A/N: Hello Everyone. So, after watching the season finale, and not really knowing how I feel about it just yet, I decided that it was alright to post the first chapter of a new story. This story takes place before the whole Rachel/Stan split up idea comes into play, but after the Stan and his dirty business deals come into the light. I've had this idea brewing for quite a while so I hope it's enjoyable.

Disclaimer: I don't own ANYONE.

Enjoy.

Chapter 1: Goodbye Gracie

The day had begun like any other day, or so it would have seemed. Stan Edwards dropped his step daughter off at the front gates of her private school and watched with love and admiration as she bobbed up the stairs to the doors, her pigtails swinging in the wind. Stan had come to love and admire the fiery spirit of the feisty little eight-year-old. He saw so much of her mother in her looks and although he would never admit it, he knew that Grace was growing up with the true Williams countenance. She was just like her biological father, had the intuition of a cop and the grace and poise of a regal, British lady, and she was only eight.

Grace turned at the top of the stairs to see Stan wave at her and pull away as she walked into the courtyard of the school. She saw her friends and avoided eye contact with one boy unparticular as she rushed in the other direction.

"Why are you avoiding me?" Tommy asked as he ran up to Grace and watched her duck away from him.

"Because I don't want to talk to you right now," She sighed and kept walking toward the main doors.

"What did I do?" Tommy asked indignantly.

"Nothing, I just don't want to talk to you, or anyone. Please leave me alone." Grace said tears in her eyes as she stepped through the school doors into the still deserted hallway.

Grace walked quickly to the familiar classroom that she shared with twenty six other students and saw the person she wanted to see. She knocked softly and waited for the door to be opened. Her teaching assistance smiled as she looked up from the desk and walked toward the door slowly.

"Good morning, Grace, what's the matter?" Liliana Weston asked as she looked down into the tearful eyes of the eight year old.

"Good morning, Miss Lili, can I please come in early. I just don't want to talk to anyone right now." Grace sighed and looked at the floor.

"Sure munchkin, come on in. You can catch up to the class in your reading," Liliana smiled and walked toward her desk as Grace followed her into the room. She had almost sat down when she realized that Grace had followed her across the room and was staring at her desk tearfully.

"What has happened Grace?" Liliana asked again as she walked around and knelt before the little girl.

"Mommy and Daddy were fighting again," Grace sighed as a tear rolled down her blushing cheek.

"Sometimes mommies and daddies' fright, but it's not your fault." Lili said as she held out her hands to Grace and Grace took them and squeezed them.

"But I know they were fighting about me. Mommy wants me to stay with her this weekend because Stan has a party at work for the children of his employees, but it's my weekend with Daddy. I know she didn't want me to hear the fight and that's why Stan took me to school, but I did." Grace sighed. "And I know mommy will get her way and I'll have to go to the party."

"And you don't want to go?" Lili asked.

"No, Uncle Steve was going to have a bonfire on the beach tonight and I wanted to be there." Grace sighed.

"Sometimes it might be better for you to be with children your own age," Lili smiled trying not to take sides but seeing the distress in the little girl, "but other times its really nice to be with your Ohana, do you understand what I'm trying to say?" she asked.

"I'm with kids all day every day, and I hardly ever get to see Daddy, let alone my uncles and auntie Kono." Grace sighed.

"Would you like to maybe call your mommy and tell her what you would like to do?" Lili asked as she pulled her cell out of her pocket and placed it in Grace's hands.

"No, she'll just get mad," Grace sighed, "and then she'll be upset because she'll know that I heard them fighting. And then she'll call daddy and they'll fight again because of me." Grace sobbed.

"Well, then how about Danno? Would you like to call him instead?" Lili asked.

Grace smiled slightly and nodded drying her tears on the sleep of her uniform.

"Ok, take my phone to your desk and call you Daddy, but be quick because the bell is going to ring and you know how much of a taboo it is to have a phone in class, and yes, even I get in trouble for that," Lili smiled and watched as Grace turned and walked to the other side of the room and sat down at her desk.

5-0

Grace sat down at her desk, placed her backpack beside her and dialed the familiar number into the unfamiliar phone. She listened for a few seconds before her father answered not in his familiar way, but as if he were on a business call.

"William," came the short and common greeting and introduction.

"Daddy," Grace said softly and almost questioningly into the phone.

"Hey Monkey, where are you?" Danny asked cheerfully.

"I'm at school," Grace answered.

"On the phone," Danny asked almost jokingly.

"Yes, Miss Lili let me call you. I was upset. I heard you and mommy fighting. Do I still get to come to the bonfire tonight?" she asked softly.

"You're mother and I have discussed it and yes, you get to be with me tonight and with her tomorrow for the party and then I get you all day Sunday. We'll even make waffles tomorrow morning before I drop you off. How does that sound?" he asked cheerfully.

A smile spread across Grace's face, "good," she answered softly.

"So Steve and I will be at the school at 3 o-clock or…" he trailed off.

"Fifteen hundred hours," Grace answered with a smile.

"Correct, and then we'll have all the fun I promised you, ok?" Danny asked.

"Thank you," Grace said and sniffled a little.

"Were you crying Monkey?" Danny asked softly, "Was it Tommy again?"

"No," Grace giggled, "I was crying, but only because I thought I wasn't going to get to see you."

"I almost cried too," Danny whispered, "but don't tell anybody ok."

"I won't," Grace smiled.

"Alright, now get to work, my future doctor. And remember, Danno loves you." Danny said lovingly in his usual way.

"I love you too Daddy, but I don't want to be a doctor," Grace said cheerfully.

"Oh right, dolphin trainer," Danny laughed.

"No, I've changed my mind," Grace said proudly.

"You did, to what?" Danny asked knowing that he had to.

"I want to be a Detective like you," Grace stated.

"We'll discuss that further when you're forty, until then, become a dolphin trainer." Danny stated.

Grace giggled.

"I'll see you this afternoon, Monkey, I love you," Danny said again.

"I love you too," Grace echoed as the bell rang. "Bye."

"Goodbye Gracie," Danny said and ended the call.

5-0

Liliana walked toward Grace's desk as the bell rang and the students began to fill the class. Mrs. Robinson walked in the door, closing it behind her, as the class began to settle, but Liliana remained at Grace's side.

"Feeling better?" Lili asked as she scooped up her phone and placed it in her shirt, as fast as she could, before Mrs. Robinson saw her.

"I do," Grace smiled and began pulling her work out of her bag.

Liliana had been helping Grace with much of her work, and with settling into the new school. It was usually the teaching assistant's job to help out where ever the primary teacher needed her too, but Grace was a special case. Grace was a brilliant little girl, slightly more advanced than the rest of her class, but the change of school, the moving the thousands of miles from her old home and her parents divorce had taken its told on her emotionally and on her studies. So it fell to Liliana to get Grace settled, help her make friends and to feel comfortable with her new realm.

Grace was really starting to open up. She trusted Liliana more than she trusted anyone and although she didn't have any difficulties making friends, she was struggling with getting the hang of the new things she was learning. Some of the kids around her were local and called her odd names. Liliana was a local and understood what they were saying, and did everything she could to stop the bullying nature of the young students and help Grace understand what she was learning and experiencing. They had become fast friends. Grace spoke fondly of Liliana to everyone she held dear to her and although most people through Liliana was just another school friends, her parents and Danny's team knew Liliana was one of the only other adults that Grace trusted and admired.

As Mrs. Robinson began her first lesson for the day, after the national anthem was sung and the class pledged the allegiance to the flag, Liliana knelt down beside Grace and began to check over her homework from the previous night. She had done well, got all her work done and was nearly caught up to the pace of the whole class. Grace would make it to the end of term right there with the rest of her classmates; there was no doubt about it in Liliana's mind, but she was worried about Grace's emotional state. It would be a trying day for the little girl, as the morning had not started off on a good foot, but Liliana was determined to try to make it better.

Suddenly there was a commotion in the hallways that drew Mrs. Robinson's attention to the door and then a flash like lightning and a crack like thunder sound through the halls casing a sickening silence. The door of the classroom was pushed opened and three men dressed all in black, their faces covered and only their eyes visible, rushed into the class room.

"Get down on the ground all of you, now!" the first man yelled as he entered the room wielding a recently fired hand gun.

The two other men followed dragging the principal and his secretary with them. They quickly fastened the authority figures to the teacher's desk and turned to their leader.

"Hand over Grace Williams and no one will get hurt!" The first intruder stated as the children all around the room sobbed and gasped at the demand.

Liliana reached out, wrapped her arms around Grace and pulled her down onto the floor.

"Let her go," the man who was the first in the room stated as he came up to Liliana and Grace at the back of the classroom.

"No," Liliana stated.

"I will kill you," the man stated as he aimed his gun at Liliana's head.

"Then do it because I'm not letting her go," Lili stated as she shielded Grace from the intruders.

The first intruder shifted on his feet, balled his left hand into a fist and swung out, hitting the TA right in the face. Lili staggered but her grip and determination grew stronger.

"Give me the girl now," the first man ordered again.

"No," Lili stated.

"We have to go," Another of the intruders hissed to the leader of the pack, "someone's going to show up after you fired your weapon in the school hallway. We have to go now!"

"Take them, both of them," The first man stated feeling his partner's anxiety and watched as his lackeys rushed forward and grabbed both Liliana and Grace. He wound up once more and lashed out at Liliana to stop her screaming. "I will deal with you later," he hissed as the TA gasped in pain and fell silent. "This could have been avoided, had you just given up the girl," he added as he followed them out of the room, firing off his weapon again to scatter the gathering hordes, and walked behind his colleagues as they dragged the tangle females out of the school kicking and screaming.