Author note:
Hello, everyone. First of all, thank you. You guys are very generous with the reviews. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy and I look forward to hear from you. All feedback are appreciated.
Have a nice day.
The darkness was still lingering around the corner, but something else caught his attention as he was becoming more aware. There were voices around him, they were soft and familiar. It felt like a group of people were talking to each other. Should he let them know that he was awake?
Rick was laughing softly at the lame joke TC was making about White Knight's daring rescue mission from one of Robin's books. If Magnum had been awake, his ego would have risen to defend the character which was why, it was good to laugh it out while he was still unconscious. Even Higgins, Kumu, and Katsumoto couldn't hide their grin.
TC was going on and Rick was about to add in when he felt weak fingers trying to curl around his. Rick stood up almost immediately which caught the others off guard. Ignoring everyone in the room, he quickly leaned into the bed. TC was beside Rick in a beat, followed by Katsumoto. Higgins and Kumu was leaning in from the other side. "Look, guys." He gestured his eyes to his hand that was holding Magnum's. Everyone was able to see. Magnum was moving his fingers.
"Thomas, you're awake?"
TC, why you sound worried?
"Thomas, you need to open your eyes."
Higgins with her very authoritative tone or is it concern that he just hear? What's with all asking me to open my eyes?
"Thomas, come on now. You have all of us worried here."
Wait, Kumu?
"Magnum…"
That final voice opened the gate for the flood of memories to wash over him. The drive with Katsumoto. The warehouse. The suspect. On foot pursuit…
And the heart rate monitor wailed, wrenching everyone's attention toward it. Rick pressed the call button almost instantly and before they could comprehend what was happening, Malia rushing in, and they all reluctantly stepped back except for Rick. He still chose to stand close by in case his boy needed him.
Malia checked on the heart monitor and other machines before she turned to the others in the room. The hear monitor was still wailing. "He appeared to be stressed out. What happened in here?" She asked as she prepared to give Magnum some sedatives to calm him down.
"He was starting to wake up, we were just talking to him," Rick spoke in a rush. "Thomas, calm down." He edged closer and grabbed Magnum's hand into his. The drastic change in the beeping of the heart monitor worried him, all of them.
The realization hit Higgins. She took two long strides back to the bed. "Thomas, he is okay."
All eyes went to her, wondered what the hell she was talking about. She looked up briefly at them. "The last voice he heard before the monitor went off is Gordon. I think it reminded him of what happened. Knowing him, I think he is worried, thought maybe something happened to Gordon as well."
Katsumoto blinked in surprise. The PI was worried about him?
"Gordon, talk to him." Higgins urged Katsomoto to come over.
Katsumoto was beside Magnum's bed in a beat. "Magnum.."
Gordy? Are you okay?
"I'm fine, Magnum. You need to calm down. I'm perfectly alright. Calm down now."
Just like that, the readings in the heart monitor began to go down to its usual numbers.
"Guess you're right Higgy." TC sighed in relief.
"Mr. Magnum are you ready to open your eyes for your friends here?" Malia asked.
Yeah, right! Let's get this over with.
Magnum tried to open his eyes, and after a few struggle, slowly it did but it was barely open. Through the slits, Magnum could see a few blur figures hovering over him. He blinked once, it seemed to help to clear the blur images so he did until his friends' concerned faces greeted him. Everyone appeared to be relieved to see him awake. Now he felt bad for not opening his eyes a little earlier.
"Mr. Magnum do you know where you are?"
That was not hard to figure out. The machines beeping beside his bed and the stagnant smell violating his nostrils was helping. "ospital? He rasped, his throat felt raw like it was rubbed with sandpaper.
"Here, let me help you with that," Malia said before she fed him with some crushed ice. Magnum never savored anything in his life before but that crushed ice felt amazing.
"Do you remember what happened?" Malia threw in another question.
Geez, thanks for reminding. "Shot?" He was still rasping but he sound way better after the ice.
"Unfortunately, yes." Malia smiled sadly.
"Water?" He tried his luck although he knew he wasn't going to any. She apologized, explaining how he can't have much water but she did swab his lips and inside his mouth with a wet sponge that felt equally amazing.
Malia turned to the rest of the group who was waiting eagerly. "Don't keep him up for long. He needs his rest. I will update Dr. Anu on his condition."
They quickly clumped closer and smiled in relief. "Hey there, baby boy. You got us worried there, man." Rick smiled softly.
Baby boy? Seriously Rick? Don't you have a better nick name?
Magnum was too tired to grumble on the choice of nickname, so he just squeezed Rick's hand that was already holding his. He tried to keep his eyes open as long as possible. But then he gave up, it was too much work. "Sleep?" He asked hopefully.
"Rest now, Thomas. We will be here when you wake up again." Higgins assured and Magnum was fast asleep even before she could finish what she was saying.
Magnum can't remember much after that. There was too many in and out of consciousness but he was grateful to keep seeing someone familiar welcoming him each time he woke up. The next day, when he woke up, he was shifted to the normal recovery room when his post-surgery results came back all positive. Malia even had him sitting in bed. He surprised himself when he able to carry a lucid conversation without falling asleep for the first time. For the first half of the day, nothing interesting happened expect for TC keeping him company and making all jokes on one of White Knight's daring rescue. That was no fun.
Magnum was sleeping when Katsumoto walked into the room later that day.
"Hey, thanks for coming." TC stood up quickly. "Sorry for calling you. A request for the tour came in last minute and the others were hooked up with something."
"Like I said on the phone, no problem." Katsumoto smiled.
"Thanks, brother." TC was picking up his things to leave when he remembered something. "His physical therapist will be coming up later, they gonna try to get him back on his feet."
"Today?" Katsumoto raised his eyebrow.
"Yes." TC nodded and smiled. "and you, my friend will be the lucky one to see the famous Thomas Magnum taking his first steps."
"Get out, TC." A meek voice came from the bed and both men chuckled. "Later," TC mumbled before he walked out.
Katsumoto walked closer to bed and smiled at the sleepy face. He helped Magnum to sit on his bed when Malia brought some juice for him to drink. After the quick refreshment, Magnum was ready for his first adventure. Finally getting out of his bed, Magnum realized the number of tubes sticking out of him. He was able to figure some of them, but some were new.
"Those are drainage lines." Malia explained when she saw him looking at the tubes. "They are helping to carry any post-surgery drainage from your surgery site to a collection container."
"Huh ah." Magnum hummed. He didn't miss the change in Katsumoto's face. He figured he will talk to Katsumoto about it later. With his physical therapist on one side and Katsumoto on the other side, Magnum aced his first walk with a help of a wheeler of course. When he was back, he was given food which was when he realized he was actually starving. The food was good but all the walking drained out his energy and he found himself battling with his knife and fork to cut the chicken into small pieces.
"May I?" Katsumoto asked, holding his hand out and Magnum lifted his eyebrow. Katsumoto took the cutlery in his hands and helped to cut the chicken and other vegetables into smaller pieces.
Magnum watched Katsumoto, not that he thought the police detective will not help but it was just a little hard to believe to see in person. If he remembered correctly, he was on Katsumoto's, not my friends' list.
"It was not your fault, you know," Magnum whispered.
Katsumoto sighed. He handed the the knife and fork back to Magnum once he was satisfied that all the meat was in smaller pieces.
"Then, whose fault is that?"
"No one," Magnum answered. He didn't want to say it was the suspect's fault. He didn't want direct Katsumoto's anger or guilt to anyone.
"That's not fair. I should have done something." Katsumoto looked up and it worried Magnum to see pain visible behind those eyes.
"You can't go on second-guessing all your actions. It will drive you crazy. Don't do that."
"There must be something I can do."
"You're right. You can only try to live with what had happened." Magnum looked into Katsumoto's eyes. "Trust me, it's not going to be any easy but that's all we can do. It wasn't your fault."
Katsumoto let out a harsh breath. Perhaps he will not admit it out aloud but the PI was correct.
"And there is something else you can do for me right now."
"Yeah? What is that?"
Magnum grinned. "Can you finish that book for me?" Magnum gestured his eyes towards one of Robin Master's books sitting on the table. "TC was reading it earlier, but the big guy was killing it, so will you?"
And the man is back to annoy me. Katsumoto thought to himself.
Magnum waited to see if he had won Katsumoto over. Magnum's jaw dropped in amazement when Katsumoto did pick up the book and read the chapter as he ate his dinner. Well, if Katsumoto had be honest, he surprised himself as well.
Magnum smiled. News of the decade. He was upgraded to Katsumoto's BFF list.
Just one more chapter to go. Tell me what you think.
Thank you for your time and support.