"I think he is waking up."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
The softly whispered murmurs greeted Steve as he opened his eyes and looked slowly around in confusion to find himself back in the bed in his hospital room instead of by Danny's bedside. He cried out in pain as his stomach protested as he tried to sit up to get out of bed to get back to his partner as his last coherent memory of Danny's panic as he woke up on the ventilator flashed through his mind.
"Whoa Boss, the doctor said you aren't allowed out of bed until tomorrow morning." Kono lightly scolded him as she gently grabbed his shoulders and pressed him back against the pillow.
"What happened?" Steve frowned as he pressed his hand against his suture line in an effort to ease the pain as he looked up at Kono before he looked across at Lou, "How long have I been here?"
"You collapsed in Danny's room from over doing things. You managed to rip out several stitches when you went down. Luckily you did no other damage, the surgeon restitched the broken stitches and decided to sedate you for eight hours to make sure that this time you did follow his orders." Lou answered before he continued with a grin, "Although I do think I heard him mutter something about placing you in something called five-point restraints and tying you to the bed if you try and get out of it and go back to Danny's room tonight."
"I've been out for eight hours?" Steve asked in surprise as he realized that the sun coming through the window was now splashing muted colors of gold, pink and red on the white wall across from the bed.
Kono and Lou both nodded.
"How's Danny?" Steve asked softly, fearing the answer.
"Danny's still critical, Boss," Kono answered softly before she quickly added. "but the doctor said the antibiotics have started to do their job. His fever has dropped a little and his blood pressure is starting to improve but the doctors are going to keep him heavily sedated to make sure he doesn't wake up while he is on the ventilator."
"His family are with him at the moment, they arrived about an hour ago, the Governor had a car waiting at the airport to pick them up and bring them straight to the hospital."
"The Governor had a car waiting…" Steve's eyes opened wide in surprise.
Lou nodded as he leaned back in the chair he was sitting in before he added proudly, "He's also planning to award Danny with the Gold Medal of Valor."
"The Gold Medal of Valor?" Steve parroted, uncertain he had heard Lou correctly.
"The Governor is visiting Danno and he told us that the medal is in recognition of what Danno did not only by landing the plane and later arresting the man you were after but also for him donating half his liver to save your life." A soft voice said nervously from the doorway.
"Grace." Steve gasped softly as he looked across at Grace who was standing anxiously in the doorway, watching him with Beth standing close behind.
"Uncle Steve, Beth says that we should let Grandma, Granddad, Auntie Stella and Auntie Bridget spend some time with Danno," Swallowing hard, she glanced up at Beth who gave her a small encouraging smile before she looked back at Steve and said softly, "and that maybe we need to talk."
H50 H50 H50
AN I know this is a really short chapter and I apologize. I wanted to get something posted so you would know this story has not been forgotten and I promise the next chapter will be longer and will make up for it. :)