I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.
Notes: I'm in DWOCD for a reason. Doggone bunch of enablers ya all are! And then the darn saber toothed Bunny just won't hush up sometimes. JazzieG offered her endless carrots and she HEARD about it. And of course Jlopie has a cattle prod. EEK! So quite literally, the evil bunny wrote this in place of the gentler breakfast Bunny. But it's shorter – possibly more angsty and darker than normal. Not a very happy ending either though the dear boys will always be safe (relatively speaking) in my stories. My thanks to the AWESOME beta from CinderH.
And it's safe to say: I ain't no doctor and don't do drugs. This is FICTION folks - read, enjoy and hopefully be entertained.
H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O*
Chapter 1
Danny started in surprise when he felt the strong fingers grasping his own, and then awkwardly trail down to his wrist. Checking his pulse. Gloved but for one finger. The warm, soft leather comforted cold, clammy skin and Danny visibly relaxed.
"Steve?" He managed to croak out in a broken whisper. His eyes were growing heavy as he watched Kiki's back. But the strength of the single touch buoyed his own flagging energy. Kiki and her boyfriend were standing over the small flame again. Blackened teaspoon in hand and two syringes at the ready as they liquefied the drug. Danny was struggling to focus his eyes in the murky light of the small shed since it was only illuminated by a few small candles. His mind almost couldn't cope with the weird halo effect around Kiki's head as she bent over the flame. They'd already each 'treated' themselves so Danny wasn't sure why they were at it again so soon - and he was afraid to find out.
But he chanced a glance down through the broken slats of the old shed and saw just enough of the familiar black-gloved hand, trigger finger free for traction. "Hey .. Steve." Danny whispered again, surprised at the feeble tone of his own voice. He wanted to say more, but then couldn't get his mouth to work as his body began to shake. He was cold and realized blandly that he was already in shock as he managed a softly ghosted smile.
Danny's own fingers weakly fumbled and found Steve's for another brief reassuring shared pressure. And then before leaving him, Steve squeezed his wrist once again to communicate his own evident relief and then the gloved hand was gone as it wriggled back outside into the darkness where it had come from. Danny closed his eyes as he finally choked out the words he wanted to tell Steve. A warning that Kiki was barely seventeen. And her boyfriend was only about nineteen .. if that.
"Just .. just .. kids." Danny tried now to cough out his worried warning but Steve was already silently gone. Fading into the darkness around the small potting shed set above Toast's larger home-like hangout of sorts. And his voice just wouldn't carry as blood loss caught up to him in earnest. The SEAL wouldn't hesitate and maybe not Brent, but Kiki definitely had made a mistake. She was so small and so very young that he knew she'd made a serious mistake somewhere in her brief life. Someone had let her down along the way and she was going to pay for it. Danny was sure of that fact as he blearily watched the tiny frame of the teenage girl standing by the potter's table. And like Toast said, if she were under-age she was sure to be a runaway.
"Mistake .." He tried again but his voice just wouldn't project. Vaguely from where he lay slumped against the old wooden walls of the dilapidated shed, Danny could sense Steve's stealthy movement around the one room building. Staying low, ducking where the wood was most damaged and decayed. Getting a line of sight on the two people that had essentially taken Danny hostage. Determined and likely very angry.
So when he saw the glint of the weapon through one of the thin-walled and jagged openings, Danny groaned as shook his head dismally. The harsh whisper was barely voiced as the silvery glint appeared and then disappeared through the broken slats. His partner was on the move and evaluating the best position to eliminate the threat. "No. Steve ... don't .. please."
He tried then to roll off the wall where he'd been casually dumped when Brent forced him into the shed. And Danny hadn't had too much choice about it since Brent had daringly indicated that he'd shoot Kiki if the cop didn't do as he demanded. Kiki's back was to them as she raced up the short path to the potting shed. She hadn't seen the evil in Brent's eye or heard the whispered threat.
"Shot you once. I'll do her next if you don't keep going." And then he stopped and purposefully aimed the weapon at the girl's back. Jokingly pointed it and made a clicking sound with his tongue. But even now, Danny didn't want to necessarily warn the two about what was coming; he just wanted to distract them enough. Give Steve enough of a chance to see they were just kids who had made a stupid mistake and to not burst into the shed with guns blazing. But he'd lost a lot of blood from the bullet wound and the pain flared in earnest as he tried to move. Gripping his leg with both hands as pain rolled through him, Danny groaned while the nausea surged and he squeezed his eyes tightly shut. He was shaking more now and had only managed to slide down the wall into a deeper uncomfortable slouch. His pants were soaked through and even with the belted tourniquet, the floor was becoming stained with a darker red smear.
Coughing and breathing heavily as he tried to keep the nausea and pain both at bay, Danny only opened his eyes when Kiki moved aside and he heard Brent laughing at him. Through his hazy vision, Danny's thoughts changed course completely as the older nineteen year old drew the heroin into the syringe while Kiki's shaking hand held the spoon.
"You're joining us. It will make you feel so much better. Kiki will do the honors though." The words were slurred by now, dreamy with maybe a touch of hostility aimed at Toast. And the expression was cold and distant as Brent loaded the first and many times used vial with heroin and mumbled the next strange comment as he pushed the plunger slowly to remove any air. Danny froze as the first drops of liquid dribbled slowly from the needle's tip. Any movement on the outside of the shed completely stilled as well. Steve was listening, watching and he also knew what was coming as Brent continued to speak.
"Think of it as compliments from Toast. My buddy's gift to you."
Feeling faint, Danny was too tired to even voice his objection. His vision had dimmed as the pain rattled his leg from his vain attempt to roll forward and sweat was dripping incessantly into his eyes. He could only watch with dread as Kiki took the syringe and staggered over to him. But Danny could also sense Steve taking a position at the flimsy shed door. Not even a real door for it was held up barely by one rusted hinge and pieces of rope and misshapen planks of wood. And as Steve shifted and readied himself, Danny could almost see the foreboding shape of the SEAL looming at the ready. The glint from a gun that would be used if necessary. But then Kiki's much too skinny and immature body was at his side too soon and Danny tried to rear backwards into the old plank wall. With strength fading, Danny lazily moved his attention back to the young girl as she pushed filthy, lank yellow hair behind her ears while offering him a vacant sweet smile.
"He's right you know." Kiki kept smiling as she grabbed his wrist and fought past his attempts to pull away. She was almost lauging at the hand game of sorts as he tried to evade her grip.
"Oh come on." And she rolled her eyes and giggled now sounding very much like the young teenager she was as Danny broke her grip and then took her thin wrist in his own hand. "This will make you feel better. Your leg won't hurt so bad."
In the brief time he'd been with the two teenagers, Danny had failed miserably in his attempts to engage Kiki in any sort of conversation. It was clear that she didn't trust any adults in any way, shape or form. And trusting a cop was completely out of the question. His simple conversation and kind words had been met with a stony glare and she'd practically hidden behind Brent to avoid going near his side of the small shed.
But it was now also sadly obvious that the drugs made her feel more powerful as she bent down next to him.
"Kiki. Don't." His voice was harsh even to his own ears and he couldn't help coughing again. His entire body was heavy and responding lethargically as he tried to avoid her hands and the needle. Her sickish smile didn't reach her eyes as she got ready to inject him with the heroin. In fact, Kiki wasn't listening to him as she hummed a senseless tune.
She was much different from before .. from just before Danny had first been shot when visiting with Toast down below in the main house. Her eyes had completely changed as she took her first trip and she'd lost much of her innocent expression. It was startling to see the weird changes in a face that was stuck inside a child's body and Danny had to close his eyes as he noted the bruises and marks on her soft-skinned arms.
"Just a baby." He had muttered under his breath when they first got to the shed. In shock, he had watched as she expertly slid the needle under her skin. Through the pain in his leg, he had felt a new pain turn his stomach as she folded herself onto the ancient moldy sofa and then rock to a silent song.
And now she was kneeling next to him, humming yet another crazily happy tune. He was breathing heavily as he held one of her scrawny wrists in a weak grip. But Danny couldn't take his hazy eyes off her other trembling hand as she raised the syringe like a special offering between them.
~ To be continued ~