He lay in his hospital bed, struggling to open his eyes. Everything hurt, even to breathe. Danny looked through his partially open eyelids and saw nothing but a blurred, fuzzy room. He tried lifting a hand to run through his hair, but his arm seemed too heavy.
Closing his eyes again, Danny thought back to the last thing he remembered. On his day off, it had been such a beautiful day that he'd gone for a walk. He hadn't gotten far before a pair of boys, somewhere in their mid to late teens, had jumped him as he passed an alley. The bigger of the two had held Danny captive while the other had dealt the blows. As far as he'd been able to tell, the boys were no one he knew, but in the brief time he'd seen them before passing out, their faces had been seared into his memory.
Danny was brought out of his reverie by a quiet voice calling his name. "Danno...Danno, you still awake?"
He slowly turned his head towards the voice and tried again to open his eyes. "Steve, is that you?"
It even hurts to talk.
"Yeah it's me. You all right?"
"Sore, but about as good as can be expected, I guess. How long have I been laying here?"
"A couple days; you gave us quite a scare. Doc wasn't sure you were going to make it at first. Your eyes are pretty swollen; can you see at all?"
"A little, but everything is blurry."
"It's just as well, I suppose, because I brought somebody with me, and you don't need your eyes to hear her speak."
xXxXx
Emily entered the room when Mr. McGarrett beckoned for her to come in, and her heart broke all over again at the sight of Danny. His black eyes had darkened, and his swollen nose had a nasty bruise across the bridge.
"Oh Danny," she said in a hushed voice, tears burning at the back of her eyes.
xXxXx
Danny's ears perked at the sound of the child's voice. He knew it immediately, though he'd neither not heard it or seen its owner since that day at the bank. A slight smile crossed his lips.
"Hello, Emily."
xXxXx
Steve was unable to shake the feeling that Emily wanted, perhaps even needed, a few moments alone with Danny, so he took the opportunity to leave the room. He stood guard outside the door, ready and waiting to ward off any nurses who might unwittingly try to interrupt the reunion inside.
xXxXx
Emily sniffed back her tears as she said, "I made you a card, Danny."
"I'd read it myself, but I'm having some trouble seeing right now. Will you read it to me?"
She held the card up and began describing it. "On the front I drew some flowers-pink and blue pedals, and the middles are yellow. When you open it up, on the left is a picture of you and me, and on the right it says, 'Get well soon. Love, Emily.' It's not fancy like the ones you see in stores, but - "
"It's better than the ones you see in stores," Danny interrupted. "At the store, you have to buy cards with money. This one was made with love, and that's what makes it so special. Thank you, Emily."
The child beamed at the compliment. For the time being, the man laying the hospital bed might not look much like the Danny she remembered, but the feeling of security and importance he gave her was exactly the same.
xXxXx
Steve and Emily left a few minutes later, and as Danny lay alone in his room, he thought about the little girl that had just visited him.
Emily...how well he remembered the day he'd met her. His presence at the bank otherwise unknown, Danny had been the only one separating Emily from harm further caused by her step dad. His charge to "defend and protect" had taken on new meaning that day, and he no longer took it lightly that those words included children as well as adults.
Since that day at the bank, Danny had often considered tracking Emily and her mother down, in order to make sure they were all right, but for whatever reason he'd never gotten around to it. He was sorry he hadn't.
But so help me, I'm not going to let those two get away again. When I get out of here, I'll find a way to keep in touch.
xXxXx
For the first time she'd seen Danny on the street, Emily came home from school the next day in a relatively upbeat mood. She'd slept fine when she went to bed, and had gotten through the school day without a single worry regarding the possibility of Danny taking a turn for the worst. She'd seen and talked to him, and she knew he was going to be all right.
But her mood quickly changed on her way down the hall. As she passed the room that the boys shared, Emily happened to glance in and saw a small square piece of folded leather on Frank's dresser. It wasn't something she recognized, and in accordance with her curious nature, Emily crossed the empty bedroom to examine it.
It was a wallet...an unusually thick wallet. Emily opened the billfold and saw the reason for its bulkiness. Attached to one side was a badge. Opposite the badge was the owner's ID, and the image was one of someone Emily knew.
Emily was holding Danny's missing wallet.