A/N: Okay, so this is a variation on my other story I'm writing. In this one, it's Uncle Steve to the rescue, instead of Danno. Hopefully you'll like it!

"Hey there, Grace," a cold voice said, sitting across from her at the picnic table. Grace looked up from her worksheet with a sigh, seeing Amanda and two friends.

It was lunchtime and Grace sat down to do some homework while she waited for class to begin again. All the other girls were on their phones texting, taking pictures and chatting. Middle school was weird for Grace. Everyone seemed so preoccupied with stupid things and she felt different from the girls at school. It made her feel so alone. Amanda and her friends loved to point it out and torment her for it.

Grace looked back down, trying to ignore them, and continued to do her homework.

"Anti-social Grace. Gees. It's no wonder you don't have friends," Amanda said with a chuckle.

Not again, Grace thought to herself. For the past few weeks, Amanda had really started to pick on her. It started out as little things, like not sitting with her at lunch or a quick dirty look in passing, but now she had become more vocal about it, even getting friends to join in. As much as it annoyed Grace that she even cared, it hurt her feelings.

"Amanda," Grace started, hoping she could say something to get them to go away.

"Oh, she speaks!" Amanda said mockingly. Grace decided the situation wasn't worth the effort and stood up to walk away.

"Leave me alone," Grace said, looking at the ground as she passed. The girls didn't hesitant to follow. Grace stepped down off the sidewalk and Amanda popped up, blocking her path.

"So, which house are you going to today, Grace? Mom or Dad?" She said with a cruel smirk. Grace reached her limit at this comment. Of all the mean things Amanda had said, it hurt Grace the most when she used Grace's divorced parents as the butt of a joke.

"Get out of my way, Amanda," Grace seethed.

Amanda started to head back over to the table, but as she passed, she threw a hand into Grace's shoulder, shoving her to the ground. Grace tried to break her own fall with her elbow, but her side collided with the edge of curb before she could. She landed with a small cry as air was forced from her lungs. Grace scrambled back to her feet feeling physically and emotionally numb. She picked up the paper and pencil she had dropped in the process, while others laughed at her from the grass. She willed herself to calm down and sniffled back her tears.

She walked away, never looking back at the people behind her. She went back into the lunchroom, and she could tell that the lunch monitors were completely oblivious to what had happened outside. As she proceeded to the bathroom where she could safely cry with privacy, she started to feel the pain radiating from her side. She felt the tickle of a small drop of blood beginning to run down her arm and realized she had a large scrape on her forearm. She was now very aware of the pain.

She opened the door to the unisex bathroom and locked it behind her. In the solitude, she began to cry. She felt humiliated and, as if that weren't enough, she was in physical pain too. She grabbed some paper towel and wiped her arm clean of the blood. She decided to sit on the floor and as she lowered herself to the ground, a pain stabbed her side. She pulled up her shirt and looked at her ribs, which were beginning to bruise. She was starting to feel the effect of the concrete. The burning sensation was getting worse and it hurt to breathe.

She started panicking. She was scared but she didn't know what to do. Rachel was visiting Britain with Step-Stan and Danno was on a flight back from Los Angeles. She was going to stay with Uncle Steve after school until Danno's flight got in.

She desperately needed to get away from school, but she didn't want anyone to know what happened. She was too hurt and embarrassed to tell anyone, but the pain in her side was too severe to hide. She fished her phone out of her pocket composed herself as much as she could to dial the only person she thought might be able to help her. She held it to her ear and listened to the ringing, trying to figure out if she was praying he'd miss the call so she wouldn't have to talk to him or if he'd pick up so he could rescue her.

He didn't stop to look at the caller ID before accepting the call and simply answered:

"McGarret." There was silence on the other end when Grace realized she had no idea what to say. Finally, she spoke.

"Uncle Steve?" She asked shakily. Steve's face dropped.

"Grace?! Grace, are you okay?" He asked quickly with darting eyes, immediately jumping up from his desk at the sound of her trembling voice.

"Um… can you… c-come pick me up?" She sniffed.

"Are you at school?" He asked as he glanced down to make sure he had his gun and badge on his waist. He was already pushing open his office door, car keys in hand.

"Yes," She replied simply.

"Grace, what happened?" he asked calmly but assertively.

"It's… um… It's been a rough day, I don't…" She trailed off.

"Are you safe?" He inquired.

"Yes," She replied breathlessly.

"Where are you?" He asked, climbing into his car. Grace could hear the engine turning over on in the background and she breathed a small sigh of relief.

"I'm in the bathroom."

"I'll be there in ten minutes Grace. I need to call your Uncle Chin really quick. I'm going to hang up, okay?"

"Okay," she replied with as much confidence as possible.

"You call me back if you get scared, okay?" he told her sweetly.

"Okay," she repeated.

"I'll be there soon, just hang tight. I love you Gracie."

"I love you too Uncle Steve."

Steve quickly dialed and after one ring Chin answered.

"Hey McGarret, what's up?"

"Are you on your way back to the palace?" Steve asked as Chin immediately picked up on the urgency of his voice.

"Yeah, we're two minutes out. What's going on?" Chin asked seriously. Kono glanced over at him from behind the wheel with a questioning look of concern. She instinctively began to drive faster.

"I need you to trace Grace's cell phone. I don't know what happened, but she called me and asked me to pick her up. She sounded terrified, Chin." Steve directed. Without any more questions, Chin nodded dutifully.

"I'm on it," He replied in a low tone, ending the call. Kono stole another glance at Chin.

"What's wrong?" She asked him with a furrowed brow.

"I don't know. Steve needs a trace on Grace's phone," He replied meeting her concern with his own. Kono's eyes grew larger and she pressed the gas pedal a little further.

Grace pushed a button on her phone to check the time, only to find that her hand was shaking so badly that she could hardly read the screen. It had been 7 minutes. She closed her eyes and breathed as slowly as she could, and was surprised that it did help a little. She heard the large mass of students go by in the hallway as they made their way to class. She was grateful for the locked door between them.

Once the hallways were silent, it had been 9 minutes. She decided to unlock the door, since Uncle Steve would be arriving any minute now. She didn't want to deal with the drama of him kicking down the door (which he undoubtedly would). The thought of it brought half a smile to her face. She pulled herself off the floor, her breath hitching as her ribs burned. She flipped the lock and hobbled back to her space on the floor.

Steve pulled into the first parking spot he found and jumped out of the car. He looked down at his phone and moved towards the coordinates of Grace's phone as he entered the building. It led him down a hallway, past the cafeteria. He picked up to a jog until he arrived right next the dot on his screen. He looked up and saw the bathroom door in front of him. He restrained himself from pounding on the door—he didn't want to scare her, as she seemed to be already traumatized enough on the phone.

"Grace?" He knocked.

"Uncle Steve?" A small voice replied.

"Can I come in sweetheart?" He asked.

"Yeah."

He placed his hand on the knob and was relieved to find it unlocked. At least he didn't have to destroy any school property by kicking it down. He pushed the door open and saw Grace sitting on the floor, eyes red from crying. She looked up at him and then glanced away, suddenly feeling embarrassed. Steve gently pressed the door shut behind him and knelt down in front of her.

"Hey Gracie," he said softly, tilting his head to get a better look at her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"No, Grace, I'm so glad you called me," he reassured her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She tried to adjust herself to breathe better, but it jarred her sore ribs too much to remain silent as she instinctively grabbed at them.

"Anfff," she whimpered.

Her cry ripped through Steve and he nearly gasped.

"Grace, are you hurt?" Steve asked with an even greater sense of urgency. The crease in his forehead had gone from sympathetic to alarmed.

"Yeah," she replied affirmatively, just barely squeaking out the word. Steve's panic increased 10-fold. Why didn't she say anything when they were on the phone?!

"Tell me what hurts, Grace," he said slowly, calling upon his SEAL training to remain calm.

"My ribs," she panted.

"Can I see?" He asked her. She nodded and pulled up the side of her shirt enough for him to see the linear bruising over her rib cage. He went in to medical mode.

"Okay, can you take a breath for me?" He asked and she complied. He carefully watched to make sure her chest rose and fell evenly. "Good, Grace. Are you hurting anywhere else?"

Grace bent her arm to show him scrape on the underside of forearm that was now rimmed with dried blood. He gingerly took her wrist to examine the wound closer.

"It doesn't hurt though," She said honestly and withdrew her arm, using her hand to guard her ribs. Steve took a moment to look in her eyes.

"Can you tell me how this happened?" He asked carefully.

"I tripped and fell, but I hit myself on the edge of the curb," She replied. Steve now understood why the bruise over her ribs was in such a straight line. Even to the SEAL, it sounded very painful.

"Gees Gracie, you should have told me. What did you trip on?" He asked casually. When he looked up, he saw the panicked expression on her face. Clearly, he had reached the part of the story where things got traumatic. He wouldn't soon forget the chilling sound of Grace's frightened voice on the phone and he had a feeling he was about to find out what had scared her so much. Her breath picked up as she searched for something to say.

"I fell on… a… there was a…" She fumbled, nervously glancing around as tears collected in her eyes.

"Grace," Steve interrupted her, placing a hand on her cheek, "tell me the truth."

Grace looked at him and shook her head microscopically.

"It's okay sweetheart, you can tell me. I'm not going to be mad," He said lightly and slowly.

Steve's stomach sank as he recognized the look in her eyes: fear.

"Grace," he said, his voice nearing a whisper, "Did someone hurt you?" He would have given anything in the world for the answer to be no. He wish he didn't even have to ask. But looking at her, the answer was clear. Grace inhaled.

"There's a girl here…" she said shakily, unsure of how to put it into words. "She really doesn't like me," she squeaked out.

"It's okay, Gracie," Steve rubbed her arm sweetly, urging her to go on.

"She was saying mean things… and her friends… and I tried to walk away… but she pushed me to the ground… Everyone was laughing," She told him, becoming increasingly more upset. Steve's heart was breaking as he listened to what she went through. He wanted to control his anger around Grace, but he also desperately wanted punched someone in the face.

Her tears started to fall and she tried to cry with them, but it hurt her ribs too much. The pain stabbed her and her hand flew up to grip Steve's arm that was outstretched to hold her shoulder.

"Ahhh," she whimpered quietly.

"Okay okay, Grace, take a breath sweetheart, it's okay," he reassured her, realizing that the calmer she was, the less pain she'd feel. "It's all over. I'm going to make sure she leaves you alone, okay?"

Grace nodded appreciatively.

"How long has this girl been teasing you for?" he asked.

Grace stared down at her knees. "A month or so."

Steve's face fell into a mixture of disappointment and sympathy. "Gracie, do mom and Danno know about this?"

Grace shook her head, ashamed.

"I… I thought I could handle it," she said as more of a question than a statement. Steve sighed. He wasn't even aware that 11 year old girls could be so cruel.

"Gracie, I love you so much. You know you can tell me anything, right?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Good, because if anything happens, I want you to tell me or Danno, okay? I'm so glad that you were brave enough to call me. It was the right thing to do. You don't have to go through anything alone, Gracie," He said sincerely.

Grace nodded as a tear rolled down her face. She reached out for him and he gently hugged her, very careful of her injury.

"I love you Uncle Steve," she whispered.

"I love you too Grace," He said with a sad smile. He pulled away but still held onto her shoulders. "Alright, I think we should go to the hospital and get your ribs checked out, okay?" He said, ducking his head to make eye contact with her.

She made a pleading face at him.

"I know, but I think we have to," he responded to her silent protest with an apologetic look. "Do you think you can walk to the car?" he asked.

She nodded in response and Steve slowly helped her off her butt and onto her feet. He stopped to make sure she was steady and then led her out the bathroom door, taking her hand. After a few steps down the hallway, she slowed down as the pain from her ribs scraped at her. He could feel his arm getting heavier as she put more of her weight on him.

He heard a whimper and slowed them to stop, before he began to kneel down. She flopped a hand onto his shoulder to support herself as she started to lose her balance. Her knees buckled and Steve reacted quickly.

"Okay, okay, c'mere," he said quickly, pulling her closer to keep her upright. He slid an arm behind her knees and put his other hand on her back. He very carefully lifted her onto his hip. She leaned forward and rested the uninjured side of her chest onto his. He held her to himself, just enough to take stress off of her injury. He knew he had succeeded in doing so when Grace dropped her head on his shoulder with a sigh of relief.

He carried her outside and placed her into the passenger side, doing the buckle for her. He went around and climbed into the driver's side. He paused and looked over to find Grace staring at him with a tired, small smile. He smiled back at her softly and started the car. He knew he should probably tell the school that he was taking her, but he decided that they could wait—he certainly had a few other things to "tell" them too.

A/N: Please let me know what you think- if you want me to keep going, if you don't like it as much as the Danno verson, if you like it better than the Danno version. Leave a review if you could :)

Yes, I know getting in and out of the school undetected isn't very likely in this setting. But, an important part of this storyline is how irresponsible the school is anyway, so it makes sense, I think. And it is very possible for schools to have low security, especially a private school like Grace's. I know the middle school I went to was not secured at all. I just graduated from high school two weeks ago, so I'm not a stranger to school security.