"Let's also add some Metronidazole to his antibiotics," Dr Mullins told the nurse as he opened the chart up the pen and picked up the pen, "That should give him complete …." The nurse frowned when the surgeon suddenly stopped talking in mid-sentence and stared over her shoulder down the corridor, "What the hell?" he muttered as he dropped the pen onto the desk before hurrying past her
Turning the nurse frowned as the ICU entrance doors opened and the unsteady man, clutching onto a portable drip stand for support entered the unit.
"Commander McGarrett! What are you doing here?" the surgeon demanded as he reached Steve and grabbed him gently by the shoulders to steady Steve as he glanced back over his shoulder and ordered, "I need a wheelchair here!" Turning back to Steve, he growled in frustration, "I thought I told you that you were to go back to your room and rest."
"I did." Steve answered distractedly as the nurse appeared with the wheelchair and helped him to sit down. Grateful that he no longer had to worry about collapsing, Steve looked back up at the surgeon as he added softly, "Look Doc, I know Chin had to go and see the Governor and Danny's alone."
"Commander, you have just undergone a liver transplant…" Mullins began.
"I know Doc, but…" Swallowing hard, Steve ran his hand over his head and left it, momentarily forgotten, on the back of his neck as he glanced towards Danny's room before he looked back at Dr Mullins and pleaded, "Listen Doc, Danny's more than just my partner and my closest friend, Danny's ohana… "
Mullins rubbed his chin as he glanced towards his critically ill patient's room before he turned and looked back at the anxious man now sitting in the wheelchair, aware that no matter what he decided McGarrett would still find a way to get into Williams's room. He sighed and nodded reluctantly, "Okay, you can stay but only on the condition that you rest in the chair beside his bed. And if you start to become tired or need pain relief, I expect you to ask one of the nurses to return you to your room to rest."
"I will." Steve nodded in agreement.
"I'm sure you will." Mullins muttered in disbelief before nodding at the nurse, who had connected the drip stand to the chair and was hovering around, that she could leave. Grabbing the handles of the wheelchair. he wheeled Steve across to empty visitor's waiting area before he walked around and took a seat across from Steve, "Before we go in, we need to talk." He began, holding his hand up to silence the worried Five 0 Commander before Steve could talk or ask any questions, "I'm afraid that Detective Williams's condition has deteriorated, unfortunately, some of the bacteria that leaked out of the tear in his intestines and caused the peritonitis has gotten into his blood stream. Detective Williams is exhibiting the first stages of sepsis."
"Sepsis?" Steve managed to croak as he tasted the hot bile rise in the back of his throat. Swallowing hard, he forced himself to whisper, "How…how bad?"
"We've caught it in its early stages and have started him on a cocktail of antibiotics. We have also placed him on a ventilator to allow him to rest and try and regain some strength, but with the blood loss, the donor surgery and the injuries in his intestines that were left untreated for so long." Mullins paused and shook his head, "I just don't know if he is strong enough to battle the sepsis as well. But we're doing everything we can."
Steve nodded, unable to speak as the very real fear that he was about to lose his closest friend terrified him.
"He's heavily sedated," Steve blinked and looked up at Mullins as he realized the surgeon was still talking to him, "but it's possible that he may know that you are in the room with him or is able to hear you talking to him." Steve nodded again, not trusting his voice to talk, as the surgeon rose from his seat and began to push the wheelchair towards Danny's room as he reminded Steve again, "Remember if you start getting tired or need pain relief, you are to ask the nurse to return you to your room and rest. You won't do your partner any good if you end up in an ICU bed beside him."
H50 H50 H50
Glancing again at the message she had received on her phone as she waited the elevator doors closed and she felt the elevator jerk and shudder before it began its slow ascent, the blonde haired young woman felt the tears sting her eyes. It wasn't fair, it was only three years ago, they had lost Matt, now they were about to lose Danny too. She dropped the hand that was clutching the phone back down to her side, she leaned her head against the back wall and closed her eyes as she struggled not to cry. She had to stay strong for Danny.
Quickly brushing the tears from her face as the elevator come to a sudden stop, she slipped her phone back into her bag before she stepped out as the elevator door opened and walked slowly towards the glass doors that led into the ICU. Stepping through the doors as the slid open, she hesitated and looked around, before she headed down the corridor towards the large nurse's desk, glancing in each room she passed, searching for Danny.
"Can I help you?"
She jumped, startled, and turned towards the young Polynesian nurse who was standing behind her. "I'm Bridget Hawkins and my brother, Danny Williams is a patient here. My…my parents received a phone call this morning asking us to come as soon as we could."