Archive of Our Own

Banner by Thok Jr and China Rose

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Introduction

“You dumb schmuck,” Danny whispered angrily. “You never listen to me. What did I tell you?”

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Prologue

There was no denying that Steve McGarrett was a sharp and intuitive operator and when things went pear-shaped he was right there to make the world a better place by taking out the bad guys; but Steve didn’t always get it right, in fact sometimes he got it spectacularly wrong. When his judgment was impaired or his timing was off then there were consequences and in a recent case he learnt the hard way that you get mixed results when you don’t think things through thoroughly.

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Part 1

Danny liked working with Steve…okay he liked working with him to a point. There were times when the man was a loose cannon. He’s smart yet unpredictable. He’s fearless but occasionally reckless. He’s all military precision in tracking down and apprehending a perp but then he dangles the guy upside down over the edge of a building. So while he admired Steve’s dedication and determination in getting the job done, his unconventional methods sometimes caused a knock on effect for Danny. For instance, Danny had never been injured in the line of duty until he met the Super SEAL and was shot during their first case together. Danny had been a cop for years and he had faithfully worn his St Michael medallion, St Michael being the patron Saint of law enforcement, to ward off unfortunate events like getting shot. However even that mighty archangel didn’t have the juice to protect him when he was teamed with a marauding Navy reservist with a fully loaded gun and a penchant for trouble.

So in the spirit of self-preservation, Danny became the voice of reason in their partnership. That ensured that they usually came through a case unscathed or at worst slightly ruffled. Still Danny did have concerns for Steve. The man was driven and unlike everyone else in the State of Hawaii, Danny knew Steve McGarrett was not immortal. He was flesh and blood and just because his persona was larger than life didn’t mean the man was indestructible.

Of course on the occasions when Steve performed feats above and beyond the call of duty like when he drove a car onto a cargo vessel, Danny had to question whether Steve always made the wisest decisions in the world. Nevertheless the guy delivered the goods and everyone from the Governor down was happy with the Five-0’s successes and happy politicians were a good thing to have on your side.

Unfortunately though, on the days when Steve was beaten up, knocked down, shot at or just plain old down and out, people simply waited for him to pick himself up and dust himself off. There was this expectation that he would just forge ahead irrespective of any physical or emotional trauma. The problem was Danny knew that one day one of Steve’s less than stellar decisions would go wrong and Steve wouldn’t get up and then everyone would realize, all too late, that Steve McGarrett was just as vulnerable as the next guy. That aside though, the ups of working with the ex-SEAL far outweighed the downs and right now life was fast paced and exciting and it was going along quite satisfactorily that is until Nick Taylor came to town.

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Part 2

The Five-0 had been called in to investigate the murder of a man who was part of the security team for a high profile foreign military dictator, General Pak, who was due into Hawaii the next day. As missions go it was right up the team’s alley. The victim had apparently planned to expose an assassination plot against the General and was taken out by a femme fatale before he could spill the beans.

So here they were faced with a little intrigue, a sleek woman assassin and a state visit by a mass murdering general. Their job was to protect the General and his family before the assassin struck again. However, while the job was interesting from a homicide case point of view, overall it was not one Danny would have taken on if he’d had a choice but he was a government employee and to that end he did what he was told. Still, there were others who were brought in that day who had choices and from Danny’s perspective they made the wrong ones.

Enter Nick Taylor, an old SEAL buddy of Steve’s. Danny immediately disliked Taylor. Yes Danny was jealous when Steve greeted Taylor with a merry ‘Bullfrog’ and the man had hugged Steve and with equal gusto responded ‘Smooth Dog’. Danny cringed, Steve beamed and Bullfrog laid on the good ole boys camaraderie way too thick. Besides the fact that Danny thought the nicknames were utterly ridiculous, he was quite put out that the stranger seemed to not only know Steve well but to know a part of Steve that Danny knew Steve never willingly shared with other people.

Danny scowled as the two men so easily communicated despite not having seen each other for years and suddenly he felt as if the history he had with Steve, albeit a short one, didn’t seem to mean anything now that Taylor was in town. Worse still, Taylor seemed to deliberately exclude him from the conversation by shamefully falling into military jargon which had Steve dribbling acronyms every time he opened his mouth and had Danny wanting to buy a vowel just to be part of the discussion.

Unfortunately Danny wasn’t born with a filter and so he retaliated by openly challenging the motives and intentions of the conceited newcomer. Taylor ignored the whole thing which made Danny even more irate because he now looked like a jealous lover desperately trying to ward off his boyfriend’s sleazy ex. Steve however, simply laughed it off and apologized for Danny’s behavior.

So Taylor left to do whatever bullfrogs do when they are way from the pond and Danny was glad to see the back of him. Steve on the other hand was like a hyperactive toddler, all nervous energy and excitement.

“Are you jealous? It was jealousy! You don’t like him do you?” Steve asked as they walked down the hall to the victim’s hotel room.

Danny tried to put a lid on his emotions and calmly replied, “What gave it way?”

“You didn’t like me at first either,” Steve reminded him.

Danny took a deep breath and faced his partner and with arms gesticulating to stress his point he replied, “Let me explain something to you. I will never like that cheese ball.”

“Ah come on Danny, you’re overreacting but if we have to go guns on this case you’re gonna be happy he’s on our side. Besides I trained him,” Steve added proudly.

“Firstly, if we have to go guns on this case, happy is not the emotion I will be expressing okay? Secondly there’s more than one of you ‘out there’? Great! Just great!” Danny wasn’t sure why that last bit of information worried him so much but the thought of someone else on this job that was equally as proficient and rabid as McGarrett was about everything made him very nervous.

Thankfully they had a job to do, so their discussion changed from ‘why don’t you like my friend’ to ‘what have we got here’ as they walked into the crime scene. Anyway Danny was over the conversation and he was especially over Steve’s exuberance at having his old pal in town. What Danny hated the most was that Steve had lit up at the prospect of working with the guy again. That was the first mistake; Steve hadn’t had contact with the man in years and yet he trusted him implicitly.

Later that day Steve let Taylor into his Five-0 world with absolute confidence and blanket access. Talk about keep your friends close and your enemies closer. From where Danny stood if Nick Taylor got any closer to Steve they would have been screwing each other senseless on the office computer table and for reasons Danny didn’t want to explore too much that really bothered him.

So the immutable Steve McGarrett let his guard down because someone he once knew was working with him. He dismissed all of Danny’s concerns and happily shared the burden of command with Taylor; a man who he believed had both the expertise and experience to help him get the job done. Sadly he failed to see the folly of that decision and blundered on regardless which almost got them all killed, to say nothing of the infamous General Pak and his family, whom they had been ordered to protect above all else.

Yes Danny had known from that first bro hug that Nick Taylor was trouble with a capital ‘T.’ Call it gut instinct or cop intuition but Danny knew that Taylor couldn’t be trusted despite his history with Steve and as events played out Danny had been right to distrust the man. By the time night fell the General’s protective detail had been blown up and the Five-0 and the General were fired on by…you guessed it, the amphibian and his slimy band of hit-men. Steve McGarrett and his crack team of investigators had been royally set up and Steve had failed to see the con because he had wrongly assumed that Taylor was still one of the good guys.

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Part 3

It was after the failed attack on the protective detail that Steve gathered his team, albeit all three of them, the General and the General’s family at his home.

Danny wasn’t sure this was the best place to be at, considering the General’s wife had been shot in the arm; Steve had a nasty gash above his right eye and no doubt the makings of a fine concussion after the car they were in ran off the road and he hit his head in the process and they were hopelessly undermanned and out-gunned.

Danny looked around and in a tone that implied ‘we are screwed if we stay here’ asked, “Hey what are we doing here?”

To which Steve confidently countered, “This is the closest and safest place I know. We’re going to hold up here until HPD SWAT arrives.”

At first pass Steve’s explanation sounded logical but as Danny thought it through he again wondered about Steve’s decision making process in this case. From his point of view while it was close, Steve’s place wasn’t the safest place around. It was barely defendable from a high tide let alone a concentrated attack by armed gunmen. Besides, was it really prudent to hide a high ranking mass-murderer in your living room while a band of determined and heavily armed mercenaries led by your old friend, “Bullfrog”, who it turns out, you trained and who knows all your tricks, was searching for you with the express intention of killing you if you got in his/their way? Prudent…NO! Not in any world, but once again Steve didn’t want to hear Danny’s opinions on the matter.

Of course the next obvious thing to ask was whether Taylor had ever been to Steve’s place before. Right now he was trying to determine if Nick Taylor knew where Steve lived but deep down Danny couldn’t deny that he did want to know if there was more going on between Steve and Nick than just a fondness for covert operations and C4 explosives.

“Never!” Steve assured him and while that didn’t make Danny feel any safer it did make him happy.

Nonetheless it really was stupid to assume that while Taylor hadn’t been to Steve’s place it wouldn’t take much for him to deduce that maybe that’s where Steve had gone especially if the General never reappeared anywhere else in Hawaii, like the airport, military bases or HPD HQ. Hell, the two cars they were driving were probably LoJacked anyway; that would have provided added insurance for Taylor in case the initial attack failed and he had to track down the vehicles and the people in them. Danny figured that he probably had a lock on them already.

Since he first met Taylor the guy had rubbed Danny the wrong way. It bothered him that it was so obvious that Taylor was not the person he pretended to be. It’s not that Danny knew he was on the take it’s just…well Danny felt Taylor was conning Steve…into what he had no idea but the man really bothered him in that deep down, gut feeling, ‘this man is going to cause me grief’ sort of way.

So Danny waited until Chin and Kono had gone inside and then he grabbed Steve by the arm “Did you have any idea, or thought or feeling, no matter how trivial, that your buddy Taylor was playing for the ‘other’ side, whoever they are.”

Steve wrenched his arm free. “Not now Danny!”

“Yes now Steven. You have put us at risk, all of us and I need to know your head is the right space. That guy is not your friend.”

“I know okay. I can see that,” Steve admitted angrily. “But I trusted him with my life once so I had no reason to doubt his integrity now. I’m sorry we’re in this position but we can’t waste time on what’s done. We need to be prepared in case...”

“…in case he comes back to finish the job?”

Steve nodded.

“Well he tried to stab you in the back today. Next time he won’t miss. So play smart okay. Promise me that you won’t do anything stupid.”

Steve looked away, “Danny I have to do…”

Danny just shook his head in despair, “Steven bad decisions don’t make good stories; they make sad headlines. Be careful,” he pleaded before he headed off to help Chin and Kono secure their position.

Danny felt marginally happier once Steve had rung HPD for backup but it wasn’t until the army of undercover thugs, who arrived in cars with lights flashing just like cop cars, deployed across the lawn and took aim did he or anyone else realize that they had no outside communications and that Steve’s phone had been cloned. Now the best Danny could hope for was that when this went down the neighbors called the police, assuming of course that Taylor hadn’t already neutralized them before he hit Steve’s place.

Danny just shook his head at the mess they were in, tried not to say ‘I told you so’ and instead grumbled, "I told you I hated that guy."

So here they were shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic while waiting for the inevitable to happen. Steve had brought them to the brink by his passionate loyalty to a memory and an innate need to reconnect with a past he didn’t have anymore. He had openly embraced the devil he knew by sharing intel, while making no effort to establish whether the man was still who he thought he was. People change but Steve didn’t move past a fervent hug and the use of his old nickname. Such behavior, while it showed that McGarrett was human, meant that now they had to fight for their lives or dear old Bullfrog and his team would take them all out.

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Part 4

The final battle between the Five-0 and Taylor’s team was bitterly fought. It had required some shrewd use of weaponry by the team and a stoic determination to overcome superior numbers and firepower. Much to Danny’s relief they won, although Steve’s house and almost all of Bullfrog’s men became casualties of war. Unfortunately there was one opponent still out there and while Danny was busy mopping up inside, Steve made yet another bad decision when he headed outside to engage Taylor without backup.

When Steve and Nick finally confronted each other they differed fundamentally on how this would end; Steve intending to take Nick down and Nick confident he would take Steve out. However, it didn’t take Steve long to realize that he was in a ‘kill or be killed’ contest as the two warriors fought in a clash where friendship and honor faced off against contract obligations and financial gain.

While Steve may have trained Nick, the man had developed quite a range of his own moves over subsequent years and took every opportunity to use them now which was how Steve’s arm was slashed by a knife and he was thrown over Nick’s head landing several feet down the beach leaving him momentarily dazed and winded. However no matter how many times Steve stood up and fought back, Nick got the upper hand. Eventually Steve found himself pinned to the ground while they grappled for control of the knife that was pointed dangerously close to Steve’s chest. In a feat of superhuman strength, Steve finally managed to push Nick to one side while he twisted to the other, grabbed the pistol stashed in his boot and shot his adversary dead.

For a few seconds Steve lay on the sand totally drained and staring at the stars above, before he painfully climbed to his feet. He gave the lifeless body of Taylor floating in the water nearby a passing glance. He had been a man that Steve had entrusted with his life and yet just a few minutes earlier this same man had been determined to end that life and no doubt Steve wondered when and why it had all gone so wrong.

Steve turned to face the house at the sound of a door opening. His team cautiously approached him unsure if Taylor was still a threat although they were soon able to make out his body in the dim light.

“HPD’s here,” Danny told Steve as he visually assessed him. “You okay?” But what he really wanted to say was, ‘What the fuck man! Who does that? Who goes after an armed and dangerous killer without backup?’ However, he held off on that particular lecture until he was satisfied his tunneled vision partner was in fact alright.

Steve simply nodded that he was good, although he winced as he grabbed his bleeding arm. “Chin, Kono go check on the General and his family,” he gasped and they complied without argument. “Danny…” he began but Danny cut him off.

“…You have got to start doing a better job of picking your friends.”

“I picked you didn’t I?” Steve replied a little breathless.

“Yeah,” Smart ass! Danny thought as he briefly turned away to hide his smile. Still the comment didn’t go even halfway to making up for the cluster fuck Steve had caused in this case. You screwed up. You know it. I know it. This is so not over between us pal.

Despite how this went down Danny relaxed slightly now that everything was under control and everyone who should be alive was. When he realized that Steve had gone off to confront Taylor alone, Danny had become worried, okay pissed and downright terrified. It wasn’t that he didn’t think Steve was capable of overcoming Taylor; it was that Steve was emotionally invested in the friendship he’d had with the guy and that put him at a disadvantage. Still he was pleased Steve was the one standing in front of him, albeit slightly damaged, but alive nonetheless.

“Danno!’ He’d almost missed it. The word had drifted on the air behind him but the tone, soft though it was, was enough to make him turn around in a heartbeat, gun drawn, half expecting to see Steve pointing to a missed mercenary lurking in the bushes. While he didn’t find an elusive antagonist what he did find was equally disturbing, as the six foot Super SEAL folded like a deck of cards before his eyes.

“Steve!” He shouted as he hurriedly holstered his weapon and grabbed the man before he hit the ground. “You’re hurt?” He cried as he eased his friend down who stared back at him with mouth open, breath ragged and eyes filled with shock and pain.

Danny frantically tried to determine what had caused Steve to collapse. “Help me out here,” he begged as ran his hands over Steve’s body trying to find a wound of some sort. Steve moaned as Danny roughly checked him up and down. It wasn’t that Danny was indifferent to Steve’s pain it was that time was of the essence and without knowing what or where the injury was he risked losing Steve and that was unacceptable.

“Sorry babe. I know you hurt, I just don’t know where.” Danny stated as he catalogued the man’s injuries. He noted the gash on Steve’s arm but it didn’t seem to be anything too major. Even the cut on his forehead from earlier looked superficial and certainly not enough to cause this…whatever this was! So the question remained what else was wrong that Danny was missing?

“You’re wearing a vest!” He exclaimed as if the protective garment should have saved Steve from all manner of injuries. “So where’re you hurt huh?” He muttered as checked out the vest to see if it had any holes or tears. “The vest is intact so where’d he get you?”

Danny quickly undid the vest and began to feel for less obvious injuries. As his hand glided down Steve’s left side he felt the sticky wetness of blood. Just below Steve’s ribs he found what looked like a knife wound. Steve groaned as the wound was touched and a hint of fear filled his eyes. Danny hoped his own fears weren’t reflected back to Steve as he pushed the vest against the wound to stop the flow of blood. It wasn’t the best thing in the world to use but he didn’t want Steve bleeding to death while he wasted time ripping off his own vest to get to his shirt to use that as a bandage. Danny winced as Steve once again moaned at the pressure. “Sorry man I have to do it and you’ll thank me for it later,” he stated as he continued to hold the vest in place.

Danny turned to the SWAT team now swarming over the lawn, “Call 911 now, officer down, knife wound,” he yelled. “And someone get down here and find the knife. I want it bagged and tagged and with me before the ambulance gets here.” And in a gentler voice he told Steve, “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay,” and he truly hoped it would be okay but experience had taught him that these sorts of wounds were dangerous because you couldn’t see how much damage they had done inside.

Chin had been heading back to McGarrett to give an update when he heard Danny call out. “What happened?”

“He’s been stabbed,” Danny simply replied. “We’re waiting for the ambulance.”

“What can I do?” asked Chin.

“Remind me to follow my instincts. This could all have been avoided if I had capped Taylor the minute I met him,” Danny growled.

“If only we had that power. I’ll go wait out front for the paramedics,” he told Danny but before he left he gently touched Steve’s shoulder and said, “Hang in there boss. Help’s on the way.”

In the distance the wail of the emergency vehicles echoed through the night. “The paramedics are almost here Steven,” Danny told him. “You’ll be on your way to hospital soon…”

“Thought he...he mm-y friend,” Steve whispered.

Danny wanted to rant about Taylor and the whole situation but now wasn’t the time or place. Steve needed his support not a discourse on how to distinguish friends from foes. So he calmly replied, “I know you did and he hoped that’s how you would see him. Okay so he turned out not to be who you thought he was; shit happens. Still this isn’t a bad thing Steven. I know you may think otherwise right now but it does prove that you’re human and it makes me feel so much better. More importantly you have new friends now; me, Chin and Kono and even Kamekona, we’re your family. We’ll take care of you; that’s what family does…”

“Danny…” Steve started to say.

Danny had no idea what Steve wanted to say but he felt it wasn’t smart for the man to be trying to talk when breathing seemed to take so much of an effort.

“Stop trying to have the last word. I hate that. You know I hate that and while I’m at it I especially don’t want to hear any heroic goodbyes or ‘carry on the good fight’ speeches. The paramedics will be here soon so just lie there and save your energy.”

Steve obviously agreed as his eyes closed and his breathing seemed to level out after being so harsh and labored. Danny tried not to sound too panicked as he yelled “I said lie there, not die there.” He patted Steve’s face trying to rouse him. “Hey wake up. I need you…come on stay with me!”

Steve’s eyes fluttered opened much to Danny’s relief. However, it was obvious that he was in bad shape and Danny feared that it would be too late to the save the man who had become a huge part of his life.

As Chin brought the paramedics to Steve, Danny stepped aside to let them do what they had to do to save his life. It was only as they were lifting Steve into the ambulance that Danny surged forward. He would never forgive himself if something happened to Steve on the way to the hospital and he wasn’t with him. So Danny climbed aboard and settled next to his friend. “I’m staying. He’s my partner,” he told the paramedic.

He leant close to Steve, who had long since slipped into unconsciousness, and quietly said, “I’m right here with you babe. I’m not leaving you.”

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Part 5

It was like every hospital drama Danny had ever seen; the victim is raced through the ER doors, doctors and nurses descend upon the new patient, chaotic activity ensues, someone shouts ‘stat’ at every opportunity and loved ones are left behind bewildered in the waiting room hoping for the best, but expecting the worse. That was what it was like when they arrived at the hospital. Steve was whisked away to a treatment room and Danny was left behind except that he had no intention of meekly waiting for news.

He attempted to walk into the room where Steve was being treated but was stopped by a stocky nurse who loomed over him and blocked his way forward.

“Excuse me but I need to get in there,” Danny pointed inside the room. “He’s my partner, Commander Steve McGarrett, Navy Reserve.”

“Sir, what was the Commander doing to end up with a knife wound?” The nurse asked, clipboard in hand ready to write down any pertinent information.

“And you are?” Danny wasn’t prepared to share any information until he knew who the person in front of him was.

“Nurse Ratched…”

“Of course you are,” Danny muttered under his breath.

The nurse ignored his interjection and continued on, “I am the on duty Nursing Manager for this ER and may I point out that time is crucial and you, Sir, are wasting mine and your partner’s. So I repeat what was Commander McGarrett doing when he was stabbed?”

Danny backed down. He knew this was necessary but he wanted to be with Steve not talking about him. “I can only guess how the injury happened as I wasn’t near him when the incident occurred. I know Steven was in hand-to-hand combat with a perpetrator. He was wearing a protective vest, but it is short on the sides and if he twisted, or raised his arms, it could have ridden up and exposed his flank, to use his terminology. Ergo, he would have been at risk from a knife wound.”

“So you were the one who found him?”

“Yes. Yes I did. I arrived on the scene within seconds of the fight ending. Steven was standing up and didn’t exhibit any signs of being too injured. Even though it was dark I had enough light to see the gash on his arm and that he was breathless, which was to be expected after an encounter like he’d just had. He displayed no other obvious injuries, he wasn’t holding his side or doubled over in pain and he certainly wasn’t writhing on the ground in agony. He was on his feet up to about two minutes before he collapsed and when I removed his vest I found that he had been stabbed.” Danny, keen to ensure he covered as much detail as possible, informed the nurse. “I have the weapon,” he hurriedly added. “I realize that sometimes seeing the weapon is useful in situations like this so here it is, but please don’t remove it from the bag as it is evidence.” He handed over the knife encased in the clear plastic evidence bag as a sort of peace offering to the high priestess of emergency medicine. “So can I go in there now?”

“Sorry sir, please return to the waiting area. Someone will come and speak to you when the Commander is stabilized,” she told him in a tone that brokered no argument.

Danny was mildly surprised that he was still denied entry. “I’m sorry, but you don’t understand I have to go into that room because he needs me.”

“Well he’s my patient and he needs me and my staff to keep him alive more than he needs you fainting in the corner. You can be with him when he wakes up sunshine. He’ll need you then.”

Danny was trying hard not to lose it but the woman was testing his patience. “Look, I know what goes on here. I watch TV. You hassle me, I plead my case and you let me in. Can we just dispense with the role-play and let me in now. You see we’re partners, he and I. I’m a cop. He’s Navy. I know we’re not exactly a match made in heaven but we make it work. Anyway he doesn’t have anyone else, just me. I’m his family and I have to be there. That’s what partners do, what family does. They support each other for better or for worse.”

The nurse had had enough too. “Boy listen up!” She thundered as she put a meaty arm around Danny’s shoulders and dragged him away from the treatment room. “I don’t care if you liked it and you put a ring on it, you are not going through that door. What you want is neither here nor there. It’s what he needs that matters. If you go in there you will be in the way and that would hinder my staff from doing what they need to do to keep him alive and that is unacceptable. So if he matters to you as much as you say he does, then you will do as I say or I will…”

“What? Have me arrested?” Danny challenged. “You can’t arrest me I’m a cop,” he squeaked as she suddenly placed him in a headlock.

“Oh sweetheart I wouldn’t have you arrested; the things that run through that pretty little head of yours. Honey I have other things planned for you. How about I personally do your prostate examine? I can also arrange to have you peeing through a catheter for a month and then help you prepare for your colonoscopy. Does that work for you?” She released him and moved back to the doorway smiling. “So do we understand each other now mister?

Danny knew when he was beaten. He winced at the mental image, put his hands up in surrender and meekly replied, “Yes Ma’am and I have to say you play your namesake extremely well.”

Nurse Ratched gave him a chilling smile before she marched back into the treatment room.

Danny stood where he was after the door was unceremoniously slammed in his face. He stood alone on the outside looking in as the staff worked on Steve. They attached drips, ran transfusions, poked every orifice and shoved tubes in places he never thought they should or could go. Danny couldn’t hear much of what was said in there but the frenetic actions of the staff told him that Steve was in a bad way. Still Danny didn’t dare ask for an update in case he was hauled away for medical experimentation and he never saw Steve again. So he stood where he was and like every other loved one who ever visited an ER, he prepared for the worst while hoping for the best.

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Part 6

Danny’s time with Steve had been brief before his friend was taken to the OR. Steve was unconscious, hooked up to enough machinery to power a small nation and clinging to life by sheer stubbornness and some swift and effective medical intervention. Danny was given a minute to say what he needed to say to his ‘partner’ before they took him away. Danny had once read that unconscious patients can hear things, so he felt that a disembodied spoken ‘best of luck pal’ and a ‘there, there’ pat on the shoulder wouldn’t cut it under the circumstances. So he opted for a more personal squeeze of the hand; and a whispered, ‘I’ll be waiting for you, so make sure you come back okay. I’ll be here to help you through this,’ followed by a gentle kiss to the forehead, hoping that would get through to Steve; he wanted the man in a positive frame of mind as he underwent surgery. With that Steve was taken from him and now Danny sat and thought as he waited out the endless hours.

As he looked back on the day he could see now that sitting here waiting for Steve was an inevitable outcome of his friend’s blind faith in a long lost and best forgotten friend which led to poor choices and bad decisions which in turn created, well this…a situation where Steve was now undergoing life-saving surgery and Danny was outside waiting for news and hoping that the medical people made better decisions about Steve than Steve had made for himself today.

The problem was though that Danny hated waiting around. He was not a fan of the hurry up and wait school of thought and yet from the moment he arrived at Steve’s place earlier that day he had been doing just that…waiting! Waiting for Bullfrog and his associates to attack, waiting for SWAT to arrive, waiting for an ambulance, waiting for news on Steve’s condition and now he was waiting for Steve to come out of surgery.

It’s not that he was bored while he waited, far from it in fact; the constant flow of medical staff demanding that he read this, or sign that, coupled with the odd visitor or phone call were interruptions rather than distractions. For instance the Governor had called and he had filled her in on the details of the incident as well as Steve’s condition. Chin and Kono had dropped by, keen to sit and wait it out with Danny but he had sent them on their way to wrap up the case and do the paperwork. He had called Steve’s sister, Mary, to tell her that Steve was injured, to reassure her that he was in good hands and to stave off any thoughts of her returning from the mainland where she was visiting a sick relative. Steve had enough on his plate having been injured, without Mary stressing around him too and besides, Danny would be there for him, so Mary could just stay away.

So while Danny hated just hanging around, today he was loitering with intent and interruptions were not welcome. Still he dealt with each and every one of them tactfully and swiftly so he could get back to thinking about Steve and how he was going to teach the man to be less of a super hero and more super-smart.

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Part 7

Steve had been in the critical care unit for over two days and Danny had stayed by his partner’s side almost continuously, only leaving to take a quick shower and change his clothes. He was determined to be there when Steve finally opened his eyes and so he kept his absences brief and his hopes high that Steve would wake up sooner rather than later.

Although Steven wasn’t conscious yet, Danny tried not to stress too much about how the guy was doing. All the staff were very caring and reassured him that his partner was doing ‘as well as could be expected under the circumstances,’ which didn’t really fill Danny with much comfort at all. However, he accepted that Steve had survived thus far and was in good hands, as the doctors and nurses continued to monitor his progress closely. Furthermore, at every opportunity they explained in great detail to Danny everything, from the extent of Steve’s injuries, to what they had done to fix them and more importantly, how his recovery was going and what his long term prospects were. Danny nodded sagely as they meticulously kept him up to date; he then promptly translated the medical speak into something that he was more conversant in, which went something like this:

(a) Steve was stabbed by a ‘Bullfrog’,
(b) the knife had cut the spleen and punctured a lung which then collapsed (all this happened because said ‘Bullfrog’ knew how to do maximum damage with one thrust and unfortunately for Steve, he had worn a short sided protective vest which, when push came to shove, did fuck all to protect him),
(c) the surgery was successful in repairing the damage, and
(d) it would take Steve a few weeks to recover and he would need some therapy (though Danny felt sure Steven needed a therapist rather than physical therapy) to help build up his strength again. So initially he needed rest followed by light duties as the weeks went on.

Bottom line, the medical people were confident that Steve would make a full recovery and that Danny just needed to continue being the supportive partner that he was. So Danny relaxed just a little and settled in for the long haul.

While he sat back and watched Steve sleep, he used the down time for some personal reflection. He smiled as he recalled how little he and Steve seemed to have in common when they first started working together some six months ago. They had responded to each other with hostility laced with a hefty dose of alpha-male aggression and one-upmanship. Eventually something had to give when Steve twisted Danny’s arm behind his back and Danny punched Steve in the jaw. That minor altercation had been the turning point in their working relationship. Now, thinking back, he realized that underpinning all that antagonism was the knowledge that they both wanted the same thing; to do their job to the best of their abilities and to do it together as a team. That common ground had planted the seeds for the friendship that exists between them today.

Strangely though, while Steve brought out an array of emotions in him, the one Danny hadn’t noticed before the infamous Taylor came to town, was jealousy. It was also an emotion that Danny had never felt for a guy before and it both intrigued and scared him a little. He freely admitted that he was ‘put out’ by Taylor. He reasoned if he was jealous of Taylor then he must at some level have seen him as a rival for Steve’s attention. So it kind of surprised Danny that somewhere between the fist fights, carguments and friendship, his relationship with Steve had morphed into something more; something unexpected and something he had never experienced for a guy before.

Danny sighed. The whole thing was giving him a headache so he resorted to his fall back activity of trying to rouse Steven. W He poked his partner with an errant finger or pinched his arm and said ‘hey wake up I need to talk to you,’ with a tone that, depending on his mood, vacillated between begging and demanding. Of course Steve didn’t even flinch let alone wake up, much to Danny’s disappointment, so he reluctantly returned to his introspection.

Danny pondered as to why he had seen Taylor as competitor rather than simply acknowledging the man as Steve’s former associate and friend. Okay in part that was easy to answer because the guy was a first-rate jerk. Taylor had paraded around like a puffed up gorilla; his smarmy charm and cheap-assed cologne, that could’ve repelled a charging bull elephant at thirty feet, simply rubbed Danny the wrong way. However, it was when Taylor deliberately placed himself both physically and psychologically between Danny and his mate friend that Danny felt challenged; so it seemed only natural that his anger at the newcomer would turn to jealousy.

However, in hindsight it was clear to Danny that Steven must have noticed a change in him before Taylor came to town; maybe Steve had already realized what was happening between them and was trying to see if Danny had too. Either way Taylor had inadvertently given Steve the chance to test his theory. Steve hadn’t hesitated to ask Danny outright if he was jealous of Taylor and as Danny recalled he seemed pretty smug about the whole thing. Danny wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not that he did feel jealous but Steve hadn’t appeared to be shocked by the fact. Danny on the other hand was stunned because he had no idea what it all meant.

Of course whether Steve liked the idea of a jealous partner or not was irrelevant as he hadn’t helped the situation by playing up to Taylor and calling Danny on his feelings. Men don’t discuss feelings. Worse still Steve had been deceived by his so called friend and had failed to recognize that he was being played and consequently continued to make dumbass decisions that almost got his team and himself killed, despite Danny trying to tell him that Taylor was dangerous.

“You dumb schmuck,” Danny whispered angrily. “You never listen to me. What did I tell you? That guy was no good. Look what he did to you. I would never hurt you. You know that right? You know I care…maybe more than I should or I thought…hell I don’t know man. Something is going on between us but I’m the only one awake and I can’t work this out, whatever this is, by myself.” He pinched Steve’s arm once more. “Wake up I need you!”

**************************************

Part 8

Danny had closed his eyes for just a moment when he heard the sound of movement. In a heartbeat he was on his feet and looming over Steve who was trying to remove the oxygen mask that had graced his face for the past few days.

Danny had gone over in his head what he would say to his friend once the man woke up. Everything from ‘welcome back’ to ‘I told you Taylor was all kinds of bad’ had gone through his mind, but never once did he think he would say, “leave it alone” but he did, as he removed Steve’s hand and readjusted the mask. Talk about memorable moments. All that waiting and what’s the first thing he does? He reprimands his friend who has been on death’s door.

“What happened?” Steve asked with a voice weak and croaky from disuse.

“You were stabbed by your friend Taylor.”

“Not my friend,” Steve countered.

“True. Friends don’t cut your spleen, puncture your lung and hope you bleed to death or drown in your own blood. Anyway moving on, you had surgery, lost your spleen, you’ve got drainage tubes everywhere and don’t try and get up to go to the bathroom, they’ve got that covered too,” he said with a nod towards Steven’s penis hidden below the crisp white bed sheet.

Steve winced; even in his groggy state the thought of a tube shoved into the end of his cock was unspeakable.

“Don’t panic!” Danny reassured him. “The doc said that they would start removing the tubes soon. You’ll probably be in here for another week, barring complications, so relax.

Steve gave him a look that said, ‘Relax? You’re kidding right?’

Danny smile. “Okay try and relax. Now that you’re awake they’ll probably start you on some therapy to strengthen you lung capacity and you need a host of shots to protect you from viruses and bacteria and whatever else lurks out there. It seems that when you lose a spleen you gain a higher risk of infection from oh I don’t know EVERYTHING!! You my friend will be prone to colds, flu and other stuff so in the future you will have to take a little more care with your body than you currently do.”

Steve looked shocked and appalled, so Danny tried to soften the blow a bit.

“Look, you’re a healthy guy…normally. This isn’t going to affect you too much. Yes you will need some time off work…”

Steve’s eyes grew wide. “How much time?”

“Oh about three, maybe four weeks,” Danny mumbled. “Basically rest and recuperate then the doc will negotiate with you about when you can return to work and exactly what sort of work you can do when you do go back. So the general rule is for at least six weeks no lifting, no driving, no running after bad guys and definitely no dangling them off buildings. You’re going to need to come in here two to three times a week for physical therapy and then after six weeks they figure you should be back to your old self.”

Danny had tried to give Steve the facts up front but he had also tried to keep it light or so he thought. Still it seemed to hit Steve hard; he closed his eyes and banged his head into the pillow a few times in frustration.

“What are you doing? What…stop that!” Danny ordered as put his hands on Steve’s shoulders. “Do you want to be in here longer? Behave!”

Steve stilled and although Danny removed his hands, he stayed close just in case he needed to step in again. “Look man, I know you’re hurting in more ways than one. I get that but beating yourself up, literally and mentally, right now isn’t smart. Yes, Taylor fucked with your head and yes, the great Steven McGarrett got played, but pal you’re not the first SEAL or cop to make a mistake. So don’t let the bottom feeder win. You won the fight, now win the battle. Do what you have to, to get on your feet because if you develop any complications out of this, then you are letting Taylor win and he is DEAD! You don’t need to follow him to the grave because…because I need you here okay.”

Steve opened his eyes and stared at Danny in surprise.

“Ahh don’t get cute with me. I have been sitting here for days and my ass is numb. I need a decent meal and a nice bed and I can’t have either while I am concerned that my work-a-holic partner is likely to leap from his bed and jog home before he is fully recovered. So play nice, do the right thing and we’ll both be better off, okay?”

“Okay,” came the hoarse reply.

“Oh and one last thing; I assured the medical people that I wouldn’t leave you alone over the coming weeks. So I will be there day and night to care for you because I am an awesome friend. So sweetheart you have a housemate for the next couple of months.”

“No!”

“Yes! Someone has to feed you, wash your clothes, help you to the bathroom and wash your hair,” he said with a cheeky grin. “Don’t fret Steven I am completely house trained and I will be there at your beck and call. We are going to have so much fun,” he added with a happy shrug of his shoulders.

Steve closed his eyes and seemed to fall asleep, probably from shock as much as his poor health.

“I love you too pal,” Danny whispered.

Danny really did want to help Steve at home. Doing so would give him time to determine if there was some substance to their friendship, or whether he was just jealous of Taylor because Steve wanted to play with him instead. As they say ‘time will tell’ and six weeks under Steve’s feet should give him more than enough time to work out what the hell was going on.

Of course he didn’t tell Steve that he could’ve organized around the clock home nursing for him. Nor did he tell him that the hospital staff seemed to think they were a couple. It was an understandable mistake, given that Danny never left Steve’s side, held his hand, kissed his forehead, called him ‘babe’ and told everyone that he and Steve were partners. It seemed that every time Danny mentioned that they were partners, the staff assumed they were life partners. He wasn’t prepared to tell Steve of the misconception and he hoped that his friend wouldn’t actually pick up on it just in case Danny’s theory that they were moving towards a deeper relationship was in fact wrong. Steve had enough to deal with at the moment and the last thing Danny wanted was to cause him any unnecessary angst during his recovery.

So, like he had done many times over the last few days, Danny sat back and watched Steve sleep; except this time he knew that Steve was finally on the road to recovery.

**************************************
Part 9

Steve had been to hell and back over the past nine days and Danny knew that while the man was well enough to leave the hospital, he certainly wasn’t sufficiently recovered to be looking after himself so he needed someone there to help him. The problem was that Steve liked his privacy and anyone being at home with him at the moment was intruding on his personal space. Danny understood that. This is why he had offered to stay with Steve rather than have an agency nurse, a complete stranger, wandering around the place instead.

Adding to the privacy issue was the problem of the house itself. It had sustained extensive damage from the firefight with Taylor and his team and Danny just didn’t think it would be smart to have workmen invading the house after Steve arrived home. In an attempt to offset some of the lack of privacy for his friend, Danny decided it would be a good idea to get Steve’s place repaired while he was still in hospital. So Danny convinced Steve to let Kamekona begin work on the house. It had been a difficult decision for Steve because he was a ‘hands on’ sort of guy and he wanted to do the work himself but in the end commonsense prevailed and he agreed to let the repairs begin in his absence.

Danny had honestly thought that it was wise to get the ball rolling on the house early. However, since Danny had spent most of his time at the hospital, he hadn’t had the opportunity to make the trip out to the house to see how things were going. So after Steve was discharged from hospital Danny happily drove him home but he couldn’t contain the stunned gasp that escaped his lips as pulled up in the driveway. As for Steve, well his health was still fragile and Danny actually thought his friend was about to head back to hospital from the shock. The house looked worse than it had on the night of the attack; if that was at all possible. Steve was hopping mad from the get go, but Danny tried to reassure him that progress was being made, albeit slowly…although Danny really struggled to see exactly where that progress actually was.

So unfortunately for Danny his plan had back fired and now everything seemed to irritate Steve; he wasn’t alone, he needed someone to help him and his house looked like a disaster area. Still despite all of that Danny saw it as teething problems. However, even he wasn’t prepared for the incessant fights that he faced once Steve walked through the front door. Every little comment or decision was subject to a post-mortem and in some cases an exhumation. They had spent the better part of the day and half the night arguing over everything from napkins to nightlights and the biggest and most bizarre disagreement of them all had been over their sleeping arrangements. There’s a saying, ‘what’s dead should stay dead!’ Well that’s how he saw the bedroom problem …dead and buried from the first mention of it in the morning and yet the damn topic just kept coming up.

When Danny had first mentioned to Steve that he would sleep in the room next door his partner didn’t quite react the way he thought he would. Yes he would have preferred to have slept in Steve’s room, but since he had never done that before it would have seemed out of character to suddenly announce his intentions to do so. Admittedly he wanted to work out if they had something happening between them but he wasn’t about to ruin everything by launching himself into Steve’s bed without first knowing if he was even welcome.

However, Steve looked stunned by the announcement, “Why?” he shrieked.

“Why what?” Danny asked.

Steve seemed genuinely perplexed by Danny’s decision. “Why aren’t you sleeping with me?” he whined.

“For starters Steven if I was in your room I would be sleeping next to you not with you and secondly, when have I ever slept in your bed when I’ve stayed here? I appreciate that you are feeling less than spectacular and yes you may be a little concerned about your recovery, but surely having your partner sleeping next door to you in your hour of need is good enough. I will be there whenever you need me and even when you don’t,” he said trying to lighten the mood. “I want you to get plenty of rest. So,” he waved his hand in the general direction of the guest room, “I will be in there and if it makes you feel any better I will leave a nightlight on…”

“I don’t want a nightlight!”

“God you’re precious sometimes,” Danny replied with a sigh. “Forget it okay. Just forget it. No nightlights, you go ahead and bump into anything you want to during the night and don’t blame me when you’ve sore and sorry in the morning.”

Steve pursed his lips but didn’t snap back, this time at least. However, it didn’t take long for something else to escalate from discussion to debate much to Danny’s frustration.

After dinner, not that Steve ate much at all, he wanted a shower.

“Let me help you!” Danny insisted.

“Not in this lifetime,” Steve shot back.

“Well it’ll be a short life if you don’t get in that shower.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“No, I’m warning you,” Danny replied firmly.

Steve decided to try a more conciliatory approach to getting what he wanted. “Look Danny I have no problem having a shower. It’s you being in there too that bothers me.”

Danny rolled his eyes, this did not bode well for his theory that Steve was interested in him but he forged ahead wanting to deal with this on a practical level and not an emotional one. “I’m not having a shower with you Steven. I am merely helping you to the bathroom and making sure you don’t fall over while you’re in the there.”

Steve frowned and replied, “I know how to take a shower.”

“Yes you do. That’s a forgone conclusion I’m sure, but since you can barely stand up without help and you’re frequently breathless then I would be derelict in my duties as your nurse if I let you do this alone.”

“You could wait outside the door,” Steve suggested.

“Yes I could, but then I would only be able to react to a situation if it occurred rather than being there to prevent an accident. Look Steven considering what you have already gone through don’t you think being proactive and being there just in case is better?”

“No! I can manage perfectly well on my own thank you,” Steve proclaimed as he leapt to his feet and promptly lost his balance and his breath.

“I’ve got you,” Danny muttered as he rushed to grab the man before he face planted it into the rug. Danny’s patience was wearing thin. He eased Steve back onto the bed and through gritted teeth asked, “Happy now?” All this arguing was getting them nowhere fast. “Sit there and get your breath while I go turn on the shower,” he ordered as he headed into the bathroom.

By the time Steve had finished his shower he was almost asleep on his feet. Danny settled him into bed and went downstairs to find a cold beer and a comfy chair. Like Steve, he was worn out and mentally racked due to recent events but today had in some respects been the worst. Danny had to admit that he had never fought so hard, over so much, in such a short time as he had today with Commander McGrouchie.

Looking back on the day, the thing that confused him more than anything was the mixed messages Steve was sending out. Essentially Steve was saying, ‘I don’t want you in the bathroom while I strip naked to take a shower but I want you in my bed while I sleep.’ Danny didn’t know what to make of it all but he decided to see what the next few days would bring before he either confronted Steve about his behavior or ignored it altogether. Either way he was done with arguing. It was soul destroying and he was so tired right now.

So Danny’s plan to discover whether his friendship with his partner was changing was floundering between the arguments and Steve’s Jekyll and Hyde impressions. Still Danny tried to stay optimistic; after all it was only day one and surely tomorrow couldn’t get any worse.

**************************************

Part 10

After the arguments of the first day home, Danny had crossed his fingers and toes that the next day would be an improvement. Instead he was greeted with more disagreements that were interspersed with bouts of ominous calm which, in their own way, were just as unbearable as the nit-picking Danny had endured the day before. It wasn’t that Steve had run out of things to argue over, it was more that he had run out of energy to keep up the pace from the previous day. So he alternated between temperamental outbursts and a brooding silence; and Danny hated them both equally.

By day three the silence had mostly won out. Occasionally Steve whined about something trivial but mostly he just sat in a chair in his bedroom and stared out the window. He barely ate, he seemed listless, drained and distant and Danny was worried. Overall Steve was so different to the pre-Bullfrog fiasco ‘Steve’ that Danny began to wonder if the injury had caused more than just physical damage.

To say Danny was frustrated by the situation was an understatement. Since bringing Steve home from hospital he had become this whiny, irritable, argumentative, depressed and irrational individual. It was so unlike Steve and Danny felt out of his depth in dealing with him. So Danny divided his days between tending to the many faces of Steve and madly searching the net for advice on how to live with a moody man and trying to rationalize why the guy was so cracked. Amidst all of the chaos, Kamekona continued his repairs around the house, although Danny had banned him to outside in the short term just so Steve wasn’t sitting amid the debris. However, after a meager three days, life at the McGarrett household had become somewhat unhinged; Danny was an emotional wreck, Steve was a physical and mental one and only Kamekona came out of it all unscathed as he blissfully sipped shaved ice on the lawn and watched the workmen work.

By the third night Danny was sure something was really wrong with Steve; mentally he was a few fries short of a happy meal and physically, well he simply wasn’t getting better. It was because of his erratic behavior coupled with his dwindling physical strength that Danny decided to have Steve checked out at the hospital the next day when they went in for his therapy session.

It was because of his concerns for his friend that Danny decided that he should stay in Steve’s room that night. Their sleeping arrangements had been an endless source of argument just a few days earlier but now his appearance in Steve’s bed went unchallenged and, if at all possible, unnoticed.

Danny’s, “I’m sleeping in here tonight,” didn’t even raise an eyebrow let alone a comment. So he settled down to monitor his friend just in case…in case of what, he wasn’t quite sure but years of working as a cop had honed his gut instincts and Danny knew he needed to be ready in the event that he had to act quickly.

**************************************

Part 11

Danny’s decision to sleep in Steve’s room had been wise. It was not more than two hours after they went to bed and he had called an ambulance and now he found himself confronting the same nursing manager, arguing the same demands to be with Steve just as he had done twelve days earlier.

“Detective Williams you know that I can’t let you into the treatment room.”

“Look …”

“Nurse Ratched,” she reminded him.

“Oh I know…look all I want to do is be in there…with him,” Danny stressed as he pointed to Steve in the treatment room.

“First things first. I need information…”

“Fine. He’s sick!”

“Really and what exactly made you decide to bring him to the hospital today?”

“He couldn’t breathe; his lips were blue,” Danny shouted.

The nurse ignored Danny’s tantrum and continued on with her questions. “Were there any other symptoms?”

“Symptoms of what?” Danny asked as he began to pace the corridor. “And further more can you tell me why you sent him home when he was sick?”

“Sir I, did not send your partner home. He was deemed fit enough to be discharged by qualified medical staff.”

“But he’s sick!”

“Yes he is.”

“So what’s wrong with him?”

“His lung has collapsed and he has pneumonia. I’m sure you were told that complications can arise considering the injury he sustained and the surgery he underwent.”

Danny’s eyes grew wide. “He has pneumonia? The doctor said he had to have all these shots to protect him against it and everything else in the microscopic world. So he was vaccinated against pneumonia…here…before he went home! HE WAS VACCINATED AGAINST IT!” Danny screamed.

“I’m sure the Commander was given a range of vaccines to bolster his immune system but as you know, he has no spleen so he will always be more susceptible to infections.”

Danny’s frustration was ready to boil over. “I get it okay. I understand that part but how come he is back in here with a collapsed lung and pneumonia after he was vaccinated against it specifically?”

“Sir that vaccine prevents pneumonia caused by a particular family of bacteria. There are many other bacteria out there as well as viruses, fungi and parasites that can cause pneumonia. However, the surgery that Commander McGarrett underwent does carry a high chance of infection and recurring lung issues post-operatively…”

“I know there are risks but he was fine when he left here, okay. He was fine…” Danny rubbed a hand over his face. “Just tell me what went wrong. Why did he get sick?”

“Detective Williams I am not a doctor so I can’t tell you precisely why the Commander is ill but I’m sure you would have been given a list of potential complications and what you needed to look out for in case they developed? Therefore I need to tell the doctor what you noticed over the last few days. So was there any pain on the side of the infected lung?”

“Lady he was stabbed on that side, then you guys stitched him, so yes he had pain. Was it a different pain to what he has now? I DON’T KNOW. I asked him about his pain levels and he just said his chest, side and back hurt and I thought ‘that makes sense you were stabbed and now you have a bucket load of stitches there.’ I didn’t try to double think his pain because in my world he’s supposed to have pain after being stabbed.”

“What about breathlessness?”

“Actually that’s probably the only thing he didn’t complain about,” Danny calmly replied.

“So he wasn’t breathless?” She probed.

“Yes he was breathless and he seemed to accept that he would have that problem for a few more weeks. Nevertheless, from my perspective he was more breathless than I had expected he would be but once again I reasoned it was because of the injury. Was it more than usual after a stabbing, collapsed lung and surgery? I DON’T KNOW. He spent so much time whining about everything in between gasping for air that frankly I wondered where he found the strength, let alone the breath, to keep it up. Was his breathlessness unusual?” Danny shrugged. “I didn’t think so under the circumstances, especially since he was undergoing therapy back here for at least the next month to help strengthen the lungs.”

“Well did he seem to have a poor appetite; any nausea or vomiting?”

“Nausea and vomiting? I DON”T KNOW. To be honest I wouldn’t feel that great after going through what he went through but to answer your question…no I didn’t see or hear anything that might indicate he was ill and he certainly never said he felt unwell but he didn’t eat much at all and yes that bothered me. While it didn’t seem to be a huge problem and I certainly didn’t expect him to tuck into a steak dinner either. Still, I was worried today when he refused to eat at all. So since we were coming in here for a therapy session tomorrow I was going to get him checked out…just in case something was wrong. The problem was I couldn’t discuss any of it with him because everything caused an argument and I just needed a good night sleep to get the strength to face the onslaught of complaints the next day.”

“So he had mood swings?”

“He was a whiny bitch!” Danny stated matter-of-factly. “He was like a spoilt brat who was in serious need of a spanking!”

Nurse Ratched pursed her lips and remarked, “Sir I’m sure you were told that sex was to be discouraged while he was recovering.”

Danny stared bug-eyed at her.

“Detective Williams?” She prompted the silent man.

“Yes?”

“You do understand sexual intercourse would be too much for the Commander right now?”

Danny got over the shock of the question and replied, “Yes I was informed as such and fear not, sex was not on the agenda and at the rate we’re going never will be.”

“Sir there will be time for such things in the future but your partner has been through a great deal recently and he needs to get his health back before he embarks on strenuous physical activity.”

Danny chuckled. “I know. Believe me I know.”

“Finally were there any other things you thought were unusual?”

“Oh I don’t know between the arguments, whining, depression and oppressive silence I might have missed the odd thing or two. Then again he didn’t eat, complained of pain and sat staring out the window at nothing but that was all normal considering his current situation right?” Danny asked angrily. “Okay I get that because his mental state was off balance I may have missed a thing or too, but he was driving me crazy. See this guy is an ace operator. He’s fit and all lean muscle and strength and he fucks up on this last job see and he almost gets killed by a friend who turns out to be a bad guy; except Steve, he just can’t see it so they fight and now that guy is dead and Steve isn’t Steve anymore. So yeah, I noticed stuff but obviously not the right stuff because I thought he was weighed down by emotional baggage. My bad! I fucked up and now he is sick and I don’t know how to help him,” Danny shouted as he slid down the wall in the corridor and rested his head on his knees. “I don’t know what to do!” He muttered quietly.

“Sir you brought him in here. You did the right thing.”

“But I didn’t know what was normal for him since the surgery; everything seemed wrong. Tonight I laid there for a while listening to his labored breathing and I didn’t know if that was what he should sound like or if something else was going on. Then he started to shake; he said he was cold except he couldn’t be cold because this is Hawaii. I’m from New Jersey. It gets cold in Jersey but it’s always hot here. So then I knew something was really wrong and by the time I called the ambulance he was a bundle of sweat, had a raging fever, and was gasping for air. I honestly thought I was going to lose him.”

“Love makes us vulnerable,” Nurse Ratched stated.

Danny gave a hollow laugh, “Yeah, I guess it does,” he agreed. “But I’m not sure I like feeling that way.”

“If you didn’t love him, you wouldn’t have been there with him and he would have died alone. So stop beating yourself up and go wait in the waiting room,” she ordered.

Danny stared at the woman in disbelief. He had been touched by her kindness but he had obviously underestimated her determination. “Wait up,” he said as he scrambled to his feet. “You just fed me this compassionate line about love makes the world go around but you still won’t let me go in there to be with him?”

“You’re smart sunshine. Now shoo, back to the waiting area you go mister and someone will come and talk to you when the love of your life is stabilized.”

“Or what?” He challenged. He knew she was a formidable enemy and victory was a distant hope, but still he felt he needed to make a stand. “Are you still threatening me with medical experimentation if I try and go in there?”

“Sir my stand hasn’t changed on the matter since you were last here. So go ahead, make my day!”

Danny shook his head in amazement. “You’re evil. You know that right?”

“Detective Williams I am a nurse. I am here to heal not hold hands. Now go so I can get on with what I do best,” she ordered in a tone that sounded more ‘rectus dominus’ than ‘Florence Nightingale’.

Danny had been down this particular road before so he knew better than to argue over it anymore. So as much as he didn’t want to, he reluctantly and obediently shuffled away to wait for news about Steve.

**************************************

Part 12

“You need that,” Danny quietly told Steve as he gently removed his friend’s hand and readjusted the oxygen mask just like he had done almost two weeks ago.

Steve merely stared at him. The energy required to ask questions was simply too great at this point in time.

Danny understood, so he filled in the blanks for Steve. “I stayed with you last night. You’ve been pretty weird the last few days and yesterday when you refused to eat or talk, I got worried. Do you remember that I slept in your room?” Danny asked, careful not to say that he had actually slept in Steve’s bed just in case he had no recollection of that particular event.

Steve nodded.

“Okay.” Danny said. At least now he knew that Steve had not been totally out of it the night before. “So last night…you became very ill, very quickly; chills and fever and you couldn’t breathe very well. I called an ambulance and well…here we are. You’ve been asleep for about twelve hours. It’s morning now,” he added by way of defining the time of day. “Apparently the surgery and your injuries come with some substantial complications and while not everyone gets these problems, you my little over-achiever did. You have pneumonia and your lung collapsed…again. This is serious stuff Steven. You have to take care of yourself. As it is you’ll be in here for a few days until the doctor is happy that you won’t relapse and then you’ll be off work for about six weeks and you could be on light duties for another four weeks after that. Oh and by the way, your return to work will depend heavily on whether you behave yourself and do what you are told. The good news is that the doctor is confident that while this is a setback it is something you should recover from completely with modern medicine and some quality time at home.”

It was a somber Steve who stared back at him; a man who looked utterly defeated by life and his own body. He accepted the news with an almost imperceptible nod before closing his eyes and drifting back to sleep.

Danny sighed, returned to the chair by the bed and again settled in to wait for Steve to wake up.

A few hours later Steve awoke with a coughing fit. Danny immediately jumped to his assistance. “I know you probably don’t think so right now, but you do sound better than you did last night,” Danny assured him. “So how do you feel?”

Steve waved his hand to indicate ‘so-so’ and Danny figured it was the truth as the guy looked very human and somewhat fragile today.

“I’m sorry,” Danny quietly announced.

Steve’s brow furrowed. He was obviously confused but like earlier, he was simply too exhausted to ask the obvious question.

Danny threw his head back and exhaled loudly. “Why am I sorry?” Danny asked it for him and Steve nodded.

“Oh for a multitude of sins but the main one is, I’m so sorry that you ended up back here. If I had done my job properly I would’ve called the doctor earlier. Maybe this could have been prevented. Instead I misread all the signs and just thought you were crabby because the job had gone wrong and that you were working through the…” he waved his hand generally in the air, “You know the emotional stuff…Taylor, the old boys club of ‘Bullfrog’ and ‘Slum dog’.”

“Smooth dog…,” Steve corrected him but the effort to talk drained what little energy he had left and he settled his head back against the pillow.

Danny laughed, “Whatever! Anyway I really did think he was bad news but even I didn’t think the guy would try and kill you. Anyway I had the luxury of stepping back and watching you two together. He just didn’t seem genuine, but I can understand why you trusted him.”

Steve looked away. To Danny it was clear that the memories of Taylor and the job were still very raw for his partner.

“Don’t do that. Don’t blame yourself. You said he had been a good friend once, so it’s understandable that you believed he still would be. I’d like to think if you worked with me after five or ten years you’d still trust me. Anyway, it’s not Taylor that I’m sorry about. Well I am. Obviously if he hadn’t come here you wouldn’t be hurt so yes I am sorry he ever came back into your life, but that aside I am profoundly sorry that you are back in here. I fucked up.”

Steve’s brow furrowed and he shrugged his confusion.

“How?”

His partner nodded.

“Well, because I thought you were sorting out how things went down in the job; I didn’t get that you were sick. Hell I knew you didn’t feel great but I missed the signs that something else was going on and by the time I did, it was almost too late.”

Steve weakly clutched Danny’s arm and shook his head back and forth.

“Don’t you dare try and make me feel better,” Danny replied as he carefully removed Steve’s hand from his arm and placed it on the bed. “Save your energy and stop moving your head around. In your condition you’ll make yourself dizzy. The bottom line Steven is, I said I would stay at your place to take care of you but I made things worse by not looking after you properly.”

“Danny…” but Steve’s words were instantly lost in a coughing fit.

“Stop trying to talk and listen to me for once. I think we should get you a nurse. Someone who knows what they’re doing.”

Steve looked horrified.

Danny tried to alleviate some of Steve’s unsaid but obvious concerns. “I know you hate strangers in the house and I know you value your privacy but honestly you need professional help.”

Steve’s eyebrows shot up at the comment.

“Not that sort of help smart ass. You know what I mean, although there are times when I think you could keep a good therapist employed for a lifetime,” he said with a wry smile. “Seriously though you need someone who knows what to look for in case you have a relapse and I am not that person. I’m a cop not a nurse. I’m more likely to tackle you than tuck you in.”

Steve smiled.

“Oh you think it’s funny now but it’s the truth. If I had been such a comforting and understanding person I’d still be married. Anyway the nurse is for your own good and I’ll come over every other day but right now I think you have more than enough going on in your life without me underfoot twenty four hours a day. Anyhow, I’m sure you’ll get plenty of attention from Kono and Chin and you’ll also have Kamekona organizing the repairs,” he held up his hand to stave off any complaints about the house. “I know things are not happening the way you want on that front but at least the repairs are underway. I’ll keep an eye on things and once you are on your feet a bit more you can take over, okay? So I’ll still be around just not there constantly. How’s that sound?”

Steve seemed genuinely sad at the prospect.

“Come on man, it’s not like I am breaking up with you,” Danny teased but the blush that crept up Steve’s face made him wonder if there really was something more than friendship going on here.

However their relationship issue would have to wait until Steve was stronger in mind and body. Danny knew Steve needed more help than he was capable of giving him, so he wasn’t going to risk the man’s life by moving in again. Steve was far more important to him than sorting out a potentially non-existent relationship. He would deal with that later, besides if something was simmering in the background then it would still be there in a few weeks.

“I need…”

“Come on man. Stop trying to have the last word. Let me have this one. Right now you need to rest. You getting better is all that matters. So stop talking, close your eyes and rest or I’ll get Nurse Ratched in here.”

Steve smiled wearily.

“You think I’m joking? Pal trust me she exists. She really exists and she is a bitch. So be a good boy or you know who will be sitting here instead of me when you wake up.”

By this stage Steve really didn’t need much encouragement to rest; his eyes fluttered closed and he drifted off to sleep.

Meanwhile Danny made some enquiries and arranged for a nurse to be with Steve twenty-four seven for at least the first week and they would reassess whether he still needed help after that. It wasn’t how Danny had hoped things would turn out for them but at the moment it was the best option for Steve, even if he didn’t want it. Sometimes you just have to put up and shut and for Steve McGarrett this was one of those times.

So with the nurse organized Danny now had time to think; the memories of last night, before it all turned bad, would comfort him through the long days and nights ahead. It’s not that they had talked or even cuddled, but the closeness of the man lying in the bed next to him was enough to make his heart race. The experience was fleeting but unforgettable and at least Danny now knew he wanted Steve, he just wasn’t sure if his friend wanted him. However, at this moment in time Danny’s priority was to get Steve back on his feet; there would be plenty of time to work through everything else later…or so he hoped.

“Danno loves you babe,” he whispered as he settled back to watch Steve sleep.

************************************

Part 13

Danny brought Steve home a few days ago. After settling him in and introducing him to his nurse he left his friend in what he thought was safe hands and returned to work. He had intended to go and see Steve the following day but Kono said she would drop by the next morning and Chin thought he’d head out there later that same day. So Danny decided not to overload Steve with friends that day and to visit the day after. However, as they say, the best laid plans and all that, he found himself tied up with meetings and it wasn’t until day three after Steve’s second homecoming that he received a call from a concerned Kamekona and the conversation that ensued shocked him.

“What do you mean he sacked the nurse? When? And it never crossed your mind to tell me before now? ...Yes I’m going to visit today…I know Chin and Kono were there yesterday…alright the day before. I had budget meetings all day…I’m sorry…No I didn’t know you organized dinner for me last night…oh okay…great…thank you…my dinner is in the freezer and my beer is in the oven…Well that’s familiar. Who are you my ex–wife?”

Danny held the phone at arms’ length while Kamekona read him the Riot Act, the Hawaii Law Enforcement Code of Ethics and the Book of Revelations. When the tirade subsided Danny returned the phone to his ear.

“Yes I am leaving the office immediately. Yes I will meet with you before I talk to Steve, no I will not fight with him and yes I will pick up ten bags of ice as compensation for you babysitting the sick one last night. So if we’re done here I will now hit the road. We’re done? Good.”

Danny made his way to Steve’s place with the ransom ice and a headache. He should have known Steve wouldn’t play by the rules no matter how many times he was told to take it easy and let everyone else look after him.

He pulled up in the driveway at Steve’s and was immediately greeted by Kamekona.

“Aloha, my brother from another mother.”

“Hello to you too,” Danny replied with a laugh. “The ice is in the trunk, so can I have my partner now?”

“That’s the problem bra,” the big man stated.

“What’s the problem? That we’re partners?”

“No. It’s because you’re not partners,” Kamekona all but whispered.

“Come again?” Danny asked, clearly confused by the exchange.

Kamekona shrugged and huffed, “He loves you man.”

“Okay?” Danny really had no idea what had crept into Kamekona’s head but whatever it was he really didn’t want to discuss it in Steve’s backyard and especially with a shaved ice mogul. “Well thank you for your insights but we,” he pointed to the man in front of him, “you and I, are not having this little heart-to-heart now or anytime in the future.”

Kamekona was not deterred by Danny’s attitude. “You just don’t get it do you?”

And neither do you, Danny thought but instead he replied, “Obviously not!”

The man put a beefy hand on Danny’s shoulder and explained, “He’s pining for you.”

Danny shook off the paw. “He’s what? What…pining? Well thank you Doctor Phil. Okay against my better judgment I have to ask and you know this how?”

“Bra I’m not just a pretty face,” Kamekona nodded seriously. “I’ve watched you two together and I heard the fights, the whole neighborhood heard them, you know before he went back to the hospital.” Danny paled at that news. “People fight for two reasons: either they hate each other or they love each other.”

Danny didn’t like where this was heading but since he had opened the door he now had to deal with the intrusion. “Yeah he loves me so much that when we first worked together, he wrenched my arm and I punched him in the face. Yes I can see now it was love at first sight,” he replied sarcastically.

“But he picked you!” Kamekona stressed.

“What?”

“In the beginning; Steve could have picked anyone to work with him but he picked you. He chose you. Bra don’t you see it was love at first sight for him. He loved you then and he still does.”

Danny was embarrassed by the entire discussion. “No! We are not doing this,” he shouted as he turned to walk away.

“Why do you think he cancelled the nurse?” Kamekona called after him.

Danny stopped walking and turned, curiosity clearly winning over indignation, “I don’t know. Enlighten me,” he said.

“Because she was here and you weren’t,” Kamekona told him. “She wasn’t you. My guess is he thought if he cancelled the service, then that would force you back here to look after him. Problem was, he sent her packing but you never turned up.”

“Look I explained on the phone why I didn’t come over yesterday.”

Kamekona ignored Danny and continued his story, “He asked me to help him with dinner last night. I bought awesome takeout bra but you didn’t show. You left him alone.”

Danny was shattered at the news. “How many times do I have to say it? I’m sorry I wasn’t here. I wanted to be but when I couldn’t, I honestly thought he would be fine because the nurse was here. Trust me if I had known he was alone, I would have been here in a heartbeat. I’m really sorry okay. I’m sorry. How many times do I have to say it?”

“He just sat there all broken bra because he loves you!” Kamekona added.

Despite Kamekona constantly pointing out that Steve loved him it hadn’t really sunk in until that moment. It finally dawned on Danny that while he was so invested in finding out if Steve cared for him; he had actually missed the fact that he did.

Way to go Detective Williams you’re two for two. You don’t realize that he is sick and you overlook the signs that he loves you. All those fights…they weren’t arguments they were mating rituals! He thought to himself.

Kamekona saw the light go on in Danny’s brain, “The other shoe hit you yet?” he asked.

“Huh?” Danny said as he rubbed his head.

“Come on Bra…”

“Okay!” Danny yelled, the frustration at his own ineptness boiling over. “I admit that I thought something was there between Steve and me but after days of fighting recently I thought I was just pissing him off. I was so wrapped up in giving him space and letting him sort out all the crap from the job, as well as trying to find out what we meant to each other that I, the great detective, missed the obvious signs of his impending health crisis and look how well that turned out for him,” Danny announced, as he began to pace up and down the lawn.

Kamekona tried to say something but Danny held up a hand and said, “My turn!” He kept pacing and with arms flailing in all directions he said, “You know what? We fight all the time; day in and day out, in the house, in the office and even in the damn car, especially in the car. They’re always the same arguments about him being too nosy or his bad decisions, or why he acts without thinking and boy did I complain about that last job. Even after he killed the Bullfrog I told him he needed to pick better friends.”

“He killed a frog?” Kamekona asked in surprise.

Danny stopped pacing for a second and just stared at Kamekona. “Yes Steve did,” he replied in a monotone voice. “It was a huge man-eating bullfrog that hops around and pretends to be your friend and then tries to eat you alive.”

Kamekona looked visibly shaken by the news.

“Okay time to change the subject,” Danny muttered. “Do you know why I hated the last job so much?”

Kamekona shook his head.

“I’ll tell you why…I was jealous with a capital ‘J’. His old buddy, Taylor, comes on the scene and I see one hug between them and a beaming Stevie and I am livid.”

“Stevie?” Kamekona chuckled.

“Say it again and I’ll have you arrested for something; no shaved ice in the slammer pal,” Danny reminded the big man. “Now where was I? Right…I wanted Steve to myself but for different reasons. His friend might have been called ‘Bullfrog’ but I was greener than Kermit to see this guy with Steve. I was no better than him.”

“Who? Kermit?”

“No the frog,” Danny explained.

“Kermit is a frog,” stressed Kamekona.

“I know that!” A frustrated Danny yelled. “Okay let’s forget about the frogs and focus on the friends.”

“Sure thing bra it’s your story,” Kamekona agreed.

“Yes, yes it is, so stop interrupting. Anyhow, I’m no better than Steve when it comes to bad decisions. He trusted a guy he hadn’t seen in years and the guy tried to kill him; bad decision. I disliked Taylor from the start, not because I did a background check and found out that he was a rogue security contractor or anything, no, I hated him because he hugged my partner, my Steve. So the question is, was Steve wrong to trust Taylor? You bet your ass he was. Was I right about the guy being bad? Yes I was but for the wrong reasons. You see jealously shouldn’t be the foundation of any decision, so I was equally at fault for the job going wrong.”

Danny threw his hands in the air in frustration. “You think I don’t care about him? That’s the problem I care too much. I care so much that it clouds my perspective of things and I screw up. I can’t keep doing that to him; he means far too much to me to see him hurt. God I slept next to him the night he went back to hospital and for the first time in a long while I was content. I let my joy of being near him overshadow my responsibility to take care of him. Do you know he’s the first thing I think about when I wake in the morning and the last thing I think about before I fall asleep? That man in there,” Danny pointed towards the house, “He may have breathing problems but he’s my oxygen. He keeps me alive but my preoccupation with us as a couple almost led to his death,” Danny stated as he put his hands behind his head and walked around aimlessly.

“Seriously you need…”

It was as if Danny didn’t even hear Kamekona because he just started talking again, “Don’t you see, I had to step back. So I organized the nurse, someone far removed from my poor and warped judgment, someone who would ensure he didn’t die in his sleep because they were too busy basking in his closeness. And as for yesterday, well you have no idea how angry I was that I couldn’t get here to see him. Do you honestly think I could forget him? Even if I wasn’t in love with him…see I said it! I love him! But even if I didn’t he is my best friend. Do you really think I could walk away from him when he is hurt? Come on what sort of a person do you think I am. I know I’m not a child of the South Pacific born of the sand and the surf but I am human and I do know how to treat someone right. So get off my case about yesterday. It hurt me more than you know that I wasn’t here. For the record I am trying to cover the mundane stuff of his job and I don’t know how he copes stuck in meetings with micro-managing bureaucrats with nothing better to do than make your life miserable. By the time I was released from the dungeon it was past eight o’clock. Yes I could have come over but I actually believed that it was better if I didn’t disturb him. So no, I didn’t ring or text or email either…I didn’t want to wake him up because I know he falls asleep easily at the moment and I also know he needs to rest.”

“I get it, but…”

“I have the floor,” Danny snapped at the man. “So to sum up: I was wrong about not coming over yesterday. You’re right, awake or asleep, Steve needed to know I had at least dropped by and yes, I can see how you thought I didn’t care but trust me the last thing I would ever want to do is hurt Steve. So don’t lecture me about being there for him and as for loving him, well I know all about being in love with Steven McGarrett. I’m drowning in it and I have no idea how to save myself. I wish I had said something to him about all this but now I have to deal with yet another bump in the road to true love because I didn’t come by yesterday. My fuck up, my problem and now I have to get us through this snag before we can get to a point where we could even discuss if there is an us or are we just two guys who spend way too much time together. The question is, are Steve and I in a romance or bromance….I’ll keep you posted big guy. So my friend thanks for the call, I’m here now and here’s twenty bucks,” he shoved the money into Kamekona’s hand. “Go get yourself some more ice because that other lot has probably melted by now,” an infuriated Danny ordered as he marched off into the house leaving a stunned and slightly confused Kamekona staring at his retreating back.

“Pomaika`i” the man called after Danny. “You’ll need it bra,” he laughed.

*************************************
Part 14

As Danny stormed through the back door and into Steve’s kitchen, the last person he expected to see facing him was Steve.

“Hello?” he nervously said upon seeing his friend.

Steve, poker face in place, merely looked him up and down.

Slowly it dawned on Danny that Steve may have heard his tirade outside a few minutes ago. “Have you been in here the whole time?” He tentatively asked as he waved a hand around the kitchen. Please say no, please say no! He frantically thought.

Steve shrugged and nodded.

“…you overhear anything?” Danny cautiously asked.

Steve didn’t bother to answer, instead he moved purposefully towards Danny and Danny instinctively stepped back just as quickly.

“Okay so I guess that’s a ‘yes.’ If I can just say in my defense I was going to wait until you were stronger before raising the subject of…of discussing our partnership,” he neutrally pointed out.

Steve paused and pursed his lips as if he was thinking through what Danny had said.

Danny took the halt in proceedings as an opportunity to open some sort of dialogue. “I guess now would be a good time to talk if you wanted to,” Danny suggested. “I mean, I for one am mildly curious to know if we have more in common than a sidearm and a pair of handcuffs.”

Steve’s eyes grew wide.

“Okay so this isn’t going quite the way I imagined. For a start I always thought that you would talk; especially since you always seem to want to have the last word.” When even that didn’t illicit a response from Steve Danny struggled on. “Well I guess you were surprised by what you heard…out there…Kamekona and me…he called me you know,” Danny nodded his head as if to stress that it was the absolute truth. “He was worried about you. I’m worried about you…” he tapered off not sure how best to explain the things Steve must have heard.

Steve, however, didn’t seem to want to discuss any of it as he once again moved towards Danny. Eventually after a rather clumsy game of cat and mouse, Danny found himself with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. So with his back pressed up against the kitchen bench he did the next best thing and scrunched his eyes closed and waited for the inevitable smack in the mouth.

He was hit in the face alright but it wasn’t the kind of punch he was expecting, as a strong hand held his head in place, another encircled his waist and questing lips sought out his own.

“Steven?” he mumbled in between the onslaught.

“Hmmm?”

“What are you doing?”

“You’re a cop, work it out?” Came the breathy reply.

Danny momentarily threw himself into the kiss before reality kicked in.

“Steve…Steven….fuck….” he yelled, as commonsense warred with desire as he tried to put some distance between him and his amorous and still very unwell partner.

“My mistake,” Steve uttered as he took a step back.

“What the hell,” Danny yelled. “You kiss me and then you walk away as if it didn’t happen?”

“Why not? You’ve walked away from ‘us’ since the day we met.”

“Oh please. What is this The Bold and the Beautiful? Grow up Steven, life isn’t a soap opera. If I’d been walking away from ‘us’, I’d be in Jersey by now but where am I?” He casually looked around him, “Ah yes in the kitchen of the man I’m apparently trying to avoid. The guy who I sat with day and night because I thought he was going to die and the man I just vented my spleen over on his lawn. You idiot! I haven’t been walking away I’ve been walking in circles trying to sort it all out.”

Steve looked suitably rebuked but he was still mad and didn’t hesitate to take it out on Danny. “Cute…spleen…nice choice of words considering I don’t have one anymore,” Steve yelled.

Danny responded with equal ferocity. “No you don’t and whose fault is that.” The minute he said it he knew he shouldn’t have; so he shut his mouth in case he said something else he’d regret.

Steve’s response was instant and effective.

“Mother, fucker!” Danny growled as he rubbed his jaw where Steve had punched him. He knew he deserved it but that didn’t make it hurt any less.

Steve didn’t wait for Danny to regroup as he launched a broadside of words at his partner. “Don’t you dare lecture me about bad decisions; I know I screwed up with Taylor. Yes you told me to watch my back, and no I didn’t and look how well that turned out. I’ve got the rest of my life to think over my mistakes but at least I can acknowledge them. You…” he paused trying to catch his breath, “You pretend to want one thing but when push comes to shove you act as if it never happened. Who is worse Danny, huh me because I was too trusting? Or you, because you won’t trust at all?”

“Oh give me a break. You’re upset because I don’t want to kiss you. Two days ago you were on oxygen and now you’re stealing mine. Think it through Steven. Maybe I don’t want to kiss you because you’re recovering from your injuries. Anyway can’t I be romanced first and build up to a kiss? Whatever happened to good old fashioned courting? You know flowers, candy and candlelight dinners? Besides this is all very new to me; yesterday we were partners and today…what we’re lovers? These things take time. Let’s face it, how many people do you know that wake up and instantly see rainbows everywhere. Look, I’ve never kissed a guy and just because it’s you doing the kissing, don’t make it suddenly the most natural thing in the world.”

“What’s your point Danny,” Steve sounded tired and worn out.

“My point is that, according to the great and all-knowing shaved ice king, you have been into me for a lot longer than I ever knew. So while you are able to go from longing to lust in the blink of an eye, I am still at the looking stage. Just give me time to catch up okay?”

“Fine, but why then were you professing your love for me to anyone in earshot a few minutes ago when you weren’t ready to take that next step?” Steve asked as he really tried to understand where Danny stood on the whole thing.

“Oh for the love of…most people take the next step after they have talked to the love of their life. In case you haven’t noticed babe we haven’t talked at all. From where I stand I know I really like you Steven…though if you hit me again I may have to rethink our friendship” he warned as he rubbed his throbbing jaw. “Look I would like to know you better and yes I love what I see but while I do love you, I don’t know if I’m in love with you,” Danny hated all this soul searching crap. “Look I have one failed relationship to my credit; I don’t want to stuff this one up too. Trust me the potential for me to do that is great because you’re a guy and I don’t usually kiss guys, it’s really, really different. By the way do you normally kiss men?”

“I kissed you!”

“I noticed that too. You do that often?”

“What kiss you?”

Danny laughed uneasily. “No smartass, have you kissed other guys?”

“Not as a rule…

“Huh,” Danny huffed.

“What’s this ‘huh’? Jealous?”

Danny, worn out from the whole drama, felt emotionally cornered and lashed out, “Does it turn you on if I say yes? You seemed to like that I was jealous of Taylor. You get off on that sort of thing?”

“Stow the attitude Danny,” Steve barked. “You’re not allowed to be annoyed at me over something I may or may not have done before I met you. Sometimes you’re such a jerk…” he trailed off as his energy levels plummeted.

“Fuck!” Danny muttered, as he caught Steve before he fell to the floor and quickly guided him to a chair at the kitchen table.

“I wish. The doctor said no sex,” Steve grumbled.

“Oh I don’t think that’s going to be a problem, do you?” Danny replied. “Put your head down on the table and catch your breath,” he ordered as he kept a firm hand on his friend’s back to ensure he didn’t try and get up.

“Everyone told me no sex,” Steve informed Danny.

“I guess you looked like a virile young thing with an overactive libido; they needed to reign you in before you did yourself anymore damage.”

Steve ignored the comment, “They also said they had talked to you, my life partner, about the type of sexual contact we could have and when we could have it.”

“Oh,” was all Danny could muster. He remembered when Steve was unconscious having that particular conversation with the staff in widescreen. “Okay I can explain…”

“So you wonder why I am pissed that you won’t kiss me; when everyone from the medical staff to the candy stripers told me that I was so lucky to have you in my life and I thought you had finally caught on to how I felt about you.”

“They told you? I mean the partner thing?” Danny squeaked. Somehow he had always thought Steve wouldn’t now about the misunderstanding, especially once he was discharged.

“Yeah Danny they told me because I was the patient and I’m an adult in case you hadn’t noticed.”

Danny rubbed his jaw. I think I worked out the adult part when you hit me. Unfortunately he couldn’t tell from Steve’s tone whether he was angry or just frustrated so Danny tried to explain as best he could and hoped he didn’t make things worse. “I never consciously told them we were together but I think somewhere between my demands to stay with my partner and not leaving your side for hours on end, they put two and two together and came up with a couple. Sorry…”

“I’m not!” Steve whispered.

“You’re not?” Danny was somewhat surprised by the response. “So what changed your mind?”

“You.”

“I’m flattered but you’re going to have to spell it out for me. We might be reading the same book but I’m a few chapters behind you. I’m still trying the idea out in my head; you must be reading the hands-on part.”

“You stood by me even though I had screwed up everything,” Steve said as he tried to sit up straight.

Danny held him in place. “Can you do just one thing I ask please?” He pleaded.

“It was my fault?”

Danny threw his head back and took a deep breath. Here we go again, he thought as he braced himself for more emotional purging. “Are we talking about Taylor?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Before you start the self-recrimination and then pass out with exhaustion. I want to say a few things first.”

“I think…”

Danny had finally had more than he could cope with in one day and roared, “For the love of god shut your mouth before I gag you.” He warned as he maintained a firm hand on his wayward partner’s back. “Firstly what is wrong with you? You eavesdrop on me and then you kiss me within an inch of my life and then punch me in the face? You’re recovering from a life threatening injury. Why can’t you just stay in bed like a normal patient?”

“My house, I can go where I want and do what I want,” Steve sulked, “And besides you were shouting; couldn’t help but hear it all.”

“Yes well you do bring out the best me.”

“I know I felt it,” Steve teased although wisely he kept his head down.

“Get your mind out the gutter for ten seconds; if that’s at all possible. Secondly why did you go and do a dumb thing like fire the nurse? Why take the risk of something happening when you were alone? Damn it Steven, you say you want me in your life but how do you think I would have felt if I’d found you dead on the floor? I have spent the past two weeks watching you like a hawk and yet I still managed to screw up that job. Why would you even contemplate trying to look after yourself?”

Steve kept his head on his arms but turned to look at Danny. “I thought you’d come over. I told her to go yesterday morning and thought you would come over by lunch. It wasn’t a big deal at first because Kamekona was here so I wasn’t alone. But once it got dark and you didn’t turn up or call then I began to second guess everything. I thought that I had dreamt the whole thing…you….me. I thought that maybe you just saw us as close friends, nothing more.”

“I wanted to be here,” Danny quietly replied.

“I know, I heard.”

“Yes you did.”

“You said I’m your oxygen.”

“I did.”

“Am I?”

“I think you need oxygen,” Danny said deflecting the conversation.

Steve looked shattered, “Don’t do this…”

“Fine!” Danny knew that this time had to face up to it all or he would lose Steve as both a friend and a partner to say nothing of a future lover. “Okay…well…Kamekona said that in his eminent opinion you have wanted a relationship with me for a while now.”

Steve shrugged one shoulder as confirmation.

“Well I need to know do you really want this or are you just yanking my chain?”

“Depends.”

“Depends on what Steven?”

“Whether you’re prepared to take the risk? Relationships are hard work Danny and we’re guys in a male dominated profession. Won’t be easy but I think you’re worth the effort.”

“You don’t think it’s a little weird that two heterosexual, alpha males just decided to jump each other’s bones?”

“Well for a start I jumped your bones. I didn’t see too much jumping in my direction from you.”

“Hey I liked the kiss okay. It just took me by surprise is all. Seriously though, doesn’t it seem weird to you,” he waved his hand between the two of them, “you know…us?”

“Danny I don’t claim to understand it, I just know I want you and right now that’s enough for me.”

Danny thought about it and he understood it to a degree, “I get it. I like being around you too but I have to admit it that maybe I wouldn’t have thought of it...us...if…”

“…Taylor….”

“Yes Taylor,” Danny echoed. “Nothing focusses the attention quicker than when you think you might lose the one thing you didn’t know you couldn’t live without.” Danny confessed and he was glad that he had, as he felt the tension drain from Steve’s body. So he pulled up a chair and sat opposite his friend. “Since we’re revealing all our dirty little secrets, mind telling me why you fought with me over everything the first time you came home from the hospital? I wanted to be here because I was worried about you and yes I was interested in ‘us’ but all those fights. You were so weird it was like you only had one oar in the water. Come on Steven what was all that about?”

Steve sighed. “I don’t know. Honestly I don’t remember a lot of it. I know I wanted you around and I recall that when you decided to sleep in the guest room I felt abandoned,” he shook his head as he tried to hone in on his feelings back then. “I just know that you were the perfect friend and I wanted more and I was frustrated and sick and…sorry,” he said as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“It’s okay and I’m sorry too for not picking up on just how unwell you were.”

Steve nodded and gave a tired smile in return.

“Okay so fresh start?” Danny asked.

“Yeah,” Steve agreed.

“Now I’m not going to repeat what I said outside. You heard it and I’m not going to try and deny it. Just know that I care about you, and that I’m still interested in ‘us’. It’s a start and we can work up to everything else right?”

Steve nodded.

“Excellent so we are both on the same page, you want to give ‘us’ a go and so do I?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay,” Danny nodded. “Uhm since we’re being so open have you ever done this…you know, with men…I understand of course if you have…being in the Navy and all…”

Steve lifted his head and stared at Danny in disbelief, “Danny being into men isn’t a prerequisite for joining the Navy. Hell I don’t even know what being ‘gay’ actually means but I do know I want you. So don’t ask me to explain it because I have no idea.”

“Okay don’t get your panties in a bunch.”

Steve tried unsuccessfully to stand, “Danny I think we should go upstairs to bed…”

“Absolutely not!” Danny screamed as he jumped to his feet half looking for the nearest exit and half wanting to catch Steve in case he passed out. “What part of ‘we need to take it slow’ did you not get? Besides the doctor said no sexual activity until you are well and so I can guarantee you that we are not having sex today, tomorrow or…well we’ll have to work on the future. God knows it will take me all of your recovery to work out how to do it anyway,” he prattled.

Steve just shook head in amazement. “Wow, and yet you think I have the IQ of a deck chair. Look Danny I get that you think I’ve made some lousy decisions in the past but right now I’m trying to make a smart one. You see I’m exhausted and I really, really want to sleep in my bed but I can’t make it up the stairs on my own,” he patiently explained. “So could you please help me and I promise we can talk about anything you want when I wake up.”

“Oh! My bad!” Danny snorted. “You want to sleep…got it. Why didn’t you say something earlier? Come on,” Danny said as he eased his exhausted friend to his feet and guided him up the stairs.

Steve was asleep before his head hit the pillow. So just like he had done a few days earlier, Danny settled next to him to watch him sleep, except this time his thoughts were occupied with the memory of a hungry kiss and a man’s body pressed against his.

*************************************

Part 15

For Danny the course of Steve’s recovery was punctuated by milestones in their relationship. It really began that day they decided that they both wanted to pursue being together. Later Danny lay next to Steve and watched him sleep. However it was when Steve woke up that things began to change. Once Steve opened his eyes and realized Danny was there with him; Danny leaned over and tentatively kissed his friend.

Steve had seemed a little stunned by the kiss but Danny shrugged and said, “I wanted to know what it felt like to kiss you as well as be kissed by you.”

“I could get used to it,” Steve replied sleepily.

As kisses go it wasn’t one of Danny’s best; kissing men was still very much an alien concept to him, all that stubble and rough skin, it felt weird but it also felt just right because it was Steve. “I can do better but it was an alright second first kiss,” Danny acknowledged with a smile.

The important thing was that Danny had initiated the contact and that was a turning point for them both.

“So you’re okay with this?” Steve asked.

“I think I am.”

However the six weeks Danny spent caring for Steve before his final doctor’s check-up hadn’t always been that easy. Not only was Danny dealing with Steve’s gradual recovery but he was also grappling with the concept that he wanted to have sex with his partner. Danny had been a cop for a long while and he had had a few partners in his time but he had never, ever wanted to have any of them in the biblical sense and it was a concept that still made him shake his head as if trying to wake up from some freaky sex dream. Nevertheless being in a heightened state of sexual arousal much of the time was somewhat tempered by the fact that Steve had been the worst patient ever and so Danny sometimes felt like he was babysitting rather than assisting his strong-willed friend.

There were the times when he wanted to lock Steve up until the doctor said he was completely well. Doing so would have resolved some of Danny’s stress like when he discovered the guy out surfboard riding instead of swimming. Swimming was encouraged by the doctor but surfing was taking it one step further and potentially ten steps backwards.

On that particular occasion, once Danny discovered what Steve was doing he had raced along the beach looking for him and arrived just in time to see Steve ‘wipeout’ as they say. This was still reasonably early in Steve’s recovery and Danny really wondered how Steve found the strength to walk to the water’s edge let alone ride the waves.

Danny had confronted Steve just as he was dragging himself and his board out of the surf. He had cut his chin on who knows what in the water and it was bleeding profusely but despite how bad it looked Danny was reasonably confident that at least it wouldn’t need stitches. Still the whole experience was enough to scare Danny and he didn’t hesitate to tell Steve how stupid he was for risking everything.

Steve obviously expected the onslaught and countered as best he could. “Come on Danny when I first hit the water the conditions were off shore, the surf was up, it was a beach break, so I joined the line-up, was happily riding the shoulder when the wind changed and it became choppy and I went over the falls. I thought I would try to go again but you turned up,” he remarked cheekily. “Anyhow looking at the conditions now I’d just end up caught inside but honestly,” he said as he looked out at the water, “I don’t think I could have popped-up again if I had wanted to; I’m so out of condition…”

Danny was dumbfounded by what he was hearing. “Stop! Just stop talking,” he demanded. “Who are you Kelly Slater? Just tell me what you thought you were doing out there?”

Steve’s brow furrowed, “I just did, surf was up, I saw a few good sets, thought I would…”

Danny held up his hand to stop the flow of surf speak. “Steven enough! I don’t want a run down on the pro surfing conditions in Hawaii. All I’m hearing is blah, blah, blah and now I’m going to have to buy a surfing dictionary to have a conversation with my lover.”

Steve giggled like a teenager, “You said lover.”

Danny whacked him up the back of his head, took the surfboard from his hands and stomped off down the beach towards the house.

Steve tiredly followed him, “I don’t see what the problem is Danny. The doctor said being in the water would strengthen my lungs and help heal the wound.”

“Well Taylor ended up in the surf too but I haven’t seen him hanging ten lately,” Danny pointed out crossly as he left the surfboard on the lawn and stormed off into the house.

“Come on Danny that was a little harsh don’t you think?” Steve asked as he followed his irate partner.

Danny stopped, seemed to think it over and stated categorically, “No!”

“What’s your problem Danny? You want me to be stronger but you don’t want me doing anything you think is too dangerous is that it? Don’t you see being out there is good for me?”

“Good for you? Good for you?” Danny screamed. “There’s rocks, reefs, and randoms out there and any one of them could have done you serious damage. As it is you look like your bleeding out,” he handed Steve a kitchen towel. “Here put this on your cut while I find the first aid kit. Seriously Steven why do you do these things? Do you even want to go back to work?”

“You know I do. Why do you think I was out there in the first place?”

“Fine, I accept that salt water is excellent for healing wounds and swimming is fantastic for the lungs but standing on a waxed up plank of wood…”

“They’re made of polystyrene covered in fiberglass now,” Steve helpfully informed him.

“What?” Danny asked mid tirade.

“The boards, they’re made from…”

“Steven I don’t care if they are made from the same wood as Harry Potter’s wand. The board riding is the problem not the swimming. Now I accept you are an outdoorsy sort of guy but can we tone it down Duke Kahanamoku and focus on the small stuff like making sure you can breathe and that your visits into the surf don’t end up hurting you rather than healing you.”

“Okay,” Steve agreed.

“No! No that was too easy. Is that an ‘okay I’ll do it because Danny is worried’ or an ‘okay I’ll tell Danny I will behave but in reality I’ll be riding the crest of the waves’?”

“Danny I’m sorry but I’m tired and I solemnly promise I won’t doing anything dangerous without telling you first but right now I need to lie down,” Steve replied as he headed off to rest.

“Don’t you dare lie on that bed covered in all that sand and salt, go shower first,” Danny called out to Steve as he watched him wearily trudge up the stairs.

“Shower with me,” Steve called back.

And so they had their first shower together.

*************************************

Part 16

As the weeks passed the boys got to know each other better. Of course there’s a world of difference between sizing each other up in a shower and jerking each other off in the bed but eventually they reached that milestone too. So by the time Steve’s six week check-up came around their relationship was developing nicely.

However, they both knew that when Steve was given the all clear to return to work, albeit initially for a few weeks of light duties, then there were no limitations on what they could do. So they were free to take that next step in their sexual relationship. Unfortunately neither of them discussed in detail the prospect of sex. They tended to allude to ‘it’ rather than actually talk about it. It was if they were both afraid that if they discussed sex at length then one or the other would get cold feet and their relationship would stall and neither of them wanted that to happen or worse to scare the other away.

On the morning of Steve’s appointment each man approached the day differently. Danny occupied himself with mundane chores like washing up the breakfast dishes while Steve flitted around the house. From Danny’s perspective his friend was pent-up with anticipation and a ball of nervous energy.

“Danny where’s my cargo pants?” Steve called from the bedroom.

“Hanging up in the closet,” Danny replied.

A few minutes later Steve burst into the kitchen, “Hey, where are my boots?”

“Check the mud room,” Danny suggested distractedly.

“Ok…” Steve replied as he ran barefoot past Danny.

“Danny?” Came a muffled voice near the back door.

“Yes Steven?” Danny responded with an exasperated sigh.

“I don’t have a mud room.”

“Look in the sand room then or whatever you call it out here in the tropics,” he half mumbled as wiped the last of the dishes.

There was a considerable amount of crashing and banging coming from where Steve was, followed by a “found ‘em!” and then a more excited “oh wow look at that.”

“Awww he found something shiny,” Danny muttered under his breath. A quick look at the time told him that they needed to be on the road. “Steven, put your toys away we need to get going or you’ll miss your appointment.” He called with a degree of urgency.

Steve ran past with one boot on, “Just give me a minute,” he begged as he half hopped, half hobbled upstairs again.

Danny wiped down the sink and then leant against it with arms crossed and waited for Steve to return…and waited and waited…

“Steve come on, we have to go now!” He yelled to his hyperactive friend.

“Danny have you seen my handcuffs?”

“Top drawer of your bedside table?” He bellowed.

“Got them,” Steve shouted back happily.

“Good for you.” What the hell does he want handcuffs for? Danny wondered. He’ll probably try and arrest the doctor if he doesn’t get the go ahead to return to work. Time was getting away so once more he tried to hurry up the Super SEAL. “Steve! Car! NOW!” he ordered.

Steve raced down the stairs and stood in front of Danny, “How do I look,” he puffed excitedly.

Danny looked him up and down and simply replied, “Perfect.”

“Can I drive?” Steve asked as they headed out to the car.

“No!”

“Why not?” Steve moaned.

“Because the doctor has said you couldn’t.”

“Can I drive home?”

“Depends.”

“Depends on what?”

“What the doctor says,” said Danny as he climbed into the car and started the engine.

“If the doctor says I can go back to work, can I drive?”

“Yes.”

“Great. So when we get home can we do it?”

Danny stalled the car…

*****************************
Part 17

The doctor finally cleared Steve for two weeks office duties and then he was fit for full time work. Naturally Steve was ecstatic and Danny was relieved to hear that provided Steve took care of himself he would go on to lead a full and normal life. Of course Danny knew that Steve McGarrett was far from normal but then if he had been, he wouldn’t have become this extraordinary person. His offbeat approach to everything in life is what makes him the unique individual that he is. Sometimes being that person paid off when he arrested the bad guy and solved the crime but other times his instincts were slightly off and they ended up in situations like they had just endured. Nonetheless, despite all that had gone down with Taylor and the General Pak job, Steve had come out of it better than anyone expected.

Danny on the other hand, after weeks of worry, was just plain exhausted. “Hey hotshot,” he said to Steve as they headed out to the parking lot, “You can drive home.”

Steve smiled, took the keys and raced to the car.

“Sensible driving please. Don’t kill us because you’re out of practice and over-excited.”

Steve rolled his eyes, “I know how to drive Danny.”

“Ah yes I remember it all too well…driving at breakneck speed and even onto boats. Can I please request a leisurely drive home?”

“Sure thing but put your seat belt on,” Steve advised as he waggled his eyebrows cheekily.

Danny need not have worried as Steve drove carefully and the trip was uneventful. However as soon as Steve parked the car in the drive, he took off into the house at a sprint.

“What?” Danny called after the receding figure of his partner. “Was it something I said?” He asked as he watched Steve disappear into the house. Fine I’ll bite, he thought as he followed him inside. “Steve where are you?”

“Bedroom,” Steve yelled back.

Danny climbed the stairs, “What are you…what the hell are you doing with those handcuffs?” A very surprised Danny asked as he walked into the room and found his friend in a state of semi-undress with his shirt already off, his belt unbuckled and he was currently trying to find a place to attach said handcuffs to the bed.

Steve looked up and waggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Danny I got the all clear from the doctor.”

“I know Steven I was there.”

“Soooo…we can do it now,” he stressed.

“Do what?” Danny was too fixated on the handcuffs to think about anything else.

“Sex!”

That drew Danny’s attention back to the topic. “Sex? Oh right,” he finally worked it out. “And you want to do this now?”

“Yes. Why not? It’s Friday, I’m back at work on Monday. That gives us three days to get it right.”

Danny smiled, “Well I don’t know about you but I thought I was doing it right”

“Yes but we haven’t done it…with each other. Come on Danny, I need this. I haven’t had sex in a long while,” Steve whined. “Besides I have everything we need, lube, condoms, towels and toys,” he beamed.

Danny noticed the mountain of condoms that had taken up residence on both bedside tables and he wondered just how much sex Steve planned on having. “That’s a lot of condoms Steven.”

“Some might break,” Steve pointed out helpfully.

“Of course they might because everyone knows that the Super SEAL has super sperm. I bet you little swimmers could break out of anything.”

Steve laughed, “Well it’s best to be prepared.”

“Oh I agree but why the handcuffs? Not that I mind a little spice in the bedroom but don’t you think we’re getting ahead of ourselves here? Maybe we should keep them for a kinky night,” he advocated. “And perhaps we should invest in some padded ones, police issue cuffs might chaff the wrists and that would spoil all the fun.”

Steve, with brow furrowed, stared at the cuffs. “You don’t…”

Danny shook his head, “Next time.”

“Okay,” Steve enthusiastically agreed as he stashed them back in the draw. “So…

Danny nodded, “Soooo...you want to…” Danny waved his hand toward the bed.

“Absolutely,” Steve said as he began to remove his cargo pants.

“Whoa their slick,” Danny interrupted the impromptu strip. “Don’t you think we should discuss…” he trailed off hoping that Steven would fill in the blanks.

Steve leaned forward as if trying to draw the question out of Danny. “Discuss…?” he prompted.

“You know, who’s on top and who’s on the bottom.”

“Do you mean who tops? Or who sits on top? Because from what I’ve read you can be on top and still be a bottom or you can be a top on top. So which…”

“Stop talking,” Danny pleaded. “This should to be a sexy and arousing moment. We’re supposed to be in each other’s arm rubbing against each other in some erotic dance not standing on opposite sides of no man’s land calculating a division of labor.”

“Danny we have to know what we’re doing or we won’t do it very well,” Steve grabbed a few sheets of paper from the floor near his feet. “Okay so according to this…”

“What the …” Danny walked around to where Steve was standing. “I knew you kept manuals of everything on your side of the bed but…what the hell is this one?” He looked the papers and began reading through the information.

Steve sighed. “I downloaded it from the internet because neither of us has ever done this before. I thought we could do with a few pointers so that we know what to do and when to do it.”

“I know what to do, I’ve been having sex for…never mind. So this is how I do it Steven. I get hard and I come hard. I’m a guy it’s that easy.”

“But sex…”

Danny snickered, “Cute, you said butt sex.”

Steve ignored Danny’s inane joke and continued, “With male intercourse it seems a little more complicated.”

“Really and how complicated is complicated?”

“Well according to what I found on the internet you have to stretch your partner. That hole doesn’t give like a woman’s and it has no natural lubrication so…”

“Okay stop. You’re killing the mood.” Danny grumbled. “Here’s a thought let’s put these away,” he took the papers from Steve’s hand and put them under the bed. “And let’s see what we come up with by ourselves and if we get stuck,” he chuckled at the mental image, “then we can read the joy of male sex together.”

“But…”

Danny put a hand over Steve’s mouth, “Stop talking and listen to me. I’m only going to say this once. You and I have danced around this for weeks. Does it scare me having sex with a guy? Hell yes but it’s with you, someone I trust with my life, so how bad can it be? Therefore my suggestion is that if we do this and it turns out great then fantastic and if we fuck it up, pardon the pun, we can work on it together over the next fifty years. Agreed?”

Steve nodded since he couldn’t speak with Danny’s hand still on his mouth.

“Okay so to begin. You read up on all this right?”

Steve nodded again.

“Excellent at least one of us knows what they’re doing. So let’s get this show on the road,” he removed his hand from Steve’s mouth and helped Steve out of the remainder of his clothes.

Steve stood before him naked, with cock erect and looking utterly stunning. It’s not like Danny hadn’t seen him this way before. The last few weeks had been amazing as they learnt about each other but seeing Steve standing there needy and excited made Danny’s cock eager to join in the fun.

“Want to help me out of these clothes?” Danny asked. “They feel a bit restrictive,”

Steve didn’t have to be asked twice as he stripped Danny naked. “You’re hard.” he stated as he took hold of Danny’s rigid, weeping cock.

Danny hissed as Steve stroked him expertly. “You’re good at that,” He said quietly as he mentally counted big, flabby walruses rolling around on the polar ice to stop from coming before they had even started.

“I want to be the bottom,” Steve whispered in his ear.

Danny thought it over and replied, “How about I bottom.”

Steve let go of Danny’s cock and took a step back, “I want to Danny.”

“Well so do I Steven.”

“Okay let’s toss for it.”

“Really? That’s all you’ve got? You want to toss for who gets drilled.”

“It’s fair,” Steven stated evenly.

“It’s ridiculous,” countered Danny.

“Well if you won’t toss for it then I guess I can bottom,” Steven replied with crossed arms.

Of all the things they had argued over this was definitely the weirdest. “Fine! we’ll toss for the honor,” Danny conceded.

Instinctively they both went to put their hands in their pockets, which of course was a complete waste of time and energy since they were naked.

Steve gave a nervous giggle, “I think I’ve got a dime in my pants pocket,” he said as he bent to pick up his discarded clothes.

“I’ll check my stuff too,” Danny added as he also retrieved his clothes.

And so both men went from passionate exchanges to rifling through pockets and wallets in search of an elusive coin.

“Sorry no coins,” Danny grumbled.

“Me either. Hold on I might have something downstairs.”

“Thank God,” Danny was relieved that they would soon resolve this impasse.

And then they both stopped.

Danny shook his head and sighed, “What are we doing?”

Steve shrugged, “What are we not doing?”

“Ah fuck it,” Danny muttered as he suddenly tackled Steve to the bed. “This one’s on me,” he announced just before he sucked Steve’s cock into his mouth.

“Holy shit,” screamed Steve. “You can bottom if you really want to…anything just don’t stop.”

Danny released Steve’s cock briefly, “God you’re easy,” he remarked before returning to the task at hand.

“Harder! Faster!” Begged Steve.

Danny did his best to accommodate Steve’s request as he watched his friend writhe in sexual bliss.

Because Steve was so far gone he gave minimal warning before coming. It didn’t bother Danny though; he had already decided to go the distance, so he did the best he could to swallow the jets of come that shot down his throat as Steve finally came.

“Wow!” Was all that Danny managed to say as he flopped back on the bed next to Steve.

“That’s was…” Steve was breathless and utterly spent. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure,” Danny happily replied because it was the truth. It had been incredibly hot to watch a control freak like McGarrett, lose control.

Steve turned his head to look at Danny, “What made you decide to…? Not like we’ve…”

“Didn’t they teach you to finish sentences at SEAL school?” Danny teased. “Seriously though, I just figured I can’t pick and choose what I do in this relationship. It’s either all or nothing and doing nothing was not an option.”

“Can we still do it”? Steve hesitantly enquired.

Danny grabbed Steve’s hand and put it on his firm cock. “What do you think?”

“With the evidence at hand I would interpret that as a yes,” he grinned as he started to pump Danny’s hard cock.

“Better slow that down or it will be all over red rover and by the way you get the prize too.”

“Bottom?” Steve asked excitedly.

“Bottom,” Danny replied. “So what do I need to do?”

Steve shoved the lube and a handful of condoms into Danny’s hands as he laid back, bent his knees and let his legs lazily fall open exposing himself to Danny. “You need to stretch me…down there. Start with one finger, then use two and use plenty of lubricant. From what I’ve read three fingers might be too much the first time but give it a try anyway. Now you move your fingers like this inside me,” and he proceeded to demonstrate a scissor movement with his fingers.

Danny did as instructed and tentatively pushed a finger into Steve’s tight hole.

Steve grunted as he adjusted to the intrusion. “Move your finger in and out.”

“Like this?” Danny asked as he did what Steve had told him to do.

“Y..yeah wiggle it about too.”

“How’s it feel?” Danny was curious because sometime in the next few days he would be on the receiving end and he felt the more he knew the better he’d cope.

“Different but okay. It’s just not a place I generally stick things,” Steve confessed.

“I know what you mean.”

Steve seemed to know what he needed so when he told Danny to try two fingers Danny didn’t hesitate.

“You’re pushy for a bottom,” Danny commented as he added more lube to his fingers and pushed them into Steve.

“Being a bottom…ah…’ Steve gasped as the pressure of two fingers was decidedly different to one.

Danny continued to work at loosening Steve up. “Take a few deep breaths,” He ordered.

Steve did.

“Better?”

“Getting there.”

“Now you were saying?” Danny asked as he tried to get Steve thinking about something other than a couple of fingers up his ass.

“Bottoms aren’t always submissive,” Steve panted.

“I’d be more inclined to say McGarrett’s aren’t normally submissive. So why was being a bottom so important to you anyway?”

“Probably for the same reason you wanted it I guess.”

“And that would be?”

“Ah…wow…so different…I don’t know…to let someone else take control for a change.”

Danny smiled, “ Oh, now I see how this works. You get to lie there while I do all the work.”

Steve laughed, “Okay I admit it I needed the rest. You found me out. So…do you want to swap?”

“Not right now babe this is just fine for me. Besides I like the view.”

Suddenly Steve let out a gasp, clenching down on Danny’s busy fingers.

“What?” Danny asked concerned that he had hurt his partner. “What did I do?”

“You found it,” Steve almost hummed.

“Really I didn’t know it was lost.” Danny had no idea what Steve was talking about. “Found what?”

“My prostate. Do it again. It’s supposed to be a little… shit…” he cried.

“Got ya!” Danny told him as he rubbed the special spot again noting that it made Steve’s cock jump. “I like what that does to you.”

Steve was panting hard by this stage, “Danny three fingers,” he ordered.

Danny did and although it was obviously painful for Steve they both persisted with it until Steve begged to be taken.

“Do it,” He demanded.

“You sure?” Danny was willing but he had to be certain Steve was properly prepared for it.

Steve gave him that look of ‘my body, I know what it needs.’

“Okay hold your horses,” Danny muttered as he grabbed a condom and rolled it on.

“Hurry!” Steve said as he watched Danny prepare himself. “Don’t forget, lots of love. I mean lube…lots of lube.”

Danny smiled, “Condom is on, lube applied and the love is coming. You ready?”

“Do it!”

Danny put Steve’s legs on his shoulders and positioned himself at Steve’s hole and rocked his hips forward putting pressure on the ring. He pushed in slightly then withdrew, repeating the motion again and again each time pushing harder and going in a little further until he had breached the ring completely.

“How you doing?” Danny asked as he withdrew all the way out.

“Don’…t,” Steve said through gritted teeth.

“I’m not going anywhere. Just doing this my way, nice and slow,” he stressed as pushed back in. “You have to tell me if I hurt you.”

“I’m fine. I’ll get used to it. Harder, faster. Come on Danny I won’t break.”

“I say it again, you’re bossy for someone with their legs in the air.” He panted as he picked up the pace. The feeling was incredible; Steve’s passage was so hot and tight. Danny felt overloaded by the sensations.

Steve moaned in pleasure when Danny began to rhythmically pound into him. On one particular thrust he hissed and arched up. “Oh God,” he screamed.

“No, it’s all me babe, it’s all me.”

Steve clutched the bed and threw his head back. “Danny I need…”

Danny understood instinctively. He took Steve in hand and pumped him in time with his thrusts.

“Danny it’s so good. More, faster!”

And Danny gave all he had. “You’ve wanted this for a long time haven’t you?

“Yes! Yes!”

“Come on you’re almost there. Let it go. Show me what you’ve got.”

“I…” but Steve’s words were lost as ribbons of come splashed on his chest.

Danny was awed by the sight and the feel of Steve’s channel pulsing around his firm cock. It was much too much; the sensations overwhelmed him and he too came with a shout as he wildly pounded into his lover.

When Danny was done the only sound in the room was the gasps and pants of the two very satisfied men.

“I think I’m going to pass out,” Danny all but whispered.

“You might want to pull out first,” Steve suggested tiredly.

Danny carefully withdrew from Steve and removed the condom. He tossed it in the nearby bin, grabbed one of the towels Steve had left on the bed and wiped his lover clean before collapsing on the bed next to him.

“How do you feel?” Danny asked his sleepy lover.

“Incredible, but my ass feels like I could park a tank in there.”

“Really? I’m flattered,” Danny smugly replied. “I knew I was well hung but to hear you say so, well that’s fantastic.”

“Shut up Danny.”

“You shut up.”

Steve rolled over and kissed him soundly.

Danny grinned, “Now that was a good decision.”

“I do know how to make them sometimes.”

“Yes you do and even the bad ones have happy endings sometimes,” he added as he touched Steve’s scar. “Sometimes the wrong choice gives the best results in the end.”

Steve smiled, “I got you, that’s an outstanding result.”

“Ditto,” he replied before returning the kiss.

****************************

Epilogue

“Danny we have to be professional at work,” Steve stressed as they drove to the office.

“Steven, appealing as it is, I have no intention of going down on you in your office.”

Steve subconsciously wiggled in his seat. “Okay…well that’s good.”

“Really? That’s it? Just okay? What, you actually thought I would?”

“No! I just needed to know that you understood the boundaries. That what we do in the bedroom can’t be something we do at work.”

“What we do in the bedroom? Oh please! Is there a place in the house we haven’t done it the past three days? I’d crave doing it on soft bed again.” He winced as he stretched his back.

Steve rolled his eyes. “Also I just think we should keep this between us for a while.”

Danny snorted. “Well I didn’t know you were intending to widen our screwing circle Steven. So yes I too would prefer to keep it between us too, thank you very much.”

“No way would I ever do that. I’m a one Danny guy.”

“A one Danny guy? What the hell does that mean.”

“I only have eyes for you. Okay?” Steve glanced across at Danny with a wink in his eye.

“That’s good because I don’t share my super lover with anybody,” Danny said smugly.

“So we’re clear? No sharing and no screwing at work.”

“Crystal,” Danny agreed.

They walked into work and after welcomes and hugs from Chin and Kono, Steve wandered into his office and gingerly sat down.

“Is he okay?” asked Chin noting how stiffly Steve seemed to be moving.

“He’s fine,” Danny stated confidently.

“Well you’d know I guess,” Chin replied, although his tone indicated that he didn’t quite believe Danny.

“I would,” said Danny, as he walked over to Steve’s office.

Kono breezed past the three men on her way to the canteen announcing, “Its coffee time anyone else coming?”

“Meet you down there,” Danny replied. “I’ll just check if Steve wants anything.”

“I’ll be there in a minute,” Chin told Kono as he walked past with his water bottle in hand. “I'll just finish up this report.”

“I’m off with the guys to get a coffee from downstairs, you want anything?” Danny asked his partner.

Steve winced. “Yeah. Coffee, a malasada and a donut ring.”

Danny roared with laughter. “Coffee and a malasada, no problems but the donut might be a little harder to organize.”

“This is your fault,” hissed Steve. “What did I tell you Danny huh? Lube is your best friend.”

It was at that point that Chin, who happened to be walking past Steve’s office took a swig of water and on hearing what Steve had said promptly coughed, spewing water everywhere.

Danny patted him on the back, “You alright there pal?” and turning to Steve he said, “Now that was very professional babe.”

“Bite me,” Steve snapped back as he wriggled uncomfortably in his seat.

“When we get home Steven,” Danny replied. “After all you did say, no screwing in the office.”

Chin looked from one to the other, Steve just shook his head at Danny and shrugged, Danny smiled, put his arm around Chin and said have you ever heard the saying ‘bad decisions make good stories’? Well come with me because have I got a story to tell you.”

The End