A/N: Thank you for reviewing! I appreciate you taking the time. I personally had to feed another adult. It´s a hard thing to do. Poor guys!

Heartache.

Stopping short, Lou exited the room before fully entering it. Without time to be seeing, his massive body was agile enough to quietly move back and successfully make his presence go unnoticed. He wanted to give them privacy and didn´t desire to add any more discomfort to his friends, apart from the fact that the task they were executing was obviously already doing it. As he briefly poked his head through the door, he saw Steve raising and directing the spoon towards his friend´s open mouth, accompanying it with a rag on his other hand and placing it below Danny´s chin to avoid any unwanted and involuntary spilling.

Lou had previously arranged with Steve coming at this hour to allow the Five-0 leader some time to take care of himself, because he had practically been standing by Danny´s side day and night since the moment his feverish and sleepy partner had asked him if he would stay with him, already three days ago. It had been impossible for Lou and everyone else to convince him to make him leave and take shifts again, even when Danny was sound asleep. But now, as their friend showed a little improvement, his resolve quivered a little and Lou was able to talk some sense into him. Three days in hospital could mean improvement on an ailing patient, but it was the other way around in a healthy person. Tiredness and anxiousness were evident on Steve. He could really use a good night sleep in his own bed and take a much needed run and a swim in the ocean.

Obviously, things have delayed themselves and Steve was still occupied helping his partner. Giving them time, Lou soundlessly walked towards the nurses' station; asked the one in charge if she could notify Steve of his arrival once his friend finished and looked for him; nodded his thanks; smiled politely to her; took the elevator and headed to the cafeteria on the first floor. After picking up some juice and some food with the intention of giving it to Steve as soon as the commander joined him, he slumped on a chair at a table by the windows. Running his hands over his face, he took a deep breath and left the air out slowly. The past days de hadn´t been in the hospital too much as Steve, but he was also quite tired. Danny´s case wasn't an easy one, and the team wanted desperately to apprehend the bastards that did this to him; to all of them. But so far, they got nothing. The only thing they were sure was that it wasn´t something personal with Danny, it was something linked with a case the team had worked at least year ago. It could have been any of them, but Danny had been the chosen one, maybe randomly, maybe not, but the truth was that he had paid the price for them all. The talkative and most of the time sarcastic detective, the real crucial stone of their ohana, had been hit hard and reduced to dust. Closing his eyes while still rubbing his face, Lou felt that his own tiredness was now mixed with an oppressive anguish that gripped his heart unmercifully. At the moment he poked his head through the door, he had come into account of something. That glimpse of his two friends he just saw had hit him hard. He already knew, theoretically, that Danny was hurt, weak and that he had a very long road to heal physically and also mentally. He knew that, but, seeing him so needed and vulnerable, depending completely on others to do something so basic as eating, broke his heart and made him realize that the near future won´t be easy, not only for Danny but also for the entire ohana. Its heart and soul had been shattered.

Placing both hands on the table and diverting his sight to the window as an attempt to give his eyes something to focus on instead of producing tears, he busied himself watching the white clouds travelling and contrasting enormously against the deep blue sky. Although the beautiful scenery, he couldn´t avoid his thoughts from going back to Danny and his heart was victim of another anguished spasm. The same beautiful sky was taken away and forbidden to his friend during his hard captivity. For three months, every time they frenetically worked together, Danny was alone; every time they took the time to share a meal, Danny was chained and given very little food waste and water; every time they went home, bathed and achieved to get some sleep, Danny was dirty and pissing on himself, alone and scared; every time they tried to ease their mind walking, running, driving or swimming, Danny was a captive with nothing to do but fight with his own mind and feelings. The color of the sky, so much like those eyes that, dejected and at the same time hopeless, had rested on his encouraging smile the day they had found him. Those eyes, always shining with mischief, were now dulled and translucent pain. Those expressive hands, chatterboxes as much as his mouth, were now useless and lodging pain, quiet and silent, muted and tired. Lou covered his face again. Closing his eyes, he let the tears remain hidden by his massive hands. The fresh memory of those feverish and restless first days since rescued, the agitation and fear of which Danny still a prisoner was, will never go away from his mind. He would never forget the nauseating smell from the first time they attended their friend when found; nor Danny´s desperation to be given water; nor his implied and blind trust; nor his fear and terror of being left behind. He will never forget also the strong smell of vomit mixed with medicines, antibiotic and sickness from the first night he had to watch over him; nor the feeling of the trembling thin body on his arms while shushing him as if he were a scared child; nor the tears he had to dry off from an over exhausted face once tiredness won him over. And Steve, man, Steve. The past three months, the man was a shell of himself. Almost constantly rimed eyed, he was taking just the necessary food to go by, just the necessary sleep, sometimes less. A solid and confident rock at first, as time went by without being able to find his brother, the commander strength and professional facet quivered a lot and, therefore, desperation was given space and gripped his heart unmercifully and started to play with his emotions and mind. Thank God they had found Danny when they did. As time went by, they had to start paying a lot of attention to Steve. The ever positive navy-seal was gradually losing his focus and the inability to control the situation and locate his partner started shattering his soul. Lou not only had felt Danny´s tears wet his Hawaiian shirt; previously, during the terrible and emotionally exhausting last month, during the breaks they took from working time trial, he had had to hug Steve, feel and hear the heart-broken and anguished sobs be muffed by his shirts, day after day. He would later apologize to him and try to act confidently, but they all had knew that if Danny´s absence prolonged without knowing his whereabouts, Steve would enter on a downward spiral. They hadn´t dreaded to think something worse. "How could I have let my partner down? How couldn´t I´ve protected him? He´s my partner I should be with him, I should be watching his back.. What if he´s hurt? What if…" Infinitive number of questions without answers, of hypothesis of probable scenarios his friend might have been enduring. Everything as a result of a hurting soul which couldn't bare the weight of the loss and the guilt any longer.

But that was over now. They had found Danny. He was here and Steve was helping him eat. A little improvement, at least.

A sudden hand squeezing his shoulder startled Lou, who in a sneaky way tried to dry his tears rubbing his hands on his face. The commander had approached him silently, as if he were on secret op mode. Giving Steve a smile, they looked at each other's eyes as Steve seated himself on the chair across the table. Steve just knew what Lou had been thinking. The heavy weight and tension of the past months fell down on each of them and everything they went through during the ordeal was present like a silent movie projected constantly at full speed in the back of their mind, always there to appear whenever there was a calm moment during the day or night. What they had gone through, and still are, won´t be ever a vanishing memory. It will stay recorded with fire on their brains forever. They will share those moments for life.

Steve knew that, even if Danny recovered, the sorrow and pain will forever remain at the bottom of their hearts and will be reminded to them from time to time, if not every day. After sharing and holding a long, silent and emotion-filled look, Steve gave his friend a sad but at the same time relieved smile. There will be no more crying in Lou´s shoulder; nor ragged sobs shaking their embrace; nor questions without answers; nor dark heart breaking hypothesis. Yet, the road ahead was still long and hard.

"Thank you". Steve must have already thank him and apologized to him at least a thousand times already. Lou gave Steve back the same kind of smile, and moved the food bander and the juice box that were on the table towards his friend, gesturing him to eat.

"He´s here now. He´s on the mend. Eat and you do the same." The big guy was a strong presence, an anchor to remain centered. Steve smiled again and silently started uncovering the food. He ate it all in silence, both of them sharing a peaceful moment of quietness. Taking with effort the last bite of his meal, Steve broke the silence in a low and seemingly guilty voice.

"I made him eat two pots of yoghurt. I forced him to. He didn´t want to."

"You heard the doctors. It´s for his benefit, Steve."

"I know it is, it´s just…he could barely stay awake. I had to push him…" Steve trailed off

"He´s weak and is very sleepy because of the medications. Next time, if you don´t feel right with it, let the nurses do that, ok?"

"No, it´s not that... it´s just that he did it for me, because I asked him to. You should have seen him, at times he was like himself again. He kept fighting me, like we do…" Steve smile grew wider and it was a happy one. Lou shared it, silently waiting for Steve to continue, to open up more and unload some charge and pressure from his heart and mind.

"I was nervous about feeding him. I´m sure he didn´t like it, but he did his best to make the moment bearable. He was tired and miserable but he still was joking…" Steve´s sight, fixed on an imprecise point of the table, showed his proudness for his partner, but at the same time the ever present sorrow. Shaking it off with a deep breath and another smile to Lou, Steve let the happiness of having regained his partner take the primary place. "But you´re right, he´s on the mend now and we´re here for him, he´s fighting and we´ll fight along with him."

"You bet we are". Lou let the feeling of relief set in for a moment before asking the inevitable. "You spoke with the doctors?"

"Yeah. Tomorrow morning they will exam and prep him and at midday they´ll start with the surgeries. They´re not sure if they will finish up with that tomorrow or he´ll require additional surgeries another time, it depends on how they are healing. But they´ll be evaluating it every day, checking up to make sure there are not infections. The most probable is that they´ll not close up all the injuries tomorrow, they said. The most compromised ones will remain open to allow further cleaning, so..."

"Ok. That´s good."

"You? Any news?" Steve couldn´t hide his amusing grin at the task Lou was conducting.

"I can finally announce that New Jersey´s winter storms have finally and officially dissipated and Newark airport will reassume its normal activity tomorrow. I can tell you, man, I´m happy. That woman is driving me crazy by phone." They shared a laugh, but they were only joking innocently, without any actual complaint. They perfectly understood the calvary those parents must be going through. "They should be here the day after tomorrow. I´ll take care of everything, don´t worry."

"Alright". Suppressing a yawn, Steve tried to hide it but didn´t succeed.

"Alright, get out of here. Go home and do your stuff. I´ll stay with him so you just free your mind of everything for a few hours, ok?" Getting up, Lou motioned Steve to do the same. Sharing a quick hug, they parted ways.

"Anything happens call me."

"Seriously? Get out of here before something happens to you!"

The sun was still high and hiding behind beautiful white cotton clouds and staining the sky of beautiful light as Lou carefully reentered Danny´s ICU room, making sure he didn´t make any noise in case Danny was asleep. He was, but a distressed frown was present on his innocent face. Tenderly placing the back of his hand to his friend´s forehead, he cursed inwardly, because a slight temperature was again emanating from the pale skin.