The official half way point! Enjoy!
Steve returned to the living room with another candle and lit it in the middle of the table.
"This is getting ridiculous." Danny said as Steve sat back down. "I mean seriously this is one hell of a storm."
Steve looked at him concerned. "I know. I'm starting to get worried."
"You're just now getting worried?" Danny asked incredulously. "This storm has been raging for hours and just now you think it is concerning?"
"That's just it Danny, the storm has been raging for hours, last time I checked it should have been almost gone by now."
"Well that's just fantastic." Danny muttered.
"The kids safe?" Steve suddenly asked.
"Rachel and Step-Stan took them on a vacation to Florida when they heard the storm was going to be bad. Wish I would have joined them."
"Wait a second." Steve said pointing at Danny. "You, Mister 'I Hate Hawaii', and despises beaches, wants to go to Florida?"
Danny shrugged his shoulders. "Florida has Disney World."
"Florida also has alligators."
"Oranges." Danny countered.
"Mosquitoes." Steve said back.
"Universal with Harry Potter World."
"Swamps."
"Sea World."
"Wait." Steve said breaking their argument chain. "Harry Potter world?"
Danny shrugged again. "Grace made me read it to her as a kid. She is secretly as big of a book nerd as I am. Just doesn't want any of her little friends to know."
"Why do you love Florida so much?" Steve asked.
"Why do you hate Florida so much?" Danny asked back.
The two men looked at each other for a moment. Danny was about to answer, when a loud bout of thunder crashed outside.
"That sounds close." Steve said. Danny moved towards the window to see if he could do the old count the lightning trick he learned from his parents. You see the lighting, and you count the seconds it takes for you to hear the thunder to know how far the storm is out.
Danny saw the flash and counted. "One, two, three..."
Danny would have finished, but at that moment, a tree decided to crash through Steve's window. The exact window where Danny was standing.
"DANNY!" Steve yelled, running over to his partner who was currently on the ground.
When the window blew, the sudden wind and rain had knocked Danny on the floor. Hard. As he fell, his head hit the ground with a loud thud. "Son of a-" Danny groaned.
Steve was on the floor by his side in an instant, rain now puddling around them. Steve looked at the window and saw the large branch sticking its way into his living room.
"Danny you okay?" He asked.
"Yeah I think so." Danny tried to sit up but then groaned, one hand touching his head and the other going to the other side of himself where Steve could not see.
"What's wrong?" Steve asked concerned, placing his hand on Danny's shoulder.
Danny looked over to the other side of himself and sighed. "Well I'll be damned."
Steve looked at where Danny was looking and saw a piece of glass sticking out of Danny's side. It was bleeding, but thankfully did not appear to be in too deep.
"Danny, can you get up?" Steve asked.
"Yeah, yeah." Danny said slowly getting up holding his side. He hobbled next to Steve who led them to his bathroom upstairs in his master bedroom. He shut the door to the bedroom, and went back to Danny in the bathroom.
"Okay Danny, I am going to patch you up, but first I got to go put a tarp over the window so we don't get any projectiles coming through the house. You going to be okay for a couple minutes?"
Danny was propped up against the counter, trying to look at the piece of glass still lodged in his side. "Just a little glass and a knock on the head babe, nothing to worry about." Danny said smiling and giving Steve a thumbs up.
Steve frowned and then rolled his eyes at Danny. The one thing that Steve learned about Danny over the years is that the man complained about every little detail in his life. But the big things, the ones that really counted, Danny tried to stoically go at them alone. When it really mattered, Danny Williams was one of the toughest guys Steve knew.
Logically he knew that Danny's wound was not life threatening, but he also knew that it was hurting his friend from the pained look in his eyes. He was not sure which was hurting worse, the bump that was forming on the back of his head or his side. Danny kept his hands firmly around the glass keeping it in place, and Steve could only look at him from the doorway.
Noticing Steve's reaction, Danny decided his friend needed some motivation. "Go!" Danny shouted. "The last thing we need is your entire house to flood or God forbid a freaking stop sign to come through the window and kill us both!"
"I'm going I'm going!"
Steve quickly got the tarp and secured it over the window, grabbed a few necessary supplies, and made his way up to his bathroom. Danny was right where he left him, and thankfully the wound was not any worse. Steve got out the first aid kit and began assessing Danny's side.
He began working on it, trying his best not to aggravate the wound any more. Steve was thankful that the glass was not deep enough for Steve to have to keep it in, so instead he gently took it out and put a bandage on top. The bleeding was not worrying, but Steve was also concerned about Danny's head.
The bump did not look as bad as he originally thought, but it was still possible Danny had a small concussion.
"What's the word, doc?" Danny asked jokingly. "Am I gonna live?"
Steve smiled at him. "Just a couple stitches and some rest and you should be fine. We got lucky Danno. I'm not sure we could have made it to the hospital if it was worse."
"Ah... but that is me. Always lucky. Think about how many close calls with bullets, bombs, and poisons I've had this past decade." Danny muttered.
"Speaking of the past decade, look at what I managed to grab." Steve said holding up the notebook and shaking it in front of Danny.
Danny instantly knew that Steve was trying to distract him from his stinging side and the beginning of a monster headache, and he was immediately appreciative.
"I'm ready." He said.
"Alright. Looks like we have running."