Cacti, Steel, and Surf--Chapter 2 Growing Up
Cacti, Steel, And Surf
Chapter Two: Growing Up
Rating: PG
Steve’s smirk as he watched Danny finish up his phone call grew. This Ignacia, Danny’s Nana, seemed to be a rather interesting woman from the reactions Danny had gone through with her on the phone.
He might have to go digging, possibly actually call her to learn about his partner, anyone who could actually cause the mainlander to blush-something none of them had managed despite all the teasing, especially about his cane-she had to have either a very lewd sense of humor or just knew the right buttons to push.
Besides, he enjoyed seeing that color on Danny, it suited him well and the emotions he was feeling-be it indignation, frustration, or embarrassment-caused the color of his eyes to pop.
Chin and Kono watched on as Steve went in for the kill after Danny hung up the phone, each interested to learn what new secrets were divulged in the oncoming banter.
“So . . . Ignacia, she an old girlfriend, Danno?”
The blond whipped around to stare incredulously at Steve; his mouth dropped open and his eyes large, still trying to comprehend that sentence. They all had heard him call her Nana, but teasing their mainlander was so much fun.
“What . . . No! No, she’s not an ex-girlfriend. She’s . . . well, it’s complicated but, she’s my grandma.”
That cause Steve to raise an eyebrow at him,” How is she being your grandmother complicated?”
Danny blanched as he realized he had spoken before thinking, almost just out rightly admitting that she wasn’t his grandmother by birth.
It’s not that he was trying to purposely hide where he had grown up from them, but he’d been teased enough moving to New Jersey from his home and he’d just gotten used to hiding those parts of him to the point where he kept that to himself. Hell, a few of his rather unfriendly coworkers in Jersey had found out once due to them walking in on a conversation about his home and then proceeded to make “Brokeback Mountain” jokes for the entirety he was there until he transferred to Homicide.
“I’m not related to her by blood. She lived next to my grandparents and was really good friends with them before they passed, I used to play with her grand kids and we’d crash at whomever’s house we were at; they called her and her husband Nana and Abuelo and I called mine Gran and poppy so we just called them both those names.”
Steve, Kono, and Chin all listened as he explained the family dynamics without going into real detail.
“She’s our Nana, blood or not, just like Abuelo was Abuelo, Gran was Gran, and Poppy was Poppy. When I was little I spent the most time with them and Nana and Abuelo’s own grand kids. “
Steve smiled at Danny, “I was just teasing you Danny, we heard you call her Nana even if we couldn’t understand much else, which reminds me, how come you didn’t tell us you knew Spanish?”
Danny shrugged, “I dunno, it just didn’t seem all that important, I mean how often are you gunna hear Spanish in Hawaii?”
Danny left out that he knew Navajo as well, growing up in a house hold in New Mexico with friends who spoke all three languages had taught him to speak them as well.
Chin was the one who answered him “Not often but it might still come in handy; you done with your report, brah?”
“Oh, yeah. Are you guys done? Steve drove us to work today ‘cause I crashed on his couch when we decided to take a break from the case and sleep last night.”
“Yeah, we’re done, let’s all go get a good night’s rest, yeah?”
Everyone nodded their heads affirmatively and they wandered over to their respective desks to pack up. Danny waved to Chin and Kono as they left leaning against the door jamb of Steve’s office as Steve put all of the case files away for the night.
When he was finished they walked out to Steve’s truck, shoulders brushing as they walked sided by side-neither noticed that they did this, they never did, it was a part their partnership that had been there since the beginning, each constantly touching the other. As they settled into the seats and Steve began to drive, they were both quiet, relaxing as they drove through the night to his home.
With such a relaxed atmosphere, Danny was startled when Steve broke the silence, “Why were you so apprehensive about telling us about Nana Ignacia, Danno?”
Danny shifted slightly as he thought about his answer, “You and Mary, you always had a parent around, even if your dad wasn’t exactly the most attentive, right?”
Steve nodded, so Danny continued.
“My mom, she didn’t really want me. She was around, but she was working and trying to finish school and I just got in the way; I hadn’t been planned, I was an accident my mother had received after a one night stand with a man who had disappeared afterwards. So, since we lived with my grandparents with Nana next door, they were the ones that raised me.
“Then, Ma met this man named Craig and he wooed her and she fell in love-me and home just didn’t fit in with her and him, despite the fact that she’d been raised the same way in the same place-so this man came in and twisted my world upside down and moved us both to Jersey with him after his business was through.
“I grew up so differently than the other kids-was raised with different ideals, religion, and mindset-that I was the outcast, one of the freaks. I learned to just hide what made me different, learned to fight better, dirtier, than I had before because they saw me as someone who was different. Hell, some of my old co-workers ragged on me when they found out where I was from on accident. So I’ve just gotten good at keepin’ it to myself, alright?”
Steve glanced over at his partner, his eyebrows furrowed. Danny had, he wouldn’t say blank but it was as close, a stoic mask in place on his face. It stilled anything he was going to say, not wanting to bring up any other bad memories his partner seemed to have brought up in telling him all of this.
They were quiet for the rest of the drive, Steve trying to apply everything he’d learned to his partner and Danny trying to bring back the joy he’d felt when he talked to Nana by remembering the summers he’d spent home after moving to New Jersey.
When they got to Steve’s house, Danny didn’t immediately go to his car prompting Steve to offer him a drink. They both knew that if Danny accepted, he wouldn’t return home and sleep on Steve’s couch.
Danny stood there, staring at Steve’s childhood home for a moment before he sighed.
“Not tonight, McGarett,” he smiled slightly at Steve, showing him all was fine, “Sleeping on that couch of yours is hard on my back.”
With a wave Danny walked towards his Camaro, the only thing he’d every saved up for and bought for himself since high school, and drove to his small loft apartment.
Steve wanted to call him back and tell him he didn’t have to sleep on the couch, that there was enough room for both of them in his bed, but he didn’t know how Danno would react to that. He watched his partner drive off before he went inside to have himself a beer, going over everything that Danno had told them tonight before realizing that he had never actually said where he’d grown up.
Finishing his beer as he looked out at the surf, he shook his head at how good Danny was at not giving up information if he really didn’t want to. As he made his way back inside to take a shower and sleep he resolved himself to not using any of his connections or authority to dig up information on his partner as he’d thought earlier-he’d find it all out by working with the man, being a friend to him.
He just hoped that Danno would trust him enough to tell him.
Chapter One / Chapter Archive / Chapter Three
Chapter Two: Growing Up
Rating: PG
Steve’s smirk as he watched Danny finish up his phone call grew. This Ignacia, Danny’s Nana, seemed to be a rather interesting woman from the reactions Danny had gone through with her on the phone.
He might have to go digging, possibly actually call her to learn about his partner, anyone who could actually cause the mainlander to blush-something none of them had managed despite all the teasing, especially about his cane-she had to have either a very lewd sense of humor or just knew the right buttons to push.
Besides, he enjoyed seeing that color on Danny, it suited him well and the emotions he was feeling-be it indignation, frustration, or embarrassment-caused the color of his eyes to pop.
Chin and Kono watched on as Steve went in for the kill after Danny hung up the phone, each interested to learn what new secrets were divulged in the oncoming banter.
“So . . . Ignacia, she an old girlfriend, Danno?”
The blond whipped around to stare incredulously at Steve; his mouth dropped open and his eyes large, still trying to comprehend that sentence. They all had heard him call her Nana, but teasing their mainlander was so much fun.
“What . . . No! No, she’s not an ex-girlfriend. She’s . . . well, it’s complicated but, she’s my grandma.”
That cause Steve to raise an eyebrow at him,” How is she being your grandmother complicated?”
Danny blanched as he realized he had spoken before thinking, almost just out rightly admitting that she wasn’t his grandmother by birth.
It’s not that he was trying to purposely hide where he had grown up from them, but he’d been teased enough moving to New Jersey from his home and he’d just gotten used to hiding those parts of him to the point where he kept that to himself. Hell, a few of his rather unfriendly coworkers in Jersey had found out once due to them walking in on a conversation about his home and then proceeded to make “Brokeback Mountain” jokes for the entirety he was there until he transferred to Homicide.
“I’m not related to her by blood. She lived next to my grandparents and was really good friends with them before they passed, I used to play with her grand kids and we’d crash at whomever’s house we were at; they called her and her husband Nana and Abuelo and I called mine Gran and poppy so we just called them both those names.”
Steve, Kono, and Chin all listened as he explained the family dynamics without going into real detail.
“She’s our Nana, blood or not, just like Abuelo was Abuelo, Gran was Gran, and Poppy was Poppy. When I was little I spent the most time with them and Nana and Abuelo’s own grand kids. “
Steve smiled at Danny, “I was just teasing you Danny, we heard you call her Nana even if we couldn’t understand much else, which reminds me, how come you didn’t tell us you knew Spanish?”
Danny shrugged, “I dunno, it just didn’t seem all that important, I mean how often are you gunna hear Spanish in Hawaii?”
Danny left out that he knew Navajo as well, growing up in a house hold in New Mexico with friends who spoke all three languages had taught him to speak them as well.
Chin was the one who answered him “Not often but it might still come in handy; you done with your report, brah?”
“Oh, yeah. Are you guys done? Steve drove us to work today ‘cause I crashed on his couch when we decided to take a break from the case and sleep last night.”
“Yeah, we’re done, let’s all go get a good night’s rest, yeah?”
Everyone nodded their heads affirmatively and they wandered over to their respective desks to pack up. Danny waved to Chin and Kono as they left leaning against the door jamb of Steve’s office as Steve put all of the case files away for the night.
When he was finished they walked out to Steve’s truck, shoulders brushing as they walked sided by side-neither noticed that they did this, they never did, it was a part their partnership that had been there since the beginning, each constantly touching the other. As they settled into the seats and Steve began to drive, they were both quiet, relaxing as they drove through the night to his home.
With such a relaxed atmosphere, Danny was startled when Steve broke the silence, “Why were you so apprehensive about telling us about Nana Ignacia, Danno?”
Danny shifted slightly as he thought about his answer, “You and Mary, you always had a parent around, even if your dad wasn’t exactly the most attentive, right?”
Steve nodded, so Danny continued.
“My mom, she didn’t really want me. She was around, but she was working and trying to finish school and I just got in the way; I hadn’t been planned, I was an accident my mother had received after a one night stand with a man who had disappeared afterwards. So, since we lived with my grandparents with Nana next door, they were the ones that raised me.
“Then, Ma met this man named Craig and he wooed her and she fell in love-me and home just didn’t fit in with her and him, despite the fact that she’d been raised the same way in the same place-so this man came in and twisted my world upside down and moved us both to Jersey with him after his business was through.
“I grew up so differently than the other kids-was raised with different ideals, religion, and mindset-that I was the outcast, one of the freaks. I learned to just hide what made me different, learned to fight better, dirtier, than I had before because they saw me as someone who was different. Hell, some of my old co-workers ragged on me when they found out where I was from on accident. So I’ve just gotten good at keepin’ it to myself, alright?”
Steve glanced over at his partner, his eyebrows furrowed. Danny had, he wouldn’t say blank but it was as close, a stoic mask in place on his face. It stilled anything he was going to say, not wanting to bring up any other bad memories his partner seemed to have brought up in telling him all of this.
They were quiet for the rest of the drive, Steve trying to apply everything he’d learned to his partner and Danny trying to bring back the joy he’d felt when he talked to Nana by remembering the summers he’d spent home after moving to New Jersey.
When they got to Steve’s house, Danny didn’t immediately go to his car prompting Steve to offer him a drink. They both knew that if Danny accepted, he wouldn’t return home and sleep on Steve’s couch.
Danny stood there, staring at Steve’s childhood home for a moment before he sighed.
“Not tonight, McGarett,” he smiled slightly at Steve, showing him all was fine, “Sleeping on that couch of yours is hard on my back.”
With a wave Danny walked towards his Camaro, the only thing he’d every saved up for and bought for himself since high school, and drove to his small loft apartment.
Steve wanted to call him back and tell him he didn’t have to sleep on the couch, that there was enough room for both of them in his bed, but he didn’t know how Danno would react to that. He watched his partner drive off before he went inside to have himself a beer, going over everything that Danno had told them tonight before realizing that he had never actually said where he’d grown up.
Finishing his beer as he looked out at the surf, he shook his head at how good Danny was at not giving up information if he really didn’t want to. As he made his way back inside to take a shower and sleep he resolved himself to not using any of his connections or authority to dig up information on his partner as he’d thought earlier-he’d find it all out by working with the man, being a friend to him.
He just hoped that Danno would trust him enough to tell him.
Chapter One / Chapter Archive / Chapter Three