Sorry it's been so long since I posted an update. Many of you know about my eye surgery and complications. I'm happy to say that the worst is over and I can actually see close up again. Yeah!

This is a short one to get the story moving along... Thanks to my fantastic friend and beta, Phoebe, for supporting and gently (well, not always so gently!) pushing me.

Thanks for your patience. Enjoy!

*** H50 ***

Steve was alone in Danny's room, watching his sick partner. The doctor was due in around 7:00 am to check on Danny, and Steve was nervously waiting for his appearance.

After filling them in on Danny's deteriorating condition, he had flipped a $20 bill to Chin and Kono to get breakfast and coffee for all of them from the hospital cafeteria. Kono was visibly upset when they left which just exacerbated Steve's own emotional state.

The morning light was coming in through the private room's curtains covering the small window. It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. Standing at the window, a breeze blowing the palm trees lining the beach, Steve sighed. A beautiful day that Danny wouldn't be enjoying.He turned back to look at his friend.

It was really hard for him to see his best friend fighting through endless feverish ramblings, nightmares that had him in their throes with him thrashing, as much as he was able, in his disturbed sleep. Steve felt so damned helpless. It wasn't the first time he had seen his best friend injured, far from it. But this time it wasn't even in the line of duty. It was on a team outing that started out so well.

Moving to sit in the chair by Danny's side, Steve just hung his head, resting it on his arms that were perched on his knees. He just stared at Danny and wished that his own nightmare was over. He could barely stand this anymore. How long before Danny came out of it? How long before the antibiotics took effect? How long before the fever came down? What if his brain was fried and he wasn't himself when, or if, he survived this attack to his system? And what was the cause of the fever? The doctors didn't even know. Not yet anyway.

Steve was jostled out of his troubled thoughts by a hand on his shoulder. He jumped. Normally he would have had the person pinned against the wall in a nanosecond. Now, he just looked up, wearily, and locked eyes with the nurse who had gently touched him.

"Commander, there's someone out in the corridor who wants to speak to you?" she said.

"If it's not one of my team or the doctor, I don't want to talk to them," Steve said, his voice husky with non-use and fatigue.

"Well, it's… um, one of the girls' fathers," the nurse replied. "He didn't want to disturb you, knowing you're keeping a vigil over your partner."

"Which one?" Steve asked, not wanting to speak to Wendy's arrogant father right now.

"Mr. Carminski."

Steve quirked an eyebrow at her, looking towards the corridor beyond the door of Danny's room.

"He's terribly distraught and hoped that you wouldn't mind talking to him."

"I'll be out in a minute. Just give me a second." Steve reached over to pat Danny's arm. Danny had calmed a little and Steve knew that his presence helped keep him tethered to the real world better than anybody else's. "I'll be right back, buddy. Just a minute or two, okay?" Steve slowly stood, glanced at Danny's fevered face and turned to leave. He hesitated only briefly before walking into the corridor.

/*/*/*/

"Commander, I'm so grateful for you giving me a minute of your time. How's your partner?" Leo Carminski looked at Steve with pain-filled, damp eyes.

"He's hanging in there. Mr. Carminski, how can I help you?" Leo's demeanor did not escape Steve's notice.

"Leo. Please, just Leo."

"Okay, Leo. Are you okay?"

"No. We just brought Luvie in. She was unresponsive this morning and we don't know what's wrong with her." Leo's face was a picture of fear and worry.

Steve's eyes reflected his concern as he grasped Leo's hand in his own. "What happened?"

"I went to wake her this morning because the police were coming to take her statement. I couldn't wake her," Leo said, barely holding back his tears.

"I'm so sorry. What are the doctors saying?"

"Not much, yet. They are examining her as we speak. I was hoping maybe you could give us some insight as to what happened during the accident."

"She was coherent and seemed all right except for the bruising and minor scrapes on her leg from being stuck in the jet ski," Steve responded. "She climbed on the boat without help."

"Luvie seemed relatively okay when we got home last night. She was sore and tired. My wife and I just wrote it off to the trauma of the day. So we don't really know what happened between then and now. We just don't know." A few tears started rolling down Leo's cheeks.

"Why don't we sit in the Visitor's Lounge," Steve said as he pointed to the end of the corridor. "Do you want coffee, water?"

"No, no, I just need some answers." Wringing his hands, the distraught father was just holding it together.

The two men walked together towards the lounge. Steve sat in a chair in the corner of the room away from other people waiting for news on their loved ones. Leo took the chair kitty-corner from Steve. Both men leaned their arms on their knees. Leo took a deep breath while Steve's forehead was creased with concern.

"Tell me what happened between leaving the hospital yesterday and the time when Luvie became ill," Steve prompted. Leo filled him in on every detail he could remember, including the conversation about telling the truth. Steve smiled slightly at that. He really admired Leo as a father. He could see Danny doing something like that with Grace. Leo grabbed his attention when he told him about the increased redness, swelling and soreness of Luvie's leg injuries that his wife noticed when she had redressed them the night before.

"Wait. Luvie got worse last night?" Steve asked pointedly.

"She was tired and wanted to go to bed early which didn't seem abnormal considering what she went through yesterday. Her leg was bothering her and as I told you, Leilani said it looked bad when she redressed it last night. We didn't even get a chance to check her wounds this morning. I just bundled her up and got her in the car. The police officer who came to get her statement took one look at us and gave us a police escort here."

Steve sat there in stunned silence. But not for long.

"I don't think this is a coincidence," he stated.

"What?" Leo looked up at Steve.

"Danny took a turn for the worse last night. He developed a fever and it spiked during the night. The doctors think his open wounds got infected. I wouldn't be surprised if what's going on with Luvie is the same or similar to what's going on with Danny. We need to talk to both their doctors right away." Up and moving, Steve grabbed Leo's arm and pulled him along.

~ to be continued ~