More Than Just a Broken Arm Chapter 31/?
Title: More Than Just a Broken Arm 31/?
Author: softballchic34
Characters: Steve McGarrett, Danny Williams
Spoilers: Season 1 episode 20
Rated PG-13 for language.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any of the characters, nor do I make any profit from this.
Summary: A broken arm is the least of Steve's problems.
Chapter 31
Monday finds Steve awake before the sun comes up. He is nervous about going back to work. He lies awake in bed for nearly an hour before he needs to get up. Bo, who has stopped sleeping in his crate at night and is now sleeping on his dog bed on the floor next to Steve, wakes up at five thirty and starts pawing at the bed and making noise to go outside.
Steve rolls out of bed and scratches Bo behind the ears. Bo follows him downstairs, he is excited to go out and then have his breakfast. Steve makes a pot of coffee as Bo attacks his food bowl with gusto. When Steve took him back to the vet on Thursday to have his stitches out and cast changed Dr. Adams weighed him and he’s already put on nearly two pounds since Steve first brought him in. Bo is still on the lean side and still small but he’s doing really well for what he has been through.
Once Catherine is out of the shower and downstairs Steve heads up to take a shower and get dressed for work. After he showers and shaves he dons a pair of khaki cargo pants and a white v-neck t-shirt and a dark blue over shirt.
When Steve is done getting ready for work he heads back downstairs for breakfast. Cath is at the table eating some peanut butter toast while Mary is inhaling her coffee. Steve grabs the box of granola and the sliced fruit and yogurt out of the fridge to make his breakfast. After Steve fixes himself a bowl of yogurt he heads for the table, glancing around for Bo. Steve finds Bo lying under the table happily chewing on one of Steve’s flip flops.
“No.” Steve says firmly, “Bo give.” Steve grabs his flip flop and repeats the command until Bo lets it go. “Good boy, Bo.” Steve praises the puppy and gives him one of his toys to chew on instead. He inspects the shoe, finding that aside from some teeth marks there isn’t too much damage. They’re still wearable.
“The joys of puppyhood, huh?” Cath smiles over her coffee mug.
“Yeah, hopefully after he’s done teething he will outgrow this chewing phase.” The remainder of breakfast is eaten in silence, Steve isn’t in the mood for chitchat right now, he is still nervous about his first half day back at work. Cath is going to drop him off at the Palace on her way to base and Mary will pick him up at ten thirty for his appointment with Dr. Tyson.
“Hey Mary, don’t forget to let Bo outside before you come get me later. And make sure you lock him in his crate when you leave. Otherwise the house will be chewed to pieces if you leave him out.” Steve tells his little sister as he gets ready to leave.
Mary is sitting on the living room floor playing with Bo. “Don’t worry about us, Steve. Bo will be fine here with me, won’t you buddy?” she says, playfully tousling the puppy’s ears.
“Alright, I’ll see you later, Mare.”
“Have a good day!” She calls, watching her brother walk out the door.
Steve is silent on the drive to the Palace. He is nervous but he is trying not to show it. He isn’t really sure why he is nervous though, it isn’t like he is starting a new job or has a new boss or coworkers. Everything will be the same except he will spend the day behind his desk and Danny is in charge of the team when they are out of the office.
Cath pulls up into the parking lot, Steve sees that Danny, Chin, and Kono are all already at work. Cath leans over and gives Steve a kiss on the cheek. “Everything will be fine, Babe.” She tries to soothe him; she picked up on his nervousness before they even left the house.
“I don’t know why I’m so nervous. This isn’t anything I haven’t done before.” Steve confides, twisting in his seat to see Cath better.
“You haven’t been at work in two months, its normal for you to be nervous about going back; especially after such a severe injury. Keep in mind you are still recovering and not back at one hundred percent yet.”
“Yeah, I know. I just hate that I have to be on desk duty indefinitely. And my team has changed; they won’t even talk about cases in front of me anymore for fear that they will hurt my feelings. Not to mention Danny has been leading the task force for the last two months, I can’t really take back leadership since I can’t be in the field. It will be weird.”
“It may be a bit awkward these first few days but things will straighten out and you’ll be fine.” Cath gives him another kiss and squeezes his hand.
“Thanks, Cath. I’ll see you tonight.” Steve says as he climbs out of the car.
Steve takes the stairs up to HQ. He enters to find Danny, Chin, and Kono gathered around the smart table.
“Hey, Boss! Welcome back!” Kono says greeting him with a hug.
“Good to have you back, brah.” Chin states with a smile, slapping him on the back.
“It’s great to have you back, partner.” Danny says, giving Steve a man hug. “We brought malasadas and coffee.”
“So what’s going on?” Steve asks right before taking a bite of a malasada. He doesn’t touch the coffee, he’s already had one cup this morning so he probably shouldn’t have any more for a few hours.
His team fills him in on the details of their latest case as they eat malasadas and drink coffee around the smart table. They just wrapped up a murder case on Saturday so today is dedicated to filling out the paperwork that goes with it unless they get a new case today.
Less than ten minutes later Danny’s phone rings, he steps away from the group to take the call.
“Hey we have a case.” Danny says as he shoves his phone back into his pocket. “Two bodies found in an alleyway off Ala Moana Boulevard. Sorry Steve, we have to go.” Danny looks apologetic at having to leave Steve behind already on his first day back.
“Yeah, keep me updated. Call if you need anything.” Steve waves them out. After they are all out the door, he sighs and heads for his office, not really sure what to do.
Steve hates that he can’t go out to the crime scene with his team. He has only been at work for twenty minutes and he is already wishing he wasn’t there. In his office he finds a stack of reports on his desk that need his signature. He starts going through the stack, catching up on everything he missed while he was gone.
He spends an hour doing that, when he is finished he glances at the clock and sees that he still has an hour left before Mary will be here to take him to his appointment with Dr. Tyson. He boots up his computer and logs in to his email. He has 400 some odd emails from the last two months.
Steve can’t believe he has so many unread emails. The thought of reading through all of them is overwhelming but he knows it is something that he needs to do. He starts by weeding out all of the junk emails, despite the strong firewalls and spam filters Chin set up, he still somehow gets a high number of spam mail every day. He makes a mental note to ask Chin if he can look into changing the settings again.
Steve spends twenty minutes deleting junk emails and is left with only about 200 emails that he needs to go through; still a lot but at least it is a more manageable number. The next forty minutes are spent going through emails, replying to some and just deleting others.
Mary sends him a text at 10:25 letting him know that she is waiting in the parking lot for him. Steve responds with a ‘be down in a min” text and saves the draft of the email he was typing before shutting down his computer and exiting the office; glad to be done for the day.
“Hey bro, how was your first morning back at work?” Mary greets him with a smile when he climbs in to the passenger seat of the blue Silverado.
“Boring. The team got called out to a scene twenty minutes after I got there and still haven’t returned. There wasn’t a lot for me to do other than go through old reports and the 400 emails I had waiting for me.”
Mary gives her brother a sympathetic look. She can’t imagine how boring that was for Steve. “I’m sure things will get better once you are back in the swing of things.”
“Maybe.” Steve says without any conviction. He stares out the windshield in silence the rest of the drive to the hospital for his appointment with Dr. Tyson.
“How are things going, Steve?” Dr. Tyson greets him as usual. Steve just gives a slight shrug as he takes a seat in his normal spot.
“How did your first half day back at work go?” he prods, trying to get something out of Steve.
“It wasn’t bad but not really good either.”
“Well so-so is better than terrible.”
“I was bored out of my mind. My team had coffee and malasadas waiting for me, I didn’t drink any coffee since I had already had a cup but I had a malasada. Then twenty minutes later Danny got a call and they had to leave to investigate a crime scene.”
“So you spent all morning alone in the office.” Dr. Tyson surmises.
Steve sighs, “Yeah, there wasn’t a lot to do, mostly looked over old reports and then started going through the 400 emails I had waiting in my inbox.”
“Both of which are necessary evils.”
“Yeah, I know. I just hate having to actually do it. Even before I was hurt Danny did most of the paperwork. Says that when I do it the Governor is less receptive to our requests.”
“Why is that?” Dr. Tyson asks curiously.
“Danny comes up with creative ways to say things. He sugarcoats things per say whereas I state things matter of fact. He says Governor Jameson responds to our antic better when he comes up with a nice way to say ‘Kono roundhouse kicked the suspect to subdue him’.”
Dr. Tyson grins, “Well I can see Danny’s reasoning for that. What else bothered you about being back at work today?”
Steve shrugs, “Nothing really I guess.” He sighs, “You know, this isn’t the first time I have been on desk duty. I mean, yeah with Five-0 it is but I’ve been injured before when I was an active SEAL. There were a few times when I was injured bad enough that I got stuck doing office type work while I recovered. I spent nearly three months in Coronado working on base while I recovered after I was injured on a mission.”
“And did being benched then ever bother you like this?”
“I got annoyed with it but I think the reason this is bothering me so much is because I know there is a possibility that I might be on desk duty permanently. The other times I knew I’d make a full recovery and be back on duty as soon as I recovered.” Steve admits.
“I know that has to be difficult knowing you may not be able to go back to field work. You need to try to stop dwelling on that though. What has Dr. Freeman said about your seizure meds?”
“Just that it might take several more weeks or months but he thinks there is a good chance we’ll find a medication that will stop them since I’m not the typical PTE patient.”
“You just need to try to be patient and try not to get discouraged.”
“I know. It’s hard not to sometimes. It’s so frustrating every time I have another seizure. The last was the longest I’ve had since I left the hospital.”
“Are you still taking the antidepressant?”
“Yeah, every morning. I think it’s helping a little but I’m not really sure.”
“I think it is helping you, Steve. You have been in a better frame of mind these last couple weeks. Today is an exception but you have had a stressful morning and your first day back at work is bound to bring up some strong emotions. I think you are doing really well given the circumstances. Is there anything else you’d like to discuss? Our time for today is almost up.”
“Can’t think of anything. I’ll see you again Wednesday, then.” Steve starts to stand from his chair.
“Yes, I think you should keep coming three times a week for a couple more weeks until you are more comfortable with going back to work. After that we can knock the sessions down to once or twice a week.”
“Alright, that’s fine with me.” Steve says, he isn’t thrilled about it but he will admit that his sessions with Dr. Tyson are helping him.
-H50-
Bo excitedly greets Steve when he lets the puppy out of the crate in the living room. Seeing how happy Bo is to see him puts a smile on his face and brightens his mood. Steve takes Bo outside to let him take care of business and let him burn off some energy. Steve tosses a tennis ball for him to fetch a few times. Bo brings the ball back a couple times before he grabs the ball and plops down in the grass to chew on the ball and roll around in the grass.
After half an hour of play, Steve and Bo head inside for lunch. Mary is just finishing putting the sandwiches together for her and Steve. Steve gives Bo a scoop of dog food before he and Mary sit down to eat.
When Bo finishes his lunch he goes to lie down by Steve’s feet under the table.
A couple minutes later, Steve’s phone goes off with a call from Danny. “McGarrett.” Steve answers.
“Hey, sorry we had to run out on you like that. I know it’s not how you wanted to spend your first day back.” Danny apologizes; he hated leaving Steve behind in the office this morning.
“It’s fine. What did you find out on the case?” Steve stands to go into the other room to talk to Danny. Bo follows him like a shadow.
“Not a lot, two tourists found shot execution style in an ally. We’re still working on ID’ing them. A restaurant worker found them when she went out for a smoke. Max thinks they’d been dead for about eight hours.”
“Alright. Well keep me updated.”
“You sure you’re ok, Steve?” Danny asks, voice full of concern.
“I’m fine, Danny. Just tired.”
“Ok, well if you want to talk you can call me anytime you know.”
“Yeah, see you tomorrow, Danno.” Steve ends the call and settles in on the couch with Bo curled up on the floor next to him.
-H50-
The rest of the week passes slowly for Steve. Steve starts to settle back in at the office a little easier once things start to pick up a bit and he actually has useful things to do that can contribute to solving crimes. On Thursday he takes Bo to work with him since he has to take him to the vet again to have the cast changed when he leaves work.
Having Bo in the office with him makes things more tolerable. He does computer stuff for the case and makes phone calls while Bo lies under his desk at his feet chewing on one of his toys. Bo gives Steve the occasional distraction he needs when things slow down and he starts to dwell on the fact that he might either be stuck in the office permanently, or will need to find a new career.
Bo also seems to sense when Steve’s mood changes as he starts to act goofy and tries to get Steve to play with him or he does something to try to make Steve laugh when he senses Steve’s mood starting to sour. Steve appreciates it more than anyone will ever know.
It is the middle of the afternoon on Thursday when Steve and Mary finally get home after taking Bo to the vet. Bo and Steve both appear to be worn out so Mary sends them both upstairs for a quick nap while she makes a casserole for supper.
Steve wakes shortly after five when he hears Cath get home from work. He greets her with a sleepy kiss as she enters the room to change out of her uniform.
“How was your day?” He asks as he stretches and attempts to wake up a little more.
“Pretty good, working on base isn’t as exciting as the ship but it’s so nice to be able to leave when the day is over and come home. How was your day?”
“Ok, I took Bo with me today; he laid by my feet and chewed on his toys while I worked. Got his cast changed today, Dr. Adams says his leg is healing nicely and he should be out of the cast in another couple weeks.”
“I’ve noticed he’s had more energy and spunk the last few days compared to when he first came home; not that he wasn’t energetic before, but these last few days he’s been a lot more rambunctious.”
“ Yeah, I wonder if it’s because he was in his crate most of the mornings.” Steve reaches down to pet the still slumbering dog. Bo wakes up after a couple of strokes of Steve’s hand down his back. He stretches and rolls over onto his back for a belly rub. It doesn’t take long for him to start playfully nipping at Steve’s fingers and trying to get a hold of his hand with his paws.
“Ow!” Steve exclaims when Bo gets a little too rough with his sharp puppy teeth. “Alright, enough of that Bo.” Steve gives him a chew toy to distract him with instead.
Steve makes a trip to the bathroom while Cath changes out of her uniform before they head downstairs, Steve holding Cath’s hand with Bo in the other since he hasn’t figured out how to go down the stairs with a casted hind leg.
It’s a beautiful night so the three of them eat out on the lanai while Bo plays in the grass nearby. After they are finished eating, Steve calls Bo over so he can have his supper too. Bo attacks his food with vigor and it doesn’t take long before he is finished with his meal.
Later that night Catherine is woken up by Bo’s barks. She rolls over to see that Steve is lying on his left side facing away from her apparently in the midst of a seizure. Cath glances at the alarm clock before jumping out of bed to turn the lights on so she can see. Bo is standing with his paws up on the side of the bed next to Steve, he stopped barking after Cath got up.
There isn’t anything Cath can do but wait until the seizure’s over so she just gives Bo a few pets and praises him for waking her up. She is glad that Steve lets him sleep on his dog bed in his room at night instead of in his crate.
Steve finally stops seizing a little over a minute after Cath woke up. She isn’t sure how long he’d been seizing before Bo woke her but she doesn’t think it was for very long. She is pretty sure she would have woken up when the seizure got a little more violent and the bed started moving a little more but she is happy Bo alerted her.
Cath sits on the edge of the bed waiting for Steve to start coming around. Bo paws at the side and whines until she picks him up and sets him on the bed next to Steve. He promptly gives Steve a couple licks on the face before curling up against his chest like he did after the first seizure Steve had after taking Bo in.
When Steve starts to come around Bo gets up and starts nudging and licking Steve’s face until he is fully aware.
“Why’s Bo on the bed?” Steve mumbles in confusion when he is finally somewhat aware.
“You had a seizure. Bo started barking and woke me up. He wanted to make sure you were ok.” Cath explains as she strokes Steve’s hair back.
“Hmm.” Steve replies as his eyes start to droop. He still has one had curled around Bo, who is now lying next to Steve’s head.
Once Steve is asleep again Cath goes downstairs and grabs a dog treat for Bo. She picks up the puppy and sets him back down on his dog bed before giving him the treat. “Thanks for watching out for him.” Cath says as she pets Bo. She sits on the floor petting him for a couple more minutes before sighing and getting back in bed to try to go back to sleep.
TBC
Author: softballchic34
Characters: Steve McGarrett, Danny Williams
Spoilers: Season 1 episode 20
Rated PG-13 for language.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any of the characters, nor do I make any profit from this.
Summary: A broken arm is the least of Steve's problems.
Chapter 31
Monday finds Steve awake before the sun comes up. He is nervous about going back to work. He lies awake in bed for nearly an hour before he needs to get up. Bo, who has stopped sleeping in his crate at night and is now sleeping on his dog bed on the floor next to Steve, wakes up at five thirty and starts pawing at the bed and making noise to go outside.
Steve rolls out of bed and scratches Bo behind the ears. Bo follows him downstairs, he is excited to go out and then have his breakfast. Steve makes a pot of coffee as Bo attacks his food bowl with gusto. When Steve took him back to the vet on Thursday to have his stitches out and cast changed Dr. Adams weighed him and he’s already put on nearly two pounds since Steve first brought him in. Bo is still on the lean side and still small but he’s doing really well for what he has been through.
Once Catherine is out of the shower and downstairs Steve heads up to take a shower and get dressed for work. After he showers and shaves he dons a pair of khaki cargo pants and a white v-neck t-shirt and a dark blue over shirt.
When Steve is done getting ready for work he heads back downstairs for breakfast. Cath is at the table eating some peanut butter toast while Mary is inhaling her coffee. Steve grabs the box of granola and the sliced fruit and yogurt out of the fridge to make his breakfast. After Steve fixes himself a bowl of yogurt he heads for the table, glancing around for Bo. Steve finds Bo lying under the table happily chewing on one of Steve’s flip flops.
“No.” Steve says firmly, “Bo give.” Steve grabs his flip flop and repeats the command until Bo lets it go. “Good boy, Bo.” Steve praises the puppy and gives him one of his toys to chew on instead. He inspects the shoe, finding that aside from some teeth marks there isn’t too much damage. They’re still wearable.
“The joys of puppyhood, huh?” Cath smiles over her coffee mug.
“Yeah, hopefully after he’s done teething he will outgrow this chewing phase.” The remainder of breakfast is eaten in silence, Steve isn’t in the mood for chitchat right now, he is still nervous about his first half day back at work. Cath is going to drop him off at the Palace on her way to base and Mary will pick him up at ten thirty for his appointment with Dr. Tyson.
“Hey Mary, don’t forget to let Bo outside before you come get me later. And make sure you lock him in his crate when you leave. Otherwise the house will be chewed to pieces if you leave him out.” Steve tells his little sister as he gets ready to leave.
Mary is sitting on the living room floor playing with Bo. “Don’t worry about us, Steve. Bo will be fine here with me, won’t you buddy?” she says, playfully tousling the puppy’s ears.
“Alright, I’ll see you later, Mare.”
“Have a good day!” She calls, watching her brother walk out the door.
Steve is silent on the drive to the Palace. He is nervous but he is trying not to show it. He isn’t really sure why he is nervous though, it isn’t like he is starting a new job or has a new boss or coworkers. Everything will be the same except he will spend the day behind his desk and Danny is in charge of the team when they are out of the office.
Cath pulls up into the parking lot, Steve sees that Danny, Chin, and Kono are all already at work. Cath leans over and gives Steve a kiss on the cheek. “Everything will be fine, Babe.” She tries to soothe him; she picked up on his nervousness before they even left the house.
“I don’t know why I’m so nervous. This isn’t anything I haven’t done before.” Steve confides, twisting in his seat to see Cath better.
“You haven’t been at work in two months, its normal for you to be nervous about going back; especially after such a severe injury. Keep in mind you are still recovering and not back at one hundred percent yet.”
“Yeah, I know. I just hate that I have to be on desk duty indefinitely. And my team has changed; they won’t even talk about cases in front of me anymore for fear that they will hurt my feelings. Not to mention Danny has been leading the task force for the last two months, I can’t really take back leadership since I can’t be in the field. It will be weird.”
“It may be a bit awkward these first few days but things will straighten out and you’ll be fine.” Cath gives him another kiss and squeezes his hand.
“Thanks, Cath. I’ll see you tonight.” Steve says as he climbs out of the car.
Steve takes the stairs up to HQ. He enters to find Danny, Chin, and Kono gathered around the smart table.
“Hey, Boss! Welcome back!” Kono says greeting him with a hug.
“Good to have you back, brah.” Chin states with a smile, slapping him on the back.
“It’s great to have you back, partner.” Danny says, giving Steve a man hug. “We brought malasadas and coffee.”
“So what’s going on?” Steve asks right before taking a bite of a malasada. He doesn’t touch the coffee, he’s already had one cup this morning so he probably shouldn’t have any more for a few hours.
His team fills him in on the details of their latest case as they eat malasadas and drink coffee around the smart table. They just wrapped up a murder case on Saturday so today is dedicated to filling out the paperwork that goes with it unless they get a new case today.
Less than ten minutes later Danny’s phone rings, he steps away from the group to take the call.
“Hey we have a case.” Danny says as he shoves his phone back into his pocket. “Two bodies found in an alleyway off Ala Moana Boulevard. Sorry Steve, we have to go.” Danny looks apologetic at having to leave Steve behind already on his first day back.
“Yeah, keep me updated. Call if you need anything.” Steve waves them out. After they are all out the door, he sighs and heads for his office, not really sure what to do.
Steve hates that he can’t go out to the crime scene with his team. He has only been at work for twenty minutes and he is already wishing he wasn’t there. In his office he finds a stack of reports on his desk that need his signature. He starts going through the stack, catching up on everything he missed while he was gone.
He spends an hour doing that, when he is finished he glances at the clock and sees that he still has an hour left before Mary will be here to take him to his appointment with Dr. Tyson. He boots up his computer and logs in to his email. He has 400 some odd emails from the last two months.
Steve can’t believe he has so many unread emails. The thought of reading through all of them is overwhelming but he knows it is something that he needs to do. He starts by weeding out all of the junk emails, despite the strong firewalls and spam filters Chin set up, he still somehow gets a high number of spam mail every day. He makes a mental note to ask Chin if he can look into changing the settings again.
Steve spends twenty minutes deleting junk emails and is left with only about 200 emails that he needs to go through; still a lot but at least it is a more manageable number. The next forty minutes are spent going through emails, replying to some and just deleting others.
Mary sends him a text at 10:25 letting him know that she is waiting in the parking lot for him. Steve responds with a ‘be down in a min” text and saves the draft of the email he was typing before shutting down his computer and exiting the office; glad to be done for the day.
“Hey bro, how was your first morning back at work?” Mary greets him with a smile when he climbs in to the passenger seat of the blue Silverado.
“Boring. The team got called out to a scene twenty minutes after I got there and still haven’t returned. There wasn’t a lot for me to do other than go through old reports and the 400 emails I had waiting for me.”
Mary gives her brother a sympathetic look. She can’t imagine how boring that was for Steve. “I’m sure things will get better once you are back in the swing of things.”
“Maybe.” Steve says without any conviction. He stares out the windshield in silence the rest of the drive to the hospital for his appointment with Dr. Tyson.
“How are things going, Steve?” Dr. Tyson greets him as usual. Steve just gives a slight shrug as he takes a seat in his normal spot.
“How did your first half day back at work go?” he prods, trying to get something out of Steve.
“It wasn’t bad but not really good either.”
“Well so-so is better than terrible.”
“I was bored out of my mind. My team had coffee and malasadas waiting for me, I didn’t drink any coffee since I had already had a cup but I had a malasada. Then twenty minutes later Danny got a call and they had to leave to investigate a crime scene.”
“So you spent all morning alone in the office.” Dr. Tyson surmises.
Steve sighs, “Yeah, there wasn’t a lot to do, mostly looked over old reports and then started going through the 400 emails I had waiting in my inbox.”
“Both of which are necessary evils.”
“Yeah, I know. I just hate having to actually do it. Even before I was hurt Danny did most of the paperwork. Says that when I do it the Governor is less receptive to our requests.”
“Why is that?” Dr. Tyson asks curiously.
“Danny comes up with creative ways to say things. He sugarcoats things per say whereas I state things matter of fact. He says Governor Jameson responds to our antic better when he comes up with a nice way to say ‘Kono roundhouse kicked the suspect to subdue him’.”
Dr. Tyson grins, “Well I can see Danny’s reasoning for that. What else bothered you about being back at work today?”
Steve shrugs, “Nothing really I guess.” He sighs, “You know, this isn’t the first time I have been on desk duty. I mean, yeah with Five-0 it is but I’ve been injured before when I was an active SEAL. There were a few times when I was injured bad enough that I got stuck doing office type work while I recovered. I spent nearly three months in Coronado working on base while I recovered after I was injured on a mission.”
“And did being benched then ever bother you like this?”
“I got annoyed with it but I think the reason this is bothering me so much is because I know there is a possibility that I might be on desk duty permanently. The other times I knew I’d make a full recovery and be back on duty as soon as I recovered.” Steve admits.
“I know that has to be difficult knowing you may not be able to go back to field work. You need to try to stop dwelling on that though. What has Dr. Freeman said about your seizure meds?”
“Just that it might take several more weeks or months but he thinks there is a good chance we’ll find a medication that will stop them since I’m not the typical PTE patient.”
“You just need to try to be patient and try not to get discouraged.”
“I know. It’s hard not to sometimes. It’s so frustrating every time I have another seizure. The last was the longest I’ve had since I left the hospital.”
“Are you still taking the antidepressant?”
“Yeah, every morning. I think it’s helping a little but I’m not really sure.”
“I think it is helping you, Steve. You have been in a better frame of mind these last couple weeks. Today is an exception but you have had a stressful morning and your first day back at work is bound to bring up some strong emotions. I think you are doing really well given the circumstances. Is there anything else you’d like to discuss? Our time for today is almost up.”
“Can’t think of anything. I’ll see you again Wednesday, then.” Steve starts to stand from his chair.
“Yes, I think you should keep coming three times a week for a couple more weeks until you are more comfortable with going back to work. After that we can knock the sessions down to once or twice a week.”
“Alright, that’s fine with me.” Steve says, he isn’t thrilled about it but he will admit that his sessions with Dr. Tyson are helping him.
-H50-
Bo excitedly greets Steve when he lets the puppy out of the crate in the living room. Seeing how happy Bo is to see him puts a smile on his face and brightens his mood. Steve takes Bo outside to let him take care of business and let him burn off some energy. Steve tosses a tennis ball for him to fetch a few times. Bo brings the ball back a couple times before he grabs the ball and plops down in the grass to chew on the ball and roll around in the grass.
After half an hour of play, Steve and Bo head inside for lunch. Mary is just finishing putting the sandwiches together for her and Steve. Steve gives Bo a scoop of dog food before he and Mary sit down to eat.
When Bo finishes his lunch he goes to lie down by Steve’s feet under the table.
A couple minutes later, Steve’s phone goes off with a call from Danny. “McGarrett.” Steve answers.
“Hey, sorry we had to run out on you like that. I know it’s not how you wanted to spend your first day back.” Danny apologizes; he hated leaving Steve behind in the office this morning.
“It’s fine. What did you find out on the case?” Steve stands to go into the other room to talk to Danny. Bo follows him like a shadow.
“Not a lot, two tourists found shot execution style in an ally. We’re still working on ID’ing them. A restaurant worker found them when she went out for a smoke. Max thinks they’d been dead for about eight hours.”
“Alright. Well keep me updated.”
“You sure you’re ok, Steve?” Danny asks, voice full of concern.
“I’m fine, Danny. Just tired.”
“Ok, well if you want to talk you can call me anytime you know.”
“Yeah, see you tomorrow, Danno.” Steve ends the call and settles in on the couch with Bo curled up on the floor next to him.
-H50-
The rest of the week passes slowly for Steve. Steve starts to settle back in at the office a little easier once things start to pick up a bit and he actually has useful things to do that can contribute to solving crimes. On Thursday he takes Bo to work with him since he has to take him to the vet again to have the cast changed when he leaves work.
Having Bo in the office with him makes things more tolerable. He does computer stuff for the case and makes phone calls while Bo lies under his desk at his feet chewing on one of his toys. Bo gives Steve the occasional distraction he needs when things slow down and he starts to dwell on the fact that he might either be stuck in the office permanently, or will need to find a new career.
Bo also seems to sense when Steve’s mood changes as he starts to act goofy and tries to get Steve to play with him or he does something to try to make Steve laugh when he senses Steve’s mood starting to sour. Steve appreciates it more than anyone will ever know.
It is the middle of the afternoon on Thursday when Steve and Mary finally get home after taking Bo to the vet. Bo and Steve both appear to be worn out so Mary sends them both upstairs for a quick nap while she makes a casserole for supper.
Steve wakes shortly after five when he hears Cath get home from work. He greets her with a sleepy kiss as she enters the room to change out of her uniform.
“How was your day?” He asks as he stretches and attempts to wake up a little more.
“Pretty good, working on base isn’t as exciting as the ship but it’s so nice to be able to leave when the day is over and come home. How was your day?”
“Ok, I took Bo with me today; he laid by my feet and chewed on his toys while I worked. Got his cast changed today, Dr. Adams says his leg is healing nicely and he should be out of the cast in another couple weeks.”
“I’ve noticed he’s had more energy and spunk the last few days compared to when he first came home; not that he wasn’t energetic before, but these last few days he’s been a lot more rambunctious.”
“ Yeah, I wonder if it’s because he was in his crate most of the mornings.” Steve reaches down to pet the still slumbering dog. Bo wakes up after a couple of strokes of Steve’s hand down his back. He stretches and rolls over onto his back for a belly rub. It doesn’t take long for him to start playfully nipping at Steve’s fingers and trying to get a hold of his hand with his paws.
“Ow!” Steve exclaims when Bo gets a little too rough with his sharp puppy teeth. “Alright, enough of that Bo.” Steve gives him a chew toy to distract him with instead.
Steve makes a trip to the bathroom while Cath changes out of her uniform before they head downstairs, Steve holding Cath’s hand with Bo in the other since he hasn’t figured out how to go down the stairs with a casted hind leg.
It’s a beautiful night so the three of them eat out on the lanai while Bo plays in the grass nearby. After they are finished eating, Steve calls Bo over so he can have his supper too. Bo attacks his food with vigor and it doesn’t take long before he is finished with his meal.
Later that night Catherine is woken up by Bo’s barks. She rolls over to see that Steve is lying on his left side facing away from her apparently in the midst of a seizure. Cath glances at the alarm clock before jumping out of bed to turn the lights on so she can see. Bo is standing with his paws up on the side of the bed next to Steve, he stopped barking after Cath got up.
There isn’t anything Cath can do but wait until the seizure’s over so she just gives Bo a few pets and praises him for waking her up. She is glad that Steve lets him sleep on his dog bed in his room at night instead of in his crate.
Steve finally stops seizing a little over a minute after Cath woke up. She isn’t sure how long he’d been seizing before Bo woke her but she doesn’t think it was for very long. She is pretty sure she would have woken up when the seizure got a little more violent and the bed started moving a little more but she is happy Bo alerted her.
Cath sits on the edge of the bed waiting for Steve to start coming around. Bo paws at the side and whines until she picks him up and sets him on the bed next to Steve. He promptly gives Steve a couple licks on the face before curling up against his chest like he did after the first seizure Steve had after taking Bo in.
When Steve starts to come around Bo gets up and starts nudging and licking Steve’s face until he is fully aware.
“Why’s Bo on the bed?” Steve mumbles in confusion when he is finally somewhat aware.
“You had a seizure. Bo started barking and woke me up. He wanted to make sure you were ok.” Cath explains as she strokes Steve’s hair back.
“Hmm.” Steve replies as his eyes start to droop. He still has one had curled around Bo, who is now lying next to Steve’s head.
Once Steve is asleep again Cath goes downstairs and grabs a dog treat for Bo. She picks up the puppy and sets him back down on his dog bed before giving him the treat. “Thanks for watching out for him.” Cath says as she pets Bo. She sits on the floor petting him for a couple more minutes before sighing and getting back in bed to try to go back to sleep.
TBC