Hawaii Five-0 is property of CBS and its creators.
A/N: bswindle20, greedy little thing that she is ;), wanted one with costumes. So, here you go. This also kind of meets Nieceyluvsfanfic's request for a viral video with the cats, but I will do a full-length fic of that concept later. Enjoy!
"I want Halloween pictures," Grace announced to her father over breakfast one day.
"Aren't you a little old for that?" Danny asked. He hated saying it—to him, Grace would always be four years old and dressed as a princess—but she was 15 now and, he shuddered, going to Halloween parties, though he resolved that there wouldn't be a repeat of last year.
"Not me, Danno," Grace said. "The animals."
Danny thought back on the disaster that had been dressing Steve's cat, Ninja, up last Halloween. "Are you sure it's a good idea?"
"Aw, come on, Danno, it'll be fun. Please?" Grace pleaded.
Danny felt himself crumbling, but he refused to cave completely. "Who's going to take these pictures?"
"I will," Grace said. "I did a good job at Easter, didn't I?"
Danny had to admit she had. He was amazed that she'd been able to wrangle two cats, four kittens, and a German shepherd into bunny ears and get them to hold still long enough to take pictures. Which brought up the next question. . ."How many of the animals are going to be in these pictures?"
"All of them," Grace said, as if it should be obvious.
That's what Danny was afraid of. "How are you going to get them all in costume and sitting still?"
"We managed at Easter," Grace said. Danny knew she would bring that up, but he had to try. "This is only half as many."
Danny admitted defeat. "Okay, fine. Halloween pictures it is."
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Grace stood in front of the rack of Halloween costumes in PetSmart. "Which should I get Danno?"
Danny was in awe. He couldn't believe there were so many costumes for pets. There were characters, like Winnie the Pooh and friends, fairies, angels, devils, skunks, bumble bees, lady bugs, and some he wasn't sure what they were supposed to be. And that was just the full costumes. Then there were strap-on rockets, pirate hats, witch's hats, wings, Halloween sweaters, Halloween collars, Halloween bandanas, and Halloween just about anything else you could imagine putting on your dog. Danny pinched his nose against the impending headache brought on by contemplating it all. "I don't know, Grace. Just pick something."
Grace contemplated her options. "Can't Bullet just wear his tac vest?"
"No," Danny said firmly. "Absolutely not. That's for work, not frivolous fun." That gave him an idea, though. He reached for a police officer costume. "How about this?"
"Perfect!" Grace reached for a smaller criminal costume. "And the cats can be criminals."
Damn. Danny hoped she'd forgotten about the cats. "All set?"
"All set," Grace confirmed.
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Grace fiddled with her backdrop, a piece of orange cloth with black cats printed on it, tugging it until it was just right. Then she adjusted the several jack-o-lanterns she, Danny, and Danny's partner Steve had carved. She tried them on the bench she'd put there, then in front, then on tv trays she placed on either side. She decided she liked the last best, and proceeded to drape black and orange streamers on the front of the tables to camouflage them. Finally, she stepped back. "There. How does that look?"
Steve whistled in appreciation. "You really went all out."
"Yeah, Gracie," Danny agreed. "It looks great."
Grace preened. "Thank you. Now, let's get the animals." She spotted Steve's kitten, NJ (though he was barely a kitten any more at seven months), and picked him up, thrusting him at Danny. "Here, hold him while I put his costume on."
Danny dropped the cat as though it was going to burn him. "No way. I don't want to spend Halloween in the ER getting stitched up."
Grace thrust the costume at him instead. "Then I'll hold him and you put the costume on."
Danny thrust it back. "No, no, no. That's not any better." He gestured at Steve, who was trying to hide a snigger behind his hand. "You and SuperSeal do it."
"Okay," Grace agreed. "You get Bullet ready."
Danny took the cop costume. "Fine." He faced the dog. "Bullet, sit." Bullet sat. "Good boy." Danny knelt on the floor. "Now, give me your paw." Bullet raised both front paws, planted them on Danny's shoulders, and gave his face a big, sloppy, slobbery kiss. Danny wiped his face, disgusted. "Cut that out. Now, hold still." Obediently, Bullet held still and let Danny put the costume on.
Steve and Grace were having less luck with the cats. Danny swore Ninja heaved a sigh as he sat there like a martyr while they dressed him. Selkie, Danny's cat, wasn't nearly as cooperative. She shrieked as soon as Grace got one paw through the costume. She twisted out of Steve's grasp and launched herself off his shoulders, her claws digging in hard enough to draw blood. "Ouch!" Steve yelled.
It was Danny's turn to snigger. "Now you know how it feels."
Grace crouched down in front of the hole in the cat perch where Selkie was hiding. "It's okay. I won't hurt you. Come on out." Selkie just hissed.
"Leave it," Steve said. "Just NJ, Ninja, and Bullet will be fine."
"Alright." Grace was clearly disappointed, but she reluctantly left Selkie to her hiding place and returned to help Steve with NJ. They got the kitten in the costume, but it was too large, hanging off his front paws. NJ put on his most pathetic expression and meowed pitifully. Grace rolled up the legs. "There. All better." NJ just gave her a "You've got to be kidding" look. Grace ignored it.
"Now, let's get them set up," Grace ordered.
Bullet went willingly, obediently sitting down in front of the bench on Danny's orders. Ninja, too, was compliant, lounging regally on the bench as if he were king of the world and not dressed in a ridiculous black and white striped costume. NJ was the problem. As soon as Grace put him down, he leaped off the bench and tried to run, instead getting tangled in his costume, which had come unrolled, and falling head over heels.
Grace picked him up and kissed his head. "Poor little thing. Just hold still for a couple of minutes, then we'll get you out of that and it'll be all better." NJ let out another pitiful meow but let Grace put him back on the bench.
"Quick," Danny said, "take the picture before they move."
Grace complied, then held it up for Danny and Steve to see. "How's that?"
"Looks great, Gracie," Steve said.
"It better be," Danny said, "because you lost your chance." He pointed at the set, now empty except for NJ, who was biting at the legs of his costume, trying to pull it off. Ninja had leapt gracefully to the top of his perch, and Bullet was nosing at Selkie's hiding place.
"It's fine," Grace declared.
"What are you going to do with it?" Steve asked.
"The Star-Advertiser is having a photo contest," Grace replied. "I'm going to enter it."
"That's great," Steve said. "I'm sure you'll win."
Grace did. She entered it in the "Best Group" category. Winners were decided by popular vote, so she got all her classmates to vote for it, and all of Five-0, and even got Duke and the rest of HPD to vote for it. They weren't the only ones, though. The picture went viral on Facebook, and popped up on the feeds of people Danny didn't even know. Grace was delighted. She waved the prize letter in Danny's face. "See? I told you this was a good idea."
"Just don't think we're doing it next year," Danny said.