A/N – Hey guys! I'm so sorry for the late update. Thank you so much for all your reviews! Here's a new chapter.
CHAPTER – 8
Grace Williams took pride in the fact that she resembled her father. Everyone said so. Her father was her role model growing up and he still is. But one thing which she inherited which was not everyone's favorite, unfortunately, was his temper and impatience.
She could not, for the life of her, stay put in a place without knowing anything. She had burst at Charlie this morning for chewing his breakfast too loudly and had already had an argument with her mom.
She hated this.
Her heart had taken a 10-foot drop when she had seen 4 squad cars pull up at her college and had started yelling her name. Her friends were surprised when the officers all but escorted Grace into the car and directly took her out of the city to a secure location. Her phone had been taken and she had been informed that her life was in danger. She wanted to talk to her father but no one listened to her.
She had all but crashed on her mom when Rachel and Charlie had entered a few hours later. Rachel had then informed her the whole thing. Grace was worried for her Danno. She had always been.
Being at college so far away from her father was very tough for the girl, but she knew he had Uncle Steve. When even Steve had left, Grace had noticed the gradual changes in Danny. Shortened phone calls, not divulging in his day's details, emotional conversations. They were all desperate calls for her to come back home to him. But Grace never got a chance to leave California due to her academics. If anything happened to Danny now…
Grace wiped a tear at that. She looked at the new phone the Officers had given her. It didn't have anything. It was just so that she can contact a few of her friends.
She was currently pacing in the living room. Charlie and Rachel were in the kitchen keeping themselves busy. Grace knew her mom was strong. She knew the elder woman was scared, but for the sake of her kids, especially Charlie, she was hiding it very well.
Suddenly the small phone in her hand rang. Rachel came out running.
"Is it Daniel?" She asked as Grace shakily put the phone to her ear.
"D-Danno?" She asked fearfully.
"I'm afraid you gotta wait a bit more for that, Gracie."
Grace closed her eyes and fell in her mom's arms.
"U-Uncle Steve…" She sobbed. "I-is Danno…?"
"He's fine, kiddo. You know your dad. He is as tough as they come."
Rachel snatched the phone from Grace's hands and the girl watched as she spoke to Steve while holding her close. The phone call ended a few minutes later and Grace looked at her.
"Can we go home now?"
"Yes, baby. We can." Rachel gave her a weak smile and brushed the tears away.
/
While Grace, Rachel and Charlie were happily preparing to come back to Hawaii to see their Danno, miles away Steve sat with his head in his hands on the uncomfortable chairs of the Hospital waiting area.
"Coffee?"
Steve looked at his old friend with gratitude and accepted the hot cup. Chin sat beside his former boss and watched the man. Steve looked exhausted and worried beyond measure. And it was justified. The way Steve cared for Danny; it was incredible how both of them lasted 10 months without seeing each other.
"The team?" Steve asked him.
"I sent them all to get a bite to eat. Kono's getting her coffee, she'll be here in a minute." Just as Chin spoke, Kono came over and sat on Steve's right.
"Feels like old times, huh?" Kono said after a while and Steve and Chin huffed out a laugh.
"Did you hear from Jerry about Eddie?" Chin asked.
"Yeah, he's good. Jerry took him to his place." Steve nodded as he rubbed his face.
"Grace, Rachel and Charlie?" Kono asked softly.
"They will be here tomorrow morning." Chin replied.
Silence took over again as they watched the hospital personnel go about their activities.
"I spoke to Adam." Kono said out of the blue. Steve and Chin's heads snapped towards her, grateful for the distraction.
"Are you guys…" Chin raised his eyebrows.
Kono rolled her eyes. "No. We just…talked." She shrugged.
Steve smirked at her. "Talked?"
"Yes!" Kono said loudly. "What?"
"I heard he broke up with Tamiko." Steve said casually.
"So?" Kono shrugged.
"Nothing, I was just stating a fact!" Steve said defensively as Kono elbowed him and Chin laughed.
"You guys are the worst!" Kono said, but even she couldn't hide the grin that spread over her face.
"I've missed this." Chin said.
"What, hospitals, panic and anxiety?" Kono joked. "Thanks, but I didn't."
"No, I meant, this…us." Chin said as he pointed at all of them. "I have a new team back in San Francisco, but nothing can beat this. All that we have been through over these years, it's tough to forget."
"Yeah brah." Kono agreed. "I roam all over the world, but one call about any of us, and I'm back here." Steve smiled at her. He wanted to say how much he missed home, too. But he couldn't. Not until he was with his brother. Because for Steve, without Danny, there was no home.
"So, that's all it took to get us together, huh? For Danny to get kidnapped and beaten to death." Kono commented after a while.
"Not exactly ideal circumstances for a reunion, yes." Steve nodded with a short laugh.
"We should have done this before." Chin commented.
"We got busy in ourselves." Kono said sadly. "We lost sight of what made us who we are. We lost sight of home."
"It's funny that Danny was the one who hated the island the most and yet, he is the one who stayed when we all left." Chin said with a sad laugh.
"Well, we are here now. Let's just pray for our haole to get better soon." Steve said.
Just then the doors to the OT opened and a middle-aged doctor came out. He sighed as he watched the three of them instantly stand up and walk towards him.
"The OG Five-O, it's been a while since we were here, hasn't it?" Doctor Keller said.
"How's he doing?" Steve gulped.
"He's stable." Keller nodded. "I won't lie, it wasn't all rainbows and unicorns while operating. We lost him once on the table."
Kono grabbed Chin's hand and Steve closed his eyes for a moment.
"But don't worry, we have him stabilized. His body was pretty weak due to his whole ordeal…10 months ago, was it?"
"Yes." Steve nodded.
"He's going to need round the clock care, we don't expect him to come to consciousness at least till tomorrow afternoon, so I suggest you all go home, get some rest and a shower, and come back tomorrow morning."
"Can we see him?" Steve asked.
"Nurse Francis will take you to him as soon as we get him settled." With that, Keller nodded at Steve and left.
"I'm not leaving." Steve said instantly.
"We know." Chin shook his head. "I need a shower."
"Me too. We'll get some food for you." Kono winked at him before she and Chin left.
/
If Steve thought that his first look Danny in the building all bruised and bloody was the worse sight he had ever seen, he was wrong. This, right now, was the worst sight he had ever seen.
"He's not going to be happy about that." Steve said as he watched the nurse check Danny's catheter. The Nurse smiled.
"I get mixed feedbacks. I have very gentle hands, you see." Steve chuckled as she showed him her fingers in a teasing way.
Danny was covered in bandages. His chest and stomach were padded heavily with white gauze and he had all sorts of tubes running in and out of him. His deathly pale face brought a shiver down Steve's spine as he quickly took a seat beside the bed.
"I know it looks bad, but trust me, he's going to be fine. You should talk to him; he might be able to hear you." The nurse said comfortingly as she watched Steve's eyes moisten at his brother's battered body.
"Thank you." Steve cleared his throat and wiped his eyes.
"Just use the call button if you need anything and one of us will be here in a minute." The nurse explained before leave the room.
"Hey bud…" Steve started. He gently touched Danny's pale hand and gave it a small squeeze. "I-"
Steve couldn't say much. His throat constricted and tears threatened at bay. He took a deep breath before looking at Danny.
"I am an ass. I am all the things that you call me. Neanderthal, stupid, annoying, non-human and what not. I am all of them, Danny. I left you…" Steve sniffed. "I left you, brother. I never should have. I left you in pain, all alone."
Danny's sleeping form didn't react and Steve felt weird. Danny always reacted. It was just wrong to see him sleeping calmly. Danny was never calm. Never.
"We got the whole squad back for you, you know." Steve said with a smile. "Chin and Kono are here too. It's…a reunion." Steve huffed out a laugh. His laugh turned into bitter sobs, his grip on Danny's hand never once loosening. "Please wake up, Danno." He said in between sobs. "I can't do this without you. Please, brother. I won't ever leave you; I promise."
Steve fell asleep on the chair, his sobs slowly dying down, his hand never leaving Danny's. The day's exhaustion caught up to him and he didn't notice the Nurse come in and put a small blanket on him, nor did he notice when Danny's grip steadily got stronger.
/
Steve groaned as his eyes fluttered open. The Hawaiian morning sun was shining brightly.
Steve winced as he realized he had slept all wrong. His neck and back ached and all he longed for was a hot shower.
He looked at Danny and saw that his hand was still in his. He smiled before slowly extracting his appendage. He stood up and stretched, his body making all sorts of weird noises.
"That was not a pleasant position in which you were snoring out of your ass."
Steve looked at the door and saw Lou come in with two cups of coffee.
"What time is it?" Steve asked as he gratefully accepted the offered cup.
"Just after 8."
"When did you get here?"
"About half an hour ago. And before you ask me, no, I did not wake you up. Why? Because it looked like you needed it."
Steve rolled his eyes. "Thanks Lou."
"Any improvements on our boy here?" Lou asked as he took Steve's seat.
"They said he will wake up by afternoon."
"Huh." Lou said as he looked at Danny. "Come on, Williams, I know you're old, but that's a helluva long nap, brother."
Lou looked at Steve and sighed. The man was staring hauntingly at Danny.
"He is the one who got shot, how is it that you look like death warmed over?" Lou said. "Go home, man, get a shower, get something to eat, and get some decent coffee…for the both of us." Lou said as he eyed the cup in his hand disgustingly. "This hospital stuff tastes like ass."
"Funny you should know the taste of ass." Steve said petulantly.
"Really? You go roam around the world for almost a year and come back acting like a 10-year-old?" Lou raised his eyebrow. "Danny gon be disappointed man."
Steve huffed before nodding.
"I think I'll take up your offer. I'll be back in an hour."
"Take 2. I'm not going anywhere. And nor is he."
Steve nodded at him. With one last look at Danny's sleeping form, Steve left.
/
Rachel wasn't as patient or calm as her ex-husband. Her leg bouncing with anxiety was all the evidence needed to prove that statement.
She looked at her right where Charlie was sleeping with his head on her lap and legs extended towards the aisle. She ran a hand through his hair which were very much like Danny before looking at her left.
Her eldest, Grace, was a mini double of Danny. She was currently looking out the window, lost in her own thoughts. Rachel put a hand on her daughter's similar one and gave her an encouraging smile.
Grace returned the smile and scooched closer to her mother.
"I'm scared." Grace said as she looked in her mother's eyes.
"Gracie, you know your father, he's a tough one to crack. He's going to be alright." Rachel said and gently wiped a stray tear away from Grace's face. 'Plus, Uncle Steve's there, he is not going to let anything happen to Danno, okay?"
Grace nodded and buried her face in her mother's neck. She soon fell asleep, leaving Rachel praying to every god out there to keep her children's father safe and sound.
/
Steve walked in the hospital room, showered and with 5 cups of coffee in his hands. Sure enough 3 more people were sitting with Lou – Kono, Adam, Chin.
"Thank god!" Lou said as he grabbed the coffee from his hands. He took a sip and closed his eyes in satisfaction.
Kono laughed at him as she too grabbed a cup.
"How'd you know we were here?" Adam asked as a cup was offered to him too.
"What, you think I'm going to forget your habits in 10 months I was away, Noshimuri?" Steve teased him and took a seat. His smiled dropped a little as he looked at Danny's sleeping figure.
"Good god the man won't wake up." Chin said as he caught Steve's eyes.
"He's a drama queen, give him some time." Kono added and nodded at Chin's effort to lighten the mood.
It worked and Steve laughed. "You caught his essence, didn't you?" He said and took a sip of his coffee.
Just then, rapid footsteps sounded outside and Steve's head snapped as Grace, Rachel and Charlie ran in.
"Danno!" Grace cried as the three of them rushed towards the hospital bed.
"Uncle Steve!" Charlie ran up to Steve as the elder man swiftly caught him. Steve felt overwhelmed as he hugged the smaller boy after 10 months. It felt like home.
"Oh Steven." Rachel said with tears in her eyes as she hugged him. "How is he?"
"He's hanging in there." Steve nodded and put Charlie down who instantly ran to greet the other members of the team. "The Doc says he should wake up sometime this afternoon."
Rachel nodded and looked at Danny again. He looked so pale, so fragile. Her heart ached for him.
"Gracie…" Steve moved towards the girl he had seen grow up before his eyes. He considered her his daughter. Seeing her so broken over her father's hospitalized form brought a new wave of anger in Steve towards Rivaldi.
"Uncle Steve…" Grace all but fell into Steve's arms and sobbed as the rest of the team spoke to Rachel.
"Shh…" Steve caressed Grace's hair as she calmed down.
The group moved out of the small hospital room and soon the other members of the team – Tani, Junior and Quinn – came. Steve watched as the team sat around and spoke among themselves. Tani and Junior kept Charlie busy while Lou and others were talking to Grace about her time in college. The Doctors had moved in the room to check on Danny.
"Daniel missed you." Rachel said from beside him. Steve sighed and looked at her.
"I missed him more." He spoke.
"You both should never be away, you know." Rachel said as she wiped her tears.
"Why's that?" Steve asked her.
"Danny broke bit by bit every day for the past 10 months. And I can see how broken you are." She spoke. Steve smiled at her.
"He is my brother."
Rachel nodded and sniffed. "Brothers from another mother." She gave a short laugh.
Just then Doctor Keller came out and everyone looked at him in hopes of getting some good news.
"He's awake."