The comforting smell of bacon and eggs drew Steve from the warm dark cocoon of sleep. Slowly opening his eyes, he was surprised to find the room bathed in the warm sunlight that was shining through the window as the nurse placed his breakfast tray on the rolling table next to his bed. Turning the nurse smiled when she realized he was awake and greeted him with a cheery 'Good morning' and 'How are you feeling this morning?' as she adjusted the bed to help him sit up before she rolled the table and his breakfast tray in front of him.
He nodded and thanked her, re-assuring her that he felt okay before his eyes drifted to the sleeping man in the bed next to him. Looking back at the nurse, he asked, anxiously, "How's Danny?"
Glancing across at her now lightly sedated patient, she shook her head, "He had a bit of a rough night, I'm afraid, his blood pressure and pulse were a little high and he seemed a little upset." Steve swallowed hard, looking back at Danny as Danny's upset accusation after he had admitted to Danny that he loved him echoed in his head, "You…love…me? You…love…me! You have… a funny way… of showing it!" as the nurse continued softly, "He wouldn't tell me what was going on with him, each time I came in he pretended to be asleep. I gave him some sedation early this morning to help him sleep. Hopefully he will sleep for a couple more hours. He needs his rest."
Steve nodded guiltily as the nurse turned back towards him and reached for the call button and placed it on his pillow near his head as she continued, "Well, I better finish off my night reports before the morning shift arrives, is there anything you need before I go? Do you need anything for the pain?"
"No, thank you, I'm fine." Steve forced a small smile as both Clara's and Danny words echoed through his head again, "I'm not sure what has happened between you and Daniel or between Daniel and the rest of the team but what I do know is when Daniel is well enough, the two of you need to talk and be honest about how you both feel about each other, if you want Daniel to stay." "You...love ...me?…You ... love me! You have ... a funny way ... of showing it!"
"Okay then, but if you do need something more for the pain, just press the call button." The nurse smiled as she turned to leave the room.
Steve blinked as he suddenly realized that Clara was only partially right about how to convince Danny to stay, admitting he loved Danny was only half of what he had needed to do, Danny, last night, gave him the rest of the answer. He had to show Danny just how much he loved him. And just how unwilling he really was to let Danny just walk away, not now, not ever. Looking back up at the nurse, he asked, "Before you go, I am wondering if you have a spare pen and something for me to write on please."
Smiling the nurse nodded and walked back to the edge of the bed as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small note book and a pen, handing them to him.
Thanking her as she turned and left the room, Steve quickly opened the notepad and removed an empty page before he began to write his resignation, effective immediately. Scribbling his name at the bottom of the page, he folded the resignation letter in half before he reached for his cell phone.
Dialing a familiar number, he waited a few seconds for his call to be answered before he booked four one-way tickets for two adults and two children to New Jersey. Frowning as he was asked for the date of the flights that he wanting, he paused a minute before he asked to be book on a flight in six weeks' time, subject to being able to change the dates if needed before requesting that the tickets be delivered to the ICU unit today.
Hitting the disconnect button, Steve lowered the phone back down on the table as he turned and stared at Danny. If Danny did decide to leave Five 0 and Hawaii and go home to New Jersey, Steve was determined he wasn't going to be going back to New Jersey alone. He had let Catherine walk out of his life without a fight but he knew he could never let Danny do the same without fighting for him to stay.
H50 ... H50 … H50
Looking up from writing her nurse's night report, Nalani Kelekolio frowned at the young dark-haired woman who entered the unit and was headed towards the nurse's station. Placing down her pen, she rose to here feet as the woman reached the desk and asked, "Can I help you?"
"Hi, I'm Rachel Edwards," the young woman began nervously, "I - I'm Detective Williams wife…I mean I was his wife, we're … we're divorced." She swallowed hard, glancing around at the ICU rooms before returning her attention back to the nurse and continuing, "I …um…I am wondering if…if I can-"
"Rachel?"
Rachel spun around to face Chin as he hurried down the corridor towards her, staring at her in surprise.