At least this time, it wasn't Steve's fault.

They could've gotten out of this, but of course, Danny had to go and run his mouth and get them locked in the damn freezer. They were on opposite sides, glaring at each other while trying to stay warm.

"You just had to open your mouth, didn't you? I always knew that mouth of yours was going to get you into trouble and you just had to drag me along. I hope you're happy." Steve groused.

Danny scoffed. "Oh well, excuse me. I can't help it that I can't control my mouth in stressful situations. Sarcasm is a natural defense mechanism so I'm sorry if that is inconvenient for you."

It was silent for a while after that. Time seemed to pass by very slowly and the leaders of Five-O were losing body heat quickly. They had no idea if help was on the way. Both Steve and Danny failed to mention their little field trip to either Chin or Kono.

Danny sat curled up in his corner. "I w-wonder when C-Chin and K-Kono are gonna g-get here. Oh t-that's r-right. They're n-not because you decided t-to not tell them!"

"You could've picked up the p-phone too Danno." Steve threw back.

With every hour that passed by, to Steve and Danny, it felt as if the temperature kept dropping. Steve looked over at Danny and noticed that he was shaking uncontrollably. He crawled across the ice-cold freezer floor; fingers already numb from lack of circulation, and fit himself behind his partner, pulling him into his chest.

"W-what the h-hell are y-you d-doing S-Steven?" he was too cold to argue.

Steve wrapped himself around Danny as best he could, trying to preserve as much heat as possible. "Trying t-to keep us w-warm. Now s-shut up and r-relax D-Danno."

Danny relaxed back into the semi-warmth that his partner provided. He held on to Steve's forearms as he waited for the inevitable. Steve, seeming to sense Danny's thoughts, nudged him.

"Hey. Y-you are not allowed t-to give up on m-me, o-okay? You need t-to fight f-for Gracie." Steve placed a quick kiss behind Danny's ear. "T-they'll find us. They w-won't leave us behind."

Danny turned in Steve's embrace, wrapping his arms around his partner, all but climbing in Steve's lap. Steve held Danny closer as the shivers that racked both their bodies became more violent.

More time elapsed and both men were still, bodies numb with the cold. Danny felt his eyes drooping and the last bit of his energy depleting.

"S-Steve? If w-we d-don't make i-it out o-of this, I-I want y-you to know t-that I-I l-love y-you." Danny managed to get out through his chattering teeth.

"I-I l-love y-you too."

Both men's eyes shut minutes before the freezer door was yanked open and Kono yelled.

"Oh my God! Chin! They're in here!" she ran over to Steve and Danny, feeling their necks for a pulse.

Kono sighed with relief and turned to Chin. "They're alive, barely. We have to get them out of here before we lose them."

Chin stood and called for the paramedics. The paramedics quickly go to work on the leaders of Five-O, placing oxygen masks over their faces. They were wasting time with trying to figure out how to separate them without causing any damage. Eventually, they just moved them together and placed them on the gurney and out to the awaiting ambulance.

Chin and Kono followed behind the ambulance to the hospital. They arrived in the waiting area and tried to stay calm while they waited for word on Steve and Danny. As they waited, Kono made all the necessary calls informing them of the situation and to stay put with a promise of an update when they are available.

And so they wait.

And wait and wait and wait. Chin sat in one of the chairs, reading a magazine, as Kono paced the entire waiting room. Kono's heart leapt to her throat as alarms and a horde of nurses and doctors raced toward the source of the sounds. Kono looked back at her cousin, tears in her eyes.

Chin was immediately at her side, engulfing her in a hug, rubbing her back in soothing strokes.

"We don't know anything. It may not be them. We have to stay positive."

Kono buried her face in Chin's chest, silent tears falling down her cheeks as she nodded her head.

Kono had no idea how long they'd been at the hospital until she's met with an armful of Grace. Rachel came hurrying after her a few seconds later.

"I'm so sorry. I know you told us to wait, but she's been in hysterics and wouldn't calm down until I brought her here."

Grace looked up at Kono. "Where are Danno and Uncle Steve? I need to see them."

"I know Grace but we haven't heard anything from the doctor in a long time. It takes some time for them to bounce back after what they went through." Kono said.

Grace nodded and curled up in Kono's lap and waited. By the time Kono looked at her phone, it was almost 5 am. She was beginning to get worried after the second time the alarms sounded a couple of hours ago. Finally, the doctor came out and gestured for them to follow him into one of the conference rooms. He sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"It was touch and go for a very long time. With any type of hypothermia, you must reintroduce heat back to the body slowly. At first, their temperatures weren't rising as much as we'd like. Then their oxygen levels would decrease and their blood pressure would drop. That caused the both of them to go into cardiac arrest. They are stable now and steadily climbing out of the danger zone. During this entire process, neither Detective Williams nor Commander McGarrett has woken up yet. We are hopeful that they will wake up within the next few hours. I'll have a nurse escort you to their room."

Kono remained in her chair, taking in all the information that was just given to her. Once Steve and Danny woke up, she was going to kill them for scaring her like this. The small group followed the nurse down the hall and to the room at the end on the left. Kono visibly relaxed at seeing her friends finally regaining color back to their skin.

No one seemed to care that Steve and Danny were still wrapped around each other. They were just happy that their friends were alive. Chin, Kono, Grace and Rachel all kept a constant vigil at Steve and Danny's bedside, waiting for them to wake up.

The first thing Danny noticed as he started to wake was that he was incredibly warm. The second thing he noticed was the body beneath his and they were both in the nude. And the third thing he noticed was the steady beeping telling him that he was in the hospital. He opened his eyes and sat that Steve was still asleep. He looked around and saw his team, daughter and ex-wife surrounding the bed he and Steve shared and that they were all asleep. He could barely move. So he settled back down and went back to sleep.

The next time Danny awoke was to soft whispers around him and the low rumbling of Steve's voice. He tested his muscles and moaned low in his throat at the pain that spiked through him. All attention was on him now and Grace carefully pulled herself up on the bed next to Steve.

"Danno! I was so worried about you and Uncle Steve. Please don't do that again. I was so scared."

Danny bit back the scream that wanted to escape his mouth as he moved his hand to comfort his baby girl. "I'm so sorry that we worried you monkey. And we'll try our best okay?"

Grace nodded as she carefully hugged each of them. Rachel carefully extracted Graced from their side.

"Come on sweetheart. We should go home and get some sleep. I'm going to call you off school today." she leant down and placed a chaste kiss to Danny's forehead and a gentle hand to Steve's shoulder. "I'm glad you both are alive and on the mend. I'll bring Grace by later."

The others watched as mother and daughter made their way out of the room. Chin and Kono turned back around to face their superiors. Kono, feeling the tears welling in her eyes again.

"When the two of you are well enough, I'm going to kill you." she choked on the last word as the tears fell again.

Danny reached out for her and tightly grasped her hand when she took it. "I'm sorry Kono that we put you through this. And just for the record, it was not my idea to not inform you of where we were going. That's all on Super SEAL."

Steve scoffed. "Yeah, yeah. But it was your mouth that got us locked in that freezer in the first place."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Oh would you just let that go already?" he looked over at Chin and Kono. "Listen, why don't the both of you go home and get some rest, and maybe a shower, then come by later."

Chin nodded at them both and took Kono by the arm. "Sounds like a plan. Feel better you two. Come on cuz."

Once Chin and Kono left, Steve rubbed his hand over Danny's back

"How're you feeling?" Steve murmured into Danny's hair.

Danny closed his eyes. "Like someone ran me over with a truck and the cars behind it followed its path. Everything hurts. How about you?"

The corners of Steve's mouth turned down and he shrugged. "Yeah, that about sums it up. I told you they'd find us."

Danny huffed out a laugh. "That you did." he sighed. "Listen Steve, about what I said back there—"

"No takesies backsies." Steve cut Danny off before he could say anything more.

This time Danny did laugh. "What are you, seven?" he twisted around so he could look at Steve.

Steve was smiling brightly at Danny before it morphed into a fond, almost loving look. He carded his fingers through Danny's hair. "I'm done dancing around this thing between us. We almost lost each other D. And now that we have this, second chance so to speak, don't you think we should take a chance on us?"

Danny stared into Steve's eyes. He saw the longing, loneliness, anxiety, the fear of rejection, and most importantly, love. He'd never seen so many emotions swimming around in Steve's eyes before. It took his breath away. After going through a divorce and countless custody hearings, he never thought that he'd let himself love again; let alone be loved in return. He knew that the both of them had baggage and countless issues, but that's what made them, well, them.

He pulled himself out of his thoughts and surged forward, capturing Steve's lips. His muscles screamed at the sudden movement from being frozen in the same position for hours. At first, they didn't move; just feeling each other out.

Steve still had his hand in Danny's hair and he tightened his fingers in the blond locks. He relaxed his tense muscles as he licked his way into Danny's mouth, tangling his tongue with Danny's in a slow, teasing dance. He had no idea if the moan came from him or Danny. Or maybe both. He moved his free hand under the blanket and gripped Danny's bare hip gently.

Steve pulled back, panting for air, and stared into Danny's captivating blue eyes which were almost taken over by black.

"So…I'll take that as a yes?" he asked hesitantly.

Danny gifted him with one of his genuine, albeit rare, smiles. "Yes. Ya goof. That is a yes."

Steve returned the smile before bringing their lips back together and rolled his hips up into Danny's.

Danny immediately pulled back, glaring at Steve. "Oh no you don't. We are not having kinky hospital sex in the freaking hospital! Save it for when we can go home and have all kinds of kinky sex in a real bed, okay?"

Steve laughed before nodding. "Sure thing Danno. Whatever you say."