A/N: A thousand apologies! I had trouble posting this chapter last night, and today I've been away from my computer all day! FanFiction and I have a love/hate relationship. Maybe someday I'll get it all figured out. In any case, this is the chapter that FanFic said was posted, but really wasn't. Hope you can forgive, forget and enjoy!
CHAPTER 4
Steve had to slow his march to his partner's treatment room in response to Grace's sudden planting of her feet. He turned a questioning glance her way, but the look he saw on her face disconcerted him to the point where he literally stopped in his tracks.
"Grace? What's wrong? Let's go see you dad."
"I…I…I can't!" Terror filled her entire being, and Grace finally gave in to it. She pulled away from her uncle and tore down the corridor as if a hound from hell was hard on her heels. Just before the end of the hall she found the girls' bathroom, burst through the door and out of Steve's view. Grace ran into the nearest stall, locking it behind her. Finally, her legs gave way and she sank to the cold, checkered tile, sobs once again wracking her body.
She just couldn't face her father. He would never forgive her for being the cause of his blindness, and she didn't blame him.
Steve watched Grace stampede down the corridor in utter surprise. He had no idea where this had come from. Grace had always been willing to visit her father in his hospital room, sometimes to the consternation of her mother and the hospital staff. Danny had even chewed him out a few times for letting his daughter see him in less than perfect father mode, but Grace had handled the visits well, and her presence at his bedside had always helped Danny recover faster.
"What's this about," Steve wondered. Unsure of what he should do, he took a step after Grace, but stopped and turned back towards Danny's room. He'd have to worry about Grace later, as now he really needed to see how Danny was doing. Stopping a young nurse who was walking past him, Steve spoke to her, "Excuse me, my niece just ran into the bathroom at the end of the hall. She's upset about her father being here, and I wonder if you could keep an eye out for her? I need to see how her father is in here, but I'll be back out for her soon."
"Of course, Sir, take your time." The woman smiled and headed towards the bathrooms.
Still thinking about what could have caused Grace's meltdown, Steve nonchalantly pushed open the door of Treatment Room 4.
He was completely unprepared for what greeted his entrance.
"Hey, Danny, are you alri…," Steve stuttered to a stop mid-sentence, and mid stride, as well. Expecting to see his partner sitting up and getting some antibiotic cream slathered on a few mild burns, he was completely unprepared for the unexpected sight before him, and be able to register what he was seeing. Danny…he was pretty sure it was Danny…was stretched out on the examination table with a bevy of hospital personnel hovering over him. His shirt was unbuttoned and laid open, with multiple electrodes attached to his chest and snaking out to a number of machines spitting out all kinds of unintelligible readings. His face and neck, what Steve could see of it beneath an all-encompassing oxygen mask, was bright red and covered with nasty-looking blisters.
As Steve got his bearings and stepped further into the room, he finally understood Grace's uncontrolled fear – he found himself looking down on his partner's face and suddenly feeling that same emotion.
"Oh dear God! Jeez, Danno! How does this always happen to you?" Composing himself, Steve grasped his friend's hand laying on the table and calmly and quietly let his partner know he was there. "Danny, it's Steve. I'm right beside you. I've got your back now, Babe."
He felt a strong squeeze of his hand, and knew that Danny was awake, even though his eyes were swollen shut and weeping fluid down his blistered cheeks and around the sides of the oxygen mask. Steve knew exactly what Danny wanted to say as he watched his friend try to take off the mask and bat at the nurse's hand which firmly secured it back in place.
"Danno! Danno, listen to me. Stop fighting the nurse. She's okay. Grace called me and I came right over. She's, uh, she's waiting in the hall." Steve wasn't sure yet what was going on with Grace, but he knew enough not to let on to Danny that something was definitely not okay. "I don't think now is a good time for her to come in here, do you?"
Danny firmly shook his head "no", which was exactly what Steve expected. Relieved that he was going to have some time to sort things out with Grace before Danny started asking for her, he was suddenly informed by one of the nurses that Mr. Williams was going to be admitted and that he would have to step out to the waiting area while the patient was taken to his room.
Probably due to the shock of seeing his partner so messed up, Steve was irrationally irked by the nurse's use of "Mister." "Detective. It's Detective Williams. Five-0. His friends call him Danny, but I don't think you've earned that familiarity yet, do you? I'm Lieutenant Commander McGarrett …"
"Yes, Commander. Everyone here is well aware of who you are." The troublesome head nurse had slipped into the room unobserved by Steve. "In fact, I might dare to say everyone in this entire hospital knows who you are. And no, you cannot stay with Detective Williams now. He has to be transferred to his room, and when he is situated, you will be told. Now, don't you have a young girl to take care of?"
And just like that, Danny was wheeled out of the room, raising his hand as he went to bid Steve good bye.
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Once again, Steve was left wondering what had happened to his partner. He raked his fingers through his hair and decided, "No more Mister Nice Guy." Before he could face Grace again, he had to have something to tell her about her father. He was going to get straight answers from someone in the next few minutes, or a strategic phone call or two would be made. Before he could take a step in the direction of the nurses' station, though, he felt a warm, firm touch on his shoulder.
"Commander McGarrett, let's step back into the room, please."
Steve turned to find himself face to face with a very attractive woman in a white lab coat. Even though she was tall, slim and well-built, with long, dark brown hair pulled away from her face into a low ponytail cascading down her back, he was immediately drawn to her warm smile and compassionate dark eyes. It dawned on him that she had been one of the coats working on his friend a few minutes ago, thus sparking his desire to get some answers.
"What can you tell me of my partner's condition?" Steve demanded, not very graciously.
The woman's eyes softened even more, if that were possible, and taking Steve's elbow, she guided him back through the door into Treatment Room 4.
"Commander, I am Dr. Kacy Gardener. I was the resident on call when Mr. … Detective…Williams was brought in. He was in severe respiratory distress on arrival, and was taken into this treatment room immediately."
"Fine, now tell me how …" Steve tried to cut the doctor's speech short, but she simply smiled at him again, and continued speaking.
"Detective Williams was the victim of an oven explosion. When he opened his oven door, the fresh outside air caused the already burning contents of the oven to flare into flames that seared the detective's face and upper torso." Noticing the color draining from Steve's face, Dr. Gardener guided him to a stool. "Please, Commander, sit down before you fall down. Your friend actually looks a lot worse than he is."
Steve found that last sentence a little hard to believe. "Doc, he looks terrible!" Steve punctuated his statement with a fling of his arm toward the abandoned gurney. "Please, just tell me, how severe are his injuries?"
Dr. Gardener raked Steve with a composed, but calculating appraisal, finally returning her gaze to his scowling countenance. "Well, I must say I was feeling pretty pleased with myself to think the rest of the hospital staff thought I was the best person to talk to you…now I understand I apparently had to go through a rite of initiation!"
Steve was taken aback by her statement. He didn't have a clue what the doctor was talking about, and at this point he really didn't care one bit. As he was about to launch into another tirade, Dr. Gardener held up both well-manicured hands in front of her.
"Commander, I'm sorry, I understand your impatience to get answers, but it seems everyone in this hospital has an aversion to being in the same room as you, and since I'm the newbie, they chose to throw me into the den of lions. Now, I have a feeling, if you're with me here, we can work through your impatient aggression and make some progress in understanding Detective Williams' condition. So, to begin, I was led to believe that you have seen combat. Commander, are you familiar with flash burns?"
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Steve was all too familiar with flash burns. One does not spend time as a Navy SEAL on active duty and not experience explosions belching out heat and flames. He'd seen what it could do to the human body, seen the aftermath. Bodies blackened to the point of appearing inhuman; legs bent at the knees, arms drawn up at the elbows and wrists curled under; hands looking like a raptor's claws. He could remember the awful smell of burnt flesh and crispy, shriveled hair. A small line of perspiration broke out on his forehead as he relived the particular mission that culminated in a successful, but gory, take down of a targeted enemy thanks to a direct hit.
Dr. Gardener realized too late that she was terrifying the man in front of her. She uttered her apologies, quickly continuing, "Commander, Detective Williams has sustained 2nd degree thermal burns due to a sudden, brief exposure to flame. The burns are restricted to his face, neck and upper chest..."
"2nd degree, that's just the skin layer, right?" Steve interrupted, trying to latch on to some glimmer that might alleviate his current fears.
"Correct, Commander, 2nd degree means the top two layers of skin have been burned. That is why his skin has formed blisters and is quite red. Actually, Detective Williams will heal well from the burns, as apparently his daughter, I believe, poured water over his face and neck before the EMTs arrived. That helped to cool down his skin and prevent further damage to the cells."
Steve smiled slightly, rubbing his hand over his face to relieve the tension he felt. "Grace, Danny's daughter, is a smart cookie. Wait, what about his eyes? Does he still have vision in both eyes?" Steve quickly lost the moment of reprieve, suddenly reminded of the bandages he saw covering Danny's eyes.
"Ah, yes! An ophthalmologist specializing in thermal burns has been called in, and will visit with Detective Williams tomorrow, but right now, it appears the only problem is that the eyelids have swelled shut thanks to the blast of heat. We have covered them with light gauze to keep them protected. As I said earlier, Commander, Detective Williams' injuries look a lot worse than they are.
"Now, the good detective is not completely out of the woods, Dr. Gardener cautioned. "He has suffered some burning to his esophagus from inhaling flames. Currently we have him on intravenous steroids to try to keep the swelling in his throat down, but he's been having some difficulty breathing. If it becomes necessary, we will intubate him."
"Jeez, he'll hate that!" Steve could just picture Danny fighting that one. He'd been intubated before. He had to be sedated thanks to his claustrophobic reactions, and it had taken Danny weeks to get over the raw, sore throat he'd suffered from.
"I understand, and that option is strictly a last resort. Hopefully we can avoid it. If you like, you can go up to his floor and wait until he is settled in his room, but I strongly recommend his daughter not see him at this point. Tomorrow he will feel a lot better."
"Thank you, Doc. I appreciate you talking with me. I…uh…I'm sorry I was so short with you, and … apparently the rest of the staff." Steve gave the beautiful doctor a very sheepish grin. "It's just that, Danny's like a brother… no," Steve looked down at the floor, trying to evaluate his thoughts. Searching for the right words to express his feelings, he eventually continued," Danny IS my brother. He's had my back on countless cases, and he's been at my bedside for innumerable sleepless nights in different hospital rooms. I …uh… tend to get a little crazy when I'm worried about him."
"Well, then. We'll just have to make sure he gets better quickly so you won't be worried any longer than necessary, and the stalwart hospital staff can come out of hiding in the storerooms." Dr. Gardener patted Steve's knee, briskly walking out of the room, leaving the bemused commander to stare after her incredulously.
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