Note: sorry for the mean cliff hanger, who am I trying to kid, no I'm not.

Chapter Six

Chin watched as one nurse started doing chest compressions, pumping his friend's chest to a steady beat then pausing, as another forced air into his lungs with an ambu bag, before starting again.

"He's in a hyperkalemic arrest. We need to correct his potassium. Give him 10mls of 10% calcium chloride, 50mls of 50% dextrose with insulin. Push sodium bicarbonate." Dr. Pearce ordered.

Syringes were passed around and the new central line utilised to give the life saving drugs as the CPR continued.

"Let's try some epinephrine." Dr. Pearce ordered. The drug was administered and they took a second to assess the heart monitor.

"Come on Danny, come on." Chin whispered under his breath. He didn't want to have to be the one to tell Steve that Danny had died when he returned to the hospital.

The flat line was suddenly disturbed by the blip of a heartbeat, closely followed by another as Danny's heart settled down into a fast, but steady, rhythm.

"Sinus tachycardia," Dr. Pearce called out in relief. "Push fluids, his central venous pressure is too low. Hopefully if we rehydrate him his urine output will pick up. Now let's take a look at this head wound."

Chin remained glued to the wall at the back of the room as he watched the doctor assess his friend, and order a head CT. Danny had started to breathe for himself, much to everybody's relief, but he stayed blissfully unaware of the chaos around him.

Before Chin knew it, the gurney was being pushed from the room, and when he attempted to follow Dr. Pearce turned and stopped him.

"Chin, he's going to CT. I think you should go wait in the waiting room. You look like you need to sit down." She was concerned at how pale the Hawaiian looked after watching his friend's life hang so precariously.

"I should go with him."

"You can't go into the CT room. You should go sit for a bit, get something to drink, perhaps with some sugar. That wasn't easy to watch." Dr. Pearce steered him out of the room towards a plastic chair.

"Is he going to be ok?"

"I need the results of the head CT, and more bloods, before I can even begin to answer that." She replied. "The coffee machine is over there. I'll be back as soon as I can." She turned and hurried after Danny, leaving Chin sat in the waiting room.

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

Chin took Dr. Pearce's advice and got himself a coffee, His hand shaking from the adrenaline burst. He managed to drink half of it before Steve arrived back, Kono and Lou trailing behind having met Steve in the parking lot.

"Chin, where's Danny? I thought you were staying with him." Steve said joining his teammate.

"They've taken him to get a CT to see how bad the head wound is."

"Did he regain consciousness?" Steve asked hopefully.

"No." Chin took a breath then prepared to fill them in. "Steve he's really sick. His heart stopped when we got to the trauma room."

"Stopped?" Kono asked shocked.

"Yeah, something to do with his potassium being too high. They managed to treat it and get his heart started again, but Dr. Pearce is worried about kidney failure." Chin explained.

"Shit!" Steve exclaimed and sank into the chair beside Chin. He'd been so relieved to find Danny that he hadn't though about the serious consequences of being trapped in the trunk, for nearly 24 hours, in the blistering heat.

"Dr. Pearce said she would be back as soon as she knew anything."

"We should have found him sooner. I should have taken the chopper out earlier." Steve started to berate himself.

"We didn't have much to go on, Steve. We were able to limit the search area down." Lou tried to comfort.

"What if his kidneys are permanently damaged?" Kono worried.

"Hey, let's not go there yet." Chin said. "It's still early days. They need to rehydrate him. He's alive at least. Danny's strong. He managed to survive all that time in the trunk. He'll be fine, even if his kidneys do fail."

The team sat waiting for news. Chin took a call from Duke informing them that they had the scene at the beach locked down, and the drugs had been sent to the lab for testing, the HPD Sergeant explained that they suspected the tablets were a form of Super X that had appeared on the market a few months ago. One tablet was enough to send anyone on a trip for hours. Three would easily stop a man's heart.

Each member of the team sat waiting for news, nervously passing the time in their own unique way. Kono was biting at her fingernails. Chin had finished his coffee and was now tearing the paper cup into tiny pieces. Lou was humming the same tune, over, and over again, and Steve sat, bolt upright in the hard plastic chair, staring at the doors that lead to the trauma area.

Finally the team's patience was rewarded, and Dr. Pearce came out to fill them in on Danny's condition.

"Steve, I'm sorry you had to move the chopper but we had an incoming trauma." She apologised.

"Its fine, I understand. How's Danny? Chin said he arrested."

"He did, unfortunately his potassium was too high when he came in. Potassium is used in muscle contractions, if it's too high, or low, it can stop the muscles from contracting. Given the heart is one big muscle, when Danny's potassium got too high, it stopped it. Thankfully we were able to treat it conservatively and restart his heart." Dr Pearce paused for a moment giving time for the team to absorb and process the information. "His last blood tests showed his potassium was at a safe level. I've been giving him fluids to rehydrate him, unfortunately so far his urine output hasn't picked up, but he still has someway to go until he is fully hydrated. We will have to wait and see if his kidneys kick back in then. It is possible that he may need some dialysis in the mean time."

"Do you think his kidneys will recover?" Steve wanted to be prepared for the worst case scenario.

"I'm hopeful that they will, given time, but I can't make any promises. It could take several days, to weeks, before his kidneys recover from this insult and start working. Danny is relatively young, and very healthy, so hopefully his kidneys will rebound fairly fast. However, it is possible that the damage is irreversible and he may end up dialysis dependant."

"What will that mean for Danny?" Lou probed.

"He would need regular renal replacement therapy whether that is heamodialysis, or peritoneal. The best treatment, long term, would be a transplant, but guys we are a long way away from that now." Dr. Pearce explained.

"What about the head injury?" Chin asked. "Is that serious?"

"Thankfully, no. He only has a mild concussion."

"That's at least some good news." Kono wanted to focus on the positive.

"I've had him moved to the Critical Care Unit. It's not quite ICU but we can monitor him closely there."

"Has he regained consciousness yet?" Steve was desperate to talk to his friend.

"Not yet, but his blood pressure is much better, so I would expect him to wake soon." Dr. Pearce informed them, knowing that they would be relieved at this small bit of good news. "Follow me. I'll take you to him."

TBC