A/N: Thanks again for all the reviews and alerts for this story, and to those whose reviews I can't respond to; thank you! It's an extra long chapter this time :)

oOo

Danny fought back the urge to scream and yell and swear as the sick sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed around the room again accompanied by Steve's pain-filled grunt. He had learnt after the first few punches had been thrown that they didn't do anything to stop Brennan's assault on his partner and no matter how many times he tried to tell him he was the one who had killed his brother, he wouldn't stop until Steve confirmed it, something that Steve was quite obviously never going to admit.

After a final punch connected solidly with Steve's chest, Brennan stood back panting, his fists grazed from the punches he had thrown. After working off some of his anger, whether it was directed at the right man or not, Brennan decided that he needed a break for a while. He looked down at the man in the chair before him, pleased to see that he was having a hard time hanging onto consciousness as blood ran from his nose and mouth and from a small cut along his right cheek bone.

"When I get back you two had better have your answer figured out," he stated mostly to Danny as he headed back to the stairs leading out of the basement. Danny responded by glaring fiercely at him but kept his mouth shut tight as he watched him go, not wanting to aggravate the man further.

As soon as the door to the basement shut and the lock clicked loudly, Danny craned his neck to the right as he tried to see what kind of condition his partner was in. "Steve?" He called, concern plain in his voice. He could see that his partner was slumped forward slightly in his chair and the cuffs around his wrists were straining as Steve fought to sit upright. "Steve?" He called again.

"I'm still here," he heard Steve pant out as he managed to pull himself upright to lean against the pillar. Brennan's assault hadn't been long but he certainly knew how to throw a punch and Steve needed a few moments to get his breathing back under control. If his head had been sore before it certainly didn't hold a candle to how much it was currently aching and he kept his eyes shut as he waited for the pain and nausea to return to a manageable level.

"What the hell are you thinking?" Danny whispered fiercely to his partner once he could hear that Steve was breathing easier behind him.

"It's not gonna matter either way, Danny," Steve rested his head against the pillar with his eyes shut as he spoke, taking as deep a breaths that his ribs would allow. "If he finds out who killed Peter he's just going to do the same to you then put a bullet in both of our heads and be on his way. Keeping quiet about it buys us some time."

"And who decided that you were the one that gets to play the self-sacrificing idiot, huh?" Danny would trade places with his partner in a heartbeat rather than be forced to listen to his partner pay for his actions.

"I do, no discussion," Steve stated shortly.

"No, there is not 'no discussion', Steven," Danny refused to let the matter slide, "We're partners, and a part of a partnership is agreeing to a plan of action."

"My team, my rules," was all Steve said in response, before adding, "I can take it."

"While I have no problem believing that your thick, navy-issued skull can withstand anything, you're forgetting that you just had it bashed in by a car crash and most likely already had a concussion!" Danny kept his voice low as he ranted to keep from further aggravating what must be a killer headache on Steve's part, and also to keep from adding to the throbbing in his own head.

The two sat in silence for a few moments as Steve failed to acknowledge Danny's statement out-loud; he knew the dangers of a concussion, but he was more prepared to be the one taking the punches than to listen to his partner be on the receiving end. As much as he hated that Danny had to sit there and hear and even feel what was happening behind him, it was his partner that had the daughter to go home to, and despite the guilt that he knew his partner must be feeling, getting Danny home to Grace was at the top of Steve's priority list.

After a few moments of silence, Steve asked, "About the repair bill for the Camaro?" He brought up the subject of their earlier argument. "Do I get out of paying for it or what?"

"Only if you find a way to miraculously get us out of this situation."

"The only thing we would need to do to get free is for one of us to get one hand out of the cuffs; the only other thing keeping us in these chairs is the ties and there's nothing stopping us from simply sliding them off the legs," Steve pointed out the major floor in Brennan's plan at keeping them retrained. The criminal had clearly been more concerned with preventing either man from kicking out, believing that the way in which they were cuffed and how the chairs were firmly pressed against the pillar would prevent them from being able to move, let alone lift the chair to slide the ties off. "Besides, I think Brennan may have missed the switchblade in my boot," Steve added, sure that he could still feel it in its hiding place.

"And how exactly do you plan on getting out of said cuffs, Houdini?" Danny in turn pointed out the floors in Steve's plan. "Because us, the good guys, specifically designed these things to keep the bad guys securely locked up, and while I'm sure that you consider yourself to be MacGyver and are quite capable of picking them with some sort of pin, I happen to be all out of hair pins today, so unless you happen to have some hidden somewhere in your military issue hair cut, I'd say we're out of luck."

"I knew you usually use something to keep your hair looking like that," Steve managed a small grin. "Besides, what happened to the 'Jersey Slip', Danno?"

"Very funny, Steven," Danny replied in a humourless tone.

"There's more than one way to get out of a pair of handcuffs, Danny," Steve continued.

"And what's that?"

"You're not going to like it."

Danny tipped his head in acknowledgment, "Well it's not unexpected when it comes to your crazy plans," he conceded. "What are you thinking?"

"I need more room so I can slip my left hand out of the cuff," Steve paused for a moment, knowing that Danny wasn't going to like the next part. "I need you to dislocate my thumb."

"What? Absolutely not!" Danny felt sick at his friend's request.

"Danny," Steve frowned slightly at his reaction, even if it wasn't completely unexpected. "Without a pick to unlock it, it's the only option to get the cuff off and I can't do it without my other hand," he reasoned as he pulled slightly on his right cuff to emphasize his point.

"Then I'll do it, you dislocate my thumb," Danny insisted; there was no way he was going to add to the pain his partner was in. "You chose to take Brennan's beating, now I'm choosing to do this to get us outta here."

"It's better to have only one liability rather than two," Steve argued. "And this won't be the first time I've had a dislocated thumb; it will make it easier to dislocate again."

Danny didn't even want to ask how he had dislocated his thumb for the first time. Instead he frowned and grated his jaw, knowing that his partner had a point; at the moment his own injuries weren't as much of a liability as Steve's considering the beating he had taken and it would be stupid for him to change that by injuring himself further. He also knew that when it came to pain, the former SEAL certainly had more experience handling it, hell, Danny had watched the man climb a cliff with a shattered forearm in the past. Hating himself for what he was about to do, Danny agreed, "Fine. How do I do this?"

Steve breathed a sigh of relief as his partner agreed with him. "Okay, first I need to know if that light is coming from a window in front of you." Steve had heard the unmistakeable sound of the door to the basement locking and knew their chances of getting out that way were slim.

Danny had noticed the light coming into the room but had been too distracted by what had been going on behind him to even consider where its source was located. Glancing at the wall to his left he spied what he was looking for. "Yeah, it is," he nodded unnecessarily, "it's only about a foot and a half high and four across though."

"That will do," Steve was satisfied that they could both squeeze through the gap. "What I need you to do is to put as much pressure at the base of my thumb at the joint to force it out of the socket; I've done it before so it shouldn't be too hard for you to dislocate it again," he repeated his early statement.

Danny found Steve's left hand with his right and did as he instructed and found the joint on Steve's hand where he needed to push, fighting the slight nausea he experienced when he thought about what he was about to do. "Are you ready?" He asked his partner, though he knew he also needed to psych himself up for this as much as Steve did, more even.

"Do it." Steve took several deep breaths, knowing exactly what to expect when the ligaments in his thumb tore and the bone slipped out of its socket; while it was painful at first it only took a few moments for the sharp pain to return to a throb that dulled as time passed.

"Okay," Danny screwed his eyes in concentration as he started exerting force on Steve's thumb, after a few seconds of trepidation he pushed as hard as possible, knowing that the faster he made this the less pain his partner would experience. After just a few moments, Danny heard the sickening popping sound that accompanied Steve's thumb dislocating.

Steve hissed as the sharp pain shot through the right side of his hand, originating from his thumb and took in a deep breath. As expected however, the pain faded after just a few moments and he opened his eyes.

"You okay?" Danny craned his neck in Steve's direction as he asked.

"Yeah, you did good," Steve commended as he tested how much room he had to move in the handcuff, smiling slightly as he now had a fair amount of space to manoeuvre his hand. "Okay, I need you to pull the cuff down over my wrist."

Danny nodded again and sought out Steve's hand with his right hand again, looking forward to when this part of the escape plan would be over. Finding the metal cuff around Steve's wrist he started to push it downwards, finding that there was indeed some give in them now that Steve's thumb was no longer in the way, but the going was still slower than he would have liked.

Steve winced as the metal rubbed against already raw skin and he kept a close eye on the door leading into the basement, praying that Brennan wouldn't decide to check on them anytime soon.

"Almost there," Steve breathed as he felt the cuff slide closer to his knuckles, its movement aided somewhat by the blood that was now starting to seep from his wrist.

Danny frowned in concentration as he focused on getting the cuff the last few inches and breathed a sigh of relief when it suddenly fell free from Steve's wrist as it passed the obstacle of his knuckles.

As soon as his hand was free, Steve braced his thumb against the side of the chair he was seated on and by applying pressure he efficiently popped his thumb back in place, breathing easier once it was back in its usual position.

Danny brought his arm in front of him to relieve the strain placed on his shoulder at having his arm pulled behind him; the awkward position had done nothing to help the painful throbbing he'd been experiencing since waking up after the crash. His left hand which was still handcuffed to Steve jerked slightly as he heard the sound of Steve's chair moving slightly across the floor as his partner gave himself room to tip the chair back to free his feet. Following his lead, Danny jerked his body forward and to his left and succeeded in moving his chair away from the pillar. Tipping himself back to support himself against the pillar, Danny used his one free hand to start sliding off the plastic tie securing his right foot to the leg of the chair.

Steve ignored the throbbing in both his thumb and his left ankle as he got his foot free from its bindings. "You okay back there, Danny?" Steve checked to make sure his partner was having success in getting himself free, ready to use the small knife in his boot if necessary.

"Yeah," Danny replied as he stretched his leg out gingerly, wincing as his ACL complained at the movement and pins and needles assaulted his cramped muscles.

Once Steve was successful in freeing his right foot he took a few moments to properly take stock of his injuries while Danny finished removing himself from his final restraint. Bringing his left hand up to his head, Steve felt the dried blood on that side of his head and winced as his fingers brushed over the source of both the blood and the pain. The blows to his face had only added to the throbbing in his head and had resulted in a split lip and what felt like the beginning of a black eye if the tightness of the skin surrounding his left eye and somewhat diminished vision was any indication. His ribs which had managed to escape the initial crash with only a mild ache were now also harder to ignore as they throbbed painfully with every deep breath.

Steve slowly raised himself from the chair, mindful not to make too many sharp movements in order to keep from further aggravating his headache and nausea, and behind him he heard Danny doing the same. Limping as his left ankle protested at having weight placed on it, Steve rounded the pillar as Danny got to his feet and he got his first proper look at his partner since they'd woken up in the basement. Danny also displayed a fair amount of blood from a head wound on the right side of his head, he also sported several small cuts and bruises to his face from the crash. Steve noticed that he seemed to wince when he moved his arm and he remembered his partner's complaint about his sore shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Steve couldn't help but ask as he looked in concern at his partner.

"No I'm not," Danny's annoyance at Steve's pointless question was diminished as he took in the former SEAL's injuries, his eyes lingering on the split lip, cheek and black eye that the guilt eating at his gut told him hadn't come from the crash. "But I'll live," he added, not bothering to ask Steve the same question, knowing that he would only brush off his concern. "I don't suppose you have any idea on how to get these off?" Danny lifted his left hand taking Steve's right hand with it as he dangled the second pair of cuffs. "And I am not dislocating another one of your thumbs."

"No," Steve replied as he glanced around the room, giving one last sweep in search of anything small and sharp that could be used to pick the lock on the cuffs but Brennan seemed to have done a fine job of clearing it out completely. "We need to get out of here before Brennan comes back," he stated as he looked over to the window Danny had mentioned. "Grab that chair," he ordered. The window was located about five and a half feet above the floor and Steve knew that the five-five detective would need some help reaching it and he wasn't too keen on pulling himself up with throbbing ribs.

Danny did as his partner instructed and pushed the chair side-on against the wall, noticing Steve's limp as he followed him over to stand by the chair. "What's wrong with your leg?"

"I injured my ankle in the crash, but it's fine for now; no worse off than your knee," Steve added as his partner's frown increased and Danny dropped the subject as they both turned their attention to opening the window. The window was level with the ground outside and there was a latch on the bottom which appeared as though Brennan had locked from the outside.

Danny cursed. "We're gonna have to risk breaking the window to get out."

"No we won't," Steve replied calmly as he lifted his right foot onto the chair, wincing as more weight was placed on his injured ankle. Fishing into his boot he produced the switchblade from its hiding space and managed to slip the blade under the window frame to where the latch was located. With little effort, he jiggled the knife so that the latch fell open.

"I knew it; you think you're MacGyver," Danny commented as he watched Steve with the knife.

"That was a pocket-knife, this is a switchblade," Steve corrected as he stashed the knife into the pocket of his cargos.

"Well whatever, it's the same principle."

Once the latch was open, Steve motioned for Danny to go first, "Keep your left hand inside as much as possible, I'll follow you out."

Danny nodded and stepped onto the chair, pushing the window open with his right hand. He angled his body to slip through the small opening in a diagonal position, keeping his left arm extended into the basement. His shoulder and chest protested as he pulled himself up but he ignored them as best he could as he slid out and onto the soft grass outside the building and felt the soft sprinkle of light rain.

Steve watched his partner successfully escape through the window, with his right hand held up as the cuff attached to Danny's wrist pulled it forward. When Danny's legs were almost out, Steve stood on the chair and placed his hands on the window sill and when Danny was clear he too pulled himself up and began to slide through the opening. By the time his legs had cleared the window, Steve's head was spinning dangerously as it throbbed painfully to the beat of his heart.

Danny noticed the former SEAL's momentary pause upon exiting the basement as he controlled his breaths which were coming out in fast pants. Turning back and placing a hand on Steve's shoulder he asked, "Steve? You okay?"

Steve allowed a few seconds to take in a deep breath before giving a slight nod to Danny, "Yeah, we have to keep moving."

The two men looked around at their new surroundings as Steve got to his feet. The small house they had been in was located in a clearing somewhere in the rainforest and all they could see was green. To their right was a dirt driveway which disappeared into the green surroundings as it went around a bend. Steve and Danny shared a look and silently agreed that the driveway was the best option at getting them back to civilisation. Before the partners could begin to move in the direction of the driveway, movement in the foliage to its right caught their attention. Grabbing Danny's left arm, Steve pulled them both back against the wall of the house as Brennan could be seen moving through the greenery.

Steve and Danny watched him closely as he moved something around in the bushes by the dirt driveway, fortunately too preoccupied to look their way. Steve slowly started moving them both backwards to the back of the one-story house, aiming for the cover of the dense foliage located there. "We're going to have to take the long way round; we can't risk getting too close and having Brennan hearing us."

"Of course," Danny nodded, "because this can never just be an easy escape with you around."

Steve ignored the comment and gave Brennan one last glance as he appeared to be finishing up with whatever he was doing in the bushes. "We gotta move now," he ordered and he pulled Danny with him into the foliage. "It's not going to take him long to realise we're missing."

"And what're we gonna do exactly when he does realise, huh? Neither of us is exactly in any condition to be running a marathon and it's not going to take a skilled tracker to follow our trail," Danny referred to their pace which was hindered by both men's injuries and the easily definable trail caused by their uncoordinated movement.

"That driveway has to lead somewhere, and if we can make it to a road before Brennan can catch up to us we should be able to get some help," Steve chose to stay optimistic as he negotiated his way through the foliage that was pulling at his feet. He was panting heavily already even though they had only travelled a short distance into the forest and he knew he had his ribs to blame for it as the pain in his chest chorused loudly with the rest of his injuries and he tucked his left arm close against his body as his right one was constantly tugged at by the movement of his partner's swinging arm.

"Right, because Hawaii's backwater roads are always teeming with life," Danny took his anger at the situation out on Steve's plan. He hissed in pain as a root caused him to stumble and aggravated his already painful ACL.

Steve heard the rant for what it was and directed the conversation in another direction. "I hope you realise that this means that I don't have to pay for the damage to the Camaro," he panted.

Danny snorted slightly, "Yeah, yeah; I'll just have to charge the bill to Brennan."

Steve smiled but didn't answer as both men put all their efforts into continuing their movement forward and hopefully in the direction of help.

oOo

Brennan casually threw an armful of leaves and small branches over the shallow and hastily dug graves of the three men responsible for carjacking the two members of Five-0. The three young men were junkies he often made deliveries to in his role as a mule for the local drug ring and it had been easy to convince them to do a job for him as a way to pay off some of the debt they owed him and the cartel.

Unfortunately for them, he had never planned on honouring his end of the deal and their fate had been sealed when the idiots had dumped the car they had used to ram the cops' car with not far from the scene due to engine damage. Brennan knew that their actions would mean it wouldn't be hard for the rest of the men's team to determine what had happened to their team mates and the three junkies had paid for their mistake. Though Brennan knew he should really be blaming himself for hiring the unstable amateurs, but with only a few hours to organise the kidnapping he had had no other option.

Brennan turned to make his way back into his long-dead grandparents' home; the small, single story, and most importantly, solitary house had been abandoned for years and he had often used it as a place to hide drug stashes for the cartel. It had also provided him with the perfect location to avenge his brother without the risk of any prying eyes.

Once inside, Brennan made his way straight to the door leading to the basement, impatient to finish what he had started. He turned the door handle and pushed open the door walking onto the small wooden landing and shut the door behind him. The light emanating from the window at the back of the room made it easy for him to see that the two wooden chairs where the cops had sat were now empty. Crying out in rage, Brennan drew the stolen gun from his waistband and ran down the remaining stairs and straight to the window he knew they had to have made their escape from. Pushing the window open Brennan peered out with the gun raised, but the only sign of the two men that could be found was two small smears of blood on the window frame.

Growling in frustration, he ran from the room. Brennan reached the window of the basement in no time and easily saw the trail the two injured men had made through the un-mowed grass leading towards the thick foliage at the back of the house. Brennan checked the clip on his stolen weapon and felt his own revolver hidden in his deep pants' pocket, confirming its presence, then strode into the forest, easily following the trail.

oOo

A/N: Well, what did you think? I'd love to know your thoughts! :)

A/N 2: This is just an FYI so feel free to ignore this if you want :) Just wanted to say that I'll be posting the first chapter of another story in the next few days so that it's up before the third season starts. This is not a shameless self promotion, I swear! I just wanted to let you know it won't affect me posting this story.

Oh and one more thing... Less than a week until Season Three! Whooo! *Does happy dance* :)

Mahalo for reading!