Danny became aware of his surroundings slowly. He kept his eyes closed and breathing even as he listened to the voices around him and tried to decide if he wanted to be awake. He had the oddest feeling that life would be easier if he stayed asleep. His head pounded, and he soon became aware of his shoulder and knee throbbing. He felt the small, plastic tubing under his nose along with the cool push of oxygen as he inhaled. He tried to flex his hand but stopped at the pinch of an IV as the tape holding it in place pulled at the tiny hairs on the back of his hand.

The voices around him sounded worried, he realized, but he continued to remain still, not sure why he was hesitant to fully wake. Then it hit him, and he couldn't hold in the sudden gasp: Steve was dead! His eyes flew open and he jolted up, "Steve!"

Danny's hospital room fell silent for a split second before there was a sniffle and Danny felt a small, familiar hand on his arm, "Danno... Uncle Steve is gone... Don't you remember?"

Danny tried to nod as he held out his hand to Grace. He pulled her to him and let her climb up onto the bed with him. She settled next to him and buried her face in his good shoulder. He could feel her hot tears through his thin hospital gown.

He felt a larger, but gentle, hand on his right shoulder and rolled his head to see who was there, "Chin?" His voice begged the older man to reassure him that Grace was mistaken.

Chin frowned, tears sparkling in his eyes, "You don't remember?"

Danny started to respond, but then his dream, or whatever it had been, came back to him. He swallowed hard. He felt tears burn the corners of his eyes, but he fought them off, not willing to cry in front of Grace.

"Grace, dear, why don't you come with us?" Danny realized his parents were also in the room. His mom was leaning down to talk in Grace's ear while rubbing soothing circles on her back. Behind her, he could just see his dad leaning against the wall.

"I wanna stay with Danno," Grace's muffled voice came from the pillow.

"Sweetie, it's getting late, and your dad needs to rest," Danny met his dad's look with an approving nod. "Remember Dr. Lee said he could come home tomorrow if he gets some rest and feels better in the morning."

Grace sat up, wiped her face and looked at her dad, "Will you be okay, Danno?"

Danny nodded, "Yeah, monkey, I'll be okay."

"One of will stay with him tonight, Grace," Chin smiled. "Just to be sure."

Grace nodded, "Thanks, Uncle Chin."

Danny was uncharacteristically quiet as his family left. Before he or Chin could say anything, the door opened again.

"Hi, Danny," Nurse Karen greeted him, "How are you feeling?"

Danny replied sharply, "How am I supposed to feel?"

Karen took his vitals and entered them into the tablet she carried without answering his question. When she was finished, she stood next to him and placed a gentle hand on his arm, "Seriously, how do you feel? How's your head?"

"It hurts," Danny said quietly.

"Do you remember what happened?"

Danny looked away, then spoke with more rancor than he meant, "I remember my best friend dying. Yes, I'll always remember that."

"I'm sorry, Danny," Karen sighed. "I'm not trying to be hurtful..."

"I know." Danny waved a hand wearily at her but didn't turn to look at her again, "I'm sorry... I just... I don't think I can process this yet."

"Do you remember what happened this afternoon?"

Danny pondered for a moment, trying to think past the disturbing memories he'd awoken with. He rubbed his forehead. "Yeah, the funeral... I, uh, was giving Steve's eulogy," he gulped. "Why am I back in the hospital? Doc discharged me before the funeral."

"Yes, Doctor Lee had released you... though he was hesitant." Karen reminded him.

Chin sat beside the bed opposite of where Karen stood and placed his own hand on Danny's arm, "You were more than adamant about leaving."

Danny looked at Chin and a hazy memory of arguing with Dr. Lee and Karen about going to the funeral surfaced. It had been Chin who had interceded on his behalf. Danny wasn't coping well right now, but if he'd missed Steve's funeral, he would never have come to terms with this new reality. And he would certainly never be able to live with himself. He was grateful Chin had interceded on his behalf.

"Don't be alarmed if you're having trouble remembering things," Karen assured him. "You had a pretty severe concussion. Dr. Lee still isn't convinced you don't have a skull fracture even though the X-ray didn't show one. Add to that your dislocated shoulder, torn ligaments in your knee, bruised ribs and more bruises and contusions than we can count... plus the emotional trauma... Dr. Lee wasn't at all surprised when you collapsed. I think he's blaming himself for that."

"You were there?" Danny was surprised, more because he couldn't remember than because he didn't think they cared. They'd both worked with the team in the last couple of years and felt like Danny's personal doctor and nurse.

"Yes," Karen rubbed his shoulder briefly, "We wanted to make sure you were okay... and say our own good-byes."

Danny nodded, and then screwed his eyes shut as the pain in his head spiked. He swallowed convulsively and willed whatever was in his stomach to stay in place. He couldn't remember when he'd eaten last; all he could concentrate on was the pain in his head.

"Danny, you okay, brah?" Chin looked from his friend to Karen.

"Danny, let me go find Dr. Lee and see if we can give you something more for your head, okay?"

"Hang in there, Danny," Chin soothed as Karen left the room. "They'll get you fixed up."

Danny nodded and pressed a hand to his forehead as if pushing on his head could work the pain away. He carefully opened his eyes and looked at his friend, "You don't have to stay, Chin."

"There's no other place I need to be," Chin said quietly and smiled.

Danny pursed his lips. "Could you just go check and see if she's getting anywhere yet?"

Chin narrowed his eyes and then shrugged. "Sure, Danny, I'll be right back."

Danny heard the door softly click shut. His head still pounded, but it wasn't as bad as he was letting on. He really just needed a moment to think. When Karen had mentioned saying their goodbyes, he'd flashed back to standing at the podium, looking at the assembled crowd. He had planned to say so much more for the eulogy, but then he'd spotted one of the faces at the back of the crowd. He'd instantly felt the need to get out of there. He concentrated on remembering the face and tried to figure out why that one particular Naval officer looked familiar. He remembered the man smiling and walking out as Danny collapsed. Many of the other mourners had instinctively moved slightly forward as if to help. His headache spiked again as he remembered where he'd seen the man before. Could it be? Could he really have been at the marina right after the explosion? And, if so, why?


A/N: Thank you for all the reviews, follows and favorites. I will be posting this regularly though I can't promise it will be every day though I'll try.