H50 Fic - A sign of Recovery (Deaf!Grace 'Verse)
Title: A Sign of Recovery (part of my Deaf!Grace 'Verse)
Characters: Steve/Danno, Grace,
Fandom: Hawaii Five-O
Summary: Steve has some surprises for Grace and Danny, but Danny's insecurities nearly ruin it.
Rating: G
Spoilers: None
Word Count: ~3,800
Warnings: -
Beta:
burned_phoenix
Disclaimer: In my dreams maybe, but I don't own them!
Written for: lou_c who asked for Steve secretly installing a flashing phone/smoke alarm etc because he worries about Gracie” and samantha_kathy (as well as heaps of others!) who asked for “the kids and parents (from the previous chapter) to get punished for what they did, specifically, Steve staring down the principal who wants to sweep things under the rug, all going 'kids will be kids' or something like that”.
A sign of Trust - A sign of Love - A sign of Family - A sign of Strength - A sign of Recovery
Danny didn’t notice the small changes, not at first. Sure, Steve had been a bit more distant of late, staying up longer and waking up earlier, but he tried not to think about all that too much.
“Are you coming to bed now babe?” Danny asked, turning the television off, calling out to Steve who was working on something in the garage.
“I’ll be there soon!” Steve simply called back.
“Oh, okay then,” Danny sighed dejectedly. He had no idea what Steve was doing, the other man being even more secretive than ever before, at least this time he wasn’t saying anything about it being ‘classified’.
Danny went to bed, trying to stay up, waiting and hoping for Steve. The minutes turned into hours and soon, Danny was fast asleep, hand clutching at the cold sheets where Steve’s body should have been.
Steve slunk into bed in the early hours of the morning, having stayed up all night getting things ready for Grace’s next visit this weekend.
Danny awoke the next morning, somewhat surprised to see Steve still in bed. The two men were however on the farthest edges of the bed, not curled around one another as per usual. Danny got out of bed, taking one last look at Steve before heading towards the bathroom. He took care of business then went into the kitchen, taking the steaming mug of coffee he prepared out to the lanai.
Their relationship had seemed to become more strained ever since the fight at Grace’s school last week. The children all having been gathered together, with the parents, to talk about tolerance so far, both of them waiting for more repercussions to occur however. Steve had been less affectionate since then, pulling away more and more every day. Now, Danny had no idea what to do or how to fix it, if there was anything left to fix. Danny heard Steve moving around upstairs. Not moving from his seat, he waiting to see what Steve would do.
“Morning babe,” Steve called out from the kitchen, grabbing his own cup of coffee. Danny didn’t respond, waiting silently for Steve to come out to him. “Danny?” Steve asked, walking out to his partner. Steve leaned up behind Danny’s chair, leaning over and burying his nose in Danny's gel free, fluffy hair, pressing a kiss to his head. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“Mm…” Danny shrugged, pushing Steve off him. “I should get ready, gotta pick Grace up for the weekend, and it’s not going to be a nice visit, what with Rachel still acting all weird,” Danny said, leaving Steve standing in his wake.
“Are you bringing her straight back here?” Steve asked, all but chasing after Danny.
“Maybe, I don’t know, I think I want some time alone with her,” Danny commented, sighing slightly.
“What? Why? Danny, what’s going on? Why are you acting like this?” Steve said, grabbing Danny by the shoulder and spinning the shorter man around to face him.
Danny was furious, how could Steve ask him what was wrong, when it was clearly his own fault. “I can’t believe you! How dare you ever ask that! Ask me what's wrong? I should be asking you what the hell in going on in your head! You’ve been pulling away from me! I have no idea why, but I am not putting up with it anymore!” Danny ranted, arms waving around, a few signs accenting his harsh words for emphasis.
“Whoa! Danny? What are you talking about?” Steve asked, completely lost.
“You! You’ve been coming to bed late, leaving early in the morning, you're not the same, ever since the science fair… I just want you back or please, just stop leading me on, just end it already!” Danny begged.
Steve’s demeanour dropped in an instant, he didn’t realise just how his behaviour had been affecting Danny. Mentally berating himself, Steve put his mug down, stepping up and wrapping his arms around Danny, drawing the disheartened man close. Steve hid his face in Danny’s hair, still not believing his own stupidity. Danny went into Steve arms without a fight, all the fight long since abandoning him.
“Danny, babe, I'm so sorry, I didn’t realise how much you were hurting because of me. I'm so sorry, Danny, I love you, that hasn’t changed…I was just planning a surprise for Gracie, something I wanted you to be surprised by too. Come, I’ll show you!” Steve tried to explain, pulling back slightly to look Danny in the eyes.
Danny only nodded slightly, not ready to trust Steve just yet. He allowed Steve to drag him outside, “What are we doing Steve?” Danny asked, getting slightly frustrated.
“Watch,” Steve said simply, pressing the doorbell.
“What?”
“Look!” Steve urged, doing it again, this time point to the lights inside.
Danny looked inside the house, hearing the doorbell ring, but also noticing the flickering lights. “Uh, I think you have some faulty wiring?” Danny said, not quite sure what he was seeing.
“Don’t you get it Danny? Every time the doorbell rings, the light will turn off and on once, letting Gracie know someone is at the door! I can set it so it only does that when she’s over…” Steve started rambling.
“You did all that? For her?” Danny was shocked beyond words.
“Well, that’s not all… I’ve also ordered a new typewriter phone, so she can use the phone, and I’ve got a similar set up for the fire alarm, except that when it goes off, the lights will continuously flash. I just had to work on getting all the wiring right,” Steve explained.
Danny grabbed both of Steve's hands in one of his, holding them up and pressing a kiss to the work-roughened hands. He couldn’t believe all that this man was doing for him and just how big his heart was, feeling guilty for not trusting Steve in the first place.
“Why did you do all of this?” Danny had to know.
“I love her, Danny. I know we don’t get her all that much, but I want to know that Grace is completely safe when she is here,” Steve said, sighing and looking away before continuing, “ever since that fight, I was just so scared…. I mean, we wouldn’t have known it was even going on if not for me deciding to go outside! I don’t know what I would do if she was here and something was going on that she didn’t know was happening! I'm sorry for making you doubt me, I'm sorry for being distant, but I do love you!” Steve said all in a rush.
“It’s okay babe, come inside,” Danny smiled fondly, pulling Steve inside behind him, “I’m sorry for being so quick to judge. I should have known that you're not that kind of guy, and more than that, I should have realised that you weren’t dealing with what happened to Grace any better than I am,” he said, cupping Steve’s face, “Let me go get Grace, I’ll bring her back here so we can show her what you’ve done, then we can all go out,” Danny smiled, rubbing his thumb against Steve’s cheek.
“Yeah? Are you sure? I mean, you can have you're alone time with her, I know you don’t get to see her much and I don’t want to intrude on any time you do get together!” Steve said, looking hopeful, wanting to spend time with Grace.
“No babe, don’t worry, of course I want you to come with us, you know how much it means to Grace when you do,” Danny reassured.
“Thanks,” Steve smiled, leaning into the touch before leaning down and kissing Danny.
“I should be thanking you!” Danny brushed off, shooing Steve away to get ready.
Danny got dressed quickly, rushing out of the house to get Grace. Danny didn’t even see Rachel, the maid opening up for him and Grace barrelling into his arms before he could ask about her.
‘Monkey! How are you baby?’ he asked, holding her right arm out as if inspecting it, the pink cast now covered by multiple signing, stickers and even some glitter.
‘I’m good, what are we doing today? Where’s Seal?’ she asked.
‘Good! I was thinking… some shave ice today? Steve’s at home, he has something special he did that he wants to show you before we go,’ Danny explained.
‘Okay!’ Grace nodded, keen to get going, the little girl wanting her weekend with her two fathers to start straight away.
Steve was anxiously waiting for Danny and Grace to come home. Hearing the Camaro pulling up outside, Steve immediately rushed to the front door, pulling it open and dropping down to his knees, pulling Grace in for a fierce embrace.
‘Mm, I’ve missed you baby,’ Steve said, holding the child close.
‘Missed you too!’ Grace said, returning the hug, ‘Danno said you have a surprise for me? Can I have it now?’ Grace asked, causing Steve to worry some more, realising that this probably wasn’t the type of surprise Grace would be expecting. He just hoped she wouldn’t be too disappointed.
‘It’s nothing, I just… well, go ring the doorbell and watch the lights inside,’ Steve said, deciding to show Grace just like how he’d shown Danny.
Danny watched on from the side, letting Grace and Steve do their thing. He watched as Grace, slightly confused, ran to the front door and pressed the button, a smile lighting up her face as she watched the lights flicker, just like they did at home.
‘You did that for me?’ Grace asked.
‘Yeah, I did the alarms too,’ Steve added, in his mind this was just his way of telling someone that he loved them, by doing something for them.
‘Really? Thank you!’ Grace beamed, wrapping her arms around Steve’s neck and planting a wet kiss to his cheek, the little girl understanding immediately that these slight adjustments to the house meant that Steve was in for the long haul with both Danno and her.
‘Of course, I love you, Monkey!’ Steve said, his eyes glistening with moisture he would later deny if anyone ever asked. ‘Now, let’s go, I think someone was promised some shave ice?’ he added, ushering Danny and Grace out the door, quickly picking up something from the table near the door before leaving as well.
In the car, with Steve driving, Grace was happily signing away, talking about how cool it was for Steve to fix the lights for her and then moving on to which flavour shave ice she was thinking of picking.
“What’s that you got there?” Danny asked Steve, indicating the bag he had brought with him, still keeping eyes on his daughter as she signed from the backseat.
“Nothing special,” Steve shrugged with a smile, pulling into a car space right in front of Kamekona’s shave ice store.
Grace leaped out of the car, ready to run towards the shack, only stopping when Danny grabbed at her hand. A silent look was all it took to rein Grace back and calm her down, the two walking off together as Steve watched from the car. The SEAL pulled his old camera out of the black bag and quickly snapped some candid shots of father and daughter before rushing to catch up with them, camera still in hand.
Steve took a seat at a free table, Danny and Grace already knowing his order (pineapple flavoured) and waited for them to return.
‘What’s that?’ Grace asked, pointing at Steve’s camera, Danny brining the three large cups of ice.
‘This is my camera, I’ve had it since after I joined the Navy!’ Steve explained holding it up for Grace to see.
‘Wow! Can I see?’ she asked, sitting herself down beside Steve.
‘Careful Monkey,’ Danny cautioned looking at Steve curiously, trying to figure out what he was up to.
‘I use to take this everywhere with me, while training and wherever I was stationed, I actually managed to sell some of my photos for journalists too. It was mostly a hobby though,’ Steve explained, answering Danny’s unasked question while flicking through some of the photos that were on the old memory card.
‘Hey! That’s us from today!’ Grace said, pointing at the photo of them.
‘Yup, here, all you really have to do is point it at something you think is pretty, then click!’ Steve demonstrated by picking up the camera, pointing it at Danny and taking several photos before showing them to Grace.
‘You think I'm pretty?’ Danny signed, face trying to look offending, ‘I’m ruggedly handsome! Masculine, stunning! Not pretty!’ he argued.
‘You’re pretty to me Danno!’ Steve replied with a teasing grin. ‘Here Gracie, you try, careful though,’ Steve said, handing the camera over to the little girl who immediately started taking pictures of everything around them, her cast supporting the camera up as she took the photos.
“So a photographer huh?” Danny asked when Grace was focused on the camera, her shave ice slowly melting.
“Yeah, what?” Steve shrugged, taking a bite out of his treat.
“Nothing, you're just full of surprises today is all,” Danny smiled, showing Steve that it was a good thing.
The rest of their morning was spent at the beach, Grace entertaining herself with Steve’s camera since she couldn’t go swimming. Danny and Steve sat close to one another, side by side, keeping an eye on her, planning what to do for the rest of the weekend.
Close to lunchtime, Danny decided it was time to head home, signalling for his daughter to come. ‘Let’s go home, we’ll cook lunch and have a picnic on the beach?’ Danny suggested, using Steve’s idea.
‘Awesome,’ Grace said, not giving back the camera as they made their way back to the car, then home. The rest of the day was spent at home, Grace enjoying her new toy, snapping pictures of nearly everything she saw.
Later that night, as both Danny and Steve tucked Grace in, Steve promised to get all the photos up onto the computer for Grace to see tomorrow. ‘Thanks Seal, today was so much fun!’ Grace said, eyes already drooping.
‘No problem princess, I’m glad you had a good day,’ Steve replied, grabbing the camera and taking it to the study, giving Danny and Grace a moment alone together.
Steve uploaded all the photos onto his laptop, not expecting many (if any) useable or focused shots. The man was surprised however to see some stunning photos. A lot were of plants or the water, several of different people and crowds, and others still of just random things. But most of all, there were so many shot of him and Danny together, both men not realising that Grace had been taking photos of them.
“Looks like you’re little girl might have a career in photography,” Steve said, hearing Danny’s approach, stopping on a picture of the two of them kissing, the light framing their heads perfectly.
“Our little girl can have a career in anything she wants. You should print that,” Danny rebutted, the printer already whirling to life as Steve did just that.
Early on Monday morning, Danny was on the phone in his office, after just having dropped Gracie back off with her mother, as his little girl was not allowed to go back to school just yet.
“What do you mean ‘nothing else will be done?’” Danny growled through the handset. The clearly frustrated man was pacing his small office, his free hand running through his hair, trying to calm himself down enough not to throw the phone against the wall.
“What’s going on brah?” Chin asked walking up to Steve, the three teammates watching Danny from the bullpen.
“Rachel is thinking of transferring Grace, even though the school she’s at has the best supportive programs for her. Now Danny’s trying to find out why more hasn’t been done aside from a short meeting about tolerance to the kids involved in the fight,” Steve sighed, just as angry as Danny was over the whole situation. Rachel had thankfully been supportive of them, for this at least, throughout this whole ordeal, backing them up completely.
“What are you two going to do?” Kono asked.
“I’ve had enough of this, talking this way has achieved nothing, I'm going down there!” Steve decided, with a final nod, “keep an eye on Danny, make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid or reckless,” Steve added, gathering his keys and quickly marching out of the building.
“We’re more worried about what you’ll do,” Kono said after he left, teeth chewing on her bottom lip, “should one of us go after him?”
“Nah, he’ll be fine rookie, he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardise Grace, or Danny’s relationship with his ex,” Chin reasoned.
Steve strode into the main office like a man on a mission, sent straight from Hell itself, his face darkened with anger.
“Uh… I-I’m s-sorry s-sir, you can’t go in there!” the secretary spoke, trying to stop Steve as he rushed right on through.
“Is anyone in there?” he asked, pausing by the door.
“N-no, but…”
“Then I'm going in!” Steve growled, hating that he was being rude to the innocent lady, but by now he was just beyond caring. He pushed open the door, slamming it shut behind him, pacing the small room before pulling up a seat directly in front of the principal.
“Mr McGarrett?” Principal Aiwohi said, pulling his glasses down before completely removing them, “I just got off the phone with your partner, I assume this visit is in regards to that?” he said snidely.
“Of course it is, Mr Aiwohi, a little girl was hospitalised over what happened on your school grounds, during school hours, by at least several of your students. I expected more than a simple talk with the students to have occurred as punishment…”
“Mr-”
“Commander,” Steve interrupted.
“Right, Commander McGarrett, you must understand, kids will be kids, and you and your partner were blatantly showing off your relationship. I’m sorry you put yourselves in that situation but-”
“Stop right there, Daniel and I were doing no such thing! We were, at most, holding hands! Other parents were doing much more than that, and I don’t see their children being attacked,” Steve vented.
“You obviously see the difference here, don’t you Commander, Mr. Williams and yourself are both-”
“Don’t. Do not continue that sentence,” Steve said, holding up his hand to stop the older man, “because if you finish that sentence then I can’t be accounted for what I do next. I understand that not everyone is so accepting, and that isn’t my point here today.
I want to see those children punished for what they did to Grace Williams, or else you will have the whole taskforce, and the Governor as well, to deal with when I turn this whole situation into a case. Do you understand me?” Steve said, his eyes narrowing, face scowling slightly as he stared the older man down.
“I-I’ll see w-what I can do,” the principal stammered, nodding slightly and shuffling in his seat nervously.
“See that you do, I want to know that my daughter will be safe and looked after, or else you will see me again,” Steve warned, standing and leaving the man in shock.
Steve sat in the car, gripping the wheel and berating himself for what he had just done. He hadn’t meant to all but threaten the principal, but when the bigot had started accusing him of causing the fight, Steve had just seen red. He did some breathing exercises to calm himself down, breathing in deep and slowly releasing it before checking his phone. He hadn’t been gone long, under an hour, but he already had more than half a dozen missed called from Danny and a few from the office. Checking his messages, Danny was obviously furious, ranting and raving about how he shouldn’t do anything. The final message on his phone had been from Chin, only from a few minutes ago, warning him that Danny was on his way.
Just after hanging up his phone with a sigh, a knock sounded from his window, startling him. The hand pressed against his window belonged to Danny, the shorter man rounding the car and trying the doorhandle, indicating to Steve to unlock the car and let him in. Steve sighed, unlocking the car and waiting for the onslaught to begin. Danny sat down beside Steve, for once completely silent, freaking Steve out just a bit.
“Babe?” Steve prompted, holding his hand, palm up, out between them.
Danny immediately laced his fingers through Steve’s. “I don’t know if I should be praising you or berating you right now,” Danny said softly.
“Danny?” Steve questioned hesitantly.
“On my way here I got a call. I was completely ready to apologise my ass of... It was Principal Aiwohi… he apologised for not doing anything sooner! Said Grace was completely welcome to stay, and that the kids that started the fight would be dealt with accordingly, whatever that means, and that more care would be taken to teach the children, and parents, about acceptance…”
“That’s a good thing right?” Steve asked.
“Yeah, yeah it definitely is, we didn’t really want to take her out of this school, it’s the best for her, and while we will if she asks, the peace of mind helps. And now that those kids are really getting punished? Sure it doesn’t change what they did, but it’s a start,” Danny shrugged, finally turning to look Steve in the eye. “I don’t know what you did, and I kind of don’t want to know, but thank you for doing it!” he smiled.
“Anytime babe,” Steve reassured.
“You know, I don’t think you really understand just how much you’ve just done. This is going to get back to Rachel, it’s going to make things a lot easier for us, you’ll see,” Danny added, leaning in and sealing his lips to Steve’s.
“Come on, let’s go home,” Steve said once they finally broke apart, his fingers still tangled in Danny’s hair, not wanting to let him go just yet, not even just to get to his own car to go home. “Oh, and Danny?”
“Mm?”
“I think it’s time Gracie learnt some self-defence,” he smirked menacingly, knowing Danny would ultimately accept the idea, realising how valuable it would be for Grace but still expecting a long winded speech about him corrupting his daughter or something along those lines.
-End.
NEXT
Well, that's another update! :D Want to see more?! PROMPT ME! :D I will get to each and every prompt given to me! Just let me know what you would like to see happen!
Much love! xx
Characters: Steve/Danno, Grace,
Fandom: Hawaii Five-O
Summary: Steve has some surprises for Grace and Danny, but Danny's insecurities nearly ruin it.
Rating: G
Spoilers: None
Word Count: ~3,800
Warnings: -
Beta:
burned_phoenix
Disclaimer: In my dreams maybe, but I don't own them!
Written for: lou_c who asked for Steve secretly installing a flashing phone/smoke alarm etc because he worries about Gracie” and samantha_kathy (as well as heaps of others!) who asked for “the kids and parents (from the previous chapter) to get punished for what they did, specifically, Steve staring down the principal who wants to sweep things under the rug, all going 'kids will be kids' or something like that”.
A sign of Trust - A sign of Love - A sign of Family - A sign of Strength - A sign of Recovery
Danny didn’t notice the small changes, not at first. Sure, Steve had been a bit more distant of late, staying up longer and waking up earlier, but he tried not to think about all that too much.
“Are you coming to bed now babe?” Danny asked, turning the television off, calling out to Steve who was working on something in the garage.
“I’ll be there soon!” Steve simply called back.
“Oh, okay then,” Danny sighed dejectedly. He had no idea what Steve was doing, the other man being even more secretive than ever before, at least this time he wasn’t saying anything about it being ‘classified’.
Danny went to bed, trying to stay up, waiting and hoping for Steve. The minutes turned into hours and soon, Danny was fast asleep, hand clutching at the cold sheets where Steve’s body should have been.
Steve slunk into bed in the early hours of the morning, having stayed up all night getting things ready for Grace’s next visit this weekend.
Danny awoke the next morning, somewhat surprised to see Steve still in bed. The two men were however on the farthest edges of the bed, not curled around one another as per usual. Danny got out of bed, taking one last look at Steve before heading towards the bathroom. He took care of business then went into the kitchen, taking the steaming mug of coffee he prepared out to the lanai.
Their relationship had seemed to become more strained ever since the fight at Grace’s school last week. The children all having been gathered together, with the parents, to talk about tolerance so far, both of them waiting for more repercussions to occur however. Steve had been less affectionate since then, pulling away more and more every day. Now, Danny had no idea what to do or how to fix it, if there was anything left to fix. Danny heard Steve moving around upstairs. Not moving from his seat, he waiting to see what Steve would do.
“Morning babe,” Steve called out from the kitchen, grabbing his own cup of coffee. Danny didn’t respond, waiting silently for Steve to come out to him. “Danny?” Steve asked, walking out to his partner. Steve leaned up behind Danny’s chair, leaning over and burying his nose in Danny's gel free, fluffy hair, pressing a kiss to his head. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“Mm…” Danny shrugged, pushing Steve off him. “I should get ready, gotta pick Grace up for the weekend, and it’s not going to be a nice visit, what with Rachel still acting all weird,” Danny said, leaving Steve standing in his wake.
“Are you bringing her straight back here?” Steve asked, all but chasing after Danny.
“Maybe, I don’t know, I think I want some time alone with her,” Danny commented, sighing slightly.
“What? Why? Danny, what’s going on? Why are you acting like this?” Steve said, grabbing Danny by the shoulder and spinning the shorter man around to face him.
Danny was furious, how could Steve ask him what was wrong, when it was clearly his own fault. “I can’t believe you! How dare you ever ask that! Ask me what's wrong? I should be asking you what the hell in going on in your head! You’ve been pulling away from me! I have no idea why, but I am not putting up with it anymore!” Danny ranted, arms waving around, a few signs accenting his harsh words for emphasis.
“Whoa! Danny? What are you talking about?” Steve asked, completely lost.
“You! You’ve been coming to bed late, leaving early in the morning, you're not the same, ever since the science fair… I just want you back or please, just stop leading me on, just end it already!” Danny begged.
Steve’s demeanour dropped in an instant, he didn’t realise just how his behaviour had been affecting Danny. Mentally berating himself, Steve put his mug down, stepping up and wrapping his arms around Danny, drawing the disheartened man close. Steve hid his face in Danny’s hair, still not believing his own stupidity. Danny went into Steve arms without a fight, all the fight long since abandoning him.
“Danny, babe, I'm so sorry, I didn’t realise how much you were hurting because of me. I'm so sorry, Danny, I love you, that hasn’t changed…I was just planning a surprise for Gracie, something I wanted you to be surprised by too. Come, I’ll show you!” Steve tried to explain, pulling back slightly to look Danny in the eyes.
Danny only nodded slightly, not ready to trust Steve just yet. He allowed Steve to drag him outside, “What are we doing Steve?” Danny asked, getting slightly frustrated.
“Watch,” Steve said simply, pressing the doorbell.
“What?”
“Look!” Steve urged, doing it again, this time point to the lights inside.
Danny looked inside the house, hearing the doorbell ring, but also noticing the flickering lights. “Uh, I think you have some faulty wiring?” Danny said, not quite sure what he was seeing.
“Don’t you get it Danny? Every time the doorbell rings, the light will turn off and on once, letting Gracie know someone is at the door! I can set it so it only does that when she’s over…” Steve started rambling.
“You did all that? For her?” Danny was shocked beyond words.
“Well, that’s not all… I’ve also ordered a new typewriter phone, so she can use the phone, and I’ve got a similar set up for the fire alarm, except that when it goes off, the lights will continuously flash. I just had to work on getting all the wiring right,” Steve explained.
Danny grabbed both of Steve's hands in one of his, holding them up and pressing a kiss to the work-roughened hands. He couldn’t believe all that this man was doing for him and just how big his heart was, feeling guilty for not trusting Steve in the first place.
“Why did you do all of this?” Danny had to know.
“I love her, Danny. I know we don’t get her all that much, but I want to know that Grace is completely safe when she is here,” Steve said, sighing and looking away before continuing, “ever since that fight, I was just so scared…. I mean, we wouldn’t have known it was even going on if not for me deciding to go outside! I don’t know what I would do if she was here and something was going on that she didn’t know was happening! I'm sorry for making you doubt me, I'm sorry for being distant, but I do love you!” Steve said all in a rush.
“It’s okay babe, come inside,” Danny smiled fondly, pulling Steve inside behind him, “I’m sorry for being so quick to judge. I should have known that you're not that kind of guy, and more than that, I should have realised that you weren’t dealing with what happened to Grace any better than I am,” he said, cupping Steve’s face, “Let me go get Grace, I’ll bring her back here so we can show her what you’ve done, then we can all go out,” Danny smiled, rubbing his thumb against Steve’s cheek.
“Yeah? Are you sure? I mean, you can have you're alone time with her, I know you don’t get to see her much and I don’t want to intrude on any time you do get together!” Steve said, looking hopeful, wanting to spend time with Grace.
“No babe, don’t worry, of course I want you to come with us, you know how much it means to Grace when you do,” Danny reassured.
“Thanks,” Steve smiled, leaning into the touch before leaning down and kissing Danny.
“I should be thanking you!” Danny brushed off, shooing Steve away to get ready.
Danny got dressed quickly, rushing out of the house to get Grace. Danny didn’t even see Rachel, the maid opening up for him and Grace barrelling into his arms before he could ask about her.
‘Monkey! How are you baby?’ he asked, holding her right arm out as if inspecting it, the pink cast now covered by multiple signing, stickers and even some glitter.
‘I’m good, what are we doing today? Where’s Seal?’ she asked.
‘Good! I was thinking… some shave ice today? Steve’s at home, he has something special he did that he wants to show you before we go,’ Danny explained.
‘Okay!’ Grace nodded, keen to get going, the little girl wanting her weekend with her two fathers to start straight away.
Steve was anxiously waiting for Danny and Grace to come home. Hearing the Camaro pulling up outside, Steve immediately rushed to the front door, pulling it open and dropping down to his knees, pulling Grace in for a fierce embrace.
‘Mm, I’ve missed you baby,’ Steve said, holding the child close.
‘Missed you too!’ Grace said, returning the hug, ‘Danno said you have a surprise for me? Can I have it now?’ Grace asked, causing Steve to worry some more, realising that this probably wasn’t the type of surprise Grace would be expecting. He just hoped she wouldn’t be too disappointed.
‘It’s nothing, I just… well, go ring the doorbell and watch the lights inside,’ Steve said, deciding to show Grace just like how he’d shown Danny.
Danny watched on from the side, letting Grace and Steve do their thing. He watched as Grace, slightly confused, ran to the front door and pressed the button, a smile lighting up her face as she watched the lights flicker, just like they did at home.
‘You did that for me?’ Grace asked.
‘Yeah, I did the alarms too,’ Steve added, in his mind this was just his way of telling someone that he loved them, by doing something for them.
‘Really? Thank you!’ Grace beamed, wrapping her arms around Steve’s neck and planting a wet kiss to his cheek, the little girl understanding immediately that these slight adjustments to the house meant that Steve was in for the long haul with both Danno and her.
‘Of course, I love you, Monkey!’ Steve said, his eyes glistening with moisture he would later deny if anyone ever asked. ‘Now, let’s go, I think someone was promised some shave ice?’ he added, ushering Danny and Grace out the door, quickly picking up something from the table near the door before leaving as well.
In the car, with Steve driving, Grace was happily signing away, talking about how cool it was for Steve to fix the lights for her and then moving on to which flavour shave ice she was thinking of picking.
“What’s that you got there?” Danny asked Steve, indicating the bag he had brought with him, still keeping eyes on his daughter as she signed from the backseat.
“Nothing special,” Steve shrugged with a smile, pulling into a car space right in front of Kamekona’s shave ice store.
Grace leaped out of the car, ready to run towards the shack, only stopping when Danny grabbed at her hand. A silent look was all it took to rein Grace back and calm her down, the two walking off together as Steve watched from the car. The SEAL pulled his old camera out of the black bag and quickly snapped some candid shots of father and daughter before rushing to catch up with them, camera still in hand.
Steve took a seat at a free table, Danny and Grace already knowing his order (pineapple flavoured) and waited for them to return.
‘What’s that?’ Grace asked, pointing at Steve’s camera, Danny brining the three large cups of ice.
‘This is my camera, I’ve had it since after I joined the Navy!’ Steve explained holding it up for Grace to see.
‘Wow! Can I see?’ she asked, sitting herself down beside Steve.
‘Careful Monkey,’ Danny cautioned looking at Steve curiously, trying to figure out what he was up to.
‘I use to take this everywhere with me, while training and wherever I was stationed, I actually managed to sell some of my photos for journalists too. It was mostly a hobby though,’ Steve explained, answering Danny’s unasked question while flicking through some of the photos that were on the old memory card.
‘Hey! That’s us from today!’ Grace said, pointing at the photo of them.
‘Yup, here, all you really have to do is point it at something you think is pretty, then click!’ Steve demonstrated by picking up the camera, pointing it at Danny and taking several photos before showing them to Grace.
‘You think I'm pretty?’ Danny signed, face trying to look offending, ‘I’m ruggedly handsome! Masculine, stunning! Not pretty!’ he argued.
‘You’re pretty to me Danno!’ Steve replied with a teasing grin. ‘Here Gracie, you try, careful though,’ Steve said, handing the camera over to the little girl who immediately started taking pictures of everything around them, her cast supporting the camera up as she took the photos.
“So a photographer huh?” Danny asked when Grace was focused on the camera, her shave ice slowly melting.
“Yeah, what?” Steve shrugged, taking a bite out of his treat.
“Nothing, you're just full of surprises today is all,” Danny smiled, showing Steve that it was a good thing.
The rest of their morning was spent at the beach, Grace entertaining herself with Steve’s camera since she couldn’t go swimming. Danny and Steve sat close to one another, side by side, keeping an eye on her, planning what to do for the rest of the weekend.
Close to lunchtime, Danny decided it was time to head home, signalling for his daughter to come. ‘Let’s go home, we’ll cook lunch and have a picnic on the beach?’ Danny suggested, using Steve’s idea.
‘Awesome,’ Grace said, not giving back the camera as they made their way back to the car, then home. The rest of the day was spent at home, Grace enjoying her new toy, snapping pictures of nearly everything she saw.
Later that night, as both Danny and Steve tucked Grace in, Steve promised to get all the photos up onto the computer for Grace to see tomorrow. ‘Thanks Seal, today was so much fun!’ Grace said, eyes already drooping.
‘No problem princess, I’m glad you had a good day,’ Steve replied, grabbing the camera and taking it to the study, giving Danny and Grace a moment alone together.
Steve uploaded all the photos onto his laptop, not expecting many (if any) useable or focused shots. The man was surprised however to see some stunning photos. A lot were of plants or the water, several of different people and crowds, and others still of just random things. But most of all, there were so many shot of him and Danny together, both men not realising that Grace had been taking photos of them.
“Looks like you’re little girl might have a career in photography,” Steve said, hearing Danny’s approach, stopping on a picture of the two of them kissing, the light framing their heads perfectly.
“Our little girl can have a career in anything she wants. You should print that,” Danny rebutted, the printer already whirling to life as Steve did just that.
Early on Monday morning, Danny was on the phone in his office, after just having dropped Gracie back off with her mother, as his little girl was not allowed to go back to school just yet.
“What do you mean ‘nothing else will be done?’” Danny growled through the handset. The clearly frustrated man was pacing his small office, his free hand running through his hair, trying to calm himself down enough not to throw the phone against the wall.
“What’s going on brah?” Chin asked walking up to Steve, the three teammates watching Danny from the bullpen.
“Rachel is thinking of transferring Grace, even though the school she’s at has the best supportive programs for her. Now Danny’s trying to find out why more hasn’t been done aside from a short meeting about tolerance to the kids involved in the fight,” Steve sighed, just as angry as Danny was over the whole situation. Rachel had thankfully been supportive of them, for this at least, throughout this whole ordeal, backing them up completely.
“What are you two going to do?” Kono asked.
“I’ve had enough of this, talking this way has achieved nothing, I'm going down there!” Steve decided, with a final nod, “keep an eye on Danny, make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid or reckless,” Steve added, gathering his keys and quickly marching out of the building.
“We’re more worried about what you’ll do,” Kono said after he left, teeth chewing on her bottom lip, “should one of us go after him?”
“Nah, he’ll be fine rookie, he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardise Grace, or Danny’s relationship with his ex,” Chin reasoned.
Steve strode into the main office like a man on a mission, sent straight from Hell itself, his face darkened with anger.
“Uh… I-I’m s-sorry s-sir, you can’t go in there!” the secretary spoke, trying to stop Steve as he rushed right on through.
“Is anyone in there?” he asked, pausing by the door.
“N-no, but…”
“Then I'm going in!” Steve growled, hating that he was being rude to the innocent lady, but by now he was just beyond caring. He pushed open the door, slamming it shut behind him, pacing the small room before pulling up a seat directly in front of the principal.
“Mr McGarrett?” Principal Aiwohi said, pulling his glasses down before completely removing them, “I just got off the phone with your partner, I assume this visit is in regards to that?” he said snidely.
“Of course it is, Mr Aiwohi, a little girl was hospitalised over what happened on your school grounds, during school hours, by at least several of your students. I expected more than a simple talk with the students to have occurred as punishment…”
“Mr-”
“Commander,” Steve interrupted.
“Right, Commander McGarrett, you must understand, kids will be kids, and you and your partner were blatantly showing off your relationship. I’m sorry you put yourselves in that situation but-”
“Stop right there, Daniel and I were doing no such thing! We were, at most, holding hands! Other parents were doing much more than that, and I don’t see their children being attacked,” Steve vented.
“You obviously see the difference here, don’t you Commander, Mr. Williams and yourself are both-”
“Don’t. Do not continue that sentence,” Steve said, holding up his hand to stop the older man, “because if you finish that sentence then I can’t be accounted for what I do next. I understand that not everyone is so accepting, and that isn’t my point here today.
I want to see those children punished for what they did to Grace Williams, or else you will have the whole taskforce, and the Governor as well, to deal with when I turn this whole situation into a case. Do you understand me?” Steve said, his eyes narrowing, face scowling slightly as he stared the older man down.
“I-I’ll see w-what I can do,” the principal stammered, nodding slightly and shuffling in his seat nervously.
“See that you do, I want to know that my daughter will be safe and looked after, or else you will see me again,” Steve warned, standing and leaving the man in shock.
Steve sat in the car, gripping the wheel and berating himself for what he had just done. He hadn’t meant to all but threaten the principal, but when the bigot had started accusing him of causing the fight, Steve had just seen red. He did some breathing exercises to calm himself down, breathing in deep and slowly releasing it before checking his phone. He hadn’t been gone long, under an hour, but he already had more than half a dozen missed called from Danny and a few from the office. Checking his messages, Danny was obviously furious, ranting and raving about how he shouldn’t do anything. The final message on his phone had been from Chin, only from a few minutes ago, warning him that Danny was on his way.
Just after hanging up his phone with a sigh, a knock sounded from his window, startling him. The hand pressed against his window belonged to Danny, the shorter man rounding the car and trying the doorhandle, indicating to Steve to unlock the car and let him in. Steve sighed, unlocking the car and waiting for the onslaught to begin. Danny sat down beside Steve, for once completely silent, freaking Steve out just a bit.
“Babe?” Steve prompted, holding his hand, palm up, out between them.
Danny immediately laced his fingers through Steve’s. “I don’t know if I should be praising you or berating you right now,” Danny said softly.
“Danny?” Steve questioned hesitantly.
“On my way here I got a call. I was completely ready to apologise my ass of... It was Principal Aiwohi… he apologised for not doing anything sooner! Said Grace was completely welcome to stay, and that the kids that started the fight would be dealt with accordingly, whatever that means, and that more care would be taken to teach the children, and parents, about acceptance…”
“That’s a good thing right?” Steve asked.
“Yeah, yeah it definitely is, we didn’t really want to take her out of this school, it’s the best for her, and while we will if she asks, the peace of mind helps. And now that those kids are really getting punished? Sure it doesn’t change what they did, but it’s a start,” Danny shrugged, finally turning to look Steve in the eye. “I don’t know what you did, and I kind of don’t want to know, but thank you for doing it!” he smiled.
“Anytime babe,” Steve reassured.
“You know, I don’t think you really understand just how much you’ve just done. This is going to get back to Rachel, it’s going to make things a lot easier for us, you’ll see,” Danny added, leaning in and sealing his lips to Steve’s.
“Come on, let’s go home,” Steve said once they finally broke apart, his fingers still tangled in Danny’s hair, not wanting to let him go just yet, not even just to get to his own car to go home. “Oh, and Danny?”
“Mm?”
“I think it’s time Gracie learnt some self-defence,” he smirked menacingly, knowing Danny would ultimately accept the idea, realising how valuable it would be for Grace but still expecting a long winded speech about him corrupting his daughter or something along those lines.
-End.
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