A/N: Well, here we are at the end. Thank you so much for all of your great reviews - I've enjoyed reading them all. This was definitely a departure from my usual whump-fest so I hope you enjoyed it.

The next week went smoothly for Five-0 as the media frenzy died down and no big cases landed in their laps. Danny sighed as he relaxed in the chair by the water at Steve's place. The beer in his hand was just starting to drip with condensation so he took another pull on the bottle and closed his eyes as the cool liquid slid down his throat. He finally felt fully relaxed for the first time in a week.

"Hey, you okay?" Steve wondered from the other chair.

"Yeah, I'm good," Danny sighed without opening his eyes.

"Need another one?"

"No, thanks. I'll get one in a bit."

Steve studied him for a moment, "You sure you're okay?"

Danny cracked one eye open and tilted his head to the side to look at his partner, "Yes, Steven, I'm fine. Quit staring at me."

Steve smiled, "Just checking, partner. It's been a rough week."

"Yes, it was, but that's over, and I'd rather not think about it tonight."

"You got it." Steve readily agreed.

"But... thanks," Danny said seriously. "For everything. It would have been rougher without all of your help. So, thanks."

"Thought you didn't want to think about it?"

Danny narrowed his eyes and took in a deep breath but never got to start ranting as Steve's phone rang, interrupting him.

"Duke, what's up?" Steve answered. "Yeah... okay... of course. We'll be there soon... Take care of your guys, and we'll be there as soon as we can."

Danny sat up, setting his half full bottle on the ground, as Steve finished the call, "We're done with our beer, aren't we?"

"Yup, a couple of Duke's officers got into trouble out at that music festival on the North Shore. I told him we'd offer support and start the investigation."

"Officer down?"

"No," Steve shook his head. "One civilian dead and several more injured. Duke said he'd fill us in more when we got there."

The ride to the north shore was a quiet one as both Steve and Danny contemplated what could have happened. The music festival had seen its fair share of trouble over the last few years, but there had never been a death. The most trouble they'd ever had was a fist fight or two. They pulled up behind an HPD cruiser with its lights flashing and noticed Robertson talking to an EMT.

"Robertson!" Danny called out as he slammed the door shut on the Camaro. "You okay?"

Robertson looked up and waved at them as Steve and Danny approached, "Hey, guys. I'm okay. I wasn't here when it happened."

"Okay, good," Danny clapped him on the back.

"Let's find Duke," Steve told Danny.

"Over there," Robertson pointed down the beach to a knot of people.

As Steve and Danny approached, they noticed Duke off to the side talking to a young officer who was staring at the ground. Duke saw them and held up a hand for them to wait and joined them as soon as he was done talking to his officer.

"Thanks for coming, guys," Duke approached them. "This is a real mess."

"What happened?"

"It started out as the usual drunken rowdiness from the concert goers, and then some fool drew a gun and was waving it around threatening people. Officer Carew there..." he gestured to the officer he'd just been talking to.

Danny wondered briefly where he'd heard Carew's name before, and then he realized that Robertson had mentioned he was the inside informant feeding the media information on the shooting; the kid who thought he knew better than seasoned officers when it came to procedure.

"...he saw the gun and ordered the suspect to drop it," Duke continued. "The suspect continued to brandish the gun and, according to witnesses, more of a crowd gathered."

"Then what?" Steve asked softly when Duke paused to shake his head and throw a look in Officer Carew's direction.

"The suspect then pointed the weapon at one of the bystanders and threatened to shoot him. Carew drew his taser, fired and... missed."

Steve and Danny winced, envisioning the scene as Duke described it.

"The suspect then fired and wounded one of the onlookers. He's been taken to the hospital already, and the EMT's said it wasn't life threatening."

"What did Carew do?" Danny wondered.

Again, Duke shook his head, "Officer Carew fired on the suspect but decided he would shoot to disable. He shot the suspect in the shoulder."

"And..." Steve glanced at Danny, wondering how this would affect his partner after his own recent civilian shooting.

"The suspect was still able to fire and proceeded to empty his clip into the crowd, killing one and injuring five more."

"He was able to fire his entire clip?" Steve questioned.

Duke nodded, sadly, "Officer Carew froze when his shot was not effective. Officer Lopez arrived just as the suspect put in a new clip and was starting to shoot again. According to witnesses, Lopez told him to drop it, and when the suspect did not comply, he shot him in the chest... he was still breathing when EMT's took him away, but it didn't look good."

Steve nodded, "What do you want us to do?"

"Mostly I want you here for procedure. My guys are a little shook up so if you guys could check out the scene and make sure things are handled. I need to take Carew back to Headquarters and figure out what to do with him. There's going to have to be a review."

"Sure," Steve agreed, glancing at his overly quiet partner. "We'll see what we can do."

"Thanks," Duke told them as he went back to stand with Carew again.

Steve and Danny approached another small knot of people and noticed Max leaning down over a body on the sand. They nodded at him as he stood and gave them a little room.

Danny crouched down and looked into the open, lifeless eyes of a young woman. She looked to be in her mid-twenties and had been quite pretty. He noticed the sparkle of a ring on her left hand; an engagement ring. He looked to his right and noticed an officer speaking with a young man, also mid-twenties, who was staring in his direction with tears coursing down his cheeks.

"Danny?" Steve sounded concerned.

Danny didn't hear Steve as he had the sudden urge to be anywhere but where he was. He glanced over to Duke and Officer Carew. Momentarily, he maintained eye contact with Carew. Danny wanted to tell him that this was exactly why officers were trained to shoot to disable, rather than disarm. The dead woman at his feet was dead because the shooter was still able to fire with a bullet in his shoulder. It should never have happened. Her life was over just like that, and her fiance would never be the same all because Carew thought he knew better. Danny wanted to yell. He wanted to rant. He wanted to shake Carew, but none of that would change the outcome of this disastrous evening.

Danny lurched up and stumbled away, breaking eye contact with Carew and getting as far away from the woman, who shouldn't be dead, as fast as he could. He headed for the privacy of his car just as a newscaster broke through the police cordon and approached Carew, shoving a microphone in his face. Danny kept on walking, emergency lights flashing off his face as he left the scene.

The End. I'd love to know what you think -especially about the ending. Thanks for sticking with me to the end.