Thank you all so much for reading. I think I thanked every reviewer in a pm, if not, I'm sorry I didn't mean to ignore you. Also thanks to every guest reviewer and to the ones who have pm disabled.

And now on to the next chapter.

Purple Heart – Chapter 8

Steve leisurely stretched in bed, then turned and snuggled closer to Cath, draping his leg over hers. And froze. He even held his breath. But he was instantly awake. Cath must have sensed that something was wrong and woke up as well.

"You okay?" She sleepily asked.

"I moved," Steve told her in complete awe.

"Huh?"

"My leg; I moved my leg," Steve told her as he wiggled his toes. It was painful, but Steve didn't care. He was way too happy with the new found ability to register the pain coursing through his leg all the way up to his hip.

"Your bad leg?" Cath asked as she propped herself on her elbows.

"Uh huh." Was Steve's answer. He was still moving his toes and started to pull his leg up, but had to stop when fierce pain shot up his leg. Steve couldn't quite keep in the groan.

"Don't overdo it," came Cath's worried reply.

Steve stilled his movements and grinned at his bed companion. "Good Morning, Lieutenant."

"Good Morning, Lieutenant," Cath answered with a smile in her voice. "You gave your leg quite a workout last night. We walked here from the couch, AND," she paused for dramatic effect. "We were not really lying still after we got to bed last night."

Remembering what they had been doing last night made Steve smile big time. "Guess we didn't."

"How do you feel? Does your leg hurt?" Cath snuggled closer and laid her head on his chest allowing her hand to wander all over the place.

"I haven't used the muscles in weeks and they feel really sore," Steve told her as he tried to stretch out his aching leg.

"You should probably call your doctor or your therapist and let them know."

"Later. I think we should do something else first," Steve answered and turned to Cath, now half lying on her.

"Oh, Lieutenant, and what might that be?" She asked between kisses.

"I'll show you."

And so he did.

H50 – H50 – H50

"Who is coming to see you?" Cath asked Steve as he hastily tried to get out of bed.

They had spent almost all morning in bed with a short bathroom break and a breakfast which they also ate in bed.

They again heard the banging on the door and now they also heard the voice. "Steve! Open up!"

"Ah, shit," Steve exclaimed.

"What?"

Steve ignored Cath for a moment and looked for his wheelchair which was idly standing a few feet from the bed.

"Could you please get—"

Cath was already out of the bed and put the wheelchair in front of him, laughing while doing so.

"You really want to open the door like that?"

Only then did Steve look down at himself and then up at Cath, realizing that they were both naked.

"Uh—"

"Steve! Are you alright in there?" It seemed that the visitor was getting a bit impatient.

"I'll be right there, Sir," Steve called out toward the entrance. Turning to Cath he continued, "can you please get me something out of the closet to wear?" Steve looked at her pleadingly.

Cath stopped getting dressed, she was in jeans and bra by now and looked at Steve.

"Sure."

It only took her a moment to find underwear, a tee and sweatpants. Steve's closet was so organized that she almost had to laugh at the order in there. Everything was sorted by article and even color.

With Cath's help Steve was dressed in under a minute, but couldn't hide how much it had hurt to get dressed in a hurry. Moving his leg had sent a sharp pain all the way up to his hip.

"You alright?" Of course Cath had noticed.

"Yeah, just sore." Steve grinned at her.

"I think you have every right to be sore," she said as she engaged in a quick kiss. "Can you get off the bed on your own? Never mind," she said and shook her head seeing him transferring to the wheelchair with ease.

Steve wheeled out of the bedroom and closed the sliding door, giving her some privacy to finish getting dressed.

He made his way out to his hallway to let in his former CO. He was a bit apprehensive about the visit since he had no idea how much Joe White knew about his injuries.

Steve opened the door to reveal Joe, who was just ready to bang on the door again. If he was shocked to see him sitting in a wheelchair Joe hid it well.

"Sir, I'm sorry I kept you waiting," Steve said as he wheeled back a little to let the Lieutenant Commander in.

"Good to see you, son."

"Thank you, Sir. Please come in."

McGarrett watched his former CO move past him and closed the door. He took a deep breath and took a moment before he made his way into the living room, surprised to see Catherine standing in the kitchen, making coffee and already engaged in a conversation with Joe White.

"I see you have already met Lt. Rollins."

"Yes, I have," Joe grinned at Steve, sensing his discomfort about the situation.

They all knew why it had taken so long to open the door, and that it had nothing to do with him sitting in a wheelchair.

"Uhm, I think I should be going, so the two of you can catch up," Cath said as she gave Joe his coffee.

"You don't have to leave because of me, Lieutenant."

"No, that's okay, Sir. I have a prior engagement." Cath made her way over to grab her jacket and turned back to her friend. "I'll call you later tonight?"

"Yeah, sure." Steve went to the door with her and when they were out of sight she bent down for a quick kiss good-bye.

"Going to miss you."

Cath only smiled and stole another kiss.

"I'll call you," she whispered and reluctantly let go.

A moment later Steve closed the door after her and wheeled back into his living room to face his former CO.

H50 – H50 – H50

"So, they still don't know for sure if your hearing will come back?" Joe asked after they had spent the last few hours catching up.

"No, Sir. My hearing on the right is back to a hundred percent, but I hear mostly white noise on the left. It's unnerving at times."

"Have you received any therapy for it?"

"No. They operated on it, and told me the hearing should come back on-line, so to speak. They did all they could," Steve told him a bit frustrated.

"Well, let's hope it will get better with time."

"There is a lot that needs to get better," Steve said with a low voice.

"I'm sure it will, Steve. Looks to me you've already come a long way. Just surviving that blast..." Joe didn't finish his sentence, but they both knew how incredibly lucky Steve had been. "So, now tell me about that nice young lady."

"Uh, you mean Lieutenant Rollins?"

"Unless you have another girl hiding in your closet? YES, I mean the lieutenant."

"There's not much to tell, I met her two days ago. And we kind of hit it off, you know?" Steve told his former CO, who was more like an uncle to him. At times even more like a father. Just thinking about Catherine made Steve smile and he could see from the grin on Joe's face that it was obviously showing.

"You really like her," Joe told him.

"She is really cool. I can talk to her, and she knows what she wants and doesn't take any shit from me. She is really cool, Joe."

"You said that," Joe said with laughter in his voice. His young friend was obviously very taken with that lieutenant.

Steve looked at Joe and had to laugh. This was a side of him he didn't even know he had. Not since he was fourteen and fell for one of the girls in his chemistry class. He had it bad back then. "How about an early dinner, Joe? There is a great Chinese Restaurant right around the corner," Steve asked in the hope of changing the topic.

"You want to order in?"

"No, actually, I'd like to go out for a bit. If that's okay with you?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

"Great. I need a few minutes to get changed. If you like there are sodas in the fridge, sorry no beer," Steve told his friend as he wheeled to his bedroom to change into something more appropriate than sweatpants.

"You need any help?"

"No, be right back." Steve took his clothes and went into his bathroom to change. No need for Joe to see his struggle with a simple task such as putting on pants. Besides he needed to use the facilities anyway.

It was almost fifteen minutes later when Steve emerged from the bathroom. Dressed again in jeans and a sweater. He wheeled out to the living room and just heard the tail end of a conversation Joe was having on the phone.

"I promise to call with an update… Yes… I gotta go… Call you later," Joe said and turned to Steve.

"Who was on the phone?"

"A friend of mine who I hope to see tomorrow. So, are you ready to leave?"

H50 – H50 – H50

Hawaii, present time

"It was you. Joe talked to you." The look on Steve's face changed from confusion to realization and he looked at his mother for confirmation, even though he was sure that he was right. "He updated you on my condition, didn't he? You kept tabs on me all those years." Not only did it sound like an accusation, it was one.

"Steven. I… I had heard that you were injured, but I had no idea how badly, I couldn't find out for myself. So I asked Joe to check on you," his mother explained.

"Joe came to see me because you ordered him to, not because he…" Back then Steve had still believed that Joe cared about him, now he wasn't even sure of that anymore. He didn't know if he should be touched that his mother cared or pissed that she continued to watch him from afar. Never coming out, even after he was a SEAL and very capable of taking care of himself. Her excuse that it had been for his protection flew out the window after he was grown and in an elite group of the military.

Even before that he felt like her reasoning was flawed. If you need to go into hiding, you do so with your kids. You don't fake your own death and leave your kids behind thinking the mother they loved with all their hearts had been blown to pieces.

Steve tried to get hold of his emotions and all the words that were bubbling just under the surface. He knew this was neither the time nor place to address the issue. He refused to blow up in front of his friends, but he had a hard time keeping his sadness and anger in check.

"Joe was so worried when he found out that you had been caught in an explosion. He told me over the phone and I could hear how scared he was. How scared we both were. We only had the information that you were in D.C. recovering from severe injuries that had put you in a coma for a week—"

"I wasn't in a coma," Steve interrupted her speech. "I had been in and out of consciousness, but I was never comatose."

Doris sighed and admitted, "I made a lot of mistakes, Steven. I know that. But I never stopped loving you or worrying about you."

"You have a funny way of showing that," Steve mumbled under his breath. He was not willing to have this conversation with his mother right now, not with his friends sitting here. He looked up and saw the concern on all their faces; he could see they were a bit worried that they would be witness to any drama enfolding. That thought actually made him chuckle a bit, which turned into a giggle. A manly giggle of course, and thinking that, he couldn't help himself, he started laughing. Stop that or they'll think you just lost it.

"What's so funny? What are you laughing about?" Danny asked his friend, shaking his head at Steve's very odd and out of character behavior.

"Nothing," Steve said between a snort and laughter. "Argh." It was not a good idea to wave Danny's question off with his left arm. They had had PT again this morning, and what Jolene had done to him was not funny. His shoulder had been throbbing all day, but now, after that stupid move, it was agonizing.

Five weeks. He got shot five weeks ago, and his shoulder still hurt like a bitch at times. Like right now. He hung his head and tried to breathe through the pain attack.

"I'll get you a pill, okay?" Cath leaned over and gently rubbed his back.

Steve only nodded; he knew that he would not be worth much without pain medication. In a few minutes, the shoulder muscles would seize up and that pain was really unbearable. He straightened up in his seat and looked at his friend sitting across the table. Just in time to see his guilt ridden face. "Danny, it's not your fault."

"I shot you," Danny whispered.

"First of all, I can't remember that, so stop reminding me of it. Secondly, and more importantly, your bullet didn't do this damage," Steve told Danny for what he thought the hundredth time. "The two idiots who almost pulled my arm out of its socket did. They did all the damage to the tendons, muscles and they are responsible for the bone damage. Not you, Danny, I swear." Steve can still remember the unbelievable pain that had shot through his shoulder when two of Assante's men pulled his arms around their shoulders to drag him along. That was the moment his shoulder had been damaged almost beyond repair. That is why he was still in such pain from the scraped bones. Why it still hurt so much to rotate his shoulder, and why he still didn't have much strength in his left arm.

Steve could see that Danny still struggled with the guilt of shooting his partner. He had tried to explain to him that friendly fire happens and that it wasn't his fault. But he could understand that Danny thought otherwise. Steve would feel the same way if the roles were reversed. He wondered for a moment what Danny was thinking right now, he looked like he was miles away.

H50 – H50 – H50

Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific – Nu'uanu Clinic

Two weeks ago

Detective Danny Williams looked at his best friend who was trying not to show how much the therapy was hurting him. His therapist held his left arm at the wrist and below the elbow and was gently pulling the arm upward. Even from across the room Danny could hear Steve's suppressed groans of pain.

Parts of the bullet he had put into his friend had lodged themselves into the joint and had caused quite a bit of damage. Not to mention the torn muscles, tendons and the fractured clavicle. But Danny knew that the joint pain was the worst. He knew, even without Steve ever complaining about it, that every little movement of the arm was painful.

Danny had heard the doctor explaining to Steve that he might be facing chronic pain from the shoulder joint. Something about the bullet scraping parts of the bone; or something like that. The bone's surface was not as smooth as it used to be, and that was what was causing the pain during movement.

Danny hoped that it would get better with time along with the therapy, and the daily injections. He didn't know how he would live with knowing he was the cause of his friend being in constant pain. And he knew that it was not just some mild discomfort, he had seen Steve holding his arm and trying not to jostle or move it.

It had been over three weeks now and Steve still only had a fraction of the normal range of motion back. His clavicle was almost all healed up, so that he now could fully participate in therapy.

Danny watched his friend a little while longer as he waited for his therapist to make an entrance. He looked down at his own leg that was no longer in thick bandages. Contrary to Steve he didn't have to wear a cast or a brace. He had to laugh a little about Steve constantly complaining about the special brace he had to wear that went from above his ankle all the way up to his groin. It looked kind of funny when he was wearing it over his clothes.

The brace was not just for the partially broken femur but also for the injured knee. Falling down onto it and cutting it open caused an injury to the joint, and so not to aggravate it until it was all healed, Steve had to use the hated brace.

Danny had fared better in that regard; his bone had been badly fractured, but they had operated on it. They fixed it all up with screws and plates, and now it looked almost back to normal after the wound had healed pretty nicely. Today he was here to learn how to measure the weight he was allowed to put on his leg for the very first time since his surgery. He was grateful that his leg had not been casted but it hadn't been easy not to put weight on the leg. Now it was time to get some muscle tone back.

"Detective Williams, good to see you. I'm Lanie, and I will be your therapist for the next few weeks. Shall we begin?" The elderly woman greeted him.

Danny looked at his therapist and asked himself how this was fair. Steve got a beautiful young woman as a therapist, one in which he had no interest whatsoever, and Danny, free as a bird, got his own grandmother.

"Uh, yeah, sure."

"Good. Follow me, I'll show you what we're going to do first," Lanie told him as she waited for him to get up.

Danny struggled a little getting onto his feet without actually putting his foot down, but he managed and soon he was hobbling after the therapist with the aid of his crutches.

H50 – H50 – H50

Steve had to grin despite the pain his therapist was just inflicting on him. Lanie was a really nice person, and Steve had known her for a few years now. She had helped him after he broke his arm during the fall at the petroglyphs and had shown him a few great exercises for his wrist after the cast came off. She was funny and had always managed to brighten his day.

Steve knew that Danny was in good hands with her, but he also knew that she was not what Danny had hoped for.

"Argh," Steve couldn't stop the cry from slipping out when Jolene moved his shoulder backwards.

"I'm sorry, Steve. I know it hurts, but we have to encourage the blood flow around the joint and this is the best way to do that. It will decrease the pain in the long run."

"Should I do this at home?" Steve asked while trying to ignore the intense pain still radiating through his shoulder, down his back and along his arm.

"No, absolutely not. You could do more damage to your still healing shoulder. This is only to be done with very controlled movements. So, don't try this on your own," Jolene told him as she eased his shoulder into gentle rotations.

The new movement was more bearable, but it still hurt. But that was something Steve had lived with for the last three weeks. Every little movement of his shoulder hurt even more since he had stopped taking the prescription pain killers on a regular basis a few days ago. Now, he only took one after therapy. After one of these sessions the pain was just too bad to get by without the meds. Pain control was important for the healing process, so he took the pills if necessary, but no longer on a schedule; only as needed. Which was still too often for his liking.

H50 – H50 – H50

Danny cursed under his breath. He had thought as soon as he was allowed to put weight on his leg he would start to walk around more easily. But the opposite was the case. With his crutches he could go from A to B pretty quickly, but now he was slower than a snail.

"Remember to lift the crutches always together with your bad leg. Never the other way around. Put the crutches and your leg down at the same time," Lanie was telling him for at least the tenth time.

Danny felt kind of stupid not getting the coordination right. He had no trouble walking on crutches with his foot in the air all the time, but suddenly he was supposed to put his foot down. "Sorry," Danny apologized for again forgetting to put his foot on the floor.

"That's okay, Danny. It takes a few hours to change what you have been doing for the last three weeks. You're doing really good. Keep going," Lanie encouraged him.

"Yeah, D, looks good," Steve told him from behind.

"What are you doing here? Go harass someone else," Danny told him with a smile in his voice. He had seen Steve hobbling over in the big mirror the one wall was made of.

"No can do, no one here but you," Steve said as he carefully sat down and stretched his leg out. He looked like he was glad to be off his feet again.

"You okay?"

"Uh huh," Steve said, but Danny could clearly see the pain in his eyes. He bet his idiotic partner didn't bring his pain medication with him. "If you keep that up, D, you won't need your crutches anymore," Steve told him and motioned to his slow walk.

Danny only snorted at that. He felt a long way from walking without the aids. "Right."

"What? Your doc said the bones are healing really well. And that you should soon be back on your feet. I'm sure Lanie will agree." Steve smiled at his former therapist. "How is your grandson, Lanie?"

"He's in school now, but he's struggling a bit. He doesn't like it much, but hopefully, that will change."

"He's a bright young boy, I'm sure he will do fine," Steve said, remembering the little boy he had met one afternoon.

"He is very clever, but thinks that school is boring and stupid," Lanie told them with a laugh. "Detective, I think this is enough for today. Remember, if you feel pain when putting weight on your leg, you're putting too much on it. Got that?"

"Yes, ma'am." Danny looked at Steve and seeing him grinning, he thought that Steve was enjoying this way too much.

"I'll see you again in two days, Detective. And practice walking. We will do some strengthening exercises next time. You will like it."

"I doubt that," Danny muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"I have no doubt, ma'am." Danny looked at her with the most innocent look he could master, ignoring the suppressed snort from behind.

"Good, good. It was nice to see you again, Steve. Even though I told you to keep out of trouble," she told him with a twinkle in her eyes.

"I tried my best."

"Well, that was obviously not enough. You two boys take care and I'll see you in a couple of days."

With that she was gone and left Steve and Danny to their own devices.

"Steve?"

"Yeah?" Steve looked curiously at Danny.

"Seriously, how are you? How bad is it?"

"Danny, I will be okay. Really. Stop feeling guilty every time you look at me."

"Well, it's a bit hard when it is so obvious how much pain you are in. I'm so sorry, Steve."

"Danny, if you don't stop this, I will not go to therapy with you anymore. It hurts to move the arm, okay? It really hurts when Jolene does it, but it will get better, so stop beating yourself up." Steve was very close to yelling at his friend.

"Okay. Jeez, I only wanted to know how my friend was. But can the moron give me an answer like a normal human being? No, of course not. Fine, I won't ask again."

They both knew that Danny would ask about his well-being as soon as Steve so much as grimaced a little.

H50 – H50 – H50

"Danny!"

"What?"

"Where the hell have you been?" Steve looked across the table at his friend and again wondered what he had been thinking about. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Danny assured Steve and the others who were looking at him in concern. "So, you went to dinner with Joe?"

"What?"

"Your story. Continue," he prodded, motioning with his hand. "In D.C. you went to dinner with Joe. Come on, that story is not at an end, is it? I mean at least tell us about Catherine calling you. And how and when you got better. I'm sure a lot more happened in Washington than you are telling us."

"Not really," Steve said with a grin remembering Catherine's phone call when they had come back from dinner at Hong's.

Washington D.C. – Steve's apartment

"You should get that," Joe told him as they made their way back into Steve's apartment after spending two hours grazing at the dinner buffet at Hong's Palace.

"Yeah," Steve took his phone out of his pocket and seeing the caller ID, smiled as he answered. "McGarrett."

"Hello, Sailor. Can you talk?"

"Yeah. Hi, Catherine," Steve answered as he wheeled into the bedroom to have at least a little privacy.

"How was your day with your friend?"

"Good. Listen, I'm sorry I forgot that he wanted to come by. I'm sorry I put you into an awkward position."

"That's okay, Steve. Really, it was fine. Do you have anything planned for tomorrow?" Cath asked.

"Uh, no, not really. Why?"

"How do you feel about getting out?"

"Out? Where?"

"That's a surprise. But I promise you will like it."

"I don't like surprises much. What did you plan?"

"Steve, if I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise," Cath laughed into the phone. "Please say yes. Unless you don't feel well, then we could stay at your place."

"No, I'm fine. Okay. Surprise me," Steve told her, already smiling about the prospect of seeing her again tomorrow.

"Good. I'll pick you up at nine. Be ready. Casual clothing. See you then."

She didn't even wait for his reply but ended the call. Steve stared at the phone for a moment and wondered what he had gotten himself into.

H50 – H50 – H50