Waves above the Horizon Chapter 5
A/N: Hiya! Exams are over now, after a grueling 3 weeks, so maybe I can write more! Maybe post more often, you know? So, yeah. Here's the next chapter. Thanks for reading and don't forget to review! I love hearing your ideas and criticism. And I will reply because I learned that you are supposed to reply to reviews (oops.) I never really did before. Anyway, thanks for reading and enjoy.
Chapter 5
"Hey Gracie, Uncle Steve's upstairs now." Danny pulled open the cellar door to reveal two little children sitting on the steps. He smiled at her. "He wants to see you, so come on up, okay? I'll grab Spencer." He told her as he climbed down the steps to take Spencer from her hands.
"Is he okay?" Grace questioned him, concern etched into her features. She looked older at that moment.
"I'm not sure, Monkey. Maybe he'll feel better after he sees you. He's worried about you, too, you know." Danny plucked the little boy from Grace's gentle grip. "But make sure you don't jostle him, okay? He broke his leg pretty bad and we can't get the bone to go where it's supposed to. It's pretty painful, so just be careful." He added.
"Okay, Danno." She replied with a nod. "Is it safe up there?"
"Uncle Steve said that it would be safer up there, but either way it's okay." He smiled at her, hoping that she would take it as the truth. He needed to stay strong for her, even if Steve wasn't. Not that Danny could blame him, if he were in Steve's position, he would be crying like a new born baby. But he still needed to show Grace that everything would be okay.
"Okay. Let's go." She grasped Danny's shirt sleeve and opened the door once again. They walked silently through the house and into the living room where Steve was panting on the couch.
"Hey Uncle Steve!" Grace whispered as if she was afraid to wake the couch's occupant.
"Hey Gracie. I think I need a hug." He replied hoarsely, trying to sit up from his lying position.
"Steve, just stay down. It'll make you feel worse if you're upright, probably upset your stomach a bit." Danny sternly told him.
"Okay." Steve said simply, not bothering to put up a fight like usual. He gave up his mission to sit up and gingerly lay back down.
Grace ran towards them, but as soon as she came close to him, she slowed to a screeching halt.
"Is it okay if I do?" She asked him after biting her lip for a moment.
"Yeah, it's okay. Come here." He held out an arm to welcome her into an embrace. She approached him apprehensively, then, once she was only a step away from the couch, she bolted into a tight hug. He draped an arm around her neck while she held him like he was the only lifeline that she had.
"I thought you were dead." She whispered into his ear, stray tears escaping her eyes.
"I'm sorry, but it's going to be okay now. We're all okay and it's going to stay that way." He whispered back. It seemed as if Steve was back to normal, reassuring Grace and making her feel better as he always did. And Danny was more than glad to see that. He figured that Grace's hug worked wonders on Steve, just like they did on him.
"I love you." She sniffled into his shoulder.
"I love you, too, Gracie."
They sat in bliss for a moment, indulging in the fact that they were all okay and back together. Then, Steve seemed to remember that there was another child in need of his care.
"Spencer!" Steve blurted out, releasing Grace in the process. She backed away from him and stood at the foot of the couch.
"He's okay, Uncle Steve. He seemed to be getting warmer and his breathing got better." She reported to him.
"Oh, thank goodness. Danny, there's an ear thermometer in the kit. Can you check his temperature?"
"Yeah, good idea." Danny gently laid Spencer on the ground next to the couch then went to go get the first aid kit. On his way out, the sound of shattering glass reached his ears. Then the screaming came. He stood stock still for a moment, just listening to Grace's shrieking, but he came back to his senses quickly. He turned around and raced back to the living room, heart beating rapidly inside his ribcage. He was greeted by the sight of Steve towering over both Spencer and Grace, glass sprinkling the floor around them. But there was blood dripping from someone in the pile, a puddle slowly forming on the white carpet.
"Danny, get something to close the window!" Steve yelled.
Danny didn't even say anything; he just sped off and found some tarps that were set on the base of the stairs that Steve had gotten out earlier. He also grabbed some duct tape from the utility drawer that was in the garage. He returned to the living room to see Steve sitting on the ground, Gracie on his left and Spencer on his right. Spencer was awake at this point and was shaking uncontrollably. Danny wasn't sure if it was from being cold or from pure terror. Steve was quietly murmuring soft words of reassurance to both the children and telling them not to move. None of them had shoes on and the glass around them was bad news.
"Is everyone okay?" Danny asked Steve while starting to duct tape the tarps around the window. He was scared to get the answer, he knew someone was bleeding badly, and by the looks of the blood that he saw all over Grace's shirt, he thought it was his baby. He needed to get the window fixed up to prevent any more of the storm getting in the house. The winds could have easily thrown anything into the house and cause more danger.
"Yeah, we're good." Steve grunted. That was when Danny realized that it was Steve that was hurt. He wouldn't have told him that they were okay if it was one of the kids that were hurt. He would only say 'we're good' if he was the one that was hurt. He would try to hide it to the best to his abilities.
"I know that you're lying to me, Steven. Where'd you get hit?" Danny told him, taking only a second to peel his eyes from the tarp for a moment to look over at Steve that had his arm cradled against his stomach. He still couldn't tell if it was his arm or stomach that was cut because he only took a second to look, but it seemed like too much blood either way.
"Ughh… Damn…" Was the pathetic reply that Danny received. "Shit, Danno…"
Danny sloppily finished patching up the window then hurried to Steve's side. He, luckily, had nice combat shoes on. He had the bright idea to steal a pair of Steve's when he went out into the storm to search for him. He crouched next to Steve, careful to not touch any of the glass in the process. He smelled the metallic blood and his stomach churned.
"Where'd you get hit, Steve?" Danny asked him quietly, trying to pull his hand away from his stomach to get a look. It was all one bloodied mess, though; he couldn't tell if it was his hand or stomach.
"Stomach." Steve told him through tightly clenched teeth. "Get kids to garage."
The garage. Of course! Why hadn't anyone thought of it earlier? The garage would be a perfect place, barely any windows and it was upstairs. It was like a basement except in a better place.
"Okay, babe. Just relax, okay? Try to breathe. I'll be right back." Danny scooped Grace and Spencer into his arms and ran to the garage, glass crunching under his feet the whole way there. He placed the two children on the ground and told him that he would be right back. They were both teary eyed and it broke his heart to leave them alone like that, but Steve needed him more. He sprinted back to the living room to find Steve holding his stomach with one hand and other on the ground to keep him upright. There was blood seeping through his fingers and it scared Danny. It scared him more than he'd ever admit. Steve was pale as a ghost and swallowing every other second.
"Damn it, Steve, what happened?" Danny asked, meaning for the question to be rhetorical. Steve didn't pick up on that.
"Knew glass was breakin'. Kinda tackled Grace. Make sure she okay. Got on top 'em, no glass on 'em." He grunted in between huffs of breath.
"Thanks for protecting her, I mean it. But don't talk, okay? Just relax." Danny patted him on the shoulder, hoping to provide a bit of comfort.
"Glass in hand, now." Steve mumbled.
"What?" Danny moved closer to him, encouraging him to say it again.
"Glass in hand. Hurts." He said a little louder this time.
He picked his right hand up which now had a few pieces of bloody and jagged glass in them. They were large, too.
"Damn. This day just gets better and better, doesn't it? How are you holding up? Do we have to take that glass out, Steve?"
"'M 'kay. Take out, not in bad place." He croaked out. Danny moved closer and peeled Steve's bloody hand away from his stomach. There was a one or two inch piece of glass that was shaped like a knife lodged into Steve's lower stomach. "Hesse stab." Steve muttered.
"Huh?"
"Victor stab." He repeated then promptly started to cough up blood. Then Danny figured out what he was trying to say. It was in the same place that Victor Hesse had shanked him in prison. It didn't hit anything important, but it hurt like a SOB.
"Okay, stop talking. Just relax. I'll take it out." He told Steve over the violent and bloody coughing. He took a grip on the glass and pulled it out quickly. He just hoped that Steve was right and that it was safe to be taking out the tiny devil. It was pretty deep in, it appeared to be three or four inches once he took it out. That meant that it was about two inches in. "You're going to be okay, Steve. Just stay with me, okay?" Danny told him once the coughing fit was over and Steve slumped over. His eyes were slowly blinking shut, but Danny definitely didn't want Steve passing out on him, again. He then took Steve's hand and plucked out the pieces that were stuck in his palm. There were about three or four pieces, and although not too deep, was still bleeding a lot. They would need stitches for sure. "Steve, stay awake, okay? I'll be right back." Danny told him as he slipped out from underneath the big man. He needed to get the first aid kit and stop the bleeding before he lost too much. He bolted away and retrieved the first aid kit and brought it back to Steve. He was breathing heavily and was lying down on the ground, glass scattered around underneath his body.
"Steve, get up! You're lying on glass!" Danny commanded when he saw him.
He didn't get a reply.
"Daddy? Is Uncle Steve okay?" A little voice emerged from behind him. He turned around and was scared when he saw his daughter. There was no doubt that his little girl should have been seeing someone that she loved so much on the ground and in a bloody heap.
"He's okay, Monkey. Please go back to the garage; I need you to look after Spencer, okay? I need you to be brave for me, okay? Take this and check his temperature." He handed her the ear thermometer and kissed her forehead. "97 to 98 should be a good temperature. If it's lower than that, make sure you warm him up. I love you, Grace."
"Love you, too, Danno." She kissed him and ran off towards the garage, but not before she got a glimpse at her Uncle Steve. She determined that he was dead, once again. But she had to take care of Spencer, so she pushed the scary thought to the back of her head and sprinted away. There was a trail of tears coming from her eyes and dripping off her nose and chin. She was going to be strong, though, no crying. Uncle Steve couldn't be dead. He was Super SEAL! Some stupid glass couldn't have killed him. Or could it? She couldn't decide, but she knew that it was her fault that he got hurt in the first place. He was just protecting her. It was all her fault. More tears stained her face as she reached the garage door.
A/N: Well, I needed more whump. This was completely spontaneous and I didn't expect to beat Steve up any more, but I had the idea and was like 'Yes, more Steve whump has to occur!' So there you have it, more Steve whump. Poor Gracie thinks that it's her fault, though. Sometimes I think that I am a dark and demented person to come up with this kind of stuff… Anyways, please give me reviews, I like getting them and feel encouraged to write more. So reviews are good! Thanks for reading.