Hello all! Can you believe it? My little boy is six months old! How did that happen? He's already crawling! Ben's gotten so big and he's learning so fast that Mitch and I can barely keep up! Right now, Ben and Daddy are having snuggle time with our German Shepard, Luke, while watching Veggie Tales. It's probably the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Anyway, enough about me. Onto the story!

Summary: At the request of the fabulous Wenwalke, here's a hospital scene for 5x18. This is not a sequel to the previous chapter. Please note that I do change some things about the episode. Also, to avoid confusion, the name of the prison Danny was in is actually called La Modelo. Also, sorry Grover fans, he won't be in this story.

Steve waited impatiently on the tarmac, watching Danny's plane make its descent at Honolulu airport. The last time Steve had seen his partner, Danny had been in handcuffs, refusing to fight his extradition. Steve was afraid of what he'd see now.

After securing the flash drive and destroying the cocaine, Steve had sent Kono, Joe, and Grover back to Hawaii to handle Alexander. Steve had opted to stay in Colombia until Danny's release. He had paced anxiously in his dingy hotel room, willing the old clock on the wall to speed up. When the call finally came through that not only had Danny's release been set in motion, but that Chin too was free, he felt an enormous weight fall off his shoulders. The last few days had been tearing him apart. He was caught between two friends, both is need of his help. One was facing twenty years in prison, the other, a violent death in one. As much as it has pained him to do so, he had left Chin to help Danny. To finally hear that both men were safe and free…words could not describe the relief he felt.

Of course, he had rushed to the prison first thing, intent on moving heaven and earth to take his friend home. However, bureaucracy got in the way and, unlike in the states, his badge meant nothing. To the Colombians, he was nothing more than a loud, angry American. The only assurance he could get was that the State Department was handling the transfer back to Hawaii and that Danny would be on a flight to the U.S. by noon the next day. Frustrated, but aware that there was nothing he could do, Steve boarded a last minute flight back to Hawaii, determined to be there when Danny arrived. The nearly seventeen hour flight was long, but the exhaustion from the past few days effectively knocked him out for most of it. He still felt like he could sleep for a year, but at least now he was functional.

Steve watched anxiously as the plane rolled to a stop. He was minutes away from seeing Danny. He knew he should be happy, but he just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. His fears were confirmed a moment later when the back of the military transport plane Danny had been on opened and two men stared wheeling out a gurney. Fear flowed like ice through his veins as he sprinted over to them.

"Danny!" He yelled, seeing his friend looking much worse for wear. "What happened?" He demanded from the others. One looked like a paramedic, the other, Steve guessed, worked security for the State Department. According to the front of his uniform, his name was Hadley.

"You McGarrett?" Hadley asked. Steve nodded.

"Who did this to him? Is he alright?" Steve asked quickly, taking in Danny's bruised and unconscious body.

"They didn't tell me much," Hadley said, "but from the looks of it I'd say either the inmates or the guards got to him. Probably both in a place like La Modelo. Hank here thinks he's got one mother of a concussion, maybe some internal bleeding. Broken bones for sure." He explained, helping Hank the paramedic push Danny toward the ambulance that had just arrived. Hadley seemed genuinely apologetic.

"What do you mean he 'thinks'? Hasn't he been to the hospital yet?" Steve asked worriedly. Hank frowned.

"I didn't even know why they needed me on that plane until they brought your friend on board. I've did all I could on the way here, but obviously my options were limited." He explained.

"Look," Hadley started, looking at Steve seriously, "I don't know what this is all about, but I know that your buddy here didn't deserve this. The few times he's been conscious, he's been telling us how you got him out. I wanna thank you for taking out whoever saw fit to stick this man in a Colombian prison. I don't know exactly what happened, and I don't need to. All I know is that there's one less power hungry higher up to boss me around." He finished.

"You seem like a decent guy, Hadley." Steve said as they reached the ambulance. "Thank you for taking care of him."

"He looked like he needed a friend." Hadley replied, helping lift Danny into the back. Steve smiled.

"You ever wanna get outta Bogota, let me know." He said before the doors closed the ambulance sped away.

Once they were on their way to Tripler, Hank began examining Danny more thoroughly now that he had better equipment.

"How is he?" Steve asked, holding Danny's hand tightly in his own. Hank frowned.

"I don't like his blood pressure. It's much too low and his pulse is too weak." He said, placing an oxygen mask over Danny's face. As they continued toward Tripler, Steve felt the hand he was holding twitch.

"Danny? Can you hear me?" Steve asked softly, giving Danny's hand a gentle squeeze. A second later, two blue eyes, dull with pain and confusion blinked up at him. Danny tried to say something, but all that made it past the oxygen mask was a muffled sound. When he tried to pull the mask down, Steve grabbed his hand and pulled it back.

"Hey hey hey. Leave that alone, Danno. You need that." Steve tried to soothe. Danny's eyes clearly conveyed his feelings of fear and confusion. "You're okay, Danny. We're back in Hawaii. You're never going back to prison. Grace is safe. Everything's fine. I promise you, I'm taking care of everything." Steve must've hit all the important points because Danny calmed considerably. Hank nodded at him to continue.

"That's good. Try to keep him calm until we get there." Steve turned back to Danny.

"You're safe, buddy. It's all over. We're on our way to hospital to get you checked out. As soon as I can I'm gonna bring Grace to see you." Danny perked up a bit at the mention of his daughter. Steve smiled, pushing sweat dampened hair off his friend's forehead. "That's right, Danno. She's been missing you like crazy. I explained as much as I could to her and she's not mad at all, just worried. We all are, pal."

Steve continued to spout reassurances all the way to the hospital. As long as Steve kept talking, Danny stayed calm. Whenever Steve stopped, the fear returned. Steve hated to think of what had been done to him to make him that way. As they took him into the building, Steve squeezed his shoulder one last time before he was forced to leave.

"It's gonna be okay, Danny. I'll be right out here the whole time." Danny nodded, too exhausted for anything else. Once the doctors had whisked their patient through the double doors, Steve was led to a waiting room. He sank into one of the chairs and called the others. It was going to be a long wait.

H

5

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The moment the rest of his team arrived, Steve was on his feet. He pulled Chin into a tight embrace.

"I'm so sorry, brah. I didn't want to-" Steve started.

"Forget it, Steve. You did what you had to. I'm glad you did, okay?" Chin assured him. "How's Danny? Have you heard anything yet?"

"No. All I know is that paramedic who was with him on the plane said he's got a lot of bruises and broken bones to go along with a nasty concussion and possibly internal bleeding. He wasn't sure. He didn't look very good in the ambulance though."

"This shouldn't have happened." Kono said angrily, tears running down her cheeks. "Danny never should've been put through that!"

"I know." Steve agreed quietly. "Did Alexander cooperate?" Kono smiled.

"Your damn right he did. Let's just say Joe and I were very convincing." Steve smiled.

"That's my girl." He said proudly. Together, they settled in to wait, passing the time in companionable silence. As the hours rolled by, the waiting room began to fill. First came Max and Duke, the Kamekona, then Pua and several other members of HPD, and finally, to their surprise, Rachel and Grace. Grace ran immediately to Steve.

"Is Danno gonna be okay?" She asked into his shoulder as he held her close.

"Yeah. Yeah, baby, he's gonna be okay. It'll take some time, but your dad's tough." Steve gave her what he hoped would be a reassuring smile before she went to hug Chin and Kono. Once she had left Steve went to stand next to Rachel.

"You didn't have to come, you know." He said quietly so only she could hear.

"Yes, I did. You needed to be here with him and Grace needed to as well." She replied, equally as soft.

"Still…Thank you, Rachel."

"I still love him. You don't just throw that away. Our marriage was a powder keg from the start and we knew it. We knew it would never last. We're both just too volatile. But I will always care for him and Grace loves her father. We needed to be here." Before Steve could answer her, a man in pale blue scrubs entered the room. Steve was there before he could finish asking for family of Daniel Williams.

"How is he?" he asked.

"He's in recovery. He did have a small bleed that required surgery, but it was only a small incision and he came through without any complications. We've checked and his concussion is just that, a concussion. It'll be painful for a while, but it shouldn't have any lasting effects. Aside from that, he has six broken ribs, a shatter left wrist, and a hairline fracture to the tibia. All in all, given time, he should be just fine." Steve let out a shaky sigh of relief as the others in the room cheered.

"Thanks, doc. When can we see him?"

"Well, right now I would say no to visitors." The man said, hesitating before he spoke again. "However, today I'll make an exception. One of you. Ten minutes. No more, no less." All eyes in the room were suddenly on Steve.

"Go, boss." Kono said.

"Tell him we're all here, okay?" Chin asked. Steve looked around.

"But, what about…Grace, don't you-"

"He needs you now, Uncle Steve. He needs to know he's safe." Grace said seriously. Steve nodded, not trusting his voice.

"Right this way, sir." The doctor said.

H

5

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The first thing Steve noticed when he entered the room was that Danny looked much better than he had a few hours ago. The lines of pain and stress on his face had smoothed over and he looked genuinely peaceful. The bruises still remained, but some of his color had returned. As quiet as he tried to be, Danny still roused as soon as Steve walked in.

"Hey, Danno." Steve whispered, blinking back the moisture is his eyes.

"Hey, Super SEAL." Danny mumbled groggily.

"How ya feelin'? You look a lot better."

"Feel better too. They've got some awesome drugs here." Steve chuckled.

"I bet." He paused a moment. "It's good to see you, buddy. For a while there, I wasn't sure if…"

"I know. I wasn't sure either. Thank you. For getting me out, I mean."

"Just returning the favor, pal."

"No, I recall you breaking out, out being released." Danny said with a smile.

"Escape, release…close enough." Danny laughed quietly, wincing as it jostled his sore ribs.

"You okay? You need me to get a nurse?" Steve asked worriedly. Danny waved him off.

"I'm good. Look, Steve. I'd be dead right now if it wasn't for you. I don't know how I can ever thank you. And what you did for Grace…"

"You don't have to thank me, Danny. Considering all the times you've done the same for me, I'd say we're even. Besides, it's what family does, right?"

"I suppose it is." Danny agreed, closing his eyes.

"Get some rest, man. We'll all be here when you wake up." Danny fell asleep, a smile on his face.

I hope this satisfies all of your cravings! Really wish some of this had been in the episode. Tell you what, if we wrote for the show, Danny would never have a day off!