It's short, but it's nearly on time...right? Next one will be the last, but it'll be a big one!
Hope you like it,
Rose xx

"Danny I can hear you. I can hear you!" For a second, Danny couldn't breathe, but then there was a whoosh as the wall of tension that had been sitting high in his chest since he'd first realised Steve was getting sick cracked and fell, and Danny was suddenly ten pounds lighter.
"Steve that's amazing!" His grin surely matched the one on Steve's face.
Steve's brow furrowed. "What?"
Danny's smile faltered. "I thought you could hear?" He made sure to enunciate clearly.
Steve's own toothy grin remained firmly intact. "I'm getting flashes, not everything but I can hear something."
And he must have been able to; his volume was relatively stable, not going between shouting and whispering like Dany's hard-of-hearing grandfather.
"You need some tests. They will take a little while."
"I got tests, how long will it be"
Danny turned to Callahan, who in turn came close enough for Steve to see his lips as they moved. "Now he's hearing some, I want to do a few hearing tests along with the chest panel, this is a good sign of improvement."
Steve's smile didn't waver. "What I heard sounded good. Hell, the fact I heard anything 'sounds' good."
Callahan smiled, and backed out of the room. A team of nurses dived in, one bringing with her a wheelchair.
Danny took the lead, moving over to Steve. "They need you up. Help out, you get that?"
"I'm going for tests, they want me in the chair, don't be a pain in the arse. Got it."
Danny chuckled. "That's about it."

The operation of moving Steve from the bed to the chair reminded Danny just how sick his friend still was. As usual, Steve had taken the all-in approach, swinging his legs over the side of the bed as soon as his IV had been transferred- then promptly fallen sideways as the sudden change is position had made him lose the little colour he'd gained back. After reluctantly accepting help he'd finally been situated in the chair, shivering and looking slightly green. Danny moved to take the blanket from the foot of his bed, covering Steve's bare legs and warding he chill from a cold hospital room and standard issue hospital gown. Steve managed a smile.
"Thanks, Danno."

An hour and a half later, Steve was wheeled back into the room, fast asleep. Two orderlies accompanied the nurse wheeling him, leaning in to pick the slumbering man up and transferring him to the bed without him ever stirring. Danny looked to the nurse, worried at the lack of response. She was quick to quell his fears.

"He's fine. Remember that he's still recovering, the tests and the move took a lot out of him. He'll sleep through to the morning. And I suggest you should as well. You've been here much too long detective, it's time to get some rest yourself."
Danny was ready to fight within seconds. "What about-" he looked around, suddenly processing that Chin and Kono had farewelled him around the same time Grace and Rachel had left. He'd barely noticed. "-Oh."
The nurse smiled, straightening out Steve's bedclothes and adjusting his IV. "Yes detective, Oh. I'll be telling the next nurse on that you aren't too be back before ten am tomorrow and I'll expect for you to have showered and eaten. Okay?"
He nodded, standing.
"I've called a cab for you detective, you're in no state to drive. See you tomorrow night."

By the time Danny stumbled through the door to his apartment, he could barely keep his eyes open. He'd thrown a few notes at the cab driver with mumbled thanks but knew he wasn't up to anything requiring as many motor skills as showering. Muscle memory led him into his room, the small bed cold. It didn't matter. He shrugged off his shirt, kicked at his shoes when his pants got tangled in them. Down to his boxers, he fell into bed and thought no more.

Warm rays across his chest woke Danny. For blessed seconds, he lay basking, mind clear. Then he saw the time, numbers faintly glowing in the morning sun. It was ten to twelve. Shooting up, he hopping to the shower, stumbling over the boots he'd thrown off the night before. Stepping under the water without thinking he let out a yelp, the temperature icy. But it had sufficiently woken him. Ten minutes later, he'd thrown on jeans and a new button-down, slipping his boots on as he trod towards the kitchen. The coffee machine was flicked on and he set about savaging through the fridge, finally finding a loaf of bread that had an un-mouldy side. With the coffee ready and toast butter, he scrambled out the door as the clock turned midday. It was only once he'd arrived on the curb that he realised his car was still in the hospital parking lot. Grumbling, he pulled out his phone and called another cab.

The trip to the hospital allowed Danny time to calm himself. He'd been gone for around fifteen hours, chances were that nothing had happened in that time; and even if it had, he reasoned, as Steve's medical proxy, he would have known. By the time he walked through Steve's floor, he could appreciate the benefit of the shower and food, as well as some decent sleep. The good mood was broken as he walked into Steve's room and found him glaring.

"Woah, you trying to kill me with that glare?"
Steve looked up. "Idontknowwhatyoujustsaid."
"Come again? This time without the mumbling please?"
"I don't know what you just said."
Concerned with the lack of optimism that had been present the day before, Dann moved to sit next to his friend who had resumed his glare, slumped against the raised head of the bed.
"What's going on Steve?" He made sure to talk loudly and slowly, looking directly towards him as he spoke.
"What's going on?" He asked and the tentativeness in the question was something Dany wasn't used to in a man who was usually so sure of himself. Danny nodded anyway. "They want me to get hearing aids."
"So?" Short seemed easier for Steve.
"I'm not an invalid!" He exploded, bolting upright.
Danny raised placating hands. "Never said so. They might help?"
"What do you mean you told me so!" Murder shone in Steve's eyes.
"Never! I never said so. Have you thought the aids," he gestured to his ears, "might help?"
Steve deflated, the apathy more disturbing than anger. "I'd be discharged."
So that was what it was about. "It's okay Steve."
"No it's not! I'm nothing without them! My life will be nothing.''
Danny reached out, hand grasping Steve's chin and holding his head steady, eyes locked. "That is not true. You are more than the navy. You are a good man, a good friend, uncle, a member of 5-0. When you can hear more, I will give you another hundred reasons you are more than that career." He released his grasp and went to leave. He had a doctor to find.

By the same time twenty-four hours later, Steve was stretched out on the lanai, fast asleep as he had been for most of the time since he'd initially awoken. Two large flesh coloured devices sat in his ears; Steve and his doctor had spent much of the previous days testing his hearing and the doctor was reasonably certain (though he had reported it gently to Steve) that Steve would never likely gain back his hearing to a level that would satisfy his work without the aids. The aids had been calibrated to Steve's hearing level and fitted, an order placed for much more discrete, high tech versions. And despite being able to hear probably more clearly than he had in years, since they'd arrived him, Steve hadn't said a word.

Let me know what you thought.
Thanks for coming!
Rose