Chapter Text
Sacrifice (sub.; Engl.): the sacrifice, the offering up.
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Dressed casually, this time in a shirt and jeans instead of a T-shirt and cargo pants, and still wearing black military boots, Steve entered the Honolulu International Airport arrivals hall and looked around searchingly for Danny. A glance at his tactical wristwatch told him clearly that he had arrived ten minutes after the plane had landed. With a slight curse on his lips, he walked among the many people looking for Danny. He and Grace were due to arrive here on the plane from Newark, which had flown once across the United States as a non-stop flight.
He should have set himself an alarm this morning.
Cursing, he clenched his hand into a fist. There he had promised Danny to be on time to pick him and Gracie up, and then he promptly overslept. Even skipping his morning routine had not ensured that he had arrived at the airport on time, as there had been a long traffic jam on the highway.
Today was not under a favourable star.
Even as his gaze wandered searchingly over the crowd in the arrivals hall to find familiar faces in the crush, he abruptly faltered. Standing by a pillar was a charming man with olive-brown skin and a gentle smile amidst the somewhat overdue three-day beard. The hair was wild, yet soft at the same time and of a dark brown, almost black colour. But it was the eyes that drew Steve's attention the most. They were of such a bright blue that they seemed like ice, which was extremely unusual for a man from his latitudes.
"Massoud ...", Steve breathed, startled, and stumbled back.
As he did so, he bumped into a woman who poured her coffee down her shirt and scolded him. "Can't you watch it, you oaf!" she snarled, wiping the dark coffee off her top.
Steve turned to her and looked at her apologetically. "Sorry, didn't mean to, ma'am." But he couldn't be bothered with her any longer. He simply left her as she was and pushed his way through the arriving passengers to get to the pillar where he had seen the man.
"Asshole!" the woman shouted angrily at him, muttering something else about selfish slob types she'd like to kick in the balls. Steve ignored the lady completely and pushed his way through the crowd with apologetic phrases.
When he finally reached the pillar, it was deserted. There was no sign of the man he thought he recognised as Massoud. Hoping to see him, he let his gaze wander over the heads of the people, but failed miserably.
Massoud had disappeared.
Cursing, he slammed the flat of his hand against the concrete pillar.
Suddenly, the mobile phone in his pocket rang and vibrated, reminding him of the reason he had come to the airport today. He quickly took it out of his pocket and saw his partner's name on the display. Immediately he picked up the call.
"I didn't think I'd one day be able to cross your military-trained punctuality off your list of qualities," Danny greeted him slightly sourly. In the background he could hear Grace trying to reassure her father.
"Hello Danny, where are you? I think we missed each other at the airport," Steve apologised to him, concealing the fact that he had overslept and been distracted.
The detective chuckled. "Then be glad we didn't miss your Silverado and chose the taxi. We'll wait for you at the car."
"I'm sorry, Danny."
"You're sorry? Steve, how long have we been not seen again?"
Before Steve could answer the pissed off man, he heard Grace shout the reply, "For exactly 13 days, 7 hours and 11 minutes!"
"Thank you, Gracie. And you know what I didn't want to hear from my partner after all this time?"
Steve had absolutely no idea what Danny was getting at. "No." Supportively, though Danny couldn't see it, he shrugged.
"An apology for him being late. I wanted him to throw his arms around my neck, hug me to him and besides a kiss, whisper in my ear that he missed me and the island was lonely without me."
Taking a deep breath, Steve closed his eyes. There were things he loved about Danny. Like his thousand ways of making an ass of himself, constantly discussing everything. But he also liked the man's hidden, loving and tender ways. On the other hand, the first two qualities also regularly drove him up the wall - and there were plenty of them in Hawaii. Now the commander had to pull himself together more and more not to give a snotty answer, which Danny had intended.
Because Danny also knew him quite well. As much as he was a tough guy in the field and at work, he was incredibly sensitive and the least Steve could handle was someone making a demand on him so openly. Not wanting to upset Danny that he would never kiss him in public, he bit his tongue and refrained from commenting.
"Neanderthal animal, it was a hard, long flight. Over 11 hours in a stuffy, cramped plane. Grace and I are both overtired and have the worst jet lag on earth. Unfortunately, your car doesn't yet have the feature where I can drive it with my fat finger. Would you have the goodness to drive your friend and his adorable daughter home?"
"I'm on my way, give me a minute or two and I'll be with you."
"Thank you."
Before the detective could hang up, Steve addressed him again. "And Danny?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
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Gently, Steve gave little Grace a kiss on the forehead, even though she was long gone from being the sweet little girl Steve had known her to be. Grace was twelve years old by now and she had come to realise that her father was not exactly the navel and god of the world, but she still loved Danno and was more than happy that he had finally found the love of his life.
"Sleep well, little one."
Grace wrapped her arms around her second dad and Uncle Steve's neck and smiled lovingly at him. "Danno loves you."
"I know he does. Now go to sleep, Gracie."
He got up and turned out the light before joining Danny back in the living room. The blonde detective rested his head on the back of the sofa and looked up the stairs at Steve as he returned from their shared daughter. "So, is she asleep?"
"Yes, it's been a long day for her," the Commander answered him and came down the stairs. He sat down on the couch and rested his head against his friend's chest. Although anger still bubbled in his belly about her pickup that morning, he gently tickled Steve through his brown hair. He loved this mysterious, silent man. Very often Steve drove him to the edge of his sanity, but when he needed help, he was always there for him. He was a rock of strength.
From the beginning he had wanted to get behind that icy shell. To uncover the person hiding behind that hard shell. Time and again Danny had tried to draw the man out with his taunts and he had been more than surprised that he had not fired him long ago. But then he had realised that they had both long since fallen in love with each other.
Danny gave him a kiss on the temples and closed his eyes, his fingers still destroying Steve's elegant pillow hairdo. "You were just late?" asked Danny in a soft, low voice.
Steve had long since closed his eyes and was enjoying the caresses he had really missed the last few days. It had sounded so easy at first. Fourteen days in Newark, with his family. Just him and Gracie. Steve held down the fort at headquarters. He didn't want anyone to know they were a couple. Although Chin and Kono knew. But the bystanders didn't. And that was the way it was to stay. That had been Steve's condition. Danny had accepted it completely.
But with every day that Danny was already away from the island, Steve felt lonely. The evenings had been long and without his second piece of the puzzle that had completed his life in such an unexpected way.
It had been a long time since he had felt so whole. Danny had brought him back the joy and his holiday away had confirmed that getting together with the grumpy, hot-tempered, irreverent and argumentative cop had been a good decision.
"Yeah. The day didn't go the way it was supposed to," Steve replied to him calmly, sighing with relief. Although not much had happened today, other than enjoying the day, he felt incredibly tired. "Let's go to sleep."
"Sounds like a good idea. I'm totally exhausted ... uhaaah," Danny agreed with him with an indulgent yawn. Still, he had a feeling Steve had been lying to him. Something was bothering the SEAL that he didn't want to talk about. Something had happened that made him so thoughtful. All day he had only been half focused. Knowing Steve, and he knew him pretty well by now, he would talk about it sooner or later - he just had to probe enough.
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"Damn it, get to safety, I'll stop those idiots!" growled Steve, slamming his hand in the direction of his comrades. Billy and Freddy looked at each other unsure if Steve really meant it as Sam and Nick were already grabbing them and dragging them along. If Steve had their backs, they shouldn't throw that to the wind. "Steve can handle himself. Now come on," Nick growled. Then the SEALs disappeared among the mighty pines of the forest. In the undergrowth, a lone soldier remained, bracing himself with one knee on the forest floor. Assault rifle at the ready, he fired at the fighters coming towards him from between the trees.
If he had bought his boys enough time for them to escape, all was well. True, no soldier was ever left behind, but in this case things were a little different. If he fell, and Steve assumed he would, the US military would come looking for him and bring his body home. His family and friends could bury him and all agreed that he had done it for the lives of his team.
Still, Steve did not throw in the towel prematurely. He shot at his opponents and changed magazines when one was empty. When he ran out of magazine, he tossed the assault rifle aside and reached for his pistol on his right leg. He fired at his opponents, keeping them at bay. When this weapon too gave a bright, empty click, he took his combat knife out of its sheath in his boot and held it up in attack. Pure determination flashed in his eyes. Steve killed the first warriors who approached him with deft feints. Their comrades kept some distance, someone shot at Steve. He dodged the bullets, one grazing his upper arm. He ignored the pain. He punched one in the face with his fist. Then someone tackled him to the ground from behind. Cursing, he kicked him and rammed the knife up to the shaft into the chest of another. The man opened his eyes and faltered in his movement. Steve looked him in the eye and recognised the horror of death. He yanked out the knife and pushed the man off him. The warriors grabbed his shoulder and yanked him up. He plunged the knife into the eye of one. He elbowed the other in the ribs, turned him on his back and kicked his neck so that it broke. Shots hit him in the shoulder and thigh, Steve stumbled backwards from the force, slipped on a stone with his shoes and lost his footing.
The fall into the depths awoke a terrifying tug in Steve.
Drenched in sweat and with a strangled cry on his lips, Steve roused himself from sleep. Sweat stood on his forehead and he was drenched in sweat. Only the air conditioning hummed quietly, cooling the room to a comfortable twenty degrees. The weather conditions in Hawaii made it impossible to sleep without air conditioning. Cautiously, Steve straightened up and sat on the edge of the bed. To forget the nightmare, he buried his head between his hands and breathed against it.
A chance encounter, which he could not even confirm was actually the same person, brought back to the surface all the memories he thought he had forgotten. How was that possible? How could the face of one person bring all this to the surface? Stir up all those bad times?
Steve ran a hand through his sweaty hair and stood up. A slight, unconscious glance back at the bed told him that Danny continued to sleep quietly in bed. He hadn't noticed anything about Steve's nightmare, or his jerky awakening. When the blond cop slept, he looked so incredibly peaceful and innocent. He was a person worth fighting for. For him, he would take on a superior force of terrorists any day just to protect his life.
Danny lay on his side, one hand under his head, the other on Steve's pillow. The blanket was tangled around the detective's legs. Gently, he pulled out the fabric between them and spread it over the cop. The cop only gave a low, pleasant hum and smacked his lips contentedly. With a smirk on his lips, Steve left the bedroom and went over to the bathroom.
After the bad dream, he needed a cold shower. Firstly to get rid of the images and secondly to wash away the sweat and salt. He undressed until he was standing naked in front of the shower cubicle. There was a tiny, barely visible, circular scar on his thigh. That was where one of the bullets had hit him. The graze had long since been painted over by his tattoo and on his shoulder he had been shot too many times to be able to put his finger on a particular spot he had sustained in the fight with the terrorists.
The times had been different then. Far different. They had made him who he was today. Actually, he had to be grateful to the fighters. Without them, who knew if he would have ended up in bed with Danny here too? Steve stepped into the shower cubicle and turned on the tepid water. Thanks to the volcanoes, the water never got as cold as it did on the mainland. Still, it was a shock when it hit his skin. Gasping, he propped himself against the wall and wrenched his eyes open. Tepid water splashed against his back.
Massoud ... why the hell ...?
Why you?
Thoughts circled around in his head and would not give him a suitable answer. Only minimally did he shake it and close his eyes while the tepid water cleaned his body externally.
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With the dawn the next morning, Danny came running down the stairs on bare feet. When he had awakened, refreshed and full of new energy, he had noticed that the half of the bed next to him was not only empty, but as warm as the surroundings. Steve hadn't just been on his feet for a short time. Wearing a T-shirt that was far too big because it came from Steve, as well as sweatpants, he leaned against the doorframe in the home office, where he could see his friend working intently on the laptop. Steve's hair was tousled and he wore only his favourite Naval Academy shirt, as well as a pair of boxer shorts on his body.
"Such longing for work?" asked Danny in a low voice, managing to make the Commander wince. He frowned in wonder. As long as he had known him, Danny had never managed to successfully sneak up on the SEAL. What had happened to make Steve so absent-minded? He approached him and gave Steve a kiss on the lips. As he did so, he caught a brief glimpse of an attractive man before his friend quickly slammed the window shut.
"Do I have to get jealous? Are you cheating on me?" asked Danny in a joking voice, stroking Steve's hair affectionately.
Involuntarily, he tensed his shoulders and only slowly released his breath from his lungs. "Denning sent me an email with potentially dangerous people in it. I looked at those to make sure no one slipped through our fingers," he informed Danny of his work.
"Denning sends you an email in the middle of the night?" the blond detective raked in amusement and poked Steve on the nose.
The SEAL, however, shook his head. "No. It was from yesterday. But you and Grace took priority."
"And who are these potentially dangerous people?", Danny wanted to know curiously, and with a nod pointed to the laptop on whose screen was a picture of a hammock by a lagoon.
Steve shrugged his shoulders. "Not that important."
"Not that important?" inquired Danny perplexed, "If one of those guys shows up at Gracie's school, I'd like to know about it beforehand."
Steve chewed nervously on his lower lip and knew he either had to tell Danny the truth or keep lying. So he decided to tell him the truth - okay, at least half a truth. "You got me. Denning didn't send me an email. I thought I saw someone I knew at the airport yesterday."
"Where Fat?" it immediately shot across Danny's lips with concern in his voice. The fact that the guy was still at large bothered Danny immensely. When Steve shook his head, Danny unceremoniously sat down on his lap. "No. I remember the person from when I was on active duty with the SEALs," to punctuate the statements Steve pulled the man's file back up on the desktop, "Harun Massoud ad-Qadi was one of the bravest men I have ever met in my life. He bravely faced an overwhelming force of Taliban to save a soldier's life. He deserved more than a medal."
"What happened to him?" asked Danny curiously, tearing himself away from the man's interesting appearance. The ice-blue eyes made him think he was being followed. He studied his friend's face closely. Gently, he traced the lines of his face and was particularly fascinated by the delicate shadow of his beard.
Steve lowered his gaze, his shoulders slumped. "There was a bombing. Massoud died in my arms."
"Oh ... that ... I'm sorry, Steve."
The SEAL reached for Danny's wrist. "More importantly, why did I think I saw him yesterday ..."
Danny clearly realised how important the subject was to him. Determined, he stood up and looked deep into his eyes. "We're going to find out. It's not for nothing that we work for a task force that has amazing resources. From the surveillance pictures at the airport, we can find out where he came from, what flight he took and what his name is. After that, we will also find his whereabouts.""Thank you, Danny," Steve said with relief.
The latter smiled. "Now come on, let's bake Gracie pancakes before she has to go to school!"
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Hey there:)
You might know me as leledezember here on Ao3, that account where I write mostly about Merlin - the new Adventures and Julie and the phantoms. This here is my other account which I made also in 2020. On this account I will post some old and newer fanfictions from the last five years, or also some future one, which are short or long in between. I do have seen or recently watched all the series I´m writing about. So here´s a short note for you, what I will publish in the next weeks on this account and what type of series you will see here:
- Macgyver ( from the series of 2017 )
- Hawai Five-O (Mainly about Danny and Steve bc you know why:)
More will be added soon:)