The car crashed into an invisible barrier, its front end mangled all to hell and the woman inside sat hunched over the wheel in shock.

Steve watched everything in slow motion as the car sped towards Danny and there had been nothing he could do to get there fast enough to stop it hitting him.

The others ran forward, shouting to her to get out of the car, leading her away despite her protests that she was doing the right thing. Steve didn't care though, because he'd seen her speed up, intent on crashing into Danny with no regard for his or any other life. She could spout whatever she wanted; he wouldn't believe she had any good intentions.

In fact, it was best for her is she was kept far away from him. He bared his fangs as he rushed forward, intent at first to sate revenge but then he saw Danny was standing there, clear as day, just the way he had been before the car crashed and it took the fire out of Steve's belly long enough for Sam and Callen to move Holden away for a proper arrest.

Steve ran up to the forcefield the car had slammed into and pressed his hands to the transparent surface, right over where Danny's were holding it in place.

"Danny?" He called out to him on the other side of it, but Danny didn't respond. His face was stuck in a look of fear and horror. Even behind those closed eyes, Steve knew Danny had been scared for his life right in that moment and now he was almost frozen in that expression - one Steve was determined to never see on his face again.

"Danny, Danny…" he kept calling his name as he followed his hand along the protective barrier, trying to find its end, which turned out to be about a six foot radius. Finally getting there, he darted around and crouched under his partner's outstretched hands. "Danny?" he asked quietly.

"Is he okay?" Kensi asked from behind, having stayed close by, concern emanating from her.

"He's umm… he's not come out of it," Steve turned briefly to her then put his concentration back on Danny. He carefully laid a hand on Danny's shoulder, running it to the back of his neck and his upper back. "It's happened before but only in training and just a couple of times, never out in the field."

Kensi came to Danny's other side, "Maybe I can help." She reached out to him, but Steve threw up his hand to catch hers.

"No, no, it's my job. I'm his protector, it's our connection, I can bring him out of this."

She nodded, but stayed right where she was. He was happy to have her influence there, she was calmer than him and that was steadying as he took a deep breath and continued to give Danny grounding touches and soft murmurs into his ear.

"Come on, Danny, you did it, you stopped her and you're okay, come back to me…"

Danny groaned, his eyes still closed but his head drooped; tired with the effort he put in. With a small flash around them, Steve knew the barrier had been dropped and Danny's hands fell to his sides as his whole body gave out.

"Whoa, easy there," Steve placated as he grabbed Danny to stop his fall and they lowered themselves to the ground with Kensi's help.

"I have no plans to do that ever again," Danny blinked his eyes open, taking in the two people beside him.

"I am going to kill you, I swear," Steve ground out, but the dry kiss to Danny's forehead gave away his true feelings.

"No you're not," Danny argued with a small wave of his tired hand.

"You are in so much trouble. Do you have any idea how stupid that was?" Steve shook Danny's shoulders and the smaller man winced at the movement.

"Isn't that normally my line?" he asked.

"You shouldn't have put yourself in danger like that. You know the rules about magic use and why would you run in front of a car?"

"I just… instinct I guess. We got her though, right?" Danny turned to Kensi for answers, knowing Steve was too wound up to care about what else had gone on in the background.

"She's in custody. And we have the vials. All accounted for. You did good," she smiled and patted his leg, but then when Steve glared at her she amended it with a stutter. "You uh… no, you did bad. Very bad."

"Don't let him frighten you," Danny said. "He's not going to do anything, look, he's hugging me like a five year old hugs a teddy bear, everything's fine."

Steve rocked them as he tightened his hold on Danny's waist, burying his nose in Danny's hair as he felt himself come down from the adrenalin rush of the chase and fear that he'd lost Danny. He'd been two steps from ripping her throat out before he'd seen Danny, and Callen and Sam had the foresight to get rid of her before Steve truly came out of the worried haze he was still somewhat in.

Danny squinted up at Steve. "You know the whole 'rest when the case is over' thing?" Steve nodded. "Think I might do that now…"

Danny's head dropped to Steve's shoulder and Steve pulled him in against his neck, a hand curled into Danny, fingers tangling in the ends of his hair. He sighed with relief as Danny succumbed to his exhaustion, not just from what he'd done with the forcefield, but from the last few days' worth of worry. But Danny had just helped save the world from a deadly outbreak, he deserved his rest.

Steve bent to get his knees fully under him and lifted Danny in his arms. Kensi tried to help but she was unnecessary, however, she did help escort them back to one of the cars. Along the way she kept glancing looks at him and eventually gave in to her curiosity.

"Danny needs you to make his magic work properly. You ground him, right?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"He doesn't affect you, does he," it wasn't a question. "Vampires and magic, we weaken each other, but if he's with you, you don't feel it so bad do you. I read about the incident with Hesse and Danny and how he was able to incapacitate him but… it works both ways, doesn't it."

"We've never really discussed it. It hasn't come up."

"But you've spent that last two days with me, Hetty and Nell around you at various times, that's three strong witches and yet I've not seen you back off at all. At first I thought it was just some kind of macho bullshit but I've been noticing things."

"And what have you noticed?" Steve asked, not sure if he wanted to know. Sure, he'd had some suspicions. He'd been honest when he'd said it hadn't come up, but he had noticed too, about the comfort and ease he found in things that shouldn't be so comfortable and easy… and it all depended on Danny.

"When you touch him, it makes you stronger. You reach out for his hand, or wrist, or shoulder. You may have just grounded him when he came out of that magic haze, but he does the same for you."

"You are a very perceptive woman, Kensi Blye." Steve waited for Kensi to open the car door so he could place Danny in the backseat.

"It's a gift." She watched as he buckled Danny in and then reluctantly let go of him, their contact gone.

He'd considered it, he was never sure if it was just his nature to be so tactile and perhaps it had a placebo effect on him, but he couldn't deny it when someone else pointed out the possibility. He had to agree with her. There was something in it, something about their connection, the circle of it. Whatever magic had deigned for them to be to one another, it was important to both of them.

"Come on, I think you need to talk to Hetty," she gestured for him to get in, but he plucked the keys from her hand and made his way to the driver's side. As she gawped at him he leaned on the hood with a nonchalant smile.

"I like to drive."

The NCIS Special Operations headquarters was a very open plan environment, but they'd been able to hide in a back area by Hetty's desk and had been able to make it pretty dark, allowing Danny to rest.

It was a few hours before the Detective stirred and Steve had been by his side the whole time.

He'd briefly spoken with the others, had joked as Sam lightened the mood as best he could. They'd done some reminiscing, they'd made fun of Deeks (something Steve was learning seemed to be a past time of the group). Nell and Eric had joined them and Steve had the opportunity to talk with the two people who had mainly been voices and images on a screen up until now.

Hetty had remained noticeably absent until a few minutes before Danny woke. With a curious frown at the diminutive witch, Steve moved to sit on the end of the long couch Danny was on, the dip as he sat alerting Danny to his presence.

"How's it going, big guy?" Steve asked, patting Danny's ankle as he rubbed the tiredness from his eyes.

"I'm good. How long was I out?"

"A couple of hours."

Danny blinked around the place, noticing where they were as his brain came back online. Then he huffed resignedly. "You had to carry me again, didn't you. We have really got to stop making a habit of that, it's embarrassing."

"You do realize no one cares about that except you. Especially me. And I'm the one doing the carrying. Also, I'm pretty sure it's okay to pass out after helping save the world."

"No one else did," Danny pointed out.

Steve weighed the argument up. "No one else used magic to do so. When they weren't supposed to."

Danny made a 'blah blah' gesture with his hand and sat up swinging his legs from the couch.

"I trust you are feeling no ill effects from your efforts this afternoon, Detective?" Hetty's voice resonated around them. How she'd approached them with neither noticing was a mystery and yet, she was a witch, and that easily explained the skill.

"I'm fine," Danny plastered a smile to his face, sitting up straighter in her presence.

"In the early period of training, things can seem overwhelming. It is entirely common. Of course, most students are not put in life and death situations when doing their learning."

"Because most of them are fifteen, I get it," Danny waved the comment off.

"Not necessarily," Hetty perched on the edge of her desk. "Most don't have your potential, therefore never fall into such a trap."

"Speaking of potential," Steve began, sitting further forward as well, "we understand that you are an experienced witch," he had no idea how else to say 'old' to her without seeming rude. "We've never met one before at least, not since everything happened between us."

"And you are curious about what I know. About the two of you."

"Basically," Steve nodded.

"Yours is a tricky situation." She moved around her desk and slowly lowered herself into the seat, bracing her arms on the desk. "I was not there the night the project took place. I always had reservations about it. I was not a part of the governing group at the Guild who approved Shelburne's work."

"You didn't think it was possible?" Danny asked.

"No, what she proposed always seemed wrong to me. Whether it was possible for her to pull it off, I still don't know. But whether it was her true intent? That also remains to be seen."

"You're skeptical."

"I still am," she nodded. "That's not to say you weren't gifted great power, Detective. But its intent. That remains a mystery that won't be solved until Shelburne shows herself."

"I thought I was supposed to cure cancer or something," Danny shook his head, looking like the frustrations were building into another headache.

"Or something." Hetty smiled ruefully. "Don't get me wrong, gentlemen. I do believe the connection between you is important to the future of magic and vampires alike, but to cure natural human illnesses? Why would your connection be necessary for something like that?"

"That is a fair point," Steve agreed. "I never believed what we were told."

"Your instincts serve you well."

"Does this put us back to the drawing board? Do we even trust the Guild, or anything we're told? There has to be someone who knows the truth."

"Shelburne," Hetty pointed out and Danny acquiesced.

"She's not proved to be super helpful so far," he added after Hetty's interruption.

"I'm sure answers will find you in time," she rose and gestured for them to follow her. "You wanted to find out what I knew, and this is what I can tell you. You are both important to each other in ways that magic and vampires have never been before. You are a focal point, a meeting of light and dark. There is a true reason that both of you, specifically, were chosen for this. Sacrifices were made for you to be who you are, gentlemen. You may get frustrated but it would be in your interests to honor those sacrifices."

They followed her out into the bullpen where she presented them with plane tickets back to Honolulu. Steve had already packed their stuff, he'd just had no idea when Danny would wake, or when he might need to do the waking, and he'd had time in those hours to organize everything. They said goodbye to everyone, hugged their new friends and had all hoped that next time they meet was under less life threatening circumstances.

They'd contacted Chin and Kono before boarding their plane to let them know that the crisis had been averted. During their absence, Chin had refused to let Malia attend a conference in San Francisco. It had been pretty much the opposite of their original dilemma, where he had her on standby to get out of Hawaii should the shit hit the fan. Now that she had missed it for nothing (apparently she'd told Chin that she was confident they'd stop the small pox from being released) and had been proven right in her assumptions, he was going to be in for a world of trouble at home.

Kono had been mysteriously happy to get away, citing 'plans' that she refused to talk about, so they knew that by the time they arrived back in Oahu, there'd be little point in heading to the office since no seemed to want to do any actual work.

Instead they were going to go straight home.

Pulling up at the house, they were greeted by the sight of another car in the driveway. A blue mustang, an older model, sleek and good looking. Danny gave a low whistle as he saw it and turned to meet Steve's cautious glare.

"What is it?" Danny asked. His remaining tiredness showed in his voice. He hadn't slept on the plane, despite giving Steve a dead arm by leaning against him.

"I don't know anyone who owns a car like that, and neither do you."

"How would you know that?"

"Unless they bought it in the last few days, I know what all of our friends and relatives drive."

"You have files, don't you. On everyone you've ever met."

"No," Steve scoffed.

"Yes, you do. Some of them are frighteningly real while others are just part of the crazy in your head, but they exist. Just like zombies. All in your head."

"They're not in my head."

"The files or the zombies?"

"Just shut up."

They got out of the car and approached the house. There was nothing out of the ordinary. The door was locked, the alarm was set. It was as if the car had been abandoned out front.

They made their way through the house, Steve taking point and Danny backing him up until they reached the sliding doors in the kitchen and could clearly see their visitor sitting down closer to the water, where the grass of the back yard began to turn into sand.

Steve pushed the doors open and headed out. "You do realize you're trespassing, right?" he called out. Danny slapped his arm.

"What is wrong with saying 'hello' like a normal person?"

"She is trespassing," Steve argued back, his hand still on his waist, close enough to pull his gun at a moments notice.

She stood from the ground and turned to them. Her shoulder length brown hair loose in the breeze, she wore skin tight black pants and a flowing red shirt. She made her way over towards them, hands out in apology when they weren't stopping her hair from whipping into her face, though her large sunglasses kept it from poking her eyes.

"I apologize, Commander. I got sick of waiting out front. You landed two hours ago."

"We went to get food on the way home, who are you?" He kept his stance loose and crossed his arms as he stopped in front of her.

"She's Joe's replacement," Danny said. Steve looked at him and then back to the woman. Of course, Danny would have seen magic in her and knowing they were expecting a woman with strong magic, he'd have put two and two together.

"He didn't tell you I was coming today?"

"He told us someone was coming, just not who or when or any of those nice details," Danny smiled, then held his hand out to her. "Danny Williams."

She shook his hand with a smile. "Catherine Rollins."

"Steve McGarrett," Steve introduced himself as he shook her hand as well.

"You're not human," Danny hedged. He may be tired, but he seemed to be reading people well, as Catherine proved as she lowered her head and took her sunglasses off.

Of course, mer people all looked like humans on land in most respects. Their magic allowed them to change their tails for legs, their gills for lungs but their eyes always remained in their aquatic form. When they covered them up, anyone would think they were human. Catherine's eyes were larger than a normal person's. Her pupils much wider, which was a reason mer folk always wore sunglasses on land. They were so used to the darkness of the underwater world; they weren't able to adapt too well to the bright sunshine. A mer could also move their eyes independently, to better view possible predators in the deep. With mammal-like eyes at the front of their heads, they didn't have good all-round vision, but with independent movement, something that evolved away from humans over time, they gave themselves back some advantage in their native water.

"Joe did mention water," Steve cottoned on. "I should have known he was being cryptic with his clues."

"He can be like that," Catherine agreed.

"So you work for the Navy?" he asked, mentally making sure he knew who to go to in order to get his hands on her file.

"Currently I do, I'm working with US Naval Intelligence, but officially I'm just on loan from the Pacific branch of the Pelagic Navy. If you want to read up on me, Commander, you are free to do so. I understand you are careful around new people. You are a vampire after all, I would expect territorial behavior."

"Would you now?" he asked, his hackles raised by her officiousness and Danny just stood watching with an almost playful smile on his face.

She simply inclined her head before speaking again. "I know you must be tired, I only came by to introduce myself. We can get started on your training in the morning. I trust you've been keeping up with your exercises these last few weeks."

"Uhm, yeah, of course," Danny fobbed her off, but her grimace led her to, quite rightly, realize they'd been slacking.

"We'll get started in the morning, you can impress me then," she walked off back around the house, glasses back on her face giving her eyes some relief again and they watched until she'd turned behind the wall and away from them.

"What do you think?" Danny asked.

"I don't know. I'll form a better opinion once I see her file," Steve started to make his way back into the house.

"She kind of reminds me of you."

"What?" Steve turned his head back to Danny but kept moving forward. "She's nothing like me."

"She's got that whole military air. Yes sir, no sir, salutes and dress blues."

"Just because she's Navy, doesn't automatically make her just like me."

"I would argue that, but I'm still tired and I want to go to bed. Especially if I'm going to be put through my paces tomorrow."

"Bed sounds like a wonderful idea," Steve locked the front door and set the alarm before moving over to the bottom of the staircase where Danny was waiting for him.

"We've got a lot of things to go through now we're back, but that can all wait until we've had some sleep."

Steve put his hands on Danny's shoulders as he followed his plodding footsteps up the stairs. Their bags had been abandoned in the living room and would stay there until the morning as well.

"There's Catherine to vet, Shelburne to find, Lori and Noshimuri to track…"

"Exactly," Danny turned to face Steve when they reached the doorframe to the bedroom. He wrapped his arms around Steve's waist and pulled himself in close. "And all of it can wait. We just finished another case, caught another criminal or five and made the streets of both Honolulu and Los Angeles that little bit safer. We deserve eight hours of uninterrupted peace and quiet."

"We do," Steve nodded, then leaned down to capture Danny's lips. When he pulled back it was just enough to smile. "But I'm thinking seven and a half hours of peace and quiet… there's a half an hour first where I want to hear you make all kinds of noises."

"Half an hour, huh?" Danny laughed, his chest reverberating against Steve's, while he nosed at Steve's cheek.

"Maybe a little more than half an hour…"