Hello there and thanks again for all your kind reviews. A special thanks goes to SteveFan81 for helping me out to craft this fic.

I think it's time you get some answers (or even more questions?), so let's dive in.

Danny rushed to the room and looked inside: Steve was there, asleep, his chest rising and falling gently beneath a bedsheet. The man was leaning over him, one of his hands hidden in the pocket of the white doctor's coat.

He opened the door. "Excuse me."

The man looked up and turned around.

"Hello."

"Who are you?"

He was younger, no more than thirty. He had smooth brown skin, black hair, and an easy smile. There was nothing remarkable about him. The kind of man you would never see coming. "My name is Martinez," he said. "I'm a doctor here. Who are you?"

Danny ignored the question, his senses tingling. "What are you doing?"

"Checking that he's okay." He leaned over to adjust Steve's pillow. "Just making him comfortable."

Danny tapped a finger to his breast. "You don't have any credentials."

The man looked down at his coat, shrugging with a self-deprecating smile. "I've just come on shift. Must've left it in my locker. Thanks."

"The shift changed over three hours ago. I thought doctor Riley's on duty now."

The man looked over Danny's shoulder, and for a tiny moment, a flicker of something–irritation, perhaps, or frustration–fell across his face. "Yeah," he said. "But he had to leave. Unexpected family matters."

It was all the confirmation Danny needed. There was no doctor Riley, but this guy would have known that had he been legit. His eyes quickly scanned his friend to assure himself he was all right. Nothing seemed different than before he'd left the room.

"Step away from him," he warned, his fingers brushing against the butt of the weapon in his holster. The last thing he wanted to do was to shoot in a hospital room–especially with Steve laying between him and his target. The fake doctor seemed to be aware of that advantage, too, because he only scooted closer to Steve, making Danny tense up even more. "Now."

Unlike him, the man didn't hesitate. He raised a weapon of his own, swiftly taking it out of the pocket of the coat while partially taking cover behind Steve.

Danny decided it wasn't worth the risk and he left his weapon tucked in. In one violent motion, he threw himself across the room.

The gun aimed at him spat out and then swung back towards Danny again. The imposter's reflexes were unbelievably quick, and second–unaimed–shot rang out.

The bullet caught Danny in the shoulder, razor shards of pain lancing down his arm. Danny disregarded it, shut it down, and threw himself into the younger man. He tackled him around the waist, his momentum sending both of them stumbling backward until they clattered against the wall.

The imposter tried to bludgeon him with the butt of the gun, but he blocked the clumsy swipe, their wrists clashing and the gun falling to the floor. They collapsed downwards, ending next to each other, and Danny drove the point of his elbow into the man's face. He felt the bones of his nose crumple and snap as they crunched together, blood immediately running over the dark skin. Danny rolled away and scrambled for his gun. His fingers closed around it as the man sprang up to his feet, his face twisted with fury.

Danny quickly got to his feet. His left shoulder felt as though it had been mangled. He was woozy from the pain. He knew, from experience, that it would get worse. It was the adrenaline that was holding him together, but the pain would overwhelm him eventually.

The man glanced down on the fallen weapon, weighing his options. It was too far for him to get to it before Danny would manage a shot.

"That's not a good idea," he said, holding the gun steady. "On your knees. Now."

"I don't think so." The man swiveled, quickly avoiding a bullet fired his way, and sprinted towards Danny.

Just then he noticed something metallic in his hand. A pocket knife. The attacker slashed out with it before Danny could fire another round.

He blocked the man's swipe with his right forearm, taking the impact just above his wrist and turning his hand over so that he could grip the edge of the man's coat. The man grunted, trying to free himself, but Danny plunged in with his left hand, digging the fingers into the fleshy pressure point behind the thumb, pinching so hard that the knife dropped out of his hand. Maintaining his grip, Danny dragged the man's arm around behind his back and yanked it up towards his shoulders, pushing him down to the bedside table cabinet at the same time. The man's head slammed against the surface and Danny pressed the gun to the back of his head.

He was aware of the loud female voices in the room, calling for security, but he ignored them.

Panting heavily, he fought the overwhelming fury and the pain. "Who the hell are you?" he growled.

"Fuck you!"

"Who do you work for?"

"Not your business."

Danny raised his head a little and slammed it back against the cabinet. The man squirmed, throwing a shower of swearing at Danny.

"You made it my business when you walked through that door. So let me ask again. Who are you and who do you work for, huh?"

The man didn't say anything and kept struggling to free himself.

"Spill, damn it!" Danny dug the gun deeper, resisting the urge to shoot the man's brain out. Dead men didn't speak. "You came here to finish him off, didn't you?"

"Drop your weapon."

Danny's eyes darted to the side to see two security officers in the room, both holding weapons in hands, aiming them at Danny.

"I said, drop the weapon," the officer repeated.

Danny didn't move. "It's alright, I'm detective Danny Williams, Five-0. The badge's on the belt."

They both stole a quick look, as if not believing him, then lowered their weapons. "Detective, this is an ICU room, not a shooting range. What the hell is going on here?"

"This guy pretended to be a doctor," Danny explained, fighting the weakness spreading down his body. "My guess is that he came here to kill Steve."

He noticed one of the nurses watching from the doorway, as if checking it was safe to come in. Her gaze darted between Danny and Steve, who stirred in the bed, slowly coming around after being rudely awakened by the fight.

"He's not hurt," Danny assured the nurse, extremely thankful for that simple fact. Just a thought of how badly this could've gone made him shudder. He wanted to pull the trigger and be done with the SOB who wanted to rob him of his friend for the second time that day, but he needed information, not a corpse.

Clenching his teeth to ride out another wave of pain, he returned his gun into the holster, fastened the jaws of his cuffs around the man's right wrist, and then, yanking the arm harder than he had to, snapped the other cuff tightly around the left wrist, too. The man yelped in sudden pain, but Danny didn't care about that. He let the officers get a hold of the man as he took a step aside, clutching the bleeding wound on his shoulder.

"But you are," the nurse said.

"Huh?"

"Commander McGarrett might not be hurt, but you are. Your shoulder. We need to have a look at that."

"I'm not leaving him," Danny protested.

"But–"

"No."

The nurse gave him a long stare before nodding. "Fine. Just sit down and let me have a look here. We really need to stop that bleeding."

As long as he didn't have to leave Steve alone. He nodded in approval. He turned toward the security officers. "Call Lieutenant Kelly, tell him what happened and hold this SOB until he arrives to pick him up. Also, tell him to arrange the police protection for Steve asap. And I want the list of staff with access to this department. Make sure no one comes into this room without me knowing about it. No one. Is that clear?"

The officer nodded. "Sure."

"Thanks."

He watched as they marched the fake doctor away, still trying to calm his frantic breaths. Ready to have his shoulder fixed, he stepped forward, but his knees wobbled and he nearly sprawled on the floor. The nurse came to the rescue just in time, helping him sit in the chair by Steve's bed.

"Sit. Keep the pressure on it," she said and began scrambling for supplies.

He did as told and tried to take deep breaths to dull out the pain as he fought rising nausea. Not for a second did he stop watching Steve, who slowly opened up his eyes into tiny slits.

"Danny?" His name left Steve's lips on a rough, hoarse whisper.

Danny's eyes flickered to his partner. "I'm right here," he assured him, doing his best not to let the pain seep into his voice.

"Wh's goin' on?" His face pulled into a painful grimace, Steve let out a groan after an unsuccessful attempt to lift himself up to get a better look.

Danny stood up, an instinctive reaction to his partner struggling. The world spun, but he felt the need to be by his friend's side. Not wanting his hurt friend to worry, he turned so that Steve wouldn't see the blood-soaked sleeve of his white shirt. "Nothing. It's all right, buddy," he said, gritting his teeth as another wave of pain coursed through his body.

"'s a dream?" Steve's eyelids fluttered. "Heard… something."

Danny bit his lip. Now wasn't a good time to explain. "Why don't you get some more sleep?"

Steve shook his head in a feeble protest, but struggled to stay awake.

"Come on, everything's fine. You need to rest," he said, cringing at his friend's weakness.

This time, Steve didn't protest. His eyelids started to fall, and before Danny could count to ten, he was asleep again.

"Detective, please sit down," the nurse instructed on her way toward him. "Let's get your shoulder fixed up before you bleed out."

With his gaze still fixed on Steve, Danny once more checked him out. His lashes rested against the flushed cheeks and sweat formed on his clammy forehead as he lay still once again. Other than that, he seemed fine. Or at least not worse than before. Satisfied, he let out a relieved sigh and followed the nurse's commands.

It was yet another close call. Someone out there clearly was out for blood, and the only way to put an end to it was to find them before they tried something again. The good news was that now they had a suspect in custody. And whoever he was, Danny would make sure he'd talk.

Danny's mind was in a whirl as he sat impatiently by his sleeping partner, the anger at whoever had their sight set on Steve bubbling underneath his skin. Steve didn't wake up again after Danny had his shoulder stitched up, which meant no questions answered. Again.

Who was the man pretending to be a doctor? Was he hired by anyone? Was he also responsible for Steve's crash? What the hell was this whole thing about? Did Steve have any idea?

He desperately needed the answers. Now!

A soft knock on the door roused his attention.

Chin stood in the doorway and his gaze trailed to Steve for a moment before gesturing at Danny to meet him outside of the room.

The blonde did so. "Thanks for coming, buddy," he said as he closed the door.

"Of course," Chin said.

"Where is he?" Danny snapped, barely able to contain his rage any longer.

"Kono took him to the HQ for a friendly chat," Chin said. "Wanna tell me what happened?"

Trying not to miss a single detail, Danny summed up what had happened since the moment he had ended their call.

"You think he was here for Steve?"

"I do, yeah," Danny confirmed, chills running down his spine with the thought of how close the fake doctor got to his best friend. "That's why I need you to stay here with him. Don't let him out of your sight at any time. Not for a second. I'll be right back."

He spun around, his fingers curled up into fists. Anyone messing up with their team was playing with fire, but trying to kill his best friend not once, but twice in a span of several hours was something he wouldn't tolerate. Not now, not ever. What if this wasn't the last time they tried, whoever the hell they were? The only way to prevent that was to get answers and get them first.

"Danny, wait!" Chin called out after him. "Where do you think you're going, brah?"

"Talk to the bastard," he growled over his shoulder speeding up rather than slowing down.

Glad his older colleague didn't follow him, he made his way outside. Just then he realized he had no way of transport. He swore under his breath and dialed Yellow Cab Honolulu from the list of his contacts.

Ten minutes, the dispatcher said. So, pacing back and forth, he waited.

"Help!" A frantic female voice came from his right. "Please, you have to help me."

He turned to the car park, where the voice came from, and saw a woman rushing over to him, her steel-gray eyes wide in fear. She was slim and petite, with glossy dark hair and a Latino complexion. She stopped right in front of him, panting.

"What's wrong?" he asked, subconsciously scanning for any injuries. He saw none.

"My daughter," she said, her gaze frantically hovering between Danny and the car park. "You have to help me. She's just a baby."

Danny's gut twisted with worry. "All right, take a breath," he said. "What's wrong with your daughter? Where is she?"

She shook her head, ignoring Danny's question. "It's my fault. I… I shouldn't have left her–"

"Whoa, slow down. Look at me." She did. "Good, now tell me what happened. From the beginning."

She sucked in a deep breath. "I got a call from the hospital, about my husband getting admitted and I had to come over and–"

"Focus," Danny reminded. "Your daughter."

"Yes. I have no one else to stay with her. I took her with me and… God, I swear it was just for five minutes. Or ten. No more. I left her in the car and–"

"You did what?" Danny snapped. "You left your baby girl all alone in a car in the car park at night? Are you completely whacked out of your mind?"

Her eyes watered and there was a hint of something–hurt, maybe–glistening in them.

He ran a hand over his face in frustration. "Keep going."

"I locked the car but I must've lost the key fob and now I can't get in. Please, you have to help me." She didn't wait anymore and started making her way across the road, heading to the north end of the car park. "She's this way."

Not for a second did Danny hesitate to follow. This day just kept getting better. Like it wasn't enough his partner nearly got killed. Like it wasn't enough that he might still be in danger. No, now he had to put up with an irresponsible mother who was freaked out of her mind. He followed the woman nearly to the end of the half-empty and otherwise deserted car park.

"Over there." She pointed at the dark blue Toyota Land Cruiser. "That's my car."

Danny sped up, already looking for anything he could use to get in. He closed the distance and glanced through the window in the back.

But there was no trace of a baby in the car. In fact, it was completely empty.

Pacing Steve's room back and forth, Chin's worry increased the more he thought about that. Maybe he shouldn't have let Danny leave. He completely understood his friend's frustration and need for answers, but given their suspect had tried to kill Danny's best friend, the chances were he would take the interrogation to level McGarrett. And Chin doubted it would make the guy more cooperative.

His phone buzzed. It was Kono. He didn't have a chance to say anything before his cousin's voice made his skin prickle.

"Chin, where's Danny? He's not answering the phone."

Chin frowned at the panic radiating from the other side of the line. "He just left a couple of minutes ago," he said. "Why?"

"Oh, God."

An uneasy feeling swirled in his chest. "Cuz, talk to me. What's wrong?"

"I identified our fake doctor–his name is Peter Kingsley."

"Kingsley? Isn't that–?"

"The same surname as the owner of the car that crashed into Steve? Yes. John Kingsley is his older brother."

Chin waited, sensing Kono had more to say.

"So I talked to Peter and I managed to make him spill the beans."

"Was he in the car that crashed into Steve's?"

"Yes. He and his brother both. He said John was driving, though."

"Did he tell you why they were after Steve?"

"No, not yet. But we got it all wrong, Chin."

He drew his brows in confusion. "Cuz, what are you trying to say? What did he tell you?"

"It's not Steve they were after," Kono said. "It's Danny."

Danny realized his mistake a split-second too late.

Something cold touched the skin on his neck, and immediately, his muscles contracted and spasmed. He felt the electricity surging through him head to toe, paralyzing him completely. It took forever and the light of the lamp posts in the distance began to dim. Darkness swept over him, then receded. And just when he thought it'd never stop, the taser was finally pulled away.

His legs wobbled and he crashed on the concrete. He lay there on his back, unable to move or suck in the air into his lungs. A low groan came out of his mouth as he looked up at the woman leaning over him. A smug grin on her face blurred out, and then darkness swallowed everything.

*to be continued*

Oh, well... I guess some of you might have guessed where this was going. Sorry about another little cliffie.

Let me know what you think :)