Danny rubbed a tired hand over his face. His finger hovered over the ENTER key as he said a silent prayer to the computer gods to let the report go through without a glitch. With a quick tap he held his breath and waited. The few seconds seemed like forever but soon a screen popped up informing him that the report was successfully submitted.

"HA! Take that bitch!" He squealed with delight and spun around in his chair.

"Danny"

"Oh hey, sorry not you..I was just...talkin to...you know what, nevermind. Forget the coffee." He rose to his feet and glanced at Steve, "Since you obviously have already " he motioned towards Steve's empty hands. "I'm done here anyway...let's grab a beer.

Steve stood motionless, his heart pounded rapidly in his chest.

"Danny I..." He was surprised to hear his own voice crackle, Danny didn't seem to notice. He busied himself with straightening up his desk. He watched as he grabbed his keys and phone.

"How the hell did I miss that...got a message from Grace." Steve felt his stomach turn at the frown that appeared on Danny's face when he realized he had missed a phone call from Grace. " C'mon, I'll call her back in the car." Danny began towards the door but stopped just a few feet from Steve when he saw he hadn't budged.

"What are you doing?" Steve swallowed, hard. Danny finally looked at his partner and took quick note of a new face. He hadn't seen that one before and he was sure that he immediately did not like the look of it. The sick intensity make his stomach flop but he just as soon pushed it back.

"What's with you? You break Kono's new toy? Relax, she'll get over...

"Danny..." Steve interrupted as Danny tried to quell the uneasy feeling he was getting by cracking a joke. It was now or never.

"What the fuck Steve? Spit it out already"

"Danny there's been an accident..." Steve swallowed and took a deep breath. "It's Rachel and Grace."

Those were words Danny NEVER wanted to hear. And judging by the ominous tone to Steve's voice it was bad. He felt his heart begin to race, the speed of it started to pump blood through his ears making it hard to stay focused. He felt the panic rise when he realized what the new look was...pity. Blinking rapidly Danny pushed past Steve, making a beeline for the exit.

"Where are they? Hospital?" Steve grabbed Danny's arm as he rushed to get away.

"Danny wait..." Danny tried to pry his arm out of Steve's grip but he held him firmly in place.

"What are y...let go McGarrett! I have to go!" Steve knew he had no right to keep him from leaving, but he wanted...no needed...to prepare Danny. In the brief moment they locked eyes the message was conveyed. This was bad, really fucking bad and Danny knew it. Steve saw the flash of understanding in Danny's eyes and let his hand fall away. Danny was about to face the single most horrific nightmare that a man could ever face.

"I have to g...get to them" His breath caught in his throat and panicked unshed tears filled his eyes. Steve nodded sadly as Danny turned to leave.

The car ride to the hospital was eerily silent except for the sirens blaring. Steve had swiftly follows behind Danny and barely made it into the car before he peeled away from the parking lot. There was a flurry of activity as Danny burst through the doors of the ER. His eyes darted around the room, searching for his family. He prayed to God that he would find them behind one of the curtains, shaken up but fine. Only he couldn't clearly see anything at the moment as doctors and nurses rushed past him. He tried grabbing one of them.

"Hey! My daughter was brought in here..with her mother..." The doctor shrugged and shook his head.

"Sorry man, don't know..." he mumbled, pulling away from Danny and rushing off.

"You..." He pointed as a nurse. "My daughter..i'm looking for my daughter...Grace...her mother Rachel..." The nurse, too, shook her head and ran off. Danny tried unsuccessfully to get someone, anyone to stop and help him. He felt the room spinning around him. Where the hell were they? His fear and frustration mounted, he picked up an IV stand and threw it to the ground. Almost all movement in the ER came to a halt at the noise.

"My wife and daughter were brought here...Rachel and Grace Williams...please, someone tell me where the hell they are!" Danny panted, his tortured plea making Steve want to vomit. "Someone please...where are they...please?"

Steve saw movement over Danny's shoulders.

"Danny" He nodded his head toward the HPD officer standing near a trauma bay. Danny turned and walked toward the direction of the familiar face. The curtains were drawn but he could see the shadow of feet as they scurried around the gurney, he could hear a jumble of medical jargon being tossed around.

"Williams...you shouldn't..." Danny ignored the feeble attempt made by the officer and walked past him. Nothing on the face of this earth could have prepared him for the sight before him.

"Grace" It was a strangled whisper.

His baby, his sweet innocent angel.

Blood. Her face covered in it. The gauze wrapped around her tiny head soaked through with red.

She was still, save for the doctors working frantically to stabilize her. A tube poked through her small fragile mouth with a pump attached to it. A nurse standing behind, squeezing the plastic, keeping a flow of oxygen pumping in her lungs. They poked and prodded, needles varnishing her perfect skin. Her clothes had been cut away and he watched a nurse place the bloody scraps in a nearby bin.

The world stopped. He couldn't hear anything except for the furious pounding of his own heart.

Steve had followed Danny and felt the bile rise in his throat when he saw Grace. He suddenly heard Danny's voice in his head...a distant memory, but one he would never forget.

' Grace is my life. If I lose her then I have no reason to be here '

He dared a glance at Danny. He had seen many horrible things in his career. He had himself been subject to tragedy. But none of it compared. The horror he found in Danny's eyes would haunt him forever. He was entranced by it, until he heard Danny's frightful voice.

"Grace?" It was a choked cry, a little louder than the last. It got the attention of one of the doctors working on his daughter.

"Call the OR..tell them to get prepped we're on our way" The doctor announced as the other physicians scurried about preparing to move the gurney. He pulled his protective scrubs off, the ones splattered with Grace's blood and approached Danny.

"Detective Williams?"

"What's wrong with her...where are you taking her?" Danny moved past the doctor as his daughter was wheeled from behind the curtain and moved towards the elevators

"Grace!" The doctor caught up to him and grabbed his arm.

"Detective Williams!" Steve was there in an instant, a hard glare warning the doctor to remove his hand from Danny. The doctor complied and tried a calmer tone.

"Detective Williams, your daughter needs surgery...Detective?"

Danny tried focusing on the doctors words but he couldn't tear his eyes away from Grace as they wheeled her away.

"What for Doc?" Steve, seeing his partner couldn't possibly comprehend what was happening, interjected.

"Grace has an open head injury..blunt force trauma to her head caused skull fragments to pierce her brain..." The doctor directed his words at Danny once again as he turned confused eyes toward him. "..she needs surgery to remove the fragments, if possible, and reduce the swelling on her brain. Initial CAT scans show reduced brain activity but we're hoping once we get in there we can stop the deterioration of..."

"Reduced brain activity? What the hell does that mean? Is Grace going to be ok?"

"She's critical..there is no guarantee that the surgery will be successful but without it she doesn't have a chance"

Steve resisted every urge he had to throw this guy into the wall. Instead he rested a strong hand on Danny's shoulder. Letting him know he was there, he wasn't alone.

Danny tried to process what he was hearing. Surgery. Swelling. Reduced activity. Basically he was being told that his 8 year old daughter would die without surgery and even that could end in tragedy. How did this happen? How did he end up here?

"Do what you have to do..." He felt his words hitch in his throat. "...Just save my little girl"

The doctor nodded solemnly " There's just some forms I need you to sign, I'll have a nurse bring them over."

A sudden realization hit Danny as the doctor turned to leave.

"Wait, hold on...Rachel...my wi...Grace's mother...she was brought in too...do you kn.."

His words came to a halt. There was that look again, except now the unfamiliar doctor wore it.

"Detective, I'm so sorry...she was...there was nothing we could do"