A/N: Thank you very much for reading and reviewing!
The doctors.
Danny came around by the sound of voices. One of them he knew well. It belonged to his partner. Another one was known to him, the grave tone of his doctor. He had never heard the third one before. Picked up by curiosity, he slowly opened his eyes. Blurrily at first, he managed to distinguish two white coated figures talking quietly with Steve by the windows of his room. So, the third voice belonged to another doctor. Losing interest, he closed his eyes again, taking comfort on the fact that he was propped on his side instead of lying on his sore back and the soft pillow caressed his face, which he purposely sunk further towards the clean scent of the linen. But his intent to doze off again was frustrated as the voices fell silent and he heard movement. His waking has been noticed. His curiosity had given him away.
Sighing, Danny partially opened his sleepy eyes again as he felt presences approach his bed. The two doctors stood now by his side, but his friend exited the room.
Seeing his patient´s sight stayed focused on the door through which the Commander had just left, the doctor moved to block Danny´s visual, intending to catch back his full attention while his colleague closed the privacy curtain around the bed.
"Your friend just went down to the cafeteria to grab something to eat, he´ll be back as soon as we´re finished. Is that ok with you?"
"Yeah" The barely audible and rather unconvinced answer was delivered as the firm gaze of the physician was able to catch the pale blue eyes again.
"Ok. Good" The doctor´s reassuring smile told him his answer has been the correct one. Keeping the relaxed manner, he bent down to lift a little the head of the bed. Then, staying close to Danny and exuding calmness and security, he placed one hand softly on Danny´s forearm. "I´m doctor Tad Kalama. I have been conducting your treatment since you were admitted to this hospital. You may not remember much because you have been fighting a strong fever due to some infections, but luckily that fever just broke yesterday." Waiting a few seconds for his patient to absorb the information, he continued on a jovial tone. "But now that you´re free from it, we can concentrate on keep getting you better. Sounds good uh? What do you say champ?"
"Ok". Definitely not as talkative as he had been told this detective was. The other doctor, actually a psychiatrist, who until now has been standing at the foot of the bed observing with attention, approached the other doctor´s side as Danny´s questioning sight finally fell upon him. Also smiling and serene, he introduced himself.
"Detective, I´m doctor John Hale. I specialize on psychiatry and work here in this hospital on the neurological ward. I work with people who went through traumatic events, just like you. I would like to accompany you during your recovery process and help you in wherever I can, working together here with doctor Kalama, the group of professionals assisting you, and of course your friends and family". He paused and tried to absorb his patient´s reaction. Danny just slowly blinked and gave a curt and barely perceptive nod. Nodding himself and taking it as an affirmative response, the doctor continued. "Excellent, Detective." He enthusiastically replied, giving Danny again the sensation that he was doing the right thing and making the correct choices, which subconsciously helped to start building up his crushed confidence.
"What do you prefer me to call you? Is ´Detective´ alright?" The psychiatric, addressing Danny again, startled him out of the private thoughts he had just retreated to. The understanding on the doctor´s eyes encouraged him to trust and make an effort to comply, but the truth was that he felt very weak and tired, with an ever-present slight headache and the fact that he easily became overwhelmed.
"Danny.." The sighed out response told the doctor that his patient had had enough of questioning.
"Ok Danny, very good." The once again one-word response and the short lived tolerance, although not due to anger but rather because of tiredness and being fed up of the attention, didn´t go unnoticed by the doctor, who finished typing something on his workpad and choose to finish his screening right there, so as not to overuse the trust of his patient and maintain the gained confidence alive. "I think we finished for today, ok Danny? I can see you´re tired, so I´m going to leave you with Dr. Kalama so he can examine you next, alright? I will be coming back tomorrow."
"Alright.." Giving Danny a gentle squeeze on the leg and the other doctor a signal to follow him and to give him a minute, they disappeared through the curtain. Danny listened them talking quietly for a minute, until he felt the sheet being moved down towards his waist, uncovering his upper body. His principal doctor was back, and was now carefully removing his gown through his arms, lifting them one by one to pass the sleeves through the bandaged hands without causing additional pain.
"Ok Danny, first I want you to know that it´s completely normal to feel weak and tired after a prolonged period of high fever". The doctor started to talk while he finished removing the gown and exposed the thin torso of his patient. Every rib could be easily seen. He thought wisely to avoid mentioning Danny anything about his ordeal for the time being, because his weakness wasn't only a result of his fever, but primary due to the three months he lied down chained to a bed.
"Ok here we go" The doctor put the removed gown aside and then proceeded to adjust his stethoscope on his ears. "I´m going to examine you now. While we do this, I want you to tell me if anything hurts or any discomfort you may feel, ok Danny?"
"Ok". Danny flinched surprised as the doctor placed the stethoscope on his bare back.
"Sorry. Is it cold?" The physician looked for Danny´s face with a big smile, as if telling him he had done it on purpose. His intention of lighten the mood of this routine was achieved as he noticed with delight that the shy smile that appeared on his patient´s lips reached his eyes. "Yeah". The smile lasted a few seconds, but after that the doctor felt Danny relax a bit more. "Ok, I promise next time I´ll warn you". He run the pad through different places of the back, listening concentrated. "Take a deep breath. Good. A bit deeper. Ok very good". Then he did the same on Danny´s chest. Putting the device aside, the physician´s skilled hands delicately but firmly palpated his back, lower back and coccyx, avoiding touching the bed sore areas. Danny reacted complaining it hurt, and the medic checked what he already knew. A great deal of pain and discomfort was present when the area was submitted to pressure, as a result of having to support all the weight during a prolonged period of time.
"Danny, now I´m going to ease you on your back…" "No.." "…just for five minutes, I´ll do a quick exam and then help you on your other side." Minding the tubing and lines attached to his patient and the bandaged limbs, as soon as Danny dejectedly closed his eyes, he carefully maneuvered the delicate body on the required position. Working quickly to not exceed the five minute line he promised, he experimentally pressed deeply different spots on Danny´s flat abdomen. "I want you to tell me if there´s pain, ok? Take a deep breath.." Under the strong pressure, Danny´s limited strength faltered, and he wasn´t able to take a proper breath. "Deeper". "Can´t" The frustrated reply came with an edge of desperation, and the doctor rushed to placate the distress. "It´s ok don´t worry. Any pain there?" "No.." "Ok good. We´re almost done" Sensing the doctor move from his side, Danny felt his left leg being uncovered and one doctor`s hand sliding below his ankle and the other placing on his sole. "Push on my hand with your foot. Good. Now can you lift your leg?" The limb trembled with effort but weakness won. "Ok Danny very good".
After discarding his latex gloves and sanitizing his hands, the physician picked up a clean gown. Danny startled awake from his doze when his arms were carefully assisted through the sleeves of the new gown, along with the IV line and bag, which was placed again on the hanger. Then, he was grateful as he was gently moved and propped up on his left side. Sighing with content as he was covered up whit the soft sheets and light bedcovers, he was ready to doze off again from being totally spent after the exam, but he had no choice but to open his eyes again as he felt the doctor sit on the edge of the mattress and place a hand on his bicep to get back his attention.
"I will let you sleep in a minute. I want to talk to you about important items you must be aware of, to help with your healing process. I´ll be brief but I want you to understand your current situation." The professional seriousness helped Danny not to ignore the importance of the things the doctor wanted to tell him, whom, while speaking, was making sure Danny was following. He did, so he continued.
"Ok Danny. First you are aware that you feel very weak and you tire easily. It´s due that you arrived here with considerable malnutrition, you have lost a lot of weight and your muscles also lost their resistance. That's why our first step to concentrate on and achieve will be getting you stronger ok? Nourish you so you can regain strength. While you were feverish we helped you with this – the doctor reached forward and indicated the nasogastric tube coming out of Danny´s nose - I know it´s uncomfortable but it´s helping us to provide you food and medicines. By the time being we´re going to keep it, but now I want you to also start taking food by mouth. We´ll start with processed ones first, see how you tolerate it and then gradually we´ll be adding solid food." The doctor stopped for a minute, wrote something down, and looked again at his silent patient. "Danny, how do you feel about eating?" "Ok" "Alright" he smiled understandably, knowing that a silent mouth didn´t always meant a silent mind. He was able to see through the troubled eyes of the ailing man that he was falling into the account of how sick, needed and dependent he was. He tried to soothe the arising fear. "We´re going to go easy, step by step. We have a great team of professionals and you have great friends who support you one hundred percent. Rely on that. You´re not alone." Dr. Kalama gave Danny a minute to calm down, and then continued before sleep claimed his patient´s resistance once more. "Another thing I´ve arranged regarding your strength recovery is rehabilitation sessions. But we´ll wait for that a couple more days. Meanwhile, every chance you have to move your arms and legs, or someone helping you change position on the bed, ask for it. You have developed some bed sore areas, so it´s very important to keep changing positions. Once we start the rehabilitation, you´re going to be able to sit and take an assisted walk, but as I said, we´re going to go easy".
Dr. Kalama got up, which made Danny open his halfway ayes entirely. He nodded when asked if he wanted a sip of water. He took three, and he was helped down again. The medic uncovered his arms, which were lying slightly extended in front of him, and Danny was able to focus carefully for the first time on the heavy and rather large bandages that covered from the middle of his forearm to the tips of his fingers. The doctor started explaining the IV line on his left arm which provided him fluids and antibiotics before moving to his hands.
"The day you arrived here…"
"How many days..?" Danny absently asked, still looking at his bandaged hands.
"Four" Waiting for another question, but not receiving one, he continued. "You had surgery performed on both your wrists and hands, and your right ankle. The surgeons repaired flesh and some broken bones. You had been and are currently having daily cures to treat infections of the now healing wounds and once you´re a bit stronger we will schedule a second round of surgeries that are needed". The doctor waited a moment. "You are with me, champion?" "Yeah.." "Ok. If you have any question you can ask me." "No…" The energy reserves wore completely off. Totally spent, Danny´s eyes closed on their own accord, against theirs owner´s will. They opened again when Danny felt the covers being replaced and smoothed over his shoulder and arms. "Sorry…" The barely audible apology for his body´s betrayal had the doctor patting his leg. "I will let you sleep now". Hearing the permission to succumb to his need, the ailing man stopped fighting the heaviness of his eyelids and immediately was sound asleep.
Pulling back the curtains, the doctor was startled at the sight of a figure sitting by the window. He recovered quickly. "Commander".
"Sorry doc. Just got in here".
"You may want to save that on the refrigerator for now. He´s sound asleep".
Glancing at the items he held in his hands, Steve wordlessly nodded. The physician patted his back and motioned him to follow him outside. The faithful partner glanced at his peacefully sleeping friend, placed the juice and puddings on the nightstand and obediently followed the doctor through the door.