Prompt: Towel
Danny and Steve have only been in the waiting room about 20 minutes when the nurse who took Jessica into pre-op comes into the room looking frazzled. "Commander McGarrett, Detective Williams?" She ask as she wipes her hands on a towel. "I need one of you to come with me."
Danny jumps to his feet, immediately concerned and Steve follows suit. "What's wrong?" he demands to know.
"Jessica's having a panic attack. She's screaming, crying. We need you to help calm her down."
"I got this one," Danny tells Steve. He knows that Steve will understand. Jessica responds better to him during her most severe panic attacks, especially ones where she's irrational.
Steve nods back. "Tell her I love her."
Danny follows the nurse through the maze of corridors. "What happened?" he asks trying to get more information.
"I don't know. I asked her to take off her underwear so that we could insert a Foley catheter once she's under anesthesia. It's standard procedure. She freaked out. I tried to reassure her that she wouldn't remember a thing but…" the nurse trails off. "Here." She thrusts a surgical cap, booties, and gown into Danny's hands as they stop at what he assumes is the pre-op room Jessica is in. "You'll need to put these on before you go in."
Danny bites down the anger he feels coursing through him. The nurse seems completely unaware of Jessica's trauma history, has no understanding of why she might be having a panic attack in the first place. He can deal with all that later. Right now he needs to focus on Jessica.
He's pleasantly surprised when he walks into the room however. There's another nurse sitting on a stool next to the bed, holding Jessica's hand and talking to her quietly. There are tears running down Jessica's face and she's obviously upset, but isn't nearly as out of control as the other nurse had made her out to be.
"See Jessica, I told you he'd come." The nurse next to Jessica stands, holding her hand out. She's young, late 20's at most, and has a kind, if tired, smile. "I'm Abby, the charge nurse on the surgical floor this evening. You must be Detective Williams."
"I am," Danny says, shaking her hand. He kisses Jessica on the top of her head and takes her other hand. "You ok babe?" he asks her.
Jessica leans into Danny, sighing deeply. "Yeah. I'm ok. Abby calmed me down." She seems tired, exhausted even but Danny doesn't blame her. It's been a long day for all of them that isn't over yet.
Danny looks at Abby, surprise written all over his face. It was unusual for Jessica to open up to anyone she didn't know during her panic attacks, let only to have someone else be able to talk her off the ledge entirely. Danny's impressed. "Things started off a little rough, but we worked our way through them," Abby offers. "Jessica did all the hard work. I just helped a bit." Her humble attitude makes Danny like her even more.
"You want to talk about what happened babe?" Danny asks Jessica. He knows talking about her panic attacks is the best thing she can do to help get control of them in the long run, but he also knows that they still need to get into surgery, which is already anxiety producing enough. He doesn't want to add extra anxiety if he can help it.
Luckily Jessica seems to be on the same page as him. "No thanks. I just want to get this all over with. I want to go home."
"Yeah I know babe." Danny rubs his hand up and down her back. "I know."
They stay like that for a few moments before Abby speaks up again. "Jessica. We need to get you into surgery honey. I know having the catheter inserted under anesthesia makes you a little nervous. We can do it here, in pre-op if you'd like. It'll be a little uncomfortable, but we can give you some more Ativan to help you relax. Or I can insert it in the operating room, once you're under anesthesia. I promise I won't let anything else happen to you."
Jessica looks up at Abby. "I trust you. You'll do it, right? In the operating room?"
"Of course. No one else will touch you. You have my word."
"Ok."