Despite the sterile atmosphere and his pale features, Mike was glad to see Dan's bright blue eyes greeting him early that morning. With the stress of dealing with Tidari still weighing heavy on his nerves, he drew in a deep breath, hoping to hide his emotions and mustered a broad smile, before bending over to squeeze the young Inspector's shoulder.

"You chose a bad time to take some days off for R&R."

Chuckling faintly, Dan reached up, careful not to disturb the assortment of IV lines in his right arm and gently grasped Mike's elbow.

"Never thought I'd hear myself say that but with all these doctors and nurses fussing over me…", hesitating, as he tried to sit up to be more comfortable, the young Inspector forced a smile through gritted teeth, "Well, it sure is nice to see your angry face around here."

"Angry? What are you talking about?", Mike retorted facetiously and grabbed a nearby visitors chair to sit on, "I came here to check on you, Daniel. See how you're doing…"

"You know exactly how I am doing. You've probably talked to every nurse and doctor who has seen me since this whole mess started. And as such you should know then that I am going to be fine, except for some pretty good headaches for a few weeks and a scar over my right ear. You on the other hand…something is eating you up bad, Lieutenant. I am sky high on pain meds and I can see it."

Pursing his lips, Mike acknowledged his partner's keen intuition and took off his fedora and overcoat, carefully placing them by the foot of the bed.

"Our killer is still on the loose, Daniel. And early this morning, she came after me at my house too."

The young Inspector sighed and nodded carefully, as he rested both of his arms over his stomach.

"I had a funny feeling something bad was going on when Doctor Meyers came by a few minutes ago to make sure I was strong enough to talk to you. It didn't sound like you'd stop by to share some happy news with me."

"Well…", as he let his blue eyes drift over the assortment of monitors, Mike couldn't help but feel a sense of dread fill the bare walls of the private ICU room, "We…we're hitting roadblocks when it comes to finding her. You are the only one so far to have survived an encounter, so we were hoping-"

"I can't remember anything about the shooting Mike, I am sorry.", Dan interrupted contritely before the Lieutenant could even finish the sentence, "I truly wish I could. But it's…it's all a big blur after I entered the phone booth and then woke up in here. Believe me, that was the first thing on my mind too since I've woken up I've tried to remember but I just…I just can't…"

Nodding understandingly, Mike fell quiet for a moment, biting his lip in disappointment and letting the seconds pass by as he watched the nearby heart monitor.

"That's alright. Steve said that might happen."

At the mention of the young Professor's name, Dan froze in his spot, his eyes nervously scanning Mike's, as he reached up to fidget with the large bandage around his head.

"Steve…yeah…I ehm…I hope he's doing alright. I actually do remember something, as far as Steve is concerned. When I talked to Barbara at Berkeley right before I was shot. I think you should really talk to him. And if he refuses to, you should talk to Barb. Because there are some things you need to be aware of, things that could jeopardize this investigation- and his health…"

"I know about the surgery."

Mike's words seem to ease some of the tension surrounding the topic and Dan sighed in relief, before closing his eyes for a brief moment of rest.

"You know, I sat in the parking lot at Berkeley for what felt like twenty minutes trying to come up with the right words to tell you what was going on. I am so glad he finally opened up."

"Not on his own terms, believe me.", Mike mumbled cryptically and ran a hand through his hair, torn between the relief of seeing Dan awake and talking and the overwhelming worry about their killer.

"Does Dewitt know?"

"Know what?"

Rolling his eyes impatiently, Dan pointed at his chest.

"Does he know about Steve? The heart situation? If he finds out, I would think there's going to be big trouble. He's not even supposed to take the stairs for another month or so. Doctor Hicks is extremely worried about him pushing it too much…he was supposed to be under close observation for at least eight weeks. This was some major surgery and it put his body into a severe trauma. According to Barb, he's not bouncing back from it too well. Even Doctor Hicks told him in no uncertain terms to take it easy and give everything time to heal. He really isn't supposed to be working. And if something happens while he's helping us, IA could get involved and I don't know how that would affect his career with the department in the long run…"

"Dewitt doesn't know yet.", Mike whispered, jaws clenched, as the candid conversation he had with Steve replayed in his mind all over again.

With a plethora of mixed emotions flooding his senses, ranging from gratitude to deep guilt to anger, frustration and worry, he didn't notice Dan's hand carefully touching his wrist until the young Inspector cleared his throat.

"But you said you guys finally talked, right?"

Swallowing hard, Mike slowly nodded his head and rubbed his eyebrows, before glancing up again, his features guarded except for a faint smile.

"We talked alright. And not a minute too soon."