I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.
Notes: ** just listening to the muse ** and she may be a bit dull today – but this is unfortunately necessary (in her opinion anyway). My apologies if it's boring …
H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O*
Chapter Nine
"So what are you doing here so early? Are the plans off for good with our DEA friends?" Steve asked Kono with a serious expression after both chuckled at Doctor Ramirez's embarrassed expense. But Steve willingly accepted a malasada from the offered bag with a sincere look of thanks.
Moving aside quickly as Steve's light breakfast arrived, Kono paused and waited for the nurse to leave. They both also couldn't help peering under the small plastic covers to find a bland but reasonable breakfast.
"Glad I brought these." Kono remarked dryly about the pastries when she found a hot cream of wheat-like pasty substance in one bowl. "That could be .. interesting."
"Hmm. No kidding." Steve said as he held up the malasada, grinned and then practically popped the whole thing into his mouth. "Mahalo!"
"Absolutely!" Kono replied happily as she took one for herself and pushed the small tray off to the side for a moment. "To answer your first question though. Yeah … "
And Kono nodded in the affirmative as she took a bite of her own pastry. "We all spoke last night. But Chin is meeting with the Governor in person right now. Long story, short … the Governor wants it postponed and has pulled our support with half of us down … so to speak." Kono sighed sadly at her choice of words. "And Chin's coming right back here when he can break free."
Finishing the small pastry, she couldn't find a napkin so wiped the few loose crumbs on her jeans; and then finished bringing Steve up to speed on what they knew so far. "Cano's going to be furious and blame it all on our secret agenda to get you back first." And she smiled as Steve made a face over the ridiculous but unfortunate truth of her statement.
Pulling the hospital tray of breakfast foods back, she pushed it in Steve's direction and indicated he should have real food as she spoke.
"After going over everything last night; we've definitely lost the element of surprise. And now intel is that the Cartel's own deal could be in jeopardy. So without more on the inside .. at this point we don't know if it's still on or canceled … or much of any value."
Finishing the thought for her, Steve added in total agreement as he opted for the small plate of fruit from the tray. "It's not worth the risk or the manpower."
"Exactly." Kono sighed as she sat on Steve's bed and smiled as he picked through the hospital's idea of breakfast. Looking closely at his face she was happy to see most of his color back and the exhausted lines significantly eased.
"You look better at least. What time is your surgery? Any updates on Danny?"
"Danny's right down the hall actually. He's still scheduled for eleven but Ramirez hasn't told me anything yet about this debridement."
Keeping Doctor Adler to himself, Steve conveniently avoided filling her in on the pending CAT Scans and neurological tests. In fact he realized, as he stifled a small surprised sound that bubbled up from the back of his throat, only three people currently were in the know about his amnesia and all of the details around his disappearance – Danny, Ramirez and now this Doctor Adler.
Distracted by that, Steve had to bring his attention back to Kono and her enthusiastic reaction to learning that Danny was so close by. "Really!"
Kono remarked with a huge smile that then became a happy laugh. "That's perfect! I'll go see him. I'm sure he'd be happy with a some dessert for breakfast."
Grabbing up the bag of remaining malasadas, she started to leave but was stayed by Steve as he took her wrist. "Wait." He said in a soothing voice.
"Oh no." she asked softly when she saw his serious face. Sitting back down Kono was immediately troubled. "Is something wrong?
"Yes and no." Steve said admitted as he shifted on his side and tried to get comfortable. "He had a bit of an allergic reaction to his meds earlier. He's fine now, but sedated. You can probably poke your head in … but don't expect too much."
Pinching her face into a tight and concerned frown, Kono was worried. "Sedated? He was sedated?"
"Yeah." Huffing out a big sigh, Steve grimaced at the wounds' painful tightness and wondered when he was going to be due for his own pain medication. Hitting the button for the head of the bed, he lowered it slightly to try a different reclined angle but it wasn't much better. Trying to ignore the growing twinges of pain and uncomfortable hot feelings in his back, Steve continued to explain what had happened with Danny's allergic reaction.
"He was little confused .. upset let's say. Ramirez changed his meds right away." Describing his trip down the corridor, Steve filled Kono in on the weird conversation and what had ended up happening.
Talking about Danny was easier than about himself, so Steve tried to keep the topic focused on moving down that particular path. With all that had been happening in just a few days time, neither Chin nor Kono had asked about the particulars of how or when Danny had found him. They also hadn't had the time to ask about the two week void during which Steve had been entirely on his own. The team had gone from zero to sixty in virtually one day. Preoccupied with simply having Steve back, the issues with the DEA and then the more immediate medical concerns with Danny all took precedence.
Justifying the lapse as only a minor and temporary oversight and especially more true with the raid being scrubbed, Steve figured that there was no need to worry them until he met with Doctor Adler. "And who's to say there's anything to worry about at all, right?" Steve thought to himself with just a small glimmer of guilt.
Understanding what she'd interrupted earlier, Kono nodded. "When I came in, you two were just getting back from seeing Danny then."
"It's only been just less than one hour since all of this went down." Steve agreed as he tried once again to re-adjust himself on his right side and ease the pressure across his ribs and up into his left shoulder. "And now he's probably going to miss breakfast too."
"Then maybe I should poke my head in!" Kono said with a short laugh.
'Probably not such a bad idea." Steve smirked as he indicated the open door and couldn't hide the twinge of pain in one section of his back. Ignoring it, he smiled and then pointed in the general direction of the other room.
"He's bound to be starving by now. And I've never seen him turn down a malasada or a cocoa puff!"
But noticing Steve's constant fidgets and the flickers of pain across his face, Kono gave him a knowing look and softened "I'll go see him in a second. But your back hurts more?"
"Oh yeah." Steve admitted with a dry laugh. "Funny how actual medical care makes it worse before it gets better." Disgusted with the situation, he was becoming impatient and just wanted the procedure done.
"I'm beginning to look forward to getting it taken care of." Grimacing, he held his ribs just below the wound with his right hand. "It's really kicked in this morning."
Peeking over his shoulder, Kono couldn't see much under the hospital gown and light weight bandages. She knew that it had to hurt if Steve was finally griping about it.
"Well .. it needs to be done. That's for sure." Kono said with a mild tone, but couldn't hide the concern in her eyes. "You know, it is really deep …I don't think the surgery is going to fix it just like that either."
Smiling for her benefit, Steve rolled his eyes dramatically. "Yes. So I'm told! But it'll be fine and Ramirez says that there's no muscle damage. So once they get it cleaned up, the hard part's over. Danny and I will have a few days off and we'll both be back in the office in no time."
Raising her eyebrows, Kono was surprised at the flippant remarks. "Oh? You think? Odds are that Danny will be back in the office first." Pointing towards his back, she shook her head negatively.
"I have a friend that had this done after a bad surfing accident. Her surgical debridement was no picnic. Odds are that you'll be lucky if you're back in a few weeks with that wound, boss!"
"Weeks?" Steve sputtered doubtfully. "Weeks? There was no way he could see being down or on leave for any more than a few days. Smiling at her, he poked her shoulder playfully.
"You're on Kono! Hands down bet that I'm back in the office before Danny."
"Steve, I don't think you will be released from the hospital before Danny." Kono said honestly as she tried to seriously talk him out of it. But her eyes were twinkling as she argued with him.
"You have no idea what your back looks like. I'd be surprised if you even felt like doing anything at all when they get done cleaning this up."
Studying her face, Steve was still intrigued by the idea of a bet and Kono's sparkling eyes matched his own. Shrugging, he repeated what he'd said.
"I bet that I am. Dinner for everyone's on me at the steak house IF Danny's back in the office and cleared for duty before I am. And dinner's on you if I'm cleared first."
"Cleared for duty and in the office?" Kono said specifically to make sure the details were clear. Hesitating since she knew better, she shrugged as she shook her head and then agreed.
"Okay. You're on boss. Definitely on. But get ready to pay up!"
And as they shook hands on the deal, Doctor Ramirez returned to the room with charts and clipboard in hand. A nurse was also in tow with a wheel chair and carrying badly needed pain medication which Steve gladly accepted.
"Sorry for the short notice." Dr. Ramirez began and stayed wide of Kono in case she threatened another public hug. But he had noticed and did a double-take as he caught the tail-end of the hand shake.
"But we're going to take you downstairs now." Checking his watch, Ramirez estimated. "I think you'll be back shortly after lunch. And then we can see how you're feeling and go over after-care once they assess the wound."
And as Steve slowly was helped to the waiting wheel chair, Ramirez added. "After this is done, Doctor Adler will want to schedule some time with you as well. I believe the CAT scans are tomorrow morning to avoid over-taxing you the same day."
Ignoring Kono's questioning expression; Steve tried to quickly plunk himself into the wheel chair and almost tripped as Ramirez helped untangle his legs from the sheets.
"Fine. Okay." He muttered as he glanced once in her direction and kept up a quick silly patter of conversation. "Keep an eye on Danny, Kono. I'll see you after lunch."
But putting her hands on her hips, Kono pursed her lips firmly. "Oh no you don't. Who's this Doctor Adler now?" Turning to Ramirez, he raised his eyebrows as he looked from Steve's guilty face to Kono's almost annoyed one.
"Commander? I take it you haven't filled your whole team in on the mystery of your little disappearance?" Ramirez was smirking as he shoved his hands deeply into his medical coat. "I'm not sure if I should be surprised about this. But it's hardly fair."
"You do know, doc – and I'm saying it again - I really don't like how this place operates." Steve replied bleakly as Kono waited and Ramirez challenged him to just try and stay quiet about the amnesia.
Giving Steve a brief pat on the shoulder, he spoke to Kono. "I'll be outside so our friend here has time to fill you in on his little adventure and why Doctor Adler has been called in."
Hearing the slight mutterings about blackmail and intimidation tactics, Ramirez smiled as he backed out of the room. But Steve did finally fill Kono in on everything and how Ramirez had insisted on Doctor Adler's participation.
"Wow." Kono breathed out when he was done explaining the next steps. "I agree that it's probably going to be fine. But Steve, this is really important." Giving him a quick hug, she was still unhappy with him and then couldn't help whispering in his ear.
"You do know that you just made a really really bad bet with me, right?"
The wide eyed snort of disbelief was interrupted by Ramirez re-entering the room. "I hope we're good now?"
"Perfect." Kono said as she waved a brief good-bye to Steve as he shook his head in silent disgust. And then she thought of something else and stopped the small group. Standing in front of Steve she couldn't help asking.
"Hey boss. You don't remember your birthday party then. I don't see how you could."
Narrowing his eyes, he had no reply as a multitude of expressions crossed his face. And then it was Kono's turn to smirk and take some satisfaction in a few things.
"Just checking." She said blithely as she moved aside to allow them to pass. But she could tell he was trying to hold back his own laughter from the way his shoulders were shaking.
Turning around, she walked slowly down the corridor until she found Danny's room. As forewarned by Steve, he was sleeping and so Kono could only pull up a chair and sit quietly with him until he either woke or was also taken down for his own surgery.
Looking around the room, Kono saw that his breakfast tray was nearby and obviously untouched. "Well that's just plain stupid." Kono said out loud and with total disgust.
Sighing gloomily, she leaned forward and squeezed Danny's hand as she whispered softly. "Hey Danny. If you feel like waking up, I've got some malasadas for you."
But he only made a face in his sleep and Kono sat down to begin what would become a very long day of watching and waiting.
~ to be continued ~
