Yes, it has taken forever... I beg forgiveness! I love each and everyone who's still reading and who've read my other one shots while I tried to get this story on its feet where it should be.

Hope it doesn't disappoint and from here on in the rest is gravy!

Thanks again everyone!

Oz

"So? Well? Come on! One little bomb and everyone goes silent?" Jackson chuckled. His laughter was that of a purely psychotic individual and it sent chills down Steve's spine. But that didn't stop Steve from giving the device strapped around the maniac a good once over. There were too many wires, to intricately attached to the explosive charge. There would be no way Steve could discern which wire to cut before the thing went off.

Then there was the issue of Danny who looked so close to death it was amazing the man was actually still alive. Though his partner was conscious Steve knew it was only a matter of moments before the man lost consciousness again.

"Two guns and a bomb seem like a bit of over-kill Cahill," Steve said. "Shut it off and you can keep the guns." Jackson's smile just widened as he looked at Steve.

"First I need you to understand something McGarrett," he said. Everyone's eyes were glued to those red numbers counting down. "Do you understand the saying "If I can't have it, no one can?"

"I do," Steve swallowed not sure where this was going. Cahill twitched as Anders moved slightly only to freeze when the man with the bomb glared at him.

"And, McGarrett, if this bomb were to go off, what would be your biggest regret? Clocks ticking." Steve didn't even think about it. He, as he was sure the others were, was extremely confused at the moment but time was of the essence.

"That I didn't protect a little girl's father," he said without hesitation. "And I didn't protect my best friend." Danny's tired, glazed eyes found Steve's and although there was a look of thanks there was also a look that clearly said, "I don't blame you." Oddly enough, however there was something else that was developing in that gaze that Steve couldn't put his finger on. He did know however, that all he had to worry about at the moment was getting that bomb shut off and buying some time.

"Phew!" Jackson laughed. "Now that that's over!" Just as the bomb clicked over to ten seconds, the crazed man flicked a switch Steve hadn't seen before and stopped the timer. Needless to say, shoulders eased but guns still stayed at the ready. At first it appeared as though Jackson was calming down. However when Mason made the mistake of shifting his weight from one foot to the other, the crazed man's eyes narrowed dangerously and he cocked both his weapons.

"Stop moving," he snarled. "The bomb may be stopped but it can just as easily be started up again... or detonated out right."

"Okay Cahill, you're in charge," Anders said. Amazingly he lowered his weapon to the coffee table next to him and raised his hands. "You tell us what we're doing here."

"See gentlemen? Anders here knows when to play and when I'm not in the mood," Jackson smiled. He waved one of his guns in Anders' direction. "Now since you asked so nicely I'll reply; Danny here is sicker than even I can help him with." Steve glanced at his ailing friend again and saw how it seemed like a huge effort to breath even with the small aid. That and what wasn't extremely pale skin was highlighted with a rouge of fever.

But then he caught that same glint he'd seen before. His partner may be half dead but something was sparkling there and Steve couldn't tell if he was going to like what his partner had coming. It concerned him even more, when Danny gave him a wink and a very tired smile that only Steve saw before it vanished.

"Which is why he needs a hospital," Anders sighed. "Let Joe take him and the rest of us will stay."

"Wrong," Jackson said. "What he needs is the antidote."

"There isn't any left," Mason replied without a care in the world for the look of horror that crossed Danny's face. "We used it all when you exposed a good chunk of H.P.D... and the Commander here needed the rest. So you might as well just blow us all up."

"Damn it Stonebridge stop helping!" Anders snarled. "I know all you care about is your own a** but Williams and McGarrett have taken enough abuse for the CIA's stupidity."

"The Agencies stupidity? Or your own mistakes O'Reilly?" Mason shot back.

"Enough!" Steve barked glaring at the bickering men. "You two are going to keep your mouths shut, understand?" he ordered. Then he turned back to Cahill arms raised in surrender. "If there isn't any antidote left Danny needs a hospital. Look... Jackson I get that you care about Danny's well-being; that much is obvious. I can see you really don't want to lose him so let Joe and I get him some help. After that, you can do whatever you want with these two." Jackson was either off in his own little world or really just didn't care what suggestions anyone else had.

"Steve." Danny's rough voice was just loud enough to stop everyone from what they were doing. They all looked at him, even Jackson.

"What's up buddy?" Steve asked as if it were just the two of them in the room. Danny winced as he tried to sit up a bit more and look Steve right in the eye.

"I want you to take that gun and finish it," the Jersey detective said. At first Steve just blinked in confusion, not quite understanding what his partner was saying. But then it dawned on him and he stood up straighter, wide-eyed when Danny waved his good arm to his bad one. Waved his arm at the very sight where Steve had shot him days ago.

"You want me to shoot you?" he barked. "Seriously Daniel? All the crazy that's going on right now and that, that is your plan? Get me to shoot you?" Everyone in the room looked startled at the comment but also seemed content to let this play out a bit more.

"Think about it Steve," Danny grunted. "I'm barely hanging on as is, you put a bullet in me and psycho here with the bomb looses all his leverage... He'll probably lose his mind too."

"Are you really willing to test that theory, Wills?" Anders asked quietly. Danny however ignored him, like Steve they were acting as if they were the only two in the room.

"Question isn't if he's willing to test it," Jackson grinned psychotically. "It's if he's willing to die knowing we all go with him." Danny chuckled an exhausted chuckle that sounded more like he was choking than anything else.

"Do you remember that case we worked a few months ago?" he asked looking at Steve again taking Steve's route of ignoring everyone else in the room. "The Gozawski case? We had to end it and you made sure it was ended by any means necessary. I need you to do that for me now partner. I need you to end it."

At first Steve was about to protest. He was ready to be up in arms with disgust but then… he actually remembered that particular case and fought the urge to grin. In fact, he fought every urge his tired body wanted to simply relax and know things might actually be okay.

The Gozawski case had been a cluster of disaster since the moment it started. Bad leads, poor intel and desperate low-level and middle men drug dealers all trying to protect their own butts as well as their main Hawaiian supplier. The supplier being Jon Gozawski a retired Soviet spy who decided Hawaii was a good place to set up shop and ship drugs from the Middle East to Hawaii then on to the main land and Europe.

But they'd caught a break on that case and it had been completely by accident. An accident, though the members of Five-0 would never in a million years admit, that had broken the case wide open. Steve and Danny had been out to lunch one day, waiting for Chin and Kono to join them. The whole team was more than exhausted from going through intelligence reports and photographs so Steve had decided they needed a good solid lunch away from the office.

It was a good idea as he and Danny were having a lively discussion about football vs. baseball when low and behold Jon Gozawski had pulled up in an SUV on the other side of the street. Steve and Danny had been stunned but they followed the man and entourage into a quiet alley way where amazingly a large drug and money exchange was taking place.

The two Five-0 members had immediately told everyone to drop their weapons but they'd been caught off guard by several more of Gozawski's men that had hidden in the wings. Jon Gozawski had been a sick man who liked to see people fight it out for his approval which is exactly what he'd done with Danny and Steve. Once they'd been disarmed he had his men circle the two and said;

"Loser dies, winner lives." Danny and Steve had humoured the man by throwing a few kicks and punches but both knew Chin and Kono wouldn't be far behind. They believed not only in one another but they also believe in their team.

Even though they knew that Steve had still hesitated once or twice. Danny knew how to fight but he was essentially a trained weapon. After Steve had delivered a sturdy right hook, easily knocking Danny to the ground for a third time, he realized the odds were in his favor and he couldn't let that happen. Danny had a daughter to get home too. The thugs around them had even supplied Danny with a knife to even the odds a bit; A knife which the Jersey native refused to use.

So Steve had dropped to his knees, opened his arms and said;

"Just do it Danny, tell Grace I'll always be her favorite Uncle." Danny's eyes went wide but frighteningly after only a second, he'd charged full tilt at Steve, weapon raised. Steve believed that would be his end but instead, Danny tossed the knife at the last second and speared his partner to the ground protectively while the world around them exploded in gun fire. Turned out Danny had seen Chin give him a signal of reassurance and had acted knowing both he and Steve had backup and all they had to do was duck and cover.

That memory brought Steve back to the present situation, his head was throbbing with a head ache but he felt like he had a new handle on the situation. Though he hadn't seen it, he knew Danny had and he trusted the man with his life.

"Fine," Steve sighed pretending as if it was a great inconvenience. He raised his weapon at Danny's chest and tried to ignore the shaking of his hand as he did so. Pointing a weapon at his partner like this was something he was never ever going to be comfortable with but he did it trusting the man knew what he was doing; "Goodbye Danno."

"NO!" It happened in an instant. Steve had only put his finger on the trigger but hadn't been willing to even lightly squeeze the trigger. Like the Gozawski case, the world exploded around them yet again.

Crazed and fearing Steve's potentially unbalanced and tired nature, Jackson had thrown up his hands in desperate fear. The moment he did so, his shoulder exploded in an excellently timed sniper shot that blew out Steve's living room window. Steve, ignored his own pain, ignored Jackson's wails as the others in the room pounced on him to stop him from using his good arm to activate the bomb and leapt to his partner's side.

"Danny! Hey, Danno, how's it going brah?" Steve desperately tried. As he did so and as Danny practically shook with fear, H.P.D., lead by Chin-Ho Kelly flooded the house and arrested everyone and anything that wasn't wearing a Five-0 badge.

During the Gozawski case it had been Chin and Kono who'd blown that alleyway up with the help of Five-0. They hadn't needed a text or phone call of warning. They didn't need someone to tell them something was up and they didn't even need to check their phones before they knew something was wrong.

As it turned out all they needed was to show up at the local Tiki pub they'd agreed to meet at, not find Danny and Steve where they should have been and finding their food still warm was all the Hawaiian cousins needed before calling for backup.

Now, in Steve's house, which was being abused beyond believe, the Navy SEAL was grateful more than ever for his team's effort. He'd told Chin and Kono where he was going but he hadn't breathed a word of them following him or even better, sending half of H.P.D. to back them up. And the shot that had skillfully disabled Cahill yet kept him alive was one Steve knew Kono had made. The local girl was probably propped up in the bushes on his lawn, grinning her patented grin as they worked.

"Steve, babe… I'm uh… not… not so good," Danny wheezed. Just as Steve's vision started to double with the pain radiating through his own skull from all that he'd endured; Chin appeared.

"Danny, howsit brah? You about ready to get to the hospital?" the man asked. Danny tried to suck in a breath, he tried to laugh but he failed both and settled for a relieved nod.

"N'think so," he croaked. "Think soldier boy might need it too," he added. However Steve had knelt back on his heals unable to stop his hands from massaging his temples. Splashes of memory he wasn't even sure he had were suddenly driving forks into his skull.

"Steve?" Chin asked. "Talk to me Steve, what's going on?"

Lost in something else, Steve felt himself crumpling as he was suddenly ripped away from his own living room. His mind took him back to the jungles and to the tractor-trailer where the traitor Navy Seals stood ready to stop him from taking the crates of virus away from them. He remembered them being angry, driven but mostly, desperate despite the firm orders for him to get out of the truck.

There were bits and pieces from then but he remembered the SEAL attacking him and he could briefly remember fighting back. Then his fractured memory hiccupped to another part of the forest, he looked back at the cab of the truck and saw Cahill zap strapped to the door handle.

"Aw you wont show me where you're hiding it Commander?" Cahill had chuckled. "I'm wounded. Come on McGarrett, does the detective's safety really override chemical brainwashing from your own beloved G*d and country?" Steve had ignored the comment, driven by chemical insanity and a need to "complete the mission". The problem was, long ago, Steve had convinced himself there only ever was one mission that needed to be completed with his dying breath.

That mission was to make sure the people he cared about would live long happy lives. That they be protected.

Snapping back to the present after recognizing some of the jungle terrain in his memory, Steve sucked in a deep breath.

"I know where the antidote is," he wheezed as he struggled to stand with Chin's help. By now, Danny was already on a stretcher being prepped to transport to the nearest hospital. Just before the paramedics rolled him away, Steve grabbed his knee and squeezed gently. "Grace isn't losing her father Danny," he breathed. "Hold on to that and I promise you I'll do the same."

The detective managed a weak smile of thanks before his eyes rolled back and the already antsy paramedics wailed in concern and rolled the man away. Steve knew he had to get to the last crate before it was too late for his partner. He took a step only to stumble slightly needing Chin as an aid to prevent himself from face planting into the floor.

"You need a hospital, Steve," the Hawaiian detective urged. Steve sucked in a breath, shook his head and tried to straighten up as best he could. That task barely accomplished, he looked Chin right in the eye and tried to convey all of his emotions in that one glance.

"I need to save Danny," he replied confidently. "But more so I need your help to do it brah. Please." The Hawaiian's shoulders dropped in defeat and he shook his head. A moment later, he returned Steve's gaze pound for pound.

"What do you need?" he asked.

"Joe, Anders, Stonebridge and Cahill are all under lock and key until Danny or I can personally handle them," Steve ordered firmly despite his weakened state.

"Not a problem, Falcon's already got his guys and friends of the guys he helped save ready to build a fortress around these four. Never mind what Kono's ready to do to them," Chin added with a humorous glint. "What else do you need?"

Steve sucked in a deep breath, reined in his own insecurities with everything that was going on and the consequences he'd undoubtedly have to face when everything was over and instead, steeled his body and did what SEALs were trained to do. He stayed his shaking hands, ignored the gut churning guilt and put aside the fact that his partner may not live to see the hospital ER for the sake of getting the mission done.

The only thing that mattered at that moment was getting that last crate and hopefully a desperately needed cure.

"I need a ride," Steve said as he tucked his weapon back into his holster, ready for action.

I am humbled and loved by the idea that those are still following and liking this story. I'd love to hear reviews; good or constructive criticism is always welcome! Great reviews are even MORE welcome! Ha ha.

Thanks again and I'll see you all next time! Should be soon!

Oz