Chapter 9
A/N: This story is setting a pace I can only go along with. Twice I tore up the beginning of the chapter, so to speak, and started it again until it was happy. You writers understand this: sometimes we write the story, and sometimes the story allows us to write it. This is one of the latter kind of story.
Again, I appreciate so deeply all reviews and comments, all reads. I never expected to get this many, but a friend who has more faith in me than I have in myself said I get a dope slap for thinking that. I'm grateful. Mahalo!
This chapter brings us ever nearer the brink of Steve's fateful decision. Aaaaand, I don't know if this will please anyone, but I have a second story idea in the works, a long one. So after this story, there will be another! More 5-0 goodness! Gotta get through the off-season somehow, right? Read fics, and binge-watch previous seasons of the show! :-D
Enjoy this chapter! Advance thanks for all reads. I owe about 16 thank yous to reviewers, and you are soooo deeply appreciated!
The usual disclaimer: I am playing harmlessly with toys owned by CBS. I own nothing. But I refuse to stop playing. :-)
Chapter 9
Many things happened in the following hour, preventing Steve from talking to Danny or Chin, though Steve did signal Chin to stay, because they needed to talk when the whirlwind following Danny's faint had subsided. Dr. Cornett was paged, and he arrived on a run just as the nurses had finished cleaning Danny up and putting him in a new hospital gown over lightweight pajama pants. His bed, Steve's bed, and room had already been cleaned of any evidence of the distressing interlude before the faint. Also gone were the fruit baskets, flowers and all but a few of the balloons. Even while the cleaning process was going on, Steve and Chin were relegated to staying behind the new privacy curtain in the room. Steve wondered if the walls would be repainted. They weren't, but they were wiped down.
Naturally, Steve and Danny both got new regulation plastic water pitchers (even filled with water and ice), cups, and this time they were not orange. This time they were generic blue.
Danny had regained consciousness only a minute after fainting, but his faculties were not up to par, his energy even less so. He answered every question briefly and honestly, in a voice so tired that Dr. Cornett pulled back the curtain and asked Steve and Chin to fill in anything they had seen or noticed while Danny was fitted with a nasal cannula as well as two different IVs. One was fluids and electrolytes, while the other was to begin steadying out his nutritional needs.
Chin proved to be a big help, and at the news of Nurse Carla's treatment of his patient, Dr. Cornett's manner changed just enough to make it quite clear he was furious and going to do something about it. Steve could swear he saw thunderclouds and lightning in Cornett's normally pale blue eyes. He ordered blood and urine samples taken, put a priority on the results, frowned at the number on the thermometer, and began generally do do everything he could to care for his patient.
"My eyes won't stay open," said Danny, sitting up in his bed. He sounded like a little kid about 5 years old, fighting bedtime, and losing. His stillness and the weak way he was holding his ribs spoke volumes.
"Could you keep them open just long enough to take two more deep breaths?" asked Cornett in his gentle, doctor's voice. He was listening to Danny's lungs with his stethoscope. "I know it hurts, and I know you are very tired. Just two more, as deep as you can give me."
Steve watched Danny give it his best, too weary to do more than grimace.
"Okay, you can close your eyes now. Let me do all the work for you as you settle back onto the pillow. Get some sleep."
Without any fanfare other than closing his eyes as his hands went limp, Danny fell asleep as Dr. Cornett used one hand to hold Danny upright, the other still holding his stethoscope against his back. The doc listened to his breathing in sleep, and shook his head as he closed Danny's gown, then settled him comfortably against his pillow. He pulled the blanket over his patient's chest, literally tucking him in.
Steve was instantly worried. "Is he okay?"
Dr. Cornett looked at his patient, studied the reading of the machines now monitoring his vitals. "His breathing is too shallow, and that worries me more than anything else. We have to watch for fluid build-up in his lungs. I'm afraid he has to go back on an oxygen mask."
"But those give him panic attacks."
Cornett nodded. "I know. So I will sedate him, once I get the lab results back and know how much he can tolerate. He will never know the mask was even in place. Everything else we can fix with IV fluids and medications. I think he will breathe much easier after he has had at least twelve hours of good sleep. I'm revoking his hall-wandering privileges for at least a day and a half."
Chin asked, "What about that nurse?"
Cornett's jaw tensed, and Steve saw the thunderclouds and lightning again. "I think her nursing career may be over. She will never bother you again."
Steve and Chin were satisfied with that.
Just then the lab results came in. A few minutes later, Cornett had ordered treatments, personally injected medications into the hydration IV. "It seems he has picked up a bacterial infection, which is being cultured right now. I have put him on an antibiotic he has tolerated well in the past." The doc rattled off a litany of other medications, and almost ceremoniously removed the nasal cannula, fitting the oxygen mask in place. "Let's see how he responds to a healthy twelve hours of sleep. I'll check him again in six. Now, Steve, would you mind if I give you a once-over? Doc Simmons is going to be tied up in surgery for a few more hours, and asked me to check on you. I am well-versed on your chart."
"Sure, Doc." Steve trusted Cornett. Chin stepped out to get himself something to eat, but would return in a half hour with tea for both him and Steve.
When the exam was over, Steve was back in bed, the head propped up so he could sleep, rest, or visit in comfort. "Doc, could you add an antacid? Is there something I could keep in my room?" The answer was affirmitive, but Steve was reminded to heed the dosage.
"Now you get some rest. You are healing very well, but it will be quite awhile yet before you feel even close to your usual self."
Steve glanced over at Danny, then took advantage of Chin's absence to ask Cornett something that worried him. "I've called a meeting of the Task Force, uh, for tomorrow at 3. Will Danny ... will he be up for that? I mean, able to handle it? It may be emotionally upsetting for him, but he needs to be there. And I need to tell him what it's about, uh, beforehand."
Steve watched Cornett read between the lines before answering. "I can see you would not ask this if the meeting could be rescheduled. I would rather not add to Danny's emotional challenges right now." Cornett turned to study Danny's vital readings, displayed on monitors behind his bed. "Let's see how he is in twelve hours. He's tough. I can't promise a 'yes', but my guess is that he will be strong enough, though I reserve the right to administer a mild sedative to help him through. Both of you will have to rest afterwards."
"Good enough," replied Steve. "Good enough. Thanks Doc."
H50 H50 H50
Steve was resting quietly when Chin returned with a tray of two Styrofoam cups of tea, and two additional cups of chicken soup. "I had some in the cafeteria, and it was so good I thought you and Danny might like some. They let me have some 'to go'." He stopped by Danny's bed. "He looks temporarily down for the count. How is he, Steve? Anything I didn't hear? And how is the head of Five-0 doing?"
"I'm doing good, Chin. Have to rest a lot, and all the stuff you already know about. As for Danny, no, nothing new. He's likely going to sleep through Grace's visit tonight."
Chin sighed, and came around to sit by Steve, putting the tray on his bedside table. His deep brown eyes were still on Danny. "I feel so badly for how things have gone for him this whole week," he said in the soft voice of a good friend.
"Yeah," said Steve, keeping his voice low, even though he knew Danny couldn't hear them. "He's sure had it rough. I still can't believe he did what he did. I mean, giving me half his liver?"
"You would be dead if he hadn't, Steve."
"It's very humbling. I'm alive because of him. Half Danny's liver is inside me, Chin, and because of that, I am talking to you right now."
Chin handed a cup of tea to Steve, and held up his own. "To Danny?"
Steve nodded, and accepted the cup. "To my best friend and partner, Danny."
They touched cups, and each drank a sip.
Chin pointed to the chicken soup. "I'm sure he would want you to have this."
Steve watched his sleeping friend with gentle eyes. "He missed his meal. The IV has to do, and that makes me feel worse. I know I couldn't have done anything to change things, but I wish he hadn't missed his meal."
Chin Ho took another sip of the tea. "What was it, anyway?"
Steve laughed softly. "I have no idea, honestly. It was like a mixture of oatmeal, mashed potato with no butter, no anything, and some kind of fish. Once you got past the texture, it wasn't too bad."
The face Chin made at the description was eloquent. "No way would Danny have eaten that! Or me, either!"
"I dunno, Chin; he's been good about the chow, eating it. But you are right about that soup. He would not want it wasted, and it smells really good. Even with the lid, it smells good." He popped the lid off one cup. "Wow, that smells sooooo good. But I can't eat both of them. You have the other one."
"You sure?"
Steve nodded. So both men enjoyed their chicken soup and hot tea.
Afterwards, Steve was not surprised at all when Chin brought up Kono, his cousin, and Lou Grover. He'd been expecting it. "Steve, what happened? What did they say?"
So Steve told him everything, holding nothing back.
Chin finally said, "Wow," in a voice filled with sad incredulity. He was leaning forward in his chair, his elbows on his knees while his fingertips rubbed his temples. "If anyone else told me this, I would deck them for lying."
"I'm still getting my head around this, too. Listen, Chin ... I have to ask. Do you agree with either one of them, about any of this?"
Chin sat back, one hand still rubbing his forehead, easing a headache that hit after Steve told him what his cousin and colleague had said. "Do I agree with them? Either of them? No. If they truly mean what they said ... then I'm way beyond shocked." He looked over at Danny. "This would kill him to know. Maybe not his body, but his spirit."
"But I have to tell him. I told Kono and Grover to be here tomorrow at 3 o'clock, and I would make the decision whether or not to ask for their badges."
Chin's head snapped up as he stared at Steve. He said nothing for a full minute. "Well, you know what Danny will do when you tell him that."
"Yes I do," said Steve, his voice very sad. "He'd resign. He'd say they were right, and he'd put his shield and gun on the table, so quietly we'd barely hear it, he'd turn and leave without another word."
"Yeah."
Steve's words came quicker, and only his concern for his sleeping friend in the next bed kept his voice from rising in volume. "But it would destroy Five-0. If he did that, Five-0 would be me, bleeding out, with no liver donor. HE is the reason this unit works so well, Chin. Do you get why I'm saying that?"
Chin slowly nodded. "You two balance each other. It's so weird to see it happening sometimes, the way you two get each other, the way you two push each others' buttons, argue like an old couple married happy for 60 years. Now I think he's going to punch you out -"
"-and sometimes he does!"
"Other times I think you are gonna punch him out -"
"-and sometimes I do!"
"But God help the person who tries to get between you. It's incredible to watch, Steve. It's a partnership, but even more than that, it's a friendship that most people will never experience in their lives."
"I never saw Danny coming," said Steve.
"I don't think anyone sees this kind of ...ohana... coming. Have you made your decision?"
"No. Not yet. I need your help with something. Badly."
Chin sat up straighter. "Ask. I'll do it."
"I need your help trying to change their minds about Danno. This is what I need you to do..." Steve rattled off a long list of things he wanted brought to his room before the meeting. "Can you do all that, Chin?"
"I'll be back here in ..." He consulted his watch. "Two hours, maximum three."
"Thanks, Chin." Steve knew the words were inadequate. Chin smiled, give him a handshake and fist bump, then stopped by Danny's bed and lowered his forehead until it was touching Danny's. He whispered, "Sleep well, ohana."
A minute later, Steve was listening to Danny breathing, watching his friend's breath fog and clear and fog the oxygen mask. "Danny," he said softly. "You have to get better. I never saw you coming, Buddy, but I'm not letting you go."