The others arrived at the hospital while Steve was having his test.
After many hugs, kisses and lots of smiles, Danny filled them all in.

"He's awake, he's alert... he's wonderful ! His memory seems to be intact. He's very sore and he's very hurt knowing that Julia was a part of this" He turned and looked at Catherine, "He's very happy you're here Catherine, he really needs you right now"

Wiping tears away Catherine spoke, "I'm here and I'm not going anywhere"

Danny moved to her and embraced her, "Good" Looking back to everyone he continued, "I don't want any of you to be alarmed, he is still in a lot of pain.
The Doctor told me thats normal and once he's able to get out of bed and move his muscles the pain will lessen. He's fighting me big time though on taking pain meds"

MaryAnn jumped in, "That's no surprise, he's always hated taking anything. He broke his leg when he was twelve and Dad couldn't even get him to take an aspirin. I think he's a massochist" They were all chuckling over that when Steve was wheeled back into the room.

Danny spoke first, "Well here's the man!"

Steve turned his head towards his friends and smiled, "What's so...funny?"

Catherine quickly moved over and tenderly kissed Steve's cheek, "Hello sweetheart, I love you"

Steve spoke quietly, "I love you too Cath"

The nurses had them all step out of the room so they could transfer him back into his bed and soon they were all again sitting around Steve, chatting, smiling, laughing and crying. Steve was back and they all now knew that he would recover.

A couple of hours later the Doctor came back into the room.
"Hello everybody, I hope you're all feeling good today. It looks like our patient has giving us a very welcome gift today by waking up. I need to talk to him and if Mr. Williams can stay, I'd like the rest of you to go to the waiting room for a few minutes" Chin grasped Steve's hand and the girls all leaned in to kiss him as they made their way from the room.

"So Steve, let me first tell you that the Cat scan came back normal. There are no signs at all of any permanent damage. I'm sure Danny has filled you in on the resuscitation efforts we had to perform on you when you first arrived here. All the tests we have run over the last two weeks show only very minor damage to your heart and in your physical condition that damage should cause you no long term effects. From what your partner tells me, you are not the most patient of souls but I need you to listen to me. You cannot push yourself too hard, it will take time for you to recover. Your body has been weakened greatly and if you push too hard, too fast you could further damage your heart or kidney"

"I'll watch him Doc, I promise you"

"Good. Do you have any questions Steve"

"No Doc. Thank you for everything you've done for me"

"I tell you young man, you truly defied the odds. When we first opened you up we thought your chance of even surviving was about 20%. The fact that you will be able to walk out of here in a couple of weeks and fully recover is a miracle. Please follow our instructions to the tee and don't get frustrated"

Steve then spoke, "A couple more weeks in here? How...long until I can get back... to work?"

"At least 8-10 weeks Steve. It's not like you have a nice and quiet desk job"

"Well Doc, you just gave me one of the toughest assignments ever. Keeping Mr. SuperSeal down for 10 weeks is going to me torture on ME!"

"Eight...Danno...Eight weeks...not ten"

"See what I mean Doc! The man is impossible!"

They all chuckled as the Doctor continued, "Well then Mr. Williams, I'm counting on you. Steve, I need you to rate your pain for me now on a scale of 1-10, with ten being the most severe"

"Ummmm...a five, six maybe..."

Danny chimed in, "No, no, no...Steven I know you too well my friend. We're looking for your human pain level, not Superman...tell us the truth brother"

He spoke as he closed his eyes and grimaced, "Alright...aallrightt...I guess it's about...a eight. It's not...too baddd"

"I'm going to increase your IV drip on the pain meds..."

"Don't like drugsss...Doc"

"And that's good Steve, but right now young man you need them. Your body is recovering. Being in severe pain unnecessarily could put extra strain on your heart. You need to sleep and sleep a lot, let the medication work for you"

Danny then added, "What's the next step Doc?"

"I'm going to have you leave for now and I am going to remove his feeding tube, catheter and IV's. He can start taking in water and we'll start him on a liquid diet for lunch. We need to assess his kidney functions and get him up and moving. Getting into the bathroom and back will be our only goal for the next couple of days. At least for the next three to four days we should keep his visitors down to one at a time. It is fine for someone to be here around the clock as long as he's getting the rest he needs. Do you have any questions?"

Both men stated no and Danny grabbed Steve's hand, "I think you'll probably want Catherine up here with you today. You behave yourself and do what you're told because I'll be checking up on you. I'll see you tonight okay?"

"Thanks buddy...for...everything"

Danny filled the others in and after leaving his cell number with Catherine they all left the hospital.

Chin and Kono would work their current case and Danny would drop MaryAnn off at Steve's house and then go get some well deserved sleep before going back to the hospital for a few hours and then Kono would relieve him for the overnight shift.