Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing. Also for all your alerts.

I hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoyed Easter or other holidays you might celebrate this time of year.

Here is chapter 4 for your enjoyment. Hope you like it.

Again my special 'thank you' goes to Cokie316 and Sherry57, who are both doing a terrific job in their field of expertise. You guys ROCK!

Purple Heart – Chapter 04

Steve slowly wheeled down the ramp to the platform of his line back to Bethesda. He was getting tired after a day of sightseeing and was looking forward to getting home. But so far his day had been great, and he was glad that he had decided this morning to get out and explore the city on his own.

He had a great lunch and met a nice young lady, whose card he now had in his back pocket. It had been nice chatting with her, but he was not sure he would call her. He didn't think he had made a good first impression on her. So he was very surprised when she had handed him her card and told him to call her if he wanted to have lunch again.

He had been a little startled when she had asked him if he would mind her sitting down at his table. He hadn't minded at all. She seemed nice and it beat eating alone. It turned out that she was a lieutenant junior grade in the Navy, currently working at the Pentagon. He still wondered why she had sought out his company.

In his eyes he didn't look like a winner right now. Dressed in faded jeans, tee shirt with a slightly wrinkled shirt over it, and sitting in a wheelchair, he was not someone who he thought a woman would want to talk to. But, for whatever reason, it seemed that she had enjoyed his company.

Steve scanned the platform, which was pretty much deserted after the metro left just a couple of minutes ago. Rush hour was over, so the next would be in about twenty minutes.

At the far end he saw a young woman waiting with a small boy. A few feet from them were two young men standing and discussing something rather loudly, even though Steve couldn't understand what they were talking about. The reverberation on the platform made it impossible for him to understand them. He had trouble listening to more than one person at once when they were close by, but understanding from far away was not in his ability. His hearing should come completely back at some point, but so far only his right ear worked at a hundred percent. The one on the more damaged side of his head left a lot to be desired.

Steve didn't need to understand what they were saying to know that trouble was on the horizon. And the young woman had also recognized that. She slowly stepped farther away from the arguing young men. That is when they made their move. And when Steve doubled his effort to get closer.

It all happened in a matter of seconds. The taller of the men pushed the scared woman against the wall as the smaller one pulled a knife out of his pocket. That was the one Steve tackled. He had wheeled close to them, and they had looked at him but obviously decided he didn't pose any threat. Big mistake.

Later, Steve couldn't really remember how he did it, but he used the momentum of the moving wheelchair to catapult himself into the attacker. He put his left foot down and pushed himself into the midsection of the smaller guy. He wrangled the arm with the knife behind his back with an accompanying popping sound as he dislocated the attacker's elbow.

The knife went flying right out of the useless hand of the punk who was writhing on the ground in agony, spewing profanities at Steve and his mother while doing so.

Unfortunately, now Steve was at a huge disadvantage as he was also lying on the ground. And there was no way that he would get to his feet on his own. But all three men had underestimated the frightened young mother.

She let go of her son and struck her outstretched hand into her attacker's face, catching him in the eye, and making him howl in pain. She used that moment of distraction to ram her knee into his groin, effectively causing him to crumble before her. Steve did the rest and knocked him out cold with a well placed strike to his temple.

The injured, but unfortunately still conscious guy, kicked out wildly and caught Steve in the head. It was an uncoordinated lucky kick, but it sent Steve into a world of hurt. His head exploded in pain, and he fell back panting and trying to fight against the graying mass that was threatening to swallow him.

Steve curled in on himself, trying to fight the vertigo that had been caused by all his sudden movements. The pain caused from the kick to his head, was not helping his efforts. He could hear a woman speaking to him, but his bad ear was turned to her, so he couldn't make out what she was saying. Or maybe it was because the banging sound in his head tuned out any other sound. He more felt than saw that more people had come to their aid.

Someone put a folded jacket under his head, and another one, or maybe it was the same caring person, Steve couldn't be sure since his eyes were now closed and declined to open again, was gently rubbing up and down his arm. He thought for a moment what a ridiculous sight he must present at the moment, but the contact grounded him and helped him to stay conscious. So, Steve was grateful for it.

The clicking of handcuffs brought him out of his state. Steve finally was able to open his eyes and lift his head, even though he was still severely dizzy. With the help of the kind stranger he was able to sit up, and two more helped him sit back in his wheelchair after he assured them that he was fine now.

"Sir, I'm Officer Ash. Do we need to call an ambulance for you? Are you hurt?" A middle aged police officer asked him.

"No. No, I'm good. Thank you." Steve tried to look convincing. He was not worse off than before the fight. The pain in his head had subsided to bearable levels and he was sure that the vertigo would leave him in a few minutes if he sat still.

"You will get a bruise where he kicked you. Maybe you should get your head checked out, you were unconscious," the officer suggested. He was not giving up so easily.

"I feel fine now. Really, I'm good."

Officer Ash backed off a little, but Steve could feel his eyes on him the whole time it took to take his preliminary statement and while he talked to the woman he saved. Or helped save. After about half an hour, Steve took the offer to be taken home and Ash was the one doing the honors. Steve didn't fight him when he helped him sit in the police cruiser. He didn't think he would have had the energy to help himself.

"Listen, I would like to thank you for what you did. Taking on those two guys while sitting in a wheelchair… that took courage. You probably saved that woman and her boy."

"I did what anyone would have done." Steve didn't like to be praised; he thought he didn't deserve it. Besides he had needed the help of the 'victim' to come out a winner.

That statement brought him a snort from the seasoned police officer. "Are you kidding me? Even perfectly capable and healthy men look the other way. But I have the suspicion you are not some ordinary lieutenant normally sitting behind a desk?"

Steve only smiled at that question.

"What do you do when you are not on obvious sick leave?"

"Special warfare."

"You're a SEAL?"

"Going back to that hopefully soon," Steve was sure that it would take a few more months for him to be back on his feet. But he would not for one second believe that his doctor was right with his prognosis that his chances were only fifty/fifty at best to pass the fitness readiness test he had to go through if he wanted to go back to being a SEAL.

"I wish you luck and hope you will make it," Officer Ash sincerely told Steve.

"Thank you."

They made it back to Steve's apartment building and again Steve didn't protest Ash when he helped him out of the car. Steve had learned in the last few weeks that it was okay to accept help when necessary. Not accepting such help would mean wasting his limited energy on tasks he didn't need to improve. It was better to use his energy for things he needed to practice to get back to normal. Like walking, or moving his damn right leg. It was a waste of time spending five draining and painful minutes to get out of a car on his own when with a little help it only took him a moment. Even though on most days he was able to do it on his own easily, but when he wasn't, he accepted help gladly.

Which was not a small accomplishment for Steve, one his therapist was very proud of. To which Steve of course, only snorted. Motto of the SEALs; adapt and overcome. And to overcome his handicap he had to adapt his behavior accordingly.

Steve waved good-bye to Officer Ash and wheeled the last short way into his building. He could already feel how his muscles had tensed up on him and he wished he could go swimming or at least float in the warm pool. But he was not allowed to go swimming on his own yet. Not even in the therapy pool at the rehab center. This annoyed him to no end. He was a damn SEAL, and for sure able not to drown in a freaking pool. But his therapist and his doctor wouldn't hear any of it.

He had to admit though the aided sessions with his therapist, just floating in the water and the gentle aided movements of his legs were pretty cool. Of course he would never admit how immensely he enjoyed the sensation of complete weightlessness. He was really looking forward to his next hour in the pool tomorrow morning.

Steve closed the door behind him and wheeled into his living room, glad to be back in the quiet of his sanctuary. The noises on the streets, and voices coming from all directions were not just giving him a headache; they were also messing with his equilibrium. And getting vertigo, even when sitting down was not much fun.

He emptied his pockets and put everything on the desk where he kept his laptop. His gaze fell on the card from his lunch 'date', and he couldn't help but smile. Would it be too early to call her? Definitely, McGarrett! He shook his head and disappeared into the bathroom, still with a smile on his face.

H50 – H50 – H50

Steve was woken by a ringing that just wouldn't stop. After taking a shower and putting on comfortable sweat pants and a clean tee shirt, he had settled down on the couch with take-out he had ordered and promptly fell asleep.

"Hello" He was not sure if that came out as a coherent word or more like a grunt.

"Steve? Son, are you alright?"

"Joe?" That voice chased the last remnant of sleep away. "Yes, Sir, I'm fine. Where are you calling from, Sir?" Steve asked as he pushed himself into an upright sitting position.

"Why didn't you call me and tell me you have been injured, Son? Why do I have to learn about it from your CO when I tried to get in contact with you in Iraq?"

"I'm sorry; I thought dad would have called you. He had been informed," Steve told his former CO and training officer. Steve had talked to his dad a couple of times, and he thought he would have informed Joe, or anyone else who might be interested. Which wasn't that many people, if any at all.

"I haven't talk to your dad in a while."

"Oh?"

"It's a long story. Listen, Steve, I'm coming to D.C. on Saturday. Where are you staying, you still at the hospital?"

"Ah… no… what are you doing in Washington?" Steve was not sure if he wanted to see Joe, or anyone for that matter. He preferred not to be seen in his state by friends or family.

"Coming to see you. What did you think?"

That actually made Steve pretty speechless. Joe coming to Washington just to see him?

"Steve?"

"I'm sorry, Sir. Sure, my address." Steve gave him the required data and had to ask, "What did my CO tell you, Joe?"

"Not much; only that you had been severely injured and were at Bethesda for recovery. Steve, I have to go, I'll see you on Saturday. Is around noon okay for you?"

"Yes, that's fine."

"Good, then I'll see you the day after tomorrow."

They ended their call without any further ado and Steve stared at his phone, not quite believing that Joe would come to Washington.

Steve looked at his half eaten dinner, but was really not hungry enough to heat it up again and finish it. So he just pushed it aside on the table to deal with the rest of it in the morning. He was ready to go back to sleep, but not on the couch. His back would hate him tomorrow.

He made his way painfully off the couch and sat back into his wheelchair, very much to his annoyance. It was the second day in a row that he hadn't used his walker. It was bugging him that he was letting it slide, even though he was just too exhausted to stand. It was easy to fall into a routine without training his walking ability. Using the wheelchair was a blessing, but also a curse. It gave him freedom and independence, but it also took the need to train harder away from him. Why torture himself with walking to the bathroom when he could simply roll there?

That was his greatest fear, and why he didn't use a urinal at night for example. Giving in to the aids was kind of a defeat. Steve shook his head and promised himself to use the walker in the morning. He went to use the facilities and then went straight to bed, not even bothering changing into sleep attire. He was sure he would be able to go to sleep unaided tonight in a matter of minutes. The day and the excitement in the Metro station had taken a lot out of him.

Steve lay down and was again thinking about the lieutenant. He would ask Milo in the morning when the right time would be to call her without looking too eager. He wanted to see her again, but didn't want to call too soon, or worse too late. Damn. Did she expect his call this evening? Should he have thanked her for the nice time? Man, he was out of the game way too long. With that thought in mind he slipped into sleep. And the only thing his dreams were filled with this night was the nice lieutenant.

H50 – H50 – H50

Thanks again for reading. Let me know what you think.