Koa
"All right, so, uh, what's up, you get a chance to interrogate Wo Fat yet?" Danny asked over the phone. Steve was in Japan right now, also he had conducted a raid with the Osaka Police and captured Wo Fat. "Sorry, Danny, that's classified." Steve's prompt reply made Danny roll his eyes, of course Steve would say that.
He loved saying it's classified.
Sure, a major part of his military career is indeed classified, however, Steve saying these words annoyed him to a great extend. "It's classified? Is that a joke?" Danny retorted with a chuckle.
Of course. "Are you kidding me?"
Another rhetorical question, the detective knew his best friend was not kidding.
Not with this.
"No, I'm not kidding." Danny let out a sigh as he added, "Okay, uh, well, when are you bringing him back?"
"I can't tell you that either, Danny; I can't tell you these things over an unsecured line, you understand? It's a security issue." Steve retorted as he stood on the tarmac, Wo Fat already on the chartered plane that will bring them both back to O'ahu. Japanese SWAT guys were on guard duty, making sure that Wo Fat could not get off the plane even if he tried something fishy.
"Okay, you know what I think? I think that you think that saying stuff like that is cool. It's not cool, it's actually the opposite of cool. You know what?" Danny started ranting which made Steve smile a bit, he had missed his partner.
"Danny," The SEAL started.
"Forget it." Danny shrugged.
"I don't care when ..." He stopped himself as he realized what he said did not make much sense. "Well, no, I care. I'm just gonna find out myself, okay? I will track your plane." Confidence tinged Danny's voice.
Steve chuckled lightly as he destroyed Danny's plans with his retort.
"No, you won't. We're coming in dark."
At that revelation, Danny's voice sounded low and flustered. He should have expected something like this. Coming in dark made complete and total sense, after all they're transporting a dangerous felon.
"Dark, huh?" Danny observed quietly.
Steve's reply was instant.
"Yes, dark, as in off the radar, dark." Caught by surprise but knowing what was meant, Danny Williams replied with "I-I know what dark means, okay? Is that really necessary, though?" He added as an afterthought.
"It's protocol, Danny; I'm sorry but I can't answer your questions right now." Steve turned to go toward the plane Estimated time of departure was in a few minutes so he had to get onboard to make sure all was underway.
"Okay, I got to go." That he also told his best friend, with whom he was currently on the phone.
Danny, however, decided to make light in the seriousness of the situation, and decided to ask a question that he had meant to ask since the beginning of the call.
"Well, I got an easy one."
Enthusiastically, Danny called into the cell, McGarrett patiently waiting for his point. He loved these refreshing banters with his best friend. This was usual for them, he wouldn't have it any other way.
"All right?" Steve waited, phone pressed against his ear.
"What are you wearing? You know what, don't answer it. I'm sure it's top secret, so I will take a guess." Danny ended his half rant with a guess. Steve probably wore cargo pants.
"Cargo pants." The Jersey detective exclaimed.
"Good-bye, Daniel." Steve had no intentions of answering the question, or confirming the guess. So he ended the call, boarding the plane. He quickly took his seat, facing Wo Fat who was already strapped to his plane seat.
His hands were cuffed. There were two guards accompanying them on the flight, also one pilot. And Steve. As the plane took of from the runway, Steve glared at Wo Fat, starting to interrogate him. "I know we were both in Osaka looking for the same thing. Is that who was in the bathtub?" Steve McGarretts had a lot of questions he wanted answers to, now with Eo Fat in custody he hoped he might get some answers, yet Wo Fat had no intentions of being helpful.
"Unfortunately, Shelburne continues to elude us both." That was the only reply he got from the Asian man, who was eyeballing him. "Is that right?"
H50 H50 H50 H50
A few hours into the flight, the Hawaiian Island chain had just come into view, the plane had slowed down considerably. It was flying over the blue Pacific waters. The flight had been relatively calm and unspectacular up until now, nothing out of the ordinary. All that happened were a few turbulences along the way but not tok bad.
Steve had flown in worse conditions than this while being on active duty. The engines could be heard as well, a familiar and reassuring sound.
Out of sudden, the sound changed and a different one reached Steve's ears.
The landing gear appeared to have been extended which was weird/ not at all following procedure considering they were bound for Honolulu and had yet to arrive at the airport, still some miles left until the small aircraft would reach the designated destination. The commander glanced at his watch, nervous, then out the window. It was concerning. They should not be doing this at this point. McGarrett got up from his seat, he wanted to speak to the captain flying the aircraft.
Steve being Steve decided to step in and investigate.
"Hey, why are we landing? We're still fifty miles out of Honolulu." As McGarrett said this the situation quickly got out of hand. The copilot stared at him coldly, not responding to the question, instead he ordered McGarrett to return to his seat. That answer was not one Steve McGarrett was expecting. "Please take your seat, Commander." Baffled, he repeated himself, insisting on an answer. Steve had cornered the pilot between the cockpit and the plane's cabin.
"No, what the hell is going on? Why are we landing this plane?"
It was obvious the copilot didn't want the commander snooping around, the copilot had to know that the commander would soon figure out that something was wrong.
"Commander McGarrett, sit down." The copilot ground out, impatiently.
"Is everything okay, Commander?" The Japanese guard on duty, in black clothes, questioned, in attempt to support the commander as he alerted by the sudden onslaught of commotion.
"Yeah, it's fi-" McGarrett responded, soon he found out the hard way that this was not correct.
He broke off, the guard got up despite Steve's reassuarance that a was good, pointing his service weapon at the pilot as he recognized what was happening.
The pilots had hijacked the flight.
Ironic, really. That it was the pilots.
Before the guard could get a shot off the copilot had a taser pointed at him. Seconds later, the man was tazed. Quickly, the guard fell down to the ground, out and down for the count. While the electricity hit him, coursed through his body he accidentally discharged a shot. The shot fired from the guard's firearm hit the captain square in the head, killing him in seconds. Blood spatter covered the window of the cockpit, as well as the gauges. The captain's head fell onto the electronics that were now beeping loudly. The aircraft spun out of control, Wo Fat was pressed into his seat as the machine rapidly descended. It was a very uncontrolled descent.
To make things worse, the copilot charged at him, dropping against him with all his weight.
If the copilot hadn't been, Steve could have gotten the plane under control as he knew how to fly. Steve McGarrett now facing the situation on his own quickly reacted. The Navy commander disarmed the man, at least he tried to. As the copilot and McGarrett started the attack, out of nowhere. The attack came as a surprise albeit Steve and his ninja- like reflexes were quick to respond to the new crisis. It was all too clear everything was the absolute opposite of being fine.
The plane was starting to spiral out of control while Steve is wrestling with one of the pilots, as the man was dressed in a white uniform. As it turns out, the men were on the enemy's side, yet Steve knew that the realization came to late.
He was quick to knock the man out, despite the taser.
Steve struggled against gravity as he made his way to the cockpit. The commander was aware that he had only a small chance of averting the impending crisis by restoring appropriate altitude. Many warning and caution signs in the cockpit were beeping and blinking hysterically, conveying how dire the overall situation was that they were in.
Their aircraft is about to crash into the jungle of O'ahu.
Stressed out to no end, Steve McGarrett maneuvered himself to the copilot's seat, taking his position as he reached for the throttle, trying to get back to a safe cruising altitude. However, the plane continued to drop.
Warnings flashing and screaming wildly, Steve tried to do every single thing he could think off to keep this bird flying.
He doesn't wanna die like this.
On a prisoner transport from Japan to Hawaii. Steve wanted to see Danny and Grace again, damn it. He was not supposed to die like this. But all the blinking warnings gave him a sense of all his tries being in absolute vain. He held onto the throttle despite the rapid descent. As the speed with which they neared the ground increased, they sokn started hitting trees. Steve's face was pained as he knew that this plane would crash and there was nothing he could do to prevent hit. The plane moved from one side to the other, lurching.
While Steve was attempting to fly the doomed plane, Wo Fat was trying to get out of the cuffs.
The plane crashing was good for him as it gave him the chance to escape.
So he embraced it.
In the cockpit, Steve braced himself for the inevitable impact. The trees hitting the trees was followed by a serious of loud bangs, a hint of sheer panic could be seen on Steve's face as the crash to the ground would happen in the very near future.
Stay alive, McGarrett. You got 'ohana now, you cannot leave them. Think of Danny and sweet, innocent, young Gracie. Kono and Chin. They need you.
Thoughts of his 'ohana plagued him in what he thought could very well be his last moment on this earth.
Yet Steve had his fear completely under control. He braced himself as much as possible. Parts of the wings were ripped from the cabin as it hit the trees. One of engines caught fire. Only seconds later, the plane crashed harshly to the ground. As it had still pickex up speed along the way, it got propelled meters away from the actual crash site.
The impact was hard, Steve plowed face-first into the controls as he didn't have time to put a seatbelt on.
Then he passed out, succumbed to the darkness.
All Steve remembers is that the impact was hard and sudden and very painful. He heard some bones crack on impact. The pain running through his head was instant, only leaving him conscious for seconds after the plane came to a standstill. Everything around him grew silent. It was eerie. However, Steve was no longer awake at that point.
The commander lost his battle with unconsciousness quickly after McGarrett sustained a traumatic brain injury.
H50 H50 H50 H50
Okay, listen, uh, I know about the plane that's coming in dark.
Danny was strapped onto a chair, the guys from the CIA still intent on making his life hell. "What makes you think anyone's bringing him in?" One agent asked, laughing. "Because I know for a fact that he's on a plane right now." Danny gave back. He knew about the plane. He had talked to Steve before the Navy man had boarded the plane. "Yeah, well, that plane doesn't exist." The man replied, no signs of empathy.
Danny's eyes widened, suddenly he felt scared for Steve.
What would they do to that plane?
Would they make sure it never arrives ob the island, that it would just disappear? Never to be heard off again?
Damn it, this was Steve, his brother, his best friend. If theydid something tohim, they would pay. "Listen to me." Danny shook his head in denial, worry about Steve running through him.
"Uh, if anything happens to that plane, I promise you, I'm find you and I'm gonna kill you, okay?" He gritted out, but the agents just saw these words as an idle threat, not taking them serious. An agent slapped him. Danny assumed they were angry at him. "Don't be ridiculous." One of them said, leaving Danny alone, without food and water, still confined in that room and strapped onto a chair.
The Jersey detective knew that he had to get to Steve before something happened to that plane but how? He was held prisoner by the freaking CIA.
This was something Danny had never imagined would happen.
H50 H50 H50 H50
The first noise entering McGarrrett's ears was the ringing coming from his ears, that he registered. Otherwise he was numb to the pain. Steve could feel his head pounding heavily against his skull. Steve lay with his head against the side window. Said window was cracked, the commander could feel warm blood run down his forehead.
Steve blinked, slowly his surroundings came into focus.
It was hard to focus at all with that massive headache burning, he grimaced painfully as a hot wave of pain shot through his chest. Apparently, the adrenaline of the crash they were involved in started to dissipate, making room for pain.
But he cannot allow that to happen.
He is still in the wilderness, alone - with Wo Fat.
His luck sucks.
Big time.
Looks like his luck just went from bad to worse. Confused and if in daze, Steve moved his hurting head to glance out to the side to get an idea of what had happened, of why he found himself on the copilot's seat in a crashed aircraft. Their plane had crashed. Plane crash. Hawaii. Wo Fat. Damn it. Steve let out pained grunt, biting down on his lip. The commander could bet that his face was contorted in pain. Danny was indeed right, he gad a penchant for getting into trouble.
As he regained consciousness a bit more, Steve let out a weak cough as he took in his surroundings. As his mind cleared, he just started to function blindly, checking the electronics, if they were functioning.
As Steve had expected and hoped against better knowledge, all of the electronics were non- operational.
Steve sighed as his head continued to pound against his skull. For a short moment he closed his eyes, then Steve reopened them. Swallowing bile rising up in his throat, he checked the transponder, tapping onto it to see if it resonded but nothing, not even cracking sounds. "Shit, these assholes destroyed the damn transponder." There was no transponder that functions and tells rescuers where they are, no functioning radios meaning no way to get word out to the outside world.
Steve McGarrett gritted his teeth as he remembered that he was hurt.
In a world of hurt.
But now he had to compartmentalize the pain, deal with it, shove ít aside until the crisis is averted.
That's what he needs to do.
The Navy commander blinked to clear his vision, then turned from being injured in a plane crash into SEAL mode, ignoring the pain. Steve was a Navy SEAL after all, he could endure pain and still complete the mission.
The mission objective right now was finding Wo Fat, getting him back into his control/ putting cuffs on him as he could bet that the Asian man had escaped while Steve McGarrett had been unresponsive and then find a way out of this mess. Steve got up carefully, as he took in the damage to the interior of the plane and bodies on the ground. The pilot still bickled in, the copilot shot as well as the guard. Wo Fat - gone. Steve's eyes widened.
His Navy SEAL training kicked in immediately as he reached for his weapon strapped to his holster. It was there for which Steve was really grateful.
The SEAL exited the plane, attentive, searching for Wo Fat who had escaped.
There were a lot of plane wreck pieces laying around, some of them were on fire, but Steve had no eyes for that. His primary objective was to find Wo Fat. Out of nowhere, Wo Fat came, attacked him. Instantly, Steve fought back, as much as he could with his injuries that he had sustained in the plane crash. But oh, Steve can handle himself in these situations. This is not the first he'd been through this.
But then again, he had not been in a plane crash shortly before engaging in hand- to- hand.
After a heavy and intense hand- to- hand fight with Wo Fat, Steve had finally subdued him by knocking him unconscious with a tree branch. For a moment Steve just lay there, on the ground, regaining his senses.
Wo Fat was no longer a threat.
But he knew he had to get word out to his team so that they could send someone to pick them up. He hand-cuffed Wo Fat to himself, when he heard chopper sounds. By now, Wo Fat was conscious again. "This your friends coming to get you?" Steve questioned with all too obvious disdain. Wo Fat shook his head. Steve didn't believe him.
But after these men from the chopper started shooting at them, he did, quickly he pulled Wo Fat with him behind a large enough piece of wreckage, adrenaline spreading through his body.
"These are Yakuza. They're after me." Wo Fat said. "Why didn't you tell me?" "Wouldn't have believed me."
"I do now. What'd you do?"
"Killed Hiro Noshimuri." Wo Fat replied. The Yakuza men came nearer and they all had guns, fully loaded. They were outnummered and outgunned.
Steve threw him a look. "Yeah, that'll do it."
But somehow, Steve did it. He killed seven men of the Yakuza and then commandeered their helicopter to get himself and Wo Fat into Honolulu. He would land on Dillingham Airstrip, that's what he decided. When he arrived there, his team was no where in sight. Instead, two black vans turned up, more Yakuza.
H50 H50 H50 H50
As soon as the catastrophe was under control, the Yakuza in cuffs and being led to the waiting patrol cars that would take 'em to lockup, Danny Williams could get a more detailed look at his partner. Steve looked like had been through the ringer, that he had been in a fight for his life and prevailed in the end was obvious. As was the damage. But at least the man was still standing. He had bruises on his face, his stance was a bit awkward, as well to the fact that he was preferring his left side. Danny also sees that Steve was indeed wearing cargo pants.
A distinct grin appeared on the detective's face as he turned to a tired Steve.
"See? I knew it. Cargo pants." The detective pointed out. Steve gazed at him, a smile forming on his lips as he concentrated on not keeling over. Because if that happened, Danny would call an ambulance, he would end up being poked and prodded in the hospital. The commander, tired, was blinking away the many littlle black points impacting his vision away, stupid dizziness, Steve McGarrett cursed quietly. Dizziness has hit periodically him ever since the crash.
At some points, it had been so bad that he had been feeling quite debilitating.
But luckily, Steve hadn't had bouts of dizziness while flying the helo.
That could have easily ended in another catastrophe. Two plane crashes in one day was too much, even for him. As Steve lifted his head to eyeball his partner, he could see the detective smiling at him, happily. Je figured it was because he had arrived on the ground safely. "Book 'em, Danno." Steve said and smiled mildly.
"You could've just said hello." Steve added, pointing out the obvious. "Huh?" Danny's brows creased, not quite understanding what the injured man is referring to. "Come here." Danny simply retorted, opening his arms to embrace the SEAL, glad that Steve was back with him and the team.
"You don't write, you don't call."
Steve lunged into Danny's embrace.
As his nose registered the familiar scent, he knew he was home, home with his 'ohana.
"We missed you." Danny confessed, the only reaction he got from his neanderthal partner was another of those Steve-like bear hugs. Danny chuckled as he felt Steve hugging him. The Navy commander let out a laugh, before saying, "It's good to be home." Steve nuzzled his nose in Danny's shoulder, finding it comfortable to be like this, especially as another wave of dizziness overcame him out of sudden, weakening his knees.
Steve pressed his eyes shut, his headache returning with a vengeance.
The commander could barely constrain the groan rising up to his throat. Kono and Chin also joined the reunion, everyone relieved that it had a good ending, no shootout. Particularly Kono was relieved about that, she would have hated to see Adam get shot over this ordeal or seeing him shot her boss or anyone else.
"It's good to have you back. You all right?" Steve released Danny from hos hugs, stepping back.
The commander ignored the pain flaring up as he moved his thorax too much. Kono Kalakaua eyed him suspiciously. "I'm good, I'm good. Did you miss me?" Steve questioned mischievously, a wink in his eyes as he glanced at the rookie in his team. But she knew a lot, had a lot field experience now that she had worked in the taskforce a long time now.
"Nice timing." Chin added as Steve hugged his cousin.
"Yeah, it was a nice entrance." Steve agreed as he stood at the tarmac, the helo behind him, he couldn't believe how lucky he was.
Steve was glad to be with his 'ohana again. "You're a mess." Danny concluded as he gazed at Steve who only shrugged as it was no big deal to him. "Yeah, yeah. I hear you got into it with the CIA. I told you to tread carefully." Steve grumbled at he saw Danny's shiner on his forehead. "You alright, Danno." Steve looked at him with love and concern. Surprised at the unusual sight of Steve's blatantly open emotions out in the open like that, Danny pulled him in for another hug.
He whispered, "I'm alright, you big goof. The bigger question is are you?" Kono and Chin as well as Danny awaited an answer in spite of that all they got out of McGarrett was a non-committical shrug.
"Let's go get this bastard to jail." Steve muttered, meaning Wo Fat.
"Then a nice shower and a warm bed is waiting for me." The team exchanged glances, all in agreement that the man should get looked at after having been in a plane crash as well as hand-to-hand combat and a subsequent fire fight. Steve really should not ubderestimate the danger of having sustained injuries somewhere along that way. But sadly, the SEAL was stubborn and hard-headed and continued to insist on not needing medical attention.
H50 H50 H50 H50
"You should take a good look. This is where you're gonna die." Steve adressed the criminal who was aboit to be caged.
After the horrendous fight with Wo Fat and the Yakuza coming after them, Steve was glad to get home, get a shower and go to bed.
His whole body was aching, he knew those were the repercussions of the plane crashing on the island instead of landing where it should have. The one man on that flight, he was the one who made it crash by forcing the pilot change and deviate from the beforehand planned route, after Steve noticed it, they started fighting and the pilot got shot in the process causing the plane to stall and then plummet into the ground even though Steve attempted all in his power to avert the crisis. "Perhaps." Wo Fat seemed not very impressed even though he was about be imprisoned for the rest of his life.
"Perhaps not."
Steve did not respond to that comment, however, he swore that he would personally make sure that Wo Fat would never see the outside outside prison walls.
"Cage him." McGarrett's command was promptly followed as the prison cell doors slid shut with a loud sound. Steve turned around, Danny was waiting for him. The warden led him to the exit of the high-security wing. Steve rubbed his temples as his lingering headache worsened, momentarily he was taken by surprise by a sudden bout of dizziness.
The commander stumbled a few steps to the side causing the prison warden to steady him by placing a supportive hand on his shoulder.
"You alright, commander?" Steve only responded with a nod. He was fine, he survived. There were no major injuries, just some broken ribs and maybe a mild concussion along with some bruising
. Nothing a night's sleep wouldn't cure, of that he was sure.
Still feeling dizzy, the world moving around him was not making it easy for him to walk straight. The increasing pounding beneath his skull is not letting up. It hadn't been that bad when he had flown the helicopter to Dillingham airstrip. Steve figured that that must have been due to the adrenaline. The commander was glad as they reached the gates and could leave Halawa Correctional to walk over to where Danny was waiting for him. "You look like roadkill." Danny observed. Steve let out a chuckle. "To be honest it feels like I was run over by a truck." Steve smiled although his expression was pinched, as if he was in pain. In addition, there was the paleness of the skin, the sweating, the unfocused glances.
It all points toward Steve being injured. The Jersey detective gave Steve a once-over, he put a hand on Steve's shoulder.
"I'm, I think we should make a stop along the way, Steven." Danny was worried. His best friend looks like he's sustained some injuries from that crash landing and the subsequent fight with both Wo Fat and the Yakuza.
"Just drop me off at home, Danno." Danny didn't even yell at him for using his daughter's nickname for him. Danny observed as he unsteadily climbed into the Camaro, flinching as he positioned himself on the passenger seat. This got another frown from Danny. Steve always wanted to drive, not that he was complaining that he had to drive but the circumstances were indeed alarming. Especially when it comes to a certain SEAL that he knew and loved.
"I get to drive?"
"Is that a problem? We can switch seats if you want to. I just figured you wanted to drive your own car once in a while." Steve gave back, closing his eyes for a second as his headache worsened progressively.
Yet he did not want Danny to know that.
Steve inhaled, not thinking about his injured ribs so his eyes shot open as a sharp pain ran through his upper body, Steve could barely contain a pained groan as his ribs moved beneath his skin. Danny cast a concerned glance at the quieter than usual man in the passsenger seat. Sighing slightly, Danny started the engine, a little while after that they were driving back to Honolulu. Steve said nothing during the entire journey which was quite worrisome. Danny had seen the cuts and the bruises on Steve's face, the damage was in no way insignificant. Danny wished for Steve to get seen by a medical professional because he was not sure if the commander was not hiding any serious damage.
Like his ribs or gunshot wounds considering that they were in a fire fight while pinned down by Adam's men after being in a plane crash. If it had been Danny, he would go to the nearest emergency department to get checked, after all he had a child, a daughter he would very much like to see again.
As he turned the car into Moanalua Fairway, he instantly noted how the traffic slowed down considerably.
"Steve?" Danny asked with a raised voice, two tired eyes turned to him.
"What is it?" Steve questioned grumbling. "Seems like the drive home will take longer than we planned, buddy? This road's packed. I bet there's been an accident which means that we will stand here for hours, maybe. Steve sat up straight as he gazed at the line of cars in front of him and the ones behind their car. "You should have taken another route, Danny." Steve mumbled, taking shallow breaths so that his ribs wouldn't hurt so much. There was a lot of pressure building in his chest making even small movements very painful which he knew was bad but he didn't want to alarm Danny yet.
He knows how the Jersey detective gets when he is worried about someone's well-being.
So the commander worked on controlling his breath rate and depth. For now it was working bit he head no idea for how long they would be here, standing in this mile-long traffic jam.
H50 H50 H50 H50
Something was off about him. Danny couldn't exactly pinpoint it but he had a bad feeling. Ever since they had gotten stuck in this traffic, Steve had been quiet, quieter than normal.
"Any plans for the weekend?" Danny tried to keep the conversation going.
"Huh? Ahem, no." Steve replied, staring out the window. He still had to be careful. "You got Grace this weekend?" Steve knew he had guessed coreectly when Danny's face lit up. "Yeah. My little girl will spend the weekend with me." Danny looked happy, Steve was glad about that. The car was only moving centimeters at a time before standing around for the next minutes.
The pain from his head had intensified, the dizziness had as well.
Danny cast another prodding look at his partner. Outside he could hear car honking but he had only eyes for his partner as it became clearer and clearer that something was off. A feeling that Steve was worse off than he let on. "Cut it out, Steven." Danny griped, not at all liking the paleness of Steve's face as well as the look in his eyes telling him his best friend was barely able to focus on something. He should have called the damn ambulance. Then they would not be in this situation. "I know you are hurt worse than you are letting on. You not telling me anything will only make your situation worse. Tell me what's wrong with you." Danny continued.
Steve turned to face him, Danny had his hands on the steering wheels although traffic more or less came to a complete standstill on this road, also there was no way to turn around but if there was an emergency he could use the emergency lane. "Steve, please." Danny said honestly. He needed to know what was wrong in order to fix it.
His face was pale, lips bloodless.
He looked like he was about to collapse to the ground. "That's it, we are going straight to Tripler, like we should have done hours ago." Danny insisted.
"Won' get the' in time." Steve got out, barely.
His eyes were now only half open.
As Danny saw the abrupt change in his demeanor he realized that it was time to call for urgent medical help. He and the team should have insisted on him having to get checked out, to go on a ride with these nice paramedics when they were at Dillingham airstrip. At this moment and time, that realization came late. Too late. He should have recognized the warning signs and symptoms and as a result of that, Steve was in loads of trouble right now.
Trouble that could have been prevented by seeking medical care straight after the disaster.
"Steve! Stay awake, come on, Steve."
He heard a voice yelling out to him but was unable to respond.
At that point, the pain and the weird feeling of light-headedness intensified causing him to let out a suppessed groan, his chest was hurting so bad that he wanted to pass out so that he wouldn't feel this anymore. Steve felt dizziness creeping up in him. Staying conscious seemed harder than ever, a real challenge. The SEAL drew in a weak breath, even inspiration and exspiration was getting difficult to do. Breathing became harder and harder to do so.
"Can't brea ..." He got out, barely able to focus. Panicked ge shot forward which resulted in him almost passing out from pain.
"Just focus on breathing, Steve. Just keep breathing."
He glanced up at Danny with a confused, dazed expression Danny telling her that Steve was on the verge of losing his battle to stay conscious. His world turned black for a couple of seconds, his eyes slipped closed. That is, until Danny somewhat roughly shook his shoulder to keep him awake and responsive as losing consciousness for be a very bad thing. "Steve, keep your eyes open. Please, for me. Keep 'em open." Steve forced himself to look at him through half-lidded eyes, listening to his plea despite feeling so crappy that he could hardly breathe. He just felt so damn tired. All Steve wanted was to sleep.
Everything hurt, the word blurred in and out of focus. Warily, he squinted to make the debilitating dizziness disappear. "Just breathe, Steve, breathe." Danny told him, he saw his face painfully contorting as he sucked in a pained breath.
Steve felt the pressure on his chest building causing him to let out a cough which put even more strain on his already injured and compromised lungs. He gasped for air as one of fractured ribs punctured his lung, which did nothing to help him. Instead, his problems became much worse.
"Expedite emergency medical services to my location." A short pause followed.
"What do you mean they cannot get through?"
Pausing again, "There is an accident on Moanalua Fwy? Yeah. Makes sense, we are in that traffic jam right now. What do you mean you can't send an ambulance? My partner was in a plane crash, his symptoms presented late and now he needs help." Danny attentively watches Steve, he had his eyes closed, half leans and half sags against the window. "Steve, come on buddy, do not pass out on me." Danny yelled at the now only semi-conscious man in the passenger seat.
"Don' feel s' good." Steve mumbled, at this point barely coherent.
He put his hand on Steve's shoulder, shaking him, the only response from Steve was a pain-filled groan.
"Steve, wake up." Danny tried anew but was unable to rouse the injured man. Things were starting to spiral outta control, that much was clear.
Danny talked to someone on the phone but the injured SEAL barely heard anything beyond that. He was preoccupied with his dominating breathing issues. But as the breathing issues worsened, Steve's breaths came out quick and labored. More so than before. The man was in trouble. Steve looked even worse than before. Pale with lots of bruises, bleary eyes that are almost closed, also very shallow breaths. Steve's arms were supporting his broken ribs. "Okay, where are you?" Danny gestured with his hands, animated. "Moanalua Fwy. This is Detective Danny Williams, requesting immediate assistance. I need an ambulance." Danny realized he had already said this but he was under a lot of stress and all the cars honking was not helping him at all. It made it worse. When he glanced at Steve itwas obvious that he had gotten worse, definitely due to the injuries he sustained in the crash and the rest of the fighting with the numerous enemies that seemed to have crawled out from under the wood work.
Danny put his finger on Steve's neck to feel for a pulse, when he did it was faint and thready.
"Steve, you hear me?" Damn you, Steven. Only you can get into this much trouble, a situation unfortunately complicated by a pile-up on the fricking freeway into the city. It was. only eighteen minutes the nearest hospital, Steve doesn't have that much time, what the heck is he supposed to do? Danny watched his patner's chest rise in a slow, uneven pace. It was hard to watch for him.
"Is an ambulance on it's way?" Danny questioned hoping for an affirmative on this one.
"Ahem, we've arranged for a medevac. Helo's on its way, estimated time of arrival seven minutes." As Danny was on the phone with the dispatcher an Army evac helicopter has been sent to their location. Since only one of the lanes was filled with cars and the rest has been shut down, it shouldn't be a problem. But maybe they wouldn't even land the plane. Maybe they would just send a guy down with the equipment to treat him and then medevac him to Tripler.
"Hold on. Steve, help's on the way." Danny said, his voice shaking, hoping for a response.
The distraught Jersey man was still on the phone with the emergency services, and begged them to help him, "Calm down. Slow deep breaths." The detective did as he was told, slowly his bout of anxiety dissipated, allowing him to think much clearer. "The helo will be there soon." "Thanks," Danny ended the call, finally help was coming for Steve.
Super SEAL's consciousness started to fade irrevocably, even Danny's repeated yells at him to stay awake and shaking his shoulders was not doing anything to help.
He passed out, Danny being unable to rouse him. "Damn it, damn it, damn it." Danny shouted. This couldn't be happening. Now that McGarrett was out cold he had to do something, Steve could not stay in this car, with his airway unprotected. Danny had to get him out of the car to the shoulder. So he did. Danny called his name a few times, voice breaking but there was no response. Danny unclipoed his belt, opened the door and rushed outside, around the car to open the passenger door.
He quickly checked if he was still breathing. For now, he was. Danny was glad that he was at least breathing, even if his breathing sounded very labored. He put him in the recovery position, making sure his airway was clear, keeping an eye out for breathing issues. For now, he appeared stable. All Danny could do was wait. Wait for the helo to arrive. Time ticked by slowly, way too slow for Danny's liking. Steve's breathing seemed even more troubled now. Why the heck had this damn road been closed down. There is no way an ambulance would reach them in time. Steve would be dead by then. Yet to their great luck they had a medivac coming. But long after, Danny Williams could make out unmistakable rotor sounds which made relief flood through his veins. "Hear that, buddy?" He whispered with a smile.
"That is the sound of rescue."
Suddenly Steve's slow, pained breaths ceased altogether, bringing Danny near a complete emotional breakdown. "Steve?" Danny quickly checked breathing, soon it was clear that Steve had stopped breathing and was currently in respiratory arrest by the looks of it. Danny reacted, rolled Steve gently onto his back.
H50 H50 H50 H50
A paramedic in Army- typical fatigues fast- roped down to the ground, his colleague, the second Army medic, followed shortly thereafter.
"You have no idea how glad I am to see you guys." Danny got out, relief in his eyes.
The first one droppedvto his knees and started to assess the condition. The medic put a stethoscope to his patient's chest, instantly noting the absent breath sounds on the left side, on top of that, Steve presented as hypotensive and tachycardic and deviation of the trachea away from the side with the tension.
"It's getting harder to ventilate, there's pressure building up. His chest his barely moving even when I push air into his lungs." Jonny voiced his concerns, seeing that the man laying on the asphalt was not moving any air, not breathing at all. Resp arrest. Jonny pulled out the Ambu bag so that they could start to ventilate, get air into the lungs. His colleague readied the monitor, quickly connecting the leads.
The flight medics instantly saw the erratic rhythm, the decreased oxygen in Steve's blood stream.
They shared a glance, instantly they knew what the other was thinking.
Tension pneumothorax, a progressive build- up of air within the pleural space, which allows air to escape into the pleural space but not to return. Increasing pressure in the pleural space pushes to the healthy side, and obstructs venous return to the heart, leading to circulatory instability and may result in traumatic arrest, something their patient does not need, so the Army medics had to come up with something, fast.
"We have to needle him."
Danny heard one of them say, the other one nodding in silent agreement. Scared for Steve, Danny held onto his friend's hand as they feverishly worked on Steve.
Cardiac monitor abruptly began wailing loudly, displaying the deteriorating state of their patient.
"Diminished breath sounds on the left, among other symptoms indicative of tension pneumo. Possible tension pneumo. We may need to needle him."
Sats were down, hypoxia, blood pressure was falling as well.
This would complicate their current situation as is and it would delay them.
"Get me a needle." Jonny, a youn Army medic, realized that they had to perform emergent chest decompression with needle thoracostomy to administer definitive treatment. David concentrated on the procedure, taking the cannula and inserting it into the second rib space, entering the pleura and decompressing the building tension.
"Advancing the needle."
The Army medic reached for a syringe so that he could aspirate the air with a syringe connected to the needle, shortly after that the medic withdrew the needle, them being careful not to injure to commander further, the medics saw the extensive brusing on the face and the chest as they worked to stabilize Steve on the middle of the road. People in their cars watched curiously as the dramatic scene unfolded before their eyes.
Danny hated that they were staring at Steve like this, he deserved some privacy.
There was an immediate rush of air out of the chest indicating the presence of a tension pneumothorax. The tension pneumo had now successfully been converted into a simple pneumothorax, the machines connected to Steve signaled immediate improvement after David had evacuated the air compressing the commander's organs. The helicopter was hovering above them, waiting for them to stabilize the now critical patient so that they can head to Tripler sooner rather than later.
"He's improving." Jonny evaluated the patient's status.
"Good, though we still need to get him to the hospital as quickly as possible. You got this, Jonny?" The young medic nodded as they got the cables ready to pull the basket up the helo hovering above them.
H50 H50 H50 H50
Inside the cabin, the Army medics continued to treat Steve's injuries, one of them noticing the head laceration on his forehead. "Hey, this head lac looks deep." One of them said, "give me some gauze so I can stop the bleeding." The blood crust had ripped causing the wound to start bleeding again. To their great surprise the man on the stretcher started moving around a bit. "I thinke he is fighting his way toward consciousness." Steve's eyelids fluttered softly, then they opened. Danny let out a small, surprised gasp. "D'nny. Wh'm I?" Confused at the loud noises from helo, Steve stared at the detective.
"You're on your way to Tripler, Steve." Danny offered, grabbing Steve's hand. He could not believe that his best friend was conscious again. One of medics appeared in Steve's line of sight?
"Commander McGarrett, can you tell me how you're feeling?" Steve blinked as he refelcted on that question. All he knew was that it was hard to breathe and his head hurt so much that he could barely think.
"Head an' ches' hurs' " Steve grunted uncomfortable.
The medic placed a mask over Steve's mouth and nose to increase oxygen, mindful of the chest tube in his chest. The mask fogs up every time Steve exhales. Out of sudden, Steve fely a bout of nausea rising in his throat, simultaneously the headache increased.
"D'zzy ... g'nna b' sick." The pale man mumbled, eyes barely open.
Steve was quickly turned on his side, not a second too late as he started heaving. Danny flinched at hearing those retching sounds coming from Steve. He stayed back as the medics worked on him. "Hey, stay awake, come on, you stubborn Neanderthal animal." Danny said in an attempt to keep him from falling asleep. But what happened exhausted him even more. His eyes fell closed again, one of the medics started tapping on his cheek to get him to respond.
"A ... am 'wake." Steve mumbled, his eyes halfway closed.
The Army medic frowned, realizing that his patient's state is deteriorating. "Good. Keep those eyes open for me, will ya?" But it was no use. Steve started to succumb into darkness anew, and no matter how loud and persistent Danny was and as much as he tried to, Steve slowly but surely lost the fight to stay conscious. "He passed out again." Danny unsuccessfully tried to subdue the feeling of utter helplessness. Steve strapped to that basket-like stretcher was hard for him to see. The cardiac monitor Steve was connected to showed erratic, disjointed beats with a low blood pressure. One of the medics grabbed a pen light from emergency bag and shone it into the commander's eyes to see how they responded.
It was clear as day that the response was not normal.
"Hey, we need to get to Tripler ASAP, he's blown his right pupil which is unresponsive to light. The other one is reactive but sluggish." He muttered as he assessed pupil reaction. Also, the blood pressure was pointing toward trouble as well as it was low, it was too low.
"It's too low." The senior paramedic said after looking at the numbers, grabbing an IV kit to start an IV access.
"We need to push IV crystalloids to maintain adequate blood pressure. And an Ambu bag, I am going to bag him until we can intubate. Move out of the way."
The last order was directed at Danny as he was in the way.
The detective stared at the scene that was playing out in front of him. He was shocked.
Worried.
Jonny started to administer the right medication in the right dosage and then started bagging him as her colleague prepped for intubation. "Get me anti- seizure medication on board in case he start seizing, I want to push those meds immediately if neccessary." The medic had barely time to finish that sentence.
Steve started seizing.
"Steve?!" Danny yelled out.
"What's happening to him?"
After he injects the right medicine Steve slowly stops seizing and everyone in the room breathes a sign of relief. Danny had tears in his eyes. "We are performing rapid sequence intubation." The senior medic said as they injected something into Steve's IV access. Danny watched attentively, feeling Steve's hand go limp in his. After witnessing the grand mal seizure inside the helo Danny realized their situation was a lot more precarious than he had realized before. "Here's an adult intubation kit." Jonny interrupted. His colleague nodded a quick thanks as he injected the medication to knock Steve out completely as this would allow them to insert the endotracheal tube without the chance of him fighting it. In a fluid motion, one of the Army medics quickly intubated him, Danny let out a deep, shivery breath as he saw the ET tube protrude from Steve's mouth. When the tube was in, his vitals that were fluctuating, promptly stabilized.
After Danny had exited the chopper he watched as Steve's gurney was whisked away by doctors and nurses leaving him standing on the helipad. He shook his head in sheer disbelief. How had it come to this?
He could not understand, couldn't understand by any stretch of the imagination.
Now Steve's life was in danger once again.
That man really is a trouble magnet. For a moment, Danny closed his eyes, still standing where he had been left. The flight medics who had taken care of Steve during the flight over to Tripler took note of that.
One of them walked over to Danny, asked if he was alright.
"I'll be alright if my neanderthal animal makes it out of this alive. That's when I'll be alright." Danny gave back, looking at them, instantly seeing concern written on their faces.
"But thanks. I gotta go see where Steve is, and I need to call Chin and Kono." Danny muttered, his hair disheveled.
H50 H50 H50 H50
Danny, Kono and Chin had sat in the waiting room for hours, waiting for any news on Steve's condition. Then after hours, a doctor entered the room. "Family of commander Steve McGarrett?" The doc questioned. Instantly, Danny shot up from the hard and uncomfortable plastic chair he had been sitting on for the last four or five hours.
"That's us." Danny said concern on his face, "How is he?"
Kono and Chin glanced at him expectantly, also wanting to know how their friend and boss was doing. "The commander was brought in by one of our medevac helos and it was a good thing that he was brought in when he was." Danny paled, remembering the situation he had been faced with as he was on the phone calling for help.
Chin put a supportive hand on his shoulder.
"I'm Major Owens, the commander's treating physician. First things first, he is alright. He's in our recovery room and will soon be moved to our intensive care unit for further observation and treatment. After careful testing, we found Commander McGarrett to have serial rib fractures on his left side. He must have been in a lot of pain. Due to the fractured ribs - one of them must have punctured a lung, therefore causing a tension pneumothorax which was relieved by the medics who put in a chest tube to drain the air in the chest cavity. Without intervention, he wouldn't have survived this injury. We placed another tube as the one placed by our medics was not enough to drain all air from the chest cavity. He also had a gunshot wound to his thigh. To his luck it missed the femoral artery completely and only tore through muscle." Danny breathed in sharply.
He knew if that bullet had hit the femoral artery, Steve would have bled out in minutes.
"As you know there has been head trauma. The traumatic brain injury was worse than expected." Shocked at that revelation, Danny stumbled backwards.
"What do you mean?" Chin questioned. his eyes got dark in fright. He eyed Danny who seemed not dealing so well with this. "On CT we detected a small brain bleed, something called a subdural hematoma. It presented late, and we were able to evacuate the blood clot without any trouble. Also, the commander shows signs of a serious concussion. How he remained conscious this long is quite ... surprising. There are numerous cuts and abrasions on his face and body but they will heal in a matrer of time." The doctor explained, he was interrupted by Danny's sudden interjection.
"Will he be okay?" Danny responded, he was hoping for confirmation.
This was Steve after all.
A smile appearing on the physician's face is assuring. "Barring any complications, yes, the commander should make a full recovery." Danny and Chin and Kono looked at each other, tired but relieved smiles painted on their faces.
"Can we see him?" Danny demanded, still very concerned about his friend.
"After he's settled in intensive care. For now, he's still in recovery. I'll have a nurse come get you once the commander's ready for one visitor. One visitor at the time. It's imperative that he rests a lot as it will be better for his recovery." Danny nodded, simply glad that Steve was alive and he could see him in a short amount of time.
H50 H50 H50 H50
Danny was on a recliner next to Steve's bed.
It was the second day since the plane crash and Steve's rescue via medevac. The detective rubbed his eyes tiredly, he would love to sleep but Steve had to wake up first. Suddenly, there was a low groan. Instantaneously, Danny's head shot up, gazed attentively at Steve. "Steve?" Danny questioned, again his fingers twitched. Steve McGarrett was indeed waking up. Steve's fingers twitching was barely noticeable. "Steve?" Danny prodded, pressing his hand. "Open those baby blue for me, Steve. I onow you can do it." Danny continued as he watched Steve's heart rate increase.
"You awake, buddy?" Danny asked, hoping that his mind did not trick him. And it didn't.
Another groan followed, this time a little bit louder. Also, his eyes fluttered open.
Danny's heart jerked joyfully as he saw what was happening. "D'nny" Danny pressed his hand, careful to not tug at the IV access providing him with meds. "I am here, buddy. You are okay."
"Hurt's." Steve blearily looked at him, his head stilk hurting albeit not as bad as when he was in the helicopter. "I can imagine, buddy. You got yourself pretty banged up." Danny's voice penetrated his ears. Steve was a bit surprised that he remembered a few bits and pieces of what had happened to land him in the hospital. Steve's voice came out weak and strained.
"You're awake." Danny uttered in relief. Steve opened his eyes a little bit.
"D'nno." He tried to get out. Steve looked at him, confusion planted on his face.
"You're going to be okay, buddy." Danny explanted, his hand holding Steve's and pressing it slightly. Kono smiled as she watched them. Steve still looked bad, with a the bruising, the tubes and the IV lines as well as the cardiac monitor from which leads were snaking to his chest. His pale face, the hospital equipment beeping, making noises. Yet, Steve McGarrett had regained consciousness.
Steve closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again.
"Wh't hap..." "What happened?" Danny finished his question.
"You had surgery."
" 's that why head hurts?" Danny nodded in reply to Steve's question. "You had brain surgery. But you are okay now and that"s enough for now."
"I'll go get the doctor." He heard Kono say to Chin but everything just faded into the background as solely focused on Steve. He glanced around, instantly recognizing that he was in the hospital. Then he remembered. The plane crashing to the ground, him being unable to do anything about it. Fearfully, he tried sitting up. Danny fast in keeping him from hurting himself. "Steve, calm down, you are in the hospital. Wo Fat's in lockdown in Halawa, trust me, he won't get out. You can rest, no need to go all super SEAL on me." Slowly Steve calmed down. The effect it had on Steve was instant.
"Wo ... Fat?"
"He's in jail, Steve. The mission is over. You can stand down now." Danny ordered. "We love you, Steve."
"Love ... y." Steve said with an effort. Talking was tiring, trying to stay awake was really hard. But having Danno here made it all better. Danny made him feel safe.
H50 H50 H50 H50
Three days later, Steve was still in intensive care unit but was doing well, or as well as could be expected in his physical state. "Morning." The doctor entered his room, a clip board in his hand. "Morning." Danny replied and yawned, he had spent the last few days at Steve's sidered a "Hey, sleepyhead, the doc's here, wake up." Danny put a hand on Steve's shoulder. The exhausted man in the bed stirred slightly but refused to open his eyes.
"Lem' me sleep. 'm fine." Steve grumbled, not wanting to wake up. Danny and the doctor shared a glance.
After a quick examination, the doctor seemed to be satisfied with Steve's condition.
The doctor made plans that if his pressure remained stable and there were no signs of infection, they could move him to a normal room in the evening or the next morning. At that, Steve's eyes lit up. He didn't like being surrounded by that much medical paraphernalia, beeping monitors and stuff. "See, Danny, I'll be outta here in no time." Steve said with a laugh that quickly turned into a pained groan as his broken ribs once again made themselves memorable.
"Ah, shit, forgot ... 'bout ribs." Steve's eyes widened as the pain spread through his thorax. It only dissipated slowly. " Sh, just breathe, buddy. Breathe." Danny coaxed, a view at the monitors showed him that Steve's heart rate had accelerated due to the sudden stress brought on by pain.
" 'm breathing." Steve gave back, breathless.
"Sure."
Danny rolled his eyes, "Way to fast. You need to slow your breathing down." Danny continued to support him. After a while, Steve's breathing had normalized, even the pain in his ribs ceased, not fully, but down to a bearable level of pain.
H50 H50 H50 H50
On the tenth day in the hospital, Steve was doing alright, although he hated doing physical therapy but he knew he had to do it if he wanted to get well soon. "Buddy, the doc says he is not sure how you had stayed upright until you passed out in my car out." Danny confessed. Steve's eyes twinkled as he responded seriously, "I'm a SEAL, Danny." Danny erupted in a chuckle. "I missed this, you know."
"See, I knew you love me, Danny. Stop denying it."
Steve had a grin plastered on his face-
Danny just rolled his eyes. "I told you that after you waking up but you can't remember because you were so out of it." Danny replied.
Steve grimaced. "Well, like you said, I just woke up. No bog surprise that that piece is missing, Danno." Steve said in a mocking voice. "Okay, okay, okay, okay." Danny held his hands up, "That's what I just said, didn't I, you neanderthal animal?" Danny said back, voice sharp.
In that moment, Kono and Chin entered the room, interrupting the staring contest between the two men.
"Everything alright?" Kono asked confused.
"All is great. Danny and I are just doing our thing." At that Kono and Chin only said a knowing "ah" and left it alone. Kono turned her eyes at her boss, eyeing him. He looked better than before. He wasn't as pale as he had been the first few days after being admitted. She could still remember what it had been like when she and Chin had received Danny's call.
That Steve had to be flown to Tripler for emergency treatment of his injuries that he sustained in the plane crash.
It had been a shock, to say the least.
"How are you doing, boss?" Kono asked Steve, concern evident in her voice.
"I'm doing fine, thanks for asking, Kono." Steve replied, shifting into a more comfortable position. A position that was hard to find in his state. But he really was doing alright, now that the annoying beeping of the heart monitor was no longer there. They had disconnected the monitor yesterday when his vitals had been stable for the last few days.
Danny chuckled at that.
"He says I'm fine. You had a brain bleed and a punctured lung, not to mention the gunshot wound. Those are serious injuries." Danny exploded, all his worries from the last few days came to light. Steve knew that Danny exploding like this meant that he cared so much that he simply couldn't find another way to convey his feelings so he resorted to yelling.
Ranting, which was so typical for Danno.
Something that Steve loved. Although there were many times were it was really annoying.
"Danny." Kono put a hand on his shoulder. "Steve's alive and well. Before you know it, they'll release him. He bounced back from this pretty quickly."
That he had, indeed.
"And he'll run head first into new dangers." Danny grumbled and hid his face in his hands.
Steve gazed at him, a sigh escaping him.
"Danny." He started.
"What?"
Danny glanced at him, waiting for him to continue. Steve glanced down at his hands, the IV still in his arm, before looking back at his best friend and brother. "I'm sorry if I scared you. I know what I did-"
"Do you?" Danny exclaimed loudly, again moving his hands wildly to underline what he was saying.
"Because honestly I don't know about that. You didn't tell me about your injuries. You did not tell me about your injuries. They had to fly you to the hospital, Steve. The ambulance wouldn't have reached us in time because there had been another accident. The medevac flight could have been avoided if you had told us from the start that you were injured. That you weren't feeling well. I mean, you had to have been in serious pain, right?" Danny ranted. Kono and Chin stayed in the background, quietly listening to Danny's rant. He was doing it out of love for Steve. That was why he was yelling at all. #
"You were reckless, reckless with your own life, Steve. I can't stand by and watch you do this to yourself. You need to think. This, this cannot happen again, you understand that, right? You have people in your life that care about you, a lot. We love you. I love you, you neanderthal animal. My daughter adores you. You have ohana, Steve. Please, I'm begging you, tell us when you are hurt and let us take care of you."
Steve swallowed.
A lump was in his throat. He knew he had 'ohana but hearing it from Danny was a whole different matter. It meant the world to him.
Danny was breathing heavily by the time he finished ranting.
He looked over at Steve, who was sitting there, lost in thought. "Steve, you alright? Do I need to get a doctor?" Danny asked, quite concerned at the lack of response coming from his partner and brother.
"Yeah, yeah. Just ... give me a second here."
Steve blew out air as he listened to Danny's ranting. Steve came to the conclusion that Danny was right. He had been reckless. "You are right." "Say that again." Danny raised his voice. "Steven McGarrett admitting I, Danny Williams, am indeed right." Steve glared at him but actually complied without complaining.
"I was reckless. I thought I could sleep it off. I mean at first it wasn't that bad but when we were in that car, I knew I needed help. But before that, I really was convinced that it was just a couple broken ribs and a concussion at most." With a sigh, he said, "I was wrong, Danny, I admit that. I'm sorry for making y'all worry."
"Come on, you big lug. Let's hug it out."
Danny stood up and came over to him, he and Steve shared a careful hug. Danny being more careful than usual due to Steve's broken ribs. "I love you too, brother." Steve mumbled into his ear, which made Danny smile.
Kono and Chin watched the scene with a smile.
"He's right, you know." Kono said. "You got people now, Steve. Don't shut us out. We care for you, for each other. That's what 'ohana does for each other." Steve gave a light-hearted smile, "I am so glad to have you guys, seriously. Thank you for being my family." Steve told them.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
"Come on in." Steve called out. Then Kamekona walked into the room, bags filled with shrimp takeout boxes. "Anyone hungry? I got shrimp, brah. Lots of it."
"How'd you sneak it past the nurses?" Steve questioned with a laugh.
With that the room erupted in laughter.
Steve and Danny locked eyes and without saying anything aloud, they said more with one glance than a thousand words could say. A glance of love and understanding, of brotherhood.