Chapter 16

A/N: Your reviews have really cheered me this week! I had a bit of a rough week, and seeing people enjoying this story has really made the difference between a bad week and a great week! Thank you so much! I want to give everyone a hug!

We still haven't gotten to the mysterious contents of The Box, but we will because it comes into next chapter, as does Gracie getting to talk to her Danno, as well as Steve's and Kono's talks with Danny. It will be a long chapter!

I don't own H50. I merely play with CBS's lovely toys.

Chapter 16

Danny kept his head turned away from the confused commotion on Steve's side of the room when he had used the code word his doctor had given him to have visitors cleared from the room. "Applesauce," he repeated, and Nurse Bridget, biting her lip and looking sad and startled and a whole lot of things Danny didn't have the energy to sort out, came forward and spoke gently, "Everyone but Steve, perhaps you can visit at a time when Danny is not so tired? Later today, or tomorrow?"

"What?" growled Lou, stepping forward to grip Danny's right arm, above his wrist. "You kicking us out, man? Is that fair? We aint had a minute yet to explain anything! That's low, even for you!" He huffed. "I'm not ready to go."

"Lou," warned Steve, tossing his blanket aside and swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. "Don't push it. Give Danny some time to adjust to being out of ICU."

"Get your hand off my arm," Danny demanded hoarsely. Lou's grip tightened.

"Lou! Stop!" shouted four voices. Kono, Chin, Steve and Nurse Bridget were all trying to get Lou to let go, but the more they did, the harder he gripped, and was now pushing down on Danny's arm. Danny felt bruising and his hand was purple and tingling.

"Dammit, Lou, let GO!" Danny got a hold of Lou's pinky and forced it outward sharply until the grip on his arm was loosened.

"OW, you mangy runt!" howled Lou, eyes blazing. "You tried to bust my pinky!"

Danny was trembling from temper and incredulity that this was even happening. "No, I tried to dislocate it! Are you insane? -You tried to break my arm!" He was rubbing it, trying to get the circulation back to normal. Lou's fingers had dug furrows into his skin, which were already showing dark bruising.

"I must insist you leave!" said Nurse Bridget, her voice firm though frightened. She had taken up a protective stance on Danny's left side. She had already hit the button to call another nurse.

Chin hauled Lou away from Danny's bed, toward the door. Kono was trying to get Steve to sit back down on his bed, but that was a losing battle. Steve was in full protective mode, watching Lou like he would a snake.

"Lou, just go. We should have given Danny more time," said Kono, shocked and upset.

"He just had three effing days in ICU for a stupid coughing fit! How much longer does he need?" Lou pushed Chin away, then reached forward and deliberately mussed Danny's hair with both hands. "Fine, play the baby." He continued, enunciating precisely. "You are just a New Jersey runt, Danno."

The use of the name only his children and partner had permission to use took away his last vestige of calm. "Please get him out of here," whispered Danny, to anyone and everyone, still rubbing his arm and hand, to get the circulation back. He was breathing rapidly, painfully, from anger and a hurt that was building into more than his body could handle.

"Lou! Go!" barked Chin and Kono simultaneously. Kono was trying to smooth Danny's hair back into place with her fingers. She was being very gentle, but her attention was torn between protecting Danny and watching Lou.

Steve was on guard, too. "Now," ordered Steve in his dangerous voice. "Nurse, call Security."

Another nurse came running in, and Bridget asked her sharply to call Security. The nurse's deep brown braids flipped around as she ran back out of the room. They could hear her yelling for Hospital Security.

"Don't trouble yourselves. I'm leaving," grumbled Lou, but his eyes were blazing at Danny. He was fully in Danny's line of vision. "This grudge-holding wuss aint worth my time." He leaned into Danny and said, "Danno." Then he smiled and stepped backwards toward the door.

"DON'T EVER call me that again," hissed Danny, voice shaking and thin. He was on the verge of trying to force himself to try and get up.

Lou's smile grew. "What, Danno? You say somethin', Danno?" he asked, his voice silky.

Danny grabbed a large red apple from his fruit basket and hurled it like a baseball at Lou's head. From that short distance, it didn't miss. It hit him on his forehead, a few inches above his left eye, then ricocheted almost straight up, then back down. Lou caught it, and kept smiling. He walked the two steps to Danny's bedside, grabbed him hard by the neck and pushed him down into the pillow.

The whole room erupted into a cacophony of pandemonium, during which twice in quick succession Lou smashed the base of the apple against Danny's left eye, stunning him, before he let go. Danny cried out as his eye felt like it had exploded into fire, and the din in the room grew less distinct and farther away. He did hear Lou's voice. "You throw like a girl," Lou spat disgustedly, from somewhere near the parking lot, before Lou grunted.

Danny's brain circuits were on overload. He felt dizzy, and his left eye was screaming and burning while his vision went generally haywire. He could feel his eye watering like crazy. His brain was jumbling thoughts, like a blender set on Slow, but he was aware of Kono crying, "Oh God! His eye!" Five people were calling his name, but all he could do was cry out, "I can't see, it burns!" while hands kept him from reaching for his eye. He stopped processing sounds, even the ones he was making, because nothing audio made sense anymore. But he felt the cervical collar go on. When the panic hit, his brain fried and he went from stupor to fully passed out.

H50 H50 H50 H50

Steve had leaped at Lou and grabbed the arm that had grabbed Danny by the neck, and everyone was shouting but Danny, who couldn't get a breath in or out until Lou let go of him. Kono had pulled back to punch Lou, but he brought down his apple before she could deliver her blow. Chin yanked on the arm holding Danny pinned to the pillow, pulling Lou back as soon as he let go.

Dr. Cornett had come running when Security was called to his patient's room. He had seen the attack, and had immediately made a fist with both hands together and brought them down on the nerve center to one side of Lou's shoulder. Grover collapsed, temporarily stunned. Steve ordered Chin to cuff Lou and get him out, to book him on assault on a police officer. Security had arrived in time to help Chin haul a conscious and combative Lou out.

Cornett, quietly furious, pulled on gloves and mask and went right to work, while Steve and Kono stood to one side. It was hard to tell who was holding whom up. "Steve, what just happened?" whispered Kono, but Steve just shook his head and stared at Danny. He was glad his partner stopped trying weakly to fight everything after the collar was put on him by an orderly.

After checking over Danny's eye socket and eye, the former already swelling and bleeding more even as they watched, and the latter leaking pink-tinted tears constantly, Cornett studied the pattern of smashing on the apple, and his frown deepened. "Nurse, alert radiology and page Dr. Ha Koa. I need him in ER STAT. Possible corneal tear." He turned to Steve and Kono, and yanked down his mask. "If you need photos for evidence, take them now. We're moving him down to ER as soon as the gurney arrives."

Kono snapped into action, and put her camera phone to good use, sniffling as she took pictures of Danny's injuries.

"How bad, Doc?" asked Steve, worried.

Cornett looked grim and avoided making eye contact. "Not sure yet."

H50 H50 H50 H50

Steve and Kono stayed in the hospital room from which Danny was again missing. Steve was back in bed, ordered there by Nurse Bridget. He and Kono were silent, drinking the last of what had been hot tea when brought to them.

Kono's phone buzzed. It was Chin. He asked to talk to Steve, so Kono handed her phone over. She had already sent the photos of Danny's injuries to her cousin, in charge of booking their former colleague.

Steve listened, said, "What?" sharply, and ran his non-phone hand through his hair. "Okay, Chin, keep me updated."

"What is it, Boss?"

"Lou collapsed on the way to booking. He's in ER at Queens Hospital. He's conscious but confused, doesn't remember anything that happened in the last couple hours or so."

Nurse Bridget brought Steve's medications and mini-meal, and a full sized meal for Kono. "I think you earned it," she said. Neither was hungry, but both thanked the nurse and ate their meals. Thankfully, neither was liver.

Ninety minutes later, Kono's phone buzzed again, and this time she just handed it to Steve. "It's Chin again."

"Yeah?" said Steve, into the phone.

"Steve, how's Danny?"

"We don't know yet. How's Lou?"

"His blood pressure is way high, and his labs are all out of whack. The doc here thinks Lou had an Extreme Anxiety Reaction from essentially an overdose on caffeine and some allergy meds he was taking. He'd had three energy drinks this afternoon, and two Sudafed. I talked to Lou, and he said he's been anxious a lot lately about work, and not sleeping since the whole plane thing, when you got shot, and the meeting, starting the consulting firm." Steve listened as Chin paused, took a deep breath and forged ahead. "He remembers what he did to Danny, and he's broken. He can't believe he did any of it, but he knows he did and takes full responsibility, and wants to apologize to him if Danny will let him. Renee is with him. He'll be staying the night in the hospital, for observation, and to clean out all that junk in his system."

"Okay, well. I'll have to talk to his doc and talk to Danny before we can decide what to do about the charges. I'm still damn mad."

"Yeah," said Chin. "Me too. Should I stay here, or come back to Tripler?"

"Come back here. Danny is gonna need us. Have Renee call us if there's any news."

"On my way."

H50 H50 H50 H50

Danny was happy Dr. Cornett came with him when he was returned to his room. He wouldn't have to explain anything. All he had to do was greet Steve, Chin, and Kono. "Where's Lou?"

"Queens." Steve partially explained, looking his partner over while Chin filled in the rest. Danny had the puffiest, blackest shiner he had ever seen, a couple steri-stips that stood out starkly against the dark bruising around his eye, faint bruises on his neck, and the shape in deep purple of Lou's fingers where they had bruised his arm above the wrist. For the bruises on his arm, Cornet prepped a fresh ice pack while listening to Chin.

"Danny, do you want me to leave?" asked Kono hesitantly.

"Nah. Nah, you tried to help me. And you fixed my hair," said Danny, and smiled slightly.

Kono smiled back. "Can we talk, uhm, when you're up to it? I owe you an apology."

Danny hesitated. "I probably owe you one or two, too. Sure. Just ... let's enjoy this nice, un-crazy moment." He sighed. "I'm sorry about Lou, but he should know better than to drink all that stuff and mix it with pills. Doc told me you arrested him. You can drop charges, but I don't want to see him yet."

"He would like to personally apologize to you, Danny," said Chin, feeling glad and relieved that Danny was willing to forgive Kono.

Danny stowed his smile, at least temporarily. "I can forgive him for the shiner and the bruises, but the rest ... give me a little time. If he means to apologize for that stuff too."

"That's fair enough," said Steve, and was proud of Danny. He looked his partner over. "So ... how is he?" he asked Cornett.

"Pretty much what you see. His arm is worse than his neck, but neither is a worry. He has that un-hide-able class 10 shiner, orbital bruising, a couple steri-strips. Danny has two scratches on his cornea; we are treating those with antibiotic drops. Bruised sclera, meaning the white of his eye is now a rather alarming red. Vision will be fine. Who knew the bottom thingies on an apple could be weaponized?"

Danny said, grinning, "I just heard a doctor say 'thingies'." He didn't care if his ribs hurt as everyone, including Cornett, laughed. Danny lay back against his pillow, feeling relaxed for the first time in eons. "I love you guys."

Kono had to stand behind Chin to hide her tear-filled but bright smile. Steve and Chin were both beaming.