You guys are awesome, thank you so much for the reviews and alerts. Now, on with the next chapter and Catherine. Sorry to everyone who doesn´t like her, but I love her with Steve. Just a little heads up though, don´t think things will get easier. You´ve been warned! :-)

Disclaimer: Not mine, not at all!

I´d love to know what you think!

"I do not care the least bit that official visiting time is over, nor do I want to wait until the doctor gets here. I want to see Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett. NOW!" Catherine´s voice was rising constantly, but not in volume. No, her voice remained the same level. But the warmth left her voice, it got icy, cold and every word sounded like an insult. She came here about 2 minutes ago, after travelling half the world to get here, just to find this nurse doing chit-chat on her cell.

"I´m sorry, I told you already..." the nurse in front of her dared to say, but Catherine cut her.

"Forget it, I´m not gonna bother myself dealing with you." she pulled her cell and dialed a number, waiting for Danny to answer.

"Danny? Catherine here. Can you come and get me?" she said and nodded grimly when she placed the cell back in one of the pockets of her camouflage pants.

"I know you´re just doing your job, but you chose the wrong moment to stick to the procedure. If you wanna be a good nurse, better learn when to be compassionate." she said quietly and the young nurse at least had the nerve to blush. Catherine grabbed her bag, swung it over her shoulder and walked towards Danny, who entered the reception area with huge steps.

"Hey." he said and reached his hand out to shake Catherine´s. Seeing her face and feeling the trembling in her fingers though he realized, it wasn´t enough. He pulled her into a hug and rubbed his hands up and down her back until she calmed down.

"Sorry... it took me too long..." Catherine whispered but Danny just smiled at her.

"You´re here, all is good." Catherine instantly knew why Steve cared so deeply about that man. It was like she could hear Steve´s voice telling her that 'he´s a pain in the ass, but I count on him 200% and he never lets me down'.

Slowly Danny guided her back to Steve´s room but before entering he stopped and grabbed her upper arms, looking into her face with an open expression that scared her more than anything.

"Look, I have no idea what you two have been through." he swallowed hard. "This time we´ll have to fight for him, okay? He´s not gonna make it on his own, so he needs us. He is reacting, sometimes. He squeezed my hand. And Kono´s too..." Danny tried to encourage her. "I called you because I think he cares for you deeply." It sounded more like a question, because what did he really know about the relationship? Nothing, except that Steve called her every now and then. But Danny remembered the gentle expression on Steve´s face whenever he talked about Catherine and got lost in his thoughts. His gut was telling him that calling Catherine was the right thing to do and he could only hope that his gut wasn´t talking to him because of the bad Mexican food he had for dinner earlier.

"I know you love him." he said and Catherine´s eyes widened.

"Oh, don´t look at me like a deer in the light of a car! You made it here within 2 days from somewhere in the middle of the ocean and you were willing to bite the nurse´s head off. Don´t worry, your secret is safe with me. But if your presence helps Steve, I don´t care even if you were the Devil himself! Okay?" When Catherine stayed silent, he gently shook her and she nodded at him.

"I´m not the devil, Danny. But trust me, Steve wouldn´t want me to be here if he was awake enough to protest." Danny tilted his head to one side, looking at her questioningly but Catherine wasn´t going to say anything else about it. He was not the one she would have to explain things to. Finally Danny gave in and gently stroked her arms.

"Ready?" he asked and Catherine nodded.

"Ready as can be." she said and when Danny turned to open the door, she took in a quick breath and tried to brace herself for what was lying behind that door. Danny was right in assuming that Steve and she had been through a lot, but it wasn´t as intense as he expected. Not Steve´s fault though, he always had made it clear that he would want her to be a part of his life. It was her fault, her mistake and Catherine was here to make it right. She couldn´t loose him without being able to tell him.

"Are you okay?" Danny´s voice startled her and she entered the room quickly, dropping her bag behind the door. And then she lifted her face to look at Steve.

'I love you. I´m sorry. I was wrong!' her inside was screaming but no word left her mouth. She slowly approached the bed.

"What happened?" she asked and looked at Danny.

"A raid gone bad. He pushed me out of the way and caught the bullet that would have killed me if he hadn´t thrown himself in the line." Damn, he wasn´t even able to repeat the details without swallowing the lump in his throat.

"How bad?" she asked, slowly and carefully moving closer to the bed. Danny moved to the other side, sitting down on the chair again and grabbing Steve´s hand. Catherine looked down at this gesture.

"The bullet broke his collarbone, hit the subclavian artery which caused internal bleeding. And when it exited his body, it damaged his spine. He lost a lot of blood. Too much blood." Danny said and his voice was calm, but his hands were trembling.

He lifted his head and watched as Catherine moved closer until her thighs pressed against the bed. She reached out and watched her trembling fingers, pulling her hand back and balled it to a fist. Her eyes met Danny´s and he nodded. As if Catherine needed to get the approval that it was okay to touch him, she reached out again and this time her hand wasn´t trembling. She touched his face, placed her palm against his cheek and brushed her thumb tenderly over his cheekbone.

"When is he going to wake up?" she asked, her eyes never leaving Steve´s face.

"They don´t know... when... but he will!" It sounded like he was not only trying to convince himself and Catherine but Steve as well.

Catherine only nodded and felt her knees buckle so she leaned against the bed further. Danny watched her the whole time, he couldn´t help it. He wanted to know that he didn´t make a mistake by calling her. He needed to know that his instincts were right and that Catherine and Steve shared something special.

It was the look in her eyes, the dark, glistening pools of emotions, that convinced him. She didn´t hide her feelings anymore. Her eyes were glued to Steve´s face and her hand was gently caressing him. That was enough for Danny to know.

"I´m gonna get some coffee." Danny said and gently squeezed her shoulder before leaving the room to give her the privacy to talk to Steve.

"Hello sailor." she whispered when she sat down on the chair that every member of Steve´s ohana had occupied in the last days.

"You look terrible, Steve. I thought when we see each other again it would be under different circumstances and trust me, this is not what I had in mind when I imagined you in bed." she lifted her hand to her face and kissed his knuckles. His skin was warm and he felt like her Steve. A strangely comforting thought, when she knew that things were at stake right now.

"Danny called me."

A tear slid down her face and with an angry movement she brushed it away. Steve needed her to be strong. He needed to know that he could rely on her and she was not going to let him down. Kicking herself she strengthened her shoulders and forced her emotions back deep down into her self. She´d deal with it later.

"He´s a great guy, he is really worried about you..." she didn´t know what to say. It seemed like no words were right, like the moment wasn´t for words. So she remained silent and just touched him, trying to make him feel her presence.

Catherine didn´t know for how long she stayed like this, but her back was hurting and her shoulders felt sore. She had been on a joint operation with the NATO in the middle of the Pacific and when she got Danny´s message, she had to pull quiet a few strings to get back. That being said she hadn´t slept in nearly 48 hours, travelled over 4000 miles on more than dubious ways, always with the worry in the back of her head that she might come too late.

But she was here now and even though she felt strangely misplaced, she´d stay here and do whatever was necessary to get him back. To help him wake up. To remind him that there were so many things in his life worth fighting for.

"You´ve always been fighting, Steve. Since I met you, you always seemed to fight against your own demons. That is what makes you so good in everything you do, because you give yourself to the mission with all you have. You´re not giving up and you certainly will not give up now. Remember that one mission in Pakistan a few years ago? When your team was trapped? The stakes were ridiculously high and to be honest, at some point I thought that we´d never see each other again." A sad smile graced her full lips.

"Do I need to worry about that, sailor? Is it me? I mean it sounds just like I´m the trigger for situations like this." Her chuckle turned into a sob and she slapped her hand before her mouth to strangle it. "I´m here because... I... damn!" she cursed at herself, at her inability to find the words to tell him why she was here. She knew what she wanted to tell him. But she also knew that this wasn´t about her. It was not about relieving her guilt, her conscious.

"I told Danny that you might not be happy to see me here when you wake up. And that´s okay, I know I deserve that... But I´m not running away again, not this time, Steve." she whispered and her voice faded. She lifted his hand to her lips again and kissed his palm before nuzzling her face into his warm palm. Her eyes never left his face and she blinked a few times to hide her tears.

"I am sorry, Steve. I did everything wrong and I... I need you to wake up, okay? I need to tell you that..." Catherine stopped and closed her eyes when the tears started to stream down her face. Her heart was breaking and her training didn´t help her at all. She felt helpless and not ready for this.

"Please don´t give up." she whispered and then she felt his fingers on her cheek twitch. Almost unnoticeable, but it was there. Catherine felt herself freeze, trying to decide if it was just in her head or if he really reacted to her. She lifted her eyes to his face, afraid of what she might see there.

A smile grew on her lips that were still trembling. A beautiful smile.