Cujo IV – The Fence Rabbit Rises

Chapter 4

Surprise! Again, it's short but it seemed the best place to end the chapter. Medical stuff is courtesy of Google. Apparently my beleaguered relative/medical info source is hiding from me. She probably heard I'd started a new chapter.

Imaginary Beta has done her usual editing. Just know she tried.

Disclaimer: Perhaps it's a good thing I don't make any money from this 'cause I'd have a plastic surgeon on call. An emergency full-body makeover costs big bucks but that's the unfortunate prerequisite for my date with those two beautiful men I'm convinced are waiting for me in Hawaii.

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The Deepest of Shadows

"Family of Steven McGarrett?" called out a nurse from the doorway in the near wall.

"Here!" said Danny jumping from his seat to walk toward her. The cousins roused themselves to spring up as well; Kono, not taking the time to don her shoes, padded forward on bare feet.

Looking over the ragtag group before her the nurse nodded knowingly and motioned for them to follow down a short hallway off the waiting area to a small unmarked office. "Dr. Corby will be right here" she stated with just the slightest trace of a Filipino accent. "He's just finishing up with the Commander. He wanted to go over the results of any testing with the family so if you'd just wait here for a moment.

"Can you tell us anything . . . like how he's doing?" asked Danny though he knew she couldn't. Nurse Maria Batavia was one they'd dealt with before. Calm and efficient; she was sympathetic but by-the-book.

"I'm sorry." she replied, "You know I can't. Just be patient for another couple of minutes." With that she left them sitting in the nearly bare office, only the device on which to view x-rays and a couple of nondescript and cheaply framed prints decorated its walls.

The three exchanged looks. They knew that having a doctor request they receive news in private was never a good sign. The chairs in front of the desk in the small room were no more comfortable than ones just vacated but they sat and waited - though not with the patience instructed by Nurse Batavia.

True to his nurse's word, Dr. Corby entered five minutes later and greeted the trio with a brief smile. The youngish ER resident took his seat behind the desk and waited for the questions he knew were coming. It was almost a script with this group.

"What's the damage this time?" asked the worried blonde as the three looked expectantly at the physician they knew from previous unplanned visits to Queens Medical Center.

"This time," began Dr. Aaron Corby, "a moderate concussion, assorted bruising and abrasions, a contused left lung which will require close monitoring and a crack at his iliac crest, also known as a Duverney fracture, also on the left side. All-in-all, your boss was pretty lucky."

Seeing the expected question on the faces of those before him he further explained, "The iliac crest is the upper part of the pelvis almost at the point of the hipbone. The fracture won't result in any permanent impairment because it's not a weight-bearing part of the pelvis and we can't cast it but it's going to be pretty painful for a while."

"That'll teach him to run out into traffic . . . stupid kid." joked Danny to offset the tension that was just letting go of his chest and allowing him to breathe.

"How long is he out for?" asked Chin, ever the calm and steady fact seeker in stressful times.

"He'll be here for a few days yet and it will be four weeks at least before I can clear him for even light duty."

"Steve's gonna go ten kinds of nuts." said Kono, nodding her head in acknowledgement; face finally smoothing back into a more relaxed expression.

"Anything we need to do for him, I mean other than tie him to his bed to keep him from running a marathon or something?" asked Danny. He'd been through this before with his gung-ho, screw the torpedoes, partner. Keeping SuperSEAL in convalescent mode was always a struggle. Steve would be up and running long before given the go-ahead by anyone with a medical degree.

"No, just the usual but I don't think he's going to be doing any marathons for a while. To put it bluntly, this injury hurts like a bitch and even Commander Steven McGarrett is going to be feeling it." said the doctor his expression one of total earnestness. "He'll have to stay as inactive as possible for a few weeks while taking painkillers and anti-inflammatories.

"Yeah, but good luck to all of us when he gets tired of recuperating . . . and that won't take long." said Kono equally as earnest while wondering if now would be a good time to sign up for hostage negotiation training.

"You're still listed as Commander McGarrett's medical proxy and next-of-kin am I right?" the doctor looked directly at Danny. He remembered asking the blonde man the same question a few months ago but without McGarrett's inches thick file before him he needed to ask again. He'd been witness to the partner's sometimes inharmonious exchanges. At times they could sound nearly like the squabbles between himself and his soon to be ex wife so it was best to check.

Danny frowned, not only at the question but at the look in Dr. Corby's eyes.

"Yeah, we decided it was better than having his sister fly out every time our fearless leader manages to get himself munched and crunched in the line of duty. From the number of times that's happened, she may as well buy her own plane. It would be cheaper."

Having the feeling Steve's doctor hadn't asked the question for routine reasons this time; turning to the cousins Five-0's second-in-command said, "Look, why don't you guys go back to H.Q. while I wait for Steve's marbles to stop rolling around enough to hold a coherent conversation. You guys know I gotta get a start on the threats to keep him in line."

"That's a good idea", said Chin who'd astutely divined Danny was asking for privacy to speak with the doctor. "We have to get started on the paperwork for this mess. Denning's not going to be happy that we're a man down. It may slow up the investigation".

Both Danny and Kono recognized Chin's sarcastic flavoring of the word 'investigation'. The Governor wouldn't be happy in the least if the resolution of his pet case was delayed. There will be a definite spot for them on Denning's I'm-so-not-happy-with-this-shit-list when he hears that one of the suspects had been killed and his task force leader had been nearly flattened by a beer truck on a very busy downtown street and was now out of commission for several weeks.

"Okay Danny, call us if anything changes or you or Steve need anything." said Kono as the cousins stood to leave; the Hawaiian woman adding with a dimpled smile, "Kiss the boss for me", as she followed her cousin out the door.

"Not on yours or his best day girlfriend." huffed Danny. "There are already enough stupid rumors about that big goof and me. Besides, I think I can do better."

"The boss would probably say not on your best day." replied Kono as her laughter trailed her out the doorway. The relief that Steve was going to be okay had made them all a bit giddy despite their dread of what awaited them in the process of keeping their hell-bent leader from ignoring the medical directive to stand down and recuperate.

As soon as the cousins had cleared the room, Danny addressed his partner's physician. "I know there's more you want to talk about." he said, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "So what's going on with Steve?"

"That's what I intended to ask you." answered the sandy-haired doctor who'd leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers like the bad guy in a Bond film. Danny distractedly thought that all the man needed was a bald cat or maybe a Chihuahua in his lap.

"What do you mean?" asked the detective; those bands of tension that had begun to loosen were once again beginning to constrict.

"Has he told you of previous injuries?" queried the doctor.

"He doesn't talk much about that sort of thing but I know he's had plenty of them, some of which I'm aware but I'm pretty sure there are quite a few of which I'm not. The man's got more scars than a bar top. A lot of those came from being in the military."

"I mean earlier than his being in the military." said Corby almost cautiously.

"You mean when he was a kid 'cause he's been in the military for most of his life. He's still in the reserves and gets deployed whenever they need his mysterious skill-set." That last phrase, in Danny's parlance required actual air-quotes around it which he automatically supplied.

"Yes, earlier than the military." responded the doctor resisting the urge to smile at the animated detective's hand gesture and its accompanying eye-roll. So much like my almost ex. was his thought.

"Well" began Danny, knowing there had to be a purpose behind this line of questions, "From what I've heard from Chin who was Steve's dad's partner at HPD, Steve was hell on wheels. He was always having to be patched up from some misadventure. I gather he was pretty hard to contain." then added Danny with a wry smile, "Doesn't seem like anything's changed much."

Corby smiled faintly in return and said "Let's take a look here" as he pulled out several sheets of x-rays from a large envelope he'd carried in with him then stood to pop them up onto the lighted viewing box on the wall. "Steve's about thirty-seven right now correct?"

"Yeah, same age as me." said Danny as he rose from the chair and went around the desk to stand next to the doctor who gazed upward at what had to be his partner's ex-rays.

"The injuries I'm talking about are many years old", he said as he pointed toward a place on the film, "I'd say over twenty if asked to put a number on it but from their locations it would point to an ahh . . . a situation that couldn't have been a good one for a child."

Peering closely at where the doctor had pointed but not recognizing the damage that was probably obvious to the physician, Danny asked, "You're saying these happened even earlier than when he was a teenager?" Those constricting bands around his body tightened another notch.

"The x-rays show long-healed fractures of both his pelvis and long bones. They're consistent with what we'd find in some cases."

Danny looked at the physician who now looked a bit uncomfortable with the conversation. Taking a deep breath, he gathered himself to put the question out there. "By some cases, you mean child abuse?" he asked, actually holding that breath while waiting for confirmation or denial.

"Yes." bluntly confirmed Corby

Danny, swallowing the awful taste that suddenly seemed to flood his mouth responded, "He's never mentioned anything like that but, then again, I don't think he would."

"Well, thought I'd mention it. Past abuse has ways of making itself a factor in one's present life. It can manifest in various ways - even mistreatment of one's own children . . ."

"Steve would never mistreat a child." interrupted Danny knowing with every fiber of his being his best friend would never do anything of the sort.

"Or," continued the doctor, "addiction to drugs, alcohol, sex, and etcetera or . . . to other reckless, self-destructive, behavior. It seems the Commander's been a patient here far too many times recently and if past trauma has anything to do with it; it might be a good idea to address it."

"I'll do what I can doc." said Danny, knowing that to get Steve to talk about anything he considered private would be, well, impossible. Trying not to acknowledge the feeling of defeat already making itself at home in his mind, he asked, "Can I see him now?"

"He's probably being moved upstairs as we speak. Ask at the desk and they can tell you the room number."

"Thanks . . . again." said Danny a little numbly as he shook the doctor's hand.

"Try to get him to talk Detective. He needs to get going in a better direction; one that will keep him alive longer than his current trajectory."

Danny silently nodded then with lips set in a thin line turned to make his way out of the office and down the hallway toward the nurse's desk.

How ever was he going to broach the subject with his way too stoic partner?

…..

The noise had ceased and all was again silent in the darkness outside the windows. The rain had finally stopped and the clouds parted to reveal a full moon that with near sun-like intensity cast dark shadows on the glistening landscape.

Tiring of his vigil, the little cat yawned and stretched mightily, unsheathed claws scraping along the metal surface beneath him.

This is boring. My humans are taking too long to come and feed me. Where could they be? They almost always come back before the dark comes again.

Yawning once more for good measure, the feline jumped gracefully down from the file cabinet to pad toward the place where he knew kibble sat waiting in a crockery dish in the other room. It would have to do for now.

He glanced toward the etched glass entry door on his way to find something to eat and froze in his tracks. Peering back at him were two emerald eyes!

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I know there wasn't any Steve in this one and barely any Cujo but that will be remedied in the next chapter. PLEASE review?