She had a headache. Scratch that; headache was too mild a term. She was caught in the throes of a fully developed migraine. Not that she was surprised; she had had an…eventful day. The case they had been working had exploded. The suspects had appeared quite unexpectedly, sending the Five-0 team scrambling into action as they raced to intercept them before they disappeared. It had all gone downhill from there.
-FLASHBACK-
They had arrived at a seemingly empty warehouse that was several stories tall, and for sake of speed, they had to split up. Honolulu PD was sending backup, but they couldn't afford to wait. So into the building they went. Steve kept them together until they reached the stairwell, then he split them to their respective floors. He and Danny took the first floor; Chin and Kono were sent to the basement. That left her to creep up the stairs to the second floor…alone.
While creeping along a corridor, she found herself blindsided as she was knocked off her feet by a massive individual with hands the size of a grizzly's paws. She rallied in under a second, making it to her knees before the brute's meaty hands closed on her throat. Panic instantly blossomed in her brain as her air supply was cut off, then she was lifted off her knees and tossed around like a ragdoll. She fought back valiantly, thrashing her feet in an effort to land a kick as she raised her weapon, which she still held despite her current predicament. Black dots flickered across her vision as she fought to keep her wits about her, and she blinked the haze away angrily as she steadied her weapon and squeezed the trigger.
A muffled bang and a pained howl echoed across the building, and she couldn't help the smirk that crossed her face at the confirmation that her shot hit home. She realized she was being lifted up higher, then she found herself staring into the eyes of the man she had shot. Black, angry, and pig-like, they glared back at her, then a terrifying smile crossed his face. Fueled by pain and rage, he turned, flinging her through the nearest window and out into open air. Her startled cry of fear was met with silence as she fell.
For a brief moment, there was nothing. Reality shattered that nothingness into fragments faster than she could blink. She landed hard on her back, said landing accompanied by the screeching of metal and the crackle of breaking glass. The world tilted and her vision cut to black as all the air left her chest in a massive whoosh, her bones creaking ominously in response to her hard landing. Relieved not to hear any bones actually break, she blinked rapidly and stared at the sky, stunned and in a shocking amount of pain. After a few seconds, her breath returned slowly and painfully, on account of her rapidly bruising throat, and with the oxygen, sound came back as well. It was then that she heard the screaming in her headset, multiple voices demanding she respond. With all her heart, she wished she could answer them, but with her throat damaged and her current air supply down to half its usual capacity, she just didn't have the strength.
An eternity later, the sound of running feet reached her ears, and she fought to turn her head to look as fear turned her blood to ice. She didn't know who was approaching her. If it was a friend, she was fine. If it was foe…then she would die. In the end, it was a futile effort, as her body just wouldn't respond to her maddened effort to move. Sudden movement startled her and made her stomach twist in response, then a familiar face blocked her view of the sky. A profound sense of relief swept through her tired and hurting body, and if she'd been standing, she was certain she would have gone to her knees at the strength of it.
"Steve…" His name left her lips in a strained whisper, but the SEAL heard it, and she knew it. His steel blue eyes widened in a silent cry of shock at how bad she looked, but the rest of his face was stone. His 'aneurysm face', as Danny called it. He reached for her, but then hesitated, his gaze sweeping over her before he reluctantly let his hands fall to his sides. She saw the stone mask crack for a fraction of a second as his frustration and worry got the better of him, then it snapped back into place as another figure raced up to them.
"Steve, is she…oh hell…no. No!" She knew that accent. Danny Williams, affectionately called Danno by his daughter and Steve, had been born and raised in New Jersey, and his accent had never left. She barely saw the SEAL's huge torso twist as he looked at his partner, the snarl now prominent on the big man's face as he spoke.
"Not dead. Paramedics, now! Where is the piece of shit? Have you guys got him in custody yet?" The rest of the conversation faded into the void as her eyes drifted to look at the sky again. To her relief, the pain was slowly slipping away, and she let her eyes fall shut in response. Some part of her was screaming with terror, knowing that her overwhelming tiredness, loss of hearing, and loss of feeling were all very, very bad, but she couldn't bring it in herself to care. Just before she went under, she felt the sensation of hands on her cheeks, desperation and a panicked edge to the otherwise gentle touch.
Sorry, Steve… He was her last thought before the darkness took her away.
-END FLASHBACK-
She blinked, coming out of the memories of the day as she looked at the ceiling thoughtfully. The too white, too bland ceiling, and its matching walls and long, long halls. It was one of the…perks, she supposed, of being in the hospital. There was just one problem, though. She hated hospitals. Always had. They prompted anxiety attacks, backed by too many bad memories and too many friends lost in the endless halls and whitewashed walls.
As soon as she was fully aware that, indeed, she was in the hospital, she was hammering on the call button, her anxiety already flaring as her heart started racing. The doctor and the nurse had arrived quickly, both of them familiar with her and her inability to be left in the hospital alone. Her face was a dark mask as she stared down her doctor, as if daring him to stop her from leaving. She had already seen the nurse leave to call her emergency contact, and knew it was only a matter of time before he showed up to belabor her as she signed herself out against medical advice, again. The doctor knew her well; he summed her injuries up without preamble, then held the papers out for her to sign. He just didn't bother to fight anymore. She had just finished the paperwork when she heard a familiar thumping stride approaching her door. She looked up in time to see him storm in, blazing eyes meeting hers immediately.
"You're staying." Steve said, looming over her in an unconscious effort to scare her into staying. She merely gave him a dismissive look, then cautiously got to her feet, testing her limits as the big SEAL growled angrily at her stubbornness.
"You…have no…room to…talk, Steven." She growled in response, and she sensed it when her words hit home. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife, and the doctor wisely chose that moment to leave, admonishing his patient to go home and go to bed, for goodness' sake. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his hands flex unconsciously, indicating just what kind of state her boss was in. Her eyes narrowed, and she smirked dangerously as her gaze rose to meet his, his eyes nearly black with anger, whether towards her or the one who landed her here, she couldn't tell. May as well poke the bear a little more.
"Shall we…be on…our way, then?" She asked, unable to keep the spark of mischief out of her eyes despite Steve's murderous gaze. They stared at each other for what seemed like forever, then he spun on his heel and stalked out, his shoulders tense as she followed more slowly. He marched down the hall, not bothering to keep his stride short enough to match hers as she waved goodbye to the nurses, unconcerned with the SEAL's poorly masked fury. She knew she should stay, but without someone there to keep her company, she usually came out of the place worse than she had gone in.
When she reached the exit, she looked around for her boss, but couldn't find him. She contented herself with sitting on a nearby bench, waiting expectantly. Before long a loud roar echoed through the parking lot, and a big blue Chevrolet Silverado screeched up to the curb before skidding to a halt. She quietly got to her feet, moving towards the truck at a slow but steady pace as the driver's side door was thrown open, her boss hopping out and stomping around the truck to open the passenger side door. Though nearly beside himself with rage, he was still a gentleman, and he was still very concerned about her condition. He hadn't heard the full summary of her injuries yet, and didn't want her to overtax herself. She carefully stepped into the cab, settling into the big, comfy seat with a quietly murmured thanks to Steve, and as she put on her seatbelt, he closed the door gently before going back around to get in the vehicle. She winced when he slammed his door, throwing the truck into gear before tearing back out of the lot.
"Steve…why not…Camaro?" She asked tightly as he careened around a turn. He threw her a stunned look, which she met with puzzled curiosity. His eyes went to the road, then back to her, before he answered.
"You don't remember? Nicki, when you were thrown out that window, you landed on the Camaro! You crushed the roof and shattered the windows and windshield." Her jaw dropped. She totaled Danny's Camaro? Oh hell.
"Nothing…to remember. All I knew…was pain. Didn't realize…what I hit." She replied, sensing that on some level, Steve's fury was slowly burning out. She let the silence stretch for a little bit, contemplating on the various questions she could ask while he calmed down.
"Now do you understand why I wanted you to stay? You couldn't even move when I reached you. I thought the bastard had killed you." His voice rumbled from across the cab, and she nodded quietly but not in acquiescence. Her reaction was merely acceptance of his wishes, not obedience to them. His frustrated sigh reached her ears a moment later; he knew what that nod meant. She held her breath as they flew through another turn before she spoke.
"Everyone else…get through?" She saw his nod, but understood there was more to the story. With the Five-0, there always was. She sighed, grimaced, and shifted as her back twinged slightly.
"Danny?" At her question, her boss smirked before tossing her a sympathetic glance. Her question was not for his partner's health, but for how he reacted to the Camaro.
"Pissed, but not so much at you. When he saw the file on that guy, he kinda stopped blaming you immediately. He'll still bitch about it, but he's not angry with you." She nodded as he whipped through one last turn before screeching up to Five-0's headquarters, standing on the brakes to bring the big truck to a rubber-burning halt.
"Goddamned bear. Why do…I always…get the…big ones?" Nicki asked, half to Steve and half for irony's sake. She was the smallest member of the Governor's elite police squad, and she always seemed to go against the biggest guys in a fight. He didn't bother to answer as he shut the engine off and hopped out of the truck, crossing back to her side to let her out. This time, though, he cut his stride to meet hers as they headed up the sidewalk leading into the building. She was grateful for his concern and thoughtfulness, needing to stop and lean on his strong shoulder once to catch her breath.
After a time, they made it to the building and up to the Five-0's floor, walking out of the elevator and straight into what seemed to be a war. Alarmed by the shouting and the noise, Steve left her alone as he sprang forward and into the chaos to determine its cause. The sheer craziness of it all left her slack-jawed and robbed of speech for several seconds, her wide eyes sweeping the floor in a search for bad guys. With her visual inspection complete and no threats identified, she looked back at the center of the room, her eyes narrowing in anger when she realized that Steve had joined the verbal altercation. Still unable to determine exactly what they were screaming at each other about, and with a migraine threatening to leave her curled on the floor in the fetal position, her tenuous hold on her rather vicious temper snapped. Her unexpected roar shocked the entire unit into silence.
"SHUT. THE FUCK. UP!" All eyes turned to her, fright and awe warring with shock and dismay at how much she was shaking from the effort of yelling at them. She was forced to lean on a chair to steady herself, and Steve sprang forward to assist. Waving him aside, she fixed blazing gray eyes on the rest, her features twisted into a snarl of absolute fury.
"What. Is wrong. With you?" Her voice was low and menacing in spite of her inability to speak a full sentence without needing a breath. A shuffling of feet and wandering gazes were her only answer. Suddenly feeling absolutely exhausted, she hung her head, shaking it slowly as a heavy hand landed on her shoulder. Steve's voice reached her from afar.
"Sorry, Nicki. Everyone's been…tense, since you fell." Sudden rage rippled through her frame, and her head snapped up to level a hellfire gaze on him, his words having enraged her once again.
"Fell? Fell? Are you…for real? That…that ox…hit me…and grabbed…me by…my neck. He picked…me up…and thrashed me…like a…a doll. It was…only luck…my shot…didn't miss. But…it cost me…" Her head lowered again, and their silence was deathly. She knew the question they all wanted to ask, but not at risk of provoking her wrath again. So she sighed, took as deep a breath as she could, and then looked to them all in turn, her eyes dull with pain and exhaustion.
"Concussion. Hairline skull fracture. Cracked ribs. Bruises everywhere. I hurt. A lot. You all arguing…doesn't help. I appreciate…any concern…but please…save your tempers…and find him." Worn to the bone, she collapsed in the chair that Steve had wisely maneuvered behind her as she talked. The bag holding her medication appeared in front of her, along with a bottle of water. Her gratitude was communicated in a warm look and a heavy nod to Steve, and then she started opening bottles and shaking out pills.
As she did, the team came forward one by one, touching her shoulders or her head in silent support and comfort. She responded with gentle touches and looks of her own, understanding their frustration and their concern, but needing their silence and their distance more. Fortunately, they understood, and as they all melted away, it left only her and Steve, with Danny still standing a few feet away. Nicki braced herself as she raised her gaze to the Jersey man, his light blue eyes unreadable.
"Sorry about…the Camaro." Her voice was quiet, but she sensed Steve's rebuttal building in the silence that followed. She looked to him, only to see that he was staring hard at Danny, as if daring him to blame her for the damage to his precious car. Light blue stared into steel as the partners faced off from across the table.
No, Nicki thought. Don't defend me, you stubborn ass. Then it hit, like a bolt from the blue. Something else had happened after she had been found. But what? She looked carefully at the SEAL, reading his stance, his face, and his gaze, before she looked to the silently stewing blonde. He was easier to read, always had been. Instantly, she knew.
"Don't…" Her quiet plea fell on deaf ears as Danny's eyes hardened to ice, and he took a menacing step towards Steve. The SEAL could beat him into the floor, but he didn't care, not at that moment. And nothing was going to stop him from saying it now.
"Nicki went up there, alone, because you told her to! It's your fault the Camaro is wrecked, and that she's now classifiable as the walking dead! Goddamn you! I tried to tell you, but no! Forget about the gut instinct of your partner! Send the one person that always finds a fight up by herself! We knew how dangerous these scumbags were! We knew they had a guy the size of a moose! We also knew about Nicki's stunning ability to find the biggest guy in there, and get into a scuffle with him! Why the hell didn't you keep her with either of the teams we had searching? Why? Are you that determined to get her killed?" Steve's jaw clenched, and his eyes darkened with fury. She was staring gobsmacked at Danny, but swung her head back to their boss when his knuckles cracked where he had his hands clenched at his sides. Without thinking, she was on her feet, reaching for Steve in a desperate effort to keep him grounded. She was too late.
A roar of hurt and anger left the SEAL's chest as he launched himself at the blonde detective, who realized a bit too late that he had gone too far this time. Nicki could only watch as they collided, the massive brunette's weight and momentum driving them both to the floor. He proceeded to launch a flurry of blows at Danny's face, while the blonde simply curled up defensively and did his best to block them. Everyone charged back to the main floor to break up the fight, but skidded to a halt when Nicki's gray eyes turned to granite, and she stormed around the table.
She reached the two combatants as Steve's arm was going back for another hit. Without thinking, she seized the opportunity, spinning in a quick circle to deliver a vicious roundhouse kick to the SEAL's face. Pain jolted up her leg and into her torso from the blow, and she dropped to her knees as Steve tumbled backward to land at Chin's feet, his eyes wide from shock as a massive shiner started to appear around his right eye.
All eyes returned to Nicki as she knelt in the middle of the room, her entire frame shaking with barely-contained agony. She noted inwardly that delivering a roundhouse kick to the face of a man that's practically made of steel is a particularly poor idea, especially considering her current condition. Now she couldn't move without her body feeling like it was recovering from being crushed in a hydraulic press.
"Enough…" Was all she could say. Anything else was lost to a pained gasp as she wobbled dangerously on her knees, her balance failing as her body decided that enough was enough, and that she needed to rest. She fell forward, the cries of shock and alarm from the team lost to her as consciousness fled and she plunged back into a welcome darkness.
A/N: Following a critique I received from an unidentified guest reviewer, I decided to look back over the current chapters I have uploaded for the story. I'm making some small changes to each, then I will re-upload them in an effort to make the story flow more smoothly. Regretfully, I have realized that this story is not my best work, and I strive to listen to my reviewers when they believe that there is something I can do to make the story run smoothly and in a manner that makes sense. I have no excuse for my mistakes, only that it has been a couple of years since I've tried to write anything for the realm of FanFiction. My muse has been distressingly absent since just before I got married, and I have no explanation for why. In my rush to write before my muse fled me again, I have not been diligent in looking for the flaws in my writing. For that, I apologize.
If anyone has any further suggestions in how I can better improve the story or my writing, please, feel free to PM me and I will review my work and your comments accordingly. Thank you.
As always, love if you will, hate if you must. I will take anything you care to dispense.
Until we meet again...
Kani