Hi Everyone,
Sorry for the delay, yesterday was crazy; I had football in the morning and basketball in the afternoon, interspersed with homework and my sister's two football games. Please enjoy the next chapter of Broken Blue, and be sure to let me know what you thought.
Rose xx

They're falling too fast. The parachutes have opened but they aren't slowing the descent fast enough. Steve is terrified, but not for himself. In the instant he realises they'll never slow fast enough, he has an idea. A stupid, ridiculous idea, but it may just work. H knows how to make his descent faster, and does so, dropping until he's just below Danny. He positions himself so he will hit the water a second before his partner and break the surface tension. He's doe this drill one hundred times in the navy and knows how to land in a way that might save his life. Danny has no such training, and Steve is hoping this move is going to save both their lives. The water is rushing closer, he holds his breath, points his toes, and hopes Danny will be okay.

Danny sees Steve hit a second before he does. He clenches his left fist, making sure the ring on his finger, the engagement ring on his finger, and holds his breath. The impact is jarring, and his he feels his knee go. He holds back a scream, sinking through the water like a bullet. He pulls the quick release Steve had told him about, and lets himself sink further so the chute is left behind. He fights instinct to kick straight back up, remembering Steve's words.
"Go horizontal, swim away from the chute and then up, otherwise you'll get tangled."
When he finally breaks the surface, for a second, he can't believe he's alive. He can't see the plane in the sky, and assumes it has crashed. But he can't see it in the water. He realises how lucky he was he is with Steve. He surely would have taken his chance with the plane. He looks around. There are miles of endless ocean, and he can't see anyone else. He tries to tread water, but his knee is in refusing to work. He uses his last breath. "Steve!"

Steve feels his left leg break as he hits the water. The momentum jars him, throwing his head back and slamming it into the water. He forces himself to sink, pulling the quick release straps. He holds his breath and waits, he can't swim upwards and risk hitting Danny. He counts to 90, and exhales, finally swimming towards the surface. His head breaks the water and he hears Danny yelling his name. His leg is burning with agony, and he feels his head spinning. But as he looks towards where he's heard Danny calling, he sees the blonde slipping below the water. Any pain disappears underneath the worry for Danny. He forces himself to swim, slicing through the water ad reaching blindly. He grasps Danny's shirt and heaves him up. Dany surfaces, coughing and spluttering, but he looks alright.
"Danny, are you okay?"
"Kind of, my knees gone, I'm struggling to stay up. You?"
Steve tries not to focus on his leg and head. He's been trained o deal with the pain, he can float for hours, and he can certainly keep the two of them afloat. He can.
"I'm fine, hold on, alright?" He lies back, gasping as his leg is jarred.
"Steve, are you sure?" Danny's head is tilted back, trying to stay afloat.
He ignores the question and pulls Danny so his head is across Steve's shoulder. As his weight settles, Steve realises there is a sharp pain in his chest ad abdomen. With a sinking feeling, he realises at least two ribs are broken in addition to his leg, and his head is starting to throb more with each passing minute. Danny is more important than any of that though.
"There's a research bout, it's probably only about a three-hour swim from here. I sent a mayday to Chin, he knows where we were headed and he'll know that that's where I'll go. Stay lying back, you won't be able to kick with your knee, I'll tow you."
"Steve, are you sure?" the water is lapping at Danny's chin, and the pain on his face is enough to push Steve's own to the back of his mind. "I'm sure." He says, hooking his arm over Danny's chest.
He quickly takes inventory of his injuries. Probably broken ribs, definite broke left leg. He thinks he might be concussed too. But Danny's knee is out. After he'd had dthe last surgery, the doctors had warned him of the dangers of re-injury. It was Steve's job to make sure Danny walked out of whatever hospital they ended up in.

They've been in the water for close to an hour. Steve has his right arm around Danny and his left leg as straight as possible, and he kicks and paddles with the remaining limbs. Steve can feel himself getting cold. He isn't sure if it's shock or hypothermia. Its likely a mixture of both. The fire in his leg is slowly abating, the cold water numbing it, but he can feel himself flagging.

"Talk to me Danno."
"About what? Danny's voice is quiet, but it echoes, the only noise aside the sloshing of the waves.
"anything, please, talk about anything. I just need something to take my mind of this."
"Remember the first time we kissed? We'd just gotten back from…" So, Danny talks, and they continue on, bobbing up and down, a small speck in the vast, unbroken blue.

"Yes Kono!" Chin applauds from the beach as his younger cousin carves up and down the waves. They've been down at the beach for a few hours now. Steve had taken a day off on behalf of 5-0, and anyone wanting to wreak havoc on the island would just have to wait a day while his two best friends got engaged. He and Kono had been anxiously awaiting 6pm, when Steve and Danny would arrive back at their place for engagement drinks, and had decided to waste a few hours down by the beach. It as now past one o'clock, and he was hoping that on an island off the coast somewhere were two very happy men soaking up their first few hours as an engaged couple. Kono was now jogging up the beach, board tucked securely under her arm.
"Nice work cous." She sets the board in the sand, running delicate fingers through her lose mane of hair.
"I needed to get my mind away for a bit, I'm too excited to concentrate on anything else right now!"
They begin to make their way up the beach to where their bags lay. Kono slides a loose button down over her bikini while chin picks up the towel he'd been sleeping on earlier.
"Yo, you got a message here." He catches the phone Kono tosses over from her bag. Flcking it open, he feels sick.
Mayday. 20°13'09.6"N 156°12'38.6"W. Send assistance immediately. Mayday.
It is the automatic mayday message, which he and Steve had jokingly programmed to come through to his phone the night before. And it had come through some thee hours earlier. Hoping something has gone wrong, he copes the coordinates into google. He realises it isn't an error when the map reference comes up. It shows a spot in the middle of the ocean.

The cousins race up the beach to the pickup truck they' driven down in, Kono carelessly tossing her board in the back, slipping into the front seat while Chin buckles into the driver's seat, tearing towards headquarters. They make good time, and five minutes after seeing the message they race through the office, Chin in casual clothes and thongs, Kono barefoot, dripping wet and half dressed. They make quite the scene. Chin brings up the coordinates on a screen, looking around for anything that might mean his friends will have survived their crash.
"There!" Kono is pointing to a spot, a few hours swimming away from the mayday point. It's a research platform, used for tracking currents and other oceanographic activities. Its also possibly going to save their friend's lives. Steve knows Hawaii's Islands and he surviving areas better than anyone Chin has met. He'll know the platform is there. Chin's sure. He and Kono race back out the door they came in, leaving confused members of the police in their wake. Kono's on the phone yelling at the coast guard as they go, Chin with his foot as far down as it will go towards the take-off point of the guard's helicopter. Chin hopes to god they'll be in time.

Steve can see the buoy. He's ready to cry, more tired than he's ever been in his life, and his pain level is reaching his breaking point. When they're close enough, he pushes Danny forward.
The research buoy is more of a platform, a 3x3 metre square.
"Climb up Danno." He sees the struggle as Danny manoeuvres a largely unresponsive leg up.
"Give me your hand Steve." For once, he's only too happy to accept the help. He reaches up, but the second Danny pulls, he lets out the cream he's been holding in all day.
"Steve? Oh my god!" Steve lays panting on the platform, trying to reign his pain in. "Steve, talk to me babe."
"Sorry Danno." His vision is beginning to black out, and he thinks he's going to be sick. "Guess I wasn't as okay as I thought."
"Steve, babe, where are you hurt?" Dann brushes a hand through his hair, brushing the salty strands away from his face.
"M'leg, I think it's broken. Ribs too. Head hurts. M'really sorry Danny. Tried to be okay. Wanted this day t'be perfect. Screwed it up as usual. M' so sorry Danno. So, so sorry."
Danny is touching his leg now, and it hurts more than breaking it did. He lets out a moan, head rolling.
"I'm sorry, I need to have to have a look. Why are you so stupid, huh? You're such a self-sacrificing idiot."
Steve is an idiot, he knows that and he feels awful because now Danny is worried and shit, is he crying? He raises a hand and wipes away the tear that is gently spilling from his cheek. Danny catches the hand, holds it to hit face.
"Haven't you got it by now Steve? I can't live without you." He kisses the Steve's had, places it gently back down. "Chin will have gotten the message by now, and he'll be here soon. He will."
Steve hopes so, because it's getting harder to breathe. A he's tired. He tries to take a dep breath, but it sends him into a coughing fit, which makes his head and leg throb in unison. Maybe if he closes his eyes for a second, he'll feel better.
"No Steve, open your yes. Please Steve, open your eyes." He blinks, squeezes the hand Danny has now intertwined with his. "Hold on Steve. You got us this far, even with your stuffed-up leg and busted ribs you got us here. Now I held onto you while were doing your SEAL routine, so now it's my turn to do something and all you have to do is hold on, okay?" Danny slides himself under, and the new position takes pressure off his leg and shifts his ribs so he can suddenly breathe. Danny is warm behind him. His eyes sip closed again.
"No Steve, open your eyes."
"Sorry Danno. So h'ppy you said yes. So happy. L've you D'nno."
"No Steve, please, wake up! Wake up Steve!" But the words are lost, and Steve floats away as if on the tide. He doesn't hear Danny's plea, doesn't her the thwacking sound of an approaching helicopter.

Hi Everyone,
I've taken creative license a bit here. Steve would likely never be able to tow another man while that injured, and any information regarding the functions of a plane's mayday system are completely made up for the purpose of plot. Like they always say, don't let the facts get in the way of a good story. The coordinates listed really are a spot in the ocean off the big island, but aside from that much of the information in this story is my own imagination running unchecked. Finally, as an Aussie we call flip flops thongs, and I just can't bring myself to use the phrase 'flip flops' in a story. So rest assured, Chin is not wearing women's underwear. The next chapter should e out in the next day. See you then, Let me know what you thought in the meantime.
Rose xx