Closure
Not a deathfic, I promise.
They were both wheeled in on separate stretchers. The explosion had rocked them both, knocking them to the ground. It had knocked Steve unconscious and Danny, though conscious, had been battered and bruised from head to toe. He had insisted that he was fine, but it was clear that he was in pain as much as he was trying hard to hide it from the medical professionals.
He kept asking about Steve and was frustrated at the non-answers he was getting. He then threatened that he would prevent anyone from treating him until he got those answers. The doctors told him that they would be taking the both of them for tests to assess their injuries then let him know their findings. Danny continued to protest and tried to get off his gurney, but once on his feet, pain ripped through his abdomen, causing him to collapse and curl into himself. He was helped back on to the gurney where he promptly lost consciousness.
A few hours later, Chin and Kono, along with Rachel and Grace, waited to hear news from the doctors.
"Is Danno going to be okay, mommy?" Grace asked, her voice shaky with fear.
Rachel swallowed, keeping her own emotions in check in order to be strong for her daughter.
"I'm sure he will be, sweetheart, but we have to wait to find out what the doctors say," Rachel said as she cupped Grace's cheek in comfort.
Soon after, the doctor came into the room, his face stoic and unreadable. They all stood up.
"Are you the families for Mr. McGarrett and Mr Williams?"
They all nodded.
"Are they okay?" Kono asked.
"Mr. McGarrett is unconscious with a skull fracture. Any skull fracture is serious, but we'll be observing him to make sure his condition doesn't worsen. His other injuries seem to be superficial."
"And Danny?" Rachel piped in.
"Mr. Williams had many internal injuries, most of which were luckily not serious, but as with any internal injury, we worry about hidden bleeding and other complications, such as shock and infections, but he is stable for now. We are closely watching him as well."
"Can we see him?" Rachel asked.
"Yes, he's been asking for you, but only for a few minutes."
Rachel nodded and they walked tentatively towards Danny's room.
"Danny?" Rachel called softly as they walked into his room and up to his bed.
Danny stirred at the sound of her voice.
"Rachel?" He said, his voice hoarse.
"Yes, are you all right?"
"Yeh, yeh, don't worry, okay?" Danny reassured. "Is Grace with you?"
"Daddy?" Grace said, her voice soft and scared.
Danny looked down and saw the frightened face of his beautiful daughter.
"Hey there, monkey. Don't be scared, I'm gonna be okay," Danny said as he tiredly stroked her face. "Danno loves you."
Grace smiled and the tension left her face. Her father was her hero. She had always felt safe with him and he always made sure she knew that he loved her no matter what. He had moved to Hawaii just to be with her. He had never treated her like she didn't understand and had always been honest with her so her trust was absolute.
Danny looked back at Rachel, his face lined with fatigue and pain.
"Are you okay?" He asked her.
"I'm fine, Danny," Rachel said, touched that despite everything they had gone through together, he still cared about her and not just because she was Grace's mom.
"I'm sorry that you have to go through this," Danny said, his voiced tinged with regret.
"Danny, you don't have to-"
"Yeh, I do. I know I chose this job and that it drove us apart, but I never meant to hurt you."
"I know that, Danny. It wasn't you or even the job. It was me. I wasn't strong enough. I just couldn't..."
Danny took her hand and squeezed it weakly.
"It's okay. You're stronger than you give yourself credit for, you know, but I get it. I do," Danny insisted gently.
Rachel nodded. If she had been honest, it had never been about Danny, but she took her fear out on him and their marriage by making unfair demands on him and forcing him to choose between his job and his family. It was exactly what he was going through now that had scared her. She couldn't live with wondering if the next call would be that he had been hurt or killed. She was a coward, but it warmed her that Danny understood. He always had and she never gave him credit for it.
"Is everyone else okay?"
Rachel could only smile. Danny always put others before himself.
"Yes, they're fine."
"Steve?"
Rachel stalled. "He's unconscious, but the doctors think he'll be all right. He just needs time."
Danny laid his head back, taking in a deep breath and closing his eyes.
"I wasn't fast enough."
505050505050
Danny was getting regular reports from Chin, Kono and the doctors about Steve's condition. It was still unchanged, but his vitals were strong. Danny was then finally okayed for a visit after protesting that he was fine and that he had to see his partner. They kept telling him that there was nothing he could do and he admitted that maybe not medically, but Steve was his partner and partners didn't leave each other behind and as long as Danny was able, he had to let Steve know that he hadn't been left behind. He knew that Steve would hear him somehow.
Danny wheeled up to Steve's bed. They had insisted that he use a wheelchair because he was still healing himself so as stupid as he felt wheeling around, it was the one concession he made to humor his doctor.
He saw all of the machines hooked up to Steve and anxiety filled him. Except for the day when Grace was born, he had always hated hospitals. He had been in them his fair share of times either injured or visiting friends and other cops...family. He had lost people in them too. He watched Steve being fed air by a ventilator and thought he'd be sick. Steve was not the kind of guy to be saddled with a machine breathing for him, but Danny knew that it was necessary, for now.
"You look like hell, you know," Danny said as he rubbed his face. "If it makes you feel better, I'm not exactly looking so hot either. You'll be glad to know though that Chin and Kono got the scumbag who set the bomb."
Danny took in a breath, trying to fight off pain in his abdomen.
"Look, the doctors in their infinite wisdom tell me that I'm wasting my time talking to you and I probably am, since you never listen to me anyway, but what they don't know is, and tell anyone this and I'll kill you, there's a reason why I don't necessarily believe that doctors know everything."
Danny sighed and collected his thoughts.
"You see, when I was 10, my mom, she…she had gotten mugged…the bastard beat her up pretty bad and she was in a coma for a long time. They didn't think that she'd make it. My dad, though, he was a wreck, never gave up on her and he went to visit her every day and talked to her and had me and my brother talk to her. The doctors, they told him to put her into a home, that it was all he could do for her, but he didn't believe them. So there we were, my dad, my brother and me, talking to my mom, telling her about what had happened that day, reading to her, and just being there for her. Then one day, she opened her eyes, just like that."
Danny swallowed back the emotion rising in his throat at the memory. The only other person he had shared that with was Rachel.
"It took her a long time to come back, but my dad, he never left her side and neither did I. A few months later, the cop who was working on my mom's case came by the house. He told us that they had caught the mugger and personally guaranteed that he would make sure that the bastard would never hurt anyone else like he had hurt my mom. I pretty much knew then that I was going to be a cop. He taught me a lot about integrity. I wanted to be like him and my dad."
Danny cleared his throat then clenched his eyes and shoulders, as the pain got progressively worse.
"Anyway, so, if you want me to stop talking at you, you'd better wake up because I'm not gonna stop until you do."
"Make that the three of us," Chin said behind him, Kono right next to him.
Danny turned and nodded even though the movement caused more ripples of pain to hit him.
"Thanks, you guys," Danny said as he bit back the pain.
"For what?" Chin said.
"For hauling our asses out of there."
"Hey, it's what partners do, right?" Kono said with a smile.
Danny nodded again. He didn't think he'd ever find a reason to like being in Hawaii, but being a part of this team, this task force, working with these people, which he admits, he was dragged into, at first, was the second best reason for being here next to being with his daughter. He truly believed he had finally found his place in the world.
Then the sharp pain in his abdomen that had been building doubled him over in the wheelchair and he could only groan from the intensity. Chin and Kono saw it on his face and ran over to him. Chin pressed the call button on Steve's bed.
"Hey, hey, help is on the way, brah, hang in there," Kono tried to comfort.
All of them were too busy to see Steve's eyes blinking open.
505050505050
There was commotion all around him and it was disorienting. He heard familiar and unfamiliar voices talking, but he didn't understand what was going on. He tried to get someone's attention and finally a nurse came over to check on him.
"Mr. McGarrett? Can you hear me? Squeeze my hand if you can."
Steve did, if weakly.
"Wonderful. Just relax. I'm getting the doctor to check up on you right away."
All he could do was squeeze her hand again to tell her that he understood even though something inside of him was telling him that something was terribly wrong and that it had nothing to do with him. He wanted to find out what it was because foggy memories were starting to come back to him. He and Danny had been tossed by an explosion. It was all he remembered, but he knew that he had to find out if Danny was okay.
505050505050
Danny woke up in his hospital bed, sensing moderate pain, but mostly feeling like he had the worst flu ever and dreading that the way he was feeling, his vomit record was about to be broken. He felt tired, no, exhausted. He scanned his surroundings and saw Rachel standing over him.
"Hey…" He rasped, his throat feeling like sandpaper.
"Hey," Rachel said.
"Where's Grace?"
"She's asleep in the waiting room with Kono."
"Good…don't want to scare her," Danny said, breathing heavily. "What happened?"
"You have peritonitis, an infection. You have a fever, but you're getting antibiotics. The doctors also said no more excursions for you," Rachel said with a soft smile.
Danny smiled back weakly. "Guess I don't have a choice then."
"You'll be glad to know that Steve's awake and off the ventilator."
Danny heaved a sigh of relief. "Great…that's great news. When did it happen? How long have I been out?"
"It happened right after you relapsed."
"Figures…Leave it to him to grand stand. Knowing him, he'll make getting better a competition."
Rachel giggled at Danny's ranting, as weak as he was. There was something reassuring about Danny complaining, that as long as he did complain, he was okay.
"I have no doubt."
Rachel wiped the sweat off Danny's forehead and face and gave him a small ice chip.
"Better?"
"Yeh, thanks."
Danny saw the worry on Rachel's face.
"Don't worry. I'm going to be okay."
"I know, it's just…"
"What? What's wrong? Is it Grace?"
"No, no, it's not Grace." Rachel assured, "I'm sorry, Danny."
"For what?"
"For taking you for granted for all the times you were there for us like when we were carjacked. You're a wonderful father. I've never questioned that. I hope you know that."
Danny looked at his ex-wife with gratitude and wondered how things could have gone so wrong between them.
"I do, but thanks. No matter what's happened between us, I could never do anything less than protect you and Grace."
"I know."
Danny's breathing then started to get erratic. He then clenched with pain.
"Danny? Danny! What's wrong?"
But Danny couldn't answer. It was taking all he had to take in a breath to ease the agony in his gut.
Rachel reached for Danny's call button and pressed it frantically.
"Please, Danny. Don't give up," Rachel pleaded, feeling almost a little guilty, as if she was making yet another demand of him that he might not be able to make happen. That thought scared her more than anything.
505050505050
Steve was getting better. He was awake and breathing on his own. He had a headache, but nothing he couldn't handle. The memory of the explosion had slowly come back to him as well as remembering that Danny had been with him.
"Hey, boss! You lookin' better," Chin said as he and Kono walked in.
"Yeh, yeh. How long was I out?"
"About a couple of days."
"I remember an explosion and that Danny was there."
Chin and Kono gave each other serious looks.
"What? Is Danny okay?" Steve asked, worry etching his face.
"He's got an infection and not doing so well. The doctors are saying it's touch and go," Kono offered, her own emotions showing concern.
"Is he awake?"
"On and off."
"I've got to see him."
"Steve –" Chin protested.
"No, get the doctors, I have to see him. He can't…" Steve said, taking a second. "We don't leave anyone behind or alone."
Chin and Kono nodded with understanding. After forming as a team, Steve had told Kono at the mock graduation that they had done for her that they were all a family and that they would protect her. Steve's reaction now was no less how any of them would react in times of crisis when one of them was down, perhaps Steve more keenly because it was his task force, given to him by the Governor and the members his to choose. And his first choice had been Danny. They were a team, yes, but Steve and Danny; they were partners. Chin and Kono would laugh at how they fought, anyone seeing them would think they hated each other, but they knew that when the occasion called for it, they were both professionals, good at what they did, and that they had each other's back in a heartbeat. There was a friendship there.
As Chin left to get the doctor, he couldn't help, but smile a little. Sometimes he wondered if Danny and Steve realized just how much they were alike.
The doctor couldn't believe that he was battling, yet again, to keep one of his patients in bed resting. These two men seemed bent on killing themselves, one of them already was fighting infection, likely because he hadn't been allowing his body to recover and now the other one was risking brain injury. A part of him had to admire the strong bond between them, but his frustration at not being able to keep either under control was wearing thin at best. After a cursory examination, he deemed Steve well enough to be wheeled into Danny's room, but insisted that when he came back he would be examined again. Steve agreed. Anything to get to Danny to see for himself just how bad off Danny really was. Doctors can be clinical, but people are more than just the body, there was a lot that had to do with the spirit and Steve had to see for himself where Danny was there.
Steve wheeled into the room and saw Rachel sitting in a chair next to Danny's bed. Danny looked asleep, but he heard him talking to her.
"Steve! It's great to see you up and about," Rachel said, throwing a look of worry that hid behind her smile. Steve caught it.
"Yeh, well, it's just temporary. I'm on a short leash."
Danny turned toward him.
"Get back to bed, you idiot. Didn't anyone tell you that you have a cracked noggin and shouldn't be out roaming around, of course, I could have told them, you're hard headed," Danny scolded, though his voice was breathy, it still held a touch of the characteristic Danny indignation.
"Yeh, like you listened when you came to visit me when I was clocked out."
"I'll leave you to talk. I need to check on Grace anyway."
"Tell her Danno loves her."
Rachel nodded then got up and left, Steve caught her wipe a tear away from her face.
"How are you feeling?" Steve asked.
"How do you THINK I feel? Don't I look the picture of health?" Danny joked but then closed his eyes in pain. "I see you're recovering well."
Steve looked at Danny, his memories of the blast replaying in his mind and explaining why he had escaped major injury.
"Yeh, well, that's because some clown decided to play hero and have all the fun," Steve said softly.
"Really? Who was that? I don't seem to remember big floppy shoes and a red nose," Danny said.
"Now, who's the impulsive one?" Steve teased.
"I plead the fifth," Danny said, smiling.
"Seriously, Danny, I'm sorry. You should have –"
"What? Let you get blasted to bits? I think not. I was wearing Grace's tie, didn't want any bits on it."
Danny took in a ragged breath as he saw the grateful look on Steve's face and decided to let him off the hook.
"It's okay. You'd have done the same thing. In fact, I'm sure you would have, you and your super hero complex wouldn't let you do otherwise," Danny then paused. "We're partners, right?"
"Yeh, we're partners," Steve agreed then turned serious. "How bad is it?"
"I feel like road kill to be honest. Doctors tell me it's bad, but I'm not feeling done yet."
"Good because it'll be hell to replace you and besides, Grace needs her Danno," Steve said, his voice betraying some emotion.
Danny nodded, but twitched with pain.
"If you need anything –"
"I'll know where to find you," Danny said. "Now, let me get some sleep."
Steve nodded and began wheeling out of the room. He turned to find Danny asleep and allowed himself to take in a breath to keep tears from filling his own eyes.
505050505050
The following days had been uncertain. Danny had been drifting in and out of consciousness and still felt pain. Steve had recovered enough to get the go ahead to be released from the hospital, but ended up trading shifts with Rachel, Chin and Kono in Danny's room. None of them wanted him to feel alone.
Finally, Danny's fever broke and he started to get better. The general relief was palpable especially for Grace and oddly, for Steve.
"Danno!" Grace yelped as she took her father's hand.
"Hey there, Monkey! Told you not to worry," Danny said weakly, but with a smile that he always managed to find where his daughter was concerned.
"I know…" Grace trailed off, her head bowed down a little.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, but…I worried, Daddy. I couldn't help it."
Danny sighed and it dawned on him that maybe he had asked too much of Grace this time. He had put her through a lot for the past several days.
"Look, I'm sorry I scared you and it's okay that were you worried. If you promise not to tell mom, I was a little scared too, but no matter what happened, I knew that you knew I was trying really hard to get better and that what?"
"That Danno loves me," Grace said smiling.
"That will never change, sweetheart. I can promise you that no matter what."
Grace nodded.
"Am I interrupting something?" Steve said as he walked into the room.
"Nah, just talking to my kid, here," Danny said. "Why don't you get something to eat with your mom, okay?
"Okay, Danno," Grace said as she bounded out of the room, happy.
"Sounds like you made her day," Steve said.
"Yeh, I have that effect on women. By the way, thanks for watching out for her when Rachel had to deal with Stan. She told me."
"No problem. Grace is a joy to be around. Reminds me that there are more important things in life than police work."
"Yeh, she does that for me too."
Steve nodded.
"So, I hear you're on the road to recovery."
"That's what they tell me. I can't wait to get out of here. Clearly you beat me to it."
"Yeh, well, I can't help it if I'm in better shape -"
"Whoa, whoa, who said that? Not me."
"Hey, the proof is standing right here and who's still lying in bed?"
"Are you kidding me? You're kidding me, right? I save your sorry ass from yet another foolhardy adventure and you're telling me being sick is my fault?"
"If the shoe fits –"
"Yeh, I remember all about your shoe fetish. Don't talk to me about shoes!"
Chin and Kono looked over at their team members and couldn't have been happier to see them arguing again. Everything was going to be all right.
FIN. Hope you enjoyed the story! Thanks for reading!