Hello fellas! I hope you will have a great weekend!

Here is a new chapter to start this Saturday as it should!

Enjoy the reading!


CHAPTER 8

Slowly but surely, Steve came to life and his consciousness was more anchored in reality. It took him many extra hours before he could stay awake for more than two minutes in a row. Fortunately, Steve could handle the pain much more than anyone else. The surgeon had even performed the neurological tests himself, and nothing seemed to be wrong with the commander's memory.

He remembered every detail, from being shot but only noticing it when the suspect was down, dead and stiff. He remembered feeling like he was dying, fighting more than anything else in the world to stay awake and see Danny one last time, but he only had Tani by his side. He remembered asking her to tell his partner and brother that he was sorry and that he loved him. But he kept it to himself because he didn't know if she had repeated it to him. However, he felt a tension between him and Detective Williams. Something intense, electric. But he didn't know what it was.

"Danny... The other suspect...", he asked, trying to break the ice.

"The one still alive or the other one who took a bullet between his two eyes?" he answered sarcastically.

"The first one..."

"Lou and Junior made him talk. He gave us all his contacts and right now, the police is shutting down their traffic. The case is closed."

"Good... Very good..."

"But you and I, we have to talk. Now."

Steve said nothing, just as Danny. Just seeing the expression on the cop's face was enough for the sailor to guess that he was going to have a hard time; his eyes were filled with anger. A dark one. That was all he needed to understand what the problem was.

"Tani told you..."

Danny clenched his fist and slapped them violently on the bed, making Steve startle slightly.

"Of course she told you, what did you expect, uh? You really thought she would keep that for herself? Are you nuts all the time or you're sleeping sometimes!"

He was very angry and he could see and hear that.

"Danno..."

"Do not Danno me! Not today, not now, Steven! This is not a good time!"

Steve sealed his lips; he knew that when his best friend was angry, he had to let him talk until he had the green light to talk, until he knew it was over. That was the best thing to do.

"Do you know what it did to me? To hear these words? I thought it was your last words before passing out, Steve! What did you expect? That if you were lucky enough to pull through, I would forget everything? That I would forgive you? I am angry, and you have no idea how much I hate you right now!"

After three seconds without a word, Steve decided to open his mouth, thinking that it was the signal for a justification.

"I didn't know he had a gun, Danny."

"You didn't know? Steve, he's a bad guy! Of course he had a gun, you idiot! But you, you act before thinking, you could have been killed! Heck, you were dead, Steve! For several minutes before surgery, you were dead; your heart stopped beating, you stopped breathing! God knows what Tani have done to save your ass! And during the whole surgery, you were dead on a gurney for almost ten hours, think about it! YOU. WERE. DEAD!"

"But I am here, well alive, so what's the problem?"

"The problem! You don't see the problem? Why didn't you wait for backup! Why didn't you wait for me!"

Now, Steve could understand why Danny was angry at him. It was about what he told Tani but also about his behavior regarding the operation.

"I am your partner, your backup for nine years, and you still act in solo! How am I suppose to cover you if you're far away for me? How I am supposed to protect you when you're chasing a guy, uh?! You were miles away from me, do you understand?! You can't be patient, you never wait for me! I already lost two partners and I certainly don't want to lose another one! Not you! But you keep ignoring what I say, you keep ignoring me! I can't go down this road!"

Danny stopped in his speech, taking a deep breath while Steve remained there, observing his partner. He had every right to be angry. It was justified; he had never waited for backup, he didn't stay with his partner, the one who always covered his back when needed and as much as necessary. But this time, Danny couldn't be there because he had followed a suspect on his own, something that could be related to a serious professional misconduct in the Police. He had not done his job properly, and this could have lead to his own death.

"I can't be your partner if you don't listen to me. We are supposed to be there for each other hand the fact that you almost died taking this bullet while you had no backup makes me feel useless to you. I have the feeling of having failed as a backup. I failed as a backup. And as a friend. I can't continue like this. I can't anymore", he continued more calmly, as if his voice was fading as he spoke.

Suddenly, Danny got up, staggering to the room door and started to open it.

"It's tired of all this. I am done."

And then, he went out and slammed the door shut, making the walls tremble and Steve with it. He walked past the nurses' office without a word, lowering his head to hide the many tears that were beginning to run down his face. All the anger he had accumulated since the incident had just been unleashed, all the tension had suddenly subsided. As if he was freeing himself from a weight impossible to carry on his shoulders. And as Danny rushed out of the hospital, Steve kept looking at the door, completely paralyzed by misunderstanding. What he knew was that what he had told Tani shortly before he closed his eyes in that alley was the starting point for all this.

"What have I done...", he whispered for himself as he laid his hands on his face, hiding his own tears.


He was really worried about Danny. After surviving a bacteriological threat and being locked up in a ward of the hospital for more ten days to monitor any problems with the antidote and stop any possible contamination, Danny had just been shot in the chest by a man he obviously didn't recognize. But most importantly, Steve didn't have enough medical experience to help his best friend as he should. He could only watch his condition deteriorate as the firefighters, the bomb squad and Lou were doing everything they could to help them and save Danny's life. Because yes, he knew his life was in danger just by seeing his vitals on the cardiac monitor. Because now, the latter screaming, plunging Steve back into an emotional state he didn't recognize. He was simply listening to the doctor asking him to run his fingers over the wound, obviously worried that there was a problem with the dressing Steve had made.

"There's something under his skin. There's like… Like these bumps under his skin."

That was the weirdest thing he'd ever had to touch so far. He had seen gunshot wounds, amputations, landmine damage, rockets damage, homemade cluster bombs damage. He had seen almost every possible injury and never in his life would he have imagined panicking at the mere sight of a gunshot wound to the chest, especially in an area that normally was not dangerous. But it was Danny. His Danny.

"Those are air bubbles. That's a tension pneumothorax, possibly from a bronchopleural fistula."

"What does that mean?"

"That his chest is filling up with air faster than it's escaping and now, it putting pressure on his heart. We need to alleviate that pressure."

Except that I don't know how to do it, doc.

"How we gonna do that?"

"I'm gonna walk you through it. Tani, I need you to find some antiseptic wipes and towels", Dr. Keller instructed. "Junior, I need you to find a disposable scalpel. Also look for a Kelly clamp; it's like a thin pair of scissors with teeth."

A few minutes passed without him being able to remember what had just happened, as if he had just lost many seconds of memory. The shock of the situation perhaps? Fear? Yes, because Steve couldn't admit it, but he was scared to death. He knew what Dr. Keller wanted; he had to do the surgery himself and it hurt him to think that if he missed that operation... He was going to kill his best friend. He swallowed hard, rejecting all the negative thoughts he could find in his innards. Think positive. He had to think positive. Danny was going to be fine, everything would be fine. He could do it. He even had to.

"Commander, I want you to take Detective Williams' right arm and put it over his head."

He swallowed again, looking at Danny's face one last time before having to focus on saving his life. He proceeded to take his freezing arm and place it just above his head, as requested.

"Now, turn his head to the left."

He put his fingers on his jaw and rolled his head towards the window before looking at the doctor, waiting for instructions.

"You're gonna cut into the right side of his chest. First, find the middle of his collarbone."

He took a deep breath, feeling the area where he knew he had to find his right clavicle. The doctor he had known in the field had already told him once that the middle of the clavicle was approximately perpendicular to the trunk and nipple. He nodded, indicating without a word that he had succeeded.

"Then slide your finger down until you feel his first rib."

Gradually, he went down, trying to do his best to stay on that imaginary line he had drawn for himself so as not to lose the middle of the collarbone.

"Got it."

"All right, good. Now, you're gonna make an incision about two inches long between his fourth and fifth ribs. It's gonna be difficult; you're gonna have to cut through flesh and tissue."

His heart stopped for a moment at the thought of having to do this when he technically could not do everything he was asked to do. But he had to. For Danny. For Grace. With an almost shaky hand, he quickly pulled himself together so that he could make a clean incision. Blood spurted from the wound, making Steve's desire to vomit resurface. He swallowed more saliva, trying to remove all emotion from his head. In vain so far.

"Okay."

"Now, slide your left index finger into the incision and feel for the fifth rib."

He was going through hell. Was that how Danny felt on the plane when he passed out after losing literally half his blood volume? How could Williams have landed the plane on the beach, without fuel, in such an emotional state? Even he wondered how he could not panic when facing with the situation. But then, he remembered that he was a NavySEAL, that he had been trained to endure much worse than that. But nothing was working; his fear of losing Danny was greater. He approached his friend's face, hoping that he still could hear him.

"Anything I owe you, for you giving me your liver, we're even."

He placed his finger inside the wound he had created, entering inch by inch until feeling a rib below.

"I'm in", he simply said, not trusting his voice if he had to pronounce more words.

"Junior, give him the Kelly clamp."

The unofficial 5-0 Task Force member gave him the scissors as he tried not to shudder.

"Okay, Commander: Place the tip carefully into the incision and then, do a little blunt dissection to get through the tissue to the rib."

Concentrated, almost relaxed but with a touch of tension, he pushed the tip of the scissors, guiding it with the help of his finger still inside of him.

"Okay."

"Advance the tip of the Kellys to just over the top of the rib. Make sure you stay close to the rib so you don't nick any arteries."

Pushing more on the sharp instrument he had in hand, he inserted his finger deeper into the open wound to be sure of what he was currently doing.

"Okay."

"Now, you're going to carefully puncture his chest wall. That's going to relieve the pressure."

Just as his sentence ended, the heart monitor attached to Danny's chest went wild, screaming.

"Push in", the doctor simply ordered.

"Doc, we're losing him!" Tani cried out.

"Push in", Dr. Keller asked again.

Without an ounce of hesitation, Steve used much of his remaining strength to grab the pair of scissors and push it as far as he could. It was unpleasant, disgusting but after three seconds, a sound of air escaping came to his ears.

"I feel the air coming out."

"That's it. Vitals are stabilizing."

Reassured, Steve leaned over again to be near Danny.

"You did it", he whispered in his ear.

"Okay, now Commander, I want you to remove the clamp. Put your finger back in the incision and sweep it from side to side to make sure nothing is blocking the opening. Junior, get ready to cover with the gauze and the tape."

One last time, he inserted his index finger into his chest wall and checked that everything was fine. A few air bubbles came out at the same time, disgusting him even more than before, but everything seemed okay. He removed his finger, spilling Danny's blood more while Junior placed a large bandage over the wound and secured the site with tape.

"Good, that's right."


That day, he had been scared. Scared to death, because for the first time in his life, he didn't want to lose the only one person he loved the most in the world, which could have been possible if he never had done that to save him. It had been scary, but he would do it a million time again if he could save Danny's life. That was the first time he could feel this emotion; live this traumatic experience over and over again to save someone's life. This was reality. Reality was when they could be happy together, messing with each other. When they could smile, love and hate each other at the same time. But now, this reality was Hell. Danno was angry, he hated him for what he had told Tani. He perfectly knew what it was to lose a partner, his best friend. He already went through this when Freddie died in North Korea in order to cover him and save him, and he had sworn to not live again and again this unpleasant memory. But Danno hated him. He had lost this friendship he loved, this brotherhood he'd never had. He had lost Danny. His Danno.


A/N: so what do you think? Do you need a tissue after that chapter? Of course Danno can only be angry with Steve! And the latter understands why he is.

The flashback, as you noticed, comes from season 8 episode 10, when Steve had to perform a life-saving surgery on Danny.

Share your thoughts with me in a review! I am very pleased to read them!