A/N I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any of the characters.

A/N I wasn't necessarily planning on writing Mindy's visit but a reviewer asked so nicely and I try to give readers what they want with this story so, here it is, Mindy's visit with Danny. I hope you like it.

A/N I have to say it – I loved last night's (April 1) episode (The Hunter).

A/N Still day 16

H50 H50 H50

Danny was sitting on the sofa in his living room. In his lap was a photo album he had brought back from his last trip to New Jersey. His sling was hanging off the edge of the coffee table where he had tossed it earlier. His bound up right arm had been getting in the way of turning the pages so he had abandoned the contraption. His right arm now hung useless at his side, his ever-present headache pounding in his head.

He had put the album together specifically to have a bit of everything in it. He had never brought any of his old photo albums to Hawaii and he figured it was about time to bring some of the memories of his old home to what had somehow become his new one. There was a family photo in front of the house his parents had bought in South Orange when they finally moved out of Newark. They were all there – his parents, his sisters, Matty, Eric, Rachel, Grace and even his dog. They all looked so happy and innocent; so much had changed since then. How had life become so messed up?

A knock at the door drew Danny from his contemplation. Placing the album on the table he rotated his head to try and alleviate the pain of the constant headache before struggling to his feet and heading to the door. Lou had begun to do his "job" by coordinating help for Danny with meals. Mindy had eagerly offered to go first. Danny had immediately asked if she would stay and eat with him instead of just dropping it off. Company was an even more important sustenance to Danny than food these days.

Really beginning to worry, Mindy knocked on Danny's door for the fourth time. She had even tried calling his cell phone but had no luck there, either. He was expecting her and although his car was gone he couldn't drive so he should be home. Finally completely unnerved she pulled out her cell phone again to see if she had a phone number for Commander McGarrett or one of the other Five-0 team members. Maybe one of them would know what was going on. Just as she was ready to call Max to get McGarrett's phone number, the door opened.

"Hi Mindy." Danny was smiling but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

Mindy couldn't help but smile. She liked Danny. He was a good man and he had become one of her first friends when she came back to Hawaii to work as a Medical Examiner. Right now though, she thought he looked adorable, a word she had never thought of in connection with him before. His normally perfectly groomed hair was a bit disheveled. He was wearing gym shorts, slip-on canvas boat shoes, Vans or Toms she wasn't sure, and a button up shirt that he would normally wear for work. The right sleeve was rolled up to just below the elbow but the left sleeve was all the way down and unbuttoned. What she noticed most, however was that there was only one button fastened on his shirt, low around the navel, exposing his broad, well-defined chest. Not just adorable, he was downright sexy. That was a word she had thought of in connection with him before. It suddenly felt very hot. She stared a moment too long.

"Mindy?"

She blushed and turned her gaze up to his face. That was adorable and sexy too. Those eyes. Get a grip, girl, she thought. "Oh, hi Danny." She bent down and picked up an insulated fabric dish carrier that held her dinner offering and a big, reusable fabric bag that many used for food shopping. "I brought your dinner."

Danny stepped aside and held the door. Ordinarily he would have taken both items from her but right now he couldn't do that and hold the door open at the same time. Along with having no use of his right hand, he was under strict doctors orders to do no lifting with his left. His cell phone vibrated. He pulled it out, glanced at the screen and shoved it back in his pocket.

As they made their way to the kitchen Mindy asked, "Did I interrupt something?"

"Huh?" Danny had no idea why she asked that and the question took him by surprise. "The phone call?"

"No. Before that. I knocked several times, even tried your cell."

Danny sighed. "Oh wow, sorry. I didn't hear you. I was looking through some old pictures. I didn't mean to be rude." He squeezed his temples and rubbed his forehead with his left hand.

"No, it's okay," Mindy said as she set the bags on the counter. "I was ready to call Max and get Commander McGarrett's cell phone number to see if you were okay."

"Whoa, I'm really glad you didn't do that." Danny held his left hand out like a stop signal.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you two were friends."

"Oh, we are. He just tends to be a bit over-protective." His phone vibrated again and he pulled it out of his pocket and glanced at the screen. Steve. Laughing, he showed her the phone as he spoke. "See what I mean? The man's an animal. He would have come flying over here with lights and sirens, breaking every speed limit and traffic law on the way, putting innocent lives at risk all in the name of getting to me."

Mindy loved his voice – even joking around it had a sexy bedroom quality to it. Not believing she had actually just thought that Mindy laughed at the image he had just presented. She could picture McGarrett driving like that. She had a tougher time imagining the gruff, serious officer worrying that much about somebody. Then again she didn't know him very well, not like she had come to know Danny. "You must be very good friends then."

Danny smiled and nodded. "Yeah, you could say that. He's a crazy, Neanderthal animal but he's as loyal as an old dog."

Smiling at the image, Mindy asked after her friend's health. "How are you feeling?" She held up her hand as she proceeded. "Honest version, not fake platitudes."

Danny smirked, eyes twinkling at her sincere wish. "My back hurts a lot. Pain meds barely keep the edge off. The wound is still open because they can't get the infection under control."

"You taking the antibiotics exactly as prescribed?"

"Yes, Doc," Danny replied with a hint of sarcasm.

"You still have a headache." She could see he was suffering from it now, his brow pinched in pain, so it wasn't exactly a question.

"Incessantly." He was almost resigned to living with a headache in perpetuity.

Mindy cringed at that. "How's your energy and stamina?" Mindy knew all the basic questions to ask a patient.

"Virtually non-existent," he sighed.

"That's to be expected, Danny. I know it's frustrating…"

"You ever gone through anything even remotely close to this?"

"No," Mindy admitted.

"Then honestly, you have no idea." Danny snapped, then heaved out a sigh and shook his head. He didn't want to take his irascibility out on Mindy. His back and head both hurt like a mother and all he wanted to do was sit down, but he didn't. He pressed is fisted hand up to his mouth, choking back the angry frustration.

Mindy gave him a moment to regroup. The frustration was rolling off of him in majestic waves. His normal state of being was constant motion, full of energy and a vibrantly passionate way of tackling everything in his path. This injury had turned his whole world on it's head. Being released from the hospital was just a very tiny step towards achieving some sense of normalcy for him. She could sense that in a way he felt desperately alone even amidst the groundswell of support from his ohana. She wasn't going to demean his struggle with some banality like 'give it time'. She just shut her mouth and went back to putting dinner on the table.

When he seemed to have settled, she pulled a wine bottle out of the bag and held up her hand to halt his objection before he could even voice it. "It's non-alcoholic wine. Probably tastes like glorified grape juice but I figured it was worth a try."

Having pulled himself together rather quickly Danny smiled again. "I'll get the wine glasses out then."

He had such a nice smile, Mindy found herself thinking, especially when it reached his eyes as this one did. She found herself staring at his back as he opened a cabinet and took out two wine glasses. She shook herself free of those thoughts and proceeded with removing the dish from the carrier. "You told me once that your mother was Italian so I decided to make some Spaghetti Carbonara."

"Really? You know how to make Spaghetti Carbonara? The egg part isn't easy."

Mindy laughed. "I guess we'll find out. I got the recipe online."

"You did that for me?" Danny was surprised. Melissa cooked for him occasionally, but she stuck with what she was familiar and comfortable with. She had never tried out a new recipe just to please him.

"No big deal," Mindy shrugged.

"No big deal? No big deal?" Wide–eyed, Danny placed the two glasses on the table and then his hand caught up with his mouth. "You listened to what I said about my mother, tucked it away in that amazing brain of yours, thought of it again, researched it, shopped for the food and then made it and brought it here – and you say no big deal? Babe, you're gunna make some lucky guy a really happy man one day."

Mindy wasn't quite sure how to take that. A part of her was flattered, a part of her was wondering why Danny was talking about some other unknown man. Wasn't Danny interested? Then she wondered why she thought that at all. She and Danny were just friends. He had a girlfriend, a long-term girlfriend. "You haven't even tasted it, Danny."

"I can smell it," he said as he inhaled deeply. "Heavenly."

Mindy noticed now that Danny was leaning back against the counter, his left hand gripping the edge behind him. A fine sheen of sweat dotted his forehead and there seemed to be a slight tremor in his stance. He looked exhausted, but the way his arm was drawn back to brace himself pulled his shirt open even further, revealing more of his muscular chest. Mindy noticed the hair – she loved hair on a man's chest, never understood why a man would wax his chest to remove the hair, it seemed emasculating. She noticed the tremor again. "You should be sitting down."

"I'm fine," he said, but it seemed to Mindy that he was eyeing the distance to the nearest chair, calculating if he could make it or not.

"Sit down before you fall down, Danny. You're incorrigible."

"You always say that." He smiled. The word could have negative connotations, and if Rachel ever said that word to him it most definitely would be negative, but the way Mindy said it made it seem just fine, even fun and exciting.

"Because it's true," Mindy stated unequivocally but with a gentle laugh. She then pointed to the chair as she placed the salad bowl on the table. "Sit."

When Mindy sat down, Danny finally followed, easing himself into the nearest chair. Had he been waiting for her to sit down? Like a gentleman? Or was he really that tired and worn out? A bit of both possibly?

Yet again he ignored his vibrating cell after glancing at the screen; he placed it on the table.

As they began to prepare plates of food, Mindy spotted Danny's sleeve dangling dangerously near his plate. He kept tipping his arm, trying to keep it out of the way while still serving up the food. Mindy realized that he couldn't roll up that sleeve or even button the button without the use of his right hand. There were so many things that were affected by this injury that it was impossible to even imagine them all. Mindy pointed to his left arm and wiggled her fingers towards her. "Come on," she said simply.

Danny sighed. He hated being so dependent, hated having people do such common things for him. Things he would normally be doing for Charlie he could no longer even do for himself. Face falling into a dejected frown he turned his gaze down to the table.

"It's okay," she said gently as she tapped his hand with a tender touch. "Come on."

Hauling in a breath, he began to shift his arm towards her and then set it back on the table. He hated being dependent. Closing his eyes he pulled in a breath through his nose and then pushed it out through his mouth before raising his arm and extending it to her. He lifted his eyes to her face as she rolled up his sleeve. "You're wearing your hair down." She had beautiful hair and it framed her face just right, accentuating her dark brown eyes.

Finishing rolling up his sleeve, she self-consciously pulled her hand up and touched her hair. "Yeah, I'm required to wear it back when I'm on the job but this is much more comfortable."

To Danny she sounded almost defensive. "I like it," he said simply. "I used to go crazy brushing Grace's hair and putting it into pigtails but she'd say that it stayed in better when I did it than when Rachel did so score one for Dad." He laughed but there was a note of sadness to it as if it was a competition he didn't want to be in.

"Grace is a lucky girl."

Danny was quick to deny it. Having parents who were divorced and having to split your time between two homes didn't seem lucky to him. Then there was having him as a father; Rachel was always telling him of his shortcomings in that regard. "I don't know about that." He wasn't sure why he felt comfortable sharing such a personal insecurity with Mindy. He quickly changed the subject. "We need to eat this before it gets cold. It looks amazing."

Just as they started eating Danny's phone vibrated yet again. Without even looking at the screen he knew who it was. So did Mindy.

"You know he'll keep calling if you don't answer. Maybe even get in the car and break traffic laws and risk innocent lives to get to you." Mindy grinned as Danny smirked.

Danny tapped the screen to answer and picked up the phone. "You are a Neanderthal, you know that? Can't a guy have dinner in peace without you calling every two minutes?" He paused. "Yes, I will take my pills 'mom'; they're right here next to me." He paused again. "No, I don't need you to bring anything. Chin stocked the place very well." Pause. "It's early. Make it two hours." Pause. "Okay, see you then and I've told you, stop calling me partner." Danny tapped the screen to hang up. "Sorry about that. He's coming later to put my arm and shoulder through the exercises I need to maintain mobility until I can use my arm again."

"It's fine, Danny. He wasn't going to let you ignore him. Can I ask you a question though?"

"Sure."

"Why did you tell him to stop calling you partner? You shouldn't give up hope."

Danny gave a soft smile. Mindy was so encouraging. "Oh, I'm not giving up. Has nothing to do with my arm." Mindy was silent and just looked at him, obviously expecting more. "There are five of us on the team now. Not exactly fair to Lou if we keep calling ourselves partners and leaving him out." He rubbed the back of his neck as he rotated his head.

Mindy had her doubts as to that explanation. It seemed to her that there was something else involved, something deeper and more personal than trying to spare Lou's feelings, but this was still a young friendship and she didn't want to push it.

"That's kind of you to think of Lou's feelings like that."

"Oh yeah, that's me, Mr. Sensitive."

A/N Anybody want more of this Mindy visit?