** Authors Note ** This story was inspired by my best friend. Here instead of getting your tattoos in a shop, the tattoos just appear on your body at random times in your life and you have to figure out why they're there and what they mean. Hope you Enjoy

Danny Williams knew what you were supposed to do when a tattoo appeared. You were supposed to figure out what it meant. He knew people with lots of tattoos but he only had the one on the underside of his bicep that was Grace's name and date of birth. That had appeared a week before Rachel found out she was pregnant. That had been probably the happiest moment of his life and that had been his only tattoo. Until the night he looked in the mirror in the grungy hotel room he was being forced to stay in because of Rachel and he spotted a new patch of ink decorating his shoulder blade, "What the hell?"

Danny looked closer, if it was a warning about the divorce, it was a little late for that. He looked closer and he saw a Bald Eagle holding a trident in one talon and a gun in the other, and his wings were encompassing a giant anchor, "Great, what the hell does that mean? What am I supposed to go meet Poseidon, king of the fucking sea or something?!" Danny grumbled as he pulled on his shirt and flopped into bed.

The next morning his phone rang and he scrambled to grab it and as he did, he noticed another new tattoo adorning his forearm, from the crease of his elbow, all the way to his wrist. He answered the phone while studying the new tattoo, "Hello?"

"Daniel" Rachel's snooty accent filtered through the phone, "The divorce is finalized but I have something to tell you"

Danny snorted, "More great news?" He realized the new tattoo was a chain of islands, Hawaii in fact.

"Danny... Stan and I are moving to Hawaii" Rachel replied and Danny fumbled the phone, dropping it and cursing.

"What?! You can't just move to Hawaii, you can't just take my daughter" Danny yelled then froze in his tracks. He looked at his forearm and then realized it was meant to be a warning. A warning for this, for Rachel trying to take his baby girl away but there also had to be a reason, "I can't fucking believe this! We get a divorce and 5 minutes later your dragging my baby to a fucking rock!"

"Danny, we can talk later but we're leaving next week. I'm sorry" Rachel said and hung up.

Danny threw his phone and cursed, scratching at the new tattoo, "Fuck you" he mumbled to the reddened skin. He eventually made all the arrangements to move and transfer though, and a week later, he was standing in Honolulu international already regretting his decision. Then Grace hugged him, and it got a tiny bit better, not much but a tiny bit. But he still had this tattoo on his shoulder to figure out and that was next on his to do list.

-

Steve was proud of his tattoos. They all represented something and he respected that. The first one that ever appeared had been the one on his right bicep. He wasn't quite sure what it was but it looked like an old Buddha shrine shrouded in mist. That had taken forever to figure out. He'd done a lot of research and basically found the 3 concepts which were
Karma, Rebirth or reincarnation and, oddly enough, the practice of yoga. He'd found that Karma was basically what goes around comes around, and while that hasn't exactly presented itself in his life yet, he was still hopeful. He considered his rebirth as joining the SEALS. The only stable thing that had ever been in his life. After his mom died and he was sent away, he'd been lost until he'd graduated and started SEAL training, that's when his life had gained purpose again. And yes he did practice yoga. Anyone who said it want manly, could just take a look at his medical records, he was fit and healthy.

The second tattoo was on his other bicep. It was a Lotus flower and remarkably enough, it had something to do with the Buddha as well. The lotus flower itself represented peace. Steve was ok with this because right around the time this tattoo appeared is when his father died. Yeah he was more than upset but once he started figuring things out, he wasn't exactly at peace with the way his mom and dad died but he was at peace knowing they had died doing something good.

His last tattoo was the one on his lower back. Sure it was a tramp stamp as they called and the guys on his team likes to tease him about but to him this was the most important one of all. It covered his lower back from hip to hip and it was colorful and detailed. When he finally got a good look at it, he realized it was a tribal tattoo. Even though he wasn't a native Hawaiian, the culture and way of life had been very important to him and he wanted nothing more than to be a part of it. This tattoo represented the hawaiian history and legend of the islands. So despite what the guys said, he was proud to wear it.

Then as he was packing his things to head back for his fathers funeral, he was pulling his shirt on when Mark walked in and whistled, "Nice new ink smoothdog"

"What?" Steve asked whipping around as if he could see the tattoo on his back, "Where? I can't see it damn it"

Mark chuckled and pushed him in front of a mirror, "Right here on your shoulder blade"

Sure enough, there was a brand new tattoo etched into his skin. It was shaped like a badge and it was silver-grey. The words around the edges said Saint Michael Protect Us and in the middle was an angel standing over someone with a spear and law scale, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Saint Michael is the patron saint of police officers" Mark supplied, "My brothers a cop and his wife got him one"

"A police officer?" Steve asked, then pondered for a minute, "Maybe it means something about my dad"

Mark shrugged, "Maybe but that's your's to figure out bro"

Steve pulled his shirt on. He didn't have time for it right now, he would figure it out later. He grabbed his bag and turned to Mark, "It's been a good run. See you soon sailor"

"Likewise sir" They saluted each other and Steve left, making his way to the airfield.

-

"Hands up! Right now! Who are you?" The blonde yelled as he pointed his gun at Steve.

Steve pulled his own gun, "Who are you? Let me see some I.D."

"Please after you" The blonde snapped not lowering his gun.

Steve cursed silently, not seeing an end to this standoff and he really didn't have time for this right now. His time was running low after the Governor had stopped him to offer him a task force and he still needed to find Victor Hesse, "At the same time?"

The blonde agreed and pulled his badge out, while Steve pulled his I.D. "Detective Danny Williams"

"Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett. You're the one working my fathers case?" Steve asked, holstering his gun as Danny did the same.

"Yeah I am and Im sorry but you can't be here. It's an active crime scene" Danny gestured towards the door and Steve just smiled.

"You got it" Steve grabbed the toolbox he 'd been rifling through and pushed past Danny.

"Leave the box" Danny ordered.

"I came with this" Steve said and Danny just looked at him like Really?

Danny snorted, "No, I see the dust void. Leave the box or get arrested"

Steve chuckled. This guy was relentless, " You gonna call for back up?"

"An ambulance" Danny stated and Steve smiled again as he set the box down.

Steve dialed the governor as Danny watched, "Governor Jameson please. Tell her it's Steve McGarrett... Governor, I'll take the job. I'll transfer to the reserves and run your task force... right now?" Steve sighed and held up his hand and took the oath over the phone, "Thank you Governor" He grabbed the tool box and shot Danny a smug smile, "Now it's my crime scene"

Danny grumbled as he opened the door and he fought the urge to slam it shut when he saw who was standing on the other side, "What do you want?"

"I wanna know what you know about my fathers case" Steve said, pushing his way inside. Then wishing he didn't, the place was a piece of crap. His eyes landed on a picture of young girl, smiling, "Is this your daughter?"

"Stunning detective work" Danny snarked.

"You don't let her stay here do you?" Steve asked, looking around warily.

"What are you here for again?" Danny growled.

Steve opened a folder he had in his hands, "You wanted a wire on a guy named Fred Duran. Why?"

"He's a suspected arms dealers and the casing we found at your dads house matched a casing in one of his previous cases" Danny explained, and Steve just nodded.

"Right, well let's go" Steve said, walking to the door and opening it.

"Wait, go where?" Danny asked, getting up from his chair now.

"Chief told me you transferred here from Jersey and if the tattoo of the islands on your forearm and the picture of your daughter are any indication, then you moved here to be close to her, and you do your job well. That's what I want." Steve stated as if they suddenly would make Danny his partner.

Danny shook his head, "No. Listen, I appreciate it but my psych eval isn't for another 6 weeks and honestly guys like you only make my job harder"

"You got no choice Detective. I have jurisdiction and I'm making you my partner. We're gonna get along great" Steve flashed a smile as he walked out the door and Danny flipped him off behind his back.

What happened next, was the highlight of Danny's day. Besides getting shot, he saved a woman's life, saved the moron partners life, and punched said moron, all after being shot in the arm, not ten minutes after meeting the idiot.

The car ride back to their new office was deathly silent until Steve spoke up, "Look man, I'm sorry"

"Can we just not talk?" Danny asked, not accepting the apology.

"Now or like ever?" Steve asked, just to grate on his nerves.

Danny sighed, "Just... Both" But Steve just wouldn't leave it alone. He kept bugging Danny about until he snapped and then later after Danny finished ranting and Steve apologized yet again did Danny realize what he just said.

Steve was a Navy SEAL. When Danny had begun researching this new tattoo on his shoulder, he'd found out that it was the insignia of the SEALS. He looked over at Steve who was facing the opposite way and looking out the window. Danny looked back to the road and all he could manage was a whispered, "Fuck"

Top of Form 1

Bottom of Form 1