I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.

Notes: thank you for the encouraging first reviews! the muses love Danny angst; but there will be Steve POV quite soon.

H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O*

Chapter Two: Letters A through D

Danny didn't realize he was doing it at first. When he did, a small smile leaked out and then he shook his head ruefully for his own, personal benefit.

"Now I'm the one that's stupid." At the twenty-second hour mark he was over-tired and stubbornly awake as he stared at Steve's face. He could almost swear that he was watching each bruise form near the many scratches. Some were longer than others and a few were quite deep. One though, had landed jaggedly and much too closely to Steve's left eye.

So concerned, Ramirez had called at ophthalmologist to be certain, and sighed in relief when no corneal abrasions or injuries were found. But two tiny stitches were laid in the corner of his lid which had been torn. The cuts were close, but close didn't count in this respect and it was good news.

"Arrogant bastard." Danny whispered out loud and dared Steve to hear him through the heavy sedation. Letters A and B were defined and said in a temper because frankly, he was still mad at Steve.

"Damn fool. Since when can you fly or did you conveniently forget that you weren't completely invincible? We're having a talk about this later. You can count on it."

The dense shrubbery had essentially saved Steve from imminent death. However, he was far from out of danger. His injuries reflected a type of blunt force trauma and he was on a ventilator to save his lungs and heart from having to work too hard.

He had roused briefly for Doctor Ramirez shortly after being admitted. His slurred complaint about both abdominal and chest pain came on seconds before he went into cardiac arrest. He was miraculously stabilized, intubated and immediately put on mechanical ventilation.

As a result of blunt force trauma, Steve had a heart contusion and then his lungs were equally problematic. Unequal breath sounds caused Ramirez to identify a tension pneumothorax and thoracic tubes were inserted into both sides of his chest. It was those things that you couldn't see which were most frightening and Danny glowered at the odd display of tubes and wires.

From the E.R., Steve had been moved to the ICU and then Danny had been forcibly removed from the room early on as the heart monitor trilled a desperate warning once again. Two episodes of a frightening ventricular tachycardia had brought the ICU staff running and Steve was now on a specialized drug to stabilize his heart rate. It had already done its job to control the much too rapid beat, but Danny looked up now as the monitor tweaked and he paled.

"Not again." In a few short hours, he'd learned where to stand in the small room to become invisible and removed from the activity. The staff had learned to ignore him out of necessity. Danny leaned towards that corner now in case the nurse or doctor arrived, but until then he remained at the foot of the bed where he strangled the frame with both hands.

The letters C and D.

"You ruined your damned cargo pants again. They're ripped to shreds." It was a sad excuse for the letter C, but it brought to mind the word camouflage which only irked Danny even more since it was a militaristic one.

In his tight anger, Danny's face was dark with worry and he realized that Steve was definitely more cool-headed than he. Sometimes. Only sometimes. He made a sound under his breath and mentally added character. "Leave no man behind, Danno."

He set his jaw and clacked his teeth together angrily. "Who really talks like that, Rambo? Who?"

Danny hadn't realized how much character the man had until he experienced his relentless loyalty first-hand.

"I'll give you another one, too." His hands were shaking again from fatigue and emotion that was just below the surface.

"You are one of the most single-minded, focused and determined people I know." Danny was thinking of nearly every aspect of Steve's life which he took by the scruff and shook viciously and relentlessly until he got what he wanted out of it: especially Wo Fat and Shelburne. Which only made his stomach clench more as his ire rose.

The 'dear Danno' letter still left a hollow, frightening pit in his stomach. The man had stupidly ventured .. alone .. on his own personal mission of vengeance and left a note on a scrap of paper as if he were merely going to the store for a carton of milk or a dozen eggs. Another ill-considered trip had him aiding a supposed friend who had actually laid a trap out of their own misguided wants and desires. More proven instances of leaping before looking and Danny cursed quietly under his breath at the comparison.

How did he get involved so very closely with this man in such a way as to follow him with yet another pack of rabid SEAL hounds? Sometimes Danny felt like a victim, and today was a case in point.

"Dog with a bone, Steve. You'd worry my own mother out of her stilettos. Now focus on yourself and get out of this mess. Then .. we talk."

At first nothing happened as the heart monitor maintained a peaceful, steady pace. Then the blip reappeared to warble dangerously and Danny hung his head for a moment. His tone shifted and the last many hours of weariness echoed in the room. Steve's bloody thigh and side injuries where he had been spiked by thick branches had been cleaned and sutured with the thigh wound being the worst of the two.

Without Danny's quick thinking, Steve would have bled out from the ripped artery. Now though, the chest and cardiac trauma were his truest enemies. Ponch had been honest about the mortality rate if the tachycardia had persisted and his heart had simply stopped working from the severity of the blunt-force trauma.

"Take it easy. Relax, buddy. Let the damned medication do its job." His tone was softer but his voice held a strong note of anger, though. His partner even had to fight those things meant to help him and now was most definitely not the time.

As if in reply, the machine had the gall to tweak again and then it happily calmed. But Danny only slowly heaved out a deep breath, not quite sure he believed it.

~ to be continued ~