Shelter from the Storm

A/N: I never meant to write this story. I had a plan for a longer post-finale fic to deal with all the feelings that the series ending left me with. Should've learned I'm not the one in charge here…

I was watching another show the other night and got inspired by one of its scenes. You may even recognize it if you're a fan. I thought it fit the H50 universe and Steve's state of mind after he left, and this is the result.

"There are some things

you can only learn in a storm."

— Joel Osteen

Steve awakened without warning, eyes flung wide into the darkness that surrounded him.

His heart was pounding, but his mind felt empty as if it had been drained of all thoughts.

Unsettled, he looked around, straining to see. Every sense was urging him to get out of bed, even if he had no idea why or what had woken him up.

As his eyes slowly adjusted, he caught the familiar shape of his dresser and his breathing eased down at the realization that he was in his own house.

The numbers on the clock read 5:45pm, but that couldn't be right because the blackness in the room was so thick he could barely see his own hand in front of his face.

Driven by the ominous feeling that something bad was about to happen, Steve jumped out of bed and reached out toward the curtains above it, drawing them aside.

No light flooded in.

Struggling to make sense of what didn't, he leaned forward and looked outside.

Black clouds sprawled across the sky, billowing in from the west. As they came closer, they seemed to drain the world of all colors, turning everything into a deep shade of gray.

The air was thick, heavy, the humidity pressing down almost to the point of suffocating him.

Thunder rolled over the house with a cracking boom as if to give warning of the wrath that was to come and for a moment, everything stilled. Even the wind held its breath. A heartbeat later, a streak of hot silver split the sky, and rain started to fall.

It turned into a downpour in seconds, as heavy as Steve had ever seen.

He couldn't remember the NWS issuing any weather alerts, but his experience told him this was going to be one hell of a storm, probably one of the worst that had hit the island, and he wondered if he should board up all doors and windows when he saw something that made his heart seize in his chest.

Danny.

Danny was out in the backyard, reading a book in one of the Adirondack chairs that he had moved by the deck.

"Hey, Danny!" he yelled. "Danny, get inside!"

But Danny didn't seem to hear him.

Eyes wide with terror, mouth frozen open, Steve watched a lightning crash just a few feet from his unsuspecting friend. "Danny! Can you hear me?" he called again. "Get out of the lightning!"

Frantic with worry, he ran downstairs as fast as his legs could carry him.

He needed to warn him, get him to safety.

Rain battered the roof like a hail of bullets amid explosions of thunder, the noise so intense it made the whole house rattle.

Steve raced through the living room and past his father's desk, heading for the door to the lanai. When he tried to open it, he realized with horror that he couldn't.

"Danny! You need to get inside!", he kept yelling, curling both hands around the knob. The damn thing didn't twist, and the door stayed stubbornly closed.

Heart in his throat, panic flaring, Steve started banging on the glass to get his attention, and when that also proved to be futile he dashed across the kitchen, making a beeline for the service door.

It swung open with a creaking noise that brought a chill to his spine, and he finally stepped outside into the rain. In seconds he was soaked, drenched to the skin but he didn't care, his only goal finding Danny and getting him inside.

The sky grumbled, the clouds growing darker and darker. The wind had picked up, howling, crying, warning. Bent by its ferocious force, the trees writhed and flailed.

Steve saw the chair where his friend had been sitting. It was empty, save for the book placed neatly on top of it. His eyes darted around the backyard, frantically searching until they finally spotted him by the bushes at the end of the property.

"No, no, no... Danny, stop! Stay right there!"

The ocean was as dark as the sky above him.

Tall, angry waves reared up before crashing down onto the beach, pounding the sand in front of Steve's terrified eyes.

Danny could swim but there was no way he would survive those waters.

"Danny, don't move!"

Hope surged through him when his friend stopped and turned to face him.

"Yo! What are you doing? Get away from the water!"

Danny's eyes narrowed. They were cold, dark with rage, looking at him as if he was the enemy.

"What do you care?" he said accusingly, jabbing the air with a pointed finger. "You left."

Steve flinched.

He had seen this kind of anger before, but not directed at him.

"What? Danny, I never—"

"Go away."

His burning stare felt like a knife to Steve's ribs. It was as if he could read in it everything Danny blamed him for and forgiveness wasn't an option anymore.

He backed away, stunned, watching his partner dismiss him with a shrug before turning around and resuming his walk towards the ocean.

"Danny!"

Nothing about this was making sense, and yet Steve's instinct screamed at him to follow, save Danny from the danger he was facing and get him inside so he could make him understand that he'd never meant to leave him behind.

The cold, icy rain pierced his skin as he ran across the backyard. The distance he could usually cover in a few strides seemed now endless, the beach further and further away.

A brilliant shock of white cut zigzags into the sky before hitting the grass to his left, stopping him in his tracks. The thunderous boom that followed reverberated around, echoing eerily as Steve wiped the rain away from his face and started running again.

His friend's silhouette was now barely visible by the water's edge. The violent wind whipped his blonde hair around his face but Danny didn't seem to mind as he waded into the ocean, oblivious to the peril.

Steve screamed. A terrified cry that became lost beneath the thunder rolling and the heavy rain.

If he didn't get to him soon he was going to drown.

Lightning struck again, hitting one of the trees. Steve heard a loud cracking sound and suddenly, with a mighty groan, the tree split in half, charred and alight with fire. It kept striking, shredding and tearing apart the landscape around him, preventing him from moving forward.

Flames leapt in the air, reaching hungrily for anything that they could consume.

"Danny!"

His desperate cry pierced the air, and before he was even aware of making a conscious decision his legs were pounding furiously on the grass and he was barreling through the flames.

They licked at his skin, burning his flesh, but he ignored the pain and kept going.

The winds were driving the rain faster, harder, stronger, carrying the heavy drops in diagonal sheets. It seemed to fuel the fire instead of putting it out, and the flames danced even higher.

When he finally reached the water, hurting and out of breath, Danny was no longer in sight. Steve plunged into the ocean, swimming ferociously towards the place where he'd last seen him. He dived in, over and over, barely giving his strained lungs enough time to rest.

"Danny!"

His breathing became erratic, fear catching in his throat as his mind registered a completely new horror.

Could he be...?

No.

"I'm sorry, okay?" he shouted to the heavens as he threaded water, hoping that his words would reach him. "I didn't want to leave you but I had to! She hurt you and—and I panicked. There was no other way!"

The only answer was a loud boom of thunder.

His own tears mixed with the rain as Steve kept searching, calling his friend's name and wearing himself into exhaustion until even keeping his head above the water became a challenge and he physically couldn't do it anymore.

A sharp, broken sob tore its way out of his throat, followed by a scream —a primal sound of shock and disbelief.

He had left him alone, and now Danny was gone.

Around him, the storm continued to rage. The waves roared and tossed him around, each of them stronger and bolder than the last.

Muscles aching with fatigue, Steve blinked his salt-encrusted eyes and looked around, realizing in disbelief that he couldn't see land anymore. The beach, the house, the whole island had just...disappeared.

And then he saw him.

Danny.

His blond head bobbing on the surface about a hundred feet from him.

He was alive.

Steve swam, calling on his last reserve of strength, but no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't get close.

"Danny! I'm right here, man, I'm coming!" he yelled as he kept trying.

He wasn't going to quit.

Not when his friend's life was on the line.

A giant wave rose to his right, picking up speed as it headed towards them. Steve stopped to look at it, mesmerized. It was the biggest one he'd ever seen. Too late he realized it was going to pass him and hit Danny instead.

It filled him with a terror that he had never experienced before.

Powerless to do anything but watch, he saw it swell and in the next moment crash loudly right where his friend had been, sweeping over him.

"DANNY!"

An ominous boom startled Steve out of his nightmare.

He sat up in bed, panting as if he'd been underwater, his breath coming in short, shallow gasps. His cheeks were wet, his heart hammering in sync with the sound of the rain battering the window.

The room was entirely dark, no light anywhere, and it took him a moment to realize where he was.

Hotel.

Middle of nowhere, mainland.

Untangling the sheets from around his limbs, he inched up to lean against the headboard and scrubbed a hand over his face.

The remnants of his dream still clung to his mind, haunting him. It was his worst-case scenario since he'd left the island: finding out that Danny had been hurt or killed and he wasn't there to stop it from happening.

Nearly losing him had been his breaking point, making him realize he no longer had the emotional ability to deal with something like that or any energy left to go through it again.

Too many life-threatening situations, too many losses.

He just couldn't do it anymore.

A loud crack startled his frazzled nerves, making him jump. Seconds later, the room brightened with lightning.

Steve swung his legs to the side and sat on the edge of the bed, reaching for his cellphone.

He needed to hear Danny's voice, be reassured that he was alright.

Yes, he had left, but it had nothing to do with him.

Danny was still the most important person in his life, he would never intentionally hurt or betray him.

The screen lit up as he touched it and he glanced at the time, mentally subtracting the hours to calculate the Hawaiian time.

Despite the time difference, it was still early enough for him to be awake.

His thumb hovered over the call button. He had kept in touch as promised, but mostly through texts. Despite being the one who suggested it he wasn't really good at talking, so written words and a few pictures had been his preferred way of communicating with him.

Danny didn't seem to mind.

Not that he'd ever tell him if he did. He had been incredibly supporting and uncharacteristically patient, even if he didn't agree with his choice.

Pushing aside the guilt that had wrecked him since he'd left him on the beach, he finally dialed the number and put the phone to his ear, listening.

It only rang twice.

"Hey," he said hesitantly as soon as Danny picked up.

"Hey. Isn't it night over there?"

Steve cleared his throat. "Yeah. I just… I can't sleep."

"What's wrong? Should I be concerned?"

Even with thousands of miles separating them, Danny could always sense when he was upset.

"No, it's, uh… no, you don't need to."

"Good. Because I meant what I said, you know. Don't make me come after you." His tone was teasing but soft and full of affection.

Steve closed his eyes, picturing his friend's face. "How are you?" he asked, needing to know that he was okay but not wanting to sound anxious. "How was your day?"

"Boring," Danny replied. "Ordinary. Steve, everything's fine. The island is safe, the team is safe, we're all here waiting for you to heal and come back. You're supposed to do your thing and recharge your batteries, so stop worrying about us, alright?"

"Okay…" he said sheepishly.

He missed him so damn much.

All of them.

The only purpose of him leaving was to clear his head. Get perspective. Yet all he had managed to do was roam aimlessly from town to town, state to state, never stopping long enough to allow his demons to catch up.

But they'd caught up anyway, making the last few weeks miserable.

Steve didn't understand, couldn't figure out why his decision to take some time off had only brought him more pain.

Until that very moment.

While the rain poured out of the dark sky and his best friend's voice soothed his soul, the truth about why he had really left and what he really needed was finally revealed to him.

So clear in its simplicity that he wondered why he didn't realize it before.

"Steve? You still there?"

"Yeah, sorry. I'm here."

Feeling almost lightheaded with relief and anticipation, he reached for the bedside lamp and turned it on, blinking as the modest room came into view.

The military backpack that had followed him around the globe for the last two decades was sitting on the chair by the bed, all of his meager belongings still inside.

"Did you just call to hear me breathe or is there something you want to tell me?" Danny said in mock annoyance.

Steve smiled, sparing a glance out the window as he got to his feet.

"Yeah, there is," he replied with a determined edge to his voice that hadn't been there before. "I'm coming home."

THE END