Chapter 15:
Danny's eyes flashed open. He looked over at his clock. It read 8:15. He licked his lips and took in a breath. He looked down and saw a burly arm under his arm and against his chest. Danny grinned as the fingers laid relaxed against the bed and his chest. Danny weaved his fingers in between Steve's. He gave a kiss on the back of Steve's hand and held onto the hand.
Wait. . .
Danny looked at the clock again. 8:16. Danny furrowed his brows. Steve is usually up. . .why is he still asleep?
Danny's stomach dropped. What if it isn't Steve? Danny looked back the hand he held. He saw the silver wedding ring on the man's ring finger. No, no, it's Steve alright. What is he doing?
"Steve?" Danny whispered.
There was no answer.
"Steve? Steve, babe?" Danny tapped his hand and spoke a little bit louder.
Still no answer.
Danny turned his body towards Steve's and gazed at Steve's still sleeping face. Is he really still asleep? He would have definitely been up by my second call. And if not that, by my moving around. Danny studied the face. With closed eyes and slightly parted lips that created small wisps when Steve exhaled. Danny smiled at the sleeping man. He could watch Steve sleep like this forever. The man looked so peaceful. . .so sound. . .so lovely. He had never seen Steve sleep like this. He didn't want to wake him up, but he knew he had to. They couldn't sleep all day. . .even if they had the day off.
Danny hesitated before moving to place his forehead against Steve. Danny watched as the man tilted his head toward the pillow but then put it back to its original place. He smacked his lips, swallowed, and then parted his lips again. Danny grinned as Steve settled. Danny moved a little closer and placed his lips gently against Steve's. He gave a series of small, delicate kisses. "Steve, baby." He murmured.
Steve pulled away, nuzzled his face into the pillow, and then placed it forward again. Danny grinned and did the same thing again. "Steve, doll, we need to get up."
Steve let out a small groan. "Five more minutes."
Danny grinned and went back for more kisses. "Come on, babe, we need to get up."
Steve let out a louder groan.
"Come on, Steve." Danny patted the man's torso.
Steve groaned once more.
Danny scooted closer and nuzzled the man's nose. He grinned as he saw Steve's lips curl into a smile. "Let me see those wonderful eyes of yours." He whispered.
Steve smile turned wider. He slowly opened his eyes to see the wide, brilliant blue ones gazing at him with brightness and shimmers.
Danny smiled as he nuzzled Steve's nose again. "There you are." He whispered.
Steve chuckled as Danny placed his lips against Steve's gently and kept them there for about twenty-seconds. Steve placed a hand on Danny's cheek and his long fingers grazed along Danny's neck. They broke and Danny watched as Steve's eyes opened.
"Let's get going."
Steve let out a sigh. "We don't even work today, Danno."
"I know, but it's already almost 8:30. We can't sleep all day."
Steve let out another sigh.
"Any reason why you slept in this morning?" Danny asked as he sat up and crossed his legs.
Steve yawned and sat up, stretching his shoulders by rounding them. He scratched his head and looked around. "I. . .I don't know." He felt a little confused. Why didn't he wake up? "I. . .I didn't even wake up at the time I usually do."
Danny gave him a small smile. "More tired than you thought you were?"
Steve shrugged. "I. . .I don't know." He paused. "Maybe. . .it's because. . ."
Danny waited and listened to the silence.
"I guess since things are somewhat resolving between us. . .my mind calms when it's time to be calm and. . .I feel more relaxed when I'm around you. . .especially. . ." He shrugged with a smile. "When we're good."
Danny grinned at him. "I'm glad you slept in."
Steve grinned. "Don't get used to it. I'll be back out tomorrow."
"And I'll be right there with you." Danny paused. "If that's okay."
Steve grinned. "I'd love nothing more."
Danny smiled at him.
"So. . .what do you want to do today?" Steve asked.
"Well, after cleaning up from last night, I figured we could go run some errands, because we have little to no things in the fridge." Danny spoke with a small sigh.
Steve turned at the sound of his cell phone ringing.
"Oh, and work." Danny said.
"It's not work." Steve as he got up and rushed to the phone on the dresser. He looked at it. Crap. "Hello, Governor."
Danny gave him an 'I-told-you-so' look that made him smile.
"Yes. . .yes, governor. On my way." Steve hung up and looked to Danny. "Got another urgent case."
"Oh, fantastic." Danny said getting up from the bed.
Steve's face fell as Danny walked up to him. "Sorry."
Danny shook his head with a smile. "Don't be. Not your fault." He paused. "Plus. . .I finally get to work with you again."
Steve grinned at him.
Danny grinned back as he leaned forward towards Steve's body. He placed a hand on Steve's cheek and gave Steve a small kiss.
Danny pulled and gave a little chuckle. "Let's go."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Later that day, the team found themselves at the docks for the 'urgent case' the governor rang them in for. The case dealt with a man hiding firearms on a ship that imported fruits. Come to find out, the men doing it were running an operation, an illegal weaponry trade in a warehouse at the docks. There were whispers of the suspect leaving the island today. The team had to catch him before he went to the airport and boarded a flight out of the country.
The team got out of their cars and moved quickly to building. Their backs rested against the cool brick wall. Steve looked over at his team. He pointed to Chin and Kono and signaled them to go around to the back. He and Danny would go through the front.
They entered the building and moved in slowly. Pallets of fruit were stacked high and spread sporadically through the warehouse. They could hear voices toward the middle of the warehouse.
Danny touched Steve's shoulder to let him know he was there and the area behind them was still clear.
Steve advanced forward. He crept around a few stacks of boxes of fruit. He saw the man his team was after. He was standing with 2 other men. He didn't see any firearms on them. Only on a near table. He looked to Danny. "Stay here. I'm going to talk to them." He whispered as he went to go walk.
"No, wait, Steve." He grabbed Steve's arm. "Remember the rundown we went over at HQ? We had concluded that due to his past, he has issues with confrontation, especially from men of authority." Danny whispered urgently, looking to be sure they weren't heard.
Steve looked too, but then back at Danny when he saw that they were still concealed. "Danny, this man killed three people. People with families. And. . ." He paused. "I think that we may be able to talk him down. Our notes said that he may have some sympathies and remorse for those killings. Yeah, he may have done some illegal things, but if you play to his emotions, we may be able to prevent another mishap."
"Steve, I don't-"
"Danny, he will be more likely to shoot if we all crowd him."
"But you can argue he'll be less likely to protest with more people present."
"Danny, I really don't think he'll be more inclined to stand down with more people pressuring him."
"Steve, I'm putting my foot down on this. We all need to go in-Steve! Steve!"
Steve knew they had to move before they got into a sticky situation. He didn't want to argue with Danny. He was sure that this man would freak if he was crowded. He got up from his crouched down position and approached the middle of the warehouse.
Danny let out an angry sigh. That animal is going to get himself killed. He moved to where he could see Steve a little bit better but stayed in his spot.
Steve walked with his gun raised to the target. "Sergio!"
The men turned to Steve's loud, authoritative voice.
Danny didn't feel good about this at all. His stomach was in a jumbled mess of knots as he watched his husband walk out to the men.
"5-0! Hands in the air!"
The men on either side of Sergio put their hands up and stepped away from the man.
Something was wrong. Danny felt it in the pit of his stomach. Sergio wasn't going to go down without a fight. Especially being around a man like Steve. Danny's insides clenched as an odd feeling crept over him. The only way Danny could explain the feeling was that something was off.
"Sergio! Put your hands up!" Steve yelled at him.
Sergio drew his gun from his waist holster and pointed it at Steve.
"Hey, hey, hey! Sergio, I just want to talk, man!" Steve yelled at him.
"I'm not going to prison!" Sergio shouted.
"Nobody said anything about prison. Sergio, put the gun down." Steve spoke calmly. Had he been wrong? Sergio looked ready to fight. "I just want to talk."
"Then why do you have a gun and a bullet proof vest? You're here to take me!" Sergio shouted in the warehouse.
"Sergio, you know I have to wear this, it's part of protocol. As is my gun." Steve said calmly. Steve saw one of the men try to go for a gun. "Hey, hey! Keep your hands up." The other man grabbed a gun from a nearby table that had a display of guns on it and pointed it at Steve.
Damn it, Steve. Danny thought. The same feeling plagued him. Something bad was coming.
"Stop! Stop! Don't move!" Steve shouted.
Danny knew he was talking to him, Chin and Kono. This was ridiculous, he needed to stop this. Just as he was about to move in on the situation, his mouth was grabbed and he was held close. "Shh, it's us." Kono voice sent tingles down his spine.
Danny turned around and saw Chin and Kono next to him. "What are you guys doing here? You were supposed to go around back."
"There was no back way in. I don't understand any of this." Chin whispered.
Danny's thoughts reeled. What was Steve doing? If there was no back way in, why bother telling Kono and Chin to go in that way? Did Steve not know there wasn't an entrance in the back?
"Sergio, if you and your men put your guns down, I'll put mine down." Steve said.
Sergio squinted his eyes. "How stupid do you think I am?"
Steve shook his head. "Sergio, I know you're smarter than others think. I know your mother abandoned you. . .I know that your father was abusive and he beat you. He beat you until you'd pass out from the pain. He'd yell at you for being disobedient when you were doing things that weren't wrong. I know that you did what you had to do to protect your younger brother and your younger sister." Steve had taken a couple steps toward Sergio. "I know that you killed those 3 men on your boat because they were being insubordinate according to you. You were only reacting to what you knew."
"Stop! Don't move!" Sergio exclaimed. "Shut up! You know nothing about me!"
"I know that you resent your mother. I know that you were promiscuous and that's what got you most into trouble with your father when he came back into your life. He thought ill of that. He probably told you that you were dirty. You were wrong. 'You're not my son.'. . .those words sound familiar?"
"Shut up!" Sergio's yell echoed through the warehouse.
"Sergio. . .we have the evidence. It's over." Steve said as he took another step forward.
Danny could see Sergio thinking. He felt sick to his stomach. This wasn't going to end well. He could feel it. He especially didn't like the fact that there was a gun still pointed at Steve.
"You know what? It isn't."
Danny couldn't comprehend the situation. Everything seemed to slow as Sergio pulled the trigger, the gun still directed at Steve. He watched Steve go down. He was three feet from his hiding place before he shouted out at Sergio. "Put your hands up!"
Sergio turned to him and he heard a shot fire behind him. Sergio went down and everyone moved in.
"Keep your hands up!" Danny heard Kono shout.
"Chin?" Danny spoke.
"Yeah?"
"I'll cover you." Danny said.
Chin quickly moved to Sergio and managed to cuff him.
"Didn't kill him, did I?" Kono shouted over as she had managed to cuff both of the other men.
"No, graze wound to his thigh." Chin shouted to her.
While all this was going on, Danny had turned to Steve. Everything seemed to be moving slowly as he noticed that the man did not get up. "Steve?"
Steve didn't move.
Danny's heart began to race. "Steve?" He said a little louder.
Danny heard a small desperate gasp from the figure that made his heart drop. "Steve! Steve!" Danny ran to Steve's side and threw himself on the ground next to Steve. "Steve, what's going on?"
Steve gasped out again. Everything hurt. Especially his chest. He couldn't breathe right. His exchange came out with ragged gasps for more air. He couldn't seem to get enough oxygen. "Da-Danny."
Danny looked over him. What did the bullet hit? He could not find the small bullet in the vest. Anywhere! Danny watched as Steve slowly grabbed at the vest collar.
Steve needed it off. It felt compressing. Maybe it would help if it were removed.
"Okay, okay. We'll take it off." Danny said calmly as he began undoing the straps to the vest. His heart was still racing. What was going on with Steve? "Okay, easy now." He gently slid the bulletproof vest off and away from his body.
Steve gasped and let out a small noise. He couldn't think straight. Everything hurt. He could feel his heart pounding in his ears.
Danny searched Steve's body and found it. As his eyes gazed at the wound, his heart stopped. The small hole in Steve's chest oozed blood. It covered his shirt and began to leak down his shirt towards his belly button.
"Oh, god!" Danny leapt at it, applying pressure. "GET A MEDIC!" He screamed in the building.
Steve groaned as pressure was applied. "AUGH!" He let out and breathed rapidly, which made everything hurt worse.
Danny focused back to Steve. The man's eyes fluttered as he gasped in and out. "Da-Danny. . ." He tried to speak out.
"Hey, Steve. Shhh shhh shhh. I need you to stay quiet, okay?"
Steve gasped. "Can't. . .breathe. . ."
Danny nodded. "I know, I know. You're gonna be okay, babe." His gazed wandered to the vest. It wasn't Steve's. He had grabbed a spare from HQ because he was in between vests. It must be faulty. . .old. How old are those vests? Oh my god. . .Even though it was dark, and the material on the vest was dark, Danny could see a large blood stain surrounding the bullet entry hole.
Steve gasped again, drawing Danny's attention back to him. "It. . .hurts. . ." He murmured as he tried to breathe. His eyes began to water at the pain. He gasped out, trying for more air.
"I know, babe, I know."
Steve could feel the impending reality of the situation. He closed his eyes as he let out a small noise similar to a quiet sob. "Danny. . .medic. . .won't get here. . ." He struggling as he swallowed.
Danny furrowed his eyebrows as his stomach churned and chills ran through his body. "Steve, what are you talking about? They'll be here, okay? I need you to keep looking at me." Danny said softly, panic spreading through him at Steve's words.
"Danny. . ." Steve swallowed. He gasped in a breath. "I need. . .you to know. . .that I. . .I'm sorry." He paused feeling blurriness cloud his vision. "I thought I knew. . .how to get Sergio. . .to back down. . ."
"Steve, baby, it doesn't matter. What matters now is that we get you help."
Steve shook his head uncoordinatedly. "Danny. . .I love you." Steve let out a gasp and a gurgling sound that chilled Danny to the bone. Steve could taste blood within his mouth.
"Babe, I love you, too. And I know you love me." Why are you telling me this now, Steve? Danny didn't want to admit that he knew why. Steve's face was going shockingly pale. He was losing a lot of blood. He was gasping for air. . .
Danny wasn't stupid.
". . .won't be. . .much longer." Steve huffed out.
Danny could only stare into his eyes as tears began to fill them. "Steve, don't say that! You'll be okay-"
Steve's eyes were taking longer to open after they would close. He began to feel sleepy. A calmness drifted over him. "Tell Grace. . ." He swallowed again. "I love her."
"Steve, you can tell her yourself!" Danny held his hand over the wound as the other moved to Steve's face. Danny jumped a little at the blood he saw on it. Steve saw the hand and leaned into it, closing his eyes. "Steve, Steve, babe, look at me, I need you to look at me."
"I feel. . .sleepy. . ." Steve whispered out as a blanket of drowsiness continued to cover him.
"I know, babe, I know. You need to stay awake though." Danny spoke gently.
Steve's eyelids drew up and fluttered to look at him. "Danny. . .I'm sorry. . .for everything. . .in our past. . ." He rasped in a breath. "Forgive me."
Danny could feel himself falling apart. Tears streamed down his face as he looked into Steve's eyes and then to his wound. "You have nothing to be sorry for." He choked as looked to the wound site. "I'm sorry for causing pain between us."
Steve gasped in another breath. Danny watched as he brought a hand to his own that held Steve's face. "Danny. . .I love you." He said as a tear trickled out from his eye.
Danny looked back to his eyes. Those eyes that had captivated him from the moment they met so many years ago in Steve's father's garage. The fire in them. . .the passion. . .the eventual softness when they finally confessed to each other and started dating. Then the undying love when they married and again when they had rekindled their love.
This can't be goodbye.
"I love you, Danno." Steve whispered out.
Danny couldn't take this. Everything blurred and he couldn't breathe as he watched Steve.
Steve's vision blurred. "Danno. . .I love you." He saw a brightness before his eyes flickered close, a final breath leaving him. Steve stopped moving. His chest ceased its movements.
"Steve, Steve! Please! No, Steve!" Danny yelled to him as he tapped Steve's face lightly. "Steve! Please, don't leave! Steve!" He sobbed out.
Danny didn't notice the pair of medics near him. "Sir, we're gonna need you to step away."
Danny couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. Everything stopped. He felt hands around his arms, pulling at him to stand and step away. He let out a loud cry. He couldn't hold it back. He brought a hand to his hair and gripped it hard as it felt like his heart was collapsing in his chest. Everything was imploding. His soul, his heart, his love for Steve. . .he couldn't take it. He struggled against the hold. "Steve!" Tears flowed as blood covered his hands, face, and now hair. The hands that held him belonged to Chin. The man pulled him in and led him through the building.
Danny was pulled out of the building to where he could no longer see Steve. His eyes were wide. Tears stained his face. His chest heaved, in and out. He felt unsteady, like his world was crumbling.
"Danny. . ." Chin spoke to him gently.
Danny could feel his chest tightening. He couldn't breathe properly. It was shallow and quick. He began to crouch down.
"Danny? Danny, man?" Chin tried to call to him, but Danny couldn't process it. Everything felt numb. Life seemed to pause around him as his mind, his thoughts, his heart tumbled into a whirling cyclone of panic, shock, and mourning.
"Danny?"
Danny was finding it difficult to breathe. He wouldn't breathe, holding his breath, and then he let it out in gasps and then hold it, only to let out gasps again.
"Danny? Oh, god, you're having a panic attack." Chin murmured as he helped Danny sit down. Danny wrapped his arms around his knees. Tears began to flow again and that lump in his throat grew. Everything felt numb. . .even the grasping on his arm and around his shoulder. Everything was silent. . .even though he knew Chin was speaking to him. . .attempting to bring Danny back from this state of complete shock and panic.
As the wind blew, bringing chills as it rushed by him, he could only painfully think a single person in the light of the moon.
Steve. . .