from the doctor's desk continually conveyed his emotional tension as he reigned his temper back under a tenuous control. "I'm a little tired; but we all are."

"No, you're doing the right thing in coming in to see me," Ponch softly demurred as he leaned back in his chair and measured Danny's shaking hands and pale complexion. He could easily see and now hear the evidence of the mood swings. Without a word, he additionally noted the jittery eye movements and overly jumpy edge which his friend seemed to straddle. Communicating little of his true concerns, Ponch glanced towards Steve to see if he had also noticed the clues. Their eyes met and Steve literally winced.

"Headaches are one thing. Walking… driving… and not knowing why or how you got there?" Steve's disbelieving tone had turned into one of true concern. It put the recent temperamental moodiness into an entirely new category and he ran his hand over his face before gesturing helplessly. Intentionally keeping his voice low, Steve felt the need to gently reprimand his friend based not only on what he hadn't really seen before, but for what he was hearing now. "This happened to you three other times? Three? Why didn't you say something before today, Danny?"

"Last night was the worst. Before that, those couple of times didn't seem like anything … not until… now," Danny retorted defensively.

The responsive weary shake of the head was also filled with enough answer and Steve growled resentfully under his breath. He should have been more aware; more mindful of how Danny was truly feeling and acting. Steve blatantly reexamined his friend's face for what he'd missed or discounted as part of an exhausting side-affect of working a hard case. While what had occurred overnight was obviously fresh and preying on his nerves, Danny was indeed unhealthily pale. Steve's acknowledgment or understanding that his entire team was running on fumes slowly morphed into something else as he cataloged Danny's glassy-eyed expression and recalled the more frequent occurrences of irritable testiness. Adding insult to what he now saw, as far as the prior evening was concerned, a good portion of Danny's meal had been abandoned on the restaurant's table.

"What?" Steve asked when Danny's head swiveled sharply to the left. He realized then the jumpy movement was another oddity he'd witnessed a few times as Danny blinked his eyes in confusion and frowned after muttering a soft curse under his breath.

"I thought I saw something," Danny scowled at himself, moving back to studiously staring at his fingers and then the floor. He refused to meet Steve's face while ruefully shaking his head. He chuffed in disgust only at himself while choosing now to study a stubborn old scuff-mark on Doctor Ramirez's wooden floor. He needed to quiet his eyes, bring his lurching heart beat back to center, by avoiding the shadows which seemed to shimmer; nothing was there.

Nothing was ever there.

"Unbelievable," Danny mumbled under his breath. He had called Ponch for a reason and now he could sense the difficulty he was causing as the doctor awkwardly shifted in his chair. He was communicating poorly and he closed his eyes briefly because what he was doing that very moment was also indicative of a problem. No matter how hard he wanted to deny it, his entire attitude shouted out that he had a definite problem.

"Have you taken any new medications?" Ponch almost asked hesitantly because the implications of the question were significant. "Anything at all that I need to know about?"

"No. Only over the counter stuff for the occasional headache," Danny answered honestly. But then his eyes narrowed angrily as he quickly garnered the true reason behind the doctor's inquiry. His eyes swung up from the spot on the floor to meet Ramirez's overly calm gaze head-on. "Just plain acetaminophen…. extra strength, but nothing else. What? You think I took something... something illegal?"

"You know that I need to ask, Danny." Nonplussed by the outburst, only a small sniff emanated from his mouth as Doctor Ramirez silently catalogued Danny's overly restless mannerisms and defensive attitude. His friend was rarely quiet to need so much coaching to talk. He seemed more on edge than normal; exactly as if he were coming off a drugged high. He was clearly distracted, but that could be blamed on being self-conscious and even embarrassed by what he was relating. On a positive note, Danny's eyes were clear and while he was being moodily difficult, he was certainly of sound mind.

"Tell me about the first few times," Ponch coaxed to change the focus of the subject down a safer path. "What happened? What do you remember?"

"So, yeah. It happened three other times," Danny pursed his lips as he fell into a moment of deeper reflection to gather his thoughts. With a flustered expression, he took a deep breath and simply began recounting each strange experience.

"The first time was about a month ago and it wasn't a big deal. At least, not really," Danny said with a glimmer of anxiety. "I woke up sitting outside on my own lanai." He sighed though as if exasperated, eyes flitting everywhere in the doctor's office but only settling once more on the blackish scuff mark.

"Danny?" Ponch cocked his head, waiting because there was going to be a twist. Watching and following Danny's line of sight with a quizzical sense of puzzlement.

"Yeah, well. I don't remember doing it … or how it happened." He scowled self-consciously, hesitating only briefly before completely giving in to the doctor's prodding. "But I was completely showered, shaved, and dressed for work down to my badge and my service revolver. It was four o'clock on a Saturday morning and I was just sitting there. Alone. In the dark and I don't remember how it happened."

Frozen in place, Steve forced himself not to speak, though he did glance towards the older man to share his own bewilderment and growing level of concern.

"Alright," Ponch kept his voice softly modulated while tapping his desk gently. The important thing was to keep Danny talking between the jagged spurts of starting and stopping his sentences. "What was the second time … and when?"

"It was a week after the first," Danny began, only to immediately stop and Ramirez frowned at the unconscious reaction. The doctor watched as Danny glanced apologetically towards Steve before eventually continuing with scarcely a breath between each word.

"Our schedules have been a bit crazy at the office because of this case. For whatever reason, I was the only one there that night following up on one final lead; it was a total bust. Anyway, I was in my office around two o'clock in the morning; I swear I was …. I can see my computer screen. But one minute I was sitting at my desk and then I was standing alone outside the evidence locker. It was two forty-five and I can't account for those forty-five minutes."

"Forty-five minutes?" Steve blurted. He scoured his memory trying to recall the few times he'd left even one of his team alone in the office, but couldn't quite recall what Danny alluded to. Shaking his head, Steve knew that at one time or another, they had each stayed independently when one had the urge or need to calm a festering urge to chase something down. It wasn't usually a big deal and yet this time, it was. "You don't remember going down three flights of stairs to the locker? By yourself? In the middle of the night?"

Steve didn't state the next obvious point: that it didn't in any way, shape or form take forty-five minutes to get to the locker. Staring at his partner, Steve could easily read that unease in his face. The how and where were issues, however the why and growing blocks of time were beyond unsettling.

Rather than answering, Danny merely shrugged. He'd replayed the oddity so many times, he had nothing to say for it. The gap between where he had been sitting in his office to that particular waking moment was a black chasm of unaccountable lost time. Those two occurrences had certainly left him at an uncomfortable spot. The next though was spectacular and he almost didn't know where to begin.

"Except for last night, the third time was … bad. It was really bad and I should have said something then." Danny rubbed his face, hiding behind his hands while resting his elbows on his knees. It had been frighteningly strange. Scarily weird enough to send his mind down a multitude of worrisome paths. But at least he'd known where he was even if he didn't like it.

"Four days ago, I woke up in my car but this time I was sitting in a parking lot," Danny's voice was muffled through his fingers. In his mind's eye, he easily conjured the stunned fear he'd felt when he woke … or came around … from whatever this medical condition might be. Barefoot, but at least clothed, he remembered his stunned awareness of seeing the steps and the brick-faced building with its ornate signage over the hood of his Camaro.

"Where? The office again?" Steve automatically went there, trying to gently prompt for more information as his head spun in circles.

"That would have made sense." Eyes red-rimmed now, Danny looked over to Steve while simultaneously slumping down in the chair. Part of him was utterly relieved in being able to get what was going on off his chest, nonetheless the purge was exhausting as he verbalized each frightening instance. "I would have preferred the office to where I really was."

Steve frowned, once more forcing himself to wait for his partner to finish because the grim punchline was coming. He was angry with himself though for mis-reading Danny's exhaustion and subtle fits of temper during their days at work. The anger yesterday resulted in their worst argument to date and now, only now, did Steve understand more of its true source.

"I woke up at Grace's school, Steven. Right there in the first row of the parking lot." Once more defensive, Danny protectively hugged his arms over his chest. Glassy-eyed from more than being tired, he was confused and terribly worried by what was happening.

"Imagine that." He barked out a sharp laugh, but the sound only worsened what he was about to say. "It wasn't quite yet five o'clock in the morning and at least I knew where I was …. and before you ask, yes I was dressed but not for work. Just sweats and a t-shirt."

"Damnit, Danno! No." Stunned by the revelation and taken aback by his partner's devastated expression, Steve shook his head at the sobering news. "I wasn't going to say that."

"Alright, Danny," Ponch vainly attempted to counter the growing personal ire and self-flagellation as his friend slowly began to unravel even more in front of his eyes.

"So, here's the part where you tell me I'm crazy, right Doc?" Danny tried to smile and failed. One knee bounced repetitively in place as he eyed the physician. "Work related stress? Sleep-walking and what — sleep driving? I'm not on drugs but I guess I should be, right?"

"Honestly, this could be work-related stress," Ramirez offered calmly. He heaved in a deep leveling breath of air before expelling it thoughtfully. "I'm drawing blood here; we'll do a few regular tests today to get a baseline. But I'm going to call for a complete head to toe physical, as well. Now tell me, when's the last time you had time off? Real time off?"

Vainly scrubbing at his face, Danny shook his head and then added a lackadaisical shrug. He sniffed appreciatively when it was Steve who answered for them both.

"Never. Actually," Steve caught the wry expression and nearly laughed at his own definition of vacation which translated to Reserve maneuvers. "Long weekends here and there, but not a real vacation."

"Perhaps it's time then," Ramirez let what was not exactly advice roll blatantly off his tongue with a meaningful drawl. "Actually."

"No, I don't need time off … we're in the middle of an important case. We're in the midst of making plans … for something," Danny instantly argued while being circumspect about their actual proprietary plans, annoyed and even offended by Ramirez's increasing list of formal suggestions. "We're at a critical point and I can't just take time now. Besides, I'm not going to let this affect my job!"

"It already has, Danny. It has.. just last night and into today. And while possibly not as severe, you just admitted experiencing similar instances a few times before." Eyebrows raised almost comically, Ponch seemed to be smiling, but his tone said otherwise. The disagreeable sound which Steve made in the back of his throat concurred.

In short, Danny would be subjected to blood tests, a complete physical and on top of that, a period of enforced rest. Based upon Ramirez's set expression, his rules were going to be non-negotiable. Yet, the ideas irked him because he didn't expect any of these new edicts to be lobbed his way. At least not so soon and not so unfairly coming out of a basic consultation.

"Listen, Doc, I just came in to talk today. Blood tests are fine, but I need a week or two if you want me to take time off. We're in the middle of something," Danny pushed with a reasonable attempt at remaining civil. He knew he was beginning to sound angry though, in fact he could feel the blood rushing to his face. Reacting as if he were backed into a corner, he couldn't help it though as the concept of being pulled off the case twisted his stomach.

"Two weeks," Danny reiterated in the midst of a lingering silence while floating two fingers in the air between them. "We'll do all of this in two weeks, Doc."

"You came to me asking for advice," Ramirez reminded him. "I'm a doctor and need to act on what you've shared today. My opinion is that we run a few tests and that you take a leave of absence immediately until we get this situation sorted out, Danny." The sage words weren't received well though as yet another uncomfortable silence extended in the office.

"How about a compromise?" Steve slowly offered with an understanding nod towards his partner. "I agree that we have to do something, but maybe we can work something out. There has to be a better plan that makes us all happy."

Soundlessly, Danny stared at Steve even though he was still shaking his head in wonder. "Blood tests and a physical first, Doc. Let's manage one thing at a time. But I need Danno on the job right now even if it's only light desk duty."

"Desk duty!" Danny interrupted loudly. In an instant he was on his feet and virtually leering into Steve's seated personal space. "You can't be serious!"

"Yup, I can be, Danno,' Steve blandly retorted, faking non-concern when his partner lurched to his feet. "Desk duty or nothing at all."

"What?" Danny asked sarcastically. "Are you going to babysit me now? Keep an eye on me... just in case?"

"It's a reasonable option," Steve softly noted. With his partner on his feet, his voice automatically lowered as he measured Danny's complexion and overall response. In truth, his partner was quite correct in that he wanted Danny closer until the reason behind the strange occurrences was solved. It was disconcerting to learn what had been happening and Steve was absolutely worried.

"Desk duty is reasonable, Danny," he repeated calmly. "Just for a few days." Steve didn't go any further as Danny blustered around him. He raised his eyebrows as he listened to the battery of offended complaints which were equally valid. Either one of them would resent the concept of being tied to their office. But Danny's attitude was just a shade more dark than it should have been.

"As a medical professional and your friend, I disagree," Ponch declared in exasperation as he looked from one to the other. He listened in amazement as the very stresses of their job rang clearly throughout his small office.

"Do you hear yourselves?" The physician snarked back, arms raised high as the two argued about the legitimacy of Danny being to help the case continue successfully from behind a glass window. While Steve adamantly felt it more than possible, Danny was just as stubbornly arguing against it. Ponch's head swung from one to the other, eyes widening in ever increasing surprise as they ignored his very existence. "This is precisely what I mean, gentlemen!"

"The case is due to wrap up in a few days," Steve explained after a final silence-enducing glare aimed at his partner. "Pull blood and do what you need now. Here. He gets a full physical tomorrow though. And, if he's fine pending those results, I need Danny on the case even if he's bound to a desk. Afterwards, and unless something comes up before … we'll see where we are with a medical leave of absence."

"You can't be serious." With a loud noise, Danny roughly slouched back to sit in his chair. He had no choice in the matter and argued with himself about its perceived unfairness versus what he knew to be a rational truth. There was no doubt that he was angry because the discussion had devolved into a place he'd least expected, but Steve's compromise was soundly based and he had to comply with it.

"Fine, fine," he sighed in exasperation. Idly to compound his words, he waved a purely disgusted hand in the air to admit his own acceptance of the terms.

"I still don't like it," Ponch reiterated loudly, snorting in derision when Danny had the gall to sardonically mumble the same but for an entirely different reason. He frowned from behind his desk, completely dissatisfied with the trade-off. With a last chuffed sound communicating his discontent, he finally stood, pushing his chair back as the two men also rose to their feet.

"Exam room one, Danny. I'm drawing blood myself and rushing the lab results." Ponch was clear about the tests he'd be conducting as he ushered him from the office. The next day, he'd arrange for the complete physical at a fully equipped facility.

"This won't take long and my office will make arrangements for tomorrow. But I'm telling both of you if anything happens between now and then... I expect a call. No questions asked; at any time."

~ to be continued ~