Thank you all for sticking to my story till the end. I usually write one-shots which are easier. This was a daring journey into an unknown territory and I admit it was a bit scary. Thank you for your fav/fol and reviews. They kept me going.

"Mom?" Steve said, visibly shaken by the unexpected visitor.

Doris turned to Danny. "Daniel, would you leave us alone for a minute?"

Danny nodded and started to cross to the door when Steve stopped him.

"NO! You stay here Danny."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." Then to Doris. "Anything you have to say you can say in front of him."

"Very well." She walked up to the bed and gave her son an apologetic smile.

"When did you get here?" Steve asked icily.

"About an hour ago. I was in O'ahu when Joe called me."

Steve frowned. "Joe?"

"Yes, Danny called him to let him know what was going on." She reached a hand to her son's cheek but he quickly swatted it away, much to her surprise.

"Start talking, Doris. And this time I want the truth, that is if you're capable of it. Is Wo Fat my brother?" Although he already knew the answer to that question but he nevertheless wanted to hear it from his own mother's mouth.

She gulped in a deep breath and confessed, "Yes, he is."

Steve's heart sank at the news. "Why?" he whimpered. "Why didn't you tell me this the first time I asked."

She shook her head dolefully and sniffed back an errant tear. "I know I should have but I didn't want you to hate me after all these years. Coming back into your life after twenty years of thinking I was dead was hard enough for you and for me, that I didn't want to make it more painful."

"Well you're wrong." Pause. "I tried, Doris, I really tried to be supportive but this...this is just too much."

"I'm sorry, Steven."

"I don't believe you anymore and I may never again. Here I was accusing my best friend," he turned to Danny with sorrowful eyes, "the man I consider like a brother and my own mother is the one who betrays me." He closed his eyes and with a choking hiccup, said solemnly, "Please leave and never come back."

"Surely you don't mean that, Steven."

"I do. You should never have returned in the first place. I was better off knowing you were dead. Please...leave."

"Steven, we need to talk about this," she insisted.

Steve shook his head. "You've had your chance. Now stay out of my life for good."

She wavered whether to reach out one last time to her son but held back. Instead she hung her head and with a deep woeful sigh, she turned to the door, casting one last apologetic look at Danny who held the eye-lock with some disdain.

Once Doris was out of the room, Danny stepped up to the bed. He paused to give his friend a moment to grieve. "You all right?"

"I will be," Steve sniffed. "I'm so sorry, Danny. I never should have doubted you."

"Hey it's ok as long as we're good."

Steve held his hand out for Danny to clasp it. "Yeah, we're good."

"Now you get some rest. We need you back on the field to catch that bastard once and for all."

"And Danny...Wo Fat may be a brother by blood but you're brother by soul. I'm lucky to have met you and to have you as a partner and friend."

"Same here, babe. Same here." Danny folded his other hand on top of their brofist. His smile suddenly turned to a deep frown at the sight of Steve's face contorting in pain. "What's the matter?"

"Chest. Can't breathe."

"Hold on!" Danny pressed the alarm button by the bed, His head snapped up at the heart monitor when it started blaring. "Slow deep breaths, now. Come on, easy, easy," he coached calmly, though inwardly he was a nervous wreck.

"What's the matter?" queried the doctor as he rushed into the room.

"He says...he says he can't breathe," Danny informed worriedly.

"Commander, can you hear me?" The doctor asked, snapping his fingers to get Steve's attention.

Steve nodded as he struggled to draw breaths.

The doctor applied his stethoscope to the patient's chest as he continued to shoot questions."Does your chest hurt?"

Steve shook his head. "No. Pressure."

The doctor adjusted an oxygen mask over his nose. "Okay now. Listen to me now, concentrate on my voice." He waited for Steve to acknowledge him before continuing. "Breathe in and out slowly. Focus now. In and out, slowly."

Steve did as instructed with the mask fogging up with each exhale.

"That's it, you're doing fine. Keep it up." He turned to Danny. "Stay with him. Keep him calm and make sure he continues breathing slowly."

"Where are you going?"

"I'll arrange to take him down to X-Ray to ensure we're not dealing with a cardiac tamponade."

Danny bit his upper lip in fright and turned back to Steve.

"Danny," Steve whispered through the mask as he held a hand up.

Danny clasped the hand and squeezed it tight. "Take it easy. Ease down your breathing."

"I love you brother," Steve cried with a hunted look in his eyes that chilled Danny to the bones.

"Love you too." He leaned forward and gripped Steve's shoulder. "Hold on now," he urged when he noticed that Steve was about to forfeit the fight. "You're not going anywhere. You hear me?"

Steve's bleary eyes remained at half-mast while a ghostly smile crossed his lips.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~H50~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Minutes later, Doris was at the nurses' station fishing for information on her son's condition when out of the corner of her eye, she saw Steve being wheeled out on a gurney, an oxygen mask on his face, with Danny walking alongside.

Concerned, she trotted all the way to the emergency entrance door, where Danny was asked to wait outside.

"Danny? What's going on? Is Steve okay?"

Distraught, Danny ran a hand over his flushed face and spoke chokingly. "Just after you left he started having trouble breathing. The doctor's taking him down for a chest X-Ray."

A look of pure anguish crossed her face. "It's all my fault. He's right; I never should have come back. He would have been better off knowing I was dead."

"Listen, I'm not one to judge," Danny began softly. "Obviously you did what you had to do. It was hard on him and it took a while to accept you back in his life again. This thing with Wo Fat is another bolt out of the blue that threw him for a loop. He might never accept that truth but I'm sure he'll ultimately come to deal with it. He's a tough badass who always lands on his feet. He didn't mean what he said just like he didn't when he threw me out of the room believing I had switched the blood samples."

"I'm glad you called Joe to set the matter straight. If anyone, he should be angry at me."

"Stick close by. I have a hunch he'll need you."

She smiled and laid a hand on Danny's arm. "Thank you Danny. You're a good friend."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~H50~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was some time later when the doctor brought the good news. Steve had only suffered an acute anxiety attack as a result of the latest bombshell to befall on him. The heart was fine and if his condition were to improve, he would be discharged from the hospital within forty-eight hours.

After parting ways with Danny who remained behind to sit with Steve, Doris headed out and toward the parking lot where she sat in the passenger seat of tinted-window van. Pause as she sighed heavily and waited for the driver to speak.

"He knows?" Wo Fat asked.

"Yes, he knows." She turned to him with a glare. "We've done enough harm. I beg of you; leave him alone."

"That all depends on him. His knowledge that we're brothers is a fate worse than death," he crowed with an evil smirk.

The end?