"I cannot let you go with him. The three of you still need to be tested for traces of the virus."
Steve couldn't take any more of this waiting. He needed to see Danny, regardless of what Dr. Keller said. But he knew the risks, and the last thing he wanted was to infect the team looking after Danny - or worse yet, the man himself. He couldn't have that, not after he worked so hard to save his life.
"Come and sit down, Steve. They'll let you see your boy soon."
Steve shook his head at Lou's words, choosing instead to continue standing by the door. The same one that they'd took Danny through (but more importantly, away from him) almost two hours ago. He also didn't want Eric, Adam, and the rest of his team to see his face, knowing full well that his attempts at keeping his tears behind his eyelids had failed.
I can't lose him. Not now. I've loved him for so long, and now this happens after we finally got our shit together. We've been through hell over the last seven years, and I won't lose him to one bastard with a gun. Danny wants me to run his restaurant with him. How can we do that if he…
Steve ran both hands - scrubbed clean of Danny's blood over and over again - over his face, not caring when they came away wet.
Wait… what am I gonna say to the kids if their Danno doesn't make it?
Just as that awful thought entered his mind, the door opened and Steve thought he was going to pass out in relief at the news that Danny was going to be fine.
"Can I see him?" Steve asked, shuffling to stand in front of the surgeon. "Please… I need to see him. Need to see my partner."
"I'm sorry, Commander, but Detective Williams really must rest -"
"If I were you," Lou stepped forward with a hand on Steve's shoulder, just in case he thought of doing anything 'McGarrett-like', "I'd listen to the guy who just cut his best friend open to save his life. So please, doc, do us all a favour and let him see the man he loves. Otherwise… I dunno what he'll do, but it sure as hell won't be good."
The surgeon worryingly glanced at Steve. His chest was heaving and was dangerously close to having a meltdown, fists clenched at his sides. And his reddened eyes made him look even more like a man on the edge of control.
"Alright then. But just Commander McGarrett for the time being. You can all come in when Detective Williams has improved."
Steve silently nodded before wordlessly following the surgeon through the doors and down a few winding corridors, going past other rooms until they came to Danny's. Moving on autopilot, he mumbled a thanks to the surgeon before collapsing into the chair beside the hospital bed that contained the most important man in his life.
"Hey Danno," Steve grabbed Danny's lax hand in both of his larger ones and brought it up to his mouth, kissing each knuckle before gently lowering it back to the bed. "Please… please wake up." He opened his mouth, but could only say one thing as he held Danny's hand, one of his reaching up to card through the man's soft blonde hair that was free of styling products for once.
"I love you." Steve choked out before leaning over to plant soft kisses over his face, ignoring the slight paleness to his skin, until he delicately brushed his lips against Danny's. The feeling of Danny not kissing him back was strange, even though they'd only been together for a short time, so Steve quickly pulled back. But he couldn't - no, scratch that, he 100% didn't want to - let go of Danny. Maybe not ever again, if he could get away with it.
So Steve simply sat there and stared at him, not caring how the bedside rail was digging into his chest as he leant over and continued to stroke Danny's hair and hand. The hours that they'd been apart after being sprung from the isolation room was far too long for Steve's liking, and he could now finally begin to relax again now that Danny was back with him. And once he's given the all clear from the doctors Steve knows that he'll be taking him straight to his house to recover, as well as getting Rachel to drop Grace and Charlie off with them once they return. He couldn't wait to have his three favourite people under his roof for as long as humanly possible, and Steve had already boxed up some of his and Mary's old things from their rooms to go into storage to make way for the kids.
After a while Steve could feel the adrenaline rush wearing off and his eyelids close of their own accord. He shook his head to make himself feel more awake, but the sudden movement only made it worse. Steve admitted defeat, and let go of Danny so he could drop the bed rail and pull his chair a bit closer. With a sigh of relief he lowered his upper body onto the hospital bed, one hand covering Danny's as his other arm was framing the blonde man's head.
"Just gonna shut my eyes for a bit, Danny." Steve mumbled, half of his face on the edge of Danny's pillow. It wasn't a comfortable position in the slightest but Steve didn't care, he's slept in far worse places and positions and at least this one meant he was close to Danny. And if his back hated him for it later, well, then Steve would just deal with it.
When Danny eventually woke from his anaesthetic-induced dreams, the first thing he noticed was that something close to him was quite warm. He cracked one eyelid open and saw that his hand that wasn't hooked up to an IV line was encased in a much larger one that he recognised all too well. Danny smiled and turned his head to the left when he felt a puff of breath on his face, not surprised at all when his vision was taken up by Steve's buzzed hair, his face relaxed as he slept. Opening his other eye, Danny was fully able to see his partner slumped uncomfortably over his bed.
A sudden, burning need to touch him flowed through Danny. He reached over with his free hand to brush his fingers over Steve's cheeks and bit back the groan that escaped when the movement pulled at sore and freshly stitched skin; the pain was worth it when Danny saw Steve's eyelids flutter open before he craned his head up to look at him.
"Hey, babe," Danny whispered, coughing to try and clear his throat of the pain caused when they shoved a breathing tube down him before surgery, "Sleeping on the job?"
"Says you." Steve smirked as his hand behind Danny's head moved to toy with the blonde's ear as he leant forward for a kiss, a kiss that this time included Danny kissing back. "Love you, Danno."
"Love you too, Steve." Danny said, regrettably letting go of Steve to grab the bed controls and get himself into a sitting position. He glanced longingly at the jug of water by his bedside, and Steve quickly got the message and held a cup to his lips while he slowly drank. Danny listened as Steve told him how the surgeon explained to him through the glass walls of the isolation room where to make the incision on his chest, and wasn't surprised at all when he learned that Lou practically broke down a wall with a sledgehammer, before sharing his visions of them being together for Grace's wedding, Charlie's graduation and their busy restaurant.
"The first time you put your finger inside me, it was to save my life." Danny looked at Steve and shook his head. "Is this how our relationship is gonna be - only getting to the next base in life-or-death situations?"
Steve chuckled as he set the cup down. "I hope not. Waited long enough for you, Danno, can't wait any more." He said quietly.
Danny felt a pang in the center of his chest at the look on his lover's face, and ignored Steve's protests as he gingerly shuffled over on the bed before patting the empty space next to him.
"I don't think it's meant for two-"
"Just shut up and get over here, you idiot." Steve sighed, and after a quick glance over his shoulder he got up and lowered himself next to Danny. They silently gazed into each others eyes, neither man moving until Danny lifted his arm in an invitation. A soft smile appeared on Steve's face as he carefully lifted the IV drip that was still attached out of the way and sunk into the other man's embrace, slinging an arm instantly across Danny's waist.
"Hey, c'mere." Danny's tipped Steve's chin up. "Thanks for saving my life."
"You saved mine - and I don't just mean with your liver. I nearly lost you… I can't, Danny." Steve licked his bottom lip as he gently gripped Danny's hip. "Can't lose you. You and the kids are it for me, and they need their Danno too."
Danny beamed at the mention of his children. "And I need the three of you." He said, one hand rubbing circles on Steve's back. "You still coming over Christmas Eve? Charlie and Grace will go nuts when they see you and Eddie on Christmas morning."
"Can't wait," Steve rested his forehead against Danny's, and would have happily stayed there forever were it not for a knock on the door followed by a look of disapproval from a stern looking nurse. "Guess I'd better move." He muttered with a brief kiss.
"Fine, but when he's gone you get your ass back over here." Danny's eyes crinkled as he smiled at Steve.
"Damn right."