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

Notes: Uh yeah .. it's a definite fact now. The saber toothed bunny is running this show.

Chapter 20

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They heard the shot just as they slammed the stairwell door open, all three now on a dead run towards Danny's hospital room. A nurse was already there having responded to the extreme change in the heart monitor, but her hand froze on the closed door's handle as the unmistakable sound of a gun being discharged rang out.

"Get away from there!" Steve shouted as he brusquely moved her aside. His own weapon at the ready, Chin moved in to go low as Steve slowly edged the door open with Kono right behind.

Peering carefully around the corner, Chin nearly gagged at the sight before him. There was blood just about everywhere with a tangled dark heap slouched against the far wall and just under the window. As he slid inside, Steve and Kono followed but they all realized it at the same time.

"Get help." Steve demanded of Kono just as Chin shouldered his weapon to check for Jack's pulse. As soon as he touched the body, it slid sideways off the wall into a boneless flop to sprawl on the floor where more blood began to puddle. He grimaced at the gory, self-inflicted gunshot wound which had essentially taken off the right side of the foreman's face.

"He's dead. He killed himself." Chin confirmed as he wrestled the man's gun from his lifeless fingers.

Steve was barely listening as he tried to gently untangle Danny from where he lay twisted in the bedding. Partially on his side, Steve couldn't yet see his face but he could see the blood on the sheets around his chest, waist and even down to his feet. And that spattering that included a great deal of Jack's own blood made the bedding look twice as morbidly tragic. Biting back rising feelings of dread and not yet knowing where each man's blood began or ended, Steve found himself holding his breath in fear of what he'd find.

The heart monitor was a loud screaming flat line of sound and Steve pulled the plug on the machine after finally feeling Danny's pulse with trembling fingers. It was rapid but strong and Steve glanced once towards Chin's worried face with a quick relieved nod. During whatever had happened before Miles had killed himself, the leads had been pulled off the machine to alert the nurse.

"He's unconscious but breathing." Steve muttered as he began to untangle and pull down the bedding to get the worst of the reddened sheets off Danny's unmoving body. He was lying on his casted arm while his other hung limply between the wide bars of the railing. And as Steve knew, at least some of the blood was coming from the torn incision.

Carefully, Steve tucked Danny's good arm away from the railing and motioned for Chin to move to the opposite side of the bed. "Chin help me get the rails down. We need to get him on his back."

The two men lowered the sides of the railing and then gently eased Danny over. Even unconscious, pain was etched across Danny's pale face and his struggle to breathe immediately worsened. Reacting quickly, Chin lowered the head of the bed to be flat as Danny's shallow breaths became coughed pants broken only by a faint moan.

"Can you hear me? Danny? Danno, hey." Steve's stomach twisted in a knot as he brushed the hair back from where it clung to his clammy face. Not sure if he should, Steve used his fingers to try and stem the blood coming out from under the occlusive bandage. Danny was obviously in pain and having trouble breathing as his chest hitched unnaturally. But there was no reply or response as both he and Chin tried, but completely failed to rouse him.

"What's this?" Chin asked as he worked at opening Danny's fist that was tightly clenched around a hard, round object. His eyes widened in surprise as he slowly pried the fingers off the paperweight that was now cracked and spotted with blood.

"He decked him first?" Steve glanced up with worried eyes as Chin held up the damaged gift. But the two had to get out of the way as Byrnes came in with his team and Kono behind. A nurse quickly replaced Steve's hand with a wad of bandages that she held hard up against the incision site while Byrnes demanded a gurney, a surgical room and a host of other orders.

Amid the chaos, Kono was wide eyed as she simultaneously tried to get a glimpse of Danny and barked instructions to HPD for assistance and the medical examiner. Moments later, Danny was on full oxygen and was being taken away from them again for emergency surgery to close the ruptured vein.

Byrnes face was a tight mask of stress as he pushed them all aside. "I can't tell you anything yet. First things first .. I need to get him downstairs pronto. We have to stop the bleeding and assess his lungs better. Let's hope we aren't back to square one."

Steve turned cold eyes to stare at the foreman's broken body while he tossed the heavy Pooh paperweight in his hands. He didn't quite understand yet why the man would have killed himself, though he sensed it had something to do with the wife. Kono's information was building a crazy story of lies and family intrigue. He also knew that Danny would likely know more, but then again it didn't necessarily matter in the long run. Dead was dead and the man wasn't what he'd seemed to anyone around him.

Ushering his team out and once again closing the door, no one would be allowed in the hospital room until both HPD and Max went through it and processed it as a crime scene. The three wanted to trail Byrnes and his team downstairs but it was Kono who stated the obvious as Steve accepted a towel from a helpful nurse to wipe his hands from blood.

"Trudy. We need to find her .. we need to find out exactly when Jack got here and what went down." The words were barely out of her mouth, when Jack's now widow came running out of the elevator. Their expressions, the closed door, and the blood on both Chin, Steve plus that on the smeared towel told her almost everything she didn't want to know. With a horrified gasp, Trudy stumbled to an agonized halt and then simply fainted in the hallway.

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There was something distinctly depressing and tiresome about waking in a hospital. Danny's nose twitched against the pungent odors of alcohol and so many other strong smells. Even with the oxygen mask on, he could smell the sterile coldness of various chemicals and medicines. He was loathe to open his eyes too as mechanical sounds also drifted in and he came more aware. Even the voices he knew by heart weren't motivating him this time. And once again, it was difficult to breathe as pressure banded across his chest and he grimaced as a twinge of pain flickered in his ribs.

Steve was talking quietly in the background. But there was a shuffled sound to his left and then a soft screech as a chair was pushed back. Light fingers danced across his forehead and then smoothed back his hair. The sweet gesture made him peel reluctant eyes open and he blinked lazily up to see Kono bending over him. The room was darkened but she looked both worried and relieved as their eyes met.

"You need to stop doing this .. you're going to scare me half to death." Kono lightly teased as the same fingers found his right hand. "Do you remember what happened?" The soft background conversation ceased immediately as Steve and Chin appeared at her side. Each looked the same as Kono, with exhausted concern scarcely hidden behind genuinely pleased smiles.

Danny frowned as a memory flashed forward .. a struggle with Jack Miles, a severe pain as he hit the man. Blinking rapidly, Danny lost sight of Kono's face as Jack loomed up shouting about his wife and too much loss. His eyes lost focus just as Kono frantically began to call his name out and Steve went for help. He barely felt her fingers clutching his fisted hand as he went back in time. Jack. Jack had started to shout at him, holding his head from a bloody gash on his temple, only briefly sagging after Danny slammed the paperweight directly into the foreman's temple.

The shock of Danny's blow stunned the man. Staring at his own bloody fingers, Jack had drastically changed course. Stumbling backwards, he'd raised the gun as Danny lay in front of him, now only barely conscious. He'd started to ramble about how everything had gotten out of control and he couldn't cope. He'd lost Trudy and his son .. they had all taken away his opportunity to talk to her first. To explain things to her first - on his own terms. But things had gone too far. He was confused, scared and completely desolate.

Danny's body quaked uncontrollably as his mind replayed the smooth motion of Jack suddenly raising the gun to his own head. The loud blast in the small room and the unexpected spray of blood .. spatters of red against a white wall .. by then Danny had been close to unconscious, but he'd seen enough through partially opened eyes. He saw and understood what was happening when he heard the final thud as the man fell. And on its heels, the distinct rank, metallic odor of blood.

His breathing altered and his unfocused eyes blinked again in a vain attempt to clear that terrible vision from his mind and the old resonating sounds from his ears. What seemed like many minutes later, Danny took a shuddering breath and realized that Doctor Byrnes had replaced Kono's frightened face. In confusion, Danny blankly stared at the man's soundless mouth until the present came rushing back and he could hear again.

"Detective? Danny? Are you with us now? Can you understand me?" Byrnes was using his penlight to check Danny's pupils and as his patient refocused, had already pulled his stethoscope out to check not only his breath sounds, but his pounding heart rate. Stepping to the side, the doctor injected a sedative into the I.V. line before trying again.

It was then that Danny began to realize that Kono was still anchored to his hand and mumbling his name. Steve and Chin were at the foot of the bed .. Chin motionless, but his partner a frenetic whirlwind of anger and worry.

Byrnes leaned down and placed his hand on Danny's shoulder. This time, he was pleased to see his patient's eyes slide directly to his face. "Detective? You went somewhere on us for a minute .. let's not do that again, shall we? Are you back now .. do you understand me?"

Wearily, Danny nodded as he listened to Byrnes drone on. He could hear Kono's stuttered intake of breath as she rubbed his hand. Steve stopped his pacing to lean on the bed frame, his eyes now not leaving Danny's wan face as he hung onto every word and gauged Danny's reaction for himself.

"We had to operate to close the bleed .. that was the biggest issue. But you're going to be fine. You need to hang onto that, alright? We need to get your heart rate just a bit better, so I gave you something to relax. Your team is here." Danny nodded again as the drugs pulled at him. He looked over to Kono and squeezed her hand in apology when he saw her tear-stained cheeks.

"Go to sleep, Danny." She whispered, as Steve came closer and then palmed both his hands over his face. Danny was finding it harder now to stay awake as he looked first to Chin and then finally to Steve. He was bewildered by their reactions so he weakly tugged at Kono's hand again. But no one knew what to say, so Steve simply sat down in the chair that was nearest to the bed. His hand found Danny's shoulder and he gave it a gentle reassuring rub.

"Kono's right, Danno. Get some rest. Don't think about anything .. leave that to us." The three watched pensively as Danny nodded once, blinked and then his eyes slid shut. Steve closed his own eyes as he rested his forehead against the raised sides of the hospital bed. He heard Kono's sniffle softly and Chin clear his throat in the uncomfortable silence.

Byrnes shook his head as he watched the team. His patient had been more than lucky, though they were all still guessing as to what actually had gone on in the room between the two men. The altercation had ruptured the already irritated vein. But he had managed to control and overcome the potential for severe internal bleeding into the lung cavity. Danny's rib was indeed rebroken but by some miracle, had not pierced his lung. Battered and shaken, and with his attacker dead by his own hands, the detective was indeed lucky to come out of it as he did.

"You should all get some rest." Byrnes dared to note quietly. "He had a flashback .. his last memories resurfaced .. but he's going to sleep. His heart rate and blood pressure are back in normal ranges."

He snorted to mock his own futility when the three seemed to completely ignore him. With another shake of his head, Byrnes turned to leave the room but was stopped by Steve. Getting up from the chair, he gripped the doctor's arm in thanks.

And then Byrnes smiled and saved Steve from having to do more. "I understand it was scary but that episode wasn't anyone's fault. And I promise you, he's going to be fine." With that Byrnes left the room and the three hunkered down for the remainder of the long night.

~ to be continued ~