Chapter 7

Hours later, a doctor finally approached them. Everyone looked at him expectantly. "The surgery went well. And before you ask me that, you can't get to them for about three hours, because that's when they'll be out of the ICU."

A wave of relief went through the waiting crowd. About three hours later, when the doctor gave the okay, Kono quietly entered the recovery room and approached Steve's bed. Pale and still unconscious, Steve lay there. An IV was dripping steadily and a medical device was monitoring his vitals.

"Hey Boss." She looked at him sadly and continued haltingly. "Why don't we humans actually say what we want to say until something like this happens?...When I met you, six years ago on Waimea Bay, you changed my life. You not only gave me a job back then, but also a family... And I am very grateful to you for that, but I never told you." She leaned over Steve, tears in her eyes, and kissed his forehead gently. "Mahalo." She sadly turned away and left the room.

Torn between relief and fear of losing Steve after all, Catherine waited in the corridor outside the recovery room. When the doctor informed them that the two were now out of intensive care, she ran out. She needed a few minutes to breathe and collect herself. When she came back, she just saw Kono close the door to the recovery room behind her. Now she came out again. When she saw Catherine standing in the corridor, she came up to her and wordlessly hugged her. Tears streamed down Catherine's face again. Frantically she wiped them away. Kono looked at her reassuringly. "Go to him."

Catherine nodded, broke Kono's embrace, opened the door to the recovery room and stepped through. Her heart sank to see her Seal still lying unconscious and hooked up to devices. She swallowed back the tears that threatened to overwhelm her and took his hand. "Hey sailor." She wanted to say so much to Steve, but her throat was tight. For a long time she just looked at him. She cleared her throat and quietly confessed to him what she felt deep inside. "I love you Steve. More than you can imagine. Also, I'm sorry about what happened. You had every right to be angry. I hope we can talk about it soon." Then she leaned over him and gave him a loving kiss on his mouth. "See you soon, sailor."

Catherine was turning to go when she suddenly heard a whisper. A moment later she heard it again, but louder and clearer this time. "Catherine."

Catherine immediately turned and met Steve's blue eyes. Normally she would have immediately sat on the edge of his bed, taken his hand or hugged him, but right now it was different. The atmosphere between them was very thick at the moment. For Catherine, the dispute was cleared up, but not for Steve. But actually their argument was now incidental.

"Catherine, what happened? Danny and I were on the plane with the dealer."

"Yes and then your plane was attacked, more specifically shot at, and you...you were shot."

Suddenly all memories came back in one fell swoop. The helicopter, the gunshots, the panic in Danny's voice, all the blood, and the instructions from air traffic control.

"Did we crash? How is Danny?"

"Hey, keep calm. Danny is fine. You didn't really crash. Danny managed to land the plane on the beach so you could be saved. I'm sure he'd like to be by your side too, but he's not awake yet."

"But you said he was fine."

"Yes, listen... you were hit by multiple bullets and one bullet shattered into multiple fragments in your liver, rendering the entire organ inoperable. Danny agreed to donate his liver to you, as did the rest of us, but you and Danny have the same blood type, so it matched and you have half of Danny's liver now."

Steve tried to process all the information first, while Catherine was busy with something else that she finally had to get rid of. "Steve, I'm sorry. But please believe me, I love you and Billy is nothing more than a friend to me."

"I'd like to believe you, Catherine, but..."

"Please listen to me. I found the picture on your desk and now I understand why you were so angry. But let me explain. This picture isn't from the night I had dinner with Billy. It's from when I was still with him. Wearing the same shirt was just coincidence. Plus, the background shows that this restaurant isn't even on Oahu."

Steve was far too tired to argue anyway, but Catherine's look convinced him that she was telling the truth. Besides, that's what he really wanted to believe from the start.

"Cath, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have just assumed that, I should have talked to you about it. You know, I just don't want to lose you."

"It's okay, but we can talk about that another time. Better sleep now and get well."

Catherine stepped closer to Steve, caressed his cheek affectionately and kissed him gently.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Steve mumbled before his eyes closed again. Finally he was able to fall asleep halfway contentedly.

One week later:

Steve and Danny shared a room at the hospital, the whole ohana except for Lou and Chin were there and took turns reading them their get well cards. Balloons and gifts were scattered around the room. After Jerry just read Sang Min's card, Chin and Lou joined the friends. Chin had good news to report about the drug ring. Finally they managed to blow it up and get the crystal meth off the island. Shortly thereafter, Max reminded them that the table in the "Rumfire" was about to expire and that they still wanted to celebrate his birthday. Everyone said goodbye to Danny and Steve. Dog was last with Charly and closed the door behind him. Danny was just about to grab the remote control when Steve took it and turned on a telenovela.

"Seriously, you don't want to watch that now, do you? There is a game on channel 39."

"I'm tired and I want to get some sleep, something like this is better here."

"So you're making me watch this crap because you want to sleep?"

"I'd like to make it louder."

"Who actually had the stupid idea that I share a room with you to heal faster?"

"You didn't have to give me your liver, Danny."

"Oh yes, and where would you have gotten a new liver from then? From the supermarket maybe? Of course I had to give you mine."

Steve looked at Danny, then at the TV and turned it off.

"What are you doing?"

Steve stared earnestly at Danny.

"Thank you Danny. I really appreciate what you've done for me and…" he faltered, "and that's what makes it so difficult for me. You know how i am. It… it bothers me that I am very vulnerable and dependent on the help of others. And that my best friend is risking his life for me and donating an organ... that…. I..." he couldn't go on, his throat was constricted and his eyes got wet. Danny looked at him confused, he wasn't used to such an outburst from Seal-Steve. But such an experience did not go unnoticed by anyone.

"It's okay, buddy." His hand wandered over to Steve, who took it and Danny squeezed it tightly. "I know."

Weeks later:

It was already late afternoon when Danny and Steve were finally allowed to leave the hospital. The doctor had given them and especially Steve, as an organ recipient, a number of behavioral measures along the way. Steve was happy to finally be able to get out of the way of the always nagging Danny. Yes, he loved him and he was also grateful that he had saved his life with his liver. But right now it was very exhausting. Steve sat comfortably on the porch with a glass of water and simply enjoyed not having anyone around. Then he pulled out his laptop and checked his emails. A lot had accumulated in the last few weeks. He also had to write the report on the undercover operation. Briefly he saw the guy in the helicopter shooting at himself again. He stared absently in front of him for a moment. Then he heard the Stingray pull up and its engine die.

A moment later Catherine came towards him through the rose arch. She had been to HQ doing some paperwork as well. She had also brought the envelope with the photo. She'd finally spoken fully to Steve over the past few days, so this pic should go in the trash soon, too. But before that, Steve really wanted to get to the bottom of the matter. So he pulled out the photo and looked at it thoughtfully. "Who does this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Who can have an interest in tearing us apart and giving me such a photo? There must be a reason."

Catherine also looked at the picture thoughtfully. She wondered who could have taken the picture back then. In any case, she didn't recognize the picture either. Maybe? No, that was impossible. Although?

"Steve?"

"Yes?"

"There was a stalker around the time I was with Billy who was following my every move, taking pictures and, let's call it, harassing me. Supposedly he would love me. He was already trying to break up Billy and me back then. I reported him at the time. But then he ended up in prison for another crime, I don't know for how long. What if he's free now?"

"And you mean he's back and now he's trying to break us up? What's the guy's name?"

"Sam Hopkins."

Steve pulled his laptop closer again and typed the name into the database. Shortly thereafter, the information appeared on the monitor.

"You could be right. He was released a few weeks ago, around the time the envelope was dropped off at my house. I think I'll pay the guy a visit."

She closed the laptop. "But not tonight."

She took his hand and pulled him towards the door. He quickly grabbed the laptop and let himself be pulled inside. In the house Catherine already began kissing him seductively. He put the computer on the next table, picked up his girlfriend and carried her upstairs. Then they disappeared in the bedroom...

Steve woke up early the next morning and watched his girlfriend sleeping. He loved her so much and he almost lost her. On the one hand because of their argument and on the other hand because he almost died. The images from that experience still haunted him. But he didn't want to think about it any further now, instead he glanced at the clock, if he wanted to pay the stalker another visit, he should probably get up slowly. He quickly jumped into the shower, drank his coffee and left the house. Steve called Danny while he was still in the car.

"Good morning buddy, ready to start the day?"

"Um, no, I haven't even had coffee yet, apart from the fact that we just got out of the hospital yesterday. Are you sitting in the car? The doctor said we shouldn't drive a car yet."

Steve rolled his eyes, if only he had driven alone. Slightly annoyed, Steve tells Danny about his suspicions.

"Okay, then we'll drive over to his place right away, someone has to look after you. I'll be done in ten minutes."

"Sure, see you soon."

Steve stopped briefly at the next café and got them two coffees to go. He stopped in front of Danny's house on time. Delighted with the coffee, Danny got into the car with him. It took them a moment to get to the stalker's address and when they got there the cups were already empty. They eyed the dilapidated block of houses critically.

"Not the best area for cops," observed Danny, "hopefully when we get back all the wheels are still on the Silverado."

They got out and turned in surprise when they heard a car coming. Catherine's Stingray stopped behind the Silverado.

"Catherine? What are you doing here?"

"I'll help. After all, it's also about me."

Steve was about to reply when she cut him off.

"No arguments, Commander, besides, you're more likely to be the one who should stay home."

Danny grinned, finally someone who had Steve under control. Together they walked toward the house. Just as they were about to ring the doorbell, the door opened and a young woman with a baby came out, eyeing them suspiciously but then moving on. Before the door could slam shut, Steve quickly put his foot in between. Danny looked at the many doorbells. "3. Floor."

Then they entered the stairwell. On the third floor, they looked around. Two of the apartment doors were wide open, they seemed to be uninhabited. At least the rubbish was already spilling into the hallway. The third door was closed. Steve rang the bell and knocked, nothing moved. Danny was about to turn and leave when Steve put his finger to his mouth.

"Do you hear that?"

Danny and Catherine looked at him confused. "No, I don't hear anything."

"Someone is calling for help."

Danny listened again. He still didn't hear anything.

But Catherine nodded. "Yes, someone is calling."

Without waiting for another word from his buddy, Steve drew his gun, kicked in the door and was already inside the apartment with Catherine. Shaking his head, Danny made a move to follow. After securing the apartment, Danny found Steve and Catherine in front of a large bulletin board. Photos after photos of Steve, Catherine and Billy accumulated there. The last picture was from last night. Catherine and Steve on the porch at Steve's home. Steve was documenting everything on his cell phone, then he heard a noise. A man was standing in the living room with two large shopping bags in his arms. The moment he saw Steve, he dropped the bags and ran back to the front door. Steve ran after him. Hopkins ran into one of the vacant apartments, balanced over the garbage, ran into the bathroom, and then jumped through the bathroom window onto the roof of the house next door. From there he kept running. Steve stopped short at the window, then he jumped after it. As he rolled, he felt pain in his chest and lay on his back, his face contorted with pain, a red spot forming on his chest.

"Cath, Danny, I lost him!"

Catherine ran down the stairs, two at a time, and then in the direction of the neighboring house. At the end of the row of houses, she just saw Hopkins climbing down the drainpipe. She started sprinting. Just as he jumped down the final meter, she was with him and knocked him down. "Not so fast my friend, we still want to talk to you." She handcuffed him and, under wild curses and threats, steered him to the Silverado and put him in the back seat. In fact, all wheels were still on the vehicle. She looked around for Steve and Danny. Danny just walked out the front door. He had also collected Hopkins' laptop and camera. But where was Steve?

"Steve?!"

Then she saw him slowly climbing down from the roof of the neighboring building. When she saw that he was bleeding, she ran to him.

"Steve, are you okay?"

"Yes, everything is fine, the seam has come open, it's not that bad. Come on, let's take Hopkins to headquarters and question him."

Together they went back to the cars. Steve was about to get behind the wheel when Danny stopped him.

"You wait, I've already called an ambulance."

"Why?"

"Steve, Danny's right, someone should check this out. I'll take the guy to headquarters."

Steve nodded sullenly.

A few minutes later:

A paramedic dressed Steve's torn stitches and Danny brought him a clean shirt. Danny looked at him worried.

"Let them take you to a hospital and get the right treatment."

"I'm fine."

"You're fine? I'll have that written on your tombstone. 'I'm fine,' he said. 'He was wrong.'"

Steve turned to the paramedic. "Leave us alone for a moment?"

The medic nodded and withdrew. Danny looked at him carefully.

"What is wrong with you?"

"I love you."

Danny made a face.

"I love you too."

"Okay, then leave me alone."

"Okay, okay, I'll leave you alone. I'll just watch you kill yourself."

"No, I'm not trying to kill myself."

"Oh no?"

"No."

"Certainly? Because it seems to me like that's been your intention for five, six years."

"I think you're exaggerating a bit."

"Okay, you know what. Forget it. Much luck."

Danny turned away.

"Danny, wait, wait."

Danny came back.

"Wait. What am I supposed to wait for?"

Steve took a deep breath and plucked up courage.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Steve got up from the stretcher he had been sitting on.

"Can we drive now then?"

"To where?"

"Well, interrogate Hopkins."

"I thought... you know what. If you ever need organ donation again, ask Chin. I'm out."

Pouting, Danny sat down in the Stingray's passenger seat.

At HQ, Hopkins was already in the interrogation room. It quickly became clear that Hopkins had sent the photo to Steve. He still had a crush on Catherine. Under Steve's gaze, however, he became smaller and smaller and promised to stay away from Catherine in the future. After that promise, Steve and Catherine let him go. When Steve and Catherine got back up the hall, the others were already leaving. They wanted to go for a beer. To Danny's amazement, Steve declined.

"You guys know, today I broke almost every rule that people should follow after organ donation. I'm going home and have a rest." He looked at Danny. "Maybe I'll take a few days off too."

Two weeks later:

Steve really lived up to his words and hadn't been to HQ for a few days. Danny was glad he had finally listened to him. Despite this, he still worried about him. In the first twelve months after organ donation, rejection reactions could occur. Still, he couldn't wrap him in cotton wool now, and Steve would never allow that. When Danny met the others in the hall at the table, Kono had received a tip about the current case, Steve suddenly stood with them again.

"Steve?"

"Sorry, Buddy, but I couldn't stay at home any longer."

Danny rolled his eyes, but basically he was quite happy that Steve was there again.

"What do you got, Kono?"

"We finally have a lead on the source of the fake recipes. My contact gave me the name of a doctor who gets the prescriptions for Oxy, Fentanyl, and other prescription drugs well paid. Dr. Ray Yong. Migrated from Korea in 2015. In the same year he opened his doctors office here. His account and that of the office are unremarkable. But I came across an additional account of the gentleman through a strange transfer from his office account. The account looks like he may retire soon."

"Okay, then let's pay the gentleman a visit."

Steve almost expected Danny to say something again, but surprisingly he held back. They ran to the cars. And, as was to be expected, Steve snatched the car keys from Danny's hand and climbed into the driver's seat of the Camaro. Grumpily, Danny took a seat in the passenger seat. The doctors office of Dr. Yong was on the third floor of the building. As always, Steve went first. The receptionist wanted to stop him for a moment, but Steve stormed past her into the doctor's treatment room. When he entered, the room was empty, he was about to turn around when someone jumped out from behind the door, rammed a syringe into his arm and fled through the open door. For a moment Steve had to hold on to the wall, he suddenly felt dizzy and a sharp pain pulsed behind his temples. He pulled the syringe from his arm and dropped it. When he ran into the anteroom, Chin and Kono had already taken the doctor into custody and were just bringing him back in from the hallway.

"Steve? Everything OK?"

"Yes."

He holds his head for a moment.

"Everything OK. He surprised me and pushed me aside. Everything is good."

They drove back to HQ. Steve was still a little dizzy but didn't want to admit it. But then he let Kono and Chin do the doctor's questioning, after all she had gotten the tip too. He sat down in his office and tried to do some of the paperwork that had been left behind from the last few weeks. But he couldn't really concentrate. Annoyed, he looked at the clock, then packed up his things and drove home. The team sometimes got by without him for a few hours.

Once home, Steve found something on the doorstep which upset him. It was a vase of red roses and with it was a little card saying these roses were for Catherine and from Billy. Steve took the vase inside and placed it on the small table by the front door. He had actually hoped that the matter with Billy was settled by now. But now that he wanted to give her red roses was already very close to the limit for Steve, since Billy had actually promised that he would not want to get Catherine back. Suddenly Steve heard a noise outside. It sounded like the engine of a car and shortly afterwards the front door opened and Catherine came in. She left shortly after Steve because she was worried about him, especially when he was going home in the afternoon. She now put her car keys down on the small table and approached Steve, who wasn't exactly looking at her cheerfully.

"What are you doing here? Actually, you should be at HQ, working."

Steve was just surprised himself by his words. Actually, he didn't want to tease Catherine like that, but somehow the words came out of his mouth and he realized that he just didn't feel like himself. Catherine was surprised by Steve's words, she hadn't expected him to be so upset.

"I just didn't want to leave you alone, I just wanted to keep you company. But you seem to be in a bad mood right now."

"Well, why is that? I thought things were over with Billy, but apparently you have something going on with him after all!"

Steve pointed to the vase with the red roses, whereupon Catherine looked at them briefly and then looked at Steve again.

"Steve, I don't have anything to do with Billy in that way!"

"I told you the other day that I can't dictate who you love, but I finally want to know if you're really serious about me or rather want to see Billy!"

"Steve, now understand it, please! I love you and Billy is just a friend!"

"Apparently he sees it differently! So call him now and tell him you don't want anything to do with him anymore!"

"What's the matter with you now? I'm definitely not going to tell Billy that, I like being friends with him."

Steve's eyes blazed with anger as he approached the table by the front door and picked up Catherine's car keys. Then he threw it at her feet.

"Then get out of my sight! If you want to keep in touch with your ex, I don't have to deal with you!"

Tears slowly gathered in Catherine's eyes and ran down her cheeks. She had heard Steve scream many times, but only when he was interrogating people. He had never yelled at her before. Catherine bent down to pick up her car keys and just then the vase of roses landed heavily on the floor in front of her and shattered into many small pieces. This frightened Catherine so much that she quickly picked up her car keys, cutting herself on the shards and standing up.

"Now finally get out of here! I don't want to see you again until you stay away from Billy!"

Catherine stared at Steve for a very short moment and then quickly walked out the door. She was just really scared of Steve. He had never seemed so threatening to her before. Catherine got into her car and shortly thereafter decided to drive to Danny. He had also gone home earlier, because he wanted to rest. He wasn't feeling so well again. Tears continued to flow down Catherine's cheeks on the drive and she was glad that she got to Danny without causing an accident.

When Catherine rang the doorbell, it didn't take long for Danny to open it and concern was immediately on his face.

"Catherine, what happened?"

"Steve...he..."

Catherine was shaking all over and she couldn't speak normally because of the sobbing.

"Hey, come in first and sit down."

So Catherine entered Danny's apartment while Danny closed the front door behind her. Then the two sat down on Danny's couch and Danny noticed that Catherine's hand was bleeding.

"Show me your hand, please."

Catherine held out her hand to Danny and he clearly saw the cut, which was about an inch or two long and by the amount of blood, Danny guessed it was deep as well. So he quickly got bandages and dressed the wound while trying to figure out what happened.

"Catherine, will you please tell me what happened?"

"Yes...um, I came home and Steve asked me directly what I would do here since I was supposed to be working. I thought that he was kidding at first, and then he showed me a vase of red roses that seem to be from Billy. He said I wasn't serious about him and said I should call Billy and tell him I didn't want anything to do with him anymore. So I said I wasn't going to do it and then...then Steve yelled at me to get out of his sight and he threw my car keys at my feet. When I wanted to pick them up, he suddenly threw the vase in front of me. This gave me a fright, I quickly picked up my keys, cut myself on the shards and then drove away."

Catherine was in tears again and she was really shaking all over. Danny had treated her wound and now took her in his arms to calm her.

"It's fine, calm down. Everything will be fine again."

"Danny, you should have heard Steve. He's never yelled at me like that, it's not like him. He really scared me."

"That doesn't sound like Steve at all. I'll talk to him tomorrow, but for today we should probably just leave him alone."

"Yes, maybe you're right...Can I maybe sleep here tonight? Otherwise I'll take a hotel room because I'm actually staying with Steve."

"Of course you can stay here. I can borrow some of Melissa's stuff for you too."

"Thanks, Danny."