Wow. I really didn't expect so many good reviews and you have no idea how happy I was to read them all. Thank you for your support!

This is the first one of the follow-up chapters. There will be the last two or three chapters after this one. Enjoy reading.

The stark smell of disinfect was overwhelming. Danny scrunched his eyes at the bright light that was sipping through his closed eyelids. He felt powerless and heavy and couldn't move his arms, his head or his body.

The room was silent apart of his heavy breathing and the slow, steady beeping indicating he was still alive.

Danny slowly started blinking, desperately trying to open his eyes and see what was around him. As blinding light slowly subsided, he could take a look around his surroundings. It looked familiar. A hospital. Again.

He shut his eyes, trying to remember what had exactly happened. Then it all hit him with a bang. The memory of it all started to occupy his thoughts and his eyes widened.

Esther. Steve. His fall. The sound of gunfire. His pale face and blood seeping into his clothes. The desperate need to hold the hand of his friend dying next to him. The bitter-sweet feeling of the victory. And then nothing.

Danny's mind began to race and the beeping sound was now noticeably faster as the fear for his best friend had settled in. With great effort, he pushed his elbows against the bed, but only grunted as the sharp pain had spread through his shoulder with the movement. He resigned and remained still, closing his heavy eyelids again.

A few moments later he heard the door opening and closing. He forced his eyes open, curious who'd entered. It was Tani. She was holding a cup of coffee in her hand.

"Hey, you awake?" she asked, smiling at him. "I just had to get some coffee. I've been away for less than ten minutes and that's when you decide to come back to us?"

Danny didn't care he'd woken up alone. But a question had been lingering on his mind and he was grateful that there was now someone who could answer it.

"Steve?" The name of his best friend was a mere whisper. "How is he?"

Tani nodded, lowering herself on the chair beside his bed.

"He isn't awake yet," she announced. "On top of the GSW, he's got a concussion, a broken leg, several broken ribs - one of which had punctured his lung. But he is alive and his doctor said he should be okay. Catherine is with him right now."

Danny sighed in relief. He was a little surprised by the fact that Catherine was still here, but after what had happened, he couldn't blame her for bailing on work and wanting to stay close to Steve.

"How are you feeling?" Tani asked, her eyes worried.

"Tired, sore."

"You gave us quite a scare. The doctor said that if the EMTs didn't start the blood transfusion on the way to the hospital, we wouldn't be having this conversation now."

"Tani," Danny jumped in. "I want to see him," he demanded, ignoring her concern about himself.

"I'll see what I can do about that," she said, standing up and headed toward the doorway. "I'll talk to your doc, okay? I'll be right back," she promised and closed the door behind her.

Danny reached for the nurse's call button. He didn't want to wait. He needed to see Steve. He needed to be sure he was all right, to see for himself. Fighting the heavy eyelids threatening to fall down, he kept pressing the button until the nurse showed up in the doorway finally.

"Detective Williams," she said, smiling. "Good to see you awake. How are you feeling?"

"I want to see Commander Steve McGarrett," he demanded, ignoring the question.

The nurse shook her head. "I'm afraid that won't be possible. You need to rest, you've lost a lot of blood and…"

Before she could finish the sentence, Danny began to lift his torso up, releasing a painful groan. His partner needed him by his side right now and that's where he intended to be, no matter what.

The nurse reacted swiftly, gently holding Danny down, pressing him back to the bed. "Detective, please calm down. What do you think you're doing? You can't even walk with that leg."

Danny kept fighting her, but the sedatives in his blood made him weak and his tired muscles refused to cooperate. It took a while before he gave up and laid still in defeat.

"Take me to him," he pleaded.

The nurse sighed. "Not now. You need to rest. But I'll talk to the doctor and see what I can do. We'll talk about it after you get some sleep. Deal?"

Danny nodded, his eyelashes flickering. The exhaustion began to take over despite trying his best to fight it.

"Deal," he agreed and closed his eyes.

Danny thanked the nurse who wheeled him into Steve's room. After he'd made a scene for two more times that day, his doctor reluctantly allowed him to spend thirty minutes with Steve.

Steve looked exhausted, his skin ashen, eyes closed, his bare chest moving up and down in not so regular intervals. The gash above his eye was patched up and his left leg was rested on top of the blanket, the broken tibia wrapped in white fracture brace.

A hollow plastic tube with a syringe attached to the needle was inserted between Steve's ribs, connected to a machine draining the excess air out of his pleural space. Danny knew it was because one of the broken ribs had punctured Steve's lung, but he still winced at the sight of it. It looked really painful and it probably was.

Danny's eyes landed on the deep cuts on Steve's wrists and he closed his eyes for a second, exhaling through the nose. The surge of anger rushed through him and at that moment, and he regretted not being there when Steve had strangled Esther, not being there to watch as life had drained out of her.

Danny gently rested the palm of his hand on Steve's forearm, his heart aching from seeing his partner so vulnerable and in pain. When Danny touched him, Steve stirred, blinking his eyes open, and looked around him, startled.

"Hey, I'm sorry," Danny apologized. "Didn't mean to wake you up."

It took a while but he could see the exact moment Steve remembered where he was and why. As the recognition had returned, Steve jerked his body, trying to lift himself up unsuccessfully.

"Take it easy, buddy," Danny said. "Just lay still."

Steve released a quiet groan and his face formed into a painful grimace as he turned his head to the side to look at Danny.

Holding his hand on Steve's arm, Danny gave him a slight smile. He was glad to see those blue eyes of his friend open again. "How are you feeling?"

It took Steve a moment to make himself to answer. "Breathing hurts," he whispered, blinking his eyes in an attempt to ride off the pain.

"I know," Danny said, his eyes glancing over the chest tube between Steve's ribs. "You've got a couple of broken ribs and a punctured lung. It's gonna hurt for a while."

Steve nodded. "You all right?" he asked.

"As you can see," Danny gestured to the wheelchair he was sitting in. "Can't walk right now and it's gonna take some time for my leg to heal but I'll be okay."

Steve didn't reply and looked away from Danny, guilt written all over his face.

"Seems we both are trouble magnets, huh?" Danny forced a smile, trying to make his friend not to take the blame for what had happened, but to no avail. He could see the guilt in Steve's eyes, eating his partner alive.

"Right," Steve murmured, still avoiding his eyes.

They remained silent for a few minutes, Danny's head in a whirl. He should be happy. They were alive and Esther was dead. It was over. So why didn't it feel right? Why did he feel defeated anyway? He bowed his head and stared into the floor, projecting on what had happened.

"I thought I've lost you," Steve spoke up after a while, the words a mere whisper.

Danny lifted his head and found himself staring into Steve's eyes. Too much pain was reflected in that blue and it broke Danny's heart. He squeezed Steve's arm a little tighter.

"But you didn't," he said. "I'm here. You can't get rid of me that easily."

Steve nodded, his eyes fluttering closed, and Danny took it as his cue. He was tired himself anyway. "I'll let you sleep," he said. "I just needed to know you were all right."

Shaking his head, Steve forced himself to open his eyes and placed his hand on Danny's, stopping his friend from pulling away. "Can you stay a little longer? Please."

Danny's heart melted with the pleading request. "Sure," he nodded in agreement. "I'll stay as long as I can. Just get some sleep, all right?"

"Okay," Steve whispered as his eyes fluttered closed again.

Danny stayed beside his friend's bed, waiting for him to fall asleep, thinking. It just wasn't fair. Why it's always good people who suffer? Why it's always the people he loved?

His partner's life was breaking apart since Joe's death, the actions from his past backfiring and there was nothing Danny could do to stop it from happening. And once again it was him who paid the price. Steve was alive, but Danny wasn't sure if anyone could ever really get through what had happened to him. Sure, the injuries will heal, but the scars on his soul will stay there permanently, reminding him of the dark moments of his life.

And then there was a trial still about to come. The trial Danny had been afraid of like it was his own. Because he had to face a very real possibility that Steve will be taken away from him and it could be for good this time. And for what? For being kidnapped, tortured, brainwashed, and forced to go against the country he was willing to give his life for at any given moment. He didn't deserve this. None of it.

Lost in his own thoughts, unsure for how long he'd been sitting there in silence, Danny fell asleep with the decision to do anything in his power to help heal Steve's mental wounds and help to get him through what was about to come.

Steve's mouth felt like cotton. He was cold and he could feel the beads of sweat forming on his forehead. He blinked his eyes open and it was dark - nighttime. The dim light of the night lighting illuminated the hospital room.

It took him a few minutes to fully open his eyes, to focus. He realized he'd been moved to a different room. With great effort, he tried to pull up higher in the bed, but the stabbing pain exploded in his chest and hip with an attempt. He felt like he was moving in slow motion when he looked to the nightstand, to the cup there. He needed water.

But he was having trouble making his arm work the way it should, and he almost managed to knock the glass over. With some effort he managed to take hold of the glass and sip the cool liquid, soothing his dry throat.

He could feel he wasn't alone. He returned the glass to the nightstand, turned his head to the other side and saw Danny laying on the bed next to his, watching him intently.

Raising his eyebrow in confusion, Steve stared at his friend. "How did you…?"

"I didn't want to leave you," Danny explained. "So I made the doc to move us together. I hope you don't mind."

Steve smiled. He had them sharing a hospital room and Danny's constant complaining after the liver transplant still vivid on his mind.

"You were the one complaining about the companion the last time we shared a room here."

"I know," Danny said. "So please don't make me regret this."

"Copy that."

Steve was certain it took more than a polite request for Danny to get them moved into one room, but he was grateful that he'd managed to arrange it. Because right now, no matter how unlike him was it, he didn't want to be alone with his thoughts.

"Let me ask you something," Danny said. "How did you manage to share our location with Five-0? You've lost the tracking device when she made you change the clothes."

Steve stretched one corner of his lips into a smirk. "Injectable tracking device," he answered. "Got one for Eddie recently and kept it in the drawer in my office. I kinda kept postponing the application of it becau-"

"Because you've never called the vet after your date," Danny finished his sentence. "I'd normally say you haven't called her because you're an idiot but this time I'll let it slide."

"Yeah, you should do that," Steve replied. "It saved our butts."

Danny bit his lips, as though he fought the urge to say something to prevent the unnecessary fight, which made Steve grin. They remained silent for a moment, both lost in their own thoughts.

"Oh, Catherine asked me to tell you she'll be back in the morning," Danny announced after a few minutes.

"She was here?" Steve asked, his voice more surprised than he realized. He thought she had to be somewhere else.

"Yeah, you were sleeping. She didn't want to wake you up."

For some reason he didn't completely understand, it made Steve feel a little better. "How is she?" he asked.

"A little shaken up, but she's okay," Danny confirmed what he'd been hoping for.

"Good."

Danny searched for Steve's eyes before he spoke up again. "What is this between you two anyway?"

"What do you mean? You're the one who called her."

"I did," Danny agreed. "But to help find you, not to do whatever you were doing back at your place."

Steve exhaled loudly, he knew where this was coming from. Danny was just concerned about him expecting her to stay and have a life with him as Catherine had a tendency to disappear anytime she considered fit.

"It just happened, we didn't plan it," he protested. "I don't have any expectations."

"Do you still love her?"

Danny's direct question took him by surprise. He was certain his friend already knew the answer for it anyway. He'd known all along.

Steve wanted to say he didn't, that he'd moved on, but it would be a lie. He would be lying not only to Danny but to himself too.

"I think I've been holding myself back from falling in love with her all over again," Steve said after a while, his words a mere whisper. "But I can't, Danny."

"Of course you can't," Danny said. "Because you never stopped loving her."

Danny had been right. She was a ghost from his past, the reason why he couldn't make any relationship work. Not even Lynn could take her place, no matter how much he tried to make it work.

"No one even came close," he admitted.

"I know," Danny said. "And I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for?"

"For bringing her back to Hawaii."

Steve stared at him in surprise. "Why would you be sorry for that?"

"I didn't consider how hard it would be for you to keep your feelings at bay," Danny explained. "I should have known that. Don't get me wrong, I like her and you two are the perfect match, but it's Catherine. You know she probably won't stay long, right?"

Steve knew that all too well. He understood his friend's reasons to be concerned, but he was glad Danny had brought her back into his life, even if just for a while. What had happened with Catherine a few days ago was amazing, but he didn't expect it to happen again anyway. The fact she hadn't left yet surprised him enough.

"I'm tired," Steve said, trying to avoid further talking about his feelings.

"Yeah, me too," Danny said, blinking his eyes. "Let's get some sleep."

It didn't take long before Danny dozed off, but Steve's mind was still in a whirl as he watched his friend falling asleep. He shook his head, fighting the exhaustion because he didn't want to sleep. Because every time he closed his eyes, his mind took him to the dark place. To the place without Danny and Catherine. To the place where he'd lost them both for good. All because of him.

But despite everything he'd caused, despite hurting him and almost getting him killed, Danny was still there, concerned about him, fighting the hospital staff so he could be close to him when he needed it. He couldn't wish for a better friend.

"Danno?"

Danny slowly blinked his eyes open and turned his head to Steve.

"Thank you," Steve said.

"For what?"

"For everything."

*to be continued*

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