Note: Time for Matt to see what he has done.

Chapter Eleven.

Steve watched as Dr. Pearce entered the room and immediately took charge. Moving to Danny's head she took hold of a laryngoscope and expertly inserted an ET tube into Danny's airway. One of the other nurses then quickly assisted her with passing a suction tube down, and clearing Danny's lungs. Dawn had moved off to pull a machine from the corner of the room that Steve realised was a ventilator, and she quickly set it up so that once Dr. Pearce and the nurse had finished their suctioning, they could connect Danny straight up to it.

Finally happy that her patients breathing was back under control; and that his colour was improving, Dr. Pearce exited the room to join Steve.

"You shouldn't be here, you shouldn't have seen that." She chastised, seeing how upset Steve looked.

"Never leave a man behind doc, he's my partner. My best friend." Steve simply replied.

Dr. Pearce gently smiled, knowing how close these two men were. "He's doing ok now, Steve." She reassured. "His oxygen levels are improving, and now he has the tube in place we can regularly suction him. I was on my way back to see him when my emergency pager when off. I had just spoken with the microbiology department and they have identified a Pseudomonas bacterium. So I'm changing his antibiotics. Now he is on the ventilator we'll keep him sedated. At least now he won't be in so much pain and distress."

"How long do you think he'll need the ventilator?" Steve asked.

"Probably a few days, he needs time for the antibiotics to work and improve the pneumonia before we can try to wean him off."

"Is he gonna make it doc? Honestly."

"You know I can't answer that Steve. At the moment he's in critical condition. But Danny is tough, and he has his friends, girlfriend and beautiful daughter to live for. We both know he will fight like hell."

"Thanks doc, can I go back in and sit with him?"

"Of course, I'll go bring the others up to speed and send them back in.

Steve slipped back into the room and sat next to Danny's bed. Now that the oxygen mask was removed, the redness of Danny's face from the sunburn could be seen, and the skin was already peeling from his nose. "You scared the hell out of me there buddy." He said taking hold of Danny's hand. "Don't do that again. You need to fight this, for all of us, for Grace. I haven't even called them yet. Now I'm going to have to call Rachel and fill her in."

Looking over to Dawn who was setting up more IVs, Steve said, "You know not many people are brave enough to shout at me like that. Thanks for taking care of him."

"People are scared of you?" She joked, "Whyever would that be? You're just a big pussy cat. And you're welcome, it's my job."

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Everyone else returned to the room, Amber fighting tears. She hated seeing Danny so ill and vulnerable. To her he had always been her knight in shining armour, who literally saved her life when they first met.

Resuming their positions around the bed, the room now sounded different. The hissing of the oxygen was replaced by the click and whoosh of the ventilator. They all sat in silence for 30 minutes before Chin and Kono went on a coffee run and Steve left to make the dreaded calls to Rachel, Danny's parents and the FBI. Amber was left alone for some precious time with Danny.

The cousins met up with Steve in the hallway before re-entering the room. They could all see Amber was red eyed as she sat holding on to Danny's limp hand, but no one said anything.

Chin passed out the coffees, he handed Steve his and said, "Decaf for you. I spoke with Dawn and she's arranging a cot for you. She will set it up at the back of the room, and you will get some rest."

"I'm fine." Steve argued.

"No way, boss." Kono added. "Dr. Pearce explained that it would take at least a few days for Danny to be strong enough to breathe for himself again. We all know you won't leave the hospital 'til then. So get some rest now."

"Fine," Steve conceded taking a sip of his coffee.

10 minutes later, Dawn rolled in the cot and passed Steve a paper cup. "Pain killers, Dr. Pearce's orders. She caught you limping on that leg of yours. Make sure you keep an eye on those stitches. I don't want you in the next room with septicaemia because you ignored your own health."

Suitably told, Steve took the pain killers and washed them down with the last of his coffee, then started setting up the cot. Dawn had left the room, only to return minutes later with some ice packs which she placed under Danny's arms and in his groin. "His fever is rising." She explained.

Steve looked at his partner, worried about the rising temperature and unsure if he really should try and sleep. Seeing Steve falter, Dawn said, "Cot, now. He's fine, he's been stable for the past hour and his oxygen levels are much better now he's on the vent. You need some sleep."

Steve finally relented and settled on the cot, listening as the remaining three made quiet conversation. It didn't take long before his body gave into the exhaustion and he fell asleep. He managed to sleep for just over four hours before he was awoken by a knock at the door. Steve sat up on the cot. He saw the others look around to see Matt standing at his brother's door, flanked on either side by an FBI agent. The beard was now gone. He was dressed in slacks, a shirt, and now looked much more like the brother Steve met a few years ago. Standing at the door, he looked pale, his eyes focused on Danny's face, and the ET tube protruding from his mouth.

"You have one hour." One of the FBI agents said, "We will be just outside the door."

Matt nodded and took a step into the room. Chin rose and shook his hand before announcing, "Kono and I are going to head back to the office and check in with Lou for an hour or so. We'll bring some food by later."

"Thanks guys." Steve said as he rose from the cot, and Amber smiled her thanks. Limping over to the bed, because his leg had seized up during his sleep, he motioned for Matt to sit in one of the now vacant chairs, before sitting himself.

Matt sat down and looked at the beautiful woman beside him, "You must be Amber. Danny told me a bit about you the other day before he was..." He broke off and looked again at his brother. "Taken."

"Danny told me about you too." Amber replied.

"All bad, I bet, and justified too." Matt said sadly.

"Actually he told me a lot about your childhood, how you were there for him through his divorce. He never said a bad thing about you, you're his brother and he loves you no matter what." Amber replied.

"Some brother, look what I got him into. He was almost killed because of me. He still could die. Look at him this is all, my fault." Matt said obviously choke up.

"He's not going to die." Steve said sternly. "He's too stubborn for that. He's fighting and he will get better. He was strong enough to survive what they put him through, and he is strong enough to get through this."

Matt nodded, remembering just how stubborn his brother could be. "And you're wrong." Steve continued. "This isn't all, your fault. Yes, you screwed up and brought Vargas to Danny's door step, but you can't be held responsible for what he did to him. I need to shoulder some of the blame too. I sent him home. I sent him home alone when he was tired and off his game. He had made sure that the rest of your family had protection, but no one thought about him, and he was the obvious target, if they found out you were in Hawaii."

"Steve, don't." Amber chastised. "Do you really think Danny would have accepted protection?"

"No." Steve answered, "I can just hear the rant."

"Exactly," She replied. "He's going to need us all to be strong to help him through this. You two letting the guilt eat you up won't help that, so knock it off."

"Jeez, it seems all the women in my life are bossing me around today." Steve sighed.

Matt pulled his chair closer and rested his hand on Danny's leg. This was not how he wanted to greet his brother after so many years apart. "So what are the doctors saying? How's he doing?"

Steve filled Matt in on the extent of Danny's injuries and what Dr. Pearce had told him about the antibiotics and ventilator. Then Matt informed Steve that the FBI had carried out a raid and managed to arrest all key players in the cartel, using his information. Before they knew it, his hour was up and the FBI agents were signalling it was time to leave.

"It was nice to meet you." Matt said as he got up to leave. "I'm glad he has people who can be there for him. It sounds like he's made quite a home here for himself. They've agreed that I can stay on the island until Danny is doing better, so I can have a chance to talk to him. Then I'll be moved to the mainland, for the official sentencing. Hopefully I can do my time nearer Jersey. I'm not looking forward to facing the family, but it's got to be done, right?"

"I'm sure they will be glad to just have you back safe. I know your parents are keen to see you." Steve replied.

"Really?" Matt asked tears forming in his eyes.

"Really. Now get going, you need to keep the FBI sweet so they let you visit again."

Matt gave one last squeeze to Danny's leg. "Stay strong big bro." Then he left with his escort, leaving Amber and Steve alone with Danny.

TBC