Danny wasn't sure how long he'd been sat in the waiting room at Tripler's Emergency department, but it was long enough that he'd asked Kono to pick Grace up from school and keep her at her house until Danny knew what was going on. Chin and Lou offered to stay for support but Danny told them to go not long ago, when he noticed that it was dark outside. As soon as they left, he let himself have a few minutes of crying now that he was alone.

Alone.

He quickly stopped thinking about that word. It wouldn't do him any good. He had to focus on Steve now, who was currently having emergency brain surgery after being ambushed while chasing after their suspect. He was good, but against six guys as big as he was, he didn't stand a chance.

Danny found him once they'd got everyone involved, and felt his heart stop dead in his chest at the sight of his best friend, partner and lover lying unconscious on the ground, bleeding out of his mouth, nose and – most worryingly – an ear.

When the paramedics arrived they quickly intubated him to maintain Steve's airway, got him onto a spinal board and, along with Danny, straight into the ambulance to take them to Tripler's Military hospital. The surgical and neurological team met them when they arrived and quickly whisked Steve straight to theatre after a quick assessment of his vital signs and pupils using the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) leaving Danny standing bewildered in the emergency room watching the man he loved be taken away from him.

"He's gonna be okay though, right?" He asked one of the nurses who were cleaning up the area that Steve was in. She looked at him sadly before replying.

"Detective Williams, your partner was badly beaten. Bleeding from the ear is never a good sign when it comes to head injuries. He's most likely sustained a brain injury, but until he comes out of surgery and wakes up there's no way to tell how severe. His pupils were dilated when we checked his GCS, which also isn't good. Be prepared that he is probably going to be a different person after this. I'm very sorry." Danny scrubbed his face with his hands, feeling his heartrate climb up.

"Where can I wait for him?"

"Our surgery waiting area is just down the corridor where they took your partner, and it's the room on the right."

"Thank you." He said as he began the slow walk.

"Detective Williams?"

Danny's head snapped up from where it was resting on his hands at the mention of his name. He was relieved to see it was one of the surgeons who took Steve away.

"Doc, what's the score?" Danny said, jumping to his feet.

"Commander McGarrett was bleeding into his brain, which as you saw was coming out of his ear, we managed to stop it. He also fractured his skull, which we repaired. We've had to place him in a medically induced coma, to give his body time to recover. We'll bring him out of it after a few days though, a week at the most. He's been moved up to the NCCU – the Neurological Critical Care Unit – now, if you'd like to come with us."

Danny's chest was heaving, and he ran his fingers through already-messy hair as he nodded. He followed the surgeon to the unit, and upon entering Steve's room he promptly fell into the chair at his bedside and grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers together.

"I'll give you a few minutes with him, then we have a few questions for you."

Danny nodded, not taking his eyes off of Steve. He was hooked up to a ventilator that was currently breathing for him, intravenous fluids and pain relief. He also had a tube down his nose that was providing him with nutrition. A nurse came in to recheck his vital signs – she assured Danny that this is something that they do very frequently at this stage – and handed him a box of tissues as she left without him even asking for them.

"Thank you." He whispered, promptly taking one to wipe his face with. "I told you to wait for me, but no, not 'Steve McGarrett'. You had to run off and be a hero." A small humourless laugh escaped from him. "Thing is, you're already a hero, to me and Gracie. I dunno what's gonna happen now; things are probably gonna change and we're both going to hate it. But that won't change. I'll still love you, babe." Danny brought Steve's hand up and kissed each knuckle. "No matter what."

A knock at the door caught his attention, and he motioned for the young man in scrubs at the door to come in.

"I'm sorry to intrude, Detective. My name is Will and I'm one of the Neurological doctors working in this department." He said as he sat in the chair next to Danny.

"Please, call me Danny." Danny said, shaking the other mans offered hand. "So, what's the plan now?"

"Well, as my colleague explained earlier we'll keep Commander McGarrett in a coma for a day or two, no longer than a week. We'll be regularly assessing his vital signs and GCS, keeping him comfortable until we can fully assess how severely his brain has been damaged, using a few harmless bedside tests. Then after that, we can start to plan for his future – rehab to rebuild any skills that he can, where he'll go after here, and so on. If that's possible, of course."

Danny bit his lip and stroked Steve's hand with his thumb, nodding as he processed the information. "So… he is brain damaged, then? Definitely?"

"I'm afraid the reports of the scan that we did after the surgery show that, yes, he is. He sustained what we call a traumatic brain injury, or a TBI." Will made a few notes on his clipboard, and so missed the silent tears that slipped down Danny's cheeks before he quickly brushed them away. "Detective, we have to be realistic here. The Commander is not going to be the same person that you knew this morning. His brain was damaged, and the next 48 hours are critical. Because of this, we need to know if he is to be resuscitated if anything bad happens. As his emergency contact and medical proxy, it's your call."

Danny's head shot up at that, a furious look on his face.

"Of course he is! If he crashes you bring him back, okay?!" The blonde shouted, before covering his mouth with his hand. "I'm sorry, it's just… A lot to take in."

"It's alright, Danny. Can I ask, what is your relationship to Steve?"

"We're partners in Five 0, have been for almost 5 years now. We've been uh, together though, for a couple of years, living at his house." Danny sighed, looking back at Steve. "I guess I should say 'we were' now, huh?"

Will gave him a sympathetic look and patted his arm as he stood up to leave. "I'm very sorry, Danny. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. I won't tell you to go home and sleep because I know that you probably won't. Our visiting hours are flexible but we just ask that visitors respect that the patients are very ill and need all the rest that they can. As I say, we'll know more tomorrow if we wake the Commander up." He said, before silently leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Danny's walls crumbled and his emotions came tumbling out, his head bowing forward to rest on the bed next to Steve's elbow as he sobbed into the covers, his fingers still laced with Steve's lax ones.