In Our Own Time (1/?)
"What I know, and what I need you to believe with all your heart, is that I love you more than anything in our whole entire world and me, where I am meant to be, is wherever you are."
A Hawaii Five-0 /Once Upon A Time Fusion.
(Please Note: Spoilers for the general concept of OUAT but no plot specifics. Spoilers for Season One of Hawaii Five-0)
March 2010
“So, Detective. Do you think we are after the same killer?”
Danny tilted his head and considered the autopsy photos in his email inbox. Same cuts to the upper arms, same strangulation marks made with what looked to be the same kind of rope.
“Yeah,” he nodded, even though he was on the phone. “I’d say we’ve got a serial killer on our hands.”
* * *
Danny loves snow. Cities. Skyscrapers are his preferred source of shade, not coconut palms. He never expected to find himself in this pineapple-infested excuse for a state. Then again, that’s probably why the elusive “Newark Noose” killer had brought his cross-country killing spree to Hawaii. Who’d make the connection to murders that started over 5000 Miles away?
What NN (because seriously, Danny couldn’t say noose without playing a rhyming game in his head and ultimately thinking of Rocky and Bullwinkle), hadn’t counted on was his case crossing the desk of newly-divorced and frustrated Danny Williams. His ex-wife had dragged his only child clear across the country and then some, and settled in Honolulu. Danny had applications in with the Honolulu Police Department but it was an insular place and he knew he’d be waiting a while. His only choices were to wait it out or quit the force and scrape by in some job as a rubber gun.
Until the NN case crossed the Pacific and he suddenly found himself sitting on a non-stop to Oahu to work with the very department he wanted to join. It seemed luck was finally going his way because they’d caught a case that sounded remarkably similar to his own which overruled the HPD’s unwritten anti-mainlander policy. Danny hoped to prove himself during the case and maybe, just maybe be invited to stay.
* * *
September 2010
“You wanna get a few beers with us, Danny?” Chin sticks his head into what has become ‘Danny’s office’ even though there isn't officially a taskforce payroll yet. They've all of them got a whole henhouse full of eggs in this basket.
“Not tonight, my friend. I am going to pick my daughter up from her ridiculously large home and take her for burgers and shave ice and maybe build a sandcastle or two.”
Chin grins. “Sounds great, brah. I hope it all works out, y’know. Transferring here. You fit in well.” Chin regards Danny’s hair and tie and general ‘professional’ appearance. “Well, we all make a good team anyway.”
“Screw you Kelly, get out of my office and stop distracting me from my background checks.”
He hears Chin’s laughter all the way back to his own office and smiles to himself. These people, these lolo locals, have accepted him onto their team, and not just as a liaison with the Newark Police Department then the transfer they couldn’t justify turning away. Not when he’d been instrumental in HPD catching the NN killer just a week after landing on the island. It had just been a matter of matching up flights and timelines and running credit card purchases and alibis until someone stood out. Stood out to Danny anyway, just one little detail, a credit card that had gone suddenly and supiciously dark after a few days of consistent charges in hardware stores across the island.
And now with the taskforce, his mainland perspective, his fresh eyes, are appreciated and Danny has to admit he gets a little zing of satisfaction whenever Steve runs with one of the ‘Jersey’ points of view instead an otherwise obvious lead. He knows Chin and Kono aren’t humouring him with false acceptance. They each bring enviable computer skills and a personality which balances out Danny’s tendency to, well, be a hothead.
And then there’s Steve, impulsive and reckless Steve who scares this shit out of Danny on a daily basis. The man swung down a chain like he was straight out of The Jungle Book, shooting like he was Rambo and landed like a cat. And the worst part for Danny is that he knows the freak has actually thought his plans through. The recklessness is a ruse and so far every suspect that’s rabbited on them has fallen for it.
So yeah, they’ve put in the paperwork and Steve’s officially requested Danny for the fledgling taskforce. Not just as a paper pusher but to be his partner in the field. Danny doesn’t know yet if that is a compliment or a death sentence but he’ll take what he can get at this point. All they can do now is wait for the official OK. In the mean time, he has a daughter to spend time with and he’s going to enjoy every minute he can get with her.
* * *
“Danno?” Grace asks while they’re sitting on the bench by the shave ice stand.
“Yeah, Monkey?”
“Do you ever think that you and Mommy got divorced for a reason?”
“Oh, babe. Of course there was a reason. We fought all the time, remember? Don’t pretend you didn’t hear, I know you weren’t really asleep all those times and you know how sorry I am.” Danny wraps his arm around his daughter’s shoulders and forces down the lump in his throat.
“I know that, Danno. That’s not what I mean.”
“It isn’t? Grace, what’s on your mind?”
“It’s just that… Do you think that us being here, all of us together in Hawaii, do you think we’re here for a reason?”
Danny takes a breath. “I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t know where I stand about all that stuff. I used to believe in fate and love and when I met your mom I was sure it was meant to be. And then… Well," Danny sighs. "I honestly don’t know, Grace.”
“But it’s possible?”
“Maybe, what’s brought this on?”
“Nothing. Just thinking I guess.”
Danny stands and collects their empty shave ice cups before taking his daughter’s hand. “Grace, I don’t know if there is some higher power working to get us here, I don’t know if I can believe that. But what I know, and what I need you to believe with all your heart, is that I love you more than anything in our whole entire world and me, where I am meant to be, is wherever you are, okay?”
Grace smiles at him. “Yeah, okay.” She knows her Dad, knows his mind. She knows that beginning to plant the seeds into his thoughts will start her mission off. She just hopes that she can make them believe.
(Link to Part Two)
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Also, have a guess who you think each of our characters would be in FairyTale land...