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 Ten:

A Reason to Fight

Kono watched as Danny was rushed through the double doors of the hospital in Hilo. She was wringing her hands together as fear and worry tripped through her entire body, it was an old habit she'd started as a kid. Danny had stopped breathing on the ride over and they'd spent the last ten minutes of the flight breathing for him artificially. Luckily his stubborn heart seemed to refuse to quite beating, so that was something.

The paramedic had explained some of the injuries that were threatening the cop's life and Kono had bit her lip as she listened. Danny had a life threatening infection because of the stab wound in his side, that was their most immediate concern. He also had a grade three concussion, which could lead to coma or death, she'd kinda tuned out a little when the woman brought up a coma…but then she'd heard 'death' and that had brought her attention back like a splash of ice water.

The other injuries were being compounded by fluid in his lungs, probably salt water. So pneumonia was a rising concern. Danny's right arm had been re-broken at some point along the way and he had nasty contusions all over his body. The one gash on his face was also infected and the list seemed to go on and on.

Finding Danny alive had been sheer luck. If they'd been even twenty minutes later, he would have been dead. That thought was so painful that Kono shoved it down into the bowls of her gut. Her phone went off and she jumped in surprise before pulling it out…Chin.

"Chin, did you find McGarrett?" She didn't even bother with a 'hello'.

Her cousin's voice was strained, but not like it would have been if they'd found a body. "Yeah, he swam in from the ocean."

"Whoa wait, the ocean? What the hell was he doing in the ocean?" Kono wiped at tired eyes before sinking down into one of the hard plastic chairs in the waiting room. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd eaten. The black coffee she'd drank this morning was sitting like sludge in her stomach now.

Chin groaned. "I didn't get a chance to ask him. He passed out. How's Danny?"

Kono swallowed hard before answering. "He's bad, Chin."

There was a brief silence before her cousin's voice caught Kono's attention again. "How bad, Kono?"

"Uh, infection, pneumonia probably, and there is a lot of other small medical problems that are adding up to big medical problems." She couldn't go through the laundry list of injuries to their favorite Jersey cop right now. Kono knew she was barely holding it together as it was.

"Will he be okay?" The words were soft, but firm.

"I uh…they don't know. If he makes it through the next forty-eight hours…maybe." Her voice hitched as emotion finally broke through.

Chin was silent for a moment as he listened to his cousin cry. "They're going to be okay, Kono. We're not losing them now."

She nodded, but didn't answer.

"We're just getting ready to land, I'll find you as soon as they get McGarrett inside."

"Okay." She managed before she heard the 'click' of the phone. Kono slowly lowered her hand and stared at the small device without really seeing it.

H50 H50

It had happened when he'd been young; the knowledge that he wanted to be a cop. And man, had that gone over like crap with his fire fighter father. Danny was standing in the kitchen with the acceptance form to the Newark Police Academy. He'd managed to hide the fact that he was majoring in criminal justice in college, but there was no way he could hide this.

The metaphorical 'cat' was definitely coming out of the bag now. He pulled in a slow breath and bit at his lower lip before finally walking into the kitchen. Danny's father was standing near the counter, his hands fist deep in some bread dough. An apron strapped to his chest, 'If you can't stand the fire, get out of the kitchen' scrawled across the bright red fabric.

"Danny? I didn't know you were coming home this weekend." His father smiled and Danny felt his chest tighten. He was about to wipe that grin off his father's face and that sucked.

"Uh, yeah…graduation is next week, so there's not much going on around campus." Danny started to step forward, but stopped when he realized that he didn't know how to start this conversation. He was a very verbose person and not knowing which words to string together to get his father's support was unchartered territory for him.

His father nodded and Matthew came barreling into the kitchen, a hockey stick in one have and a pair of roller blades in the other. "Danny!" The younger William's boy threw his arms around his older brother; Danny hugged the boy back effortlessly.

"Hey, Matty." His blue gaze dropped to the new roller blades. "They fit okay?"

The boy's face nearly split with the wide grin that went from ear to ear, his brown eyes sparkling with mischief. "They're perfect, Danny. Thank you."

"Sorry I couldn't get home for your birthday last weekend." Danny had had two finals that required some serious study time and missing Matt's birthday had been the price.

The boy snorted. "That's okay, school's important."

"Stop pestering your brother and go play." Their father's voice interrupted the reunion and Matty grinned again before racing out of the house.

"He'll break his arm you know." His father's amused voice pulled his attention back.

Danny raised an eyebrow at that. "Dad, he'll be fine." He gripped the papers tighter in his hand and then stepped forward. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure, son. What's up?" He grabbed a towel and wiped off the excess flour before gesturing to the dining room table. Danny's gaze shifted around the homey kitchen and he sighed. His mother had a thing with apples and the cute little designs that were all over the kitchen were doing nothing to make Danny feel better about what was to come.

Danny sat down, but he found his leg bouncing nervously beneath the table. "I graduate next week."

His father laughed. "I know that, son. Got the time off from the department so your mother and I can attend the graduation on Thursday."

Danny grimaced and tuned away for a moment before pushing on. "Which means that I needed to find a job."

"I already talked to the Newark fire academy, they're expecting your application." It was said so matter of fact that Danny wanted to scream. In his father's eyes it was a foregone conclusion that he was headed into the fire department. But Danny had 'never' wanted to be a fire fighter. He couldn't imagine being confined inside the mask or having to crawl through tiny spaces trying to rescue someone. Even the mere thought of being in a small space had his heart pounding in his chest.

His response came out more bluntly than he intended. "I got accepted into the police academy…I'm gonna be a cop, dad."

He watched as his father's face turned three shades of red before he finally simply nodded and headed back to the ball of dough on the counter. Within seconds he was punching the shit out of the bread. Danny winced at the rough treatment and knew that this had gone down exactly like he thought it would. His father was pissed with a capital 'P'.

Danny blinked a few times and then finally hauled himself to his feet, gabbing the letter. He'd been so excited about this and he'd hoped that his father might surprise him…looks like he'd been fooling himself. He didn't say anything as he left the house. He could hear Matty laughing up the street and he gulped back the emotions swirling around before he crawled behind the wheel of his old Buick.

The unfamiliar sting of tears had him swiping at his eyes as he shoved the key into the ignition. For someone like Danny Williams, family was everything and the thought of disappointing his father was like being stabbed in the heart.

The scene shifted and Danny found himself inside his old apartment…the one he'd gotten when he'd first moved to the island. It was tiny and smelled like mold, but it was all he could afford after the expense of moving. The rap on his door had him jumping to his feet.

He yanked it opened and leaning heavily against the door was Steve. But he looked like hell. Bruising all along the left side of his face and a trickle of blood dripping from his hairline had the detective immediately trying to usher Steve inside.

"I can't come in, Danny." Steve said in a broken voice.

Danny stopped and stared at his friend in confusion. "What? Of course you can. You look like hell, Steve."

Steve managed a nod and then his face scrunched up in pain. He doubled over and vomited on the floor of Danny's shitty apartment. So now it smelled like mold and vomit, not a great mixture. "Hey man…come on. You need to sit down before you fall down."

"I can't, Danny."

"You can't what, babe?" Danny asked as he tried to hold his friend upright.

Steve's voice cracked and he started to pitch forward, "I can't do this without you." The SEAL collapsed to the floor and didn't move.

"Steve!" Danny cried in surprise. He knelt next to his friend and placed shaking fingers on his neck, searching for a pulse. A slowly weakening 'thump thump thump' fluttered against his fingers. "Come on, Steve." Danny said softly. "You're not in this alone, man. You aren't going to lose me. But you gotta fight, brother…you gotta fight."

H50 H50

Steve started to rouse just as the emergency team was helping remove him from the life flight helicopter. His entire body was a mass of pain and it culminated in his head, which was threatening split open. His thoughts were fuzzy. Something about swimming…but that was unusual, he swam every day. But there was something else. A particularly painful slice of pain had him grimacing.

"Whoa, Steve?" Chin's worried voice cut through the haze of pain and Steve forced heavy eyelids open.

It was bright. And he immediately squeezed his eyelids shut again. He started to move his hand up to rub his eyes, but Chin's gentle touch held it in place on the gurney. The nurses and doctors were all talking at once an Steve couldn't understand a single thing they were saying, it was like listening to a hive full of bees.

"Danny…" He finally croaked out. His entire face screwed up in a mixture of pain and anxiety.

Chin stopped the procession of medical personnel. He knew that this was one answer that Steve needed to have. "He's alive. We got him out, Steve." He watched as the commander's face relaxed and he slipped into unconsciousness again.

H50 H50

Steve was sitting on lanai at his house, a cold beer in his hands. He stared out at the massive expanse of ocean and tried to understand the anxiety that was tripping through his chest at the sight. Normally the ocean was a calming influence for him, but today it was like the sea was trying to tell him something…something important.

He lifted the beer to his lips and took a long drink before he leaned back in the chair and continued to stare out trying to decipher the puzzle.

"Got another one of those?" Danny's voice interrupted and Steve's eyes flashed over and he dropped the beer. The amber liquid spilled into the sand as he surged to his feet in shock over his partner's appearance.

Danny was hunched over, his face beat up and his right arm held tightly against his chest.

"Danny?! What the hell happened?" Steve was immediately trying to settle Danny into the chair next to him, but the Jersey cop just waved him off.

"Nothing a cold beer won't fix." He quipped. His voice was tight and low as he continued to stare at Steve.

"You need a hospital, buddy."

Danny shrugged and them grimaced in pain. "Probably." He said.

Steve was still trying to get him to sit, but Danny just stood there in the sand…bleeding. There was obviously something that he wanted to say and Steve was getting more and more concerned the longer his friend remained silent. "What is it, Danny?"

"Why did you leave me, Steve?"

And in a rush of memories Steve recalled the last two days. Danny being taken, the fear that he would never see his best friend again and the relief when he'd found Danny alive. Then there was the immediate guilt that he couldn't save Danny from the lava tube.

"I had to get help, Danny." He defended.

Danny swallowed. "No, not in the tube…why did you leave me alone all these weeks? I needed you. I needed my friend and you left me alone. "

The guilty wash of emotion was enough to steal the breath from Steve as he stared at Danny. He hadn't been able to deal with the depth of emotion that this damn snarky New Jersey cop elicited from him. Steve connection to Danny went as deep as the one to his sister or his father. Danny was the brother that Steve had never had and now he was standing, 'no hunching', in Steve's backyard and asking why the SEAL had abandoned him when he needed him most.

"You gotta fight…" Danny whispered.

"I…I'm sorry, Danny. I will. I'll fight." Steve had no idea what he was supposed to be fighting, but he would fight the devil himself to save his friend. He managed to murmur the words right before the detective's strength gave out and he collapsed on the sand in front of Steve. "Danny!" He tried to move to the crumpled form of the blonde cop. But he was frozen in place…all he could do was watch as Danny bled out on the sand.

H50 H50

Chin heard the whine of a heart rate monitor and he rushed to the double doors, staring through them as a crash cart was pulled next to Steve. His hand flew to this mouth and he bit at his lip as the doctor's tried to restart his friend's heart.

"Come on, Steve…fight." Chin mumbled as people fought to save Steve's life.

H50 H50

No one seemed to notice the two Asian men standing near the sliding glass doors. They were watching as the leader of Five-0 was wheeled past the 'no admittance' door and into the emergency room. Both of the men's faces were blank, but there was a distinct look of menace hanging around them. The taller of the two looked over at his partner and jerked his head toward the door.

Once they were outside, he finally spoke. "Boss ain't gonna be happy about this."

The other man shook his head. "No, he is not."

"What do you wanna do about it?"

The shorter man, with the Russian accent narrowed his eyes. "Wait. We wait until they're alone and then…people die all the time in a hospital."

The other man simply nodded and they started toward the black car waiting in the parking lot.

TBC…

Author's Note: Again, life reared its ugly head and I wasn't able to get back to my computer until today. Sorry about that. So it's not over and both Danny and Steve are in rough shape…can Chin and Kono catch the men responsible before they finish the job?

Thank you to everyone that read and reviewed, much appreciated.

PLEASE REVIEW: Just let me know what you thought of the latest chapter.

7