DISCLAIMER: See chapter 1.

A/N: Thank you so much for all the alerts, reviews and just for reading! This is the final chapter, an epilogue, hence the reason it is shorter! It's been a fun journey, all thanks to Mimi05 talking about Danny in the shower, I'll say no more about that! I hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Until next time.

Chapter 8

Steve pulled up outside his house and sat in the truck staring. This was his home he shouldn't be nervous about entering it, but because of the argument with Danny that morning he was. A knock on his window made him jump.

"Come on, staring at the house won't resolve things," chided Chin. He'd followed Steve on his motorbike.

"I know," sighed Steve as he opened the door.

"It'll be OK," Chin slapped Steve on the shoulder before walking ahead of him into the house, Steve still dragging his feet a little.

Taking a deep breath Steve entered the house and the first thing he saw was Danny still asleep on the couch. Steve walked quietly over to look at him after nodding a greeting to Akela and Henry. His friend looked pale and worn. Even asleep Steve could see the dark circles under his eyes and the oxygen mask just accentuated the fact that he'd had a bad day as far as his recovery was concerned.

"I'm sorry Danno," he whispered on a sigh.

"That might mean more when he's awake," Kono said quietly from where she'd walked up next to him.

"Yeah, I know."

"Come on, leave him to sleep," she placed a hand at his elbow and led him out the lanai, pouring a glass of iced tea and placing it in front of him.

"Has he been awake at all?"

"A couple of times and just so you know, he feels as bad about this morning as you do."

"I doubt that," Steve leaned forward, elbows on his knees, glass between his hands.

Kono sat in the chair next to him, "He's had a lecture from Henry, Hanna and Akela. I'm betting it was a little less confrontational than the one Henry gave you," Steve snorted a little at that, "Danny knows that he should have said something."

"Then why didn't he?"

"You can ask him later," Henry told him joining them on the lanai.

"Why don't you go for a swim, brah," suggested Chin.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," he nodded as he went into the house to change. It didn't take long and he was walking into the warm clear water. The moment the ocean washed over his head he felt his body relax. This was what helped him get through the bad days. Right now what did Danny have? That was a question that Steve would try to answer later when the other man woke up.

-5-0-

Danny woke up and felt better than he had all day. He looked around and saw Akela smile at him and get up.

"Hey, how you feeling?" he sat on the edge of the couch by Danny's legs.

"Better," the reply was muffled under the oxygen mask and he reached up to take it off.

"Leave that on, at least until Henry tells you otherwise," cautioned Akela.

"I need to go to the bathroom," he grumbled in response.

"Fine, I'll take it off while you do that, but once you're done I'm putting it back on!"

"OK," agreed Danny, after his earlier experience of not being able to catch his breath he wasn't arguing with the other man, not to mention the nurse was built and could probably crush him with one hand!

Akela turned off the oxygen supply and removed the mask and then helped Danny sit up. He took a moment to allow the change in perspective to register since he had been laying down for the best part of the day and then the nurse helped him to his feet and they shuffled to the downstairs bathroom. Akela left him alone but made sure he stayed outside the door in case he needed help.

When Danny was done Akela helped him back to the couch but allowed him to sit up, "I'm just going to get Henry."

A moment later the doctor and nurse returned, "How are you feeling Danny?"

"Tired," his hand rubbed subconsciously at his chest.

"Is your chest hurting?"

"Yeah, a little."

"OK, let's have a look at you," Henry took hold of the bag next to him and proceeded to give Danny a thorough check up.

"What's the verdict?" queried Danny when he'd finished.

"Your lungs still sound relatively clear but I want you to keep using the oxygen."

"How long for?"

"Until tomorrow morning," Henry replied, watching as Danny's face fell, "We can change you to the nasal cannula now, which should make it a little more comfortable."

Akela changed the attachment on the tank and slipped the nasal cannula over Danny's ears and under his nose before turning the tank back on.

"The oxygen is only a precaution Danny but I think it's necessary. You put a lot of strain on your pulmonary system this morning and you're still recovering."

"I know. I haven't forgotten what you said earlier."

"Good. Steve should be back from his swim, you two need to talk."

"Yeah, I know," Danny hung his head slightly.

"There are some things I talked about with him and Chin earlier that might help prevent this situation arising again. Would you like me to tell you what they were?" Henry asked gently. This was the first time the doctor thought his patient was ready to hear what he had to say.

"OK."

"Steve is going to arrange for the home nursing company to send someone whenever there's a case, no matter how small it may seem. That way if the team need to suddenly up and leave there's no waiting and no stress."

"That makes sense," Danny agreed readily. Steve would be surprised to hear his friend's easy acquiescence, though his next words would have cleared up why, "I won't have to feel guilty about keeping them from doing their job then either."

Henry nodded, "Next, physical therapy," Danny's face screwed up, "Yes, I know, that part of your routine has worn you down. I've made an appointment for you with your physical therapist and your breathing therapist for tomorrow. Both of them will review your exercises with you. It's up to you whether Steve joins you when you see the physical therapist or not."

Danny ran his hands through his hair, careful not to catch the nasal cannula, "I'd like him to be there, I mean he has helped me through the last two weeks of therapy…" he trailed off.

"It just got to be a little much, waking up at seven AM when you're so tired," Henry filled in.

"Yeah."

"Make sure you discuss this with the therapist Danny. He deals with patients that are recovering from a variety of injuries and illnesses, some of which have been debilitating, leaving patients exhausted. He'll help you and Steve work out a plan that fits in around both of you."

"Sounds good. Anything else?"

"One last thing. Chin suggested that it might be helpful to get you out of the house a little more and not just to sit on the lanai."

"That would be good," Danny agreed.

"There would be conditions."

"Let me guess, a wheelchair."

Henry smiled at Danny's perceptiveness, "Yes, but only if you're going somewhere that would require walking for a prolonged period. If you were just going to visit Kamekona at his truck or shave ice stand then there wouldn't be far to walk. However if you wanted to go to the park with Grace then you would need to use the wheelchair. No wheelchair, no trip out. Am I clear?"

"Yes Henry," Danny wanted nothing more than to be able to get out of the house and if that meant occasionally sitting in a wheelchair, then he'd live with that.

"Excellent!" Henry sat back, "Can you think of anything else that might help?"

"Not right now, no."

"OK, well if you do, let someone know."

"I will, I remember what you said earlier and you were right. I should have spoken to someone about how I was feeling, but everyone's done so much for me I didn't want to seem ungrateful," Danny sighed, "You and Akela stopping by every day; Hanna making herself available; Chin and Kono working from here every few days… and Steve too, not to mention the fact he cut out his run in the mornings to do the therapy with me, complaining I was tired just felt like I'd be throwing that back in your faces."

"Oh Danno," Steve entered the room from the kitchen. He'd had a good swim, rinsed off under the outdoor shower and changed into some board shorts and a t-shirt that he kept in the laundry room, "I never meant to make you feel like you couldn't tell me you'd had enough," Steve sat on the coffee table as Henry got up and patted him on the shoulder, leaving the two men to talk.

"I did eventually," Danny pointed out with a wry smile.

"Yeah, we didn't handle that very well," huffed Steve.

"That might be an understatement," Danny snorted, coughing when he did.

Steve immediately handed him the box of tissues and moved the clinical waste bin nearer to him, "Easy Danny," his brow furrowed in concern.

"I'm OK," Danny told him, seeing the worry, quickly followed by the scepticism when he said that, "Well better than I was this morning anyway," he amended.

"Danny, I'm so sorry that we argued like that this morning…"

Danny held his hand up to prevent Steve from going any further with his apology, "Don't babe, it was my fault. I behaved like an ass."

"I can't argue with that, but so did I!"

"OK, so we're both asses," Danny nodded, "Stubborn asses."

"Has Henry told you about the changes he, Chin and I discussed?"

"Yeah, he has and I think they're a good idea."

"All of them?" Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, all of them. Even the wheelchair."

"Huh."

"What?"

"Well I thought there'd be an argument at least about that!"

"If it gets me out of the house for a while then I'm all for it! I'm not saying that at some point I won't fight you on using it when I'm feeling better, but right now I've got about as much co-ordination as a deer on ice."

"A deer on ice?"

"Grace likes Bambi, wanna make an issue of it?!"

Steve held up his hands grinning, "Nope, no issue here."

Danny grinned back before turning serious again, "I'm sorry Steve. I said some things I really didn't mean…"

"No," Steve waved his friend's apology away, "I'm sorry Danno, I should never have accused you of being irresponsible…"

"Hey," Danny interrupted, "How about we agree, we both said things we regret…"

"Yeah, we did."

"We OK?"

"Yeah, we're good," Steve reached out and pulled Danny into a brief hug.

"Awww, you made up," Kono cooed from the kitchen door.

Both men turned and glared at her, "Kono!"

She laughed, "Dinner's ready."

"It is?"

"Yeah brah, Kamekona has brought some of his garlic shrimp over mixed with some pasta and Hanna picked up some ice cream for dessert, so if you want to get any food you better hustle!"

"Hey, no hurrying the sick guy!"

"Alright, you got me there; I'll make sure we save you some," she turned to Steve, "Not so sure about you though…"

"Hey, sick guy needs help to get out to the lanai…" Steve mock glared.

"Fine, I'll make sure there's some left for you, just come on!" Kono laughed and disappeared.

Steve wasn't sure what to do about the oxygen when Akela entered the room and solved that issue, "Henry says we can take you off the oxygen during dinner," he turned off the tank and removed the cannula before he and Steve helped Danny out to the lanai.

Danny settled in his seat between Steve and Henry, his mouth watering at the sight of a plate heaped with the pasta dish Kamekona had put together, "This looks good Shamu," he grinned at the other man.

"Only de best for you Jersey!" Kamekona grinned right back and watched the detective digging in, pleased to see that his offering was going down so well.

Danny thoroughly enjoyed his meal. His appetite had been fairly 'off' the last couple of weeks, it had only been in the last few days that he had started to enjoy food again. This meal was the perfect blend of enough flavours to stimulate his taste buds without being over powering. It wasn't just the food that made the meal enjoyable though, it was the fact that he and Steve had managed to sort out what had caused their argument that morning and now they were surrounded by friends.

Once the meal was finished and everything had been cleared away Danny sat back and contemplated how lucky he was to have these people in his life. Without them he wasn't sure he would have got through being infected with Anthrax. He knew he still had a way to go and that there would be bumps in the road and he had absolutely no doubt that one of those bumps would be caused by the wheelchair that was now sitting by Steve's front door, but he knew, that with the support of his extended ohana that now included Henry, Hanna and Akela, he could get through it.