Note: I'm just loving these reviews, please keep them coming. The action is starting to come to an end, now it's time to focus on the recovery.

Tomorrows update will be later than usual as my son is having a GA for an out patients procedure and we have to be there early.

Chapter Four

Ani heard the groan, and saw Danny's face go slack. She immediately leapt into action, rechecking her patient's vitals, and demanding they get Danny out of the car straight away. Within minutes the fire crew, with Steve helping, had Danny out of the car and they were running to the helicopter.

Chin and Kono watched, as Steve had a slight argument with the crew from the helo, then he followed his partner, along with Ani, and the door was slid shut. Seconds later the chopper was rising into the sky.

"They are ready for him at the hospital." Jonah informed them. Limited in being able to help Danny, he had maintained communication with the helo crew, and the hospital. Making sure they were all aware of Danny's condition, and the progress the fire crew were making.

"They're going to take him straight into surgery to see what damage the rebar did. Dr. Pearce is waiting for him. I'm gonna pack up here, and head to the hospital to collect Ani."

"Thanks, Jonah. We'll head there too." Chin felt grateful that Danny was now about to get the medical treatment he needed.

Thanking the fire crew for all their help, they made their way to Kono's car, leaving HPD to finish dealing with the scene.

When they arrived at the hospital they were directed to the surgical waiting room. There they found Steve staring out of the window, obviously lost in thought, as he didn't seam to realise they were there.

"Steve." Kono gentle called, not wanting to startle her friend.

"Hey, guys." Steve turned to greet his friends. He slowly moved away from the window and settled down in one of the plastic chairs. Chin and Kono joined him.

"Any news yet?" Chin asked.

"No, they took him straight to surgery, said it would be a while. They need to figure out what damage the damn bar did."

"He might have got lucky, and it didn't hit anything major, like last time." Kono said hopefully.

"Since when has Danny been that lucky? Beside his blood pressure was dropping the whole way here. He was on the verge of crashing when they took him in to surgery." Steve remembered the shrill of alarms that surrounded his partner as he was whisked away, out of Steve's reach.

"Shit." Chin exclaimed.

"Yeah." Steve agreed. "I'm guessing they managed to stabilise him. We'd have heard the bad news already by now."

"Dr. Pearce is with him right? She will get him through it, she always does." Kono tried to boost their spirits.

"Yeah." Steve agreed. "He's in the best hands possible."

The three teammates sat back in their chairs, settling in for a long wait.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

It was two in the morning when Dr. Pearce finally entered the waiting room. There she found Kono lying across several chairs, her head resting on her cousin's knee. Chin had his head thrown back, soft snores filled the air. Only Steve was still awake, once again staring out of the window, coffee cup in hand.

"Steve." She called out in much the same way Kono had. The SEAL's head whipped around, and he jumped up to join her. Several times throughout the gruelling eight hour wait, Dr. Pearce had sent out a nurse, or a junior doctor, to update them on Danny's condition. Now Steve was eager to hear it from the horses' mouth.

"Doc, give me a sec to wake them up. They'll want to hear it too." Steve gently roused the sleeping cousins. Both Chin and Kono were awake and alert in seconds, ready to hear the doctor's news.

"Well the good news is he made it through surgery. He was very lucky the emergency responders did such a good job in the field. If the rebar had moved, he would have bled out at the scene." Dr. Pearce explained.

"So what's the bad news? What's the damage?" Steve needed desperately to know what his friend was facing.

"The rod entered on his right side and cracked his lower rib, thankfully it is only cracked so didn't affect his lung. The rod continued through his abdomen and hit his liver, and spleen." Seeing three terrified faces she continued. "Fortunately the rod remaining in place stemmed the amount of blood loss, and we were able to repair the damage to his liver. We did, unfortunately, have to remove his spleen but he'll manage fine without it."

"So he's going to be ok?" Kono asked desperate for reassurance.

Dr Pearce took a deep breath.

"Because of the path of the rod, we had to make sure there was no more damage, which required us to remove his bowel from his abdomen and check every inch of it. We found two small punctures, which were easily repaired, and we did a full abdominal wash out to reduce the chance of infection. However there were complications."

"What kind of complications?" Steve asked nervously.

"Because of the trauma, his bowel became oedematous, swollen with fluid." She explained to the confused teammates. "Because of the swelling, we weren't able to return all Danny's bowel to his abdomen, and close him up."

"So what does that mean for Danny?" Chin probed.

"For now we have covered the rest of his bowel in a sterile bag, and secured it to his abdomen. We are giving him drugs to bring down the swelling, and hope to return the rest of his bowel in a day or so. Then we should be able to close him up."

"Oh god." Kono's hand flew to her mouth.

"Right now Danny is stable, but I have to list him as critical. He is being moved to the ICU, where he will be kept sedated, and on a ventilator, until after the second surgery."

"Can we see him?" Steve asked desperate to be reunited with his friend.

"Of course. I've arrange the largest room for him, and there is a couch in there. It will be much comfier than these plastic chairs."

"Thanks a lot, doc, we really appreciate it." Steve stood up.

"It's no problem. Guys, Danny is looking at quite a recovery ahead of him. He will be in the ICU for quite some time, and then even longer in a normal room. It's going to be a while before he is able to eat anything, and he is going to need a fair bit of help to get back on his feet, and fully recovered." Dr. Pearce said sadly.

"But he can recover? Fully?" Chin picked up on what the Doctor said.

"Yes, given time, and baring any complications, he should recover fully. But he is going to need all your support, which I know won't be a problem."

"We'll get him through this, don't worry doc. We'll be with him every step of the way." Steve stated.

"God help the poor nurses." Dr. Pearce broke a smile for the first time. "Come on, I'll take you to him."

TBC