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Chapter Text

Chapter One

The case had become theirs when the third warehouse exploded and burned. HPD was more than happy to pass it off to Five-0.

It took a great deal of digging, but eventually Chin and Kono had discovered that all the warehouses used to belong to one person. Fred Coleman.

Coleman had been convicted of tax evasion and evading capture. He’d spent the last few years in prison. The IRS had seized and sold off all his assets to pay his tax bill. Now Coleman was out and it looked like he didn’t want anyone else owning his properties.

There’d been a total of five warehouses sold in the sale, three now destroyed. The last two were within blocks of each other so Danny and Steve went to one, while Chin and Kono went to the other.

“I know why you picked this warehouse.” Danny said when they were within sight of the huge building.

“Why Danny? Why did I pick this one?” Steve took his eyes off the road and looked at Danny.

“Eyes on the road Babe.” When Steve looked ahead again Danny continued. “You picked it because it’s by the water, and if Coleman runs you’ll get a chance to knock him in so you, Aquaman, can take a swim.”

“What? That is not why I picked this warehouse, Danny. Although that is a good idea as it’s really hot today.”

“Knew it.” Danny smirked.

Steve pulled up beside a gate in the fence surrounding the warehouse and switched off the ignition. He looked at the warehouse then at Danny. “I picked it because it’s empty, and I think Coleman will hit this one next.”

“And the other one is used for storage,” Danny stated, “makes sense.”

“Good. Let’s go.” Steve exited the car and walked over to the gate and pushed it to see if they could slip through.

“Still, I bet you end up in the water at some point.” Danny mumbled as he too exited the car.

“You say something Danny?”

“Yeah. I said put your vest on before we go in there.” Danny spoke louder so Steve could hear him. “Safety first, Babe.”

Steve walked back and took the vest Danny had taken from the trunk of the Camaro. They both fastened their vests as they walked to the gate.

“Nobody’s been through here in a while.” Steve pushed the gate creating enough room to squeeze through. “Come on let’s go check the building out.”

There was no lock on the first door they tried, so entry was easy. The warehouse was big, but not totally empty as they’d thought. There were boxes strewn here and there along the full length of the building. Danny, who was in the lead, went left, while Steve went right. Their intent was to work their way down the length of the building checking all areas as they went.

They were a third of the way down, and had neither seen nor heard anything suspicious. Danny was crossing a large gap between boxes when two shots rang out from somewhere in front of him. The first hit him in the left lower part of his vest, which caused him to turn slightly. The second hit the edge of the vest on his left shoulder by his neck. As he fell Danny saw Coleman break cover and run further down the warehouse. Then he was on the ground in a world of hurt.

Steve turned at the shots and saw Coleman break cover and run. He fired off a shot then started after him before he realised that Danny was down. “Danny?” he called as he changed direction.

“Steve, go, I’m fine.”

“No Danny I’m not leaving you.”

“You want him to get away? What’s wrong with you, Speed Man? You should be halfway to the end of the warehouse by now.” With a grunt Danny pushed himself up. “I’ll get myself out of here, you go after Coleman.”

Steve hesitated. If he crossed the warehouse to help Danny, Coleman would certainly get away. Danny was up and moving with his usual sarcasm in place so it didn’t look as if the bullets had penetrated the vest. With a last look at Danny, Steve ran in the direction they’d last seen Coleman. There was a door in front of him that could only lead to the outside, so Steve opened it cautiously. Coleman’s truck was parked at the far end of the back lot, but Steve could see no sign of Coleman. Again he hesitated. His heart told him to go back for Danny, but his training, and Danny’s voice in his head, told him he had to find Coleman. So Steve ran along the side of the warehouse and then sprinted across to the truck.

Coleman wasn’t there, the truck was deserted. Puzzled, Steve turned to look back at the warehouse, and was hit by a wall of heat, and a tremendous roar, as the warehouse exploded. He was thrown against the truck and slid down to sit with his back to one of the wheels.

“Danny!” Steve yelled. Then he was up and running, but there was no way he could get into the warehouse. It was wooden, and old, and now it was a raging inferno.

“Danny!” Steve yelled again as he fell to his knees. “I’m sorry Danny.” He whispered as he stared in disbelief.

Steve knelt there as first the police then the fire department arrived. One of the policemen tried to talk to Steve, but he ignored him. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t get past the fact that he’d left Danny behind in the warehouse, and now he was dead.

Chin and Kono arrived. They knew right away that something was terribly wrong. Steve was still on his knees staring at the burning warehouse, and there was no sign of Danny.

“Cuz?” Kono whispered tears already welling up in her eyes. “I don’t see Danny. And Steve, I’ve never seen him look like that before.”

“I know Kono. Let’s go talk to him and find out what happened.” Chin approached Steve and knelt down in front of him. Kono followed him and also knelt down beside Steve.

“Steve? Where’s Danny, Steve?”

Steve managed to look at Chin, devastation evident in his eyes.

“He’s in there.” Steve nodded towards the warehouse.

“What?” Kono gasped, “No! He can’t be in there.” Now tears escaped her eyes and made tracks down her cheeks.

“I left him behind, and now he’s dead.” Steve looked at Chin and growled. “My fault.”

Then he was up and running away from them. He ran around the warehouse and back to the Camaro. He felt as if it physically hurt to get into the car, but he did. All the way back to The Palace he heard Danny in his head. “You finally managed it didn’t you Super SEAL. You finally got me killed.” By the time he reached The Palace tears were streaming down his face. Steve didn’t care. He walked into Five-0 headquarters and straight into Danny’s office then moved around to sit at his partner’s desk.

As he sat a groan escaped when he saw the pictures of Grace on Danny’s desk. “My God Danny, how do I tell Grace? How do I tell her you’re gone? I can’t do this. I can’t do any of this without you.” Steve rested his arms on the desk then lowered his head and cried.

He stayed that way until Chin and Kono came in.

“Steve? Are you alright?” Chin asked as he approached the desk. Kono hung back near the door. She had herself under control, but that control was fragile.

Steve looked up and Chin knew he’d been crying.

“No Chin. I’m far from alright. I’ll never be alright again. Nothing will be.”

“Listen to me Steve.” Chin put his hand on Steve’s shoulder. “They found a body and Max has it.” Chin saw Steve flinch at the thought of Max examining Danny’s body, but he pressed on. “He called just as we arrived here and wants to see us.”

“What? No! I can’t.” Steve stood so abruptly that the chair overturned.

“We have to Steve. Until Max confirms the body is Danny we can’t tell Rachel and Grace. They need to be told before the press gets a hold of this.”

“It’s my fault Danny’s dead, Chin. How do I tell Grace her Danno is gone?” Steve slammed his fists onto the desk “MY FAULT!” He yelled as he stormed away.

With deep sadness, and tears in his eyes, Chin watched him go. Danny was dead, but Chin didn’t believe for a minute that it was Steve’s fault. He didn’t know exactly what had happen in the warehouse, but he knew that Steve wouldn’t have left Danny if he’d known there was a bomb already set to detonate.

Max met them in the outer office. Steve was glad that he didn’t have to see Danny’s body. He was sure he wouldn’t be able to handle that.

“Have a seat I need to ask you a couple of questions.” Max sat and so did Chin and Kono, but Steve stood, he couldn’t bring himself to sit.

“Commander, was there anyone else in the warehouse with you and Detective Williams?”

Steve looked as if he didn’t understand the question. “What?”

“Was there anyone else in there?” Max asked again.

“Yes. Coleman was there, but he ran out ahead of me.” Steve answered with a frown.

“You saw him leave?” Chin asked. Steve looked perplexed and didn’t answer so Max tried another question.

“How tall is this Coleman?”

Chin answered for Steve who still looked perplexed

“He’s 5’10” according to his driver’s licences. Why Max?”

“That is excellent news.” Max sighed.

“What? Why?” Kono asked.

“Because the body I received was burnt beyond recognition, but it is defiantly not that of Detective Williams. It is too tall. I’d say the man was 5’10”. I’ve notified the fire department to look for another body, but so far they’ve found nothing.”

Steve walked towards the desk, disbelieve on his face.

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying, Max? Are you telling us that Danny was not in that warehouse when it blew?”

“Yes Commander. That is exactly what I am saying.”

TBC

Chapter Text

Chapter Two

Danny woke to more pain than he’d ever imagined. His ears were ringing, his side hurt really bad but the worst pain was in his shoulder. The position he was in didn’t help with the pain as he lay on his left side. He rolled slowly onto his back, which eased the pain slightly. It was pitch black, and for a few minutes he couldn’t remember where he was, or how he got there.

Slowly the memories came back to him. He remembered that Coleman had shot him then run off. He knew that he’d told Steve to go after Coleman and he’d get himself out of the warehouse. Right! He’d tried, but Coleman hadn’t left. As Danny made his way slowly towards the door that Steve ran towards he saw Coleman off to the side behind some crates. He looked agitated, and was fiddling with something in the floor.

Danny thought about calling out to Steve, but he was already at the door and gone through it before Danny could open his mouth. Coleman didn’t even look up as Danny approached. He wanted to take Coleman alive if he could, so as he rounded the crates he picked up one of the pieces of wood that were lying around. Coleman was too busy to notice Danny, and seemed to be nearing a state of panic.

“Come on open will you! I’m almost out of time.”

“What are you out of time for?” Danny asked just as Coleman managed to open a trap door in the floor. Then it was like a light bulb went off in his head, and Danny gasped. “Wait! Did you already set the bomb?”

“Yes.” Coleman spun around and reached for his gun.

Danny swung before Coleman was fully turned and the blow landed to the side of Coleman’s head. The hit was harder that Danny intended and Coleman dropped as if he were boneless. Danny reached down and check for a pulse, there was none.

“Not quite the way it was supposed to go.” Danny stepped over Coleman’s body. If Coleman was that frantic Danny figured he didn’t have much time before the bomb went off. He looked at the door Steve had gone through, but it was over half the warehouse away. So Danny took the only choice he had, he climbed down into the tunnel revealed by the trap door, and closed the door behind him.

It was dark, but a little light came from above, so Danny could see that the tunnel was small and led out under the wall of the warehouse towards the sea.

“Great. Looks like I’m the one who’ll take a swim.” He mumbled as he crawled forward as fast as he could. His left arm was practically useless, and he held it tight against his ribs that were protesting the exertion, but he knew he had to go as far as he could. When the bomb blew the tunnel could very well collapse, and he didn’t want to be there when it did.

He’d crawled about twenty feet when the earth around him trembled, and everything went dark, as the warehouse exploded.

Danny lay on his back and took stock of his injuries. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been unconscious. His side still hurt like hell and he suspected he had cracked, if not broken, ribs. He put his right hand up to feel his shoulder thinking that the bullet impact may have broken something, if the amount of pain was anything to go by. His hand came away wet, and sticky.

“Oh great, the damn vest didn’t stop the bullet. Now I’ll bleed to death because no one knows I’m in this stupid tunnel. Or worse it’ll get infected, as bullet wounds left unattended do, and I’ll die from sepsis. Wait I have a phone. I’ll just call for help.” Danny found it too quiet and the sound of his own voice was a comfort to him.

His phone was in his left pant pocket and how the hell was he supposed to get it when his left arm was useless? A voice popped into his head “You can do it, Danno. I know you can do anything.” Grace had said those words not that long ago, and Danny wasn’t convinced it was true but he’d try for Grace. It took a lot of effort, and pain, but Danny finally managed to get himself into a semi seated position against the tunnel wall. In that position he could reach his left pocket with his right hand.

“Finally!” Danny yelled in triumph as he pulled the phone from his pocket and activated the light app he had on it. “Wow that’s too bright.” He turned it off again, but he had seen that the tunnel behind him had collapsed, as he figured it would.

“Okay, Steve. Answer on the first ring please.” Danny activated the phone and hit speed dial. Nothing happened. “What? Come on you can not be broken, the light worked.” He said in frustration as he checked the phone.

“Oh great, no bars, I guess you don’t work underground you stupid phone.” He was about to throw it away in frustration when he realised that he could still use the light app. So he turned it back on and looked down the tunnel towards the sea. The tunnel seemed to angle down slightly, and appeared to dead end.

“No. No. No. There’s no way I’m trapped in this tunnel with no exit, and unable to call for help. There has to be a way out.”

Danny turned off the light and put the phone in his pocket. Then he slowly crawled towards the end of the tunnel.

Steve, Chin, and Kono raced back to the warehouse. It had been four hours since the explosion, and Danny hadn’t been found yet. If he was somewhere near the warehouse someone should have seen him. The firemen and police were still there. They’d searched the surrounding area, but Steve walked it himself because he knew Danny was there, somewhere, and he had to find him. Kono searched too, and they both came back at the same time.

“Hey guys, come look at this.” Chin sat in the car with his laptop open and an intent look on his face.

“What you got Cuz?”

“I pulled up the plans for the warehouse, and look at this.” Chin ran his finger along the screen and stopped at a line not quite halfway down the length of the warehouse. “You know what this is?”

“It’s a tunnel.” Steve gasped. “Where does it go?”

“There.” Chin pointed at the water. “This shows that the tunnel leads to the water. There has to be an exit somewhere along the sea wall.”

“We’ll need a boat Chin.” Steve ran to the edge and looked over the wall. Kono and Chin were close behind him. “There’s nothing to see from this angle.”

“I’ll have one here in five minutes.” Chin put his phone to his ear and walked back towards the vehicles.

Chin stayed on shore and watched as Steve and Kono searched the sea wall for an opening.

“There’s nothing here, boss.” Kono was exasperation after their third pass along the wall.

“It must be underwater. I’ll go in and swim along the wall. Maybe I can spot something if I’m closer.” Steve removed his vest, gun, and boots, and dove over the side of the boat. As he bobbed back up he saw that Kono was about to follow him.

“Kono, maybe you should stay in the boat.”

“Not gonna happen, boss. We can cover more of the wall if we both look.” Kono dove in beside Steve.

“Hey Steve. Over here Steve!” It was Kono who finally found the end of the tunnel.

There was a grate secured across the opening, and it was rusted shut. Steve dove down with a rope from the boat and secured it to the grate. Then he and Kono moved aside as the boat pulled it away.

“Kono you wait out here, there’s no telling how long the underwater part of the tunnel is.” Steve took a few deep breaths. Then he dove and swam into the tunnel to search for Danny.

Danny had reached the end of the tunnel. He found that out the hard way when he hit the wall. It wasn’t a hard hit, but it was enough to make him see stars. For a few minutes he had to just lay there and breathe through the pain. When he had his breathing back under control he pulled out his phone and checked it for bars. None, but he did notice the time, and realised it’d been over four hours since this all started.

“Where the hell are you Steve? I thought you’d have found me by now.” Then he voiced the fear he’d had since he first woke up. “You better not have run back into that warehouse before it exploded.”

After a few minutes Danny turned the light on and saw that the tunnel took a right turn, and dropped down. There were steps, but at the bottom of them was water.

“Oh great, how the hell am I supposed to get out now?”

Exhaustion was creeping over him, and he was sure it was due to blood loss from his shoulder. His temperature was rising, he felt hot, and sweat was dripping off him. He was unable to do anything about that, but he could at least try to get out. He went down the stairs on his butt, as he was totally unable to stand. The water was cool as he eased into it which felt heavenly. The phone would not like the water, so Danny left it a couple of steps up with the light on. It made it easier for him to see the tunnel which was completely submerged.

“Great. Here goes nothing.”

Danny took some deep breaths and swam into the tunnel. It was hard swimming with only one arm, and he didn’t get far. The fact that he was still wearing his vest didn’t help. He knew he should’ve tried to remove it, but he couldn’t bring himself to attempt it because of the pain in his shoulder. There was no way to tell how far the tunnel went, but he knew he’d never make it. So he turned back and crawled up the steps until he was out of the water. Then he just lay there and looked at the water.

“I can’t do it, Grace. I’m sorry. I can’t get out.” With that he closed his eyes and drifted into an exhausted sleep. So he missed the squeal as the grate at the end of the tunnel was pulled away.

Steve swam along the tunnel and was sure he could see a light at the end. When he reached the steps he surfaced, and was stunned, and very happy, to see Danny.

“Danno! Danno!” he exclaimed.

There was no response so he pulled himself up the steps next to Danny and touched his fingers to the pulse point on Danny’s neck. There it was, strong, and steady.

“Danny, wake up.” Steve patted Danny’s face. “Come on Danny, time to wake up.”

Danny stirred, and slowly opened his eyes.

“Hey ‘bout time you found me, Super SEAL.”

“Yeah, I’m really glad to see you too, Danny.” Steve started to check Danny over for injuries. He knew Danny had been hit in the vest, at least once, and could actually see the bullet lodged on the left side.

Steve opened the straps and gently removed the vest. Danny’s eyes were closed again, until Steve pulled the vest over his head, then they flew open as he cried out in pain.

“Ah don’t do that. That hurts.” Danny groaned.

“Sorry, I didn’t know the second bullet had hit your vest as well.” When he got the vest all the way off, Steve realised that the bullet hit the edge of the vest, and had gone into Danny’s left shoulder at an angle.

Steve had brought a first aid kit with him in a water proof bag. He set it on a step above his partner, and pulled out the supplies he’d need. The wound had started bleeding again now the vest was off, so Steve put a gauze pad on it, and bandaged the shoulder to hold it in place. Then he used another bandage to secure Danny’s left arm to his body.

Danny didn’t say a word throughout, though his breathing increased rapidly. He lay there with his eyes closed, and a grimace of pain on his face. When Steve was done he put his supplies away and sat next to Danny while he looked at the water.

“How are we going to do this partner?” Danny’s voice was weak. “I tried to swim out, but I couldn’t reach the end of the tunnel without running out of air.”

“Good job you didn’t reach the end, Danny. There was a grate across it that you’d never have moved. We had to use a boat to pull it off.”

“Oh okay.” Danny was really tired, and hot. The water had cooled him, but he could feel his temperature rising again. Now that Steve had found him he just wanted to sleep, and let Steve handle everything else.

“Hey. Don’t fall asleep, Danny. I still have to get you out of here and I need you awake for that.” Steve pulled Danny up to sit against him. “Come on partner, we can swim out of here together.”

“I don’t know, Steve. I’m not sure I can hold my breath long enough.”

“Yes you can. You need help, that bullet has already been in you too long without treatment, and your temperature is up. We need to go now.” Steve prepared to ease Danny off the steps, and into the water, just as Kono popped up.

“Kono? What are you doing here?” Steve asked.

Kono held up some scuba gear. “Thought you could use this for Danny?” She looked at Danny and took in his appearance. “You know how to use this, Danny?”

“Yeah I know how.” Danny answered weakly.

Kono put the mask over Danny’s face and he opened his mouth for the breathing tube.

“Alright you go first with Danny, boss, I’ll bring the rest of the stuff.”

Steve nodded and he pulled Danny closer as he moved off the steps towards the underwater tunnel. He took some deep breaths.

“You ready?” Danny nodded, so Steve pulled him down and swam into the tunnel.

To Danny it took forever to get out of the tunnel, and he was exceedingly glad that Kono had brought the scuba gear in for him, as he’d never have held his breath long enough. When they came to the surface Steve had to take a few breaths before he could calm his breathing. It had taken longer to pull Danny out than it had taken to go in, and he’d nearly not made it. Kono came up beside them, and immediately swam over and removed the mask to assure herself that Danny was still okay.

“Steve, this way, Chin has paramedic’s ready for Danny.” Kono indicated Chin standing on the sea wall.

Steve turned so Danny’s head rested on his shoulder and swam over to the sea wall where a basket was lowered down by the firemen. With Kono’s help, Steve manoeuvred his partner into the basket and then fastened the straps across him. Danny’s eyes were closed the whole time, which worried Steve.

“You’re going to be fine, Danno, just hang in there.” Steve squeezed Danny’s hand.

“Didn’t I say you’d end up in the water, Aquaman?” A small smile touched Danny’s lips as his eyes opened.

“Yeah, Danny, you did. Now let’s get you up there and to the hospital.”

TBC

Chapter Text

Chapter Three

“Chin did the paramedic’s say anything before they left.” The ambulance was gone before Steve was pulled from the water.

“No. Come on lets get the two of you into dry clothes then we can go see how Danny is.” Chin helped pull Kono over the sea wall.

When they got to the hospital Danny was already in surgery to remove the bullet from his shoulder. Steve paced the waiting room until the ER doctor, who had treated Danny on arrival, came to see them.

“Please sit down, Commander McGarrett.” Steve sat. Chin and Kono on either side of him.

“Detective Williams has two cracked ribs on the left side. They should heal without any problem. We checked for internal injuries and found none. The bullet wound to his shoulder is of great concern, though. It was well over five hours old by the time he got here, and it had already become infected. The bullet entered at an angle and nicked the Clavicle. That changed its direction downward where it lodged in the Scapula. It did a fair amount of damage on its journey and will be slow to heal. The surgeon will remove the bullet, and repair the damage. She will also clean the wound, and hopefully we can stop the infection with antibiotics.”

“So he’ll be okay?” Kono asked.

“I hope so. But he’s not out of the wood yet. As long as we can keep the infection down he should pull through. But if the infection takes hold, and sepsis sets in, then we could still lose him.”

“That’s not going to happen.” Steve stood abruptly. “We thought we lost him once today. Now we have him back we’re not going to lose him again.”

“Okay, Commander.” The doctor also stood. “I’d suggest you go up to the ICU waiting room. That’s where they’ll take Detective Williams after surgery.”

It was another two hours before Danny was wheeled into the ICU unit. Once he was settled the rest of the team was allowed in to see him. They’d been told they couldn’t stay. But that changed after Chin called the Governor. Chairs were brought in, and the three of them sat back against the wall out of the way.

So their vigil started. Danny’s temperature was at 103, and rose to 104 over the next hour. Cooling blankets were brought in, and ice was applied, but still Danny’s temperature rose. They’d changed the antibiotics at 104, but at 105 the doctors were all shaking their heads.

Steve moved his chair over to Danny’s bed and picked up his right hand.

“Danny, come on partner. You can’t go like this. I didn’t find you just to lose you again. I won’t accept that. You have to fight this for Grace, and for me. I need you.”

Kono walked over to the other side of the bed and perched on the edge. She laid one hand on Danny’s chest, and ran her other hand through his hair.

“Danny, listen to Steve. We know you can beat this, and we all need you. The team will be nothing without you.”

They stayed like that for a few minutes until a nurse came in and they had to move back out of the way. The nurse checked Danny’s vitals, but found no change. She adjusted the ice packs and left again. Steve and Kono resumed their positions by Danny, but neither said anything more.

An hour later Danny’s temperature was still 105, but an hour after that it was 104. Steve and Kono smiled at each other and settled back against the wall to wait some more.

The doctors said the antibiotics did the trick, but Kono believed it was she and Steve who brought Danny back. Especially when much later Danny said he’d heard them through his fever and knew he couldn’t leave them alone.

It was another day before Danny was moved into a private room. The team each took eight hours shifts so that he was never alone.

Max confirmed that the body pulled from the warehouse was indeed that of Fred Coleman. But they didn’t yet know the whole story of why Coleman was still in the building, or how Danny managed to get into the tunnel.

Two days after he was admitted to the hospital Danny was finally awake enough to fill the team in on what had happened, after Steve left him.

“I guess we delayed him enough that he didn’t think he could get out of the building in time.” Danny finished “He must have known about the tunnel and figured that was his best chance to escape. Wouldn’t that have been funny? He’d have been trapped in that tunnel and died without anyone knowing.”

“How so?” Kono asked.

“Well no one would have been looking for him the way you guys looked for me. I suppose he may have been able to dig his way out, but I doubt that. I think he’d have drowned trying to get out.”

“Yeah, I agree with Danny.” Steve said. “Now, how about we let you rest. The doctors think they may release you tomorrow if you keep improving.”

Chin, and Kono, stood to leave with Steve.

“Steve, stay a minute would you?” Danny asked.

“What is it Danny? You need something?” Steve moved back to the bed as Chin and Kono left the room.

“No, Steven, I don’t need anything. But you need to let go of the guilt. I can see it every time you look at me. I may be hurt, but I’m not blind you know.”

“Look Danny.” Steve ran his hands over his face and sat back down. “I left you behind. You could have died. In fact we thought you had for almost four hours.”

“I’m sorry you went through that, Steve, but I didn’t die. I’m here now, and there is no reason for you to feel guilty. I told you to leave me, remember? I also told you that I’d get myself out and we both thought that Coleman had left the warehouse.”

“Yes, I know. But what if that tunnel hadn’t been there and Coleman had really left. You wouldn’t have made it out in time, and you know that.” Steve started to pace beside the bed.

“I do know that, Steven. But I also know that it was my choice and you have got to let go of the guilt.” Danny reached out to Steve, who stopped pacing and took his hand. “Now promise me that you will let this go.” Danny looked down as a sly smile touched his lips. “If you feel guilt every time you look at me. Then how can I stay with you when I’m released? I couldn’t stand it. I’ll have to go home and be all alone, with no one to look after me.” Danny looked up at Steve expectantly.

“You’ll stay with me without protest?” Steve asked. “Do what the doctors say and take it easy?”

“The last part I can’t guarantee, but I’ll try.” Danny thought he’d convinced Steve until his next words.

“All I have to do is stop feeling guilty that I almost got you killed, again? Isn’t that what you always tell me? That I’ll get you killed?” Steve was serious. Danny couldn’t believe it.

“Okay, stop it!” Danny threw his hand in the air. “You know I don’t mean it when I say that stuff and anyway, this time it doesn’t even apply. NONE OF THIS WAS YOUR FAULT, STEVEN.”

“But I feel like it was my fault.” Steve’s voice was quiet.

Danny held his hand out, again, and waited for Steve to take it.

“Then I tell you what you do.” Danny spoke just as quietly. “You apologise. I accept. We move on. Deal?”

Steve stood and thought for a while, as he looked at the sincerity in Danny’s face.

“Okay. Deal. But you’re staying with me. No protests. And you’ll do what the doctors say.”

“No more guilt?” Danny smiled.

“No more guilt.” Steve smiled too.

The End