Title: Walking in my shoes
Author: Ligeia / gothikmaus
Fandom: Hawaii Five-0
Characters/Pairing: Steve/Danny
Rating: PG
Category: pre-slash, bodyswap
Summary: He must be suffering from a hell of a concussion, because what he was seeing couldn't be real.
Author's note 1: Written for my trope_bingo card. Trope: "Bodyswap".
Author's note 2: Title stolen from Depeche Mode, because I can't come up with decent titles

Hawaii Five-0 and all related characters are property of CBS. I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.

Walking in my shoes

"Only in Hawaii," Danny muttered, fastening the strap of his bulletproof vest around his waist. "Only on this godforsaken rock in the middle of the ocean."

"It's just a bust, Danny," Steve replied, not looking up from the map he was studying. "I'm sure you've done plenty back in good old Jersey."

"Yes, I did, more times that I'd like to remember. But back in the civilized world cops went after thieves, or smugglers, or even terrorists, not... not..."

Steve looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Witches?"

Danny threw his hands up in the air. "Witches! Witches only exist in Disney movies, German fairy tales and British children books. We should be tracking down drug dealers or human traffickers, not Harry Potter wannabes."

"The governor wants to nip this in the bud before they go from idle threats to something dangerous. They underestimated groups like this in the past and don't want to make the same mistake."

"Nothing to do with the fact that two of the companies involved are among the main supporters of Denning's campaign?"

Steve sighed. "Look, let's just get this over with. Maybe the governor will stop breathing down my neck for a while if we indulge him. Why are you so worried, anyway?"

"I'm worried because any person claiming to be a witch is obviously insane and insane people are dangerous."

"Don't worry, I'll ask Kono to kiss you if you get turned into a frog."

"You're hilarious. I hope they shrink you to smurf size, so I can put you under a glass and watch you try to break free using one of your ninja moves."

Steve smiled and reached for his earpiece. "Chin, is everything set over there?"

"Yes, we have all sides covered."

"Kono?"

"I have a clear view of the backdoor, if anyone tries to run, I'll get them."

Steve nodded. "Good. Let's kick these witches' asses."

***

Danny should have known. Because, really, when a so-called witch coven sends multiple threats to various construction companies accusing them of being a danger to the "sacred energy flow of the island" and demanding they "abandon all their sites before the next new moon or be ready to face the wrath of the Forest Spirits", you're clearly dealing with mentally unstable people. And, for some reason, mentally unstable people just loved playing with explosives (and Steve McGarrett was a living, breathing, jumping-off-of-high-buildings proof of that). So he wasn't really surprised by the explosion. Not that he had much time to be surprised: he and Steve had just entered the building when one of the crazy fuckers they were supposed to collar threw something toward them. Some kind of home-made bomb, probably, because as soon as it hit the floor, Danny saw a bright green light and was thrown back across the room.

He must have lost consciousness after that, because someone was shaking him.

"Boss. Boss are you okay?"

Kono's voice. Why she was calling him boss, though, was beyond him.

"Yeah, I'm all right," someone said. The voice sounded vaguely familiar, but Danny didn't recognize it. Someone from HPD, maybe. "What happened?"

"Easy, Danny," Chin replied. "You hit your head quite hard."

"I think you hit your head. Why are you calling me Danny?" The familiar voice went on.

Danny frowned. Something was not right. He turned his head and blinked his eyes open. A few feet away from him someone was struggling to sit up. He was wearing a light blue shirt, very similar to the one he had put on that morning, and gray slacks. His vision was a bit blurred and he squinted, trying to recognize who the man lying next to him was. As far as he knew, no one at HPD believed in the importance of dressing like a proper law enforcement officer. The other man turned to face him.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" He sat up abruptly, ignoring the throbbing pain that flared up in the back of his skull. He must be suffering from a hell of a concussion, because what he was seeing couldn't be real.

There were hands on his shoulders trying to push him down again, but he shrugged them off.

"Steve," he heard Kono say. "You should lie down until the EMTs are here, you could have a concussion."

He looked at her, then down at himself. Boots. Cargo pants. A fucking thigh holster. He slowly turned his head and found himself looking into his own eyes.

"Fuck."

***

"Maybe you should lie down and try to get some rest," Kono said slowly, using a tone that was supposed to be soothing but wasn't working at all.

"I'm not going to lie down. I'm not going to rest. I'm not going to even blink until someone explains to me what the fuck is going on and how we can fix this!"

Danny was pacing, hands gesticulating wildly before coming up to the sides of his head, trying to smooth back his hair. Hair that was suddenly much shorter and didn't need to be smoothed back, because he was fucking trapped in Steve McGarrett's fucking body.

Seriously, only in Hawaii.

He turned around and looked at his partner. Steve was sitting in a chair, staring at the floor as if it held all the answers they needed, and his trademark aneurysm face really didn't look good on Danny's features.

"How can you be so calm about this?" Danny snapped. He shouldn't be the only one freaking out, dammit.

"I'm not calm. I'm thinking," Steve replied, not looking up.

"Well, don't think too much, you'll give my brain a headache," Danny huffed and sat down on the bed, arms crossed over his chest.

Kono tried to speak again. "Guys, are you sure this is not just a side effect of the concussion? You both hit your head quite hard when the bomb exploded..."

"It wasn't a bomb," Steve corrected her.

"What do you mean it wasn't a bomb?" Danny replied. "Did you forget the explosion? Are you suffering from amnesia? Oh my God, is my brain damaged?"

"I know there was an explosion, Danny, I was there," Steve said, glaring at him. "I just said it wasn't a bomb. It was... something else."

"Oh, sure. How silly of me not to notice that. If it wasn't a bomb, what was it?"

The frown deepened and Danny wondered if he should start worrying about getting permanent wrinkles. Steve looked away and muttered "I don't know."

"Great! Just great!" Danny stood up and started pacing again.

"Okay," Chin said. Everyone looked at him. "So, you're saying the witch threw something at you, then there was a green light, an explosion that threw you back several feet, you lost consciousness and when you came to, you had... swapped bodies."

"I know it sounds crazy, if someone told me that story, I'd call a shrink right away, but that's exactly what happened," Danny replied.

Chin looked from him to Steve and reached for his phone. "I need to make a call."

"You actually believe us? Wait, who are you calling? Don't tell me you have a wizard uncle or something."

Chin smiled cryptically and walked out of the room.

Danny took a deep breath. "Okay. Okay. I trust Chin, he's going to find someone who can fix this and things will be back to normal in no time, right?" He looked hopefully at Kono. She offered him a weak smile.

"And what do you suggest we do until then? I refuse to stay here," Steve asked.

"Maybe you should..."

"I swear to God, Kono, if you're about to say we should try to get some rest..."

She held up her hands. "I was just trying to tell you maybe you should go home and avoid talking to anyone until we find a solution. We'll tell the governor you have a concussion and you'll need a few days to recover. How does that sound?"

Danny thought about it and nodded. "Okay, I can do that. You in?" He added, turning to where Steve was still sitting.

Steve placed his hands on his knees and pushed himself to his feet. "We're going to my place."

"Oh, are we? And who decided that?"

"I did. We need to minimize contact with other people and it's easier to do that at my place. Mom will be away for a couple of days and Cath is out of town."

Steve was heading for the door when something dawned on Danny.

"Shit."

Steve turned around, looking alarmed. "What?"

Danny rubbed a hand over his face. "I have Grace this weekend, I'm supposed to pick her up tomorrow evening. I'll have to call Rachel and tell her I'm sick and I need to reschedule. Fuck, she’s going to bitch so much about this. And there’s a school trip next week and…"

"She can come over," Steve said, cutting right through Danny’s rant.

Danny blinked at him. "Are you insane? How am I going to explain this to her? What should I..."

"We'll think of something," Steve went on without missing a beat. "You shouldn't give up on your time with Grace. And maybe Chin will find a counter-spell before you'll have to pick her up."

Danny made a face. "Please, tell me you didn't just say 'counter-spell'."

Steve grinned. Somehow, it didn't look so endearing on Danny's features. And since when had Danny started describing Steve's grin as 'endearing'?

"Okay. If all else fails, we'll just tell her Danno hit his head and she shouldn't pay attention if he's acting a little odd. Okay, yeah, we can do this."

He sighed and fished the car keys out of his pocket. Well, Steve's pocket, but that was a technicality. Kono snatched them away.

"What are you doing?"

"The official version is that you have a concussion, so you're not gonna drive anywhere. Besides," she added, twirling the keys around her index finger and looking way too pleased with herself, "I've always wanted to drive your car."

***

"Did you have to buy all that food?" Steve asked looking at the plastic bag Danny had just deposited on the kitchen counter.

"Hey, I get hungry when I'm stressed and right now I'm extremely stressed. Besides, if I'm staying here for the foreseeable future, I need to know there's something edible in the house."

"I have food, Danny."

"Yes, you have rabbit food. I'm not eating brown rice and celery for a whole weekend, Steven."

"And I'm not letting you eat this," Steve said rummaging in the bag. "I mean, seriously? Chips? Peanut butter? Double chocolate chip cookies? Do you have any idea how much saturated fat is in those? I'd like to have my body back the way it is right now, thank you very much."

Danny smiled and snagged the bag away from him. "Well, too bad for you, because I'm planning to eat so much junk food you'll have to swim to the mainland and back to burn all those calories."

Steve narrowed his eyes. "Really?" He asked and walked out of the kitchen.

Danny didn't like the tone of his voice and followed him.

"Where are you going?"

"You're not the only one who's stressed right now. But I, unlike you, have a much healthier way of coping."

"And what would that be?"

Steve turned around, smirked and started unbuttoning his shirt. "I'm going for a swim."

"You are... No. I'm not letting you use my body as shark bait."

Steve rolled his eyes. "I swim almost every day, Danny, and I've never even seen a shark fin."

"You may not see them, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. They're just waiting for the perfect chance to get a snack."

"How about we reach a compromise then? I'll skip my swim if you avoid clogging my arteries with junk food."

Danny glared at him. "Fine."

"Good. And now I'm taking off this shirt, I swear it feels like the buttons are about to pop whenever I take a breath."

**

Danny walked into the kitchen. He tilted his head to one side and grimaced.

"I told you you would never fit on the couch."

"Shut up and tell me there's coffee."

Steve nodded in the direction of the coffee pot. "Help yourself."

Danny took a mug from the cupboard and filled it with coffee. He added sugar and made a detour to the fridge to pour some milk in it, then sat down at the table in front of Steve.

"There's jam in the fridge if you want to make toast."

"Later. Right now I need my caffeine fix."

"You make it sound like a drug."

"It is. Best drug in the world." Danny took a sip and closed his eyes, savoring the flavor. "And legal too."

Steve shook his head. "Chin called."

Danny's eyes opened. "What did he say?"

"He said his contact might be able to help us. We are lucky because tomorrow's the full moon and..."

Danny held up a hand "Okay, I don't need to know the technicalities. The less I know about it, the more I can convince myself this is all just a trippy hallucination caused by some weird mushroom or something."

Steve raised an eyebrow. "A mushroom?"

"That shack was in the middle of the forest, there was mold on the walls and I'm sure those so-called witches get freaking high when they meet to worship the goddess or whatever they do. Who knows what we inhaled after the explosion?"

Steve opened his mouth to speak, then changed his mind. "Whatever. If that makes you feel better, go with it."

"I like it when you listen to the voice of reason, that is, me. Now shut up and let me enjoy my coffee."

***

"Danno!" Grace shrieked and threw herself at Steve. Danny's heart clenched a little at the sight.

"Hey, Monkey," Steve said, crouching and wrapping his arms carefully around her.

"Mommy said you were at the hospital. Are you okay?"

"Yes, sweetheart, don't worry. I’m still a little woozy and I'm not allowed to drive yet, but I'm feeling much better. Especially now that you're here." Grace beamed at him and Danny had to make an enormous effort not to walk over to them and engulf his little girl in a hug.

"Uncle Steve hit his head much harder than I did, though, that's why I'm staying here. The doctor said someone should look after him and I, being the generous person I am, volunteered. Besides, he said we can use his beach, so you can swim and build sand castles and look for seashells."

Grace's smile lit up her entire face when she looked at Danny. "Really? Can I do all those things, uncle Steve?"

"Sure you can. And then we'll have a barbeque."

"Thank you!" She ran up to him and hugged him tight.

Danny ruffled her hair and looked over at Steve. Steve was watching them with his trademark puppy face. It was quite disconcerting seeing it on his own face.

Danny looked down at Grace again. "Why don't you say bye to your mom and take your backpack up to Mary's room? Then we can have dinner."

Grace nodded, went to kiss Rachel’s cheek and ran upstairs.

"Don't forget to wash your hands!" Danny shouted after her.

Steve turned to Rachel. "Thanks for driving her over."

Rachel looked him up and down. "Are you sure you’re okay? Maybe she shouldn't be here."

"No!" Danny exclaimed. Rachel turned to him. "I mean, you don't need to worry, Danny's all right. He would never put Grace in an unsafe situation, you know that."

"Yes, I do know that, I was merely wondering. But I suppose two adult men know their limits. I'll see you on Sunday, Daniel."

"Bye, Rach."

They both heaved a sigh of relief when she closed the door behind her.

"Well, that went well," Steve deadpanned.

Danny was about to reply when Grace came running down the stairs.

"I'm hungry! What's for dinner?"

**

Three slices of pizza and two Disney movies later, Grace was sleeping peacefully in Mary's old bed.

"Is she asleep?" Danny whispered from the doorway.

Steve turned to him and nodded. Danny walked to the side of the bed and looked down at his daughter. He raised his hand to smooth the hair back from her face, but stopped. This wasn't her father's hand, what if she felt the difference? He didn't want to startle her. He moved his hand away, curling it into a fist as he dropped it by his side.

Steve put his hand on Danny's shoulder. "We'll fix this. I promise."

Danny nodded, eyes never leaving Grace's face.

**

Steve had convinced him to sleep in his bed: first he had pointed out that if Grace woke up in the middle of the night and saw Danny in Steve's bed and Steve on the couch, it would confuse her and then he had reminded him of the killer crick in the neck he had suffered from the previous morning. Danny was pretty sure Grace would sleep like a log until morning, but he wasn’t looking forward to waking up with a stiff neck again and so he accepted.

He changed the sheets and put on the neatly folded pajama pants and T-shirt Steve had given him, but as soon as he lied down, he was surrounded by Steve’s scent. Which was ridiculous, he thought, it was just Steve's detergent, but for some reason Danny's brain associated the scent with the man itself. It was awkward at first, sleeping in his partner’s bed while wearing his clothes. But when his brain decided to provide a series of very inappropriate mental images starring the two of them sharing said bed, things got even worse. Not even knowing that Grace was sleeping in the other room seemed to be enough to keep the images at bay.

It took him a long time to fall asleep.

**

Danny woke up to the smell of coffee and pancakes. It was familiar and safe and almost made him forget about the previous night. Almost. He got out of bed, went to the bathroom and padded downstairs.

"Oh, look who finally rolled out of bed. I thought Navy SEALs were programmed to wake up at dawn," Steve said as a way of greeting. Grace giggled.

"I'm blaming the blow to the head," Danny replied. To tell the truth he had woken up around 6 o'clock: he had checked the time, rolled over and gone back to sleep.

Steve put a steaming mug down on the table and went back to the stove. "I hope you like pancakes. I had to use some disgustingly healthy ingredients, but that's all you keep in your kitchen."

Danny narrowed his eyes. "Really." Of course Steve would prepare an artery-friendly version of pancakes.

Steve turned around and grinned. His smug expression didn't look pretty at all on Danny's face and Danny hoped he never had to see it again.

"Danno, you're being rude to uncle Steve."

"Yes, Danno, were are your manners?"

"I must have left them on that awfully comfortable couch of yours," Steve replied, glaring just a little. "Here, consider this a peace offering," he added, putting a plate of pancakes in front of him and sitting down next to Grace.

Danny brought a forkful to his mouth. The pancakes were delicious, but it was unnerving to eat with Steve staring expectantly at him.

"Consider yourself forgiven," Danny said, his mouth still half full.

Steve gave him a radiant smile and tucked into his pancake. Danny distracted himself by sipping his coffee, silently cursing as he burned his tongue in the process.

**

"Does she ever gets tired?" Steve asked, pouring fruit juice into a glass.

"Nope. Especially when she has a private beach at her disposal," Danny replied with a smile. He looked over at where Grace was busy decorating her sand castle with seashells and old multicolored beads she had found in Mary's bedroom. When he turned back to Steve his expression was serious. "I know looking after a kid can be annoying, even more so when she's not actually your daughter."

"What are you talking about, Grace's a great kid. And, unlike her father, she actually likes the ocean."

Danny frowned. "That's because she's young and innocent and has no idea of the dangers lurking beneath the surface."

"You make it sound like a horror movie. Also, stop making that face."

"What face?"

"The one you're making right now. It doesn't suit me at all."

Danny threw a crumpled up napkin at him. "Bring that glass of juice to my daughter. I don't want her to dehydrate."

**

Grace was napping in the backseat, head tilted to one side in a position that made Danny worry about her neck. She was exhausted from all the outdoors activities that had filled her weekend and had been out like a light as soon as she had sat down. Danny kept stealing glances at her in the rear-view mirror.

"Don't worry, she's just tired," Steve said. He turned around in his seat to look at her and smiled.

"I'm not worried. I just..."

Steve looked at him. "You just?"

Danny glared at the street ahead. "I just wish I had more time with her. Every time I have to drive her back to Rachel I..." He gripped the steering wheel tighter, knuckles turning white.

Steve put a hand on his shoulder but didn't say anything. Danny decided to change the subject.

"How come I get to drive my own car today? What's the special occasion?"

Steve smiled and removed his hand. "I'm always driving, I thought people may get suspicious if they suddenly saw Danny in the driver's seat."

"Very funny, McGarrett, I'm splitting my sides."

Steve grinned. "I think you mean you're splitting my sides."

"Oh, my God, shut up."

They drove the rest of the way in silence. Steve gently woke Grace when they arrived and helped her out of the car. He whispered something in her ear and she nodded. She walked up to Danny, who was leaning back against the car door. His arms were crossed, hands closed into fists to fight against the instinct to reach out and hug his little girl.

"Thank you for the weekend, uncle Steve. I had a lot of fun."

Seeing Grace look up at him with her big brown eyes and knowing he couldn't hold her in his arms broke Danny's heart. He knelt down and gave her what he hoped was a sincere smile.

"You're welcome, Gracie. And you can come back any time you want, I had a lot of fun too. Now go, your mom is waiting for you."

She gave him a brilliant smile and nodded. He slipped back into the driver's seat and tried to not look as Steve walked her to the door, holding her hand. He couldn't hear what Rachel was telling him and that was the only positive thing about the whole situation: not having to deal with his ex-wife for once.

"What was she complaining about?" Danny asked once Steve was back.

"How do you know she was complaining? You can't have heard what she said."

"I was married to her for ten years. I just need to look at her face to know she's complaining."

Steve shook his head. "She said Grace's nose looked pink and hoped she didn't get sunburned."

"She..."

"Relax," Steve interrupted him. "I told her we put almost a whole bottle of sun lotion on her, SPF 30+. She seemed satisfied with that answer."

Danny took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Rachel had the ability to make his blood pressure skyrocket even when he wasn't dealing directly with her. "Thanks."

Steve was about to reply when his cell phone rang.

"Chin. Tell me you have good news."

Steve nodded along to something Chin was saying at the other end and agreed to meet him somewhere in ten minutes. He put the phone in his pocket and turned to Danny.

"I think we have something."

**

The place where Chin was waiting for them wasn't too far away, but it looked like a different planet compared to the rich neighborhood where Stan and Rachel lived. Small one-story houses lined both sides of the road and while Danny wouldn't describe the area as poor, it was clear that people living there weren't wealthy either.

They saw Chin's bike parked in one of the driveways and pulled over. They got out of the car without saying a word.

"It's going to work," Steve said. He was looking earnestly at Danny and Danny wished he could share his partner's confidence.

He simply nodded. "Let's go."

They walked around the house to the backyard. Danny was expecting someone dressed in a traditional costume, something similar to the priest he had seen at a blessing ceremony a few months earlier. Instead they found Chin chatting with an ordinary looking middle-aged man: he was local, on the plump side, with salt and pepper hair and a kind smile. He kind of reminded Danny of his uncle Bob. The only difference being his uncle Bob would never wear such an outrageously bright shirt and flip-flops. Not in March, anyway.

Chin saw them and nodded. "Hey, guys. This is Kawena, he will help you with your... problem."

They both shook his hand.

"Chin told me what happened. Don't worry, you'll be back to normal in no time," Kawena said, as if handling a case of body-swap was an everyday occurrence. Danny didn't know if he should feel relieved or freak out.

Two blankets were spread out on the grass. Kawena told them to lie down and close their eyes. As the man started chanting something he couldn't understand, all Danny could think of was "Please, let it work, please, let it work," over and over and over. He couldn't bear the thought of living without being able to hug his Grace again.

Danny felt something cold being splashed on his face and almost jumped, feeling as if an electric shock was running through his entire body. Then everything turned black.

**

"Danny, can you hear me? Danny?"

Danny was sore all over. He felt like he had run a marathon, or climbed a mountain, or...

"Dammit, Steve, I'd told you no swimming. Did you sneak out while I was asleep?"

He slowly turned his head and opened his eyes. Steve was sitting a few feet away, looking at him with the biggest, goofiest grin in his repertoire.

"I told you that's my way of coping with stress."

"Well, then I won't feel guilty for eating half a pack of cookies."

Chin helped him sit up. "How you feeling, brah?"

"Like I swam to the big island and back. Other than that, I'm fine."

He saw Steve get to his feet out of the corner of his eye and did the same. He turned to Kawena. "I don't know how to thank you."

Kawena waved him off. "You put your life in danger every day to protect our island. This is the least I could do."

**

The drive back to Steve's house was quiet. No matter how hard Danny tried to ignore what had happened in the last three days, he couldn't get it out of his head. He had swapped bodies with Steve. That should only be possible in sci-fi movies or fantasy novels. He thought people worrying about the Bermuda Triangle were sorely mistaken: Hawaii was the real place to avoid.

He drove into Steve's driveway and turned off the engine.

"Should I be worried?" Steve asked.

Danny turned to him and frowned. "What?"

"You didn't say a word since we left Kawena's place. That's not normal."

"And you're not funny." Danny drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. "I was just thinking of what happened. Maybe it's just me being a haole, but don't tell me this whole body-swapping thing was perfectly normal for you."

"Of course it wasn't normal. But I've learned that there are a lot of things you can't explain or understand. You just have to accept them."

Danny considered himself a rational man. He didn't believe in ghosts or witches. And yet, after moving to Hawaii, he had seen the spirit of a dead old lady and his equally dead dog and had a witch cast a spell on him. Maybe he was simply hallucinating, maybe it was something in the food, something that locals were immune to and only caused problems to mainlanders. He wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be the damn pineapples' fault.

"You know what? I'll just sleep it off and maybe tomorrow I'll have forgotten all about it."

Steve looked as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he just nodded and unbuckled his seat belt.

"And... Thank you," Danny said just as Steve was about to open the door.

Steve turned around and frowned at him. "What for?"

"For helping me with Grace. Having her around took my mind off the whole fucked-up situation."

"Don't even mention it, Danny. You would've done the same for me. And Grace had a great time. I'm sure she's looking forward to her next visit, since uncle Steve told her she can come back 'any time she wants'," he added with a smile.

"Uhm, yeah, sorry about that. I just..."

"Danny." Steve put a hand on his shoulder. "Ohana, remember? You two are always welcome."

Danny nodded.

"Good. Now I'll go take a swim, I need to burn off every single calorie from your damn cookies," Steve said as he got out of the car.

"I hope a shark bites your leg off."

"It wouldn't be able to catch me," Steve replied, grinning back at him. "I'm faster."

He trotted up to his front door and got inside. Danny waited until the door was closed before turning on the engine and driving off. Maybe one day he'll do something about that funny feeling he got in his stomach whenever Steve gave him one of his goofy smiles, but for the moment he was going to go home and enjoy sleeping in his own bed, a bed that didn't smell like his partner. And if he wanted to indulge himself when his brain started to come up with inappropriate images involving said partner, well, nobody would ever know.

-----
March 2013

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