Rachel looked at the man who appeared to be sleeping, but she'd been married to him and knew when he was truly asleep. She stood in the doorway and watched his face, relieved that there was no sign of pain. She knew that simply meant he was on pain management and that the drugs would also make him sleepy.
Rachel thought about her life with Danny and remembered his reaction to one of the pain medications he'd been given when he'd broken his jaw. It had made him more than a little loopy and next to impossible to understand. Grace had been little more than two years old and had giggled when her father tried to talk.
"Are you coming in, Rachel?" Williams asked and smiled at the pretty woman.
"I didn't want to wake you."
"I wasn't sleeping."
"I know," she said with a smile as she kissed his forehead.
"You could always tell when I was faking," Williams said and looked around. "Have you seen Steve, Chin, and Kono?"
"Chin and Kono are being treated. Steve was with me in the waiting room when Dr. Lewis came in."
"Figures...he gets to walk away while I get stuck with needles and pins…"
"Oh, Danny," Rachel laughed when she thought about the old poem about needles and pins and knew her ex-husband remembered her mother's warning about when you get married the trouble begins. It was a running joke with her parents because they still loved each other no matter what and had been disappointed when she'd told them about the divorce.
"I always did love your smile," Williams told her and sighed tiredly. "Where's Grace?"
"She's with Stan. I didn't want her here until I knew what was happening," Rachel explained.
"Dr. Martinez said he's going to put pins in my ankle…guess that means I'm sidelined for a while. Steve's going to have to find someone else to try his SEAL tactics with," Williams said.
"I'm sure you'll miss working with him."
"I will, but if you tell him I'll deny it."
"When will he do the surgery?"
"As soon as an OR opens up," Williams said. "Where is Steve? The least he could do is visit…especially since it looks like the bomb was from someone he irritated."
"I need to go call Stan so I'll tell Steve how much you miss him…"
"Ha!" Williams said and closed his eyes. He wasn't angry with McGarrett, truth was, he was glad the man seemed to have escaped injury, but he wasn't about to miss a chance to razz his partner. He had no idea how long he lay there, but he heard the door open and kept his eyes closed. "It's common courtesy to visit a man when you get him blown up…"
"Danny," Rachel said and took his hand.
"What's wrong, Rachel? Is Grace…"
"Grace is fine, but Steve."
"What about him? Don't tell me they kicked him out for causing a disturbance?"
"No," Rachel said and turned to find Carl Lewis joining them.
"Well, Detective, it's official…surgery to put pins in your ankle. Dr. Martinez is scrubbing as we speak. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt," Lewis told them.
"I was just going to tell him about Steve," Rachel said.
"What about Steve?" Williams asked and sat further up in the bed. "Okay, you two…out with it!"
"Commander McGarrett was being his usual stubborn self and ignored an injury that could easily be life threatening. Right now he's undergoing a scan to find out exactly what we're dealing with."
"What do you think is the problem?" Williams asked.
"I'd rather not speculate. As soon as I know more I'll let you know. Right now I want you to concentrate on yourself and let us do what we're trained to do," Lewis told him.
"Doc…"
"Look, Detective, I've got over a dozen people here that were injured in that explosion and I really need to check on them. So, relax, rest, and try to sleep until Dr. Martinez is ready for you. Oh, and if you try to get out of that bed Mrs. Edwards has my permission to knock you on your proverbial behind."
"I will make sure he stays put," Rachel said and smiled at her ex.
"I'll hold you to that," Lewis said and looked at his patient. "Look, Detective, I understand you're worried about Commander McGarrett, but you need to understand that you need to be taken care of too. The ankle is a bad break and once it's healed you'll have to have physiotherapy to regain full use of it. I will let you know what's happening with the rest of your team once I have the results of all tests and x-rays."
"Thanks, Doc," Williams said and watched the man leave. He thought about his conversation a few minutes ago and regretted what he'd said about McGarrett.
"Danny, are you all right?" Rachel asked worriedly.
"Not really."
"You're angry about what you said?"
"Maybe."
"You couldn't have known he was hurt. Steve should have said something."
"I know," Williams told her tiredly. "I just wish he'd stop being so damned macho and admit when he's hurting."
"Danny, there was a time when you did the same thing," Rachel said.
"Damn, I was hoping you'd forgotten that," Williams said.
"I believe you once compared me to an elephant…"
"Your memory…just your memory," Williams said.
"I know, Danny," Rachel told him and sat on the edge of the bed. She reached for his hand and used her other one to move his hair away from his forehead. "You need to let them take care of you, Danny…Grace needs you."
"What about you?" the Jersey native asked softly.
"Just because we're no longer together doesn't mean I don't need you," Rachel vowed and kissed his cheek. "You should sleep."
"I have a feeling I'll be getting plenty of sleep before long," Williams said and gently squeezed her hand. "Why couldn't we work things out, Rachel?"
"I don't know, Danny," she answered honestly and turned as a nurse entered the room.
"Dr. Martinez is ready for you, Detective," the woman said and smiled. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait outside."
"Will you be here when I wake up, Rachel?"
"I'll be here," his ex-wife answered and backed out of the room. God help her, if she was honest with herself, she would admit she still had feelings for Danny Williams, but she did not have the strength to face what he did for a living. Besides, she and Stan were working to make their marriage work, but sometimes she wondered if she should have done something more to save her first marriage.
5050505050
Dr. Felicia Chow looked at the results of the abdominal scan and knew they had to work quickly. Steve McGarrett was bleeding into his abdomen and she quickly wrote up the orders to prep him for emergency surgery. Her team was ready and the OR was also being prepped as she scrubbed for an exploratory surgery that could end with the removal of the patient's spleen.
"Dr. Chow, they're bringing the patient in now," Janine Morrison told her.
"Any change in his vitals?" Chow asked.
"His BP is still dangerously low," the nurse answered.
"Is the team ready?"
"Yes, we are," Morrison answered and smiled at her life partner. They'd been together professionally for nearly 12 years and in a relationship for the past seven years.
"Thanks, Janine," Chow said and followed her into the OR. She walked over to the bed where the anesthesiologist was preparing to put the patient to sleep. "Commander, I'm Dr. Chow, and I'll be performing the procedure. Dr. Yang is going to put you to sleep and I'll see you in the recovery room."
Yang nodded that he was ready to proceed and injected the medication into the IV, watching as McGarrett's eyes closed before nodding that Felicia Chow could proceed.
5050505050
Kono looked up at the sound of footsteps and wasn't surprised to see her cousin enter her room. They'd transferred her from the ER to a room on the third floor for observation after Dr. Lewis had seen her x-rays and test results.
"Hey, Cuz, how are you feeling?"
"Aside from my head feeling like it's ready to explode and my stomach churning I'm good," Kono answered and pointed to the cane in his hand. "What did they say about you?"
"Bruised ribs and half a dozen stitches in my left leg, but nothing serious enough to keep me sidelined. I'm going back to the office, but I wanted to check on you first."
"Better not let Dr. Lewis hear you say that," Kono warned.
"I don't plan to tell him anything," Chin told her.
"Any word on Danny yet?"
"He's in surgery, but the doc says he should be fine. Rachel's in the waiting room with Grace and Stan."
"Where's Steve? I would have thought he'd be there for Danny?"
"That's why I came, Kono. Steve was hurt a lot worse than we thought. They took him for emergency surgery…something about bleeding into his abdominal cavity," Chin told her.
"Why didn't he say something?"
"He probably didn't realize how bad it was until it was too late…"
"What do you mean too late? You said they took him for surgery…is he…"
"He's alive, sorry, Kono…poor choice of words. Look, I'm going to check with Rachel before I head for the office. Call me if there's any word on Steve and Danny or if you need anything," Chin said.
"I will," Kono said and closed her eyes. She listened to her cousin leave and wondered if she should try to make her way to the surgical waiting area, but she wasn't even sure she could move without setting off the explosion that was building to a crescendo. She waited for the pain to ease and drifted toward sleep before she could make good on her thoughts of going to wait with Rachel and Grace.
5050505050
Duke Lukela was a man running on empty, but he'd been in that position before and pushed himself past the point of no return. He knew he'd have to call it quits soon, but right now he wanted to do what he could while everything was still fresh.
There wasn't a whole lot left of the explosive device that caused the damage, but a search of McGarrett's office resulted in finding the bulk of the deliveryman's body. The face was unrecognizable, but they'd managed to get the company name off the t-shirt he wore. A call to the flower shop had given them a name and he'd sent two detectives over to speak with the owner.
"Duke," Richard Lucas called from McGarrett's office.
"I'm here," Lukela answered and maneuvered around the debris. "What do you need?"
"Besides a new building," Lucas said and shook his head. He often used humor when talking to others about his job, not because he was insensitive, but because it was the only way to deal with the job. As an expert in explosives, he'd seen more bodies than most cops, and he needed a mechanism to keep from going crazy.
"You could be right about that. The engineers will be in to take a look, but something tells me this place won't withstand another storm like the one we had last week."
"Probably not," Lucas agreed.
"Did you find anything new?"
"There's not much left and if McGarrett was right about it being liquid explosives, then we probably won't find a whole lot. Is there any word on his people?"
"Danny's in surgery…"
"Duke, are you in here?"
"Chin?" Lukela turned, surprised to see the man standing in the doorway. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm on my way home, but I wanted to see if you found anything new," Chin told him.
"You look like hell…go home," Lukela ordered.
"I will…"
"Chin, trust us…we'll make sure we go over everything with a fine tooth comb and then we'll do it all over again," Lukela vowed and motioned for the injured man to follow him outside. "How are Danny and Kono? Where's Steve?"
"Danny's in surgery. Kono's being kept overnight for observation and Steve…well in true McGarrett fashion, ignored the fact that he was blown up and that he's human. He's in surgery to repair damage to his spleen so I'll probably head back to Queens once I'm done here…"
"You're done…go," Lukela ordered.
"Duke, I'm…"
"Don't make me call the governor, Chin, he said to tell you Five-O is on sick leave until further notice."
"Well, since I'm not sick…"
"Oh, he covered that too and said injured lists mean more down time so you're not to be here…"
"Duke…"
"Calling Governor Denning," Lukela said and held up his hand as he placed the phone to his ear. "Somehow I don't think he'll be very happy that I'm interrupting his dinner meeting."
"Damn, okay, I'm going. Call me as soon as you know anything okay?"
"I will…let me know what's happening with Steve and Danny," Lukela said and watched the injured man leave before turning back to Lucas. "I think Steve handpicked the most stubborn people he could find for his team."
"Sounds like it," Lucas said. "I've bagged the remnants of the vase and hopefully we'll be able to figure out what was used."
"How can you be sure it's the vase and not…well look around you. Couldn't it be from the windows?"
"No, it's different. I'd have to go into a big spiel to explain it, but I'm pretty sure these are from the vase," Lucas told him as the rest of his team continued to search the rubble.
TBC