Grace was so proud of her President's Physical Fitness Medal. She had worked really hard with both her Dad and her Uncle Steve to be able to earn that medal and she was sitting at the picnic table at Kamekona's basking in the accolades from her extended "family".
When Captain Grover and Samantha walked up she was excited to show Samantha her medal and she could tell that Samantha was excited for her. But, she could also tell that something was bothering her friend.
After sitting with Samantha for a little bit, she asked her dad if it would be okay if she and Samantha strolled down by the water. After also getting an okay from Captain Grover, they started out. They talked of little things for a while, fashion, and movie stars and singing groups and all the other things that young girls occupied their time with.
After about 15 minutes, Grace looked at Samantha and said: "So, what's going on, you seem upset today." Samantha looked startled, but only for a minute, because even though she had known Grace only a little while, she knew how in tune Grace was with the people she cared about.
So, Samantha told her about the nightmares and waking her dad up and how much it upset the whole family and how it was hard for her to get past everything. It was easy for Samantha to talk to Grace because she knew that Grace GOT it; got it in a way that the adults around her never did.
Grace thought for a little while and then she smiled at Samantha and said "so, maybe this might be the perfect time to tell you my idea. My dad is going to HATE it, and I bet your Dad will too. But, I really want to ask Uncle Steve and Aunty Kono if they would teach me some self-defense."
"It might be easier to talk Danno into it, if you and some of the other girls from school or the Aloha Girls would do it too. I just hate feeling scared. Like, the other day, Uncle Steve had to leave me on a street corner when his car got stolen, and even though I told him to go, I thought I was going to throw up the whole time he was gone. I don't like feeling like that."
Samantha took a deep breath and then gave Grace a huge smile. Even though she was a really "girly girl" she liked the idea of being able to protect herself. When Ian took her from the library and locked her in that cage, she felt completely alone and helpless. She never wanted to feel that way again.
Since it had happened she had withdrawn into herself a great deal. She had friends she made since the move to Hawaii, but ever since the "incident" had happened, she was not very comfortable leaving the house, not even for school, although her Mom and Dad made her go anyway.
Ever since Samantha had met Grace at the beach clean-up, she had liked the younger girl, but they had grown especially close after the incident with Ian. One day when they had all been at Commander McGarrett's for a barbeque, she and Grace had wandered down the beach and Grace told her about what had happened to her when she was kidnapped by her father's old partner.
It was better than any of the therapy sessions Samantha had gone to so far. It just helped to know that someone else had been through it and knew that frightened, scary feeling. It helped that it wasn't an adult trying to talk her through it. She and Grace just connected. Now Grace was offering what sounded like a terrific idea to help both of them deal with their fears. They just had to talk both their dad's into it.
"MCGARRETT!" Steve looked up when his name was loudly bellowed through the squad room and then rolled his eyes at the sight of his usually irate partner heading his way. "Yes, Danno, what can I do for you this morning?"
"You can….you will….. I can't believe….."
"Slow down before you hurt yourself Danno – what's wrong?"
"When did you plant it in Grace's head that it would be a good idea to learn self-defense from YOU?"
"What?"" Steve was taken aback.
"Calm down Danny – I don't know what you're talking about? What's going on?"
Danny deflated and collapsed onto the couch in Steve's office.
"Grace was telling me last night that she wanted to learn self-defense and that she thought that you and Kono should teach her and Samantha and she had about six or eight other girls that apparently are interested. I thought you put her up to it."
"Well, Danny, I didn't ….but you know what, that's a really good idea. Lou was telling me the other day that Samantha has been having nightmares ever since that Ian Wright situation and the way you lost your mind the other day when Grace stood on a street corner by herself for FIVE FREAKING MINUTES makes me think that giving the girls a basic understanding of self-defense wouldn't be the worst thing."
"In fact, if they are good at it or interested, we could even get them into some formalized training in Jiu Jitsu or Tae Kwon Do. You know, take it beyond Kono and me just teaching them the basics. What do you think?"
"I think…..I think that I absolutely hate the idea that my little girl has to even think about taking classes to learn to protect herself….and I think given some of the things that happen around us, it is probably a really good idea."
"God, I can just see the fight that's ahead of me with Rachel for this. But, I would really appreciate it if you and Kono could put something together that could give the girls an idea of the basics, okay babe?"
Steve and Kono met a couple of nights a week over the course of the next month putting together a self-defense class that wouldn't be too challenging for the girls. Danny and Lou began talking to the parents of the girls that were interested to make sure that they signed waivers and permission slips. Surprisingly the Governor got involved because one of the girls was the daughter of a friend of his.
Steve thought the Governor was going to put a stop to it, but he was actually interested in discussing having 5-0 and HPD work together and sponsor an on-going series of classes for women and girls in the community.
They ultimately determined that they would offer a basic four week class four times a year and they would partner with a couple of the training schools in the area to come in and introduce themselves to offer the opportunity for on-going lessons.
Grace and Samantha were naturals! Lou Grover was very surprised that his daughter was actually so good because she had never previously been interested in anything athletic. Danny wasn't as surprised at Grace's success because she was a wonderful athlete. With tennis, cheer camp, baseball and most recently running in her repertoire, Danny saw that he would now be adding some form of martial arts to her routine.
What was even more gratifying was that after the four weeks was up and Samantha and Grace had decided to sign up for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu together, that Lou Grover reported back that the frequency and intensity of his daughter's nightmares seemed to be getting better and better.
But the cherry on top of the sundae for Danny was the day that he watched his skinny little twelve year old daughter take down Steve McGarrett like a ton of bricks.