Disclaimer: Hawaii five-0 and its characters do not belong to me.
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Miracles…
He had stopped believing in them, he wasn't sure when. But at some point in his life, he had realised that miracles simply didn't exist. Well, not for him at least.
Countless times, he remembered himself praying and begging for a miracle. Ever so desperately. Yet.. nothing.
In his teens, he vividly remembered when he had landed on his knees, shivering on the scorching sand as he prayed for Billy to be found alive and safe. Only to find his best friend's frigid body a couple of days later. Gone.
In his twenties, he remembered when he had silently screamed for his then partner, Grace, to stay alive long enough for help to arrive. For her to not die because of him. He had prayed, and prayed for someone, anyone to save them as he haplessly tried to get the attention of the countless ambulance passing him by. Alas, no one did. There was no miracle. Grace, too, was gone.
In his thirties, one of the darkest times of his life he had again begged for a miracle, even though he should have known by then that they didn't exist. Still, he had needed even a minute beacon of hope. Hope that his marriage with Rachel wouldn't just end. He had tried everything that he could, just so he wouldn't be separated from his daughter. But nothing was enough. No miracle could save their marriage. His idea of a perfect family was gone…
Maybe it was then that he had stopped believing in miracles. Because, no matter what he did, no matter how hard he prayed, each time, without fail, he had been left utterly disappointed.
So even if he still endlessly prayed that Steve would return him, he hadn't expected anything at all. Though he had hoped with every cell of his being that Steve would be fine, he had little faith in the miracle he was praying for. Or maybe none at all.
But that moment...it was nothing short of a miracle. A miracle he had no longer dared to hope for. A miracle he couldn't quite believe. One he was deathly afraid of believing because if it weren't real… it would quite literally kill him a second time.
He looked at his partner, his heart seizing in his chest. His fingers had frozen where it was previously wiping away the delicate tears on his partner's face. In all honesty, it seemed like time itself had stopped.
The sounds of his heart beating and blood rushing through his brain were far too loud. Maybe he was indeed hallucinating. He wanted to believe otherwise.
Danno..
He had envisioned this moment more than a million times in his waking moments and the occasional dreams that visited him. To hear his name in his partner's voice again was something he had craved yet dared not hope for. Was it true what he had just heard? Or had he officially gone crazy from the torturous pining?
"S..steve.. Cc..an you say that again?" He asked, shaking with the almost painful hope that was blooming in his chest. He swallowed, his vision fading with the tears collecting in his eyes as he stared unblinking at Steve.
Steve's lips moved, but barely. Lines of struggle appeared on Steve's forehead as he attempted to speak again. He held his breath, awaiting the word he had been hoping to hear for too long.
Please.. please say it again..
"Dda.." He felt the grip around his fingers tighten with Steve's determination. "Danno.."
He blinked, freeing the tears in his eyes. With just one word, his world that had seemingly ceased its spinning about three weeks ago was once again moving, throwing him off his balance. In an instant, the heaviness in his chest seemed to dissipate, leaving an almost disconcerting void.
"Y..yea.." He stuttered, still quite unable to believe himself. Still afraid that if he so much as looked away from his friend, everything would end. That the dream he was in would end in crushing disappointment. "It's me.."
Your Danno…
Before he could stop himself, before he realized what he was doing, his hands, as though they had a mind of their own, led him to Steve's face. His fingers delicately traced the side of Steve's face, soaking in his partner's warmth as though to convince himself this wasn't a dream.
It wasn't.
Steve blinked wearily, forehead creased in what he could only guess was pain. He didn't realise that he or rather, the tears furiously paving down his cheeks, was the cause of it.
"What's wrong? You okay? Where does it hurt?" The words raced out of his lips, his fingers paused their gentle path on Steve's cheek
"Mm.. kay.." Steve said.
It hadn't done much to convince him. Steve's voice was far too weak, almost unrecognizable. He buried the ache in his chest. It was enough that his partner was back. "You're doing so well. But you need to rest, alright?"
"Ev..ry..ng ok?" Steve's words were peppered with heavy pauses to catch his breath.
"Ye..ah. Everything's gonna be okay now, buddy." He smiled, for once genuinely believing the words he was uttering.
"Yo..u?" Steve mouthed. "You…o..k?"
He nodded. Now, he was.
Steve hummed, and as though hearing those words had been enough, his eyes blinked shut. "Ti..red…" He muttered.
"You rest, buddy. I'll be right here with you." Danny promised.
…
He was slipping in an out of consciousness. Moments of awareness interluded his endless, dreamless state of sleep.
Tired.
He was inexplicably tired like he had never been before. He knew why that was. He'd been in a horrific accident. In one of his rare moments of complete awareness, Danny (who never seemed to leave his side just like he had promised) had told him what had happened. Why he was in the hospital and why he felt like he'd been run over by a truck. As it turned out, that hadn't been far off the mark. He had in fact, been hit by a car, though he didn't remember that happening.
The thing was that… Of all the ways he thought he'd go down, a road traffic accident was right at the bottom of the list. The very, very, bottom. He'd laugh at the irony if he had the energy to do so. Except he didn't. Staying awake was hard enough as it was. Besides, nothing was funny. Nothing at all. Not the pain radiating from almost every inch of his body, especially his head. Certainly not the look of utter desolation on his best friend's face. And not the fact that he had been comatose for almost three weeks.
God, three weeks… He had lost three weeks of his life. And looking at his best friend who was still parked on the chair next to his bed, he knew that Danny, too, had lost those three weeks alongside him.
He felt a sickening clench deep in his chest. He wasn't sure why. A strange heaviness accompanied every beat of his heart as though a huge boulder had been lodged right beneath his ribs. It wasn't the broken ribs, he knew that much after all the times he had managed to wreck them. It was something deeper, something that seemed to wrench him from the inside. He had no idea what it was. All he knew was that it left him in agony. Agony that seemed to intensify with every second that his gaze rested on his partner.
Evidence of the last three weeks were on full display across Danny's features. Lines that hadn't previously been on Danny's face were drawn across his forehead and from the corners of his eyes. Dark eye circles were the only dash of colour on Danny's otherwise pale face. Too pale, he made a mental note of it. Shoulders hunched forward as his arms crossed defensively across his chest, it was apparent how much weight Danny had lost.
Was he really responsible for his partner's current state? He wasn't quite sure, it almost seemed egotistical to think so but he knew just how much Danny cared about him despite what he always says. And he knew, too, that if their positions were switched, he would likely fair much worse than his partner. His heart shattered, knowing that he had put his partner through the suffering.
Danny.. Danny.. Danny.. He didn't voice the words out but he didn't need to either. As though by some sort of telepathy, Danny jolted awake abruptly.
"Steve.. Steve?" Danny was by his side in no time, hands clutching his tightly.
"Hey.." He swallowed, his throat still parched from underuse and who knows whatever drugs were being pumped through his bloodstream.
"You alright, buddy?"
He nodded cautiously, having several times made the mistake of doing so too quickly and sending his brain into a dizzying static and Danny into a panic spiral.
"Do you need anything?" Danny asked.
"M'fine. Sit." He instructed.
Danny smiled, sending a soft flutter into his solar plexus. Doing as he was told, Danny pulled the chair closer towards the bed. "How long have you been awake?" Danny asked.
"A while." He said.
"You should have woken me up." Danny said.
"Looked like...you needed the rest." He said.
Danny hummed. "How are you feeling?" Soft eyes analyzed his.
He knew that Danny was deflecting, turning the conversation away from himself. He refused to allow it. "You ok?" Steve asked, worry creasing his forehead. Danny looked concerning. He understood that his best friend would have done the bare minimum to keep himself alive. What he couldn't understand was how the rest of the team could have allowed Danny to neglect himself.
"M'okay, Steve." Danny said, breaking away from his gaze and looking down at his hands.
He may have hurt his head but his brain was still functioning. He could tell his partner was lying. "Danny.."
Danny inhaled heavily. "I'm okay... Now that you're back. I'm okay. Thank you, buddy. Thank you for fighting and for coming back."
"I'm sor..sorry. Took too lo..ng, didn't I?"
Danny looked up at him, nodding ever so slightly as tears once again drowned his cyan orbs. "You did.."
And for some reason undisclosed to him, his chest throbbed, the deep-seated ache in his heart returning.
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A/N: Hey everyone, to those still reading this story, thank you. I really appreciate all your reviews and kind words. Take care, everyone.
