Note: some of you have been worried I'm not whumping Danny. Relax I'm done for this story but just finished whumping him in my next lol.

A big big thanks to everyone who has stuck with me til the end and of course my thanks to wenwalke once again.

Chapter Seven

Steve shifted awkwardly in his chair. He had declined the use of a cot in favour of staying close to Danny. However the high backed chair was far from comfortable and he had rested his head against its side in an attempt to doze, and now had a crick in his neck. He slowly attempted to rotate his neck, but was hit in the face by a pillow. Recovering from the sudden shock he sat forward in the chair and realised that Danny was awake. He'd obviously been watching him squirm in the chair and decided to launch one of his pillows at his friend.

"Thanks," Steve said raising the pillow, "how long have you been awake?"

"Not...long." Danny said, although it was muffled by the mask, "when...can... this come ... off?" He added tugging at the mask.

Steve had been waiting for this, it was the reason why he had wanted to stay close by, "it needs to stay for now, don't pull at it." He ordered pulling Danny's hand away.

"It's tight." Danny frowned.

"It has to be, remember Danny." Dawn said coming closer from her seat where she was sat monitoring his vitals. "I can take it off for a short time while we remove the nasal packs. That should make you feel much more comfortable, and make the mask more bearable."

Danny eagerly nodded, as Steve stood so that he could hold the mask in Danny's vicinity to make sure he was still getting the much needed oxygen. Dawn worked quickly to remove the packs and Steve was relieved that blood didn't start pouring from his friend's nose. "Bet that feels better, eh buddy?"

"Yeah." Danny sighed then started to cough, Dawn instinctively knew what her patient needed and passed him a bowl so he could spit up the dark congealed blood clot.

"Believe it or not Danny, that's a good sign. The bleeding has stopped, and you're managing to clear your airway. I need to put the mask back on now, but I'm going to drop the peep valve down, and hopefully we can have you on high flow by the morning." Dawn explained.

Danny groaned but allowed Dawn to replace the mask, tightening the straps to secure the seal.

"How about we change your position and try and get you comfy." Dawn suggested. "We have you on a pressure relieving mattress but I'd prefer to move you too."

"Do I have...to?" Danny grimaced. His whole body ached from his big toes to the hair follicles on his head.

"It really would be better. Danny are you in pain?" Dawn asked seeing Danny grimace once more.

"Mmmm." Danny confirmed along with a nod.

"Ok, I can fix that. Let's get some pain relief in you, and then we can get you moved." Dawn said before hurrying out of the room.

"Danny, if you were in pain you should have said something." Steve scolded.

"I just ache...everywhere." Danny explained.

"That's hardly surprising. You're black and blue all over."

"I feel like someone...used me as a...punch bag." Danny said between breaths.

"Looks like it too." Steve said frowning at the hand print he had left behind on Danny's arm, knowing the rest of his friend's body was covered in similar bruising.

"Here you go Danny." Dawn said retuning to the room and injecting a pain killer into his IV. Danny instantly felt the painkiller dial back the aches, but with it came the familiar nod, and Danny's eyes started to slip closed.

"Oh no you don't, mister, not yet." Dawn said giving Danny a gentle shake. "I want you on one of your sides for a bit, now which way do you want to face?"

"Might as well...face his ugly mug." Danny replied pointing at Steve.

"Charming." Steve said rolling his eyes then helping Danny to roll on to his side and watched as Dawn placed more pillows behind Danny to support him. Danny had only been settled a few minutes before he was back asleep.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

"Steve, Steve, I need your help." Dawn said taking a chance to wake the sleeping SEAL. Steve had finally decided to make use of the cot, once Danny had fallen back asleep, but now after several hours of sleep Dawn was roughly waking him.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Steve asked jumping off the cot.

"He's awake and more with it, he isn't tolerating the mask." Dawn replied from Danny's side where she once again batted Danny's hand away from attempting to dislodge the mask.

Staggering over to Danny's bed he saw his partner sat up in bed looking very dishevelled. His hair had fallen into his eyes and his hands were trembling. Grabbing hold of one of those hands he looked his partner in the eye. "D, calm, down. What's wrong?"

"It's too tight, I can't breath." Danny replied and tried again with his free hand to remove the mask only to be thwarted by Dawn.

"The mask is helping you to breathe Danny, you know this." Steve answered trying to calm his friend.

"And you know Steven, that I feel trapped. I don't like it."

"Danny, Dr. Pearce has just started her shift, I've paged her and she is on her way but I need you to hang tight and leave the mask alone for a little longer." Dawn explained.

"You can do that, can't you Danno? Just focus on me and ignore the mask." Steve said gaining Danny's attention with the use of his daughter's special name.

Danny rolled his eyes then dropped his head back but his eyes remained glued to Steve as he did his best to control his breathing. Thankfully only a few minutes later Dr. Pearce entered the room.

"Morning, Danny. Misbehaving I hear, you must be feeling better."

Danny laughed and nodded in response.

"Ok, let me check your last blood gasses." Dr. Pearce said quickly looking through Danny's file and his latest readings. After a quick listen to Danny's chest she smiled and then released the straps holding the mask. "Your gasses look good. We can swap you to high flow now. It's still a mask but not a tight one."

"Thanks." Danny smiled, he wasn't a massive fan of the new mask but it was a big improvement, and it didn't make him feel claustrophobic.

"Your lungs have improved a lot overnight. I'd like to see you out of bed today. Sit in the chair for a while. I'm going to continue the IV fluids and omeprazole for today, but let's start you off on a very light diet, soup, and ice cream. Take it steady, your stomach is going to be sensitive for a while after the bleeding."

"Ok. Thanks Andrea." Danny sighed, he still ached all over, and if he was honest with himself, the thought of getting out of bed wasn't appealing, but he knew he had to do it if he wanted to get out of hospital as soon as possible.

"You're welcome Danny. I have other patients to review but I'll be back to check on you later."

"Thanks doc." Steve smiled, grateful to see his best friend looking better.

"So Danny, how do you feel about getting that trip to the chair out of the way?" Dawn smiled. "We can get you freshened up so I can go home and sleep knowing, you're all set for the day."

"Sure." Danny sighed, "Anything to help my favourite nurse sleep."

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

It had taken more effort than Danny had imagined to make it out of bed. All his joints were stiff, and Steve had to help support him to slowly manoeuvre from bed to chair, while Dawn took care of the lines and catheter attached to him. Danny had needed several minutes to recover his breathing before Dawn helped him to freshen up. Steve nipped out, allowing Danny some privacy, and to get some much needed coffee for himself and for Danny, after checking with Dawn that it would be ok.

Once Dawn was satisfied that Danny was comfortable, and stable, sat in the chair, she handed over to the day staff and headed home, bidding Steve farewell as he returned to the ICU.

"Looking good, partner." Steve smiled seeing Danny sat in the chair, wearing a fresh gown and a sheet across his knee, the catheter tucked away discretely to spare any embarrassment.

"Yeah, right." Danny laughed.

"Well you look miles better than yesterday at least. You kinda scared me."

"Kinda scared myself. I'm sorry. I screwed up." Danny admitted.

"How did you screw up?" Steve asked surprised. "You arrested both Channing, and Mrs. Lomax."

"But I managed to get myself poisoned, I shouldn't have drunk the coffee, I let my guard down because she was an old woman."

"I did too, Danny. I told you to go have a coffee, I feel so bad about that." Steve said dropping his gaze to the floor.

"Steve, don't. You weren't to know."

"And neither were you. We'll chalk this up as a learning experience. From now on, no one on the team accepts anything from a witness."

"Agreed." Danny smiled then readjusted the oxygen mask to a more comfortable position.

"Well look who's out of bed." Kono said entering the room, Chin seconds behind her, "you look so much better, Danny."

"I feel better, tired and I ache all over but my breathing is so much easier."

"Any idea how long you'll be stuck in here." Chin asked.

"Dr. Pearce didn't say but I'd expect it to be a few more days." Steve answered.

"Dawn said I should be on normal oxygen by tomorrow. Then I can move out of the ICU and lose the IV's." Danny filled them in.

"That's great." Kono said placing a brown food bag on the table next to Danny, "I brought you some of my mom's chicken soup. I always have some in the freezer in case I need a pick me up, and Steve said you've been cleared for a light diet."

"Kono Kalakaua do you know how much I love you?" Danny said his mouth already watering at the thought of Mrs. Kalakaua famous chicken soup. It was a favourite of all the team and would be miles better than the tasteless broth the hospital usually provided.

"Right back at ya, brah. Don't scare us like that again."

"I'll try not to." Danny promised.

Steve handed Danny his coffee and the team settled down to keep him company. They couldn't help but notice that he still looked pale, and was tiring sat out in the chair. But they were grateful that he was slowly recovering from the attack that came close to taking him from them. A few more days and he would be out of the hospital, and well on the way to a full recovery.

THE END