Shot to the Heart
Quick one-shot. No beta, just me up at 1am typing away. No slash.
Chasing perps was not something Steve enjoyed, but the rush of using instincts to keep the target in sight along with pushing his body to its max physical potential gave him a surge of adrenaline that made it hard to keep the smile off his face. This time was no different, until it was. The team had been tracking down a murderer who was caught on camera shooting the man his wife had been cheating on him with. They had not been married very long, but it still built up enough rage in the man to reach the tipping point of committing cold blooded murder.
After catching a break on the case and pin pointing the hide out of said murderer, Five-0 set in motion the plan to apprehend and take the suspect in. The breach was going smooth until the last minute when the perp bolted out the back door of the house. Without hesitating, the ex-Navy SEAL sprinted after him, dodging fences and trees as he chased the man through the neighborhood. At the time, there did not seem to be a threat. There had been no indication that the suspect had been armed, so Steve pursued the man with his gun still at his side in its holster.
Closing in on the man, Steve began shouting for him to stop, waiting for the time when the man he had been chasing for almost 5 minutes would give up and end the foot chase. Continuing to follow, Steve was rounding the corner of a house, just on the heels of the perp when the unmistakeable sound of a gun going off rang through his ears. A split second later, Steve collapsed on the grass, unconscious before he even hit the ground.
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Danny had a gut feeling something bad was about to happen, when not 5 seconds later the man they had come to arrest escaped out the back door of the house. His partner sprinted out the door after him, with Junior hot on his heels. Since those two had decided they wanted to get another round of cardio in the for the day, Danny and Tani stayed back and ran to the Camaro, hoping to cut off the man so Steve and Junior could take him down. Talking to Lou, who was on coms back at headquarters, they tracked Steve's phone to see which road to turn down.
Making their way down Kolohala Street, Danny and Tani were just about to reach Steve's location when the perp sprinted out on the street 30 feet in front of them. He looked to his left as he saw the black Camaro with its red and blue lights heading straight for him. His next movement happened so fast, there was no time for Danny or Tani to jump out of the car and use their weapons to take the man down. There wasn't even time for them to warn their boss that he was headed right in line with the barrel of a gun.
Watching in horror, Danny slammed on the breaks. The two team members quickly jumped out of the car at the same time Steve rounded the corner of the house, but before either of them could unholster their weapons, a shot went off and Steve fell limply to the ground.
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"STEVE!" Danny screamed when he saw his best friend lying motionless on the grass. "No, no, no. Steve, buddy, wake up man, wake up."
Danny had reached Steve first, frantically falling to his knees, searching and feeling his friend's body for any sign of a bullet hole and blood. There was no blood pooling around the Commander, so Danny then checked Steve's vest to see where the bullet had hit him. He found it lodged on the left side of his chest, just below his heart. He thought it was a good sign that the bullet had only hit his friend's kevlar, but once he realized Steve wasn't breathing and he couldn't find a pulse, he knew it was not good at all.
Ripping the heavy black vest off the large, muscular body of the ex-Navy SEAL, Danny began chest compressions. After one round of chest compressions and two rescue breaths, Danny checked again for a pulse and felt nothing. "Dammit Steve, come on, breathe." He started compressions again when Lou came over his ear piece, "Danny, paramedics are one minute out."
Feeling slightly relieved after knowing help was almost there, he was about to start the rescue breaths again when Steve suddenly took one huge gasp of air, blinking rapidly as he regained consciousness. The look on his face mirroring the look Danny had on his: 'What the hell just happened.'
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First he felt nothing, like everything and everyone had just faded away into nothingness. Then pressure. He felt a tight pressure constricting his chest, making it impossible to breathe. Then came the pounding on his chest and the feel of air being pushed into his lungs. And just as fast as every sense had left, it all came rushing back, making him gasp for air as he was abruptly brought back to consciousness. Blinking rapidly, he could make out a fuzzy figure hovering over him. He could tell the man was speaking in a calm, soothing voice but the words were not yet registering. Steve tried his best to focus on the words coming from the person above him, and eventually recognized the voice of his best friend. "Steve, hey it's ok. Relax buddy I'm here. You have to slow your breathing down ok, it's ok, relax."
He did as Danny said, which helped him feel more relaxed and the fog in his head slowly went away. Steve was becoming more aware of his surroundings and started to sit up, only to have a hand placed on his shoulder, pushing him back down to the grass. "Lay down, the paramedics are pulling up now. You need to be checked over before you get up."
Danny kept his hand on Steve's shoulder and he could tell the Commander was about to protest. "Dan-" Steve started, then paused, pushing through a wave of pain spiking in his chest. He tried his best to hide it and finished his plea to sit up, "Danno, I'm fine. Just let me sit up, ok."
"You really think I didn't see your face just then? My blind grandmother could see how much pain you are in. Stay down, the paramedics are getting their equipment now. For once in your life, do me a favor and just wait for help, please." He knew Steve probably wouldn't listen to him, but for his own sake and love for his best friend he had to try.
Luckily, moments later, the medics arrived and began assessing Steve. Since he was knocked unconscious and the bullet hit so close to his heart he needed to be transported to the hospital. And although he protested, he was soon loaded up on a stretcher and taken to Tripler where he would have scans and tests run to see the extent of his injuries.
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At the hospital, Danny, Tani, Lou and Junior all waited on news of Steve. There wasn't really a need for them all to be there, considering the ride in the ambulance went smoothly and Steve was already asking the doctors when he could leave, but they were Ohana and they wouldn't leave until they heard for themselves that he would be ok.
After a few hours of scans and tests, the doctor finally came out to give an update on their boss. Turns out he was very lucky. Had that bullet been a few more centimeters higher it would have hit Steve directly over the heart and most likely killed him instantly, with no chance of being revived. The impact to his chest however, was hard enough to stop his heart, but not hard enough to do permanent damage and with Danny's quick action to do compressions, Steve would make a full recovery. He had severe bruising on his chest and a few cracked ribs, but other than that he was totally fine. The doctor wanted to observe him for a few more hours and then he would be released. Of course he would require someone to look after him for the first 24 hours, and Danny was happy to do so. Anytime he was able to boss Steve around, he was up for the task.
Once the doctor was done updating the Five-0 team, they were allowed to go visit Steve. Danny was the first to enter his room and the first thing he noticed was Steve looked pretty normal considering what had just taken place a few short hours ago. His whole chest was wrapped in bandages to hold the cracked ribs in place and he only had one IV coming out of his arm. In the past, visits like these would almost be impossible. Seeing his best friend hooked up to every machine the hospital had was never easy, but this time the man was sitting up in bed, smiling at his team as they all walked in.
"Hey babe, for someone who just got shot, you look pretty good." Danny smiled as he walked over to the bed to fist bump his partner.
"Yeah, when I saw you hit the ground I thought the worst." Junior half smiled as he walked over and sat in one of the chairs beside the bed. "I'm glad you're ok though, that was too close for comfort."
Looking around Steve felt grateful he had so many people around him who genuinely cared for him and for each other. He hated being in the hospital, but this was one thing that made it a little better, the family that always showed up. "Thanks guys. And hey Junior, what happened to the perp, did you get him?"
Junior and Tani explained how as soon as the shot went off, they both jumped into action and kept following the suspect while Danny looked over him. Deep down they wanted to stay with Danny and Steve, but they knew their boss would want them to keep chasing down the perp until he was apprehended and thrown in the back of an HPD squad car. Which he was and he may or may not of hit his head a few times before taking the nice ride to jail.
Steve's smile grew, glad to know he wasn't shot for nothing. "Great job guys, excellent work."
~the End~