(no subject)
Title: Past is Prologue
Author: stellarmeadow
Fandom: Hawaii Five-0
Paring: Steve/Danny
Rating: R
Summary: Steve and Danny are trying to move beyond the revelations of Steve's past, but the past isn't quite done with them yet.
Notes: I couldn't resist revisiting this universe. It needed more. Huge thanks to smudgegirl and uxseven for the cheerleading and the help when things didn't quite work right.
If you haven't read Can You Feel My Heart, this story will make no sense. Read that first.
Part 1 | Part 2
At first, Steve wasn't sure what woke him. The cave was silent, and Danny hadn't moved in his arms. Then he realized that Danny was a little too still. "Danny?" Steve whispered, shaking him a little.
"Sleeping," was Danny's slurred response as he rested heavily on Steve's shoulder.
"Hey, come on, time for sleeping is over," Steve said. "Time to get up."
Danny didn't reply, so Steve moved out from beside him to face him. "Danny. Wake up." Steve put a hand on Danny's cheek and shook him again, not stopping until Danny's eyes blinked open.
"Wanna sleep," Danny murmured, eyes slipping closed again.
"No, no, no." Steve shook him again. "Can't sleep. Wake up. Come on."
He'd heard stories about vamps who hadn't fed, who'd just slipped into death after they'd been turned. They'd only been stories, but this was starting to look real, and Steve needed Danny to snap out of it before it got any worse. "Danny! Wake up!"
Danny's eyes closed, and Steve felt his stomach flip. "Hey!" he shouted towards the entrance of the cave. "We need help!"
He figured Lance wouldn't want a dead hostage, so he was banking on a guard showing up. Sure enough, a man came to see what the problem was, flashlight tilted just enough that Steve could see his face. "He needs blood," Steve said. "He's dying."
"I thought he was already dead," the guy said, like it was no big deal. "Isn't that how it works?"
"Isn't that...don't you know?"
"Not yet," the guy said, with a gleam in his eye. "They promised if I did what they said, they'd show me."
Steve blinked. "You're human?"
"Duh. I'm standing out there in the sun, aren't I?"
"Look," Steve said, getting up and moving closer slowly, "they're not likely to show you how this works if one of your hostages is dead, now, are they?"
"What do they care?"
"They care a lot," Steve said. "And I'm very sorry."
"Sorry for what?"
"This."
He hit the guy hard, and he went down just as hard. Steve dragged him over to Danny, using the flashlight to find a jagged rock and cut the guy's wrist. When he'd made the cut, he put the open wound up to Danny's lips. "Danny," he said. "Come on, drink."
Danny didn't move, and Steve shook him. "Drink, dammit! You need to drink!" He shook Danny again. "Come on, don't you dare leave me, dammit!"
Danny shifted the tiniest bit, and Steve put the flashlight up to see Danny's lips moving against the guy's wrist. After several seconds, Danny's hands came up to hold the guy's arm, and Steve dropped his own, watching as Danny became stronger as he drank.
Steve counted off the time in his head before he pulled the guy away from Danny, not without some difficulty. Part of him wanted to just let the guy die, but he couldn't. Maybe this would be the scare the guy needed to go straight.
More importantly, he didn't want Danny to live with the knowledge of having drained someone dry. It wasn't a pleasant memory to have for the rest of your life.
"Steve?"
Danny sounded stronger, and confused. "Yeah?"
"Who was that?"
"Turns out they needed a human guard for daylight after all." Steve said. "But I don't think we should wait around for anyone to come check up on him." He stood, offering a hand out to Danny. "Come on, let's go."
"Where? It's daylight."
"If there's one cave here, there have to be more," Steve said, searching the guy's pockets until he found a cell phone. "We'll hole up in one until the cavalry comes," he said, holding up the phone.
"Are you sure I'm not going to just catch fire when I step outside?" Danny asked.
"I promise," Steve said, taking Danny's hand. "Come on."
After a second, Danny fell into step behind him. "Lead the way."
***
Steve was right, they didn't have to go far to find another cave. Which was good, because Danny was fading fast in the filtered sunlight. Steve remembered the feeling, and he didn't want to prolong it any longer than he had to. He'd caused Danny enough suffering already.
As soon as they were under cover, Steve pulled out the cell phone he'd stolen. "Fuck!" he hissed.
Danny was close by his side, looking at the phone. "What?"
"Lock screen."
"Really?" Danny pointed at the bottom corner of the phone. "Emergency call," he said. "I think this qualifies."
Which he should've known--it was standard. He just...he looked at Danny, who seemed far less rattled than Steve was. Even though Danny had just fed off a human for the first time, and was, in fact, suddenly and against his will, a vampire.
Okay, McGarrett, call for help, then you can freak out.
Steve called Kono, who answered on the second ring. "Kono--"
"Steve?"
"Yeah, it's me. Did Josef make it back?"
"Yeah, he's here with us. Hang on." He heard background noise and realized he was on speaker phone. "Where are you?" Kono asked.
"I'm not sure. Are you still at the lab?"
"No, after Josef came back without you we came back to HQ so we could try to find you. Do you have any idea where you are?"
Steve shifted the phone to his other hand, sneaking a look at Danny, who was leaning back against the cave wall, eyes closed. They'd stayed close enough to the entrance that there was some light--Steve's reasoning to Danny had been defense, but he'd also wanted to be able to keep an eye on Danny as well. "Best guess is somewhere around Ka'a'awa. I didn't get a great look at the surroundings, we were trying to get to another cave as fast as we could."
"Hang on."
Steve watched Danny while he waited, comforted by the small motions he made as he rested. If he was moving, even a little, he was okay. For now.
"Okay," Kono said after a moment, "I'm only getting an approximation right now from the towers you're using. If I'm going to pinpoint, I need you to go outside long enough for the satellite to pick up that phone's GPS.
He didn't want to leave Danny, but Danny couldn't exactly go outside right now. "Okay, hold on." He put the phone on mute and knelt down beside Danny. "Hey," Steve said softly, reassured when Danny's eyes opened quickly, if not exactly alertly. "I'm gonna go right outside the cave so Kono can find our signal. I'll be right back."
Danny nodded. Steve touched his cheek for a second before he jumped up and ran for the entrance, unmuting the phone as he went. "Okay," he said to Kono, eyes scanning the horizon for any kind of threat. "Track it quick."
The sound of birds comforted him as he waited--if anyone was moving around nearby, there'd be a lot less bird chatter and a lot more silence. But he still wanted to get back in the cave and make sure Danny was okay.
After what seemed like forever, but the phone said was under a minute, Kono said, "Gotcha. You're right about Ka'a'awa, you're not that far from Kualoa, by the looks of things. Any chance you could get to the ranch?"
"Not with the shape Danny's in. We need to stay under cover as much as possible."
"Okay, I've got a lock on the GPS. We're on the way. Try to stay put, but if you have to move, make sure the GPS is on. Text me if you can if you move."
"Will do. Thanks."
He hung up and went back inside, the panic in his chest receding at the sight of Danny still where Steve had left him. "Hey," Steve said, sitting down beside him. "You okay?"
Danny nodded, eyes opening a little. "I'll live," he said, barking out a harsh laugh. "Just tired."
"I know, but I need you to stay awake a little longer, okay?"
Danny made an attempt at rolling his eyes. Nowhere near as good as he usually managed, but the attempt still made Steve smile. "You never let me sleep."
"We get home and I promise you can sleep until you decide on your own you're ready to get up, okay?"
"Okay."
"Just don't sleep now."
Danny hmphed, but he kept his eyes mostly open as Steve settled in closer. "Talk to me," Danny said.
"About what?"
He shrugged. "Anything. Just keep me awake."
Steve thought for a moment before launching into a story about a mission from his Navy days that he knew would have even an under the weather Danny finding a way to rant in under a minute.
***
"How," Danny asked, "did you not get court martialled?"
Steve shrugged. "Our CO liked us?"
"Or something." Danny shifted, his head resting on Steve's shoulder. "What time is it?"
Steve checked the phone, something he'd been trying not to do to preserve the battery. "Just after ten." Which meant their team should be there any time now to rescue them. All they had to do was--
Danny sat up, his head whipping around towards the cave entrance. He pointed in that direction, then held up three fingers to Steve, any hope Steve had that it was their team killed by Danny making the 'kill' motion across his throat.
"Human?" Steve mouthed. At Danny's nod, Steve relaxed a little. He had a fighting chance against three humans.
Steve motioned for Danny to stay put, which led to what would have been an amusing mime-like argument, if Steve hadn't been pressed for time and Danny's life hadn't been in danger. Steve's charade motion indicating the sun, followed by dying, however, won the argument, and Danny subsided against the wall, but he didn't look happy about it.
Steve crept up to the edge of the cave, listening for the rustle of leaves. They were coming from the west and were close, and were not even remotely trying to hide their approach. So either they were stupid, or they were well-armed.
Of course, one didn't negate the chance of the other.
He saw the three of them come out from the trees and sighed. Well-armed it was. He just hoped that the stupid went with it. He grabbed the nearest rock and raised his arm, aiming and waiting for just the right moment to throw.
A helicopter distracted him, along with the three attackers. Before Steve could figure out what was going on, a firefight was underway, one the helicopter quickly won. Steve held onto the rock, peering around the opening to make sure it was his team.
Kono jumped out of the helicopter as it hovered, Chin hanging out of the door to make sure she was covered. She ran over to the cave and Steve met her at the opening. "Where's Danny?" she yelled.
"Inside. I'll get him."
"Hurry, those three had reinforcements on the way."
Steve ran inside and grabbed Danny, happy to see he could make his own way to the entrance, even if he was a little slow. He was even happier to see that Kono and Chin had brought cover for Danny in the helicopter, a large, light-blocking cover that Danny could pull completely over himself to avoid the sunlight.
Steve sat under it with him, his hand firmly holding onto Danny's until they were safely on the ground again.
***
By the time they made it to the lab, it was past lunch time and Steve's stomach was reminding him it had been a long time since he'd eaten. He'd been so focused on Danny's safety he hadn't really noticed until they were on the helicopter, and he hadn't wanted to eat the power bar Kono had offered him in front of Danny.
He'd eat when Danny was cured.
Danny, of course, thought that was absurd. "Your stomach is so loud it's giving me a headache," he said as Jeff prepared the cure.
"Well, then, all the more reason to get you back to human so I can eat."
"Speaking of which," Danny said, looking over at Jeff, who was hunched over a Bunsen burner, "what's with feeding off the cured vampire making me sick?"
Jeff looked up. "What?"
"I tried to feed off Steve," Danny explained, "and it made me sick. It was like it was trying to cure me, but it couldn't quite do it."
"Hm. Makes sense," Jeff said. "There has to be some residual cure in order to fight off any of the vampire virus that might be lurking. That's why it's not likely to work if you try to turn a cured vampire back into a vampire."
Shit. "Speaking of which," Steve said hurriedly, "are you ready to cure this one?"
"Hang on," Danny said, and Steve knew that look Danny shot him. That was not a good look. "Rewind. What did you say about it not working if you try to turn someone who took the cure?"
"Yeah," Jeff said. "Like I told your friend, there's a 78% chance they'd end up dead or in a coma."
The look Danny gave him then was a lot longer and even worse. "You don't say," Danny said, the words directed at Jeff, even as Danny kept his eyes on Steve. "You told my friend here, did you?"
"We can talk about that later," Steve said. "Let's get you cured first, okay?" Because he refused to believe that the cure wouldn't work, but a tiny part of him that had had too many things go wrong in his life wouldn't be quieted until it was over and Danny was human again.
If Danny was pissed at him and hadn't had a chance to yell about it, he'd fight that much harder to come back.
"Everything's ready," Jeff said, and Steve breathed a sigh of relief, even though it was a temporary reprieve, as Danny's face clearly told him. Jeff started over to them, then stopped. "Neither one of you is going to hit me this time, right?"
"No," Danny said. Steve echoed the response, though he couldn't really promise what he would do if--
No. There was no if. Danny would be fine.
Jeff gave Danny the drink, and Steve felt a slight twinge of justification when Danny said, "Oh my God, you weren't kidding about the taste."
"I told you."
"Yeah, but you're you, so it's never certain how much is just you bitching."
"I think you have us confused with each other."
Danny rolled his eyes before submitting to Jeff's examination. When Jeff handed Danny the knife and the second part of the cure, Danny held it out to Steve without hesitation.
Steve took it, barely noticing Jeff backing away. Steve held the knife over Danny's arm. "You'd better get through this quick," Steve said, masking his concern as best he could. "I'm starving."
"Don't worry," Danny said. "The sooner I get through it, the sooner we can have that little conversation about some information you forgot to give me last night."
One corner of Steve's mouth quirked up. "I'm looking forward to it," he said softly. "Ready?"
"Yeah."
Steve cut Danny's arm open, putting the cure onto the wound before it could heal. He watched with fascination as it worked, his body tense as he waited for the coming change.
It didn't take long before Danny started shaking. Steve held him through it, counting seconds as Danny stilled to remind himself it wasn't nearly as long as it felt before Danny gasped and sat up, breaking free of Steve's hold.
Danny looked around, giving Steve a broad smile as he realized what had happened.
"Welcome back," Steve said.
"Feels good to be back."
"Really?"
Danny tilted his head. "Well, I feel like shit. But it still feels good."
Steve knew exactly what he meant. He moved away and let Jeff examine Danny, the last of his muscles relaxing as Jeff pronounced Danny a normal, healthy human.
"Wait, he's normal?" Steve said. "What'd you put in that cure?"
Danny flipped him off. "Do we need to do anything else here?" Danny asked Jeff.
"Nope. You're done. Just try to avoid getting turned," Jeff said, and Steve could've groaned at the reminder. Like Danny needed it? "It wouldn't go well."
"Don't worry, I'm not likely to forget that anytime soon."
The dark look Danny gave Steve didn't bode well for the drive home. "Let's go," Steve said.
***
Josef, Chin and Kono were waiting in the outer room. Once Chin and Kono had assured themselves that Danny was, in fact, fine, and human, and Steve and Danny had thanked Josef, Steve's stomach growled loud enough everyone could hear it.
Danny rolled his eyes. "Come on, we'll get some food on the way home."
"Hang on," Steve said. "I need to talk to Josef."
He pulled Josef off to the side, conscious of the others trying to pretend like they weren't watching. "I need you to get in touch with Lance," he said. "Give him some of the cure and tell him we're done. He leaves me alone, I'll leave him alone."
"And if he doesn't agree?"
"Then we'll deal with it."
Josef stared at him for a long moment. "Okay," he said, and something in the way he said it made Steve wonder what other threats might go along with the cure that Steve would never know about.
"Thank you," Steve said, shaking Josef's hand.
"You're welcome."
He managed to make it sound condescending and not, all at once, and Steve shook his head.
"Come on," he said to Danny as they rejoined the others. "Let's get out of here. We'll check in tomorrow morning, okay?"
They said their goodbyes and headed to the nearest McDonalds for burgers--well-done, at Danny's fervent request. Steve insisted they eat at the restaurant, telling Danny he didn't know that he could drive all the way home without food. Danny's look said he knew better, but he didn't argue.
The drive home was too quiet. Danny's silence would've worried Steve more if he hadn't remembered how he'd felt like he'd been hit by a truck after the cure. But Danny didn't sleep. He just stared out the window without a word.
It wasn't until they were inside the house, door locked behind them, standing in the middle of the living room, that Danny spoke. "So tell me," Danny said, the words deceptively calm, given his tone, "why it is that you would try to dupe me into killing you."
Steve was momentarily lost for words. He hadn't seen it like that at all, but now that he put himself in Danny's shoes...fuck. "Danny...I'm sorry."
"Sorry? That's all you've got? Sorry?"
"Are you going to tell me that you're rational when I'm hurt?"
"There's irrational, and then there's insane, Steve. And to deliberately ask me to do something that might kill you without telling me that fact is insane. In fact, it's so far beyond insane that they need a new word for it!"
Steve put his hands on Danny's shoulders. "I'm sorry, okay? I don't have a time machine, I can't give you anything more than an apology."
"You can promise me you'll never do something like that again."
"I...." He could say the words, but they wouldn't be true. "Danny...I don't know that I can promise that."
Danny stared at him for a long time. "I don't know whether to be mad at you for not being able to promise me or happy with you for not lying."
Which didn't say a lot for Danny's opinion of Steve at the moment. "Can you seriously tell me that you wouldn't risk your life to save me?"
"Of course I would, but I wouldn't take a stupid risk that put me in unnecessary danger on the slim chance it might save you."
"Really?" Steve raised an eyebrow. "So that wasn't you who pulled me out of the back of a truck in North Korea?"
"That's not the same thing!"
"No, you're right. Do you want to know what the odds were of you coming back from that mission, let alone bringing me with you?" Steve asked. Because he was well trained in analysis and he'd done the math more than once. "Seventeen percent. What I did had a twenty-two percent chance of success. From where I stand that makes your risk even more insane than mine."
Danny fumed silently for a few seconds. "It's still not the same thing."
"No, it's not. But I'd say they're about equal. I knew you wouldn't drain me too far, because I know you. You couldn't do that to me." Steve took Danny's hands. "It wasn't about risk. It was about trust. I trust you. In any form."
Danny took a deep breath and let it out. "Okay," he said.
"Okay?"
"Yeah, okay."
It was said with a hint of a smile, so Steve assumed he was more or less of the hook, though he didn't doubt he'd be hearing about it for months. Maybe longer.
It was sad how much he was looking forward to that.
"So how are you feeling?" Steve asked.
"Like I've been run over by Grace's entire softball team, screaming at the top of their lungs."
A rather accurate description, from Steve's memory of things. "What do you say we go get some sleep?"
"Maybe a shower first?" Danny said around a yawn.
"Can you stay awake long enough?"
"I might need some help," Danny said, giving Steve a grin. "And you could use one, too, so maybe you can make sure I don't drown?"
"Come on," Steve said, leading Danny to the stairs. "I think I can manage that."
***
It was still dark out when Steve woke, the moon shining brightly in the windows. It took him a moment to realize what had woken him--there was no danger, and Danny was still lying safe in his arms. Then he realized that Danny was being far too intentionally still and quiet.
Steve stretched against Danny's back, one hand placed firmly over Danny's heart, the steady beat just noticeable beneath Danny's skin. "Can't sleep?" Steve asked against Danny's neck.
"Could you?"
Danny knew the answer to that; he'd been the one to wake up with Steve when the situation had been reversed. "You didn't hurt anyone," Steve said, knowing it didn't help, even as he knew how much worse it would've been if he had done some of the things Steve had in the past.
"Tell that to the guy who I emptied of half his blood."
"That guy was holding you hostage," Steve said. "Would it have been different if you'd shot him to death in an escape?"
Danny didn't answer, but he didn't have to. Steve knew the answer was yes. It would have been different. It shouldn't have been. But it would have.
When you shoot someone to death, you don't know what it's like to feel their life slowly draining away as their blood flows through your body.
Most days Steve managed to keep perspective about it. But that didn't change the fact that he knew it felt different. And perception was reality; if it felt different, it was different.
"He'll recover," Steve said, "just in time to spend a nice stint in Halawa with the rest of his friends who were on their way to kill us."
"Still."
Steve tightened his arms around Danny, as if it could somehow fix things if he held on tight enough. "Well, if you're going to blame yourself, then you'll need to heap some of that on me," Steve said. "I brought all this on you, after all."
Danny shifted until he was facing Steve. "You didn't bring any of this on," he said. "Lance did."
"Exactly," Steve said, for all that he wasn't done feeling guilty for dragging Danny into this. "Just like he brought that guy into this, he turned you into a vampire, he's the reason you had to feed or die. Life or death is life or death, Danny."
He met Danny's eyes, willing him to get it, to start convincing himself of it, because for all that it felt different, and Steve understood that all too well, it wasn't. Not in the end. And you just had to talk yourself into that frame of mind.
"I'll get there," Danny said after a moment. "It's just going to take some time."
"I know."
Danny's smile was faint, but it was real. "I know you do." He leaned in for a kiss. "Go back to sleep," Danny said. "I plan to be far more awake when the sun comes up, and I know a few ways you can try to make me forget about the past two days."
"I bet I know a few more," Steve said.
"I'm counting on it."
***
They were barely out of bed and out of the shower when Kono knocked at the door, Chin close behind, both bearing food. "We thought you could both use some food," Kono said, but Steve knew what they were both saying without words. That was the amazing thing about family--you took care of each other, and you didn't need to spell it out.
A knock on the door soon after their arrival had Steve smiling, unsurprised to open the door and find Josef on the other side. "Come in," Steve said, holding the door open and letting him inside. "I'm pretty sure the cook out won't be to your liking, food wise, but you're welcome to stay."
"Thanks, I'd love to," Josef said, sounding almost believable, "but Jeff's already on the plane waiting to go back to L.A."
"You spent a whole two nights in Hawaii," Steve said, teasing. "I'm sure you must be twitchy by now."
Josef shook his head, but Steve knew that smile. "I'll never get what you see in this place."
"No," Steve said, looking through to the back yard where his family stood, only Grace, who was due any time now, missing from the group. "You wouldn't."
"But it suits you," Josef said, putting his hand on Steve's shoulder. "Come to think of it, I think 'Steve' suits you as well."
"Thanks," Steve said. Because Josef had been family first, and this felt almost like some kind of unofficial handoff or something.
"Leaving so soon?" Danny asked, as he came into the room.
Josef smirked, raising an eyebrow at Steve as Danny effortlessly inserted himself between Josef and Steve, dislodging Josef's hand in the process. "The name isn't the only thing that suits you," Josef said.
"I agree," Steve said, giving Danny a blank look when he frowned. "What?"
"I'll find out later," Danny said, and Steve had no doubt he would.
Josef turned to Danny. "Nice to see you again," he said, shaking Danny's hand. "I'm glad everything turned out as it should."
"Thanks for your help." Danny's tone was sincere, as was the solid handshake he gave Josef in return. "We owe you."
"I still owe Steve," Josef said. "This was just balancing the scales a little." He turned to Steve. "I talked to Lance."
"And?" Steve asked.
Josef shrugged. "He said the terms were acceptable. He sent someone to my hotel for the cure this morning, and he says as long as you leave him alone, he'll do the same.
"Good. You think he meant it?"
"I hope so. But I'll keep an eye on him."
Steve knew Josef had a lot of eyes, and that they were very good at their jobs. "Let me know if I need to worry."
"Will do," he said. "Take care of yourselves."
"You, too," Steve said, walking him the few steps to the door and closing it behind him.
He turned to see Danny smiling at him with a look he couldn't quite place. "What?" Steve asked, moving back to stand next to Danny.
Danny shook his head. "Nothing." He grabbed Steve by the wrist and pulled him towards the beach. "Come on, I promised Grace we'd have a sandcastle foundation ready by the time she got here, and there's nothing yet."
He followed, letting Danny's flow of words wash over him like the ocean--soft, familiar and welcome, and always reminding him of home.
---
END
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Author: stellarmeadow
Fandom: Hawaii Five-0
Paring: Steve/Danny
Rating: R
Summary: Steve and Danny are trying to move beyond the revelations of Steve's past, but the past isn't quite done with them yet.
Notes: I couldn't resist revisiting this universe. It needed more. Huge thanks to smudgegirl and uxseven for the cheerleading and the help when things didn't quite work right.
If you haven't read Can You Feel My Heart, this story will make no sense. Read that first.
Part 1 | Part 2
At first, Steve wasn't sure what woke him. The cave was silent, and Danny hadn't moved in his arms. Then he realized that Danny was a little too still. "Danny?" Steve whispered, shaking him a little.
"Sleeping," was Danny's slurred response as he rested heavily on Steve's shoulder.
"Hey, come on, time for sleeping is over," Steve said. "Time to get up."
Danny didn't reply, so Steve moved out from beside him to face him. "Danny. Wake up." Steve put a hand on Danny's cheek and shook him again, not stopping until Danny's eyes blinked open.
"Wanna sleep," Danny murmured, eyes slipping closed again.
"No, no, no." Steve shook him again. "Can't sleep. Wake up. Come on."
He'd heard stories about vamps who hadn't fed, who'd just slipped into death after they'd been turned. They'd only been stories, but this was starting to look real, and Steve needed Danny to snap out of it before it got any worse. "Danny! Wake up!"
Danny's eyes closed, and Steve felt his stomach flip. "Hey!" he shouted towards the entrance of the cave. "We need help!"
He figured Lance wouldn't want a dead hostage, so he was banking on a guard showing up. Sure enough, a man came to see what the problem was, flashlight tilted just enough that Steve could see his face. "He needs blood," Steve said. "He's dying."
"I thought he was already dead," the guy said, like it was no big deal. "Isn't that how it works?"
"Isn't that...don't you know?"
"Not yet," the guy said, with a gleam in his eye. "They promised if I did what they said, they'd show me."
Steve blinked. "You're human?"
"Duh. I'm standing out there in the sun, aren't I?"
"Look," Steve said, getting up and moving closer slowly, "they're not likely to show you how this works if one of your hostages is dead, now, are they?"
"What do they care?"
"They care a lot," Steve said. "And I'm very sorry."
"Sorry for what?"
"This."
He hit the guy hard, and he went down just as hard. Steve dragged him over to Danny, using the flashlight to find a jagged rock and cut the guy's wrist. When he'd made the cut, he put the open wound up to Danny's lips. "Danny," he said. "Come on, drink."
Danny didn't move, and Steve shook him. "Drink, dammit! You need to drink!" He shook Danny again. "Come on, don't you dare leave me, dammit!"
Danny shifted the tiniest bit, and Steve put the flashlight up to see Danny's lips moving against the guy's wrist. After several seconds, Danny's hands came up to hold the guy's arm, and Steve dropped his own, watching as Danny became stronger as he drank.
Steve counted off the time in his head before he pulled the guy away from Danny, not without some difficulty. Part of him wanted to just let the guy die, but he couldn't. Maybe this would be the scare the guy needed to go straight.
More importantly, he didn't want Danny to live with the knowledge of having drained someone dry. It wasn't a pleasant memory to have for the rest of your life.
"Steve?"
Danny sounded stronger, and confused. "Yeah?"
"Who was that?"
"Turns out they needed a human guard for daylight after all." Steve said. "But I don't think we should wait around for anyone to come check up on him." He stood, offering a hand out to Danny. "Come on, let's go."
"Where? It's daylight."
"If there's one cave here, there have to be more," Steve said, searching the guy's pockets until he found a cell phone. "We'll hole up in one until the cavalry comes," he said, holding up the phone.
"Are you sure I'm not going to just catch fire when I step outside?" Danny asked.
"I promise," Steve said, taking Danny's hand. "Come on."
After a second, Danny fell into step behind him. "Lead the way."
***
Steve was right, they didn't have to go far to find another cave. Which was good, because Danny was fading fast in the filtered sunlight. Steve remembered the feeling, and he didn't want to prolong it any longer than he had to. He'd caused Danny enough suffering already.
As soon as they were under cover, Steve pulled out the cell phone he'd stolen. "Fuck!" he hissed.
Danny was close by his side, looking at the phone. "What?"
"Lock screen."
"Really?" Danny pointed at the bottom corner of the phone. "Emergency call," he said. "I think this qualifies."
Which he should've known--it was standard. He just...he looked at Danny, who seemed far less rattled than Steve was. Even though Danny had just fed off a human for the first time, and was, in fact, suddenly and against his will, a vampire.
Okay, McGarrett, call for help, then you can freak out.
Steve called Kono, who answered on the second ring. "Kono--"
"Steve?"
"Yeah, it's me. Did Josef make it back?"
"Yeah, he's here with us. Hang on." He heard background noise and realized he was on speaker phone. "Where are you?" Kono asked.
"I'm not sure. Are you still at the lab?"
"No, after Josef came back without you we came back to HQ so we could try to find you. Do you have any idea where you are?"
Steve shifted the phone to his other hand, sneaking a look at Danny, who was leaning back against the cave wall, eyes closed. They'd stayed close enough to the entrance that there was some light--Steve's reasoning to Danny had been defense, but he'd also wanted to be able to keep an eye on Danny as well. "Best guess is somewhere around Ka'a'awa. I didn't get a great look at the surroundings, we were trying to get to another cave as fast as we could."
"Hang on."
Steve watched Danny while he waited, comforted by the small motions he made as he rested. If he was moving, even a little, he was okay. For now.
"Okay," Kono said after a moment, "I'm only getting an approximation right now from the towers you're using. If I'm going to pinpoint, I need you to go outside long enough for the satellite to pick up that phone's GPS.
He didn't want to leave Danny, but Danny couldn't exactly go outside right now. "Okay, hold on." He put the phone on mute and knelt down beside Danny. "Hey," Steve said softly, reassured when Danny's eyes opened quickly, if not exactly alertly. "I'm gonna go right outside the cave so Kono can find our signal. I'll be right back."
Danny nodded. Steve touched his cheek for a second before he jumped up and ran for the entrance, unmuting the phone as he went. "Okay," he said to Kono, eyes scanning the horizon for any kind of threat. "Track it quick."
The sound of birds comforted him as he waited--if anyone was moving around nearby, there'd be a lot less bird chatter and a lot more silence. But he still wanted to get back in the cave and make sure Danny was okay.
After what seemed like forever, but the phone said was under a minute, Kono said, "Gotcha. You're right about Ka'a'awa, you're not that far from Kualoa, by the looks of things. Any chance you could get to the ranch?"
"Not with the shape Danny's in. We need to stay under cover as much as possible."
"Okay, I've got a lock on the GPS. We're on the way. Try to stay put, but if you have to move, make sure the GPS is on. Text me if you can if you move."
"Will do. Thanks."
He hung up and went back inside, the panic in his chest receding at the sight of Danny still where Steve had left him. "Hey," Steve said, sitting down beside him. "You okay?"
Danny nodded, eyes opening a little. "I'll live," he said, barking out a harsh laugh. "Just tired."
"I know, but I need you to stay awake a little longer, okay?"
Danny made an attempt at rolling his eyes. Nowhere near as good as he usually managed, but the attempt still made Steve smile. "You never let me sleep."
"We get home and I promise you can sleep until you decide on your own you're ready to get up, okay?"
"Okay."
"Just don't sleep now."
Danny hmphed, but he kept his eyes mostly open as Steve settled in closer. "Talk to me," Danny said.
"About what?"
He shrugged. "Anything. Just keep me awake."
Steve thought for a moment before launching into a story about a mission from his Navy days that he knew would have even an under the weather Danny finding a way to rant in under a minute.
***
"How," Danny asked, "did you not get court martialled?"
Steve shrugged. "Our CO liked us?"
"Or something." Danny shifted, his head resting on Steve's shoulder. "What time is it?"
Steve checked the phone, something he'd been trying not to do to preserve the battery. "Just after ten." Which meant their team should be there any time now to rescue them. All they had to do was--
Danny sat up, his head whipping around towards the cave entrance. He pointed in that direction, then held up three fingers to Steve, any hope Steve had that it was their team killed by Danny making the 'kill' motion across his throat.
"Human?" Steve mouthed. At Danny's nod, Steve relaxed a little. He had a fighting chance against three humans.
Steve motioned for Danny to stay put, which led to what would have been an amusing mime-like argument, if Steve hadn't been pressed for time and Danny's life hadn't been in danger. Steve's charade motion indicating the sun, followed by dying, however, won the argument, and Danny subsided against the wall, but he didn't look happy about it.
Steve crept up to the edge of the cave, listening for the rustle of leaves. They were coming from the west and were close, and were not even remotely trying to hide their approach. So either they were stupid, or they were well-armed.
Of course, one didn't negate the chance of the other.
He saw the three of them come out from the trees and sighed. Well-armed it was. He just hoped that the stupid went with it. He grabbed the nearest rock and raised his arm, aiming and waiting for just the right moment to throw.
A helicopter distracted him, along with the three attackers. Before Steve could figure out what was going on, a firefight was underway, one the helicopter quickly won. Steve held onto the rock, peering around the opening to make sure it was his team.
Kono jumped out of the helicopter as it hovered, Chin hanging out of the door to make sure she was covered. She ran over to the cave and Steve met her at the opening. "Where's Danny?" she yelled.
"Inside. I'll get him."
"Hurry, those three had reinforcements on the way."
Steve ran inside and grabbed Danny, happy to see he could make his own way to the entrance, even if he was a little slow. He was even happier to see that Kono and Chin had brought cover for Danny in the helicopter, a large, light-blocking cover that Danny could pull completely over himself to avoid the sunlight.
Steve sat under it with him, his hand firmly holding onto Danny's until they were safely on the ground again.
***
By the time they made it to the lab, it was past lunch time and Steve's stomach was reminding him it had been a long time since he'd eaten. He'd been so focused on Danny's safety he hadn't really noticed until they were on the helicopter, and he hadn't wanted to eat the power bar Kono had offered him in front of Danny.
He'd eat when Danny was cured.
Danny, of course, thought that was absurd. "Your stomach is so loud it's giving me a headache," he said as Jeff prepared the cure.
"Well, then, all the more reason to get you back to human so I can eat."
"Speaking of which," Danny said, looking over at Jeff, who was hunched over a Bunsen burner, "what's with feeding off the cured vampire making me sick?"
Jeff looked up. "What?"
"I tried to feed off Steve," Danny explained, "and it made me sick. It was like it was trying to cure me, but it couldn't quite do it."
"Hm. Makes sense," Jeff said. "There has to be some residual cure in order to fight off any of the vampire virus that might be lurking. That's why it's not likely to work if you try to turn a cured vampire back into a vampire."
Shit. "Speaking of which," Steve said hurriedly, "are you ready to cure this one?"
"Hang on," Danny said, and Steve knew that look Danny shot him. That was not a good look. "Rewind. What did you say about it not working if you try to turn someone who took the cure?"
"Yeah," Jeff said. "Like I told your friend, there's a 78% chance they'd end up dead or in a coma."
The look Danny gave him then was a lot longer and even worse. "You don't say," Danny said, the words directed at Jeff, even as Danny kept his eyes on Steve. "You told my friend here, did you?"
"We can talk about that later," Steve said. "Let's get you cured first, okay?" Because he refused to believe that the cure wouldn't work, but a tiny part of him that had had too many things go wrong in his life wouldn't be quieted until it was over and Danny was human again.
If Danny was pissed at him and hadn't had a chance to yell about it, he'd fight that much harder to come back.
"Everything's ready," Jeff said, and Steve breathed a sigh of relief, even though it was a temporary reprieve, as Danny's face clearly told him. Jeff started over to them, then stopped. "Neither one of you is going to hit me this time, right?"
"No," Danny said. Steve echoed the response, though he couldn't really promise what he would do if--
No. There was no if. Danny would be fine.
Jeff gave Danny the drink, and Steve felt a slight twinge of justification when Danny said, "Oh my God, you weren't kidding about the taste."
"I told you."
"Yeah, but you're you, so it's never certain how much is just you bitching."
"I think you have us confused with each other."
Danny rolled his eyes before submitting to Jeff's examination. When Jeff handed Danny the knife and the second part of the cure, Danny held it out to Steve without hesitation.
Steve took it, barely noticing Jeff backing away. Steve held the knife over Danny's arm. "You'd better get through this quick," Steve said, masking his concern as best he could. "I'm starving."
"Don't worry," Danny said. "The sooner I get through it, the sooner we can have that little conversation about some information you forgot to give me last night."
One corner of Steve's mouth quirked up. "I'm looking forward to it," he said softly. "Ready?"
"Yeah."
Steve cut Danny's arm open, putting the cure onto the wound before it could heal. He watched with fascination as it worked, his body tense as he waited for the coming change.
It didn't take long before Danny started shaking. Steve held him through it, counting seconds as Danny stilled to remind himself it wasn't nearly as long as it felt before Danny gasped and sat up, breaking free of Steve's hold.
Danny looked around, giving Steve a broad smile as he realized what had happened.
"Welcome back," Steve said.
"Feels good to be back."
"Really?"
Danny tilted his head. "Well, I feel like shit. But it still feels good."
Steve knew exactly what he meant. He moved away and let Jeff examine Danny, the last of his muscles relaxing as Jeff pronounced Danny a normal, healthy human.
"Wait, he's normal?" Steve said. "What'd you put in that cure?"
Danny flipped him off. "Do we need to do anything else here?" Danny asked Jeff.
"Nope. You're done. Just try to avoid getting turned," Jeff said, and Steve could've groaned at the reminder. Like Danny needed it? "It wouldn't go well."
"Don't worry, I'm not likely to forget that anytime soon."
The dark look Danny gave Steve didn't bode well for the drive home. "Let's go," Steve said.
***
Josef, Chin and Kono were waiting in the outer room. Once Chin and Kono had assured themselves that Danny was, in fact, fine, and human, and Steve and Danny had thanked Josef, Steve's stomach growled loud enough everyone could hear it.
Danny rolled his eyes. "Come on, we'll get some food on the way home."
"Hang on," Steve said. "I need to talk to Josef."
He pulled Josef off to the side, conscious of the others trying to pretend like they weren't watching. "I need you to get in touch with Lance," he said. "Give him some of the cure and tell him we're done. He leaves me alone, I'll leave him alone."
"And if he doesn't agree?"
"Then we'll deal with it."
Josef stared at him for a long moment. "Okay," he said, and something in the way he said it made Steve wonder what other threats might go along with the cure that Steve would never know about.
"Thank you," Steve said, shaking Josef's hand.
"You're welcome."
He managed to make it sound condescending and not, all at once, and Steve shook his head.
"Come on," he said to Danny as they rejoined the others. "Let's get out of here. We'll check in tomorrow morning, okay?"
They said their goodbyes and headed to the nearest McDonalds for burgers--well-done, at Danny's fervent request. Steve insisted they eat at the restaurant, telling Danny he didn't know that he could drive all the way home without food. Danny's look said he knew better, but he didn't argue.
The drive home was too quiet. Danny's silence would've worried Steve more if he hadn't remembered how he'd felt like he'd been hit by a truck after the cure. But Danny didn't sleep. He just stared out the window without a word.
It wasn't until they were inside the house, door locked behind them, standing in the middle of the living room, that Danny spoke. "So tell me," Danny said, the words deceptively calm, given his tone, "why it is that you would try to dupe me into killing you."
Steve was momentarily lost for words. He hadn't seen it like that at all, but now that he put himself in Danny's shoes...fuck. "Danny...I'm sorry."
"Sorry? That's all you've got? Sorry?"
"Are you going to tell me that you're rational when I'm hurt?"
"There's irrational, and then there's insane, Steve. And to deliberately ask me to do something that might kill you without telling me that fact is insane. In fact, it's so far beyond insane that they need a new word for it!"
Steve put his hands on Danny's shoulders. "I'm sorry, okay? I don't have a time machine, I can't give you anything more than an apology."
"You can promise me you'll never do something like that again."
"I...." He could say the words, but they wouldn't be true. "Danny...I don't know that I can promise that."
Danny stared at him for a long time. "I don't know whether to be mad at you for not being able to promise me or happy with you for not lying."
Which didn't say a lot for Danny's opinion of Steve at the moment. "Can you seriously tell me that you wouldn't risk your life to save me?"
"Of course I would, but I wouldn't take a stupid risk that put me in unnecessary danger on the slim chance it might save you."
"Really?" Steve raised an eyebrow. "So that wasn't you who pulled me out of the back of a truck in North Korea?"
"That's not the same thing!"
"No, you're right. Do you want to know what the odds were of you coming back from that mission, let alone bringing me with you?" Steve asked. Because he was well trained in analysis and he'd done the math more than once. "Seventeen percent. What I did had a twenty-two percent chance of success. From where I stand that makes your risk even more insane than mine."
Danny fumed silently for a few seconds. "It's still not the same thing."
"No, it's not. But I'd say they're about equal. I knew you wouldn't drain me too far, because I know you. You couldn't do that to me." Steve took Danny's hands. "It wasn't about risk. It was about trust. I trust you. In any form."
Danny took a deep breath and let it out. "Okay," he said.
"Okay?"
"Yeah, okay."
It was said with a hint of a smile, so Steve assumed he was more or less of the hook, though he didn't doubt he'd be hearing about it for months. Maybe longer.
It was sad how much he was looking forward to that.
"So how are you feeling?" Steve asked.
"Like I've been run over by Grace's entire softball team, screaming at the top of their lungs."
A rather accurate description, from Steve's memory of things. "What do you say we go get some sleep?"
"Maybe a shower first?" Danny said around a yawn.
"Can you stay awake long enough?"
"I might need some help," Danny said, giving Steve a grin. "And you could use one, too, so maybe you can make sure I don't drown?"
"Come on," Steve said, leading Danny to the stairs. "I think I can manage that."
***
It was still dark out when Steve woke, the moon shining brightly in the windows. It took him a moment to realize what had woken him--there was no danger, and Danny was still lying safe in his arms. Then he realized that Danny was being far too intentionally still and quiet.
Steve stretched against Danny's back, one hand placed firmly over Danny's heart, the steady beat just noticeable beneath Danny's skin. "Can't sleep?" Steve asked against Danny's neck.
"Could you?"
Danny knew the answer to that; he'd been the one to wake up with Steve when the situation had been reversed. "You didn't hurt anyone," Steve said, knowing it didn't help, even as he knew how much worse it would've been if he had done some of the things Steve had in the past.
"Tell that to the guy who I emptied of half his blood."
"That guy was holding you hostage," Steve said. "Would it have been different if you'd shot him to death in an escape?"
Danny didn't answer, but he didn't have to. Steve knew the answer was yes. It would have been different. It shouldn't have been. But it would have.
When you shoot someone to death, you don't know what it's like to feel their life slowly draining away as their blood flows through your body.
Most days Steve managed to keep perspective about it. But that didn't change the fact that he knew it felt different. And perception was reality; if it felt different, it was different.
"He'll recover," Steve said, "just in time to spend a nice stint in Halawa with the rest of his friends who were on their way to kill us."
"Still."
Steve tightened his arms around Danny, as if it could somehow fix things if he held on tight enough. "Well, if you're going to blame yourself, then you'll need to heap some of that on me," Steve said. "I brought all this on you, after all."
Danny shifted until he was facing Steve. "You didn't bring any of this on," he said. "Lance did."
"Exactly," Steve said, for all that he wasn't done feeling guilty for dragging Danny into this. "Just like he brought that guy into this, he turned you into a vampire, he's the reason you had to feed or die. Life or death is life or death, Danny."
He met Danny's eyes, willing him to get it, to start convincing himself of it, because for all that it felt different, and Steve understood that all too well, it wasn't. Not in the end. And you just had to talk yourself into that frame of mind.
"I'll get there," Danny said after a moment. "It's just going to take some time."
"I know."
Danny's smile was faint, but it was real. "I know you do." He leaned in for a kiss. "Go back to sleep," Danny said. "I plan to be far more awake when the sun comes up, and I know a few ways you can try to make me forget about the past two days."
"I bet I know a few more," Steve said.
"I'm counting on it."
***
They were barely out of bed and out of the shower when Kono knocked at the door, Chin close behind, both bearing food. "We thought you could both use some food," Kono said, but Steve knew what they were both saying without words. That was the amazing thing about family--you took care of each other, and you didn't need to spell it out.
A knock on the door soon after their arrival had Steve smiling, unsurprised to open the door and find Josef on the other side. "Come in," Steve said, holding the door open and letting him inside. "I'm pretty sure the cook out won't be to your liking, food wise, but you're welcome to stay."
"Thanks, I'd love to," Josef said, sounding almost believable, "but Jeff's already on the plane waiting to go back to L.A."
"You spent a whole two nights in Hawaii," Steve said, teasing. "I'm sure you must be twitchy by now."
Josef shook his head, but Steve knew that smile. "I'll never get what you see in this place."
"No," Steve said, looking through to the back yard where his family stood, only Grace, who was due any time now, missing from the group. "You wouldn't."
"But it suits you," Josef said, putting his hand on Steve's shoulder. "Come to think of it, I think 'Steve' suits you as well."
"Thanks," Steve said. Because Josef had been family first, and this felt almost like some kind of unofficial handoff or something.
"Leaving so soon?" Danny asked, as he came into the room.
Josef smirked, raising an eyebrow at Steve as Danny effortlessly inserted himself between Josef and Steve, dislodging Josef's hand in the process. "The name isn't the only thing that suits you," Josef said.
"I agree," Steve said, giving Danny a blank look when he frowned. "What?"
"I'll find out later," Danny said, and Steve had no doubt he would.
Josef turned to Danny. "Nice to see you again," he said, shaking Danny's hand. "I'm glad everything turned out as it should."
"Thanks for your help." Danny's tone was sincere, as was the solid handshake he gave Josef in return. "We owe you."
"I still owe Steve," Josef said. "This was just balancing the scales a little." He turned to Steve. "I talked to Lance."
"And?" Steve asked.
Josef shrugged. "He said the terms were acceptable. He sent someone to my hotel for the cure this morning, and he says as long as you leave him alone, he'll do the same.
"Good. You think he meant it?"
"I hope so. But I'll keep an eye on him."
Steve knew Josef had a lot of eyes, and that they were very good at their jobs. "Let me know if I need to worry."
"Will do," he said. "Take care of yourselves."
"You, too," Steve said, walking him the few steps to the door and closing it behind him.
He turned to see Danny smiling at him with a look he couldn't quite place. "What?" Steve asked, moving back to stand next to Danny.
Danny shook his head. "Nothing." He grabbed Steve by the wrist and pulled him towards the beach. "Come on, I promised Grace we'd have a sandcastle foundation ready by the time she got here, and there's nothing yet."
He followed, letting Danny's flow of words wash over him like the ocean--soft, familiar and welcome, and always reminding him of home.
---
END
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