A/N: Alrighty folks here's the last chapter for this segment! I hope you enjoyed Strawberry Seduction! There's more to come but I've been working on stories from the backburner trying to catch up so I don't have anything yet but keep an eye out for it! For those that prefer Steve whump over Danny or Chin I'll tell you now that it's his turn next!

Chapter 6

He felt heavy and disconnected. There was no memory or image that he could conjure to explain how strange he felt. He could smell strawberries, strawberries and blood. It didn't make sense but he couldn't muster the energy to pursue reality. He let himself drift, sometimes hearing noises around him and sometimes not but he couldn't distinguish the sound. Pain filtered in and then filtered out.

"Danny….Danny are you…." He was surprised by the voice but it was gone before he could identify it.

"Mr. Williams….Mr. Williams…..wa…" He had this feeling that he was missing a lot of time, like it was flying past without him. He started to take an interest in things, mainly trying to figure out if he was asleep and dreaming or dead in limbo. He wasn't sure why he thought being dead was a possibility but his mind stuck to the idea.

"Hey Danno….pull…..team need…" He was drawn to this voice. His mind wouldn't supply why but of all the foreign voices he'd heard this one was important somehow. Sleep, that's what this was, he finally realized. He was fading in and out of wakefulness. But why? Why couldn't he wake up?

"Mr. Williams….blood transfusion….surgery…..eep fighting." No, he didn't want that voice. He wanted the other one back. He wanted to have some cohesion to his reality. He could smell things too. It was odd to have a sense of smell when he could hardly hear and see nothing. Sometimes there were chemical smells he recognized when he went to morgues or hospitals and other times there was the scent of gunpowder or the water and salt. He couldn't explain it but he wanted the return of these last few aromas. They meant good things.

"Easy Danno calm down, just rela…." He faded again. He yearned for clarity. He couldn't stand not understanding what was happening around him, to him. Each time he tuned in he could hear more for longer but without context, names to the voices and where he was it only served to confuse him.

"Hey Danny….I know I haven't been here for a lon…..sorry….should have done mo….protect Grac….Steve say…..hold together….family….pull through…." He hated to sink away again. He hadn't heard this voice in so long. He wanted to hear it again. He'd wanted it to come for a long time, before whatever happened had happened even. An intense chill seeped into his bones.

"Cold."

"It's okay Danno, I'll get you another blanket." He frowned. He hadn't realized he said anything out loud.

"Steve?"

"I'm here Danno. Can you open your eyes for me?" He was exhausted again.

"Mmm?" He felt himself melting into oblivion again.

"No no stay with me D…" The ceiling. It took him unnaturally long to realize he was staring at it or identify what it was. Blinking was exhausting let alone the effort it took to turn his head towards the sound of snoring.

"Steve." He mumbled confused. The man snorted and jumped up not quite awake until he scrubbed his eyes and shook his head.

"Danno! You're awake, eyes open and everything!" He jumped up to lean steeply over him. The swift movement blurring his vision. He gulped back nausea and moaned trying to look away. "Hey hey, don't go to sleep on me now."

"T're'd" He tried to swallow thickly. His mouth felt like it was full of sand until ice chips fell into it and he almost choked by the surprise.

"Easy Danno, savor them. Here let me get the bed up a little." Being upright, and his mouth now wet he did feel a bit more steady in reality. He found he could manage a shaky gaze at Steve. He looked tired, and old.

"What?" He struggled with one word let alone managing stringing any together.

"You were cooking in the kitchen when a man entered and tried to stab you to death. You don't remember anything?"

"S'all fuzzy."

"Well that's not surprising. You're in pretty bad shape. They've got you doped up enough to be a drug supply."

"How…" he gulped back more bile, "long?" Steve didn't answer immediately taking a long swallow from his coffee.

"Well it was four weeks before you woke up the first time and you've been in and out, mostly out, for the next two weeks so about six weeks." Danny drifted for a few minutes then shook his head and blinked back to semi-awareness.

"That…long? Grace, need to….see…"

"I know but it's going to be a while before you're in any condition to see her." Danny's mouth dropped open to complain. "No don't argue. It's been six weeks before you had any real consciousness and you're barely managing it now."

"But…"

"No Danno. I'm not negotiating. The doctors had to be strong armed just to let me stay. You're still in real bad shape. The doctors don't know why you're still alive. That's how close it came Danny." There was a strange edge to Steve's voice that made the Jersey man hesitate. He found himself distracted by a sudden intense scent but he slipped into sleep even before Steve could ask him what was wrong. There were a series of flashes of people, sounds and smells before he truly woke again. He was feeling immensely stronger which he thought was strange.

"Hey, it's good to see you awake again. I was beginning to wonder if you were going to sleep through to next year. Chin said if we got a New York pizza shipped in you'd wake up." Danny sucked in a sharp breath and pushed himself to sit up further surprised when he succeeded.

"How long was I out this time?"

"A week and a half. You look a helluva lot better now."

"M'I gonna live?" He licked his lips, mouth full of cotton and got a cup of water for his efforts.

"Yeah looks like you're stuck with us a while longer, unless you get lazy on me. Which is quite possible given how long you're going to be stuck in here."

"How many days. Always hated….hospitals." Danny shook the cup and got a refill. He felt like a fish desperate for water. Steve laughed.

"You're not in for days Danno, think more along the lines of months, weeks if you're lucky and behave." Danny groaned and thumped his head back to the pillow.

"I want to see Grace." Steve had that grin that he hated so much. It made him feel suspicious.

"She'll be by tomorrow after school. It's just a short visit though Danno. You're being held together mostly by glue still."

"Oh." Danny muttered frowning and shifting as if uncomfortable.

"Danno, what's wrong?" He was starting to go a little pale and greenish. He shivered a little pulling at the blankets, trying to cover himself more, suddenly feeling cold.

"It's nothing. Just the strawberries, the smell is making me a little…" He gulped sharply, "queasy." Steve eyed him warily and scowled sharply.

"Danny, there's no strawberries." Danny lunged to the side and vomited violently.

He was finally, sort of, alone. The hot spray of water felt glorious against his skin despite the lousy plastic chair rubbing against his bare skin. It had taken an immense amount of debating to get them to let him take this shower in semi-privacy. Chin was sitting just outside the door back turned to the bathroom. It was the best he could get. His legs were jelly under even the smallest weight despite being nearly three months into his hospital stay. The doctors were all pleased but he was just frustrated and angry. He felt overwhelmed and claustrophobic. When doctors were poking and prodding him Steve was needling him about his emotional and mental status, kept wanting him to talk, medical researchers were hounding him to let them study him. They wanted to know why he was still alive. The intense smell of strawberry filled the room making his chest constrict and the visage of blood splashed across his body. He crushed his eyes closed for a moment and when he opened them again the blood was gone but he was sucking in sharp succinct breaths struggling not to hyperventilate.

"You okay Danny?" He was startled by Chin's call then clenched his jaw in a flash of anger.

"I'm fine!" He didn't mean to snap but he did. He was thankful that Chin didn't call him on it. He inhaled slow and deep trying to calm his racing heart as he grabbed for the bottle of shampoo. The mood swing to rage and subsequent panic was getting harder to control. They all saw it and Steve hassled him constantly about helping him getting through it but he rebuffed him every time. Any time they broached the subject of the attack he pushed them away. He knew it was wrong. They could help, but he couldn't bear the thought of talking about what little he did remember or being told details of what he couldn't recall.

"Hey Danny, doc says you've got five minutes left in there." Danny sighed. Once he was back in the main room he'd be back in the middle of the circus. He felt so tired. "Danny, you hear me?" He heard Chin start to stand and check.

"I'm good, getting the towel now." He made quick work of patting himself dry. The doctors lectured if he scrubbed at all, something about opening up new wounds. Getting dressed was difficult. He still had to sit in the chair and his body was stiff and sore. Chin helped him up and back to the bed. He'd been overly attentive since they broke through the awkward tension and had now swung to the other extreme.

"Grace wants to visit. She's afraid you won't be up for it again."

"I know I know. She still hasn't seen me. I just…"

"You don't have to explain to me Danny. I get it." Danny silently eased against the mattress.

"Gracie can come tonight, no cancellations this time. I want to see my little princess." He decided right there to push aside the anger and fear. He survived after all against the odds he'd been told. He had to man up and get over this, he would get over this and he wouldn't acknowledge the self-doubt shredding a cavernous hole in his chest, no matter the cost.