The smell was stifling; a mix of alcohol and some type of disinfectant assaulted my nostrils and throat. The room was completely quiet except for the sound of some type of machine whine and the beep beep beep from some type of monitor or something. I slowly tried to open my heavy eyelids, squinting at the bright lights as they assaulted me. I again tried to open my heavy lids, squinting again to get a shaper image of my surroundings. I noticed the blue and white curtained room with a lot of monitors all on and working. How long have I been here? I shut my eyes again and reached up towards my mouth feeling a tube coming out, I began to panic.
Just then a firm hand gripped my hand as I tried to pull the tube out, "Easy Keikei, don't fight me." the male voice said as he restrained my hand with one hand and pressed the nurse button with the other. "I'm Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly. I work with your Uncle Steve."
The middle-aged man said. He was of slim Asian build with short hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a black polo from what I could tell, I was trying to calm down, as I noticed that the monitors were all starting to sound. He released my hands as he noticed that I was calming down just then a team of nurses came into the room followed by my Uncle Steve and another man who looked to be mid-thirties as well with sandy blonde hair. Chin joined Steve and the other man toward the back of the room to allow the nurses to do their jobs.
The nurses sat me up in bed gently, put the nasal cannula on, and told me to breathe thru my nose and take three deep breaths, and on the release of the third breath push the breath out my mouth.
At the beginning of the release of the third breath, they told me to blow out as they pulled the tube from my throat as quickly and as gently as possible. I immediately started coughing, they put an oxygen mask over my nose and mouth and told me to take slow deep breaths and not try to talk just yet. I nodded. As soon as my vitals evened out and stabilized, "Welcome back, I'm Doctor Kai, and you're at Tripler Army Medical Center. Can you tell me your name?"
"My name is Saraya McGarrett." Her voice sounded garbled to her own ears, so she wasn't sure if the doctor heard her.
"It's nice to meet you Saraya. Do you know why you're in the hospital?" She nodded her head slightly, until she realized that made her dizzy. She reached for her oxygen mask again and pulled it down and away from her face. "I -I had an allergic reaction." again hearing her voice sound scratchy.
Doctor Kai nodded in agreement, " Have you had this type of reaction before?"
Again Saraya nodded her head yes as she didn't want to hear her voice. "I'm allergic to fire ants, horse flies, and wasps."
"Do you have an EpiPen?" Doctor Kai asked patiently.
"Forgot to put it in my purse when I left the house..." Saraya answered quietly. It seemed the doctor was happy with that response as being acceptable. Saraya was sure she looked very idiotic for someone to have a severe reaction to multiple things and to forget something as important as her EpiPen.
"Well, the plan is to keep you overnight for observations because you had such a horrible reaction and there was a delay in the administration of the EpiPen when you got here to the hospital. We will keep you here in this private room instead of moving you to the general floor. The doctor then replaced the oxygen mask on Saraya's face. Saraya was tired still so she let her eyes close again.
A half-hour later another nurse came in and helped move Saraya into an easier position sitting up in bed, trading her oxygen mask for a nasal cannula. She was hoping to get off some of the monitors but that fell on deaf ears. There seemed to be a monitor for everything, blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen levels. She also had the annoying IV in the bend of her left elbow which is why her left arm was attached to a flat board so that she wouldn't kink it or knock it loose. There was a window with from what she could see was an okay view considering she was at a military base, something because of her Uncle probably.
"Where are my things? I had some shopping bags with me and my purse." She asked in a panic as the event all came flooding back to her at once.
"They're right here dear." the nurse said quietly.
"Thank you for keeping my things safe," Saraya said with a smile.
"My pleasure." the nurse replied with a smile. "Are you up for some visitor's?"
"Um..sure." Saraya said as she watched the nurse walk to her door and nod someone in. A few minutes later Steve and that other guy walked into the room. Steve was wearing the same clothes he was in when he dropped her off that afternoon. The other guy was wearing a button-up shirt with a tie and a pair of nice slacks. Saraya noticed that he had a badge on his hip just like Steve. He seemed way shorter because Steve stood so tall.
"What in the Hell were you thinking?" Steve asked in a stern voice as soon as the nurse closed the door. "You could have died!"
"I'm sorry sir." Saraya hadn't called anyone sir since her dojo days. But she felt that it be appropriate.
"I'll deal with you and this when its safe to do so," Steve said as he walked towards the door. "I have paperwork I need to fill out now that they are keeping you for the night." Steve walked out of the room.
"Yes sir." Saraya said as tears started down her cheeks.
"Hey babe." the other guy said as he pulled a chair up to the bed. He slipped his hand into her hand. " I'm detective Danny Williams, I am your Uncle's partner. It's gonna be alright. Tell me what's on your mind." He said as he offered what small comfort he can.
"This is all just crazy. It's not who I am, I don't forget things like that. I don't leave anywhere without it. I know you probably won't believe me but I do not do this at all. I don't cause trouble, I keep to myself." Saraya poured out as her feelings had her thinking that Steve wouldn't want someone so sensitive.
"We all make mistakes babe, It was an accident. The important thing here is that you learn from this experience." Danny said quietly.
"But now Uncle Steve thinks I'm trouble, that I'm irresponsible, that I am immature and a burden. He won't trust me now." Saraya continued to cry.
"Well you broke his trust, the nice thing is I have known this guy for years now, it can be earned back." Danny encouraged.
Saraya wiped at her tears and laid her head against her pillow.
"He sounded pretty mad a few minutes ago before he left. A friend of mine in foster care forgot to take her medications and she had a seizure when her foster parents got her home from the hospital she was in so much trouble. She had to spend the night in the hospital like me. Then her parents literally drug her out of the car and started yelling at her as they basically drug her inside their home. I lived next door and her room was across from my room I was in my room at the time with my window open and I heard her foster parents still yelling at her from her room, her window was open. Then I heard her plead with her foster father to not whip her with his belt, but that didn't happen. God, she must have cried for over an hour after he was done. Then she was grounded, and she didn't come to school for four days after that. And two days after that incident she got moved to another foster home. I'm really really sorry I forgot." Saraya hadn't meant to share that but it just kind of happened she guessed it was from the fear she was feeling.
"Well Steve is the fairest and most understanding person I know and I think babe if you are willing to talk to him, he will listen," Danny said giving her a small smile and squeezing the hand he was holding.
The nurse came in then and told Saraya that the doctor said that they could take the IV out as long as she promised to eat her tray of food when it came. They also said that she could get out of the hospital gown and into something more comfortable, the nurse asked for her sizes and then left. She returned shortly after with some clothes in hand. Danny stepped out of the room to give the nurse and Saraya some privacy. Once the nurse was done helping Saraya change and removed the IV and helped her back into bed.
Saraya thanked the nurse again as the nurse walked out of the room promising to return with her tray soon. A knock at the door brought back all of the fear and trepidation that she had pushed down, she sat up and tucked her knees to her chest now that she could be free of the IV. She laid her head facing away from the door as she heard the door open and footsteps coming into the room.
The footfall was heavier than she had heard before, she felt her tummy clinch up and it started turning. She swallowed the bile that came up. Steve walked to the end of the bed, he had changed clothes, and he was dressed more casually now. He stood at the end of the bed with his arms folded across his chest. Saraya snuck a peak, he looked a little less intimidating than she thought he would. She looked up from her position, "I'm really really sorry. I know I screwed up and was an idiot. Whatever you choose for my punishment I will accept." she said quickly.
The corner of Steve's mouth quirked up into a half smile, this girl was more open than most suspects that he had come in contact with. He pulled the chair over to her bed and flipped it around and seated himself with the back of the chair against his chest. "What were you thinking? Why would you leave the house in the first place, and who were you with?"
"My friend Jade lives here a few neighborhoods over, and she saw that I was now on the Island and it went from there. I'm sorry I wasn't really thinking clearly. I was doing ok then I started thinking about mom and why I was now going to be living here I remembered the loneliness I was feeling and I was all alone. I am sorry I left the house." Saraya explained.
"Honestly, You scared the Hell out of me, If it wasn't for that Jackson guy jumping into action when he did, you could be dead right now. But I'm glad you're safe." He cleared his throat, "I think I owe you an apology. You've been through a lot, and I know how hard it is to lose your mom. And then to be tossed into an even worse situation, I can't pretend to know what you went through, but just by the story you told Danny earlier I know it was a lot. What I said before about not being able to control when a case comes in is true. I don't run banker's hours 9-5. But I should have made an exception today and made sure that I was here for you today. So I am sorry."
Saraya blinked, unsure of what to say or what to think about an adult apologizing to her for something she had done wrong. "it's ok. I know you haven't had to live with a teen girl before."
"Why don't you eat I'll order some extra food, because we all know the hospital doesn't send enough." Steve said as he turned the chair back properly just as Saraya's nurse came in carrying her dinner tray. The nurse sat down the tray on her table and left as Steve was making a call on his cell. It sounded like he was ordering local food.
