I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.

Notes:

H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O

Worry for Danny had Steve bouncing from his own bed to his large leather side chair, then back to the spare bedroom to check on his partner. He only stopped himself from literally crawling into the same bed with Danny for fear of disturbing the man. Instead, Steve wound up putting the TV on for no reason except to cut the too quiet silence of the house, knowing innately that the white noise might also soothe his partner on some deeper level. If he'd stopped moving for a total of ten minutes in the last few hours, he'd be damned lucky. By the cusp of dawn, he'd finally given up this crazy dance to stand by the lanai's double sliders, staring towards the ocean.

"Ahh? Steve?" The sound of the hoarse voice completely startled him.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Steve replied so quickly and whirled around fast, that Danny took a half-step backward, nearly falling over Eddie in the process. In a few strides, Steve was there, steadying Danny as he rebounded off the dog. Holding his partner up before he could take a dangerous tumble to the floor.

"What are you doing up? It's barely dawn, buddy."

"Bathroom?" Danny replied in question and Steve managed to smile.

"You sure?" Steve gently teased. Danny shook his head from side to side.

"Yeah," he said and this time, Steve had to laugh. Danny was barely awake. Flushed from sleep and not fever, his hair was spiked and disheveled. If he could see himself, he'd be put out but Steve thought Danny was endearing as he stared up into his face.

"Are you good? Or, do you need help?" Steve asked, genuinely concerned when Danny's face scrunched up. "Danno?"

"Though you were … Junior?" Another question lobbed Steve's way and this time, Danny scrubbed hard at his face. He peered up at Steve, nearly cross-eyed.

Steve lifted an eyebrow, still amused. His partner was definitely half-asleep on his feet.

"Nope, not Junior. It's me," Steve confirmed.

"Uh, huh," Danny replied, clearly not convinced. He frowned this time and gave Steve a poke in the shoulder. "You're really uh, here then?"

"What is wrong with you?" Steve chuckled until he realized he needed to fill in a very large gap of time. "What? You don't remember?"

"Not sure?" Danny admitted. "I don't know." The confusion on his face had only increased in spades and this time it was Steve who frowned.

"What do you mean that you don't know? Sure you do. You're just still half asleep. You were totally wiped after the airport … meds were late and you were running on fumes … you were nauseous in the truck on the way back." Steve explained as he tried to soothe the both of them. "You are totally mixed up, buddy. You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah. I guess that makes sense. And I'm good," Danny said, clearly not buying all of it as he wobbled a bit. "Had a dream … bad one … umm? You, uh? Weren't here. So I thought … and where's, umm?" He paused, looking around the darkened room towards the television.

"Is she here too?"

"What? Who? Catherine? Absolutely not!" Steve said in surprise. He reached out to run his hand over Danny's forehead. His fingers wound up on a slight caress of Danny's cheek, falling to brace his neck. "You're not too warm anymore. But what else happened, huh ? You're really sweaty. Do you feel okay?"

"Fine. M'fine," Danny murmured more to himself than to Steve. He tried to smile but couldn't quite get there. Instead he reached up again and Steve waited, expecting another abrupt poke. This time though, he patted Steve on the shoulder almost as an apology. At least he tried to do that. The pat fluttered for an instant until Danny leaned forward. His head landed on Steve's shoulder while his good arm wrapped around Steve's waist. He clung to him there, a subtle muscular tremor strong enough for Steve to feel.

"Hey! What's this?" Steve asked as he reacted to steady his friend during this impromptu hug.

"You don'wanna Williams hug?" Danny's muffled voice made Steve laugh.

"Always. Just worried about you," Steve replied with a fond smile. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Dream, bad one," Danny admitted, clearly reluctant to move. "I missed you."

Those final words were a sucker-punch to Steve's gut. He'd hardly left but the mere attempt had been devastating for his partner. Especially in his current condition.

"I"m sorry, Danno. I never should have done this to you … to us," Steve murmured. "I get it. The nightmare. You were wiped, buddy. Exhausted and I did that. What the hell was I thinking?"

"It's not all on you," Danny objected as he adjusted his head so he could speak better.

"I think it is," Steve argued back.

"Doesn't matter if you're here now," Danny said. "But I couldn't wake up. Part of me knew it wasn't really happening …. But it was at the same time, you know? I couldn't wake up or wasn't sure I was awake at all. And I thought … I thought it was all the same as before. That you'd left and were gone for good. And Catherine? … she ..in the dream … she…"

"Gone," Steve murmured. "She's gone …got back on the flight, going stateside. I came home with you." His thumb ran across Danny's cheek when Danny finally tried to stand tall so he could look directly into Steve's face.

"I'm not leaving you, Danno. I'm not leaving us ," he stressed the last word. He smiled and then rocked his forehead gently against Danny's, duplicating the honi shared at the airport. Eyes still closed, Steve smiled when he felt Danny each up, one-handed, to lay his fingers against his neck.

"I'm here Danno. No more running. No more borrowed time," Steve added. "Not for either of us, okay?"

Incapable of helping himself, Steve shifted, a natural readjustment of skin to skin, slow and gentle, to brush his lips over Danny's. This first real kiss was dry and chaste. It was nothing but everything all at once. It happened around mutually amused smiles and an awkward chuckle or two. It was certainly worth trying out a few more times, slowly, carefully.

"S'nice. But … you know … it'll … that'll take some practice," Danny's half broken, giddy laugh was out in full force.

"I'm happy to practice anything you want … anything at all. How about something like this?"

With a sly grin, Steve leaned down for another kiss, this one much far more sensual and full of innuendos. Proving Steve wasn't at all shy about practicing when he released Danny's lips, leaving him breathless and wanting more.

"Practice … I like it," Danny whispered. "More …practice."

"Thought you might. But that's all you get. We got all the time in the world," Steve admonished with a laugh when Danny's not so decent balance wavered. "I don't think you're up to more yet, Danno."

"Says you," Danny complained before a mad blink of his eyes. He shifted uncomfortably. "Uh, let go?"

"What? Why? What's wrong?" Steve asked as he let Danny push away from him.

"Can we take all the time in the world after I take care of something else?" Fidgeting again, Danny made a face when he almost lost his balance and Steve made an automatic grab for his elbow. But the awkward fidget clued Steve back in fast enough.

"Bathroom, not part of the nightmare?" Steve chuckled when Danny rolled his eyes at the bad joke.

"Nope. But it's gonna be," Danny warned him, limping away as Steve's chuckle turned into a full-on belly laugh.

~ to be continued ~