A/N: This one shot references 'Thank You for Your Service'. You don't have to read TYFYS before this one, unless you just want a little background. Comments are always appreciated. Thank you for reading. \,,,/ BronsonL
Disclaimer: As always, I don't own anything that is a proper noun. No copyright infringement is intended.
My Sweet Sixteen, My Everything
"Would ya stop?" Danny slapped Steve's hand away from his hair and then dropped several bags of party supplies on his kitchen table.
"I was just trying to cover up the bald spot. I thought you'd want to be as presentable as possible for when the kids get here. I mean since we can't cover up the yellow and green on the side of your face, we can at least cover the hole in your head." Steve was relentless.
"I do not have a hole in my head and I most certainly do not have a bald spot."
"If that's not bald, I'm not sure what it is."
"It was shaved so they could stitch it… ya putz. And I already covered it anyway."
"Obviously not good enough. I know it's almost Halloween but you're going to scare Charlie. He's going to think you're Frankenstein or something."
"Just stay away from my hair. Okay? It's fine."
"Fine."
Steve stuck one end of two colors of crepe streamer to the ceiling in one corner of Danny's kitchen and Danny was twisting the rolls together as he backed toward the opposite corner. He suddenly stopped in the middle of the room.
"Hey. Are you okay?" Steve asked.
"What?"
"Well, it looked like you were somewhere else in that head of yours. You sure you're feeling okay? It's only been three days and you took quite a wallop."
"Steven, I'm fine, except for the fact that my baby girl just turned sixteen. I guess I was distracted, just reminiscing. It seems like just yesterday that she was a toddler, walking across the kitchen floor on her tiptoes, reaching out for me to pick her up."
Steve smiled. He could see the scene in his mind's eye as if it were his own memory, and if he were honest with himself, would probably say he was a bit envious. He knew how the kids filled Danny's heart and gave him so much joy. He loved them as well, but couldn't help have a twinge of some kind of weird feeling. Was it regret? Grace and Charlie were almost like his own kids anyway. They were enough for now.
Danny rolled out a little more slack so he could turn to face Steve but didn't continue in his decorating. "You know where I was at this time sixteen years ago?"
"Uh, the hospital?"
Danny rolled his eyes. "Well yes, but barely, but that's another story. At this time of the day, I was holding my little monkey, watching her while she slept. Everything in the world seemed right. Even with all the crap I'd seen, and the idiots I'd busted, ...and the people I'd lost, it seemed like it all made sense at that moment, like I understood why I was on this earth." Danny smiled, then quickly shrugged and turned away, sheepishly sorting through the items on the table with one hand, while holding the crepe rolls in the other. "Even though a lot has happened and a lot has changed since then, it's like I told the judge at the custody hearing, she's my life and breath, Steve." He turned again to face his best friend, "…and my everything."
Steve smiled and laid a hand on his shoulder to nonverbally let him know how much he appreciated him sharing his thoughts. He also thought he'd help his brother out of the awkward emotion-filled moment.
"So, tell me about 'barely' making it to the hospital."
Danny seemed relieved to move on. "Well, I was in the middle of a stakeout with my new partner… after Grace." Danny's bright blue eyes seemed to dim briefly in sadness at the recollection of his former partner. "It was a quarter to midnight when Rachel called me. I couldn't believe the timing. We were so close to getting our guy."
"So, what'd you do?" Steve was genuinely interested.
"I left."
"You left." Steve made it a statement instead of a question.
"I left. Yes. We were in my partner's car and I called in for backup for him, and then, with my partner's urging and blessing, I got out and hailed a cab to take me home."
"Let me guess, you got caught in a snowstorm on the way and almost didn't make it."
Danny narrowed his eyes and his brow wrinkled as he looked at Steve with stern confusion. "You do know it's October, right?"
"Yeah, but we're talking New Jersey."
"Do you even know where New Jersey is? It's not in the Arctic Circle. Yes, it can get cold and it can even snow in October but that day was a beautiful, warm, autumn day. The leaves were still hanging on and the colors were spectacular that year."
"So why did you 'barely' make it to the hospital? Traffic? Car trouble? Ooh, I know, you got shot in the arm stopping a burglary on the way home."
"Eh, no, and look at you." Danny pointed to the bandage still wrapped around Steve's arm from the jewelry store showdown a few days before. "I got home in no time. That wasn't the problem. Rachel had put off calling me and the contractions were coming pretty close together by then. Her bags were already packed, so that helped, and we were out the door."
"I bet you were freaking out."
"No… no, Steven." He paused and shook his head in annoyance. "I actually was as cool as a cucumber… believe it or not."
Not believing a word of that statement, Steve eagerly urged him on. "Okay, sure, go on. You were out the door and everything was great… and?"
"And… my lovely wife, and mother-to-be, decided she had to stop for a Reuben at Tops Diner first."
"No really… you're joking."
"I am absolutely not. She had to get this specific sandwich, at this specific diner, at twelve thirty in the morning… on our way to the hospital to have our baby."
"And you let her?"
"You can obviously tell you've never been married, or had kids, cause if you had, you'd know that you don't 'let' them do anything. They do and get whatever they want. So, there we were, sitting at Tops, while Rachel finished her Reuben between contractions. The place closed at one and they patiently waited for us, but I think Rachel would have stayed longer, maybe for dessert, if she hadn't felt sorry for the employees. So, we finally left and made it to the hospital and Grace was born just a couple hours later."
"Wow, much respect to Rachel. … What did you eat?"
"What?"
"Come on, what did you eat that night… at the diner?"
"Uh, nothing. I was waiting on Rachel to finish."
"I knew it. You couldn't eat because you were so upset. 'Cool as a cucumber' huh?"
Without response, Danny resentfully turned around and tore off the streamers from the rolls. He stepped up on a chair and tied them to the handle of a teapot that sat atop his cabinets.
Steve smiled behind Danny's back. He had hit that nerve and managed to leave his loquacious partner speechless. Even though he enjoyed the 'gotcha' moment, he didn't want to spoil the atmosphere of the evening with a sulking Danny, so he acted quickly to change the subject.
"Hey, did you pick up Gracie's gift?"
"I did." Like Steve had hoped, Danny seemed to immediately snap out of the embittered mood in his eagerness to show off his selection of a gift. "Be right back."
Danny left Steve in the kitchen as he trotted back to his bedroom, only to quickly return with a small yellow box with a pink ribbon tied around it.
"Dynamite comes in small packages," Danny proudly said as he reached the box to Steve.
"Bet you say that to all the girls," Steve smirked.
"That's fantastic. You're quick, you know it?" Danny snarked back.
Steve took the box and hesitated due to the ribbon being tied so perfectly in a neat bow on top. "Go on, you, chucklehead, just slip it off. It'll go right back on."
With Danny's permission, Steve carefully pushed the ribbon loop off and slowly opened the creaking box. "Oh, Danny. She's… she's going to love it, man. It's beautiful."
Danny got the broadest, proudest smile at the affirmation of his choice from his friend. "You think?" he asked, just wanting to hear it again.
"Oh, yeah, for sure. Nice job, buddy." Steve nodded as he said it without taking his eyes off the piece of jewelry. "Did you pick this out yourself? You should have taken me with you."
"Oh, no, not doing that again. You're bad luck, babe. Anyway, Lea helped with showing me several options but I knew it when I saw it."
"Lea's back at work? She doing alright?"
"She's fine and so is Kekoa. He gave me the thanks-for-saving-my-ass cop's special discount. That's probably why I was able to get this." He took the box and ribbon from Steve and closed it. He gently slid the loop back over the box until it was just perfect once again.
"Uh, you didn't save his ass. That was Flash, remember?"
"Semantics, perception, whatever… Plus, I'm sure he gave Flash the same honorary cop's price as well."
Steve accepted that Danny's last statement was as close as he was going to get to an admission of agreement.
The doorbell rang and Danny reached the small box back to Steve. "Here. Do something with this until it's time."
"O…kay." Steve took it and glanced around for a spot as Danny went to the door.
"Hey, monkey. Happy birthday," Danny singsonged his greeting to his favorite daughter and gave her a hug and then let her step inside as he knelt down and greeted his favorite son similarly. "Charlie, you've grown three inches since Wednesday." He gave him a big hug as well. Charlie just smiled without responding to his dad's usual silliness and thankfully did not seem to notice Danno's lingering bruising on his face.
"Hey, Uncle Steve," Grace greeted and hugged her uncle as well.
"Hi, Gracie. Happy sweet sixteen."
"Thanks."
"So, now that you're sixteen, did you drive you and your brother over here?"
Grace turned back to address her dad's snarky question. "The driver dropped us… what happened to your face?" With her hand held out, she moved closer to touch the added color that she was noticing for the first time. That's when she also saw the stitched place on the side of his head. "And your head? What happened?"
Her abundant concern made Danny uncomfortable and he shifted on his feet and glanced over to Steve.
Steve set Charlie down from the bearhug he was giving him when he saw the interaction between father and daughter. He thought he'd once again come to the rescue.
"Just work, Gracie. Your dad helped stop a jewelry store theft the other day and got a little banged up, but he's going to be fine. He is fine. Right, Danno?"
Danny glared at Steve, eyeing him suspiciously at his sudden change of perception of how things went down.
"Yeah, baby, I'm fine. Uncle Steve's fine. We're all fine."
"You sure?"
"Am I sure? Come here." He grabbed her into another tight hug before releasing her and changing the subject. "How was your big Sweet Sixteen party that your mom and Stan threw for you last night? Bet it was 'epic'. Is that what they say?"
She smiled. "Yep, it was… 'epic', but I wish you could have been there."
"Ah, you wouldn't have wanted your dad there to cramp your style."
She wrinkled her nose in amusement at her dad.
"Anyway, I knew I'd be seeing you today… on your actual birthday. And I'll get to spend more time with you tonight than I would have there."
Soon after, several guests, many who had carpooled to help with the parking situation, made their way into the small house. Will, Lou, and Renee arrived first. Samantha was away at college, but they passed along her birthday wishes as well. Then Kamekona, Flippa, and Nahele came, followed soon by Jerry and Noelani. Tani and Junior came and both seemed unsure if they should even be there, but Danny and the others welcomed them in as if they had always been part of the ohana and they were quickly put at ease.
Eddie had been there the whole time and slept on the corner of the sofa, oblivious to the increased activity, until Charlie grabbed him around the neck for hug. After that, though, he quickly settled back into his nap.
While everyone was greeting each other and the place got louder and louder, Danny's phone rang. He looked at the ID and smiled. "Hey, Grace. Come here a sec." He waved her over to follow him out through the sliding glass doors to the patio outside. Once outside, Danny answered the call.
"Hey, I'll talk to you in a minute but I have someone here for you to talk to first." He reached the phone to his puzzled daughter with a smile. "Go on…"
"Hello?" she meekly greeted. At hearing who was on the other end her eyes lit up. "Auntie Kono!" She seemed so excited.
Danny stood and beamed as he watched her, then he slipped inside for just a minute before coming back to wait for her to finish with her conversation.
She ended up spending about fifteen minutes speaking with Kono and then Chin because Kono was in San Francisco at the time visiting her cousin. They had even sung a special Hawaiian version of a birthday song to her before ending the call with promises to see her in the near future.
"Thanks, Danno. That was the best present ever, well this whole party is."
"Well, I didn't know when I'd give this to you, but now seems like a good time, while we're out here alone." He smiled as he pulled his hand from behind him and reached the box to his daughter. "For my princess on her sweet sixteen…"
"Is that what you went inside for?"
"Um, hm," Danny nodded, eager to see her open his gift.
Her smile faded when she saw that it was a box from a jewelry store.
"Monkey, what is it? What's wrong? Don't you want to open it?" He tried smiling to see if she would again as well.
"Is this where you were when you got hurt?"
He thought about going inside and putting another bullet through his partner's other arm for the info he had shared with his daughter, but realized it was said with harmless intentions. He had just been trying to help him out at the time.
He composed himself and truthfully stated, "No, baby. I got this on a totally different day that I got this." He pointed to the wound on his head. "I'm sorry you have to worry about me and my work. You shouldn't. As long as I've got you and your brother, I'm gonna be just fine. Don't you know? You give me my life. You are my everything. Now go on, open it."
She pulled on one end of the ribbon and untied the bow. She cracked open the box and saw the dainty, white gold ring, shaped like a princess tiara with a beautiful blue pear-shaped stone set in the center. The tiniest, shiny diamonds surrounded the blue stone on the decorative filigree that made up the crown. A tear escaped and rolled down her face. "It's… it's beautiful, Danno." She pulled the ring out and before trying it on she noticed an inscription. She looked at her dad with a knitted brow, not knowing what the Hawaiian phrase meant.
"It means, 'My Everything'," he informed her.
She reached for a hug and the embrace lingered for a long, glorious minute. When she pulled away, she swiped at some more tears that had showed up. She then put the ring on her finger. It was a perfect fit.
As she admired it on her hand, Danny added, "And I picked the blue stone because it's your favorite color."
"You know why it's my favorite color, don't you?"
He looked at her confused and shook his head. "I guess not. Why is blue your favorite color?"
"Because it's your favorite color."
Danny's heart soared and now he had to wipe away his own stray tear.
Not wanting to be the reason to make her dad cry, even if they were happy tears, Grace asked to go back inside with the others. She wanted to show off the gift from her Danno anyway. As they were walking in, Steve was nearby and Danny gave a smile and wink at him to let him know he had been right. She loved her gift.
Noticing there wasn't any food out for the guests yet, Grace looked to her dad with curiosity. "So, what are we having to eat?"
"Uncle Steve ordered pizza. You did order the pizza, right?" Danny dubiously looked over at his partner for confirmation and smiled in relief when he got a nod in return. "Yeah, we're having pizza. Should be here soon."
"Oh? Okay."
"What? You don't sound happy. I thought you loved pizza?"
"I do, but… for some reason I… I was kind of craving Reuben sandwiches."
Danny's eyes got wide and looked up at Steve who was staring at him with the same reaction.
"What?" Grace asked, confused.
~The End~
BronsonL \,,,/