Thanks for the response so far, guys. :) I replied to all of the reviews so if you left one but did not get a pm in return, please let me know (it was an oversight). And jodiesto, your pms are disabled so I'll thank you here.

Chapter 2

Steve stared at Danny numbly for a minute before finding his voice. "What do you mean, I've been gone over a year-and-a-half?"

"I mean I haven't seen you in 19 months," Danny explained patiently; cautiously. As if Steve was some cracked egg that needed special handling or his yolk would spill out on the ground. "None of us have."

But Steve didn't want to be coddled. He wanted answers.

"Who's 'none of us'?" he demanded.

"Me, Chin, Kono, Catherine, Kamekona, Max … none of us."

Steve dragged his hands down his face as he took it all in.

19 months.

No contact. No job. No friends. No memories. No nothing.

For 19 months.

Steve shook his head. Danny was wrong. Just wrong. He was lying or misinformed or playing the worst practical joke in the history of mankind, but Danny was wrong.

Steve shook his head again. "That can't be right. I was just at the office on Friday."

"Look, Steve, I know this is a lot to put on you," Danny reasoned, pleaded even, "but it really has been that long."

Steve stared at Danny's hands, clasped together as if his partner's own body language was begging Steve to believe him. Could Danny really telling the truth?

19 months?

Steve blew out a large breath and dropped his hands to his hips. He worked his jaw for a few minutes, processing. Danny was wrong. Danny was wrong.

But if Danny was right…

"Did you…" Steve started. He looked down, then back at Danny before continuing, speaking words that were almost too painful to get out. "Did you look for me?"

"What kind of a question is that?" Danny asked, his voice both hurt and surprised.

Steve scratched his beard. In all honesty, he didn't know. So he might as well admit it. "An honest one," he said.

"Of course I looked for you!" Danny was exasperated, his hands flying. "We all looked for you! Why would you think we didn't?"

"I don't know!" Steve replied, getting equally annoyed. "Maybe because it's a year-and-a-half later and the only reason you found me now is because I pulled an E.T. and phoned home!"

"That doesn't mean…" Danny started, then stopped himself and held up his hands. "You know what? I don't want to do this right now."

Steve looked confused. "Do what?"

"Have an argument before we're even in the car. So let's just get in and go, alright?"

"Fine," Steve replied tersely as he headed for the driver's side.

Danny laughed humorlessly. "You've got to be kidding me, right?"

Steve scowled and rerouted himself to the passenger side, climbed in, and slammed the door shut.

Danny sighed and mumbled to himself, "it's nice to see you again, too."

*H50*

"Yeah, Chin. Sounds good. We'll meet you there."

"Meet us where?" Steve asked.

Danny clicked the phone off, setting it down on the Camaro's console. "At the hospital."

"I don't need to go to the hospital."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Of course you need to go to the hospital, you moron. Who knows what trouble you got into while you were gone?"

"I'm fine, Danny."

Danny snorted. "Says the guy who can't remember the last year-and-a-half."

"Well maybe I could remember something if you'd tell me what happened." Steve shot back, his voice rising in frustration.

"And as I told you already, I'm not going to tell you anything that happened until after we get you checked out!" Danny replied, his tone matching Steve's.

"Why not?" Steve questioned, visibly mad.

"Because I don't want to risk giving you an aneurysm in your brain that matches the one that's on your face!" Danny almost yelled back.

Steve was caught off-guard by Danny's response. Danny was always a passionate guy—he had strong feelings about everything from falling coconuts to 10 year old boys who dared to talk to his daughter.

But there was something else Steve detected in Danny's outburst- something besides anger.

With that realization, something in Steve's brain just clicked. And he knew what he had just heard.

It was fear. Danny was actually worried. About him.

The anger drained from Steve's face.

"Huh," Steve said, with a lift of his head.

"Huh what?" Danny asked as he looked over, still trying to cool off.

"You do care," Steve replied, the surprise and wonder evident in his voice.

Danny sighed and shook his head. "Of course I care," he said gently, reigning in his voice and using a tone Steve had only heard him use with Grace. "I didn't drive all the way out here because I wanted to snag some fresh pineapple."

Steve took Danny's response in and after a moment, he smiled.

Danny noticed. "What's the smile for?" he asked.

Steve looked over. "I just remembered you don't like pineapple."

The revelation wasn't much of a step forward, but it was a step in the right direction nonetheless.

Danny offered a small grin in return. "And don't you forget it, partner."

*H50*

When Danny pulled into the ER parking lot at Queen's Medical Center thirty minutes later, Chin and Kono were waiting for them.

Kono practically ran into Steve's arms, giving him a huge hug. "We missed you, Boss."

Steve winced at her strong embrace but also chuckled. "I guess I missed you too. Although, it seems like I saw you only a few days ago."

"Trust me," she said, stepping back smiling and wiping her eyes, "it was longer."

"And you know my cousin is never wrong," Chin added, extending his hand and then pulling Steve in for a man hug and clap on the back.

"Sure, they get the smiles and hugs," Danny groused. "I get the cargument with the pig-headed amnesiac."

Steve released Chin and grinned. "Well, just think of that as part of the special bond we share, Danno."

"Special indeed," Danny countered with mock indignation. But also with a smile. "Ok," he said, clapping his hands together. "Reunion's over. Let's get Jason Bourne inside for a check-up."

Steve rolled his eyes. "You're gonna have a lot of fun with this, aren't you?"

"Yep." Danny nodded and opened the door. "For as long as it lasts."

*H50*

It didn't last long.

After Steve called his mom and sister in California to tell them he was ok and persuade them not to come out yet, they had a few minutes in the waiting room to quickly catch-up. Danny, Chin, and Kono were all still at Five-0; Grace was turning into a teenager, throwing Danny into fits; Chin still had his house and rode his bike whenever he could; and Kono taught surf lessons on the side and had a special someone in her life. Then a nurse whisked Steve into an examination room while the cousins remained seated and Danny went back with Steve as his next of kin.

The nurses wasted no time taking Steve's vitals and noting everything on a chart. Then they cleaned up his cuts and bandaged them, taking extra care to wrap over his missing toenail. They also hooked him up to a saline IV which Steve protested was unnecessary.

He was overruled.

And to add insult to injury, Danny was apparently amused by the whole thing.

"You look like a dirty zebra," Danny said, looking at Steve's muddy brown arms and feet striped with white gauze and medical tape.

"Yuck it up, Danno."

Danny grinned. "I'm trying."

Steve sighed and then he turned his attention to the nurse who was adjusting the drip line on his IV. "Look, this really isn't necessary. I feel fine."

"I'm sorry, Commander." The nurse smiled apologetically. "It's just procedure."

"Really? You have a procedure for amnesia?"

"Actually, we do," a dark-haired, middle-aged doctor answered from the door. "We have a procedure for almost everything. Although, at this point I think you're getting the 'trauma' procedure more than the 'amnesia' one. " He stepped into the room and offered his hand to Steve. "I'm Dr. Fitzgerald. I'll be monitoring you today, Commander McGarrett."

"Hopefully not all day," Steve replied, shaking his hand.

The doctor's eyebrow quirked up. "Do you have somewhere more important to be?"

Steve shot Danny a look. "I don't know. Do I?" he asked somewhat sarcastically.

Danny grinned. "You're good."

The doctor chuckled. "Well, hopefully we can get you out sooner rather than later. And you are…" he asked, looking over at Danny.

"Danny Williams, Five-0," Danny answered sticking his hand out as well. "I'm Steve's partner."

"And you found Commander McGarrett?" the doctor asked as he shook his hand.

"'Found' is a relative term," Danny clarified. "But yeah, I found him impersonating E.T. on a pineapple farm. All he needed was a hoodie and a bike and he'd have been all set."

Steve rolled his eyes.

"Hey, don't you get all irritated at me," Danny admonished with a grin. "You're the one who brought up E.T. in the first place."

"And I regret it already. So, E.T. and Jason Bourne. Are there any other movie characters you're going to throw out there so I can prepare myself to be annoyed in advance?"

Danny couldn't contain his glee. "Yes, there are. Right now, I'm trying to decide who to use next- Dory from Nemo or Drew Barrymore from 50 First Dates."

"Great," Steve huffed. "A fish or a girl. I can hardly wait."

"No," Danny corrected, "a talking marine animal with memory issues or an amnesiac who lives in Hawaii. You gotta admit, they both fit pretty well."

Steve didn't look like he agreed.

The doctor chuckled at the exchange as he pulled a pair of reading glasses out of his pink dress shirt pocket. He perched them on the end of his nose and peered over them at Steve. "Since your partner found you, I'd like for him to stay if that's ok with you. He might be able to help by answering a few questions."

"Might as well. Otherwise, he'd just interrogate me later. Probably throw me in the blue room and everything."

"The blue room's been a little lonely since you've been gone," Danny answered. "But I think even it would prefer if you took a shower first."

Steve snorted. "I would love to take a shower. But some unnamed dictator thought I needed to come to the hospital first."

"The unnamed dictator was right," Dr. Fitzgerald interrupted, looking up from Steve's chart.

"See?" Danny beamed at Steve. "I was right."

Steve glared back.

Dr. Fitzgerald sat Steve's chart down on the tray table and held up his hands in surrender. "Let's call a truce. And you," he said, looking at Steve, "why don't you tell me what happened?" he asked conversationally as he laid Steve back on the gurney to begin the physical exam.

Steve recounted the story as Dr. Fitzgerald examined him, mentally cataloging his injuries as the doctor found them- missing toenail, cuts on his arms and feet, bruises developing everywhere, and possibly a few cracked ribs. Not great, but all things considered, not too bad.

Steve was almost finished when the doctor touched a tender spot on his head. Steve winced.

"Does that hurt?" Dr. Fitzgerald asked.

"A little," Steve conceded. "I must have hit it one of the times I fell down."

"Hmm. Did you fall because you were dizzy? Or kept losing your balance?"

"No," Steve shook his head. At least he didn't think so- it was hard to remember. Not that he was going to admit it. "It was slick."

"Any nausea?"

"No."

"How about headaches?"

Steve paused, thinking. He did have a headache. Not the worst he'd ever had, but bad enough he might be willing to take a Tylenol. Still he wasn't sure it was a big enough deal to mention. He could always get some meds at home…

"He didn't immediately say 'no' so that means a big fat 'yes'," Danny said, breaking the silence.

Steve scowled at Danny but didn't correct him.

"How about confusion?" Dr. Fitzgerald asked.

Steve snorted. "You mean apart from not knowing where I've been for the last year-and-a-half?"

The doctor smiled. "Other than that. Maybe something that took a while to recognize or click in. Something you'd ordinarily know immediately."

Steve thought about it. "Well, it took me a while to realize I was barefoot. And I forgot Danny hated pineapple for a minute."

"A very serious error on your part, my friend," Danny chimed in.

The doctor grinned again as he picked up Steve's chart and wrote a few notes. "Ok, those two. Anything else seem off?"

Steve shook his head. "No."

"How about mood swings? Or irritability?"

At that, Danny actually laughed. "You mean aside from his normal, sunny disposition?"

"Hey!" Steve protested.

Danny held up his hands. "No offense, Steve, but you've been all over the map since I picked you up."

Steve wanted to argue with that. He really did.

The problem was, when he thought about it, Danny was right.

"Alright, then." Dr. Fitzgerald put the chart down, wrapped his stethoscope back around his neck, and crossed his arms over his chest, looking at Steve appraisingly. "I have to tell you, for someone who's been missing for 19 months, you're in pretty good shape."

"Great," Steve replied, swinging his legs over the side of the examination bed. "Can I go now?"

Dr. Fitzgerald shook his head. "Not until we get a few x-rays, run some tests, and play 20 questions. But your overall condition is much better than I would have expected. Your weight is fine, so you haven't been malnourished. Your muscle tone is good so you've been able to get plenty of exercise. Your vital signs are stable. And aside from your recent injuries- cuts and bruises, a few potentially cracked ribs, and a likely concussion- there are no signs of physical trauma. Wherever you were, you took good care of yourself."

"So, what," Danny asked, looking confused, "he's been sunning himself at the Ritz for a year-and-a-half?"

"The only one who knows that is Commander McGarrett," the doctor replied. "But so far, he looks relatively good."

"So why do I have amnesia?" Steve asked.

Dr. Fitzgerald shrugged. "I'm not sure yet. If you do have a concussion, that could be causing it. It's a rare side effect, but it does happen. So I'm ordering a CT as well as a tox screen. One of them might shed some light on this. And pinpointing the exact timing of your memory loss might help, along with determining the nature of the amnesia. So I'll need to ask you some questions."

Steve shrugged. "Ok."

"Ok, then," the doctor said, picking up Steve's chart again. "Let's start at the beginning. What year were you born?"

"1976."

"And your parent's names?"

"John and Doris McGarrett."

"And your high school?"

"Kukui High."

"Ok," the doctor nodded and made a few notes on the chart. "Now, what is the last thing you remember?"

"Going camping in the mountains." Steve replied. "We'd just finished up the Martinez case. It was a tough one so I thought some fresh air would be good. I went out for the weekend. Pitched a tent, built a campfire, the whole nine yards, just like when I was a kid."

Dr. Fitzgerald looked up at Danny, who was leaning against the wall of the exam room, his hands shoved in his pockets.

Danny frowned. The Martinez case… he mentally ran through all the cases they had handled over the years at Five-0. Then he remembered. A young family of three was missing and eventually found murdered. They solved the case but Danny didn't think he'd ever forget the face of that little girl lying in the morgue. "That was about seven weeks before Steve disappeared."

"Really?" Steve asked, looking over at Danny quizzically.

"Yeah," Danny confirmed with a solemn nod.

Steve frowned too. Missing 19 months was bad enough. Finding out it was a closer to two years was even worse.

Dr. Fitzgerald wrote something down and then looked back up at Steve. "So when you woke up, where did you think you were?"

Steve shrugged. "I don't know. It was all a bit hazy. All I knew was I had to get out of there."

"Even though you didn't know where 'there' was?"

Steve's frown deepened. The doctor was making this all sound really bad. Maybe Danny was right to bring him to the hospital after all. Steve couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong but now that he really thought about it, he did feel off- like he wasn't firing on all cylinders.

And he couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something, something bigger and more important than where he'd been for the last year-and-a-half. If only he could remember what that was…

"Do you know what year it is?" the doctor asked, breaking Steve out of his thoughts.

"Well," Steve started, thinking out loud, "it was the fall of 2012 when I went camping. So if it's been 19 months, it must be 2014."

"Did you know that before you did the math?" the doctor asked.

"No," Steve said with a sigh, hating to admit it.

The doctor scribbled on the chart. "Do you know what month it is?"

Steve's stomach sank a bit. "No."

"Do you know what day of the week it is?"

And a bit more. "No."

"Do you know who the president is?"

Steve chewed on his lip for a minute, wracking his brain. Not good… so not good… who was the president? Finally, he gave up. "I don't know."

Dr. Fitzgerald looked down and scribbled even more.

Steve stared at the floor.

Then Dr. Fitzgerald pointed at Danny. "Do you know who this man is? And I mean before he or I told you?"

At that, Steve looked up and a hint of a smile crossed his face. "Yeah, I do. Detective Danny Williams. Hater of Hawaii, continual complainer, and bane of my existence. But he's also my partner. And my best friend."

The doctor looked to Danny for confirmation.

Danny grinned. "That's mainly right. Although, I only partially hate Hawaii now."

"Oh, really?" Steve asked, perking up.

Danny shrugged, still smiling. "What can I say? The surfing's pretty good."

"Well, it's nice to know one thing changed for the better while I was gone," Steve said with a grin- a grin that quickly faded when he looked over at the doctor who was finishing up his notes.

"So, what's the verdict, doc?" Steve asked.

Dr. Fitzgerald set aside the chart and tucked his pen in his coat pocket. "I'll need to consult with neuro and get your CT and lab results back before making any definite conclusions."

"But your best guess?" Steve asked.

The doctor took off his reading glasses and looked Steve in the eye. "I think something happened that scrambled your brain. Your long term memory appears fine, but your short term memory is gone. The most likely cause is a blow to your head. It might have occurred when you fell while running but truthfully, it's possible you lost your memory before then. The other option is your amnesia could be psychogenic."

"Meaning?" Danny asked.

Dr. Fitzgerald looked over at him. "Meaning something happened that was so traumatic, Commander McGarrett is willfully blocking it out, even though he doesn't realize it."

"No way," Steve shook his head. "I can remember a lot of things from my SEAL days that I'd like to forget. That can't be it."

"Perhaps," the doctor conceded. "But the main point is, we just don't know."

That was not exactly the news Steve wanted to hear. He was about to ask the big question when Danny beat him to it.

"When will he get his memory back?" Danny asked.

Dr. Fitzgerald shrugged. "I don't know. It might come back all at once or the memories might resurface gradually over time." He looked back at Steve. "The best thing you can do is expose yourself to as many things from before your disappearance as you can. Maybe something will trigger a memory- it might be a sight, sound, or even a smell. But the more things you can expose yourself to, the better your chances are for recovery."

"So I might get my memory back?" Steve asked incredulously. "That's the worst case scenario, right?"

Dr. Fitzgerald shook his head sadly. "No."

"Then what is?" Steve demanded.

The doctor sighed. "That it won't come back at all."

To be continued…