Rescue

The first towel that Kono pressed on the gunshot wound in Danny's shoulder was soaked with blood in less than a minute. Grabbing another one - Officer Kekuku had placed the small pile directly in her reach before he had excused himself to check if Chin needed some help with Tobias Eberlein - Kono put aside the first one, grimacing in disgust when it dropped to the floor with a sickening, squishing sound.

The bleeding hadn't subsided as much as Kono would have liked and so she pressed the fresh towel on the wound even harder than before, worriedly calculating in her mind how much longer it would take until help finally arrived.

Jonathan silently appeared back at her side, once more pulling the woolen blanket that had almost completely slid down back over her slender shoulders. Fighting back a nasty comment about emancipation and patronization, she forced a thin smile on her lips instead and thanked him with a sharp nod of her head. Kono knew that he only meant well and to be honest, despite her initial protests the blanket felt indeed good, providing her with a comfortable warmth that had chased away the shivering.

Leaning forward a little bit when she noticed that blood was already soaking through the second towel, Kono put another one on top and increased the pressure even more. The movement finally evoked a reaction from Danny; hoarsely groaning he reflexively tried to recoil from the pressure, the additional pain causing small beads of cold sweat to break out on his forehead.

Restlessly moving his head a little bit to the left and right, Danny groaned again and then his eyelids began to flutter. Laboriously swallowing, he licked his dry lips and rapidly blinked a few times until he eventually managed to focus on his surroundings.

"Hey," he rasped weakly when he recognized Kono kneeling by his side. His breathing was much too fast and shallow and that single mumbled word already seemed to have sapped a huge part of his frail energy.

"Hey," Kono answered, trying to adopt a cheerful tone that however wasn't able to belie the worry in her eyes. "It's good to have you back, brah." Without thinking she raised one hand from the towels and began to stroke Danny's wet hair from his sweaty forehead.

"Really?" Danny slurred, scowling at her to the best of his abilities. "Again… the obsession… with my hair?" he exhaled between strained gasps, weakly trying to slap away Kono's hand. "Stop touching… or I'll have… to kill you," he added brokenly, the usual sarcasm scarcely noticeable in his pained voice.

"Keep on dreaming," Kono snorted with a little giggle that soon disappeared when Danny started to cough. Terrified about the sudden attack she could do nothing but watch helplessly how the last bit of color left Danny's already pale face.

Dropping his left hand to his chest, he clawed his fingers into the woolen blanket and his shirt beneath it as he grimaced in pain. His blue-tinged lips slightly apart, Danny frantically wheezed for air.

"Sit… up," he exhaled barely audible, feebly waving a visibly trembling hand through the air. "Can't… breathe…" Not capable of bringing himself into a sitting position on his own, Danny unsuccessfully tried to fight back another coughing fit, his gaze darting around in panic.

"It's okay, we got you," Jonathan barged in, his voice amazingly still as calm and reassuring as before. Motioning Kono to keep pressure on the gunshot wound he grabbed Danny's hand that was blindly groping around for help. "This is gonna hurt," the young officer issued a brief warning, his fingers strongly curled around Danny's still trembling hand to offer as much support and comfort as possible.

Understanding each other without any more words, Kono and Jonathan efficiently worked together, quickly hauling Danny into a sitting position.

Leaning his back against the wall again, Danny's whole body trembled from stress and agony. Beads of sweat glistened on his forehead and his whole face was almost as white as the wall behind him but with a sickly green touch around his nose. Gritting his teeth, Danny clutched Jonathan's hand like a lifeline as he tried to ride out the waves of pain. A single hoarse groan escaped his throat but otherwise he just sat there with his eyes closed, rapidly drawing breath after breath until the wheezing sound from before finally disappeared.

Danny's breathing was still much too fast and shallow but gradually it seemed to become slightly freer and more easy and very slowly the sickly green skin tone disappeared from Danny's face. The trembling also stopped almost completely when Jonathan used his free hand to grab the second blanket again and covered Danny as much as possible.

The clammy fingers in Jonathan's hand started to relax eventually but then they squeezed firmly again when Kono had to swap the next blood-soaked towel for a fresh one once more.

"I'm so sorry," she apologized in a husky whisper when Danny contorted his face, unable to suppress a pained moan. The fingers of his injured arm twitched reflexively when he automatically tried to back away from the pressure on his shoulder.

"Don't worry," Danny wanted to answer but the movement and the resulting pain attack aggravated his breathing again and all that came out was another tormented gasp that ended in a weak cough.

"Don't talk, just try to breathe slowly and deeply," Jonathan said soothingly, trying with all his might to prevent another coughing fit. "Just in… and out…" he coached, repeating the words a few times until Danny seemed to have found his own rhythm again.

Still steadily holding on to Jonathan's hand, Danny obviously needed the physical contact to focus himself, now and then squeezing a little stronger before he released his grip again, presumably to get himself through another bout of pain when Kono unintentionally changed the pressure she was keeping on his wound.

So they sat like this for more agonizingly long minutes, just listening to Danny's strained breathing and murmuring comforting words now and then until they finally heard the horns of several emergency vehicles draw nearer.

"Help is here," Kono said as she raised her head, her voice full of hope and shaky with relief. "Hey Danny, do you hear that?" she asked happily as she looked back at her teammate, her heart skipping a beat when there was no reaction. Startled, she noticed that Danny was slightly swaying and his eyelids began to droop, causing her to exclaim his name yet again that day, just at the same time as Officer Kekuku felt Danny's hand go slack in his own.

H50 – H50 – H50 – H50 – H50 – H50 – H50 – H50 – H50 – H50 – H50

Pulling the woolen blanket tighter around her shoulders Kono crossed her arms in front of her chest and anxiously stared after the leaving ambulance, watching until it had swerved a fallen tree at the end of the road and hastily disappeared around the corner.

The rain had finally stopped but the wind was still blowing strongly, tousling her still damp hair and making the blanket flap up and down her back a little bit. Suppressing a shiver Kono briefly pressed her lips together before she heaved a deep sigh and turned around to look for her cousin.

She could barely remember the last few minutes since help had arrived, everything was just one big cloud of chaos and hectic. Police officers and paramedics had flooded the small living room and much to her dismay, Kono and Jonathan had been forced to leave Danny's side to give them enough space to work. Chin had left Tobias Eberlein, who also had lost consciousness a while ago, in the hands of a second team of paramedics before he had helped to properly arrest Mia Hardman and led her away to one of the waiting squad cars.

He was now talking to Sergeant Moore who had also been part of the rescue party, probably explaining what had happened since they had last talked to him. Kono tiredly watched the two men, pondering for a moment if she should join them. She could hear Officer Kekuku somewhere behind her but she just couldn't muster the energy to listen to his words. She assumed that he was talking to the other team of paramedics who were still tending to Tobias, and sure enough only a few seconds later Kono could hear how the back door of an ambulance was slammed shut and the vehicle left as hasty as the first one.

Closing her eyes Kono suddenly felt useless, lonely and very exhausted. She was worried about Danny and angry that she hadn't been allowed to ride with him in the ambulance. Strongly, if not necessarily unfriendly, the EMT had refused her pleas to come with them and before she knew what happened the ambulance had already left.

Groaning in frustration she suddenly remembered their boss. In all that turmoil they had completely forgotten about Steve; all they knew so far about his condition was that he was awake and that he was allowed some visitors later that day. God, Kono just hoped that he hadn't yet come to know what had happened. They needed to make sure that Steve didn't hear the bad news from some strangers but rather from his own team, and the best would be if they told him about Danny face-to-face. Knowing the close relationship between the two men and knowing Steve's tendency for drastic and rash measures, Kono could already picture him tearing apart the whole hospital in search for his partner, completely ignoring his own injuries.

"Hey Keiki, you okay?"

Kono slightly winced at the unexpected sound of Chin's voice, unsuccessfully trying to hide her embarrassment about her reaction. Not exactly knowing what she was supposed to answer, she just made an awkward little movement, something in between a nod and a shake of her head. At first she refused to look at her cousin but when she turned around, tears were glistening in her dark eyes. She wasn't able to put her feelings into words but when Chin softly said "Come here" and opened his arms a little bit, she gratefully stepped into his embrace, resting her head against his shoulder.

For a long moment they just stood there in silence, only now and then Kono faintly snuffled. "We need to tell Steve what happened," she finally whispered, reluctantly breaking free from Chin's calming hug and looking him in the eye.

Nodding in agreement, a sad smile flickered across Chin's face when he raised a hand to brush a lonely tear from Kono's cheek. "They will both be fine," he said quietly, his dark voice as strong and trustworthy as ever, so that Kono immediately felt a little relieved.

Pondering for a second how they would get to the hospital, Kono slightly shook her head in annoyance when she remembered that their car was still somewhere in front of Mia's house. In fact, the squad car was parked just a few feet away from their current position behind one of the larger police vans and when they got closer, the cousins could see Officer Kekuku leaning against the driver's door.

The young man had his head bowed, his shoulders hunched as he was staring down at his hands that nervously fiddled around with a small branch that had probably been broken off by the storm. His rececently dried, short hair was sticking in all directions but his police uniform was still wet and Kono could see that he was slightly shivering.

Exchanging a worried glance with Chin, she immediately yanked the blanket from her own shoulders and put it on Jonathan's, caring for him just like he had cared for her earlier.

"I'm… sorry…," Jonathan stammered without looking up, his fingers agitatedly ripping the twig into small pieces that were carried away by the wind that seemed to get stronger again with every passing minute. "It's all… my fault." The last two words were barely audible over the low roll of thunder that indicated that the storm was obviously not over yet.

All the strength, serenity and confidence that Jonathan had shown earlier seemed to have vanished again, leaving behind a young man who was even more shy and insecure than before. His whole posture was so vulnerable and childlike that Kono stepped forward without thinking and pulled the young man into a hug.

"You did a great job in there," she said firmly, feeling the slight tremors that were running through Jonathan's rigid body. "Without you…"

"Without me, none of that would have happened," Jonathan interrupted her uncharacteristically fiercely, wriggling himself out of Kono's embrace and defensively folding his arms in front of his chest. His haunted gaze briefly flickered between Chin and Kono before he cast down his eyes and absently stared at the fingers of his right hand that were tugging at the wet fabric of his shirt. "I… I was too slow…" he began to stutter, obviously not able to stop the murmured words once he had started speaking. "Danny… he told me to get down… to stay down… but I was too slow… and… and he pushed me… but then he was shot… and I… I did nothing… I just stayed down… I should have helped him… but I did nothing at all…" His voice trailed off as he unconsciously pulled the blanket closer around his body as if to hide himself from Chin's and Kono's scrutinizing looks.

Approaching the younger man, Chin placed a hand on Jonathan's shoulder and repeated Kono's words from before. "You really did a great job in there," he said emphatically, squeezing tightly until he was sure that the other man was listening. "You kept cool, you immediately called for help and you did everything humanly possible to help us take care of Danny's and Tobias' injuries. There's nothing more you could have done." Sensing that Jonathan wanted to object, Chin squeezed his shoulder again before he removed his hand. "And if Danny told you to stay down, he definitely wouldn't have wanted you to get up again and put yourself in danger," he continued, noticing from the corner of his eye that Kono nodded in agreement. "You did exactly what you were supposed to do and I know Danny well enough to say that he is most certainly thinking exactly the same."

"Believe him, he's usually right about those things," Kono chimed in, slapping her hand against Jonathan's arm in an attempt to pull him out of his gloomy thoughts. "I speak from personal experience," she added in a conspiratorial whisper, glad to see that her words were finally able to lift Jonathan's mood a little bit. The faint trace of a smile didn't reach his eyes yet but nevertheless it was a beginning.

"Let's get into the car before it starts raining and the storm is getting worse again," Chin suggested, worriedly observing the heavy clouds that loomed at the dark gray sky. "Jonathan, would you mind driving us to the hospital?"

Obviously happy that he had a task again, Jonathan swiftly turned around and got into the driver's seat; he had already started the motor before Chin and Kono had even opened their doors. The young officer seemed to be a little less nervous and agitated than before but he was obviously still brooding about his behavior and didn't say a single word until they reached their goal.

Kono and Chin only now and then exchanged a few meaningless sentences, and so the drive back to the hospital was almost completely silent. Only a few hours ago they had taken nearly the same way in the opposite direction. Back then they never had thought that they would return so soon, worrying not only about one injured teammate but two, and the nearer they got to the hospital, the more somber the atmosphere in the car became.

(tbc)