Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
A/N: Again, thank you for your alerts, reading and commenting. This came out a lot quicker than I expected it to and once again the muses aren't done, though the next chapter isn't really started, but will likely be the last. Yes, I know, I've said that before, but the story really does have to end at some point! I hope this chapter meets everyone's expectations!
WARNING: There is bad language in this chapter! (They're angry, they swear!)
Chapter 7
"Come on Danno, time to get up!"
"Go 'way!" Danny pulled the covers over his head and burrowed deeper.
"Time for your physical therapy, come on," Steve tugged on the covers, but Danny held them firmly.
"Don' wanna!" There was a part of Danny that knew that he was behaving exactly like Grace when she didn't want to go to school, but he was fed up of getting up early every day just to spend it doing nothing.
"I don't have time for this today Danny, I'm due in the office in an hour!" growled Steve. The SEAL was tired. 5-0 had picked up a case that had pretty much run them ragged for the last four days. Thankfully there had been a lot of work that could be done from Steve's so they had only had to call for help once, which had been the previous day. Steve hadn't arrived home until one in the morning and now he needed to get into the office to help Chin start the paperwork and then speak to the man they'd apprehended for drug trafficking. They would have done that last night, but it was late and the guy was demanding a lawyer, given that they had him dead to rights with evidence on him they decided to wait until later in the day to speak to him, allowing both the men some much needed rest.
"Then go!" The response was muffled under the covers.
Steve took a deep breath. Danny had been pretty good for the last two weeks; although he grumbled about the time he had got up and moved through into Steve's room. Today was not a good day for that to change, still he needed to remember that Danny was still recovering so he calmed himself down before speaking again, "We need to do your therapy first Danny."
"I can miss one session!"
"No, Danny, you can't!"
"Of course I can!"
"Do you want to get back to full strength?!" demanded Steve.
"Of course I do!" Danny flicked the covers back slightly and glared at his friend.
"Then get your lazy ass outta this bed and let's get going!"
"No! I'm taking a damn morning off!"
"It's not like it's work Danny! You don't do anything all day, getting up for some physical therapy means that you at least do something! Otherwise you'd just sleep the whole day! Some of us have work to do, so… Get. Up!"
"Oh, thanks for reminding me how useless I am!" snarled Danny, "Now fuck off and go to work!" He pulled the covers back over his head.
Steve finally lost control of his temper and grabbed the covers, ripping them out of Danny's hands and throwing them on the floor, "I said get up, damn it!"
"I said NO!" Danny purposely stayed lying down, "I'm not someone you can just order around Steven! I'm an adult and if I want to skip one session of therapy then I will!"
"If you're an adult then behave like one and act responsibly for once in your life!" The words were out of Steve's mouth before he thought it through and he knew that he'd just overstepped the mark.
"Act responsible for once in my life?" Danny pushed himself to sit up, grabbing a pair of sweat pants off the nearby chair and hauling them on. He got to his feet and stood in front of Steve, getting right into his personal space. "I am nothing but responsible every god damn day! Rachel wants to move my daughter thousands of miles away? No problem, I'm a responsible adult, Grace is just a child, I'll leave everything and everyone I know and love behind and follow. You get yourself arrested for killing the Governor… no problem I'll just abandon my responsibilities to my child and stay on this godforsaken, pineapple infested, hellhole instead of travelling to Jersey with her and her Mom! You were the one that didn't listen to me, yet you're accusing me of being irresponsible. Thanks for that Steven, really!" Danny stepped round Steve and, with as much speed as his energy would allow, he left the room, walked downstairs and headed for the lanai.
It only took a moment for Steve to unfreeze from the shock before he was following Danny, "Where are you going?"
"Away from you before I do something we'll both regret!" growled Danny. He stepped down onto the sand.
"Danny, come back here, you're not well enough to go walking off!" Steve was worried and because of that he didn't think about how ordering Danny back was the wrong tactic.
"Fuck off Steven!"
Steve was about to set off after him when a voice from behind him stopped him, "Steve? What the hell is going on?"
The SEAL turned to face Kono. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "We got into a bit of an argument."
"Yeah, I kinda got that!"
"He doesn't want to speak to me right now, I'm going to head into the office, call me if you need anything," with that Steve was gone before Kono could even argue.
'Oh yeah, thanks for leaving me with an angry Danny!' sighed Kono, looking at her watch she realised Akela would be there soon so decided she better corral Danny before the nurse arrived. She hurried down to the water's edge where Danny was currently standing, fists clenched and shoulders heaving.
"Danny…" she spoke softly, like she might to a skittish animal.
"Just… leave me… alone," Danny was trying to rein his temper back in and catch his breath, "Please!"
"I can't do that Danny," she placed a hand gently on Danny's shoulder, "I know you're angry but can you please try to calm down."
"Kono?!" Akela's voice could be heard coming from inside the house.
Kono had a moment to feel relief at the nurse's arrival before Danny dropped to his hands and knees in front of her, one hand moving to rest on his chest. She immediately knelt by his side, "AKELA! On the beach, hurry!" she called back. She was extremely relieved to see the large man running towards them.
"What happened?"
"I don't really know. Steve and Danny were arguing when I got here…"
"Danny," Akela placed his hands on Danny's shoulders to get him to sit back. His eyes were watering with the effort of trying to breathe while not letting a cough over take him, "I need you to relax for me Danny." The man in question shook his head. Akela made a quick decision and before anyone could blink he had Danny in his arms and was hurrying towards the house with Kono hot on his heels. When they reached the sitting room Akela placed Danny on the couch, "Kono, get me an emesis bowl, some tissues and a bottle of water, then grab the oxygen for me. Once you've done that call Doctor Jensen."
To make things easier there had been certain supplies left in the sitting room as well as in Danny's room so they were within easy reach at all times. Kono handed over the emesis bowl and tissues before disappearing into the kitchen for a bottle of water. The moment she had done that she ran up the stairs taking them two at a time to get the oxygen tank and its attachments. Once she'd done that she hurried out of the room to call Henry.
"Stop fighting it Danny, you need to cough," Akela had Danny sitting upright with cushions stacked behind his back and his feet up on the sofa. Danny put his hand on his chest and screwed up his face, the nurse got the message loud and clear, "Yeah, I bet it hurts, but it'll only get worse if you don't allow yourself to cough."
Danny glanced round the room to make sure Kono was gone. He knew Akela was right, could actually feel his chest getting tighter as he wasn't taking in enough air in an effort to try to stop the coughing.
"Kono is calling Henry," Akela knew immediately what the problem was. Danny didn't want her to see him like this, "I'll keep her out of the room, but you must cough."
Danny nodded and what followed was possibly the worst fifteen minutes of his life. The coughing was relentless and left him gasping for breath in the few seconds he had between bouts. Akela had fitted the nasal cannula to at least try to help but the blue tinge to Danny's lips was a clear sign that it wasn't enough. The nurse was on the verge of calling for an ambulance when Henry Jensen arrived.
"What the hell happened?" he demanded as he started examining Danny.
"He got into an argument with Steve, other than that I don't really know. I guess the stress of the argument set off the urge to cough but Danny fought it."
Henry tutted and stuck a stethoscope to Danny's chest. Unfortunately Danny was in no condition to follow his instructions to take a deep breath so he put that to one side and took his blood pressure instead.
"Does he need to go to the hospital?" Kono asked from the doorway to the kitchen.
Danny's eyes widened and Akela squeezed his arm before going to Kono and ushering her back out to the lanai. He spoke to her briefly before returning, "I've asked her to wait on the lanai, she wasn't happy about it but she knows that it's important to you."
"Hospital?" he wheezed out.
"Maybe," Henry replied, "But now your coughing has eased a little let's get a full oxygen mask on you."
Akela changed the attachments on the oxygen tank and slipped the mask over his face, double checking that it was set to maximum flow. He then took the clinical waste tub that sat by the couch permanently and emptied the bag and put in a fresh one after he'd donned gloves.
"Alright Danny, rest back now," Henry instructed. He reached into the doctor's bag he'd brought with him and pulled out a couple of syringes, "Morphine and diazepam," he explained, knowing his patient needed the pain relief and the muscle relaxant in equal measures right now. There was no complaint from Danny as Akela helped him turn on to his side so that the injections could be administered into his butt cheek, they would be much faster acting than taking one of his pills would be right now.
Akela monitored Danny closely, removing the oxygen mask only enough to ensure he could have an occasional sip of water to try and ease his parched throat. It didn't take long for the drugs to take effect and Henry was able to listen to Danny's chest to make sure it was clear.
"Well there's some good news after all that," Henry stated. Danny raised a sceptical eyebrow, "Your chest is sounding clearer than I've heard it since this whole thing started." Danny didn't look impressed with the news given the pain that he'd gone through, "It also means that with your colour is returning to normal, the blue tinge to your lips has gone so it looks like we may have avoided a trip to the hospital."
Danny sighed with relief. The last thing he needed right now was to end up back in the hospital. Then again at least it would mean he wasn't here, in McGarrett's place. That was going to be awkward.
"Hey!" Henry got Danny's attention, "You need to keep calm. No stress. I said may have avoided a trip to the hospital. The slightest sign of a relapse and I'm calling an ambulance," cautioned Henry.
"Don't you… have work?"
"It's my day off."
"Great way… to spend… it! Sorry."
"These things happen. I was planning on doing a little grocery shopping and maybe spending some time relaxing on the beach. I can still do the latter," he indicated the doors out to the lanai.
"Akela?"
"My day off too," shrugged the nurse, "I was going to relax with a few beers later after I'd done my evening visit with you. I didn't have any plans for the day as I thought I might spend it here anyway."
"Now, you need to get some rest, go to sleep Danny," instructed Henry, taking the blanket from the back of the couch and draping it over the man. Both Akela and Henry watched as he drifted off, oxygen mask still in place.
"I better let Kono in, she'll be worried," Akela got up and went outside.
"Ah Danny, what are we gonna do with you?" sighed Henry, running his hand through his hair. He had no idea how 5-0 had managed to get under his skin but they had, it seemed the same could be said for Akela too.
-5-0-
Doctor Hanna Lee arrived for her mid-morning visit to find Henry and Akela sitting watching Danny, who was lying on the couch asleep. The group had taken a leaf out of Danny's book and didn't bother knocking anymore; their patient's sleep had been disturbed too many times.
"What's going on?" she whispered.
"Let's step outside for a minute," Henry replied, leaving Akela to watch over the slumbering man.
The two doctors joined Kono on the lanai where she'd taken her paperwork, though she was regularly checking on the men to make sure they didn't need anything. She looked up briefly to greet Hanna before getting back to the pile of files in front of her. Henry filled Hanna in on the events of the morning.
"He's been sleeping since?"
"Yeah, but we're monitoring him closely and he knows if there's any change in his condition he'll be going back to the hospital. I'm planning to leave him on oxygen the rest of the day. It's good you're here actually. I'm worried the oxygen tank is going to run out since we're going to be using it more. Would you stay with Akela and Danny while I go to the hospital and get another tank?"
"Of course, I'm not due at the hospital until late this afternoon anyway so take your time."
"Thanks," he looked over at Kono, "I'll be back in about an hour, if you need anything else then call me."
"Will do Henry," replied Kono, smiling as she looked up at him and winked, "Give him hell!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about Officer Kalakaua." He grinned at her as he left.
Hanna looked a little confused so Kono took pity on her, "It won't take him an hour to go to the hospital to get another oxygen tank, he's going to go by 5-0's offices and serve Steve his ass!"
"Ah," Hanna gave her a speculative look, "Man, I wish I was a fly on the wall!" The two ladies sat for a moment chuckling, before Hanna returned inside to monitor Danny with Akela.
-5-0-
Henry parked outside the Iolani Palace and with determined strides made his way to the 5-0 offices. When he opened the glass doors Chin was standing out in the main room by the computer table.
"Henry! Is everything OK? Is Danny alright?"
"Hello Chin. No, everything is not OK. Danny is as well as can be expected considering the events of this morning. Is Steve around?"
"In his office," Chin pointed at the closed door. He was more than a little confused by Henry's attitude. He could almost see the anger radiating off the other man and given that he was usually quite placid this had Chin worried, "What's going on?"
Henry ignored Chin's question and practically marched over to Steve's office, not bothering to knock, he flung the door open.
Steve had been sitting staring at the pile of paperwork in front of him. The moment he'd got to the office he had walked past Chin, barely acknowledging his presence and shut the door. The older man being somewhat familiar with Steve's moods had wisely left him to it. The door flying open to reveal Henry surprised him.
"What...?"
"What indeed, Commander McGarrett!" Henry walked into the office without further invitation and stood on the opposite side of Steve's desk, placing his hands firmly on the top and leaning over to get eye level with the SEAL. Steve knew he was in trouble, but the tone and the use of his title told him it was worse than he might have thought, "What the hell were you thinking? What was so important that you had to argue with a sick man? What on this earth made you then walk away and leave Kono to deal with the aftermath?!"
"Steve?" Chin had joined them, standing in the doorway, "What's Henry talking about?"
Henry glanced over his shoulder and saw the confusion on the man's face before turning his attention back to Steve, "You didn't tell Chin that you and Danny argued this morning then?"
"What? No. Steve, what the hell?" Chin moved to stand next to Henry.
"He didn't want to do his PT."
"And?" demanded Henry, he wanted a full explanation. Danny had been in no fit state to give him one and Kono had only entered the house at the tail end of the argument when Danny had walked through the house and outside.
"I didn't have time to argue. I had paperwork and an interrogation to do…"
"An interrogation that we've not been able to do yet because we're waiting for the guy's lawyer!" Chin exclaimed, "You knew that it would be a few hours before we could speak to him again and the paperwork isn't normally top of your priorities," he pointed out reasonably.
"Look, I was tired. We'd been on the go for four days and it had been a late night, or early morning," Steve shook his head, "Whatever. Danny knows PT is at seven AM. He was too damn lazy to get up!" The anger he'd been feeling during the argument was starting to well up again.
"Oh for heaven's sake Steve, missing one PT session isn't going to be the end of the world!" sighed Henry, "Do you have any idea of the consequences of your tantrum?!"
"My tantrum?! Oh that's just great, so this is all my fault? Danny bears no responsibility for his actions? He's the one that was behaving like a teenager being asked to get up and do chores! He was hiding under the covers like a child!"
Henry lost the calm that he had started to find, "I don't doubt he was being difficult," the doctor had dealt with Danny enough to know how he got when he was confined or restricted, "You should have just walked away because the consequences of this are severe!" his voice started to increase in volume, "Do you know what happened after you left? Do you even care?!"
That got Steve's attention and he stood abruptly, placing his own hands on the desk in front of him and leaned in until he and Henry were nose to nose, "Don't you dare accuse me of not caring!" he growled, "For over two weeks I've changed my routine to accommodate Danny and make sure he has all the support he needs! I've put up with his bitching and moaning during every single PT session and I've never said a word! The team have changed how we work, the Governor has supported us and he just wants to throw it all back in our faces!"
"Just because he didn't want to get up at seven in the morning for one session, doesn't mean he's throwing it back in your face!" Henry didn't move a muscle, completely un-intimidated, despite the fact that Steve was a trained SEAL and stood a good six inches taller than him, "Did you ever think that he was just too tired. He's still recovering, you know this and yet you still picked a fight with him!"
"Hang on a minute, back up," Chin stood at the side of the desk and put his hands on each of their shoulders to push the two men back from one another, "Henry, what happened after Steve left?" He had been so surprised by the two men's actions that it had taken him a couple of minutes to take in what Henry had said.
"Kono called me, extremely upset; Danny had collapsed on the beach and couldn't catch his breath. It was lucky Akela had just arrived. When I got to the house Danny was on the couch coughing so badly that he couldn't breathe and despite the fact Akela had fitted the nasal cannula to provide supplementary oxygen his lips were tinged blue. In fact Akela told me he had been close to calling an ambulance when I arrived. From the moment that Danny collapsed on the beach to when we finally got him comfortable enough to rest was over thirty minutes."
"Damn!" exclaimed Chin. He'd have to call his cousin because he knew that she would be taking this development badly.
"I didn't mean for that to happen," Steve stood up straight, eyes wide, his regret written all over his face.
"Of course you didn't, but those are the consequences of your actions and, to be fair, Danny's as well," Henry finally took a deep breath and calmed down, "You said you were tired?"
"Yeah. I didn't get in until around one AM," Steve replied as he sat down, indicating that Henry should do the same.
Nodding Henry took the seat opposite Steve as Chin perched on the end of the desk, "Then maybe Danny wasn't the only one that was too tired to do the PT session."
"Maybe," Steve admitted grudgingly, rubbing a hand over his face.
"Steve," Henry leaned forward in his chair, "I think it's time to admit that you need more help," he held up his hand when the other man started to protest, "There's no shame in it, for either you or Danny. It's in both your interests to prevent this happening again. You've been doing extremely well under difficult circumstances but Danny's recovery is going to take longer than originally predicted. Given what has happened this morning it's going to be at least two more weeks, maybe even three, before he's going to be able to go back to his own place."
"Three weeks?" Steve wasn't questioning it because he didn't want Danny to stay with him that long though, "Is that because of today's set back?" he looked guiltily at Henry for the answer.
"In part, yes, though I think it also proves that perhaps we've been expecting too much too soon. Because of Danny's personality, his stubborn streak, it's easy to forget that he's not as strong right now as he thinks he is."
"He does have a habit of blustering through things to distract you when you're trying to get a straight answer out of him," pointed out Chin, "I think perhaps he's got a bit of cabin fever too."
"Steve, this set back isn't your fault," Henry smiled as Steve looked at him, raising his eyebrows in disbelief, "Alright, not all your fault. Both you and Danny need to take some responsibility; you for not realising you'd reached your limit and asking for help; Danny for not admitting to you that the PT was too much. If he'd admitted it sooner, then it's possible the argument could have been avoided."
"I didn't give him much of an opening this morning to tell me," Steve admitted, "If I had just been calmer and taken the time to sit down and talk to him; ask him why…"
"That brings us neatly back to asking for help when things get too much," Henry told him gently, "I think we need a new plan."
"I agree," Chin nodded.
"OK," Steve agreed, "What do you suggest?"
"That," Henry pointed at the SEAL, "Is an excellent start. Asking for suggestions is always a good way to move forward. First of all if you get a case then you take a step back and request that the home nursing company send someone over, regardless of the fact that you may be able to do some of the work from home. That will take the pressure off you because you'll know that someone will be with him no matter what happens during the case and it will be easier to separate work from home life."
"When we get any case or just when we get a big case?" Steve asked.
"Do you know the difference when you first get assigned a case?"
"No, we don't," Chin answered, "Sometimes a case can look really simple until you start investigating and then it can become more complex and time consuming."
"Then, I would strongly suggest, that you request the help for every case. It's better to have them there and send them home when you realise you don't need them."
"Danny's not going to like it."
"I think you might be surprised Steve," Henry informed him, "I think if it takes some of the pressure off you and the rest of the team he'll agree to it without complaint."
"Yeah, OK. I'll call the home nursing company and let them know we may need them more regularly. Perhaps they'll have some suggestions as to the best way to work it."
"That sounds like a good idea," Chin nodded, "In fact I'll deal with that."
"Good. We also need to arrange an appointment with Danny's physical therapist at the hospital to review the exercises. Given that he's been doing them for two weeks now it's possible they need to be changed. He certainly has more strength than when he left the hospital so perhaps he doesn't need to do quite so much, but I'm not the expert in that."
"Can you set up the appointment Henry?"
"Yes," the doctor was pleased to see that Steve was already starting to ask for help and was accepting that the situation needed to change, "I need to go to the hospital to get a full oxygen tank, so I will talk to Danny's therapist then."
"I also think we need to arrange for Danny to get out of the house more and I don't mean him just sitting on the lanai," suggested Chin, "I know he gets tired easily but perhaps we can use a wheelchair."
Steve huffed a laugh at that, "I don't think Danny will agree to that!"
"It would depend on where you were planning on taking him," Henry looked thoughtful, "If you were just taking him to Kamekona's, for example, then it wouldn't be necessary as the parking lot is close to the truck or the shave ice stand, depending on which one you go to. If you wanted to take him somewhere else that required a bit more walking then the wheelchair would have to be made a condition of the trip out. No wheelchair, no outing! I'll speak to him about it later."
"That's a good idea; it would probably go over better coming from you!" Steve smiled gratefully.
"If all else fails I'll get Grace to help, you know he can't say no to her," Chin chuckled.
"True. Anything else?"
"I think that's it for now, but it's a good start." Henry got to his feet, "Now I'm going to get that oxygen and get back to the house to check on our recalcitrant patient!"
"Thanks Henry. Once we've talked to the guy we arrested I'll head home."
"I'll be coming too," Chin told them.
"That's good, I think that Danny will need everyone's support but most of all I think he'll want to talk to you, Steve."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Quite sure. I think when he wakes up and what happened this morning sinks in he'll feel just as bad about it as you do."
"I hope you're right about that Henry."
"He is," Chin smiled at Steve, "I know you both pretty well and though you're both stubborn asses, you also both have guilt complexes!"
"Hey!" Steve gently shoved Chin so he slid off the desk.
"It'll be alright Steve, you'll see," Henry walked out the door, "See you later," he called over his shoulder as he left.