Fic: When All Around Has Fallen (H50, R, Steve, Danny)

[melissas_corner]

Title: When All Around Has Fallen
Author: logans_girl2001
Fandom: Hawaii Five-0
Characters: Steve, Danny
Rating: R
Category: slash
Status: Complete
Archive: My website
Feedback: Yes, please.
Disclaimers: I do not own any of the characters.
Author's Notes: The final scene of Ka Noe'au just broke me. I don't usually feel the need to write a coda to an episode, especially one as emotionally charged as this one, but while listening to music at work a song I didn't even know I had came on: When All Around Has Fallen by Delirious? It sparked the following story which picks up right where the episode ends. Also written for twinsarein for fandom_stocking. Hope you like it.
Sequel/Series: None
Summary: Steve tries to hold Danny together after the events in Columbia.
Warnings: Violence like on the show
Spoilers: All aired episodes are fair game but definitely for Ka Noe'au.
Beta: I am currently without a beta and accepting applications. If interested, please let me know.

Steve's POV:

The fight is short and brutal and leaves all of Reyes' men dead. Danny and I manage to catch them off guard. Guess they figured their boss had subdued us with the barrel that holds the remains of Matt Williams.

Oh, how wrong they were.

I'm sure the barrel is enough to make most people rethink getting revenge but Danny is not most people. If he was I wouldn't have chosen him to be my partner.

What they failed to realize, to their detriment, is that Danny turns vicious when his family is threatened. And I thoroughly encourage and support that viciousness. It's what's needed at times like this.

I'm still checking for survivors, despite knowing there aren't any, when I notice that Danny has gone back down the stairs. He's almost to the bottom before I even reach the top step. But even so, as he's marching down the stairs I can hear him talking. "What'd I just tell you, huh? What'd I say? Huh? What'd I tell you? Huh?"

I hit the bottom stair just as he backs Reyes up until he runs into the table and then pushes him back until he's lying on his back. "Huh? What'd I say?" Danny puts his gun in Reyes' face.

I step to the side and see Reyes turn his head away. I can only guess what he sees in Danny's eyes. "Okay. Look at me. You look at me. Look at me. Look at me." When Reyes turns his head, Danny whispers, "that's it" before putting his gun flush with Reyes' forehead and pulling the trigger.

For several seconds the only sound is the steady drip of water from somewhere nearby. Then Danny takes a deep breath, draws himself up to his full height and whispers 'okay' in a voice so full of anguish that my heart breaks all over again for him.

He says 'okay' again but this time his voice is that of a man who has finally reached his end; a man who has finally been broken.

With a decisive nod of his head, he turns and slowly walks back up the stairs, leaving the gun lying on Reyes' chest. I watch him leave, then pick the gun up and follow him from the building.

It says a lot about where we are that the sound of all that gun fire didn't draw a crowd. It's all for the best, of course, because we're able to leave with the bags of money with no one the wiser. Or at least it appears that no one is aware of our presence.

I've spent enough time in countries like this one to know that someone, somewhere, is watching us. They will most likely never say anything, of course; but still, there's someone here who knows what we just did.

Danny, being Danny despite finally having reached the end of what he can handle, insists we leave the money with the orphanage 'where it will do the most good'.

We're not even halfway up the steps when the door is opened by a young man in priest's clothes. "May I help you?" His voice is heavily accented.

I glance at Danny but he's staring at something on the ground in front of him. Placing my bags on the ground at the priest's feet next to the ones Danny had been carrying, I say, "Yes, Father, we recently came into some money that we have no need of. We thought we'd donate it to the children."

His eyes open wide as he looks from me to the bags and back again. "H-how...how much?" In his shock and surprise he switches to Spanish.

"Eighteen point five million." To make him feel more comfortable, I answer him in Spanish.

Danny makes a small noise, telling me without his usual words, that he finds it rude for us to be speaking in a language he barely knows.

"And you have no need of it?" It's obvious the priest is having difficulty believing that we're willing to just give away eighteen and a half million dollars.

"Oh, we have a need but it would be wrong of us to keep it." I wish that wasn't the case because Danny could use it to help with Gracie's schooling; private schools aren't cheap even if Rachel and Stan are paying half. And don't get me started on Grace's college fund.

"Well, in that case, gracias, señores." He dips his head and stoops to pick up the bags.

I put a hand on his arm to stop him. "There's more." He frowns at me. "Please don't tell anyone about where the money came from."

"Of course." He seems insulted by my request.

"Also-" I lift the hem of my shirt to show him the gun tucked into my waistband.

"Was that...?" He jerks his chin in the direction of the building that houses the bodies of Reyes and his men which reminds me that I need to get a clean up crew here to retrieve Matt's remains and dispose of the bodies.

"Sí." I nod.

The priest presses his lips together and looks us both over for a long moment. Finally he nods his head and holds out his hand. "Very well."

I slip the gun from my waistband and hand it over. The priest tucks it into his waistband and quickly picks up four of the eight bags. I see him give Danny a look and I know he's wondering why Danny just stood there the whole time.

A glance at Danny shows that he's already dismissed the priest and everything that's happened today from his mind. If only it was that easy.

I help the priest take the bags inside and thank him again. He blesses us and wishes us a safe journey home.

Danny is unnaturally quiet all the way to the nearest major town where I check us into a no-name motel to wash up and rest before the extraction team can come get us. I have never had a difficult time getting him to talk. Quite the opposite in fact, I usually can't get him to shut up.

Just about every topic I can possibly think of to discuss is discarded as soon as it forms. In the face of what he's been through today it all just seems so trivial; even - especially- anything to do with Gracie because of the fact that Danny's hurting for the loss of his brother and any mention of Grace just seems like a slap in the face considering how close she was to her uncle.

I find a moment to covertly call for a clean up crew and urge them to get the barrel to the plane before us while Danny's taking his shower. Then I try and get him to rest but all he'll do is pace the tiny room.

When we arrive at the plane I see the men sent to clean up our mess leaving. I say a silent prayer of thanks for the training they received that allowed them to do what needed to be done quickly and efficiently. Danny, of course, doesn't even notice them.

In fact, he walks past several without seeming to register their presence when he walks up the ramp into the cargo bay of the DC-10 that'll be our ride home.

We sit in jump seats on opposite sides of the plane but the distance between us is so much greater than the few feet of the cargo bay.

Once the plane levels off, Danny crumples forward, his elbows resting on his knees with his face in his hands. I know exactly what he's thinking and feeling right now; it's never pretty, the thoughts and emotions you experience after killing an unarmed man for the first time.

"Danny." I can't keep quiet any longer

"Don't." His voice is muffled by his hands but still sounds lost and broken.

"We need to-" I begin but he talks over me.

"I said don't, Steven."

"You can't take this home to Gracie."

Anger explodes from him at my words and he jumps up, stomping over to where I'm still sitting. Not wanting to be caught in such a vulnerable position, I stand and meet him half way. "What the fuck do you know about it?"

"I know it will only contaminate your relationship with her. She's too innocent of things like this to be able to handle your anger and guilt about it."

"You can't possibly know anything about how I'm feeling." He turns to begin pacing the cargo bay.

"D." I step into his path but instead of stopping he just steps around me, bumping my shoulder with his. "I've killed in cold blood, Danny." I spin on my heel to watch him pacing an area of the cargo bay that keeps his path from coming anywhere near me. "I also spent a week in Halawa. I was so angry at the circumstances that put me there that I couldn't be around Grace for weeks. Remember? She called me begging to come see me. But I couldn't. I was afraid that the anger I was still feeling would frighten her."

When he just continues to ignore me, I sigh deeply. "Think about this, Danny. You have to get rid of this anger before you see her. You can't be her Danno and be this angry with yourself and the world."

"What do you know about it? Huh?" He approaches and shoves my shoulder. "What do you know about how angry I am?"

"Because I'm still angry about my dad! And I'm still angry about Wo Fat killing Jameson and framing me! I have ways to get rid of it. You don't have one. I can help."

"Help!? You think you can help me?" He backs up a couple of steps and swipes a hand across his mouth. When I nod he gives a bark of humorless laughter. "Well, then, let me tell you what you can do to help." His smirk tells me I'm not going to like what he's about to say. "What you can do to 'help'-" He makes quote marks with his fingers. "-is fly around the world and turn back time so that I can keep Matt from getting on that plane. Or,-" He steps closer and shoves a finger in my face. "-since we're talking about this, turn back time so that I can keep him from making the biggest mistake of his life by getting that loan from Reyes in the first place." He laughs again and turns in a circle, his arms windmilling as he talks. "Oh, but you can't, can you, SuperSEAL? No, you can't because you're not Superman!"

"Danny." I sigh deeply. "I'm serious. You have got to get rid of this anger before seeing Grace again."

"No, what I have to do is figure out how to tell my innocent daughter and my parents and sisters that Matt is dead. And that is all I have to fucking do!"

He's still pacing with angry stiff steps and I plant myself in his path. He stops a few feet away and glowers at me. "Hit me."

His brows lower in a frown of confusion. "What?"

"Hit me." I hold my arms out to the side to show I won't defend myself.

He scoffs and looks askance at me. "I'm not gonna hit you, Steven."

"Why not? It's a great way to get rid of excess anger."

"Because I'm just not gonna hit you!" He spins away from me, muttering under his breath.

"I know of only two ways to get rid of this level of anger, Danny: fucking or fighting."

That has him spinning back to stomp over to where I'm still standing. "I'm not going to fuck you because I'm not gay!"

"And neither am I but it is a great way to get rid of any anger. Haven't you ever had angry sex?"

"Oh, sure. With the woman I was seeing."

"Yeah, well, you make do with what you have to hand." I shrug.

His eyes narrow on my face. "Are you telling me that you've fucked your SEAL buddies?"

"Great stress reliever too." I cross my arms over my chest and settle all my weight on my heels.

"But...but... don't ask, don't tell..."

"None of us asked and none of us sure as shit never told."

"There is a full flight crew just right up there!" He flings his arm in the direction of the cockpit.

I nod. "Sure. But DADT has been repealed. Besides, they're not coming down here until we land."

"I am not fucking you, McGarrett!"

"Okay. That's fine." I nod my head again. "Then hit me."

"You are certifiable. You know that, right?"

"So you keep telling me." I turn in a circle to watch him continue pacing the cargo bay. "If you're not going to try and sleep on the flight, the least you can do is let me help you get rid of that angry energy."

"By hitting you." He spins on his heel and snaps his fingers. "Or by letting you fuck me."

I shrug. "Or letting you fuck me. Like I said, it wouldn't be my first time letting a buddy angry fuck my ass."

He shakes his head. "So, what? I'm just supposed to haul off and punch you?"

"It worked the first time, right?"

His brow wrinkles. "The first time?" Before I can open my mouth to remind him of our first case together his eyes open wide. "Oh, right. I had forgotten about that." He chuckles. "I was less angry after, sure, but I was still angry with you for what you said about Grace."

"So, it works. To a degree." I lean forward a bit. "Whatcha waitin' for, D?" Even though I asked for it, and I'm expecting it, I still don't see it coming so he manages to knock me back a few steps.

I shake my head and move my jaw to make sure he didn't break it. "Feel better?"

"No," he says before letting fly with his left and connecting squarely with my right cheek bone. "Not-" Left eye. "-by a-" Right jaw. "-long shot." Jab to the nose.

I stagger back several steps, my hands going instantly to my nose which I expect to start bleeding. When I pull my hands away I'm extremely surprised to not see even a drop of blood. "How about now?"

He stands there, staring at me, breathing heavy, and I can feel my eye swelling closed. Finally he gives a small nod. "Little bit."

"Good." I gingerly touch all the places he hit me, pressing on the growing bruises. "Think you can rest now? We should be home in about six hours."

He nods and seems to deflate a bit. "Yeah. I think I can."

"Excellent." I pull out a pillow and blanket and hand them to him. "Sleep well, my friend."

He takes the offered items and resumes his seat with a small smile. I follow suit and watch as he gets comfortable and count down the seconds (three hundred) until he falls asleep and silently vow to watch over him while he sleeps.