Work Text:
Whumptober Day Day 11 - adrift
"You know next time you say, Oh it's gonna be a easy mission, I'll get you back to LA and your husband in a week, I am gonna say good luck and talk to you when I'm on vacation," Evan "Buck" Buckley, muttered, blood drying on the side of his face from the pistol whip he took when the now dead men tried to over take the yacht they were on.
"I tried to tell you," Danny Williams exclaimed, as he picked up the weapons on the floor. Steve McGarrett looks chargined at Buck, who definitely had a concussion and bruised ribs.
Lieutenant Commander Steven McGarrett was Buck's old commandering officer, and kept him on as a Five-0 consultant and called him to help with cases from time to time. It was easier when Buck was still in the SEALs but since he and his husband Eddie Diaz settled down in LA, and they were both firefighters, getting time off to galivant around Hawaii with Steve was more difficult. Include a new baby at home, Eddie on paternity leave and Buck working double time to ensure his family is taken of, and he barely had time to think.
But this particular operation utilized Buck's special maritime skills and his skills as a firefighter, and Steve managed to talk the LA Fire Chief into lending Buck to him for a week. Suffice to say, Steve owed Eddie a month worth of babysitting duties. Thankfully Danny's ex-wife traveled out to LA with her children to help Eddie out with a newborn and an eight year old.
It also help Charlie and Christopher were thick as thieves, and enjoy any time they could get together. And Rachel was well versed in newborn struggles, and was helping Eddie cope after giving birth. He was due back to work in two months, and Buck couldn't tell who was happier, him or his husband.
Buck shakes his head back to the present, as they survey the men who basically dropped dead, as they just thought they could be pirates and instead didn't realize there was a deadly pathogen aboard. However, they knew about said pathogen and had managed to get a vaccine before hopping on to secure the rest of the broken vials.
In the chaos of them shooting at the pirates and then shooting back, the yacht's engine was shot and died, and so did any of their radios. They were trying to search for their satellite phone, but then Buck stepped outside and was blown back by a gust of wind. He looked off in the distance and saw a big storm hurtling toward them in the distance.
"Steve, we need to fix the engine!" he yelled, when the boat was rocked by a big wave and he was slammed in to the wall, aggravating his already bruises ribs.
"I'm trying Buck, but they did number on it!" Steve yelled back, when Danny walked toward him and noticed the same.
"Double time it Steven! A storm is raging outside in the distance and we need to try to get back to land!" Danny yelled back, handing Buck his sat phone. "Ours is shot to hell of course, but hopefully you reach headquarters and give them our location in case this storm gets worse."
Buck dialed the numbers by heart and waited for someone to pick up. "Buck, are you ready for the Coast Guard?" Chin Ho Kelly's voice sounded on the other line.
"We have some problems, Chin. I need to give you our locations before this storm comes in and either makes us further from shore or capsizes us completely." He hears Kono and Tani in the background, and Junior bemoaning that he got left behind. He rattles off the latitude and longitude of where the boat's computer said they were and tells them to alert the Coast Guard of the pathogen on board and take the vaccine if they could.
"How long do you think before the storm gets closer?" Danny asks, after he hangs up with Chin.
"We have maybe 30 minutes judging by the waves in the distance and the wind squalls right now. It could skirt it, but I doubt it. If we wanted rescue they would have to come to use now, and they won't even it attempt it with a storm like that in the distance." Danny nods, resigned to their fate.
"Gather any supplies this boat has, and grab three life jackets. I think the steering should work, and the ballasts too. But I want us to be prepared. Oh what about the radar? These guys had to come from somewhere…" Buck mutters to himself, when he gets a look from Danny. "I'm gonna see if I get radar and radio back up, so I can see if their boat is close. If anything, we can board it and get it back to shore."
"And find me some painkillers, these bruised ribs are gonna be killer and you need me to think clearly." Danny saluted, while Buck his way to the bridge, while Steve worked on taping and replacing parts on the engine.
He keys his radio, "Hey Steve, how's it going down there?"
The waves are starting to get bigger and starts thrashing the luxury yacht side to side. He suspects that it was built well and could withstand a storm like the one in distance. He just didn't want to find out.
Buck knew deep down the Coast Guard wouldn't get to them in time, and started to prepare the boat for the storm. "I think we can get propellers and steering, but no diesel so we won't get far."
"Will it help us withstand a decent thunderstorm?" Buck replies, calculating how to the boat from capsizing.
"Ballasts are even and we could help steer it into the waves, but we won't have more and may end up adrift after the storm passes." Buck sighs, when Danny comes back up, tac vest still on. The men who tried to overtake them took a liking to Buck, and he was pretty bruised. Once he returned home, Eddie was gonna kill Steve and slowly.
The other blonde hands him some ibuprofen and a bottle of water, and he downs them quickly. "We have enough power to avoid us from capsizing but it won't be fun. Steve has it fixed enough, but we may not be in the same place we told Chin."
Danny shrugs, "If its anything, I'm used to things going to shit and I just live with it. Do I wish I wasn't in the middle of an ocean? Absolutely. Do I trust the two of you with keeping us afloat. Also a yes."
Buck smiles, getting the computer online and giving up on the radio. They really broke it to pieces and his concussion was starting to get to him, the drop in barometric pressure not helping. "Did you grab the life vests?"
"What do you think I am? A dumb Neanderthral like Steve? Yes I grabbed them." Danny rants, handing Buck one of the bigger life vests, and he slips it on and making sure his pockets were accessible.
Danny takes off his tac vest and slips the life vest on instead, ensuring he could float in it. Steve comes up, grease along his arms and smiles tightly. "You weren't kidding about the storm. You want to steer or me?"
Buck sits in one of the chair behind the wheels and waves at Steve. "I'm not feeling too hot after the beat down I endured, and if I wasn't worried about sinking I would absolutely go lay down."
"Sinking?!" Danny exclaims, when Buck shushes him.
"It won't happen because Steve is a good commander and won't let us die. Otherwise my sister and Eddie will kill him and you'll never find the body." Buck closed his eyes briefly, swaying with the boat.
Danny sobered a bit, communicating silently with Steve. "Just sit there, and breathe okay, Buckaroo? Can you open your eyes for me?" Danny asked, kneeling in front of Buck.
A blue eye opened, hazy. "I'm here. Concussion is getting to me. Make sure I don't sleep, keep me awake at all costs, and try to make sure I don't hit my head anymore."
"So should I tell you about the latest building this idiot blew up last week before he called you?" Danno's voice faded into the distance, as the waves lulled Buck to sleep. He barely noticed the concerned looks of his friends, and the storm battering the ship.
He opened his eyes in the galley living room, sun shining from outside. The storm must have passed, but his entire body ached as he tried to sit up. "Whoa, kid. Let's take it easy. You have been out for almost 8 hours." Steve said, propping him up with his arm.
"Did you even try to wake me?" Buck asked, breathing through the nausea.
"We were a bit too occupied to ensure we didn't capsize or sink. You got thrashed about a bit more because we could secure you." Danny ranted, giving him some pills and water.
"So we survived. What has you two so worried?"
"The storm knocked us at least fifty miles in the opposite direction and the ship keeps drifting further. We suspect we may be one hundred miles away from our original position we radioed in before the storm." Steve said, holding Buck's face and wiped the dried blood off his face.
"Just as I feared. Where's my sat phone?" Both of them sighed. "What happened?"
"You have a bad concussion and you kinda lost it? To the sea?" Buck groaned and flops backwards onto the couch.
"We have maybe two days worth of food and water. We are hoping they can calculate how far we drifted within the next 24 hours."
"Why don't we let you rest some more and we will check on you in a couple hours? We are gonna go scrounge everything up and put it up here." Buck nods and falls back down, falling asleep instantly.
He's still dizzy when he wakes up next, and he knows it's been more than a few hours, because the sun is lower. "Did you try to wake me again and I gave you really weird answers?" Buck askes, the commander cuddled up to the blonde.
Steve laughs. "Yeah, just like old times. I think it's a combination of lack of sleep from having a newborn and the concussion. Your pupils are still equal and reactive so I'm not worried there is a brain bleed."
Suddenly, rotors are heard in the distance and Steve jumps up, dumping Danny on the floor who gives an indignant squawk.
"Sorry Danno, but I think help is here. I gotta get the flare up!" Steve rambles, running onto to the top desk, leaving the two blonds shaking their head.
"I love the man, I have a child with the man, but sometimes he's an idiot." Buck laughes, when the flare shoots up in the sky, and the helicopter gets closer.
"Help me up, Danno. We need to get topside," Buck said, when the shorter man pulls Buck to his feet, his face grimacing in pain. Any pain meds he had taken have worn off, and he felt like a walking bruise.
They slowly walk up to the deck, where a Coast Guard helicopter is hovering and they are lowering a ladder with a person on the ladder. "Ok yeah, they are gonna need a basket. No way can I climb that right now."
Steve tells the man, and he radios up for basket and for an investigative team to look into the pirates. Buck sighs in relief, and vows to make Steve pay for this little adventure.
But only after he gets the good medicines and he sees his kids and husband. Then he can plan his revenge.