Chapter 14

A/N: This chapter is basically a bridge to what follows, which will be of a more satisfying length.

You have been so kind and honest in your reviews, I cannot adequately thank you enough! Giving you another chapter was the best thanks I could give, and the promise of more to come. I appreciate your words, your effort, your follows, and am unable to express how humble I feel at all favorites to this story. Thank you so very very much.

I own nothing to do with H50. I can't help it if my imagination likes to play with CBS's toy.

Chapter 14

Steve felt immense relief. He still had Five-0, although part of him was nervous that he had a long talk coming with Danny, when his partner was up to it. He had a feeling he would have to wait a day or maybe more before he'd have a chance. So much depended upon how Danny was doing after that awful coughing fit. He looked up at the clock in the room. "How long has it been since they took Danny for those scans and stuff?"

"One hour, seventeen minutes," replied Lou. "It's gonna be awhile before we hear anything." He sighed, and Chin puffed out his cheeks.

"Is it okay if I stay until we hear how he is? I've got some visiting to make up for," she asked, fluffing out one side of her hair without realizing she was doing it. "I hope he's okay."

"Me, too," chorused Steve, Chin and Lou. Lou tapped his watch. "Probably be another couple hours at least."

"Poor Danny," whispered Kono, flopping into a chair, but she was now tense and weary all at once. "I had no idea things had gotten that bad for him. Did you really throw pineapple at him, Boss?"

Steve closed his eyes, and his mind played Danny's fall in slow motion. He opened them again right away. "Yeah, I did. Not one of my best ideas. If I hadn't done that, he wouldn't be having such a hard time right now."

Chin squeezed his shoulder again, and Kono rubbed his ankle through the blanket. "The past is behind the sunset. We can only look forward to the sunrise," the cousins said in unison, then smiled sadly. Chin added, "Old Hawaiian saying."

Quiet settled on the room, and Steve was fighting off a nap when Nurse Bridget came in carrying Steve's meal tray and little cup of pills. "It's that time again," she said brightly. "Liver and onions."

Steve looked shocked, and Lou's eyes went wide. "Seriously?" He looked a little pale. "Liver?"

Steve was trying to get as far away from that tray as possible. "I'm not -"

"Please take your medications."

He did so, finishing off his cup of ice water to wash them down. Chin reached over and refilled it.

"I'm not eating liver. Or onions. I just had a liver transplant!"

"Now, Steve," began the nurse. "You need to keep your strength up. Liver is very healthy."

"But it's liver."

"It's healthy."

"I would rather eat a raw rat."

Lou's eyes grew wider, and he clamped a hand over his mouth and ran for the bathroom while everyone except Nurse Bridget tinged green. "Oh. Well. Okay." She took the tray away after saying she would have the kitchen send up something else.

After she had gone, Chin said, "I was hungry. I'm not now."

"I may never eat again. Or at least not today," said Kono.

"If Danny had even smelled that," said Steve. He very deliberately moved his little water pitcher over to the far side of his bed table, while Chin burst out laughing and Kono looked confused.

H50 H50 H50 H50

Things settled down after that, and half an hour later the nurse returned with chicken soup, a fruit cup, and four brownies she had taken from the tray at the nurse's station. One was for Steve, and the others were for his friends. Water and ice pitchers were refilled, and she had brought everyone hot tea. There was no news yet on Danny.

Two hours later, Steve woke from a nap as Dr. Simmons came in on his rounds. This time there was news about Danny. He was going back into surgery. One of the scans had shown one of his broken ribs had displaced from the coughing, and had abraded the low tip of his right lung. Given everything that had happened, Danny would be in ICU for at least a day or two, so they could get everything under control and give his body time to really begin healing.

There was quiet for awhile after Dr. Simmons had finished his check on Steve and left to finish his rounds. Talk was sporadic, and worried.

Almost four hours later, Dr. Cornett knocked lightly and came in. He met and shook hands with Kono and Lou, then turned most of his attention to Steve and Chin. "Danny is out of recovery and settled into ICU." He explained that Danny's fractured rib had scraped against his right lung badly enough to cause some abrasion and bleeding to occur. His kidney stitches showed stress, and had been reinforced; one small section of his liver was showing duress from the coughing and bruising. Therefore, Danny would be kept under the strictest monitoring, while everything had a chance to heal. To keep him from needing to cough, any fluid or mucus in his lungs, bronchial tubes or trachea would be carefully suctioned out by a machine. Danny would remain unconscious until the pneumonia had been defeated by antibiotics, suctioning of mucus, and rest.

"Can he have visitors?" asked Steve, feeling deflated by the news. "We all want to see him."

"Not tonight," replied Danny's doctor, knowing this was not the news they wanted to hear. "Probably not for 24 hours. But after that, we will know a lot better how he is responding. Then, it should be okay, one at a time."

Steve leaned forward. "His daughter comes tomorrow night. He will want to see her."

Cornett nodded. "Grace." He hesitated. "Danny will not be conscious yet. If we need to suction, she would have to leave for that. -It's a scary looking procedure, but after it is over, she could sit with him for possibly a half hour, provided the machines do not upset her, because if she is upset, Danny will know it. That's the best I can do for now. I'm sorry."

Kono spoke up hesitantly. "Maybe, maybe we could all just see him? Even for just a couple minutes?"

Dr. Cornett looked compassionately at four hopeful pairs of eyes, all staring unblinking into his, willing him to say yes. He gave in, but warned them it would be brief. "He is pretty deeply under, but I believe he will know you are there. It will help him."

"Thanks, Doc!" Kono even gave him a hug, and a kiss on the cheek. Cornett smiled warmly.

Steve had to make the journey in a wheelchair, pushed by Chin, while the doctor led them down the elevator one floor and into ICU. Danny's bed was in the first bay, surrounded by numerous machines taking vital readings constantly. His face was hidden behind a large oxygen mask fixed tightly enough to be essentially air tight. His nose was gently clamped closed while inside the mask a tube was held in place between his lips. The mask had a bulb attached to the side of it, with a long tube running to one of the machines. Every third breath, the bulb compressed with an mechanical deflating sound, steadily forcily oxygen enriched air deep into Danny's lungs and fogging the mask almost opaque. It would hold for three seconds, after which it hissed full again to await the mechanical count that would deflate it again. Danny's chest was uncovered, showing his alarming bruising, and the new sutures closing for the third time his angry-looking surgery wound. It barely rose when he breathed on his own, but on the machine assisted breaths, his chest rose almost too much. There were ports in each hand, his left upper chest, and to each was attached more than one drip. While they watched, a nurse bandaged his surgery wound, and then another nurse brought in a small warming blanket to lay gently across his ribs. The rest of him was covered neatly by a sheet and blanket.

The group was shocked. Even prepared, they were not ready to see their friend so vulnerable, so damaged.

"He's in pain," whispered Steve. He just knew. They all did.

"That is why he is being kept unconscious," said Cornett. "Okay. One at a time. One minute. If you hear any beep, clear the doorway STAT."

"Is he that bad?" asked Lou, brows engaged in worried battle.

"He isn't stable yet."

"Man. Danny, I'm so sorry." Clearly, Lou was affected. "What are his chances?"

Dr. Cornett's expression was grim, but his voice was strong and sure. "His chances are excellent."

Chin went in first. He stroked Danny's forehead, and held his hand, careful of the port and drip lines. Danny's heartbeat strengthened visibly. Kono went next, kissing his hand, stroking his hair, whispering, "We need you back, brah." Danny's heartbeat skipped once and then settled, weakening a tiny bit. Cornett was watching like a hawk, and made mental notes to ask Steve about this later. But when Lou went in, and Danny's heart rate fell a little more, he shortened the man's visit, and sent in Steve, still in his wheelchair. Steve just stroked Danny's arm as he held his hand, and said nothing but, "Love you, brother." Danny's hear rate picked up strength, and held on.

Cornett let Steve stay for two minutes. Then he shoo-ed them out with a gentle smile. "I'll let you know in the morning how he's doing. If anything changes before then, I will let you know."

Steve nodded, and they all returned to the room that seemed empty without Danny in a bed freshly made to receive him when he could return to it.