Disclaimer: See initial chapter
A/N: Inspired by the song,"Aftermath," by Lighthouse.
This is in response to mirs13's review where an inquiry was made about Danny's quick agreement to marry Steve, wondering if he was as invested in Steve as Steve was in him. mirs13 posited the following: "...see Danny somehow showing Steve that he does really loves him too or god forbid something happen to Steve and then Danny really does realize that Steve is everything he wants in his life." Danny was in danger during their stakeout in previous snippets, and now here's Steve in danger, and Danny realizing how important Steve is to him.
francis2, this isn't quite a cold shower, but it might work as such...
Danny holds Steve's hand, refusing to let go even when the paramedics arrive to take him to the hospital. He can't – won't – let go; if he does, he's afraid that Steve will slip away from him, and he can't lose him.
Not now.
Not ever.
"GSW to the shoulder…"
"…gurney…"
"Sir, sir…"
Danny's hand is wrenched away from Steve's, and he's clutching at air. Empty, his fingers scrabble at nothing, and fail to regain their hold.
Steve's being wheeled away from him, loaded in an ambulance, and Chin's pulling on his arm, saying something, but Danny can't hear it. He hears a roar, like the ocean, and he can't seem to catch his breath. Like it was he, instead of Steve, who was shot.
Blood. Too, too much. Seeping through his fingers. Staining the earth. Danny can't tear his eyes away from where it's been spilled.
And, he's shaking, falling apart.
Chin's holding him, keeping him upright, speaking to him in that calm, soothing manner that he's known for, but Danny still can't hear him. He wonders if this is what it felt like for Chin to lose Malia, watching her take her final breaths, close her eyes, lose her grip.
Was it just this morning that he woke up in Steve's bed, naked, Steve wrapped around him like a blanket, warmth radiating off the man like a furnace?
The earth crashes down around his ears – palm trees swept to their knees by the wind – he's falling, despite Chin's steady hand. Without Steve, Danny's lost, a soul wrecked against a cold, unforgiving shore.
"Steven…"
Danny's lungs fail to fill, and black encroaches on his vision. Chin's lips are moving rapidly, his forehead crinkled in lines of worry, and Danny doesn't understand why.
Steve's the one bleeding. Steve's blood is watering the thirsty ground, coating Danny's hands even in the absence of the man.
The vest is removed and Danny's lungs fill, but there's little comfort. Steve – Danny's life – is gone.
Chin's lips, pursed in concern, hover over him, and take over Danny's view of the cloudy sky.
It's been threatening to rain for days, clouds gathering in wolf packs, dark and angry. The wetness on Danny's cheeks, however, isn't from the rain that refuses to fall, even when it should.
Danny closes his eyes when Chin's lips continue to move, but fail to communicate.
"…shock…" Chin's voice is coming to him from somewhere far away. He doesn't understand. Is Steve in shock?
Danny doesn't want to open his eyes, because it would tear him away from the picture that he's got of Steve – happy and whole; the embodiment of living, breathing perfection, with chiseled abs and a tight ass, body glistening with sweat in the early morning light that seeps in through their blinds, and Steve, bless him, looks for all the world like he's been caught with his hand in the cookie jar when Danny catches him watching him wake.
"Oh, Danny…" Kono's voice reaches out to him like a benediction, rousing him.
Her hand, a cool compress on his forehead, beckons him back to reality, and he's struggling to breathe in the absence of Steve.
"…hospital…shock…ribs…"
"Danny," Kono's voice, a dog with a bone, takes him by the throat, and his eyes fly open. "Steve is going to be alright, you hear me? He's going to be fine. He's a fighter. You know that. You can't do this to us, alright? Danny, you can't do this. You have to breathe. Do you hear me?"
Kono pounds on his chest, but Danny feels nothing, and Chin catches her by the wrist before she can slap his chest again.
Danny opens his mouth, gasps in a lungful of stagnant, vog-tainted air, and tastes the all too familiar coppery tang of blood. It tickles the back of this throat, making him cough when he tries to swallow.
Chin helps him sit up; Kono makes him take a sip of lukewarm water. He spits it out – it's phlegmy and red, and his head is aching, his chest hurts, but all he can think about is Steve and how his partner closed his eyes, and didn't open them again.
This wasn't supposed to happen. Steve wasn't supposed to get shot.
They were at a parade, representing Five-0 in a march down Ala Moana Boulevard. Steve was arguing with Danny, shaking his head at something that he'd said, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips, and then he was falling to his knees, a neat, round hole in his shoulder, spilling blood, and Danny was punched in the chest, hard, the vest taking the full impact of the bullet that could very well have ended his life. Maybe should have.
Others fell around them, but Danny only had eyes for Steve.
"Danny, we need to get you to the hospital," Chin's speaking to him like he's a little kid, and Danny, unable to form words, nods his understanding.
Hospital.
Steve.
"Steve?" It's a broken whisper, and Danny's eyes slide closed.
It's difficult to breathe, and that has nothing to do with the possibility of broken or bruised ribs, and everything to do with Steve. Steve, whose blood is on his hands, literally and figuratively.
"Danny, promise me that you'll stay with us," Kono begs.
Danny doesn't even have the strength to nod, but he tries to smile, to reassure Kono that he will do his best to do as she's asked. It's what Steve would do in his stead.
Danny's being lifted, carried away, and he hopes that wherever he's being taken, it'll be to Steve. He sucks in a painful breath as a realization settles heavily on his chest, like a cat trying to rouse her stubborn owner – he loves Steve.
He loves Steve, and he can't breathe.
He loves Steve, and he doesn't want to live in a world without him.
"Danny, if you don't start breathing, so help me ghod, I'm going to tell Steve to kick your ass when he's back on his feet again," Kono's tear-filled voice drags another breath from him, and he clings to the promise of her words – that Steve will be around to kick his ass for scaring Kono and Chin.
Reviews would be awesome and inspiring. Mahalos