A/N This should start with a note to myself, which would read - never post a story that is not finished, because you never know where life is going to take you. At the beginning of 2020 I never expected to have masses of time on my hands and yet here I am. The good news is that I have time to write again, so here is the well over due end to this story.

For those of you that have forgotten the story I've added a synopsis. As always, thanks for reading.

A huge thank you to Phoebe for her editing skills and patience.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any of the characters.

Chapter Seventeen

Previously…

The team is tasked with finding Governor Mahoe's niece Kakalina Iosua. Danny goes undercover as Vincent Raines. He's Drayton Carlisle's newest driver, working with the man's car-jacking crew. After being involved in a number of car chases, Danny heads to California. Once there his cover is blown and he finds himself an unwitting passenger on a Hot Air Balloon. Steve travels to California in search of his missing partner. Steve finds Danny when the Hot Air Balloon he's in crashes. Danny spends a few weeks in hospital with a back injury and the team discover Kakalina was not missing but an integral part of Carlisle's empire. Steve and Danny arrive back on the Island and are confronted by a suicidal Kakalina. Steve is stabbed by her on his own driveway, and he and Danny end up in hospital.

H50 H50 H50 H50 H50

"Whoa, dude. I do not want to see your tooshie." Tani held up one hand in an attempt to shield her eyes, while trying to help Danny as he shuffled around to sit in the waiting wheelchair.

"Tooshie? What am I? A three year old?" Danny grimaced.

"Here." Tani held out a hospital issue robe. "Put this on before you show me your … never mind."

Danny slipped one arm into the sleeve. "You're blushing."

"Yea, well, there are things us kids don't wanna see."

"Kids?"

Tani helped him with the other sleeve. "Lou might have made a few passing comments."

Danny held the robe tight to his body with one arm and used the other to steady himself as he gingerly sat down. He blew out a long breath. "He could be onto something. I feel ancient."

"Well buckle up old man because I have a feeling this crazy plan of yours is gonna get me grounded, and you, confined to your bed for the foreseeable future." Tani pushed Danny into the corridor. The floor was quiet. She shuddered, a cold chill running down her back. "Damn, I'd rather dodge bullets."

H50 H50 H50 H50 H50

"McGarrett, you sure the doc said this was okay?" A look of concern washed over Jerry's face as he gently held Steve's elbow to support him.

"I won't break, Jer." Steve grabbed the IV pole, pulling it along with him as he angled himself towards the waiting wheelchair.

"When you mentioned a mission, I thought I'd be chasing bad guys. This is not what I was expecting." Jerry started to rip off the Velcro strips securing his tac vest.

"This is a hospital. You read too many crime novels." Steve laughed, instantly regretting it when the movement pulled on his stitches. "But you might need that. You haven't met Danny's nurse."

Jerry stopped briefly before patting the straps back down. "On second thought."

"I was kidding, Jerry." Steve tapped the big guy's arm as he positioned himself in front of the chair.

"You can never be too careful. Plus Danny's always saying you're a trouble magnet."

Steve rolled his eyes and sat down. "Whatever you say."

"You want me to grab you a robe?"

"No, that will do." Steve pointed to a crumpled blanket on a nearby chair. "Tani must have been cold."

Jerry wiped his brow. "Feels like a hundred degrees in here."

"Hey, maybe you should take a break. Call Tani. She can take me to see Danny."

"Nah, I'm good." Jerry covered Steve's legs with the lightweight blanket. "I think Junior drove Tani home."

"Did Lou stick around?"

"No, and he's got a broken arm, so not much help, Commander. Anyhow, I wanna be the one to tell Danny about the thumb drive."

Steve rubbed his forehead. "How did I forget that? Sorry, Jer."

"No problem." Jerry stood tall, feeling proud of himself.

H50 H50 H50 H50 H50

Tani pushed the call button for the elevator. "It's only one floor up to SICU, so it should be a quick ride."

"I take it by your concerned tone someone shared with you my love of small places?"

"The EMT mentioned something." Tani watched as the number above the double doors came to rest on their floor number.

"I'm good." Danny reached for Tani's hand, touching it lightly. "As long as it doesn't get stuck."

"Why would you say that? You've probably jinxed us now." She pulled the wheelchair backwards into the large car, theorizing Danny would prefer to be facing the doors.

They travelled the short distance in silence. Tani's eyes were fixed on the floor numbers, she tightened her grip on the handles as if preparing for a race. The doors opened but before she could move, Steve came careening through the gap, pushed by Jerry, who was shouting. "Close them."

Steve's ride came skidding to an abrupt halt millimetres off hitting the far wall.

"Hit the damn button." Steve yelled.

Tani stuck her head out of the door, instantly regretting it when she saw a nurse and two orderlies running towards her. She frantically jabbed the panel, simultaneously willing the doors to close.

"Commander, Sir, you need to return to your room, immediately. This sort of behaviour will not be tolerated…" The female voice faded out as the car began to move, this time back down.

"Danny. Tani." Jerry frowned, surprised to see his colleagues.

"Yea, this is unexpected." Tani covered her mouth trying to contain her laughter at the sight of Jerry wearing a vest. "At least you came prepared."

"What the hell were you thinking." Danny's outburst startled them both.

Steve and Danny glared at each other. Their chairs were almost rubbing up against each other.

"What was I thinking? You have a spinal fracture. Or have you forgotten already?"

"That's rich. You nearly bled out. Or have you forgotten that?"

"You should have cuffed her."

Danny visibly flinched at the accusation, as if his friend had punched him. "That's low, even for you, Steven."

"Stop this now, please." Tani hit the emergency button and the elevator jerked to a sudden halt.

"I for one am happy to see you both alive and well, but I've been babysitting your asses for long enough. We are taking you back to your rooms, so nurse Ratched can deal with you. I don't know about you Jerry, but I'm going home."

"Yea… about that." Jerry spoke in a sombre tone. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm pretty sure you have to contact an engineer to reset the controls."

"Crap. Call them."

Jerry buzzed the intercom, and a man's voice boomed over the speaker. "Can I help you?"

"We have a slight technical issue. Our elevator is stuck between floors -" Jerry glanced up at the illuminated numbers. "- one and Two."

"Okay. Hang tight, someone will be with you in about thirty."

"Half an hour. I have two patients with me."

"Are they in need of immediate medical attention?" The man spoke with an air of annoyance.

"Hmmm…" Jerry gave his friends a cursory look.

"We're fine, Jerry." Steve nodded his head in confirmation.

"They're good."

Tani moved to crouch down in front of Danny. She gave Steve a weak smile before speaking. "I'm so sorry, Danny. You good? Thirty minutes. Piece of cake."

Danny sucked in a deep cleansing breath. "Me and my big mouth, huh?"

"You said it." Her smile widened. "And sorry for my outburst."

"Hey, you have…" The partners spoke in unison. Danny waved his hand gesturing for Steve to continue.

"You have nothing to apologize for. We were being jerks." Steve kicked the side of Danny's wheelchair. "Weren't we?"

Danny didn't respond. Instead he looked down, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You okay?" Steve grimaced as he leaned forward, taking his friend's hand in his. "Buddy, talk to me."

"Fuck, we are so screwed." Danny giggled. "Hawaii's Elite Task Force stuck in an elevator while running scared from a nurse."

"Don't do that to me. I thought for a second your claustrophobia had kicked in."

"I didn't say it hadn't." Danny gave Steve's hand a squeeze before letting go.

"This is all my fault." Tani stood up and paced the small space.

"I have an idea. Why don't I bring you up to speed. Take your mind off your..." Jerry trailed off.

"You can say it." Danny glanced up at him. "Give it a try. You cannot make this clusterfuck of a month any worse."

"Go ahead, Jerry, we could all do with the distraction." Steve kept a concerned eye on his partner.

"We found a flash drive at the scene." Jerry stated enthusiastically.

"Flash drive? Why didn't someone tell me?" Danny became a little more animated, waving one hand in the air.

"Easy, Jerry's telling you now." Steve reprimanded.

Jerry rocked nervously from one foot to the other. "We still don't have a lead on who dropped it, but –"

"Reggie." Danny mumbled the name.

"How do you know that?" Steve raised an eyebrow, curious to know where this new piece of information came from.

Danny shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno. I have a vague memory of someone talking to me."

Jerry cleared his throat before continuing. "That would be Reginald Lawrence. Makes sense, he was Carlisle's techie. He would have had access to pretty much all their operations. We haven't been able to track him down."

"Why would he go to the trouble of going after Kakalina, and then give everything up?" Tani looked puzzled. "I don't get it."

"He was one of your more likeable criminals." Danny smiled. "Guess he had a conscience. Saved my ass more than once."

"Whoever or whatever he was, he did us a massive favor. We have the intricate details of every operation Carlisle ever ran. The names of everyone involved." Jerry scratched his chin. Letting his colleagues absorb that information. "And Miss Iosua is at the top of that list."

Steve scrubbed his face wearily. "Suicide by cop. She was facing a lifetime behind bars and she would have brought shame to her family. A well respected family."

"I spoke to Junes earlier. He said the Governor's dropping out of the election."

"Junes." Danny grinned.

"Think what you like." Tani blushed. "I don't care if it puts a smile on your face. I missed you, Detective Williams."

Danny's smile broadened. "Feeling's mutual, Officer Rey."

"I hear Gracie and Charlie are visiting you tomorrow. Don't forget to send them up to their Uncle Steve."

"If our visiting rights have not been revoked I'll join them."

Steve stifled a yawn. "Looking forward to it, Danno."

Their attempt to return to normality was cut short when the elevator started to move. They stopped at the next floor and the doors opened to reveal an entourage of medical personnel.

"Visiting time is over, gentlemen." Danny's nurse practically growled the words.

"That's our cue, Jerry. Let's go. Bye guys." Tani was so nervous the words came out in a rush. She pulled Jerry into the corridor by his vest. "Come on. You can take me home."

"Traitors." Both men exclaimed at the same time.

H50 H50 H50 H50 H50

Three months later…

"Danno, why are you out here all alone?" Steve stood by the beach chairs, holding a beer.

"Did you bring me one of those?" Danny tipped his bottle upside down, a trickle of the amber liquid dotted the sand.

"Nah, you can get another when you come in and join the rest of our Ohana."

"I've been stuck inside for three months." Danny dropped the bottle by his chair and began to scroll down the screen of the cell phone he was holding.

"Whatcha doing?" Steve sat down next to his friend.

"Your Wi-Fi sucks."

"We're on a beach, Danno. The Wi-Fi doesn't reach this far."

"Well it should. If I'm gonna be staying here you'll need to get one of those extender thingies."

"My Wi-Fi is just fine."

Danny held up the cell phone momentarily. "The network coverage here is sketchy."

"I've never had a problem with it, Danno. It must be you." Steve sighed and shook his head. "I'll get Jerry to look at it."

"Good." Danny gave a clipped response.

"What's up with you?" Steve studied his friend worriedly.

"When were you going to tell me, you'd been asked to resign?" Danny didn't look up from what he was reading.

Steve sighed heavily. "How'd you know that?"

"You told Chin. He called to see how things were going. Asked if everything with you and IA had been squared away."

"Yea, I spoke to him. I was gonna tell you, but you needed to concentrate on your recovery."

Danny scowled at Steve incredulously. "What about you? You had major surgery. Almost died. Maybe we could've shared the burden, Steven."

"We already share a liver, that's enough." Steve smirked.

"Don't try to make light of this. I've read the report. The one you managed to hide from me."

"There's nothing in there you don't already know."

"That's not the point and you know it." Danny peered at his cell. "Detective Williams violated the chain of command when he failed to –"

"Stop." Steve grabbed his partner's wrist in an attempt to pull the phone away from him. Danny resisted, tightening his hold on the device. "I've read it and I was there, remember?"

Danny held Steve's glare with his own. "Yea, and I caused a car chase that nearly killed innocent people, including two of our own."

"It was an undercover op. They come with risks and the only reason we got investigated was because it involved the Governor." Steve's kept his voice flat.

"We didn't get investigated. You did. So, what did you do? Make a deal with the devil? " Danny jerked his arm away, forcing Steve to relinquish his grip.

"Calm down, buddy. You didn't need the added stress."

"Stop deflecting."

"You're like a dog with a bone." Steve dropped his empty beer bottle onto the sand and leaned forward in his chair. "I didn't have to make any deals. Lou had a run in with William Davies – Director of Public Safety. They didn't exactly hit it off, so Lou did some digging. His team was not working completely within the law. The investigation got dropped. It was agreed that it wasn't in the best interests of the people of Hawaii, especially following what happened with Governor Mahoe and her niece."

Danny didn't answer. He got up, shoving his cell into his jeans pocket and walked towards the water. Steve hesitated for a second before following his partner's lead. They stood in silence, watching an Albatross gliding over the water.

"Maybe I overreacted." Danny gave Steve the briefest of looks before turning back to watch the waves break on the shore. "Being back here is harder than I thought it would be."

Steve rested his hand on his friend's shoulder. "You went through hell to bring down Carlisle's empire. It was bound to leave a few scars. Believe me I know all about those."

"That day on your driveway." Danny's voice cracked. "I thought I'd lost you."

"But you didn't lose me, Danno. Why don't we go inside and get that beer."

"Give me a few minutes." Danny used the back of his hand to wipe a stray tear from his cheek.

"Hey, come here." Steve pulled his friend into a gentle hug. "I love you, buddy.

"I love you, too."

~ the end ~