An hour or so later, Steve sat at Danny’s side. He watched the now steady rise and fall of his chest as the ventilator pushed air into it. He had found out, upon arrival to the ER, that Danny had been brought by ambulance to the hospital after the fire. He couldn’t believe that Danny had refused medical treatment, asshole. What was he taking a page from the Steve McGarrett handbook? Danny’s father was a firefighter for christ’s sake. Didn’t he know the dangers and ramifications from smoke inhalation?
The doctors had assured Steve that Danny would be just fine in a day or two. They had to intubate because his lungs had become so enflamed that there was barely any room for air to get through. It was extremely tricky just getting the tubing through. If Steve hadn’t found him when he did Danny could have stopped breathing all together.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Danny’s hand twitch. He immediately looked to Danny’s face to see his eyes blinking open.
Danny felt completely disoriented.The last thing he remembered was washing his face in the bathroom at HQ. Where the hell was he and why did he feel like something had crawled down his throat and died? Recalling how difficult it had been to breath earlier, he began to panic when he felt like his entire throat had closed up, stopping his air flow all together. Instinctively he reached a hand up to grab at his neck when he felt it gently being pushed back down.
“Take it easy Danno, it’s there to help you. Just relax.” Steve’s voice was soft but firm. Danny turned his gaze towards his partner, eyebrows knitted together, clearly still in a panic at the unpleasant feeling that he was suffocating. He attempted to lift his hand again but found it was securely held in place on the bed beside him by Steve’s solid grip.
“Danny, just let the machine do it’s job, it’s ok...you’re ok. You can breathe, the machine is just helping you do it easier” Danny trusted Steve implicitly, so if Steve said he was ok then he believed him. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to relax. As he did, he found that he could feel the clean air flowing directly into his lungs. It was an odd feeling, but he focused on Steve’s voice and finally the tension eased. Steve’s grip on his hand loosened but remained wrapped around his own.
Once again Danny opened his eyes, searching out the only other pair in the room. When his gaze landed on Steve, he quickly realized that his partner was just a little pissed. And when he spoke he knew he was in trouble.
“You’re an idiot” Steve stated matter of factly. Without the use of his vocal chords, Danny relied on his facial expressions to do the talking for him. He furrowed his eyebrows as if to say ‘fuck you’.
“Well you are...” Steve responded, apparently Danny’s message had been quite clear. “....And when that thing is removed we are going to have a long conversation about all the ways that you are an idiot, starting with why you failed to mention over the course of the entire fucking day that you’re apartment is now a pile of ashes and oh let’s not forget about your little rescue mission to save the old lady who caused the fire that ultimately landed you unconscious on a filthy bathroom floor.”
He knew it! He knew that crazy lady and her candle fetish was the cause. That’s because he was a Detective. He would have smiled proudly at himself if his mouth wasn’t otherwise occupied by a rather uncomfortable tube. Wait, unconscious? Bathroom floor? So that’s what happened.
“Danny, are you listening to me?” Danny rolled his eyes tiredly, now Steve knew how he felt on a daily basis when he ranted at him about crazy shit he had done. Steve could see as Danny’s eyes drooped that his friend wasn’t up for the kind lashing he really wanted to dish out. There would be time for that, thankfully, when Danny was better.
“Fine, I’ll shut up for now.” Danny slowly blinked his eyes in thanks as Steve settled back in his chair.
“Ya know, I’m really blowing an incredible opportunity here” Danny’s looked at him in question, he could see Steve trying to hide a smirk.
“I have the chance, right now, to show you exactly what it feels like to be scolded relentlessly and not be able to get a word in edgewise” Danny’s eyes turned into small slits as if to say ‘you wouldn’t dare’ causing Steve to chuckle.
“Consider yourself lucky that my concern for your health and well being trumps my want to torture you like you do me” Danny closed his eyes and turned his head away, there was that word that sent a spike of pain into his gut; concern. Now he remembered one of the reasons why he hadn’t gone to Steve, or anyone else, after the fire. He didn’t want this pity.
“Danny” Steve could see he was pulling away, except he wasn’t sure why. When Danny opened his eyes but didn’t turn his head back in Steve’s direction, Steve knew not to push it. He would get his answers.
“It’s ok, just get some rest. We’ll talk later”