I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.
Notes: thank you all for the lovely reviews. Each and every word is appreciated. Special kudos go to Phoebe who helped the early morning breakfast bunny! This is one of those extra chapters that have a way of sneaking in when least expected ... and then you wonder why it wasn't always part of the game plan.
H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O
Danny scrunched his nose. There was a bee in his ear, buzzing away non stop. While its noise was soft, the incessant brrr was distracting when all he wanted to do, was sleep. Because if he were sleeping, then his head didn't hurt as much. His stomach wouldn't remind him just how badly it objected being part and parcel, and witness, to the volume of shocked pain his body was enduring.
The brrr continued. Danny fought hearing it. He tried to will himself back down deeper as the physical thickness inside his head leaked in to his consciousness. It weighed heavily on his temple, pressing down on his neck and right shoulder. The ache was insidious and debilitating. It brought on that sickly feeling in his stomach which teased nastily at sending him back over an edge he had no desire to revisit.
The brrr got louder and Danny tried to pull away from it. He must have moved because he realized that something was wrapped around his hand. A warmth seeped between his fingers. He became aware of a larger than life presence which hovered by his side; the source of the sound. Danny's objections to being disturbed eased, though he scrunched his nose again just to be contrary. His fingers twitched against the warmth and the heat increased, strong and steady.
Steve? As his injured brain slowly connected the dots, Danny wasn't sure he'd spoken out loud. He must have though and what did it matter? The buzzing finally became words and the words, sentences. Softly voiced entreaties, begging him to wake all the way.
"It's time you woke up. Opened your eyes and said something. Anything." There was a pause, then the sound of an impatiently sad sigh. The sllde of metal on linoleum. Steve moved closer and Danny's scrunched up nose changed to a more thoughtful scowl. Half conscious of Steve's voice, Danny almost willfully refused to surface all the way. His fingers twitched again though, wrapping around Steve's fingers more tightly. Hanging on as if they'd had a much more willful mind of their own. Danny felt Steve pause again and then the warmth of a caress on the sensitive underside of his wrist.
"Hey? You hearing me?" The hope in Steve's tone was tangible and Danny let himself be tugged upwards towards a brighter level of awareness. "Danno? Come on, bud. Come on back."
Surfacing all the way was harder than he thought and for a minute, Danny felt a spike of fear. He'd thought not waking had been a choice all his own. Instead, really waking was a battle he hadn't anticipated. His scowl transformed. He knew his face must have been proof of this new struggle as Steve's buzz of words became more insistent.
"Charlie's upset. Grace flew back in to be here. We've been waiting on you for days ... and C.J.? He needs his Danno." Steve paused yet again. He cleared his throat and said something under his breath which Danny couldn't quite hear. "Hell, you know I need you, too. So, so much. The doctors? They aren't sure why you've been under so long. We've contacted every expert; gotten opinions on top of opinions. Just ... just wake the hell up. You hear me?"
Danny's mental blink of confusion echoed through his whole body. Days? Grace was home? He opened his mouth to talk. He knew he did that when he heard Steve's deeper inhale. A sound of hope and need.
"You do," Steve said. "You do ... I know it's hard; I get it. But open your eyes, Danny." There was a hint of a smile mixed with a hoarseness that meant Steve's emotions were all over the map. "I need a doctor in here. Right now. He's waking up."
Was he? Danny's fear at not being able to do what he wanted, trickled into a subtle flare of annoyance. Danny also didn't know who Steve was talking to. Not really though some whisper of a memory brought that a feeling of one-time danger ... and a name. Billy Travers. There was a sense of an old flurry of activity at the house. The boys. Pizza. Movies ... blood. An odd image of Lou Grover peering down at him.
Steve? He wanted to wake up now. But try as he may, Danny couldn't seem to get himself all the way there.
"Steve?" Sound returned and his physical aches started to creep back in. "S-steve?" He murmured Steve's name out loud - Danny knew he did that, too. He sensed that his fingers were grasping Steve's hand even more tightly. He was clinging to his partner with a tenacity which was being returned, just as desperate as his own. He breathed in and then out, annoyance turning to a bit of anger. And then, his eyes simply opened and he was staring up into Steve's scruffy, unshaven face.
"There's my boy," Steve choked out a watery laugh. "You're a stubborn bastard, Danno. You can't do this to me, babe. You just can't." He leaned in closer to brush his nose gently across Danny's. His lips pressed a kiss to Danny's forehead. A cheek and then found his lips. Danny returned a kiss moistened only by the salt of Steve's tears and right then and there ... he decided.
"Yes," Danny whispered. Full of love and absolute certainty, Danny looked into Steve's eyes and smiled. "Yes. Yes, okay?"
Steve's lips quirked into a sideways grin. The darkness in his eyes lifted and he chuckled. "Yes? Now ... you're going to say it now?" Steve repeated. He was all over it though as he studied Danny's expression.
"Yeah," Danny repeated without apology. "Yes." He squeezed Steve's hand and smiled.
"Yeah for real?" Steve was still mere inches from Danny's face, close enough for another kiss. Then another. He knew exactly what Danny meant as he chuckled again, his tears now tears of happiness.
"He said yes ..." Steve whispered to himself. A sense of giddy joy was beginning to ripple off Steve in waves.. He pressed a kiss to Danny's cheek, his mouth close to his ear. "I love you, buddy. So, so much."
There was no doubt. No are you sures? forthcoming. If ever there was a time, it was now. "Yeah," Danny murmured. "Me too." He swallowed hard, arguing his mouth to form words, wondering why it was so hard to talk. It took him some time and a cool sip of water from a straw but Steve was ever patient as Danny slowly got his mouth to cooperate.
"Love you, too ...," Danny frowned though as his eyes skittered over the contraption trapping Steve's left arm to his chest. It took him a moment for the cogs to click into place again and for him to realize he was looking at a soft cast. Danny blinked and then sighed, trying to communicate all his worry and frustration with this animal of a man he loved far too much for his own good.
"... even if you are ... are ...," His mouth got stuck on the word but Steve was grinning like a loon.
"...but I'm your Neanderthal," Steve crooned happily as he completed Danny's thought for him before leaning in for another kiss which was a bit deeper; one that lingered on Danny's lips. Gazing up into Steve's face, their hands intertwined, Danny was entirely at peace.
~ to be continued ~
