As the wonderful, pain-free darkness started to lighten, Danny realised vaguely that very little time had passed. His ears were assaulted by the deafening whaup-whaup of the helicopter rotor blades and he could feel every single vibration resonate through his body to the very marrow of his bones, increasing the pain in his shoulder.

He must have moved or made a sound, for gentle hands were at once keeping him still. "Easy, Danno," Steve soothed. "We're almost at the hospital."

Forcing his eyes open, Danny looked into Steve's concerned face. "Shem?" he asked. He thought he had asked this before, but he was no longer certain.

"He's dead," Steve reminded his friend. It was difficult trying to converse over the noise of the rotor blades. He didn't want Danny straining himself any further; his friend had been through more than enough. "Just rest."

"Was… anyone else… hurt?" Danny persisted.

"No one," Steve assured him. He felt the helicopter start to descend and felt a huge sense of relief. Danny had needed medical attention while still on the hill and Steve was afraid that the nightmare journey down had done more damage to the already injured shoulder.

The pilot put the chopper down with a barely discernible bump. At once, medical personnel swarmed towards the craft and Steve slid out of the way to give them access. Danny cried out once as he was move onto the gurney, then they were all hurrying into the hospital.

"Start an IV," Bergman ordered. "Get these clothes off him. I need a BP stat and put x-ray on standby. Is the OR ready?"

"Yes, doctor," the nurse replied. She wrapped the BP cuff around Danny's arm as another nurse efficiently cut through the camouflage jacket, Danny's blood-stained shirt and unbuckled the flak jacket. "BP is 90/60, doctor," the nurse reported.

"Open the IV wide and give him a bolus," Bergman ordered. "Type and cross match three units and have them taken to the OR." He listened carefully to Danny's lungs and heart. "Is there an exit wound? No? Okay, let's get a picture of the shoulder and get this young man to the OR. What's his BP now?"

"Risen slightly to 95/70," the nurse reported.

"Well, I suppose it's going the right way," Bergman grumbled as the portable x-ray machine entered the room. He took Steve by the arm and led him outside. "I'm taking Danny to the OR now," he told the chief of Five-O. "The bullet is still in him, as you know, but until I see the x-rays, I don't know how close it is to the subclavian artery and obviously I don't want to take any risks; he's lost enough blood as it is."

"Will he be all right?" Steve asked. As far as he was concerned, that was the bottom line; forget the mumbo-jumbo of medical jargon.

"I hope so, but I won't know until I open him up," Bergman replied. "There are lots of nerves in the shoulder, Steve. They might have been damaged. I just don't know right now." He patted Steve's arm. "I know that's not what you want to hear, but it's the best I can do at the moment."

The x-ray machine came out and Bergman was immediately issuing orders. Steve leaned over the gurney and touched Danny's arm. The younger man's eyes opened and he tried for a smile. "Steve."

"You're going to the OR, but I'll be here when you wake up," Steve promised.

"Okay." Danny's face was pale and pinched with pain. Steve wished with all his heart he could call back the thoughtless words he'd used before Danny went up the hill. If he hadn't said them, then perhaps Danny wouldn't be facing surgery now.

"Ready, Danny?" Doc's question was rhetorical, but Danny responded sleepily.

"Ready." He smiled slightly. "See you… later, Steve." His eyes closed as the gurney started moving. Steve watched them until they were out of sight.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

There were probably plenty of things that he should be doing, Steve reflected, but he had promised Danny that he would be there when his second came out of surgery and Steve wasn't about to break that promise – not when it was Steve's fault that Danny needed surgery in the first place. Kono and Chin had taken care of tidying up the crime scene and getting traffic flowing on the highway again. Duke would take care of the HPD reports. Everything else could wait until later or tomorrow. With that decision made, Steve made his way to the surgical ward to visit Tommy Ewa.

Earlier in the day, reports on the injured officer had not been good. He had been reported to be in a coma, but when Steve checked with the nurse, he was given the good news that Tommy was awake and his family were with him. When Steve stuck his head into the room, Tommy found a smile, even though he was clearly weak and drowsy. "How are you, Tommy?" Steve asked.

"Gonna be fine," Tommy replied. "Did you get him?"

"We got him," Steve confirmed. "We were worried about you, Tommy. I'm sorry about your partner."

"Thanks," Tommy grunted and wiped weakly at his eyes.

"Can I get you anything?" Steve asked. He was aware of how awkward this interview was. Tommy's family was clearly in awe of the head of the state police and looking at him like he was a being from another planet.

"No, thanks." Tommy was clearly tired. "It was nice of you to come and see me."

"I wanted to be sure you were all right," Steve replied. "There were enough casualties today."

"Me; Ryder – who else?" Tommy asked and Steve cursed himself.

"Big Paul," he replied and Tommy winced.

"Is he…?" The question was hopeful, but Tommy's eyes told Steve he guessed the answer.

"Pau," Steve replied softly. Big Paul was well known for his big heart, courage and hot head. "Danno was injured taking the sniper out."

"He gonna be okay?"

"Yes," Steve replied firmly. No other option was admissible to McGarrett. "He's in surgery now."

With a pleasant nod, Steve made his escape, promising to keep abreast of Tommy's recovery. There was no word yet from the OR. Steve paced restlessly. How long did surgery take? Would they come and tell him if something went wrong – like Tommy Ewa's adverse reaction to the anaesthesia? He paced some more. Waiting had to be the worst thing in the world. Steve often thought that Purgatory must be a place of endless waiting. Small wonder that people feared it.

"Boss!"

Turning, Steve saw Chin, Kono and Jenny coming towards him. A glance at the clock showed that the afternoon had escaped him while they were out at Diamondhead and the evening was well advanced. How many hours had they spent at Diamondhead?

"How's Danny?" Jenny demanded, her usual vivacity dimmed by anxiety.

"In surgery," Steve replied. He gave Jenny a quick hug and held her against his side. He wouldn't have admitted under torture how much comfort he got from the contact. "Is everything all right?" he asked his men, knowing that they wouldn't be here if it wasn't.

"Yeah, boss," Kono answered. He looked troubled. "That Shem – he was pupule."

"He got it from his mama," Chin added darkly.

"How did she take his death?" Steve asked, knowing that Chin was generally pretty tolerant of people's foibles, especially when they had been bereaved.

"At first, she refused to believe it was him," Chin replied. "Accused us of using a double to discredit her son." Steve winced at the delusion. "Then she couldn't deny the truth and broke down." A momentary expression of disgust crossed Chin's face.

"She shouted that she would make Danny pay for killing her boy," Kono amplified.

At that, Steve's head went up. "By name?" he asked.

"No," soothed the big Hawaiian. "Just that the person who killed her son would pay. She don't know Danny's name."

"Let's keep it that way," McGarrett ordered. The whole family seemed to be very peculiar. "What about the widow?"

"She cried," Kono reported uncomfortably. "Tried to comfort the mother, but the mother wasn't having it. I think the widow was relieved, but didn't want to admit it."

"Where is the mother now?" Steve asked, dismissing the young widow. She seemed harmless enough, but the mother was another matter.

"HPD put her in a hotel until tomorrow, then she'll get a flight back to Maui."

"Make sure someone keeps an eye on her," Steve ordered.

"Will do," Kono agreed.

There wasn't much to say then. Steve drew Jenny over to some chairs and sat with her. Both Chin and Kono paid short visits to Tommy Ewa, then they all waited some more. At length, Dr Bergman appeared. He was still in his scrubs. Steve felt a surge of fear at the sight of the doctor's drawn face. "Doc?"

"Danny's going to be all right," Doc assured them. He sat down heavily. "As you can probably guess, the operation wasn't completely straight forward. "The bullet was lodged in his collarbone and the subclavian artery was trapped beneath it. When we removed it, we had to be careful that neither the bullet nor the broken collarbone lacerated the artery. It took some time, but we got it out okay. Ortho set Danny's collarbone. As far as we can determine, none of the nerves in his shoulder were damaged, but we'll know more about that when Danny's awake tomorrow."

Just to be sure he'd picked up on the important thing, Steve asked, "But Danno's going to be okay?"

"Yes, Steve, he's going to be fine," Bergman nodded. "I watched him for a bit in the recovery room, after what happened with Tommy Ewa, but he woke up okay for us."

"Can I see him?"

"Just for a minute you all can," Doc allowed. "He'll probably be asleep, so don't waken him. You can ask him questions tomorrow."

"This time, I don't need to," Steve replied. "We know exactly what happened." He rose to his feet and Jenny tucked her hand into his arm and they followed Doc to Danny's room. The detective was sleeping, his face partially obscured by an oxygen mask and his right shoulder and arm were heavily bandaged, the arm strapped protectively across his chest. An IV and a bag of blood were connected to a cannula in his left arm. He was pale, but looked better than he had when he had been brought down the hill. Steve could feel his tension draining away.

None of them lingered. Steve sent everyone home. It had been a long day and there would be plenty for them to do tomorrow. With one last look at his sleeping friend, Steve took himself off home, too.