Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 or anything pertaining to it. Just the creepy maniac in this story. :)

Author's Note: Another chapter...Finally back in Hawaii, going back to school... Oki doki. Hope you enjoy this one. Please review, I really do love a kind word and it just makes me want to write more. :)

3. By a Hair's Breath

"HPD found the car." Chin reported. Steve looked up from his desk, taking in Chin's expression. Judging from the look on Chin's face, the news didn't seem half as good as he had hoped it would be.

"Did they find anything?" he asked, but he already suspected what the answer would be.

"Not…really." Chin sighed. He looked like he was already losing hope on Danny's case. "The car is registered to an Albert Fitzgerald, who passed away last year at age ninety-six. There aren't any finger prints and not a single clue to where the perp took Danny."

"Any security cameras in the area?" Steve inquired, a heavy weight settling in his stomach. He had never thought of it, but…what if Danny was never found? What would he tell Rachel? What would he tell Grace? He couldn't tell the little girl that her Danno was gone. He would hardly be able to admit that to himself. For a man so animated, it was impossible to imagine Danny lifeless. It was painful to imagine him that way.

"None. This guy must've known he was in a blind spot. So far, no witnesses have come forward either." Chin explained. Steve took a deep breath. Usually they would find something to lead them to the next step of the case and now that it was Danny's life on the line, there was a horrendous lack of evidence. Steve couldn't give up that easily, but it was hard to proceed when the only possible suspect is dead. He could also understand why Danny had strapped a man to the hood of his car while they investigated the murder of Danny's ex-partner.

"But, I told them not to touch anything until we had inspected the scene ourselves." Chin added, giving Steve a lopsided smile of encouragement. Of course, they didn't have to settle just on what HPD saw. Perhaps they just needed some fresh eyes on the scene. Steve smiled at this small bit of hope.

Maybe it wasn't as dire of a situation as he thought.

Danny hadn't moved for what seemed like hours. He couldn't tell how much time had passed, but he was too absorbed in his own horror to really care. After the last brick had scraped into place, Danny allowed himself a moment of shock, staying completely silent for a minute or two. He was trapped. And nobody but Dave knew he was there.

He had gone numb, terrified by this solid prospect of death. The physical pain was completely ignored while the realization took over his whole body. Dead. Like, dead-as-a-doornail dead. He wondered if his body would ever find a proper burial. If anyone would find his body at all. How long would it take for them to find his lifeless body? Even Super SEAL McGarrett could have trouble tracking his partner down. Danny wouldn't blame him; Danny didn't even know where he was. All he knew was that it was dark, a little more than just damp, and tighter than his miniscule apartment. It was like being in a wet coffin. With the way things were going, it was a wet coffin.

What bugged him the most was that he didn't see this coming. He saw death by insane partner, death by stressed out divorcee father, and death by just living in that pineapple-invested hell-hole…but he didn't see this coming at all. He couldn't foresee some guy he'd arrested for car theft to actually come to Hawaii to murder him. Danny liked to think of himself as a decent guy. There was only two people he could see as his murderers, which—honestly—was more than most people could boast. But only Step Stan would be the one to plot Danny's death in his monster of a living room. Steve would commit the murder of Danny Williams purely by accident. As much as he hated to say it, he missed that horrifying partner of his. Steve was arrogant, rash, and sometimes incredibly unintelligent. But he was alright when it counted and he was Danny's best friend on the whole island. He didn't know how or when that had come to be, but Steve McGarrett was his best friend.

That all didn't really matter now. Soon, nothing would matter. As far as the world was concerned, Danny Williams would never be seen again.

He took a deep breath as the realization settled in his chest cavity. The feeling was oddly soft, but not necessarily cozy. That was probably around the same time that he finally grasped the concept of pain…all over.

The shock of his situation wore off and his nerves kicked in, the familiar presence of pain kicking and screaming throughout his body. He gasped at the sudden feeling, a sharp pain poking into his abdomen. He wanted to yelp in response, but did his best to resist, knowing that it would only make the feeling sharper. His head felt like a thousand tiny men were hammering the inside of his skull with sledge hammers, pounding with pain. All the pain was back and it almost felt worse than he had remembered it. Maybe he would die just by the shape he was in. He might actually prefer that over suffocation or whatever else awaited him. Starvation certainly wasn't welcome. No man should have to die hungry. That would be the cruelest punishment of all.

Come to think of it, if Danny wasn't feeling so nauseas, he would kill for some malasadas. His mom's lasagna wouldn't be so bad either…better yet, he'd have both. A dying man should be able to have whatever the hell he pleases. If Steve was dying and he wanted that crappy Hawaiian pizza, Danny wouldn't hesitate to give it to him…at least after a well-executed argument. The man had to know that pineapple was the ruin of the entire realm of pizza.

Danny took a deep, slow breath, careful not to cause unnecessary pain. All these thoughts were fine and dandy…but he couldn't chase away the dark shadow of death in his mind. Death wasn't something he could belittle. Especially when he was staring at its intimidating figure.

For so many years he accepted the image of Death as a grim reaper: somewhat tangible and easy to imagine. But Death wasn't as easy to identify as a torn, black cloak around a skeleton with a frightening scythe. Death was worse than that. It was a cold feeling, settling into a man's chest at the realization that Death was going to take over. It was all the thoughts that fluttered together in a final, desperate act to ponder all the things a man had always known, but never confronted. It was that moment when a man saw the life he lived and realized that it was hardly enough; that he needed more than those memories. It was that frantic feeling that a man felt when he pondered all the people he was leaving behind and all the things he never got to do for them. Death was a punisher for all the things a man didn't do that should have.

Danny actually feared Death in this form.

In his new job, he faced Death every day. At least, he thought he did. While Death had been the kind of friend he never wanted to hang out with, Danny had never feared its visit. He supposed that when his time had come, then his time had come. But when he actually stared that dark shadow in the face, he could see all the things he should've feared when he was grazed by a bullet, or attacked by a violent suspect.

Danny could feel Death's freezing hand reaching out for him.

Steve inspected the vehicle with the most determination in his life. And for Steve, that was saying a lot. Nothing was going to escape his sight. Not a single bit.

Chin had cleared the scene of HPD at Steve's order, allowing Steve the privilege of sweeping through the area by himself. Officers leaned against their vehicles, taking a break, or stood at the crime scene tape, watching McGarrett comb through what they already looked at. If this was any other case, they would've been irritated by Five-0 barging in…again. But it was the abduction of one of Five-0's own. One of HPD's own. There wasn't time to have an argument over who could keep the case. Danny Williams had to be found.

Steve scoured the car with such diligence, he was nearly going cross-eyed. He stared at the interior, hoping for a miracle. Danny couldn't just leave him like that; Steve didn't want to take the responsibility of fending off Danny's family issues. But, with all seriousness, Steve couldn't afford to lose another precious person in his life.

Steve never had a brother, but if he did, he would want him to be just like Danny. Sure, they started out on bad terms and it took awhile to warm up to each other. Still, Steve couldn't respect a man more than he respected Danny. Danny had guts, loyalty and bravery all rolled into one, big heart. After Steve managed to look past the distracting flinging of arms and Danny's incessant need to prove his arguments, Steve grew to love Detective Williams like that brother he never had. Danny was selfless when it really mattered and Steve knew that his partner cared about him more than any teammate he had before. If Steve was missing, Danny would've done everything he could to find Steve. He probably would've even found a way to trade places with him.

Steve wished he could trade places with Danny.

He didn't want to imagine Grace at her father's funeral. Just the passing thought felt like his heart was dunked into a bucket of ice water. She was too young for all this, but she was old enough to understand the situation completely. Kids weren't stupid. By the time he was her age, he could figure out some things just by watching adults. The adults had always assumed he wouldn't understand, but he knew, just like Grace would know. Grace needed Danno.

Steve inspected the driver's seat sluggishly, opting for careful and slow over sloppy and fast. In the end, it could make all the difference. His eyes stared at the top of the seat with such intensity as if he could light it on fire just by looking at it hard enough. Of course, that would destroy evidence…evidence he just found.

"Chin!" he shouted, not moving from his spot to avoid losing the one hair that caught his eye. It was short and thin, weaved into the seat fabric and nearly hidden away. It was frightening how focused he was on the small stub of brunette, but he wasn't willing to take any chances.

"Yeah, boss?" Chin replied, walking up behind him and ducking his head down to take a look inside.

"I found something." Steve breathed, pulling out some trusty tweezers from his pocket. After Danny had showed him how handy tweezers could be in an investigation, Steve always kept a pair on him. He had always made sure that he was prepared for everything. Five-0 was no exception.

He carefully extracted the hair from the fabric as Chin hastily prepared a small bag and held it under the tweezers tight grip. Steve stuck the tweezers in the bag before releasing the hair and Chin promptly sealed the bag and gripped it with both hands. It could've been a step towards Danny's location and they were not about to lose it.

"What did you find?" Kono asked, stepping behind the two men. The both turned and looked at her as Chin held up the bag with a look of triumph.

"Evidence."

Danny was beginning to feel weak. He blamed it on the fact that he hadn't moved for the past several hours, but he knew in the back of his mind that he was probably bleeding internally. It would clearly explain the pain in his abdomen and maybe even the churning nausea that was starting to threaten his esophagus. He didn't want the last taste in his mouth to be the aftermath of upchucking. If he ended up turning into a ghost, he didn't want to be stuck with that taste tattooed to his tongue forever.

But the struggle was becoming increasingly more difficult. The sick feeling grew in his stomach, nearly ready to hatch. He attempted to swallow the inevitable approach of the stuff, but was hardly delayed.

Before he knew it, he was spluttering and coughing, attempting to clear the vile liquid from his burning throat. The taste was an odd mix of acid and copper, coating his tongue angrily. Danny knew that whatever had come from his mouth wasn't his breakfast. Something worse. Blood was coming out of him. Blood was going where it shouldn't be.

Death was coming closer, trying to pull him away from his body. He didn't want to go. He didn't want to leave when there was so much to do; so much to be. He was still learning how to be a father. He was still learning how to be Steve McGarrett's partner. There was so much learning to do.

"It's not fair." he whispered, holding back gasps from the pain in his abdomen. "It's just not fair…what did I do wrong?" Danny blinked back the burning in his eyes, attempting to keep back the moisture that threatened to squeeze through.

He felt unconsciousness pull at him, tugging his eyelids down. Danny tried to fight it, attempting to hold onto life a little longer. To hold onto that loyalty he had for his friends and his family. Once he closed his eyes, it could all be gone. His brother, Matt, would be gone. Steve would be gone. Grace would be gone. He would be cut off from everything he loved. His eyelids couldn't fight anymore, sliding closed with a terrifying ease.

Danny didn't want to die.

Author's Note: And there it is...another chapter! Please review, so that I can have the encouragement for the next chapter!