I turned to face Steve who was looking at me, I hadn't cried yet and my face was set firmly into recall of the events, he took a breath and then helped me up onto my feet since I was still shaky after the crap that just had went down at the hospital and in the house. We made our way to the truck and I struggled to get into the front seat, my whole body was on fire since I had pushed myself through the pain and walked from the town centre to the house at double speed; Steve saw me struggling and helped me up and strapped me in with the seatbelt. I knew I was going to pass out eventually but I needed to get to the house to let Joe know about my suspicions; Steve was on the right line of questioning but I needed to confirm with Joe about who the man was and if he was still active in the community or not? We arrived at the house just under an hour later and I managed to slip out of the truck and land on very wobbly feet, I turned to close the door and my knees buckled, just before I hit the ground a set of hands wrapped around my waist and Chin held me up as Steve ran around to help him with me.
"Thanks Chin, legs are still a little wobbly," I whispered.
The boys helped me into the house and onto the couch so I could rest, Max was just getting his kitbag from the car outside and the others arrived a few minutes later; they all headed outside to the back garden as Max checked me out and frowned as he checked my pupil response to light.
"Your hospital test results all came back slightly elevated but considering what you went through that is to be expected, your MRI shows the hairline fracture is very small but you definitely have a concussion that will only get worse if you do not rest for the next day or so – that is a medical order which you can comply with here or back under sedation in the hospital?" he ordered.
"I promise to rest here Max and I am sorry that I pissed you off by leaving AMA, things got a little heated and I didn't want to lose my temper and end up going Rambo on someone!" I replied honestly.
"Apology accepted Sarah but you must rest; your body has been through a very traumatic experience and for the next day or so you know you may experience side effects such as blackouts, nightmares and episodes of fainting. You need to eat and drink plenty, avoid caffeine and alcohol and I'll write you a script for painkillers and Stemetil. I am very glad you are safe though, you will catch him and bring him to justice!" he replied.
"Thanks buddy, for everything!" I whispered kissing him on the cheek.
Kono came back into the house to check up on us and she grabbed the script and said she would go get it filled out for me right away, I nodded and then groaned – had to stop doing that! The rest of the crew came in and I was resting on the couch trying to breathe through the pounding headache.
"How are you feeling kiddo," Chin asked gently sitting on the table.
I looked up at Steve who was overlooking us all and I nodded to him to let them know what had fully happened, he started off with the phone call and then the meeting with the contact, that asshole appearing and then what he and his goons did to me. Danno was pacing the room, Chin was sitting there breathing in and out slowly and Steve was just looking at me, watching for the anger to return.
"Danny, are you alright?" I called gently.
He looked at me as I managed to get off the couch with a little help and walked over to him, his face was white as a sheet and I could see the rage in his eyes, but there was also something else – he was holding something back and I figured it out pretty quickly.
"No Danny, how could it have been your fault? Gracie is my little sister and you know I would do everything I can to protect her; there was no way in hell he was getting close to her without me and my arsenal being between them. I told you, with my last breath!"
"You were tortured by that bastard, you went through hell to save my daughter – how am I ever to repay that – how can I show and tell you how much that means to me?" he whispered.
I took his hands and looked over at Steve, he was teary eyed himself as he saw how scared Danno was – he had a lot on his plate at the moment and this confession was proof of how scared he was of losing everything he had worked for and everyone he loved.
"Danny you need to listen to me for a moment alright, you need to listen to what I am going to explain as it is really important for you to know why people like Steve and I chose our career paths, why we risk everything to ensure people are safe."
He looked up at me and I pulled him back to the couch and I picked up the photo frame from the table and handed it to him, it was a large photo of the whole team and Gracie when we went to the fair a few months back; it was an amazing day and we were all laughing and joking when the photo was taken and I was on the ground with Gracie holding her close and tickling her so she was laughing hard. It was one of my favourite photos and I cherished looking at it – it got me through last night.