Hello, everyone. Once again, I don't have all my 'thanks for your review' notes completed, but please know that I do appreciate each and every one of them. I *will* get notes to everyone.
As for this chapter, once again I need to thank sockie1000 and sym64 for their prompt turn around with their comments... especially since I didn't even send it to them until 3 a.m. Saturday morning. They go way above and beyond their duty as betas. Gals, I really appreciate your help and couldn't do this without you... Also, to sockie and sym... rest assured no one was 'blown' in this chapter. Don't ask. :)
One more thing... I made lots of changes after they read it, so if it doesn't make sense... don't blame them. Mistakes are *all* mine.
'Emo 'ole Make loa
Chapter 11
Too dang hot in here… Somebody turn on the AC.
Feel like someone used me as a punching bag.
Oh… yeah, that.
Hurts…
Danny spent Wednesday night leaning over his partner's hospital bed, talking to Steve when he became restless; helping the nurse as she tried to cool him down and generally worrying himself sick. Steve didn't wake up during that time, which caused Danny more concern. Max had passed along the doctor's comment about possible brain damage and it was all Danny could do to keep it together when he was ready to come totally unglued.
On the bright side, Steve could move. And he did so, nearly continuously. Legs, arms, neck, hands, fingers. He couldn't keep still. Danny could tell when he was in pain by the grimaces he would make while trying to find a more comfortable position. Steve's body was still covered in deep bruises and Danny winced each time Steve made a face. Steve would grimace, then relax for a few minutes before his movement began again. Danny could see that his friend wasn't comfortable and he longed to help him but didn't know what to do.
The nurses had changed at 6 a.m. and Calla had bid him and Steve goodbye. Her replacement was Margaret, who reminded Danny of his own mother just a few years ago. She was the nurturing type and immediately began fawning all over both him and Steve. Margaret reviewed Steve's chart before Calla left and afterwards began making her own notations in it. Looking at the worried expression on Danny's face, she quietly commented, "You know, he really is doing better. I wouldn't be surprised if he wakes up this morning."
The sounds were back. Hisses, beeps, annoying stuff.
The pain was back, too. Everything hurt.
Constantly. If he could move, maybe he could get rid of it.
But he tried that. It didn't work.
Nothing worked.
…"wakes up this morning".
Voices. Can I wake up? Will I ever wake up?
Maybe I'll just lay here.
But I gotta move.
Here hurts.
Danny glanced at her. "Hope so. The not knowing is killing me. And he was…" he paused and took a deep breath, looking back at his partner. "He was really bad last night before the antidote."
She nodded, checking the chart from the night before. "I can see that. But I promise you that I'll keep him as comfortable as possible. And since I've been here, his temp has dropped almost a full degree. Let's give him time to wake up."
"Excuse me," Danny said, reaching for his phone and checking his text. He hesitated and then asked, "What time do you think the doctor will be here? Our team is downstairs and they want me to meet them for breakfast."
"Then go. We don't know how long the doctor will take and you look like you can use a break."
"Yeah, but call me, OK? My number is in the chart."
"Will do. Go relax with your friends. I'll take care of this one." She motioned for him to leave and then turned back to the bed. "We'll be just fine, won't we?"
~~~H50~~~
During breakfast, Kono and Chin had convinced Danny to go home for a shower and some sleep before heading into the office. The two had ganged up on him before he relented; but only after he was able to check on his partner again. As they were talking, a short, Hawaiian lady approached the table.
"I'm sorry for interrupting, but may I speak to you?"
They glanced at her and after a beat, recognition set in and Chin stood and held out his arms.
"Aunt Ruthie!"
She melted into his embrace. "Chin Ho Kelly, as I live and breathe. Where have you kept yourself?"
"I've been around, Auntie. It's good to see you. You remember Kono, don't you?"
"Oh, my, yes. You've grown into a beautiful, young woman."
"Thank you, Auntie. I think I remember you."
"Auntie, this is our co-worker, Detective Danny Williams."
"Nice to meet you," Danny replied. "Another aunt, huh?"
Chin grinned. "In title only. She used to babysit me," he admitted. "Have a seat, Auntie."
Ruth became serious, reaching her hand out to place on Chin's arm. "Chin Ho, I did something terribly wrong."
"What's wrong?" he asked, leaning in closer to her.
She shook her head and looked to each of them before beginning. "I work at the information desk downstairs and yesterday I gave out information on Commander McGarrett… I didn't know the details of his admission were to be kept secret."
Chin nodded and then asked, "Tell me what happened, please."
She looked down at the table, drawing circles with her finger. "It was about flowers. A girl came to the desk and asked for the commander's room number. I looked it up, and noticed the name was highlighted in yellow, but I was by myself at the desk, and while I knew the yellow meant something, I didn't know—"
Danny placed his hand on her arm. "Ma'am, that's OK. Tell us about the girl with the flowers, please."
"Oh, yes, she had flowers to be delivered to the commander. I explained that he was in ICU and therefore couldn't have flowers. She seemed so distressed because someone had paid a lot of money for them, so I suggested that she take them to the ICU waiting room so that everyone's family members could enjoy them. She seemed so happy with that idea."
Kono quickly said to her team, "If we're lucky, we can get prints."
"Oh, she wouldn't have left prints," Ruth told them. "She was wearing black gloves. Plastic ones. I commented that they must be hot and she was rather embarrassed about the reason. The poor girl delivers flowers for a living and she is allergic to them."
"Right," Kono said, dragging out the word in disbelief.
Chin again patted Ruth's hand. "Thank you for coming forward, Auntie."
"I am so very sorry."
"We'll check it out. Steve has a lot of protection, so he is fine."
She nodded. "Thank you."
"No worries, Auntie," Kono told her. "But I would like to go downstairs with you to see if there are any security cameras in the area."
"Yes, of course," she replied, standing. "It was nice to meet you, Detective." She leaned down and hugged Chin. "Don't be a stranger, Chin Ho."
"Never. Please take care."
"Let's get back upstairs," Danny stood and said after Kono and Ruth left the table. "If we can get the flowers to Fong, we could get lucky with a print. I can't believe she was here. Just in the next room from Steve."
"I think she's desperate," Chin replied. "And desperate people make mistakes."
They exited the elevator and Chin pulled out a pair of black gloves from his back pants pocket. Slipping them on, he reached for the card nestled in the flower arrangement and opened the small envelope. All that was on the card was a bulls-eye made in red marker.
Danny reached for his phone while Chin bagged the card.
"Calling Fong to see if he can get someone down here to pick these up," Danny told him.
"The flowers are nice," a lady sitting along the side wall spoke to them. She leaned forward in her chair and they could see the exhaustion on her face. Spending the night in an ICU waiting room wasn't conducive to anyone's health. "I was here when they were brought in. The girl said she hoped everyone enjoyed them."
"Well, I'm sorry, but we have to take them. They have now become part of a police investigation," Chin explained. "Did she say anything else?"
She shook her head. "I don't recall anything. She seemed to be in a hurry."
"Any chance you could help us with a description of her? Anything you can think of would help."
"Of course, I would be glad to do so. But I really didn't pay that much attention. I do remember her hair. It was short and dark with red highlights in it…"
They had just finished up the description when Kono returned. "Hospital Security is pulling footage, but from the angles of the cameras, I doubt we get anything we can use for facial recognition."
"She's smart, I'll give her that," Danny replied after hanging up his phone. "But she's going to make a mistake," he predicted.
"And we'll be there when she does, Brah," Kono vowed once again.
"Fong is sending someone for the flowers," Danny told the guard at the door as they entered ICU. "Make sure no one bothers them until the crime lab person arrives."
~~~H50~~~
They entered Steve's cubicle, Danny in the lead. When he suddenly stopped just inside the door, it took all that Kono had not to plow right into him.
"Danny?" she asked.
Danny stared at the bed. "Look at Steve!"
They peered around him to see Steve, lying in bed, minus the vent that had been breathing for him since this ordeal began on Monday. Also gone were the leads to the EEG. There wasn't even an oxygen mask; just a cannula supplying extra air.
Margaret looked over at them and smiled. "Dr. Makani just left to take a phone call but he'll be back soon. He felt the commander was breathing well enough on his own to remove the vent."
"Has he woken up?" Chin asked.
She shook her head. "Not really, but Makani gave him a muscle relaxant shortly before he removed the vent so he wouldn't gag on it. That should wear off soon, though."
Kono reached up and stroked her thumb over Steve's forehead. "He still feels hot."
Margaret nodded. "He is. Looks like the fever may be a lingering side effect from the poisons." They watched as Steve moved into Kono's touch. "Look at that, I think he knows you're here. Talk to him."
Kono looked at Danny who nodded at her. "Go ahead, Kono, see if you can wake him."
She kept her thumb lightly rubbing his forehead. "Hey, Boss. You're gonna have a wicked case of bed head if you don't wake up soon," she told him with a smile while lifting a short lock of sweat-slick hair back from his forehead. "Steve, can you hear me?"
Hey, Boss…
Wake up… hear me?
The individual words were filtering through slowly, almost like there were moments in time separating them from one another.
Quiet. Hissing was gone. Not like before.
Nice. The touch didn't hurt.
Everything hurt… before.
Wake up? Not now. Now was… tired.
"He's going to be his old, stubborn self," Danny muttered. "I can already tell."
Kono stepped back and reached for her phone. "I'm going to call Max. He'll want to know that the vent is gone."
"Yeah," Danny replied. "Good thinking. I'm sorry that I didn't even think about it." He moved closer to the head of the bed, on Steve's right, and placed his hand on his friend's shoulder. "You going to wake up soon?"
Steve's head lolled to that side and he bent his arm at the elbow, reaching, his hand flexing; searching for something.
"What?" Danny asked. "Steven, you wanna hold hands with me?" Danny grasped Steve's hand and squeezed. "Hey partner, can you hear me? Squeeze my hand."
Words again.
Hold hand.
Squeeze.
Squeeze…
He concentrated.
Frowned.
Tried.
He really did.
"It's OK, Babe. Don't sweat it. You're not my type anyway," Danny said, smiling down at his partner.
And then Danny felt the grip on his hand. Not a firm one, but steady and… there.
"Way to go, Brah," Chin praised Steve, seeing the accomplishment.
Further conversation was stopped when the doctor reappeared. "Sorry, I had to take that call," he told them, returning to Steve's bedside. "Has he opened his eyes yet?"
"No," Margaret replied. "But he is responding."
Makani asked the team to leave for a few moments while he performed a neuro check. Chin and Kono began to file out when Danny stopped. "Hey, Steve, Doc's kicking me out and I have to take that hand with me."
Steve's grip tightened, apparently not willing to let go.
Danny?
Makani nodded at the grip Steve had on Danny's hand and commented, "Looks like he wants you to stay." Glancing toward the door he called Chin and Kono back into the room. "Apparently my patient vetoed me and says you can stay. But…" he turned back and leaned over the bed. "Steve, you've got to work for it. It's time to open your eyes."
They watched, but got no response from the patient other than the now fierce grip on his partner's hand.
"Come on Steve, time to wake up," Danny tried.
Steve could hear their words; knew they were talking to him. His brain was trying to tell his mouth the words to say, but he just couldn't make the connection. He swallowed and once again turned toward Danny's voice.
They saw the grimace when he tried to swallow and Makani asked Margaret for some ice. She spooned some into a plastic spoon and held it, ready to spoon it in.
Dr. Makani spoke again. "Steve, I bet your throat hurts. Want some ice? Can you open your mouth?
Ice?
Yeah. Hot.
His tongue darted out and he tried to lick his dry, cracked lips, with little luck.
Margaret placed the plastic spoon on his lower lip. "Steve, open up. Here you go." She nudged his mouth open and spooned in a piece of ice. "There. Better?"
"Hmm…"
"He speaks," Danny said, beaming with relief.
Steve made another confused face.
Danny?
"Dan…"
The detective's face broke into a wide smile. "Yeah, I'm here, Steve. We're all here. You're doing good." He looked at Makani. "Right, Doc?"
The doctor nodded. "Amazingly so. Steve, I need you to open your eyes." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the hated penlight, waiting to see if his patient would comply. When Steve didn't respond, he gently raised one eyelid and flashed the light.
"N… no no no, don't. Hurts."
"Sorry, one more time." Heedless of the plea, Makani quickly checked the other eye.
"G'way."
"Not yet. We'll turn the lights all the way down, but I want you to try and open your eyes, Steve. You need to wake up."
"M'wake. No lights."
"The lights are down. Open up."
Through the entire conversation, Steve's grip on Danny's hand hadn't wavered and he grasped the hand even tighter. "It's OK, Steve, come on, open your eyes."
Finally he complied, opening his eyes to mere slits. His left eye was still swollen and bruised making it difficult to open, but the right one wasn't opened much more than the left. After mere seconds, he squeezed them shut again.
"Too… too many Danno's."
"Come again?" Danny questioned, a frown on his face.
"Steve, how many Danny's did you see?" the doctor asked.
He squinted open his right eye. "Two."
"Double vision?"
The left eye tried opening again. "More." He closed his eyes and groaned. "An' dizzy."
"All right, rest your eyes," Makani advised. "We'll check them again later. Steve, can you tell me your birth date?"
His patient was quiet for a few moments before replying, "March 10."
"You seem to know Danny. Do you remember his last name?"
Danny held up their firmly clasped hands. "You'd better know my last name since it looks like we're going steady!"
"Danny… Danny Williams."
Danny.
Need to talk to Danny…
Another look of confusion crossed Steve's face when he tried to remember.
"Important."
"What's important, Steve?" the doctor asked.
Danny… Danny and Grace.
Steve released Danny's hand, his eyes opening once again as he jerked upward in the bed. The quick movement along with the unaccustomed change in elevation was more than his body could handle and he pitched sideways against his partner. Both Danny and the doctor lunged for him, holding him upright before they could lay him back onto the pillows.
"Hey, easy, Steve."
"Danny." Steve's breathing became quicker and panicked. "Grace," he panted. "Get to Grace."
"Why? What's wrong?"
"Steve, calm down," Makani warned, placing his hand on Steve's chest. "Slow down and breathe."
"Find Grace. Now. She's gonna hurt her. The crazy bitch wants to hurt Grace."
"It's OK, Steve. Grace is safe."
"NO! Go save Grace."
Danny laid his hand on Steve's shoulder. "Hey, really it's OK. Grace isn't here, Buddy. She's safe."
Steve's head shook back and forth on the pillow. "No, not safe. She's bad, Danny. Bad, bad. Don't let her get Grace."
"Commander, I'm going to insist. You need to calm down and breathe. I know you don't want a mask, or worse, being intubated again."
"I'm OK," he panted, opening his eyes to search for Danny. "Danny, go."
"OK, listen, Steve. Please calm down. Grace is in California with Rachel and Stan. Rachel called Sunday afternoon to tell me they decided to go with Stan on a business trip this week. I didn't have a chance to tell you, but I swear Grace is safe. I talked to her last night."
Steve whispered, his body reaching the end of its limits. "Not safe."
"For right now, she is. And I'll make sure we keep her that way. I swear."
"Call her."
"I will. I'll call. You just relax."
While they had been talking, Makani and Margaret had been taking Steve's vitals, checking him out. They upped the amount of forced air coming from the cannula in hopes that he would slow his own breathing.
The doctor said, "Steve, I'm going to give you something for pain so you can rest easier."
"No… no drugs. No more."
"You're not ready to go cold turkey, Steve. Your body is deeply bruised and you're muscles are cramping. Not to mention a killer headache, right? We've got a printout an inch thick on symptoms of overdoses from the drugs you were given. But more than anything, you need to rest. In fact, I'm going to kick out your friends for a while so you can sleep."
"Not yet." Steve opened his eyes once again. "Call her, Danny. Please… now."
Danny pulled out his phone. "OK, if it will help you settle down. Do you mind, Doc?"
Makani shook his head. "To give him peace of mind, go ahead. But then you're going to sleep, Steve."
As Rachel's phone was ringing, Danny muttered, "If I'm interrupting something important, so help me, you get to explain why we're calling… Hey, Rachel. How's vacation?"
He could hear Charles screaming in the background and made a face in the phone. "That bad? Hey, I just wanted to check on you guys. Can I talk to Gracie?"
He paused a beat, and then said, "Huh? Then just where is she?"
~~~H50~~~
