I (we) do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.

Notes: we want to thank each and every one of you for such wonderful encouragement during one of our first joint stories! We do have another in the works, but it is taking longer to properly come to a conclusion. We promise to work on it over the next few weeks. Thank you!

H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O*

Chapter 8

Danny woke hours later and wondered if any of it had actually happened. The frantic running, loud arguments and fighting. Had he really left his team, run away and then fought so desperately against Steve? Dim memories of a warehouse, heavy jungle and a violent storm made worse the unsettling feelings of a dizzying height and overwhelming noise. Exhausted and feeling ill, he partially opened his eyes and studied the hospital room.

Blankets were piled high and he was warmer this time; but even so, he continued to shiver and his hands felt like ice. A heaviness lay across his chest making it difficult to breathe. But he didn't dare take in a deeper breath of air as he recalled the severe spikes of pain. The subtle movement of his head to look towards the doorway, made him wince as an acute ache flared through his head, neck and shoulders. But it eased and Danny opened his eyes more to blearily seek out the shape he knew would be somewhere in the room.

Danny had to wet his lips before trying to speak. His mouth was woefully dry and almost unwilling to form the one word. And Steve, god help him, was sound asleep in the corner of the room totally unaware that Danny had finally woken. Slouched down in a chair, he was covered in a blanket nearly up to his chin.

"Steve." He rolled his eyes dramatically to himself as the whisper faded on a short exhale.

But Kono suddenly appeared in his line of sight and it startled him. "Danny? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Her voice was laced with fatigue but she was smiling as she bent over him and pulled her hair back roughly into a messy knot.

"He's here, but he's sleeping." She fixed the blankets further up around him without saying another word. Her eyes were red-rimmed and glassy as she rubbed his icy fingers between her much warmer hands.

"You're still so cold." She whispered gently. But as quiet as she was, her soft murmurs while she fussed over Danny roused Steve from where he slept in the chair.

"What's wrong? Kono?" Steve was worried as he jolted awake. Bleary eyed himself, he only could see her slim shape bending over the bed. But when she looked up smiling, he calmed his pounding heart as he stumbled over the blanket that fell off his lap to puddle on the floor. Danny tiredly raised an eyebrow at the borrowed hospital scrubs and over-sized HPD dark-blue sweatshirt that Steve was wearing.

"Danny. It's about time." His own relieved smile brightened the heavily creased face and exhausted eyes. Scruffy and worn out, Steve was ringing the nurse's station. "You slept straight through all the excitement. And then some. It's been hours."

"It's probably … a good thing." Danny whispered around his dry throat as he recalled fractured glimmers of blue sky, strange faces and loud noises. And then a faceless, helmeted man wearing white and orange reaching for him or maybe for the basket he had been strapped into. "Helicopter?"

Steve nodded as he carefully raised the head of the bed a bit more and Kono offered him a sip of water. "Yeah. We had to wait a few hours after dawn for the Coasties to get in. But you're going to be fine now, Danno." The relief continued to be evident on Steve's face and he took a minute to rub both hands through his hair.

"Coasties?" He whispered in confusion. But then there was only one thing that Danny seemed to want to know about - the drug dealer and his threats towards Grace. Frowning at the weary faces above him, he managed the man's name as a question.

"Schneider? Grace? I don't understand ...what happened."

"We didn't get the main cartel, but the three primaries are dead so at least the network is in turmoil. Schneider over-dosed and coded in the ambulance. Kono and Chin took care of the other two." Steve hesitated and almost couldn't continue when Danny's questioning look clearly asked for more information. The doctor had warned them all that Danny wouldn't remember a good deal of what had happened but he hadn't quite believed that fact. What remained so vivid for Steve had already become nothing more than a bad dream for his partner.

"Grace is fine .. always has been. She's not in any danger." Sincerity laced Steve's roughened voice until he saw Danny relax. He glanced only once to Kono before continuing with the larger explanation.

"We aren't sure when Schneider slipped you the LSD. Probably during the tussle you two had on the second floor. We didn't know if .. if .. he'd given you what he died from. It took hours on that damned ledge praying .. hoping .. that you'd make it through the night."

"Ledge?" Ignoring Danny's bewildered expression, Steve took in a deep nearly shattered breath.

"Max ran the samples from the body, but with you ... I took a chance with the morphine. But it was really confirmed only after we got you here .. Schneider was partying before he met up with us. He overdosed and had at least three different toxins in his system. But we didn't know for sure .. Danny, we didn't know for the longest time."

Lying there, Danny let the words wash over him as he studied Steve's distraught expression. He certainly hadn't realized it either. He remembered the fight but not too much after Schneider was taken into custody. The dealer had obviously injected him with LSD during the first few seconds of their frantic struggles back in the warehouse. And Kono had become even more quiet as Steve spoke, only to move silently back to the chair she'd been stationed in near the opposite corner of the room.

"You just kept going. And then you fell down ... an embankment." Only Steve heard Kono mumble ruefully about the truth of that statement.

"Embankment my auntie." Rolling her eyes towards the ceiling, Kono virtually ignored Steve for daring to downplay what had happened. And while he couldn't follow all of what Kono and Steve were saying, it was all enough for Danny to almost remember that Steve had not only tied him into a safety harness, but had also held him so tightly restrained in his arms. The frown lines deepened in his forehead as he stared quizzically at his partner.

"What?" Steve asked when he saw the confusion growing.

"Were you hugging me?" Completely bewildered by the dim memory, Danny breathed out the question in disbelief because he distinctly remembered being held. Kono garbled out a loud laugh as Steve's face morphed into one of shock.

His response was flustered as he glared at the giggling young woman. "No .. I wasn't exactly hugging you, Danno! It was cold .. we were cold." Steve threw a hand up in the air as he began to smile. "You know what? Just forget it .. it's one of those things you shouldn't try to remember."

"Of all the things." Steve finally laughed and shook his head. "Really? That's what you ask?" But Danny couldn't remember much of anything else and the splintered memories were distressing.

"Steve .. I .." But his friend shook his head with a smile as he sat on the edge of the bed and refused to allow Danny to continue. "I don't remember. We..?"

"No, we're good. And it's over. Though you did a number of your ribs and you are going to be here for a couple of days." He looked up as Chin strode into the room laden with coffee and pastry bags. His timely entrance allowed Steve to mask his feelings and Kono's remaining sadness evaporated as they both gestured grandly towards Danny.

"He's awake. He's better." And then the three only moved aside when the doctor came in to check on his patient. The man was efficient and calming as he gently reassured Danny that he was over the worst effects of the LSD without any residual effects.

"It was enough to make you extremely sick, but you'll have no lasting damage." Repeating Steve's earlier words, the doctor continued. "You will be staying a few days, Detective. You have a concussion, two broken ribs and a badly bruised back. We're also bringing your body temperature back up from that nasty weather you were exposed to over night. Which actually, had become the larger concern. But you're doing well." The man checked Danny's charts before injecting pain medication into the I.V. line. He then looked around at the friends before leaving.

"He'll be fine with rest. And honestly, I'm not yet entirely pleased with his body temperature."

He was listening, but Danny had closed his eyes again as the doctor spoke. Parts of him felt warmer, but he was not fully comfortable as sporadic shivers continued to roll through his body. He dozed briefly while the doctor continued describing important next steps.

"Pain management is going to be important and it will also make him sleep. Which he needs to heal." With a finger aimed at Danny, the man's smile was warm and he was chuckling at the passive, lax expression. "Sleep is what you need. And I see that you're in good hands, so get some rest."

Kono made a great show of fixing the blankets again; he forced his eyes open as she added yet another. "So like the doctor just explained, you're blood pressure's low and you're hypothermic which is why you're so cold. But the blood tests are normal which is the most important thing."

The relief was evident on every face as Steve repeated the words again. "Yeah, you're going to be fine."

Chin gave out with a loud chuffed sound as Danny failed completely at fighting the strong medication. Tired and ill, he was worn out but still didn't want to to give in to sleep with his friends in the room; but he had just about already lost the battle. He was drifting off to Chin's voice and the smell of good coffee. "Go to sleep, Danny. We plan on hanging out for a while."

Kono grinned as she lifted the pastry bag up for him though his lids were already shut. "We'll try to save you one." The quirky grin lifted one side of his lip as he truly fell asleep. But Steve was sure he heard the faintly muttered "better save two' and he chuckled before sinking wearily down into a chair.

"Too close." He muttered as he rested his elbows on both knees and buried his face in his hands. Muffled now, Steve's voice was almost cracked from exhaustion. "Way too close. And it went too far."

Chin nodded in agreement as he nudged Steve's hand open to accept a hot cup of coffee. The man had his own brief bout of exposure to contend with as a cold tremor ran through his body. And then Chin was up and draping the spare blanket over Steve's shoulders before he had a chance to decline the need for one.

"It was. But it's over. At least for now. He'll be out of commission for about six weeks." They were all worn out as they sat quietly around the room with coffee in hand, and no longer interested in eating. More than seven hours had passed since they'd first stepped foot on the roof of the hospital. A long period of time to pace, worry and wait to finally get news on Danny's general condition worsened by exposure to the rough elements.

During that time, Steve had been practically force-fed one I.V. of preventive fluids to combat slight dehydration and then offered the scrubs to change into from his damp clothing. Duke had come up with the HPD sweatshirt for added warmth. He had even managed to take a short nap on a gurney where covered in a few blankets of his own, his cold body finally had a chance to recover.

Seven hours on top of a harrowing stormy night full of restless nerves, unexpected fighting, and an edgy panic. They'd been up for almost twenty-four hours by the time they'd reached the hospital and were all now finally allowing themselves to come down from the ongoing and much too stressful adrenalin high.

"That guy was crazy. I'm not sorry to say that I'm glad he's gone." Kono whispered as she sipped from her cup. "He had no regard for anyone .. if he did this .. any kid would have no chance at all." She was watching Danny's face as he slept. Five stitches were under the clean white bandage on his temple. But a dark bruise peeked out to run down his cheekbone.

"No doubt." Her cousin murmured in response. Chin watched as Steve folded in on himself in the uncomfortable chair and gently retrieved the half-full coffee cup before it could fall to the floor. He'd had the most awful night of all as he simultaneously tried to offer emergency triage and protect Danny from himself during the worst of the strong hallucinations. He had been released to go home, but after the stunning events and horrendously long night of stress, it was obvious that Steve would not leave. In fact, no one had any intention of leaving for at least a few more hours.

So not only Danny, but Steve also deserved their silent support and companionship. Chin reached over to make sure the blanket was firmly tucked around Steve's shoulders before wearily closing his own eyes. It had been too terribly close for each member of the tight-knit team.

And while they had removed three primary dealers from the streets, those responsible and higher up in the cartel would eventually find others to take their places. It was just a matter of time before it would undoubtedly begin all over again. But hopefully, they had all made it a great deal more difficult.

End