Chapter 3

It was hard for the team to hear their friend and leader scream like that but they all knew they had to finish their work because not doing it would have much more serious consequences for him than "just" pain.
While Chin had opened the trap, Kono and Max had pulled Steve's leg aside afterwards. Beforehand Max had spread out a foil on the forest floor and had put a big piece of gauze on it.
He and Kono carefully laid the injured leg on it.

Steve had stopped screaming but he was back to rapid breathing. Danny tried to comfort him but his attempts were unsuccessful.
When Max removed the shoe and the socks from the injured foot, Steve screamed once more.
Trying to stop himself from doing that, he turned his head and buried it deep into Danny's abdomen while simultaneously grabbing a piece of his friend's shirt for a moment before his whole body went lax and he lost consciousness.

"He passed out," Danny said.
"I had expected that," Max answered "had even hoped for it, to give him a bit of rest. But he will most likely be back in a few seconds. Hold him tight."
After taking a deep breath Max wrapped the SEAL's foot into disinfectant-soaked bandages.
He was right. Steve came back – screaming and fighting. It took all of Danny's strength to keep his friend down. Steve had already tried to use his good foot to arch of the ground but pain and the strong hold he was in prevented him from doing much more than trying.
"Easy Steve," Danny said soothingly. "You got hurt but there is no danger. Try not to fight. Try to breathe through the pain. Come on."
He knew it was easier said than done. Steve already had a high threshold of pain. Being in pain like this just showed how severe his injuries were.
Danny also knew there must be more to it than "just" the foot.

Steve tried his best to control his breathing and the pain but the latter was just too much and he passed out once more.
Kono spread a blanket over him. Danny could feel the still way too rapid pulse of his friend underneath his fingers and was about to tell Max when they all heard the unmistakable sound of an approaching helicopter.
Kono ran towards the clearing where they had parked the cars to signal the pilot where to land.
Without a word Max stood up as well and followed her.

On the way back to the location of the accident, Max gave all the medical details to the chopper crew, so they could get straight to work.
Steve's head was still in Danny's lap and he was still unconscious when they arrived. Danny was thankful for it. The pure imagination of the pain his friend was in brought shivers to his spine.

The medical personnel worked swift and efficient. They had Steve ready for transport within minutes. They had injected some pain medication and had stabilized his whole leg to prevent it from moving and had also wrapped him back up tight into the blankets to keep him warm.
The SEAL didn't stir during all of that, not even when they had transferred him to the stretcher nor on the way to the helicopter.
It was half way to the hospital when he finally came to. The loud noise of the chopper, the pain and the confused state he was in made him think a SEAL mission had gone wrong.
"Team?" he croaked barely audible.
"It's okay, commander. You are on the way to the hospital," one of the EMTs said.
"Team?" Steve tried again. "'s my team safe?"
It was still barely audible but this time Danny understood.
He grabbed his friend's hand and squeezed.
"Babe, we are safe. You got hurt but we are safe. Don't worry."
It took Steve a moment to recognize Danny's voice. 'So, no SEAL mission,' he thought.
"What happened?" he whispered.
"You got hurt while chasing a suspect," Danny answered, didn't want to bring up details to not add more stress to his friend.
It didn't work though. Suddenly everything came back to Steve: The chase, getting stopped by something, the pain, more pain.
He suddenly had a death grip on the detective's hand.
"Danny," he said in an urgent tone. "Danny, please. Don't…don't let them…let them take my foot."
Danny was taken aback by that sudden outburst and the clarity of his friend's mind and didn't answer right away.
"Promise me," Steve begged.
Danny looked at one of the EMTs to get approval to make the promise. But said EMT shook his head and mouthed "no".