Our Devoured Minds Part 6/8 (Hawaii 5-0)
Our Devoured Minds Part 6/8
Author: Tari_Roo
Rating: PG (Gen)
Disclaimer: I own nothing, I profit from nothing. Although if I had my way Steve would be bare-chested even more than he is, we would actually ‘see’ Danny trying to surf and Kono would be a secret Cylon. That is all. Wait… Chin would be as awesome as he is.
Summary: Everyone says it’s the not knowing, right? Danny disappears and someone tries to kidnap Grace. Cue 5-0 and serious ass-kicking as Steve & Co try to keep Grace safe and find Danny.
Spoilers: Set in Season 1. No spoilers, but you kinda have to know the show, ok?
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Hospitals are meant to be quiet, right? Places of stillness and healing, oceans of tranquility. So unless Danny was greatly mistaken, something was seriously wrong at Honolulu General, because it sounded like a riot was taking place inside the ER. People screaming, alarms going off, kids crying, radio chatter on steroids.
It was all just a little too much.
And Danny could hear someone talking to him. Steve maybe. But it was like one of those Charlie Brown cartoons, where the adults were just garbled sounds in a made up language. So Danny clung to the gurney, the sheet moist and cool under his hands, trying to centre center himself, reign the world back into left and right, and stop the merry go around.
The ambulance ride hadn’t been too bad. But then he had been laying down at the time. Now he was sitting up. Why was he sitting up?
A sharp burning pain, like the paper cut from hell made Danny pull away from the source, twisting to see what hurt. “Officer... Detective, please stay still. I’m almost done.”
Oh, right. Nurse Somethingorother was irrigating the cuts on his chest and sides, flushing out the salt and dirt rubbed in by thick fingers. That’s why he was sitting up too. Belatedly Danny looked down at his hands and remembered that only one was clutching the gurney. Idly tracing the upward sweep of his arm, he found Steve. He was holding Steve’s arm. Or was Steve holding his?
“Hey.”
McGarrett smiled back and Danny’s voice sounded weird. “Wha?”
“Leave it, Danny.” Gently, why gently, Steve caught his right hand, and put it back on the gurney. “The oxygen is good for you, help clear your head.”
Oxygen?
Another snap of pain, sharp and intense and suddenly there were fingers in his side, touching bone, salting his bones. Danny jerked away from the pain, knowing it was futile because his hands were tied ...
“Hey, hey, hey, calm down. You’re ok. You’re ok.”
Steve swam into view again. McGarrett was always swimming. Liked showing off those ridiculous tats.
“Show off.”
Again, Danny’s voice sounded wrong, and again Steve caught his hand gently. Why gently? What the hell was wrong?
“Nurse, he’s all over the place. Shock is a real...”
“I’m well aware, Commander. Don’t worry. We’re pushing fluids, IV is in place. His arterial pressure is less than ideal, but not in crisis. I need you to keep him calm, please, Commander.”
IV? Shock? What? Danny stared his hand, the one Steven was holding. There was no IV. Slowly Danny checked the hand clutching Steve’s arm. No IV there either. Just bandages. From the ties. And Candice slicing his wrists.
“Candice?”
McGarrett squeezed his hand and pasted on that professional ‘everything is going to be ok’ look. “She’s fine, Danny. Getting checked out like you.”
“Grace?”
Why was he asking about Grace? And why was his heart beating like that?
“Commander!”
“Hey, hey, Danno. She’s on her way, I promise. Grace is on her way.”
Danny blinked and Steve wavered, a mirage on a desert island.
“How’s his blood pressure, Nurse?”
“Picking up. Just ... stay there ok.”
Something hurt again, but it was less intense. “Hey, hey. They’ve given you something local and low key for the pain. Want to get your vitals up and knock the shock on its ass before pumping in the good stuff. Ok?”
Who was Steve talking about? Was someone in trouble? Hurt? Was Grace hurt?
“Grace?”
There was a shift, change in positions. Steve changing hands, Nurse Whosit prodding his right side instead of the left. Danny tried to focus on Steve’s face, tried to swallow against the desert in his throat, tried to find stability. He’d been looking for an IV right?
“It’s in your leg. They... Nurse Jones had to find a spot not already cut up, ok?”
What was in his leg? Danny tried to look, tried to move the hospital gown over his legs, but Steve didn’t release his hands. The instant shock of not being able to move jolted through him and Danny snapped his head up, searching for....
Steve.
“Hospital?”
“Yeah, Danny, you’re in the hospital. You have an oxygen mask on, an IV in your leg and a hot nurse doctoring your cuts.” McGarrett was looking tired, lines around his eyes, mouth drawn. The grey at his temples seemed more pronounced, like he was going for the Mr Fantastic look.
“I know that, nimrod,” Danny grumbled, shoving aside a passing notion about wrestling Chin for the right to be the Human Torch in their little Fantastic Four. “My house, the journal?” Williams hoped to hell he was making sense, because Steve stared at him for a second before sighing.
“Chin’s checking it out with a couple of HPD officers. Kono is on her way here.”
“Ok?”
The noise level in the ER was dying down, the unseen noise. The neat little privacy curtain kept the bustle and rush of the ER at bay. Danny drew in a deep breath, and then gasped as something sharp ‘pulled’ and dots danced in front of his yes.
“Sorry, sorry. Don’t move.”
Strong, firm hands clasped his, anchoring him to the here and now and not the ‘then’. Steve’s solid presence in front of him blocked the flood of memories, and sensations. Danny really really wanted to look and see what the hell Nurse Jones was doing. But it helped that at least he could see Steve’s blue t-shirt, and the pale patterns left by bullet-proof vest.
“Jones? What...”
Jones’s voice sounded far, far away, like she was deep underground. “Not too sure. Either a bone splinter or something else jammed into this cut.”
Danny’s hands were shaking, his whole damn body was shaking, a rush of red rising like the tide to obscure his vision. “Broke. Razor,” he stammered, clinging onto Steve, trying not to close his eyes, fighting back the dark, so so afraid not to see again. He had to see. Just had to.
“Got it.”
The pain vanished like a light bulb going off, only leaving the dim afterglow of agony, his heart beating loudly in his ears, but the red fading.
“I got you, Danno.”
The swell of emotion was swift, unbidden, unwanted at those words and the subtext therein and Danny tried to bury it, shove it aside, because he wasn’t going to break down and start crying like a little girl. Not now. Not ever.
“You done, yet, Nurse?”
Steve sounded pissed, like she was hurting him on purpose. Danny opened his mouth to chow his partner out, reign him in because she was doing her job. Fixing him. Sewing up the pieces. Putting the scarecrow back together.
“Danno?”
“Monkey?”
Her voice was a siren call and Danny tried to stand, tried to go find his ‘monkey’. Steve’s damn annoying hands stopped him, but McGarrett shouted, “Kono! Over here.”
Batting ineffectually at those hands, Danny watched the green curtain, hoping, praying. Please. The curtain moved, like a glacial wind, and there was Grace. His Grace. She was drowning in an HPD breaker, eyes as wide as anything, hair wild and mussed. Steve was talking about some shit and Danny didn’t care. He scooted off the gurney, barefeet kissing cold tile and gasped, “Gracie.”
Her hesitation was a fraction of a second and then she was in his arms, face buried in his chest, tiny arms wrapped around his neck, squeezing, pressing her love into him. Anchoring him. She was crying, her tears soaking the ridiculous gown, but hell if Danny cared. His little girl was safe, right here, right now.
“I got you, kiddo. I got you.”
Awkwardly Danny tried to stand, legs turning to jelly under him, but he quickly stiffened the muscles and sat back down on the gurney, his little girl wrapped around him like a living, breathing hug. He shot Kono a bright, happy smile of ‘thank you’ and she nodded, face closed off with emotion. “Glad you’re ok, Danny.”
Danny nodded.
“Ah, that’s not a good idea...”
“Let’s give them some space, Nurse Jones.”
Steve made the distractions disappear, and silence fell, the pair of them suddenly alone. All Danny could hear was Grace crying, the solid thud of her heart beating against his, her fingers entwined in his hair. Alive. Safe. That was all that mattered.
“You didn’t come.”
“I know, pumpkin. I wanted to. I really really did.”
Grace didn’t move, her face still pressed into his shoulder, a comforting solid pain that Danny had no intention of moving, disturbing. “Kono said a bad guy had you.” Her voice was muffled, choked with tears and blocked by his chest. But it sounded so so wonderful.
“Yeah, yeah, he did.”
“Did you get him, Danno?”
Danny’s heart skipped a beat, momentarily back in that chair, sweltering in the heat of blackness and uncertainty. Tracing the curve of Grace’s spine through the breaker, Danny sighed, “I got him, Gracie. Got him good. He’s not hurting anyone ever again.”
Her nod against his chin was a promise, and she shifted even closer, pressed so tight into his side he was probably bleeding again. Danny might have the timing wrong, the bastard might still be walking free, but if Chin didn’t find him and Steve didn’t find him, Danny was going to. And he wasn’t going to use a razor and a blindfold. No questions. Just one damn bullet.
The riot had moved on, found another block party to invade. The ER was an ocean of tranquility, of peace. Of clarity. White lights, cool greens, dark HPD blue. And Grace. His Grace. Safe and sound.
Thank you.
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Steve let the curtain fall closed behind him, its flimsy material barely masking the sounds within the small cubicle. Kono was pacing, her fists clenched, vibrating with suppressed emotion. McGarrett felt a little wrung out himself, like he’d just finished a marathon, legs shaking, heart still thudding with adrenalin.
“Shit, Boss, shit!”
Kono’s voice was whisper soft but the anger behind it raised goosebumps on Steve’s arms. He nodded, echoing the sentiment, and closed the distance between them. Kono shot the busy ER a cautious glare before meeting him halfway. “What the hell? Danny looks... I shouldn’t have brought Grace! Not to see that!”
Steve rubbed his mouth, vaguely nodding, half in agreement. He’d nearly called her and told her to go back to HQ. So very nearly. Grace shouldn’t have to see Danny like that - beat to hell, cut up and in pain. And if Danny had been thinking clearly, he would have told Steve the same thing. A daughter should not see her father ... like that. In fact, once Danny was feeling better and more himself, he was going to read both Steve and Kono the riot act for bringing Grace.
But the look on Danno’s face when Grace walked in, the utter earth shattering relief of seeing her whole and untouched was worth it. Wasn’t it? And Grace needed to see her Dad, see that he was alive, even if alive was battered and bruised. And cut up like a ... piece of meat. A crazy jigsaw. Right? Right?
The old nausea of this morning was back, a fresh mix of worry and relief, because how was Grace going to cope with the memories of today. How was Danny? Looking at Kono, Steve could see the same thoughts racing through her brain, as she bit her lip, chewing it. McGarrett chucked the worry wagon - it was useless anyway and picked up the threads of what he could do.
“Is Rachel close yet?”
Kono inhaled deeply, trying to pull her on professional mask and shook her head, “She called as I was about to call her and give her the good news. She’s still stuck on Maui, desperately trying to get someone to bring her back. She said something about Stan chartering a helicopter for her. She should be in Honolulu soon.”
Turning and scanning the room, his nerves still on edge, still looking for trouble, McGarrett grunted, “Good. Any word from Chin?” It was easier focusing on the case, pretending this was just a case. It wasn’t over, not yet. The bastard behind this was still out there, still a loose end. There was no time to sit back and unwind - lick their wounds.
Unfortunately Kono shook her head. “He’s still staking out Danny’s place. No one’s been inside yet, and he’s got HPD watching all angles. Right now he’s worried the perp is going make him and hightail it.”
Slowly curling and then uncurling his fist, Steve nodded. It was a risk. If he had eluded police so far, with no record, it meant he was a professional, or damn lucky. “I’m gonna head over to the woman they found with Danny, Candice. We need a description this guy asap and get it out to everyone.”
Kono trailed him as he made his way through the crowds of patients and hospital staff. Steve spotted Officer Soto and caught his eye. Soto waved them over, and backed up to give them some space in the narrow area. “McGarrett?”
“They still busy with her?” Steve indicated towards the closed curtain where Candice was being treated. Soto nodded, “Yep. She was sounding pretty happy a few minutes ago, talking her head off, but she won’t be walking for a while - so I hear.”
Just then, a nurse parted the curtain and stepped out towards them. Steve caught her arm and smiled pleasantly, “Sorry. Nurse...” He scanned her name tag and continued, “Nurse Pualani, Steve McGarrett, Five-0. How is she? Can we take a statement?”
Nurse Pualani stared at him with beautiful brown eyes, her expression moving from surprised to worried. “Oh dear.”
Steve felt the hairs at the back of his neck rise at her gasp. He followed her mortified expression towards the curtain and was moving before she’d formed a single word. He pulled the curtain aside with more force than required, and as the rings on the rail overhead shrieked in protest, the empty bed was revealed.
“I...”
The bed was rumpled, and used, a pile of bloody bandages and swabs on the table. Nurse Pualani was holding an instrument tray, and a used suture kit. Steve whirled on her, eyes flashing. The nurse stammered, “He, he... had a badge and said he was taking her into protective custody. They, they left about five minutes ago. Time, time was of the essence, he said.”
Officer Soto stared at the Nurse aghast and cried, “When? I was in the restroom for three seconds!”
Kono cursed and punched the Officer in the arm, “Sheesh, moron. It was long enough!” Steve though was scanning the ER, trying to spot anything suspicious or unusual. They might have passed the guy and Candice on their way over. Kono turned to the Nurse, “Call security now. Is she in a wheelchair?”
The Nurse nodded and stammered, “I ... yeah, yeah, she is. He... he was nice and sure she, she was out of it on ... pain killers. I...”
Steve grabbed the nearest internal handset and motioned for the Nurse to tell him the code for Security. Pualani stuttered out the extension and Steve barked through the phone, “Yes, McGarrett. Five-0. Seal the hospital. No one in and out. Keep your eyes peeled for a blonde woman in a wheelchair. Call in to HPD.”
As McGarrett put the handset down, a small fuse went off inside his brain and he was moving straight towards Danny’s curtained off area. “Crap!” Again Kono was hard on his heels, Soto trailing her. In seconds Steve was there, and he checked the number of feet peeking out the bottom of the curtain. Two sets. Danny, red angry rings of raw skin, flecked with blood from the ties, not bandaged yet. Two little feet, pink shoes, barely visible.
“Danny?”
“Steven?”
McGarrett sighed and said slowly, “You ok in there?”
“Peachy. What’s up?”
“Nothing, it’s fine.”
Signaling Kono to step back, Steve hissed at Soto, “You stay right here and if you move, I swear I’ll make you wish you pissed yourself instead. Got it?” Soto paled but nodded like a bobble-head and planted himself in front of the curtain. Pulling Kono aside, Steve whispered, eyes darting everywhere, tracking all movement.
“Fan out, keep in radio contact. Call in anything suspicious. We got to find her.”
Kono was frowning, face set in determination, “I don’t get it. Why would she just go with him, and not make a fuss, call out.”
“All good questions we’ll ask her when we find her,” Steve gritted out, itching to move. The bastard was here, not at Danny’s house, so either someone had tipped him off or ..... someone had tipped him off! How else did he know Danny had escaped, or that they were here, at Honolulu General? Another damn mole in HPD!
“Be careful,” was his last injunction to Kono, who gave him a grim smile in return.
Steve hated urban combat situations. There were just too many variables, too many potential hostages and hostiles. Fortunately it was unlikely that there was more than one gunman on the loose in the hospital, but without knowing what he looked like, it was going to be difficult to find him. Spotting Security, Steve motioned for them to split up as well, one tailing Kono, the other with him.
Studying the exit signs and layout maps as he passed, Steve plotted a path he’d use to exit the building, one with the least number of eyes or people questioning him. As he left the bustle of the ER, the corridors grew quieter, but security increased. The Security Guard hissed, “We’re heading towards Maternity. Someone would have called in if he came this way.”
Agreeing with him, McGarrett turned towards the busier departments. They got as far as Oncology when Kono radioed in. “Found her, Boss. Radiology, 3rd floor.”
Kono sounded down and furious, so Steve ran quickly, leaving the chunky security guard behind. Found her, not them, or him. Her. Just Candice. Shit, shit, shit.
Sprinting down the stairs, Steve ran through the possible scenarios, isolating the most likely. The man behind this had been told about Danny and Candice’s escape. Had come for the one person who could ID him. And had done so right under HPD’s nose, and theirs. In the middle of a hospital. Trotting down the hall towards Radiology, Steve knew exactly what he’d find.
Kono was leaning against the doorjamb of the entrance to one of the labs, her gun still out and pointed dejectedly at the floor. Mouth pursed in frustration, she sighed, “In here.”
The room was dark, quiet, and empty of personnel. A single wheelchair sat in the middle of the room, a female figure slumped inside, head rolled back. Crossing the distance, Steve’s boots squeaked on the clean tiles, the only real sound in the immediate area, the distant hum of a hospital in the background.
Candice, last name unknown, was dead. Eyes closed, head back, boneless and sloppy in death. She’d had time to clean up a little, her make up washed away, looking a little fresher. But now, her face was lax in death, at peace. Well aware it was useless, Steve reached out and checked for a pulse. “He must have injected her with something - the syringe is still on the counter over there. CSU are on their way,” Kono sighed, gun holstered, arms crossed against her chest, like she was holding herself together.
Boiling frustration surged through Steve, tainted with real fear. The man had walked right past Danny, and Grace, all of them and had taken Candice and then her life. She had survived a night of torture and terror, only die when everything seemed ok, safe. After saving Danny’s life. Helping him escape.
“Shit!”
Steve felt like hitting something, anything - repeatedly. Snapping at Kono, he snarled, “I want every single second of CCTV footage this hospital has for today in HQ, now!” Pointing at the Security Guard, he yelled, “And check in with the entrances - I want to know who has tried to leave the building!”
As the security guards ran to comply, Steve ran his hands through his hair, gritting his teeth. The bastard was gone - Steve was sure of it. Gone, lost in the wind. Again!
“Call Chin. Get him back to HQ, but leave a black and white at Danny’s just in case. I want this SOB, now!”
Kono’s expression said it all.
They wanted him.
For Danny.
And now for Candice.
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Continued in Part 7
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7