Author's note: Aloha Oe is otherwise known as the Hawaiian farewell song. I thought it was fitting. Established Steve/Danny.

One fond embrace ere I depart, Until we meet again~ Aloha Oe (Hawaiian Farewell Song)

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'? It wasn't a question." Steve looked at Danny bewildered by his partner's response.

"I don't care, my answer is no, you're not going." Danny stated firmly.

"Danny, this isn't a request- it's an order."

"I don't care if it's a freaking calling from God. There's no way that you're going back over there." Danny was getting more and more upset which meant that Steve was slowly losing the battle of trying to talk about this rationally.

"This was always a possibility as long as we are in a time of war. They called my SEAL unit back into active duty. I have to go." Steve

"What? Are you the only SEAL unit out there? There has to be other people qualified to go. You already served your time faithfully and honorably. It's not fair of them to call you back now." Danny's hand chopped through the air harshly. "And why do they need a SEAL unit anyways? It's a goddamn desert!" He had gone off into full blown rant mood by this point.

"I have to go." Steve said again quietly and a little bit of the fight left the other man.

"Then I'll go with you." Danny declared. Steve hung his head. This was beginning to sound more like an argument with Grace.

"You know that's impossible."

"Ya? Well then who the hell is going to protect you when you go and try to be the stupid, heroic jerk and take out the threat without back-up?" The detective said almost accusingly.

"I'll have a whole team with me."

"But they're not me." Danny stated simply and suddenly this over-exaggeration of emotions made a little more sense. After the number of life and death situations that he had put the two of them in and come out of (somewhat) unscathed, Danny didn't trust anyone else but him (and the team) to 'be the backup'.

"They're good men." Steve said, but his partner was not reassured.

"Like Taylor was a good man?" He accused.

"Danny…."

"Whatever. I clearly don't matter when it comes to this. I'm just your partner and the guy you supposedly love." Danny shot back. A hurt look came across Steve's face but he didn't stick around long enough to see it as he stormed off towards the bedroom.

He knew it wasn't fair to say that to Steve. He did know that he didn't have a choice in the matter. The Navy had called just after they had gotten home that night to "inform Commander McGarrett that his SEAL unit was being deployed to Afghanistan at 0700 Monday morning" and it had just set something off in Danny. He had seen the look in Steve's eyes as he heard the details and something about it had told him that he was about to get his heart broken—again. This time he was going to prepare for it. He wouldn't be blindsided by it like he had been with Rachael. No, not again.

Danny yanked off his tie and threw it in the general direction of the laundry basket. He should have known better than to offer himself up to a military man but the truth was that he rarely thought of Steve as such. Sure he liked to tease him about being a super SEAL but it was in the same way that Steve teased him about Jersey. Both topics fell into the category of things that were in their pasts. Apparently Steve's military career wasn't quite past tense yet.

"Stupid Navy, stupid war, stupid desert…" He muttered as he kicked off his shoes and watched them land close enough to the closet. He continued to spew obscenities that would make a sailor (damn it, stupid Navy again) blush as he finished undressing and redressing in a t shirt and sweatpants.

"I don't want to go." Steve said, appearing in the doorway. "I don't want to leave you or the team or Grace or any part of the life that I have here. I know you all need me….but my country needs me too. It's a part of my life that I can't change—that I don't want to change. But I need your love and support if I'm going to get through it." Danny hung his head, unable to look at the raw emotion on his partner's face.

"You just had to have a rational explanation didn't you? You just know I can't argue with a rational explanation." Steve chuckled and walked over to him, wrapping his arms around the shorter man.

"I promise-"

"What happened to being rational? Don't you dare promise me anything. You can't promise me that you'll stay safe or that you won't die so don't even say it." Danny warned. Steve placed his head on top of Danny's.

"Can I ask you to promise me something?" Steve asked.

"That depends on what it is."

"Can you promise me not to be even more of a miserable bastard than you already are? I don't want to hear about Chin and Kono wanting to strangle you because you're being insufferable. And you have to take care of yourself for Grace's sake. She gonna have a hard enough time with this and she doesn't need your emotional baggage on top of it." Steve requested. "Don't make me worry about you."

"Psh we both know that I do all the worrying in this relationship…..but I'll somehow manage to survive without you." Danny grumbled into Steve's chest. Steve smiled sadly as he kissed the top of his head. He held on to the moment for as long as he could, not knowing when the next one would come along.

Steve McGarrett was not going to cry.

Everyone had come out to the airstrip to say goodbye before he left on his air transport to D.C. to meet up with the rest of his unit. Kono was crying, Danny had cried that morning (though he had vehemently denied it saying it was his allergies bothering him because really did there need to be so many flowers on this damn island?) and Chin was starting to look teary.

"Can I ask a favor?"

"Of course bro." Chin answered.

"Can at least one of you look like you're going to see me again?" He requested. Chin and Kono laughed and Danny attempted a smile. Steve looked down at his watch and realized that it was almost time to go. Kono caught this and stepped forward to give him a hug.

"Stay safe, Boss." She said softly. "Don't leave me here alone with these two for too long." She said with a wink. Chin stepped up next with a hug of his own.

"Aloha Oe." He said with a pat on the other man's back.

"Aloha Oe." Steve responded. He held Chin close for another second. "Keep an eye on Danny for me. Don't let him get too down. He's no good when his mind goes to dark places." Steve whispered to his friend. Chin nodded solemnly. Now the hard part.

"Is this the part where I'm supposed to get all weepy and declare my everlasting love for you?" Danny said deadpanned.

"No I think this is the part where I sweep you up into my arms and lay the climatic kiss on you and ask you to wait for me." Steve responded without missing a beat. Danny snorted.

"You will not make out with me in public…..and I will not wait for you without a big fat honkin' diamond." Danny shot back.

"Sorry no diamond." Steve shrugged. Danny sighed dramatically.

"You're a lousy boyfriend." He said as he wrapped his arms around him. Chin and Kono backed away to give the two a moment. "You didn't even put out before you left." Danny whined.

"I'll put out when I get back." Steve promised before turning serious. "Remember what you promised me."

"Ya ya I promise not to be an emotional wreck while you're gone. What would be extremely helpful is if you could keep from giving me something to worry about." Steve wanted to make a comment about how then he wouldn't be himself but decided against it. He pulled the shorter man in closer. "I love you Danny." He whispered into his blonde hair. He heard Danny mumbled something back. "What?"

"I said Danno loves you too." He repeated begrudgingly. It was totally worth it though to see the huge smile on Steve's face. It was that smile that would get him through the long nights ahead of him.