Grace's Accident

Steve doesn't know what woke him up but something did. He got up to go and investigate; he had Grace staying at his place as it was his and Cath's weekend with her. Cath and Danny were on a stake out; Lou and Chin were going to relieve them at 05:00 if nothing happened before. He offered to go with Danny instead but just got a raised eyebrow.

"So does this fall into 'our relationship not interfering with five-0?" Cath asked

Steve held his hands up in surrender.

"Fine! Just don't complain that Danny talks non-stop!"

"Oh please, you're afraid Danny's going to tell me more stories of Grace having you wrapped around her finger! Or more stories about your 'interrogations'!"

"I have no idea what you mean; anyway Danny is a compulsive liar!"

"Whatever you say sailor!" Cath scoffed

Steve walked to towards Grace's room and saw that under her door her light was on which was strange seeing as it was 03:30. He listened for a few seconds then lightly knocked on the door. There was a brief pause before Grace answered.

"Yes?"

"Gracie, it's Uncle Steve, can I come in?"

After another pause and some movement Grace replied.

"Ok."

Steve opened the door to find his niece looking very embarrassed, shuffling from foot to foot and wearing different pyjamas than what she went to bed in. He also noticed that her bed was made which was puzzling as she didn't have to get up for another few hours and that there was clean bedding on the floor next to the bed.

"Gracie, did you wet the bed?"

Grace went red. Then she lied to Steve.

"Yeah, I must have drunk too much water trying to hydrate! I had a shower and put the dirty laundry in the machine."

"You did all of that…"

Grace nodded her head.

"…wow, I didn't hear you until a couple of minutes ago. C'mon I'll help you sort out the rest of the bed."

Steve knew there was something else going on and decided to play the clueless Uncle. As he walked closer to the bed Grace started to become agitated.

"NO! I mean its fine Uncle Steve; it's my mess so I need to clean it up, thanks for offering though."

"It's no trouble Gracie, everyone has accidents!"

Steve got to the bed and removed the hastily placed bed covers to see a cleaned up blood stain. It wasn't big but it was noticeable.

"Ah Gracie!"

"I'm sorry Uncle Steve; I didn't mean to make a mess but…"

Steve stopped her from carrying on by hugging her, she cried when his arms came around her. It took a couple of minutes for Grace to calm down.

"Hey you did a good job of cleaning up…"

"But it's still there, everyone can see it! I'm mortified!"

"Gracie, how many times when you go to someone's place do you see a mattress without a sheet or some other bedding on?"

"Hardly ever!"

"Exactly, and besides if someone does see this one day just blame Mary!"

"Uncle Steve! You can't do that!"

"Why not? Who's going to say no?"

"That's not the point, that's lying!"

"How do you know?"

"You bought new mattresses when you moved back to the island and are you sure Aunt Mary started her periods when she was still here?"

"That's not the point, anyway it's still early let's get the bed sorted so you can get some more sleep."

"No, it's fine, I'm wide awake now, you can go back to bed and I'll just read."

Steve looked at his niece and made a quick decision.

"Well, I'm awake as well, why don't we get a couple more episodes in?"

Grace thought about it and even though she knew what her Uncle was doing; she agreed.

They went downstairs, after Steve got something from the hallway storage, and got comfortable of the sofa, Steve sitting by the arm closest to the door and Grace lying down with her head on a pillow from her room, by the other arm and her body stretched out until her feet met his legs. They got comfortable and started to watch some episodes of the X-Files, they were up to season 4. Grace was lying on a towel just in case she had another accident. Neither made it past the first episode as they were both asleep. That's how Cath and Danny found them a couple of hours later, X-Files was still on but the two occupants were out for the count. Steve's head was resting against the back of the sofa, his mouth was open slightly, and Grace had an arm hanging off the sofa resting on the floor. Both Cath and Danny couldn't resist so took out their phones and took a few photos. They went to the kitchen to make breakfast where Steve joined them a few minutes later.

"So what happened last night?" Danny asked

"I woke up about 03:30 and I just felt that there was something going on anyway Gracie had a little accident…"

"Huh? What?! She hasn't wet the bed since she was little. Do you think something triggered it? Is she being bullied or something?"

"Danny, calm down, nothing like that. She had a little accident with her period. By the time I got to her she already had her shower and put the dirty laundry in the machine. She was about to put clean bedding on the bed when I found out."

"Are you telling me that you slept through her having a 'normal non-three minute shower' and going downstairs to the laundry room, the room that has an annoying creaking door? Wow you must have been really tired." Cath sniggered

"Laugh it up. She was too afraid to go back to bed; she was going to 'read' the rest of the morning so I suggested watching TV."

"How did you get her to lie down?" Danny asked

"I gave her a towel to put on the sofa, she was hesitant and once she realised that I wasn't angry or embarrassed she took it and used it and was out before the opening credits had finished, I didn't last much longer."

"Thanks man."

"Danny it wasn't a problem. Yes I'm a little OCD about having everything in its place…"

Steve ignored the shared look and smirks between Danny and Cath.

"…but I'm not going to have a go at Gracie. It was an accident, anyone could see that, yes even me Danny, and she looked so embarrassed by the whole thing. I just wanted to put her at ease. I never want her to feel as if she's not welcome here…"

"Oh please, how many other teenagers do you know that have three homes huh? She loves it here with you and Cath. She always feels welcome, she has her own room!"

"It was probably her trying to make things easier for you…" Cath said

"What do you mean?"

Danny just shrugged his shoulders when Steve looked at him.

"…Grace may be a teenager but she knows that her Danno and Uncle Steve do not want to know or talk about periods."

Cath just smirked as she saw both men cringe.

"Case in point!"

"Cath, that's different. Obviously there is no way we're going to hang around talking about…about…you know…"

"You can't even say it?"

"…periods! Periods ok?"

"Cath I'm with Steve here, just because we do not talk about 'monthly cycles'…"

Cath just laughed.

"…and yes I do not like to use the 'p' word and I'm not ashamed to admit it but when it comes to my Monkey you know there is nothing I wouldn't do for her and I'm pretty sure that goes for Steve as well!"

Steve was nodding his head in agreement.

"Exactly, Grace knows that but she isn't going to make either of you feel uncomfortable, she knows if she wanted to talk to either or both of you about her periods you would listen. Yeah she's probably a little embarrassed that she had a little accident but she wasn't going to come and wake you up and tell you about it, she wouldn't have done that if I was here either or even if it was just me and her instead of her and her Uncle Steve. She literally cleaned up her mess!"

Cath looked at Steve and carried on.

"You know I feel embarrassed when I have an accident and I'm in my 30's and you're used to it but it doesn't make it any less embarrassing…"

"Ok, TMI, I do not need to know this…"

"Awww are you sure Danny because I was going to save all my used tampons so we could have a show and tell session!"

Danny and Steve lost all colour at the thought of that particular show and tell.

"C'mon, we need to finish getting breakfast ready, Grace will be awake soon."

The three adults made breakfast and by the time everything was ready Grace was up and in the kitchen with the rest of them.

"Danno, you need to buy Uncle Steve a new mattress, I had an accident last night…"

"Gracie, I told you it's fine."

"Grace, there's no need for that."

"Nonsense! I'm not buying your Uncle a new mattress. Besides we can just say it was Mary!"

"DANNO!"

"What? I don't see a problem with that plan."

"Neither do I." declared Steve

Cath and Grace shared a look and just shook their heads.

"Ok, I'll let Aunt Mary know what you two decided!"

"Now, now you don't have to mention anything to anyone else…" Danny began

"Er Gracie, you don't have to tell your Aunt Mary everything…"

"I know but I want to, I'm sure Aunt Mary will be happy to hear about what you and Danno are planning. It's only fair she has time to plan something in return."

Both Steve and Danny gulped loudly as they knew Mary would get her 'revenge'.