Okay, here is the next chapter for all of those wonderful readers who have been waiting so very patiently. I do apologize for the EXTREME delay of this installment. I had some trouble with this chapter and am not terribly happy with it. I know where I want the story to go but I'm having a hard time getting there. Pair that with the millions of other ideas I have floating around in my head for other stories and I kind of hit a road block. Well, anyway, here it is. Hope it was worth the wait for those of you still with me : (

Chapter 5

"Danny?" Steve's smile faltered. Danny's eyes were glassy and unfocused. He dropped the razor in the wash bin and rested a cool damp hand on his friends arm. Danny's muscles twitched under Steve's fingers as crystal blue eyes blinked slowly.

Steve knew Danny would be sluggish, the sedatives still coursing through his veins, working their way out of his system, but it was the confusion that clouded his partners vision that had his stomach in knots. He slid his hand down Danny's arm until his fingers slipped into his loose palm.

"Danno, can you hear me?" All Steve received as a confirmation was another weary blink. Steve mentally cursed the tubing that still obstructed Danny's airway, preventing him from the ability to verbally communicate.

Danny seemed to realize this problem at the same time Steve had been thinking it. His lips flexed around the plastic and Steve could see his throat working. Whether it was an attempt to speak, breathe or swallow, Steve couldn't be sure. What he did know though was that the confusion in Danny's eyes was suddenly mixed with fear.

"Hey, it's okay. Don't try to talk. It's there to help you, just try to relax." He gently ran his thumb over the knuckles of Danny's hand, his words soft and reassuring. This seemed to do little to calm him, a quick glance at the monitors showed a jump in his heartbeat.

"Danny, please try to relax. If you can hear me, if you understand what I'm saying...can you squeeze my hand?" The seconds ticked away in Steve's head, breath held, waiting for a response. After a few more hazy blinks he could see Danny's eyes beginning to focus a little better. And almost a minute later he finally exhaled when he felt trembling fingers curl lightly around his own. He couldn't help the smile that crossed his face.

"Good, that's good." However relieved he was that Danny was communicating in some fashion, the furrowed brow and look of confusion that remained on his friends face had his heart stuttering in his chest. Steve suddenly remembered that the doctor had been concerned about brain damage. Danny was responding, and although Steve was no neurologist, he knew that right there was a positive sign. Danny's disoriented state could clearly be attributed to that fact that he had been in a coma for five days, but Steve feared that it went deeper than that.

Upon Danny's awakening, his eyes had not flitted around the unfamiliar room. From the moment they opened, however unfocused, they were constantly on Steve. The question in his eyes did not appear to be asking 'where am I?' and that made Steve panic a little, forcing him to ask the question he didn't necessarily want the answer to.

"Do you...", he paused to clear his throat, "...do you know who I am?"

Danny felt like he had been working his way back from la la land for a long time. He wasn't sure what else to call it because he didn't quite know where he was or why he felt the way he did. It was as if his mind was floating around in an ocean, each wave bringing a familiar voice. Wherever he was, there was no light, nothing to look at. It was a euphoric feeling, speckled with occasional sounds. At first he couldn't place the sounds. There was several deep voices spewing words he didn't quite understand. There was a sweet angelic voice, like a child, familiar. And when she spoke to him he felt calm, not so confused. These voices were sporadic, floating in and out of his realm. But then there was a constant sound, a deep strong voice, but filled with such gentleness he was sure it couldn't be that of a man's.

He wasn't aware of time, just that his mind was in a sea of rolling waves. Until it wasn't. Slowly the sea began to calm. The weightlessness he had felt was diminishing, replaced with a heaviness that he couldn't quite define. Slightly painful twinges pulled at his senses, ones he couldn't place to specific body parts. Uncomfortable throbbing passed over his body, until an odd sensation came over him. This time he knew where it originated. His face, something was scraping over his cheek. It was a feeling he was familiar with but for the life of him he couldn't pinpoint it. It was soothing touch, accompanied by that gentle voice again. He had to know, he had to see what was happening and who this voice belonged to.

He forced his eyes open, the lids were heavy and it took several attempts before light filtered in. A shadowed figure moved above him, a blur at first. He opened and closed his eyes slowly, trying to clear his vision. As the room and the figure came into focus, the man spoke his name, welcoming him back. The man's tone filled with what Danny was sure was relief, his face wore a beautifully bright smile. Danny felt confused. Why was he being welcomed back? Had he gone somewhere?

His name was spoken again, this time a hint a fear laced the man's voice. A sudden cool touch forced it's way onto his arm and his body involuntarily twitched at the intrusion. He blinked again as he felt the sensation of that cool hand moving down his arm until it gripped his fingers. Why was that touch so powerful when the rest of his body felt so disconnected?

Suddenly the man was asking if he could hear him. Confusion made him merely blink again and when the question fully registered he attempted to answer. But as he opened his mouth to speak he found that there was something obstructing his airway. Instinct told him to fight it as panic set in. A loud insistent beeping blared in the background, piercing through the dull throb already settled into his brain. He could barely hear the man speaking through the panicked haze, until he felt a gentle caress on the back of his hand. He allowed the touch to ground him and found very quickly that the man's words penetrated the fog in his brain.

Through blurry vision he saw genuine concern and wanted so badly to reassure him that he was okay. A squeeze of his hand seemed to work wonders as a brilliant smile once again appeared on the man's face. This time though, that smile brought recognition.

Steve

"Do you, do you know who I am?"

This time there was no hesitation in the movement of Danny's fingers. Unfortunately Steve had not been specific as to whether or not the squeeze meant yes or immediate response could have easily been mistaken for panicked confusion.

"Was that a yes?" Sounding a bit annoyed.

Relief flared through Steve's body when the response he received was not another clench of his fingers but in typical Danny fashion, a slight eye roll. The chuckled relief died on Steve's lips when he realized the eye roll must have caused some discomfort as Danny's eyes clenched shut.

"Shit, hang on Danno, i'll get the nurse." Steve went to pull away but was stopped when Danny's fingers tightened around his hand. Looking back down at his friend, he waited until he opened his eyes again, taking comfort in the grip Danny had on his hand even if it was due to pain.

"Danny?" Steve questioned, growing concerned when it took Danny several moments to finally lift his lids. Steve's heart plummeted at the tears pooling in those ocean blue eyes. Steve recognized the look on Danny's face, fear, pain and panic.

In the moments following his awakening, Danny had felt uncomfortable. Pressure and slight twinges he couldn't really define. Everything had been so hazy that those feelings were pushed aside. He had focused all of his energy on trying to recall who it was that was standing over him, offering him comfort, that he hadn't paid much attention to anything else. When recognition finally dawned on him and he no longer had to concentrate so hard on one thing, rapid awareness abruptly set in.

His eye roll triggered a bolt of pain to shoot through his skull, followed by every other body part. His chest felt tight, a throbbing settling in around his ribs. The fraction of an inch he moved in the bed sent sharp flares of pain through his hip. The discomfort seemed to come from every direction and he couldn't stop the tears from pooling in his eyes.

He forced himself to open them at Steve's gentle prodding, needing to refocus his attention to escape the pain. When he did he suddenly realized he had no idea what had happened to him, why he was in such pain. Why was a tube currently breathing for him, preventing him from opening his damn mouth and asking every question he needed answers to.

Evidently his partner knew him better than he thought.

Steve could read the questions in Danny's eyes. Now that he was reassured that Danny knew who he was, he realized that perhaps his friend didn't understand what had happened to him.

"Danny you're going to be okay, do you hear me? You're in the hospital..." Danny's furrowed brow and squeeze of his hand told Steve that his partner had figured that much out on his own. Steve hesitated to continue. The fact that Danny didn't know why he was here meant that he couldn't remember the accident, which meant it was plausible that he didn't remember the fight that led to, and what Steve feared, caused it.

For a brief moment Steve considered not telling him anything about the accident. If Danny couldn't remember, then he couldn't hate him for it. But the look in his friends eyes, the need for an answer pushed him to come clean.

"You had an accident Danny, a car accident. We don't really know what happened for sure..." Steve felt that familiar pang of guilt, deep down he knew exactly what had happened, why Danny had crashed. "...it was raining pretty hard. It looks like you lost control of the Camaro, you went over a cliff." Steve swallowed hard, the images from the pictures Chin had brought him with the report flashed in his head.

He watched as Danny tried to process this information.

"Do you remember?" After a long moment, Danny gave a small shake of his head. This seemed to bring on some pain again because the pressure increased on his hand and Danny's eyes shut tightly again. A few tears leaked out of the side and rolled down his still bruised cheek into the bandage on his head.

This time instead of leaving to get the nurse, he leaned over and pushed the call button. In under a minute she appeared.

"Well, well, well...look who decided to wake up. Welcome back Detective Williams."

Steve reluctantly let go of his hand. Danny's eyes followed as the nurse moved around his bed, taking readings from the various machines. Then she was leaning over him, checking the tubing in his mouth.

"We have all been waiting to see those baby blues open up, especially your partner here." Her smile was warm, but Danny's eyes were searching for Steve again, who offered him a warm smile as confirmation.

"It's okay, he's right here, and I doubt he's going anywhere." The nurse reassured him. Even still, Steve stepped closer and rested his hand on Danny's forearm. It seemed to relax him a bit because his attention went back to the smirking nurse.

"The doctor was paged, he'll be here any minute. I know the vent is uncomfortable, but putting that aside, on a scale of one to ten how bad is the pain?" The nurses eyes went to Danny's hands, waiting for an answer.

Steve's grip tightened on Danny's arm when he immediately fanned out nine fingers.

"Ok, as soon as the doctor gets here he'll address that."

True to her word, the doctor arrived moments later and after checking his patient over, administered pain medication. All too quickly, Danny's eyes fluttered closed. Steve was alarmed at first but the doctor assured him that Danny was doing just fine and would be in and out of consciousness for a little while. He ordered more brain scans and told Steve that if Danny continued to make such good progress he could be taken off the ventilator the following day.

While the nurse fiddled with the machines Steve excused himself to make phone calls. Grace's shriek pierced his eardrum when he told Rachel that Danny had woken up. He laughed, the first time in days, feeling the relief that Grace was expressing. Kono and Chin were overjoyed at the news, wanting to come by and see for themselves but were involved in an interrogation with a murder suspect and couldn't pull away at the moment.

Once the necessary phone calls were made, Steve resumed his position at Danny's side. Watching his partner sleep, he felt some of the heaviness he had been feeling for days recede. Steve had been so afraid that Danny would never wake up that to see his eyes open had been heart stopping. Steve had waited for Danny to look at him with contempt and hatred, and had selfishly felt some sort of relief that Danny had no recollection of the accident or the events leading up to it for that matter. While he knew that those memories could come back at any moment, Steve allowed himself to bask in the knowledge that his partner had woken and for the time being didn't hate him. He sank back in to the chair and for the first time in five days fell into a restful slumber.

The following day Steve paced the hallway outside of ICU while the pulmonologist removed the tubing from Danny's airway. Steve knew it would be an unpleasant process for Danny and wanted to stay with him to help him through it. But when the doctor asked him to step outside, Steve acquiesced, respecting the wishes of one of the men responsible for saving Danny's life.

Danny had woken several times throughout the night for brief moments. Each time, his confused eyes sought out Steve, who was quick to reassure him that everything was okay. To say Steve was anxious was an understatement. Danny would be able to speak now, which meant he would be asking a lot of questions. Steve would find out just how much Danny remembered from that fateful night.

Twenty minutes later Steve found himself on one side of Danny while the neurologist stood on the other to begin his onslaught of questions.

"So Danny, I must admit, I am pleasantly surprised to see you doing so well. Steve has told me that you don't quite remember what happened to you. In order to determine the extent of your memory loss I'm going to barrage you with a series of boring questions that I'm sure you'll get tired of rather quickly, so please bear with me." He concluded with a smile.

Danny blinked before responding. Those were a lot of words for his still muzzy brain to process all at once, causing his response to come in the form of a question.

"K?"

Steve grimaced in sympathy as Danny winced at the harsh sounding croak that came from his raw throat. Without hesitation Steve reached for the cup on the small table to his left and spooned an ice chip into Danny's mouth. The coolness soothed his sore throat instantly, relaxing his features enough for the doctor to continue.

"Ok, we'll start with the basics. Can you tell me your full name and birthday"

"Daniel Williams, August si..fifth..." Steve forced a reassuring smile even through the pang he felt in his chest when Danny tripped on the date of his birth. He seemed to be stuck on the year.

Danny had a flare of panic. It felt as if his brain had a ton of information floating around but he couldn't seem to get it in order. When he stumbled on such a simple question he feared the worst.

"It's okay Danny, you sustained a pretty serious head injury and have been unconscious for several days. I'm sure things are a bit jumbled up there, let's move on okay?"

No, it wasn't okay. Why couldn't he remember the Goddamn year he was born? What about that was okay? Numbers flashed through his mind, 2002. No that couldn't be it, that was the year Grace was born. 1999, the year he married Rachel. Shit! What was wrong with him?

"Danny, talk to me buddy."

Steve watched the screen monitoring Danny's vitals. Anytime there was a jump in his heart rate, the blood pressure cuff would take a reading and display it, which is what was happening right now. He could see his friend had zoned out, looked to the doctor for an explanation.

"Give him a minute."

A minute passed, the readings held and Steve was starting to worry.

1995, the year he graduated high school. 1997, the year he graduated from the police academy. 1977?

"Danno, please." Steve could hardly stand it, just as he was about to throttle the damn doctor and demand he do something, Danny spoke.

"1977"

"Danny?" The doctor questioned.

"August 5, 1977...my birthday" He would have felt relief if he didn't fear not knowing the answers to other questions.

"Great, good job. Now, can you tell me where you are?"

"Umm, the hospital?" Steve stifled a chuckle. Danny's tone clearly indicated that he found the question ridiculous.

"I'm sorry, I should have been more specific." Thankfully the doctor wasn't offended. "I meant to ask do you know what state you are in?"

"Pineapple infested hellhole"

"I'm sorry?"

"He uh, he means Hawaii."

"Ah, okay well, making jokes is a good thing, it is. But please try and stick to direct answers. And Steve I really do need Danny to answer, try not to provide any information for him."

"Sorry."

"Danny, what is your occupation?"

"Some smart ass detective who thinks he knows everything because he has 87 homicide cases under his belt?"

Danny's breath hitched, where the hell had that come from? He looked back and forth between Steve and the doctor to see who had spoken but it seemed that neither of them had. The words were harsh and laced with annoyance and anger. The voice that echoed in his head sounded like Steve, causing him to stumble on his next answer too.

"I'm a Detective with HPD...no wait, Five-0. I work for him on the Governors task force." He pointed a shaky finger at Steve.

"And he is?" The doctor questioned, motioning towards Steve.

"I'm a goddamn SEAL Danny, and your superior..."

This time he was sure it was Steve who had spoken, only he was looking right at him and his lips had not moved. Where were these words coming from? Better yet, why did Steve sound so angry with him?

"Danny?"

Steve hadn't been worried when his partner was asked this question, Danny had established shortly after he had woken that he knew who Steve was. But when Danny hesitated once again to answer he felt his gut twisting.

"My partner, Steve McGarrett...he's a goddamn SEAL"

Steve's head snapped back at Danny's words. He had replayed there argument so many times in his head over the past five days that he could recite the entire thing front to back. The last part of what Danny said was clearly a memory, whether Danny knew it or not, and Steve began to panic.

"Danny, are you okay?" The doctor asked, leaning over his patient.

Danny blinked tiredly. He felt so confused.

"Yeah" He rasped.

"I can see this is draining you, I only have a couple more questions."

"Doctor, maybe this is all a little too much too soon." Steve implored on Danny's behalf, he could see his friend fading.

"We're almost done Steve. Now Danny, do you remember your accident?"

Danny thought for a few seconds, willing his brain to cooperate, but came up empty.

"No."

"Okay, what is the last thing you remember doing?"

Again Danny took a few moments to process the question and dig into the recesses of his muddled brain. He cleared his throat and clenched his eyes tight at the pain radiating through his head and throat. He felt a hand squeeze his and opened his eyes.

Steve leaned a little closer. He could see his friend was in pain. It was obvious that Danny had remembered snippets of their argument, but how much really? Was the last memory he had of them arguing?

"Warehouse, we were raiding a warehouse. We drew fire..." He suddenly had a vision of Kono taking a bullet to the head. His head flew off the pillow, all protests from his aching body went ignored. "...Kono! Kono went down!"

A monitor started blaring in the background as Danny's heart rate skyrocketed.

"Danny, try to cal..."

"Kono's okay Danny, she's ok. It was just a graze." Steve jumped in to reassure his partner, ignoring the doctors pleas. He held Danny's hand in both of his and leaned close to ensure eye contact. Even through the horrible shrieking of the monitors Steve could hear the harshness of Danny's breathing. It was rapid and strained. His face contorted in pain before his body suddenly went slack and he collapsed back onto the bed.