Season 1, Episode 14 Postscript
Humour
no pairing
G
634 words
Beta'd by Jazzybabe
A Gift
by Allie
"Hey partner. Got you something." Danny Williams sat a package down on the kitchen table and crossed his arms, smiling and watching Steve McGarrett through slightly slit eyes.
Steve looked up at him. "I didn't order any more car parts online."
"Well, that's a good thing. You do learn from experience. No, this is from me—a real present. Go on, open it."
"What, for real this time?" Steve reached out to pick up the small cardboard box, staring at Danny.
"No, it's a bomb. Would you—would you just open it?" He gestured with his hands, looking exasperated. "What do you think this is? You think—you think I'm gonna buy you something that snakes jump out of? Is that what you think? Huh?"
"All right, I'll open it." Steve's fingers worked open the cardboard and drew out—a pine-tree shaped car air freshener. The cheap kind, the kind you bought at a little stand off the street, or the cheapest store around. He raised his eyes and looked at his friend. "A pine air freshener? That's the best you could do?"
"What? It's for your car. It's a car-warming present. You're not grateful? This is supposed to be a little moment here. You fix your car, I buy you something for it…" He gestured between the two of them, then stopped, shook his head. "You're not feeling it."
"You're saying my father's car is stinky?" Steve took a step forward, opening his eyes wider in a look that mingled disbelief and a wide-eyed skepticism. He put the box down as he passed the table.
"Hey. I'm not saying that at all." Danny raised his hands and waved them in the air. "I'm not saying that. Hey, if the car does smell, all I'm saying is, if the car does smell, what better way to put it right than with a nice, authentic, fake pine tree smell. You know Hawaii is the one state where nobody grows pine trees for Christmas? Did you know that? Why are you looking at me like that?" Again, he raised his hands in the air. "I get you a perfectly good present, and all you can do is glare?"
"Danny—"
"That's it, I've had enough, I'm—"
At nearly the same moment, they made a dash for the front door. Steve reached past his partner and slammed it shut, effectively pinning Danny between himself and the door.
"Hey—now—partner—"
Steve's serious face spread in a slow grin. "I like it. Thanks." He moved back, grinning, and picked up the box again, heading into the next room.
For a moment Danny gaped at him. Then he straightened his shirt, tilted his head as if getting the kinks out of his neck, and followed. "You LIKE it? That's all you have to say after that little display in there? What was that, Psycho-Steve? Excuse me. Did you hear me?"
He continued talking, and Steve continued to ignore him, into the garage where Steve hung his car freshener carefully from the rear view mirror of his father's car. It swung on its thin string, like a metronome, slowing.
The two men stood back and regarded it. Danny crossed his arms. He'd stopped talking now. He finally gave one nod of approval. "A car warming present. Just what I said."
Steve turned to him with a nice, but rather sly, smile. "Just wait till you move next time. I'll get you a house-warming present—a bottle of Febreeze."
"Do you know you can't use that stuff around parrots? It's true. It's not an urban legend. If a bird breathes it up, they can drop down dead. It's not even—don't you give me that smile. What if I get a bird? Huh? Did you ever think of that?"