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Chapter Twenty-One

After the team gathered for their brief celebration and Danny was escorted back to bed complaining breathlessly about his snail's pace. Ellen removed the cervical collar so that he could better manage the soup which she had quickly prepared. There was a lull in the time spent visiting though as Ellen began to move around them, fussing, insisting that Danny take oral pain medication despite his initial hesitation, and then bargaining with him over replacing the soft collar. While the foam brace had certainly helped for quite some time, he wanted a break from its restrictive feel.

Curled up at the foot of the bed, Kono had started in a seated position. Now, after a subtle slide which was more her body's idea than her own, she was laying on her side with her knees virtually to her chest. She was pleased with their successes and nearly content as she listened to Ellen's patter of conversation in contradiction to Danny's rougher and more strained replies. What made her frown was the latter because Danny was still so very sick. Squirreled on her side with her head pillowed on her left arm, Kono could just see Danny's face. He was definitely more at ease, too. There was something in his eyes which was more calm... more peaceful, nonetheless his physical distress remained palpable.

The short time on his feet had left him shaky and pale. Kono entirely sympathized as she gently curled her sore right arm across her chest; she too, was officially off her game and still listening to a conversation now about options instead of the soft collar, she smiled only to close her eyes for a few seconds.

"Ice packs then," Ellen offered, recalling Doctor Lemke's notes as Danny lay nested amongst a veritable pile of pillows and blankets. "We can try that as long as you promise to get some sleep."

She was soon off again to rummage through the safe house's closets for towels to protect Danny's skin from the chemical ice packs which the kind doctor had included in the large bag of provisions packed for their use. With some inventive positioning, she soon had one laying comfortably along the back of his neck and two others resting on either shoulder.

"Your arms are alright?" She asked, prompted by Steve who had mentioned the odd tingling sensation and Ponch's concern about the bruising and swelling across Danny's neck. Steve's initial pleasure was being quickly tempered as Ellen's activity increased and Chin murmured a warning about Danny's general weakness after being moved from the hospital.

"Fingers? Nothing feels weird?" Ellen pushed, seeking more specific answers if something was inadvertently over-looked. She gently took his left hand to check his grip and then the color of his fingernails.

"Hands are fine. Just my head hurts," Danny admitted as the light in the room suddenly seemed to be too much for his eyes to cope with. A gray sparkling aura was larger in his left eye but another dim halo was sneaking into his right. The small bowl of soup which at first had tasted so good, was now becoming a debatable presence in his stomach.

"What else did you find?" Danny whispered in an attempt to distract himself from his discomfort. "Evidence?" Though his misery was growing and his eyes stayed closed, he still wanted to hear everything which Steve could share about Elise Wells. After reassuring Ellen that Ponch was going to rest in the hospital for a few more hours, Kono and Steve had described Lemke's reaction in detail. The staff doctor was beyond distressed by one in his employ being as duplicitous and dangerous as this nursing assistant. He was angry and felt badly cheated by the extent of the woman's contrived evil; in fact, many on staff in the ICU seemed to be of the same opinion. Most were offended and even personally hurt by what had happened under their very own roof.

"Lemke got us her address and so, Kono and I went to her house," Steve softly began describing the next travesty: the terrible fact that Morse's nurse was living only a few short blocks away from Danny's own. The frightening truth would kickstart their gathering of sound evidence which proved she had watched his every move to initiate her treacherous game.

"She has a dog. A Golden Retriever," Kono unexpectedly murmured, her eyes were still closed and she was on the verge of dozing off. Fighting the urge, she focused now on Steve's voice to rejoin the conversation. "Nice dog named Silas. Steve saw that ... you know what ... walking the dog in front of your house before all this went down."

"Yeah, I did," Steve admitted, purely annoyed by twenty-twenty hindsight. Silas was the happy dog he'd seen being walked in the dark just before taking his shower. Elise Wells had been stalking Danny and checking out his house that night through the simple act of walking her dog. He suspected that her attack against Doctor Ramirez was not only spurned on by anger at being blocked from Danny's hospital room, but also a diversionary tactic to give her more time.

"Silas is a good dog; needs a nice home," Kono murmured softly, remembering his exuberant greeting even of strangers who entered his domain unannounced. The happy dog didn't have a bad bone in his body and she'd called a local animal rescue herself before leaving with Steve for the safe house. But now, she was almost asleep and Steve glanced down, grinning and then gesturing widely to Chin and Ellen at their youngest team member's obvious state of exhaustion. A soft smile curved Kono's lips, but her eyes were closed and a rosy flush covered her cheeks. Ellen snorted quietly under her breath, drawing Danny's attention to his new sleepy bedmate.

"Leave her," he whispered. A drawn, tired smile reaching up to his eyes quickly faded. Danny winced and quieted on his own which only gave credence for Ellen to silently communicate one very clear fact. Two of their own had dealt with more than enough from a very long and stressful day.

"Agreed," Chin murmured to concur with Ellen's pointed look, grabbing a spare blanket to drape it over his cousin's shoulders. She never moved except to pull the blanket tighter over her chest, and he smiled in amusement.

"Okay, Ellen," Steve raised his hands to also indicate his agreement. "You're absolutely right." Based on the nurse's learned eye, he, Steve, would be the next to fall under her caring wrath. And to be frank, he wasn't sure he'd argue based on his own battle weary feelings of fatigue which he was going to have to acknowledge very soon. Waffling briefly in place, Steve forced himself to remain quiet. He wanted to tell Danny about the treasure trove of evidence found in Wells' house. The photographs, family memorabilia and then the astounding assembly line of both prescription and over the counter drugs which stretched neatly from one side of her long dining room table to the other. All of that was going to have to wait though as his partner shifted uncomfortably and bit back a soft, disagreeable moan.

"Danny, get some sleep," Steve suddenly prompted. There was nothing not being handled by expert hands, and an unmarked HPD unit offered continued protection for the safe house. Victoria Elise Morse-Wells' home was now cordoned off and being examined as a crime scene. The CSU team had been there for hours and at Steve's request, Duke Lukela had changed his focus from the safe house to oversee the cataloging and removal of everything of value from the woman's house. What they lacked direction on related solely to Danny's severe beating at the hands of a still unknown suspect.

While initial evidence indicated that Victoria Elise Morse-Wells was acting alone, Steve wanted that last ounce of proof. He wanted assurance that attack had not been orchestrated as an attempt to get Danny into the nurse's evil clutches within the walls of the ICU. Of that, they simply had yet to prove any true links. But they would... or maybe they would prove the opposite. Regardless, with the appropriate amount of time which included reviewing whatever Kono had discovered on the traffic cameras, Steve had no doubt that they would be able to end that mystery as well.

"We'll talk later," Steve promised on a soft whisper. "Try to rest for now."

"Okay," Danny's ready murmur was completely out of character after asking to hear more of their finds. It was obvious now that he no longer felt like talking and even his friends' voices were beginning to cause an unwanted spike of distress. "Don't feel well," he admitted, much to Chin and Steve's rising concern. Exhaustion had taken over and his head did indeed hurt as Lemke had warned. The tendrils that had painfully teased him upon first standing were now wrapped firmly around his head from front to back. They were tied in tight knots in his temple and poking viciously at his eyes from the inside out.

Conversation which had been softly humming in the background, completely ceased as Ellen silently motioned for their cooperation in giving Danny more space. Physical injury had begun the downwards spiral but Steve's remarkable boast of 'it's over, Danno' had put him squarely on an emotional roller coaster where, no matter what he felt or for what reason, his body was gong to suffer badly. The news was more than good but akin to an adrenalin dump, even the relief of its delivery sparked pain.

"Meds should be kicking in," Ellen murmured while sitting lightly on the edge of the bed. Kono was sleeping soundly behind her and only Steve hovered in the doorway, beginning to feel the aftermath of his own days' worth of marathon time. Using the door frame to hold himself up as he bit back an annoying urge to yawn, he lingered though to frown unhappily while listening to Ellen's soft tone and continued questions.

"You need your rest, Danny. You don't need to talk about cases and police work. How are the ice packs; are they helping?" She whispered with a gentle concern. "Is the migraine bad?"

"Better... almost," Danny slurred one worded answers. Each was barely audible and Steve winced for the hoarse timbre of his friend's voice. "Helps. Thanks."

First out of necessity, Danny's eyes had slammed shut against even a trickle of light. Now as his body melted into the mattress, he was wholly unwilling to reopen them. He felt better without the collar and the chemical ice packs were gradually leaking their coolness through the towels in a calming pattern draped from one side of his sore neck to the other. It took time, longer than Ellen would have liked, but eventually Danny did relax enough to fall asleep. But she didn't seem entirely satisfied as she lay the back of her hand to his forehead before leaving the bedroom.

"I hope you don't plan on moving him or even Kono for that matter. It's not been a day since Danny's left the hospital and that was premature," Ellen worriedly warned Steve as she pulled him away towards the main living room where Chin rejoined them. "Walking down a hallway is one thing; another trip in a car, in his condition, will cause a setback. I'm not kidding, Steve."

"I hadn't even thought that far ahead," Steve replied in all honesty to her own recipe of uncharacteristic severity. He had been thrilled to enter the house and find Danny literally on his feet, nonetheless the expert nurse in Ellen Ramirez was one hundred percent correct. If not for the safe house, Danny would have still been hospitalized. "But no, we don't have to go anywhere."

"We have HPD's support," Chin nodded in agreement as he seconded Steve's comment. "We need to make sure Wells acted alone, too. Regardless, this place is ours for as long as we need it."

"Good," Ellen visibly relaxed. "At least another day and maybe two from a medical standpoint. You all need to get off your feet and I'd like to call my husband, if I may. Is that alright?"

'You all' clearly meant one other person in particular and Steve chuffed an amused sound deep in his throat. There were daggers in her eyes though as she raked him from top to bottom with a peculiar look. He knew what she would say and she certainly didn't disappoint as she pointed towards his mussed weary appearance and then tugged him towards the somewhat dilapidated sofa.

"Of course you may," Steve kidded softly regarding her wishes to call Ponch. Things seemed to be quieting down, yet they were on alert and being watchful. Nonetheless, there was no reason why Ellen couldn't make a special call to her husband. Her smile increased to match his, but she didn't move a muscle as she waited for Steve's next move.

"I'm good," Chin announced, indicating his willingness to stay on point if Steve needed to rest. Between his two watchers, their continued confidence was all good enough for him and Steve nodded his thanks. He was bordering an incomprehensible level of fatigue which he needed to acknowledge or the Ramirez's would find themselves with another wayward patient of sorts.

Without another word, Steve sat down only to tiredly pull his boots off and scoop the two sad-looking pillows into his arms. Eyebrow coyly raised, he smiled in amusement at Ellen's rather astonished expression when he didn't argue a scant breath against her ongoing silent orders. Instead, he copied Kono's earlier one-armed slide down into a horizontal position and was asleep within a matter of minutes.

~ to be continued ~