It Never Ends
By Montez
Chapter 4
Disclaimer: See chapter one

A/N: Again a huge THANK YOU! for all your support.-Montez

"Family of Steve McGarrett." The doctor spoke as he noticed the four people taking up one side of the waiting room look up, three of them standing, the fourth walking purposely from the window toward him.

"How is he?" Danny spoke first; his hand's clinching in front of him.

"Mr. McGarrett is currently in surgery." The doctor started, but paused as he watched the blond man wave his arm in front of him.

"He's alive?" Danny was sure he'd lost his friend, something in him told him Steve would fight, but Williams couldn't get past that image.

"Yes, we were able to restart his heart shortly after his arrival, his blood pressure was dangerously low, with the blood loss he experienced, the obvious exhaustion that he appears to have been dealing with for several days, the fact it doesn't appear he's ate much, add in the infection and extremely high fever, his body just couldn't keep dealing with all that and it caused his heart to stop. We started pushing fluids and blood down here, started taking measures to bring his 104.7 temperature down, but in order to help with that he's been taken up to surgery to clean out the infection that has set up in his abdominal wound. Which I would like someone to explain to me how he came by that wound and why he hadn't sought medical treatment for it?" The doctor looked at the four concerned faces, wondering if he was going to get an answer to his question, his patient wouldn't be in the serious condition he was in if he'd sought medical help when he was first injured.

Chin spoke up when he saw Danny starting to get angry at the implications of why Steve was in the condition he was currently in. "It a long story Doc, one we don't have time to get into now, we just need to know Steve's going to be okay."

"Well it looks like someone tried to patch it up, but since it wasn't cleaned out completely the infection took hold. Its requiring surgery to debride the area and hopefully stop sepsis from setting in, your friend is in for a few really rough days. The surgical suite waiting area is on the third floor, the surgery could take a few hours, I'm sure the surgeon is going to want to make sure they removed all the infection from the effected area and make sure it hasn't spread." The doctor concluded.

Again it was Chin that spoke as Danny turned and headed for the elevators, "Maholo Doc." He then followed Joe and Kono down the hallway, the four stepping onto the lift, heading upstairs to wait again.

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It was nearly midnight before there was anymore word on Steve. Danny had restlessly paced nearly the whole time only pausing when Chin offered him a cup of coffee. Joe sat stoically near the window, intently studying his own cup of coffee; Kono was curled up on the small, uncomfortable couch, dozing occasionally while Chin sat near the entrance, making it easier for him to do the coffee runs of which he'd just returned from his third.

It was another voice, another doctor, green-scrub clad this time that had them all standing. "Is there a Danny Williams here?" The older man asked.

"I'm Danny, is this about Steve?" Danny asked, at first confused as to why he was being called by name, but then he remembered months ago that McGarrett had told him that he'd put Danny as the emergency contact on all his official papers. Since Steve had sent his sister back to LA he hadn't wanted her to worry every time he got hurt and he needed someone here, that he trusted to call the shots if he couldn't. Williams hadn't though much of it, not considering the weight of the seemingly small gesture until right at this moment.

The doctor nodded, "If you'd follow me we can discuss Mr. McGarrett's condition in private."

Danny shook his head, motioning around the room at the others, "It's Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett and we're the only family Steve's got on the island, whatever you have to say they can hear." Williams took a deep breath, not sure by looking at the doctor if he was going to give them good news or bad.

"Please have a seat." The older man stated, moving toward a chair himself. "I'm Dr. Kim, Commander McGarrett made it through surgery, though we had some difficulty keeping his blood pressure within a satisfactory range, but considering the blood he lost I'm honestly surprised he'd been able to function after suffering the wound he did. We were able to clean out all the infection, flushing the area thoroughly. We've left a drain in just in case and have started him on a broad-spectrum antibiotic. The next few hours will tell us whether the infection entered his bloodstream, but I believe we were able to get it cleared out in time. Over the next twenty-four hours he will continue to receive blood to replenish what he lost, as well as hydration which both will obviously help stabilize his blood pressure. If he doesn't show any further signs of infection within the next twelve hours we'll move him to a regular room, but right now he'll be in our ICU so his temperature can be monitored as well, but once most of the infection was removed his temperature did drop to around 103 and is slowly going down."

Danny ran his hand over his face, "So he's going to be okay?"

Dr. Kim nodded, "With some rest Commander McGarrett should make a complete recovery yes."

Williams ran both hands through his hair, glancing at Chin who was smiling, then Kono whose eyes were bright with unshed tears of relief. Then Danny caught Joe White's face, the older man smiling slightly nodding his head, almost like he knew Steve would be fine, but Danny saw the worry in the SEAL trainers gaze. Somehow Danny knew there was more to the relationship between White and McGarrett than just the older man being the younger one's training officer. There was a trust he'd noticed in Steve's eyes when he saw who his visitor was back in jail, it was a trust that took a few months of working with Steve before he saw looking at him. It was a trust that told the person on the receiving end of it that McGarrett was letting you see more of him than the normal, everyday person, that you were privileged to see past the façade and see the real Steve McGarrett.

"When can we see him?" Danny asked turning his attention back to Dr. Kim.

"We'll be moving him from recovery in about a half an hour, someone will come and get you then and you can visit a few minutes every hour. Like I said, once we are fairly certain all the infection is indeed cleared out of the wound itself, he'll be moved to a regular room where you will be able to stay with him longer." The doctor stood as did Danny who reached out to shake the doctor's hand.

"Thank you." Dr. Kim nodded then turned to make his way back through the surgery wing doors.

Just as relief that Steve was going to pull through was finally settling over everyone Chin's phone rang, "Kelly, what? When?" Chin's unnaturally harsh tone caught everyone's attention as he met Danny's eyes. "No I'll be there as soon as I can, just make sure the place stays locked down and I want access to all video feed in and out of that block." Kelly disconnected the call and ran his hand through his hair, taking a few steps back from everyone to try and get his bearings.

"What was that?" Danny asked, having a feeling he wasn't going to like the answer. They had just gotten the best news that day, well next to the news Steve had finally been cleared of Governor Jameson's murder, but he also knew something had to be really wrong to ruffle Chin's feathers.

"That was Duke; Victor Hesse was found murdered in his jail cell a short time ago." Kelly watched disbelief cross everyone's faces.

"What? How the hell did that happen?" Danny couldn't believe it, before Steve's collapse Danny had been considering him and Chin talking with Hesse again the next day about what he'd found on the SD card, what he hadn't shown McGarrett, the video of his father meeting with Jameson and Wo Fat. He was gonna ask Victor if he knew anything about that.

"I don't know yet, I need to head over to the prison, keep me posted on how Steve's doing and I'll be back as soon as I can." Chin said quickly, he hated leaving without seeing Steve, but knew his friend would want him trying to find out what happened to Hesse.

"Go; call when you get more details." Danny said as he patted Chin's back when the man passed him.

"That's the man that killed John and stabbed Steve in prison wasn't it?" Joe asked quietly.

Danny sat back down, his mind trying again to process everything that was happening. That seemed to be the norm lately; it was either no information coming in or all of it coming in at once. "Yeah, this is not good, Hesse was the last of our direct links to Wo Fat, now we're back to nothing and Wo Fat has all but disappeared again, it never ends."

Before anyone could respond Jenna Kaye came rushing into the room, noticing the worried almost defeated expressions her mind automatically jumped to the wrong conclusion. "Oh my God…" She brought her hands to her mouth, "Please tell me Steve's okay?" Kono reached the woman first, noticing the fearful look on her face quickly realizing just how they all must look to the analyst.

"Jenna, it's okay, Steve's going to be okay. The doctor just left a few minutes ago, they're gonna watch him close for a few hours and hopefully move him to his own room, but he said with some rest Steve should recover." Kono pulled Kaye over to one of the chairs, sitting down next to the woman.

"Oh thank God," She gave a nervous smile, suddenly feeling ashamed for jumping to the wrong conclusion, "I'm sorry, I just saw all your expressions and…if he's going to be okay, what's wrong?"

"Victor Hesse was murdered tonight; Chin just left to help with the investigation." Danny rubbed his eyes, God he was tired, he couldn't remember the last time he was this tired, but he couldn't think about sleep until he got a chance to see with his own eyes that his partner was indeed alive. "Chin said you got a call after we left the office, anything useful?"

Jenna's expression at the mention of Hesse's murder seemed one of genuine shock, but Joe noticed something in the younger woman's eyes that he couldn't quite place. It could be something or nothing; he hadn't known the young woman long enough to tell if it was a normal look or something more. He decided to file it away even though the trained military man in him wanted to call her on it, it wasn't his place and it could just be him trying to come to terms with everything he'd seen and done in the last twenty-four hours.

Kaye shook her head, "Not a whole lot, only that Wo Fat's left the island, which we already knew and that from some overseas chatter he's expected to land somewhere in Asia within the next few days, but no specifics."

Before anymore could be said a nurse stepped into the room, "The doctor has said it is okay for someone to come back and visit the commander now." Everyone looked toward Danny, knowing he needed to be the first to go back, he stood and followed the young woman.

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Stopping in front of a curtained off area the nurse again spoke softly, "You'll have about ten minutes."

Danny gave her a tired, half smile that didn't reach his eyes as he stepped through the curtain, his eye's landing on the still form of his partner, "Damn it Steven, you're gonna be the death of me yet." Williams mumbled as he stepped next to the bed, placing his hand on his best friend's arm.