AN: I don't own the characters or anything. This is just to get this story out of my head.
Thanks for all the great reviews. I appreciate each and every one of them. They motivate me. I answered some of them but time ran short. It was either keep replying or post another chapter. I hope posting was the right choice. Thank you for the follows and favorites, as well. Wow! I am humbled.
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Then they heard him moan, as their hearts pounded in their chests.
"Danny, you alright brah?" Chin, normally able to maintain a calm disposition, had an edge to his voice. Hearing an accident like that and being unable to help yet was unnerving to say the least, but when you had no idea what kind of shape your friend was in, that was unbearable.
Another moan. At least they knew he was alive.
"Talk to me Danny!" Kono tried.
"Kono?" he whispered. His voice sounded strangled and laced with pain, but relief filled all three to hear him speaking at all.
"We're on our way," Lou told him. "Just be a few minutes. Where's Steve? He ok?"
"Stupid Rambo Neanderthal," Danny began to mumble as he started to move, only to be cut off by a gasp of pain.
"Danny, don't try to move. Just stay put. I'm around the corner," Kono told him. She had been the first to leave the office at the end of the day so she was slightly ahead of the others.
Turning the corner, Kono saw the black sedan turned sideways in the open road, drivers side door facing her. Sandwiched against its passenger door was the passenger door of Danny's Camaro. Over the phone line she could still hear Danny's heavy breathing and grunts and groans. He definitely wasn't staying put.
Pulling to a stop and wanting nothing more than to run to the Camaro and check on her teammate, Kono knew she had to assess the situation first. She had been trained by the best and they would expect no less of her.
Drawing her sidearm, Kono advanced on the sedan slowly, circling it quickly and making sure there was nobody inside and no threat to any of them. As she holstered her gun, Chin turned the corner behind her and she ran to the open driver side door of the Camaro.
The impact had pushed the passenger door into Danny. The right side of his face was bleeding from a cut near his eye and dripping down the side of his face onto his shirt. His right arm was in front of his body in an odd position but he had already maneuvered his left leg out of the passenger foot well and into the driver side. Grunting with pain, he was shifting his weight to extract the other one as well.
"Sedan is clear," Kono shouted to Chin as he got out of his car. "Call an ambulance."
"No!" Danny protested vehemently, weak voice laced with pain. "No ambulance. I'm getting out of here and going to get Charlie."
"Danny…" Chin started
Danny's voice was quiet. It took alot out of him just to speak. "It'll take too much time. I'm not going to miss this time with my son. I'm not going to make him think I don't want to be with him. It's just not going to happen. I'm going to get there if you help me or not, but it'll be a helluva lot easier if you give me a hand."
His right arm still positioned awkwardly in front of him, his shoulder distorted, Danny was now leaning across the driver's seat and pulling his right leg out of the foot well. Chin shoved the phone back in his pocket and reached in through the door to grab Danny under the arms. Danny grunted in pain as Chin reached under his right arm but ground out "keep going, don't stop" through gritted teeth.
Lou was there now and the three of them pulled Danny the rest of the way out of the car and got him on the ground leaning up against the back wheel of Lou's big Suburban.
"You shouldn't be moving him," came Steve's breathless voice from behind them as he rounded the car.
"Shut the hell up, Rambo! Just shut the hell up!" Danny was livid, his voice much stronger than before, but gravelly and ragged. "I begged. I pleaded. I would have got down on my knees if we weren't in the car. What more did you want? You just had to take a look. Had to do recon. Had to chase him down. Stupid Neanderthal. Try being human just once in your life!"
Knowing he deserved that rant and a whole lot more, Steve ignored the barbs and replied simply, "I'm sorry Danny."
"Don't! Just don't!" Danny growled. 'I'm sorry' was just not going to cut it right now. He noticed that Steve was alone - no bad guy in cuffs with him. "Tell me he didn't get away? All this and he's gone? Now they know we're onto them and they'll all disappear."
Lou, Chin and Kono all looked at Steve. Danny had a point. This whole escapade had severely changed the game plan and Five-O was now at a disadvantage.
"I was close to him and then I realized you weren't behind me. I knew something had to have happened if you didn't have my back so I came back to check on you."
"Really? Seriously? So losing him is my fault now? You had to come and check things out. Couldn't wait to do it the right way. Because you never listen to me! Do I tell you how to be a SEAL? No! So why do you think you know better than me how to be a cop? Crazy, psycho Army guy."
"Navy."
"You think I care? Army, Navy, Freakin' Air Force. You're nuts, just plain crazy." Danny waved his left arm in emphasis and the movement sent a jolt of pain through his injured right shoulder. He gasped in pain, a sheen of sweat across his brow.
"Stay still. Your shoulder's dislocated," Steve said, trying to diffuse the anger as much as possible.
"No shit Sherlock. You gunna stand there and watch it swell even more or use some of those Super-SEAL skills and put it back in place so I can go get my son?"
"You need anesthesia. It's gunna hurt like hell," Steve protested. He really didn't want to cause Danny any more pain than he had already caused.
"I don't care. I'm from Jersey, we don't need anesthesia. I'm going to get Charlie with my shoulder like this if I have to. You gunna help me or not?"
Steve took charge, having Lou and Kono hold Danny in place by grabbing him around the chest and waist from the left side and having Chin go to Danny's right side so he could pull the injured arm while Steve manipulated it into place. The three other team members had been quiet during the brief, heated exchange between the partners. All three knew the pair was as close as brothers but sometimes even brothers had a falling out that couldn't be repaired. They each hoped that wasn't happening here.
"I've never actually even seen this done before," Steve admitted, "but I've been taught."
"Shut up and just do it!"
On the count of three, Lou and Kono held Danny in place while Chin rather tentatively pulled on Danny's arm, eliciting a pained groan that Danny tried to stifle. "Stop!" Steve instructed. Danny was breathing hard and there were tears in his eyes. Steve tried not to look at him, guilt eating him up. "Chin, you have to pull harder than that." He covered his mouth with the back of his hand, trying to hide his own emotions.
"Harder?" Chin felt nauseous, not sure if he could pull harder knowing how much pain he was inflicting on his friend. He was sure Danny would pass out.
"Please?" that same friend begged, his head leaning back against the car, his eyes closed against the agonizing pain he had been feeling since the moment his shoulder was knocked out of it's socket.
Chin nodded and as they began again he placed his foot against Danny's side and pulled as hard as he could, actually feeling when Danny's shoulder gave under the strain. "Keep pulling," Steve shouted as Danny couldn't hold it back any longer and cried out in pain. Danny opened his eyes just as Steve looked up, their eyes catching, holding. Finally, mercifully, Steve managed to get his best friend's shoulder to slip back into place all the while wondering if they'd still be best friends after this.
Tears mixed with sweat on all five faces as they finished, the patient slumping ungracefully with pain and exhaustion. Steve had one hand placed protectively on Danny's chest, the other helping him to stay seated upright. "Just breathe buddy. Stay with me. You can't pass out. You have a son to see. Danno? Come on! Look at me Danno!"
tbc
