Disclaimer: Do not own Hawaii Five-0. No copyright infringement intended.
Authors Note: Another thank you to great friends and my fantastic betas. And yep, played with it again. All mistakes remain my own ;)
Enjoy!
Chapter 3
"McGarrett."
"Commander McGarrett, this is 911 dispatch. We've an ongoing incident that currently involves Detective Danny Williams and his daughter Grace …"
The voice continued spewing facts as if giving dictation. Detective Danny Williams injured: chainsaw accident, quadriceps, bleeding heavily … Grace.
Steve said nothing as his mind raced in a thousand directions all at once. The pair, father and daughter, were spending the day on their annual Christmas tree hunt. He was well aware of this, because earlier he'd given his partner the name of the forest reserve to check out. Danny had been hesitant to venture off their usual beaten path from years prior, but he'd assured his friend that it'd be well worth the drive.
"Commander? Commander McGarrett?"
"Huh? Yeah, I'm here. Sorry. What hospital was Detective Williams taken to?" He'd grabbed the Camaro's keys and was heading towards the door before he noticed the brief, uncomfortable delay of the answer.
"Commander, we're still determining their exact location. Grace wasn't able to give us any information, other than a Satellite Station landmark. HPD, EMTs, and Hawaii Life Flight have already been dispatched to Kaena Point's Helipad. The EMTs and Life Flight are on standby until Detective Williams and his daughter have been located."
"Wait, you haven't found them?" Steve ran a hand through his hair as he spun in place, a chill at the mention of Life Flight running up his spine. "Why is Grace trying to tell you where they are? Wasn't Detective Williams able to give you that information?"
"Detective Williams has been verbally unresponsive. We've their general location, which HPD has been moving towards, but Commander, we've got an additional concern at the moment."
"What? What's happening?"
"We haven't been able to get Grace to respond to our dispatcher after her father lost consciousness."
"Crap." Steve blew out a breath, berating himself for taking so long to come to grips with what was happening. "How long? How long have you been trying to get her to reply?"
"It's been 9 minutes. We can still hear her …" The dispatcher cleared her throat before the thought could be finished. "She's crying, but she's …"
"Get me a conference connection into Grace." Steve dropped firmly into SEAL mode, rattling off his demands. "What hospital is Life Flight taking Detective Williams to once they've been located?"
"Queens Medical."
"I'll head that way. But in the meantime, get me that connection to Detective Williams daughter. Now!"
"Yes, Sir. Hold please …"
Steve's long strides covered familiar ground until he finally curled into the leather seating of the black coupe. He rammed the key into the ignition, hesitating only slightly to listen before turning the engine over.
"Come on, come on, come on," he grumbled, his focus on listening for Danny's daughter as he throttled the gear shift into drive. The only sound to reach his ears, though, was the rumble of the Camaro as it plunged forward while he waited for what felt like forever. He flipped on the flashing overhead lights and the siren … 1 minute … 30 seconds, and then the deadened silence changed into the crackle of an open line.
"Commander McGarrett, you're patched through. Dispatch is still connected to the call."
"Got it. Thank you …" He forced himself to modulate his tone.
"Grace." Her name was spoken in a whispered innuendo of fear that ran cold through his veins. "I can hear you, Gracie. I'm right here. Talk to me."
Steve could see her in his mind's eye. A confused and frightened young girl, warring with the independence and strength of an emerging teen. The battle waging within her likely tucking her into a ball of uncertainty. God, she was being forced to grow up so quickly no matter how hard her father tried to protect her.
"Grace." Another supplication. And then he heard her moving. The rustle of clothing against skin and a sniffle before...
"Uncle Steve?"
"Yeah, Gracie. It's me."
"Uncle Steve … help me. I can't do this. I can't. I'm not like you."
Steve felt suddenly helpless, as if his world had unexpectedly gotten sucked into a squall. A leaf in the wind. He thought that somehow, being a SEAL for all those years, he should've some control of the events all around him. Yet now, he was hardly more than a bystander, hearing others hurting, while he tried to guide one small girl in what needed to be done. He knew very well what Grace's fear would do to her, what losing her father would do. He knew. He did. His blood boiled at the knowing. Yet, there was no way he'd let that happen to his adopted niece, not if he could help it. So Steve railed against his helplessness with everything he had. Every forethought, every power that he possessed, because this was Grace.
"Aw, Gracie. Your Danno doesn't want you to be me. He just wants you. Just his Monkey."
"But he … I … I hurt him. He … he cried out and then he tried to pull my hands away. Because … he thought … he thought I was trying to hurt him. I wasn't … I didn't mean to. I didn't." Grace's voice caught before it climbed another octave. "Uncle Steve, please, he won't wake up. I can't get him to wake up!"
"Grace. I know you think you hurt your Dad. But you did exactly what I would've done to stop the bleeding, okay? You had to put pressure on the wound. Remember what the dispatcher told you? You did the right thing, Grace. You did."
"But he won't wake up …" Her faint entreaty was filled with despair.
"I know, sweetheart. But Danno's still breathing, right? Can you check for me to make sure he's still breathing?" He could hear her moving again, the chime of the driver's side door as it opened and then closed with a grunt. Then the only sound was her panting and the crunch of her boots before the metallic click of the passenger latch popped as it opened.
"Danno? Danno, wake up … please."
He heard the plea within her voice, envisioned her trailing her fingers across Danny's shirt, resting her palm, fingers splayed across his chest.
"Yes … yes he's breathing."
Steve let out his own breath, unaware that he'd been holding it.
"Is he still lying on his back?
"No, he … he kind of curled into a ball on his right side to get … to get away from me."
Steve's grip on the steering wheel became vice-like at her interpretation of his partner's reaction to her.
"He wasn't trying to get away from you, hun. Just the pain. You were helping him. I promise you Gracie, he knows that, okay?" He waited for a response, but there was nothing. "Grace?"
The sirens of the Camaro were still wailing, but what came next, her question, followed by a simple plea, felt like a gut punch.
"Uncle Steve, I hear more sirens. Is that you? Are you almost here?"
He ground his teeth.
"Grace, I need you to listen to me. HPD and the EMTs are almost there. The sirens that you're hearing aren't mine. I'll meet you and Danno at Queens, alright?"
The car's torque bellowed as the Camaro gripped through the turn to the emergency entrance at Queens. He'd traveled 7.5 miles in 14 long minutes … and it was too long.
"They're taking too damn long to get to them."
"No, Uncle Steve. Danno needs you. I need you …" Grace's last bid tore through him without mercy.
"Gracie, listen. I need you to believe me. I'll stay right here on the phone with you. And I know that's not the same as being by your side. I know that. But I couldn't get to you and Danno in time to help, so I'll meet you here at Queens as soon as you get here." He paused, giving Danny's daughter the time to comprehend that he wasn't abandoning them. "I want to be there with you, Grace. I do. But help's coming. You can do this. I know it's hard but you can do this. I need you to hold on for your Danno just a little bit longer. Can you do that for me? For Danno?"
The Camaro crackled and spit to a halt when Steve hair pinned the vehicle into a parking space close to the ER. The raw power of the machine and wail of the siren died into silence after he slammed the gear shift into park and cut the engine.
"Grace?"
Her only answer was an unmistakable sob.
Steve leaned forward to bury his forehead against the steering wheel. His throat felt like it'd been scraped raw. The cell now pressed firmly against his left ear, he took a breath, catching a rising hitch before it could escape between his lips.
"Grace? I'm right here Gracie. I'm not leaving. I'll stay on the phone for as long as I can. I promise." As soon as he'd said the words, he heard a gasp forced between another sob.
"What's wrong? Hun, what happened?" Steve pushed his forehead back off the steering wheel, his brows furrowing. "Gracie, talk to me."
"Danno … he … he promised too."
"What? Grace, what did Danno promise?"
"He … he promised … he said he wouldn't leave me." Each of her words collapsed into a stutter lined with sorrow.
Steve knew that sadness heals over time, but sorrow? Sorrow weaves itself into everything; the mind, the soul, the body and the heart. Sorrow's permanent. It may not govern lives, but it nudges at the edges of happiness. Even when hidden deep it surfaces, overwhelms, and in a moment of uncertainty, knocks the happiness right out. So it was under the pressure of that moment, her worry and her uncertainty, and her fear, that Steve began to hear Gracie crumble.
"No! No, no, no."
Steve fumbled for the door latch before unfurling from the confines of the Camaro's interior. His intention was to scoop the young girl up into his proverbial arms and carry her through this. Grace didn't weep often, but Danny's daughter already had an intimate relationship with sorrow and fear. Neither Steve, nor Danny, nor any of her 'Ohana, had the power to undo that sorrow or shield her from it. It was already there. And if Danny did leave her, Steve's being there would never undo all the years she spent wondering why. Because Steve never stopped wondering about his own father. Not ever.
"He hasn't left you, Gracie. Danno's fighting. He's fighting and holding on for all that he's worth. Don't give up on him, Grace. We can't give up on him." Steve could hear the approaching sirens through the connection, could hear the steady inhale of a sniffle drawn likely across the swipe of a forearm. "Grace, you with me?" There was a bit more hesitation before the softness, finally, of her congested reply came across the line.
"Yeah, Uncle Steve. I'm here."
"That a girl. You okay, Gracie?" His heart was still openly bleeding for her, because what was about to happen next could literally crush her. Danny still had to be extricated from the Silverado.
"I'm okay." Another sniffle before the sirens wailed abruptly silent. "They're here." Her voice had gotten stronger, more forceful.
"Okay, Grace. Is it HPD and the EMTs?"
"Commander McGarrett?"
"Yes?" He'd forgotten that the original dispatcher was still connected to their call.
"HPD and Emergency Medical Techs have both arrived on scene. Life Flight is on stand-by at the Kaena Heliport"
"Okay, thank you." Then it dawned on him that the EMTs would need specific information that Grace wouldn't be able to provide regarding Danny: Blood type, allergies, previous medical conditions, medication, etc.… "Grace, hang on a second. Dispatch, do you have communication with the EMTs?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Great, I've got information regarding Detective Williams that Grace won't know." Steve rattled off what they would need, filling in gaps that could potentially hinder his partner's initial care.
"Okay, Commander. EMTs have been informed. I'll be disconnecting my conference in now. Your connection to Grace will stay intact."
"Got it. Thanks again."
"You're welcome, Sir."
Steve continued to pay attention to the commotion through the call, questions and conversations rapidly fired off in all directions. As he listened, his own pacing in front of Queens Trauma Center increased as he tried to filter through what was being requested of Grace and her responses. She was handling the controlled chaos well, but then her tone changed again. Just a slight hesitation before …
"He's responsive to pain …"
Steve heard the disembodied, unfamiliar voice, male, likely an EMT, followed by a groan. Danny's groan, filled with the growing power of a raging forest fire, as if tree canopies were torching, their ignition caused by the radiant heat from below. The hair on the back of Steve's neck prickled at the sound.
And then Grace's anger roared through the line.
"Stop it! You're hurting him! Stop it!"
He could hear a scuffle break out …
"Grace!"
"Uncle Steve, make them stop! No, NO! Let go of me! Let GO!"
"GRACE!"
There was the unmistakable clatter of Danny's cell colliding with the metal carriage of the Silverado and then there was nothing.
~to be continued~