A/N: Well, it's Monday again, so here's a new chapter!

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

MYSTERY GUY IN ROOM FIVE EIGHTEEN

ICU - KING'S MEDICAL CENTER - O'AHU

Danny disappeared out of Steve's sight, but as the elevator closed its doors, the other, second, elevator doors dinged open and Lou stepped out. His face had worry written all over it. Something was up. With now, even more, anxiety surging through Steve's stomach he went towards Lou, and they walked towards each other.

Coming closer, Steve immediately checked. "Hey, Grace and Charlie still save?"

"They are," Lou reassured. "Charlie's at home with Rachel and Grace is doing homework with Will at my house. But that's not why I came back here." Then the look in his eyes changed. The worry was still there, but along with compassion, maybe even pity. Steve knew instantly why Lou had come here.

"All right, I know what you're gonna say, but please don't. I'll go home if he makes it through the night okay, not one minute sooner."

"Not what I was going to say, but what do you mean if he makes it?" Lou said questionable, hunching forward with his shoulders. As Steve didn't answer right away, Lou took a step past him and stared through the glass sliding door at the now empty ICU cubicle. Lou tapped indignantly on the glass door and turned to look at Steve. "Where's Danny?"

Steve put his hands on his hips and let his head down for a second. "They took him up for a head CT, doc's concerned about increased swelling."

Lou looked up and shook his head. "He just can't catch a break, does he?"

"He does not," Steve sighed and it stayed silent between both men — the situation weighing on both of them. Eventually, Steve cut off the silence, "Let's grab some coffee, huh."

"Sure."

That said, they went to the coffee machine, standing in the hallway around the corner of the ICU. Steve pressed a few buttons on the touch screen, while Lou crossed his arms and leaned with his right shoulder against the machine.

As the coffee was automatically and slowly pouring into the paper cup Steve asked. "Any update on Kim?"

"Not really. Jerry's digging into his businesses. There's a lot of data. HPD officers are still tracking his every move. They are all logging it."

"Good," Steve said. "What about the two guys Tani and I found guarding the hangar?"

"They aren't talking. Junior and I tried, but they won't give anything useful. Just that they got hired as muscle and were paid in cash. Jerry ran them through the system, they have an incriminating record, but nothing that ties them down to Kim Leung. So I believe them. "

"All right, have HPD book them," Steve took the paper cup from underneath the machine and offered it to Lou. "I want a chat with these idiots tomorrow."

"No can't do," Lou said as he took over the cup of coffee. "Bunch of lawyers showed up. We had to let them go."

Steve sighed, frustrated. "Let me guess. The lawyers are on Kim's payroll?"

Lou gave a firm nod. "Yes, Sir."

ICU - KING'S MEDICAL CENTER - O'AHU

About five minutes earlier, a nurse named Talia, sat down at the nurse station. It was the first time in four hours she'd had a moment to sit and she had more charting to do. The morning had been a blur of taking vitals, settling in new patients, prepping for transfers, and administering medications. Her most elderly patient rang her call bell every five minutes or so, completely confused about how she ended up in the ICU. Therefore, Talia had spent her lunchtime working furiously to add every detail she could recall to the medical notes, while she much rather had been in the canteen with a coffee and a cream cheese bagel. Talia prioritized the coffee over the bagel as she really needed the caffeine while working this double shift. Yet she hadn't gotten one, even though it was almost four in the afternoon.

Talia grabbed the binders from the shelf and rotated back to the computer. She didn't even get the chance to open up the first file because her fellow nurse, aka work bestie, aka Jodie was standing right in front of her. She even brought coffee with her and pushed the cup toward Talia over the counter.

Talia gracefully got hold of the coffee cup. "You are a lifesaver, literally, being a nurse. Thank you,"

All curious and with a cheeky smile, Jodie asked. "Well, how did your date go Saturday night."

"Normally, I would tell you all about it, but I don't have the time," Talia pointed at the pile of binders.

"Oh c'mon, if you tell me now, I'll help you with the charts later." Jodie bribed.

"Fine. It went horrible," Talia told, but that was all she could say. Dr. Keller waved in a second hand from ICU cubicle 519. Talia looked up at Jodie. "Dr. Keller needs you in there."

"I'll be back, and I want answers," Jodie said while walking backward.

Talia rolled her eyes. She should've known Jodie wanted all the details on her disastrous date. Then Jodie turned and entered the ICU bay. Talia tried to listen in on the doctor's orders on their most critical patient, — Detective Williams.

"Let's schedule a new head CT, to make sure the swelling isn't increasing. And I'd like to check his previous scan."

Talia sighed as that didn't sound like good news to her. Jodie left the cubicle with that order and walked back to the nurses' station. Talia rotated her chair to get hold of a tablet, and turned back, just in time to hand the device to her work bestie.

"Here you go," Talia said and stared back at the detective in his cubicle. "I really hope he makes it through the night, you know."

"Me too, but it isn't looking too good," Jodie answered and showed Talia his latest scan results. "His numbers have increased."

Before Jodie could say anything else, the sliding door opened and orderly's together with Dr. Cho entered the ICU, pushing an occupied bed and every machine possible forward. The nurses shared a look — another new patient. Their day just got a bit more hectic.

Jodie pointed at the carefully moving group. "Would you mind? I gotta give Dr. Keller these scans and prep a transfer for a head CT."

"Of course." Talia put the binders back on the shelf, sterilized her hands, and went towards the surgical entourage.

Dr. Cho started sharing her patient's medical files. "John Doe. Brought into the ER early this morning with a GSW to the back, multiple facial, chest and abdomen bruises. Tenuous BP. He was in hemorrhagic shock. He was found in the forest and left to die," she paused and Talia shot a look at the patient. The man was in terrible condition. His face, beaten up, bruised, and swollen. Talia wondered what happened this weekend. First the detective in the cubicle next door and now this guy. Someone terrible was beating up people for joy.

Together with the orderlies and Talia they turned the bed and moved it into the empty ICU cubicle. Once everything seemed to be in place, Dr. Cho continued. "We removed the bullet during surgery, but the bullet nicked his left ventricle. It was touch and go. Coded on the table four times," she added. "He's stable but critical, so I want an assessment of the cardiac output every 15 minutes and update me when anything changes."

Talia nodded as she made a mental note of the doctor's orders. Then she asked. "Has the bullet been sent to the lab?"

"Yes, and HPD has been notified. They'll send someone by, hopefully, they'll be able to identify him."

DANNY'S ROOM - KING'S MEDICAL CENTER - O'AHU

Danny had returned from the CT scan. And after yet another long and pain drug-induced doze, Danny stirred and woke and lived a happy oblivious moment where nothing had ever happened. There was a faint noise, a beeping sound. Just a beep. Every now and then. It sounded peaceful and calming, but he didn't feel like it. His body was a chorus of pain. His head pounded. His chest ached. Pain radiated the length of his arm and his knee throbbed. Then he remembered, and half wanted to go back to sleep again and half wanted to get up and get out of here and do something to put that shit-head behind bars. Obviously, going back to sleep would win the contest, but he felt too riled up to drift back to sleep.

Danny blinked a few times, his right eye complied, his left didn't. He carefully shifted his position, but Danny regretted it instantly. A sharp pain rushed through his chest and his arm throbbed with unholy agony. Every jostle or movement only further enraged his already damaged nerve endings. Danny gave voice to the agony and let out a small moan and every following breath he took made his ribcage feel like it was on fire. It hadn't felt that bad before, so in other words, — he was fully out of the anesthesia haze.

Searching for a distraction from the pain, Danny gazed to the right side of the room. Searching for his best friend. Steve wasn't there. He had been on Danny's right bedside ever since he first had opened his eyes, but right at this moment, Steve wasn't there. The right side of the room was cleared out, even the chair was gone. It was completely cleared out, except for medical equipment. Maybe Steve had gone home. Good for him, Danny thought to himself.

"Other side." Steve said from somewhere in the room.

Of course, he was still here. Danny lifted his head up with an effort and looked left. "What's happenin'?" He mumbled.

Steve leaned in, looking concerned. "You're in the hospital, you'll be all right."

Danny was painfully aware of that fact, so he frowned. "No, I meant with Leung," he croaked out, rubbing the sleep from his eye. Then asked. "Why'd you go sit on the left?"

"The nurses check your output and chest tubes and everything else every fifteen minutes or so," Steve shared. "Figured I get out of their way."

"Makes sense," Danny agreed as most of the pain radiated on the right side of his body. Then he checked on the most important thing on his mind. "My kids safe?"

"They are, buddy," Steve gave a comforting squeeze on Danny's shoulder. "HPD has a detail on Rachel's house."

Danny was happy to hear that, but he knew Rachel wouldn't be happy about it. Not in the slightest. Danny rolled his head back to the middle. "Bet she has called her lawyer already for a new custody case."

"I don't think so, she seemed genuinely worried about you."

Instantly, Danny eyed Steve. "She did? That's a first."

Steve narrowed his gaze. "Is it?"

"No, not really," Danny admitted and he stubbornly, but slowly, pushed himself up a bit to get comfortable. He failed. He hadn't moved as much as an inch because when he stretched, his arms started trembling and the pain from surgery pulled at his side and chest. The pain meds had without a doubt worn off too. Danny went rigid with pain and gritted his teeth against the pins-and-needles sensation. He tried to stay as still as possible. He considered reaching for the PCA pump, but Danny didn't want to drift back off, lose track of time and get groggy. Instead, he tried to distract his mind and asked. "What'd you tell her?"

It turned out to be a terrible distraction. Danny wished he hadn't asked. He rather be just in pain than worried and culpable too. However, he did ask and Steve, obviously, told Danny about the house visit he made the other day and the phone call earlier. And now knowing that part of the story, Danny felt guilty that he had put Rachel through that. He also felt worried about his kids well being. He had no intention to hurt them, and yet he did.

Fighting a wave of sudden dizziness, Danny closed his eye. He inhaled the extra oxygen under his nose and exhaled. "I really wanna see my kids."

"I know and you will, okay?" Steve said reassuring. "Rachel will bring them by in a few days, buddy."

"Might be the best. If I look half as bad as I feel, I'll scare the crap out of them."

"Yeah, you don't look too good, buddy. But you will in a few days."

"Right," Danny sighed. "Charlie?"

"What about Charlie?" Steve questioned.

"What does he know?" Danny stared back at his partner "He mad at me about leaving the game?"

"Mad?" Steve repeated and seemed confounded. "Of course he's not mad. Charlie's team won the game, that's all he's been talking about."

"They won?" Danny checked as he felt genuinely proud. Steve nodded confirming, and for the first time in days, Danny's chest hurt in a good way. It made him smile even though it brought up a bunch of horrible memories later that day. Danny pushed away those thoughts and said. "You should've seen his face when he made that goal."

Steve smiled too and joked. "So, baseball's officially off the table then?"

"At least soccer's a sport and doesn't involve a country club." Danny mocked, looping the nasal cannula back behind his ear.

"Not sure what's worse, a country club or soccer moms,"

Then they both said simultaneously. "Soccer moms."

Both men started laughing, but Danny ended the laugh abruptly and with a painful cough as a sharp pain lanced through his torso. It was like a lightning bolt shot through his chest. The pain started, sharp at first, and then with each additional breath he took, it got sharper. Heavier. Slowly rounding into agony. Danny closed his eyes, but that made it worse. Memories washed back in from the last days and there was no way of stopping them. The fights. The torture. The uncertainty.

"Danny?" Steve's voice was tight with concern.

Danny couldn't find the energy to answer. Instead, he panted for a moment and fixed his eye on Steve's in a mute appeal for patience. Danny took in a few slow and controlled breaths and let the additional oxygen guide him. Then he said. "Why didn't I recognize him?"

Steve frowned. "Who didn't you recognize?"

"Kim," Danny said. "I could've disarmed him."

"He had a gun pressed against your back, Danny," Steve argued with compassion.

"Yeah, but he wasn't gonna pull the trigger. He wanted me alive." Danny shared.

"Hey, you didn't know that at the time."

"Maybe," Danny said and let his head fall weakly back onto the pillow. His entire body was aching and he felt exhausted. But before he'd allow himself to take the pain meds, there was just one other thing he needed to say. "The guy next door. He can't die, okay?"

"What do you mean? What guy?"

"The guy in the room on the left," Danny pointed to his left. "I beat him up. I put him in here." He said, pulling in a deep breath and another jolt of pain rushed through his chest.

Pain must have flashed across his features because Steve's face slackened and he asked.

"Buddy, you all right?"

ICU - KING'S MEDICAL CENTER - O'AHU

Danny winced, brows furrowed tightly with pain and his heart rate picked up. Steve's gaze immediately went to the cardiac monitor and back to his partner. "Buddy, you all right?"

Danny mumbled, "M'just tired," while he searched with his right hand for the PCA pump, found it, and pressed the button.

Maybe tired. Mostly in pain, Steve thought to himself. And as he didn't want to be the one causing his friend to be in pain Steve said. "Okay, go rest."

Steve could see Danny's body relax and his breathing grew slower and deeper. Steve's eyes felt heavier than ever before. Maybe it was time for him to catch up on some sleep too. He tipped his chair back and put his feet up on the bed. He settled into a comfortable position, crossed his arms over his chest, and closed his eyes. But when Steve tried to follow his partner off to sleep he had no luck. His head was too full of questions. Of doubts. About Leung. About the whole charade he was playing out.

Steve had no answers to those questions, but he was going to figure it out eventually. He was going to catch Kim Leung and put him away for life. If not today, Steve would try again tomorrow.

Maybe he needed to start with the puzzle pieces that were in front of him, or actually to the left. Danny seemed pretty certain that he knew the guy. Yet Steve had no clue on how this guy would fit the puzzle. Did they fight? Was the guy one of Kim's men? Or was Danny simply confused? Steve couldn't rule out option number three, because Danny did have a nasty concussion and happened to be under the influence of strong pain medication. But the first two options, might be credible too and it might be worth to take a quick look.

Steve's eyes snapped open. Maybe the answers he had been searching for, were right next door. He took his feet off the bed and tipped his chair back up. Danny remained asleep, so Steve got quietly out of his chair and went up to the closed door. He softly sledded it open and left Danny's ICU cubicle.

Obviously, Steve didn't need to go far. He took a few strides to the left and was now standing in front of the mystery guy in room five-eighteen. Or better said, in front of the ICU cubicle of a guy clinging to life. The man appeared to be in worse shape than Danny. The room was packed with double the amount of medical machinery. The guy was intubated and hooked on a ventilator, that was breathing for him. And without a doubt, he needed it, because the guy looked awful. The top of the guy's head was wrapped with white bandages. Both his eyes were shut and swollen and colored deep purple with even darker spots here and there. The man had really taken a mean beating to the head and if Steve had to take his partner's words for it — Danny had done this.

Steve knew without question, that Danny had no other choice. It had been self-defense. However, Steve had been a cop long enough to know that self-defense cases were hard to prove. Especially with the deal, Steve had made. The deal had cut all ties to Kim Leung. And therefore his involvement with the abduction never happened. There was no way of proving this had been self-defense. Meaning, that if this guy would die, from injuries that Danny inflicted, and someone were to press charges — Steve swallowed — Danny could get arrested and possibly go to jail.

All because Steve made a deal with the head of the Chinese Triad.

— TBC / HAWAIIFIVE0 —

A/N: Let's hope Steve finds a way out or there are going to be some serious consequences...

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