A/N: I promise there is an explanation for everything. There were two things I pictured when starting this story - Danny's blindness, and why Charlie became the antagonist. I appreciate you letting me tell what has been bouncing around in my head, and am so grateful for those who read, reply, favorite, and follow.
I own nothing related to CBS or Hawaii Five-0. No copyright infringement is intended.
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"Charlie?" Danny could not believe what he was hearing. His friend, who was supposed to be joining them at Steve's for a barbeque before he had gotten hurt, had kidnapped him? But why?
"What's the matter, Danny? Surprised to see me?"
Danny blinked a few times, his thoughts jumbled. "Charlie? I…I don't understand."
Charlie spit out a laugh at the confused look on the detective's face. "Let me try to explain it in a way you might understand. You owe me. And I intend to collect."
Danny could not help but shudder as the venomous words registered in his brain. "Charlie, you're not making any sense. What do I owe you for?" He was trying to keep Charlie talking, and yet he really wanted him to calm down. Danny was at such a disadvantage not being able to see his face, or watch his movements.
Danny flinched as Charlie spoke, not realizing that he had knelt down in front of him. "Don't you get it? From the moment I met you, my life has been one bad thing after another. I met Kono through you, but guess what? Because of you and your job, she met Adam and wants nothing to do with me. Every time I worked a case, I thought I was helping you by trying to get you evidence as quickly as I could. But it was never fast enough, is it? The things that I've seen because of you…" His voice trailed off, lost in an apparent nightmare, as evident by the rapid breathing.
Danny took a few slow deep breaths, trying to see if he could hear anything around him that might tell him where they were. If Charlie hadn't drugged him, he might have a better idea of whether they were even in Honolulu or not. He could hear what he thought was the sound of cars on a highway not too far away. There were no telltale sounds in the house, however.
"So anyway…" Charlie's voice was calm again. "I figured since you had made my life so miserable, I would return the favor. That's what friends do, right? Return favors?"
"Charlie, just listen to me. Whatever is going on, we can fix this, okay? You have been a good friend…" He never got to finish his sentence before he was in Danny's face, yelling at him. He had grabbed him by the front of the shirt, and roughly shoved him so that his entire back slammed into the wall, causing Danny's breath to hitch in pain.
"Don't you get it? I don't want to be one of your friends. You're the haole that brings heartache and trouble to everyone you come in contact with, and I don't want any more of that. It's time that you…" His words stopped short with a grunt of pain.
Danny heard him drop to the floor, but couldn't tell what was going on. "Charlie?"
He didn't answer Danny, which really made him worry. He couldn't see, didn't know where he was, wasn't sure just what he had been injected with, and now his kidnapper, who was someone he had hung out with from time to time, appeared to be in pain. This day was getting better and better.
Danny heard Charlie fumbling with a pill bottle as he rose up and stumbled from the room, locking the door behind him, and wondered what he was taking. It appeared to be just another variable to add to his big, confused mix.
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"Anything?" Kono was talking on the phone as Steve came into the kitchen. Chin was typing away on his computer, a yellow notepad full of barely legible handwriting thrown next to him. None of the team had slept at all, instead preferring to work the phones and the internet, connecting with contacts and calling in favors, and trying to figure out just who had Danny. The fact that there had been no demands had all three on edge.
"Let me know if you hear anything." Kono hung up the phone without a word. There was no time for pleasantries. The people she had been talking to were all people that she had worked with in the past. She really didn't care if she said 'please' or 'thank you'—she just wanted Danny back.
For a brief moment, Kono looked her age. In their line of work, it was crucial to know how to hide your emotions, but suddenly, there was nowhere left for them to hide. Her dark hair was askew from its ponytail, presumably from tiredly running her hands through it. Her normal exuberant persona sagged slightly.
But before anyone could notice, her mask was back in place, and Kono was all business. She glanced at the paper next to Chin's computer and crossed out a name. Choosing a different person from the list, she dialed the number from the paper and walked into the living room.
Steve grabbed his phone and his coffee and sat down next to where Chin was working. "Any luck?" He tried to keep the fear out of his voice, but Chin knew him better than most.
Chin shook his head and stretched his neck, the numerous hours spent sitting at the table starting to make his back stiff. "Whoever this is, it doesn't look like anyone on our list."
Steve tried to squelch the cold feeling in his stomach. "I'm starting to think you might be right. If it was an enemy, we'd have heard something by now…some sort of demands or…" He couldn't finish what he started to say. The 'or' had way too many implications attached to it.
Chin nodded somberly. "So what do we do now?"
Steve had to squeeze his eyes tight for a moment before blinking rapidly and blowing out a breath. "We hope for a break…or a miracle."
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Danny couldn't get comfortable. He could feel himself teetering on the edge of a headache, no thanks to the stress and his body's abrupt meeting with the wall, and was trying not to give in to the panic that now seemed to be mocking him with every beat of his heart. He was trying to find a position that would ease the pressure brewing behind his eyes, but wasn't having much luck.
He hadn't heard from Charlie since he left the room, so he had no idea what was going on with him. He thought back over the words that were spat at him and couldn't figure out what had made him act like this. Okay, maybe he had a right to be angry with him, but the Charlie that Danny thought he knew would have at least tried to talk to him, not kidnap him to get even. There had to be more going on that what he could see…figuratively, that was.
He stretched out on the makeshift bed and tried to relax using the meditative techniques that Shari had been working on with him. Danny wasn't thrilled about what he had initially called 'granola therapy', but he had made it known that he didn't want to have to rely on the drugs unless he absolutely couldn't take the pain any longer, so they had been exploring other options.
Starting with his forehead, Danny concentrated on tensing only those muscles and holding them for a few seconds before relaxing. He repeated that process a few times before moving down each small section of his body, from his face all the way down to his toes. It was not a perfect system, but it usually seemed to help ease the tension which contributed to his headaches.
Unfortunately, this was not one of those times where his body was going to cooperate with him. His headache was on the verge of becoming unbearable, and he could only hope that it didn't last too long; or that Charlie wouldn't choose this particular time to verbally or emotionally attack him again. He hadn't mentioned Danny's lack of sight, so he wasn't sure if he was just waiting to pounce on his weakness, or if he had just been so angry that he had missed that one important detail. Whatever the case, at least he had a little time to figure out his next move, such that it was, essentially tied to a wall and unable to see. Just fucking great.
He shut his eyes and tried to doze for a few minutes, but before too long, he heard movement from outside the room. Without warning, the door slammed open, and Danny found himself once again, caught up by the front of his shirt. Only this time, his head snapped to the right as Charlie's fist found the side of his jaw.
"Why did you ever come here? All of us would have been so much better off without you. Kono never would have gotten involved with Adam, and she would have been mine. This is all your fault!" Charlie was jabbing punch after punch into his ribs and kidney area, landing the occasional one to Danny's jaw – and Danny was powerless to stop much of the assault.
He wasn't about to just sit there and take it, though. He tried to lash out, connecting solidly with Charlie's leg. The resounding crunch told Danny that Charlie would be in some mild pain, at the very least.
Charlie got in one last kick to Danny's ribs before Danny heard him stumbling towards the door. It sounded like he might be limping – the cadence was different than he had heard before – but whatever was wrong with him, Danny was grateful for the reprieve.
He gently rested on his back and tried to take stock of what hurt the most. Obviously, the pain in his head had now ratcheted up to an unbearable level. He was having a bit of trouble catching his breath, and he wasn't sure whether it was from the adrenaline or from his now-injured ribs. His lower back ached as well, and he wondered just what kind of damage the hits had done.
"Fuck." Danny winced as he shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position, closing his eyes against the sudden nausea overwhelming him. He really wanted to curl up on his side with a pillow over his head, but there was no way that was happening in his current position.
After a while, Danny decided that he wanted to cry, and fuck anyone who said he shouldn't. His headache was in no way, shape, or form going away, although it wasn't as bad as the worst had been. He was tired and frustrated, and more than a little confused by Charlie's actions. He hadn't come back into the room since he left, and he had no idea what was going on. Danny hadn't heard him for a while either, which meant either he had left, or had fallen asleep.
Turning towards the wall, he finally drifted into a restless sleep, where his dreams were littered with images of his time on Hawaii, although they had morphed into exactly what Charlie had said. It was like he was standing to the side, watching a movie of himself ruining everything and everyone around him, only he couldn't wake himself up. At times, he wanted to laugh. Other times, the only thing he thought he could do was cry. At any rate, by the time he finally started to wake up, he was physically and emotionally exhausted from essentially reliving his life through his dreams.
He took a deep breath and blinked slowly, chasing the sleep from his mind. Within a few seconds of awakening, his heart rate quickened as he realized that things were drastically different.
Danny blinked a few times to clear the tears from his eyes. He wasn't sure how it had happened, but he could see vague shadows outlined by light. He didn't know what that meant, other than he could actually see something, although it was far from clear. He closed his eyes for a few moments before opening them again, a little afraid of what he might not see. There they were again. Shadows and light…two of the most beautiful things he had ever seen in his life.
Turning so that his foot was firmly planted, he brushed up against something hard on the floor. Reaching down, he willed himself to remain calm as his fingers came in contact with the cool metal of a cell phone. Charlie must have dropped it when he collapsed. And the fact that he hadn't come back in to get it yet must mean that he was still incapacitated somehow.
Listening for any movement outside the door, he begged his trembling fingers to quickly figure out the layout of the phone. He struggled to remember what Shari had taught him about button placement and swore inwardly as he remembered how petulant he had been about his therapy at the time.
He couldn't tell whether the phone was on or off, so he had to just hope and pray for the best. Pressing what he thought was 9-1-1; he struggled to find the 'send' button. When nothing happened, he took a deep breath and tried to figure out his next move.
Panicking was not going to help, although he really wanted to give in to the impending anxiety attack; but he really had no idea just how much time he might have. He found what he thought might be the 'power' button and pushed it, hoping that he hadn't just turned the phone off. Sighing in relief, he felt the phone lightly vibrate underneath his fingers. It felt like it could be very similar to his phone, and the fact that the keypad vibrated on contact helped him.
He took a deep breath and carefully pushed what he hoped was the correct series of buttons, praying that he would answer. Hurry. Hurry.
"McGarrett."
Danny had never been happier to hear his partner's voice in his life. "Steve?" he whispered. "It's me. I need your help."
"Danny? Is that you?"
"Yeah. I don't know how much time I have, but I need you to get a signal lock on this phone. I don't really understand, but Charlie Fong is the one who kidnapped me."
"Charlie? Fong? Is he crazy?" Steve had motioned to Chin and Kono to meet him in the bullpen, and they were busy tapping keys, trying to lock into where Danny might be held.
Danny smiled ruefully to himself. "That's a good question, Steve."
After a few more moments, Kono yelped, "I think I've got you, Danny. We just need to stablize the signal. Hang tight, okay brah?"
Danny let out a tense breath, his eyes instantly flooding with tears. "I have to go now. I don't want Charlie to hear me. Just hurry. And tell Grace? Please?" With that, Danny reluctantly ended the call and turned the phone off.
He debated whether or not to hide the phone, but ultimately decided to just put it back where he had found it, figuring the less suspicion he placed on himself, the better. He had no way of knowing just what was going to set Charlie off on another rage. And since he wasn't sure what was going on with his vision, Danny knew that he was not anywhere near one hundred percent.
He resumed his position facing the ceiling and tried to calm his breathing. He knew that he had to appear as though he hadn't moved at all, and so he compartmentalized every positive emotion that was roaring through his body even though he wanted to shout from the rooftops.
After some time had passed…he really wasn't sure how long…he heard footsteps outside the door. Danny kept silent as Charlie approached his cot and carefully unlocked his ankle from the shackle attached to the wall. He also heard the scraping of metal against the floor, and rightfully assumed that Charlie had picked up the phone.
"The bathroom's through the doorway. You have five minutes. Don't try anything stupid, Danny."
Danny blinked in confusion. Gone was the venom, at least for the time being. Right now, Charlie just sounded tired and hollow. Danny was even more convinced now that something was really wrong with him.
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There was frantic activity in the bullpen, as the team mobilized and worked to lock onto the phone's signal. It felt like a lifetime before Chin shouted, "Yes!" He was finally able to triangulate the cell phone signal, which placed Danny in small house about thirty minutes north of headquarters.
They geared up and made the dash for Steve's truck. They didn't have a lot of time to waste, if Danny's anxiety was any indication. There were so many unanswered questions, but above all, they knew one thing. It was time to get Danny back home.
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Danny splashed some water on his face after he had finished using the restroom. Opening the door, he felt Charlie immediately grab his elbow and hurry him back into the room where he was being held. For whatever reason, he didn't shackle him to the wall again. He simply pushed Danny back into the room and locked the door behind him.
Danny gingerly felt his way back to the cot, wanting nothing more than to just lie down. Seeing shadows was starting to make him dizzy, almost like his brain had to relearn what it was like to not live in total darkness. That, combined with the pounding in his head was making him feel worse than he had since all of this started.
As Danny sat down, he brushed up against a couple of water bottles. He didn't know whether or not Charlie had put anything into the water, so he held off on drinking anything for now. For now, he really just wanted to close his eyes and let his world stop spinning.
There was no way to know how much time had passed, but all of a sudden, he heard a loud crash from the other room; followed by Charlie's angry shouting.
"Danny? What in the hell did you do? What did you do?!"
Charlie had flung the door open almost before Danny was able to sit up and brace himself. He couldn't completely see it, but Charlie was holding out his phone. "Why did you have to go and screw things up, Danny? Why?"
Seeing Charlie's shadow coming closer, Danny knew that he was walking towards him. He also knew that he had to think quickly or there was no telling how Charlie would react.
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