Chapter Fifteen "The Healing of Harms"

So, this should be the last chapter before the epilogue. I was threatened that someone would hunt me down if I killed Steve, so never fear; he'll live. I hope his battle with Hadley will be to everyone's liking. Some of you are very sadistic! Just kidding: the reviews for the last chapter were great and I appreciated every one.

The title of this chapter is the same as that of the last one in The Silver Chair. I thought it was fitting.

Steve soon realized that Hadley wasn't going to kill him. At least not yet. That changed things a little. Sure, Steve didn't have a gun and Hadley did, but if the latter wasn't even going to use his as more than a club of sorts, it evened the playing field a bit. So when Hadley tried to play tee-ball with Steve's head, he reached out and grabbed the end of the gun. Surprisingly, Hadley let go and the gun went flying towards the side door, out of reach of either of them.

Steve reached for the knife on his calf, only to find that he'd forgotten it in his room. Putting that out of his mind, he jumped at Hadley, ignoring the pain of what would probably turn into massive bruises later. They both went down, the wood floor creaking under them. Hadley threw Steve off and Steve landed rather uncomfortably on his back. He rolled away as Hadley tried to come at him again and got to his feet. He aimed a kick at Hadley's chest and sent him to the floor again.

Things were looking pretty good, until Hadley tipped the scales in his favor by drawing a knife. Steve cursed mentally and started dodging. He had a sudden sensation of déjà vu.

Surprisingly, Hadley was better with the knife than Steve would have thought and he found himself struggling to keep away from it, failing at times. He began to contemplate his options, but considering the shrink bleeding out in the kitchen, Steve didn't have much of a choice.

He grabbed Hadley's wrist, arresting the movement of the knife for a second, but Hadley twisted his arm and dug the knife into the back of Steve's hand until he was forced to let go. Then Hadley brought the handle of the knife up and slammed it into Steve's already sore jaw. Once again, the SEAL dropped to one knee to keep from falling altogether. Hadley took the advantage, bringing the knife to Steve's neck.

"I had a feeling we wouldn't do this the easy way," Hadley said.

"There's an easy way?" Steve replied.

Hadley circled around him, keeping the knife at his throat. "Not anymore."

H-5-O

The drive back to the no-longer-safehouse seemed to take an eternity. When Danny practically slid into the driveway, the three of them were out of the car and running for the house as fast as they could go. Somehow, McKenzie ended up in front of the group, throwing the door open. What she saw made her heart drop to her stomach. There was the man she had feared standing with a knife poised to kill the man she was most probably in love with.

Until it was over, McKenzie didn't realize what happened. Somehow, her gun ended up in her hands, a wordless shout escaped her lips, and she squeezed the trigger without a second thought. The more surprising part was the second gunshot. McKenzie turned to her left to see Danny standing next to her in the same posture. The exchanged a nanosecond glance before hurrying over with Kono to see if Steve was okay.

He had fallen all the way to the floor after Hadley was shot. As the three of them got closer, they could see that he was bleeding from several cuts on his arms and torso, as well as the bullet wound in his left arm. He was still fully conscious, though he would rather not have been. Hadley was most certainly dead and Kono went to check on the doctor.

Danny kneeled next to Steve, wincing as pain shot through his knee. McKenzie was on Steve's other side, putting pressure on the cut on his hand.

"Hey," Danny said, taking inventory of Steve's injuries. "You couldn't just shoot the guy?"

Steve gave a small groan. "It's a long story."

"I'll bet."

"Good job, McKenzie."

"Thanks," she said. "How are you feeling."

"Horrible. Thanks for asking."

"Always the dramatic," Danny said.

"I'm dramatic?" Steve asked.

"I think I hear the ambulance," McKenzie said.

"Thank goodness," Danny muttered.

About that time, Kono came out of the kitchen supporting Dr. Eisner. She had managed to stop the blood flow and he was getting some color back. Chin came into the house followed by several officers and paramedics.

"Looks like you guys had all the fun without me," he said.

"You seem to have had some," Steve said, eying Chin's sling. "But I'll let you have it all next time."

"Does he always talk this much when mortally wounded?" McKenzie asked.

There was a chorus of yeses from the Five-Os. Steve frowned and argued that he was not mortally wounded while the paramedics started carrying him out to the ambulance.

There was an awkward moment as McKenzie realized that no one knew what had happened between her and Steve. She got several curious looks when she asked if she could go to the hospital with him.

"I'll take you," Danny finally said. "We can get your stuff and meet your parents there."

It only took a few minutes to gather up all of McKenzie's and Steve's things and pile them in Danny's trunk. Then they hit the road and for a second, McKenzie felt her breath catch in her throat. She was going back to civilization. At the moment, she was ignoring the fact that she had just shot a man, because Danny shot him too, so she could imagine it was his bullet that killed Hadley. No, right now, she was sort of freaking out about the idea of going back to a normal life where she would have to tell her parents that she had managed to get herself involved with the man who was protecting her. She was certain her parents would like Steve, but the whole thing was highly unusual anyway.

"Is something wrong?"

McKenzie jumped at the sound of Danny's voice. "Um... what exactly did you have in mind?"

"Knowing that you've spent the last week with Steve, it could be any number of things."

"I guess you're right about that."

"You want to stop being cryptic, or am I gonna have to guess?"

"I'm not sure how to explain this."

"If it has something to do with Steve, I'm not surprised."

"It has everything to do with him."

"Hence you wanted to go see him."

"Yeah, about that. I guess I understand why everyone was confused. Apparently when you spend a week living with someone, you get pretty close."

Danny cocked his head. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"Probably exactly what your thinking."

"I try not to assume when it comes to my partner."

"Well, I'm not sure how to describe it."

"Been there."

"Oh yeah. The whole future tense thing."

Danny gave McKenzie a curious look. "How do you know about that?"

"I asked what was wrong with his grammar because I didn't hear anything."

"Will you forgive me if I say you're not his type?"

"Yes. He's not mine either... If I even have a 'type,' which I'm not sure of."

"Opposites attract, I guess. Case in point: me."

"I would claim to have no idea what you're talking about, but Steve talks about you guys a lot."

Danny shook his head, fighting a smile. "No comment."

"It's mostly good. Except the time he was trying to make me feel better about being short."

"Please don't go there."

"I shouldn't have mentioned it."

"Damn straight."

"It would be easy enough for you to get back at him."

"What? By telling you something embarrassing? Let's see... He tried to walk off a roof once, he can't play basketball, he scares kids, he knows how to sew... Oh, he tried to order a master cylinder off the internet and ended up with a clutch plate."

"I'm sure that would be funny if I knew what it meant."

"Yeah. I know I'll think of something better eventually."

H-5-O

Steve woke up feeling pleasantly numb. He remembered that Hadley was dead, and therefore his part of the case was over. He could go home and not have to worry about anyone trying to kill McKenzie. She would be safe with her family.

That thought gave him pause. He wondered if things would continue as they had been once she found out what a workaholic he was.

At that point he opened his eyes to see Danny and McKenzie sitting side by side, staring at him.

"Is there something on my face?" he asked.

"You mean besides that nasty bruise?" Danny asked.

Steve remembered that he'd been hit in the jaw more than once. "I can't feel anything."

"That would be the pain medication," McKenzie said.

"I didn't think it was that bad."

"Are you kidding?" Danny's voice got a little louder. "You were a few minutes away from bleeding to death. Plus you managed to get two broken ribs, an almost broken jaw—which might have been nice—and a considerable hole in your arm."

"My ribs might have already been weak."

"Oh, now you blame me," McKenzie said.

"What?" Danny was confused.

"Nothing, Danno. So, which one of you killed him."

"Max is looking into it," Danny said. "Though he thinks the guy might have died of internal bleeding anyway. Honestly, you couldn't have knocked him out?"

"He knew what he was doing."

"Obviously." Danny gestured at their surroundings.

Steve turned to McKenzie. "Have you seen your parents yet?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied. "They met us here. They want to meet you when you feel up to it."

"That may be a while."

"I thought you said you felt fine."

"That's not what I meant."

"They already like you, so you can relax."

Danny couldn't help laughing. The idea of Steve being nervous of meeting a girl's parents was unthinkable. Of course, there was more to it than that, but Steve didn't really feel like sharing.

When Kono and Chin arrived a short time later, Danny got an evil look in his eye.

"What?" Steve asked.

"What what?" Danny replied, putting on an innocent mask.

"Don't even try to pretend you weren't thinking something horrid."

"Really? I was just thinking Chin is going to have to spring for more pizza." Danny looked meaningfully at McKenzie and Chin and Kono immediately knew what he was talking about. "Though I'll be this one eats pineapple."

"Actually I don't really like pineapple," McKenzie said. "I'm kind of boring. Pepperoni. Cheese. You know."

Danny looked like he was going to faint. "How did you end up with him?" he asked in an astonished voice.

McKenzie shrugged. "He never threatened me with pineapple, I guess."

Danny looked at Steve. "So you're just going to start a relationship based on lies, I see."

"Shut up, Danno," Steve said. "Your voice is giving me a headache."

"No. That's from a very large man with a very large gun."

"The painkillers are wearing off?" McKenzie asked.

"All good things must come to an end, I suppose," Steve said. "And speaking of that: when do I get to leave this lovely place?"

"In the morning," McKenzie said. "After that you have strict instructions not to do anything for at least a week."

"No, I think paperwork is allowed," Danny said.

"Yeah," Steve said. "Nothing."

"You're forgetting," Kono said. "Danny promised pizza."

"I did no such thing," Danny argued.

"I think you did, brah," Chin said.

"I said you had to buy pizza."

"I think it's your turn."

"It couldn't possibly be my turn until Steve actually pays for something."

"Oh, yeah," Steve said. "Make the injured guy pay."

"I think I'm the only one in this room who hasn't been injured in the last few days," Kono said.

"Hey," McKenzie said, holding up her hands, "I'm pretty sure my dad will want to have a barbeque in the next few days. And I'm sure everyone would be invited."

"Wait, I have an idea," Steve said.

"Oh no," Danny groaned.

"Will someone please silence him? What I was going to say was we could have it at my house. That way there would be plenty of room and those who wanted to could play in the water or surf or whatever."

"While we sane people stay on the deck," Danny said.

"If you're not careful he may throw you in the ocean," McKenzie said. "Trust me."