Disclaimer: I do not own Hawaii 5-0 or any of its characters.
A/N: If any of you lovely readers are wondering, I don't write slash. I see the two guys having a great bromance but that is all. Though I do like letting other people "see" things that are not there! PS take a look at my profile to see my own story of what people believe to be true!
This chapter is dedicated to Anne-Marie…you can thank her for it being put up so quickly after the last chapter. I was plagued with text messages during the day asking for the next chapter! Well here it is, I hope you all enjoy it.
"Oh this was not good, not good at all," thought Kamekona.
"Hey bruddah, take a seat. I'll be right back with a menu," the shrimp man said to Tommy who was walking towards the truck.
He was going to have to do some fancy foot work to stall Tommy but also let McGarrett know that the other crook was possibly still with Danny. To his relief, he spotted Kono and Chin walking towards him. He signalled to them to meet behind the truck.
"Where's Navy?" he enquired
"We got a possible address of where Danny is being held and he's gone to find him. He sent us to bag the two numbskulls," Kono replied.
"He go alone? Damn ninja SEAL!"
Chin immediately noticed the concern, "Why, what's up?"
"Only one showed up, other stayed behind."
Chin realised then that Steve was possibly walking into a trap.
"Ok, let's take this guy down quickly and go back McGarrett up," Kono said as she started to walk out from behind the truck.
"Hey little sista, give me a moment and then he's all yours," said the big man.
Tommy never saw it coming as a fist the size of a ham smashed into his face, splitting his lip and breaking his nose. "That's for taking Jersey; no-one hurts my little H'aole".
Chin and Kono just stood behind Kamekona with their mouths wide open. Eventually Chin took out his phone and contacted Duke to come and take away the trash from outside the big yellow shrimp truck. He also tried calling McGarrett but was getting no sound, good or bad at the other end of the phone. Once Benton was in police custody, the cousins bolted back to their vehicle to go back-up their fearless leader and hopefully find Danny in one piece.
Meanwhile Steve had reached the address Robert had given him. He crept up to the side door, checking it, to find it open. There appeared to be nobody around so he continued into the building. Walking straight to a workshop full of tools he noticed a stack of crates that looked slightly out of place in such a small room. Rounding them slowly with his gun drawn he found nothing.
Clearing the rest of the room he continued back out into a corridor which looked a little like a long narrow assembly area with a conveyor belt running down one side. Cautiously walking along he came to an open door leading into what looked like a small cold storage room. It didn't sound like the fan was on; remembering that Robert, the teenager with Danny's phone said it was in a chill room he had found it. Going in low, looking carefully around the door way he immediately spotted his partner. Danny didn't look too well.
He was bound to a chair by his arms, hands and feet. He had a rag tied in his mouth and his head hung down on his chest and he was shivering. Checking that they were alone, Steve holstered his gun and ventured forward to Danny. At the sound of him walking into the chill room, Danny looked up with red rimmed, pained eyes. A look of relief spread across his face. He couldn't believe his eyes. Steve then hurried to him, reaching up to remove the gag.
As soon as it was out of Danny's mouth he went to speak but instead was taken over by a round of harsh coughing, finding it even hard to catch his breath.
"It's ok Danny, calm down. You're ok," Steve encouraged looking around for something, anything that might help Danny. Spotting a smile discarded pineapple in the corner, he considered trying to peel it and cut a piece for Danny to suck the juice out of but thought better of it.
Thinking then that the best thing to do was get him out of the chair, he started cutting the zip ties that held Danny to the back of the chair with his knife. Concentrating so much on cutting Danny free and the volume of Danny's hacking cough, Steve didn't hear Michael Chi sneak in, only realising when a pry bar came down full force on his right wrist, knocking the knife from his hand.
Steve dived back out of the way to miss the second swing which missed his head by millimetres. Putting his hand down to take out his gun he found his right hand was all but useless. Before getting his left hand across to his holster on his right hip, he was forced to once again roll away from the pry bar being swung at him.
"We really underestimated these guys," Steve thought to himself, just as Danny was thinking "Damn, I thought these guys didn't get their hands dirty."
Try as he might Steve could not get close to Chi. The bar seemed to be everywhere. Chi had some skills that nobody had been aware of.
Danny watched on, frustrated that he couldn't help. He strained with all his might against the zip ties, finally feeling the one on his left wrist give way. That had been the one Steve had started on. Looking frantically around, Danny spotted the dropped knife just out of range. He couldn't reach it from where he was but had to do something quickly. He saw that Steve was getting nowhere fighting off Chi. His wrist looked fairly messed up and Danny could see that his partner was having no luck getting to his side arm.
Realising that there was only one thing he could do; Danny tilted the chair from side to side hoping the momentum would send him over, also hoping that it wouldn't hurt too much. As it was, his chest and throat were aching for his coughing and his head was joining in too.
Finally, a sound from outside the cold storage room distracted Chi from a couple of seconds, giving Steve enough time to un-holster his gun with his left hand but not enough time to do anything with it. In an instant, Chi was back in the fight, again swinging the bar, like a knight swinging his sword. Luckily for Steve, not connecting with his uninjured left hand but unluckily connecting with the gun, Chi disarmed Steve in an act.
All Steve could do was hope to outlast the Asian as he continued to attack. As again the pry bar came close to his head, Steve stumbled, hitting his head against the wall of the chill room. A wave of dizziness came over him and he slumped down the wall. He looked up as his attacker advanced, bringing his weapon up over his head to strike the death blow. Steve threw his arms up to try and save his head from being smashed. He watched as in slow motion the bar reached the top of the arc of the swing and seemed to halt there for a second and then drop to the ground with a clatter, as a shot echoed around the chill. Chi grabbed his shoulder, dropped to his knees and screamed out in agony.
Steve looked to see where the shot had come from and saw Danny kneeling in the corner with his partner's gun still aimed at where Michael Chi had stood moments before.
Steve lurched to his knees and grabbed hold of Chi, none to gently and turned him onto his front as he took some strong zip-ties from one of his many pockets. Michael Chi tried to struggle but got nowhere and then quickly thought better of it. However painful the gunshot wound was, it was so much worse when he moved.
Steve then just sat back against the wall, cradling his arm looking over at his partner. He knew he should get up and go to him but he was in no physical shape to move at that moment.
When the chair had finally toppled over, Danny had scrambled to grab hold of the knife and worked fiercely to free himself from the chair. Once the last bind fell from his ankle he looked to see how Steve was doing and saw something that nearly stopped his heart. SuperSEAL staggered backwards and slapped into the wall with his head. He was clearly seeing stars.
Danny had a split second to act, spotting Steve's firearm; Danny lunged to the corner of the room. Taking it in both hands, he took aim and fired, shooting Chi in the shoulder and thankfully stopping him provide the fatal blow. Danny just stayed where he was, watching the criminal tumble to the ground, then Steve attaching the zip-ties to him. He still remained on his knees as Steve sat back against the wall.
He shook himself out of his stupor and scrambled to his feet, wanting to get over to his partner to check that he was alright. He started to cough again as he struggled to stand.
Steve saw Danny stand and copied him, struggling one handed to push up of the ground, using the wall to steady himself. Still cradling his injured right arm he moved towards Danny who appeared to be swaying slightly on his feet. Steve tried to grab him in time but just missed as Danny crumbled to the ground.
"Danny? Danny!" Steve yelled as he once more found himself on the ground.
Kneeling beside his friend he placed two fingers to Danny's neck. There was a strong pulse there but Danny felt very cold to the touch. He started to look for any unseen injuries, but finding none, Steve thought of the possibility that Danny was hypothermic. He was definitely pale and his lips were starting to take on a blue tinge.
"Danny! Come on man, wake up. Now is not the time for a beauty sleep," Steve called into Danny's ear. His own pain forgotten, Steve hoisted Danny up against his chest to try and transfer some body heat. Pulling him tighter, he started rubbing Danny's left arm vigorously, keeping up a constant train of babble to try and wake up his best friend.
"Come on buddy, wake up for me."
He really hoped that Chin and Kono were going to show up soon because he really needed some medical help but would not abandon Danny.
Trying to use his right arm too, Steve managed to wrap his arm around Danny's waist and hold him closer to him. Just as he started to give up hope of either a rescue or Danny waking up, several things happened.
Chi, still hog tied lying on the ground sniggered and said "I told that big shrimp guy that the blondie wasn't too hot, guess I was right."
Kono and Chins voices came through the door like the voices of angels.
And Danny started to move; well he actually started to cuddle even closer into the heat that was surrounding him.
Steve was so relieved that Danny was moving he just clutched him in tighter.
And that was how Chin and Kono found their boss and work mate, snuggled tightly on the floor. Danny making little nonsensical murmurs and Steve grinning away, holding his partner tight to him. Kono knew they needed to call the EMTs immediately and was satisfied when she saw Chin take out his phone. But rather than start dialling, he held up the phone and took a picture.
"Really cuz?" she asked indignantly and took out her own phone and called for paramedics.
Kneeling down at either side of Danny and Steve, Chin and Kono joined in trying to heat up their fallen friend. After almost ten minutes, Kono heard the sounds of medical personnel coming towards them and went out to show them the way in, roughly nudging the still bound Chi out of the way.
"Mmm, this is nice," Danny muttered as he nestled more into Steve's chest. Steve caught the look of merriment on Chins face and just gave him the death glare, which sent Chin over the edge to laugh out loud.
The EMTs walked in at that moment followed by Kono, all of whom had looks of confusion on their faces to see Chin laughing away while Steve stared at him.
"Ok Commander, you can let him go now. We'll take over from here," said the first medic to him.
That was easier said than done, as he moved his right hand from around Danny's waist he winced in pain, drawing attention to his injured arm. The second medic was on him in an instant.
"What happened? Where are you hurt?" he asked.
Steve then went to move out from behind Danny with the help of the medic but stopped as he felt Danny burrow in against his chest like a kitten.
"Not one word Chin Ho Kelly," he said through gritted teeth as another spike of pain shot through his wrist.
In no time, the EMTs had Danny wrapped up in a cocoon of blankets and secured to a gurney. They had strapped up Steve's arm too so that it wouldn't be jostled too much. Once in the ambulance, they started Danny on an IV of warm fluids to bring his core body temperature back up. Steve sat beside him, holding his two hands in his one good hand.
"Come on Danno, you're not going to let a little bit of cold knock you out. Where's that Jersey boy we all know and love, that's always going on about the joy of cold winters," Steve said looking into the face of his brother.
Finally Steve was rewarded when two sky blue eyes flicked open searching out his own midnight blue eyes.
"Hey buddy," Danny rasped.
"Shh, no talking pal," Steve scolded but softened immediately "glad you finally woke up."
Danny gave a shiver, and then looked at Steve, taking in the sling.
"Hey don't worry about it. We're going an all-expenses paid trip to the hospital and we'll be as good as new in no time," Steve explained. He then sat back glad that this day was nearly over.