I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended. The same goes for the fantastic show and wonderful characters portrayed in Flashpoint.

Notes: thank you for the continued great reviews! I do appreciate each and every one. The Flashpoint episode ended with the rescue (of course) and the team discussion was good, but not enough. I tried to adapt that better here and I hope I succeeded.

Chapter 12

H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O*

Steve stood at the foot of Danny's hospital bed just leaning on the frame as he studied his partner's bruised face. The swelling had begun to ease but the left side of his chin still hosted a vibrant array of color. It certainly wasn't pretty, but it would subside. The bullet wound had been a clean through and through, so that too, was healing well and didn't pose any lasting issues.

But the white bandages gracing the left side of his head near his temple hid a small incision in his skull made by the doctors to remove two small blood clots. There had been no complications and the bone flap was now sutured back in place to heal. However, the fact that it had been done in the first place was nearly incomprehensible. Adding in a prolonged inhalation of propane gas had been the final insult.

Cataloging each and every injury, Steve's own expression was bland and he looked completely emotionless .. on the outside. On the inside he was churning with feelings that ranged the full gamut of sadness, shock and even .. pity. And now that Steve was getting to know Ana and her past, it was almost easy to justify Danny's over-protective behavior with Grace.

But the only two words Danny had whispered in five days when they got him out of the old building had been in response to Steve's senseless questions in the ambulance.

"Why didn't you tell me about Ana? At least her story if she were here?" Danny had roused briefly in the fresh air and seemed even better in the ambulance hooked up to an oxygen mask. But the medics said otherwise as they focused on his poor respiration and erratic heartbeat. Danny had only seemed slightly better .. maybe not okay, but almost alright until he'd lost consciousness and his vitals had suddenly bottomed out.

"It's classified." Semi-conscious and a much too faint quirk of his lips and then Danny was gone. Five days. Not a sound and barely a movement or twitch of a finger. The only visual improvement, if one could even be declared was his recent removal from the ventilator.

As of that morning, Danny was at least breathing on his own and over the worst of the propane poisoning. He was slowly healing from the craniotomy to remove the blood clotting hematoma and he'd been upgraded to an improved guarded condition. The doctor's decision to remove the vent and opt for a more simple oxygen mask was received with a great deal of relief .. and fear.

"It's classified."

Steve knew now how it felt for his partner every time he had so blithely said those two words himself. He was hurt; the two words hurt his feelings and made him feel so helpless, hopeless and even betrayed and yet Steve knew he had no right to feel that way at all. Danny was a good cop and he'd been on the job a long time. Of course, he would have a veritable heap of old cases, occasional failures and a long list of prior accomplishments. Steve felt he knew all of them or at least those that mattered. But Mitch Runyon, Jana Madison and her daughter, Ana were all unknowns. An old homicide. A closed case. And long-sealed files that strived to protect a little girl.

"It's classified."

He abruptly walked away from the bed to stare out the window in an attempt to force himself to think of something else. Anything else. Of course though, he could only think of the case and the discovery of the meth lab which gave Five-0 yet another job to take care of. The dangerous and complicated process of dismantling it was done by a professional team. Everyone exposed that morning had gone through a proper course of decontamination. And now, amongst a myriad of other things Joe Clancey, his cousin Robbie and Paul Kelly had been charged with two counts of kidnapping and attempted murder made much worse by the inclusion of a police officer.

Robbie Clancey was currently in the same hospital. One wing over and two floors up. Under guard, he had sustained a broken leg that required surgery to install pins and a plate that he would carry for the rest of his days. Even after healing, he would limp and likely be affected by every change in the weather. Steve had visited the wing once to confirm his status. But Ana hadn't even mentioned his name.

Clancey would be duly processed, charged and arraigned accordingly for what he had orchestrated against Danny and Ana; but he would also be questioned long and hard in relation to his associations with the larger meth dealing operation.

After all of it was said and done, he and the other two conspirators would all be facing life sentences. Five-0 would continue to work long after that to disassemble the larger drug dealing operation.

Of them all, oddly Ana seemed to be faring the best. As a victim and she would not lose her new job, plus she was proactively seeking professional counseling. She visited Danny every day .. and cried .. except for that evening. Only a few hours earlier, Steve watched her silently change and essentially pull herself up by her invisible bootstraps. She'd given herself a firm mental shake and Steve saw her strength and why Danny knew she was so special even as an eight year old child.

"You need to wake up. Grace is scared, Danny." Steve turned back to the bed as his thoughts hopelessly returned to the hospital room. He was more worried than he had been in a long time.

The hard hits to Danny's head had caused a linear fracture of his skull near his temple. The CAT scan had discovered the epidural hematoma and there'd been no discussions after that. He'd survived a two-hour emergency surgery to remove the buildup of blood putting pressure on his brain. Then there was the ventilator. The propane gas poisoning was a major complication for it had settled heavily in his lungs to take up space. Which meant Danny had less volume for life-saving air until the propane was expelled from his body. Weak and in shock, he needed help to breathe and so the machine and what it meant hadn't only frightened Grace.

The litany of injuries and their treatments went on and on; it was overwhelming for his friends and family as each hour turned into too many long days.

Danny was weaker than Steve had ever seen him. Small, fragile and now in a comatose state, his brain activity had now slightly increased after the vent had been removed earlier that morning. The doctors were quick to stress that as a hopeful sign and they were encouraged by each individual small improvement; but everyone was on edge and afraid of the worst case scenario becoming the truth.

"Come on, Danno. You need to wake up." In his mind Steve added please so many times he'd lost count.

"Five days, pal. Tomorrow begins day six. Wake up." Danny's doctor had examined him just a short while ago and had quizzically checked and rechecked his latest readings. Once more, he had expressed pleasure with the incremental improvements and said as much to Steve.

So now cautiously optimistic, Steve was the last one at the hospital. Night had fallen long ago and he couldn't bring himself to leave spurred on by the doctor's more positive comments. And for some reason, he couldn't stop talking and demanding what still could become the impossible.

He scowled at the oxygen mask and white bandages, but what bothered him the most was the utterly lax body. This should not have happened. And there was a tiny flare of anger as Steve almost pounded the bed frame in frustration. Louder than he meant to be and definitely more emotional, Steve glared at Danny's too calm expression.

"Classified my ass! I can't believe you said that to me!" Running both hands over his face, Steve was immediately penitent and his whisper was barely audible. "Sorry, Danny. I'm sorry. But really .. of all the damned things to say."

Danny's fingers feebly pulled at the sheets but Steve missed it as he walked around to the sit in the chair by the bedside. He missed it the second time too, because his eyes were closed while he was resting his forehead on the bed's metal side-rails.

But he noticed the most obvious change when he leaned backwards to wearily run his gaze over Danny's blanket-covered body.

"Danny?" Pale eyes were staring directly at him and Steve physically knocked the chair backwards as he stumbled to his feet. Danny winced when the hard metal chair clattered so noisily to the floor.

"Sorry!" The inane word was also too loud and Danny winced again but he was tracking his partner and every clumsy move he was making. And he was vainly trying to understand the much too fast ramble that was spewing from Steve's mouth.

"God, Danny. You missed everyone today. Grace was here with Rachel. Chin and Kono left just a few minutes ago. And Ana .. she was here too but right before dinner. It's late .. and it's been five days."

Steve was shaking his head as he thumbed the call button and placed a soothing hand on his chest. "Just .. don't close your eyes yet .. please." There was a faint nod as Danny's left hand came up to loosely hold Steve's wrist.

Tired and confused, Danny knew he had missed something. He had been part of something, but for the life of him he had no idea what Steve was going on about. He wasn't even yet sure where he was and he definitely didn't understand why. But based on his partner's stress level and anxiety, Danny fought to stay awake though it was a terrible struggle. There was a telling face; an expression that combined so many different things, that Danny wasn't quite sure he could define it accurately and thinking was simply too difficult.

And he ached with a bone-tired weariness that he didn't fully comprehend but he also couldn't yet fully ask about it since his mouth refused to work. Mushy and lethargic, his brain was quite unwilling to cooperate or to fire on all its pistons. And so, he could only watch Steve putter worriedly around his bedside has he thumbed the nurse's call button and then one-handed, smoothed the blankets around his chest.

Danny frowned then and pushed through some of the reluctant cobwebs. "Steve?" The soft whisper sapped his energy and when his fingers lost their grip, Steve snared them back up again.

"It's okay, the doctor's here."

He squinted up at the new face and blearily tried to follow the brief instructions. He even managed to communicate his understanding of a few basic questions as Steve strangled the bedside rail on the opposite side. And Danny got most of the questions right, but when he was asked if he knew why he was hospitalized; Danny noticeably faltered and then became agitated as the doctor quickly rushed to soothe him.

"It's normal." Both the doctor and Steve tried to reassure him, but Danny continued to search each face uneasily. The doctor offered him a genuine smile and slowly repeated himself. "Rest, Detective. Trust me that this is normal and you'll be fine."

"You heard the man, Danny. It's normal and you only need to focus on gaining your strength back." Steve was now sitting on the edge of the bed after the doctor's latest exam and virtually beaming in relief. The former dark expression was replaced with a new calm but that only allowed his own exhaustion to creep in through the weary lines around his eyes.

"Maybe tomorrow, Danny." His voice had fallen to a deep settling near-whisper as Danny's eyes began to slide shut. It was easy to see that Danny was mentally and physically debilitated by the brief interaction. But what no one knew was how baffled he was by Steve's much too worried attention. Allowing his eyes to close, Danny melted into the blankets but he was still listening to Steve talk.

"If you didn't hear me before, Ana's fine. She's good, Danny. Everyone will be here tomorrow." Danny's fingers returned a weak pressure and then slackened in his hand. He seemed to fall into a natural asleep and Steve viciously rubbed the ache from his forehead.

"Maybe tomorrow. But Danno, it doesn't matter because things are going to be better now." Danny sighed to himself because he could hear the glimmer of a smile and Steve's voice held a lighter note. Whatever had happened, was over and he fell asleep peacefully as Steve continued to murmur quietly.

~ to be continued ~