Ohana, Now What? (Hawaii Five-O) ON HOLD

4. Ka hanu ʻana

(Breathing)

"Maxine took quite the beating in those waves, you can see the sand has roughed up her face, she also has some bruising to her shoulder and hip. I want to keep her overnight, as she has the slight concussion and was deprived of oxygen for a few minutes; the CT looks clean, we just want to cover all of the bases."

The doctor stood with Steve in the hallway, he could still see Maxine through the doorway. She was sleeping for now, and was attached to an IV. She looked so small all bandaged up and tucked in with the scratchy bedding.

"Mr. McGarrett," The doctor placed a hand on his shoulder. "I see no reason why Maxine can't go home tomorrow, she's going to be fine."

Steve blinked. "Thanks, Dr. Hu. Can I see her now?"

The short doctor smiled, "Of course, she needs to be woken up and kept awake for a while. She may be groggy, but talk her through it."

Steve shook the doctors hand and stepped into the room. He pulled a chair closer to the bed and grabbed her hand. Steve could kick himself, he should have insisted she learn to swim the morning after she said she never learned; he lived ten feet from the ocean for Christ's sake. As soon as she was better he was going to get her out in the water as often as he could, this won't ever happen again.

"Max," Steve squeezed her hand, he chuckled quietly when she squished up her face and growled, the sound no more threatening than a kitten hissing. "Gotta wake up for a bit, doctors orders."

A few minutes of gentle pokes and prods later, Maxine opened her eyes, squinting in the hospitals harsh florescent lights. "Steve?" Her hoarse voice a whisper.

Steve took the cup from her beside table and helped her take a drink of water. "There you go, how are you feeling?"

"Like the ocean chewed me up and spat me out," Her laugh dissolved into a painful cough. "Ouch."

"You really scared me for a minute, Max." He ran his fingers through her hair.

"I'm sorry, but when that wave knocked Grace over, all I couldn't think about was helping her back to shore. I guess I need to learn to not turn my back on the ocean, yeah?" She smiled crookedly at him.

"Yeah," Steve laughed. "That's a pretty good lesson to learn."

"... Does it look like I care about hospital procedure? You can either tell me what room she's in or I can start barging into rooms myself." An irate voice drifted down the hall.

"That'll be Danny," Steve sighed with a smile, leaning back into his chair.

"I got it, thank you!" Danny yelled, not sounding very thankful at all. The door swung open, and Gracie bolted inside. She held a bright yellow balloon in one hand, and a piece of paper in the other. Danny, carrying a vase of flowers, and a brown paper bag, gently closed the door behind him.

Gracie went straight to Maxine's bed, a toothy grin plastered on her face. Once she tied the balloon to the bedrail she looked at Maxine with uncertainty.

Max shifted over in the bed, creating a small space for the girl. "Get up here, Grace face." She turned down the blanket and patted the empty space next to her.