"There's nothing too serious," the ER doctor informed Steve an hour or so later. "The worst injury was the cut on the cheek. We've stitched that and I dare say he'll end up with a black eye, but everything else is superficial."

"Thanks, doc," McGarrett replied, relieved at the news.

"Take him home and scrub him under a hot shower," the doctor suggested, a hint of disdain in his voice. "I've treated tramps that smelt better than he does."

"You spend several hours in an alleyway on a stakeout and see how nice you smell at the end of it!" Steve retorted, annoyed at the inference. He added a glare to his words and the young doctor actually took a step backwards. Not deigning to say anything more, Steve stepped past him and into the room where Danny was slowly tugging his shirt on again. "How are you feeling?" Steve asked.

"Like I could sleep for a week," Danny replied and flashed a grin at his friend. "But my boss is a slave-driver and I have to be at work by 8am." It was well past 3am.

"On this one occasion, he might be persuaded to let you sleep in," Steve replied in a long-suffering tone. He would rather that Danny took the day off, but there was too much to do with the Johnston case, including finding the other brother. "Tell me what happened."

There wasn't a huge amount to tell and Danny did it quickly and efficiently. Steve took notes and Danny signed the notebook page. By then, he was dressed and ready to go. He wished the doctor had offered him some scrubs to wear, as his own clothing smelt disgusting. "Let's go," he suggested.

Together, they walked to Steve's car. Danny's LTD was parked in the hotel car park and he knew he would have to retrieve it the next day. He sat gingerly in Steve's car and closed his eyes. The next thing he knew, he was being gently shaken awake. "We're at your apartment, aikane," Steve told him, looking at him with concern. "Do you want me to come up with you?"

"No, I'm fine," Danny replied heartily, trying to cover his embarrassment at having fallen asleep so quickly. "I need a shower and some sleep. I'm fine."

"All right," Steve agreed. "I'll get someone to bring your car to the Palace in the morning. You sleep as long as you need to and come in when you're ready."

"I won't be too late," Dan promised. "Night, Steve – and mahalo."

"Good night, Danno," Steve replied. "You're welcome. Good work tonight." He patted his second's shoulder.

"Night," Danny mumbled, the praise making him feel unaccountably shy. He slid from the car and stumbled to his front door.

It was tempting to just throw himself down on the bed and sleep, but his own smell offended him and he stripped off his malodourous clothing and stepped under the steaming water. A good scrub later and he was more than ready for bed. He slipped on a pair of pyjama bottoms and slid under the sheet. He barely remembered even laying his head on the pillow before he drifted off.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was about 9.30am when Danny stirred. He cracked open one eye – the other refused to cooperate – and looked at the clock. He still felt a bit tired, but judged he'd had enough sleep to be getting on with the day. he eased slowly out of bed, taking it carefully to find out which bits of him would protest, but he felt a lot better than he had a few short hours before.

After another shower – the smell was either lingering in his nose or the clothes he had had on were even stinkier than he first thought – he had managed to pry his swollen eye slightly open. He looked horrific, but there was nothing he could do about that. A square bandage hid the stitches on his cheek. He shaved with utmost care and, carrying his suit jacket and tie, headed off to get a cab to take him to the Palace.

He hadn't got any further than the stairs when he stopped and sniffed. He thought he had smelt something… smoke? Glancing around, sniffing, he felt the smoke coming up through the vents and the stairwell. Smoke! Something must be burning.

It might be no more than someone's burnt breakfast, but Danny was taking no chances. He dashed back towards his apartment and hit the fire alarm box on the wall. Then he quickly banged on all the doors, shouting "Fire!" as loudly as he could. He knew that most of his neighbours would be out at work at this time of day, but he didn't know who was likely to have a day off and be still at home.

The smoke grew thicker as he headed down the stairs. He knew that he should get out and leave the banging on doors stuff to the fire department and he fully planned to do just that, but as he reached the next floor down, he spotted movement from the corner of his eye and stopped. Slightly further along, he spotted an elderly woman that he vaguely recognised as his downstairs neighbour's visiting mother.

Yanking open the door between the stairs and the corridor, he hurried along to her. "Come on," he urged. "I'll help you."

Clearly scared by the thick smoke swirling around her, the old lady nodded and grasped his arm. Danny tried to hurry her along, but her pace was slow. Danny put his arm around her and half-lifted her, but she was heavier than she looked and the smoke was growing thicker. They were both coughing now and Danny's eyes were watering as he squinted through the smoke. There! There was the door to the stairs.

Cautiously, he opened it and breathed in the slightly fresher air. "Come on, we're almost there," Danny coughed, but the old lady had reached the end of her endurance and slumped to the floor, the smoke overcoming her. Danny barely caught her as she fell and he went down with her, too.

The air was clearer nearer the ground and he got a couple of good lungfuls of air before he pulled the lady into his arms. Staggering under the burden, he leaned his shoulder against the wall and carefully picked his way downstairs. He was coughing steadily now and the world was not completely in focus.

At the landing, Danny stopped. He didn't think he could take another step, but he had to get out and he was not leaving this lady behind while he did so. He coughed violently and his knees started to buckle. By sheer effort of will, he forced them to lock.

Suddenly, a person appeared from out of the swirling smoke, with another just behind. The firefighter in the lead gently took the lady from Danny's arms and as Danny started to sag again – this time in relief – the second firefighter grabbed Danny's arm and supported him down the last flight of steps and out into the blazing sunshine.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Danno!"

Opening his eyes and squinting against the light, Danny spotted Steve pushing his way through the crowds to his side where he lay on a gurney. The oxygen supplied by the firefighters had helped to clear his head, but the doctor who had turned up on scene insisted he should go into the hospital for a quick check up and Danny's hoarse voice was not up to winning the argument. "Steve."

"Are you all right?" Steve demanded, taking in his soot-covered detective with some concern. Finding Danny awake and with no obvious burns took some weight off his mind, but until he heard from someone who knew these things, he wouldn't believe his friend had come through this ordeal unscathed. The alert from HPD that Danny's apartment building was on fire had almost stopped his heart.

"I'm fine," Danny assured him and the doctor agreed.

"He just needs to be checked over."

"What happened?" Steve asked, glancing at the hoses that snaked into the building behind them.

"Don't know," Danny replied. He looked at the doctor. "How's the lady?"

"She's going to be fine in a few days," the doctor replied. He nodded to the attendants and Danny and the woman were loaded into the ambulance. Steve promised to join Danny at the hospital in a short time. As the ambulance drew away, Steve looked around for the fire captain and went over to him. "Any idea how this started?" he asked.

"As it happens, yes," the captain replied. "Good thing you're here. The fire was started by someone stuffing something that I suspect will be a type of Molotov cocktail through a door. From what I understand, it was the same apartment that the lady came out of."

"Which one is that?" Steve asked, glancing at the building. He automatically looked up at Danny's smoke-marred windows.

"That one," the captain replied, pointing to the one directly below Danny's.

"Thank you," Steve replied. "Send me your report as soon as you can. I'll alert a lab team to search the apartment as soon as you say it is safe." The captain nodded and turned his attention back to the clean-up.

Deeply disturbed, Steve got into his car and headed for the hospital – again.