Synopsis: When an argument between Danny and Steve spirals out of control and they both say things they don't mean, can one of them survive a deadly accident to apologize? DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.
Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.
Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I haven't ventured into the Hawaii Five-0 space yet…so here goes.
Please take a second and let me know if you're excited about the next chapter?!
Chapter Six:
Epilogue
Danny sat on the edge of the bed, a plastic bag with his few personal belongings sitting next to him. The room was silent and he was staring at the black screen of the tiny television. A lancing pain shot through his back and he winced in response. He wasn't paralyzed, thank god, but he wasn't one hundred percent either. The doctors seemed to think he would be…with time and rehab. He swallowed feelings of concern and looked toward the window. He'd been in the hospital for two weeks and he was totally and completely done with it. Grace had been there every moment that she could be. School was making that a little more difficult, though she seemed to be a genius at getting McGarrett to driver her around.
The cast on his right arm was bright with Grace's drawings of everything from a cat with a mustache to a rainbow over the mountains. He'd had to fight with Steve when he'd felt the need to sign it too. Absolutely, under no circumstances was the SEAL signing that cast. He still hadn't forgotten that Steve didn't let Danny sign his cast after the accident up at the petroglyphs.
His thoughts turned to his team and he sighed, and then groaned when his ribs protested. They were healing 'nicely', as the doctor would say, but they still ached when he breathed deeply. Steve or Rachel had brought Grace by almost every day and that helped his healing process. Seeing the little girl that made his world revolve was as good as any pain medication the doctors could offer him.
"Hey? You ready to go?" Steve's voice interrupted his musings and Danny lifted reflective eyes and nodded.
"You have no idea." He stood slowly and turned to grab the bag. Steve was quicker.
Danny huffed when Steve stepped up and took the bag away. "I got it." The taller man said.
"I can carry my own bag, Steven." But a part of Danny was glad to see that there wasn't any residual baggage between them.
"I'm sure you can. But so can I." His blue-green gaze shifted to the nurse standing in the doorway with a wheelchair and his partner's slightly irritated expression. "Besides, I think your ride is here." Steve finished easily.
Danny's eyes widened in humiliation. "No. I am not riding in that." He pointed at the metal contraption.
"Hospital policy, Detective Williams." The man pushing the chair said before shoving it inside Danny's room.
Intensely irritated blue eyes flashed up and glared at Steve.
Like it's my fault you have to ride in a chair, Danno. He thought with a slight smile.
The parking area was nearly empty and the sun was just starting to set over the tall buildings. Danny's vision was still a little blurry from the severe concussion and he found that he suffered from bouts of dizziness that caught him completely off guard. His face was now a sallow shade of yellow and almost back to his normal color. He'd managed to style his hair to cover the burr holes that had been drilled into his skull to relieve the pressure of his traumatized brain.
Steve pushed him to the truck and locked the wheels in place before stepping around to help Danny get up. "I'm not an invalid, Steve. I can walk." He said quietly as he ground his teeth together and forced his pained body into a standing position. Danny's back pulsed in time with his heartbeat and his vision greyed a bit, but he managed.
"Danny, I know you're tough enough. I just want to help." Steve's words were soft but full of emotion as he stared at his friend. He could see the struggle happening behind Danny's bravado and it was like watching someone torture a puppy. Not that he thought of Danny Williams as a puppy, because that would piss the Jersey cop off something fierce.
A long pained breath from Danny had Steve shaking his head and pulling the passenger side door open. The shorter man stared at the step up he'd have to make to settle into the tall truck and his shoulders slumped slightly. This is going to hurt. He thought silently before carefully grasping the 'oh shit handle' above the seat and hauling his beaten body into the leather of the passenger chair.
Danny's breaths were coming in fast shallow pants when he finally let his weight drop against the seat and he was clenching his eyes shut as he waited for the pain and discomfort to lessen.
"You okay?" Steve's voice was tight with suppressed concern as he watched Danny suffer. They'd talked about what happened out on the trail that day and he knew that the other man no longer held him responsible for the angry words, but he did. Danny wouldn't be in this situation if they hadn't argued and the lingering guilt was sitting like a rock in the SEAL's gut.
Danny tilted his head toward Steve, his blue eyes appearing through the tiny slits of his eyelids. "I will be. Just need a minute to catch my breath." He turned back toward the front and waited for Steve come back after returning the wheelchair. When the driver's side door opened and closed, he spoke. "I assume I'm not going to my place?" He had three flights of stairs and that would be terribly painful for him to manage. I'm not even sure I can. But he doesn't say that to Steve.
"You assume correctly. I've already made up the spare room on the main floor of the house. You're staying with me until you can walk without looking like you've been shot…and dragged through glass. Face down." The truck roared to life and Danny couldn't stop the smile that worked its way onto his face.
"Are you done? Or am I going to burst into flames too?" Steve glared at him. "Honestly, I'd rather be shot than deal with this. Maybe even the glass." He continued. Danny's casted arm gestured to his slowly healing body. "Less painful."
Steve's eyebrows cut down and he frowned. "Is it that bad?" It's the first time he's asked Danny about the pain. He knows that the blonde has a high pain tolerance. Normally, his friend doesn't complain about pain at all and the fact that it came up is making Steve worry that Danny isn't ready to be released from the hospital. He could feel the concern working into his expression. The eyes really are the windows to the soul. Steve thought silently.
"Put away those baby seal eyes, I'm fine." Steve tilted his head and Danny revised his statement. "Okay, I'm not fine. But I will be. So could you quite it with the 'eyes'?" He hazarded a look over at Steve, who was now staring out at the traffic. Danny sighed. "Remember when Jenna had you thinking you could help her and you wound up in WoFat's clutches in North Korea?"
The SEAL's blue-green gaze flashed over and his mouthed worked as he struggled for the words. Of course he remembered that little gem. Danny held up his hand to show Steve he wasn't trying to start anything here.
"Okay, well…remember when I pulled the canvas aside and…" Danny searched for the right words to express what he was trying to say here. "I was convinced I would be recovering your body. I was just as shocked as you that we found you. Alive."
"Where're you going with this, Danny?" Steve didn't like to think about that little error in judgment. He still hated that Jenna had been tricked by WoFat and that she'd had to die for that mistake.
"I have a point. Just let me get to it." Steve raised an eyebrow. "So impatient, Steven. I have a head injury, it takes me a minute to find my thoughts." Danny said quickly.
"Doctor Kekoa gave you a clean bill of health." Steve shot back.
The Jersey native tilted his head. "I'm well aware of that, I was there. Remember?" Steve held up his hand to indicate that Danny should continue. "After we hauled you out of that God forsaken jungle and we all got the hell outta North Korea, worst place ever I might add—"
Steve couldn't let that go without commenting. "—Worse than Afghanistan?"
Danny shook his head. "Leave it to you to get tortured in the worst places on the planet."
The taller man shrugged, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips. "That's where the bad guys were."
"I know. I had to go to both those places and neither of them were on my bucket list, Steven." Danny jumped off on a tangent now and Steve couldn't help but smile widely. "World Series Game at Yankee Stadium, or Dodger Stadium or even a playoff game at any professional football stadium. But North Korea and Afghanistan? Nope didn't even crack the top thousand things on my list."
"L.A.? Really?"
"That's not the point. And it's just to see the Yankees kick their ass. Then I'm flying back to the East coast. Where there are no palm trees and people don't think that fancy flip flops are dress shoes."
Steve can't help the laughter that bubbles up inside and he snorts in agreement. "Fancy flip flops? Really?"
"Do not start with me. There are people that believe, however erroneously, that fancy schmancy flip flops double as dress shoes." Danny turned so he could look at Steve fully. This was very important and the SEAL needed to know how strongly he felt about this subject. "Let me assure you, that they do not."
"I feel like there was a point when this conversation started and now…" Steve pulled into his driveway, parking his truck and looking over at Danny.
"The point, oh ninja-SEAL, is that you were in terrible shape when I found you and I didn't point out every time you winced, yes I said winced, in pain. Therefore, you oh it to me to do the same." His tone shifted, the warmth that was all Danny seeped back in. "I'll be fine. Just gonna take some time."
H50 H50
Steve quietly made his way down the stairs. It was two thirty in the morning and he couldn't sleep. The gentle lull of the ocean waves was actually keeping him awake for once. Generally, that's Danny's department. He thought silently. His brain wouldn't stop replaying the last few weeks over and over in his head. A creak from the old wooden steps had him glaring at the floor before he managed to step onto the solid landing.
The soft light of the television, from the room where Danny was staying, glowed in the low light of the house. Steve debated for all of the twelve seconds before he shuffled over to the room and peaked into the darkness. An infomercial was running quietly and he found that he couldn't help the smile that worked its way onto his lips. Danny had told him the first time he'd stayed with Steve that the crashing ocean kept him awake. He couldn't sleep without the television on. Steve had responded that he couldn't sleep with it blaring words through his house.
Danny had simply shrugged and buried himself deeper in the blankets on the couch. They'd come a long way since that night. Both Danny and himself had grown into a partnership that was stronger than any with a teammate that Steve had ever had. And he knew that Danny felt the same way.
He'd apologized for his words on that mountain, but inside he still couldn't figure out what had prompted them. He certainly didn't feel that way, so why say them? His blue-green gaze fell on the slow steady rise and fall of his friend's chest. Watching the blanket move up and down was Steve's way of reassuring himself that Danny really was okay. He didn't know how long he stood there before Danny's voice caught him off guard.
"It's rude to stare at people while they sleep, Steven. Didn't they teach you that in the Navy?" The smaller man reached out and pushed the blankets down before turning to look at his friend. "What's a matter? Can't sleep?"
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up. I was just headed to get some water and – "
Danny snorted. "—And you saw the television was on and you thought you'd help me out by turning it off?"
Steve looked down, his forehead furrowing in thought. "Nah. Just making sure you're okay."
Danny's blue eyes softened as he recognized the guilt radiating off his partner. "Steve, I'm okay. Really. It's gonna take more than a car accident to take me out."
He watched as the taller man's jaw clenched, the muscle jumping in reaction. "You almost weren't though, Danny. That's the whole point."
Danny wasn't sure what to do with the emotions washing over his friend. He'd only seen Steve emotional on a few occasions the entire time they'd known each other. And not once could he remember his well being as the cause of the stricken look that the SEAL would wear while dealing with them. He ground his teeth together and forced himself up into a sitting position. "The point is, I'm fine. I'll heal. We're good. I need another car, but other than that…Steve nothing was broken that can't be fixed."
Steve started to answer, but the ringing of his cell phone had him swearing internally as he turned to look at the stairs. His phone was plugged in by his bed. "I gotta go get that." He looked torn.
Danny smiled. "Go. I'm not going anywhere."
"I'm not done with this conversation, Danno." The phone rang again and Steve took off at a run.
Danny's whispered response was totally lost on the other man. "I never thought you were."
H50 H50
The call had been from HPD, they'd gotten a lead on the lower receiver units of the weapons they'd recovered in the raid three weeks earlier. Steve had reluctantly agreed to meet up with them the following day to deal with the planning process of another search and seizure. By the time he'd gotten off the phone, Danny had fallen asleep again. Steve was pretty sure it was the pain meds the detective was on. He wasn't willing to wake the other man up again just to assuage his own guilty heart. So Steve swallowed the things he wanted to say and grabbed a glass of water before heading back to bed.
H50 H50
Danny was startled awake by a fiery pain racing along his spine and down his sciatic nerve. His entire body clenched in agony as he tried to ride out the spasm. He could taste the metallic ring of blood when he accidently bit through his lower lip. It was like having a seizure when you already had cracked ribs. His body contorted without his consent and he was helpless to stop it.
What felt like hours later, the spasm passed and his rigged muscles relaxed. The entire sheet was drenched in sweat and his hair was clinging to his head. Danny blinked slowly and he wanted nothing more than to make it to the bathroom and throw up. But he knew that Steve would hear him and he had no intention of laying the guilt any thicker than the SEAL was already dealing with. He could handle a little pain.
The doctor had explained that he could have some discomfort. I think you undersold the 'discomfort' doc. He thought with irritation. As he laid there and focused on breathing, Danny knew that his sleeping was finished for the rest of the night. He reached over and grabbed the remote, flipping through the limited channels on Steve's cable service until he came across a Die Hard marathon.
The irony wasn't lost on him that he was watching Die Hard and that the movie had saved his and Steve' lives not even four weeks earlier. "Guess it's just you and me, Bruce." He said in a clenched voice. He forced himself to sit up and leaned against the headboard.
H50 H50
"You're sure you slept okay?" Steve asked quickly. Something about Danny seemed off when Steve had come down to make some breakfast. Danny was pale and his hand that wasn't in a cast, was shaking slightly. "You're not in pain?"
Danny thinned his lips and looked at the plate of eggs that Steve set next to him. There was a couple slices of wheat bread, leave it to Steve to have heart-healthy whole-wheat bread, and a few slices of what looked like turkey bacon. "No. No pain. You do realize that at no time has a turkey ever been considered swine?" He needed to change the subject before his friend saw through his lie.
Steve tilted his head to the side and looked at Danny in confusion. "Am I aware that fowl isn't a pig? Uh yeah, I passed biology in school, Danny."
"Then why am I looking at something that thinks it's bacon, but is in fact, a feathered bird masquerading as bacon?" He needed to make sure that his friend was focused on anything other than his appearance. Because Danny wasn't sure how long he could keep up the charade of 'feeling fine'.
"Turkey bacon is a perfectly acceptable, healthy, substitution for the fatty version of actual pig bacon…plus I like the taste better." Steve finished before setting a glass of juice next to the plate of food.
Danny sighed with dramatic effect. "It's false advertising, Steven. It says it is one thing. When in actuality it is something else. Therefore, it is a lie."
"Just eat the food, Danno." Steve started to leave, stopping in the doorway. "If you don't I'm calling Grace."
Danny's slate blue eyes flashed up and he glared at the navy SEAL. "You wouldn't."
"Oh, I would." Steve said firmly.
"You, my friend? Are an animal." Danny said as he picked up the juice and took a hesitant sip. "It's good." He said after the orange juice burned its way down his parched throat.
Steve smiled. "I have to go to the office today. You gonna be okay while I'm gone?"
Danny sighed. "Yes mother. I'll be okay on my own. I can take care of myself, you know?" He took another drink of juice. "Is this about the guns?"
Steve was pulling a clean shirt over his head, so his voice was muffled when he answered. "Yeah, HPD got a tip that sounds legit. They wanna go over the location and put together a team to go after it."
"And they want Five-0's input." Danny finished.
"Yeah."
"Wish I could be there with you partner." Danny bit at his lip and finished the thought. "Ya know…to back you up."
Steve froze and turned to look his friend in the eyes. A small lump formed in his throat when he was the clear need for confirmation in Danny's gaze. "Danny's there's no one I would rather have backing me up out there."
Danny forced a smile. "Just make sure you take Chin and Kono. God knows it'll take both of them to make up for one of me trying to keep you from doing something crazy."
"Since when do I do crazy things?" Steve shot back. He was smiling now as he stared at his friend.
"Since the day I met you. Need I remind you of the Chinese freighter incident?" Danny answered quickly. He looked away for a moment before shifting his gaze back to Steve's. "And don't ever change, Steve…just be careful."
Steve had to swallow the emotions that threatened to burst out of him. "I will. I'll see you in a couple hours."
Danny nodded and waved. As soon as he heard the front door close he slumped in on himself, the agony finally taking its toll as he allowed his body to fold in around the pain. He was going to work his way through this. He would be fine. And Steve? He never needed to know about this.
THE END
Author's Note: Okay so yeah…there's gonna be a sequel. There has to be. I couldn't end it this way and Danny's injuries were too severe to overcome so easily. And this way I get to torture him and Steve some more…so yay! Plus, what's going to happen when Grace realizes that Danno kept something like this from her?
Thanks to everyone that has read and reviewed this story. You guys have been amazing, awesome, radical, and any other word that means fantastic. So thanks for that.
Please Review: Let me know what you thought of the story. I'd love to hear.