Chapter Text
Steve could feel the leaves and branches hitting him as he ran after the suspect. He could see him ahead, not very far, and he was going to catch him. He didn’t listen when Danny yelled at him to wait for the backup that was already arriving and just started to chase him, so he should at least capture him if he was going to get lectured to no end by his partner anyway.
So he ran as fast as he could but suddenly the suspect tripped over a rock on the edge of the trail they were in and slid over when the rock fell rolling and dragging more rocks and soil with it. There had been a storm the previous night, leaving the trails slippery and unstable.
Steve got there in time to grab his arm but not to prevent him for falling completely over the edge and without anything to hold on and stop their fall both of them started to roll along the cliff. Steve tried desperately to grab a branch or a rock strong enough to slow them down without letting go the suspect’s arm, but when a loose rock hit them where they were joined Steve couldn’t prevent colliding with a big branch that was sticking from the rocks with his left side and end face down on the ground. At least he wasn’t falling anymore, but the last thing he could think about before the world went black was that Danny was going to kill him.
Earlier that day
Danny was sitting in his office, sipping his second cup of coffee of the day and silently observing Steve, who was out in the main room talking to Chin.
More exactly, Danny was observing the bandage around Steve’s right forearm and the stiffness in his back that you could detect if you knew your partner’s movements as well as Danny did.
Danny was pissed and concerned almost in the same proportion. These two injures both happened in the last week and Danny thought they could have been completely prevented. Not that you could avoid taking risks in this line of work but Steve was in a reckless rampage lately.
Lately being since Catherine left him the same day he planned to propose to her, and with what Danny thought was a poor excuse. He could understand the need of building something on your own, the need to feel you’re accomplishing something in life, but what he couldn’t understand was why would she come back just to give Steve the false impression that she was staying for good this time and then go away again, leaving the wreckage behind.
He tried to prevent it, he reached out to Cath because he wanted to make sure that this exactly wouldn’t happen, but it was to no avail. She still left, and Danny was forced to watch his best friend suffer once again. Not just that, he was being forced to witness his friend's more than questionable ways of coping with said suffering, which were basically not dealing with it at all, trying to shut down his feelings and of course throwing himself before every danger known by mankind.
Danny was sure he didn’t do it on purpose and he wasn’t distracted or endangering anyone on the team, in fact it was the contrary, Steve was so focused on saving everyone and keeping his ohana out of any danger if it was possible that it was a matter of time before he got injured in the process.
The stiffness – and the nasty bruising covered by clothes – in his back were caused by slamming against a car during a pursuit across the streets of Waikiki three days ago.
The bandage in his forearm was protecting a wound inflicted by a jackknife used in a close fight with a thug two days ago. Steve had him on the floor in no time but not before he managed to get a gash for his trouble.
Danny had had enough. Today after work he needed to bring some Longboards to Steve’s and calmly talk to him about toning down the one-man-army routine. Or try to talk calmly to Steve until he completely dismissed his worries with a half whispered ‘I’m fine’ accompanied by a thousand-yard stare and then give him the rant of his life about how fine he thought he was. Danny wished he could bet on which scenario was more likely to happen.
He had barely finished planning his evening op when Steve’s phone rang and two minutes later they were gearing up and ready to go after a suspect they had been chasing for a few weeks now. He had attacked a few small groups or families in the most secluded hiking trails, robbing them and eventually killing one of them who had dared to fight back. They had always arrived late until now with no clue were he was hidding between the attacks, but apparently today other group had watched the robbery from enough distance to be able to alert HPD without being discovered.
Five-0 had immediately been called to help block all the possible escape routes.
Danny knew from the moment they arrived and saw the suspect had a woman held with a knife on her throat that this wasn’t going to end well. They arrived before HPD but probably they were just a minute from there, and when the sirens could be already heard the thug panicked, shoved the woman forward and started to run.
He felt the movement beside him and knew what was happening without even having to turn.
“Steve wait! Backup is almost here!”
The yell to his partner’s back had no effect and after swearing and telling Kono to check on the woman and make sure the other side of the trail was cleared of hikers Danny started to follow him.
He was close to them when the whole tripping over the rock happened and watched with horror as Steve slid over too trying to prevent the suspect's fall. When Danny arrived there and looked over the cliff with a tight knot in his chest, he could see that Steve had somehow got entangled with a branch that had stopped his fall and was lying face down on a little ledge of the cliff. It took him all but three seconds to realize the suspect had fallen much deeper down the cliff and was immobile on the ground, extremities bent in a weird angle. He was pretty sure he was dead, but anyway Danny couldn’t get to him, the rescue team would have to go down for the extraction. He could get to his partner though, and after a quick assessment on the terrain to decide the best way to descend, which rocks he should use for support and which ones he should avoid, Danny quickly arrived at Steve’s side.
He was still doing his first assessment on his partner’s condition and calling his name when Steve groaned and started trying to lever himself up on his right elbow before Danny could tell him not to move.
Okay at least there wasn’t spine damage, but Steve just made another pained groan and stopped moving.
“Would you stop that, please?” Danny gently helped him lie back so he could get a better look of Steve and search for injuries. “Let me call very quickly for help and a rescue team for the guy down there. Don’t move.”
After the call to Chin, who told him the Medevac would be there in about 20 minutes and they would be there in five, Danny focused all his attention back to Steve. His breathing was a little labored and he had his right arm crossed across his chest, the left one limp and in an angle Danny was sure wasn’t anatomically correct. Knowing those were probably the worst injuries, he quickly checked his legs finding just scratches and gashes and then proceeded to open the straps on Steve’s tac vest and lifted his shirt.
Then he gasped. Shit. There was nasty bruising already forming and covering his left side. Danny gently palpated the bruised zone, barely applying pressure since the movement was enough to make Steve draw a sharp intake of breath and for Danny to notice the small bumps that suggested at least a couple of ribs were broken.
“Sorry, sorry. I think you broke a couple of ribs.”
“M’fine.”
Of course that was the first thing coming from Steve’s mouth since Danny had arrived. With his eyes tightly closed and sweat covering his furrowed forehead, Steve was less than convincing.
“Sure babe, they’re going to put your photo beside the definition of ‘fine’. Now let me look at your shoulder, I think it’s-“ Danny’s words were cut off by the strangled yelp from Steve as reaction to the minimum movement of his shoulder.
“Fuck, sorry Steve, it’s definitely dislocated.”
Danny waited for Steve’s ragged breathing to calm down while holding his arm as immobile as possible to avoid another jolt of pain. Finally Steve opened his eyes and looked at Danny.
“Danny, you need to…set it.”
“Are you sure? We could wait, the paramedics will be here soon and they can give you something for the pain.”
Danny knew how to set it, the team had been instructed in medical emergencies a long time ago when it had become clear those situation were going to be pretty regular ones and that sometimes they needed to perform as first responders until help arrived. He also knew this wasn’t the first time Steve dislocated a shoulder, each time it happened it made it easier for the joint to move out of his place and it hurt even more. But setting it also hurt like hell and that wasn’t something Danny was fond of doing to his partner. But Steve was grabbing his arm with his other hand, trying to get his full attention.
“Just do it…please. It…it will hurt less after it’s set and…they can’t give me anything until they…lift me.”
He was right. They would need to lift him to the helicopter to treat him there and the straps for that would hurt too much without setting the arm first, so they would probably set it here before lifting Steve. No point in making his brother wait in pain any longer if that was the only possible outcome.
“Okay, okay. I’m doing it.”
Steve turned his face to his good side and grabbed the edge of his tac vest, fisting the fabric and preparing himself to bite it or scream into it. When he stopped moving, Danny put his hands in place as gently as he could, moving Steve’s arm a little to get it into the right position for the movement he needed to make.
After going through the motion in his head, Danny sighed deeply and looked at Steve.
“Ready, babe? I’m going to count to three, okay?”
Steve just nodded without opening his eyes.
“One, two, three!”
Steve couldn’t help but scream, and Danny quickly checked the joint was in its right position again before putting Steve’s arm by his side and his forearm across his chest, knowing that would alleviate the pain greatly. He held him like that until Steve’s breathing returned to almost normal and finally opened his eyes again.
“You okay? Is that better?” Danny was rubbing circles in Steve’s bicep as he talked to him.
“Yeah…much better. Thanks Danno.”
“You’re welcome buddy. Now I’m going to make you a little more comfortable, okay? I can see it’s hard to breathe like this.”
Steve nodded again, his eyes filled with a mix of pain and relief. Danny strapped the vest back on, knowing the support would prevent some of the pain from the broken ribs when he moved but careful not to tighten it too much in case there was some fragment of displaced bone. Then he put Steve’s arm in position again and took two plastic cuffs from one of the vest’s pockets and carefully placed them, one on Steve’s wrist and the other above his elbow before passing them through the loops on the vest and tightening them slightly. That way Steve could maintain the painless position without putting tension on his injured shoulder.
Making sure there wasn’t any other injury that requested his immediate attention Danny helped Steve to a slightly upright sitting position and slipped behind him, resting his back against the mountain wall and bringing Steve’s back to his chest. Apparently it was the right thing to do because Steve let out a relieved sigh and started to breathe with more ease.
“Thanks Danno, that’s…I didn’t know you were so good at this.”
“What choice do I have having you as my partner, huh? It’s a miracle I haven’t had to learn how to perform emergency field surgery by now.”
Steve’s chuckle transformed pretty fast into tense muscles and a chocked noise, and Danny hugged him more firmly from behind.
“Okay, that’s enough. Stay still until help arrives, or you will injure something else and we can’t have that, I’ve already used all my tricks on you.”
This time he could feel Steve finally relaxing in his arms. Now that the initial danger had passed, Danny could focus on getting his best friend home and having that much needed conversation.
Danny changed into the spare clothes he always kept in his car and went downstairs, checking that Steve was still asleep on the couch before padding into the kitchen to prepare something to eat for both of them.
After confirming he hadn’t any more injuries and checking that both ribs’ fractures were clean, Steve had insisted to go home instead of staying in the hospital overnight. No big surprise there. So they sent him home with a proper sling for his shoulder, antiinflammatory and painkiller prescriptions and instructions to take it easy for at least a week. Danny fought the urge of telling the doctor that his and Steve’s definition of taking it easy might differ.
Exhaustion and the painkillers had taken their toll on Steve and he had been sleeping on the couch, under the blanket Danny had tucked around him, for almost two hours.
He sat on the armchair beside the couch and started picking absently at his sandwich while surfing through the TV channels, waiting for his friends to wake up, which happened about twenty minutes later when Steve made a soft noise before opening his eyes. He focused on Danny and blinked a few times, probably trying to remember the recent facts through the haze of the painkillers.
“Are you okay? Need something?” Danny was already by his side, helping him sit and handing him a glass of water.
“I’m fine. Just…a little sore.”
Danny sat by his side on his couch and glared at him. He didn’t mean to, but he was pissed and concerned and just couldn’t help it.
Steve snorted. “And you say I have aneurism face.”
“Oh you think this is funny, Steven?”
“C’mon Danno what do you want me to say? I chased a suspect and had a little accident. These things happen, you know?”
“Oh no, Steve. Don’t give me that ‘these things happen’ bullshit because these things wouldn’t happen if you didn’t go after every suspect all by yourself with backup just a few minutes away and without even stopping a second to think about the possible dangers of doing so. I didn’t spend years training you so you could revert now into full SuperSEAL-I’m-my-own-army mode now!”
“Training me? What am I a dog?”
“You know, a dog would have learned by now.” Danny sighed, feeling the fight leave him. “Look, I know you’re having…a bad time, but you can’t keep doing that because one day it won’t be just a dislocated shoulder and a couple of ribs. And this doesn’t just affect you, think about your ohana, think about Grace…Steve, you’re not alone, you know that right?”
Steve was looking away, but slowly looked Danny in the eye and nodded.
“I know. Thank you, Danny.”
The look on Steve’s face told Danny that was as much as he getting right now but it also told him he understood how serious Danny was. That was enough for now.
“You’re welcome. C’mon, get comfortable and let’s watch a movie.” He opened his arms and arranged Steve leaning on him with a cushion for support so neither his ribs nor his shoulder were under any tension and Steve relaxed completely. Danny knew the movie choice didn’t really matter since Steve would be sleeping again in no time.
“So you’re staying?”
“Well, it’s not civilized to leave a wounded dog alone.”
“Danno!”