Synopsis: They thought it was over. That Danny would recover from his injuries and Steve would recover from the near loss of his best friend and partner. But the one man wants nothing more to make Five-0 pay for his loss. Can Steve and Danny make it out one last time? Or will they go down together? DANNY!WHUMP and STEVE!ANGST. NO SLASH. Friendship only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and am not getting any monetary gain for this story, just playing in CBS's sandbox for a while. These characters and storylines remain the property of CBS. No disrespect intended, just great characters that inspire their own stories.

Rated: T for violence and injuries. Not a Death-Fic.

Notes: Angst and Hurt/Comfort are kinda my thing and I opened a can of worms in the first story, 'Conversations in Silence'. Here's the third part of the trilogy…'The Calm Before the Storm'.

Please take a minute and drop me a review if you're interested in seeing this story play out.

Chapter One:

Missed Call

Danny sat on a natural rock wall and watched as the tides rolled in. He'd left work early to try and collect his thoughts. The weather was just starting to shift as Hawaii rolled into the last part of October. He loved the holiday seasons that were rapidly approaching, but he was also dealing with a lot of changes in his life that were making things more difficult than normal. The sun was just setting over the vast expanse of Blue Ocean and the gentle oranges and yellows were being reflected off the water in an intoxicating way. It was at moments like this that Danny couldn't deny that he'd come to think of Hawaii as his home away from home.

He would always be a New Jersey boy through and through. But at least now he could claim to be an Oahu resident without dying a little inside every time he had to check that box. Grace had taken to the Islands much faster than her stubborn father, but he'd caught up.

It had been almost a year since he'd been taken and the memories of those moments had never resurfaced. Danny still suffered from nightmares. He was trapped in a small space and he hurt, everywhere. But he never made it out of the darkness, somehow he always drowned; Danny could feel the water closing over his head. He couldn't breathe, the tightness in his lungs restricting to the point that his vision would black out. Then and only then would he see Grace standing over a grave, two badges in her hands and tears streaking her youthful face.

Danny still didn't understand where the dream had come from, but he would lurch out of bed, soaked through with cold sweat. His heart would be racing in his chest and then the images would fade away into the locked vault that he couldn't access. It was terrifying. They weren't every night, but they would sneak up and attack him when he was most emotionally vulnerable.

He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, his dress shirt pulling across his broad back. The last two months had been truly terrible for not only Danny, but for Steve as well. The Jersey detective had lost his little brother to the brutal violence of Marco Reyes and then Danny had been brought down to the scumbags level when he hadn't been able to stop himself from killing the man in cold blood. But then less than four weeks later, Steve had been taken by Wo-Fat and tortured. He'd had his mind messed with in ways that Danny could never truly comprehend.

Those hours of searching for Steve had been some of the worst Danny had dealt with since he'd learned of Mattie's murder. He'd been terrified that not only had he lost his little brother, but also that he'd lost his brother here in Hawaii. And oh my god…the moment he'd shoved that door open in the dingy basement of the laundry and he'd seen both their bodies motionless on the wet concrete? There are no words to describe the levels of internal pain that rampaged through him. He'd softly called to Steve and there hadn't been immediate answer. For a moment Danny had been terrified that they were too late and Wo-Fat had finally managed to take down the SEAL.

The light evening breeze wafted through his blonde hair and Danny took a deep breath before swinging his legs back over the wall and shoving to his feet. The black Camaro sat parked behind him and he smiled at the glassy reflection in the highly polished sheen of her black paint. He was reminded of Agent Hanna, the man had wanted to name his car 'Winifred' or 'Winnie' for short. Danny snorted. There was no way in hell he was calling his car 'Winnie' or any other name for that matter. It was a car for Christ's sake.

He slipped into the buttery soft black leather seats and took a deep breath before firing up the engine and listening for a moment to the magnificent purr of the powerful V-8. Danny had never been someone that cared much about classic cars, but something about the Camaro had 'spoken' to him when he'd moved to the Island. He rolled his eyes when he considered that the same something had also spoken to Steve, since he insisted on driving Danny's car.

The sun had dropped below the horizon and the soft hues of sunset had drained away into the dusky darkness of night. The smell of the ocean wafted through Danny's open window as he drove. He thought about gong home, but turned toward Steve's instead. His friend had been quiet since his abduction and Danny was worried about everything that Steve wasn't saying. It wasn't that the other man as pushing him away or anything, but he wasn't exactly an open book.

Too many years of secrets and classified missions that the military man couldn't talk about had defined who he'd become…and that was a secretive man that kept most things close to the vest. Danny had managed to weasel inside the wall, but that didn't mean that weren't padlocks on the gates.

The road wound around the bluff and Danny's gaze was drawn to something off in the trees. The blinking of flashers had him pulling off the road and grabbing his sidearm. He'd learned a lesson while dealing with everything over the last year. Call in when you're investigation something.

He quickly dialed Steve's number, when it went to voice he frowned. The man was probably sitting out back watching the tides come in. "Hey Steve, you better not have drank all the beer. I'll be there soon and it better be cold this time." Danny took a deep breath. "There's someone off the road on Kaulakue bluff, I'm go make sure they're okay. I'll call if it turns out to be anything." He pressed 'end' and then moved toward the car buried inside the tree line.

It was an older Camry, the front fender smashed in and blood smeared over the grill. Danny lifted his weapon and slipped around the side of the car. A wild boar was kicking its legs as it died. Its lifeblood seeping into the mossy covered grass of the jungle floor. The detective immediately pulled his phone to his ear after dialing 911. Inside the car was a young woman. She was unconscious, a gash stretching across her forehead where she'd slammed into the steering wheel.

"This is Detective Danny Williams with Five-0. I'm out on Kaulakue bluff and I came across an accident. The driver is unconscious and breathing, but I need an ambulance at my location." He took another step toward the woman; it took him a moment before he recognized her. It was Grace's tennis instructor. "Crap, I know her. Her name's Jenny Redding."

Danny didn't dare move her as he waited for the ambulance and she didn't show any signs of waking up. He wandered back to the boar, hoping that the damn thing had finally died. He stared down at the beast and did his best to ignore the metallic scent of blood that permeated the air around him. As he continued to case the surrounding area he found himself looking at something that didn't make any sense. There just beyond where the boar had died was a white envelope…with Danny's name on it.

"What the hell?" He wondered out loud as he leaned over to pick it up. The cop turned it over in his hands and didn't see anything that looked strange. He supposed it could have flipped out of her car, although why she would have an envelope with his name on it was a mystery. Danny debated for a fraction of a moment and then his curiosity got the better of him. He carefully slid his fingers through the paper and ripped open the envelope.

In the darkness he didn't see the small puff of powder, but he was disappointed when the envelope turned out to be empty. He shrugged and started walking back toward the vehicle.

It was slow at first, the narrowing of his vision and the strange tightness in his chest. Danny blinked several times in an effort to clear his cloudy vision. He stumbled when his legs refused to obey and he went down on his knees. The ACL injury to his right knee screamed in protest as he landed on the hard and unforgiving ground. He tried to form the words as he sank to his ass in the wet grassy plants that covered the floor of the jungle. The sudden pounding of his blood inside his head had him starting to panic. Something was definitely wrong. Somewhere in the distance he heard the alternating tones of an ambulance.

And then there was nothing. Danny sank into the darkness as consciousness fled and his mind shut itself down.

H50 H50

Steve walked back toward the house as he toweled off the remaining water from his hair. He'd decided to take a late afternoon swim in the ocean and had taken longer than he'd anticipated as he cut through the waves. He'd left the office not much after Danny, his own reasons slightly different than his partners. Steve needed time to come to terms with what had happened to him in that basement.

He'd thought he was dead. He honestly did. No one knew where he was and they had no reason to suspect that he was still on the Island, let alone less than five miles from the palace. Steve was still trying to sift through the confusing memories that Wo-Fat had managed to place in his mind. Psychological torture was something that the SEAL was familiar with, but he'd never been subjected to it like that.

Normally when someone was tortured for information, it was something that that person actually knew and was refusing to tell. In this case? Steve hadn't had a clue where the man's father was. Hell, he'd like to know just as much as that sadistic son of a bitch did. So there had been no defense for him and then to have his memories altered? That had managed to break him in a way that nothing else had. Steve had been so convinced that his father was alive when he'd asked Danny to see him. It hadn't occurred to him that John wasn't around. His mind had told him that his father had survived Victor Hesse's assassination attempt.

Hearing that news from his best friend had been tantamount to betrayal. Even though he knew that Danny hadn't been responsible. But in the dream version, his future partner had managed to save John McGarrett and Steve was a having a rough time coming to terms with the reality that that hadn't happened.

He didn't blame Danny or anything; it was just difficult to be around him at the moment. Steve glanced down at his phone and frowned when he saw he'd missed a call from Danny. Without even thinking he picked up the phone and headed into the house. He assumed that his partner was going to head over to see him. Steve pulled his lower lip between he teeth and took a deep breath before listening to the message.

The frown on his face increased as he listened to Danny's message. Some things were never going to change with the New Jersey cop. He couldn't just let well enough alone. His cop side, the side that insisted on helping people, would always trump his better judgment. Granted they hadn't heard anything from the missing member of the mafia group for more than a year, but that didn't mean that the guy wasn't still out there.

Steve ran his hand through his hair and sank onto one of the wooden chairs in his kitchen as he dialed Danny's number. It rang several times and then flipped over to voicemail. Steve's eyebrows cut down in rising concern as he dialed the number a second time. Again it clicked over to Danny's simple and professional message.

"This is detective Danny Williams with Five-0, please leave me a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible. If this is an emergency, dial 911."

Steve groaned. "Danny, it's Steve call me back."

He hung up and leaned back in the chair, staring at the small cellular device in expectation. When it finally did ring, Steve nearly jumped out of the chair he'd fallen asleep in. He blinked groggily and waited for his eyes to focus. It wasn't Danny calling, it was dispatch.

"McGarrett." He answered without thinking.

"Commander, this is officer Pua Kai—"

"—I know who you are Pua, why're you calling me at…" Steve looked at his watched and groaned. "2 am?"

Pua was silent for a moment before continuing. "Commander, do you know where detective Williams is?"

That had Steve sitting up ramrod straight in the chair, the sleepiness he'd been feeling moments earlier dissipating into nothing. "He should be at home, why?"

"We found his car out on Kaulakue bluff."

Steve's mind went into over drive as he was thrown back into that doctor's office last year when Danny had been taken with no evidence left for them to follow. That could not be happening again. The commander of the task force lunged up out of the chair and was immediately pulling on his boots and grabbing his keys as he headed for the door. All thoughts of sleep banished from his body. "Where exactly are you?" He listened as the young patrolman rattled off the information. "Call my team and get them out there, now."

"Yes sir. We've already contacted Lt. Kelly and Captain Grover. Officer Kalakaua hasn't answered as of yet—"

Steve froze at that. "Send an officer to Kono's house."

"Sir, is something wrong?"

The military man shook his head and climbed into his truck. "I don't know yet."

H50 H50

Chin pulled up to the bluff and parked behind Danny's Camaro. The hazard flashers were still blinking and the ambulance had been and gone with the woman from the car. Officers were just watching as the camry was hooked up and pulled onto the flatbead tow truck.

Grover was already there. He was talking to Pua off the main road. His eyes flickered up at Chin's arrival. "So what do we know?" Chin called as he walked toward the two men.

Grover shrugged. "Looks like a typical accident involving wildlife." His eyes were drawn over to Danny's car. "Except for Danny's abandoned vehicle, there doesn't seem to be anything weird here."

Chin rubbed at his tired eyes. "Yeah, except for that...did you canvas the area?"

Pua looked slightly chagrined as he shook his head. "We were helping the paramedics secure the accident victim and then we were going to canvas looking for detective Williams."

The two members of Five-0 sucked in a collective breath. "So there's a member of the task force's vehicle abandoned at an accident site that he called in and you didn't think that warranted looking into?" Grover couldn't help the frustration he was feeling at the inexperience of this younger generation of patrol officers.

Pua started to answer, but Chin held his hands up. "Lets worry about this later, right now we need to canvas this area and see if Danny's out there somewhere. There're a lot of wild boar in this area and something could have happened." Inside the older man was trying desperately to deny that something could have happened to the blonde detective. Too many things had gone wrong for the members of Five-0 in the last few years.

He was just stepping into the dense jungle when he heard Steve's truck rumble and then die, a door slammed. Chin hadn't taken a dozen steps off the beaten path when he saw a pair of legs sticking from beneath a patch of dense plants…and they were wearing Danny's patent leather loafers. "Oh no…come on Danny." He whispered as he rushed forward. "Grover! Over here!"

Chin sank to his knees and prayed that this hadn't been a murder disguised as an accident. He took a breath and crawled forward into the foliage. His small flashlight landing on Danny's face. It was pale and covered in sweat and his entire body was shaking. "Danny? Come on, brah…answer me." He called. Chin reached out and placed his hands on Danny's neck, the pulse there was too fast and thready to be safe. He heard someone crashing through the bushes and then the squeal of a boar had the native man scrambling for his sidearm. The boar broke through the brush barely six feet from where Danny lay, completely helpless. Chin's eyes widened in shock.

After having grown up on the islands, Chin knew that these animals were unpredictable and extremely territorial. The thing squealed again and then raced toward Chin, it's head swinging back and forth. Saliva being thrown in all directions and Chin knew that it was going to attack either himself or the helpless detective below him.

Steve's voice echoed through the air. "Chin!" He was too far away to help.

TBC…

Author's Note: The start to the final story in this particular hurt!Danny verse. It's all going somewhere I promise…and there is a point to this opening…I promise.

Please Review: It'll let me know if you guys are interested in the conclusion of this series.