We start this chapter with two bits of good news. Danny and Colby are safely in the hospital, and the story itself is now finished. There are still a few surprises to come in the final two chapters - but for now, it's time for Team McGarrett to enjoy Danny and Colby's return.

I've put them in the same room too, for both the serious reasons you'll find out about in the next chapter, and the not so serious reason that ends this one.

Thank you again for your encouraging reviews. I'm so happy that you're enjoying this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

Calculated Risk - Chapter Eight

VIPs (Very Important Patients)

Danny Williams woke into a confusing world. Since when did the Pacific smell of disinfectant? And since when did nurses loom like that, or have more muscles and tattoos than Popeye?

"Danny? Hey, c'mon, partner, wake up now. You've been sleeping long enough."

Steve?

Damn, he'd died and gone to hell. Where else could SuperSEAL be a freakin' nurse?

Blinking up at his friend, Danny couldn't help but feel peevishly cheated. This wasn't fair! He was hurt. Not just Band-Aid and icepack hurt either, but all out, hospital-bed-and-IVs-and-monitors hurt.

The least he deserved was a pretty nurse to mop his suffering brow, and… well, wasn't that just his stinking luck? He had Steve instead.

A worried Steve, he realized, frowning slightly as fragments of memory connected through the fog of sedatives and painkilling drugs. The ambush. The boat. The bomb. Colby.

Strong but gentle hands held his shoulders, stopping his irrational, panic driven attempt to sit up. An equally gentle voice soothed the rest of it away, until he sank gratefully back into his pillows.

"Easy, Danny, you're okay, you're safe now. Colby is too, you're gonna be okay."

He'd always trust his partner's word, of course, but Danny still needed to see this miracle himself – turning his head, ignoring the waves of nauseous pain, until a bruised but smiling face swam into view.

"Hey, roomie… 'bout time you woke up."

Managing a tired grin in return, Danny then resumed a slow study of where he and his roomie were – his eyes widening as he realized how many people stood, in a protective cluster, around their beds.

Steve, of course, took pride of place at his shoulder, with Chin and Kono flanking his side. Don and Charlie had taken up the same stance with Colby, and… jeez, what the hell was in this IV?

Two guards at the door? Armed guards? Damn, his gung-ho partner was now Captain Cautious.

He wasn't taking any chances with keeping them safe here. Then again, Danny wasn't surprised. They'd had a close call this time, too close for anyone's comfort. It was a miracle they'd survived.

His next question was obvious. So was the exhaustion, and pain, in the voice that weakly asked it.

"How – How did you find us?"

'Blind luck' was the truthful answer, but… well, Steve couldn't bring himself to be so coldly clinical. This was his partner, after all, and he'd just come terrifyingly close to dying. Not just once, but twice. When the Coastguard had picked them up, a school of Tiger sharks had been less than fifty feet away.

"A security guard saw you at Keehi marina, and called it in," he said at last, glancing across at Don – knowing from the subtlest nod that the FBI agent understood why he'd kept his reply so casual, and left the worst parts out of it.

If Danny found out about those sharks, he'd freak out – and he really wasn't strong enough for that. So when Danny frowned quizzically up at him, his next reply went through the same judicious editing.

"Between me, the Coastguard and Pearl Harbour's search and rescue, we managed to spot you."

Thank God for those meds, he thought dryly, as Danny accepted this explanation with a sleepy nod. If he wasn't so doped up, he'd have been sitting up in bed by now, demanding to meet his rescuers.

When he found out the truth, there'd be hell to pay. But for now, Steve just savoured this moment. His partner looked like he'd gone ten rounds with a meat grinder. Colby, too, looked like hell. But he was alive. So was Colby. For their exhausted friends and partners, nothing else mattered.

Their doctors had recommended three days rest, at least, to give their injuries time to heal. Through another exchange of 'yeah, right' grins, Steve and Don knew that was hopelessly unlikely. Hell, Danny couldn't keep still for three minutes, let alone three days. The same went for Colby.

They'd be out of those beds, and back on the case, long before those three days were up.

Danny, of course, couldn't wait for just one of those days to pass. Even flat on his back, hooked up to IVs and a precautionary heart monitor, he was back on the case already.

"So what's happening with Noshimuri? Did you find the bozos who took us?"

Rolling his eyes, in proud admiration for his partner's resilience, Steve then shook his head – glancing at Don again, with the same amused knowledge that Colby was just as much of a handful.

"No, we're… uh, still working on that," he said at last, gently patting his partner's shoulder – knowing that Danny would hate this enforced idleness, but also knowing it was for the greater good. "Let us take care of the case, okay? You and Colby just work on getting back on your feet."

To his relief, Danny didn't argue but accepted his lot with a hopeful smile as he glanced over at Colby.

"So, roomie, what're the nurses like? Cute? Single? Built like SuperSEAL here?"

"Well, mine's an angel," Colby retorted, his grin widening as he, too, relaxed into his pillows. "But yours makes my old drill sergeant look like Mary Poppins."

Watching Danny's reaction, five now chuckling friends made a tactful retreat for the door – all of them knowing that the peaceful calm in room 1218 wouldn't last for long. Hell, they were at it already.

"Hey, if we're roomies, that should mean we share!"

"Oh yeah? I've never heard of that rule, Danny, who made that one up?"

"It's a Jersey thing, okay? If you, or your partner, end up in the same hospital room, you play like nice partners, and share. TV. Food that your friends bring in for you, and - yeah, cute single nurses that are actually human!"

"Yeah, well, I have this thing too, what I like to call the Idaho Variant. He who wakes up first gets to bag the best looking nurse."

Silence, for all of five seconds, before battle recommenced.

"Bite me."