[Hawaii Five-0] A Light Like Dawn
Title: A Light Like Dawn
Author:
kitsune_tsuki
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Steve/Danny
Word Count: ~ 5,600
Disclaimer: In no way, shape, or form do these characters belong to me.
Summary: In a town as small as Bell Cove, it's inevitable Danny's going to run into the source of the biggest gossip storm its inhabitants have had in years.
Notes: Based off this post of randomness and cheerleading from various people of awesomeness. :D
In a town as small as Bell Cove, it's inevitable Danny's going to run into the source of the biggest gossip storm its inhabitants have had in years. That he literally runs into the guy when Danny's making his usual morning run for coffee and pastries for the most ungrateful crew in the known world is a little less expected.
"Oh, shit. Sorry, sorry," the guy mutters, all hands and apologies and an incredibly nice voice as he pats at the coffee Danny's wearing down the front of his shirt with a handful of napkins.
Danny holds his hands out, trying not to spill what's left of his coffee on the guy. He seems to be some kind of spastic freak, something that either no one has picked up on in the couple of weeks he's been in town, or simply didn't see the need to share.
"Hey," Danny says, backing up a few steps. "It's okay, it's fine." Danny appreciates the gesture, or, well, the intent behind it, seeing as how the guy is the reason Danny's now wearing his coffee, but really. It's just kind of uncomfortable all over.
The guy seems to realize that a second later and jerks back, standing awkwardly with napkins still in hand. He's taller than Danny, lean in a way that means half the town's population has probably made it their mission in life to "feed him up right", and, honestly? A bit on the goofy side of things.
"I'm sorry," the guy says again. "I wasn't looking where I was going."
Maybe it's a sign that Danny's lived in Bell Cover for too long, that it's actually mellowed him out some, or maybe it's that yelling at the poor guy would feel too much like kicking a puppy that has Danny feeling some strange breed of amusement over the whole matter instead of annoyance or anger.
"It's. Yeah," Danny's not going to die, even if it feels like that might be an option because, again, hot coffee. "It's okay."
The guy squints at him, like he thinks Danny's lying to him to what, make him feel better about things? But shakes his head and looks around for someplace to throw the napkins away. "Okay," he says. "Can I buy you another one of those to make up for this?" he asks, waving at the cup Danny's holding.
Danny laughs, surprised at how much the guy's hopeful little smile gets to him. His shirt's a loss, but he has a spare on the boat, and it'll be another hour at best before he can expect to see Kono or Chin. Who the hell knows if or when Toast will bother to make an appearance. "Sure,” he agrees. "I can live with that."
The guy's smile widens, turns sweet, and he goes up to the counter to place their orders. Danny throws his mostly empty cup of coffee away and tries to get the worst of the coffee on his off while he waits.
Tricia's manning the counter this morning and she's smirking at Danny, goddamn small towns. Everyone always in someone else's business except for the times they're not, and then she's all professional as she takes down their orders and pretends she's not going to be blabbing about this to the next person who comes in.
"Steve McGarrett," the guy says by way of introduction, when he comes back with their drinks. He gives Danny a quick, almost nervous smile as he hands Danny's coffee over. "Sorry about the whole thing again," he says, holding the door to the coffee shop open for Danny.
Danny waves his apology off. "Like I said, it's okay. Accidents happen."
Steve makes a noncommittal noise as he falls into step with Danny. They head down the sidewalk connecting the row of shops and storefronts that run along the main thoroughfare, in no particular rush to be anywhere.
Bell Cove's like that, Danny's found. The whole town seems postcard perfect from the outside. Like someone plucked it out of a sepia-toned photograph in an old album and tucked it away like a secret in a quiet little cove on the coast.
From the outside, Danny reminds himself, when they pass by the only grocery store in town, owned and operated by a cranky old biddy who gives Danny shit just because she can. The sad thing is, she's just the tip of the iceberg of crazy that Danny's life has become since he moved to Bell Cove. The tourists who come for the leaves in the fall and a quiet vacation spot in the summer don't stick around long enough to realize the town's more like an asylum than something from an old postcard, corners bent and worn down with age.
Looking at him, Danny wonders just how long Steve McGarrett's going to last. Aside from certain spastic tendencies, he comes across as somewhat normal, but, Danny has to admit to himself, it's entirely possible the people he lives with have managed to skew his definition of the word. "Danny Williams," he says, smiling a little. "Nice to meet you."
Steve smiles. Practically beams at him, and, oh, Danny just knows he's going to be the worst kind of trouble.
====
====
"I heard he was Navy. Like. A fucking SEAL or something." Toast is using his conspiracy theory voice again, which means Danny can hear it all the way to the end of the dock. "Seriously, you guys. I think he's here to spy on us."
Danny knows Toast isn't a complete moron, but days like this, he's not so sure. He's handy with computers and various electronic devices which makes Chin happy, gives him someone who understands his language to geek out with, but he's a mess with anything else. Also, he lives in a state of constant, low-grade paranoia.
"Toast, what the hell?" Danny asks. He can't help it. It's like Toast has made it his mission in life to spread confusion and bewilderment wherever he goes.
There's also a side of pity for what Toast's parents must have gone through, but Danny thinks that's more him than anything else. A side effect of taking Toast on as part of his crew even though he was warned, time and again, that he would come to regret it.
Toast doesn't even have the decency to look surprised by Danny's arrival, looking up with a stupidly friendly, open smile for someone convinced the world is out to get him. "Jersey!"
Danny shakes his head and looks to where the relatively sane members of his crew are lounging on the deck of the Joanna Marie.
Chin's helping Toast go over the traps, checking to see what kind of shape they're in, how the netting and ropes are holding up. Chin, Danny can't help but notice, is leaving the lion's share of the work to Toast.
"Busy morning, I see."
Chin offers up one of his enigmatic smiles that could mean anything from general agreement to "I know exactly where I'm going to hide your body, so please, more sarcasm."
Kono glances up from where she's checking something on her laptop, hopefully having to do ocean currents and weather patterns that will be important to them when they set off, but he's not willing to bet on it. He knows her too well for that.
"Hey, boss," she says, and then goes back to ignoring him.
"Worst crew ever," Danny mutters to himself.
As the owner of the boat - the very same boat they rely on for a living - and the guy whose name is on all the necessary paperwork and pays them, it'd be great if they could at least pretend they mean it when they call him boss. "Seriously," he says, pointing at Chin when Toast manages to knock half the traps over the side into the water. "Worst crew in the world."
Worst crew, maybe, but that's family for you.
====
====
Somehow, Danny keeps running into Steve around town.
He'd lean towards Toast's conspiracy theories if he didn't know through more reliable sources - gossipy old biddies, sure, but at least they know their shit - that Steve's not actually there to spy on them or murder them in their sleep. (Why the US government would be interested in anything that goes on in town, or want any of its residents dead is a mystery to Danny. Then again, so is whatever goes on in Toast's head.)
Danny's not sure exactly, what the two of them are doing. Or even if they're doing anything, but it seems to involve eating dinner together and settling down with a beer or two afterward. They go from the back porch of the little cottage Steve's renting watching the sunset, Danny's place, and sometimes, when the weather's just right, to the Joanna Marie.
Steve's strangely interested in the whole lobster fishing thing, which. Danny doesn't get it either. It's not like Danny has a great love for the business himself, but it's not half bad most of the time and it gets the bills paid. There's also the part where it gave him Kono and Chin and, God help him, Toast, so depending on the day it's, he sees it as a blessing or a curse, reward or punishment for something he must have done in a past life. Something along those lines.
They talk, mostly. About themselves, about what they're doing in some tiny little town that seems to be stuck in time. Danny knows home for Steve is Hawaii, that he goes home to see his parents for major holidays and has a sister with itchy feet who seems to get in and out of trouble almost as much as Toast does. Steve knows Danny's first love will always be Jersey, that he's divorced with his ex and her new husband living in one of the massive vacation homes on the northern end of the cove with Danny's little girl.
Danny knows Steve's a photographer working on a book or an assignment from his editor. Something to do with lighthouses or, hell, Danny doesn't know. Steve doesn't know, seems to be making it up as he goes along. Wandering around town and the neighboring woods with his camera equipment taking pictures and hoping he'll hit on something that will make his boss happy.
Danny slides a look at Steve. "That's. Uh. That's very Bridges of Madison County of you," he says, feeling a little bit like a jackass as soon as the words leave his mouth. Rachel had had a love/hate relationship with the book and the movie, and Christ, he really shouldn't be thinking about her at the moment.
Luckily, Steve just rolls his eyes, mouth quirking. "I know," he says, rolling his beer between his hands. "My editor keeps asking me if I've come across any lonely married Italian women lately."
Danny almost chokes on his beer at that. Steve shoots him a concerned look, but Danny just waves him off. Lonely? maybe. Married? Not for a few years, although you wouldn't know it the way Rachel acts sometimes. Italian? Check. Woman? Not so much, no.
What the hell is wrong with him?
"The gossip-mongers in town says you're Navy," Danny says, watching Steve from the corner of his eye to check his reaction to what has to be the least smooth change of topic in the history of ever.
Steve snorts. "Yeah?" He doesn't comment on the sudden shift in conversation, but the smile on his face seems steady enough, real enough.
Danny grins. "I'm pretty sure you have to heard some of it yourself by now." Steve's been in town for almost a month. Certainly long enough to realize that it's infested with crazy.
"I joined up after high school," Steve says. "Did okay, but this, these," Steve points to the glasses he's wearing. Black. Thick-framed. Fucking distracting as hell. "They meant I didn't get to do what I wanted." He smiles again, rolls a shoulder in a shrug like it's not important, like it doesn't matter.
There's something in his expression that tells Danny maybe it does, even now, but Steve's not volunteering anything and Danny's not in the mood to pry.
"I followed in my old man's footsteps for a while," Danny says, when the silence gets too heavy. "He was a firefighter, back in Jersey." Danny loved it, a little, but it hadn't been right. Didn't quite fit. "Busted up my knee in high school," he explains at Steve's look. "Baseball." Hurt like a bitch at the time, but absolutely worth it when they brought that damn trophy home. "I came out here when it started acting up again.”
He probably wouldn't have otherwise, would have found something else, but Rachel was tired of the city, and Stan had property in the area. Danny hadn't even needed for his uncle to ask for help when he started having trouble with the boat, not when Grace was already here. He doesn't say that though, just smiles and shrugs. “I helped my uncle with the boat until he retired and here I am," Danny says, like it's just that simple. Little twist of fate here, a road not taken there, and this is where he ended up, for better or worse.
Steve laughs, loose and easy, corners of his eyes crinkling behind those damn glasses of his. Yeah, Danny thinks, looking away. Here I am.
====
====
"You're pathetic, you know that right?" Kono asks, eying the cards in her hand.
Danny nods, knowing better than to deny the sad, sad truth. Kono's keeping him company while Chin and Toast get some rest. It's their second night out on their latest trip out. The pots have been set and sleep's being an elusive fucker. Technically Kono should be getting some sleep too, but she claims Toast's snoring has been keeping her up.
It's almost insulting how little work she put into her excuse to badger him about his non-existent love life, but this is Kono. The fact that she even bothered to try says something. What, he's not really sure, but it sure as hell means something.
"Thank you," Danny says, wondering if Kono will take pity on him considering his current state of complete and utter pathetic. "I appreciate your brutal honesty. No, really."
"I'm still going to take you for everything you have," Kono says, raising an eyebrow as if to ask him if he expected anything else, which really? Not so much, no.
"I kind of figured." Danny throws his cards down, choosing to end things as painlessly as possible. It's that or let Kono draw things out, and in the mood she's in, she would.
Kono smiles at him, all sharp teeth. "Smart man," she says, raking in the pile of candy laid out on the table in neat little piles.
Danny sighs and leans back, watching her gloat quietly to herself. "What do you think?" he asks, wondering if he's lost his goddamned mind to be asking her for advice on his love life.
Kono looks up from her winnings and studies him for a long, unnerving moment. "I think you're pathetic," she reminds him. "But." Kono shrugs. "I don't see why not. He's easy on the eyes and you're." Kono makes a point of looking him over, smiling almost affectionately at him when he fidgets uneasily under the weight of her gaze, all too aware of his flaws and imperfections. His shortcomings. "You're not too bad yourself, Danny."
Not exactly what he was expecting, and far from a ringing endorsement, really. But then he looks up, catches Kono's eye, and sees everything she isn't saying. Everything she knows he can read easy as breathing.
"You think so?" he asks.
Kono just smiles at him with that unshakable confidence of hers. She's someone opinion matters to Danny, someone he trusts.
====
====
They haven't quite reached the stage of things where they're actually dating, or admitted that that's what all the dinners and movie nights and everything else have been about, but this. Danny likes to think Steve is the kind of guy who'd tell Danny he's already involved before Danny had to go and get all invested in him.
"Oh, hey," Danny says, when he walks into Steve's living room to find him wrapped up in the arms of a woman he doesn't know. "Sorry. I'll just. I'm going to go. Now." He thinks there's an attempt at a smile in there somewhere. "Sorry," he says again, and what the hell is wrong with him, he fucking waves before beating a hasty retreat.
He thinks he hears Steve yelling his name, but everything's narrowed down to the single, simple goal of getting the hell out of there with what's left of his dignity. He's not sure how, but he makes down the walk to his car, gets the keys in the door and into the driver's seat, but past that, he can't seem to figure out what to do.
"Danny!" Steve tears through the screen door and stumbles to a stop in the middle of his front yard when he sees Danny staring back at him. Stunned and too damn stupid to move.
The look on Steve's face goes from this weird mix of worried and frantic, or what Danny's learned is the equivalent on Steve to flat-out determined. Determined, on Steve, Danny has also learned, is almost never a good thing. And, oh, Christ, Steve's headed right for him and this is just not how Danny expected his day to go at all.
"Danny?"
Danny looks up at him. "Steve. Hey,” he says. Weirdly casual, like they bumped into each other in town, and not. Not this wholly awkward moment they seem to be having.
Steve's eyebrows go up. “Hey, Danny,” he says in that same casual tone of voice.
“Nice weather, yeah?” Danny says. And really, what is wrong with him that he's stretching out the painful awkwardness of this whole horrible situation with shitty smalltalk?
Steve bites his lip, clearly trying not to smile. “Oh, yeah,” he says. “Beautiful. Sunny. Warm.”
Danny's eyes narrow. He knows he's being an idiot, he doesn't need Steve to point it out to him, thanks.
"Hey," Steve says, using that quiet, horrifyingly gentle tone of voice again. "I think we need to talk."
Behind him the door to the house opens and the woman, tall, beautiful, walks out. She hesitates at the start of the walkway, watching them. Danny waits for Steve to look at her, but he doesn't. Steve's looking at him, waiting.
"I. Yeah," he says, even though it's the last thing in the world he wants to do. "That might. That might be good."
"Inside?" Steve prompts, like Danny isn't on the verge of having some kind of breakdown in front of his house.
Danny takes a deep, steadying breath, holds it for a beat, and then lets it out. "God, okay. Yeah."
Steve smiles at him and opens the car door for him, stepping back to give him room.
"Danny?"
"Christ, okay."
"Hey," Steve says. He's smiling at Danny like everything's going to be okay, like everything's going to be fine. "Trust me, okay?"
Danny looks at Steve helplessly. The problem isn't with trusting Steve so much as it is trusting himself.
“Figures,” Steve mumbles, giving Danny a ridiculously fond look. “Just. Please.”
Danny looks past Steve to the woman, and back to Steve. Stupid Steve with his stupid face, his stupid everything.
“Lead the way,” Danny says, managing a smile.
Steve eyes him before nodding and turning to do just that. Danny watches him usher the woman in, and just stands there wondering what the hell he even thinks he's doing. A minute or two go by before he remembers, right, grown adult. Grown adult, and this is the part where he follows Steve and his lady friend back into the house and listens to Steve explain why Danny can't have nice things.
Only when Danny shuts the front door behind him and walks into the living room, things don't quite happen the way he expects. They never do, really, when Steve's involved. For some reason, Danny keeps forgetting that.
“Danny,” Steve says, waving a hand at the woman. “This is Catherine, my boss.”
There's a moment. A long, uncomfortable moment where Danny just stares at her as his brain searches frantically for the mental file he knows he has on her. He knows he has one, he remembers Steve talking about her, stupidly fond. Stupidly, strangely fond in the sort of way that implied they were possibly more than friends, more than just boss and employee.
“Um.” Steve seems to realize that he may have let more slip in conversation than he should have when the silence continues to drag out into yet even more awkwardness with the added bonus of the clinch Danny found the two of them in a little while ago. “It's not what you think.”
Danny laughs. He can't help it. “You're an idiot,” he says automatically.
Out of the corner of his eye he can see Catherine pinching the bridge of her nose. “Steve. Jesus.” She sighs like she knows exactly how hopeless Steve is at the best of times. “Seriously, Steve,” she says, exasperated and fond. “I love you, but shut up before you make things worse.”
Catherine turns to face Danny, looking him up and down. “And you,” she says, eyes meeting his. “You must be Danny.”
Danny stares at her, all the stories, the little anecdotes, Steve told about her come rushing back. She's just like Kono, he realizes in a burst of clarity. “God,” he says. “There are two of you.”
Catherine frowns, looks to Steve. Steve, of course, shrugs, because he has absolutely no idea just how fucked the world is.
Catherine shrugs, eyes flicking towards Steve and lowers her voice, like she's confiding a secret in him, even though Steve's right there with what Danny likes to call his bitch face on. It's a close cousin to his aneurysm face. “Steve's been talking about you for weeks.” She grins, impish and a little on the evil side. “I think he might like like you.”
“Oh, God,” Steve whimpers, top of his ears going red. “Please. Please leave.”
Catherine laughs, clearly delighted, and pulls Steve in for a hug. “Call me when you have things sorted out here,” she says, ruffling Steve's hair. She glances at Danny thoughtfully, and smiles. “I hope we get to talk sometime.” She leans in toward him, even though she still has Steve in some kind of wrestling hold. “You wouldn't believe some of the things I've got on Steve.”
“Catherine!”
Catherine laughs again and unwinds her arms from Steve, tall and beautiful and definitely more than a little evil. “It was nice to finally meet you, Danny,” she says, sounding like she means it as she grabs her coat off the back of Steve's couch and leaves the two of them alone.
There's nothing but silence for a while afterward, both of them thinking. Danny trying to come up with plans to keep Catherine from ever meeting Kono, if only for his own sanity. Steve. Danny has no idea what Steve's thinking.
“Danny.” Steve sounds. He sounds unsure of himself. “It. That really wasn't what it looked like,” he says, because obviously he just doesn't learn.
“She's right you know,” Danny says. “You really need to shut up before you make things worse.” And then there's the part where Danny's brain is actually working again, which means actually thinking instead of reacting. “Also, really?” He can't help it. “You like like me?”
Steve makes a face. “Shut up.”
“Make me.”
Steve blinks, taken aback. “Seriously?”
Danny smiles at him, more than fond. “Seriously.”
And oh, Danny thinks he likes the look of the expression that makes its way across Steve's face at that, at the way Steve's looking at him as he closes the distance between them, all focused and intent. Determined.
Somehow, that doesn't seem like such a bad thing.
====
====
Things between Rachel and Danny aren't as strained as they used to be. When Rachel calls to tell him Stan's whisking her out of the country to celebrate their anniversary, she sounds almost amused when she asks if he minds having Grace for the week.
"She's off from school for the week," Rachel says, like Danny doesn't have Grace's school schedule practically memorized. "I thought she might prefer to stay with you than visit stodgy art museums and the like."
It's not quite a peace offering, not quite an overture, but it's something. Building up to this strange new something they're working towards for Grace's sake, if nothing else.
Rachel calls when they're out on the Joanna Marie, making their last run for the trip. Kono takes in the look on his face, one part Rachel, two parts Grace, the rest all Jesus, how the fuck did it ever get to this point? even though he knows, he knows, and slaps him on the back. Hard.
"All right!" she says, taking charge because she knows none of them will dare challenge her. "Barbecue at Danny's this weekend!"
Toast throws his arms in the air and hoots like an idiot. As far as he's concerned it means free food and beer for him. Chin buries his face in his hands because he remembers what happened the last time Kono organized a barbecue and is probably mourning for his poor lost dignity, and Kono.
Kono stares Danny down, the look on her face promising him pain beyond pain if he so much as thinks of saying no. She's more than a little fond of Grace, which is reassuring and heartwarming and monumentally terrifying when he stops to think about exactly all the things Kono could be teaching his daughter he doesn't know about. Now more so than ever with Catherine in the picture.
"Okay," he says, holding his hands up in surrender. It's not like he ever had a choice in the matter. "Yeah, sure. Sounds fantastic. Great. Awesome."
Kono grins, all sweetness and light and Danny makes a mental note to make sure his insurance is paid up before the weekend rolls around.
====
====
Steve knows all about Grace. Danny's told him pretty much everything there is to know about Grace, of course he did. It's not like Danny tried to hide her existence from him, ever made it seem like she wasn't the single most important thing in his life. Between one thing or another, the custody arrangement with Rachel, the boat, Steve's work, who knows what, Steve hasn't met Grace.
"Grace?" Steve says, frowning. A little confused, which Danny has learned is a common state of being for him. "She's coming here?" Steve looks anywhere but at Danny, like it never occurred to him he'd get to meet Grace. That Danny would want him to meet Grace.
Danny nods, and belatedly remembers how that whole smiling thing works. He doesn't think he gets it quite right going on the look Steve gives him.
Steve opens his mouth. Closes it, and then laughs a little, like he still can't believe Danny wants Steve to meet her, which could mean so many things, Danny doesn't even know where to start.
"You're sure?" Steve asks, carefully. "You really want me here?"
They're still dancing around this thing, Danny realizes. Even though they're long past the stupid misunderstanding with Catherine. Even though he spends most of his time when he's not working with Steve, they still haven't come out and said what they want beyond the present, haven't touched on what the future might hold for them. If there's even going to be a future for them.
It's stupid and, no. Worse than stupid because they're both adults and actually know how to use their words, but for some reason they haven't been this whole time.
More than sleeping with Steve, Danny's fallen asleep on his couch while watching a game or some crappy movie on television. He's woken up with a blanket over him and Steve's sleep-soft smile greeting him over a mug of coffee, breakfast cooking on the stove. Steve's watched the stars come out sitting on the deck of the Joanna Marie. The boat that belonged to Danny's uncle and his father before him. The boat named after Danny's grandmother, that Danny still isn't sure what to make of some days, and God, they're both idiots.
Danny laughs, scrubs a hand over his face because it really shouldn't be this damn hard. "I." Steve's watching him, quiet and still, like he knows this means something, Danny wanting him to meet Grace. "Yes, Steve," Danny says. "I want you here." For the barbecue, yes. After that? After that it's all up to Steve, but Danny hopes like hell Steve's answer is the same as his.
====
====
Rachel knows about Steve.
How could she not, when they live in a town filled with gossips and busybodies?
"I hear he's quite attractive," Rachel says, not bothering to hide her amusement.
Grace is outside with Kono and Catherine ordering Chin and Toast around getting things ready for the barbecue. Stan's waiting for Rachel in the the car. Steve's probably having an emotional meltdown at his place, which means Danny's going to have to get him later.
"Rachel." Danny sighs, not sure what to say. Not sure if he should say anything, to be honest. Years of marriage, of learning someone don't just go away, after all.
"Daniel," Rachel says, eyebrow arched. It's the tone of voice he learned to. Not quite hate, but it's right there on the cusp. Something that has his back up, makes him defensive and leaves him feeling off-balance. "Daniel," she says again, tone softening. Sharp edges blurring, resolving into something more familiar, loved. "You deserve to be happy too."
Danny looks at her, at the tired smile she's wearing and remembers why he fell in love with her. Why she'll always be smarter than him.
====
====
Steve doesn't answer his phone when Danny calls to make sure he isn't dead. Killed by squirrels or some other tiny, furry woodland creature, Danny doesn't know. Steve seems like the kind of guy who could make an enemy out of the little bastards.
“It's okay with me if the reason you never called is because you're dead,” Danny says in the message he leaves on Steve's voice mail. “I mean, I know I asked you to call me to make sure you were still coming to the barbecue, but it's all good. As far as things go, being dead's a pretty good excuse.”
He waits exactly ten minutes before trying again. For all that Steve's clearly on the unbalanced side of things, a little off-kilter, he's also strangely, endearingly human. Something even Steve seems to forget with alarming regularity. Danny knows Steve is just as uncertain about this thing of theirs as Danny tends to be. He knows how important Grace is to Danny, and he's worried about what Grace is going to think of him and how it's going to affect them.
“Steve,” Danny says in his next message, already in his car on the way to Steve's. There's no way he's going to get Steve out of his house unless he goes over there and drags him back. Kicking and screaming if necessary because he wants his little girl to meet Steve. He wants Steve to meet his little girl. “This is just an FYI that you're dead to me unless you ask me out again, in which case I love you.”
Danny hangs up before he can think better of it because he actually said it. True, it's not likely Steve's going to pick up on that in his current emotional state, but that's neither here nor there.
A few tense minutes later and he's at Steve's. The front door's unlocked, which means Steve knew he was coming, which means Steve got his messages, which means Steve's a bastard. Danny heads right for the living room and stops short when he sees waiting for him, all but wringing his hands.
"I'm not so great with kids," Steve confesses. He looks like he's expecting Grace to rip his face off, or worse, rip his heart out, the moment she sees him.
Honestly, Danny wouldn't put it past her with Kono as one of the main influences in her life if she decides she doesn't like him, but this is Steve.
Steve who has somehow managed to fit into the general craziness of Bell Cove like he belongs there, like he was born to it. Steve who has opinions on canned pineapple and bemoans the ignorance of a people who don't appreciate the beauty and magnificence of pineapple as a valid pizza topping. Steve, the ridiculous goof who has the entire town trying to feed him into a coma because he's a goddamned beanpole.
"You'll be fine," Danny says. "Trust me, okay?"
Steve smiles, still uncertain but willing to put his faith in Danny on this. "You're sure?"
Danny meets his eyes and nods. "I'm sure."
"I." Steve swallows. "I think I'm going to be sick."
Danny rolls his eyes and shoves Steve to get him moving. "Suck it up, McGarrett," he says. "My little girl's waiting."
Steve looks over his shoulder at him, eyes wide with something a little like fear. "Danny - "
"Stop worrying," Danny says. "Grace is going to love you." She will, Danny knows. It's damn near impossible not to.
There's now a short follow-up to this from Steve's POV, Lines Connect, over on LJ, DW, or IJ. :D
Posted at http://kitsune-tsuki.dreamwidth.org/362813.html. | You can reply here or there. |
Author:
kitsune_tsuki
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Steve/Danny
Word Count: ~ 5,600
Disclaimer: In no way, shape, or form do these characters belong to me.
Summary: In a town as small as Bell Cove, it's inevitable Danny's going to run into the source of the biggest gossip storm its inhabitants have had in years.
Notes: Based off this post of randomness and cheerleading from various people of awesomeness. :D
In a town as small as Bell Cove, it's inevitable Danny's going to run into the source of the biggest gossip storm its inhabitants have had in years. That he literally runs into the guy when Danny's making his usual morning run for coffee and pastries for the most ungrateful crew in the known world is a little less expected.
"Oh, shit. Sorry, sorry," the guy mutters, all hands and apologies and an incredibly nice voice as he pats at the coffee Danny's wearing down the front of his shirt with a handful of napkins.
Danny holds his hands out, trying not to spill what's left of his coffee on the guy. He seems to be some kind of spastic freak, something that either no one has picked up on in the couple of weeks he's been in town, or simply didn't see the need to share.
"Hey," Danny says, backing up a few steps. "It's okay, it's fine." Danny appreciates the gesture, or, well, the intent behind it, seeing as how the guy is the reason Danny's now wearing his coffee, but really. It's just kind of uncomfortable all over.
The guy seems to realize that a second later and jerks back, standing awkwardly with napkins still in hand. He's taller than Danny, lean in a way that means half the town's population has probably made it their mission in life to "feed him up right", and, honestly? A bit on the goofy side of things.
"I'm sorry," the guy says again. "I wasn't looking where I was going."
Maybe it's a sign that Danny's lived in Bell Cover for too long, that it's actually mellowed him out some, or maybe it's that yelling at the poor guy would feel too much like kicking a puppy that has Danny feeling some strange breed of amusement over the whole matter instead of annoyance or anger.
"It's. Yeah," Danny's not going to die, even if it feels like that might be an option because, again, hot coffee. "It's okay."
The guy squints at him, like he thinks Danny's lying to him to what, make him feel better about things? But shakes his head and looks around for someplace to throw the napkins away. "Okay," he says. "Can I buy you another one of those to make up for this?" he asks, waving at the cup Danny's holding.
Danny laughs, surprised at how much the guy's hopeful little smile gets to him. His shirt's a loss, but he has a spare on the boat, and it'll be another hour at best before he can expect to see Kono or Chin. Who the hell knows if or when Toast will bother to make an appearance. "Sure,” he agrees. "I can live with that."
The guy's smile widens, turns sweet, and he goes up to the counter to place their orders. Danny throws his mostly empty cup of coffee away and tries to get the worst of the coffee on his off while he waits.
Tricia's manning the counter this morning and she's smirking at Danny, goddamn small towns. Everyone always in someone else's business except for the times they're not, and then she's all professional as she takes down their orders and pretends she's not going to be blabbing about this to the next person who comes in.
"Steve McGarrett," the guy says by way of introduction, when he comes back with their drinks. He gives Danny a quick, almost nervous smile as he hands Danny's coffee over. "Sorry about the whole thing again," he says, holding the door to the coffee shop open for Danny.
Danny waves his apology off. "Like I said, it's okay. Accidents happen."
Steve makes a noncommittal noise as he falls into step with Danny. They head down the sidewalk connecting the row of shops and storefronts that run along the main thoroughfare, in no particular rush to be anywhere.
Bell Cove's like that, Danny's found. The whole town seems postcard perfect from the outside. Like someone plucked it out of a sepia-toned photograph in an old album and tucked it away like a secret in a quiet little cove on the coast.
From the outside, Danny reminds himself, when they pass by the only grocery store in town, owned and operated by a cranky old biddy who gives Danny shit just because she can. The sad thing is, she's just the tip of the iceberg of crazy that Danny's life has become since he moved to Bell Cove. The tourists who come for the leaves in the fall and a quiet vacation spot in the summer don't stick around long enough to realize the town's more like an asylum than something from an old postcard, corners bent and worn down with age.
Looking at him, Danny wonders just how long Steve McGarrett's going to last. Aside from certain spastic tendencies, he comes across as somewhat normal, but, Danny has to admit to himself, it's entirely possible the people he lives with have managed to skew his definition of the word. "Danny Williams," he says, smiling a little. "Nice to meet you."
Steve smiles. Practically beams at him, and, oh, Danny just knows he's going to be the worst kind of trouble.
====
====
"I heard he was Navy. Like. A fucking SEAL or something." Toast is using his conspiracy theory voice again, which means Danny can hear it all the way to the end of the dock. "Seriously, you guys. I think he's here to spy on us."
Danny knows Toast isn't a complete moron, but days like this, he's not so sure. He's handy with computers and various electronic devices which makes Chin happy, gives him someone who understands his language to geek out with, but he's a mess with anything else. Also, he lives in a state of constant, low-grade paranoia.
"Toast, what the hell?" Danny asks. He can't help it. It's like Toast has made it his mission in life to spread confusion and bewilderment wherever he goes.
There's also a side of pity for what Toast's parents must have gone through, but Danny thinks that's more him than anything else. A side effect of taking Toast on as part of his crew even though he was warned, time and again, that he would come to regret it.
Toast doesn't even have the decency to look surprised by Danny's arrival, looking up with a stupidly friendly, open smile for someone convinced the world is out to get him. "Jersey!"
Danny shakes his head and looks to where the relatively sane members of his crew are lounging on the deck of the Joanna Marie.
Chin's helping Toast go over the traps, checking to see what kind of shape they're in, how the netting and ropes are holding up. Chin, Danny can't help but notice, is leaving the lion's share of the work to Toast.
"Busy morning, I see."
Chin offers up one of his enigmatic smiles that could mean anything from general agreement to "I know exactly where I'm going to hide your body, so please, more sarcasm."
Kono glances up from where she's checking something on her laptop, hopefully having to do ocean currents and weather patterns that will be important to them when they set off, but he's not willing to bet on it. He knows her too well for that.
"Hey, boss," she says, and then goes back to ignoring him.
"Worst crew ever," Danny mutters to himself.
As the owner of the boat - the very same boat they rely on for a living - and the guy whose name is on all the necessary paperwork and pays them, it'd be great if they could at least pretend they mean it when they call him boss. "Seriously," he says, pointing at Chin when Toast manages to knock half the traps over the side into the water. "Worst crew in the world."
Worst crew, maybe, but that's family for you.
====
====
Somehow, Danny keeps running into Steve around town.
He'd lean towards Toast's conspiracy theories if he didn't know through more reliable sources - gossipy old biddies, sure, but at least they know their shit - that Steve's not actually there to spy on them or murder them in their sleep. (Why the US government would be interested in anything that goes on in town, or want any of its residents dead is a mystery to Danny. Then again, so is whatever goes on in Toast's head.)
Danny's not sure exactly, what the two of them are doing. Or even if they're doing anything, but it seems to involve eating dinner together and settling down with a beer or two afterward. They go from the back porch of the little cottage Steve's renting watching the sunset, Danny's place, and sometimes, when the weather's just right, to the Joanna Marie.
Steve's strangely interested in the whole lobster fishing thing, which. Danny doesn't get it either. It's not like Danny has a great love for the business himself, but it's not half bad most of the time and it gets the bills paid. There's also the part where it gave him Kono and Chin and, God help him, Toast, so depending on the day it's, he sees it as a blessing or a curse, reward or punishment for something he must have done in a past life. Something along those lines.
They talk, mostly. About themselves, about what they're doing in some tiny little town that seems to be stuck in time. Danny knows home for Steve is Hawaii, that he goes home to see his parents for major holidays and has a sister with itchy feet who seems to get in and out of trouble almost as much as Toast does. Steve knows Danny's first love will always be Jersey, that he's divorced with his ex and her new husband living in one of the massive vacation homes on the northern end of the cove with Danny's little girl.
Danny knows Steve's a photographer working on a book or an assignment from his editor. Something to do with lighthouses or, hell, Danny doesn't know. Steve doesn't know, seems to be making it up as he goes along. Wandering around town and the neighboring woods with his camera equipment taking pictures and hoping he'll hit on something that will make his boss happy.
Danny slides a look at Steve. "That's. Uh. That's very Bridges of Madison County of you," he says, feeling a little bit like a jackass as soon as the words leave his mouth. Rachel had had a love/hate relationship with the book and the movie, and Christ, he really shouldn't be thinking about her at the moment.
Luckily, Steve just rolls his eyes, mouth quirking. "I know," he says, rolling his beer between his hands. "My editor keeps asking me if I've come across any lonely married Italian women lately."
Danny almost chokes on his beer at that. Steve shoots him a concerned look, but Danny just waves him off. Lonely? maybe. Married? Not for a few years, although you wouldn't know it the way Rachel acts sometimes. Italian? Check. Woman? Not so much, no.
What the hell is wrong with him?
"The gossip-mongers in town says you're Navy," Danny says, watching Steve from the corner of his eye to check his reaction to what has to be the least smooth change of topic in the history of ever.
Steve snorts. "Yeah?" He doesn't comment on the sudden shift in conversation, but the smile on his face seems steady enough, real enough.
Danny grins. "I'm pretty sure you have to heard some of it yourself by now." Steve's been in town for almost a month. Certainly long enough to realize that it's infested with crazy.
"I joined up after high school," Steve says. "Did okay, but this, these," Steve points to the glasses he's wearing. Black. Thick-framed. Fucking distracting as hell. "They meant I didn't get to do what I wanted." He smiles again, rolls a shoulder in a shrug like it's not important, like it doesn't matter.
There's something in his expression that tells Danny maybe it does, even now, but Steve's not volunteering anything and Danny's not in the mood to pry.
"I followed in my old man's footsteps for a while," Danny says, when the silence gets too heavy. "He was a firefighter, back in Jersey." Danny loved it, a little, but it hadn't been right. Didn't quite fit. "Busted up my knee in high school," he explains at Steve's look. "Baseball." Hurt like a bitch at the time, but absolutely worth it when they brought that damn trophy home. "I came out here when it started acting up again.”
He probably wouldn't have otherwise, would have found something else, but Rachel was tired of the city, and Stan had property in the area. Danny hadn't even needed for his uncle to ask for help when he started having trouble with the boat, not when Grace was already here. He doesn't say that though, just smiles and shrugs. “I helped my uncle with the boat until he retired and here I am," Danny says, like it's just that simple. Little twist of fate here, a road not taken there, and this is where he ended up, for better or worse.
Steve laughs, loose and easy, corners of his eyes crinkling behind those damn glasses of his. Yeah, Danny thinks, looking away. Here I am.
====
====
"You're pathetic, you know that right?" Kono asks, eying the cards in her hand.
Danny nods, knowing better than to deny the sad, sad truth. Kono's keeping him company while Chin and Toast get some rest. It's their second night out on their latest trip out. The pots have been set and sleep's being an elusive fucker. Technically Kono should be getting some sleep too, but she claims Toast's snoring has been keeping her up.
It's almost insulting how little work she put into her excuse to badger him about his non-existent love life, but this is Kono. The fact that she even bothered to try says something. What, he's not really sure, but it sure as hell means something.
"Thank you," Danny says, wondering if Kono will take pity on him considering his current state of complete and utter pathetic. "I appreciate your brutal honesty. No, really."
"I'm still going to take you for everything you have," Kono says, raising an eyebrow as if to ask him if he expected anything else, which really? Not so much, no.
"I kind of figured." Danny throws his cards down, choosing to end things as painlessly as possible. It's that or let Kono draw things out, and in the mood she's in, she would.
Kono smiles at him, all sharp teeth. "Smart man," she says, raking in the pile of candy laid out on the table in neat little piles.
Danny sighs and leans back, watching her gloat quietly to herself. "What do you think?" he asks, wondering if he's lost his goddamned mind to be asking her for advice on his love life.
Kono looks up from her winnings and studies him for a long, unnerving moment. "I think you're pathetic," she reminds him. "But." Kono shrugs. "I don't see why not. He's easy on the eyes and you're." Kono makes a point of looking him over, smiling almost affectionately at him when he fidgets uneasily under the weight of her gaze, all too aware of his flaws and imperfections. His shortcomings. "You're not too bad yourself, Danny."
Not exactly what he was expecting, and far from a ringing endorsement, really. But then he looks up, catches Kono's eye, and sees everything she isn't saying. Everything she knows he can read easy as breathing.
"You think so?" he asks.
Kono just smiles at him with that unshakable confidence of hers. She's someone opinion matters to Danny, someone he trusts.
====
====
They haven't quite reached the stage of things where they're actually dating, or admitted that that's what all the dinners and movie nights and everything else have been about, but this. Danny likes to think Steve is the kind of guy who'd tell Danny he's already involved before Danny had to go and get all invested in him.
"Oh, hey," Danny says, when he walks into Steve's living room to find him wrapped up in the arms of a woman he doesn't know. "Sorry. I'll just. I'm going to go. Now." He thinks there's an attempt at a smile in there somewhere. "Sorry," he says again, and what the hell is wrong with him, he fucking waves before beating a hasty retreat.
He thinks he hears Steve yelling his name, but everything's narrowed down to the single, simple goal of getting the hell out of there with what's left of his dignity. He's not sure how, but he makes down the walk to his car, gets the keys in the door and into the driver's seat, but past that, he can't seem to figure out what to do.
"Danny!" Steve tears through the screen door and stumbles to a stop in the middle of his front yard when he sees Danny staring back at him. Stunned and too damn stupid to move.
The look on Steve's face goes from this weird mix of worried and frantic, or what Danny's learned is the equivalent on Steve to flat-out determined. Determined, on Steve, Danny has also learned, is almost never a good thing. And, oh, Christ, Steve's headed right for him and this is just not how Danny expected his day to go at all.
"Danny?"
Danny looks up at him. "Steve. Hey,” he says. Weirdly casual, like they bumped into each other in town, and not. Not this wholly awkward moment they seem to be having.
Steve's eyebrows go up. “Hey, Danny,” he says in that same casual tone of voice.
“Nice weather, yeah?” Danny says. And really, what is wrong with him that he's stretching out the painful awkwardness of this whole horrible situation with shitty smalltalk?
Steve bites his lip, clearly trying not to smile. “Oh, yeah,” he says. “Beautiful. Sunny. Warm.”
Danny's eyes narrow. He knows he's being an idiot, he doesn't need Steve to point it out to him, thanks.
"Hey," Steve says, using that quiet, horrifyingly gentle tone of voice again. "I think we need to talk."
Behind him the door to the house opens and the woman, tall, beautiful, walks out. She hesitates at the start of the walkway, watching them. Danny waits for Steve to look at her, but he doesn't. Steve's looking at him, waiting.
"I. Yeah," he says, even though it's the last thing in the world he wants to do. "That might. That might be good."
"Inside?" Steve prompts, like Danny isn't on the verge of having some kind of breakdown in front of his house.
Danny takes a deep, steadying breath, holds it for a beat, and then lets it out. "God, okay. Yeah."
Steve smiles at him and opens the car door for him, stepping back to give him room.
"Danny?"
"Christ, okay."
"Hey," Steve says. He's smiling at Danny like everything's going to be okay, like everything's going to be fine. "Trust me, okay?"
Danny looks at Steve helplessly. The problem isn't with trusting Steve so much as it is trusting himself.
“Figures,” Steve mumbles, giving Danny a ridiculously fond look. “Just. Please.”
Danny looks past Steve to the woman, and back to Steve. Stupid Steve with his stupid face, his stupid everything.
“Lead the way,” Danny says, managing a smile.
Steve eyes him before nodding and turning to do just that. Danny watches him usher the woman in, and just stands there wondering what the hell he even thinks he's doing. A minute or two go by before he remembers, right, grown adult. Grown adult, and this is the part where he follows Steve and his lady friend back into the house and listens to Steve explain why Danny can't have nice things.
Only when Danny shuts the front door behind him and walks into the living room, things don't quite happen the way he expects. They never do, really, when Steve's involved. For some reason, Danny keeps forgetting that.
“Danny,” Steve says, waving a hand at the woman. “This is Catherine, my boss.”
There's a moment. A long, uncomfortable moment where Danny just stares at her as his brain searches frantically for the mental file he knows he has on her. He knows he has one, he remembers Steve talking about her, stupidly fond. Stupidly, strangely fond in the sort of way that implied they were possibly more than friends, more than just boss and employee.
“Um.” Steve seems to realize that he may have let more slip in conversation than he should have when the silence continues to drag out into yet even more awkwardness with the added bonus of the clinch Danny found the two of them in a little while ago. “It's not what you think.”
Danny laughs. He can't help it. “You're an idiot,” he says automatically.
Out of the corner of his eye he can see Catherine pinching the bridge of her nose. “Steve. Jesus.” She sighs like she knows exactly how hopeless Steve is at the best of times. “Seriously, Steve,” she says, exasperated and fond. “I love you, but shut up before you make things worse.”
Catherine turns to face Danny, looking him up and down. “And you,” she says, eyes meeting his. “You must be Danny.”
Danny stares at her, all the stories, the little anecdotes, Steve told about her come rushing back. She's just like Kono, he realizes in a burst of clarity. “God,” he says. “There are two of you.”
Catherine frowns, looks to Steve. Steve, of course, shrugs, because he has absolutely no idea just how fucked the world is.
Catherine shrugs, eyes flicking towards Steve and lowers her voice, like she's confiding a secret in him, even though Steve's right there with what Danny likes to call his bitch face on. It's a close cousin to his aneurysm face. “Steve's been talking about you for weeks.” She grins, impish and a little on the evil side. “I think he might like like you.”
“Oh, God,” Steve whimpers, top of his ears going red. “Please. Please leave.”
Catherine laughs, clearly delighted, and pulls Steve in for a hug. “Call me when you have things sorted out here,” she says, ruffling Steve's hair. She glances at Danny thoughtfully, and smiles. “I hope we get to talk sometime.” She leans in toward him, even though she still has Steve in some kind of wrestling hold. “You wouldn't believe some of the things I've got on Steve.”
“Catherine!”
Catherine laughs again and unwinds her arms from Steve, tall and beautiful and definitely more than a little evil. “It was nice to finally meet you, Danny,” she says, sounding like she means it as she grabs her coat off the back of Steve's couch and leaves the two of them alone.
There's nothing but silence for a while afterward, both of them thinking. Danny trying to come up with plans to keep Catherine from ever meeting Kono, if only for his own sanity. Steve. Danny has no idea what Steve's thinking.
“Danny.” Steve sounds. He sounds unsure of himself. “It. That really wasn't what it looked like,” he says, because obviously he just doesn't learn.
“She's right you know,” Danny says. “You really need to shut up before you make things worse.” And then there's the part where Danny's brain is actually working again, which means actually thinking instead of reacting. “Also, really?” He can't help it. “You like like me?”
Steve makes a face. “Shut up.”
“Make me.”
Steve blinks, taken aback. “Seriously?”
Danny smiles at him, more than fond. “Seriously.”
And oh, Danny thinks he likes the look of the expression that makes its way across Steve's face at that, at the way Steve's looking at him as he closes the distance between them, all focused and intent. Determined.
Somehow, that doesn't seem like such a bad thing.
====
====
Things between Rachel and Danny aren't as strained as they used to be. When Rachel calls to tell him Stan's whisking her out of the country to celebrate their anniversary, she sounds almost amused when she asks if he minds having Grace for the week.
"She's off from school for the week," Rachel says, like Danny doesn't have Grace's school schedule practically memorized. "I thought she might prefer to stay with you than visit stodgy art museums and the like."
It's not quite a peace offering, not quite an overture, but it's something. Building up to this strange new something they're working towards for Grace's sake, if nothing else.
Rachel calls when they're out on the Joanna Marie, making their last run for the trip. Kono takes in the look on his face, one part Rachel, two parts Grace, the rest all Jesus, how the fuck did it ever get to this point? even though he knows, he knows, and slaps him on the back. Hard.
"All right!" she says, taking charge because she knows none of them will dare challenge her. "Barbecue at Danny's this weekend!"
Toast throws his arms in the air and hoots like an idiot. As far as he's concerned it means free food and beer for him. Chin buries his face in his hands because he remembers what happened the last time Kono organized a barbecue and is probably mourning for his poor lost dignity, and Kono.
Kono stares Danny down, the look on her face promising him pain beyond pain if he so much as thinks of saying no. She's more than a little fond of Grace, which is reassuring and heartwarming and monumentally terrifying when he stops to think about exactly all the things Kono could be teaching his daughter he doesn't know about. Now more so than ever with Catherine in the picture.
"Okay," he says, holding his hands up in surrender. It's not like he ever had a choice in the matter. "Yeah, sure. Sounds fantastic. Great. Awesome."
Kono grins, all sweetness and light and Danny makes a mental note to make sure his insurance is paid up before the weekend rolls around.
====
====
Steve knows all about Grace. Danny's told him pretty much everything there is to know about Grace, of course he did. It's not like Danny tried to hide her existence from him, ever made it seem like she wasn't the single most important thing in his life. Between one thing or another, the custody arrangement with Rachel, the boat, Steve's work, who knows what, Steve hasn't met Grace.
"Grace?" Steve says, frowning. A little confused, which Danny has learned is a common state of being for him. "She's coming here?" Steve looks anywhere but at Danny, like it never occurred to him he'd get to meet Grace. That Danny would want him to meet Grace.
Danny nods, and belatedly remembers how that whole smiling thing works. He doesn't think he gets it quite right going on the look Steve gives him.
Steve opens his mouth. Closes it, and then laughs a little, like he still can't believe Danny wants Steve to meet her, which could mean so many things, Danny doesn't even know where to start.
"You're sure?" Steve asks, carefully. "You really want me here?"
They're still dancing around this thing, Danny realizes. Even though they're long past the stupid misunderstanding with Catherine. Even though he spends most of his time when he's not working with Steve, they still haven't come out and said what they want beyond the present, haven't touched on what the future might hold for them. If there's even going to be a future for them.
It's stupid and, no. Worse than stupid because they're both adults and actually know how to use their words, but for some reason they haven't been this whole time.
More than sleeping with Steve, Danny's fallen asleep on his couch while watching a game or some crappy movie on television. He's woken up with a blanket over him and Steve's sleep-soft smile greeting him over a mug of coffee, breakfast cooking on the stove. Steve's watched the stars come out sitting on the deck of the Joanna Marie. The boat that belonged to Danny's uncle and his father before him. The boat named after Danny's grandmother, that Danny still isn't sure what to make of some days, and God, they're both idiots.
Danny laughs, scrubs a hand over his face because it really shouldn't be this damn hard. "I." Steve's watching him, quiet and still, like he knows this means something, Danny wanting him to meet Grace. "Yes, Steve," Danny says. "I want you here." For the barbecue, yes. After that? After that it's all up to Steve, but Danny hopes like hell Steve's answer is the same as his.
====
====
Rachel knows about Steve.
How could she not, when they live in a town filled with gossips and busybodies?
"I hear he's quite attractive," Rachel says, not bothering to hide her amusement.
Grace is outside with Kono and Catherine ordering Chin and Toast around getting things ready for the barbecue. Stan's waiting for Rachel in the the car. Steve's probably having an emotional meltdown at his place, which means Danny's going to have to get him later.
"Rachel." Danny sighs, not sure what to say. Not sure if he should say anything, to be honest. Years of marriage, of learning someone don't just go away, after all.
"Daniel," Rachel says, eyebrow arched. It's the tone of voice he learned to. Not quite hate, but it's right there on the cusp. Something that has his back up, makes him defensive and leaves him feeling off-balance. "Daniel," she says again, tone softening. Sharp edges blurring, resolving into something more familiar, loved. "You deserve to be happy too."
Danny looks at her, at the tired smile she's wearing and remembers why he fell in love with her. Why she'll always be smarter than him.
====
====
Steve doesn't answer his phone when Danny calls to make sure he isn't dead. Killed by squirrels or some other tiny, furry woodland creature, Danny doesn't know. Steve seems like the kind of guy who could make an enemy out of the little bastards.
“It's okay with me if the reason you never called is because you're dead,” Danny says in the message he leaves on Steve's voice mail. “I mean, I know I asked you to call me to make sure you were still coming to the barbecue, but it's all good. As far as things go, being dead's a pretty good excuse.”
He waits exactly ten minutes before trying again. For all that Steve's clearly on the unbalanced side of things, a little off-kilter, he's also strangely, endearingly human. Something even Steve seems to forget with alarming regularity. Danny knows Steve is just as uncertain about this thing of theirs as Danny tends to be. He knows how important Grace is to Danny, and he's worried about what Grace is going to think of him and how it's going to affect them.
“Steve,” Danny says in his next message, already in his car on the way to Steve's. There's no way he's going to get Steve out of his house unless he goes over there and drags him back. Kicking and screaming if necessary because he wants his little girl to meet Steve. He wants Steve to meet his little girl. “This is just an FYI that you're dead to me unless you ask me out again, in which case I love you.”
Danny hangs up before he can think better of it because he actually said it. True, it's not likely Steve's going to pick up on that in his current emotional state, but that's neither here nor there.
A few tense minutes later and he's at Steve's. The front door's unlocked, which means Steve knew he was coming, which means Steve got his messages, which means Steve's a bastard. Danny heads right for the living room and stops short when he sees waiting for him, all but wringing his hands.
"I'm not so great with kids," Steve confesses. He looks like he's expecting Grace to rip his face off, or worse, rip his heart out, the moment she sees him.
Honestly, Danny wouldn't put it past her with Kono as one of the main influences in her life if she decides she doesn't like him, but this is Steve.
Steve who has somehow managed to fit into the general craziness of Bell Cove like he belongs there, like he was born to it. Steve who has opinions on canned pineapple and bemoans the ignorance of a people who don't appreciate the beauty and magnificence of pineapple as a valid pizza topping. Steve, the ridiculous goof who has the entire town trying to feed him into a coma because he's a goddamned beanpole.
"You'll be fine," Danny says. "Trust me, okay?"
Steve smiles, still uncertain but willing to put his faith in Danny on this. "You're sure?"
Danny meets his eyes and nods. "I'm sure."
"I." Steve swallows. "I think I'm going to be sick."
Danny rolls his eyes and shoves Steve to get him moving. "Suck it up, McGarrett," he says. "My little girl's waiting."
Steve looks over his shoulder at him, eyes wide with something a little like fear. "Danny - "
"Stop worrying," Danny says. "Grace is going to love you." She will, Danny knows. It's damn near impossible not to.
There's now a short follow-up to this from Steve's POV, Lines Connect, over on LJ, DW, or IJ. :D
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