Hawaii Five-0 is property of CBS and its creators.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Steve McGarrett watched his partner Danny Williams being wheeled off the plane from Columbia on a stretcher. Even from a distance, Danny looked broken, and Steve's heart ached, wishing he could do something. He'd wanted to be there when Danny was released from prison, but Joe had advised against it. The charges against Danny may have been dropped, but that didn't mean either of them would be popular in Columbia. So Steve had been forced to wait in Hawaii, counting the minutes until his partner returned.

Steve rushed to Danny's side. "Hey, how are you?"

Danny refused to look him in the eye, turning his head away. "I'm fine."

"Fine?" Steve exploded. "Fine?" He geared himself up for a rant that would do Danny proud. "You've been beaten. You've got bruises pretty much every place I can see, plus the doctor said you have cracked ribs, bruised kidneys, bruised spleen, and just about everything else external and internal that can possibly be bruised."

Danny raised a hand to stop him. "I'm fine," he insisted.

Steve opened his mouth to go off on Danny again, but Danny looked so pitiful lying there he didn't have the heart. Instead, he reached out a hand to touch Danny, but Danny flinched away. "Oh, hey, I'm sorry. Bruised. Right. That means no touching, I guess."

The paramedics began to wheel Danny off, and Steve moved to follow him, only to be stopped by a motion from Danny. "No."

Steve was shocked. "But Danny. . ."

Once again Danny refused to look at him. "I just want to be left alone right now."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A few hours later, Steve stepped into Danny's hospital room. Danny had refused to see him, and he'd been banned from the ER, but he couldn't bear to leave. He had to see Danny, had to touch him, had to know he was alive and would be okay.

"I told you to leave me alone," Danny said from the bed, voice tired but angry.

Steve ignored him and went to stand by the bed. "But why, Danny?"

For the third time that day, Danny turned away from him. "Because I don't need your pity."

Steve was genuinely confused. "Why would I pity you?"

"Because I'm a pathetic man who was too weak to stand up for himself, let himself get bullied into going to prison, and let himself get beaten up there. Because I was resigned to die in a foreign country. Because I deserved to die."

Steve reached for Danny's hand, holding onto it even when Danny tried to pull away. "I don't feel pity."

"Then what do you feel."

Steve took a deep breath, preparing to pour his heart out to this man who seemed to believe his life wasn't worth anything. "I feel respect for a man who put his family and friends above himself. I feel admiration for a man who was willing to sacrifice himself for their sakes, choosing to let himself be taken to a prison in a hostile country rather than let them suffer. I feel concern for a man who's hurting, physically and mentally. I feel worry that maybe his ordeal isn't over yet, and hope that it is and he will recover."

Danny looked awed. "Really?"

"Really."

"But I don't deserve all that."

Steve clutched tighter at Danny's hand, trying to get him to see that he did deserve it, that he was everything Steve said he was, and nothing that Danny felt at that moment.

"Yes, Danny, you do. More than any man I know. You were incredibly brave and selfless, and don't let anyone convince you otherwise, especially not yourself."

"It's hard right now. But if you believe it, I guess maybe it might be true." He yawned.

"Get some sleep, Danny."

Danny nodded and closed his eyes. Steve remained by his bedside, holding his hand, until he thought Danny had drifted off. Then he continued his litany. "And I feel love, so much love for a man I can't live with out and thought I'd have to."

He felt a slight squeeze of his hand, but Danny's eyes remained closed. "I love you, too, Steve."