Chapter Text
Hi Everyone,
Welcome to the final installment of Broken Blue. Thank you so much for the feedback and support. Please head over to check out my newest story Truth and Lies, he summary for which will be below. Anyway, enjoy and please let me know what you think.
Thanks again,
Rose xx
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"They're there!" Kono's shout crackles in through Chin's headset, and he peers down. He too can see Steve and Danny, and it doesn't look good. Now he's realised the helicopter is there for them, Danny has slumped over. He's resting underneath Steve, who, even from a distance, doesn't look good. He's paler than after any of the many injuries he's ever had, and the fact he's not conscious is a tale in itself. Between the SEAL's lack of movement and Danny's convulsive sobs, Chin is worried they may have been too late.
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"Steve wake up!" Danny's voice is drowned out by the sound of a helicopter. He won't remove himself from under Steve, but he has to make sure he's seen.
"Down here!" he screams, waving his arms. "Please, we're down here!" The helicopter is hovering, and Danny realise that it must be there for them. Steve was right. They'd been found. He slumps over Steve, sobs wracking his body. Steve hasn't responded and his breathing is laboured.
"They're here Steve, just hold on for a little bit longer."
A metallic clang sounds and Danny looks up to see a man clad in bright orange and a basket of the same colour.
"Detective Williams?" Danny nods. "I'm going to take your partner up first, okay? I need you to slide out from under him." He's asking him to leave Steve. He can't. He won't. He clings to Steve, shaking his head adamantly.
"Detective Williams, I need you to let go of your partner or I'll have too forcefully remove you." Danny shakes his head once again. He is colder than he's ever been in his life and someone is trying to take Steve from him. Rational thought has long since gone. The man sighs and leans towards him. He gently unclasps Danny's hands from where they cling to Steve, and Danny is too weak to fight him. As the man moves to lift Steve, Danny launches one final attempt to hold onto him, thrashing and crying as he's taken away.
"I'm sorry detective, but you're injured and so is your partner. The more you move, the more damage you risk causing the both of you. I didn't want to do this but it's better for both of you. Just relax okay?" Danny doesn't know what he's talking about until the man leans across and he feels a prick in his thigh. He looks down, already feeling light headed. His head feels heavy, and the man, who is fast becoming an orange blob, holds his shoulders and rests him down, he tries to keep his eyes open.
"St've." The brunette is being rolled and secured into the basket. Orange blob is gesturing up at the helicopter. His strength gives out, and Danny slips away.
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Chin and Kono watch the scene below worriedly. Danny is fighting Tony, the medic. Tony leans over, and Danny gives up, being guided down and lying, half asleep, as Steve is secured into the basket. Perhaps the worst part is the fact Steve has spent the whole ordeal still. The basket finally makes it to the chopper, and is handed to the blonde haired medic who's stayed behind, Steph. With practiced speed, Steve is rolled out, and Tony is gone before they have a chance to ask anything of him. Up close, Steve looks worse. He's breathing, thank god, but it's laboured, and as Steph cuts off the shirt he's wearing Chin's sickened by the bruising, purple going to black, all over his chest. Steph runs practiced hands over his head, and as she pulls her hand away, it is sticky with slightly coagulated blood. Worse still, is his leg. The bottom half is bent the wrong way, sticking out to the left. Once again, the gentle snick of Stephanie's scissors reveals the worst. It too, is black and blue. As Stephanie continues her assessment on the unmoving Steve, Danny is brought in, and suddenly, everything is worse. He's out. Chin had though he was fine, fighting the medic, being as stubborn s always. But now, he was motionless, pale and barely shivering.
"What happened?" Tony is quick to placate him.
"He's alright. Hypothermia was setting in and he as delirious. I sedated him so he didn't hurt Steve or himself." He turns to his female partner. "I gave him a brief check while we were down there. Mild hypothermia and an aggravated knee injury. Scar shows he's likely had a reco done so I'm not hugely worried about that. What about him?" As he speaks, Tony is establishing an IV, pushing saline through, and stripping Danny of his wet clothes, quickly wiping him down with towels and replacing blankets over him in heaping piles.
"Broken leg, not compound, I'll need your help setting it in a second. Broken fourth, fifth and eights rib, sternum is cracked and possibly broken. Fourth is pressing on his lung. I'm more worried about this head wound. Blunt force trauma, he hasn't shown any response so far." She too is stripping Steve, but the saline she pulls out is from a bag full of heat-packs. An oxygen mask is placed over his face after the IV is established, and the top half of his body is covered similarly to Danny's.
"Tony, I need to set this leg. Blood flow's been cut off long enough, he's going to be lucky not to lose it as it is."
The thought of Steve losing a leg has Chin blanching, and he looks away while the two medics position themselves on either side of the crooked leg. There is a sickening snap and Chin finally convinces himself to look. Steve hasn't moved, though his leg is resting at a more natural angle than previously. The two medics quickly work to splint the leg, and finally Steve is covered entirely in blankets. The two medics sit back. Steve and Danny are both lying on the floor of the helicopter, under piles of blanket. Steve had a bandage fixed around his head, a blood pressure cuff around his arm and an oxygen mask affixed to his face. He was barely shivering, weak shudders attempting to make their way up his body. Danny was looking much better. There is an inflated brace around his knee and a BP cuff around his arm, but he was no longer shivering and had more colour back in his face. It struck Chin as odd that Danny seemed much better off. He voiced his query.
"It looks like Steve hit the water first, he would have taken most of the impact, that'll be where the leg and ribs came from and I'd say from the minor whiplash he's got that he snapped his head back and that's where the head injury is from. They would have both been mildly hypothermic when we found them, but the injuries will be making Steve's weaker so his body is having to work harder to warm him up." Almost on cue, Steve begins coughing. Steph is quick to jump up, gently lifting his upper body up, the difference audible as the wheezing splutter dies down.
"How far out are we?" It's Tony this time, looking worriedly between where Steve lies prone, now propped up by one of the med bags and the small monitor he holds which show Steve's oxygen saturation nd blood pressure.
"Ten minutes," the pilot replies, barely turning his head to look.
"Make it five."
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Danny's head feels heavy and his tongue fuzzy. He's warm, and for some reason, that is a nice surprise. He doesn't know why.
"Daniel, can you hear me?" he furrows his brow. The only people who call him that are Rachel and his mother. He's pretty sure neither of them are here right now. Blinking his eyes open, he is proved wrong. Rachels dark hair and eyes invade his field of vision.
"Rach?" She smooths her hand over his head.
"Hey. Grace has been waiting for you." He can see her now, too, curled up at his sided, bunching up the white blankets. It's then he realises: he and Steve don't have sheets like these, white and scratchy. Rachel isn't ever in their house, it would be weird. So where's-
"Steve!" he shoots up, startling his daughter awake.
"Danno!" she gives him a tight hug which he returns.
"Rachel where is Steve?" Fear is engulfing him; his heart is hammering. He feels bad for not catching up with Grace, but she is here and warm and alive and Steve isn't.
"Calm down Daniel. What do you remember?"
He wracks his brain. They were on a plane…With a flash, everything comes back, and he instinctively raises his hand, breathing a sigh of relief when he sees the ring there.
Rachel smiles softly. "Congratulations Daniel."
"Steve?" he is almost too scared to ask. Her face drops.
"The two of you were brought in earlier this afternoon. They sedated you at the site to keep you calm." Danny glowers at that revelation, though he can now see the logic behind it and feel the embarrassment for his behaviour. "Steven has a broken leg, as well as a few ribs and a concussion. The concussion is the worry at the moment. There's some swelling of hi brain. They're optimistic it will come down with no lasting effects but for now they haven't been able to wake him. Oh Daniel, I'm so sorry."
Danny tries to stay calm. Grace has stayed silent, clinging on to him and he once again returns her embrace, slowing the breathing that is slowly getting out of control. He gathers his strength. Aside from some aches and the large brace around is knee, he's feeling okay.
"I need to see him."
"Danny, I don't think that's a good idea."
"I. Need. To. See. Him." He grits out, already trying to push himself up. Rachel sighs.
"I'll go get a nurse. Take care of him Grace." The young girl smiles in response.
A few minutes later, Rachel returns, a wheelchair-baring nurse in tow.
"You'll only have a few minutes." Danny nods, already formulating a plan to get himself a room with his partner.
When he rolls into Steve's room, a blanket covering him, Grace walking by his side and Rachel pushing the wheelchair. He's tired already from the short journey from his bed to the chair, natural, he's been told, with the remnants of a sedative still working its' way through his system. If he feels bad Steve look worse. Chin and Kono both greet him with a hug, before retreating to the chairs in the room. Rachel leaves him beside the best with a hand on his shoulder, saying she'll be back for Grace in an hour. Danny has eyes only for Steve. He's paler than Danny has ever seen him, stiller too. He's an active person, moving even in sleep. The only way Danny can keep him still is curling up to his chest and wrapping around him like an octopus. But now, his arms are still by his sides, a casted leg resting atop the sheets, an oxygen canula tucked under his nose. His chest is uncovered, bound by thick strips of crisp, white bandages. Danny reaches out, pulling his hand towards him. He brings it to his lips, kissing it gently before holding it between his two, noting how cold it is. Grace has given Steve a hug, and now curls up with her Auntie Kono. Danny settles back in his chair, anchoring himself to Steve, new ring glinting in the rays of the setting sun which come through the window. He's already rehearsing what he will say to his doctor to allow his bed to be moved in with Steve's.
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Danny steadily improves in the following days. They'd been admitted on a Friday, and by the following Thursday Danny has been out of the hospital for a day and is gaining his mobility back. The mornings he spends at PT, the afternoons and evening at the hospital with Steve. Waiting. Steve's breathing has gotten better over the week, and the doctors had assured Danny the swelling was coming down. It was during his Thursday night visit something finally changed. Danny had spent the evening recounting the first camping trip Steve had taken Danny on, when he felt a finger in his hand twitch. He looked down, barely daring to breathe.
"Steve?" The finger moves again, just slightly. Steve's brow creases and Danny moves to gently press the call button. Steve's eyelashes flutter across pale cheeks.
"Steve, open those baby blues for me." He strokes his thumb across Steve's hand as a nurse walks in.
"Commander McGarrett can you hear me? She rubs her knuckles along his collarbone and he grimaces again. "Commander, can you open your eyes for me?" She makes eye contact with Danny, and nods.
"Steve, babe open your eyes. I've been waiting for you." He squeezes his hand, and gasps.
"He squeezed my hand!" The nurse smiles.
"Keep talking to him."
"Come on Steve. Stop being so stubborn and open your eyes." Finally, Steve's eyes crack open. With a croaky gasp, they snap closed. The nurse quickly moves in, peeling Steve's eyes open and shining a penlight in them. He moans weakly, attempting to toss his head away from the intrusive light. The nurse checks a few of the monitors and leans in close.
"Can you tell me your name and rank please?"
Steve's eyes are cracked, and he lips his lips slowly. " 'tenant com'ader st've j'mes 'garrett." Its slurred, but he's right.
"Good job Commander. Last question. Can you tell me the year and who is next to you?"
"t's 2011. And that's D'nno." The SEAL smiles, still looking slightly out of it. "I'm gunna m'rry 'im."
The nurse laughs. "Well congratulations you two. Steve's primary will be in in about half an hour to do some other neuro checks, but I think you'll be fine. I'll give the two of you a bit to catch up." She winks, and leaves, the door closing softly behind her. Steve turns his head towards him, eyes hooded and a goofy smile on his face. Danny shuffles closer, encapsulating Steve's hand in his own.
Steve," he says, holding back the tears of the past week. "You are never taking me on a plane again."
Steve laughs weakly, already looking ready to head back to sleep. Danny leans down to kiss him, lips gently brushing the pale forehead, a hand brushing through his hair, finding a neat row of seven stitches.
"Remember you still owe me a proposal. A proper one. No more near-death experiences." As Steve's eyes slip closed, he murmurs out a sentence Danny can barely decipher. "I think that can be arranged."
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Thank you so much for coming on this journey with me. I hope you've enjoyed Broken Blue. I'm thinking of doing oneshot with their wedding, would anyone be interested? Let me know. Please see below for the description of Truth and Lies (please note this story will deal with (m) rated themes and some triggering themes (noncon and some violence). The prologue is up and the first chapter will follow tomorrow.
Rose xx
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Truth and Lies:
Danny and Steve are in love. At least Danny thinks they are. But that all changes when Steve comes home one night smelling of cigarette's he doesn't smoke and men that aren't Danny. And Danny knows their relationship can never be the same.