Note: Pure happy team fluff because I miss all of them together :( Also, I do apologize if I got any locations wrong, it's purely based on research. Hope you enjoy! :)
"Arghhhhh!" Kono flew rather ungracefully into the water. Upon resurfacing, she spun around to see Danny grinning like a goof at her from the pier.
"I'll get you for that, Williams!" she yelled, swimming back towards him. "I know how much you love to swim!"
She was back up on the pier in seconds, and sprinted after him in her squelching flip-flops and soaked t-shirt back towards the bank of the lake, where the rest of her team seemed to be delightfully cheering her on. Danny, however, was completely dry and also wearing more appropriate shoes, and so made his way back safely to their picnic mat, plopping himself down beside Grace and stealing a bite of her sandwich. "Oh I'll get you later, you just wait," Kono said, flicking water at his face.
"Count us in, Kono," Catherine said, indicating herself and Steve, laughing at Danny's indignant expression.
"Glad to," Kono replied, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "I'm going back to the cabin to get a towel, you guys need anything?"
"More beers, cuz? And more juice for Gracie," Chin said.
"Okay. None for you though, mister," Kono said, waggling her finger at Danny before traipsing back up the grassy slope towards their wooden cabin, her flip-flops squelching all the way.
"You'd better watch out, brah," Chin warned, "If she says she's going to get you, trust me, she will."
"Why, you speaking from experience?" Danny asked, amused.
"Yep," Chin replied seriously, before proceeding to tell the rest about the time one summer when, at a family barbecue, he and a few of their cousins had given a ten-year-old Kono an Oreo with the cream replaced by toothpaste, only to find out soon after that she had subsequently managed to pour a large amount of vinegar into all of their drinks, sprinkle a copious amount of pepper onto their watermelon slices, and dump one cousin's phone into his dessert bowl.
The team and Grace were roaring with laughter at Chin's story when Kono returned, carrying a case of cold beer in one hand and a large bottle of apple juice in the other, a large towel slung around her neck and looking relatively drier. "Share the joke, guys," she said, plopping down on the mat beside Grace and handing her the juice bottle.
"Your ten-year-old self was impressively...vengeful," Steve commented, laughter in his voice.
"Yeah? Well, this one's about to find out soon," she replied, patting Danny on the back, who now started to look a little wary.
"Okay, okay, okay, fine," Danny sighed, standing up and brushing off his shorts. "But if you'll excuse me first, I'd like to enjoy for a moment the fact that I'm next to a large body of water where there are no sharks, jellyfish, highly dangerous riptides, or people trying to sell me drinks out of coconuts or pineapples the moment I set foot on shore."
"Or, you could just stand next to a puddle," Steve interjected, earning himself a light slap on the leg from Cath.
"Oh come on, you've got to admit it's beautiful out here," she said, gazing out at the pristine lake, its surface reflecting the almost unnaturally blue sky.
It certainly was, Steve grudgingly admitted to himself. He would have much preferred to have spent their two-week long break, granted very kindly by the governor in recognition of a "fantastically commendable drop in crime rates throughout Hawaii", at home with barbecues, hikes, swims, and time alone with Cath without having to worry about being interrupted by a case. After all, they had beautiful Hawaiian sunsets and the Pacific Ocean at their doorstep. But Kono had excitedly proposed that they go for a team vacation, a complete getaway from work and home. Danny had suggested this lakeside cabin in New Jersey, which he, Grace and Rachel had stayed in years ago. "Surely you've heard of Lake Owassa, come on," he had said, raising his eyebrows at Steve's expression.
"No, I haven't. Why do you want to go to a lake? We have the ocean right here!" Steve had exclaimed, and would have continued with more reasons why he wanted to stay put, but Catherine had surprisingly interrupted him.
"Wait, actually, I have heard of it! My parents went there a couple of times, said it was beautiful. Hey, maybe we can all go and you could bring Gracie, too," she said to Danny. "I'm sure she'd like to go back?"
Danny had agreed, and soon his team were enthusiastically planning a lakeside summer vacation, dutifully ignoring their incomplete paperwork.
"Sorry, boss, but it looks like this is the one thing you don't get a say in," Kono had teased, grinning at a very disgruntled and indignant Steve.
He caved in the end, since everyone, including Grace, had appeared unusually excited about the whole prospect of a getaway. Now, looking at how relaxed everyone was, something he attributed to the fact that since they were out of Hawaii, there was no possibility of being contacted for any case whatsoever, he decided that it wasn't such a bad idea after all. And yes, it was rather beautiful. He leaned over to Cath and whispered, "Yeah, like you."
"Thanks a lot, Mr. Cheesy," Cath whispered back, but blushing a little all the same. The one thing about a team vacation, she and Steve had realized upon reaching the cabin, was that they could get absolutely no time alone. Especially with Grace around, and the fact that their rooms were only separated by thin wooden panels, they had both decided not to make things awkward, for everyone's sake. But it had apparently not gone unnoticed by the rest.
"Hey lovebirds," Chin cleared his throat. "Would you mind going back to the cabin to get the frisbee?" he asked in an overly casual tone.
"Yeah, we'll just wait here," Kono added, eyes wide and eyebrows raised in an apparent attempt to appear innocent.
Cath burst out laughing at the cousins' hilarious attempts to give them some time alone, but was suddenly pulled to her feet by an evidently very thankful Steve. "Ok, yes, sure, thanks," he mumbled, before eagerly making his way back to the cabin and literally dragging Cath along behind him. "Take your time!" Chin and Kono called out together, chuckling.
That evening, Danny was setting up the barbecue in the golden light of a sunset that melted onto the glassy surface of the lake, when he heard Grace calling him from what sounded like a considerable distance.
"Danno! Come quick! I'm near the pier!"
Thoughts immediately flashing to a helpless Grace in the water or Grace slipping and falling from the pier, Danny's heart jumped.
"What is it, monkey? I'm coming!" he shouted, dropping the wire mesh he was holding onto the ground and rushing towards the pier. Reaching the bottom of the grassy slope, he saw an empty pier and his heart sank.
"Gracie!" he yelled, racing down the pier. Reaching the end, he bent over the edge, trying to see if she had fallen off the pier into the water. As he leaned over, however, he felt a gigantic push from behind and he fell headfirst into the lake with a huge splash.
Sputtering, he surfaced, only to see his team, and Grace, laughing hysterically at him from the edge of the pier.
"Grace?!" he exclaimed indignantly at his daughter, not believing that she would have agreed to pull such a prank on him, only getting a mischievous grin in return from his daughter.
"Great dive, Danno," Steve was laughing so hard that he was supporting himself on Cath's shoulder, who herself was in stitches and clutching her sides.
Kono only raised her eyebrows at the now soaking-wet Danny who had pulled himself up out of the water and said, "Told you I'll get you."