Chapter 43

Both men decided to use the thirty minutes they had left before Grace would show up to relax and clear their heads. It worked out or at least enough that Grace didn't notice anything.

"Danno! Uncle Steve! I've missed you so much."

She hugged both men tight.

"You shouldn't have said such bad things to your mother and make her sad. Then you could have seen us earlier."

"I know Danno. And I am sorry. I already apologized to her, but she had said that I could visit uncle Steve when we would return from grandma's and then she forced me to go to this stupid dancing lesson instead."

"That wasn't nice either, but if you had gone there without calling her…you know what…you still could have seen us last week, just one day later than planned. Now you had to wait a full week."

"I know that was stupid. I am sorry and I won't do it again. But you always tell me to see the positive side. I had a lot more time to draw." She smiled broadly at the two men and got her folder out of her backpack.

The three of them had a great time together. Grace had a lot of stories to tell, about her visit at grandma's and Danny and Steve showed her the progress Steve had made. Grace was totally excited seeing her uncle getting up on his own, standing on his own and walking to the door and back with her father's support. Well, as Steve said the walking was still more like shuffling, but he was on his own two feet. Unfortunately, after two and a half hours, Danny noticed that Steve was spent and called Rachel to pick up Grace. The latter was sad to leave so "soon", but Danny promised her that she can come back on Sunday. She kissed her uncle good bye and left with her father who had promised Rachel to bring their daughter downstairs.

When he returned, Steve was fast asleep. Danny thought about taking a nap as well, but noticed that it was almost dinner time. Instead, he made a call to Samantha to tell her about the visit.

When the nurse entered with dinner, Steve was still sleeping. She decided to let him sleep, but left the tray on his nightstand. When Danny returned from his dinner, Steve was awake again and just about to eat.

"Hey Danny. Sorry, I had wanted to wait until you are back. Looks like it didn't work though."

"No problem, buddy. You should sleep when you feel like it. You are still not 100%."

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me."

"It wasn't meant like this. I…"

"I know Danny. I know…Do you still want to do the "shrink-thing"?"

"Of course. I thought we have a deal."

"Yes, we have. I'd like to talk to Dr. Lexington tomorrow. See if he can assign someone to us."

Dr. Lexington was surprised by their request, but he supported it in every way and the two men now had psych-sessions twice a week.

Right after their talk to Dr. Lexington, Steve had been brought into an examination room to remove his cast.

Ten days had passed since then and he was wearing a brace during the night only now. Aaron and Steve had worked with the hand during occupational therapy, but it still felt stiff and wasn't back to full use.

But he was now able to move his fingers on his left hand. They had no strength yet, but he could open and close them very slowly. His walking still looked more like shuffling or sometimes like limping, but he could walk the whole corridor of his ward now without any kind of leg trembling – walking it back was a different story though.

Connor said he was stable and strong enough to take the next step – walking the stairs.

They had done the first tour the day before. They had started on DCIU and had gone up to the next flour. Connor had planned to go down as well, but Steve felt weak and exhausted. He also told Connor that he felt dizzy, so the therapist ordered Danny to bring the wheelchair up to their floor to bring the SEAL back down again.

Today Connor wanted to start with going downstairs, that's why Steve was now standing with both his feet in front of the stairway leading to the first floor.

"Okay Steve, unlike yesterday going upstairs and starting with your good leg, going downstairs you start with your affected leg and then use the good one – set your feet parallel on the step and start again. We start on this side, so you can use your right hand for support. We put the brace on, so you don't have to be afraid to use that hand. Danny and I will be your safeguards, so don't be afraid to fall either. If you feel dizzy again or need a break talk to us. You ready?"

Steve nodded, took a deep breath and said "yes".

"Then go." Connor said. And Steve did.

Two steps away from the next floor, he had to stop though. His left leg started to tremble heavily. Connor was about to stop his patient when Steve already said "'m dizzy…break."

Connor took a step towards the SEAL and said "I've got you. Just try to relax. Take deep breaths.

Danny, get the wheelchair."

When Danny showed up with it, Connor asked Steve "You good enough for the last two steps or shall we carry you down?"

"No, I'm good."

"Okay, let's go then."

Steve made the two steps, but when he sat down in the chair and put his foot on the foot rest his whole leg started to tremble again.

"What's happening?" Danny asked.

"It is just unfamiliar movement for his muscles. In simple words you can call it an overstrain."

"He overdid?"

"No. But the movement is "new" for him at the moment…have you ever done ice-skating?"

"Yes, but I think that was at least fifteen years ago."

"Very good. But you know how to do it. I assume you didn't do that every month?"

"No, only when it was cold enough for the lakes to freeze over. Let's say every other year."

"Perfect. Do you remember how you have felt after your first course for years?"

"Yeah – I had wobbly legs."

"Exactly!"

"That means it just a matter of exercises?"

"Yes. Just as it has been when he had started to stand or walk."

Shortly after lunch Dr. Lexington came into the room. Danny was still out with Samantha, but Steve was there, awake and watching TV.

"Commander McGarrett," the doctor started. "I've already addressed this earlier, but I need to talk to you about your discharge and the aftercare.

I had hoped detective Williams would be here as well.

Would you like him to be here for that or do we want to talk alone first?"

"Discharge?...when?"

"I thought in about a week – two max."

"You think I can walk by then?"

"Not like you used to, but you are doing quite good so far. You have a few days left and will improve even more. You…"

"I still can't use my hands properly either. How am I supposed to go up my stairs? How…"

"Commander McGarrett. That is exactly why we need to talk about your discharge and why I wanted detective Williams to be here. If you were a 100%, I would just discharge you. But we need to organize a few things. You are not a DCIU patient anymore. Actually, for quite some time now. We have a few options, but I need to know which one you want to take. After that we can go into detail and see what kind of arrangements we need to make."

"I'd like to wait for Danny then."