Note: Thanks for all the great reviews, sorry about the cliffie, but come on you should know I love them by now.
Time to find out what is going on with Danny.
Chapter Four.
Steve was the first to reach the top of the stairs and dived into Danny's room. He found his partner struggling to push himself up from the floor, where he had obviously fallen.
"Danny lay back down." Steve instructed as he forced his partner back down to the floor.
"What happened?" Kono asked concerned as she dropped down to Danny's left side.
"Sorry, I just felt a little dizzy. I was trying to get dressed and I bent down to put on my trousers, the next thing I know I'm on the floor." Danny said, blushing red as he realised his trousers were still around his ankles, he was flashing his boxers to Kono, and he had no shirt on.
"You passed out?" Chin asked from the door way.
"I think I blacked out, but only for a second. Man, concussions really suck." Danny said brushing Steve's hand off his shoulder and hoisting himself up to sitting. Seeing Steve's annoyed look he added. "I'm fine now. Give me a hand up so I can finish dressing."
Steve suddenly realised that Danny was uncomfortable laying there less than half dressed, and turned to Kono. "Can you go grab the cloth from the bathroom? He's a bit sweaty." She nodded and left the room. Chin came over and together he and Steve assisted Danny up. They helped him fasten his trousers up, before sitting on the edge of the bed.
Kono returned and sat on the bed next to Danny. She wiped the cloth over the back off Danny's neck.
"Thanks." Danny smiled. "Sorry I scared you all. I'm good now." He said grabbing his t-shirt and hoisting it over his head.
"Should we call a doctor?" Kono asked, looking at Steve to make the decision.
"Steve has Dr. Pearce on speed dial." Danny joked, much to Chin and Kono's amusement.
"I don't think we need to bother her. She said you could have the odd dizzy spell until the concussion settles. If you're feeling better, we'll hold off for now. But I'll stay home today again to keep an eye on you." Steve stated and Danny knew not to bother arguing with him.
"Guess that means I'm not going back to my house tonight." Danny sighed.
"You guessed right." Steve said helping Danny to his feet. "Come on, you need to eat so you can take your meds.
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Danny reassured the whole team he felt better after eating breakfast, so Chin and Kono left for the office. They didn't have any cases at the moment, seeing as they had managed to round up the gang supplying the guns to teenagers. Steve felt happy to leave them to it, so he could keep an eye on his partner. While Danny reassured him he was ok and the CT scan had been clear, Steve couldn't help the nagging feeling in his gut that all wasn't right.
They spent the day relatively quiet, and ate some lunch out on the lanai. After they watched some TV, but after 15 minutes Danny had started with another headache, so Steve helped him upstairs to have a sleep. Steve kept checking in on his partner every 30 minutes, only to find his partner snoring each time. An hour and forty minutes later, Danny steadily made his way down the stairs and Steve jumped up from the recliner where he had been watching a recorded football game.
Watching Danny cross the living room he noticed how unsteady he was on his feet, and that Danny was favouring his right leg. He grabbed hold of Danny's left arm and guided him down to the couch.
"My head feels like isn't gonna explode Steve." Danny groggily stated.
"Hold on, I'll get you some more meds." Steve said darting into the kitchen and grabbing some water and the bottle of pills. He opened the water and passed it to Danny who took hold of it in his left hand only to drop it.
"Shit, sorry." Danny said trying to retrieve the bottle and pitching forward. Steve reacted on instinct and grabbed Danny's shoulders to push him back onto the couch and swung his legs around so he was lying flat.
"I'm ok." Danny reassured glancing at the puddle on the floor. "Sorry."
"Humor me here Danny." Steve said taking hold of Danny's right hand. "Squeeze my hand." He ordered. Danny sighed and gave it a quick squeeze. "Hard Danny, squeeze it hard." Danny put some force behind his squeeze. Steve then let go and took hold of Danny's left hand. "Again, the same." Danny once again sighed and squeezed Steve's hand. "Hard again, Danny." Steve instructed.
"I was doing it hard." Danny replied closing his eyes. "Shit Steve, please can I have the pain meds?" He begged.
"Sorry buddy." Steve said pulling out his phone. "I can't give them to you. They might interfere with what the hospital wants to give you."
"Hossspittal..." Danny slurred. "No, it's just...just a headache."
"Sorry buddy." Steve said squeezing his friends shoulder as the call connected and he requested an ambulance.
Danny closed his eyes and tried to take deep breaths, hoping it would help the pain. He was startled as his right eye was peeled open and a bright light pierced through his skull, then the same happened with his left. He forced his eyes open and saw Steve hovering by his feet looking nervous, and Ani, the EMT who always seemed to get called out to the team, was perched at the side of him. Realising he must have blacked out he groaned as the pain spiked in his head once more.
He heard Ani talking to him but couldn't make sense of what she was saying. He felt a pinch in the back of his right hand, then warmth spread up his arm, and the pain in his head eased a little.
Danny felt his heart rate speed up as an oxygen mask was placed over his face and he suddenly felt claustrophobic. His world then spun as he was moved onto a gurney and he tried to move his left arm but found it heavy and unresponsive. "Steve," he called out looking for reassurance.
Steve was suddenly right by his side as they moved out of the house. "It's ok Danny. We're just going to see Dr. Pearce. She'll sort you out."
"Ok. Tell her not to yell at me, my head hurts and I rested like she told me." Danny muttered underneath the oxygen mask.
Steve couldn't help but smile a little, as out of it and in pain as Danny was, his usual personality shone through.
The ambulance started up and headed towards the hospital. Danny groaned as the siren sprang into life. "Awe, make it stop, turn it off please?" He begged as it pierced through his head.
"I'm sorry Danny." Ani apologised, "we need it to get you to the hospital as soon as possible."
Steve watched her assess Danny, checking his vitals and rechecking his pupils and response to stimuli. She normally liked to banter with the team and joke about their injuries, but today she was all business, which didn't reassure Steve at all. Ani was obviously very concerned about Danny.
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Danny was rushed through to the emergency room and Dr. Pearce nodded for Steve to follow. Danny was still semi-conscious and her best bet at keeping him calm was to have Steve nearby.
"Danny, I'm just going to examine you." She informed her patient before shining her pen torch in his eyes and eliciting a groan. She then moved on to assess his motor responses, and receiving the same response as Steve she called to a nurse. "Set me up with an intubation tray and call MRI for an urgent scan."
She then stepped away to speak to Steve. Lowering her voice, in case Danny could hear, and not wanting to scare her patient she spoke softly. "Danny is showing signs of a brain bleed. We need to take him for an MRI scan, it might show us something the CT didn't. He may then possibly require surgery."
"He won't handle the MRI well, are you going to sedate him again?" Steve asked knowing the MRI machine would be worse than the CT.
"Yes I am. But because of Danny's presentation I'm going to heavily sedate him, which will mean he won't be able to breath for himself. Steve, I want to put him in a medically induced coma until we get the scan and know what we are dealing with."
"Ok." Steve nodded looking over at his ill best friend.
Dr. Pearce moved back over to Danny and placed her hand on his chest, "Danny?" She softly roused. Two blue slits appeared as Danny desperately tried to open his eyes and focus on her face. "We need to get another scan, and I know you don't like them, so I'm going to send you off to sleep for a bit. Ok?"
Danny gave a small nod, trusting the doctor to do what was best for him. She steadily injected a milk white substance into the port in his hand, and his eyes gradually closed. Checking for a response Dr. Pearce then tipped his head back to open his airway and picked up the laryngoscope off the tray the nurse brought over to her. Placing it in Danny's mouth she picked up the endotracheal tube and guided it down Danny's airway. The nurse connected it to a bag and began squeezing as the doctor listened to both sides of Danny's chest with her stethoscope. "Equal breath sounds." She confirmed before securing the tube in place.
Steve watched her every move, his heart racing and stomach churning away. His best friend was seriously ill. He winced as he saw the tube being guided down his partner throat and secured in place. Danny's breathing was now in the hands of a nurse, and his life depended on the results of the scan. He heard Dr. Pearce order some blood tests and a Foley catheter to be placed. The other nurses followed out her orders, while she headed back to Steve and gently guided him out of the room. "We are taking him for the scan now." She said forcing him to sit down. "I'll let you know the results as soon as we have them." Steve just nodded, not knowing what to say. He watched her return to Danny's room and pulled out his phone. Deciding that he would wait 'til he knew the scan results to call Rachel, he hit Chin's number and waited for him to answer.
"Hey Steve." Chin answered.
"Chin, I'm at the hospital with Danny," Steve started, "he got worse this afternoon and I had to call an ambulance. Dr. Pearce just took him for another scan, but it's bad, she thinks he's had a brain bleed."
"Oh god. We're on our way. Stay strong Steve, Danny's tough." Chin reassured before hanging up and walking to Kono's office.
"We need to go cus," he said as she looked up from her report, "Steve's at the hospital with Danny. It's bad." The look on her cousin's face told Kono all that she needed as she jumped to her feet and followed him out of the building.
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Steve sat in the waiting room, nervously tapping his foot as he saw Chin and Kono enter the hospital and make a bee line for him. "Any news?" Kono asked anxiously.
"Not yet," Steve replied shaking his head, "Dr. Pearce promised me she would let me know as soon as they get the results."
"She didn't let you go with him to try and keep him calm again?" Chin asked.
"She didn't need me," Steve said after taking a deep breath and trying to shake the image of his best friend with a tube down his throat. "She put him in a medically induced coma. They have him sedated and on a ventilator until they know what they are dealing with."
Kono stifled a small sob and sat down next to Steve, Chin followed suit on his other side. All three remaining silent until the familiar face of Dr. Pearce entered the waiting room and headed straight for them.
Motioning for them to stay seated, she pulled over a chair and sat opposite them. "Well it could be worse." She started.
"But it's not great?" Steve asked picking up on the tone in her voice.
"No it's not great. Today's scan showed a sub acute subdural haematoma, a blood clot, between the skull, and the brain." She explained.
"But the scan from the other day was clear, was it missed?" Steve asked.
"No Steve, I didn't miss it, I've already re-checked his scans, just to reassure myself." She explained. Dr. Pearce was close to the team now and she was just as concerned about Danny as them. "It looks like Danny ruptured some small blood vessels in the incident that didn't show up on the first scan. Over the past 36 hours they have continued to bleed, causing a blood clot to form."
"Okay, so now what, what does that mean for Danny?" Chin asked the question all three wanted to know.
"He's been taken to surgery by our top neurosurgeon. The blood clot is fortunately reasonably small, so Dr. Archer plans to drill a burr hole behind Danny's ear where the clot is located and suck out as much as he can, then place a drain. This way Danny avoids major brain surgery and the recovery will be much better."
"But he will recover?" Steve asked.
"Baring any complications, yes he should recover. He'll be moved to the Neuro ICU once they have finished, and Dr. Archer wants him awake so I'll make sure you're allowed in as soon as possible to help keep him calm." She explained.
Chin and Kono sighed in relief, but Steve was still concerned. "Will he recover fully? What about his left side? He could barely move it." Hearing this, Chin and Kono sucked in a breath and held it waiting for the doctor's response.
"We're hopeful, that with the clot removed, that will improve. But we won't know until he wakes up, and even when he does, it may take some time before we see improvement." Dr. Pearce explained.
"Okay, thanks Dr. Pearce." Steve said, running his hands through his hair. She got up and left, leaving the three of them in silence again.
Kono was the first to speak, "he'll be fine guys. We'll get him through this and back to 100%"
"Yeah, you're right." Steve replied. "There is no other option."
"None at all." Chin added.
TBC