Disclaimer: Hawaii 5-0 and all of its characters belong to Peter Lenkov and CBS Studio Productions.
"If someone is not dying I'm going to be pissed that you drug me out of the house, Steven." Danny ranted, his hands flying in a flurry of movement as Steve shouldered into HQ. He chuckled and shook his head as he watched his partner out the corner of his eye.
"Would you relax? I promise you won't turn into a pumpkin, Danno. Trust me, this will be good."
"I doubt it. As a general rule of thumb, if you say that I'm going to like it, I'm actually going to hate it. In fact, I am considering making a detour to the Camaro to grab my vest." Danny hooked a thumb over his shoulder in the general direction of the parking lot.
"For the love of God, Danny! Please, please, just shut. Up. Okay? Just shut up." Steve ran his fingers through his hair, the other man's stubborness driving him to the brink of insanity. Danny pursed his lips and squinted at Steve for an extensive moment before sighing.
"Fine, fine. Let's..." He gestured broadly. "Let's do whatever the hell this is and get it over with. However, if I got shot at, targeted with explosives, chasing someone down a dark alleyway, or pushing a vehicle, I will kill you, and they will never find your body."
"I'll help you pick a place to dump me if any of that happens, now quit stalling, and get your ass in there." Steve placed his hand in between Danny's shoulder blades and nudged him forward.
When they entered the open area of their headquarters, his jaw dropped. Kono and Chin were smiling at him from the other side of the Media Table, their arms extended with platters of food.
"Mele Kalikimaka, Danny!" They called in unison. Danny stared at them like a fish out of water, his mouth opening and closing silently, before he turned to face Steve. The taller man had dawned a Santa hat and was grinning at him like the Cheshire Cat from his position leaning against the table.
"Mele Kalikimaka, Danno." He whispered, his voice barely above a whisper.
"I...how did...why?" Danny stammered, stepping closer to examine the plates in his teammates' hands. "Are...are those Danger Dogs?" He gasped, wafting the scent of the bacon wrapped hotdogs in Kono's hands and the chili sauce that Chin held.
"Yeah, we know that you miss Gracie, and you can't be with your family in Jersey, so we brought a little bit of Jersey to you, brah." Kono smiled, her eyes dancing as she watched Danny taking everything in. Steve reached over and pushed 'play' on the iPod dock that he'd brought in.
"Is...Steve, is that Sinatra I'm hearing?" Danny smiled as he took in the first few lines of 'The Christmas Song'.
"Hey, I told you they had a few great singers." Steve replied, pulling a half shrug as he grinned back at Danny.
"This is great, you guys. Thank you."
"Hey, it was all Steve's idea, we just facilitated, brah." Chin chuckled, clapping Danny on the back.
"Either way, I'm really thankful for this whole set up. It means a lot."
"We're ohana, Danny. It's what we do." Kono replied.
"Theres, uh, there's one more surprise, Danno." Steve muttered, wrapping his arm around Danny's shoulders and turning him toward the Media Table. Danny quirked an eyebrow in confusion before an image popped up on the screen. Steve tapped a button, his arm remaining firmly around Danny, and a small, smiling face was suddenly staring back up at him.
"Merry Christmas, Danno!" Came Gracie's chipper voice.
"I...hey, Monkey!" Danny stammered, his gaze flicking to Steve and then back to Grace. "How...I don't...uh..."
"It's called Skype, Danno. Uncle Steve said that you were a little sad, and I wanted to make you happy. And I missed you."
"I miss you too, Monkey. When you come home we're going to have a Christmas of our own, okay? I promise it'll be the best Christmas in the history of Christmas." Gracie giggled and shook her head.
"You're silly, Danno. How come we never do holidays on the right day?" She teased, putting a face-splitting grin onto Danny's features. Steve waved down at Grace when she greeted him, and the rest of the gang joined in on the conversation. They five of them talked for nearly two hours before Grace yawned and Danny insisted that she scoot off to bed. She blew them all a kiss and smiled. She was reaching for the keyboard when Danny spoke up and stopped her.
"Hey. Danno loves you, Monkey." He whispered.
"I love you too, Danno. Have a good Christmas with Uncle Steve. And don't give him a hard time." She added, wagging her finger at him before disconnecting the call. Danny stared at the blank screen, his hand pressed to the glass, for a long while before he realized that Chin and Kono had snuck out at some point. Steve was slouched in a chair and smiling at him as he ran his index finger over his bottom lip.
"Thank you, Steven." He muttered, smiling at the other man.
"Always, Danno. What's family for, right?" Danny nodded and smiled, looking down at his own shoes.
"Right." And with that, not for the first time since meeting Steven McGarrett, he realized that this was what family was about; the people that he loved more then anything in the world going to ridiculous lengths, just to make him happy. These crazy, eccentric, maddening, lovely people were his ohana.
And he couldn't have a better family if he'd had the chance to hand pick them himself. He had truly found his home for the holidays.