Shark Bait Chapter 4
Steve watched Danny's back retreated out the door. He sighed and leaned back on the pillows, scrubbing a hand over his face. He didn't feel the pain when he first woke up because of all the distraction, but it hit him full force as soon as Danny's footsteps couldn't be heard any longer.
He pulled back the blankets that were draped over him to look down at his leg. There was a plaster cast encasing it from his ankle to mid thigh. His knee was bent at a slight angle.
He shifted the leg a little and groaned at the sharp pain that shot from the tips of his toes to his hip. It was painful to say the least.
"Hello Commander," a voice greeted.
Steve looked up to see, presumably,
a doctor. He was wearing a long white lab coat and scrubs.
"I'm Dr. Palakiko and I'll be taking care of you. Detective Williams informed me that you were awake before he left. Now, how are you feeling?"
Steve nodded in understanding. "Better than expected, really," he said.
"That's a good sign. I just want to go through some simple exercises to see how much you can do with your leg. We just want to check if there seems to be any damage further than what we had thought originally."
Steve nodded wordlessly and pushed himself into a more upright position, wincing at the pain in his leg as he shifted. "Sounds good."
Dr. Palakiko stepped closer to the bed and sat down in the chair that Danny had previously occupied beside the bed. He settled his surprisingly warm hand on Steve's big toe.
"Can you push on my finger for me, please? Just stop if it hurts too much."
Steve complied, pushing his toe forward. Dr. Palakiko's finger offered a good amount of resistance and Steve wasn't pleased to see that he could barely budge the finger at all. The weakness and the pain that sent shockwaves through his leg with the simple movement made Steve a little more than frustrated.
"Don't push yourself too hard, yet. You're doing much, much better than what could've been expected."
They repeated the process with each of his toes with the same result for each. By the end of it, Steve was panting with exertion and sweat was dripping down his back. It really shouldn't have been that hard to move his toes.
"You did very well today, Commander. I'll be back later to check in on you. Please try to get some more rest." With that, Dr. Palakiko stood and left the room.
Steve sunk back into the pillows of the bed and was asleep within minutes.
.H50.H50.H50.H50.H50.H50.
Danny watched as Rachel's car pulled away from the curb. He waved at Grace just before they pulled out of the hospital's parking lot then sighed quietly when all traces of them were gone. The adrenaline dump left Danny shaky and exhausted and he couldn't help but feel like a shower and a nice nap would be the solution to all his problems. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked back to his Camaro, ignoring the crazy looks he was getting.
Oh, yeah, there was blood smeared on the white tee shirt he was wearing that he took from Steve for the trip to the hospital. It probably looked like he had been working at a butcher's shop all day without an apron.
He buckled his seat belt then pulled out of his spot. He travelled down the road at a leisurely pace, singing his heart out to Bon Jovi, and felt upset when he thought 'if Steve was here, he'd be telling me to turn this crap they call music off." The only thing that perked up Danny's mood one bit was the fact that Steve would be okay in the long run. He just had a lot of recovery to get through.
When Danny arrived back at Steve's house, (he figured a shower at Steve's would be nicer than one at his apartment, and, besides, he left all his stuff there, too) he headed straight for the showers. He spent about half an hour under its hot spray, relishing in the fact that Steve was alive and, for the most part, well. He couldn't fathom the fact that it was only hours ago that he thought that Steve might be gone for good, but he was relieved that that wasn't the truth.
He turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, toweling off his body. He slipped into shorts and a tee shirt and promptly dropped onto the couch in the living room and fell asleep.
.H50.H50.H50.H50.H50.H50.
He could tell that there were other people in the room. Their voices were hushed, and Steve figured that they were trying to let someone sleep. Or was that person him? He let himself float in the haziness that he felt, knowing that once he woke up, there would be pain. He couldn't quite remember why there would be pain, exactly, but he knew there would be. He couldn't bother himself enough to actually think about it. After a few moments of listening to the jumbled words, he felt his eyes flicker open and all the soft words came to an abrupt stop.
"Steve?" a man's calm voice called. Steve's eyes travelled toward the sound to see Chin standing next to the bed.
"Hey," Steve said groggily, still pretty out of it. He figured that they must have him pretty doped up on something to have him feeling that way. Like he was muddling through reality.
"How are you feeling?" a new voice asked. Steve's head lolled to the other side of the bed to see Kono smiling at him.
"Mmm, not much of anything," he answered honestly. "There a way we can change that?"
That received a few relieved laughs from the cousins.
"I don't think so, brah. I think you'd be in plenty of pain as soon as they stopped pumping those meds through your veins. You should appreciate the fact that you can't feel much," Chin replied.
Steve offered a weak half smile then shifted his eyes to his leg. It was propped up with some pillows. His leg started throbbing a little as soon as his attention was turned on it.
"I guess you're right about that."
"We're just glad that you're alright, Bossman. You and Danny had us worried there for a while," Kono told him.
Steve's eyebrows furrowed a little bit. "Why was Danny worrying you? Is he okay?" he asked quickly. He started to prop himself up on his elbows. Steve couldn't think of any reason for Danny being hurt.
Suddenly, a large hand settled on his chest and he was pushed down with barely any force. It felt weird being weak enough for a push that small being able to knock him back on the bed.
"He's fine, Steve. I didn't mean it like that. He wasn't hurt, he was just extremely worried about you. He tried not to show it, but we could tell. He didn't seem to be taking it very well. And, as for you, we thought we might have lost you. You lost a lot of blood, brah," Kono explained patiently.
"As long as everyone's okay, that's fine by me," Steve said through a yawn.
"Why don't you get some rest. I'm sure that someone will be here next time you wake up. We're glad that you're okay, Steve."
Kono gave him a peck on the cheek and Chin offered a bright smile before they both left. Steve internally smiled, grateful for finally having people that were there for him. He didn't notice when he fell asleep.
A/N: I know that it has been a very, very, very long time since I updated. I am not going to offer any excuses. I just want to say that I hope that it won't happen again and I will try to keep it from happening again. I hope there are some people that still stick to reading this, and if there are, I greatly appreciate it. Thank you all so much.