Title: "Pancakes and Memories"
Author:
whogeek Fandom: Hawaii Five-0
Characters/Pairings: Steve McGarrett/Danny Williams(pre-slash), Grace Williams
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,233
Warnings: Um, cuteness? Also, some painful memories.
Genre: minor pre-slash, family, one-shot
Summary: Grace loves playing with Steve, and she really does mean well.
Author's Note: I don't own Hawaii Five-0, and if I did, the subtext would be a lot more blatant, or not subtext at all. Inspired by a conversation with a friend about a little girl she babysits/nannies who was stealing noses and having her nose stolen. >.> My brain came up with this, which my muses are telling me falls into the same verse as
"Nothing Better Than This". Much love to
shanachie_quill for the beta job, and keeping my commas in line. :D
Danny wakes up to Grace’s giggling shriek from somewhere downstairs. Steve had invited the team over for a barbeque the night before and offered to let Danny and Grace crash in the spare bedroom and Mary’s old room, as he often did after what Danny had taken to referring to as ‘team-plus-Grace’ nights. Clearly the two of them were up; probably more awake than anyone in their right mind should be at 8:00 on a Saturday morning.
He walks downstairs to find Grace running around the living room, Steve on hands and knees and growling, clearly playing the monster in whatever game they had come up with. He sits on the landing to watch as Steve ‘catches’ Grace and proceeds to tickle her. “Danno! Help!! I need the Great Wizard Danno! He has to save the Princess from the terrible Steve-Monster!”
Steve pauses in his tickling to grin over at Danny, giving Grace the opportunity to wriggle away.
Danny can’t help but grin as he pushes to his feet, bringing his hands up as if to cast a spell. “The Great Wizard Danno casts a taming spell on the Steve-Monster, making him the Princess Grace’s loyal protector!”
Steve rolls his eyes but goes along with it, rolling onto his side and letting Grace flop down on top of him. “YAY! I have a pet Steve-Monster now!” She happily scratches his head, giggling when he pushes up into it. “Morning, Danno!”
“Morning, Grace. Morning, Steve.”
Steve grins up at him from the floor. “Morning, Danny.”
Danny finally comes all the way down into the room, shaking his head at the two of them. “What am I gonna do with you two?”
“There’s coffee in the kitchen.”
“Malasadas?”
“Nope, I told Grace if you were okay with it, she could help me make pancakes. What do you say?”
“Please, Danno! Please! Super-Steve said it’s his mom’s recipe!” Grace turns the puppy-dog eyes up at him, Steve following suit.
“Come on, Danno. Fresh pancakes, from scratch.”
“Alright, McGarrett pancakes it is.”
Grace grins and jumps up, racing over to hug Danny. “Yay!” She turns to head into the kitchen but Danny stops her.
“Hold on, Monkey, what do you do before you help in the kitchen?”
“Pull my hair back, put on an apron, and wash my hands.”
“Atta, girl. Go get your hair tie.” Grace races up the stairs and Danny turns back to Steve, now sitting on the floor. “Steve-Monster?”
Steve shrugs and holds out a hand for Danny to haul him up. “Her idea.”
“Do you have an apron for her to wear?”
Steve scratches his head and moves into the kitchen. “Might. Mom had one for Mary and one for me when we were kids. I don’t think Dad would have thrown them out.” He pulls open the pantry door and starts looking. He grins again when he comes out with a canvas bag. “Here they are.”
Danny moves over to the coffeemaker, a mug already set out beside it. “This for me?” Steve nods absently, and Danny pours the coffee and takes a sip. “Did you do a lot of cooking with your mom?”
Steve’s pulling aprons out, draping them over a chair as he does so. “Yeah. She was determined that we would be able to cook a few things by the time we were out on our own. I really kinda missed it after… and then Dad sent us away.”
At that point Grace comes barreling into the kitchen, hair in a slightly messy ponytail. “OK! Now I just need an apron!” Danny smiles and Steve finally pulls out a pair of beautiful child-sized aprons. One has an image of the sun peeking over the ridge of a mountain, probably one of the island’s mountains. The other is looking out along the edge of a beach, all blue sky, blue water, and white sand. Grace gasps, eyes going big. “They’re beautiful!”
“These were the aprons Mary and I used when we were little.” He drops the bag onto a chair, grabbing up the lower corners of the aprons, showing Grace the insides, where each has a small handprint, labeled with a careful script just under it. “Those are our handprints. Mom helped us put those there when each of us turned 4.”
Grace reaches a careful hand out to trace around the edges of the handprints and Danny seriously wishes he had a camera for this moment. “And you’re gonna let me wear one?” She sounds totally in awe of this.
“Yep. So, which one do you want? Mary’s or mine?”
Grace keeps tracing the handprints, thinking hard before she gives Steve a blinding grin. “I want to wear yours.”
Steve looks totally blindsided, but he manages to hang the ocean-view apron around Grace’s neck. “Turn around.” Grace dutifully turns, lifting her hair so Steve can adjust the length of the apron properly and tie the strings around her waist.
When Steve pats her shoulder, she bounds over to where Danny is leaning against the counter. “Isn’t it beautiful, Daddy?”
“It certainly is.” Steve is standing there looking a little lost. “How about you pick out an apron for Steve?” Grace nods and starts looking through the aprons piled on the back of the chair, as Danny moves over to Steve. “You ok?”
Steve nods, a little shakily. “Yeah. I’m good.”
“You got a stepstool too? She’ll need one if you want her to help out.”
Another nod, but Steve has a purpose, and he moves back to the pantry, coming out with a small wooden step-stool that will put Grace at the right height to properly reach the counter.
“Steve, you wear this one.” Grace has pulled a fairly ordinary looking apron from the pile, but at the look on Steve’s face, Danny knows it’s probably not that ordinary.
“Why that one, Monkey?”
Grace turns over the bottom corner to show where there are four handprints, two big ones and two little ones. She’s looking a little unsure now, worry in her eyes as she looks at Steve. “I’m wearing his, so he should wear his family’s.” Danny moves closer and yes, these handprints are labeled too, ‘John’ under the largest, ‘Mary Ann’ and ‘Steven’ the smaller two, and the other large print ‘Margaret’ in the same careful hand.
“Grace, I think…” But then Steve is there, crouching down in front of her.
It looks like he wants to say something, but then he just pulls her in, wrapping those strong arms around her and clutching her close. Grace looks startled, still a little worried, but she hugs him back, small arms wrapping around Steve’s torso. When he pulls back, he takes the apron from Grace and slips it on, reaching around to tie the strings.
Grace smiles at him and pushes up a little to plant a kiss on his cheek and yep, there’s that blindsided look again. “Come on Super-Steve, we’ve got pancakes to make!”
Steve smiles back, letting Grace lead him over to the sink so they can wash up before starting.
Danny smiles as he watches the two of them; Steve giving Grace instructions and letting her talk to him about her school, her friends, everything she can think of. And this? Danny could definitely get used to this, even if it is Hawaii.