Chapter Text
Lieutenant Commander Steve J. McGarrett was tired. Of course that under the same circumstances lesser human beings would be exhausted, on the edge of collapse, but Steve had to confess that after a month like he'd had, he could really use a break.
Only a few weeks ago they had scrambled to find Danny after he was taken from his home. They didn't have any leads, and spent a few days running around the island, trying to figure out what had happened. What they never expected was to find Danny the way they did, wandering the streets of Honolulu, very ill and not remembering who he was.
Danny's recovery had also been hard for Steve. He had appointed himself as Danny's guardian, determined to protect him, since he couldn't protect himself. Steve felt that Danny's abduction and failure to find him sooner was his responsibility, so once Danny was on the mend he had taken it upon himself to keep an eye on his partner at all times. Of course it only lasted until Danny realized what his friend was doing and let him know, in a very vocal fashion, that he didn't need a watchdog, he needed a friend.
After that, Steve backed off. He made sure to be there if Danny needed him form anything, and kept his distance if Danny needed his space.
Things were going well, relatively speaking. Sure, they didn't have any evidence that pointed towards whoever was responsible for Danny's kidnapping, and the Governor had pressured him into taking some other cases. But overall, things had been going well, and Danny was coming back to them, little by little, so of course that was the perfect time for everything to go to hell.
Steve couldn't believe that just four days ago they had been over at Kamekona's, having some shrimp and enjoying a nice time with the team when things started going downhill. He didn't notice anything strange when he had taken Danny back home, but a text from Chin had him dropping Danny off, leaving a patrol car at the door and driving back to Kamekona's.
There, Steve found out that the big man had spotted someone suspicious looking at Danny and that they had followed Danny into the bathroom. Once the suspicious looking guys had left, the big man had carefully taken the plates, glasses and cutlery from their table and bagged them. The prints they lifted came back to a couple of thugs from Jersey, currently employed by one George Villa. When a couple of hours later, the cops outside Steve's place reported that they were taking Danny to the beach near Kamekona's truck, the game was on.
Just as a precaution, they had bugged Kamekona's truck, which turned out to give them all the information they needed. They heard from Villa's threats to Danny and Grace, and of his request to get Peterson out of Jail. They provided Kamekona with the documents Danny would need to get the former cop out of Halawa and sat down to wait.
What followed was an interminable day of following Danny around the island, watching as he followed all of Villa's whims and was forced to drive around town with the man that had threatened and kidnapped Grace. They had intended to strike once Danny delivered Peterson to Villa, but since Villa was nowhere to be found at the time, they decided to wait until he had eyes on the leader of the drug cartel to make their move.
Looking at the still figure on the bed in front of him, Steve regretted his decision. Sure, they had taken down a large drug operation, caught a large number of Villa's contacts at Grace's and three other schools, a couple that had access to Stan and Rachel and a few that had their sights on other powerful businessmen.
Steve himself had had to give plenty of explanations regarding the operation, regarding Peterson's death and regarding Danny's involvement in the operation. Fortunately, other than himself getting a formal reprimand, they were alright and Danny would not be held responsible for any of the events of that hellish day.
Danny seemed to be sleeping peacefully. The doctors said that he should recover completely, barring any complications. Because of this he was still in the ICU, being closely monitored for any possible change. According to the doctors, Danny should have woken hours ago, but the stubborn detective had remained asleep, not showing any signs of awareness, so Steve sat at the side of his bed, keeping watch.
Steve hadn't realized he'd fallen asleep until a movement from the bed startled him awake. He looked at his partner, noticing the furrowed brow, the twitching fingers and the scrunched up nose. "Danno? You awake?"
Danny woke up slowly. He was laying on an unfamiliar bed, but the fact that he was warm, somewhat comfortable and most important of all, that he felt safe, for some reason made him feel like he was in the most comfortable bed of the universe. If he had any complains, they would be about an annoying thing that was making his nose itch. He tried to lift his hand to scratch the itch, but it felt like his hand weighted a ton.
Unfortunately the small movement made everything else start to wake up as well, and that's when he remembered that a bullet had wanted to make itself at home inside his chest, the problem was that at the moment it felt like nobody had bothered to remove it.
Danny tried to lift his hand again, trying to make sure that there wasn't a hole in his chest still, but the fact that he could only manage to barely lift his hand from the bed made him groan in annoyance. He felt a hand squeezing his fingers and heard a familiar voice talking to him. "Danno? You awake?"
Danny groaned again, but the voice wouldn't leave him alone. "Come on, Danno. You've slept long enough! Why don't you open your eyes, buddy?"
It took some effort, but finally Danny managed to pry his eyelids open. He was met with Steve's face hovering above him, or what Steve's face would look like after going a week without any sleep or food. He was wearing a blue sling on his left arm and held himself stiffly. He had dark shadows under his eyes and what looked like a good couple of day's worth of beard growth on his face.
Danny frowned, knowing that he was the cause for the worry and exhaustion on his friend's face. "How bad is it?" He wanted to know.
Steve chuckled, giving his friend a relieved smile. "The bullet broke one of your ribs, perforated your lung and lodged itself in a rib at the back of your chest, cracking it. They took their time fixing you up, but they said that you should recover fully. They kept you on a vent for a day and you've slept for another whole day. And you're still on the ICU, because they want to keep an eye on you, they want to make sure that your lung is working ok after the pneumonia and the bullet wound…"Steve finished, still looking worriedly at his friend.
Danny looked at Steve for a couple of minutes, trying to make sense of everything his friend had said. He focused back on his friend, not liking the look of him. "Who are you?" He asked.
Whatever reaction he was hoping for, Danny never expected Steve to stumble away from him and drop himself into a chair next to the bed. He watched concerned as Steve buried his head in his hand and took a couple of shuddering breaths, only to shake himself and stand up a minute later. He moved back to Danny's bed, trying to reach for the call button, but Danny's hand stopped his movement.
Steve hadn't looked at him again, but Danny's hand on his made him focus his bloodshot eyes on his partner. He was surprised to find a sad smile on the detective's face. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant Commander Steve J. McGarrett, head of Five-0 and all around Super SEAL… Maybe it was too soon to make a small joke?" Danny said softly, a sheepish look on his face.
Steve laughed, passing a tired hand down his face. "I would punch you in the face if I didn't think it'd kill you right now, Danno…"
Danny chuckled, and groaned at the pain it caused. "Well, you had a new level of aneurism face… Had to do something about it…" He said, blinking tiredly.
Danny felt Steve patting his hand. "Don't worry about my faces, just worry about getting some rest, Danno…"
Danny frowned. There was something he should have remembered, and when he did he looked sharply at Steve. "Grace?" He asked, dreading Steve's answer.
Steve took hold of Danny's shoulder, forestalling any movement from the injured man. "She's perfectly fine, Danno… She was here just a couple hours ago, but she has school tomorrow, so she went home…"
Danny looked at Steve's face and was relieved at what he saw, but he still needed to make sure. "Villa… He had people at Grace's school…"
Steve squeezed Danny's shoulder. "We got them all Danno… Don't worry about it! Now would you please get some rest?"
He trusted his friend, but still he wasn't going down without a fight, if only he could keep his eyes open. "Y'too… Look like crap… Go h'me… Sleep…" He mumbled, trying and failing to open his eyes and glare at his partner.
Danny felt a hand patting his shoulder. "Don't worry, Danno… Get some sleep…" He heard Steve's voice, before he allowed sleep to take him. He'd worry if he wanted to, in fact he'd get right to it as soon as he woke up… later… yeah…
Danny opened his eyes to a strange scene. He was lying in front of a beach. Grace and Kono were playing in the water, laughing and splashing each other. And was that Officer Okole sitting nearby, chatting with Kamekona, with a beer on his hand? Most important of all, why was everything moving from side to side?
Right, after spending a couple of weeks in the hospital, Danny had been released to the tender care of his Neanderthal partner. He had been in an awful mood ever since he arrived back at the McGarrett's home two days ago, with his injury still causing him a considerable amount of pain and feeling frustrated about not being able to do the more simple tasks by himself. He hated the fact that he slept through most of the day, and most of all, he hated that his awful mood had him asking Rachel not to bring Grace over.
Danny remembered Steve talking about inviting people over on saturday, throw some steaks to the fire and hang out in the sun, and while Danny wasn't really in the mood for company, he knew he was just a guest in Steve's house, so he didn't have much choice in the matter. It still didn't explain Danny's current situation.
The scene in front of Danny kept swinging from side to side, and he really couldn't make sense of it until he looked down at his body. He was lying on the hammock, right under a large tree that provided just the right amount of shade. There was a soft breeze swinging the hammock from side to side, which explained the movement. Danny frowned, since the last thing he remembered was sitting on a chair by the shade with a bottle of water on his hand. He jumped at the sound of a familiar voice coming from somewhere below him. "You fell asleep on the chair. I thought you'd wake with a crick on your neck if you stayed in that position, so I asked Kamekona to help me settle you in here…" Steve said.
Danny looked in the direction the voice was coming and found Steve sitting on the sand, near Danny's head. "I thought I told you two days ago that getting in and off this hammock would hurt too much to go through the trouble, but of course you didn't listen…" Danny grumbled with a frown on his face.
Steve didn't seem fazed by Danny's annoyance. "Well, unless I'm mistaken, you're comfortable right now, aren't you?" He asked with a shrug.
Danny had to admit that he was much more comfortable than he was on the beach chair and he felt well rested after sleeping a few hours on the swinging hammock, but he still wouldn't let go of his annoyance. "You don't really expect me to spend all day laying here, do you? I seriously hope you're planning to feed me at some point during the day, because I'm not gonna lay here quietly while you all enjoy your burned steaks!"
Steve chuckled. "Don't worry, Danno… I'm not letting you go hungry, and if you want to get off the hammock before the food is ready, you just have to say the word…"
Danny sighed, not really feeling like moving from his comfortable position. Trying to change the subject, he focused his attention on the people near the water and noticed that Grace and Kono had lured Jason into the water and were splashing him mercilessly. "What's he doing here anyway?" He asked, just for the sake of having something to rant about.
Steve chuckled again. "I invited him over. He had been asking about you, and he really helped us while you were with Peterson. He gave us all the information he could from the time he spent with the two of you. He also wanted to be in the raid, even with a concussion, but I didn't want to risk any mistakes… I can ask him to leave if you don't want him here…"
Danny sighed. He was really thankful for all that the young officer had to put up with, and he really didn't mind Steve inviting him over. "Nah… He can stay I guess…"He said with a shrug.
Danny had started to look for something else to grumble about, but a squealing voice stopped his train of thought. "DANNO! You're awake!" Screamed Grace, while sprinting in Danny's direction.
The little girl completely ignored the warnings from the grownups around her about being gentle with her dad because she hadn't seen her Danno since he was at the hospital, but before she could throw herself into the hammock she was caught and lifted by a pair of strong arms. "Easy, Gracie! You Danno is still healing, ok?" Uncle Steve said, before he placed her gently on the hammock, next to her Danno.
The minute Grace was at arm's reach, Danny pulled her close to his chest "Danno! I missed you!" His little girl said from her place squished against his chest.
"I missed you too, Monkey." Danny said softly. "How come you are here anyway?" He was pretty sure that he'd agreed with Rachel not to see Grace until he was feeling better.
"Well, Uncle Steve talked to Mommy and she let me come over! You were sleeping when I got here, so Auntie Kono and I went swimming for a little while! Are you all better now, Danno?" The little girl asked, looking at her dad worriedly.
Danny's answer was interrupted by the sound of more people coming in from the Lanai. He looked around to see Chin and Malia coming closer. They greeted Danny and Grace with a smile on their faces, and Danny was surprised that Malia's close scrutiny didn't bother him as much as other times.
Danny was even more surprised to see David Taylor coming towards them as well. "Please don't tell me you're making a house call…" Danny asked, annoyed.
Dave shrugged. "I just came for the barbeque, but we can talk if you want…" The psychiatrist studied Danny for a minute, waiting for an answer.
Danny looked down at his girl and realized that he'd been stupid to think that it would be better to stay away from his girl and from his friends. He looked up at his shrink and at Steve, standing nearby and gave them a small smile. "Nah… I'm good…"
Steve and Dave moved towards the grill nearby, and Danny took a minute to look around the beach at his surrogate family. Just a few weeks ago he had despaired about forgetting his home, but right here, right now, with this strange group of people that had been there for him through the toughest times of his life, he could finally say that his home was not in Jersey or in Hawaii. His home was right here, with his Ohana, and as long as they didn't forget about him, he knew he would be alright.
With that thought in mind, he drew Grace closer and got ready to take another nap. After all, he had his Monkey to make sure nobody ate his steak.
The End