Ok, I lied. I said I was gonna get this done last night, but obviously I didn't. In my defense, Mitch said that it was required by law for me to see Forrest Gump, so I didn't want to break the law or anything.
Two weeks passed without incident. Danny's concussion faded and he returned to work. They never were able to discover who had actually hit him, but they felt Chin's homeless addict theory was the most plausible. It wasn't until Steve and Danny were driving to a crime scene that Steve began to notice something was off.
"Steve, aren't you gonna get that?" Danny asked, irritated.
"Get what?" Steve replied, thoroughly confused.
"Your phone. It's been vibrating for the last ten miles." Steve glanced at Danny, his brow furrowed.
"My phone's not ringing, Danny. Neither is yours. You alright?"
"You sure? Huh. Must be all that coffee I had this morning. Grace decided to go shopping for me and she picked out some super caffeinated brand."
"Yeah, ok." Steve said, not quite believing it. The rest of the day he watched his partner closely, noticing small things that, cumulatively, were really starting to worry him. Danny had always been a bit of a hot head, but he seemed far quicker to anger no than ever before. Multiple times over the course of the day, he watched Danny complain about some nonexistent noise. And when he thought no one was looking, Steve could see him try to massage the pain in his head away. When this persisted into the next day, he brought his concerns to Chin. On the third day, Danny stopped showing up for work. The first time, Danny left Steve a short text saying he wasn't feeling well and would be staying home. The next day, there was nothing. Now on the verge of panic, Steve drove like a maniac to his friend's house. When he knocked on the door, there was no answer. Pulling out his key, Steve entered the house.
"Danny?" he called, hoping he would find him asleep instead of something worse. There was no answer. "You sleepin' man?" No answer. "I've tried calling you a million times. Did your phone die?" Steve tried one more time. When he received no response yet again, he began to pull his gun, but stopped when he heard labored breathing coming from the basement. He flew down the stairs and found himself face to face with the barrel of a gun. His eyes followed the arm holding the weapon back and he was shocked to see that it was Danny, his partner and brother for all intents and purposes, pointing the gun at his face.
"Danny," Steve said, slowly raising his hands in a non-threatening gesture. "what's goin' on? Come on, why don't you put the gun-"
"Shut up! Just shut up McGarrett!" Danny yelled, his gun arm dipping and shaking before centering once more on Steve's head. McGarrett? Since when had Danny called him that?
"Danny, I'm just here to help, okay?"
"How…how do I know you're not one of them?" Danny looked truly crazy at this point. Pale and shaky, twitching every once in a while. It hurt Steve to see his friend that way.
"Ok, how can I prove to you that I'm on your side?"
"On the day Grace and Rachel were carjacked, you told me I had something. What did you say I had?" It took Steve a moment to realize what Danny was asking, but as soon as he did he almost smiled.
"I said you had a tone. Danny, right now your tone is scaring the hell out of me and so is that gun." This seemed to calm Danny a bit, so Steve took a chance. Wrapping his hands around the gun, he gently took it from his friend's grasp and tucked it in his waistband. "Come on, Danno. Let's put this away, alright? Now can you tell me what's wrong?" To Steve it looked like Danny was having so sort of psychotic break.
"They're everywhere, Steve." Danny said, his voice a whisper as if afraid 'they' might hear him.
"Who are they, Danny?"
"I don't know! But they're in my head! But they can't find as easily down hear. Safe down here…" Danny muttered as he started to pace and wave his arms. It was then that Steve noticed the blood beneath Danny's fingernails and the angry scratch marks at the base of his head. Even as he watched, he saw Danny scratch at it roughly as if he were trying to dig something out.
"Danno, why don't we get you a hospital?"
"No! They can find me there!"
"Hey hey hey, I'll be there, okay? They won't find you, I promise. But the doctors might be able to figure out how they got in your head." Danny considered this for a moment.
"Okay…" he followed Steve timidly out of the basement. The moment they reached the top of the stairs, his hands flew to his ears and he bent nearly double.
"Danny? Danny, what's wrong?"
"I can hear them! God, it's so loud!" Steve felt close to panic as he tried to put together the pieces. Brain tumor? God, he hoped not. He practically had to carry Danny out to his truck. The entire ride to the ER, Danny spent holding his head. As soon as they arrived, the doctors and nurses for the second time in two weeks took him away and pushed Steve back to the waiting room. Once again, he filled out the paper work and once again, he called Chin.
"Steve!" Chin yelled, running into the waiting room. "What happened?"
"I don't know. I went over there, and he was hiding in the basement. And as soon as I got down the stairs, he pointed his gun at me. Chin, he sounded crazy. Actually insane. He was twitching and going on about these people who were everywhere. And I have no idea really what caused this."
"He'll be okay. I'm sure there's an explanation for this." Chin said, ever the voice of reason.
"I hope you're right."
Shortish chapter, but there's more comin' so don't get your panties in a wad. Thanks for all the reviews! You guys are awesome!