Hey guys. So, here's the next chapter for you. I'm afraid this is going to be the last chapter for the foreseeable future. I have 9 school days left - so the rest of this week, all of next week and then half of the week after - before I go on study leave for my GCSEs. I need to revise for the exams, so I can't be distracted by anything; anything at all. So I won't be posting anything after this until at least June. I might be able to post the next chapter during half term, but I'm not hopeful for that, because that's the time I'll really need to revise. My last exam is at the end of the second week of June, so after that, I'll start writing again.
But for now, this is the last chapter for a good couple of months, so I hope this is good enough to keep you all going until then.
Less than a minute passed after that with them in silence, waiting desperately for the ambulance to arrive. Danny started to panic and nearly lost all control when he heard Jodie's breathing grow weaker still.
"Where the hell is that damn ambulance?" he growled under his breath.
As if on cue, two paramedics appeared by the van, looking inside at the three of them.
"Are you guys Five-0?" one of them asked, climbing inside the van while the other stayed outside.
Steve nodded. "Yes, Commander McGarrett; Detective Danny Williams."
The EMT nodded. "Brandon Wright, Beatrice Depter QMC EMTs. What happened here?"
"Her name's Jodie; she was kidnapped a little over 24 hours ago. In that time, she's been given pentobarbital and an overdose of flunitrazepam. Her breathing is really shallow and she's almost non-responsive."
Brandon nodded as Steve filled them in. "Okay. Jodie? Jodie, can you hear me?" he called, leaning over the teenager and giving her shoulders a gentle shake. When that didn't get a response, he rubbed his knuckles into her sternum, garnering a small moan from her. "Jodie, can you open your eyes, please?" Jodie managed to open her eyes halfway again, but she didn't seem to be able to focus on anything. Nevertheless, Brandon smiled down at her. "Hi Jodie, my name's Brandon; I'm a paramedic. We're going to take you to the hospital, where the doctors can check you over, okay?" Jodie didn't answer and her eyes fluttered closed again.
Brandon frowned in concern. "Right, let's get her on oxygen and get her in the ambulance," he said over his shoulder. Beatrice nodded and handed Brandon an oxygen mask, which he placed over Jodie's nose and mouth, turning the flow of oxygen up all the way. Then, carefully, the paramedics and Steve moved Jodie's limp form from the back of the van to the gurney and started wheeling her towards the ambulance, Danny jogging alongside them.
Neither of the medics protested when Danny hopped into the back of the vehicle and sat next to Jodie, gently gripping her hand.
"Danny!" Steve appeared at the back. "We'll meet you at the hospital. Call me if anything changes, okay?" Danny nodded and Steve shut the doors, banging on the back. The ambulance sped away, heading towards the hospital.
"Detective, how much of both drugs was Jodie given?" Brandon's voice made Danny jump and look at him.
"Um, 4 doses at 0.5 cc, as well as an IV of pentobarbital, and maybe 5cc of flunitrazepam," Danny recalled what Maddox had said.
Brandon nodded and picked up his radio handset and called ahead to the ER to prepare them for their arrival. Danny paid no attention to what the paramedic was saying, and instead focused once more on Jodie, and prayed that she would be okay.
Five minutes later, the paramedics burst through the ER doors, wheeling Jodie between them, Danny trailing behind. Doctor Kai was waiting along with a team of nurses, and they sprung into the action as the group entered.
"This is Jodie, she's had at least 2cc of pentobarbital and 5cc of flunitrazepam, and appears to be suffering from an overdose of the two," Brandon informed them. "She's bradycardic and hypotensive. Breathing is shallow and she's non-responsive. A litre of saline's been hung, and she's being given 100% oxygen."
"Alright, let's move her into Resus," Doctor Kai ordered, and guided the gurney towards the back of the ER. "Prepare activated charcoal and sodium bicarbonate, and let's continue with the oxygen, but hold off on the saline for now."
Danny tried to follow them through the double doors to Resus, but a small nurse with short reddish-brown hair blocked his way.
"Sir, you can't come in here," she said, gently pressing a hand to his chest to halt his progress. Her name tag read 'Carolyn'.
"No, I'm not leaving her," Danny argued. "I've been worried sick about her; I'm not letting her out of my sight."
"I understand, sir, but you need to remain out of the way and let the doctors treat her." Carolyn wasn't giving up and held her stance. "Besides -"
"I won't be in the way; I'll just be in the back. I just -"
"You're bleeding," Carolyn interrupted him.
"What?"
She gestured to his hand. "You've torn the skin."
Danny looked down at his hand and saw that he was, indeed, bleeding. His knuckles were torn and bloody. "Oh."
Carolyn smiled at his surprised expression and grasped his confusion as an opportunity to guide him away from the doors and through the ER to a small cubicle, where she cleaned and dressed the cuts. A couple of minutes later, Danny was back by Resus. He'd been banned from entering, but he was allowed to watch through the window.
Jodie was still unconscious. By now, she'd been stripped of her clothes and a thin paper gown had been draped over her. Tubes and wires seemed to lead from every single part of her body; heart monitor leads, catheter, IVs in both arms, blood pressure cuff around her upper arm, and she still had the oxygen mask on her face.
Doctor Kai was stood next to Jodie's bed, checking the readings on the monitors. He stepped away from the bed, and as he did, he saw Danny standing outside. He held up a finger, indicating that he would be out in a minute, and spoke briefly to a nurse, who nodded and moved away. Doctor Kai walked out of Resus and guided Danny away a bit.
"How is she? Is she okay?" Danny asked worriedly as they walked.
"Not yet, but she will be," the doctor reassured him. "As you're already aware, Jodie was given high levels of pentobarbital and flunitrazepam. The levels alone are worrying, never mind the combination of the two."
Danny sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I thought doctors were supposed to reassure family members, not make them go insane with worry."
Doctor Kai had the grace to look abashed. "Sorry, Detective. But as I was saying, even with the levels she was given, we managed to start treatment before it did any significant damage, if any damage at all. We're giving her activated charcoal to bind to the drugs and sodium bicarbonate to flush them out of her system. We're also taking regular blood tests and monitoring her urine output to measure the concentrations in her system. Once they start to decrease and her vitals become more stable, then we'll move her up to a room. I'll have a nurse come find you when we do."
Danny nodded and shook the doctor's hand. "Alright, thanks, Doc," he replied and headed back to the waiting room. He ran a hand down his face and sighed as he did. Despite the fact that he knew Jodie would be okay now, he still couldn't get rid of the worry that lingered; the underlying fear that something else would happen.
He shook his head and blew out a breath, banishing those thoughts from his head. Jodie was safe, she was here, being treated at the hospital, and she was okay. She would be okay, Danny told himself.
Danny suddenly remembered that he had to call Steve and let him know what was going on. He took his cell from his pocket and pressed Steve's name in his speed dial. His partner answered almost immediately.
"Danny?"
"Hey," he greeted his partner.
"How's Jodie?" Steve asked, concern colouring his tone.
"She's… okay, I don't know. The doctors banned me from the room, but I could watch through the windows. They're treating her and they reckon she'll be okay," Danny explained. "They're trying to flush the drugs out of her system and get her vitals to stabilise. Once they have, they're going to move Jodie up to a room."
"Okay, that's good," Steve replied.
"Yeah. What about on your end? Where's Maddox?" Danny practically spit the man's name.
"Chin and Kono are taking him back to HQ; they're going to book him, and then they'll head over here as well."
"What are you doing, then, if you're not with them?" Danny asked, and almost jumped out of his seat when he heard his partner's voice both in his ear and from next to him.
"Keeping an eye on my partner and making sure he doesn't try and fight his way into the back as soon as I hang up," Steve said, before putting his phone back in his pocket and sitting down next to the blond.
Danny sighed and glared at the SEAL. "Goddammit," he murmured. "You're not funny, you know that, right? You're bloody annoying, is what you are."
Steve just watched him as he spoke. "How long since the docs spoke to you?"
"Only a couple of minutes," Danny replied quietly, leaning his head back against the wall. "Doctor Kai's treating her. He said she'll be okay, but…"
Steve nodded. "You can't help but worry." Danny nodded wordlessly. "Don't worry; Jodie's safe, she's going to be okay." Danny could only nod again, unable to talk about the worry that still gripped him. Steve looked down and saw the adhesive strips over the cuts on his knuckles, and grabbed his partner's hand for a closer look.
Danny yanked his hand back, though, glaring at Steve. "It's fine; it's just a cut. Can't remember how I got it, though."
"I do; you gave Maddox a hell of a shiner." Steve smirked as he remembered the rapid swelling and discolouration of the killer's eye. "For a while, I thought you'd fractured his cheekbone as well. Think it's just bruised, though."
Danny grinned as he recalled punching Maddox. "Good. That's the least he deserves, though, if you ask me," he murmured.
"For once, I actually agree with you."
That got an actual laugh out of Danny. "Well, that's quite a change; you never agree with me."
Steve shrugged. "First time for everything."
The partners lapsed into silence after that, waiting for Doctor Kai to let them know that Jodie was being moved. Chin and Kono arrived a few minutes later. They'd interrogated Maddox when they had taken him to HPD, wanting to know why he killed those people. It turned out that Maddox's father had died three months previously in a car accident; he'd been hit by a drunk driver and forced off the road, down an embankment. Maddox's mother had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and rather than spend the short remainder of her life in pain, from both the cancer and from losing her husband, she chose to take her own life instead.
"He said that he couldn't be angry at his mother, because she was happy," Kono explained. "She wasn't in pain anymore; she was free from the cancer, and she was with her husband again. Maddox told us that he wanted to give that option to others who had experienced the same kind of pain."
Steve and Danny were silent for a moment, before Steve broke the silence. "Well, that's… creepy."
"And sick," Danny added.
"You ever known a killer that's not creepy and sick?" Chin asked sarcastically, raising an eyebrow. Steve and Danny chuckled and shook their heads.
"Detective Williams?" a voice broke in. Danny looked up to see the same nurse as before – Carolyn – standing there. "We're moving Jodie up to a private room now. You can come up with her, if you like."
Danny nodded and stood up. "Are you guys coming or…?"
The others stood as well. "We'll come by later," Chin promised. "But we need to get started on the paperwork, otherwise someone will procrastinate and his paperwork will end up on someone else's desk." As he spoke, he looked very pointedly at Steve, who tried and failed to look innocent.
"What? Me?"
"Don't play dumb with us, Steve; I've lost count of the number of times I've had to do your paperwork for you," Danny smirked. "Thanks to you, I can forge your signature perfectly. You're just lucky I only do it on forms and not on cheques."
Steve glared at him, but there wasn't any heat behind it. "Funny. We'll see you later, okay?" Danny nodded and he turned and followed Carolyn over to the elevator, while the team left and headed back to HQ.
Jodie was floating between sleep and consciousness. She so desperately wanted to fall asleep, but she could hear far away noises that were keeping her awake. She stirred in the bed, and felt something tug at her. Frowning slightly, Jodie gathered up all her energy and opened her eyes, and looked around.
She didn't recognise this room. There was something familiar about it, but she just couldn't figure out what it was. She shifted again in the bed and again, felt the same tug. She looked at her arm and saw an IV needle sticking out of her skin. For some reason, it a struck a chord and Jodie felt a strong sense of fear as she took it in.
Suddenly, the memories from the last couple of days came flooding back. Jodie remembered the psycho Maddox giving her the drugs; she remembered trying to escape; she remembered him giving her… giving her happiness…
As the memories assaulted Jodie's mind, she started to panic. Fear overrode her common sense, and all she knew was that she had to get the needle out of her. The heart monitor sped up as she started panicking. Jodie's fear escalated as noises and memories surrounded her. She couldn't think, couldn't breathe, couldn't do anything.
Faintly, Jodie registered hearing the door open. She looked across the room and saw an unfamiliar woman standing there. Her lips moved, forming words, but Jodie didn't understand what she was saying. She looked at Jodie sympathetically and came closer, taking a needle out of her pocket.
"This will help you calm down." The nurse's voice sounded as if Jodie were underwater.
"No… No, I don't- I don't want it," Jodie cried. "Please, I don't want it."
A hand grasped her own, making her gasp and turn her head sharply. Danny was there, gently rubbing thumb over the back of her hand soothingly.
"It's all right; no-one will give you anything if you don't it," he murmured, glaring at the nurse. She nodded, biting her lip, and left the room.
"Danny?" Jodie whispered uncertainly. She wasn't sure if this was real, or just a drug-induced dream.
"Hey, sweetheart," Danny quietly replied. "You've been out of it for several hours now. How're you feeling?"
Jodie didn't answer. She stared at Danny for a moment, bottom lip trembling, before tears started dripping down her cheeks. Danny didn't hesitate from getting up from the chair and perching on the side of the bed, gathering Jodie into a comforting hug.
"Hey, ssh, ssh, you're all right; you're safe now," he whispered soothingly.
"Oh, God… Danny, I-I thought… I thought he was going to kill me," Jodie wept. "I thought…"
"I know, sweetheart, I know. But you're safe now; it's all over. Okay?"
Jodie nodded against his chest and Danny started to pull away from her, but Jodie clung to him, burrowing deeper into the hug.
"Please… don't go," she murmured. "Don't leave me alone."
Danny nodded and kissed the top of her head. "I'm not going anywhere. I won't ever leave you alone."
How was that? I thought that that would be a nice ending for all the drama of the case and Jodie's kidnapping. As for the treatment, I have no medical training whatsoever, but my aunt is a nurse, so I asked her what sort of treatment would be done for pentobarbital and Rohypnol overdose and this is what she told me. I did my own research before asking her, and a little more afterwards, just to see if there was anything extra that she might not have included, but pretty much everything I found coincided with what my aunt told me.
Well... that's it, for the next few months. I hope you all enjoyed that. Wish me luck with the exams and for now, this is adieu from me. Bye, everyone :)