"Comfy?"

"Hmm?"

"Hmm? What? Did I wake you? I asked if you were comfy," Danny grumbled out slowly.

Steve grabbed the arm rests of his chair and pushed the leg rest down at the same time as he sat forward. He couldn't help but grin, however he quickly schooled his expression to get in proper banter mode.

Ever since they had brought Danny to his room, he had been out of it. The doctor had been in shortly after Bonnie left (she obviously had some pull) and said his unconscious state would be normal with the medications he was on and it would probably be several hours before he awoke. He was on some heavy-duty pain medications to combat the effects of the severe concussion and the shoulder that had been dislocated but was now back in place. It was held immobilized by a dark blue, Velcro wonderland of a brace that included a sling for his arm and a large strap that wrapped around his entire torso and over the upper arm to hold it in place.

The group that had been there earlier had reluctantly left when Steve almost ordered them to go home and get some rest after being awake well over twenty-four hours. He appreciated their stick-to-it-ness and their desire to be present when Danny awoke, but truth be told, he selfishly wanted to be alone when Danny decided to come back to the land of the living. They, too, had given their best try and done their due diligence in trying to get him to go home and offering to stay instead, but like they expected, Steve would have nothing of this. They knew a losing battle when they saw it and this was the mother of losing battles.

"I wasn't sleeping," Steve objected.

"Obviously you were. I'm sorry my convalescence is so boring to you."

"Well, you haven't quite been the best company, you know."

"I know. I'm s… "

Banter over. "Nope. No. Let's not do that." Steve stood up and took hold of the railing on Danny's bed.

"You don't even know what I was going to say. Maybe I was going to say I'm so sick of being poked and prodded and I want to go home."

Okay, maybe not over. "Is that what you were gonna say?"

"No."

"That's what I thought." Banter over. "How are you feeling?" Steve attempted to steer him away from his unnecessary apology.

"Not the greatest, but not too bad. I guess they've got me on some strong stuff. My head feels a little woozy."

"That's the concussion."

"Great. And what's the deal with this?" His eyes tracked down to the brace that was holding his arm stationary.

"Your shoulder was dislocated. Believe me, you want that brace right now… and the strong stuff."

"Dislocated, huh?" He pressed his lips together in a knowing expression. "Thought so." He then remembered his moment of realization about his shoulder as he was lying on the hard floor of the monster building, watching as Chin and Steve looked on helplessly in what seemed to be a hopeless situation.

Piece by piece, his mind backtracked, remembering Ron's face and the expression of joy it gave him as he threw the rope over a beam in the ceiling of the dungeon room and hoisted him to almost hanging, his toes barely brushing the ground. His dead weight pulled on his wrists as the ropes began to cut into them and he felt drops of his own blood begin to trickle down his arms. His shoulder and arm muscles tried to contract to counter the weight but to no avail. He would not be able to fight it long. Eventually, his muscles would give out and his body would give up and he would have to accept the pain.

It was on one last jarring tug, as Ron was securing his end of the rope to a conveniently placed hook on the wall, that Danny remembered the instant the dislocation must have happened. He remembered hearing himself yell out and then nothing. The intense pain had gratefully knocked him out. He didn't remember anything more until he awoke to find Steve and Chin had joined Gabriel's 'party'.

"The shoulder's going to be fine. You are going to be fine. You just need some time," Steve spoke, bringing him into the present.

"Tani. Where's Tani?" Danny's attention perked up a bit and his eyes opened wider at the sudden recollection.

"Tani's fine, buddy. She's downstairs with Junior… or at least last I heard."

"Downstairs? Why aren't they in here. Did you run them out?"

"Gosh, there's a lot I need to catch you up on. Now, Junior's going to be okay," Steve prefaced, "but, he was injured when we went to the exchange for you and Tani. Well, we thought you were going to be there," he slid in. "He took a couple of indirect hits but like I said, he's going to be fine. Supposed to get out tomorrow. We got Tani back and she was fine. She doesn't want to leave Junior's side, though."

Danny seemed to relax back onto the pillows behind him. "Young love," he reflected. "What about Chin… and Kono?"

"Yeah, Chin, Kono, Adam, everyone's fine. They were here earlier, and even Lou hobbled in to see you."

"And you sent them home," he concluded.

"Well, yes. They were exhausted. They needed their rest."

"They needed their rest? And you? You heading out to the triatha-ultra-iron whatever?"

There it is. Steve smiled.

"You're still recuperating from gunshot wounds," Danny continued, ignoring the goofy grin on his partner's face. "Why are you still here?" Danny knew why. If things were reversed, he would be right where Steve was.

"I'm okay."

"You don't look okay." Danny had noticed the burn marks and bruising on his neck. He also had dark circles under his sunken eyes making him look like he had not slept in days.

"Well, I am."

"All right. Okay. You're fine." He let Steve have his victory. He was thankful that he wasn't alone when he woke up. "So, uh… what else did I miss? I mean… what about Gabriel?"

"He's gone," Steve stated matter-of-factly. "For good this time," he added.

Danny poked out his bottom lip as he mulled that tidbit of information over in his still-foggy head. "You sure?"

"Yep. We're sure."

"Well then. I guess this whole fiasco is finally over."

"Yeah."

Several moments of silence lingered. The weight of the last several weeks slowly, and somewhat reluctantly, began to evaporate. It was hard to believe that it had been just a few weeks since this all started with the shooting of Steve and Lou and spiraled into a vortex of manifested hell. Acceptance that they were finally on the other side of this thing would be a slow process.

"Hey, where'd you go? You okay?" Danny asked when he saw an uneasiness in Steve's vacant stare.

"Oh, it's nothing."

"Come on. Don't do that. I know you better than that."

"Really, it's just that… well, you know… "

"Spit it out."

"I thought I lost you. There. That's it."

Danny reached his hand up to Steve who curled his thumb around Danny's as they clasped hands. "Tell me," Danny requested.

Steve hesitated.

"Tell me," he asked again.

Steve breathed out a resigned sigh. "Okay. I don't know how much you remember… when we were in there… you know."

"Not a lot."

Steve nodded and continued. "It was after they had drug you out and Gabriel got you to wake up."

"Oh, yeah. To, uh, 'join the party'."

"Yeah," he begrudgingly affirmed. "He… "

"He was going to put me out of my misery." Danny tried to take over, to help his partner. He thought he knew where this was going.

A little bothered at Danny's pathetic attempt at tact, Steve countered, "No, it was more than that. I tried to divert him."

"Asking about his yakuza issues?"

"Yeah, but my diversion tactic didn't work, at least not long enough. There was a moment. A moment that I knew he was going to pull the trigger. A moment that I decided to do something… anything."

"You almost got yourself killed."

"I had to, Danny. He… well, I just had to."

"Go on," Danny encouraged.

"I jumped and I heard the gunshot. I heard it as in slow motion and then I heard it hit. And… and, I thought you were gone."

"But, it wasn't me. It was Gabriel that got hit… by Kono's gun."

"I know. I mean, I know that now, but at the time, I was sure. I just, I just never want to feel like that again. And then Bonnie came in… "

"Who?"

"Bonnie. Your nurse. Never mind. You'll love her. But, she came in and we hadn't heard anything and at first, I thought I had lost you again. I can't take that, Danny."

"I know."

"It felt like part of me had been ripped out. What did you say?"

"I know. That's exactly how I felt when I came to the hospital that day, the day Gabriel shot you and Lou. I thought you were dead. And if you weren't, I thought it was just a matter of time. I was sure, too. I never want to feel like that again, either."

"Hmm, well look at us. Would ya? There's got to be a name for people like us. Paranoid? Obsessive? Neurotic?"

"Yes, neurotic applies… especially for you… but, I was thinking more like… brothers."

Steve smiled. He agreed. They were brothers.

~to be continued~

\,,,/BronsonL