Hawaii Five-0

Caught In The Crossfire

Chapter 22

"Matthew, please don't let these people get away with what they did to your family" Kono pleaded.

"Okay" Matt replied. "But I can't be certain that they'll be there"

"Well it will be better than nothing" Chin stated.

"Because that's all we've got right now, nothing" Steve added.

"The cartel has another stash pad" Matt stated.

"Where? On Oahu?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, in Makaha Valley" Matt nodded.

"Have you got an address?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, it was one of the places I did business with them eighteen months ago" Matt replied.

"Okay, you give us the address, we'll find them and we'll bring them in" said Steve.

"Okay but there's something else I need to tell you" Matt stated.

"Okay what?" Chin asked, looking puzzled.

"When you get there, you'll probably only find the cartel members" Matt explained.

"What are you talking about Matthew?" Kono asked.

"You're not going to find Nathan there" Matt replied.

"Well where will we find him?" Steve asked, concerned that Nathan is loose on the island and is still hell bent on getting his revenge on April.

"I have no idea" Matt replied regretfully.

"Matthew" Steve warned him.

"I don't know Steve! I really don't know! Believe me if I had any idea where he was I would've given him up straight away! Not letting him run loose, hell bent on killing my little sister!" Matt yelled in frustration.

"All I can tell you is that he's still on the island. I know this because before Nathan left the beach house he told me that he'd be back for the baby"

"Okay, I'm sorry, but you should've told us sooner; we could've put protection on your family a lot sooner" said Steve.

"Look it doesn't matter now" Kono stated. "The main thing is that we know"

"She's right" Chin agreed. "Kono and I will go organise a HPD detail at the hospital"

"Alright, and I'll call Danny and let him know what's going on" Steve said as Chin and Kono left the interrogation room.

"Matthew I need that address for the stash pad right now" he said as he knelt down in front of Matt, pointing his hand at him.

Back at the hospital Danny was still by April's side as she slept through the remainder of her drug induced coma. April's doctor said it would only be a matter of an hour or two before she woke up, so he needed to be there. Danny knew April would probably wake up before Michael got back, and he didn't want her to wake up alone; especially considering the circumstances. The only time he had left her room was when the nurses came around to change her bandages. Danny figured it was something he didn't need to see, not yet anyway. So during that time, he took Grace downstairs to get something to eat while Gabby went home to get some things for them. It would at least give Rachel a chance to get some rest before Stan came back with Charles to see her.

Danny sat in silence with only the beeping of the heart monitor keeping him company until April woke up. Danny's silence was suddenly interrupted when his phone began to ring and vibrate on April's bedside table. Picking it up, he saw it was Steve who was calling, most likely to tell him how things went with Matt.

"Hey Steve" Danny answered. "How did it go? Did you get anything out of Matt?" he asked.

"Yeah, he gave us a possible location on the two cartel members but there's…" Steve replied before Danny cut him off.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa…wait a minute" Danny stopped him.

"What about Nathan? Did you get anything on him?" he asked, panicking at the thought of Nathan being on the loose.

"No we didn't" Steve replied with concern.

"Matt told us that we won't find Nathan there, but he's convinced that Nathan's still on Oahu"

"How could he possibly know that?" Danny asked in frustration.

"Because before Nathan fled he told Matt that he'd be back for the baby" Steve replied.

"Fantastic" Danny said sarcastically.

"Yeah I know, which is why Chin and Kono have organised an HPD detail to protect you and your family until we find him" Steve explained.

"Okay good" said Danny. "Where did Matt tell you to find the cartel members?" he asked.

"He told us that the cartel has another stash pad in Makaha Valley; we're on our way to conduct a joint raid with the FBI as we speak" Steve explained.

"Wait a minute, that's like an hour out of town, how does Matt know about this stash pad?" Danny asked, curious to how Matt would know about a cartel's stash pad that the authorities knew nothing about.

"He said that's where they did some of their 'business' when he came to visit you eighteen months ago" Steve replied.

"Why I am not surprised?" Danny asked rhetorically.

"I'm sorry buddy" said Steve, feeling sorry for his friend's situation.

"Anyway, how's everything on your end?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"It's ah…it's good" Danny stated.

"Rachel's fine, looks like Grace will get discharged today; my doctor wants me to stay here another night though"

"Everything okay?" Steve asked, sounding concerned.

"Yeah, it's just that my temperature spiked this morning; he thinks that developed an infection" Danny replied.

"I'll be fine" he assured Steve.

"Alright, how's April?" Steve asked. "Is she awake yet?"

"No, not yet, but she should be soon though" Danny replied.

"Okay good, let me know when she does" Steve asked.

"Yeah, I'll let you know" Danny assured him.

"Just go take down those cartel members and let me know if you get anything on Nathan"

"You got it, we'll talk to you soon Danny" said Steve before disconnecting the call.

A muffled beeping sound was all April could hear as she slowly came back to the land of the living, while the last dose of the sedatives that kept her asleep started wear off. April then felt air flowing up her nose as the smell of antiseptic followed. It was right at that moment April realised where she was, in hospital. Then the feeling of pain came back, everything hurt, especially her head and her stomach; she just couldn't quite pinpoint why, her mind was so fuzzy, why was she here? Was something wrong with the baby? Is that why my stomach hurts? April then sensed the feeling of warmth squeezing her left hand as her senses started to come back one by one. She then made it to be a hand and by the way it felt against her skin, a male's hand to be exact. Was it Michael's?...But he's not back yet…then it must be Danny's hand. April wanted so badly to squeeze back to tell him she was awake, but she just couldn't do it; her brain not yet able to put the thought into action. Opening her eyes wasn't an option either because her eyelids were too heavy to do so; but it didn't stop her from trying. April figured something must be seriously wrong if she was in hospital and Danny was holding her hand. He must not want her to wake up alone. What the hell is going on? What happened at that beach house?

As his sister continued to sleep through the rest of her induced coma, Danny watched the numbers on the monitors above the bed to see if any them made a significant change that meant she was waking up. Eventually the waiting and watching paid off as April's heart rate started to increase along with the beeping of the heart monitor. Danny leaned forward in his chair in anticipation and squeezed April's hand a little tighter, hoping she would squeeze back.

"April, it's Danny...if you can hear me squeeze my hand" Danny asked before waiting for a response.

It took a few seconds for April to respond to Danny's request after finally being able to get her hand to respond to her brain, squeezing his hand to let him she was awake; but was in no hurry to let go. Danny could tell that she was scared as April kept a firm grip on his hand.

"Hey, you're alright…you're okay…everything's okay" Danny assured her as he also kept a firm grip on her hand.

April wanted to so desperately to open her eyes because she was desperate to know if the baby was okay and what was going on. After many attempts to get her eyelids to comply with her brain, April was finally able to do it. Danny watched his sister's face as her eyes began slowly to flicker open as they adjusted to the light. As her eyes opened, April blinked a couple of times to bring her brother and the rest of the world back into focus.

"Hey Sis" said Danny as April turned her head to face him and smiled.

Thought the smile was short lived when April placed her right hand over her stomach to see what was causing the pain.

"What's wrong?" Danny asked as he watched the worried look develop on her face.

"Where…where's my baby Danny?" April whispered; her throat too sore to speak properly.

"Where is she? Is…is she okay?"

"Hey, hey, hey she's okay, okay? She's fine" Danny reassured her.

"Because she was born early, they're keeping an eye on her in the NICU"

"Everything's okay?" April asked for clarification.

"Everything's okay" Danny repeated.

"She's perfectly healthy…and I'll prove it" he said as he reached for his phone on the bedside table.

"What are you doing?" April asked.

"Proving to you that your little girl is okay" Danny replied as he went through his phone to the photo he had taken that morning.

"Are Rachel and Grace okay?" April asked while Danny flipped through his phone.

"Grace is getting discharged later today and Rachel's going to be fine; bullet got lodged in her pelvis" Danny explained.

"Good to hear" April stated.

"Anyway, here's a photo" he said passing his phone over to April.

April grabbed a hold of the phone and was left momentarily speechless when she saw the photo before she finally was able to speak.

"That's my little girl?" April asked as she wiped her eyes that were beginning to well up.

"That's your little girl" Danny replied. "Six pounds, seven ounces, ten fingers and ten toes"

"She's got Michael's ears" April stated.

"Yeah and she's got your eyes too" Danny stated as he watched his sister begin to smile again.

"Can I see her?" April asked.

"Yeah, but we'll have to bring her to you though" Danny replied.

"No, I want to go to her" April demanded.

"No April, we have to bring her to you, okay" Danny explained. "You can't get out of bed"

"Look I know because I've had a C-section I can't walk, but it doesn't mean I can't get out of bed; I'll just go in a wheelchair" April explained.

"You obviously don't remember because it's a lot more to it than that" Danny stated.

"What are you talking about? What don't I remember?" April asked, starting to panic.

"Well what's the last thing you do remember?" Danny asked.

"I was in the beach house with Rachel and Matt…and…and I think Nathan was there and there…there was a gunshot in there somewhere" April recalled.

"Why, what is it?" she asked as she saw the look Danny was giving her.

"You didn't exactly have a C-section April" Danny regretfully replied.

"What's that supposed to mean?" April asked, worried where this was going.

"It means…it means that you nearly bled to death when Nathan tried to take your baby" Danny explained.

"If the team hadn't you found when they did, you probably would've died; Nathan did a lot of damage" he added.

"He…he…what?" April stuttered.

"I'm so sorry, but the main thing is that you're both okay, alright" said Danny, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Yeah" April agreed as she wiped away tears with her other hand.

"I would like to hold my baby now, if that's okay" she requested.

"Yeah, I'll go talk to the nurses okay" said Danny as he rose from his chair.

"Just relax okay, I'll be right back" he said, giving her a kiss on the top of her head.

"Danny" April called.

"Yeah?" Danny answered.

"Thank you, for staying with me" said April.

"April your my little sister" Danny stated.

"That's what family's for" he added before he left the room.

After making sure Danny was gone, April leant back into her pillow, closed her eyes and sighed. She couldn't believe that this was actually happening. Then after building up courage, she pushed her blankets and sheets down, wanting to see what damage Nathan had actually done. Before pulling up her hospital gown April took in a deep breath to make sure she was ready to see it. When she pulled up her hospital gown, she saw that her wound was covered with a huge bandage which she began to pick at so she could see what was underneath; sometimes being a nurse had its advantages. After she peeled the bandage half way, she stopped, too overwhelmed by what she was seeing. It wasn't just the size of the wound or that tubes there were sticking out of her body that were confronting. What made it confronting was that by seeing it with her own eyes, it had made it even more real. Memories of everything that had happened in the past twenty four hours starting coming back to her; and it was too much. April broke into tears.