Wānana Pū – Recollect
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or the characters.
A/N: The story is set somewhere in season 7. I apologize in advance for any mistakes, medical, grammar or spelling related... Is there anyone interested in being a Beta reader for me? I would love to collaborate.
Thank you for the reviews, the favs and follows. You guys rock! Also the guests who are reviewing, thank you for your kind words! Mahalo for your support. I'm doing the best I can.
Chapter Six
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Steve waited for Danny to doze off before he left the room. He had asked a nurse to page Doctor Reid. Lou hadn't returned yet, so Steve paced through the corridor waiting for the doctor to show up. It was not that he couldn't tell Danny about his brother, he just froze in the moment Danny had asked for him. He had never brought up his brother ever again. He hadn't said a single word about Matthew, not even when Steve got him out of prison in Colombia. Steve was having deep thoughts when Doctor Reid walked up on him.
"Commander? You asked for me?" She carried a tablet with her.
"Doc, he uh…" Steve scratched the back of his head. "He just asked for his brother?"
"Did you contact his family for him or if you want, I can make the call?" The doctor was a bit caught off guard by the fact that Steve seemed to ask her to make the call. She would do it, no doubt about it, but Steve seemed like a solid and loyal guy who would rather make the call himself.
"His brother died almost two years ago," Steve dropped it like a bomb. Leslie raised her eyebrows out of astonishment. "And before that he hadn't seen or heard of him for a long time." Steve placed his hands on his hips and leaned a bit forward. Waiting till the doc would come up with a logical explanation.
"Ah okay, well uh memory loss is common with a brain injury." She tucked her hand into her lab coat pocket while she was sharing her first thoughts. "But going back two years is a bit unlikely."
"He just asked me, twice. He seemed okay the first time he woke up, right? Considering what you warned me for." Steve wasn't sure if he asked for confirmation or that he just needed someone to tell him he didn't have to worry.
"Maybe it's just the anaesthesia wearing off, let's go back inside. I'll do another neuro exam, okay?" She tried to calm the taller man in front of her. She reacted optimistic, but she couldn't shake the feeling that there might be some brain damage after all. Doctor Reid took the lead and walked in first. Steve followed her into Danny's room. They expected to find a sleeping man, but he opened his eyes as the door opened.
"Detective you're awake I see. I'm Doctor Leslie Reid; I don't think I've properly introduced myself. Are you having trouble sleeping?" She reached out to give Danny a hand, while she pointed out the fact that Danny was awake.
"The head is killing me." Danny shook the doctor's hand. It took more effort to lift his arm than it normally would.
"I'll give you a higher dose of your pain meds. Let me do a quick exam in the meantime." The doc unlocked the tablet to adjust Danny's chart.
"Great," Danny sighed, letting the doc know he wasn't really up for it. The doctor placed the tablet on the nightstand next to Danny's bed.
"Can you squeeze my hands?" Reid held both hands in front of Danny to squeeze in. Danny managed to squeeze shortly. His left arm dropped back on the bed before he realized.
"Motor function is intact," she smiled reassuring. "Now follow the light please," Reid took a small light out of her lab coat pocket and shed the light in Danny's eyes and moved from right to left and back.
"Excellent," the doctor was satisfied with the results.
"Can you tell me about your family?" She grabbed the tablet again and updated the previous results.
"What about them?" Danny asked a bit irritated. He already had trouble dealing with the light let alone getting a flashlight shed right into his eyes.
"Parents? Any brothers or sisters?" Reid looked up from the tablet. She didn't want to draw the attention too much, so she acted like she was busy with his chart.
"Parents live back in Jersey, like my sisters. My brother… he's?" Danny looked confused up to Steve. His eyes were darting. He had to think deep.
"He's dead, right?" Danny asked confirming, realizing that he just asked Steve to call his dead brother. "He's dead." Danny looked ashamed away to his feet.
"Yes. I'm sorry, buddy." Steve swallowed the lump in his throat. It was hard to see that Danny sort of had to go through the process again.
"No. No I'm sorry I asked. My-my head's a bit cloudy you know." Danny cleared his throat and took a deep breath. Which he wished he hadn't done. He had broken his ribs before and every time it seemed to feel worse than the last time.
"I'm sorry to hear. Are you married, Detective? Or have any children?" The doctor looked sincere at her patient. She peeked at Steve; he was a lot more relaxed now that Danny seemed to remember the death of his brother.
"I have. A daughter," Danny closed his eyes to breathe through the pain. A line appeared between Steve's brows as Danny didn't mention Charlie. It could be possible he didn't remember Rachel telling him about Charlie. It wasn't that long ago. Danny grunted as he tried to push himself up a bit, he failed. "I got a son too." Danny added, to Steve's relieve.
"Good." The doctor placed the stethoscope on Danny's chest to listen to his heart and lungs. Since he had visibly pain in his chest. His breathing was a bit shallow, so she kept the nasal cannula in place for now.
"Steve, you might want to offer her a job?" Danny tried again to sit up, but when he lifted his head off his pillow the room started to spin and he felt like he had been on a boat for days.
"And why would that be exactly?" Steve leaned on the end of the bed. He had no clue on where Danny was going with this.
"She's a natural in interrogating people." The pain was throbbing violently around his skull sending waves of dull nausea. Danny tried to breathe through them.
"It's part of my job, Detective. Wanting to know how my patients feel and see if there are any improvements." Reid noticed the color that drained from Danny's face from all the movement and speaking. "You did well. The meds will kick in soon and if there's anything you need just push the button, okay?" She slung the stethoscope back around her neck and adjusted the medication pump next to his bed.
"Thank you, Doc." Steve thanked her instead of Danny. Danny was completely exhausted and wiped out by the conversation. Before she left the doc closed the blinds and killed the light inside the entire room. It would be less straining for Danny this way. They left him alone to rest.
"How did he do?" Steve walked after the doctor outside the room.
"It takes time to recover from such a brain injury. His left squeeze was a bit weaker than his right and the severity of his headache concerns me. It is possible that he'll continue to have these cluster headaches. Permanently. Don't get me wrong, I'm optimistic, we just shouldn't lose the bigger picture," she gave Steve another reassuring smile and nodded before she walked away. "I'll be back later to check on him."
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Steve picked up Grace on Saturday morning since he had promised her he would bring her when Danny had been awake. Only he had slept through the whole visit. Not that she minded. She had been a bit frightened when she saw Danny for the first time with his head all wrapped in bandages, but Steve reassured her. Even though after the whole Matthew misunderstanding Steve had some hope that it was going to be okay.
The rest of the day Danny had been sleeping as well. He had woken up just two times, but after a two-minute conversation he would doze off again. Everybody insisted that Steve should leave the hospital for the night. They all offered to stay instead, but Steve wanted to stay himself. The chairs weren't that bad to sleep in, so he stayed while the team left.
Steve was asleep now for a couple of hours. He sat sloughed in the chair and his feet were up on the end of Danny's bed. His head rested on his right shoulder and his arms were tight across his chest. Steve wasn't in a deep sleep, because when Danny slowly shifted in the bed Steve's eyes popped open and looked up to his friend.
"Shouldn't you be asleep?" Steve asked Danny who was lying on his back and staring to the ceiling.
"It's finally dark enough to keep my eyes open." Danny turned his head towards Steve and looked at his friend who seemed to be comfortable in the chair and with his feet still up on the bed.
"That bad? I'm sorry man, it will be easier with time." Steve noticed Danny's disapproving gaze at his feet, so he took them off the bed. He leaned forward, resting his hand on the bedrail.
"What time is it?" Danny searched the room for a clock or anything that would provide him with the time. He was completely clueless on what day or time it was.
"Uh… it's 3:28 in the morning." Steve shot a quick look at his watch.
Danny could feel something pull on top of his head as shifted onto his right side. It was the drain; the tube must be stuck behind something. "You know when they can take the damn thing out?" Danny tried to find the tube, so it wouldn't pull anymore.
"The doc said with a couple of days, but I'll ask." Steve noticed the struggle, so he carefully released the tube from behind the pillow.
"Thanks. You know you don't have to be here, right?" Danny placed his hand on the back of his neck as he glanced thankful at Steve.
"I know, but I want to and besides you would do the same for me." Steve shrugged his shoulders, while a grin on his face appeared. The headache seemed not to be present or at least not as severe as it had been. "Do you want me to pick up Grace and Charlie in morning?"
"Depends on how I look." Danny wondered.
"How'd you look? You asking me for fashion advise?" Steve raised his eyebrows sarcastic.
"Never mind, I should've known better than to ask someone who wears cargo pants on a daily basis." Danny waved it away as he dropped the hand, that was behind his neck, back on the bed.
"I wear shorts and jeans too. They're just very efficient on the job, but if you're still wondering, you look just fine." Steve snorted. He was glad Danny was acting more like himself again.
"I know that look you have on your face Steve. You've had it for the past days, like someone died. I didn't okay, but you know that, so either you're still worried, or I look like crap. Which I can tell I probably do, because you look like shit yourself by only sitting here." Danny had noticed the remorseful look on Steve. Plus he looked exhausted. Steve didn't have an answer to that.
Steve wasn't going to admit he felt guilty, so he let his head down and stared at his own feet. He changed the subject back to his initial question. "Grace has been here, but you slept through the whole visit. She's texting me non-stop. I'm sure she'll be pleased to see you awake. I don't know about Charlie though, he's probably too little to understand why you look like this."
Danny turned back on his back, readjusted the cannula and stared at the ceiling again. There was a brief silence before he answered. "Then don't pick them up."
"I'm sorry man. You, okay?" Steve could tell Danny missed his kids more than ever and it hurt him that he wouldn't see them soon enough.
"No, uh- I'm not."
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A/N: I hope you enjoyed reading it. Love to hear what you think so far!