Wānana Pū – Recollect
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or the characters.
A/N: The story is set somewhere in season 7. Thank you julieb716 for being the beta reader. Your corrections and suggestions are amazing! You really worked your magic with this chapter! I'm really grateful for your help! If there are still some grammar of spellings issues left, they're all mine.
Well this chapter originally went along with chapter fourteen, but it would've been too long, so I split it up. Hopefully you'll enjoy reading it!
Chapter Fifteen
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MONDAY – 5:04 PM – ER KING'S MEDICAL CENTER- DOWNTOWN HONOLULU.
On his way to the hospital Steve had called Lou to inform him what happened. Even though they all wanted to come, Steve insisted their time would be better spent focusing on the investigation until further notice. Steve promised he would keep them up to date.
Arriving at the ER just as the ambulance pulled up, Steve parked Lou's truck on the side and he rushed to the entrance. The paramedics unloaded Danny on the stretcher and Grace stepped out of the back by herself. Steve offered her a hand and they walked together inside, right behind Danny. Two doctors were standing by at the entrance. Danny looked exhausted, he was breathing rapidly and the cuts and scrapes on his face seemed worse than inside the car. Maybe it was because of the bright light in here, Steve thought.
They wheeled Danny into a trauma room to examine him. The door closed behind them, blocking Steve and Grace out. Seeing Grace's anxious face knowing she needed to be checked out as well, a female doctor walked up to them and ushered her to the room next to Danny's. Steve went with her; he knew Danny would want him with Grace instead of being next to his side. Before she sutured the cut on Grace's arm, the doctor explained she wanted to do a thorough examination since Grace had been in the same car as Danny. She might be walking and talking and all, but she still had been in a car accident. Steve stepped out for the moment, impatiently pacing back and forth, trying to stem the dread he felt whenever he thought about Danny.
Steve wasn't sure how this could've happened? Whose fault was it? Was it because Danny had trouble focusing? Danny admitted he had a headache. He even asked Steve for aspirins and still, Steve let him drive while Danny hadn't even driven since the surgery. Steve should've protected Danny from himself. Because not only Danny was hurt again, this time Grace was involved, too. Something Steve would not forgive himself for. Stepping outside the room, the doctor interrupted his thoughts as she said she would be right back with some sutures and equipment. Steve nodded and went back inside to be with Grace.
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He had waited impatiently with Grace in the ER. The cut on her forearm was stitched up and they had wrapped a clean bandage around it. Steve had offered her his hand, while the doctor sutured her arm. She didn't want to admit that she was scared or in pain and she didn't have to, because Steve could tell anyway. They cleaned up her face, nothing major just a couple of scratches. The one above her eyebrow got a steri-strip on it, to keep the small cut together. It wasn't that deep that it required stitches. The doc had taken some small pieces of glass out of her knees and cleaned it with saline to remove most debris.
"Commander McGarrett? Grace Williams?" the nurse who had assisted on cleaning Grace up asked. Steve nodded firmly confirming who they were. "Detective Williams is asking for you. You can go inside; the doctor will be with him shortly."
"Thank you." Steve responded as he waited for Grace to hop off the stretcher she had been sitting on. He squeezed her on her shoulder as they went over to Danny.
They had taken Danny up for a CT scan a while ago and doctor Reid got paged after Steve informed the other doctor that Danny was recovering from a brain injury. Danny wasn't pleased that Steve had told the doctor about it, but Steve didn't care. He was concerned about Danny and he was worried that he might have injured his head again. Sure they would see it in his medical files, but Steve would rather be safe than sorry.
Steve opened the door slowly, not knowing what they would find inside. Danny was sitting on the edge of the stretcher buttoning his shirt. It was like nothing happened. The only thing visible was a black-and-blue crescent that surrounded a cut on his face that was closed by three steri-strips. The rest of his face was cleaned up, with only a few scratches. His hair was messy, but that was about it. Not only was Steve surprised to find Danny in such good shape, but also seeing Officer Pua standing right next to Danny, writing something down on the notebook he held in his hand.
"Danno!" Grace exclaimed relieved as she rushed towards him and hugged him tight.
"Grace, I'm so-so sorry." Danny hugged her back. "Are you okay?" Danny lifted her chin up and looked her in the eyes. He traced his finger above the cut on her eyebrow. He had to swallow hard at the sight of his little girl being banged up.
"I'm okay," Grace reassured with a weak smile and sat down next to Danny on the stretcher.
"You sure?" Danny shot a glance at Steve making sure she was telling the truth and not just downplaying her injuries to reassure him.
"Mild concussion and 9 stitches to her arm, but other than that she's fine, Danny." Steve confirmed as he crossed his arms and stared satisfied at the two of them together. He was glad Danny seemed to be better himself, but something felt off.
"I'm so sorry, monkey. I didn't mean for any of this to happen." Danny wrapped his arm around his daughter and pulled her in a tight sideways hug. Grace rested her head on Danny's shoulder and Danny kissed her on top of her head as he put his hand on her hair and stroked it. Trying to comfort himself that she was okay.
"Sorry to interrupt you guys, but I was just taking Detective's Williams' statement. Just a few more questions and I'm out of here." Pua stepped forward again, eager to continue his work. "What's your plate number?"
"That's uh… Delta. Victor. Two… uh." Danny squeezed his eyes shut to think, but he couldn't remember the rest of the number. He stared blankly at Pua. "Why do you need to know my plate number? I'm sure you'll find it somewhere aside the road, with the rest of my car."
Steve stared at Danny, his brows furrowing. "Three. Niner. Niner." Steve finished the number, since Danny didn't seem to know it. "He'll give you the rest of his statement tomorrow morning, Pua." Steve wanted a chance to talk to Danny before he finished his official statement.
"All right, I'll swing by the office tomorrow morning," Pua nodded, understanding the situation and Steve's subtle hint that he better go.
"Thank you, Pua." Steve patted Pua on his shoulder, sending him out of the room.
The minute Pua left, Doctor Reid entered, leaving Steve with no opportunity to talk to Danny alone. Grace had tried to explain earlier what happened, but at the moment the adrenaline had vanished and she was just left with an overflow of emotions. She had started to ramble, just like her father would. Only it didn't make any sense to Steve. She told Steve about the argument and out of nowhere the truck crashed into their car. Steve still wondered if Danny caused the accident. If he did, it was indirectly Steve's fault.
"You're cleared to go home, Detective." Doctor Reid was standing next to Danny with a clipboard in her hand.
"You sure he's okay? His head and everything?" Steve asked to be certain, placing his hands on his hips.
"Just some bruising from the force of the seatbelt and from getting smacked by a table leg earlier. The memory loss, headache, problems with sleeping, bleeding from the ear. That's all to be expected with a cracked skull," Doctor Reid informed.
Steve had stopped listening after the doc said Danny had been bleeding from his ear. "Bleeding from the ear? When did that happen?" Steve looked inquiringly at Danny. Steve was familiar with the memory issues, the headaches and the sleeping problems made sense to him, but bleeding from his ear? This was completely new to him. Danny sighed and gazed down at his feet. He had hoped the doc wouldn't mention it in Steve's presence.
"There's some swelling around the first injury that already had been caused by bumping his head against a wall earlier today, but it will resolve on it's own, Commander," Doctor Reid explained to Steve. She focused back on Danny. "You have been extremely lucky that the car accident didn't do more damage, Detective."
"Did it cause the accident?" Steve inquired carefully so as not to step on anyone's toes, but he needed to know.
Confused by Steve's question, Dr. Reid responded, "I understood that the drunk driver caused the accident. You are cleared to drive, Detective, but I'd take it easy for a day or two. I consulted with Doctor Carlson and you can go home." Doctor Reid gave the three of them a comforting smile and handed Danny his discharge papers.
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Steve had driven them back home. It was just a ten-minute drive; only Grace was a bit skittish about getting back into a vehicle. Danny took place next to her in the backseat to comfort her. As Steve dropped them off at Danny's he offered to stay for a while, but Danny said they were fine, they would order in some food and watch a movie to decompress from all of it. It made sense to Steve that they wanted some time alone, so he went back to HQ.
The team had called it a night after Steve returned to HQ. It had been a hectic day for all of them. Lou offered Steve to swing by Danny's to pick up Steve's truck that was still parked in front of Danny's house. They checked in with Danny and Grace to see how they were doing. Just like Danny said, they were watching a movie and eating a pizza. Steve and Lou left satisfied.
Steve had made dinner for himself, watched some TV, taken a shower and finally dropped into his bed. It had been quite the day and he could use some shut-eye. It didn't take long before Steve fell asleep. Only an hour later, a familiar sound woke Steve. It took him a second to realize it was his phone. He clumsily searched for his phone on his nightstand, bumping his alarm clock and accidentally pushing his keys onto the floor.
"McGarrett," Steve answered his phone sleepily, with his eyes half closed.
"Steve," Danny grunted from the other side of the line.
Steve shot straight up and clenched his phone. "Danny?"
"Something's not right."
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A/N: Thanks to everyone who has faved, followed or left a review this far. Also the guests who are reviewing, thank you for your kind words! Next chapter will be up in a few days. With more whump! Mahalo for your support.
BTW: Let's just all agree Danny shouldn't retire, 'cause a Italian Restaurant named Steve... that's not the best idea, right? :)