Chapter 23

Dr. Andrews hadn't exactly denied Danny's request and like he had said he wouldn't be able to keep Steve in the hospital if he wanted out, but it took Danny another day – thinking everything through anew – before he told Steve.
Well, it wasn't really telling him.

Danny had picked Steve up for an "excursion", to get a little change of scene.
Having a hunch what this was all about, but still hoping it wasn't what he was fearing, Steve suddenly felt queasy, his chest tightened and he asked suspiciously "What…what is this?"
"Something I want to show you," Danny answered, only wanting to explain everything after Steve had seen the ocean view.
They walked to the bungalow. Danny pulled the key out of his pocket and opened the door. He turned around to make an inviting gesture, but Steve just stood there – petrified and pale.
"Steve?" Danny asked concern in his voice, thinking that the SEAL had some kind of a flashback, that the house had triggered something.
"Steve? Hey…what's wrong?"
He stood in front of his friend now, putting both his hands on Steve's shoulders. "Talk to me."
Steve finally eased a bit and looked at Danny instead of staring at the house.
"You can stay as long as you want. You don't have…I…I don't want you to leave. I thought…thought you like it there too. Why…why…didn't you talk to me first?" he stammered.
It took a few seconds, but it finally dawned on Danny.
"I am not moving out, Steve. Especially not like this."
"No? You…you don't?" Steve asked in disbelief.
"No. I don't. I promise." Danny stated reassuringly.
Steve wasn't totally convinced, but he managed a small and relieved smile.
"Then why are we here?"
"I didn't want to scare you. I am sorry, Steve. I wanted to make you feel better. I worked out a plan and this house is part of it. Can…can we go inside? Have a look around? Then I am going to tell you."

Steve didn't say much, not in the house, not when they went out into the backyard, but Danny could see that his friend liked the view, that the tension was slowly leaving his body until he finally turned around.
"I still don't understand, Danny. What is this about?"
Danny explained his plan, but left Eddie's return out – wanted to have that either as his trump card or "just" as an extra – depending on how this conversation would go.
"Why Danny? You…you convinced me to stay at the hospital and now…now you want me to stay here. Why…? I…I can't follow."
"The therapies you are getting in the hospital are great, but I can see that you are not feeling comfortable during the rest of the day and I know how much the ocean means to you. Your house has too many bad memories to deal with at the moment. We are going to take care of that later. But I think this is a good place to stay for the time being."
"It is. But…I can't let you pay for this. I'll do that."
"No need to. I got a good deal. It's more or less a bargain. As you know I've rented my house out six months ago and I've never paid rent at your house."
"Our."
"What?...Yes, our house, but I've still never paid anything."
"You…you paid for 90 % of the drinks the last ten years," Steve tried to make a joke in an attempt to hide how touched he was by Danny caring so much about him.
"It's more like 98%," Danny joked back before he pulled Steve into a hug and said "I didn't mind paying the drinks – none of us did – because you've always provided your house for our parties and even more importantly it was always open for us in our times of need. You taught us the meaning of Ohana, remember? And now we are showing you that we had listened."
"But you gave me a part of your body," Steve retorted.
"You want to make this a competition again? I thought we were over this," Danny was a little annoyed. "Who did more for the other?"
"No," Steve answered, then continued in a whisper "But I would be dead without you. You saved my life twice that day and that isn't so easy for me."
"Steve…" Danny started and pushed his friend back a little, so that he could look him in the eyes, but the SEAL interrupted before Danny could continue.
"No. Let me say this. I…I know you saved my life before and I saved yours. But this was above and beyond, Danny. I really thought I was going to die…and I had been okay with it that day. But…but then I woke up in a hospital. I didn't even know how I got there, what…what had happened. When…when they told me, I couldn't believe what you had done. And…and at times I still can't do it. I…I am thankful – without question – but how…how could you have agreed, no volunteered, to do that?"
"Tell me you wouldn't have done the same for me."
"I would. But saying it and doing it are two different things. And you have kids Danny. What…what if something had gone wrong? If there had been complications? Grace and Charlie. You can't risk letting them grow up without a father. Not…not because of me. They need you. Please, don't…don't risk your life for me again."
"I can't promise you that. You are not my blood Steve, but I love you like you are. You are like a brother – no, you are my brother, my soulmate. And losing you would be as devastating as losing one of my kids."
"Liar," Steve brought out despite the lump he had in his throat, then "I know what you mean. I feel the same way. I am just not used to someone caring so much."
"Then it's about time that you do."

Dr. Andrews still had second thoughts about the plan, but he didn't hinder the two men to set it into motion. He had suggested to do the relocation Friday afternoon to give Steve some time to adjust to the new "home" over the weekend and they had agreed to that.
That had been a wise decision. As Steve had said earlier, he had some trouble with new environments lately.
Thanks to the sleeping pills the nights went well, but the SEAL had trouble finding the needed peace of mind to take a nap. He felt tired – dog-tired even – but every time he lay down an uneasiness took a hold of him resulting in either tossing and turning and no sleep at all or a fitful sleep with nightmares and waking up startled or confused or both. That resulted in feeling unbalanced and short-tempered.
He avoided yelling at Danny, but the blond man noticed that something was off and he could imagine what it was – even without using his detective skills.
"How about you try out the hammock? There is a sunshade too."
"No, 's okay. It will be better in a few days."
'At least he didn't deny having problems,' Danny thought to himself.
"I know but maybe you can sleep better if you hear the waves a little louder. It's just a try. If it doesn't work out, it will still get better in a few days just like you said."
Steve didn't want to argue, didn't want to offend Danny again. He was convinced this wouldn't work either, just because everything was new to him and he just couldn't adjust even when he wanted to, that's why he answered in a low and defensive voice "Yeah, okay."
"I'll be there in a minute too. Just want to finish marinating the meat."
Steve nodded at first then he stared at Danny.
"What?" the latter asked.
"There...there is just one hammock."
"And?"
"We tried sleeping in one bed in Washington. It didn't go very well."
"Because you had a nightmare and considered me a threat." Danny stated, remembering how Steve had tried to first beat and then choke him until he realized who he was.
"I apologized for that. And I am still sorry. But as you know I don't feel very good either at the moment and I don't want to let that happen again."
"And I didn't want to join you in the hammock. I just wanted to sit there and read a book while having an eye on you."
"Oh…okay," Steve said, feeling a little embarrassed and left in the direction of the beach.
Danny smiled to himself. Steve was working on himself, but that night in Washington was something neither of them would easily – if ever – forget. Steve had tried to kill Danny, but he wasn't really awake while doing it. At first, he was caught up in a nightmare. Waking him from that was a bad idea. Danny had learnt that the hard way. Seeing his friend as a potential threat, Steve had tried to defend himself. The amount of beer he had before going to bed hadn't exactly helped to wake him up. Only a hard slap to the face worked to get him back to reality. Steve had apologized like a thousand times after it, even through the next day. But the only way to calm the SEAL that night had been to pull him close, whispering reassuring soothing words and rubbing his arms and chest until he finally fell asleep again due to his exhaustion.
Danny didn't let go for the rest of the night and both men had slept peacefully till it was almost noon the next day.
'Maybe he doesn't know that we were spooning that night,' Danny smiled again. He himself had felt comfortable knowing that Steve was safe from everything bad for once. Then the smile faded.
'Maybe Steve is just remembering what he had done that night which is just adding to his discomfort.'

He had finished marinating the meat, put it in the fridge and went outside as well.
Steve was fast asleep even snoring a bit. Danny's smile came back. Then his phone rang and got disconnected before he could pick up – Junior.
'Damn not now.'
He had totally forgotten about that. Danny got up and went to the door. He could already hear Eddie, alternating between barking and whining with excitement, knowing, smelling his master was near. He opened the door. Junior had expected Steve and hadn't leashed the quadruped. All Danny saw was a dash of fur passing him.
"No!" he cried out, not having expected that. He ran after the dog, but sure enough wasn't fast enough.
When he reached the back door all he could see was Eddie who had already jumped onto the hammock, making it swing back and forth before both – animal and human – crashed to the ground.
Thankfully, Steve seemed to have been awake enough to cushion his fall and after realizing who was onto him there was no holding back. All Danny and Junior could see was a ball of fur and skin, barking, shouting, whining, crying – everything in the mix.
At the end of the day someone was sleeping in the hammock by Steve's side. It just wasn't Danny.
Eddie had his head on Steve's chest and the SEAL an arm around his dog. Both were fast asleep.
Danny didn't know how to put the blanket around his friend without waking Eddie and subsequently most likely Steve, so he covered both of them and neither of them stirred when he did.
It was the first peaceful and dreamless night for Steve without medication for over a year.