Hawaii Five-0

Caught In The Crossfire

Chapter 20

Author's Note: Sorry guys once again for the long delay; uni has been hectic and I've been suffering from writers block. I hope you enjoy it!

Danny watched as the clock on the opposite wall ticked over to 3:30am. Though his doctor had insisted he get some rest, Danny was very adamant on waiting to find out if April, her baby and Rachel were going to be okay first. Besides, even if he wanted to sleep, the not knowing factor would probably keep him awake anyway; it was pretty much the same for everyone else too. While they waited, HPD and the FBI were working straight through the night in search of Nathan and the two drug cartel members.

About half an hour ago, Stan had left with Charles to go see Rachel after he found out she was okay and was going to make a full recovery. Luckily, it turned out the bullet was lodged in her pelvic bone and there was no major damage, though she did lose a fair amount of blood, it could've be some much worse. Though this was good news, there was still nothing on April or her baby girl; Danny was becoming very worried at this point and his 'no news is good news' theory he was using, was no longer helping. Gabby sensed his growing worry when he tightened his grip on her hand. She returned the gesture to assure Danny that everything was going to be okay; and that she was right beside him and wasn't going to leave until they all got the news they were so desperate for.

Just as the clock ticked passed 4am, a woman with red hair, wearing blue scrubs walking down the hall towards them caught Steve' attention. He recognised her as the doctor who treated April when they arrived at the hospital; and that was almost four hours ago.

"Danny" Steve said as he reached over and tapped him on the shoulder.

"That's April's doctor" he stated.

Danny recognised her as Emma, one of the doctors she worked with and her close friend. He tried to get lock on her face to see if it could tell him anything about April's situation. Danny went to get up but was stopped after Emma raised her hand to insist he stay seated.

"Please sit Danny..." said Emma as she sat down beside him.

"…April made it through surgery and is being taken to the ICU now…" she stopped.

"What?" Danny asked as his moment of relief was cut short.

"She's still critical at this time, but her vitals are slowly stabilising and she's breathing on her own" Emma replied.

'Okay" Danny replied, placing his face in his hands.

"April lost a lot of blood, we're thinking maybe in excess of two litres, the majority of the blood loss came from two nicked arteries." Emma explained.

"But… April is at high risk of infection and her body is weak…if she was to develop one, she'll find it hard to fight it off… and she could…"

"…she could die" said Danny, finishing her sentence.

"Yeah" Emma replied. "But we're going to do everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen"

"What about her baby, how's she?" Danny asked.

"She's a couple of weeks premature, but she's perfectly fine" Emma replied with a smile.

"Thankfully he had the decency to tie off the cord, so…"

"Thank god" Gabby exclaimed.

"Yeah, she'll stay in the NICU until April's up to seeing her" Emma replied.

"Thank you" said Danny.

"It's what I do" Emma replied, placing her hand on Danny's shoulder.

"And I know you want to see April, so I'm going give you five minutes and then I'm going to have to insist you get some sleep, because you look like you need it; and so does everyone else here, deal?" she asked.

"Deal" Danny replied as he got up from his chair.

"Are you going to be alright?" Gabby asked.

"Yeah I'll be okay" Danny replied. "You go get some sleep"

"Okay" Gabby replied before they kissed each other on the cheek.

"Call us if you need anything" Steve insisted.

"Okay" Danny replied. "Now get out of here, you look worse than I do"

"I seriously doubt that" Steve replied.

"Call me if you hear anything about Nathan or the cartel members" Danny asked.

"As soon as we hear anything, you'll be the first to know" Steve replied.

"We'll come by in a few hours"

"Are you coming Danny?" Emma asked.

"Coming" Danny replied, giving his friends a quick wave as they left.

Walking behind Emma, she and Danny stopped outside April's ICU room. He needed to take a minute to take it all in.

"Are you okay?" Emma asked, but was met with no reply. "Danny?"

"Hmmm?" said Danny turning to face Emma.

"Are you alright?" Emma asked.

"Yeah" Danny replied. "It's just that…"

"I know" Emma replied. "Listen, go sit with April and I'll be back in five minutes okay"

"Okay" Danny agreed. "Thank you"

Walking into the room, Danny was confronted with all the tubes and wires attached to his little sister. Despite knowing it was helping her, it was still all overwhelming. The one thing that gave Danny comfort was the sound of the heart monitor; telling him that April was alive. He then found a chair and pulled it up to April's bed and sat down beside her. April looked deathly pale with very dark circles around her eyes; just enough to show Danny how close to death April had gotten. But she had survived and that's all that mattered right now. Using his good arm, being careful not to tangle his IV line with April's tubing hanging down the side of her bed, Danny reached over and placed April's hand in his; the bandaging on her wrists matching his. Her hand felt cold, which Danny knew that was a result of the amount of blood she had lost; though it was now being replaced with blood transfusion.

"I'm right here okay; you're going to be alright, you just need to hang in there" Danny assured her, speaking quietly.

"And when you wake up, there'll be a little baby girl ready to meet her mommy; so don't go anywhere okay, she really needs you" he added before he stood up and leaned over to give April a gentle kiss on the top of her head; her hair smelling of blood after Nathan had hit the back of her against the wall of the beach house.

"Danny" a quiet voice said from behind him.

"Time up?" Danny asked.

"Afraid so" Emma replied.

"Okay umm, when is she going to wake up?" Danny asked.

"We're going to keep April sedated until at least early afternoon; it will give her body a chance to rest" Emma replied.

"If it helps, I'm going to sleep in the on call room down the hall; I'll be right here if anything happens"

"Thank you" Danny replied.

"We're like one big family here, it's what we do" Emma stated.

"Do you need someone to help you to your room?" she asked.

"No thanks, I'll be fine" Danny replied.

"Alright, go get some sleep" said Emma. "And don't come back until you do" she ordered.

"I can see why you two are friends" Danny stated just before left April's room.

As Danny entered his room, he was met with Grace sitting in her bed waiting for him.

"Grace?" said Danny.

"Why are you awake? The doctor said you need to get some sleep" he asked.

"I don't want to go to sleep until I know if Mom, Auntie April and the baby are okay" Grace replied.

"Are they okay?" she asked with a look of worry on her face.

"Mom, Auntie April and the baby are okay Monkey" Danny replied as he sat down on her bed.

"Promise?" Grace asked.

"I promise" Danny replied as he wrapped his good arm around his daughter.

"Now how about we both get some sleep so we can go visit them later huh; sound good?" he asked.

"Yeah" Grace nodded.

"Alright" said Danny before kissing her on the forehead.

"Goodnight Monkey, I love you"

"I love you too" Grace replied. "Goodnight"

And as soon as their heads hit the pillow, they were both out like a light.