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Black and Blue Christmas (without you)
2011
Danny smiled brightly and waved as Steve entered the security area of the Honolulu airport then deflated visibly as his friend disappeared from view. At the risk of straining his face muscles with so many fake smiles, Danny had kept up the fiction that he had a happy Christmas planned – or at least as happy as it could be with Grace in Manchester. But now that Steve was gone he didn’t have to pretend any longer.
Danny walked out of the airport and returned to the short-term parking lot where he’d left the Camaro. For a couple of weeks Danny had been telling Steve and the others that he was invited to Amy Hanamoa’s house for Christmas. He’d spun a believable web of lies about looking forward to helping little Billy Hanamoa put together the train set Danny had bought him, and then helping Amy cook the Christmas dinner.
The detective steered out of the airport parking lot and drove back towards the Five-0 offices. Christmas was in two days and he was determined to stay as busy as possible in order to get through it. Fortunately Chin and his new wife Malia had already left on their Christmas trip to Maui so he only had to keep pretending a while longer for Kono until he sent her home to join her family.
Tomorrow he planned to spend most of the day in the office doing paperwork. In the late afternoon he’d volunteered to serve Christmas dinner in a homeless shelter, and tomorrow night he planned to drink beer and watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” on TV and feel sorry for himself. On Christmas Day he’d volunteered to work a shift for another HPD detective whose wife had just had their first baby.
Danny fiddled with the radio for a while trying to find a station that wasn’t playing Christmas music but eventually he turned it off in frustration. The Jersey native knew that if Steve ever found out that Danny had lied about his Christmas plans, that Amy Hanamoa had a boyfriend and they were taking her son Billy to Disneyland for Christmas and that Danny had no plans for the day, the SEAL would be enraged. But what was Danny supposed to do? For the first time in 20 years, Steve had a chance to spend Christmas with his sister and Danny was not about to take that away from the other man just because he himself had nowhere to go for the holiday.
He and Steve had sort of been in an undefinable, relationship-ish type thing for a few weeks now. Nothing too deep or meaningful and far too early for Steve to choose to turn down his sister’s invitation to spend Christmas with her in LA in favour of staying home with Danny. Basically he and Steve were fuck buddies, friends with benefits. Although Danny had been ok with the concept at first, being unwilling to get involved in another relationship anyway, he now found his feelings for Steve growing more intense.
The problem was Steve had issues, more issues than even Danny had and that was saying something. Steven McGarrett didn’t do heavy duty relationships. He didn’t do promises of love, and he didn’t do commitment. So for Danny, announcing to his SEAL friend (lover) that he was at loose ends at Christmas and was going to be alone was tantamount to begging Steve to stay with him which meant putting Steve in a hell of an awkward position when he and Danny were simply best friends and sometimes bed mates. Instead, Steve was jetting off to LA and Danny was going to stay as busy as possible for the next three days hoping Christmas would slip by unnoticed.
**********
Danny woke up just after 6 a.m. on Christmas morning or as he had decided to call it, just another Sunday morning. He didn’t need to be at HPD until 8:00 but his neighbours, a couple of low-class knuckle-draggers named the Morrison’s, decided to ring in the joy and magic of this special time of year by having a screaming fight. Given the noises they’d been making throughout the night, Danny assumed the couple had been drinking all night and tempers were now flaring. Danny sighed heavily and threw the covers back. He had no doubt the uniformed guys in HPD would be making a visit to this complex sometime today.
“Merry fucking Christmas,” Danny mumbled to himself as he trudged to the shower.
**********
The detective snapped his badge to his belt and shoved his gun into its holster then opened his apartment door and stepped out, turning to lock it behind him. He jumped slightly as he heard a crash and a scream from the apartment of his low-life neighbours. Their front door flew open with a crash and Mrs. Morrison, clad only in a thread-bare, stained nightgown, ran out onto the building’s second floor balcony walkway screaming bloody murder. A second later Mr. Morrison. An overweight man with greasy, thinning hair, emerged from their apartment and immediately grabbed his wife by the throat and bent her backwards over the railing, her toes barely touching the floor.
Danny sprinted towards the couple yelling at Morrison to let his wife go.
“Fuck off, asshole!” was Morrison replied with a growl.
Danny leapt on Morrison’s back – the man was at least 5 inches taller and 100 pounds heavier than the detective – and wrapped an arm around the flabby man’s throat pulling him backwards off his wife. Morrison released an unholy roar of indignation and took several stumbling steps backward slamming Danny’s back into the wall of the apartment building. Although Danny had the breath knocked out of him, he held on for dear life and used his free hand to grab the wrist of the arm around Morrison’s neck pulling it tighter. As the crook of his elbow began to cut off Morrison’s air supply, Danny simply clung to the enraged man until his oafish neighbour began to stumble and sway. Finally Morrison dropped to his knees on the deck of the balcony and Danny used the man’s weakened condition to slam him face down on the floor, jerk his hands behind his back and snap the cuffs on him.
“You’re under arrest you piece of shit,” growled Danny in the other man’s ear. “Merry Christmas.”
The detective climbed unsteadily to his feet and pulled his cell phone from his pocket with a shaking hand. Taking a few steps away from his now sobbing captive, Danny hit the speed dial number for the HPD. He glanced over at Mrs. Morrison who was sitting cross-legged on the balcony staring blearily at her husband. She appeared to be unhurt.
Danny took a few more steps away and began reciting his badge number to the operator and giving her instructions to send a patrol car to his apartment. His heart stuttered in his chest when he heard a blood-curdling shriek and turned just in time to see Mrs. Morrison hurtling herself at him brandishing an empty scotch bottle. Danny began to raise his hand to protect himself but was a moment too late. The bottle smashed into the side of his skull and face and his head exploded in pain, fireworks ignited behind his eyes. He stumbled and dropped his phone unconsciously raising both hands to his face to protect himself from any further blows. His last conscious memory was of Mrs. Morrison, face twisted with rage, screaming about police brutality and giving him a violent shove that sent him tumbling backwards down the outside steps of his apartment building where he came to a sprawling, boneless rest onto the pavement below.
**********
Steve had been in Mary’s apartment for slightly less than two days and was already going stir-crazy. He loved his sister, he really did, but they were polar opposites and while this wasn’t such a big deal when they briefly shared their parent’s house in Hawaii and each had their own lives to lead, it became a bit more of a challenge in Mary’s tiny LA apartment. For one thing he was sleeping on a rather uncomfortable (and too short) pull-out bed and for another; Mary had dozens of friends who dropped by at any time day or night to visit her. Steve had slept maybe five hours in the past two nights.
Worse yet, Mary had announced that they were to be joined at their Christmas dinner tonight by six of her closest friends, two of whom Steve was convinced were drug dealers and one rather tawdry young woman with a brown tooth who kept grabbing Steve’s arm and cackling loudly at her own crude jokes.
At 10:30 a.m. the SEAL stood on Mary’s tiny balcony sipping a cup of coffee and staring disconsolately at the morning traffic. Fuck it was Christmas day! Didn’t the people of LA stay home on Christmas day?
Steve sighed heavily. He had another problem too. One he hadn’t expected. He missed Danny like crazy. The two of them had been going at it pretty hot and heavy over the last few weeks and Steve realized he’d come to look forward to their time together more than he expected. At first it was just fun – two people scratching an itch for each other – but the Commander began to realize, with no small amount of surprise, that he was falling for Danny. The Jersey native made him feel emotions he hadn’t felt in a long time and ones that, frankly, he wasn’t sure he’d ever feel again. Steve shook his head in disgust. This was not supposed to happen!
Steve and his sister had made plans to spend Christmas together before he and Danny started sleeping together and he couldn’t change those plans to stay home with his partner who, as far as he knew, didn’t have the same feelings for him. But the truth was he had to force himself to get on that plane two days ago when all he really wanted to do was turn around, take Danny in his arms and spend the holiday with just two of them in bed fucking each other senseless and looking deep into each other’s eyes.
Steve ignored the sound of Mary’s phone ringing behind him, the god damned thing rang off the hook, and pondered what to do for the rest of the day. He’d already gone for a run through Mary’s neighbourhood. She lived too far from the beach to go for a swim and the public pool was closed for the day. Steve had brought a couple of paperbacks so he supposed he could spend the day lying on the couch reading, something he didn’t get much chance to do heading up Five-0 and working their often insane schedule.
Steve heard the balcony door slide open and Mary stepped out clutching his cell phone.
“I’m not your secretary, Steve, you can answer your own phone.”
He brother grimaced apologetically and held out his hand for the phone.
“Sorry, Mar, we use the same ring tone. I thought it was yours.”
Steve shoved his now empty coffee cup to his sister who glared at him in return as he answered the call.
“McGarrett.”
“Commander McGarrett,” the brisk female voice on the other end of the phone began immediately. “This is Queen’s Hospital calling. You are partners with a Detective Daniel Williams?”
Steve felt his gut twist and he clutched the phone tighter.
“Yes?”
“You’re listed as his emergency contact which is why I am phoning this morning.”
“What happened? Is he alright?” Steve barked his voice strained with rising fear.
“Detective Williams was involved in some kind of altercation this morning and was brought to the hospital by ambulance about a half-hour ago.”
Steve leaned against the railing around Mary’s balcony and tried not to freak out.
“How badly hurt is he?”
“I’m sorry, Commander, I have no information on the Detective’s condition at this time, but if you would like to come to the hospital right away I’m sure the doctor could…”
“I’m in Los Angeles,” interrupted Steve, his voice shaking noticeably. “I don’t know when I can get there. Can you have Danny’s doctor call me when he can so I can figure out whether I should come home or not?”
The woman on the other end of the phone paused for a moment and Steve could hear the sound of rapid typing into a keyboard.
“Dr. Chang is treating Detective Williams in emergency. I will ask him to call you when he’s available. Is this the best number to reach you?”
“Yeah,” Steve replied hoarsely dragging a hand over his face. “Yes, have him call me at this number as soon as he can – please.”
Steve hit the button to end the call and slumped heavily against the balcony railing. He wasn’t aware that Mary was now standing beside him, his empty coffee cup still clutched in her hand.
“Steve?” she asked worriedly.
Her brother turned to look at her, his face pale and anxious.
“It’s Danny. He was hurt this morning in some kind of incident and he’s in the hospital.”
“Is he ok?”
“They don’t know yet. The doctor who’s treating him will call me when he can.”
Mary wrapped an arm around her brother’s waist and squeezed him tightly.
“I’m sure he’ll be fine, Steve, Danny’s a pretty tough guy.”
Steve nodded distractedly not really hearing her words.
“What the hell could have happened? Its Christmas morning. He was going to call his folks in New Jersey then head over to Amy Hanamoa’s house for the rest of the day.”
“Maybe he fell in the shower or something?” Mary offered, feeling helpless in the face of her brother’s obvious fear. It didn’t take a genius to tell that Steve’s feelings for Danny were deeper than friendship and, although it was obvious Steve hadn’t yet come to that conclusion (or at least couldn’t admit it to himself), she hoped the two men would someday acknowledge their love for each other.
Mary removed her arm from around Steve’s waist and clutched at his forearm to make him look at her.
“I’m going to grab my laptop and check on the next available flights back to Hawaii.”
Steve shook his head rapidly and forced a strained looking smile to his face.
“No, Mar, that’s not necessary, at least right now, we don’t know anything yet. Danny could be fine and I don’t want to ruin our first Christmas together in…”
“Steve.” Mary interrupted gently. “I know how you feel about Danny even if you don’t I do. You won’t be able to enjoy yourself here knowing he’s back in Honolulu in the hospital.”
She waved her hand dismissively when Steve opened his mouth to argue.
“I’m just checking flight times at the moment. I won’t book anything right away, but I think we should be prepared.”
Steve shoulder’s drooped and he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment.
“I guess you’re right.”
Mary smiled at her brother and turned to re-enter the apartment. Steve grabbed her lightly by the arm and she turned back to him.
“What did you mean about how I feel about Danny?”
Mary took a step closer to her brother and gently cupped the side of his face with her hand.
“I’m not sure if you realize it or not big brother but you’re in love with Danny, and I have no doubt he’s in love with you.”
Steve pulled his bottom lip between his teeth and dropped his eyes to the balcony floor. He felt his face flush.
“I don’t…I’m not sure,” he looked up pleadingly at his sister. “Would you be ok with it?”
The young woman laughed and patted her brother’s cheek fondly.
“I want you to be happy and cared for. If Danny can do that then yes I’m ok with it.”
Steve grinned broadly at his sister then bent down to kiss her cheek. She turned to re-enter her apartment and he heard her muttering about oblivious men and how women had to fix everything.
Steve watched her leave smiling fondly but the smile faded immediately when his phone rang again.
“McGarrett.”
“Commander McGarrett this is Dr. Chang from Queen’s Hospital in Honolulu.”
“Yes Doctor, how is my partner?”
“Detective Williams is currently in serious condition in the ICU.”
Steve reached blindly for one of the balcony chairs and sank weakly into it as he heard the sound of papers being shuffled at the other end of the line.
“The Detective sustained a hairline fracture of the skull as well as two broken ribs, a broken left leg and significant bruising to his torso and legs.”
“My god,” Steve whispered raggedly. “What’s his prognosis?”
“The detective is a lucky man. Our tests currently show no signs of intracranial bleeding, and although the blow to the head he received did result in a fairly serious concussion, so far it doesn’t appear the injury was as severe as it could have been.”
Steve felt a bloom of hope growing in his chest.
“Is he conscious?”
“No, not at the moment and he may not regain consciousness for some time. It’s difficult to say when he will.”
Steve let out a ragged breath and stood up from the chair.
“Do you have any idea what happened?”
The doctor consulted his papers again.
“I don’t know all the details but according to the paramedics who brought your partner in, he was hit on the head with a bottle and pushed down a set of stairs.”
Steve stepped through the open balcony door and spotted his sister sitting on her couch typing rapidly into her laptop.
“I’ll be on the next flight home doctor so you may not be able to contact me for a while,” Steve continued into the phone as he grabbed his duffle bag from the corner of the room preparing to throw his belongings into it.
“I’ll be sending one of my teammates, Kono Kalakaua, to the hospital to watch over Danny until I can get back to the island. I’d appreciate it if you would let her have access to my partner until I arrive. I don’t want him left alone.”
“That’s fine, Commander. We’ll look after your partner until you return.”
Steve thanked the doctor and disconnected the call then gave his sister an apologetic shrug.
“I have to go to him, Mar.”
The young woman looked up at him and rolled her eyes before returning her attention to her laptop.
“Obviously. I’ve booked you on a flight leaving in 2 hours from LAX. It should get you into Honolulu just after 6:30 p.m. their time. Get your shit together right away because we’re going to have to leave right away to get you through security and on that plane.”
**********
Steve stepped through the doors of the ICU eight hours later and spotted Kono sitting in a chair beside Danny’s bed speaking quietly to the still unconscious man. Steve walked hurriedly over to the bed and pulled Kono into a hug as she stood up to greet him.
Releasing his teammate, the SEAL turned his attention to Danny. The smaller man looked almost tiny in the hospital bed and the sight made Steve’s heart clench in fear. The left side of Danny’s face where he was hit with the bottle was black and blue and his left eye was swollen shut. A bandage covered his face from just above his left eye into his hairline’. Bruises also bloomed elsewhere on his body due to the fall down the stairs. His left leg was in a cast and elevated and he was hooked up to IVs and a variety of monitoring machines. He was receiving oxygen through a nasal cannula.
Steve couldn’t suppress a gasp of shock and his eyes filled with tears but knew Kono would pretend she hadn’t seen them to preserve his tough guy image.
“Danny…” he breathed, his voice rough with emotion.
Steve felt one of Kono’s arms slip around his waist.
“He’s doing well the doctor’s say. He’s going to be just fine. I know he is.”
Steve nodded and quietly moved over to the side of his partner’s bed and picked up his right hand giving it a gentle squeeze. He leaned over until his mouth was inches from Danny’s ear.
“I’m here, babe. You’re going to be alright. The doctors say you’re going to be just fine, but you need to wake up now. You’re missing Christmas day.”
Steve straightened up and cleared his throat roughly. He swiped his free hand over his eyes before turning to look at Kono.
“What happened?” he asked quietly although his voice was brittle with rage.
“According to the patrol officers who arrived on scene, Danny attempted to break up a fight between two of his neighbours. He was able to restrain and cuff the husband but while he was calling for backup, the wife hit him with a bottle and pushed him down the stairs.”
“Jesus,” Steve whispered looking down at the broken body of the man he loved. He glanced back at Kono.
“Were you able to tell Amy Hanamoa what happened? I don’t want her to worry.”
Kono’s face darkened and she shook her head.
“I wasn’t able to get her on the phone so I sent a patrol unit over to tell her about Danny but she wasn’t home. The cops talked to one of her neighbours who told them Amy and her new boyfriend took Amy’s son to Disneyland four days ago. They’re not expected back until later this week.”
Steve stared at her in confusion.
“No, he said specifically that he was spending Christmas day with them. He’s been yapping about this train set he got…” The SEAL’s voice dropped off and he looked down at Danny incredulously before looking back up at Kono, his eyes wide with sudden understanding.
“He lied to us,” Steve announced flatly.
The younger woman nodded her eyes bright with unshed tears.
“He must have been afraid that if he told us he had nowhere to go on Christmas Day you’d cancel your visit with Mary, or I’d feel obliged to invite him to my family Christmas.”
Steve felt a flash of anger and glared down at the still unconscious man.
“What the fuck, Danny? Why would you do something like that?”
“You know Danny,” Kono said. “He hates needing people or being a burden.”
Steve closed his eyes and chewed on his bottom lip to keep it from quivering.
“Stupid haole idiot,” Steve muttered hoarsely, no heat behind his words.
The SEAL sighed tiredly then gave the young officer a weak smile.
“Thanks for staying with him, sweetheart, but now you need to go home and spend what’s left of this day with your family.”
The young woman shook her head.
“It’s ok, Steve, I can…”
Steve released Danny’s hand and stepped over to Kono pulling her into another tight hug.
“I’ll be with him. He won’t be alone at all and there’s no point in two of us watching him sleep.” He pulled back until he was holding her by the shoulders and could look into her tired eyes.
“I promise I’ll call when he wakes up but it’s Christmas Day, you need to be with your family.”
“Are you sure?” the young woman asked doubtfully glancing over at her unconscious friend.
“I’m sure…besides, I’d kind of like to be alone with him for a while. I have some things I need to tell him.”
Kono looked up at her boss and smiled mischievously at him.
“Oh yeah? Are you going to finally man up and tell him how you feel about him?”
Steve stared at the younger woman in shock, his mouth opening and closing silently. Kono rolled her eyes and sighed in indignation.
“Oh, like half the world doesn’t already know you two are in love!”
Kono rose up on her tip toes and gave Steve a peck on the cheek.
“Good luck, boss.”
Kono walked quickly around the bed and bent down to give Danny a peck on the cheek.
“We’re going to have a long talk when you wake up, Williams,” she said sternly before letting her voice soften. “But…hurry and wake up, ok?”
The young woman turned and walked quickly out of the ICU wiping her face with the back of her hand.
Steve stared after her for a moment before turning his attention back to Danny. He sat down in the chair Kono had vacated and wrapped his hand around Danny’s.
“Danny,” he whispered shaking his head in confusion. “Why didn’t you tell us you didn’t have anywhere to go for Christmas? I would happily have stayed home with you. To be honest…I really wanted to stay home with you.”
Steve swallowed roughly and brought Danny’s hand up to hold it against his cheek.
“I’ve been thinking about us a lot over the last couple of days, Danny, and I realized something…something unexpected. I love you babe. I’m in love with you. All the time I was at Mary’s all I could think about was you – how much I missed you. How much I wanted you with me.”
Steve kissed the knuckles on Danny’s hand then slowly lowered it back to the bed, still clutching it like a lifeline.
“I know you maybe don’t feel the same way about me, Danny, and that’s ok, it really is. I know we never made any promises or commitments to each other, but…well…maybe we could sort of see where this leads, huh? If you don’t want to that’s alright, I’ll understand and we’ll still be friends, but I just…I feel like you’re all I’ll ever want for my life and if you can love me too, I’ll be the luckiest man alive.”
Steve pulled the chair a little closer to the bed and bent down to rest his head on the open patch of mattress next to Danny’s stomach.
“Maybe you could think about all this while you lie here? No pressure or anything. You could just consider the idea of the two of us together, hopefully forever, and decide if that’s something that you would be ok with.”
Steve closed his eyes as a wave of exhaustion swept over him.
“I love you, Danny,” he whispered sleepily.
**********
A metal hospital cart rolled by clattering gently on the hospital’s tiled floors and Steve jerked and sat up turning around to see what had caused the noise. He sighed when he remembered where he was. The SEAL turned back to look at his best friend and froze briefly when he saw dazed blue eyes looking back at him.
“Danny?”
A small smile twitched at the corners of Danny’s mouth and Steve jumped to his feet and leaned over his partner, his face inches from Danny’s.
“Babe?” Steve asked his voice wobbly with emotion. “Are you ok? Can you speak to me?”
Danny closed his eyes for a long moment then opened them again. They were somewhat unfocused due to the concussion, but they were tracking Steve. The Jersey native licked his lips.
“Steve,” It was a sigh more than a word but Steve would take it.
The SEAL grinned happily and felt his eyes flood with tears. He bent down further and kissed Danny on the forehead keeping his lips on Danny’s warm skin.
“Oh, Danno,” he moaned brokenly, letting his vulnerability show in a way he never had before. “I thought I was going to lose you. I was so scared.”
A weak smile played again on Danny’s lips.
“S’ok. M’here.”
Steve lifted his head so that he could look intently into Danny’s beautiful blue eyes. He smiled down on his lover and felt a tear roll down his cheek then drop onto Danny’s.
“I love you, Danno,” he whispered as he gently brushed his own tear from Danny’s cheek with his thumb. “I hope that’s ok, but I can’t keep it in any longer and...”
Danny smiled weakly again as his eyes began to close once more.
“L’ve you to,” he whispered. “Always”
Taking both of Danny’s hands in his Steve grinned happily feeling like the dark cloud that had shadowed his life for so many years was lifting.
“Merry Christmas, Danno.”
**********
Christmas 2013
“I get a headache even thinking about that time,” Danny moaned as he unconsciously rubbed a hand over the faint scar that ran from near his left eye and up into his scalp. The laceration and skull fracture he had received from being hit with the bottle had been bad enough but that fact the doctor had shaved some of his hair off to stitch up the wound was Danny’s worst memory of that experience.
Steve tightened his arms around his husband as he thought back to those long days two years ago. He remembered the weird mixture of joy and fear he had experienced as Danny slowly recovered in hospital, Steve never far from his side.
Today they were sitting up in bed, Steve leaning against the headboard and Danny laying between his husband’s legs, his back heavy on Steve’s chest with the taller man’s arms wrapped around his waist. Steve didn’t know what made them start talking about that horrible yet wonderful Christmas but now he was regretting even bringing the subject up.
“Don’t think about it anymore,” Steve whispered hot in Danny’s ear. “You survived and came back to me, that’s all that matters.”
Danny smiled and shifted slightly to look up at his handsome husband.
“Remember how Kono kept mocking us? Telling us one of us had to literally get hit over the head before we got our act together?”
Steve rolled his eyes and leaned over to kiss Danny on the forehead.
“I like to think we would have figured it out on our own without such a dramatic act on your part.”
Danny snorted and rolled over scrambling to his knees to sit astride his husband’s lap, his hands on Steve’s shoulders and his husband’s face only inches from his own.
“Dramatic act huh? It’s not like I planned it, Super SEAL, but it did get your attention.”
Steve smiled weakly and brushed the pad of his thumb over Danny’s scar.
“It did that, Danno. Don’t ever do it again.”
“Not planning to,” Danny whispered as he captured his husband’s mouth with his. He felt Steve’s growing erection pressing against his thigh and he shifted his body again so that their cocks brushed against each other causing Steve to release a low moan.
“C’mon, babe,” Danny whispered hoarsely as he thrust against Steve once more feeling his husband’s hands slide down his back and grip his ass.
The cry of a baby pierced the air and Danny huffed a disappointed laugh and dropped his forehead to Steve’s shoulder.
“Your son has terrible timing, Steven.”
Steve snorted.
“Why is he always my son when he does something you don’t like?”
Danny placed his hands on Steve’s chest and pushed himself up and off his husband flopping over on his back and giving a truly put upon sigh.
“It’s your turn to get him, babe.”
Steve rolled his eyes but smiled brightly. They had adopted their son three months ago from China and Steve loved him more each day. He never imagined his life turning out this way – a husband he loved and two children he adored. Like so many times before, he promised himself he would never take any of it for granted. Steve leaned over Danny and gave him a quick kiss on the lips before he scrambled out of bed and began digging in his closet for a tee shirt and sleep pants as the baby's cries grew more insistent.
“I’m coming, Alex,” he called out as he tugged the tee shirt over his head.
The end.