AN: I wrote this little fluffpiece while I was on the vacation that I'm sending Steve, Grace and Danno on right now. Anyway, I hope that I got all the details right. Enjoy!
Danny Williams was standing in the door frame of the hotel room, wondering what he was doing there. Grace and Steve were so very exited, but he couldn't even arouse an ounce of excitement in his mind. Of course, he was happy to be on vacation with Steve and Grace, but here? In Kiruna, Sweden? Not so happy. It was the complete opposite of Hawaii so he supposed he couldn't complain too much, but there were almost minus degrees Fahrenheit outside, it was something around 2-3 degrees or so, and Danny felt cold. So very, very cold.
"Uncle Steve, can I please sleep up here?" Grace asked while she was clinging unto a pair of steps that were leading up to a loft were a king sized bed was situated.
"Sure, Grace, you and Danno take that bed, and I'll take the one down here." Steve said and pointed towards another room that Danny couldn't see from where he was standing.
"Yippee!" Grace yelled, grabbing her suitcase and tried to get it up the stairs.
"Wait, Grace, I'll help you." Danny said before Grace could fall.
He got up the stairs and was standing in a loft where the king sized bed barely fitted in and he hit his head when he tried standing straight. This place was becoming more and more charming.
H50H50H50H50
"No, Danno, you can't use your down jacket today. It will get way to hot for that." Steve said and glared at Danny. They had been at this argument for quite some time now.
"Oh, come on, Steve! Look outside! There is almost three feet snow. It is cold."
"Danny, we're going snowshoeing. That is exercise. Do you know what happens when you exercise? You get warm. Ergo, you will not need that jacket." Steve said, using Danny's favourite word against him.
"Well then, Mr. Super SEAL, what would you suggest that I should wear?"
"Here in Sweden they dress with a technique they call 'the onion technique'. This means that you first wear a thin layer, like a T-shirt or something, and then thicker and thicker layers."
"Are you comparing me to a vegetable?" Danny said, his voice dangerously low. Steve sighed and look pleadingly at Grace.
"Actually, we learned that you should do just what uncle Steve said when it gets cold. They didn't call it 'the onion technique' though." The little girl said. Steve sent her a silent thank you.
"And where did you learn that?"
"At the Aloha girls."
"Of course you did." Danny muttered and looked at his feet.
"So will you listen to me for once? I won't even wear my cargo pants if that cheers you up." Steve said.
"Yes, I will listen to you, Steven." Danny said, curious about what Steve would wear instead.
H50H50H50H50
Steve got of the bus, closed his eyes and inhaled the fresh mountain air. It was still early, around nine thirty, and the sun had not gone up yet.
"Come on Steve, let's go." Danny said as he struggled to get his snowshoes back on his back.
"I'm coming." Steve said, opening his eyes and starting to walk.
"But Steve, all the other people are going in the other direction." Danny said and grabbed Steve's arm to get his attention.
"Yes, Danny, but we don't want to go where all the people are going. We want to go snowshoeing."
Danny grew unusually quiet and walked after Steve who was grabbing a map from his backpack as he walked.
"This should be it." Steve said and turned into a street called 'Smedjevägen'.
"Are you sure? There's nothing here." Danny said.
"Danno, we want to go snowshoeing, not shopping." Grace patiently told her father.
"Okay, let's go then." Danny grabbed his snowshoes from his back and put them on the ground, ready to go.
"No, Danno, not yet. We have to get to the forest first." Grace was growing a little impatient and walked after Steve.
"Okay, okay, I'm coming."
H50H50H50H50
Steve put his snowshoes down as he reached the end of the street.
"Do you know how to put these on, Grace?" He asked.
As Grace shook her head, he pulled of his gloves and bent down to help her. He quickly and smoothly fastened her shoes and looked to see how Danny was doing.
Danny on the other hand was cursing as he tried to fasten the straps around his feet. Steve thought about just leaving him to it, but decided that he would help the other man.
"Here, let me help you." Steve said, already bent over and fastening Danny's straps.
"Thanks." The other man said. As soon as the SEAL was finished with Danny's straps, he turned to his own and was done in under a minute.
"Are we all ready to go?" Steve asked. Both Danny and Grace nodded.
"I'll go first, than Danno, and last you, Grace, is that okay with you?" Both of them nodded again and Steve turned to the snowy woods.
H50H50H50H50
Steve pulsed through the heavy snow. He had been surprised at how exhausting it was in the beginning, but his body was adapting to the situation and it became less and less exhausting.
The snowy woods around him were beautiful, and even the howling of the dogs that he heard in a distance didn't disturb that image. They were on their way towards a mountain top not far from here. Calling it a mountain wasn't right, it was more of a hill, but they would climb around 440 yards which was a lot for a ten-year old girl.
Grace was easily keeping up with the two men. Of course, she was walking in the back, were it was the easiest, but it still was an accomplishment.
She was thinking about this morning, when Danno found out Steve was just going to wear Long Johns under his salopettes. It had resulted in an argument almost as amusing as the one about losing the down jacket. Of course, Steve had made him and Grace wear only Long Johns as well, but Grace had to admit that she was grateful for that since she was getting really warm.
"Hold on a minute, I've got to take of my jacket." She shouted to Steve who still was the first in the line.
"Sure, Gracie. I'll take mine of too." He shouted back. Danny was grumbling a little about how they would get cold, and that they should keep their jackets on, but they both ignored him.
H50H50H50H50
Danny was walking in Steve's footsteps. He was actually enjoying this trip, something he would never admit to either Grace or Steve, but snowshoeing was growing on him. The sounds of the woods, Steve and Grace's constant walking and the howling of the dogs were calming and soothing his mind. They had really needed this vacation, Steve and him. That was another thing he would never admit to anyone, but it was true. They had had some tough cases and going away for some time was exactly what they needed, something the governor realised. It was her who had paid for this whole trip.
When the alarm had rung this morning around seven-thirty, Danny had thought he would never get up. But of course, he hadn't counted on Super SEAL being there and getting them up. After breakfast, they had gotten their snowshoes and had walked to the bus station which was located half a mile from the hotel they were staying in. They had taken bus number 501 to Jukkasjärvi at 9 am. And if Danny thought that Kiruna was in the middle of nowhere, that was nothing compared to Jukkasjärvi. It basically was a village that seemed to have formed around the icehotel. The icehotel was the only thing in the surroundings of Kiruna that Danny found remotely interesting so he hoped that he would be able to convince Steve and Grace to visit it later.
H50H50H50H50
"Wow, I have to admit, this was worth the trip." Danny said as they reached the top of the hill. The view was fantastic. They saw that the forest ended and a lake began a mile or so from where they were standing.
"Yeah, this is an amazing view. You know that we have views like this, minus the snow, in Hawaii as well, right, Danno?" Steve said teasingly.
"Yeah yeah, and if I let you take me camping, you would show it to me. And don't use that name, Steven!"
"Why can't Uncle Steve call you Danno?" Grace was looking at him with her big puppy eyes.
"Because that's your thing, munchkin." He said and stroke some hair from her face.
"But it's okay if Uncle Steve calls you Danno."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
"Well then I might have to let him." Steve smiled at the little girl.
"Thank you, Gracie." He said and gave her a piece of chocolate he had in his backpack.
"Do I get some of that too?" Danny asked and looked pleadingly at Steve. Steve rolled his eyes and gave him some chocolate as well. Grace looked at the sunlight that was coming from the sun just below the horizon.
"Danno?"
"Yes, Grace?"
"When will the sun rise again?"
"I don't know. Steve?" Grace turned her big puppy eyes on Steve.
"I think it's on the 6th of January, Gracie, I'm not sure though."
"So it's dark for like a month here?" She turned towards the sun again with a thoughtful expression.
"Yes it is."
"It's beautiful."
"That it is, Gracie."
"I wouldn't want to live here though." Danno said.
"Are you saying that you like Hawaii better than Sweden, Danno?"
"No! Tha is not what I said! I simply mean that I would not like to live here either."
"If you say so"
"I do say so."
They sat in silence and enjoyed the view for a while.
"If we go back now, we might be able to take a look at the icehotel, what do you say, grace?" Steve broke the silence.
"Yes! I definitely want to see that!" Danno said. Steve gave him an amused look.
"Grace?" He asked. She laughed.
"Yeah Uncle Steve. Icehotel sounds great."
