The reason us writers write (aside from a sick need to beat the crap outta our fav tv guys) is because of you amazing peaple and your support. I can't believe the response there has been to this little fic. Thank you x
PS: I finished this fic last weekend and there's a few nods toward a certain comic genius who sadly passed away this week. You've seen one already, there's a few more mentions on the way in the up coming chapters. Even if these parts weren't in the fic i would have added them anyway as a small tribute.
PPS: As one person has already noted, Steve is emotional because of the concussion. Thats why i love H/C so much. The most stoic and strong of characters can be brought to a point through pain and exhaustion to a place where we can see a glimpse inside to all the pain and emotion that has been buried.
PPSSPSSSPPS: So glad i'm not the only one who hates clowns.
On with the show...
Danny ran. He ran as hard and as fast as his body would allow him. He ran for hope. He ran for promise. He ran for Steve.
He stopped. Chest heaving, body bathed in sweat. He daren't sit down and take a break. Daren't stop for too long.
He stared with eye's closed at his cell. Opening them slowly he gazed upon the black bar in awe. It faltered. He blinked. It faded. He held the phone higher. It disappeared.
He ran.
Further back down the road the echo of darkness crept toward the fallen man. The surrounding wildlife watched him curiously. This creature, laying there alone. Some crept forward, sniffing the air as the light bowed out of the day. Their nostrils caught the scent of copper, of desperation. The figure rolled to the side, eye's set, determined to stand. Both hands held firm against the gravel beneath, muscles flexed in readiness of the challenge. Steve breathed deep, and began the arduous task of standing. He swayed but held steady, making it up on to his left leg. As he pressed his right to the ground to lever himself upward the limb gave way, he felt the wound tear further as he fell back to the unforgiving surface of the road.
The wildlife scattered as he cried out in pain. Then blackness claimed him once again.
He came too with a start. The light almost completely gone from the day, his confusion lingered as he tried to figure out just what the hell was going on. He was alone. He was always alone wasn't he? Somewhere, deep within his mind, a voice whispered a name. A forgotten hope to cling to in the darkness.
"Danno" he whispered through dry, chapped lips.
He rolled to his side, forced himself up on his left leg. Waited for the nausea and dizziness to settle back to manageable levels, then pulled his right leg out from under him. Hands both still gripping the floor, the position painful against his broken ribs. He stood. His small victory short lived as he went to take a step forward, only to find himself back on his hands and knee's. Tears of frustration, exhaustion and pain flooded his eyes. Their trail down his face a quick race as he gave into the emotions. He was hurt and alone. He was tired of always being hurt and alone. Physically or emotionally the burden was taking its toll. His head pounded, vision blurry. Each breath sent a dagger through his head. His rib's screamed, with each movement of his body he felt them give and grind, the pain intensifying as he tried to inhale as much oxygen as his battered body needed. On his hand's and knee's Steve wept. Head down, eyes closed he witnessed all the pain as the images he'd fought so hard to bury bombarded his mind as the strength to hold the dam closed failed him.. The phone call, the gun shot, the silence. His physical pain forgotten as his body convulsed under the weight of the flood gates as the water tore free.
"DANNO!" He cried as loud as his spent body could muster. "DANNY!".
He was not going to die here alone. No more alone. He'd found someone he felt he could confide in. Found someone who seemed to see through the cracks, see through the false air of cheer. See him for who he really was. A man struggling with the weight of the world and the guilt of a murdered father. He'd been too caught up in his own turmoil to see what Danny had become to him. He had to get to Danny. Had to allow Danny in through the barriers he'd spent years building. Had to allow himself the honour of a friend like his partner. Had to escape the overwhelming task of being alone with his burdens. He had to lay them down and allow his friend to help carry them.
"DANNO!" He cried again, he pulled his injured right leg forward, then left hand, left knee, right hand. He crawled forward. A slow and pitiful figure with eyes open and a goal in mind. Crawled forward through all the pain, all the guilt, all the regret. His tears forgotten, his resolve concrete. His forward progress not only physical. The strength of the growing friendship giving him the push he needed to continue forward. Toward his partner. Toward his friend.
Danny ran. His legs burned with the effort, his chest heaved as he fought through the pain barrier, fought against the stitch in his side and the pain lacing through this head. He ran , clutching the recently disconnect phone. Chin and Kono were on their way. They were twenty minutes out. Having become impatient and more than just a little worried at the fact neither one of the other half of the Five-0 team had answered their phones, they'd decided to come check and make sure nothing had happened to them. Danny thanked them breathlessly as Kono promised to have EMT's meet them on the road. They were safe. Now all he had to do was get back to his fallen friend.
As he ran as carefully and as quickly as he could in the dim light of dusk, Danny made a silent promise that if Steve was not in the condition with which he'd left him, he was allowed to smack the idiot like the little bitch he was.
The little bitch who was currently crawling toward him.
Danny came to a halt, more than a little shocked and completely overcome with awe as Steve crawled down the road . He'd made it maybe fifty feet from where he'd first passed out. Did the man ever give up? Danny admired the answer to the question as he jogged toward his friend.
"Steve? Hey, man. Where you going?"
Steve didn't hear him, his focus so intent that the outside world had melted away. He jumped as Danny laid a hand on his shoulder to still him.
"Danno?" He squinted against the lack of light, trying to make out the features of his friend.
"Help's on the way. Chin and Kono are coming." Danny gently pushed Steve down onto his back, carefully laying his partner's head against his thigh. He closed his eyes as he fought to bring his breathing under control. He hadn't run like that in years. Sure he occasionally ran after a suspect, but that never lasted for too long as he inevitably always managed to catch them quick. What he lacked in height, he more than made up for in speed. Danny took a deep breath as his body calmed. He frowned as he still heard lungs gasping for air.
Steve's lips were slightly blue. His mouth parted as he tried to fill aching, reluctant lungs.
"Hey? Steve, you ok?" Danny wiped some of the sweat from the Lt Commander's brow and frowned at the heat rolling off of him.
"You came back." Steve said as he gazed up at his partner with thankful eyes.
"You didn't think I would?" Asked Danny.
"Don't remember, you, leaving, thought I'd, come find you."
"You're an idiot, you know that right?"
Steve smiled. His gasping fight for air had become an intense wheezing battle. Danny rested his hand against the right side of Steve's chest. There was little movement. A rib had punctured his lung. Danny tried to calm the terrifying thoughts that cascaded through his mind. Tried to sort out the panic from the fact. He kept reminding himself that help was on the way. It was just a matter of minutes.
Steve's eyes began to droop as he rested against the safety of his partner. Everything would be ok. Danny was here. Danny was looking out for him. Danny was slapping him with ever increasing frequency.
"Wha?" Steve opened groggy eyes, attempted to glare at his partner but gave up when Danny gave him a bemused smile.
"Are you seriously trying to look angry at me? You look like you're constipated."
"Stop naming, my faces."
"Stop falling asleep and I might. I need you awake, ok?"
"S'hard."
"I know, but I need you to do it. For me."
"S'not fair."
"Yeah, well. Tough. I didn't run that marathon at a sprint just for you to take a break and sleep, ok? If I have to stay awake, so do you. You are not to sleep unless I tell you its ok. Steve?"
"Mmm?"
"Tell me you understand."
"Uh huh."
"STEVE!." Demanded Danny.
"I. under, stand." Came the wheezy reply.
"Good. No sleep till I say."
"Bet, you, say, that, to Gracie, every, weekend." Steve attempted a laugh that quickly turned into a pain filled groan. His skin had grown paler, his breathing more erratic.
"I sure do." Smiled Danny as he wiped more sweat from his partner's brow. "Now do me a favour and stop talking. Ok?"
"You're, bossy."
"Well, right now I am the boss. So shut up. And don't fall asleep."
If he had the energy Steve would have stuck his tongue out at Danny in defiance. Instead he focused on the tie his friend was wearing. Focused on the patterns and loops of the knot. Focused on the shirt and the marks and dirt stains, a grimy history of their day. He focused on all the little things while Danny focused on the breathing of the man in his lap. The sound of the struggle for air. The parted lips, tinged slightly blue. The determined set in the eyes. The pained lines that seemed to define his face. He's not giving up. For you. Said the voice in his head. Danny gazed down at the barely conscious man in his lap. Steve gazed up. Their eyes locked as each vowed to fulfil the promise to the other.
Neither broke contact as the sounds of engines drifted along the darkness toward them.
Neither broke contact as the lights, high beams followed by blue and reds, danced across the landscape, chasing away the shadows that reached out to embrace the two men.
Neither broke contact as Chin and Kono, followed by two EMT's raced toward them.
See, i is not that evil...Well, almost not...