Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii [Monday afternoon]

Danny had been in surgery for six hours on Saturday, Steve for nearly twice that, and then he'd been placed in a medically-induced coma to make sure he stayed out. (His reputation for being an absolutely terrible patient had been put into his file.)

So he was only just opening his eyes for the first time in days, blinking at the horrible, sterile brightness of the hospital lighting.

He wasn't dead. He had that going for him, at least. He opened his mouth to speak, coughed, tried again, failed again.

Steve glared and then moaned softly at the headache that sparked behind his eyes.

So this was bad bad. He settled back on his scratchy pillow and waited for someone to notice he was awake.