A/N: Have I mentioned that I'm not a medical professional? Well, I'm not so please forgive any errors in medical jargon or anything related to the medical field.
Steve and Chin returned to the hospital and walked into the waiting room right behind Doctor Jensen. The weary doctor again motioned them to sit. He surveyed the small, anxious group and wondered briefly what they looked like when they were smiling. He tried a small smile of his own to help ease their anxiety, "I apologize for the last minute surgery and the worry that I know that caused. I am happy to report that all went well, and we did indeed find a small bleeder and have taken care of it. We're going to give Detective Williams two more units of blood and see where his vitals are after that. I believe we're going to start seeing some improvement from him soon."
"You believe?" Steve questioned.
Doctor Jensen shrugged, "I can't guarantee anything, of course, but I'm very impressed with how he handled both surgeries. Given the trauma received yesterday and his vitals not stabilizing where we'd like them, I never would have operated today had I not been almost 100% sure we had missed something. However, I'm quite pleased with the results so far and given that Detective Williams is a fighter," he smiled all out at Chin this time, "which I've now seen for myself, I'm very hopeful."
"So you're saying he's going to be okay?" Steve pressed on.
"I can't promise that, of course," Doctor Jensen told him, "but I like his odds at this point."
There were relieved sighs and tired smiles from the Five-0 group though Steve's forehead was still crinkled with worry, and he couldn't bring himself to smile just yet. "When will we know for sure?"
Doctor Jensen sighed, partly because the task force leader seemed to want an exact time, and partly because he knew the man before him was not going to like what he was going to request of them all, "The next 24 to 48 hours will be most critical, of course, but I think we could start seeing some improvement maybe even in the next 12 hours. That's a rough guess, of course, and not a reason to worry if there's not much improvement in the next day. We'll just keep fighting for him and helping him fight for himself as well."
Steve nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer, "So when can we go back to see him?"
Doctor Jensen met Steve's gaze and answered calmly, "Twelve hours... at least."
Steve paused as the words sank in. He narrowed his eyes at the doctor and gave him what he was sure Danny would call his Death Stare, "What?"
"Twelve hours, Commander," he looked at the small group, "All of you. I don't want to see any of you here in the next twelve hours at least. You especially, Commander. I know that you are worried about your teammate, your friend, but it won't do him any good if you've run yourself into the ground before he even regains consciousness."
"I'm fine," Steve stubbornly insisted, ignoring Catherine's hand on his arm.
"You've been here almost twenty-four hours, Commander, and I doubt you got any sleep last night. You need to get yourself a good meal and a decent amount of sleep."
"He's right, Steve," Catherine squeezed his arm gently. "Danny will need you more when he wakes up than he does right now."
"You'll call if there's any change," Chin stated rather than asked.
"Of course," Doctor Jensen assured them. "I'm keeping a close eye on him. I'm also headed home to get a few hours of sleep, and then I'll be back. The head nurse on duty knows to call me, and she'll keep a good eye on him, too."
Steve looked ready to protest despite Catherine's hand on one arm and Kono's now resting on his other arm.
"I mean it, Commander," Doctor Jensen noted the near-rebellion in Steve's eyes. "Twelve hours minimum. The head nurse is under orders not to let anyone in his room in that time frame, and I suggest you not test your luck with her."
Finally, Steve admitted defeat and followed the others out of the hospital. He picked his way through a late lunch, eating only through necessity, before allowing Catherine to take him home and practically shove him into bed to get some sleep. He was asleep within five minutes, mentally cursing his body for its all too human weakness and the need for sleep even as he drifted off.
It should have been no surprise that exactly twelve hours after Doctor Jensen ordered the team to take a break, Steve was again sitting next to his partner's side. Despite that twelve hour mark coming in the middle of the night, Steve was back at the hospital with the chair pulled close to Danny's bedside. The head nurse came in to take an hourly reading for the chart and jumped as she noticed Steve sitting in the chair in the dimly lit room.
"It's been twelve hours," Steve pointed out.
The nurse pursed her lips, but a glance at her watch showed that it had indeed been the required twelve hours. Just.
"How's he doing?"
The nurse took the reading from the machine and tried to figure out how he could have slipped past her at the nurse's desk. She'd passed by the room not five minutes before and peaked in so she knew he hadn't been there then; she'd gone straight back to the duty station, which everyone entering the unit had to pass, and yet she had not seen him enter the room. She shook off the uneasy feeling that gave her as she answered his question, "His readings are starting to improve. His blood pressure has come up, and we haven't had to give him any more units of blood since the surgery this morning... well, yesterday morning."
"Has Doctor Jensen been in again yet?"
"He's due back in a couple of hours," the nurse fiddled with a few more things while recording readings. She turned back to Steve, "What about you? Did you get some sleep?"
"Yes, Ma'am," Steve assured her, "and, yes, I ate something, too. I'm good for a while now so no need to worry about me; just take care of Danny."
The nurse nodded, "His dressings need to be changed so I'll be right back if I can find someone to help me. We're a little shorthanded tonight."
"I'll help," Steve stood, and at the nurse's hesitant look, assured her, "I can handle it."
"It's different when it's someone you're close to," she pointed out.
"I was in Afghanistan so I've done this on buddies plenty of times," Steve told her and then shrugged, "besides, when he's released I'm probably going to be the one helping him do it then, too."
"Alright," she acquiesced.
For the next several minutes the nurse expertly redressed Danny's wounds with assistance from Steve. Other than what was necessary to complete the task, not a word was spoken as they cleaned and re-bandaged Danny's many wounds. Steve clenched his jaw and fought back raw emotion as he helped care for his battered and bruised friend.
"He did well," the nurse soothed Steve as she took more readings after they finished, "Even though he's unconscious, this can take a toll on someone, but his vitals look good, not too stressed, so he's doing great."
"Good," Steve found a nearby cloth and wiped Danny's face. He put a hand on his shoulder and leaned in, "You can do this, Danny. You just have to fight a little while longer so you can come back to us, but you're tough and you're gonna be just fine. I know you are, buddy."
The nurse patted Steve's shoulder as she left the little room, "We're all taking care of him the best we can, Commander, including you. Let us know if you need anything, and I'll send Doctor Jensen in when he gets back."
Steve nodded and settled into the little chair next to Danny's bedside. He spent the next two hours alternating between encouraging his partner to get better soon and going over the case out loud, fervently wishing his partner was conscious so they could bounce ideas off of each other.
The first thing Doctor Jensen did after he arrived at Tripler in the early pre-dawn hours was go to the ICU to check on Detective Williams. He chuckled as the nurse described Commander McGarrett's ninja-like appearance in his partner's room exactly twelve hours after the doctor's imposed rest break. He scanned the nurse's notes and headed into the unit where he found the Five-0 leader sitting as close to the hospital bed as he could get, "Well, Commander, I can't say that I'm terribly surprised to see you here."
"You said twelve hours," Steve barely managed not to sound like a petulant teenager as he crossed his arms over his chest, "I stayed away twelve hours."
"And not a minute more from what I hear," Doctor Jensen grinned. "Nurse Cynthia says you're quite the ninja sneaking in here."
Steve glanced at Danny and shrugged, "Not the first time I've been called that."
"If there was a window in here, I'd check for grappling hooks because she swears there's no way you should have gotten in here without her noticing."
Again, Steve shrugged, "There's always a way if you know what you're doing."
Doctor Jensen let it go and turned his concentration back to his patient. He studied readings, took Danny's pulse manually rather than just relying on the machines, took a peek at a couple of the bandaged wounds, and finally nodded in satisfaction, "Much better."
"Yeah?" Steve's hopes soared.
"Yeah," Doctor Jensen confirmed with a nod. "His vitals are looking much better, and though he's still critical, I think he's starting to turn that corner and level out. I think we'll reduce the sedation a bit and see what happens."
"Do you think he'll wake up soon?"
"I doubt he'll wake in the next several hours, but we'll see. If he does, it won't be for long," the doctor explained. "We'll keep a close eye on things in case his vitals dip again without the sedation, but if not, he could regain consciousness some time later today, but I won't promise that. He's suffered a severe trauma so the best thing for his body right now is to rest and heal."
"Thanks, Doc."
Doctor Jensen paused at the door, "And don't forget to take care of yourself, too, Commander."
Steve nodded, "I'll be fine."
Chin, Kono and Catherine arrived a few hours later with coffee in hand for Steve. None of them were surprised to hear that he had not left Danny's side since he'd come back after the imposed rest period. Catherine convinced him to leave for an hour so she could take him for an actual breakfast at a nearby diner while the cousins sat with Danny. After breakfast, Steve told them all to go to the office to start looking into what Terrance Walters had told them about the pick pocketing gang and the leader's alias of Fagin. He made them swear to keep him in the loop while he stayed with Danny.
By late afternoon, Steve was dozing in the uncomfortable plastic chair and the nurses were getting used to moving around him quietly as they checked Danny's vitals periodically. When Doctor Jensen came in Steve was still sleeping, but the doctor was pleased to see movement behind Danny's closed eyelids.
Doctor Jensen grinned and leaned closer to capture Danny's gaze as he was rewarded with bleary blue eyes after a few minutes of waiting, "Detective Williams, do you know where you are?"
Danny blinked several times to get his eyes to focus and finally nodded at the doctor leaning over him.
Nurse Cynthia appeared in the room and immediately stepped out and came back in with a small cup of ice chips. She expertly spooned a small bit into Danny's mouth to help moisten it, "There you go, sweetie. That should help."
Danny swallowed and offered her a small smile in thanks. He could feel his eyes grow heavy and his body's need for more sleep, but there was something he needed to know first. He slowly rolled his head one way and, seeing nothing but hospital equipment past the nurse, rolled it the other way and was rewarded with the sight of his sleeping partner by his bedside. He studied him for a moment before looking back at the doctor. He swallowed and managed to croak softly, "He okay?"
Doctor Jensen wasn't entirely surprised that his patient's first question upon awakening was about his partner. He nodded, "Yes, he's fine though stubborn and won't leave until he knows you're okay."
Danny smiled and nodded slightly, "Everyone else? They okay?"
"Your team is fine, Detective," the doctor assured him. "They were all here a little bit ago, and I'm sure they'll be back."
Danny's eyes closed, and Doctor Jensen thought he was asleep until he opened them again for one more question, "What about the kid? I shot a kid... did I kill him?"
Doctor Jensen put a calming hand on his patient's arm as the heart monitor started to beep, "Calm down, Detective. You did not kill him. He's going to be okay."
Awakened by the beeping, Steve blearily sat up and looked around. He jumped up in a panic, fully awake, when he noticed the doctor leaning over his partner. "Doc, what's wrong? How's Danny?"
The corner of Danny's mouth twitched at Steve's panicked response as he wearily lifted a hand to clasp his partner's hand in his own. He looked him straight in the eye and whispered, "Neanderthal," before his eyes closed again, smile firmly etched on his face in sleep.
