I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.
Notes:
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Chapter Twenty
He wasn't even five minutes behind the first ambulance after an officer dropped him off at his pickup truck at the playground. Slamming it into park at the hospital, Steve was virtually on the wheels of the gurney which Kono sat upon as she was taken to be evaluated. No less than two minutes later, another gurney with two HPD officers as escort entered the same emergency room area with the extremely silent Elise Wells. He watched her more closely than ever because he'd insisted that the ambulances take them all to the downtown hospital even though it wasn't the closest.
If Morse's nurse wouldn't talk, then someone would for her. With a delightful sparkle, Steve's eyes met those of the woman who's left hand was cuffed to the gurney. There was a smudge of blood on her chin, an impressive bump on the back of her head and her right arm was awkwardly strapped to her body due to a likely dislocated elbow. Steve didn't trust the validity of the elbow even though the EMT's both swore it was indeed badly damaged. He acquiesced to the sling, but not her ankles. Under the blanket, those remained zip tied together.
Danny's phantom tormentor wouldn't be going anywhere. Well, except a maximum security women's prison. Indefinitely.
Steve held her eye and waited for it to happen. He grinned because she was smart and knew his easy ploy. Her anger refused to allow her to look away as she arrogantly also waited for the inevitable... and it didn't take long.
"Elise?" Steve's ears immediately perked up at the disbelieving query from a nurse who'd rocked to a stunned halt. Hands placed firmly on his hips, Steve had just received his verbal confirmation of recognition; without needing to say a thing, he won something from hospital staff before he even had to ask for Doctor Lemke or hospital administration to intervene. Now, he didn't bother to bite back the victorious grin as a nurse in the emergency room blurted out her astonishment.
"Is that Elise Wells?" The ER nurse looked in askance from Steve to his arrested subject and then back again as if what she was seeing wasn't at all possible. The nurse stumbled a few feet forward as if to be sure, but stopped by Steve's sheer size as he forcibly cut off her progress.
"You tell me," he demanded, overpowering in his need to confirm his suspect's identity. "Do you know this woman? Does she work here?" He asked, sneering happily in his prisoner's direction as he received a rather astounded nod in return. He didn't need to prompt again as a torrent of helpful words spewed from the nurse's mouth. Whether or not any parts of what he learned were entirely accurate, Steve at least had a toe-hold in identifying who Morse's nurse really was, and he wasn't about to let it go.
"Elise Wells. Yes, I know her and... yes, she works here. She's one of our nursing health assistants. Usually in the ICU, but she helps out wherever we need," the nurse was truly mortified, nervously rubbing her neck with a free hand and nearly beside herself with confusion. The staff nurse stumbled over her words, incredulous now of the restraints and police presence. "Why is she cuffed like that? What has she done... I'm sure you have the wrong person?"
"No," Steve retorted, unable to hide a new surge of anger against Morse's nurse based upon hearing confirmation of her ready access to the intensive care unit. She had indeed managed to hurt Danny during that first night, and small pieces of a desperately evil puzzle were finally coming together.
"No, I don't have the wrong person. She's definitely the right one and I don't want anyone near her except certain hospital staff; no x-rays, no tests, nothing without HPD permission and participation. Is Lemke on duty? Can you get in touch with him and get him down here?" His demands escalated in their vehemence, nonetheless he controlled his voice to avoid giving Wells any hint of satisfaction whatsoever.
"Yes, of course," the nurse nodded again with a slightly distracted glance towards her one-time co-worker as she hurriedly walked away. Based upon her honest reactions, she was entirely dumbfounded by someone she knew being placed under such heavy guard. Steve noted the worried response and then discarded it for the lie which it was. The existence of one, Elise Wells, wasn't going to be entirely the hospital's fault since Vincent Morse and his nurse were beyond dangerous and skilled pathological liars. However, there was a responsibility of which they'd be required to own for allowing this dangerous woman within their fold.
Steve was unable to force the sneer from his lips. He was indeed pleased with their success that night. This Elise Wells was the missing link. She was the phantom voice heard on recordings, the false nurse associated to the mocked up medical facility and Vincent Morse's abduction of his partner. She had intentionally attacked his partner multiple times in his own home and then spun herself unencumbered access into a hospital setting. While there, she had purposefully antagonized two people and these facts would only work against her in the end.
"Elise Wells," Steve remarked nastily as he towered dangerously over the gurney, only fleetingly amused by her lack of fear. He cocked his head while studying her defiant eyes and hard-line to her jaw. She was familiar and he snorted softly to himself as something about her appearance finally resonated. "Still nothing to say, Ms. Wells? Or should I say, Morse? What was Vincent to you? Brother maybe?"
Though she seemed more pale perhaps from pain or from something else, there was nothing. Not a germ of emotion nor a single response. Nothing. Within that silence, her only obvious answer was that Five-0 was going to have to fight every step of the way to learn more about her.
"Fine," Steve shrugged, before placing his hands on the edge of the gurney and leaning closer with a threatening glare. He had little doubt now based upon the darkness of her eye and unwavering, poisonous attitude. The woman was absolutely a member of the Morse family and he was betting easily on that of sister.
"This is one game that I like to play, because I have all the time in the world and you? You. Simply. Don't."
Steve would have said more but a hand fell to his shoulder. He looked up, surprised to find Doctor Ramirez dressed in fresh scrubs and staring at Elise Wells.
"Ponch, should you be out of bed?" Steve asked, entirely perplexed by the man's sudden appearance. " Are you alright?" The older man looked tired, haggard yet certainly of sound mind. His arrival merely substantiated that news traveled fast within the inner workings of the medical facility and it was apparent the physician wanted to see first hand, the culprit who had drugged him.
"I'm fine, Steve," Ponch murmured softly, measuring the bedridden woman for himself. His almost one-sided conversation continued with a somewhat distracted air while he decided on his personal feelings regarding the ICU's nursing assistant. "Lemke's on his way down. But I wanted to see this... person... for myself."
Steve watched as Elise Wells gazed in irrepressible hostility at Ramirez as if challenging him in her belligerence. Showing some signs of actual emotion for the first time, her eyes flashed in acknowledgement as she waited for him to say something. However, what he said next clearly rankled her mood and Steve pursed his lips in interest.
"Her? She works here... in the ICU?" Ponch snorted through his nose in disbelief, shrugging in a noncommittal way as he turned aside in disdain. "I've never seen her before."
Ramirez meant his words to sting and be demeaning. She was a nit on a windshield and nothing of importance despite having managed to spoil his coffee. He made sure that his words grated and sank home with a harsh finality even though she'd also attacked one of his friends. As of that particular point, she was a nothing and truly not worth another moment of his thoughts.
"Well, I guess Lemke will get it sorted out," Ramirez purred. "Maybe he'll remember her." Though her face now reddened in a blush of rage, Steve's grin broadened as he watched Doctor Ramirez idly wave a hand in Elise Wells' direction to further discount her very existence.
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The dream was vivid. Too vivid and it dwelled painfully on deceit and old lies. Grace was dead and in his dream, his dedicated physician, read the obituary with an emotionless neutrality. In his sleep, Danny's fingers clenched tightly to whiten purpled bruises. The broken fingers on his right hand spasmed and attempted to do the same, yet failed for the splints which restricted movement. He moaned under his breath, ignored the pain and tried to feel the lies for what they were because he knew he was stuck in a nightmare. But, he simply couldn't wake up.
"Shh, you're dreaming. It's just a bad, bad dream." A far away voice thrummed to him repeatedly. It was Chin and Danny's brow knit tightly in confusion because he had died, too. Hadn't he? McGarrett had killed him. Or, had he? But Grace. He couldn't cope if she were gone and he muttered in distress to object old, whispered threats.
"Grace is fine, Danny. I promise... she's perfectly fine." Chin intoned repetitively as Ellen hovered and complained about head wounds, effects of concussion, too much stress and the complications of medication.
"Grace is at camp right this very minute. We're at the safe house and you've got to wake up. Fight through the dreams and wake up," he soothed. Left alone for a moment, Chin only looked up when Ellen returned with a cloth and basin in hand.
"His mind is in over-drive and the drugs aren't helping," Ellen complained unhappily. "What the hell did this Morse person do to him?" She whispered, upset by the depths of Danny's nightmare and their inability to rouse him fully from its grip.
"Everything... anything you can think of," Chin muttered angrily. Ellen had no adequate reply to that terrible truth. Her only reaction was to almost viciously dunk the cloth she held into the small basin of cool water balanced on her knee. She wrung the cloth out after saturating it and wiped Danny's face. She then dabbed soothingly across his upper chest, just below the line of the soft cervical collar. He jolted in unconscious surprise at the coolness and she murmured reassurances when he seemed to stir a bit closer towards awareness.
"Keep talking to him," Ellen demanded, as she evaded the flailing hand which clearly protested her actions. She smirked as the same hand flew higher, just missing a sharp connection with her cheek in emphatic, feisty disagreement. "Well, he doesn't like this very much, does he?"
"Danny, wake up," Chin demanded as he intercepted Danny's fingers which again would have slapped Ellen's away even if it were rather awkwardly. His eyes caught Ellen's to share a moment of mirth as Danny unconsciously fought him now.
"If you don't like it, open your eyes. Wake up!" Chin groused in reaction to his friend's ongoing confusion.
"Danny, stop fighting. You're fine." He heard the promise in Chin's voice and more stubbornly argued the existence of the nightmare. The bad dream began to fade, more firmly replaced by Chin's voice which held an earnest determination. Morse dissolved, as did effigies of McGarrett and the shattered fragments of remembered sounds or threatening language. Danny woke abruptly, startled and instantly on edge because he didn't know where he was and for one long frightening moment, he was sure it had happened again. The ceiling he stared at was foreign and utterly unrecognizable from its worn yellowed paint to the truly ugly and badly outdated globe light fixture.
His face was cool, damp and he flinched when Ellen Ramirez unexpectedly came into his line of sight. She had the nerve to take another swipe at his cheeks and forehead, ignoring the way he shivered away from the wet cloth while she dabbed at him repeatedly as if she could wipe away his dreams as easily.
"Are you awake now, Danny?" She asked, then sighed with some residual disappointment for his first words. The cloth was plunked haphazardly into the basin of water, allowing some to drip over the side and soak into her jeans.
"Steve? What's going on?" He tried to beat back a new growing demon, startled anew when Chin morphed into view. He knew he had heard Chin. In spite of that truth, he was still taken aback. And though he thought he should know the answers to his own questions, he couldn't prevent them from tumbling from his lips. "Where am I? Why are you here?"
"Not quite Steve," Chin smirked with an amused, though wary, chuckle. His quizzical glance towards Ellen almost asked her permission to continue at the same time she gave a short nod of approval.
"You had one hell of a bad dream, Danny. While I get that, do I really have to tell you about the safe house again?" There was a long pause as Danny finally, truly woke. He looked from one to the other and sighed deeply as his brain caught up to being two steps behind his mouth. The dream was already fading and he knew exactly where he was and why.
"Safe house. Waipio," he murmured in disgust entirely aimed at himself for forgetting. He lazily rubbed his left hand across his eyes, blinking again, and now relieved as remnants of the nightmare left as if it hadn't even happened. "No, no. You don't have to tell me; I'm good. It's good."
"I'm glad that's cleared up," Ellen remarked playfully, gently combing mussed hair back from his face. "Do you want to get up? You've slept quite a long time and I don't doubt you need... some time... you know... to freshen up? Perhaps Chin can help?" Her truer meaning was plainly obvious and Danny chuffed in pleased agreement. Besides the necessaries which were uncomfortably making themselves known, he was anxious to simply get out of a bed and be on his feet, even if it were for a short time.
"Yes," Danny agreed readily. He moved his legs first as if planning to kick off the mound of blankets would be a fine step number one, but Ellen placed a restraining hand on his chest. "What?" He asked.
"You're going to get dizzy unless we do this slowly. Plus, you're going to be very sore. We need to go slow," she advised, smiling at the eager change in his demeanor. They had a multitude of woes to contend with from his head injury to the soft neck brace hiding bruises and down to his damaged ribs. There was no doubt he would feel each and every one of those deep aches as they eased him upright.
With Chin helping, the two gently urged Danny to the side of the bed, where he sat for minutes on end propped up between them. His readiness to stand was silently communicated, then achieved with some relative ease as each of his elbows was firmly grasped.
"This is going to take all day," he griped miserably as his ribs briefly protested and his temple adopted a dull tympanic throb. A throb that warned of a migraine should he over-exert himself. However, he was up and the safe house was small. Just beyond where Duke Lukela stood vigil at a window, Danny could see the bathroom door which marked his finish line.
"Ready," he breathed out as he began a studious shuffle-walk which was easier with each supportive step. He wanted the neck brace off, yet he also appreciated its support as his head almost wobbled in place. His foray down the hallway and to the bathroom took five very long minutes. In fact, everything took patient time after that achievement.
"Round trip," Danny wheezed, trembling a bit from the slow exertion. He was leaning heavily on Chin now as his temple throbbed a bit more warningly because this was going to be more difficult. Eyeing the length of the hallway, he set his jaw with a firm determination and a focused intent to gain the bedroom once more. One step became two, but a noise pulled him up short. "What was that?"
"Visitors. Using the garage," Duke softly remarked, but he was smiling and Chin was still very relaxed. No one was alarmed or going for a weapon; in fact, the warm scent of soup was beginning to make its way through the house and Danny frowned at the sudden domesticity. Ellen was in the kitchen. Cooking.
"Who is it? What's going on?" Danny realized that an important secret was being kept from him. Smiles were shared, but no one said a word. He heard the garage door again, only this time it was closing. He was about to ask once more when the breezeway door opened revealing a very happy Steve with Kono at his side. A gleam of white covered her arm but Danny missed it entirely for his astonishment at seeing the new arrivals.
"This is a nice surprise." Steve's smile knew no bounds as he unexpectedly walked forward to supplant Chin's supportive hands. With an unexpected swiftness, he carefully embraced his partner as if he were glass. "You're up, Danno."
"What's this?" Danny muttered, smiling into Steve's shirt as he was momentarily smothered by the show of spontaneous affection. Unable to move for the cervical collar, his injured right hand was useless, too, but he found a way to awkwardly tap Steve's shoulder warmly with his left.
"What happened? Steve?" His laugh was muffled as he stayed briefly entrapped. "Can't quite breathe, big guy."
"I asked Chin not to tell you." Carefully holding him at length, Steve grasped Danny firmly by his forearms. Supporting him now when he felt the fatigued waver, but grinning from ear to ear in utter triumph. It was a completely self-satisfied grin that found its way to Danny's face as he put two and two together.
"I wanted all of us to be in the same room," Steve further explained.
"So?" Danny allowed himself a lopsided smile. He knew what was coming and it dispersed his bout of fatigue as he focused solely on his partner. He knew precisely what was going to be said, but Steve wanted to deliver the message. He needed to be the one to say it out loud. So even though Danny knew what was coming, he waited after his quiet prompt.
"Elise Wells is Morse's damned phantom nurse and we got her, Danny," Steve gently rubbed his thumbs soothingly over Danny's arms, refusing to let go as he delivered each and every happy word. "Victoria Elise Morse-Wells. Vincent and Louis's eldest sister; that damned nurse and the same one who got to you in the ICU. We got her and all the evidence you could ever - ever- want. It's over, Danno."
~ to be continued ~