A/N Thank you all so much for the wonderful reviews! This little plot bunny was suggested by amblue36. I hope I did her idea justice! ~Kelcor
As promised, the best toxicologist in the country had been waiting for them when they arrived at the hospital, thanks to Governor Jameson, who was also anxiously awaiting their arrival. A comfortable chair - with cushions, no less - had been set up in Steve's private room, thanks to Chin and Kono because, as they had predicted, Detective Danny Williams had all out refused to leave his partner's side.
The doctors were confident of a full recovery, despite the touch 'n go aspect of the case little more than 24 hours ago when Steve had first been admitted to the hospital. They did warn of the possibility of complications, however, and the knowledge that their team leader wasn't out of the woods yet set off warning bells for the Five-0 team. Their boss didn't seem to be the best at avoiding 'worst case scenarios'.
Now, as Steve slept restlessly in his bed, Danny dozed in the way too comfy chair, being sure to keep an ear out for any further distress from McGarrett. Once the anti-venom had been administered, the hallucinations had occurred less and less frequently until, finally, they stopped altogether. Unfortunately, Steve's memories now simply made themselves known in his sleep, causing seemingly horrible nightmares. What bothered Danny the most was the fact that Steve had yet to wake up, which meant that he was essentially trapped in his nightmare world of memories that, judging by the taste Danny had gotten in the cave, was a torture all its own.
One thing that put his mind somewhat at ease was the fact that the arms dealers had been picked out of the MacGyver-esque trap Danny had set for them - using some of their own camouflage tarps which Danny had procured from their little campsite. He smiled to himself at the thought of the tattooed-thugs all squished together in a tarp, hanging from a large tree, waiting for rescue from the very people that wanted nothing more than to throw them in jail.
Danny was brought out of his musings by a groan from Steve. He instantly placed his hand on his partner's arm as this had calmed him in his previous nightmares since arriving at the hospital. It didn't work this time, though. In fact, McGarrett just seemed to get worse. Still asleep, he started fighting some unseen assailant and, when Danny tried to hold him down, he just fought even harder.
"Steve," Danny yelled. No response. "Steve!" Nothing. "McGarrett!" Finally, Steve stopped thrashing around and his eyes popped open. Danny sighed with relief but kept a hold of his friend's arms, just in case. "You with me, partner?"
"Danny?"
"Yeah, yeah. It's me. You awake now? You gave us all quite a scare there, buddy," Danny admitted. When Steve didn't respond, he looked more closely at his friend. He seemed unable to focus on anything. Concussion, maybe? "You okay? What's wrong?"
"I - "
"What? What is it? You need me to get a doctor or something?"
McGarrett twisted his hand around to get a grip on Danny's forearm, nails digging into the skin, with more strength than would have been expected from someone recovering from the recent ordeal Steve had gone through. His next words more than explained the sudden adrenaline rush.
"I can't see… Danny, I can't see!"
H50H50H50H50
The doctor stood outside Steve's room with Danny, Chin and Kono as he explained Steve's condition to them.
"The blindness is most likely temporary -"
"Wait a minute," Danny interrupted. "'Most likely temporary'? You gotta be able to give us something more than that, doc!"
"I'm sorry, I can't. Temporary blindness is not uncommon with rattlesnake bites. Still, there are no guarantees in a situation like this. Perhaps if he had been taken to the hospital sooner, given the anti-venom closer to the time of the actual bite… but, as it stands right now, only time will tell. I'm sorry."
Guilt at the doctor's words swarmed through Danny's heart and soul. Logically, he knew he had done the best he could under the circumstances but he couldn't get rid of the nagging doubt that if he had tried harder, he would have been able to get Steve to the hospital sooner. He was even more sure that, had their roles been reversed, Steve would have done a much better job at getting Danny the help he needed.
Chin wrapped an arm around a near tearful Kono's shoulders. Though she was doing her best to keep her composure, her concern for McGarrett was clear and Chin was doing his best to offer his cousin whatever comfort he could.
After giving Kono's arm a supportive squeeze, Danny turned to the doctor. "Can we see him?"
"Sure, but only one at a time. He's got a lot to process, right now."
Danny turned to his team with a silent question in his eyes.
"You go ahead," Kono told him. "I'm not going to be much good to him like this."
"Yeah," Chin agreed. "Go on. You're the one he needs right now, anyway. I'll stay here with Kono."
"Thanks, guys," Danny said as he turned and stepped toward Steve's room.
H50H50H50H50
When Danny entered the room, he was shocked to find his partner out of bed, limping around, hands stretched out in front of him, as if looking for something. When he tripped over the dinner cart a couple feet away from the bed, Danny lunged forward and caught him before his knees hit the floor.
With a curse, Steve shoved Danny away. "Get off me!" He took a step backward and, when he came into contact with the cart once again, he gave it an even harder shove, sending it flying across the room. It fell to the floor with a crash!
"Whoa! Steve, just calm down! Tell me what's wrong!" As soon as the words left his mouth, Danny wished he did have the internal editing button Steve had mentioned so many times.
"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Steve's voice reached a new crescendo, causing Danny to wince slightly at the volume. He really hoped no one in the next three city blocks was trying to sleep right now because, yeah, good luck with that!
"Look, Steve, I'm sorry -"
"I'll tell you what's wrong! I can't SEE!" He pointed to his eyes for emphasis but Danny also saw the terror and pain hidden beneath the anger.
"It's just temporary."
"You don't know that! The doctors don't even know that!"
Danny sighed inwardly. Whatever happened to doctors keeping a patient's hopes up? "Okay, you're right, okay? You're right. They don't know for sure. But you're the strongest guy I know and if anyone can beat this, you can!"
Steve's eyes filled with tears as he shook his head in denial. "Not this, Danny. Not this. What am I going to do? What am I -?" His voice broke and he tried to turn away from his partner but banged his knee on the bed frame in the process.
Rushing forward, Danny gripped Steve by the elbow and wrapped his other arm around the shaking shoulders. He checked and was relieved to see there were no tears. He wasn't sure he could handle those right now, and he knew darn well that Steve wouldn't be able to deal with the mortification of crying in his partner's arms on top of everything else. Back in the cave, McGarrett had been so out of it, he most likely wouldn't remember the touchy-feely moments. Right now, though? There would be no plausible deniability, no way to explain it away as just a dream - or nightmare, depending on how you looked at it. For Steve, nightmare would definitely be the descriptive word of choice.
With a sigh, Danny led him back to the bed. "I don't know, man, but we'll figure it out, okay? You and me, we'll figure this out. I promise you, okay? But, for now, let's get you back into bed. Where were you trying to go, anyway?"
"Home," was the mumbled, miserable reply.
"You can't go home, Steve. They need to keep you here for observation."
"To observe what, exactly," Steve asked, helping as much as he could as Danny tried to get him up onto the bed again. "Whether or not my sight returns? I can call to tell them I can see again. And, hey, if it doesn't come back, maybe I can drive over to tell them and some other driver can put me out of my misery!"
"Don't even joke about that," Danny said, a little louder than he'd intended. He knew Steve was just using his dark sense of humour as a way of dealing but, after almost losing his partner so many times in that cave, he just wasn't in the mood for it.
Steve seemed to pick up on that. "Sorry," he mumbled.
"For what? Knocking over the dinner cart?" Danny snarked. The past 24-hours had been emotional enough for the both of them. Avoidance of all things sentimental was key right now. "You know what they say about hospital food. I'm sure it'll pick itself up and jump back into the dishes before the janitor even hears about the mess!"
Apparently, Steve wasn't in the mood for his humour, either. Not even a quirk of the lips. He just grabbed Danny's shirt and looked pleadingly up at the spot where he figured he'd be able to make eye contact. "Please, Danny, please! I just wanna go home!"
Danny shook his head. How was he supposed to say no to that? He didn't even know 'puppy dog eyes' were in Steve's repertoire but there they were, pain-filled and pleading!
H50H50H50H50
After getting Steve home - released AMA, of course - Danny had hoped his partner's mood would improve but, if anything, he seemed even more depressed than ever. Danny could only assume it was because, at home, McGarrett was reminded even more of the specific things he couldn't see… family photos, for instance. After his ordeal in the cave, Danny was pretty sure family was the foremost thing on the SEAL's mind right now.
It was late, so he got Steve upstairs to his bedroom and set a t-shirt and pyjama bottoms out on the bed for him. Danny then stood back for an awkward moment. "Um, do you, uh, need any - " His offer of assistance was (thankfully!) cut off by the only slightly misdirected glare from Steve, aimed a bit over Danny's left shoulder but just as potent. "Right," Danny amended. "I'm gonna… go, now. If you need anything, I'll, uh, I'll be -"
"In the next room, Danny, I know," Steve said with little to no inflection in his voice. Even the glare was gone and Danny missed it because that was his only link to the Steve he had come to call friend - maybe even best friend, though not out loud - over the past few months.
As he turned to leave, Danny slid Steve's cell phone off the nightstand and slipped it into his pocket. He had to make a call and the number he needed to call was in his office… and on Steve's contact list.
TBC
A/N Okay, so, Danny is going to call Catherine... but I can't decide if I should have her come over to help Steve deal or if I should have her say she's off in the Gulf somewhere and can't get leave... leaving Danny to deliver some more h/c for our wonderful and heroic - and tortured - SEAL. Any votes on which direction I should take it?
