Fic: Who says you can’t go home? - [Steve McGarrett/Danny Williams]
Title: ‘Who says you can’t go home?’ - [3/5]
Author: jen_jm
Pairing: Steve McGarrett/Danny Williams
Rating: mostly R, but it gets NC-17 later on
Warnings: slash, presence of OCs. They also work a case, sort of.
Words: about 30,000
Spoilers: none
Disclaimer: I don’t own them, unfortunately. Title borrowed from Bon Jovi.
Notes: I’d like to point out that I do not share Danny’s view of Hawaii, I think it’s a gorgeous place. Also, I love pineapples.
Summary: Danny is having a hard time finding a new living arrangement and things get even more complicated when he has to deal with a new roommate, a high-profile case and a car accident that endangers someone he cares about. Also, pineapples occur.
Crossposted
[Chapter 1] -- [Chapter 2]
~~
3. The one with the Bon Jovi song
“Danno!” Grace runs in his direction as soon as the nurse lets go of her hand. Danny hugs her tight enough to knock the air out of her and feels his eyes water a bit.
“Gracie, are you alright?” Danny whispers directly into her ear and she nods, holding onto him for dear life.
“Mom’s hurt,” she mutters, clearly scared and just about to cry.
“I know, monkey, but she’ll be fine, I promise,” Danny tells her and strokes her hair, trying to calm her down. “Were you in the car too?”
“No, I was at Sam’s,” Grace replies once he puts her back down. “She was coming to get me, it’s my--”
“Don’t say that,” Danny stops her before she can finish that sentence. “It’s not, okay?” She doesn’t say anything and keeps blinking to stop more tears from falling. “Monkey, look at me. It’s not your fault, okay?”
Grace nods briefly, then wipes her eyes with her sleeve and takes a deep breath. “Who’s that?” she asks when she notices Olivia, who stood a few steps back to give them some privacy.
“That’s my new roommate, Olivia,” Danny tells her with what he hopes is a reassuring smile. “Will you stay with her a couple of minutes while I go see how mom’s doing?” Grace nods and follows him without a word. “Can you watch her for a moment? I need to go talk to a doctor.”
“Sure,” Olivia says and crouches down to look at Grace in the eye. “Hey.”
Danny watches them for a moment, then goes straight for the doctor who’s writing on a chart at the nurse station. “Excuse me, I’m Mrs. Edwards ex-husband, can you tell me how she is?”
“She was in a car accident,” the doctor informs, and Danny recognizes the voice as the one he’s heard on the phone. “A truck didn’t stop at a red light and hit her as she drove past,” he continues with a sympathetic tone, and all Danny wants to do is to grab his shoulders and shake him as hard as he can to make him talk faster. “She’s lucky the truck only hit the rear of the car, or it would have been worse.”
“How is she?” Danny asks again with barely controlled irritation and the doctor - Donovan, as his tag says - seems to get it.
“She has a broken rib, a dislocated shoulder and a concussion,” Donovan explains and takes a deep breath. “She will be fine, she got very lucky.”
You could have said that on the phone, you fucking moron, Danny thought, feeling his heartbeat slow down a little bit. Then something else hits him and he’s back near tachycardia. “She’s pregnant, what about the baby?”
“We ran some tests, everything looks fine,” Donovan answers with a little smile. “The baby is okay.”
“Thank God.” Danny lets out a shaky breath and covers his face with both his hands, pressing down as hard as he can. After a few seconds, he looks at the doctor again. “Can I see her?”
“The nurse will call you when she wakes up.” Donovan closes the chart he has in his hand and addresses him another sympathetic smile; Danny really doesn’t like this guy. The doctor’s pager goes off a moment later and he excuses himself, heading quickly down the corridor.
Danny turns around and goes straight for Grace, who looks up at him with the most scared look he’s ever seen on her face. “Mom will be fine, Monkey,” he tells her with the best smile he can manage, and he hopes to Heaven it’s good enough. Apparently, it is, because Grace jumps him and wraps her arms around his chest. “Your little brother is a tough one too.”
“I want to go see her,” Grace mutters and pulls back to look at her father.
“We can’t, right now.” Danny moves her hair away from her forehead and places a kiss there. “The nurse will tells us when we can, okay?”
She nods again, then climbs on one of the chairs and wraps her arms around her knees, and the vulnerable, broken look in her eyes makes Danny want to shoot the truck driver in the face. Right when he’s seriously thinking about hunting the son of a bitch down to shoot him, a voice distracts him.
“Danny!”
He turns around and finds himself face to face with Steve, who looks like he’s just run a marathon. Before he can say anything, his partner pulls him in a hug and holds him just as tightly as he’s held Grace a few minutes before. Danny is too dumbfounded to do anything except reciprocate the hug; he closes his eyes and lets the warmth coming from Steve sooth him enough to stop shaking.
“What are you doing here?” he asks as he pulls back after what seems already too long to be acceptable; still, Steve barely lets him go.
“The hospital called me, I thought--” Steve takes a deep breath and squares his shoulders. “I thought something happened to you.”
“I asked them to call you,” Grace admits with a tiny voice, and throws her father an apologetic look.
“It’s okay, Gracie,” Danny reassures her and sits next to her, surprised, but not in a bad way.
“You did good,” Steve confirms and sits down on the other side, smiling at her.
Danny has too many feelings wrestling around in his chest to pinpoint what the sudden warm wave that knocks the air out of him is. Relief, mostly, but something else too, something he doesn’t have the strength to deny right now. He tries to snap out of that train of thoughts by looking at his roommate, who’s standing next to them with a little, relieved smile on her lips.
“Thanks for coming here, both of you,” he says, shaking his head. “You should probably go get some rest, though, I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?” Olivia doesn’t seem convinced and she turns her gaze to Steve, evidently waiting for his decision.
“I’ll stay and drive them home,” Steve decides with a quick nod. “Go get some sleep.”
Olivia hesitates for a few seconds, then addresses Grace a smile and heads down the corridor after a brief good-bye. As much as Danny appreciates her help - he does, really -, as soon as she’s gone, he feels entitled to let his guard down a little. He closes his eyes and wraps an arm around his daughter’s shoulders, holding her close. It’s a few minutes before anyone speaks, and Danny almost dozes off.
“How’s Rachel?”
Clearly, Steve is smart enough to have figured out who’s actually injured, and Danny is grateful he doesn’t have to talk about the accident right now. “She’ll be fine, the baby is too.”
“D’you want me to call someone?”
Danny opens his eyes and looks at him, only to find that he’s holding Grace’s hand; his daughter, on the other hand, seems to be asleep, and her head is a reassuring weight against his arm. For some reason, it makes him want to cry. God, he needs to sleep, he can’t be that emotional around Steve. “No, it’s-- it’s okay, just tell the team, tomorrow.”
“I’ll take care of that,” Steve accepts and keeps his eyes on him. “Are you okay?”
“Far from it,” Danny admits and mirrors his little smile tiredly. “Gracie was scared out of her socks.”
“At least she’ll cheer up when she finds out you have a dog,” Steve offers and that earns him a quiet laughter.
“It’s temporary,” Danny points out, then remembers what exactly is waiting for them at home. “And it’s a freaking Newf.”
Steve shakes with barely repressed laughter and Danny really wants to slap him in that stupid face of his. Or kiss him. And really, right now, his emotional barriers are so fucked up that the only thing stopping him is the baby girl sitting between them. For some reason, he’s not as grateful as he knows he should be, for that.
~
“Hey,” is all Rachel has the time to say when Danny enters the room. A moment later, she finds herself with his arms carefully wrapped around her and his lips on her forehead.
“Don't 'hey' me, Rachel, d'you have any idea how scared I was?” Danny mutters against the top of her head. “God, I thought-- these idiots didn't tell me how bad it was until I got here and--”
“I'm sorry,” Rachel answers with a little smile and he can tell she's still a little dazed; he figures that since she's pregnant, they can't give her much for the pain, and he doesn't envy her one bit. “I didn't realize you were still my emergency contact.”
“Yeah, well, I haven't changed mine either,” he lies, closing his eyes. He has, but he doesn't feel like this is the right time to tell his injured ex-wife that his emergency contact is his partner now. Considering how Steve reacted to the possibility of him being hurt, he chose well enough, though.
“I'm glad you're here,” Rachel admits when Danny reluctantly pulls back from the hug.
“You clearly have a concussion,” Danny remarks with a solemn nod, but his tone is as warm as hers.
Rachel laughs, but she immediately stops when the dull pain in her side becomes suddenly sharper. “Don't make me laugh, it hurts.”
“Sorry.” Danny is not sure he is, because seeing her laugh makes the whole evening a little less crazy.
Once her breathing is even again, she settles back against the pillow. She looks like she wants to ask something, but it takes her several seconds of hesitation before she huffs out, “Has anyone called Stan?”
“I have no idea.” Danny really doesn't; it hasn't been his main concern and it still isn't. He doesn't exactly feel a bad person because of that, he still remembers that Stan is the reason Rachel and Grace got carjacked. “Gracie had the hospital call Steve, though. He thought I was hurt.”
“They probably couldn't disclose anything about the accident, since he's not a relative,” Rachel reasons, but she doesn't seem annoyed by their daughter's initiative.
“Or maybe he didn't leave them time to,” Danny considers with a small grin. “You know him.”
“Who's with Gracie now?”
“He is,” Danny says, like it's the most natural thing in the world. “I'll go get them.”
“He's still here?” Rachel arches both eyebrows at him, clearly not expecting that answer.
Danny just smiles and opens the door without a word, not sure what he can actually say right now without sounding like a thirteen years old girl with a crush. He calls his daughter in, and when Steve hangs back, Danny addresses him a questioning look and gestures him to go in as well.
When he looks back at his ex-wife, Grace is sitting on the edge of the bed with Rachel's hands cupping her face. For a moment he thinks that maybe he should give them some time alone, but right then Rachel looks up at them.
“Thanks,” she just says, and looks at Danny first, then moves her eyes to Steve. “Really, I-- I'm glad you're both here.”
“She has a concussion,” Danny explains with a grin, and Steve laughs quietly. The next sentence, however, doesn't come out as easily. “Should I call Stan?”
“I'll do it later.” Rachel takes Grace's hand in his own before she speaks again. “He's in Europe to close a deal, he won't be home for two more days.”
Danny really wants to say something bad and nasty and inappropriate for a child's ears about how Stan can glue his ass to the freaking Eiffel Tower and never come back, as far as he's concerned, but he restrains himself - barely - and just nods instead. He's about to ask what she thinks she will do with Grace, but Steve precedes him.
“Well, Danny has two days off,” Steve tells her with a bright smile, and all Danny can do is stare at him, speechless. “Great coincidence, isn't it?”
“It is,” Rachel agrees with a knowing smile. “What do you say, Gracie, d'you wanna spend a couple of extra days with dad while mom gets better?”
“Do I get any saying in this?” Danny looks at his partner first, then at his ex-wife.
“What, you're not happy about this?” Steve crosses his arms and grins, and really, Danny wants to smack him. Hard.
“Of course I'm happy about this,” Danny immediately says. “I'd just like to be considered as the adult I am, in this conversation.”
“You just like to complain,” Steve points out with a challenging tone. “You're not completely happy if you don't have something to rant about,” he adds and grins at the glare Danny addresses him. “It's okay, Danno, we love you anyway.”
Rachel suppresses a laughter and clenches her side, but she doesn't lose her smile even when the pain strikes, and Grace laughs, the first real laugh Danny has heard from her all night. “We do, Danno,” Grace confirms, and that's all it takes for Danny to stand down from the defensive rant - well, look at that - he is about to blurt out.
“C'mon, Monkey, we should let mom rest,” Danny tells her after a few seconds, but she doesn't look convinced. At all. “We'll come back tomorrow, I promise.”
“Danno's right,” Rachel adds, then addresses her a warm smile and strokes her cheek with a thumb. “You need to rest too, and tomorrow you can tell me what you did at Sam's.”
“Okay,” Grace agrees with a snort, but hesitates to let go of her mother's hand.
When she makes up her mind and kisses her mother's cheek, Steve steps out to leave them some space. Grace follows him with a sulk, and right when Danny is about to walk out too, Rachel stops him with a quiet, “Wait up.”
“What?” Danny turns to look at her and frowns; has he forgotten something major he should have asked her?
“I'll call ahead and tell the maid to let you in, so you can get Grace's stuff,” Rachel informs, but it's clear she's itching to say something else.
Danny isn't going to force it out of her, so he just nods his assent, then heads for the door.
“Steve gets you,” Rachel deadpans and that's enough to make him spin around. “More than I ever did,” she adds with a little sad smile. The 'don't fuck it up' part she leaves unsaid is loud enough to deafen him.
He wants to say there's nothing to fuck up, but he's too tired to even pretend it could be true and he knows better than to lie to her and to himself. So he settles for the truth. “I'll do my best to keep him around.”
~~
The day after the accident, Danny keeps Grace home from school. He tells himself it's just because she was up so late and she needs to recuperate from the shock, but deep inside, he knows he craves every minutes he can get with her. They sleep in, they eat pancakes for lunch and they go to visit Rachel later in the afternoon. After that, Grace even manages to convince him to go for a swim and spend a couple of hours on the beach. In all that, he can see Grace doesn't mention anything about involving Olivia the same way she always drags Steve in whenever he’s around, and Danny doesn't know whether it's because she doesn't like Olivia, or because becoming completely enamored with McGarrett is embedded in the Williams DNA.
On the second day, though, his responsible side kicks in and he drives her to school; he even stops to talk to her teacher, which is not his favorite thing in the world, and explains what happened. He's not too fond of Grace's teachers, they overwork her and they surely don't appreciate her enough, but it's Rachel who picked the school, so he just has to go with it. Teachers in good old Jersey were way better, just like most other things.
Once he's dropped his daughter at school, he finds himself unoccupied for a good chunk of the day. He considers sleeping himself silly, but somehow that doesn't seem like the mature thing to do. Instead, he goes to the office to see how the investigation is going. Okay, Steve forced two days off on him, and he's enormously grateful for that, but they're working a big case and he has nothing better to do - well, he has millions of better things to do rather than getting shot, blown up and generally beat up, but still -, at least until Grace comes out of school.
Kono doesn't even leave him the time to greet anyone when he enters the office, just wraps him in one of her gentle hugs. “Hey, what are you doing here? How's Rachel?”
“She'll be fine,” Danny informs once he's pulled back. “Both her and the baby will be okay. They're keeping her in observation out of precaution, but she'll be out of the hospital in two or three days.”
“That's great, brah,” Chin says and pats him on the shoulder.
“Yeah, she got lucky,” Danny admits with a brief nod, then focuses on blocking the thought that's been tormenting him for the better part of two days. The truck hit the rear of the car and made it spin in the middle of the crossroads. If Grace had been in that car, in the backseat, she wouldn't have been as lucky.
He's incredibly thankful when Lori comes up to him and distracts him from his own masochistic brain. “Did they catch the guy?”
“Yeah, HPD arrested him for DUI, but it's his first offence, he won't get much,” Danny tells them with a clear and understandable streak of anger in his voice.
Steve, who has been watching the exchange in silence, tilts his head to the side and purses his lips, clearly lost in his own thoughts about the matter. Danny notices it and is almost tempted to say something like 'Please, don't go blow him up', but he tells himself Steve is not that crazy. Also, he would love to blow the bastard up himself.
“So, what do we have on the McCallister case? What did I lose?”
“It's your day off,” Lori points out with a raised eyebrow.
“And Grace's in school, I don't have much to do until she's back,” Danny offers with a shrug, then approaches the computer table.
“Admit it, you just miss us,” Kono jokes with an affectionate tone.
“That, too.” Danny scratches his chin in order to hide his grin behind his hand, but when he meets Steve's eyes, he feels something funny happen in his chest - he will not say butterflies, he will not. Steve is looking at him with that smile, the warm smile Danny has seen on him a few nights back when he and Grace were leaving his house; it takes a moment before he notices Danny's surprise and clears his throat subtly.
“Lori and Chin went to Kay's hotel and talked to the staff,” Steve informs him, his tone is back to business, and Danny can't deny he's a little disappointed. “They confirmed the victim is a regular, she used to spend three or four days there every three weeks, for the past year or so.”
“The problem is, her room is registered to a certain Lydia Barrington,” Chin continues and pulls the picture of an ID on screen. The picture is without doubt Victoria's, but the data is completely different from what they know.
“She has a fake ID?” Danny looks at them, unbelieving. “Who is this girl, really?”
“Not daddy's little girl, apparently.” Lori pulls something else on screen, a sketch drawing of a guy. “The concierge says there was a guy coming and going from her room pretty regularly. This guy.”
“Could be our killer,” Danny says, mostly to himself, and looks at the sketch.
“Or the boyfriend,” Kono offers, resting both her hands on the edge of the table. “Her best friend says Victoria has been seeing someone, but she doesn't know who.”
“Run him through facial recognition,” Steve tells Chin, then turns to look at Kono. “Any luck on those prints yet?”
“Still working,” Kono informs with a disappointed look. “The system is running slow.”
“Your tax dollar at work,” Danny mutters, and it earns him a grin from Chin. After a few seconds, he adds, “What can I do?”
“Buy me lunch,” Steve answers and pats him on the shoulder. “After all, I gave you two days off.”
“Fair enough,” Danny concedes with a smirk as they head for the door; the team barely pays attention to their exchange, even Lori is used to it by now, and Danny for a moment fears he’s imagined the smile on Steve’s face just minutes before.
They walk in a strange, relaxed silence, at least until they get in the car. When Steve crosses his arms against his chest and shows not intention to actually drive them anywhere, Danny understands something’s going on. “So, when are we going to see him?”
“Who?” Danny looks at his partner, honestly confused and even a little scared.
“The truck driver,” Steve says it like obvious, like it’s written on a giant bill board in front of them, with sparkling letters and all.
“We?” Danny doesn’t know where to start to tell him it’s really not a good idea, because if the thought of Steve going to see this guy is almost scarier than the thought of him going to see this guy, the idea of both of them teaming up against the son of a bitch is enough to evoke scenarios right out of a Samuel L. Jackson movie.
“I need to make sure you don't kill him.” Steve looks at him in the eye as he says it, and Danny can clearly read past the amused tone and the quick smile.
“Who d'you think I am, you?” Danny keeps his game face on as he evaluates his options and Steve’s offer. It doesn’t take long to make up his mind. “Fine, let’s skip lunch.”
“Oh no, we’re doing this, then you’re buying me lunch and a dessert,” Steve declares as he finally starts the car.
“What are you, twelve?” Danny blinks a few times and laughs, unbelieving.
“Hey, I’m not a cheap date,” is all Steve says and Danny doesn’t even know how to answer that. At the moment he’s not nearly stable enough mentally to make that kind of jokes without compromising himself in some extremely embarrassing way, so he just chuckles and raises his hands in surrender.
For a brief, sane moment he thinks maybe he’s making a mistake, but it doesn’t last long. The idea of doing this with backup, with his partner by his side, suddenly makes it feel a little less crazy.
After all, he likes Samuel L. Jackson.
~
Needless to say, Steve gets his best ninja super SEAL scary act going on and terrifies the guy shitless. For a split second Danny feels almost sorry for him, but then remembers the son of a bitch was drunk out of his mind and driving a truck in the middle of the fucking city, so no, he doesn’t feel sorry for him. He’s happy to let Steve do most of the work, because he’s not sure he can keep his mind on this side of the line between ‘scary’ and ‘homicidal’, and he really doesn’t want to go to prison for this piece of garbage. He still can’t stop thinking that Grace could have been in the backseat, on the right side where she usually sat, the same side the truck smashed beyond repair.
Once they leave - no HPD detective remembers them talking to the guy, of course - Danny doesn’t exactly feel like eating, but he’s a man of his word and grabs the keys from Steve’s hand. “It’s my day off, I get to drive my own car,” he mutters threateningly at his partner, who just raises his hands and lets him have the spot, amused.
As they ride to Kamekona’s place, Steve starts messing with the radio, and Danny’s sure it’s just to annoy him. When he recognizes Bon Jovi’s Always, though, he gestures him to stop, “Leave it.”
“Seriously?” Steve is clearly trying to hold back his laughter but does as told.
“What? It’s a classic,” Danny protests, maybe a bit too strongly, and focuses his gaze on the road when Steve gives up and just laughs. “Your soul is made of steel, Steven. Cold, stainless steel.”
“Oh, c’mon, you can’t be serious,” Steve huffs out, amused to no end. “We just threatened a guy with some of the most horrible things I can think of, and now you wanna listen to a love song?”
“I’m a complicated man,” Danny offers as an explanation, and tries not to think about the threats they just so lovely delivered. “And I’m driving, which means I get to pick the music.”
“I’m still your boss, you know, even though you’re off duty,” Steve points out with a slightly challenging tone.
“Oh, really? You wanna play it like that?” Danny motions his right hand in his direction, but doesn’t moves his eyes from the traffic. Steve doesn’t actually answer, just chuckles and relaxes back against the seat, making no move to change the station. Danny is almost tempted to taunt him a little more, but the peaceful atmosphere is refreshingly normal and he can almost forget the madness of the previous days. And it’s that exact thought that makes him say what he says next. “Why are you doing this?”
“Uh?”
“This,” Danny explains, gesturing between them, then pointing vaguely behind them. “Rushing to the hospital, offering me days off, helping me threaten a guy who’s done nothing to you.”
“Because,” Steve pauses and Danny thinks that maybe he’s at loss of words, but then he waits for the song to be right and mock-sings. “I will love you, baby, always.”
“Screw you, McGarrett, really,” Danny laughs, and it’s too ridiculous to ear him sing to even consider getting mad at him for avoiding the question so blatantly. “See, you know the song!”
“Of course I do,” Steve admits like it’s no big deal. “I’ve had other girlfriends before.”
“Are you calling me a girl?” Danny turns to look at him threateningly when they stop at a red light. What he really wants to say is: are you calling me your girlfriend?, but he’s in no emotional state to face that type of conversation, even in the joke form. Especially in the joke form.
“I’d never do such a thing, Danno,” Steve innocently replies, but Danny doesn’t have a chance to smack him because the light turns green and Steve’s phone rings right then to signal a text message. “It’s Chin, we’ve got a positive identification for our mystery guy.”
“Turning the car around, boss,” Danny acknowledges and checks the rear view mirror before making the turn.
“What about my lunch?”
“You lost that when you called me a girl.” Danny smiles widely at him and turns up the volume as Bon Jovi continues to play.
They drive back to the office in a relaxed silence, especially when the song changes and AC/DC comes up next, which they both approve of - no sane person would disapprove of Back in black. When they’ve almost arrived, he flips his phone open and types a quick message to Rachel to ask her if everything’s okay. The answer comes back almost instantly and it says ‘Bored out of my skull, but doing better. Stan will be away longer than expected’
“Can you believe this guy?” Danny explodes, exactly ten seconds after reading the text. “His wife and unborn child were in a fucking car accident and he stays in Europe a day longer.”
“Maybe something came up,” Steve offers, trying to be diplomatic, which Danny doesn’t appreciate all that much at the moment.
“Yeah, well, he can choke on that something,” he mutters, barely containing his rage. “I hope some freaking French squirrel ate his plane ticket. And his dick.”
“You really hate the guy.” Steve sounds halfway amazed and preoccupied and he doesn’t hesitate to add, “Are you still in love with Rachel?”
“What?” Danny snaps his head around to look at him so quickly Steve is probably afraid they’re going to crash against something. “No, it’s not-- I’m not-- it’s not about Rachel, it’s about being a good husband.”
Steve nods his assent and Danny can see he’s itching to add something, but ultimately doesn’t. He’s not sure whether it’s because they’ve reached their destination and he’s switched off the car, or because it’s something that would start a conversation they can’t really have at the moment. However, he’s happy to have his partner’s silent support. Again.
When they enter the office, there’s a picture on the screen that immediately catches their attention. The guy is good looking, blonde, with blue eyes and a lazy smirk plastered on his face.
“Meet Robert Harris,” Chin tells them with a less-than-thrilled tone. “He’s 26, moved here from Sydney two years ago, and apparently he’s got a soft spot for illegal entertainment.”
“Drugs?” Steve quickly reads the data on the screen and frowns. That guy seems to have all the right cards for a high-end drug dealer, so why isn’t he in prison? “What’s keeping him out of jail?”
“Connections,” Chin explains and pulls something else on screen. “And get this, his previous known associate died two years ago. Suicide.”
“Let me guess, shot himself in the head?” Danny shakes his head, unbelieving.
“On his own boat,” Chin adds with an eloquent look.
“Oldest story on the planet,” Kono mutters with a sad look. “Boy meets girl, they do drugs together, one ends up dead.”
“Let's find this guy,” Steve declares and gestures Chin to print the info they’ll need. Danny takes a deep breath and looks at his watch. He still has a couple of hours before Grace is out of school, so he sets his gears in motion, there’s no reason to let the others have all the fun.
~~
A/N: as you may have guessed, me and Danny have at least one thing in common, our love for Bon Jovi. (Also, I love ranting, but that’s not pertinent to the story.)
The case got a little bit more complicated, but I hope I didn’t screw up, and if something’s unclear, I apologize.
Last but not least, Rachel got really lucky, but don’t think things between her and Danny are going to be peachy for too long. It’s Danny and Rachel, after all. It could only be worse if his name was Ross.
I guess it’s all for now. As ever, thanks so much for your amazing support and feedback.
See you soon.
JM
Author: jen_jm
Pairing: Steve McGarrett/Danny Williams
Rating: mostly R, but it gets NC-17 later on
Warnings: slash, presence of OCs. They also work a case, sort of.
Words: about 30,000
Spoilers: none
Disclaimer: I don’t own them, unfortunately. Title borrowed from Bon Jovi.
Notes: I’d like to point out that I do not share Danny’s view of Hawaii, I think it’s a gorgeous place. Also, I love pineapples.
Summary: Danny is having a hard time finding a new living arrangement and things get even more complicated when he has to deal with a new roommate, a high-profile case and a car accident that endangers someone he cares about. Also, pineapples occur.
Crossposted
[Chapter 1] -- [Chapter 2]
~~
3. The one with the Bon Jovi song
“Danno!” Grace runs in his direction as soon as the nurse lets go of her hand. Danny hugs her tight enough to knock the air out of her and feels his eyes water a bit.
“Gracie, are you alright?” Danny whispers directly into her ear and she nods, holding onto him for dear life.
“Mom’s hurt,” she mutters, clearly scared and just about to cry.
“I know, monkey, but she’ll be fine, I promise,” Danny tells her and strokes her hair, trying to calm her down. “Were you in the car too?”
“No, I was at Sam’s,” Grace replies once he puts her back down. “She was coming to get me, it’s my--”
“Don’t say that,” Danny stops her before she can finish that sentence. “It’s not, okay?” She doesn’t say anything and keeps blinking to stop more tears from falling. “Monkey, look at me. It’s not your fault, okay?”
Grace nods briefly, then wipes her eyes with her sleeve and takes a deep breath. “Who’s that?” she asks when she notices Olivia, who stood a few steps back to give them some privacy.
“That’s my new roommate, Olivia,” Danny tells her with what he hopes is a reassuring smile. “Will you stay with her a couple of minutes while I go see how mom’s doing?” Grace nods and follows him without a word. “Can you watch her for a moment? I need to go talk to a doctor.”
“Sure,” Olivia says and crouches down to look at Grace in the eye. “Hey.”
Danny watches them for a moment, then goes straight for the doctor who’s writing on a chart at the nurse station. “Excuse me, I’m Mrs. Edwards ex-husband, can you tell me how she is?”
“She was in a car accident,” the doctor informs, and Danny recognizes the voice as the one he’s heard on the phone. “A truck didn’t stop at a red light and hit her as she drove past,” he continues with a sympathetic tone, and all Danny wants to do is to grab his shoulders and shake him as hard as he can to make him talk faster. “She’s lucky the truck only hit the rear of the car, or it would have been worse.”
“How is she?” Danny asks again with barely controlled irritation and the doctor - Donovan, as his tag says - seems to get it.
“She has a broken rib, a dislocated shoulder and a concussion,” Donovan explains and takes a deep breath. “She will be fine, she got very lucky.”
You could have said that on the phone, you fucking moron, Danny thought, feeling his heartbeat slow down a little bit. Then something else hits him and he’s back near tachycardia. “She’s pregnant, what about the baby?”
“We ran some tests, everything looks fine,” Donovan answers with a little smile. “The baby is okay.”
“Thank God.” Danny lets out a shaky breath and covers his face with both his hands, pressing down as hard as he can. After a few seconds, he looks at the doctor again. “Can I see her?”
“The nurse will call you when she wakes up.” Donovan closes the chart he has in his hand and addresses him another sympathetic smile; Danny really doesn’t like this guy. The doctor’s pager goes off a moment later and he excuses himself, heading quickly down the corridor.
Danny turns around and goes straight for Grace, who looks up at him with the most scared look he’s ever seen on her face. “Mom will be fine, Monkey,” he tells her with the best smile he can manage, and he hopes to Heaven it’s good enough. Apparently, it is, because Grace jumps him and wraps her arms around his chest. “Your little brother is a tough one too.”
“I want to go see her,” Grace mutters and pulls back to look at her father.
“We can’t, right now.” Danny moves her hair away from her forehead and places a kiss there. “The nurse will tells us when we can, okay?”
She nods again, then climbs on one of the chairs and wraps her arms around her knees, and the vulnerable, broken look in her eyes makes Danny want to shoot the truck driver in the face. Right when he’s seriously thinking about hunting the son of a bitch down to shoot him, a voice distracts him.
“Danny!”
He turns around and finds himself face to face with Steve, who looks like he’s just run a marathon. Before he can say anything, his partner pulls him in a hug and holds him just as tightly as he’s held Grace a few minutes before. Danny is too dumbfounded to do anything except reciprocate the hug; he closes his eyes and lets the warmth coming from Steve sooth him enough to stop shaking.
“What are you doing here?” he asks as he pulls back after what seems already too long to be acceptable; still, Steve barely lets him go.
“The hospital called me, I thought--” Steve takes a deep breath and squares his shoulders. “I thought something happened to you.”
“I asked them to call you,” Grace admits with a tiny voice, and throws her father an apologetic look.
“It’s okay, Gracie,” Danny reassures her and sits next to her, surprised, but not in a bad way.
“You did good,” Steve confirms and sits down on the other side, smiling at her.
Danny has too many feelings wrestling around in his chest to pinpoint what the sudden warm wave that knocks the air out of him is. Relief, mostly, but something else too, something he doesn’t have the strength to deny right now. He tries to snap out of that train of thoughts by looking at his roommate, who’s standing next to them with a little, relieved smile on her lips.
“Thanks for coming here, both of you,” he says, shaking his head. “You should probably go get some rest, though, I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?” Olivia doesn’t seem convinced and she turns her gaze to Steve, evidently waiting for his decision.
“I’ll stay and drive them home,” Steve decides with a quick nod. “Go get some sleep.”
Olivia hesitates for a few seconds, then addresses Grace a smile and heads down the corridor after a brief good-bye. As much as Danny appreciates her help - he does, really -, as soon as she’s gone, he feels entitled to let his guard down a little. He closes his eyes and wraps an arm around his daughter’s shoulders, holding her close. It’s a few minutes before anyone speaks, and Danny almost dozes off.
“How’s Rachel?”
Clearly, Steve is smart enough to have figured out who’s actually injured, and Danny is grateful he doesn’t have to talk about the accident right now. “She’ll be fine, the baby is too.”
“D’you want me to call someone?”
Danny opens his eyes and looks at him, only to find that he’s holding Grace’s hand; his daughter, on the other hand, seems to be asleep, and her head is a reassuring weight against his arm. For some reason, it makes him want to cry. God, he needs to sleep, he can’t be that emotional around Steve. “No, it’s-- it’s okay, just tell the team, tomorrow.”
“I’ll take care of that,” Steve accepts and keeps his eyes on him. “Are you okay?”
“Far from it,” Danny admits and mirrors his little smile tiredly. “Gracie was scared out of her socks.”
“At least she’ll cheer up when she finds out you have a dog,” Steve offers and that earns him a quiet laughter.
“It’s temporary,” Danny points out, then remembers what exactly is waiting for them at home. “And it’s a freaking Newf.”
Steve shakes with barely repressed laughter and Danny really wants to slap him in that stupid face of his. Or kiss him. And really, right now, his emotional barriers are so fucked up that the only thing stopping him is the baby girl sitting between them. For some reason, he’s not as grateful as he knows he should be, for that.
~
“Hey,” is all Rachel has the time to say when Danny enters the room. A moment later, she finds herself with his arms carefully wrapped around her and his lips on her forehead.
“Don't 'hey' me, Rachel, d'you have any idea how scared I was?” Danny mutters against the top of her head. “God, I thought-- these idiots didn't tell me how bad it was until I got here and--”
“I'm sorry,” Rachel answers with a little smile and he can tell she's still a little dazed; he figures that since she's pregnant, they can't give her much for the pain, and he doesn't envy her one bit. “I didn't realize you were still my emergency contact.”
“Yeah, well, I haven't changed mine either,” he lies, closing his eyes. He has, but he doesn't feel like this is the right time to tell his injured ex-wife that his emergency contact is his partner now. Considering how Steve reacted to the possibility of him being hurt, he chose well enough, though.
“I'm glad you're here,” Rachel admits when Danny reluctantly pulls back from the hug.
“You clearly have a concussion,” Danny remarks with a solemn nod, but his tone is as warm as hers.
Rachel laughs, but she immediately stops when the dull pain in her side becomes suddenly sharper. “Don't make me laugh, it hurts.”
“Sorry.” Danny is not sure he is, because seeing her laugh makes the whole evening a little less crazy.
Once her breathing is even again, she settles back against the pillow. She looks like she wants to ask something, but it takes her several seconds of hesitation before she huffs out, “Has anyone called Stan?”
“I have no idea.” Danny really doesn't; it hasn't been his main concern and it still isn't. He doesn't exactly feel a bad person because of that, he still remembers that Stan is the reason Rachel and Grace got carjacked. “Gracie had the hospital call Steve, though. He thought I was hurt.”
“They probably couldn't disclose anything about the accident, since he's not a relative,” Rachel reasons, but she doesn't seem annoyed by their daughter's initiative.
“Or maybe he didn't leave them time to,” Danny considers with a small grin. “You know him.”
“Who's with Gracie now?”
“He is,” Danny says, like it's the most natural thing in the world. “I'll go get them.”
“He's still here?” Rachel arches both eyebrows at him, clearly not expecting that answer.
Danny just smiles and opens the door without a word, not sure what he can actually say right now without sounding like a thirteen years old girl with a crush. He calls his daughter in, and when Steve hangs back, Danny addresses him a questioning look and gestures him to go in as well.
When he looks back at his ex-wife, Grace is sitting on the edge of the bed with Rachel's hands cupping her face. For a moment he thinks that maybe he should give them some time alone, but right then Rachel looks up at them.
“Thanks,” she just says, and looks at Danny first, then moves her eyes to Steve. “Really, I-- I'm glad you're both here.”
“She has a concussion,” Danny explains with a grin, and Steve laughs quietly. The next sentence, however, doesn't come out as easily. “Should I call Stan?”
“I'll do it later.” Rachel takes Grace's hand in his own before she speaks again. “He's in Europe to close a deal, he won't be home for two more days.”
Danny really wants to say something bad and nasty and inappropriate for a child's ears about how Stan can glue his ass to the freaking Eiffel Tower and never come back, as far as he's concerned, but he restrains himself - barely - and just nods instead. He's about to ask what she thinks she will do with Grace, but Steve precedes him.
“Well, Danny has two days off,” Steve tells her with a bright smile, and all Danny can do is stare at him, speechless. “Great coincidence, isn't it?”
“It is,” Rachel agrees with a knowing smile. “What do you say, Gracie, d'you wanna spend a couple of extra days with dad while mom gets better?”
“Do I get any saying in this?” Danny looks at his partner first, then at his ex-wife.
“What, you're not happy about this?” Steve crosses his arms and grins, and really, Danny wants to smack him. Hard.
“Of course I'm happy about this,” Danny immediately says. “I'd just like to be considered as the adult I am, in this conversation.”
“You just like to complain,” Steve points out with a challenging tone. “You're not completely happy if you don't have something to rant about,” he adds and grins at the glare Danny addresses him. “It's okay, Danno, we love you anyway.”
Rachel suppresses a laughter and clenches her side, but she doesn't lose her smile even when the pain strikes, and Grace laughs, the first real laugh Danny has heard from her all night. “We do, Danno,” Grace confirms, and that's all it takes for Danny to stand down from the defensive rant - well, look at that - he is about to blurt out.
“C'mon, Monkey, we should let mom rest,” Danny tells her after a few seconds, but she doesn't look convinced. At all. “We'll come back tomorrow, I promise.”
“Danno's right,” Rachel adds, then addresses her a warm smile and strokes her cheek with a thumb. “You need to rest too, and tomorrow you can tell me what you did at Sam's.”
“Okay,” Grace agrees with a snort, but hesitates to let go of her mother's hand.
When she makes up her mind and kisses her mother's cheek, Steve steps out to leave them some space. Grace follows him with a sulk, and right when Danny is about to walk out too, Rachel stops him with a quiet, “Wait up.”
“What?” Danny turns to look at her and frowns; has he forgotten something major he should have asked her?
“I'll call ahead and tell the maid to let you in, so you can get Grace's stuff,” Rachel informs, but it's clear she's itching to say something else.
Danny isn't going to force it out of her, so he just nods his assent, then heads for the door.
“Steve gets you,” Rachel deadpans and that's enough to make him spin around. “More than I ever did,” she adds with a little sad smile. The 'don't fuck it up' part she leaves unsaid is loud enough to deafen him.
He wants to say there's nothing to fuck up, but he's too tired to even pretend it could be true and he knows better than to lie to her and to himself. So he settles for the truth. “I'll do my best to keep him around.”
~~
The day after the accident, Danny keeps Grace home from school. He tells himself it's just because she was up so late and she needs to recuperate from the shock, but deep inside, he knows he craves every minutes he can get with her. They sleep in, they eat pancakes for lunch and they go to visit Rachel later in the afternoon. After that, Grace even manages to convince him to go for a swim and spend a couple of hours on the beach. In all that, he can see Grace doesn't mention anything about involving Olivia the same way she always drags Steve in whenever he’s around, and Danny doesn't know whether it's because she doesn't like Olivia, or because becoming completely enamored with McGarrett is embedded in the Williams DNA.
On the second day, though, his responsible side kicks in and he drives her to school; he even stops to talk to her teacher, which is not his favorite thing in the world, and explains what happened. He's not too fond of Grace's teachers, they overwork her and they surely don't appreciate her enough, but it's Rachel who picked the school, so he just has to go with it. Teachers in good old Jersey were way better, just like most other things.
Once he's dropped his daughter at school, he finds himself unoccupied for a good chunk of the day. He considers sleeping himself silly, but somehow that doesn't seem like the mature thing to do. Instead, he goes to the office to see how the investigation is going. Okay, Steve forced two days off on him, and he's enormously grateful for that, but they're working a big case and he has nothing better to do - well, he has millions of better things to do rather than getting shot, blown up and generally beat up, but still -, at least until Grace comes out of school.
Kono doesn't even leave him the time to greet anyone when he enters the office, just wraps him in one of her gentle hugs. “Hey, what are you doing here? How's Rachel?”
“She'll be fine,” Danny informs once he's pulled back. “Both her and the baby will be okay. They're keeping her in observation out of precaution, but she'll be out of the hospital in two or three days.”
“That's great, brah,” Chin says and pats him on the shoulder.
“Yeah, she got lucky,” Danny admits with a brief nod, then focuses on blocking the thought that's been tormenting him for the better part of two days. The truck hit the rear of the car and made it spin in the middle of the crossroads. If Grace had been in that car, in the backseat, she wouldn't have been as lucky.
He's incredibly thankful when Lori comes up to him and distracts him from his own masochistic brain. “Did they catch the guy?”
“Yeah, HPD arrested him for DUI, but it's his first offence, he won't get much,” Danny tells them with a clear and understandable streak of anger in his voice.
Steve, who has been watching the exchange in silence, tilts his head to the side and purses his lips, clearly lost in his own thoughts about the matter. Danny notices it and is almost tempted to say something like 'Please, don't go blow him up', but he tells himself Steve is not that crazy. Also, he would love to blow the bastard up himself.
“So, what do we have on the McCallister case? What did I lose?”
“It's your day off,” Lori points out with a raised eyebrow.
“And Grace's in school, I don't have much to do until she's back,” Danny offers with a shrug, then approaches the computer table.
“Admit it, you just miss us,” Kono jokes with an affectionate tone.
“That, too.” Danny scratches his chin in order to hide his grin behind his hand, but when he meets Steve's eyes, he feels something funny happen in his chest - he will not say butterflies, he will not. Steve is looking at him with that smile, the warm smile Danny has seen on him a few nights back when he and Grace were leaving his house; it takes a moment before he notices Danny's surprise and clears his throat subtly.
“Lori and Chin went to Kay's hotel and talked to the staff,” Steve informs him, his tone is back to business, and Danny can't deny he's a little disappointed. “They confirmed the victim is a regular, she used to spend three or four days there every three weeks, for the past year or so.”
“The problem is, her room is registered to a certain Lydia Barrington,” Chin continues and pulls the picture of an ID on screen. The picture is without doubt Victoria's, but the data is completely different from what they know.
“She has a fake ID?” Danny looks at them, unbelieving. “Who is this girl, really?”
“Not daddy's little girl, apparently.” Lori pulls something else on screen, a sketch drawing of a guy. “The concierge says there was a guy coming and going from her room pretty regularly. This guy.”
“Could be our killer,” Danny says, mostly to himself, and looks at the sketch.
“Or the boyfriend,” Kono offers, resting both her hands on the edge of the table. “Her best friend says Victoria has been seeing someone, but she doesn't know who.”
“Run him through facial recognition,” Steve tells Chin, then turns to look at Kono. “Any luck on those prints yet?”
“Still working,” Kono informs with a disappointed look. “The system is running slow.”
“Your tax dollar at work,” Danny mutters, and it earns him a grin from Chin. After a few seconds, he adds, “What can I do?”
“Buy me lunch,” Steve answers and pats him on the shoulder. “After all, I gave you two days off.”
“Fair enough,” Danny concedes with a smirk as they head for the door; the team barely pays attention to their exchange, even Lori is used to it by now, and Danny for a moment fears he’s imagined the smile on Steve’s face just minutes before.
They walk in a strange, relaxed silence, at least until they get in the car. When Steve crosses his arms against his chest and shows not intention to actually drive them anywhere, Danny understands something’s going on. “So, when are we going to see him?”
“Who?” Danny looks at his partner, honestly confused and even a little scared.
“The truck driver,” Steve says it like obvious, like it’s written on a giant bill board in front of them, with sparkling letters and all.
“We?” Danny doesn’t know where to start to tell him it’s really not a good idea, because if the thought of Steve going to see this guy is almost scarier than the thought of him going to see this guy, the idea of both of them teaming up against the son of a bitch is enough to evoke scenarios right out of a Samuel L. Jackson movie.
“I need to make sure you don't kill him.” Steve looks at him in the eye as he says it, and Danny can clearly read past the amused tone and the quick smile.
“Who d'you think I am, you?” Danny keeps his game face on as he evaluates his options and Steve’s offer. It doesn’t take long to make up his mind. “Fine, let’s skip lunch.”
“Oh no, we’re doing this, then you’re buying me lunch and a dessert,” Steve declares as he finally starts the car.
“What are you, twelve?” Danny blinks a few times and laughs, unbelieving.
“Hey, I’m not a cheap date,” is all Steve says and Danny doesn’t even know how to answer that. At the moment he’s not nearly stable enough mentally to make that kind of jokes without compromising himself in some extremely embarrassing way, so he just chuckles and raises his hands in surrender.
For a brief, sane moment he thinks maybe he’s making a mistake, but it doesn’t last long. The idea of doing this with backup, with his partner by his side, suddenly makes it feel a little less crazy.
After all, he likes Samuel L. Jackson.
~
Needless to say, Steve gets his best ninja super SEAL scary act going on and terrifies the guy shitless. For a split second Danny feels almost sorry for him, but then remembers the son of a bitch was drunk out of his mind and driving a truck in the middle of the fucking city, so no, he doesn’t feel sorry for him. He’s happy to let Steve do most of the work, because he’s not sure he can keep his mind on this side of the line between ‘scary’ and ‘homicidal’, and he really doesn’t want to go to prison for this piece of garbage. He still can’t stop thinking that Grace could have been in the backseat, on the right side where she usually sat, the same side the truck smashed beyond repair.
Once they leave - no HPD detective remembers them talking to the guy, of course - Danny doesn’t exactly feel like eating, but he’s a man of his word and grabs the keys from Steve’s hand. “It’s my day off, I get to drive my own car,” he mutters threateningly at his partner, who just raises his hands and lets him have the spot, amused.
As they ride to Kamekona’s place, Steve starts messing with the radio, and Danny’s sure it’s just to annoy him. When he recognizes Bon Jovi’s Always, though, he gestures him to stop, “Leave it.”
“Seriously?” Steve is clearly trying to hold back his laughter but does as told.
“What? It’s a classic,” Danny protests, maybe a bit too strongly, and focuses his gaze on the road when Steve gives up and just laughs. “Your soul is made of steel, Steven. Cold, stainless steel.”
“Oh, c’mon, you can’t be serious,” Steve huffs out, amused to no end. “We just threatened a guy with some of the most horrible things I can think of, and now you wanna listen to a love song?”
“I’m a complicated man,” Danny offers as an explanation, and tries not to think about the threats they just so lovely delivered. “And I’m driving, which means I get to pick the music.”
“I’m still your boss, you know, even though you’re off duty,” Steve points out with a slightly challenging tone.
“Oh, really? You wanna play it like that?” Danny motions his right hand in his direction, but doesn’t moves his eyes from the traffic. Steve doesn’t actually answer, just chuckles and relaxes back against the seat, making no move to change the station. Danny is almost tempted to taunt him a little more, but the peaceful atmosphere is refreshingly normal and he can almost forget the madness of the previous days. And it’s that exact thought that makes him say what he says next. “Why are you doing this?”
“Uh?”
“This,” Danny explains, gesturing between them, then pointing vaguely behind them. “Rushing to the hospital, offering me days off, helping me threaten a guy who’s done nothing to you.”
“Because,” Steve pauses and Danny thinks that maybe he’s at loss of words, but then he waits for the song to be right and mock-sings. “I will love you, baby, always.”
“Screw you, McGarrett, really,” Danny laughs, and it’s too ridiculous to ear him sing to even consider getting mad at him for avoiding the question so blatantly. “See, you know the song!”
“Of course I do,” Steve admits like it’s no big deal. “I’ve had other girlfriends before.”
“Are you calling me a girl?” Danny turns to look at him threateningly when they stop at a red light. What he really wants to say is: are you calling me your girlfriend?, but he’s in no emotional state to face that type of conversation, even in the joke form. Especially in the joke form.
“I’d never do such a thing, Danno,” Steve innocently replies, but Danny doesn’t have a chance to smack him because the light turns green and Steve’s phone rings right then to signal a text message. “It’s Chin, we’ve got a positive identification for our mystery guy.”
“Turning the car around, boss,” Danny acknowledges and checks the rear view mirror before making the turn.
“What about my lunch?”
“You lost that when you called me a girl.” Danny smiles widely at him and turns up the volume as Bon Jovi continues to play.
They drive back to the office in a relaxed silence, especially when the song changes and AC/DC comes up next, which they both approve of - no sane person would disapprove of Back in black. When they’ve almost arrived, he flips his phone open and types a quick message to Rachel to ask her if everything’s okay. The answer comes back almost instantly and it says ‘Bored out of my skull, but doing better. Stan will be away longer than expected’
“Can you believe this guy?” Danny explodes, exactly ten seconds after reading the text. “His wife and unborn child were in a fucking car accident and he stays in Europe a day longer.”
“Maybe something came up,” Steve offers, trying to be diplomatic, which Danny doesn’t appreciate all that much at the moment.
“Yeah, well, he can choke on that something,” he mutters, barely containing his rage. “I hope some freaking French squirrel ate his plane ticket. And his dick.”
“You really hate the guy.” Steve sounds halfway amazed and preoccupied and he doesn’t hesitate to add, “Are you still in love with Rachel?”
“What?” Danny snaps his head around to look at him so quickly Steve is probably afraid they’re going to crash against something. “No, it’s not-- I’m not-- it’s not about Rachel, it’s about being a good husband.”
Steve nods his assent and Danny can see he’s itching to add something, but ultimately doesn’t. He’s not sure whether it’s because they’ve reached their destination and he’s switched off the car, or because it’s something that would start a conversation they can’t really have at the moment. However, he’s happy to have his partner’s silent support. Again.
When they enter the office, there’s a picture on the screen that immediately catches their attention. The guy is good looking, blonde, with blue eyes and a lazy smirk plastered on his face.
“Meet Robert Harris,” Chin tells them with a less-than-thrilled tone. “He’s 26, moved here from Sydney two years ago, and apparently he’s got a soft spot for illegal entertainment.”
“Drugs?” Steve quickly reads the data on the screen and frowns. That guy seems to have all the right cards for a high-end drug dealer, so why isn’t he in prison? “What’s keeping him out of jail?”
“Connections,” Chin explains and pulls something else on screen. “And get this, his previous known associate died two years ago. Suicide.”
“Let me guess, shot himself in the head?” Danny shakes his head, unbelieving.
“On his own boat,” Chin adds with an eloquent look.
“Oldest story on the planet,” Kono mutters with a sad look. “Boy meets girl, they do drugs together, one ends up dead.”
“Let's find this guy,” Steve declares and gestures Chin to print the info they’ll need. Danny takes a deep breath and looks at his watch. He still has a couple of hours before Grace is out of school, so he sets his gears in motion, there’s no reason to let the others have all the fun.
~~
A/N: as you may have guessed, me and Danny have at least one thing in common, our love for Bon Jovi. (Also, I love ranting, but that’s not pertinent to the story.)
The case got a little bit more complicated, but I hope I didn’t screw up, and if something’s unclear, I apologize.
Last but not least, Rachel got really lucky, but don’t think things between her and Danny are going to be peachy for too long. It’s Danny and Rachel, after all. It could only be worse if his name was Ross.
I guess it’s all for now. As ever, thanks so much for your amazing support and feedback.
See you soon.
JM