Chapter 2

Steve jolted awake again when he felt a prick in his hand.
"Don't," came the muffled plea while trying to remove the needle.
But it was a weak attempt and his movement was uncoordinated.
Danny was able to grab his friend's hand and carefully pull it away from the line.
"It's okay Steve. It's an IV line. No drugs. It's going to help you."
Steve just groaned, tried to shift his body into a position that would hurt less. But it was a mistake – it hurt more.
He groaned again, then he needed to cough and reached for the oxygen mask.
This time his movement was more precise than before and thankfully, Danny not fast enough.
Steve pulled the mask away and coughed violently, bringing up water.
His body jerked with the effort and the pain.
When he was done, he leaned back against his friend, pulling in air and making sounds which already sounded painful to Danny's airs.
One of the EMTs put the mask back on. Steve didn't resist. He got transferred to a stretcher and brought to the hospital.

On the way and during the examination in the ER he went in and out of consciousness. Sometimes he was aware, sometimes confused and disoriented.
The examination was thorough and took way too long for Danny's liking.
Yet he was thankful that the doctors and nurses were that thorough, he was also worried, he hated waiting and he wanted answers.

Which he got eventually.

After what felt like an eternity a doctor came out. Danny was so worked up that he bombarded the man with questions before Dr. Malloy could give any information.
The doctor had dealt with enough relatives and friends to know that they were just worried about their loved ones and upset with the situation. Being rude was nothing personal – at least most of the time.
"If you'd calm down and stop talking, I am going to tell you what you want to know," he stated calmly.
Danny stopped talking.
"First of all: Though commander McGarrett is not in a good state, none of his injuries are life threatening."
The whole team relaxed visibly with those words, but they got worried again when the doctor continued.
"Yet we have to keep him here for at least a few days, maybe longer."
"But he is going to be fine, right?" Danny burst out.
"If he follows the instructions yes, detective. But he has some very uncomfortable days ahead of him either way."
"Can't you give him anything to help with the pain?" Chin asked. "Or is it interfering with the drugs he had been given?"
"Thankfully, there is no interfering with the drugs, but they are still going to cause him some problems. Unfortunately, this is not the only one and it is not about the pain."
"You said he's going to be okay," Danny interrupted again.
"I did and he will. But it won't be tomorrow. You've told the EMTs that your friend got tortured and was at least in one fight, most likely two.
From what I can tell you, it had been more than one and very intensive ones. Commander McGarrett has severe bruises all over his body. Thankfully though, nothing is broken, torn or pulled. We cleaned out the burns and the bullet wounds and the pain they will all still cause is covered with the medication. He is also pretty exhausted, but that will go away with rest and sleep."
Danny was about to interrupt again, but Grover said "Let him talk, Danny" and Kono put a hand supportively on the detective's shoulder. It felt comforting for them both.
"As I said the drugs may cause some problems. He's been given a so called "truth serum". Unfortunately, this one doesn't make you tell the truth at all. It makes people confused and groggy and given too much it also causes hallucinations. The amount of serum we found in his system told us that he got way too much of it. That means waking up won't be very pleasant. The concussion he received from the gaze to the head is going to add to that.
Actually, said concussion and the chest infection that had set in are the reasons why we are keeping him here. He had already developed a slight fever, but – since the infection is bacterial – we are already counteracting with an antibiotic and fluids to flush his system and reduce the viscosity of the mucus.
Still a concussion and an aspiration pneumonia is nothing to take lightly."
"Can we see him?" Danny asked.
"Yes, of course. But please, make it quick and be silent. And over the next few days try to have no more than two visitors in the room."
The team turned and walked to the ward and room Dr. Malloy had told them when the latter said "One more thing. Commander McGarrett will be extremely thirsty over the next two to three days. You can give him as much as he wants – especially because he won't have much of an appetite – just make sure he is in an upright position when he drinks and doesn't drink too greedy. No need to aspirate more water. The ward physician will talk to you about that too."