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

Notes: And look ... we made it through the longest Epilogue in the history of Epilogues! Thank you all for putting up with yet another story gone off the tracks. I appreciate everyone's comments, reviews and help in getting it done.

Happy New Year Everyone! Best wishes for a healthy, happy year to come.

H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O

Eyes partly open, Steve quietly watched Danny from his hospital bed. Discharged that very morning after an over-night stay to mind his concussion, Danny was able to leave whenever he wanted to. The man in question though hadn't said a word to anyone about either leaving ... or staying. But staying he was based on how he was calmly reclined on the spare hospital bed, fully dressed, but flat out on his back, staring up at his raised hands. While Steve watched him, quietly, covertly, Danny rotated his hands in the air above his head, to the left and then the right. Examining the front and back of each; his palms and even each individual finger. The nurse had come in a few minutes earlier, catching Danny doing just this. Danny hadn't even acknowledged her presence. She'd frowned in confusion, evidently seeing the act as incredibly odd. She'd glanced in question Steve's way, but he'd feigned sleep quickly enough. There'd been no doubt that she'd found Danny's self-examination strange, even eccentric. But it wasn't to Steve. Not in the least.

Steve slowly squinted his eyes back open when he sensed the nurse leave after checking his vitals and hanging another bag of IV antibiotics. Also concussed from the original traffic accident and sporting a small bandage across his temple much like Danny's, Steve had further complications from being shot. The bullet had gone clean through the fleshy part of his upper thigh. Clean through, but still nasty enough and certainly painful enough. Steve's anticipated time of departure from the hospital was another good two to three or maybe even four days based on whatever protocols or edicts his doctor decided to throw his way.

He breathed in deeply, his eyes suddenly struggling to stay open. Steve scowled as his lids dipped dangerously closed and he had to fight hard to re-open them. He knew then that the nurse had also dispensed his pain meds. The good stuff for sure as his body began to feel warm, comfortable, and far too lethargic.

"Ah ... geez," he murmured. His leg had felt stiff and sore just moments earlier. Now, those uncomfortable feelings were easing into a heavy, much more pleasant state of numbness. He appreciated the meds and he wanted to sleep, but he also didn't want to sleep with Danny still just a few feet away. Steve felt obliged to talk more about what had happened. He was worried and wanted to make sure Danny was really all right. Because even though they'd spoken on and off over the course of the last many hours, those conversations had been far from satisfying and Steve wondered at their depth. Danny had been evasive and more interested in discussing Steve's well-being with his doctor or that of the two gunmen under guard in the same hospital. He'd gone so far as to call Lou Grover and then their contacts in the police department to inquire about the young woman's history ... wanting to solve the real reasons behind the crime at the laundromat and the subsequent showdown. Danny was positive that there was so much more behind those events. While Steve didn't doubt that his partner was right on all counts, Steve was of the opinion that all of that could wait. The right people were on the case and neither he nor Danny needed to weigh in. They'd be included with the findings simply out of professional courtesy without Danny needing to raise his little finger.

"Hey," Steve whispered softly. "Danno?" They were alone and now was the perfect time for more talk. But his lips barely moved and his eyes were closing again. He was sure that they wouldn't have any type of real heart to heart solely based on where they were ... as well as the newness of what had happened. He wanted to try though and least get the need on the table.

"Hey, buddy?" As Steve tried again, his voice sounded faint even to himself. Far away, foggy. He smiled happily as he started to float a bit away from his own plot. There was a lot to be said for getting the good stuff. He couldn't shake all of his worries though and something he couldn't quite put his finger on was gnawing at him and he forced himself to refocus. Talk. He wanted to talk to his partner.

Danny was slow to burn sometimes and the drug had made him more reticent and reserved than usual. As Steve had discovered time and again, Danny's demons in this regard had a bad habit of rearing their ugly heads well-after the fact. Steve made a face as his foggy brain finally gave that worry up to what it was and he used his shoulders to push himself up farther onto the pillows.

Danny was looking at his hands. That meant his partner was still under duress. And where were they right then? A hospital. No, the hospital. Exactly the same damned one they'd been in before. The one with the roof ... the helipad ... the awkwardly remote spot so many stories above street level. Danny could get it into his head to be alone again and quite frankly, Steve was worried about that happening.

As he raised the head of his bed to blatantly watch Danny visually inspect his hands, Steve was afraid that Danny would wind up on that rooftop again ... and this time, Steve was far from being mobile. He'd never be able to intercede or help, or head-off any number of concerns he still harbored.

"Daniel," Steve said. He was wide awake now that he had the startling reason defined. "We need to talk, buddy."

"Go to sleep, Steven," Danny sighed out. "We can talk later." He dropped his hands to his chest and sat up on the edge of the bed to look Steve's way. "Tomorrow in fact."

"Yeah, no," Steve replied gruffly. He scowled when Danny raised what looked like an amused eyebrow at him.

"Yeah? No?" Danny mimicked back. Danny grinned, his eyes brightening with humor. "That was eloquent."

"Shut up ... we need to talk," Steve said, grinning helplessly when Danny mockingly rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. Evidently, he'd managed to work himself into a corner with just a few simple words. Sure enough, Danny felt like he needed to point his errors out to him.

"Oh? And now I should shut up, but you want to talk? I rest my case," Danny chuckled as he stood, walking to Steve's bedside. "Go to sleep." He propped himself close to Steve's hip, still smiling but now serious. "You don't know what you want, babe. So how about you just go to sleep? You can barely keep your eyes open. Besides, what could you possibly want to talk about now?"

Steve's head suddenly felt thick, the thud of a headache was duly muffled by the meds. Danny could flip things on a dime and Steve wasn't up to the task. This was important though and Steve wrapped his fingers around his partner's wrist.

"What's wrong?" Danny asked. He covered Steve's fingers with his free hand and a strange look passed across his eyes. "You're ..."

"Yeah, worried," Steve cut him off. He made a point of looking around the room, including the ceiling to make himself crystal clear. "We haven't really talked and I know you ... I know you and that crazy head of yours."

Danny made a face then as he looked at their joined hands. "Yeah, I guess you do," Danny admitted softly. "But I'm good ... mostly good."

"Mostly?" Steve pressed harder. "Mostly, Danno? Because you were just staring at your hands and I can't have you running away right now, looking for some kind of escape ... up there ... alone. So tell me what happened out there. What really went down out there ... what did you do? Tell me where you're at."

Danny nodded but stayed silent, proof positive of Steve's worries because this and only this had changed parts of Danny's personality so greatly. It was Steve's turn to point that out now.

"This is what I mean," Steve challenged him. "You? At a loss for words? It never happened before this, Danno. Never. I don't like it ... I don't trust it and so yeah, yeah ... I'm worried. So what happened out there?"

"Okay," Danny finally said. He paused and then shrugged helplessly. "It's easy really. I had to just let it all in ... I just stopped fighting and let it all happen." He pulled out of Steve's light hold to tap his chest meaningfully.

"In here," he explained. "I let it go and just felt all of it happen ...and you know what? Nothing bad happened in the end. I didn't like it; it felt ... wrong. Weird. But none of it really hurt me and I could think though it all ... all those weird feelings didn't take me along with them. It wasn't even as intense as it had been in the beginning. Sure, I felt dizzy, sick, but just for a minute and then it was all mostly gone."

He waggled his fingers through the air. "Little things vibrated inside me until they faded, too. I found out that it was nothing I couldn't deal with. And I didn't think that would happen or that I could sort of control things. But I could ... and then I could just focus on the two guys ... the girl. I knew she was lying ... I could feel that she was lying."

"So, it's not all gone then," Steve stated, a bit disappointed that there was still something there. "Inside?"

"No, it's not all gone," Danny whispered. "But ... but I think I can deal with what's left now; glimmers of things. Plus, with the girl ... I guess that was a win, wasn't it? If we'd all believed she was pregnant and in real danger, they'd probably have gotten away. Right?"

"Yeah, the girl. About that," Steve said as he recaptured Danny's wrist. "How the hell did you know she was lying?"

Danny shrugged. "Well, her eyes for one," he replied. "There was the ghost of something in her eyes; around her eyes. They were too clear, too bright. Too intense and yet she wasn't stressed about herself. For a supposedly expectant mother, she was too ... calm. She might have been crying but it was a sham ... it wasn't genuine. Plus ... and, you're going to think this is weird, but I didn't feel anything inside. Where there should have been something ... she was empty ... here." Danny pointed to his chest, or maybe a bit lower and Steve's eyes widened in surprise.

"You can feel ... babies?" Steve blurted out stupidly.

"What!? Oh my god! No!" Danny objected loudly. He yanked his hands out from Steve's grip only to wave them wildly through the air. "No, no I can't feel babies you moron! What I felt ... or what I think I felt should have been like a ... heaviness or something ... there. Like a pressure or ... something solid. I can't explain it so if you tell anyone that I can feel babies, I swear to god Steven, I will smack you upside the head!"

Steve smiled then. Danny's eyes were probably as big as his own, but his partner's indignation washed over him like a welcome blanket. Steve's smile grew when Danny roughly ran his fingers through his hair. Danny was annoyed and flustered. Plainly exasperated. With that knowledge, came a reassuring feeling of its own and Steve laughed lightly. Things weren't perfect, yet Danny was really fine. Things were okay.

"You know what? This was a stupid conversation!" Danny griped as he got to his feet. He pointed to the spare bed before he stared into his Steve's face. "I'm just going to hang out over there for awhile until you fall asleep. Which you will do since I know ... I know ... that you're feeling no pain at all right now, Steven."

Steve chuckled as he watched his partner sit almost huffily down on the opposite bed. Danny punched at the pillow before shoving it behind his back and then swung his legs up, crossing them at the ankles. He stared over at Steve again, his arms now wrapped in annoyance around his middle. His brow furrowed and he groaned loudly.

"What?" Danny demanded. "Now what?"

"So, no rooftops then?" Steve asked. He had to ask regardless of knowing the answer. Danny was really fine and his choice to stay in the hospital was just that, a simple choice to keep him company. Maybe Danny only wanted to reassure himself of a few leftover, minor nits. Maybe he just didn't want to be alone and that was just fine with Steve. Regardless of those particular reasons, Steve knew they would be more benign.

"No," Danny sighed, seemingly still very exasperated. He settled back and closed his own eyes, demonstrating to Steve that he was okay and that Steve should do the same. "No rooftops ... no helipads. Just go to sleep, wouldya? Please?"

"Okay," Steve replied, finally appeased. "G'night." He was falling asleep before he had to even think too hard about it, his last hazy view that of his partner, his hands calmly folded in his lap, and that of the amused smile gracing Danny's lips.

~ End. ~