A/N New chapter! I think this is the before-last chapter, so the next one up will be the last one :( Thanks for all the reviews, feels great!
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"Danny, you're gonna be okay, you hear me?! I'm right here, buddy. Danno, stay with me!" said Steve frantically, holding Danny's right shoulder. He knew it was one of those pain attacks that Danny will have to go through for the rest of his life, but this one seemed so bad, it scared him.
Right then, two nurses and the doctor rushed into Danny's room. The doctor instantly knew what was going on with his patient. "Denise, TENS unit, now!" exclaimed the doctor. "Commander, I'm gonna need you to move aside please, we need to treat Detective Williams."
Steve had no choice but to do so. He moved, but tried staying close to Danny. It really hurt him to see his partner in so much pain. His heart rate had slightly decreased when Steve was right next to him, holding him and talking to him, however, it's still pretty high.
As the doctor and the second nurse approached Danny, Denise came in with the TENS unit. They started working on him. They slowly turned Danny so that they could go on with the treatment properly, and it was visible that this time was worse than the first one.
They underwent the same procedure as the last time. They placed the pads on Danny's neck and shoulders, and believed that the unit would slowly take effect on him. After the treatment started, it took Danny's heart around two minutes to start decreasing its rate. The doctor also ordered the second nurse to give Danny medication for this disease some short time after the treatment. Steve had watched the process for the second time, but this time in horror, because Danny was in agonizing pain, and was literally crying, and that made him feel helpless.
As Danny settled in and relaxed around six to seven minutes later, Denise stayed in the room and the second nurse left. The doctor guided Steve to the outside of the room, wanting to talk to him, as he was visibly distraught.
"Commander, I know that this is hard on all of you, but you have to get used to these pain attacks, they'll accompany your partner for the rest of his life. Sometimes, some of the attacks can be less painful, and sometimes, it can be on the contrary, very painful. I'm sorry that you have to go through this, but you have to start getting used to these" declared the doctor.
Steve was staring at him. He then nodded and glanced at the wall beside him, licking his lips as he was about to talk. "I know, doc. But seeing him like this, and not being able to do anything about it is killing me, I feel totally helpless" responded Steve. He was saying the truth, and he hoped that the doctor had something to say that would make this situation better.
"Commander, unfortunately there's not much that you can do, as soon as he starts feeling the pain, you either use the TENS unit or some medication. You could try to talk to him, try and smooth things up a little, encourage him, but other than that, there's nothing to do" stated the doctor.
Steve dropped his head down in defeat, realizing that what the doctor had just said is true. "Okay.. can Danny stay in his room or you'll have him transferred back to the ICU?" asked Steve. He hoped that Danny would stay in his new room, or else they'd have to relive the whole nightmare again, and Danny wouldn't be too happy as well.
"No, I don't think it's necessary, what he went through is totally normal, and the reason his heart rate spiked up was because the pain was too strong for him. But, as you saw, he's breathing fine now and he's not in a critical condition, this is just the cervical disc taking action" answered the doctor.
Steve nodded and then shook hands with the doctor, thanking him. He then left, and Steve was alone. The ex-Navy SEAL figured that it would be best to leave Danny alone, resting, just for a bit. He then sat down on one of the chairs next to his partner's room.
Steve wasn't alone for a long time. Chin just arrived ten minutes after. He had promised Steve to pass by and give him a new pair of clothes for the day. When he entered the hospital, he checked Steve's text from last night telling him the room number. With that, he made his way there.
As he arrived, he saw Steve sitting outside, and alone. That made him feel uncomfortable and worried, because it wouldn't make sense from Steve to leave Danny alone. "Steve?" asked Chin as he got closer to him.
Steve looked up and saw his friend. He got up and they shared a brotherly embrace. "What are you doing here? It's still early" wondered Steve.
"I just came to give you these" replied Chin, as he handed Steve the bag containing clothes. "What are you doing out here anyways? Aren't you supposed to be with Danny?" questioned Chin. It did feel strange to him.
"Yeah.. about that. He just had one of those pain attacks from his cervical disc, and so the doctor says it's better to leave him alone when he's getting treated. But one of the nurses is inside, to keep an eye on our boy, he's fine" stated Steve.
Chin nodded and then sat down next to Steve, as they waited for a bit more until Danny's treatment is over.
They had chatted for over twenty more minutes, until Denise left Danny's room. She spotted Chin and Steve and made their way to them. As she approached them, they both got up. "Commander, Lieutenant.. Detective Williams' treatment is over, you can go back inside now."
"Okay, thank you so much" said Steve. He and Chin then both made their way to Danny's room.
When they entered, Danny was awake and totally relaxed, opposed to his condition just forty minutes ago. "You gave me quite the scare, buddy" enounced Steve as he got close to his partner and tapped his shoulder. "You alright?" he asked, with concern.
"I'm fine, Steve" said Danny, smiling at him.
"Welcome back brah" voiced Chin, smiling at his friend. His relationship and friendship with Danny has evolved so much. They now became as close as brothers, but one thing Chin will never forget, is the fact that Danny was always there for him, at any given time, when he had lost Malia. Sometimes, they'd go, just the both of them, to a bar, or a café, and talk. Danny always tried to help him, and Chin realized that Danny was truly a good friend, and he was even one of the most loyal ones he'd ever met.
"Thanks buddy, it's good to finally see you" answered Danny, with a bright smile. He then realized that someone was missing. "Hey, where's Kono, is she okay?" he asked.
"She's fine, she should be here at any moment now, she just had a small thing to do" retorted Chin. Just as he finished, Kono entered the room.
"Hey, we were just talking about you, babe" said Danny, smiling at Kono.
"Someone looks happy. How are you, brah?" spoke Kono, smiling fondly at Danny.
"I'm good, everything's fine." At that moment, Danny thought that he had to talk to his friends about an important matter. "Listen, guys, I hate to ruin the happy moments, but there's something that I need to talk to you about." He didn't like to change the subject like that and talk about something serious, but he had to, he couldn't bear it anymore.
The three team members immediately felt worried and concerned. "What's wrong, Danno? Is everything okay?" asked Steve.
Danny hesitated for a second, but figured that he should just go with it, he can't tell them to drop the subject now, it was too late. "Actually, no… I.. I don't know how to say this, but.. but I've been thinking lately, a lot, ever since I found out about everything, about my future, I guess. Look, I want you guys to know that I love you all so much, but I can't be a cop anymore. It's not possible, there's no way I could go on the field anymore. I know this is probably shocking right now, but I believe that it's the right choice" declared Danny. He then turned his attention to his partner. "Steve, I'm turning my badge in, as soon as we get out."
All three team members were in shock. Danny was the heart of this task force, and losing him won't do any good to the team. Steve immediately jumped in.
"Danny, no, you're not. You can't leave, it's crazy. And what about the conversation we had, huh?!" exclaimed Steve. He was angry, not only shocked.
"Boss, relax a little bit" said Chin. "Danny, are you sure about this?" he added, looking at him.
"Think about what you're saying, Danny" chimed in Kono.
"Guys, I thought about that for quite some time. I mean desk duty won't do me any good, and working in the field won't do me any good too, one wrong move and I could end up paralyzed, you know. It's too risky. You guys are the closest thing that I got to a family. Grace was the only family I had here, and then I met you guys, and you filled in all the blank spots. You don't know how much you all mean to me, but working at Five-0 is too risky for me, and if I do desk duty, believe me, I won't even last a week" replied Danny. It hurt him to say this, but he had to get it out.
"Danno, please, without you this task force will be just a regular one, nothing too special" said Steve, hoping Danny would listen.
"Babe there's you, you're enough to make this whole task force special and unique, with all your ninja skills and crazy ideas, don't you think" shot back Danny, with a small smile.
Steve, along with Kono and Chin chuckled, but he immediately went back to the subject. "Okay, but Danny, you're like the heart of this task force, seriously. If you leave, it won't be the same anymore, and nobody wants that. And on top of that, I'm gonna have to look for a new partner, and I really don't want to change my partner, you're the best I ever had, and no one can replace you, and I won't accept that. Maybe you won't be able to go on the field anymore, but you can still work with Five-0, buddy. And you don't have to be on desk duty all the time, whenever we interrogate someone, you can be there, and when we catch a case you could still investigate at the crime scene with us. There's plenty of things that you could do that won't harm you and put you in danger. Please Danno, think about it a little more."
Danny would be lying if he said that he didn't feel convinced by what Steve just told him. There was still plenty of things to do that wouldn't put his life at risk, and that meant that he could still be Steve's partner, he'll just have to go out less than before. It would obviously still be kind of risky, but it's better than going on the field chasing criminals and shoot, which would be a greater risk. "I'll think about it, alright? I can't promise anything though."
"Alright, Danno" said Steve, with a small smile. Chin and Kono joined in. He convinced Danny, which was the hard part, and it made him happy, but now all that's left to do is wait for Danny to give his final answer, and that did scare him, or rather, stress him, because without Danny, there wouldn't be Five-0, and Steve, Chin and Kono, were all certain about that. They could not lose the heart and soul of their beautiful task force.
A/N There it is! What do you guys think? Tell me if you think Danny should leave Five-0 or not! And as always, thank you so much for reading!