So, I haven't seen you guys for a month. I have no excuse. Please accept this chapter as my sincere apologies.

On another note, I'm now on the hunt for a beta. If you want to volunteer I will love you for the rest of time.

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When Steve next awoke, it took him several minutes to work out where he was. He found that even when he opened his eyes, the world was dim and distorted, so he snapped his eyelids shut with a groan. The sound tore at his throat. It felt like he had tried to swallow sandpaper and then choked it back up.

'Did I get drunk last night?' he wondered briefly, before dismissing the thought. He'd been working yesterday, he remembered, and he hadn't finished the case yet. He wouldn't have gone for a night out when there were criminals to hunt down. And that was another thing: what about the case? 'Who am I investigating?' he couldn't remember a thing.

"Steve?" A concerned voice sounded from somewhere far away. He was unsure whether the distance was real, or just the fogginess of his mind tricking him. "Are you awake?" The sound was definitely closer this time, clear enough to recognise.

"Danno?" His voice was raw and painful, and the name was barely a breath of air. But it was heard anyway.

"I'll get you some water. Stay awake, Steve," his partner commanded, and there were sounds of movement, and distantly a faucet** running. A few moments – or was it hours? – later he felt the relieving rush of cool liquid down his parched throat. As soon as the water was removed he groaned again, missing the blissful relief it provided. "Not too much now Steve. It'll make you sick," Danny informed him.

"Wha-?" He tried to vocalise his confusion, but his voice was uncooperative.

"You're still at my house, and you've got a fever. You're safe and there's nothing to worry about. Rest," he was ordered gently. All of a sudden all of his memories hit him like he'd been slapped. It knocked the breath out of his blazing body slightly.

"Case. Benji." He was able to spit out the words, but his throat blazed in fury at the attempt. He swallowed violently, but his dry mouth could offer no relief. The water returned, and the agony vanished momentarily.

"The others are working on it. You're no good to anyone if you can't stand up straight. Just sleep, please Steve."

"No," he muttered, forcing his eyes fully open and struggling in vain to get them to focus. He could just about make Danny's face out, but the edges of his vision were blurred and grey. He could barely recognise the room he was in. His limbs felt like lead, and every inch of him was an inferno, encasing him in a blazing agony. His head throbbed at his suffering, rejecting the light vehemently, searching again for the peace of sleep.

"I wasn't asking. The 'I will deck you' threat still stands babe. Do you want more water?" The ex SEAL lacked the strength required for talking, and just nodded pathetically. Once he had drunk his fill – leaving his stomach feeling horribly unsettled – he allowed his thoughts to drift again, utterly spent.

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Danny looked at his sleeping partner, and sighed at the man's stubbornness. He had a raging fever and clearly was disorientated, and yet he had still tried to get up and go to work. The man must be a machine.

'Machines don't get sick,' he reflected. He was worried about his partner, and had rung a doctor several hours ago. The man had clearly been annoyed at being dragged out of bed so early in the morning, but when the detective had stressed Steve's condition, he hadn't hesitated to make a house call. Having checked the ex SEAL over, he made Danny swear to not let him leave his bed until his temperature had dropped several degrees.

Despite having been assured that Steve would be fine, he still worried. The others had all promised to stop by later to say hi, and to fetch anything he needed. There was an unspoken agreement that Danny would not be leaving his partner's side.

He was so busy thinking that when his phone buzzed from across the room it made him jump. He moved to pick it up, hesitating when he saw his ex wife's ID flashing at him.

'It might be Gracie,' he told himself, having to mentally force himself to hit answer.

"I hope you know what you've done Detective." The voice was full of venomous sarcasm, and the Jersey native actually pulled away from the phone in response. That wasn't his monkey.

"Hello Rachel, nice to talk to you too," he said, his voice outwardly pleasant. Anyone who knew him would detect the sarcasm.

"I have spent the last hour trying to convince our daughter that there must be some marvellous reason as to why her beloved father hasn't collected her yet. I'd just love to hear what it is," she remarked pointedly, and Danny's heart sank. He'd let the days get past him again, and now he had no idea what was happening.

"Shit. Look, some stuff has come up."

"It always does."

"That's not true!" He was almost shouting down the phone, but made a conscious effort to calm himself. He didn't need to disturb the neighbours, and give them reason to call the police, again. That had been an awkward conversation. And there was his peacefully sleeping partner to consider. "A case has come up. And then, Steve's in pretty bad shape. I just... Things have gotten away from me a bit." He admitted, his voice dropping in shame. His daughter should come before all this stuff, and normally she did. But today, there was just too much, too many problems that he needed to fix.

"Wait, Steve's hurt?" There was genuine concern in her voice this time.

"There was a gunman, raided his house. Steve took a bullet in the arm, and has gotten himself sick by not paying attention to the doctors. As per usual really." He sent a fond glance at the sleeping SEAL.

"He'll be ok?"

"Yeah, should be fine in a few days. Can you put Grace on the phone please?" For half a second he thought she would refuse, and end the call, but then he heard her shouting for their daughter and he softened in thanks.

"Danno!" His heart melted.

"Monkey!" He greeted enthusiastically. A smile graced his face without conscious prompting. "I'm really sorry Gracie, but Danno can't see you today." The smile slipped away with the return of guilt.

"But I always see Danno at the weekends," she said, her voice trembling slightly. The guilt was starting to crush him; cutting off his airways like it always did whenever he was forced to disappoint his daughter.

"I know monkey, but something has come up," he told her softly.

"Is Danno chasing bad guys?" She asked suddenly, interest peaking in her voice. The Jersey native was becoming mildly concerned with her knowledge of his job, combined with a strong sense of fatherly pride. "You'll be careful?"

"Of course I will Gracie. I'm always careful," he told her patiently. They'd had this conversation more and more often as of late.

"Will I see you soon?"

"The bad guys couldn't keep me away from my monkey," he reassured. "Be careful Gracie, and do what your mum tells you to."

"I love you," she said quietly. There was a melancholy in her voice that did not match her age.

"Danno loves you," he told her, sighing as the line went dead. Sometimes, like when he had to put his work before his family, he really started to question everything that he did. Across the room, Steve groaned and mumbled in feverish sleep, and the Jersey native pulled himself from his reverie. There would be time to ponder the implications of his work later.

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Danny was typing case notes into his laptop when his partner awoke again.

"Danno?" His head snapped up, taking in Steve's dishevelled, flushed appearance. His skin shone slightly with sweat, and his eyes were hazy; he looked awful.

"Back in the land of the living?" He mocked lightly, even as he moved towards the bed and procuring a glass of water. Steve had drained the entire glass within seconds. "So much for taking things slowly," Danny observed, recalling the doctor's command to try and go steady with the water.

"What time is it?" His voice sounded strained.

"About two thirty. You've been sleeping most of the day," he informed, reaching for the Tylenol that he had left out for Steve. The ex SEAL glared at the tablets for a moment – hating their necessity – before swallowing them with a grimace.

"You should have woken me."

"I make a point of letting fevered SEALs sleep. I was a little afraid that if I tried to wake you up you'd go all ninja on me," he muttered. His jibe brought a vague smile to his partner's face, and instantly he looked healthier.

"And you thought that letting me sleep was the safer option?" He threatened teasingly. In truth, he hurt.

His head was pounding like there was a jackhammer drilling though his skull. Every beam of light in the dull room made pain lance through his head like a knife. His skin was too hot, but at the same time he was shivering violently. The sheen of sweat made him feel clammy and unclean, a feeling which was only enhanced by the way his clothes stuck to him.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine," he lied instantly. Danny's raised eyebrow told him that even his daughter wouldn't buy that. "I feel better than before," he amended. To be honest, he wasn't sure if that was true, he couldn't really remember the last time he had woken clearly. It was too hazy, tangled up in unclear thoughts.

"Sure, babe. As soon as you can muster the strength to stand up and stop shaking, I'll believe you." It was blatantly a challenge, and he didn't wish to disappoint. The only problem was that his limbs were refusing to cooperate, and they seemed to be incompatible with being vertical. As soon as Danny realised that he was going to try and stand up anyway – stubborn fool that he was – he jumped in and pushed down on his partner's shoulder. "Nevermind. I believe you."

"Sure you do," he retorted, but abandoned his attempts to stand. It hurt too damn much. "Anything new on the case?"

"I've got Chin and Kono on it. They're going through anything on the islands that is in anyway associated with the word Easter. You know that there are 112 people in Hawaii with Easter somewhere in their name? What is wrong with good old fashioned names, like... er, Henry."

"Henry? Seriously?" He laughed, but it left him breathless.

"It popped into my head. Is there anything else you can think of that might narrow down the search?" Danny watched his partner's eyes tightened as he struggled to get his thoughts in order enough to concentrate.

"I don't have any memories about it. None that come to mind anyway." He thought for several more minutes, before: "Wait, get them to look up a man called Dominic Eastwood. Find out where he is. I think he left the islands, but there might be a link. He was a school friend." Danny already had his phone in his hand and hit speed dial.

On the second ring he was greeted by the slightly irritated voice of Kono.

"Danny, we still haven't found anything. It's going to take us time to get through all of this stuff, alright? Give us some time and we'll get back to you," she told him, trying to conceal her annoyance. In her defence, the Jersey native had been slightly relentless in his calls for updates.

"No, wait, I have something for you this time," he told her, slightly smug. There was a second of silent surprise on Kono's end.

"Alright, hit me."

"Steve says to try and track down a man called Dominic Eastwood. He thinks that he left the islands, in-" He glanced at the SEAL who mouthed a date. "In 1993. He went to school with them."

"I'm on it. How's Steve?"

"Impatient," he told her drily, shooting a half hearted glare at the SEAL in question. Steve grinned, flopping backwards on the bed. His head was too heavy to support any more. After a few minutes Danny appeared, hovering over him. "You need anything?"

"Nah, you don't need to fuss over me Danno. I'm fine. Really. Like you said, I got overtired. It's nothing."

"Woah, hang on. You're admitting that not only was I right, but you did something stupid?" The incredulity in his voice was impressive. Steve just sent him a look that he translated as: 'Really? Kick a guy when he's down?' He struggled not to laugh, and instead crossed back to his laptop. "Give me a shout if you need anything."

"Will do," Steve responded, snapping a mock salute, and allowing his too heavy eyelids to slip shut again. His head hurt too much to bear the light any more. Gradually, the sleep pulled him further away from reality, and his thoughts drifted, the pain muted by the fog in his head. Far, far away, he could hear humming. It was peaceful, and he recognised the tune, but he couldn't quite name it.

'I'll ask Danno later,' he thought to himself, barely conscious. He drifted.

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**As you all may have twigged, I'm English, so I have no idea if I have used 'faucet' in the correct way. It's not a word we really have. I just felt that as Americans, it feels more right to use any Americanisms when writing their speech or thoughts. I apologise for this and any other terms I use incorrectly. Feel free to call me on it.

I know that not much happened this chapter, but there is a reason for everything. Promise.

So yeah. PM me with questions or if you want to waste your time and be my beta :) Pretty please? Also there is a poll on my profile about your favourite story, and I would be eternally grateful if you could vote. See you next time :)