Thanks so much for all the reviews and encouragement. Especially thank you to Riter's Fury, without whom Ryan would not exist. I'd love to know what you all think of him.

Some things in this chapter deviate from the show because I wrote it before Joe left, so he's still around.

Chapter Five "My Home"
"I've done a few things I wasn't proud of
I've said a few things that hurt you
But you're still the only one who fills me up
And every night spent alone was worth it
You are my home; you are my everything when I feel so alone
You are my home; you are my shelter when all my hope is gone."~Thousand Foot Krutch

Danny was used to being alone, but he never liked it. He'd gotten to where he expected the empty echoing in the house, the phantom noises that were only old, creaking wood or the breeze against the door.

Only this time, there really was a knock. He so rarely had visitors that Danny was immediately concerned. He left his dirty dishes in the sink and headed for the door.

On the other side, Kono stood, dressed in her beach clothes and looking upset.

"What's wrong?" Danny asked. What wasn't wrong, but he thought he'd start with an easy question.

Kono gestured limply with one hand and half shrugged. "Charlie... um... we're not..."

Danny nodded and opened his arms. He let her cry. It was a lot easier now. He didn't have to be told what happened. He knew. The same thing that had happened with him and Gabby, only Kono had known Charlie a lot longer.

As they stood there in the door, Danny rubbing circles in Kono's shoulders, Kono crying softly, things sort of fell into place. It felt so normal for him to pick her up off her feet. She was taller than him, but she was so light. Too light. It felt right to carry her up the stairs, lay her on Steve's bed, and lie next to her, holding her as she continued to weep.

Kono would come down eventually. She'd apologize for being so emotional, brush it off, act like it was no big deal.

Danny knew that it wasn't losing Charlie that was such a big deal anyway. It was why she lost him. She probably thought she had failed somehow. That she would never be able to make a relationship work.

Danny understood the feeling more than he wanted to admit. He'd often wondered if he were just destined to be alone forever. And more alone now.

Still, as he laid there with Kono sobbing in his arms, Danny didn't feel alone at all. Steve was gone; he'd never be back. But Danny wasn't alone.

H-5-O

The first week Steve was in Kahului he met one of his neighbors. He was well aware of everyone who lived in his building. Of everyone who lived on the block. He learned as much as he could about them and then did his best to avoid them.

He was a young man who worked on a fishing boat. As far as Steve could trace, he had lived in the apartment two doors down from Steve for the last three years.

The apartment in between them was vacant. Someone had died there, and the police were still investigating. Apparently, people dying in this building was not unusual.

Steve concluded that the only reason he had not met this boy earlier was that he hadn't had a day off since Steve arrived. But one fine Saturday morning, he showed up at Steve's door with a plate of cookies. It was like a bad movie, except their surroundings were definitely not up to Hollywood standards. Maybe one of those weird independent films.

"Hi," he said with no put on brightness as Steve opened the door. "I'm Ryan Hunter; I live down the hall. Just wanted to welcome you to the building."

He offered the plate and smiled.

"Thanks," Steve said, trying to smile back. Trying to remember how. "Uh, I'm Sam." He stepped aside to invite Ryan in. He wasn't supposed to do stuff like that, but it was polite, and he didn't want to be conspicuous.

Ryan was tall, too thin maybe, tanned from working in the sun. He looked really young, but his gray eyes had the sort of light that made Steve think he had been through his own hell and managed to come out of it alive.

Maybe Steve was reading too much into things.

"So are you from the mainland?" he asked looking around Steve's sparse apartment that could hardly have been any different from his own.

"Uh, yeah," Steve replied. "Southern California."

"What brought you to this hole in the wall?" There was a joking tone in his voice which permitted a joking answer. Or the truth.

"Change," he said, shrugging. It was an honest enough answer. "This isn't permanent."

Ryan shook his head. "No, it's not," he agreed.

"You've been here a while?" Steve asked.

"Three years, four months, and twelve days."

"Hate it that much?"

"No. I just have to remember where I've come from, you know."

"No, but okay."

"It's not that important; it's who I was there."

Steve nodded. "I know what you mean. Identity is... elusive."

"I would say changeable," Ryan said, turning away from the small window and back to Steve. His light brown hair reflected in the sunbeam as he did. "I think our identities are what we choose to do with ourselves."

"Sometimes."

Ryan shook his head. "All the time."

H-5-O

Danny really wished he had ice cream or something because Kono liked that sort of stuff. She didn't say anything as she got up off the bed and went into the bathroom to wash her face. Danny leaned against the headboard and gave a resistant sigh.

Kono came back into the room, looking drained. Her normally vivacious eyes were dull. She wrapped her arms around herself, her thin sleeves doing nothing to stifle the single shiver that shook her body. Her tiny shorts seemed to hang too loosely. She was withering.

Danny sat with his hands under his knees and watched her for a moment. She didn't move from the doorway, but stared out the window as if looking for something.

"I need to go see Joe," Danny said, breaking her reverie. "You want to come, or..."

Kono shook her head. "No, I think I'll just stay here and... huh, talk to Steve?"

Danny stood up and gestured weakly with one hand. "Let me know what he says."

Kono nodded. "I will."

Leaving the house, Danny would often imagine he was going home after a celebratory beer with his partner. That was as far as he ever got since he didn't have anywhere to go. Nowhere on this island had ever been home to him except that damned beach with his idiot partner. There he felt safe. There he felt loved.

The drive to Joe's apartment complex was painfully slow. Danny couldn't remember ever having gone there alone. He'd never driven any of those times. As it was, Danny drove his car far too often for his own liking.

It took a minute for Joe to answer the door, probably checking for machine gun wielding enemies around the perimeter. His paranoia used to be annoying. Like Steve's. Now it was just a reminder that they really were out to get you.

When the door opened, Joe looked suitably surprised. He raised his eyebrows and stood aside to let Danny in.

"I should get you the number of my ex-wife's interior decorator," Danny said, gesturing around Joe's apartment. Minimalist would have been a compliment. Dead would have been accurate.

"I'll be sure to take that into consideration next time I do renovations," Joe said, crossing his arms and leaning against the small table. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Danny put his hands together. "I was just wondering if you were getting tired of retirement yet."

"I was tired of retirement before I was retired. What do you intend to do about it?"

"Well, I may have a position open on an extremely elite task force, and right now you are one of the people I can count on one hand." Danny held up his right hand facing himself. "That I can trust."

Joe pressed his lips together in a mask of impassivity. "What would that entail?"

Danny spread out his hands. "Basically you do whatever needs done. You seem good at that."

"I am."

"So? You in?"

"Just one thing. There's another reason I was the only candidate, isn't there?"

Danny nodded. "Naturally," he said in his trademark mumble. "Steve brought you in. You're already Five-0 as far as we're concerned."

Joe nodded. "When do I start?"