This chapter goes back to Steve's POV, where it'll stay till the word Fin. As usual, let me know what you think.
Chapter 10
Chin walks into his room, Kono a step behind just as he pushes back his lunch tray. The sheer horribleness of the food has robbed him of what little appetite he's worked up. Instead, he feels sick again. He's really getting tired of this; the ceaseless nausea, the weakness, the pain, the shortness of breath. He's sick of it. He's not used to being weak and feeling like crap for days on end. He hasn't slept, really, except in drug-induced intervals that bring no true rest. He does manage to sleep, usually after 3A.M, after the IV antibiotics, only to be woken up by 5 A. M. blood draws. 6 A. M. is his usual time to get sick, just when the pain meds start to wear off and the antibiotics are at their peak. Each day's been a clockwork of misery and he can't take it any longer. He's in a pissy mood and he just wants this to be over, not to feel like this anymore. A visit is a welcome distraction. Danny's been a constant presence and he's grateful but new faces are good right now. He smiles, pushing his discomfort and bad mood to the back of his mind.
"Hey, brah, looking good!" Kono calls out.
"Thanks," he says, shaking his head. "Even though it's a bald-faced lie."
Kono laughs, pearly and warm. She saunters into the room and sits on the edge of his bed, her smile as warm as her laugh.
"Really, boss. You look better. Couldn't get into the ICU but I came by."
Steve smiles and ducks his head, touched. "Thanks."
"Hey, not like I have anything better to do," she says lightly but he can see the hurt still in her eyes.
"Kono. Stop that, please. We'll get it settled."
She gives him a tight grimace that she tries to pass off as a smile but she's failing, miserably at that this time. "Don't make promises you can't keep. Besides. I knew what I was getting myself into," she says, looking at Chin. "I gotta go. I'm meeting some friends. Stay safe and heal, brah."
Before he can say anything, she's gone and he's left looking at Chin. The helpless gaze they share is no comfort, for either of them.
"She's right though, brah. You do look better. Not so Hanehane."
"You're comparing me to a ghost? Really?"
Chin smiles and walks up to the bed, sitting in the chair beside it. "Same skin tone. You do look a little ghoulish with all the bruises. What happened? Danny let the nurses beat you up?"
He tosses his head. "Try numerous failed attempts to draw blood and putting in a couple large bore IV's. Turns out shock makes veins hard to find, even on a guy like me," he says, pumping his arm. The raised blue streaks of blood vessels are clear and well-defined on his arm, now but each one is marred by several huge, deep-purple bruises sporting a scabbed needle mark somewhere within. There are two on the back of his left hand and a spectacular one on his right, spreading from the knuckle of his index to his ring finger, down to the knob of his wrist.
Chin winces. "Ouch."
"Yeah. So tell me. Victor Hesse. It was Wo Fat."
Chin shakes his head. "We have clear footage of him entering Halawa. We haven't found how he got in, who he paid off yet. He was wearing a CO's uniform but we haven't found it, or any requisitions to replace one that would fit him. We got plates on the car that picked him up after. Rental, wiped clean and torched."
"So we got nothing."
"Yeah."
Steve gives a disillusioned snort. He's not exactly surprised. He inhales deeply, feeling the pull on the incision on his abdomen. He shifts a little and rolls his neck, trying to work out the kinks from being in bed so long.
"How's Danny holding up? He talk to you?" he asks.
Chin shakes his head. "No. He's… Strung out. Tired. Hurt. But he's holding on."
"I'm worried about him."
"We all are."
Steve shifts again, frustration mounting. He feels the fatigue tugging him down when all he wants to do is get out of here, find Danny and make sure he's okay. Instead, he's stuck in a bed, weak as a damned newborn.
"Brah, it's not your fault and worrying about it won't make you heal faster. Danny's focused on you at the moment and he's keeping it together. There's nothing more either of us can do right now."
He sighs and lets his head drop onto his pillow, closing his eyes and willing away the nausea moving stirred up. "I know. I'm just not good at sitting still doing nothing, especially when one of mine's I trouble."
"Neither's Danny."
"You taking care of Kono?"
Chin gives him a small toss of his head and a look that speaks volumes on the idiocy of his question.
"I'll forgive the question only because you're still out of your mind with illness," Chin says mildly, eyes twinkling with mirth and false reproach.
Steve chuckles and smiles. "Thank you, Chin Ho. Very generous of you."
"I try," he says, getting to his feet. "I should get back. Danny wanted me to help track down your sister."
"Just… make sure he doesn't arrest her," Steve asks wearily.
"I'll try, brah. I'll try."
Minutes after Chin's left, he's still pondering the look on Chin's face when he mentioned Danny arresting Mary.