Hawaii Five-0

Caught In The Crossfire

Chapter 17

April's vital signs continued to drop as the helicopter touched down on the helipad of Queen's Medical Center. Steve's arms and back were beginning to ache as he kept applying the much needed pressure on April's wound to keep her from bleeding out. The blanket that Matt had found was almost completely soaked through and April's blood was now seeping through between his fingers. Glancing out the window of the helicopter, Steve saw the medical team approaching as the helicopter blades began to die down. While the medics that were taking care of April prepared for her to be unloaded and the medical team pulled open the door and the medics began to relay the vital information. Steve could understand most of what the medic was saying, but the rest of it was a whole other language to him.

"On my count…1…2…3!" one of the medics yelled before they moved April across to the waiting gurney with Steve moving along with them to maintain pressure on April's stomach.

"I can take over for you Sir" a nurse said after tapping him on his left shoulder.

She climbed up on the gurney, placing a leg on either side of April's body, straddling her and placed her gloved hands between Steve's.

"Okay, you got it?" he asked.

"Yeah, I got it" the young nurse replied. "Is the baby okay?" she asked.

"Yeah she's okay" Steve replied. "She's on her way here"

"Alright guys, she's losing a lot of blood! Could be a nicked artery" one of the doctors yelled as she took a quick look at April's wound.

"We're going to have to bypass the ER and take her straight to surgery!; let's go!"

Steve watched the medical team take his partner's little sister towards the elevator and load her in before the doors closed behind them before feeling another tap on his shoulder.

"Let us know how everything goes Commander" the flight medic asked. "You got our number"

"Yeah, I'll let you know" Steve replied. "Thanks"

He then moved away from the helicopter and off of the helicopter pad so the helicopter could take off and allow the next medivac which contained Danny, Rachel, Grace and April's newborn baby girl. Steve watched as the pilot give him a thumbs up as he powered the helicopter up again. Steve returned the thumbs up gesture as the helicopter was lifted off of the ground and flew off into the night sky.

After the helicopter had taken off, Steve stood in complete silence. It was a somewhat eerie silence as he waited for the next medivac to arrive at the hospital. While he waited, he felt a cool breeze blow across his body and it felt especially cold on his hands. He then realised why as a quite distinct and strong smell of copper was kicked up by the wind as he looked down at his hands to see that they we're covered in April's blood, and so were his pants. Steve wondered how April was still even alive after losing so much blood; he thought perhaps there was a stronger force at play here, a mother's love for her child. Steve bent over, placing his hands on his knees and took a deep breath; he was absolutely exhausted. He, Chin and Kono had run themselves ragged to the point that they were running on fumes to find their friends, their ohana, and now that they had found them, it was still nowhere near over. April was now fighting for her life, Nathan Anderson was still on the run and Steve couldn't help but think that maybe they could've prevented what happened to April if they had reached their friends an hour earlier. He just hoped that they wouldn't have to tell her husband Michael who was probably now on his way home from his deployment, that they were too late to save his wife's life, hell he didn't even know that his wife and her family had been kidnapped. He could hear Danny now, saying "don't blame yourself, no one else blames you", "it's not your fault", "you did everything you could". Danny would be right, but he couldn't help thinking "what if we had gotten there sooner?" as the sound of the second medivac helicopter filled the quiet night sky, as Steve looked up to search for the helicopter's whereabouts, the elevator doors opened behind him to reveal more doctors and nurses geared up and ready to go.

As the medivac made its decent on to the roof of Queen's Medical Center, it kicked up strong winds, causing everybody on the hospital's rooftop to brace themselves against the strong winds. Once the wind from the helicopter blades died down, everybody moved in towards the helicopter as the door of the medivac was opened. First to emerge was one of the medics with April's baby girl in his arms before he handed her into the waiting arms of one of the nurses who then placed her into a special crib and wheeled her away along with one of the doctors. Grace was second to emerge from the helicopter, she hesitated to leave her parents but was assured by Danny that it was okay to go, before a nurse assisted her out of the helicopter as the female medic handed the nurse her IV bag and into a waiting wheelchair. Steve then made his way over to the medivac as Danny was the next to be assisted out of the helicopter, also into a waiting wheelchair, along with everything that was attached to him.

"Uncle Steve!" Grace shouted as she saw him walking over towards them.

"Hey Gracie!" Steve replied once he reached her, kneeling down to wrap his arms around his honorary niece.

"How are you doing? Are you okay?" he asked as Grace hugged him back.

"Yeah I'm okay" Grace replied, still keeping her arms around Steve, who could sense worry in her voice.

"I'm just worried about Mommy and Auntie April; I just want them to be okay"

"Yeah, me too" Steve replied as the two pulled out of their hug.

"Is that Auntie April's blood?" Grace asked as she looked down at Steve's blood covered hands.

"Yeah it is" Steve replied.

"It looks like a lot of blood" Grace stated.

"It is a lot of blood Gracie but you know what, your Auntie April is a fighter okay, she's going be okay" Steve assured her.

"The doctors and the nurses are going to do everything they can to make sure of that"

Grace nodded in reply as the nurse told Steve that she had to get Grace inside so she could get checked out. Steve said a brief "okay" before the nurse wheeled her towards the elevator to take her downstairs.

As Rachel was the last to be unloaded from the helicopter, Steve then walked over to Danny.

"You ah… you look terrible Danny" Steve stated.

"It's good to see you too buddy" Danny replied as Rachel was wheeled passed them towards the elevator.

"And, I could say the same about you" he added as the nurse began to push his wheelchair along the helipad.

"How's Rachel?" Steve asked.

"She's doing okay considering" Danny replied.

"The medics don't the bullet has hit anything major so they thing she's going to be fine"

"What about you?" Steve asked.

"I feel like I got shot in the shoulder and hit the head couple of times with the butt of a gun" Danny replied, wincing as pain shoots through his shoulder as they enter the elevator.

"Other than that, I'm good"

"I can see that" said Steve as he and the nurse looked at each other with a smirk.

"So are we going to keep ignoring the elephant in the room?" Danny asked as he looked up at Steve.

"What elephant in the room?" Steve asked as the elevator began to move down.

"That blood didn't just end up on your hands Steve" Danny stated.

"How's April? And don't give me what you told Grace" he asked.

"They've taken her straight to surgery Danny and doctor said that she's still losing a lot of blood" Steve replied.

"They're thinking it could be a nicked artery" he stated.

"Jesus" Danny sighed. "What if she doesn't make it Steve? What do I tell Michael?" he asked.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't think like that okay" Steve warned him as he knelt down next to Danny.

"April pulled through this last time and she'll pull through it again" said Steve, even though those exact thoughts were also racing through his head.

A/N: When Steve says "April pulled through this last time and she'll pull through it again", he is referring to what happened to April in one of my other stories "Heartless".