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Ua Hiki Mai Kapalena Pau. Season 1 x 23

I'd Rather That You'd Been Hit

Part Two – The Ambulance Missing Scene/Tag

Good morning! I'm absolutely THRILLED with so many positive reviews! I'm on vacation this week, but had some more thoughts on the five hour ride to our rental. LOL! I had intended my first brain dump to be a one chapter, completed story. But with some urging, I've extended it to a multi part story related to what may have happened in the ambulance and the hospital. A part 3 is pending to follow up and continue the portion after Jenna declared Sarin as the chemical nerve agent. I can't promise when it will be done. My family is already quite annoyed that a PC made into the car!

Recap: As the paramedics arrived and Danny was assessed and loaded into the ambulance. Steve was there and ever so vigilant. But he continued to think his dreadful thought the entire time, knowing it was irrational: "Yes, Danny. I'd rather you'd been hit."

Part Two:

Jenna was directly responsible for allowing Steve to be so vigilant over Danny with the paramedics. Her background and experience let her quickly take charge of this particular crime scene with ease. Her characteristic almost naive-like demeanor was replaced with that of a forceful decision-maker. If Steve had noticed, he would have been glad for the short-term change in leadership. As the head of Five-O, his professional next steps would have been to take charge of the crime scene and assemble the appropriate personnel for a critical hazardous material and secure cleanup.

But he had one sole priority in mind – and that soul of utmost importance was that of his best friend, Danny Williams. As Steve paced uncontrollably near the breezeway never taking his eyes off his friend, it was Jenna who quickly advised the medics about the potential biological exposure. She then immediately contacted the hazmat and the proper health officials to quarantine the site. The hospital was notified about the potential status of the incoming patient so that an isolation room would be readied.

Kono and Chin were also more than happy to let Jenna take charge. Both knew without a doubt, that Steve would be focused on Danny and were equally shocked to have witnessed Danny's rapid decline. While Chin had done his best to keep Danny calm, Kono hadn't been able to entirely cope with the situation beyond making the initial call to the paramedics. Like Chin and Steve, she was rendered nearly useless with worry and by the alien nature of the situation. With the two core members of their team thereby incapacitated, though unlikely on the surface, Jenna proved herself to be an informed and talented alternative.

And yes, it was true that Steve had barely registered any of this. He was superficially cognizant of Jenna's voice and aware of the increasing activity of new arrivals on scene. He would eventually appreciate her assertiveness - but later. Right now he only had eyes for Danny. The convulsions and terrible rasped breathing had continued as the medics prepped Danny for transit.

"Come ON Danny, please." Steve whispered, as the medics vainly attempted to stabilize crashing vitals. Chin heard the plea as he watched Steve's frenetic pacing with a rising feeling of dread. When Steve and Jenna returned quickly from the house, Jenna had brought him and Kono up to speed on her biohazard theory. Personally witnessing Danny's rapid decline, Chin knew she was likely correct; something was terribly wrong. Kono had excused herself momentarily and then had returned adopting a nearly, but not quite, stoic expression. He didn't have the courage to ask about Steve and Jenna's own possible and accidental exposure. Chin was content to gloss over that thought by assuming they'd have been ill by now based on what he'd seen happen to Danny in mere minutes.

However, now with Jenna's warnings about possible bio-hazards, the medics were very limited on options. After brief discussion and without knowing for certain what was causing Danny's severe and life-threatening reaction, the medics agreed that they couldn't safely administer more than oxygen or basic fluids. There was constant communication back to the hospital.

As Danny was transferred to a gurney for transit, Steve grabbed a side and slid into the ambulance with the medics. Nearby, Jenna was having her credentials verified so that she could suit up herself to assist in testing the house for contaminants.

"Sir, we really can't have …" one of the medics started stay until he looked up and squarely into Steve's face across Danny's prone body. The stony, 'no holds barred' and 'take no prisoners' expression of a Naval Lieutenant-Commander stopped him in his tracks and was all it took for the medic to stutter-stop his standard diatribe.

"This is not up for discussion." Steve blandly stated. He then ignored the medic entirely to continue his committed watch of Danny. He looked at his watch for the hundredth time and reported succinctly, "It's been about 12 minutes since I believe he was first exposed to whatever is causing this reaction. He was complaining about tightness in his chest and an inability to breathe. Approximately 3 minutes later, he lost consciousness and began to convulse. My team will be able to advise us on the situation as soon as initial findings are determined. " Steve's eyes were dark and precarious pools of sheer blackness. Had the medics known him more personally, they also would have registered the sweaty brow, slight tremble to Steve's hands and the white, thin-lipped tightness to his mouth. Resorting to factual dialogue was also another clue to the man's stress level.

Steve was only just barely able to keep it together. Inside his head, the new litany of "please stop – please stop" was ricocheting around like a series of rapid fire bullets. As a SEAL in action, he of course had seen many a friend and partner in dire straights. He was also familiar and well-versed with chemical warfare tactics and nerve agents. There was no way to wrap his head around what was happening.

Quite frankly, THIS should not be happening HERE. This was Hawaii, the Garden of Eden, paradise found. And yet, Danny lay in front of him, convulsing on a gurney and not a single person thus far could do a blessed thing. There was nothing to go on and Steve was simply scared. He scrubbed his face viciously with both hands and thought in desperation. "Stop. Please just stop this."

"Oxygen? Is that the best you can do for him?" he angrily flared up, as one of the medics adjusted the mask on Danny's face and increased the flow.

"We're less than five minutes out from the hospital, sir. We can't risk administering the wrong combination of meds without more information on the source of his symptoms."

As the medic tried to offer explanation, Danny suddenly stopped convulsing. However, the loud harsh and short rapid breaths also ceased causing everyone to leap into action. Steve bolted forward from his seated position and landed on one knee to grab Danny's shoulder with his hand in the sudden silence. "No. Danny. No!" Steve was at a loss once again as he looked in askance at the two medics. Danny's face was lax, his head had lolled to one side, and his chest was barely rising.

"Bag him and ready for CPR! How far out are we? Vitals are continuing to drop. Blood pressure is crashing. Respiration is labored. Pupils are dilated and fixed."

As the medics hustled around Danny and continued reporting on what sounded like an inane jumble of useless codes and numbers, Steve lurched sideways when the ambulance came to an abrupt stop. "We're here. Get him out and moving. Isolation exam room one. Priority personnel only." In his haste to keep up, Steve stumbled out of the ambulance inadvertently falling into Dr. Lee, the trauma specialist on duty.

Realizing he had virtually barreled into the doctor and the one man he needed most, Steve mumbled, "sorry sorry sorry". He scrambled for a hold on the stretcher, but he missed it as the medical team was already on a brisk trot through the first set of emergency room doors and down the corridor.

Steadying Steve with a hand and giving a curt but not unkind nod, Dr. Lee moved quickly along with the rapidly traveling gurney and multi-tasked a visual assessment of Danny while demanding, "Give me a read-out while we're moving people. Where are we at?"

As the group burst through the second set of doors towards the isolation ward, Steve had caught up. The attending medics rattled off Danny's latest serious set of falling vital signs. "Too low. It's too low." Steve picked up a new mental rant as he heard the blood pressure readout of seventy-two over forty. Nearly half of what a normal pressure reading should be. "Keep breathing Danno. Just keep breathing."

"How long ago was his last exposure?" asked Dr. Lee. The group was still on a run as they rushed Danny down the last corridor and towards isolation.

"About twenty – thirty minutes". Steve replied quickly. He was wide-eyed and breathless as stress and frustration began to take on a new toll.

"Do we know what kind of toxin we're dealing with?"

"I don't know. My team's still working on it." The frustration evident in Steve's eyes turned into terror with the doctor's next words. He was brought up short for the second time that day in total disbelief.

"Well they better hurry. I don't know how much time he has." And Dr. Lee left Steve alone in the corridor as Danny was irrevocably removed from his sight. He spun in place not knowing which way to turn or where to go. "My god, Danno. How did we get here?"

To be continued ….