Summary: Danny discovers he was wrong. A very short one-shot.
PARADISE
There are times when Danny Williams is perfectly happy to admit he's wrong. This is one of those times.
His body slices through clear turquoise water, salt only stinging his eyes a little, easy to ignore as multicolored fish dart by, as creatures of the reef sway in the current or scuttle along the soft, rippled, nearly-white sand on the ocean floor.
For the first time in his life, he actually gets it. He'd been here for five years before his partner convinced him to go on a recreational swim in the Pacific. But now here he is: white and blue swim trunks his only clothing, normally perfectly-coiffed hair loose and flowing, haloing his head, caressed by the warm water surrounding him.
The bright Hawaiian sun isn't bad at all down here, because the way it filters through from the surface makes everything seem to glow, seem to shimmer. Seem surreal.
But nothing, Danny thinks, is more ethereal than seeing his partner move toward him from a distance. Steve swims less like a SEAL and more like a seal, cutting a swath through the molecules of water so effortlessly it's like he'd been born beneath the waves rather than on dry land. Elegant doesn't even come close to describing McGarrett in the water.
Steve grins as he shoots past Danny, then makes a small arc and returns to his partner's side. Their eyes meet, and in the silence of holding his breath and hearing no gunfire, no cries for help, no explosions and no screeching tires, Danny finally understands why McGarrett craves the ocean as much as Danny craves malasadas.
Because this right here? This is true peace.
And, Danny thinks as the thin, lithe body of a beautiful little girl tackles his partner's waist and then moves to hug her father, with Grace here, too? For him, it truly is Paradise.
