Conversations with Grace – Asking Uncle Chin

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Five-0 Headquarters 6:00 pm Friday evening

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"Uncle Chin?

"Yes, Grace?"

"Do you have a will and tenement?"

"A will and testament?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"What makes you ask that?" Chin looks into the eyes of his friend's 11 year old daughter, who is sitting with him in the break area. Danny and Steve were questioning a suspect that he and Kono had arrested after Danny went to pick up Grace. Father and daughter should have been home for the weekend already, but Danny had come in because he knew the suspect from a previous bust. "Did you hear someone talking about it on TV?"

"No. I heard Mom and Stan talking about it. Mommy needed to fix hers because of my brother. She said she wanted to make sure that Charlie and I could spend lots of time together even if something bad happened to her. I got nervous and asked about it and she said not to worry. I told mom that if she… you know… I'd want Charlie to live with me and Danno, but I know he can't because Stan's his Dad. Now I want to know if Danno has one of those testaments."

"Ahhh I see. Our whole team has them, Grace, all police officers and firefighters do. You didn't want to ask your dad to explain it to you?" Chin asks, always the diplomat.

"I wanted to know if he had one before I talked to him. I don't want him to worry. He was kinda upset about my friend Linda's mom dying. Linda got to stay in Hawaii and live in her own house because her Granny Josie moved here."

She was so much Danny's daughter. "Grace, you shouldn't worry so much."

"But, you fight bad guys all the time. What if something happens to Danno, Uncle Chin? Like it did to Uncle Steve's dad or Malia?"

Chin's eyes shift slightly, down to his ring finger, and back up to Grace. "Grace, what happened to Malia won't …" he clears his throat … "look; your Dad is a great cop, and he has all of us baking him up. Honey, we'll do everything we can to make sure he's here for you for a very, very long time."

"I know, but, still. I want to tell him …" Grace hesitates.

"What, Grace?"

"Well, you know how Uncle Steve's mom pretended she died? Then his dad made him and Mary go live on the mainland?"

"Grace, you know that would never happen to you, right? Neither of your parents would send you away, ever. Is that what has you so concerned?"

"Well, I was thinking, if Mom and Danno were … ummm … well if they both went to Heaven, I'd want to stay here. I Love my Nonna and Pop Pop in New Jersey but I want to stay in Hawaii. Not with Stan, though. He's nice to me and he loves me, but he's not my dad."

"You've given this some serious thought, haven't you?"

Grace nods, "I decided already that I'd want to live with Uncle Steve."

"Of course you would, wouldn't you?" Chin smiles at the little girl whose stare is boring into him.

"Yes. Uncle Steve would take care of me, and Catherine would, too."

"I'm sure they would, Sweetheart. Grace, that's not something you should be thinking too much about, but if you're concerned, you need to talk to your dad. Tell him how you feel. I'm very happy you talked to me, too, because it's not good to keep worry inside you. If you ever need to talk, I'm always here."

"Do you think…" Grace looks down at her hands.

"What Grace? Tell me."

"Do you think if my Danno were … gone … Uncle Steve would get too sad if he saw me every day because I remind him of Danno? Because I know he'd miss him lots, too. I wouldn't want to make him upset, Uncle Chin."

"Wow. Grace, listen to me." Chin Ho Kelly had spent a fair amount of time around kids his whole life. With his huge extended family, there were plenty of times relatives had asked the kind, smart young man to watch over his younger cousins, even when he was barely a teen himself. Kono had followed him like a puppy as a kid, more a little sister than a cousin, and Grace's expression, her wearing her emotions on her face, at this moment reminded him of Kono at her age. "That's very, very thoughtful of you, Grace, but seeing you, in any situation, could never make your Uncle Steve sad. He loves you, honey, like you were his own. We all do. So please don't think that, okay? Do you want me to come with you to talk to your dad?"

Her Uncle Chin was smiling but his eyes looked suspiciously full. She was hoping she hadn't made him sad by talking about Malia. Grace had liked the pretty, kind doctor and was very upset when she'd been told she had died. "No thanks, Uncle Chin, I can do it. Thanks for listening to me, though, and for explaining." She gives him a hug just as she hears her Uncle Steve's voice approaching from down the hall and heads out to meet him.

"Gracie!" Steve enters the bullpen and seeing her, pockets his phone and stoops down to give her a hug. "I'm sorry I needed your dad to come back to work for a while. How about I make it up to you? Dinner's on me. Anywhere you want." He looks over at Danny who's coming in behind him. "What do you say, Danny?"

"What do I say? I say, if you have your wallet, you're on. But I think you just want to spend time with the Williams' because we're the coolest people on this rock, right, Monkey?"

"Right, Danno!" Grace giggles, hugging her dad. "Can we go to the Hilton, Uncle Steve? Can Uncle Chin come?"

"Of course. We'll make it a family dinner. Kono's left but I'll call her and see if she can meet us. If she can, Catherine can pick her up." Chin enters the bullpen, and Steve asks "You coming, Chin?"

"I'm in. Thanks, Brah. Hey, Grace, let's order lots of ice cream for dessert since Uncle Steve is paying for it."

More giggles "Okay. And Uncle Chin? Thank you."

"You are very welcome. You can talk to me anytime, remember that, okay?"

"Okay!"

What's that about? Danny silently asks, gesturing to Chin while Grace runs to gather her things.

"Nothing, Brah. Just some family business, everything's good. I'll meet you guys at the Hilton." With that, Chin heads out to his bike smiling. Anyone who doubted that Five-O was ohana, just didn't know the meaning of the word.

End - thanks for reading