To Whatever Song Plays

by Philote

She'll always be his monkey, just as he'll always be her Danno. Snapshots of a father and daughter through the years.

Title: To Whatever Song Plays

Author: philote_auctor

Rating: G

Characters: Danny Williams, Grace Williams, Steve McGarrett

Disclaimer: The characters and situations of Hawaii 5-0 do not belong to me. I make no money from this story. Please don't sue.

Author's Note: Title is from the lyrics of "Cinderella" by Steven Curtis Chapman. Written for moirariordan in Not Prime Time 2013. I hope you enjoy!

Summary: She'll always be his monkey, just as he'll always be her Danno. Snapshots of a father and daughter through the years.

oOo

She is so small, so fragile in his arms. He's told everyone who'll listen that he's loved her since the moment she was conceived, and that is still true. But now, in this moment of their first real meeting, he's found a whole new brand of love that makes everything he's ever felt pale in comparison.

She's a ruddy little thing with spindly arms and legs and tiny fingers that curl around his pinky. She'd cried in her first moments in the world, but she quiets now as she stares up at him with huge eyes. Topped off with a full head of dark hair, he doesn't really see himself or Rachel in her just then.

All he can think to say is, "She looks like that baby chimp at the zoo."

"Daniel!" Rachel exclaims, scandalized. But then she laughs, bright and full, and she is exhausted and sweaty and beautiful. As Danny scrambles to protest that hey, he loves that baby chimp because it is adorably cute, baby Grace's eyes wander over his face to settle somewhere around his left ear.

Danny knows this is a moment he'll remember forever.

oOo

The world is still impossibly big. It's not scary, not yet, because at least one of her parents is always near.

She has mastered the word "Momma," much to their delight. But "Dada" never really comes, much as they try to encourage it. The first word she uses for her father is "Danno." He seems to like it well enough; his eyes crinkle at the corners as he laughs. She likes to make him smile.

The name sticks.

oOo

"Danno!"

"Whoa," he responds, barely through the door before his arms are full of fluffy pink lace. There's a girl in there somewhere, he's fairly certain. "What's up, Monkey?" he asks as he sets her on her feet; poufy dress, tiara and all.

His preschooler frowns up at him. "Danno, I'm not a monkey right now. I'm a princess."

"Ah, of course. Sorry, Princess Grace."

She shrugs, bright smile instantly back. "That's okay. I have to forgive you; you're my prince!"

"Oh, I am, huh?" He catches sight of Rachel standing in the doorway, smile tight and eyes straying to the clock, and he's grateful that at least he's someone's prince.

"Yes! Come on, Danno, dance with me!"

"Oh, I don't know, baby. Danno's not much of a dancer."

She widens her eyes and tips her chin. "Please?"

Rachel's disappeared back into the kitchen without a word. Danny weighs his options—go to the dinner table to eat a warmed-over meal with his wife and lots of forced politeness, or dance with his daughter.

That, of course, is really no choice at all.

Grace leads him to her room and presses play on her favorite song. She turns and holds her arms out with a flourish, then frowns. "You're too tall."

"What? That's no problem for a real prince." And he sweeps her up into his arms, settling her on his hip as he sways and shimmies around the pink bedroom. And he really is a lousy dancer, but she giggles and beams and hugs him tight, and for a brief moment he actually gets to feel like Prince Charming.

oOo

"But I don't want to go!" She can hardly breathe for sobbing, but she's still forcing the words out.

Danno is grimacing like he's in physical pain. "I know, monkey. I'm so sorry. But you have to."

Mom is saying something behind her, but she pulls away and throws herself at Danno. "I don't want to leave you!"

He hugs her tightly. "It's just for a few weeks, Gracie. Then I'll be there too, and you'll still get to see me every other weekend."

It takes a few minutes for that to register, then she abruptly pulls back to look him in the face. "You're coming?"

"Of course."

"But you said Hawaii was a sun-scorched wasteland of high-paid losers!"

He winces and glances over her head at her mother, and she knows she wasn't supposed to hear that. She's heard more actually, some of it even more colorful, but she holds her tongue as he looks back to her. "That's true, I did say that. But it's still going to be my home."

"Why?"

He cradles her face in his hands. "Because you're my home, Grace. Wherever you are, that's where I want to be."

She considers this. "Even on an ocean-locked volcanic death trap?"

He winces again, but chuckles as well. "Yes, even there."

oOo

Danny is in pain.

Still, he musters up a glare when Steve forces a couple of pain pills into his palm. He tries to give them back, but his partner is stubborn. "Take them, Danny. You have 'excrutiating pain' face."

"I do not," Danny insists. "You're the one with the faces; I am faceless."

"No; you are senseless. That's not exactly a minor wound you're recovering from."

"Shh!" he hisses, because Grace is close. Bad enough she'd seen him while he was still hooked up to various machines and tubes in the hospital; he doesn't want her to know just how close she'd come to losing her father.

Steve sighs and lowers his voice, leaning closer. "She's not a little child, Danny. She understands. You're not protecting her by hiding anything." He sits back and speaks at his normal volume again. "Now take your medicine."

"No. They make me loopy."

"So does pain. It's just a lot less fun, for you and for those of us watching."

"Gee, thanks for that encouragement. No."

But then Grace is there, appearing at his side with a bottle of water and those big brown eyes. "Here, Danno. For your medicine," she says earnestly, pressing the bottle into his hand, and somehow he's swallowed the pills a few seconds later.

She sits beside him and very carefully leans into him, arranging herself to avoid stressing his wounds. Steve looks absurdly proud and a little bit sly, and Danny thinks that he may have just been masterfully ganged up on. He'll worry over the two of them conspiring later.

In the meantime, as he drifts into a pain-free haze, he has to admit that perhaps his innocent little girl is growing up.

oOo

The dress is aqua, the color of the ocean water on a clear day. It has a fitted bodice and flows loosely from her waist to the floor; stylish and grown up but not too revealing. She twirls once in front of the mirror, loving the soft satiny feel.

Prom is still a week away. When Danno had first offered to buy her dress, she'd tried to find a nice way to turn him down. The things were ridiculously expensive, and she was pretty sure he didn't realize just how so. But he'd been insistent. So she'd compromised with herself, finding a terrific deal at a thrift store and allowing him to pay.

She has to model his new purchase for him, of course. She twirls into his kitchen, and he catches his breath when he sees her. "Gracie, you look beautiful."

He looks like he might cry. She tries to think of something funny to say, but in the end all she does is ask him to dance.

Soon she is spinning around her Dad's living room in a formal dress, barefoot with no make-up on and hair up in a messy ponytail. Not exactly princess material.

She feels like one, anyway.

oOo

It's a bright, sticky day. "What other kind do we have here?" Danny grouses, tugging unconsciously at the neck of his uniform. Why do they do these ceremonies out here instead of in a nice air-conditioned building?

Beside him, Steve looks annoyingly comfortable in his own uniform. "Just admit it already, Danno. You love Hawaii."

"No, no. Absolutely not. Love is reserved for the far more important things in life, like my daughter."

"And malsadas," Kono pipes in from his other side. "You were saying not two hours ago how much you loved them."

Steve gives an undignified little snort of laughter. Danny very pointedly does not look at either of them. "Thank you, Kono."

She is immune to his sarcasm. "No problem."

Chin is forever their diplomat. "Well, love the island or not, I think you're stuck here now." He nods to the line of cadets filing in.

Danny spots Grace easily. She carries herself with such poise, her long hair swept back and her new uniform carefully tailored.

Grace pauses just before she mounts the stage, gaze easily finding him in the crowd. She snaps a salute in his direction, grin lighting up her features. Then she goes to receive her credentials as a rookie police officer.

It's not what he would have chosen for her. Given his preference, she would be safe in an office somewhere making a generous salary. That's the overprotective Dad in him. But the loving father in him also wants her to be happy, to find fulfillment and purpose. The cop in him understands exactly how that brought them here.

He's never been more proud.

oOo

It's a flesh wound. It hardly even needs stitches, though she does get a few and a sterile bandage for good measure. It's a gunshot wound; procedure says it requires a hospital trip.

She'd relayed this quite clearly when she called Danno. She knew better than to let him hear about her first injury in the line of duty from any other source, so she'd called at the first opportunity. This did nothing, of course, to stop him from barreling into her exam room breathing like he'd run all the way from his office.

"I'm fine, Danno. Tell him, will you?" she implores the young doctor who stitched her up.

"She's fine. Very minor wound. More of a scratch, really."

Danny studies the poor woman suspiciously. "How old are you?"

"Danno!" Grace exclaims. "I apologize for him."

Luckily, she seems more amused than anything. "It's all right. I know all about Danny Williams and Five-0."

As if on cue, Uncle Steve bursts through the door in much the same manner as his partner. Grace valiantly refrains from rolling her eyes. "It's a scratch!"

But when the doctor has slipped from the room and Danno insists on helping her down from the bed, she suddenly finds herself quite grateful. She is wobbly, her hands trembling. Danno just tucks her under his arm and Uncle Steve holds the door to usher them out. The two of them bicker casually, making plans that seem to include hijacking her evening and don't actually require input from her.

Their voices drown out the lingering memory of the sounds of gunshots.

oOo

His granddaughter resembles him more closely than Grace does. He does not attribute this to his blond son-in-law. He likes the kid well enough, would even say he loves him if pressed, but when it comes to his girls Danny sees little else.

Whatever the reason, little Faith has long blond hair that catches the sunlight as she twirls on the sand. Danny tries to mimic her movement, knowing they would be a perfect match if his own blond weren't now liberally sprinkled with grey (something he blames partially on his daughter's choice of profession and mostly on being Steve McGarrett's partner).

Faith stumbles flat-footed out of a spin with grace only a three-year-old can possess and holds her arms out to her grandpa. Danny obliges, picking her up and twirling her through the air before settling her on his hip. She giggles and leans in to press her forehead to his, nose-to-nose as he sways gently.

When the dance angles him toward the house, he spots Grace watching them with a tender smile.

oOo

The sunset is vivid and brilliant; blood reds intermingled with pinks and purples. Grace kicks off her shoes and leaves them by the porch, making her way barefoot through the sand to the set of wooden chairs.

She calls out as she approaches so as not to startle him; his reflexes might not be as sharp as they once were, but it still doesn't pay to startle a retired cop. He grins when he sees her. "There's my monkey," he says fondly.

"And there's my Danno," she responds in kind, settling in the chair beside his.

They sit in comfortable silence for a bit before she says, "Danno, I need to ask you something, and I want you to be straight with me. I heard it from Mom."

His face scrunches up in concern, wrinkles he likes to refer to as 'wisdom lines' becoming more pronounced. "Uh oh. And just what did Mom say?"

She gives it a beat for dramatic effect. Then, "Did you actually choose that nickname because you thought I looked like a monkey as a newborn?"

He snorts, and then laughs uproariously. A smile spreads over her face as well; it's been a while since she's seem him truly laugh. When he finally calms down, he says, "Well, I can't lie to you, sweetheart. The good news is that you grew out of it."

She smacks him lightly on the arm in mock offense. And as the sun slips lower on the horizon, she reaches for his hand. Arthritic fingers twitch a bit as they curl loosely around hers, and she closes her eyes and breathes in the sea air to help lock in the sense memory.

She wants to hold onto this moment forever.

oOo