Steve and Grace
Chapter 10
Disclaimer: See chapter one
"Lt. Kelly?" The sound of a man's voice brought Chin's thought back to the moment. He had watched Danny come to the realization of exactly what Steve had done to try and protect Grace, that, along with the fear he'd had for his daughter finally broke the hardened detective. Chin and Malia had left Kono and Charlie with Danny and Grace, whose doctor okayed it for her to remain in her father's room, not that they would have been able to separate the two without sedating both. Kelly had needed to try and find out if there was any word on Steve's condition.
Kelly looked up from the cup he'd been staring at, then quickly stood, "How is he?"
"Please have a seat." The doctor motioned back to the chairs, to which all three of them returned. "I'm Dr. Adams, I operated on Commander McGarrett. The commander suffered from a gunshot wound that entered through the back of his right shoulder, exiting through the front. Now normally a wound like this would be considered minor if treatment had been received quickly, but from what I understand happened leading up to the time the commander arrived here at the hospital there have been some complications." Dr. Adams paused to make sure the man before him was keeping up, the doctor then glanced at Malia, whom he recognized and knew she would help clarify any confusion.
"What kind of complications?" Chin didn't know if he really wanted to know, he was afraid of the doctors next words and just what they would mean for Steve, for the whole team.
Taking a deep breath the doctor decided to start with what he was sure the couple before him already knew, "As you know Commander McGarrett arrived here in full arrest, his heart stopped due to loss of blood volume. If pressure had been applied immediately blood loss would have been at a minimum, but that fact he was in the water and had to swim, that motion caused the area of damage to increase, tearing the tissue around the wound. Because of that motion and the fact he was in the water for as long as he was, it never allowed the wound to clot. Now we are giving him units of blood to get his levels up, but his stats are still dangerously low." Again the doctor paused, it was a lot of information to take in and he wanted the officer before him to understand the severity of his friend's condition.
"You said there were some complications, what else?" Chin needed to know everything now. If it was just this one complication that would be bad enough, that would be hard enough for Steve to fight back from, but Kelly had a feeling there was actually worse news to come.
Dr. Adams continued, "With the fact the wound remained open and Commander McGarrett was in the water over a period of time sepsis has set in." The doctor saw Chin pale slightly, "We are hopeful that we have caught it early and have him on a strong course of antibiotics, but with the weaken state his body is already in, we are extremely concerned. In addition we have to keep a close watch on his lungs; he aspirated some of the ocean water. We hope the antibiotics that we already have him on will help against the possibility of pneumonia setting in, but again this is a grave concern at the moment."
Chin sat, taking in what he had just been told. Yes Steve was still alive, but for just how long was the most pressing issue. Kelly leaned forward, his head held in his hands. He could feel Malia's hand on his back, gently rubbing it in comfort, but right now nothing could bring comfort to his frayed mind, too his aching soul. Danny had been shot, Grace had almost died and now Steve could quite possibly be dying and he felt totally useless to do anything about it.
It was another minute before he rubbed his hand over his face and looked back at the doctor. "What exactly are his chances?" Again it was an answer he really didn't want, but needed to know.
Dr. Adams leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, his hand clasped in front of him as he looked at the man across from him, "In all honesty Lt. Kelly, I am not a firm believer in statistics. I've been a doctor long enough to have seen people that should have died walk out of here completely recovered and people I was sure would recover one hundred percent die. I don't like to give odds or percentages in regards to my patient's chances of recovery but I will tell you, your friend has a very hard road ahead of him. Yes his body is very weak right now, maybe the weakest it will ever be, but I know the mind is a wonderful thing and if that mind wants to fight, it will. Now yes there are times when a mind that desperately wants to fight is up against a body that just has nothing left to give, but I like to remain optimistic no matter the circumstances. I know the reality of what your friend is up against, but I know we will help his body to keep fighting as long as his mind wants the same thing."
Chin thought about that, it somehow gave him a glimmer of hope that these people would fight for Steve as much as he knew Steve would want to fight. "One thing you'll come to learn about McGarrett, he doesn't give up easily. If anyone has a chance of getting through this it would be Steve." Saying those words out loud seemed to motivate Kelly, seemed to finally banish those thoughts that wanted to question whether Steve would walk away from this. Yes there might be a long, hard road ahead of him, but Chin knew that since the age of sixteen Steve's life had been anything but easy, however he was still standing and stronger because of it. "When can I see him?"
The doctor stood, Chin and Malia following. "He'll be moved into the ICU in about an hour, you can visit him then. We are keeping him on the ventilator until we feel his body is strong enough and he will remain in the ICU for at least the next couple days or until he starts to show signs of improvement."
Kelly reached his hand out, "Maholo doctor, for everything. I need to go and let the rest of our team know how Steve is and I have a couple phone calls to make then I'll be back. Please have someone find me if anything changes." With a nod in understanding the doctor returned through the recovery area doors, thankful in knowing his patient had such a good support system and silently prayed the man possessed the will to live that his friends firmly believed him to have.
50505050505050
Four days passed with only marginal change in Steve's condition, the only visible improvement had been the fact the ventilator had been removed. Though his body was still weak, the medication had helped stem the tide of damage the sepsis could have caused and had miraculously kept the pneumonia the doctors had feared would develop away.
Danny stood, leaning against the wall of his partner's hospital room, his hands deep in his pockets. He had been released the day before and since the DA had been able to get a short reprieve Danny made his Grand Jury appearance that morning. Now it was just after noon and he was again watching his partner 'sleep'.
Williams had learned over the last couple days HPD had apparently taken a page out of Steve's play book and hit the remaining gang members hard and fast. Those the officers couldn't find had by all accounts made their way off the island, trying to no doubt regroup on the mainland. But according to FBI reports that task had been nearly impossible. For all intents and purposes all operations had been halted, it was a rare thing for an entire enterprise the size and scale that this gang possessed to be nearly totally dismantled, but it had. With the Grand Jury indictments here on the Islands, as well as those on the mainland, the threat had all but been eliminated. Danny felt himself breathe for the first time since Saturday morning, when hell had rained down on Five-0 in that initial spray of gunfire.
He still had trouble wrapping his mind around what Grace and Steve had gone through, what his partner had done in a desperate attempt to save Grace's life at nearly the cost of his own. Danny had always known, from the moment that the beautiful brown-eyed buddle was placed in his arms ten years ago that he would die to protect her. He was her father; it was his duty but Steve…
Danny knew his partner was hell bent on protecting the people he served as head of the task force, just as he was sure the man never thought of his own welfare throughout his Naval career. Over the time he'd known Steve, Williams knew the man would lay his life down to protect him as well, so he didn't know why he seemed to be struggling with the fact Steve had done the very same thing for Grace.
Grace…the image of his daughter huddled in Kono's arms still woke him when he could sleep. The fear he had seen in her face, heard in her voice when he finally saw her, it would be a very long time before he could shake that. And it would probably take even longer to shake the echo of those four terrifying words she had spoke as she clung to him, "Daddy…Uncle Steve's dead."
His daughter had witnessed so much that day, then for her to have watched Steve die in front of her, it still made him sick to his stomach. After Chin had explained what happened, after Grace had revealed what went on between her and Steve before they had gone into the water. After Danny's mini breakdown and Grace had finally drifted to sleep still clinging to his chest and Chin had left to find out about Steve, Charlie had spoken up.
Danny remembered teasing Kono about finally going out with Charlie Fong, but the fact the young man had remained at the hospital, not only for Kono, but as support to the people that were important to her showed the strong character that Danny always felt the younger man possessed. Charlie had been the one person the Coast Guard divers had spoken to. He had been with Kono as they watched the chopper come in carrying Grace and Steve. Once Steve had been rushed in and Kono went to Grace's side, one of the divers pulled Charlie aside and gave him a rundown of how the two were found. It had been Charlie that helped him understand just how close everything had been, relaying that the divers witnessed the fact Grace was tethered to Steve through the entire ordeal and it wasn't until the diver was within arms reach of Grace that McGarrett released the rope keeping them together. The diver told Charlie that in the instant he grabbed the small girl's arm Steve had lost consciousness and slipped below the surface of the water.
Danny shook his head, knowing Steve had fought with the very last ounce of energy his damaged body had until he knew for sure Grace was safe. Williams remembered the first time they were allowed in to see Steve. He had still been in the ICU and it took some pleading and a few tears on Grace's part for the doctors to relent and allow the young girl to visit Steve with her father and Chin.
When Danny was wheeled into the room the person in the bed looked nothing like his larger than life partner. The man in the bed looked frail, broken, that was not Steve McGarrett. The ventilator was pushing air into his lungs, bags of blood, fluids and heavy duty medication ran in lines to his still arms. Various leads, lines and tubes seemed to come from everywhere, the man's dark hair and days worth of stubble gave his face a ghostly look, a paleness that was only second to that of a corpse.
Danny had felt and heard Grace start sobbing as they neared the bed. When Chin stopped the chair Williams felt his little girl move to stand, she was still in her own hospital gown, a blanket draped over her shoulders, held close against the cool of the hospital and the chills that would still occasionally shake her small body from the shock of what she'd been through. Both men watched her near the bed, tears streaming down her face as she reached her small hand up and laid it against Steve's cheek. "I'm okay Uncle Steve…you kept me safe just like you promised. I need you to get better now so I can give you a hug. I love you Uncle Steve." Her voice nearly a whisper, but her fear, worry and love filling the room as she stood on tiptoes and placed a kiss on the still man's cheek.
It had taken both Danny's and Rachel's vehement promise that she could come back to the hospital everyday until her Uncle Steve woke up before the small girl agreed to leave her father or uncle. And over the last two days Rachel had held to that promise. She knew her daughter had been through something terrible and both of Grace's parents knew that the only person that was going to be able to start her getting past it would be Steve.
And so Danny stood watching his partner, his brother, more grateful than he would ever be able to express for what the man had done for him, praying said man would wake soon to help start the healing process that they all so desperately needed.