Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.
A/N: Thank you, as always, for alerting, reviewing and reading this story. I said in the last chapter that this one would be the epilogue... yeah well, I lied! The muses started typing this morning and wouldn't stop and before you know it I've written more than 4000 words and the story has gone off on a tangent! I'm sure none of you will complain though! Oh, a bit of a 'squick' warning... there will be mention of mucus, if that freaks you out, please don't read!
Chapter 6
"Oh come on Mimi, do I have to?" whined Danny, though he'd have said it wasn't a whine, merely resentment at having to do the exercises the therapist was trying to get him to do.
"Do you want to go home tomorrow Detective Williams?" Mimi stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at her recalcitrant patient. She'd been working with him for three days now and today he was being particularly stubborn.
Danny knew she was losing patience when she called him Detective Williams, normally they were informal and she called him Danny, "It hurts though!"
"Look Danny, I know these breathing exercises are uncomfortable for you, but the more you do them the easier your chest will feel. Not to mention it helps prevent the risk of pneumonia. If you were to get pneumonia now there's no way you'd be strong enough to fight it and you'd be back on a ventilator. Is that what you want?" she raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow.
"No," sighed Danny, "It's a good job you're pretty, 'cos you're far too bossy for your own good!"
"Uh huh," Mimi rolled her eyes at him, "Are you ready to start?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Remember when you do this after you're discharged you need to make sure you're reclined, use pillows to support your back at the correct angle. Place your hand on your belly," she waited as he shifted his hand, "Now breathe in deeply through your nose, feel your abdomen inflate as you do, your hand should rise. Now exhale slowly through your mouth, relax your muscles and your hand should return to its starting position. You need to do that at least ten times four times a day."
Danny nodded as he kept the exercise going. Honestly he had no idea why he'd been so difficult this morning. He supposed it could be because he was desperate to get out of the hospital now that he was out of isolation and ICU. He didn't see why he needed to spend another day in the hospital when he could just as easily do all this at Steve's. That was something else that made him cross, having to stay at Steve's. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the offer, but he'd barely been alone since he'd been exposed to the Anthrax and he wanted to return home, to his own space. Unfortunately both Henry and Hanna had been adamant about the fact he needed to stay with someone, for at least a couple of weeks, when he was released. Mimi had been working with him on his lung exercises and another therapist had been doing physical therapy to help strengthen his slightly weakened muscles. He hadn't been unconscious that long, but the Anthrax had done a number on his system and left him weak and tired constantly, which basically made for one grumpy and fed up Danny Williams.
"That's good Danny," Mimi told him as he finished his last one, "Now for the huffing…"
"I really don't like this one, it's disgusting!" Danny moaned.
"But necessary!" replied Mimi, "This will get rid of any mucus in your lungs, which could lead to pneumonia," she reminded him; she adjusted the head of the bed and moved his pillows so he was sitting upright, "Take a slow deep breath and hold it for about three seconds. Exhale with a series of short coughs, say the word 'huff' every time you cough; that will keep your throat open. Don't use your throat muscles; make sure you use your abdominal ones. I want you to do this one four times a day as well, but only repeat it three times," she instructed.
Danny coughed the mucus into a tissue and after the third 'huff' he grimaced, wiped his mouth, threw the tissue in the nearby clinical waste bin and grabbed for the water on the nightstand. He rinsed his mouth, spitting the water out into the provided emesis bowl, before enjoying a drink of the cold liquid to take away the taste.
"That is just gross," he grumbled tiredly.
Mimi smiled at him in sympathy and put the head of the bed back so Danny could recline. The huffing exercise always left him feeling rather queasy and made his chest feel like someone had punched him there. She hooked a nasal cannula over his ears and tucked it under his nose, turning the oxygen on that would help ease this part for him, at least a little, "You'll be going home with an oxygen tank and I strongly advise you to use it after you've done your exercises because your sats drop. Thirty minutes on the oxygen should be sufficient to get them back up and will also help you feel better. How are you feeling now?"
"OK," mumbled Danny, "Glad that I had some pain meds before we did this."
"Well make sure you time the exercises to fit in around your medication. It's always best to do them just after you've taken the pain and anti-inflammatory medication."
A knock at the door interrupted the pair and Hanna stuck her head round, "Can I come in?"
"Yeah, sure," Danny waved a hand at her before letting it flop back on the bed. The exercises may not seem like much but to his body he may as well have done a marathon.
"How are you doing Danny?"
"Fine. Why can't I go home today?"
Hanna rolled her eyes, something the staff at the hospital seemed to be doing a lot now that Danny was more coherent and awake for longer periods, "I've told you that we need to take a final blood test today and make sure that the treatment we're giving you is working."
"Surely you could have seen that in yesterday's blood test?" he griped.
"This is the last time I'm explaining this to you Danny!" Hanna shook her finger at him, "It's only a week since you've were infected. Strictly speaking you should be staying in the hospital for much longer but because of your support system, which for some unknown reason seems to include Henry and Akela, you can be cared for at home…"
"Not my home," Danny actually pouted.
"Steve's home or the hospital Danny, it's your choice! If it wasn't for Henry and Akela agreeing to monitor you as an outpatient you'd likely be here for at least three more weeks…"
Danny spluttered and then regretted it as his pulmonary system protested with coughs that shook his body. Mimi shook her head at him and coached him through it. Once it was over the tissues and emesis bowl were disposed of in the clinical waste and she helped him drink some water, his hands shaking too much to hold the cup.
"I rest my case!" Hanna crossed her arms, "Honestly I don't know how Henry and Akela put up with you," she scowled at him as he tried, and failed, to glare at her.
"Well, I'm done here," Mimi told them, "Danny I will see you tomorrow morning for a session before you're discharged…"
"Oh goodie!" snarked Danny, though it lacked his usual bite.
"Hanna, good luck!" chuckled Mimi as she squeezed Danny's arm and left them to it.
Danny closed his eyes and tried to relax. He heard Hanna moving around the room, picking up his chart and rustling the papers as she read through it.
"I can order a muscle relaxant to help," Hanna told Danny as she watched his hand rubbing his chest, something he clearly wasn't conscious of doing.
"'K."
The easy capitulation told Hanna just how uncomfortable he was and she was beginning to wonder about the wisdom of discharging him from the hospital after just a week. First things first though, she needed to get her patient comfortable. A quick notation on the chart and she left the room only to return a few minutes later with a syringe. She inserted it into the IV port and emptied the contents.
"There you go Danny. It'll probably make you drowsy."
"The pain meds already do that," he pointed out quietly.
"Then this will make you more so!" Hanna told him, "Look, just rest now. A nurse will come by in a little while and take some blood. We're going to discuss your release in the morning, but I'm telling you now Danny, if I don't think it should happen, then it won't and you'll be a guest here at Queens as long as necessary!"
"You said it was my choice," Danny peeled his eyes open and this time managed to gather enough energy to give the doctor a glare.
"The choice is mine as to whether you stay in the hospital or are released to go and stay with Steve. Your choice is, if I decide to allow you to be discharged, to stay with Steve. If you choose not to then you'll be staying at the hospital," Hanna perched on the edge of the bed by Danny's hip, "Danny can you honestly say that you're capable of looking after yourself right now?"
"Guess not," he acknowledged, reluctantly.
"If, medically speaking, I feel you can be released then I promise that I won't keep you here, but I need you to trust my judgement on this. If I say that you need to stay it's not to punish you. We all want what's best for you and I know being out of the hospital in more comfortable surroundings can help, but I need to be sure that you're ready to leave. Can you do that Danny; can you trust me to do what's best for you?"
"Yeah, yeah I can," Danny didn't even pause to think about it. Hanna had been with him through this whole thing and had never done anything but put his needs first. Even when he got angry at his predicament, she had remained calm and professional.
"Good. I want you to get some rest and I'll see you later."
Danny nodded as he turned on his side, shifting the nasal cannula slightly so he could get comfortable. He knew that one of the nurses would come in and remove it when his sats were back to normal and given his coughing jag that would likely take a bit longer now.
"Hanna," he peered over his shoulder at her as she opened the door to leave, "Thanks."
"You're welcome," she smiled as she watched him close his eyes and fall into the sleep of someone who had been extremely ill and needed to rest.
-5-0-
"Good job I brought the truck!" Steve quipped as he entered Danny's hospital room and saw the equipment that they would be taking with them.
"I did warn you," Hanna replied in greeting.
"Alright, let's go over what we have here," Henry stated turning his attention to the equipment, "We've given you some emesis bowls, a couple of clinical waste tubs and an oxygen tank with both a mask and a cannula. These are the medications he's going to need," Henry pointed to the four bags on the table, "This includes pain medication; anti-inflammatories; muscle relaxants and the antibiotics."
"Remember that you need to wear gloves if you are going to touch any tissues that Danny's coughed into or the emesis bowl," Akela reminded the SEAL. Anthrax may not be contagious in the usual ways, but body fluids could cause someone to contract the disease and Danny wasn't free of it yet and probably wouldn't be for a few more weeks.
"Just make sure the clinical waste tub is near me and nobody will need to touch anything," Danny told them, "I am not having anyone near me when I do my breathing exercises." The thought of his Ohana seeing him going through that made him shudder.
"You'll need to be closely monitored Danny," cautioned Henry.
"There are just some things that family don't need to see," responded Danny.
"Either Akela or I will be by first thing to check on you, depending on our shifts, so you can do a session then," Henry held up a hand to stop any objection, "We've seen you in all sorts of situations now Danny and seeing you cough up mucus isn't the worse thing we've seen! We'll do the same in the evening."
"He needs to do the exercises four times a day," pointed out Steve.
"My hours are more flexible," Hanna stated, "I can work round the other Anthrax patients that I'm still caring for so I'll make sure I come by mid-morning and afternoon to go through the exercises with Danny."
"If you start to get low on anything then tell us and we'll make arrangements for one of us to bring what you need. Don't wait until you run out," instructed Henry.
"You have the exercises given to you by the physical therapist to help with your muscle weakness, make sure you do those twice a day," Akela reminded him.
"I spent some time with Danny in his sessions and I'm going to be covering that. I can do that before and after work," Steve informed them.
Danny didn't look overly pleased with this, but it was either that or come back to the hospital every day for sessions with the physical therapist. Given how much his extended Ohana were already doing to help he didn't want to add driving him to the hospital daily to the list.
"Chin, Kono and I are also going to take it in turns to spend the days working from home."
"Hang on," this was news to Danny, "That will leave 5-0 two people down. You can't do that Steve. The Governor won't like it."
"I've already spoken to the Governor and he's agreed it. There will still be two of us on duty every day and the backlog of paperwork will get done so it's a win win situation as far as the Governor is concerned. If we get a major case the person working at mine will be called in and we'll call on one of the back-up people to come in."
"Back-up people? You're going to call for back-up?" snorted Danny, resting a hand on his chest as he coughed.
"What have I told you about that?" Akela sighed as he handed Danny a tissue. Steve pretended not to notice because this was one of the things that made his friend extremely uncomfortable. "No snorting or huffing unless it's during your exercises!"
"Sorry," Danny couldn't help it. The snorting or huffing was kind of a natural reaction with some of the things that Steve came out with, "So who are my babysitters going to be if one of the team can't be there?"
"Er…"
"Steven!"
"Well Kamekona, Max and Charlie have offered to help out," Steve said in a rush.
"The only one of those people that might not be involved in a case is Kamekona; even then you can't guarantee that you won't need him to provide you with information!" Danny pointed out, eyebrow raised.
"It would likely only be for an hour or so until we could get someone from the home care nursing company that we've chosen to use if we need to. Look the chances are that whoever is at my place with you would be able to stay until the home care nurse arrives…"
"Or I could just stay on my own!"
"Or not!" Steve folded his arms across his chest.
"You said it yourself it would likely only be for an hour or so…"
"A lot can happen in an hour Daniel," growled Steve.
"I don't need babysitting Steven!"
"Well your behaviour at this moment is kinda childish so I think perhaps you do!"
"That's enough!" Henry stepped between the two men, "Steve, getting Danny riled up and arguing with him is not the way to aid his recovery," he caught sight of Danny nodding smugly out of the corner of his eye, "And you!" he turned his attention back to his patient, "Steve is trying to do what's best for you and still keep 5-0 running, show some gratitude!"
Both men looked suitably chastised. Danny dropped his head and Steve uncrossed his arms and shuffled from foot to foot.
"Sorry," mumbled Danny.
"Yeah, me too. We'll make it work Danno, I promise," Steve told his friend, moving round Henry and resting a hand on his shoulder, "How about we get out of here? You look ready to fall asleep and I don't want to have to carry you into the house!" He grinned.
Danny rolled his eyes but returned the grin, "Yeah, let's get out of here."
In no time at all the equipment was loaded into the truck and Danny was settled into the passenger seat. Steve waited until he saw Henry's car and then pulled away with the doctor following them. They had decided that for his first day out it would be wise to have one of the doctors with them for the whole day until they could get Danny settled.
Danny was asleep before they'd even left the hospital parking lot and he would have been surprised at the care and caution that Steve drove with. The SEAL was very aware of his sleeping passenger and had no intentions of waking him until they got to the house.
-5-0-
On arrival at Steve's place Danny had woken long enough to be ushered into the house, be checked over by Henry and then settled into the guest room next to Steve's bedroom. The moment his head hit the pillow he was out like a light.
Steve quietly set all the necessary equipment up in Danny's room, making sure the clinical waste tub was within easy reach, along with a box of tissues, an emesis bowl and a glass of water. Then he left his best friend to sleep.
Henry had gone up and woken Danny after a couple of hours so that he could do his breathing exercises. The medication that he had to take before and the effort of actually doing the exercises meant that Danny was asleep just minutes after finishing. The doctor stayed by his side until it was time to remove the oxygen and then left him to continue sleeping.
Steve was the next one to wake Danny, presenting him with a bowl of soup for lunch. Danny would like nothing more than to be able to manage something more substantial but his stomach just wouldn't cope with anything heavy so he had been relegated to a mainly liquid diet. This bowl of soup though actually had Danny's stomach growling as he sniffed the air as Steve helped prop him up with an abundance of pillows.
"Mrs Kalakaua's chicken soup," he stated.
"Yeah. She sent over a big pot of it so there's plenty if you want more," Steve stayed until Danny had finished the bowl then helped him to the bathroom before helping him settle back in bed. Once again Danny was out like a light.
Another round of meds and breathing exercises mid-afternoon meant that Danny also slept the afternoon away. It was only when Steve came up when it was nearly dinner time that he finally got fed up with sleeping.
"I wanna get up for a while," Danny told Steve.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'd really like to get some air."
"OK," Steve agreed. He helped Danny to the bathroom and then into a pair of light sweats and a t-shirt before guiding him slowly down the stairs and out to the lanai.
Henry took the opportunity to check his patient over and was happy with what he was seeing, though despite sleeping most of the day Danny still looked tired, that was to be expected for some time yet.
Danny just sat and for once enjoyed the warmth of the day. Steve had made sure to sit him in the shade and there was a gentle breeze blowing off the ocean. Dinner was a quiet affair with just Steve, Henry and Danny. They had all agreed that overwhelming him with lots of visitors on his first day out was not a good idea.
Dinner was another bowl of soup for Danny. The other two men had the same but had some crusty bread to go with theirs, not wanting to eat something different in front of their friend. Afterwards Steve helped Danny move to the recliner in the sitting room and the man dozed there for a little while before deciding he'd had enough. His physical therapy sessions with Steve would start the following morning so a good night's sleep was in order.
Henry took Danny up stairs this time, giving him his last doses of medication before helping him with the breathing exercises. The effort completely wiped him out and he slept heavily that night, not even noticing when Henry removed the oxygen or when Steve checked on him before he went to bed.
-5-0-
"Time to get up Danny!"
"Urgh!" Danny's response wasn't exactly eloquent but it was heartfelt. A week after being released from the hospital and a routine had been easily formed. Sadly for Danny that routine started far earlier than he would have liked and the routine looked set to stay for at least another couple of weeks. Hanna's thoughts that he would need to stay with someone for a couple of weeks were an underestimate and Danny's recovery was slower than they had hoped.
"Come on, we need to get your physical therapy done before I leave for the office." Steve was getting up at his usual time of five thirty, going for his swim, showering, having some breakfast and then waking Danny, so to be fair it could be far earlier that he woke the other man.
"You know Steven," Danny yawned and rubbed at his eyes, "Some people would say that waking a recovering person at," he glanced at the clock beside the bed, despite knowing exactly what time it was, "Seven in the morning, is cruel and unusual punishment!"
"I say it's a necessary evil!" retorted Steve as he helped his reluctant friend out of bed, into sweat pants and into the master bedroom, where there was more floor space to enable him to do the therapy without having to make Danny walk downstairs.
He then spent thirty minutes putting Danny through his physical therapy paces, with much bitching and complaining on Danny's part, though there was no heat in the complaints as he knew it was necessary.
They were just finishing up when the sound of the front door opening was heard, "Hello?"
"Usual place Akela!" Steve called back.
Moments later the large Hawaiian was standing in Steve's bedroom doorway watching as Steve helped Danny stretch after his therapy. Once Steve was done if it was his day to go into the office, like today, he would say his goodbyes and leave the other two men in his bedroom. If it was his day to stay at home and do paperwork he would retreat to the lanai.
Akela left Danny sitting on the floor as he went into the adjoining bathroom and started the bath running. As much as Danny would love to be able to wash himself in the shower he just didn't have the energy for that yet, even though it was now two weeks since he'd been infected. Once the bath was run Akela helped Danny into the bathroom and left him to take care of business and to get into the bath, something he could now just about manage without help. Getting out was a whole other story!
Danny enjoyed the warmth of the bath water, allowing it to help ease the aches generated by his illness and the therapy that he'd just done. Akela allowed him some time to himself before entering the bathroom to help him with his breathing exercises. The warmth and the steam making it a little easier, which was a good thing because they'd discovered taking his pain medication before the bath and breakfast led to Danny passing out.
After he'd done the exercises Danny soaked a little longer before washing, he then used the shower attachment to wash his hair and then Akela came back in and helped him out of the bath because Danny didn't have enough strength to haul himself to stand. This was why Akela now visited every morning and evening, because Danny didn't want Steve helping him with this and the nurse was the only one of the medical team visiting that had the strength to help lift Danny out. Luckily the shifts that Akela worked at Queens meant he could come to Steve's either just before or just after his shift if he was scheduled to work. Danny was extremely grateful to the man for his help and tried not to be too grumpy with him.
After Danny was dressed he went downstairs and drank one of the smoothies that Steve would make for him each morning, take his medication and now he would have some toast as well. It was great to be able to manage a little bit of solid food now. As nice as Kono's Mom's soup was it could become a little boring after eating nothing but that for a few days.
The rest of Danny's day was spent sleeping, having a meal or doing exercises in one form or another. It was because of this continual and repetitive routine that everyone was surprised that it took Danny over two weeks staying with Steve before he finally blew up. Though anyone of them could have predicted that one or both of the men would explode at some point, nobody could have foreseen just how bad it would be.