Disclaimer: Do not own Hawaii Five-0. No copyright infringement intended.
Authors Note: Enjoy!
Kaua – You and I
Chapter 4
Steve glowered at the cell in his hand, his grip tightening until his knuckles turned white. Once again, he was waiting.
The Life Flight had left Kaena Point heliport with his partner on board, but not Grace. When he'd reconnected with dispatch, he'd torn through the officers on scene until he'd located the one responsible for preventing the young girl from accompanying her father.
"You fucking listen to me, Kekoa. Not one miss-step, not one. You let Grace out of your sight for one minute and I'll bury you. You understand me? Now put her through so I can talk to her."
"She's, uh … she's in the back of the ambulance and uhm … she's sedated … EMTs are getting ready to transport."
The expletives that followed 'she's sedated' seemed to launch the inexperienced officer into a run. Steve could hear the crunch of footfalls, and then the pop of the ambulance's door opening, before he'd ground out his next demand.
"Let me talk to an EMT."
"Commander McGarrett wants to talk to you." There was fifteen seconds of silence before a female voice finally cut through.
"I'm busy cleaning up your mess. Give me a minute."
"Uhm … Commander. She needs a second. She's still treating Miss Williams."
"What's her name, Kekoa? The EMT treating Grace." There was another pause before the line opened again.
"It's De Costa, Commander. My name's Amy De Costa. I'll be with you shortly." The sound had been distant, not from up close to the mike.
"Give her your radio, Kekoa." If Steve could've reached through to throttle the man, he wouldn't have hesitated. The kid had the tact of a wrecking ball.
"She won't take it. She says she's not done yet."
Another growl had escaped before Steve could rein it in.
"Set it on the seat beside her so she can hear me. Then get the fuck out of the way. Give her some space."
"Yes, Sir. Radio's in place."
"De Costa, just listen. I'm Commander Steve McGarrett, head of the Five-0 Task Force. Detective Williams is my partner and your patient's, Grace Williams', father. Detective Williams should be arriving at Queens shortly. So unless there's a medical reason for Grace to be treated elsewhere, I need her to be transported there as well. I'm already at Queens waiting for Detective Williams Life Flight. I'll also need an update on Grace when you've got a minute. Officer Kekoa will be accompanying you in his own vehicle to ensure your safe arrival. Please have dispatch contact me when you can give me that update." Steve had waited for confirmation, but he'd gotten nothing as a reply.
"Kekoa?"
"Yes, Sir. De Costa got your message, Commander."
"Good, now get your ass to Queens. I'll deal with you later. And if anything happens to that young girl …"
"No, I got it Commander. Leaving now. We'll be in front of the Trauma Center in an hour and fifteen."
"You've got an hour, Kekoa. No more. I want her here in an hour."
"Yes, Sir."
A concussive, offbeat, thumping cut through the night air soon after Steve had begun pacing. His gaze turned skyward to locate the crimson and emerald safety lighting of the helicopter. Confident that Queens TAWS and TCAS systems would allow the pilots access onto the rooftop helipad, he headed inside. He'd already gained permission, under the caveat that he'd stay out of the way, to trail behind the extraction team for the Life Flight. By the time he made it to the elevators though, medical transfer personnel were already entering, so rather than wait for the next lift, he took on the stairs—a consumption of treads—two at a time to the top. After pushing through the double doors, he skidded to a halt, panting.
"Christ, Danno, now what's wrong?" Steve's statement of exasperation was only meant for himself. What little he could see of his partner, as the man was extracted from the rear belly of the helicopter, didn't bode well. Danny's hands were weakly fighting off the flight nurse and paramedic as they sought to transfer him. Without waiting for permission, Steve inserted himself in between Queens's medical staff while Danny was whisked towards the awaiting elevator.
"Hey, stop that. Let them help you." Steve corralled his partner's wrists before he could lash out further. Seconds ticked by before Danny's gaze finally settled, his limbs deflating as Steve guided them back down onto his partner's chest.
"Gra …ce …" Danny's eyes were wide and wet. A small moan escaped with his next breath.
Of course those would be the first words his partner was able to force between clenched teeth. Steve shouldn't have been surprised, but he'd been hopeful to avoid the subject, at least until he had more information.
"Ste … v … Grace?" Danny's body trembled under Steve's careful restraint, the gurney coming to a halt at the back of the huge lift, staff swarming around them. He worded his reply thoughtfully, because he'd never lie outright to his partner, not about Grace. But Steve knew, with certainty, Danny would deny himself medical treatment if they didn't have word about his daughter beforehand.
"Grace will be here when you wake up, Danny, just relax. She's on her way now. There wasn't enough room on the helicopter for both of you, but I promise that I'll meet her downstairs as soon as she gets here. She's in good hands, babe."
A blue, watery gaze of uncertainty locked onto Steve and held him.
"You trust me, Danno?"
The index finger of Danny's right hand tapped against Steve's forearm. A lone tear trickled down the side of his temple as his eyes closed. His partner looked ragged.
"You keep on trusting me then. I'll take care of Grace." Steve knowingly held his partner's trust and he felt the weight of that burden. But he was unwilling to set it down for someone else to carry.
The double doors of the elevator slid open to the ER. A hand on Steve's shoulder caught his attention, wrenching his gaze away from his partner and onto the nurse at his side.
"We're taking him directly to the OR, Commander, to clean out that leg. You can't go with him. We'll take good care of him. You know that."
Steve nodded, immediately returning his attention back onto Danny.
"Hey, I've got to go, buddy. Hang in there, Danny, okay? Grace will be waiting for you. We both will." He released his grip on his partner's wrists, one hand reaching up to run his fingers through his friend's mussed up hair.
"Commander?"
"Sorry. Yeah, go ahead."
"As soon as we know more, someone will be out to let you know."
Steve nodded, not able to take his eyes off the retreating gurney until it disappeared through the furthest set of double doors leading to the OR. Just as the final swing settled quietly into place, Steve's cell vibrated. After fishing the phone out of a pants pocket, he swiped in the call.
"McGarrett"
"Commander McGarrett, this is 911 dispatch, conferencing you into EMT Amy De Costa as requested."
"Okay, great. Thank you."
"This is Dispatch. Go ahead. I've got Commander McGarrett on the line."
"Commander?"
"Yes, I'm here." Steve recognized the female voice immediately from their prior, albeit, brief communication.
"We're about 20 minutes out from Queens now, Commander. Grace is resting comfortably and should be a bit more alert by the time that we get there. She's received 10mg midazolam IM which has a hypnotic, amnesic, so she'll likely be a bit fuzzy about what happened after the EMTs, and HPD, arrived to help her Dad. We're also monitoring her pulse rate, oxygen saturation levels and respiratory rate. Overall, Grace is doing fine." De Costa's voice remained upbeat and confident throughout the entire dissertation.
Steve sagged back against the closest wall, bending over at the waist as his free hand raked through his hair in a nervous twitch before settling on his knee.
"Okay. What about when you get here. What'll happen when you arrive with Grace? She needs to be able to see her Dad once he's out of surgery. Detective Williams arrived a few minutes ago and has already been taken into the OR."
"Yes, I understand that getting her in to see her Dad is important. She'll likely get the once over from the Docs first, then, if all goes well, she can be released. I'm assuming that you're already at Queens, Commander?"
"Yeah, I'm here. I'll be heading down to the trauma bay to meet you when you pull in."
"Alright."
"De Costa, do you know what happened? Why Grace had to be sedated?"
"I think that's a question best answered by your HPD Officer, Commander."
The hesitation and inflection of her answer was enough to set him on edge all over again.
"But I'm asking you, De Costa. If you were there, I want to hear your side of the story."
He heard her sigh, her own exasperation at the events that led her young patient to be in her care, evident.
"Off the record, and in all honesty?"
"Off the record, and yes, your honest thoughts on what happened."
"Alright then, in my professional opinion Commander, your Officer Kekoa's victim assessment and response procedures suck. I'd send him back to the academy if I were you … yesterday."
"Why, what happened out there?"
"Your girl's got bruises developing on her forearms and wrists where she shouldn't. And had the idiot given me or my partner the time to explain to Grace what was happening, we wouldn't have had to sedate her in the first place. She'd been holding it together like a trouper, until Kekoa grabbed her without a by-your-leave, and restrained her."
De Costa's anger was a twin ire fanning the flames of his own. His was a rage searching for direction … a target, because the rookie's actions seemed unjustified. So Steve's anger fed on his need to protect Grace. Danny's nature to guard his daughter from danger was inherent, but Steve's was learned. And the man was nothing if not a quick study.
But then his fury was cut short when he heard Grace's voice come over the line.
"Uncle Steve?" The slur of the three syllables were softly whispered.
He'd missed De Costa's urging for her to speak with her conscripted Uncle as she became more alert.
"Uncle Steve? Are you there?" Another whisper, this time laced with concern.
"Yeah, I'm here," Steve choked out. The sudden release of his outrage left him to slip down the wall until he was deposited onto the floor.
"Danno?"
He knew what she was asking, but he didn't have the information that she needed. Still, he gave her his best answer.
"I'm waiting for you at Queens, hun. I'll be right here when you arrive. Kaua, Gracie. We get Danno through this together."
~to be continued~