Chapter Text
20 hours later found Steve standing in a hospital hallway, trying to coax a cup of coffee from the machine. He was bone-deep tired, but knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight, at least not at his house. Danny had been out of surgery for four hours now, the doctors working hard to fix the mess Santana had made of Danny’s leg. Steve still shuddered as he remembered the glimpse he caught of it, skin split and ripped, of the nails buried deep in flesh and bone, almost hidden completely under the heavy flow of blood. Steve never stops wondering at the amount of damage a body can take without giving up the ghost, having seen soldier survive stepping on IEDs in ‘Stan and now Danny.
Gently, he thunked his head against the machine. Suddenly it spurted and gave a ‘glug-glug’ as it filled a coffee cup for him. He had resigned himself to sleeping the night at the hospital – the 5-0 badge could get him many places, including a hospital room after visiting hours. He’d already sent the rest of the team home to get some sleep, especially Kono, who really hadn’t been sticking to the ‘desk duty’ deal he’d made with her. Danny hadn’t even been awake for most of the waiting the team had done, only occasionally waking up vaguely, fighting against an invisible force. Steve had done his best to calm his friend down, fighting to keep him laying where he should – when he’d gone out for some food, he’d come back to find one of the nurses had cuffed Danny to the bed to stop him trying to move.
Needless to say, Danny had been half-way to a heart-attack, finding himself restrained again, and Steve had only just stopped himself from threatening the nurse, settling instead for speaking very deliberately and firmly to her and insisting she didn’t tend to Danny again.
Okay, so maybe Steve could get a bit protective.
He was already eager to get back, so he grabbed the coffee, ignoring the small amount of hot liquid that splashed over his hand, and made his way back to Danny’s room.
He’d told Rachel over the phone that she could bring the kids over to see Danny in a few days; he knew Danny wouldn’t want either of them to see him in the state he was in, bruised and six feet high on drugs.
Steve slowed as he got to Danny’s room; a dark haired guy with a small moustache was standing nearby, loitering. He was making no move towards Danny’s room and he could just be waiting for someone, but Steve kept an eye on him as he put his hand on the room handle.
He pushed open the door and immediately his Sig-Sauer was out and pointed at the intruder in the room, sitting in his chair, near his injured partner.
“Freeze!” He shouted, and the intruder jumped, turning around.
“WOAH, WOAH, woah there, Rambo! Put that thing away! What jungle did your mother drag you up in!”
Steve lowered his gun in shock. He looked from Danny to the visitor and back to Danny.
“Uh - Turk Malloy?” He put forward. They really. Wow, they really did look similar. Identical even. How the-
“That’s my name, sweetheart, don’t wear it out.”
God, they were even equally obnoxious, what kind of hell was this?
“I – what are you doing here?” Steve went with, for lack of any smart comeback. Turk reached out and patted Danny’s hand.
“Just come to check up on Charlie Kaufman here.”
“You realise that Charlie was more talented than Donald, right?” A voice came from the hallway. Steve turned to find the dark-haired man from before peeking into the room. He took off his sunglasses and cap and Steve immediately made the connection – Virgil Malloy.
“And on the subject of Danny being more intelligent than you, this is a stupid idea and I can’t believe we’re still here.”
“Then shove off!” Turk gestures, making shooing motions at Virgil.
“I would, but somehow, leaving Forrest Gump to outrun a Navy SEAL seems unsporting.”
“Should be right up your alley then, spineless.”
“What did you just say?”
“I called you spineless, princess. A weakling. Pussy.”
“Oi-“
“What’re you gonna do, little girl?”
Steve rubbed his temple, holstering his gun and putting his forgotten coffee down on Danny’s beside table. He then made to break the two brothers up.
“Hey! Hey, cut it out. This is a hospital room, okay, you’re going to draw attention.”
Virgil stuck his cap back on with an annoyed flourish.
“Fine. I’ll just take the car and leave you here then, you ungrateful little-“
“Oh? Virgin’s going to drive a car that isn’t a model? Probably the first time you’ve seen something bigger than three inches.”
“I’m going to smother you in your sleep!” Virgil shouted as he left, leaving Turk sniggering. Steve leaned against the bedside table, taking a tentative sip of his coffee and frowning at the weak taste. He checked to make sure Danny was still out, before turning back to Turk, who was sat back in his seat.
Steve couldn’t help but stare – they had the same look, the same voice, even the same attitude. This was freaky even for look-alikes, unless…
“So what’s your connection to Danny?”
Turk gave him a disbelieving look.
“Really? I’m sitting right next to him and your mind doesn’t immediately jump to ‘twin brothers’? What, too full of pin ups of AK-47s? Sexy chicks dressed in nothing but tac-vests?”
Steve bristled – only his team and Mary could talk to him like that and this guy, no matter how similar he might look, wasn’t Danny.
“Danny’s only got one brother, and he’s dead.”
“Aww, yeah, I heard about that. Bummer about the kid. He could have made it big in the business.”
Do not strangle, do not strangle, Steve repeated the mantra in his head.
“Anyway, with us it was a whole mix up. Ma was in New Jersey of all places when y’know, everything went down? Who goes to New Jersey for a holiday though? Who goes to New Jersey unless they’re shoved at gun-point, in fact?”
Steve heard his mouth speaking without his permission.
“New Jersey’s not so bad. It’s got good pizza, good singers-“
“You live in Hawaii, sweetheart.”
“Just…get on with the story.”
“Not much happening. Ma was in the hospital, and so was Mrs Williams. Me, Virgil and Danny were born. Ma said there was some kind of fire or something and everything got messed up and the babies accidentally got swapped. Nobody even noticed because hell, babies, they all look the same. I did always joke ‘bout Virgil being adopted, y’know. When we were kids he used to cry about it.” He sniggered again.
“So you’re saying Danny is…a Malloy?” The idea was so foreign for Steve he couldn’t quite wrap his head around it. Danny was a Williams. That’s just, just him. He was just like Clara. But then, Steve thought about the rest of the Williams family – Bridget, with her dyed blonde hair, Matt, lean and dark haired, even Eric, who Steve had always assumed, simply took after his father. Just from a looks perspective, maybe Virgil did look more like he belonged in that family…
“Hell no. Danny-boy made it clear that he didn’t want to be part of the Malloy family. We only found out ‘bout this whole thing what…ten years ago? Somewhen around there. Virgil was in Newark for some computing gig when he sees this bozo’s face in the papers. ‘Course he shoved the picture in my face for at least the next six months until I agreed to go meet this Williams guy. We got on alright at first, but he caught on what the family business is-“ He mimed putting his ear against an invisible lock and stuck his tongue out like a cartoon, turning an imaginary lock, “-and suddenly he doesn’t want to hear a single word about us. If you cut the guy down the middle he’d have ‘JUSTICE’ spelled through his body. Y’know, like that stick candy?”
“Rock.” Steve corrected absently.
“Whatever. I think dickie here is a bit tetchy about the whole subject still. Doesn’t like the idea that he’s not a Williams by blood, you know. ‘Course, I don’t let Virgil the Virgin forget. I like to bring it up now and then at family gigs – keeps him on his toes.” Turk said proudly.
“Okay, I get how you two know each other then, but why are you here? He’s never mentioned you. It doesn’t sound like you keep in touch.”
Turk suddenly looked uncomfortable, plucking at his jeans.
“Well, I figured this business was at least a little bit our fault, and Danny-boy did get a bit more dinged up than usual.”
“Than usual? Are you spying on him?” Steve asked with narrowed eyes, his protective instinct flaring up.
“Down, dog!” Turk jeered. “I’m just keeping a couple of tabs on him, okay? No need to go all Spanish Inquisition on me.”
“But wh-“
Turk suddenly pulled his cap down and slid his sunglasses on as the sharp tap of heels sounded in the hallway and after a brief perfunctory knock, a nurse entered. She took in the two visitors with a disapproving face.
“Mr Williams shouldn’t be having visitors at this hour.” She said, sharply.
Steve amped up his Charming Smile and flashed his badge.
“Five-0, ma’am. I’ve got authorisation to be here, tonight.”
The nurse gave him and the silent Turk a sceptical look, before checking Danny’s stats, switching out his IV bag and scurrying back out, shutting the door firmly.
As soon as the door shut, Turk shoved himself up from the chair.
“And I think that’s my cue to leave. Fun as this little talk’s been, tea-times over.”
He headed to the door, but Steve managed to get one more question in before he left.
“Wait, Malloy. What happened to the nine million in the end?”
Turk flashed him a wide smile.
“Trade secrets, sweetheart.”
And with that, he was gone.
*
From the bed, Danny groaned.
“Urgh. I thought he’d never leave.”
Steve didn’t try to stop the small grin that slunk on his face as he dropped into Turk’s vacated seat.
“Well now you know how I feel, partner.”
Danny gave a half-assed glare.
“You are not comparing me to him. I am a joy to be around, babe, you’re lucky to have me.”
“…Yeah. Yeah, I really am.” Steve said softly, and Danny immediately dropped the fake scowl.
“C’mon, you can’t pull the puppy face on a sick man, McGarrett. I can’t even defend myself.”
“As if you can resist me when you’re fully mobile.”
“It’s true, I feel like over the years you’ve been wearing away my Anti-Batshit Walls. I can never go back to civilisation like this.”
“Good. Stay here then.” Steve said, very serious.
Danny grinned at him.
“Okay. You’ve got me, babe. I’m not going anywhere.”