Synopsis: The road to recovery isn't as easy as Danny Williams thought it would be. Steve McGarrett is hiding inside his mile-high emotional wall and, without meaning to; he has started blocking Danny out. But when gun smugglers come searching for payback, will Steve be there for Danny? Or will his Jersey partner be forever silenced. 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 opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Words can Kill'. Here's the sequel.

Chapter Six:

Meant to be Partners

Chin stared at the taller man for a fraction of a second before he was gathering equipment. The 'situation' room was alive with activity. People were running here and there, conversations that he didn't care enough to listen to were happening all around him. The sound of the massive storm raging outside the protective walls of the building was like a knife in his gut. It was the sound of failure and it was…hellishly loud.

The sudden rush of blood inside his head drowned out any other thoughts, except that his friends, no his family was out in this god-forsaken storm. And if they didn't find them? Chin gulped back the torrent of emotions that threatened to overwhelm him.

"Cousin?" Kono's soft call pulled Chin back into the room and he turned. She was leaning heavily against the wall, her leg bent in a rare show of pain. And yet it was the worried and terrified expression on her face that really caught his attention. There was also understanding and support reflecting out of her dark brown eyes. "You can't help them if you die out there too."

The words almost sounded as though they'd been ripped from her and a sudden choking sound had Chin crossing the floor and pulling her into a hug. The hitched breathing and shuddering, racking tremors that tripped through her slim frame were a testament to how deeply she was feeling this loss. And Chin found that he had a hard time controlling his own flood of emotions in the wake of Kono's.

Tears rolled down her face as she buried her head in Chin's shoulder. "I want to go too. Oh God, do I want to go. So bad it hurts. But you and I both know that if we do, we risk not finding them at all." She continued, wiping tears from her eyes. "And we'd be putting all these men and women in danger…they…wouldn't want that."

Chin shook his head ignoring the tightness in his chest as his own eyes burned. "But it's Danny…and Steve. We can't leave them out there." Normally, Chin Ho Kelly was the strong silent type. He only spoke his mind when he felt the need and he generally didn't get too emotionally wrapped up in things. But the thought of losing those two men, the guys that had given him back some semblance of himself after HPD had written him off? It was too much. When he'd lost Malia, he'd thought that was it. Nothing could feel that earth shattering again. He'd been wrong. Losing the two haoles that he considered brothers? That was every bit as bad.

Kono pulled back and gently took her cousin's face in her hands so she could look at him. "Chin, we aren't leaving them out there. We will find them, but we need these search teams to do it. You and I alone can't cover enough ground fast enough."

Chin deflated. He knew that she was right, but the pain of that realization made him want to find a corner and curl up, just letting the emotions crash over him in a tidal wave of grief. And yet, as he looked at his younger cousin and saw the strength and the hope there, Chin knew that he needed to do this the right way. "Okay. We'll give it some time to taper off." He finally managed.

H50 H50

Steve was willing to do damn near anything to take his mind off the current situation and he found his mind wandering to the first time he'd met the man that would become a brother to him. Danny was breathing raggedly and with their close proximity, Steve was feeling every struggling breath.

The water was on the rise again and he knew that they didn't have much time before something had to change. Either the storm needed to wind down or his friend needed to climb back into consciousness. Because Steve couldn't mount a rescue when he was busy keeping Danny's head above water…literally. So, he let his mind wander, without really meaning to.

Four Years Ago-

As a child he remembered the family outings in the backyard, barbecues, birthday parties, and surfing. Steve remembered Mary learning to ride a bike and then promptly falling over, right out there by those towering palm trees. The paint on the house was newer, but the McGarrett home still 'felt' exactly the same.

Now, walking back into his father's house might be the most difficult thing Steve had ever done. Nothing had changed. Not. One. Thing. The entire place was exactly the same. The same wooden chair leaning against the fall wall in the living room; the one that squeaked when you sat too far forward was in the exact same place it had been when he was sixteen. That exact creak in the third step as he headed upstairs. The way his father had kept all his trophies from pinewood derby racing, it was like a punch to the gut. And Steve's chest clenched as painful emotions flooded through him. John McGarrett had been such a creature of habit and holy hell did Steve miss his father.

Damn, even the kitchen smelled the same. He'd been brutally pulled back to reality when he'd seen the blood spatter coating the wall. His father's blood. Blood that had yet to be cleaned. Steve had stopped for a moment taking 'that' in and committing the grisly scene to memory. This was his fault. His tireless search for Victor Hesse had led to his father's murder.

His commanding officers had understood that he needed to go home for the funeral. They'd even insisted that he take some additional time to settle his father's estate, time that he'd tried to refuse, but was informed that he was taking anyway.

The SEAL had barely set foot on Oahu before he immediately started looking for clues. He couldn't help it. He was the son of a cop after all. But oh my god…taking those first steps out into the garage and seeing the black Marquis again? That had taken all the discipline he'd learned as a highly trained Navy SEAL. His heart clenched as he recalled telling his father they'd work on the car when he was home on leave. Truthfully? Steve hadn't intended on coming back to the Island…maybe ever. So much of his life had been blown apart on these Islands and he wasn't keen on reopening those wounds. His father had chuckled and told him 'he'd wait to work on the car till Steve could be there.'

Steve hadn't had the heart to tell his dad that that day may not ever come. But when he pulled the dust cover back and looked at his own haggard reflection in the window of the car? He saw all the things that he'd 'never' get to do with his father staring back at him.

John would never meet Catherine, the woman Steve had been seeing casually for two years. She was great. But his life was so complicated and they were both career military, so she got it. His father would never see him promoted to Commander, the next step in his promotion line. Or children. If Steve ever had kids he'd assumed that his father would be there to teach them how to fish and track or where the best hiking trails were. And generally how to be good little people. Another regret wrapped itself around his heart and Steve had to take a moment and make himself look away.

The disappointment and pain was almost palpable. His father's words played through his head. "Listen champ…" John had never called Steve 'champ'. Not in his entire life, so that had to be a message.

His gaze swept the garage and landed on the red toolbox. And there emblazoned on the outside, were the words 'champ'. He'd barely finished listening to the recorder when a sound from inside the house caught his attention and he quickly replaced everything and sealed the box, spinning with his gun already drawn.

And that's when his life was irrevocably altered. That exact moment when he'd met Detective Danny Williams. The blonde man demanded to know who Steve was and what he was doing inside 'Danny's' crime scene. The fact that he'd refused to lower his weapon, even after Steve had explained who he was, had caused a begrudging respect in the SEAL. This loud blonde 'cop' thought that he was a match for a Navy SEAL? Really? What reality was this guy living in, cuz Steve really wanted to visit. The drugs must be great. But Danny wouldn't back down, not one tiny bit.

Even when Steve had been forced to make that call to the Governor taking on the task force, he'd known that Danny Williams was different. But he hadn't realized how 'different' until he'd gone to the HPD precinct and talked to Meka, Danny's partner and his current boss.

The guy had moved to Honolulu from New Jersey, where he'd been a homicide detective for the better part of a decade. He was admittedly good at his job, solving more cases than not. His partner really liked him, said he had great instincts and was learning the way the Island operated rather quickly. The guy had eighty-seven homicides under his belt, to be exact. Something about his dislike for unsolved puzzles. At least that's what his old partner had said. Steve knew before he knocked on Danny's door that he was going to railroad the other man into being his partner. The guy might not know the Island, or a pineapple from a coconut, but Detective Williams wouldn't have been at the precinct while Steve's father had been 'investigating' his fellow cops. So that meant that Steve could trust him.

And frankly, the moment the Jersey transplant had opened the door to his closet size apartment and Steve had seen the photo of cute little brunette girl, prominently placed on the only furniture in the place, he'd known. Danny was coming over to his task force. He looked around the horrid excuse for a home and noticed there was almost nothing in the place. Except for the bed, if that tragic excuse for a pullout couch could be called a bed, there was only a chair, a lamp (with dress shirts hanging off it) and a small kitchenette. It was a pretty poor excuse for an existence, but if the man was willing to live like this so he could be closer to his daughter? He was a good man. And Steve was in desperate need of a 'good man'. So he hijacked Danny's life.

Over the next four years Steve had learned just how 'good a man' Danny "Danno" Williams really was. And apart from his angry blow on the mountain, Steve had never regretted knocking on that door.

Movement hauled his wandering thoughts back to his current shitty situation and Steve realized that he was now shivering too. That's not a good thing; they needed to get out of this water. He was relieved when he felt movement from the man he was holding.

H50 H50

Danny realized that he was warmer than he had been as he pulled his worn mind back to reality. He shifted slightly and hissed in pain. His arm was throbbing in sharp cracking pings of pain. The crack of the thunder above him wasn't doing anything to help the rampaging headache in his skull or the blurry vision.

"Try to stay still." Steve's voice brought his attention to the fact that he was being 'hugged' by his friend. Danny rolled his head up and looked at the barely visible, but intensely worried, expression on Steve's blurry face. He blinked slowly several times before looking down and realizing that his partner's hands were bound together in front of them. It made it feel a like he was being squeezed rather than hugged. And frankly it kinda hurt.

"In my sock." Danny mumbled quietly.

Steve's gaze flashed down. "What?" He asked.

Danny swallowed and tried to take some of his own weight. He willed his rebellious legs to drop and straighten out. Eventually, the damn things obeyed. But he found that he had to stand on his tippy toes to keep his head from sinking beneath the chilly water. "There's a pocket knife in my sock."

Steve snorted in surprise. "They didn't search you?"

"Sure they did. But they were looking for my backup piece. Not a tiny little pocket knife strapped to my other ankle." He managed to shift and immediately felt colder when Steve's warmth disappeared from behind him. A bone-shattering shiver ran through his smaller frame and Danny ground his teeth together to keep them from chattering.

"Thought you got kicked out of the boy scouts?"

Danny frowned. "Grace tell you about that?"

"She might've mentioned it." Steve said quickly.

"Little gossiping monkey." Danny muttered fondly. Leave it to his daughter to tell the world that he couldn't hack it as a boy scout. Okay, so that wasn't really what had happened. He'd gotten caught sneaking in packages of starbursts and playing cards for the 'secret' poker games that the boys held down by the lake. Turns out, Danny hadn't been cut out to be a candy bookie.

"You gonna be okay for a few minutes while I get that?" Steve was genuinely worried, as he looked at the glazed expression in Danny's usually expressive eyes.

Danny nodded. "Yup…I'll just wait here and try not to drown."

Steve's eyes darkened and he scowled. "Not funny."

"It's a little funny." Danny shot back, a slight quirk to his lips.

The SEAL shook his head. "No Danny. It's not." There was no humor in his eyes and the detective realized that he was actually scaring his tough as nails, I-can-save-the-world, ninja powered partner.

"Steven, I'll be fine. Besides I always wondered how those ballerina's did it."

"Did what?"

He looked right at Steve. "Stand on their toes for so long." His partner tilted his head in realization.

"They have silky pink shoes for that." He looked down and realized where the water was on him and that meant that it was only a few inches from over taking the shorter man.

"I don't know, I think I can pull off pink…not sure about silky though." Danny forced what he hoped was a smile and not a grimace. "I mean, I'm pretty secure in my manhood, but there are limits."

Steve couldn't help the up turn to his lips. "Yes there are, buddy. The water's really that high, huh?"

Danny managed a nod. He couldn't really feel anything much below his chest. He was actually slightly grateful for that fact. His lower back wasn't zinging him with painful reminders of the car accident and the stab wound in his side was numb. Probably should tell Steve about that…nah, he's got more than enough to worry about. "Yeah." He finally answered.

Steve scanned their tiny cave and he could see, between flashes of lightening, that there were bubbles coming from something off to their left. He cataloged that for later use and turned back to his partner. "I'm gonna grab that knife and then I'm gonna get us out of here."

The Jersey cop simply pressed his lips together in a thin line. "And then what?"

"What do you mean, 'and then what'?" Steve retorted. "Then we get the hell outta here and get you to a hospital."

"I'm not saying no to a hospital, babe. But that storm sounds pretty bad, how're we getting out of this area to get to the hospital? That's all I was asking." Danny was surprised that he was feeling as lucid as he was. Maybe it was the drugs finally working their way completely out of his system or maybe it was just the calm before the real pain hit and he threw up all over Steve.

"I'll figure it out." Steve answered quickly. He didn't sound very confident and the detective wasn't sure he believed his friend.

Danny shook his head. And Steve could feel the vestiges of their last argument working its way back to the surface. "We need a plan, Steve."

"I have a plan. Get out of this shitty tube before we drown and get you to a hospital." He didn't voice the other reason he was dead set on getting them both out. Danny's skin was almost grey now and he wasn't moving like he should. All his movements were sluggish and too deliberate to be pain free. Now that could be because he was standing on his toes trying to keep his head above the water, but Steve was pretty sure it was because his partner was getting ready to crash and when that happened? There wasn't going to be a damn thing he could to save Danny. And that wasn't acceptable. Steve was not losing Danny now.

Danny shook his head slowly and winced when a particularly loud boom of thunder cracked in the distance. The rain was still driving down in sheets and he knew that Steve was right. But god-dammit, Danny didn't want to be alone in this tube…not again. His fear was overriding his sensibility and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. The man had used up his quota of 'stay calm' for an entire year in the last two days.

"I'm just going to dive down and get that knife and then we're going to figure something out." His gaze drifted back to the bubbles. "I think I might have a way out."

Danny bit his lower lip as Steve's head disappeared beneath the black surface. All his fears of small spaces and drowning came crashing to the surface and his breathing increased to rapid little pants. He could feel himself getting lightheaded and yet, he couldn't stop it.

Starburst flashed in front of his eyes and he leaned against wall as the water lapped just beneath his chin. "Hurry up, Steve." He whispered desperately as he fought off the fear and the dizziness that was threatening to drown him. If he lost consciousness, he'd be underwater before his friend even knew it. Danny pulled on every scrap of Jersey attitude and forced himself to keep breathing. He even went so far as to picture Grace and every one of her birthdays. Both the ones he'd been to and the ones he'd miss if he died down here. He loses all awareness of time. Come on, Steven. Where the hell are you?

TBC…

Author's Note: Sorry I had to work this week and I wasn't able to sit down and write the next chapter until later than I'd planned. Hope you guys enjoy it. Got some cool visuals planned for the next chapter, what with Steve's rescue attempt and Chin's. Yup, the native Lt. isn't out of this yet. Thanks to everyone that read and reviewed. Much appreciated.

PLEASE REVIEW: This is my shameless request, thanks guys.