I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.

Notes: time to get the boys together. Safely to TAMC - many many thanks to CinderH! And to everyone's fantastic support and the great reviews! Off to Baltimore on business for the rest of the week. ;-) Next chapter to follow as soon as I can.

H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O*

Chapter 9

He was on the water again and it was moving in a gentle side to side motion. But the pungent astringent smells were all wrong for the fresh breezes from the ocean, as were the oddly harsher sounds. And when something strong and unyielding grasped his arm and then his leg, followed by a new and deeply unsettling feeling of almost going airborne, Steve woke with a startled gasp. Yanking his arm back, his hand immediately became a white-knuckled fist as he lurched forward in surprise and then nearly fell off the gurney he'd been transferred to.

"Easy, Steve!" Chin shouted as his arm was once again restrained. Covering Steve's fist with a gentle hand, Chin got the man to focus on his face. "It's okay. Calm down. Relax."

It took a moment for him to wake fully, but Steve eventually realized that he was not on a boat, but in a bed. "I thought ... the boat ..the waves.." His surprised whisper trailed off as he looked around the room. The movement and restraining hands that he felt were those of Chin, Nurse Ellen Ramirez and two EMT's. He gasped again as he looked around in total confusion. "What's going on?"

Ellen Ramirez also leaned over to soothe him as she stood near his side and flicked blankets over his body and then buckled the necessary straps over his middle as the gurney was raised to its full height. "It's alright, Commander. We only just moved you to a gurney so we can go."

Ellen hadn't expected him to awaken only a few short hours after his exhausted collapse and definitely not after being given such a strong sedative. But even though the dark smudges were still prominently under his eyes, Steve was indeed fully awake. Sighing in exasperation, she placed both hands on her hips. "You're supposed to be sleeping."

"What time is it? Go where?" Steve was disoriented and could only barely remember returning to the hospital in the early morning hours. He remembered seeing a nurse and asking about Danny, but after that everything was a disorganized jumble of sights and sounds.

"And what happened?" Based on the brightness in the room, it was early afternoon and he couldn't remember how he'd wound up in a hospital bed let alone find he was being transferred to a gurney. He felt bone tired and out of sorts as he rubbed a shaky hand over his face.

"Chin." It was then he also realized that he was dressed in a hospital gown. Lifting both arms, he saw one was sporting a spectacular white bandage, while the other was hooked up to an IV line. "This is ridiculous. Where are my clothes?"

Chin slowly released Steve's hand and arm as he seemed to finally relax, though he was no less confused. Kono had already escorted Danny to TAMC personally thirty minutes prior. It was Steve's turn based on Doc Ramirez's orders to evacuate all TAMC patients that afternoon. With the recent and very upsetting happenings, the cousins had vowed to quite literally divide and conquer on their friends' behalf.

"Those are a lot of questions, Steve. Is there anything that you do remember? It may be easier to start there." Chin was beginning to grin from ear to ear at Steve's bewildered expression. He was also intentionally trying to make light of the conversation, but there was a sadness to his eyes and he seemed worried and preoccupied.

"I hope you at least remember Ellen Ramirez? She's been your personal keeper since you collapsed this morning." He drawled the words slowly, allowing them to sink into Steve's brain.

"Collapsed? I collapsed?" Steve was genuinely confused as he frowned and looked from Chin to Ellen. He frowned when he recognized the nurse. "And of course I know you. Why wouldn't I know you?" And Ellen almost laughed at his obviously insulted tone.

"You certainly didn't know who I was earlier. And yes, you did collapse from exhaustion and dehydration. About four hours ago, you had to be sedated since you tried to leave this lovely establishment on your own."

"No, I don't remember any of that ... at all." Steve furrowed his brow in disbelief as he shook his head. Raising his bandaged arm, he asked Ellen. "So this? What did I do here?"

But Chin interrupted to explain his earlier violent semi-awakening. "That, is from when you decided you were leaving. You tore the first IV out of your arm and decided that you either were going to fight yourself out of the ward or simply go for a walk. And now there's a perfectly nice technician walking around the hospital with a busted lip compliments of yours truly."

Unable to help himself as Steve raised his eyebrows in surprise, Chin crossed his arms as he sarcastically added, "You're an absolute joy to take care of .. do you know that? I thought I liked you better when you were sleeping. But obviously even that can be a trial ..."

Steve narrowed his eyes at the sarcasm and then began to undo the straps across his waist. "Yeah, well. I feel fine. So transport someone else on this thing." Ellen smirked at Chin who again stepped forward and she held a finger up for him to wait. As Steve unbuckled the canvas and leaned forward, he suddenly paled and closed his eyes in alarm as the room swam crazily and his stomach lurched. "Whoa .."

With a disgusted sound, Ellen took the opportunity to push him back down as he rubbed his blurry eyes. "You don't look better and you still need to take it easy. Straps stay on you. And you stay on the gurney. No arguments"

"Yeah, okay." He muttered in defeat as a multitude of dancing spots covered and grayed out his vision. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Steve made a face as he waited for them to clear. "Fine. Okay. Where are we going?"

Ellen smiled as she patted his arm. "Your body is trying to tell you something and I insist that you listen. Plus the sedative is still in your system. And like I said before .. you should be sleeping. I'm not sure how or why you managed to wake up. But to answer your question, all TAMC staff and patients are going to Tripler."

"Now. Immediately." The words were added in a strong, definitive voice but Steve didn't miss the angry edge to her tone or Chin's eye roll and barely concealed wry grin. But looking at Chin's tense posture and tightly stressed features, Steve was worried something else was wrong and it could only be related to one other person.

"Danny?" The name said as a question made Ellen hesitate and Chin briefly looked away as his true unease finally came to the surface.

"What happened?" Steve breathed out carefully. He did remember that Danny had been resting the last time he saw him but for some reason, that seemed like days ago now. He had been resting comfortably; Steve thought he remembered that much. But now it was obvious that something had happened.

Steve struggled to sit up again, but another wave of dizziness washed over him. This time, he wasn't able to clear his vision, so he settled for closing his eyes unhappily as Ellen reset the straps and blankets. In a rough voice, Steve kept his eyes closed as he swallowed hard to push back the nausea and conquer the vertigo. "Danny. He was sleeping …you said he was fine .. what happened?"

Since Chin had been there when Hathaway was in the room, he stepped forward to answer Steve's questions. "Danny's been moved already and should be settled in his room at Tripler within the next half hour. Kono is traveling with him. Ellen's coordinating this end and Doc Ramirez is receiving everyone at the other."

Chin looked in askance at Ellen and she nodded that he should continue. "Danny had a bit of setback about two hours ago. One of the audiologists from this hospital … showed up unannounced … pushed a little too hard." Chin rubbed his face from the disturbing experience as Steve squinted up in a newly found anger. After Ramirez had taken care of Hathaway, Danny had closed his eyes as he held his head in pain. Kono had still been standing next to him and she'd tried to calm him. But the nausea had kicked in simultaneously.

"Kono.. hurts." They were the only words he had gasped out before the dry heaves had begun. Ramirez had quickly stepped over Hathaway's body to lower the bed and to immediately inject an anti-emetic. That had worked, but the migraine had set in earnest and Danny had complained about badly blurred vision as he started to tremble. Pain medication and oxygen followed as a fight began to control his rising blood pressure. Chin had only helped the audiologist to his feet to get him out of the room. After that, the man was entirely forgotten as Ramirez catered to Danny's very obvious distress and worked to get his blood pressure back near a more normal range. Orders to move him to TAMC came within the hour putting Danny on one of the first transfer units with Kono as official escort.

Chin was angry and worried as he summed up for Steve what had recently happened. "In short, Danny got badly worked up. Migraine. Nausea and gagging all over again until the anti-emetic kicked in. Blood pressure destabilized but this time sky-rocketed. Doc Ramirez moved up his transport. The Tripler audiologist was postponed until at least tomorrow. Doc Ramirez is going to rerun a few tests .. he's now not entirely convinced the MRI and CAT scans done here were valid."

Closing his eyes and settling his thoughts, Steve worriedly considered the news. "He thinks Danny has what then .. a skull fracture? Are we back to that?"

But Chin could only shrug unhappily. "I don't know .. that's most probable I guess. I'm not sure yet. But that Hathaway ... he just needed to keep pushing."

"Pushed? Sounds more like shoved." Steve's jaw was working angrily. Ellen smacked his hand as he once again tried to undo the straps holding him to the gurney. "Who is this Hathaway? I'd like to speak with him .. or her .. for that matter."

With a shake of her head Ellen made three points clear. "For your information, Hathaway is a 'he'. But you, sir are still a patient under our care and the only way you're going to Tripler is on this gurney and .."

Ellen pointed to the two EMT's patiently waiting in the doorway, "...in their ambulance. Secondly, the sooner you stop this and get on your way, the sooner you'll be able to see Detective Williams for yourself."

With a gleam in her eye and a knowing look thrown Chin's way, Ellen finished her third statement. "And .. you don't have to worry about Doctor Neil Hathaway."

Steve raised an eyebrow quizzically at her much too happy expression. It was almost devilish and he found himself beginning to grin along with her. And Chin had nearly the same smugly satisfied face. Leaning down to fix the blankets one more time, Ellen whispered in Steve's ear.

"It's alright dear. The best man won ... and let's just say, that I'm very glad he's mine."

~ to be continued ~