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Steve's first warning sign that something was wrong was the black eye on Danny's face. When asked to explain it, Danny brushed him off with some crap about it being too embarassing.
Two days later, as the black eye started to fade, Danny came into work with a split lip and a cut on his forehead. Now, Steve was getting nervous.
"What the hell happened to your face, Danny?" Steve demanded after cornering Danny in his own office.
"I know it looks bad." Danny started his hands up as if defending himself.
"Who did that?" Steve asked.
"I did. I was jogging and my shoe laces came undone." Danny said, not meeting Steve's eyes, "I fell and hit my head."
"Did you get you head checked?" Steve pushed Danny's arms out of the way as he entered Danny's personal space.
"I didn't lose consciousness, I'm fine." Danny explained, taking a step away from Steve.
"Why are you moving away from me?" Steve asked, suspicously.
"You're in my personal space." Danny defended.
"Alright," Steve took a deep breath. "You are going to tell me what you got yourself into and I mean right now."
"I'm not into anything, Commander," Danny replied, irritated. "I fell. Forget it and go back to work."
"Not buying it, Detective," Steve replied, taking a grip on Danny's head, so he could get a better look at his pupils. "They aren't dialated."
"I'm fine. Now if you don't mind, I've got work to do." Danny indicated that it was time for Steve to leave his office.
"Fine." Steve let go of Danny's face, but made no move to leave his office. "There isn't something you want to tell me?"
"I tripped and fell, Steve."
Steve nodded his head and left Danny's office.
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Steve looked up from his seat behind his own desk. He saw Chin Ho and Kono whispering as they made their way over to him. Entering his office, Chin Ho and Kono shot one another a serious look
"Steve," Chin started, hesitantly. "We need to talk about Danny."
"Go one," Steve encouraged.
"His face looks like someone's beating on him," Kono said.
"I talked with him this morning, when I saw the new damage. He says he fell, tripped." Steve explained.
"You're not buying that are you?" Chin asked.
"Not really, but I tried to push him to tell me the truth and in true Williams form, he pushed right back." Steve eyes travleved to Danny's office. The object of their conversation sat behind his desk, one hand massaging him temple, the other on the phone.
"Well, what if he comes in tomorrow with his face in worse shape?"
"That's a good question, Kono." Steve continued to eye the unsuspecting Detective.
"Take him to your place tonight," Chin suggested.
"I can't just make him go to my house. I think they call that kidnapping." Steve pulled his eyes from the haole to make eye contact with Chin.
"When has that ever stopped you before?" Kono asked.
"He always had a medical condition in the past. How am I supposed to justify ordering him to come home with me so that I can make sure he doesn't get beat up in between the time he gets off work and then returns in the morning?" Steve whiped his hands down his face.
"You could try inviting him over," Kono suggested.
Steve and Chin looked at her and then each other. Could it be that simple?
"Huh," Steve said, his gaze drifting to Danny, still in his office. Danny was now off the phone, his head cradled in his hands. Steve grabbed the bottle of pain pills out of his desk drawer. Standing to his full height, Steve moved around his desk and out of his office. As he entered Danny's office, his partner's head came up.
"We got a case?" Danny asked, lowering his hands.
"No, but you've got a head ache," Steve set the pill bottle in front of Danny.
"Maybe, I'll make a detective out of you, yet." Danny picked up the bottle, shook three out and dry swallowed them.
Steve eyes catching the bruises on Danny's knuckles. He stepped forward, quickly, snatching Danny by the wrist.
"What's the matter with you!" Danny yelled, pulling hard to get free.
"I could ask you the same thing. You've been fighting!" Steve let a little of his rage boil out, turning Danny's wrist so that his knuckles were right up next to his eyes.
"Let me go!" Danny yanked hard.
"I don't think so," Steve seethed. "Not until I get a straight answer out of you. Who beat up your face and who did you bust your knuckles on?"
Danny stopped trying to pull out of Steve's grasp and really looked at his knuckles.
"Oh," Danny said, almost to himself.
"Oh. Oh?" Steve gave Danny a shake. "That's all you have to say?"
"Can I get the rest of the day off?" Danny asked, quietly.
"NO!" Steve thundered, angry at the abrupt change of topic.
"Steve, please." Danny turned his head away. "Give me some time to sort some stuff out. I'll tell you everything tomorrow, I promise."
"No way," Steve tightened his hold on Danny's wrist.
Danny winced at the tight grip, "Please, I'm not in trouble. I just need a little trust here."
"I'd say you're in a lot of trouble. And trust goes both ways, you know."
"I do trust you, you know that. I just need to figure some things out for myself."
"Why can't we do it together? We're partners," Steve loosened his grip on Danny's wrist, enough that Danny could slowly pull free.
"You're right we are partners, but this is personal. I promise I'll tell you everything tomorrow." Danny made to walk around Steve.
"You get a free pass for now, but I want the truth tonight. Come to my place, we can order take out."
"Alrigt, alright." Danny grabbed his cell phone and car keys off his desk and headed out the door. Not missing the worried looks shot his way by Chin and Kono.
"Where's he going?" Chin asked.
"What did he say?" Kono asked.
"He wants some time to himself. He did agree to come to my place tonight." Steve said, "He said he'd explain himself then. I think he's been fighting."
"You mean arguing or like fist fighting?" Chin asked.
"Fist fighting," Steve answered.
"He must be winning," Kono said.
Both men turned to look at her.
"What? I mean, he isn't that beat up," She defended. "A black eye and some cuts on his face is usually winning."
"She's right," Steve agreed.
"You going to wait for him to come over tonight or are we tracing the GPS in his cell?" Chin asked.
"Trace his cell," Steve said, pulling his own truck keys out of his pocket. "Call me with the details."
"Sure," Chin headed to the war room table as Steve headed for the exit.
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Fifteen minutes later and Danny pulled up to a gym, a jujitsu gym. Huh. Steve watched as Danny grabbed a duffel bag from the trunk and headed inside. Steve let out a frustrated sigh. This gym had a bad reputation for being unsafe and unorganized. Steve watched as Danny exchanged words with what look to be another member of the gym and headed to the locker room. The guy looked tough. Steve debated what he should do next. If he went in, Danny would see him for sure. Steve decided to watch from his truck, the gym's window giving good visibility.
Steve continued to watch the inside of the gym from his truck. Minutes after Danny entered the locker room, he reemerged dressed to work out clothes. Steve watched as Danny entered the ring with the guy he had spoken with before entering the locker room. Those two should never be allowed to fight, they were no where near the same weight class.
"Oh, crap." Steve muttered, exiting the vehicle, never taking his eyes off Danny. Steve watched as his partner squared up to a guy nearly twice his size. What was Danny thinking? As Steve reached for the door to the gym, he watched as his partner started his attack. For a moment, Steve's mouth hung open. Aside from delivering a few punches, Steve had never seen his partner in action. Danny moved with speed and determination. As Steve watch him from the outside of the gym, Danny never stopped moving. He landed one blow after another. Danny's opponent moved in, blocking several of Danny's blows, grabbing Danny bodily, he threw him across the mat.
"That all you got, Jughead?" Danny taunted, easily coming to his feet again.
"I got more for you, Jersey." The Jughead replied, moving in on Danny. A few other men that had been training separately moved to the ring to watch.
'They know each other' Steve realized. Maybe this was the guy Danny had been fighting with.
Danny and Jughead, s named by Danny, continued to trade blows and Jughead was getting the upper hand. With a hard kick to Danny's unprotected head, Jughead followed with a leg sweeping motion, knocking Danny on his back. Jughead moved in.
'Where's the referee?' Steve thought.
Jug head advanced to Danny's side, kneeling down and pulling his fist back to deliver a hard punch.
'Enough is enough,' Steve pulled the door open and entered the gym, moving quickly to the ring, intending to intervene.
As Steve neared the ring, he watched as his partner took one fist to his face.
"I said not the face," Danny said. Taking Jughead's fist in his hand, Danny bent in back and used his opponent's weight to pull himself off his back and onto his feet again.
"I told you... I was gonna win the next match. You ain't had enough, Jersey?" Jughead taunted, rubbing his abused wrist.
"Take more than that to keep me down, bring it," Danny waved him on, blood dripping from a cut near his eyes. Yup, his healing eye, would have a new bruise soon. Danny's opponent advanced on him, both trading blows. It was obvious Danny was winning.
"You gonna quit?" Danny called to Jughead.
"Never quit to you, haole." Jughead made one more move towards Danny, grabbing hold of him. The two ended up on the floor, grappling and wrestling. Danny manuevered behing him, pulling his arm at an odd angle.
"You want it broke in two places or three?" Danny sneered.
"Don't break it, I give," Jughead acquisited.
"Maybe, you ain't as dumb as you look," Danny said, releasing his arm and untangling himself from Jughead. Danny reached out a hand to his opponent and pulled him to his feet. Jughead teetered, unbalanced, Danny steadying him.
"You should get in some fights with some guys in your weight class," Jughead said as the pair headed to the ropes. "You could really kick some ass."
"Nah," Danny responded, pulling on the top rope and stepping on the lower one so Jughead could get out. The audience had started to go back to what they had been doing. Danny still hadn't noticed Steve.
"You fight good, brah," Jughead slipped through the ropes.
"I fight angry," Danny said.
"Yeah, I know," Jughead touched his damaged face and winced. "You ever gone tell me what happened to make you so angry?"
"No," Danny slipped throught the ropes, too.
"It's the least you could do, rearranging my face every night for a week," Jughead laughed.
"You hit hard, too." Danny smiled.
The two moved towards the locker room together. Steve watched as disappeared inside.
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When Danny emerged from the gym, his hair still wet from his shower and work clothes back on, Steve was waiting for him.
Danny released a frustrated sigh, "Do I have my very own stalker now?"
"Jujitsu, huh?"
"I guess."
"You could have told me about this," Steve said, looking Danny in the eye.
"Really? You're not pissed?" Danny moved to the Camaro, popping the trunk to put his duffel in.
"Pissed? Nah." Steve put his hands in his pockets and leaned against the Camaro. "Why would I be pissed? You wanna fight guys twice your size, why should that bother me?"
"You are pissed," Danny sighed. "Look, I'm going home. See you tomorrow."
"Oh, no you don't," Steve got off the car, pulling his hands from his pockets. "You said we'd talk tonight at my place."
"You already know all there is to know," Danny replied.
"No, I know what you've been up to, but, I don't know why," Steve responded.
Danny exhaled, loudly.
"You want me to follow your truck?" Danny asked, resigned.
"If you know what's good for you," Steve gave Danny a hard look, then headed to his truck.
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Danny stayed right behind Steve the whole way to his house. Putting, the Camaro in PARK, he thought one more time about making a break for it. No, he couldn't do that, he owed Steve some honest answers.
"You coming inside or are you gonna make me come and get you?" Steve asked, no hint of a smile in sight.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Danny killed the engine and climbed out of the car, following Steve into the house.
"You want a beer?" Steve asked heading to the kitchen.
"Yeah, sure."
Steve returned with two open bottles and handed one to Danny.
"How long?" Steve asked.
"The Jujitsu?" Danny asked, Steve nodded. "I learned when I was in High School after getting my ass kicked a few times. The recent interest has only been a couple of weeks."
"You hid it better the first week."
"I wore the protective gear the first week."
"But not now?"
Danny sighed and looked away.
"I want it to hurt."
"Why, Danny?"
"Feels good, satisfying."
"What's going on with you?"
"Well, let's see... Rachel, Grace and I were supposed to go to New Jersey together. I missed the flight, they didn't. We cleaned up the whole Governor, Wo Fat, mess. I'm still here and my family is in Jersey."
"Danny..."
"Oh and Rachel's pregnant, she says it's mine."
"That's good, right?"
"She won't take my calls and I don't know where, exactly, she is."
"Somewhere in New Jersey?"
"Yeah."
"With all the resources you have at your disposal you never tried to find her. Credit cards? Trace her cellphone? Grace's cell?" Steve asked.
"I'm not there yet."
"Not there yet?" Steve shot Danny a dirty look. "You go up against Giants in a ring, but you can't bring yourself to trace her phone?"
"She didn't magically lose my phone number!" Danny defended. "She doesn't want anything to do with me!"
"Okay. Calm down. Let me think," Steve held out the hand not holding his beer.
"Don't, please, don't. This is not your mess to clean up." Danny said, draining his beer bottle.
"It's simple, I'll call her-"
"No. Don't. It's never simple," Danny stood to his feet. "Now you know, I'm going home."
"No, wait. This can be fixed," Steve stood also, moving to block the door way.
"I told you what you wanted to know," Danny said looking Steve in the eye. "Move it. I'm leaving."
Steve, standing infront of the door, exhaled loudly, "I don't think it's a good idea for you to be alone."
"Oh, you don't," Danny crossed his arms.
"You've been having rough time..."
"I'm dealing. Move."
"By picking fights with guys twice your size."
"Is that a short joke?" Danny asked, trying to shove Steve out of the way of the door.
"No, it's not short joke." Steve stood his ground. "Let me try calling Rachel."
"Don't you dare."
"Hear me out," Steve said, "I'll tell her that you stayed to set things right for me and Kono. We were in the middle of something huge that you couldn't possibly leave while it was going down."
Danny glared at Steve.
"I don't need you to fix my life."
"What, then?"
"Huh?"
Steve placed a hand on Danny's shoulder, still blocking his partners way out. "You can't keep trying to get hurt as your coping technique."
"I've got it under control." Danny argued.
"You had to leave in the middle of a work day to go get your face rearranged, Danno."
Danny had nothing to say to that. He wanted to argue that it was his stress release, but no boss could accept that. No boss would deam it acceptable to leave in the middle of a work day to go a few rounds with a two hundred and fifty pound samoan.
At Danny's lack of response, Steve pounced, "You stay with me, you've got a change of clothes upstairs. I'll call Rachel."
Danny's shoulders slumped and Steve steered him back to the couch.
"You order take out and I'll order up your fmily."
"What if she won't answer?"
"she will, you know she'll take my call. Something could be wrong with you, you could be injured or dying." Steve smiled down at Danny, dropping some take out menus in his lap.
"I could be dying, huh?" Danny asked, a hint of a smile on his face.
"Well, I almost beat you within an inch of your life." Steve told him, "you pull this crap again and you can count on it."
"I should have told you."
"I should have done something sooner." Steve remarked, pulling his cell from his pocket and heading out to the back door. "You better be here when I come back in, buddy."
"I will."
Danny watched Steve through the glass door, well, Steve was talking on his phone to someone. Hopefully, it was Rachel. He glanced again at the stack of menus in his hands. He turned his hands over to see his battered knuckles. Fighting without gloves on was stupid, he knew that. What was he thinking? Danny dropped the menus onto the coffe table and stood to his feet, brushing both hands throug his hair.
"What'd you order?" Steve asked, coming back inside.
"Nothing."
"Why not?"
"Couldn't chose. You can."
"I talked to Rachel. She's coming back and brining Grace, too. She thought you chose us over her and Grace. Once I explained how seriously we needed you here, she admitted that we may have needed you more than she did at that particular moment. Any, they'll be here within a few days." Steve told his partner.
"It was that easy, huh?"
"Yeah, now help me pick out dinner."
"Whatever you order is fine." Danny said without thinking.
"Ham and pineapple it is."
No answer from Danny.
"You with me brah?"
"Whatever you want is fine."
"No it isn't, you hate pineapple on pizza."
"Get whatever you want."
"What's the matter, now?"
"Nothing."
"Dammit Danny."
"I'm not hungry, can I go now?"
"No, you are acting like a child. What, you pissed I called Rachel?"
Danny sighed, "I don't know. Maybe."
"Look, it doesn't matter how it happened, all that matters is that she and Grace are coming back. The rest will fall into place." Steve set all the menus down and pulled out his phone. "We're eating chinese. You like the teriaki chicken, last chance for something else."
"Nah, go ahead."
"You gonna eat it?" Steve shot Danny a glare.
"Yeah."
"Alright, then turn on movie, get comfortable, I'll order the food."
"Steve?" Danny called as Steve headed for the kitchen and Danny reached for the remote.
"Yeah, pal?"
"Thank you."
"Anytime."
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Author's Note: Well, I decided to post this story against my better judgement. I really don't love it. But, I hope you guys do. I read online that Scott Caan did study Jujitsu and that it's supposed to be a good for of MA for smaller sized guys.