Hellooooo everyone! Last days of the year now, and I can't wait to be in 2019!

This "new" story is kinda hard to understand and I have two groups of readers on that one:

- For those who had followed the story "Nothing - McDanno romance", this is an alternative story I chose to write because I had few reviews and private messages asking me why I have turned that one into a romance, which wasn't my choice at first. As I couldn't explain myself about that, I decided to create this story, to fit more the friendship/bromance Danno and Steve have

- For those who have not followed this same story, well... If you like McDanno friendship, you will surely love these chapters. If you are more like a romance between the two characters, I highly recommend you to read the first story. You still can read this one though :P

So, if I want to make myself clear, this story is similar to the "Nothing - McDanno romance" story, BUT I added a lot more details AND I only kept the main storyline (Steve injured on the job and everyone dealing with this) with new perspectives too.

I am currently writing the fifth chapter but as usual, you still can ask for things like special lines, special themes, dialogues, secondary storylines, etc... Readers are also a part of the story I create after all ^^

I just hope that you will like this "new" story and that you will leave some reviews after each chapter (how optimistic am I haha). I will add a new chapter once every week (probably on Saturdays or on Sundays)

disclaimers: I DO NOT OWN ANY FICTIONAL CHARACTERS FROM HAWAII 5-0.

It also takes place after the 8th season but before the 9th season, so beware about the storylines we've got so far (I won't spoil you if you still didn't see the 9th season)

I am still not an English native, so I apologize already for any spelling mistakes I could make in this story

ENJOY!

GygyFr

CHAPTER 1

Like almost every day of the week and year, Steve McGarrett and Danny Williams were in pursuit of a suspect. Right now, they were two smuggling aces who hired a hit man to execute their biggest rival in the business. Steve and Danny openly laughed at this same killer because… He missed his target and was almost beaten to death by his cousins. The poor man had been through a bad time: three broken ribs, a broken nose and jaw, numerous bruises all over his body and a head injury. So, when Duke Lukela took his statement and received the names of his agents, he immediately opted for 5-0 to do the job. The Keola brothers were known in the business for being heavily armed and prepared for any eventuality. Except perhaps for facing the most unpredictable and over-trained NavySEAL of all time.

Yes, McGarrett's name was scaring even the Yakuza away now, and most of the bad guys were keeping a low profile when they heard here and there that they were on the 5-0 list. It made them think twice before doing something and they tried to use the most misguided means to achieve their goals without being noticed. It was both an advantage and an inconvenience: in case Steve and his team were on the trail of a suspicious guy, he was relatively well equipped to give them a hard time, no matter the circumstances. As a result, the special task force had to be more vigilant, and as everyone knows…. It was not a word in the vocabulary of the energetic Steve, far from it. Another word he didn't know: backup.

And yes, to the great despair of his colleague and friend Danny Williams, the SEAL was a pile that never fell flat and he hated having to wait to go headlong and knock down his enemies. At the same time, it was often in improvisation that he distinguished himself the most, so he could not blame him. On the other hand, this ability to rest on one's instincts often resulted in one of the two accomplices ending up in the hospital, often for gunshot wounds.

The collection of information on the most likely location of the Keola brothers lasted only a few minutes, the time for Jerry to do his research and find their main safe house. And it was under these more than optimal conditions that Steve, Danny, Tani, Lou and Junior set off for the address given to them by their liaison officer, as he so fondly recalled. On the way, Steve had expressed his wish to take them by surprise and make this capture in a rather impressive silence, like a SEAL commando operation. Of course, Junior knew exactly what he was talking about, but the others were still confused. Including Danny: the only times he could get a glimpse of their methods ended in a real bloodbath. Without going into details, Steve explained what he expected from his colleagues and each of them understood in a very short time that what they were about to do was both risky and unfortunately the best thing to do.

Since the Keola's Fortress was surrounded by the dense jungle of Oahu, north of Honolulu, the unit's members parked the cars on the last residential road. Steve ordered Junior to stand back and check with his sniper that there was no one in sight who could prevent the team from progressing. Fortunately, the brothers seemed to be well entrenched and without much protection. While securing the area and maintaining radio contact to direct his crew, it took nearly twenty minutes of great silence to reach the front door and finally launch the offensive.

After a countdown and checking whether the door was locked or not, Steve opened it for Danny, the leader of a SEAL team should never enter a room first, while Grover did the same with the back door of the house to let Tani in while Junior stayed out with his long-range weapon, in case the brothers could still escape through an unlisted area. But obviously, the Keola brothers had been waiting for them for a while because once inside, they were caught under fire with automatic weapons. Instinctively, they all took cover and Danny even had time to shoot the elder, Amanu, in the leg, hearing him screaming in pain and insulting the police while the other tried to escape. Seeing that Lou and Tani both had their weapons pointed at him, Amanu laid down his arms while Beala, his younger brother, went down to the cellar to escape Steve and Danny.

As the first one had predicted, the house was equipped with a secret passage, a long tunnel giving thirty meters further into the jungle. Without hesitation, McGarrett rushed inside to pursue Beala followed closely by his teammate, their weapons pointed towards the light at the end of the tunnel. The young man was so exhaustingly fast that when Steve stepped into that famous tunnel, he was already coming out. Acting cautiously while advancing, the soldier used his tracking skills to continue the pursuit while dragging Danny along.

"Danno…"

"Go ahead, I slow you down. Go, I'll catch up with you", the detective then stated in understanding the situation.

He knew Steve well enough to know that he wouldn't want to give up and that it was the right thing to do.

"Are you serious?" he asked, incredulous.

"What do you think, huh? Of course, I'm serious, you smunk! I'm slower than you, and he's alone! Then go for it, I'll catch up with you!"

He could see a slight wince on the Commander's face before he decided to listen to his partner and finally pursuing Beala. Danny knew what he was doing: Steve was much faster alone than when he was with him, there was no doubt about that but most importantly, if he was waiting for him, they would lose track of their suspect and that was not a good thing. Knowing the man, he would surely already be having a possible dialogue in his head if this were to happen. Something like 'it's your fault, you're too slow', coupled with a 'you wouldn't make a good NavySEAL' when he would protest by explaining that he wasn't one and that his knees were hurting him terribly right now to go after a suspect much faster than him. At his own pace, he was sure at one point to fall back on his partner handcuffing Beala.

After all, man hunting was Steve's specialty, his nickname Smooth Dog wasn't for nothing. Danny just knew that he had earned his name and that it was due to his innate talent for tracking, that he had a nose as smart as a dog to track someone. That was all he could get from Joe White and Catherine Rollins, because of course, almost all SEAL missions were classified and just mentioning their existence is punishable by court-martial for a soldier.

Steve, on the other hand, felt in enough good shape to catch up with his prey. For the first time in a relatively long time, he felt he was in able to run a marathon at full speed. Pursuing a suspect was not forty-two kilometers long, but it was a very good exercise to keep in shape and confirm his theory. One step at a time he inhaled and exhaled, as if to give himself a rhythm to keep. The drugs he took daily to slow or even stop the effects of the radiation poisoning he had experienced two years earlier had many side effects, including the onset of intense and sudden exertion, but today he felt nothing at all. No tightening sensation in his chest, around his heart or lungs, no shortness of breath, no blurred vision or shaking. On the contrary, he felt so fit that he thought he was back in his twenties.

Besides, the more seconds passed, the closer he felt close to Beala. After five minutes of intense stalking, he had even managed to be within firing range, but the density of the jungle prevented him from firing optimally. Steve knew the terrain very well to know that young Keola was heading for the city, to the place where they had parked the vehicles before entering the forest. Continuing on his way and knowing that Danny was following him but was much less good at tracking him, he took his radio to give direction to his teammate, hoping that he could get instructions.

"The suspect is heading towards Makiki Pl.", "he shouted in the radio as Beala came out of the vegetation to reach the first road, followed two seconds later by the soldier.

Fortunately, the roads were only used by residents of the subdivision and most of them had already left for work. Only four cars were still parked on the streets, not to mention the ones he and his team had used to get here, which didn't pose many obstacles. As a result, the runaway and his pursuer could easily start shooting at each other at any time without significant collateral damage. The suspect turned around the corner of the main street and for the second time since the chase began, he found himself out of Steve's sight and hearing. He too continued on his way to turn on the main road of the subdivision, before realizing the monumental mistake he had just made. Always keep an eye on the enemy or take precautions to keep an eye on him if they are spotted. He was, but because of the adrenaline running through his veins, he hadn't taken any action to find out where Beala was. And here he was, waiting for him firmly, his gun raised in the air and ready to be used by his owner. A big smile proudly appeared on his face as his finger pulled the trigger for the first time.

Running at full speed, it was difficult for Steve to stop suddenly or take cover to avoid bullets, but without knowing how, he managed to dive behind one of the four cars parked in the street. And for the first time, as he counted his opponent's bullets, the sudden stop of his run opened the door to the side effects of his medication. His chest then tightened more and more with each heartbeat he could feel on his ribs, his right side throbbed him considerably. He swallowed hard to regain control of his breathing before using the car as a shield and shooting several times at younger brother Keola. Once done, he lowered himself while new bullets burst out near him, blowing out the rear windows of the pickup. Six bullets. Knowing that most of the current guns had only eight to ten bullets, he still had to hold out for a few seconds while hoping that his teammate would soon arrive to support him. After all, Danny was his backup as he liked to remind him, to his great despair.

He grabbed his radio, wanting to catch up with his partner so that he could take another direction and catch the suspect from another angle. He took a deep breath again despite the agony in which he was now, the pain in his chest intensifying every time he felt his heartbeat.

"Shots fired! Repeat, shots fired between Makiki St. and Makiki Pl.!"

His piercing vision went out at the same time as his last shouted word on the radio: it was as if a transparent film or a fog thickening at first sight came to blur his eyes. Two new bullets came close to his right ear. Eight bullets and he didn't hear the suspect firing an empty shot. In the heat of the moment, few people could count the number of bullets in a gun, even if they knew their gun well. One had to be relatively well trained to do this. And Beala Keola was certainly not one of those people. It simply meant that his gun did have ten bullets, so he had two left.

Meanwhile, Danny arrived at the edge of the jungle, completely out of breath from his run. When he heard his partner in the radio explaining that he was under enemy fire, he did not hesitate to double his efforts to come to his rescue. Fortunately for him, he was in an angle from which Amanu's younger brother couldn't see him but he was within Steve's reach. From his point of view, he was cornered behind a car and unable to shoot without taking the risk of taking a bullet between the eyes. Finally, the soldier looked up and saw his comrade. Visibly relieved, his left hand landed on his chest while with his right hand he instructed Danny to go around the house to get another angle on Beala and neutralize him by any means. The policeman nodded and began his move while Steve wondered how many bullets he had left.

Because yes, he had counted the number of bullets coming from across the street but not how many bullets were still in his own gun. He unlocked the security to look inside: three bullets plus another in the cylinder. He had to succeed in putting on the ground a target that he could not reach because of his screwing-up vision while succeeding in passing through bullets from the suspect and this, with four bullets without the possibility of reloading. With extreme measures… Steve had to calm down and regain control over his own body, the one that had been struggling to obey him for a few minutes. Stupid drugs. He took a deep breath while pinching his lips with his teeth to stifle a cry of pain and, thanks to his instinct, he used his tracking skills to visualize his target without having an angle of view on it. Often useful, very precise despite appearances and especially impressive to see in action.

He squeezed his grip on his gun and prepared to stand up again to shoot, but the suspect was waiting for him and fired another bullet before he had time to do the same. She just missed it and took the time to pass his weapon through the broken glass to fire his last four bullets. But his vision prevented him from knocking down his target and he soon found himself in a very bad position. Danny had to be quick. He knew that. But above all, he had to move forward discreetly to surprise the second Keola. Going around the house, he entered the garden of the property. He then saw a young woman completely frightened by his sudden appearance, huddled in the back of her terrace waiting for the shots to stop. Their gaze crossed, and Danny understood that he had to show his intentions to continue his path.

He lowered his weapon and raised his free hand, then showed his badge at his belt to make the woman understand that he was a police officer and that she had nothing to fear. She nodded, understanding the situation, and Danny used this non-verbal agreement to continue on his way and raise his weapon in the air. Approaching the street a little closer, he was right in the corner to shoot the suspect, and he didn't hesitate for a second. He pulled the trigger twice to be sure to neutralize his target, watching him collapse to the ground like a dead weight. He then opened the door of the private garden, advancing cautiously into the street before throwing a firm but weak kick into the Beala's pistol so that it would be out of his reach. Two large holes covered his forehead and his blood began to color the pavement, a sign that he was dead. To be more than certain of this statement, he kneeled down as best he could to pass two of his fingers over his carotid artery; he felt nothing at all. He sighed as he stood up, putting his gun in his holster while turning around to finally put his blue eyes on his stubborn teammate. He had come out of his makeshift hiding place, leaning on the gutted car to remain standing, with relief taking shape on his face.

Strangely enough, Danny immediately noticed that something was wrong. Steve had kept his left hand on his chest and this worried him because of what he knew. He was the one who informed his partner about the effects of the medications he was taking on a daily basis because he had not taken the time to look at the instructions. He knew that the slightest sudden and intense effort could have a considerable and unpleasant effect on his heart and breathing, hence his hand on his chest. In theory.

Steve seemed out of breath. It was even worse than that: he felt suffocated as if someone was pressing on his airways to prevent him from breathing. He should never have forced and chased his prey without being accompanied, even though he knew Danny was not far behind. A new pain paralyzed him and weakened him to the point of losing his balance. His right hand slipped along the car as his body rested on the frame before gradually letting himself fall to the ground.

"Steve? Steve!"

He frowned, intrigued by this sudden weakness that he did not know himself. He thought about the whole scene, from the entrance of the tunnel to the collapsing on the sidewalk. And suddenly everything became clear: the symptoms had started when he took the corner of the street and the young Keola shot him while he was trying to take cover as he could. Intrigued, he pulled his left hand off his chest while Danny also collapsed beside him to check in on him. Despite his leather glove, Steve could see that the palm of his hand was covered with blood.

"You've been shot?" Danny then asked, not understanding the whole situation.

"That obvious?' Steve replied almost immediately, regretting it quickly.

The pain became intense as he tried to laugh, his breathing suddenly cut off, forcing him to cough in order to get some fresh air into his lungs. He let out a rumble of anger as his face displayed his suffering. He was already drained of all energy and did not seem able to rest his hand on his chest. Danny observed his partner scrupulously; his bullet-proof vest showed a medium hole in the middle of the front part, big enough to guess that Steve had indeed been shot to the chest. His stomach sank and he had to hold back his urge to vomit in order to remain calm. As he placed his left hand on his colleague's chest, not without hearing yet another growl of pain from him, he grabbed his phone with his other hand and dialed the emergency number.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"This is Detective Danny Williams, badge number 7576. I have an officer down at the intersection of Makiki St. and Makiki Pl. I need an ambulance ASAP!"

Without waiting for an answer from his correspondent, he threw his phone to the ground and focused more on Steve.

"Hey, hey, don't close your eyes, Steve. Stay with me, buddy. Come on, stay with me", Danny asked his mate as he slapped him on the cheeks.

Using much of his remaining strength, the soldier opened his eyes again. The sun was burning his skin despite the sweat dripping on his face, the heat paralyzing him even more as he tried to breathe through the continuous assaults of the suffering he was experiencing. The rays of light becoming a heavy burden he could not bear, he closed his eyes while remaining focused on his primary task: remain conscious.

"Steve! Open your eyes!" a loud voice came to surprise him.

This sudden scream frightened him to the point of reopening his eyes in less time than it took to say it. His vision remained blurry as a shadow came between him and the sun, but he knew it was Danny. He concentrated, squinting his eyelids in the hope of better distinguishing the facial features of this friend whom he considered a brother, the one he had never had and had hoped to find one day. His eyes were burning with every blink, but it didn't matter. What he saw in front of him was much more serious than anything he had ever endured before. Danny was scared. Not the fear he seemed to feel every time he got in the car with him or went on an expedition to hunt bad guys, no. It was an immeasurable and authentic fear that he had only seen five times on Danny since he first met him. A panic he couldn't define because it stuck to his body.

"Been worse…", Steve tried to explain to calm the terror that was invading his partner with the seconds that were passing by.

"I've seen worse, that's all you can say while you're bleeding out on me?" Danny couldn't help but fight back. "You really are an animal!"

Steve knew it, it wasn't the anger that was talking, it was his fear. He felt the policeman's hands shaking on his chest, he could hear his jerky, panicked breathing in his ears. He himself knew that his injury was serious; he had been caught under enemy fire and wounded so many times during his various missions in Afghanistan or elsewhere that he suspected it. And then, a NavySEAL had a relatively important medical knowledge to prepare for any eventuality, so he knew what would happen in the next few minutes while waiting for an ambulance to come to save him. He was going to lose more blood, he was about to go into shock due to this blood loss, to lose touch with the reality around him before closing his eyes without any possibility of reopening them. And then die, optionally. Sitting as he was, with his back against the destroyed car, his body seemed heavier and heavier. The world around him was gradually dying out and what remained visible was now for him a smokescreen, a fog that thickened as time passed.

Anger, fear. The emotions transcending Danny's face were so authentic, in contrast to the emotions Steve showed him on a daily basis, and it made him smile. A grin that made him cough again, the immeasurable pain radiating throughout his entire body. At least what he could still feel moving or shaking. Between two coughing spells, he tried almost in vain to get some air, even a tiny breath, as his lungs sang in unison to express their saturation. They could no longer function while his sputum took a reddish tint, blood was going out of his body from his chest, from the entrance wound, by changing the grey of the asphalt into a bright red, shining in the sun.

Steve McGarrett, although tenacious and never giving up, felt more than diminished. He no longer had the strength to hold on while Danny was keeping him alive now and seemed to want to let tears run down his cheeks. Yes, he understood the situation, it was serious and irrevocable. He knew that his best friend was dying in front of him, in his arms. But he had no right to let him down. Under no circumstances should he abandon him. In a last gesture of pure kindness, gathering his last strength, the NavySEAL began to smile and lay his bloody and icy hand on his brother's right cheek. Three words. In an almost inaudible whisper, Danny had been able to distinguish three words in reading his lips, captivating his heart and soul.

"I am sorry", he pronounced with an iron taste in his mouth.

These last words slammed his face with terrible force. His expression changed completely, from anger and emotion to sadness. As if he finally accepted Steve's letting go. He closed his eyes, letting the tears he held flow freely down his cheeks while taking care to place his boiling hand on his friend's, infallible support until the last second. Deep down, Steve was scared. He had never been afraid to die when he went on a mission, even when he was in a relationship with Catherine. But now everything was different. He, who had no real family, one that was stable with love around him, had found this by accepting Governor Jameson's proposal to create a special unit in Honolulu. At no time would he have suspected that this working relationship would quickly turn into a friendship, a fraternal love. Especially with Danny, who from the beginning seemed drastically opposed to everything he was personally.

Ever since he knew him, the thought of dying one day haunted him. A NavySEAL who admitted to being afraid when, for survival's sake, he was trained to hide them and overcome them? When he went to North Korea to pick up Jenna's fiancé, when he understood that he had been set a trap and found himself in front of Wo Fat, he was afraid. When he found himself in front of Omar Hassan in Afghanistan, captured and tortured to be simply an American who wanted to save children from a suicide bomber death that they would never have wanted, when they were all ready to behead him with a badly sharpened machete in front of the camera so that he could serve as an example to the Western world, he was so afraid that he had screamed in pain. When he took three bullets in the chest in a plane and Danny had to save him by landing as he could on one of Hawaii's heavenly beaches and learned that his friend and brother had given him a part of his liver in order to save his life, he vowed never to go back so close to death. When he was in that ridiculous combination, deprived of all his senses and hallucinating, it had been relatively difficult not to think about this imminent death.

Never had he been so afraid of dying in his nine years of partnership with Danny as he had been for the rest of his life, including his years as a member of the Navy. Even with Freddie, it had never been as intense as with him, or with Catherine, or Joe. He was afraid not to die but to be separated forever from that friend who knew him even better than he did, never to see his expressions again, his outbursts of anger that amused him so much, his sarcasm. To die was a synonym of forgetting for all eternity. And as one last memory before he died, all he wanted was that smile that set him apart from the others around him. The one who put him in a good mood, who put him back on the right track. The one who erased all his doubts and fears. Healed him. His left hand still on his chest, his right hand eternally on his own, he did not let go as Steve's hand tried to escape him as he whispered his last words to him.

"Love you, buddy…"

One last whisper, one last sigh. One last look before Steve's faded away, his blue irises no longer within sight, this smile he had on his face turning into a firm, impassive face. A dead one.

A/N: So, what do you think so far, huh?

I will probably add some * at some point to give you some clues of my theories about the show or to point out some relation with the actual show (at it is an original story, I have to take some points from the show, right?)

Please, leave me a review to know what are your thoughts about this story (even when you know (kinda) how it will end ^^