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Danny took one look at Grace, standing on the porch, tears streaking her face, and went straight for the ice cream. He didn't say anything as he handed her the container of mint chocolate chip and a spoon and watched her dig in. He just sat patiently next to her on the couch and waited for her to talk.

"Makoa broke up with me," she said at last.

Danny just nodded, even though he wanted to hunt the guy down and strangle him for hurting his little girl. "I figured it was something that. You okay?"

Grace wiped her eyes. "Yeah, I guess so. I guess I never really figured it'd last, but that doesn't make it any easier, you know?"

Danny nodded again. "I know." There was more silence. "I don't suppose you want to hear how you're young and there's plenty of time and you'll find someone eventually, do you?"

"Not really," Grace said. Once again silence stretched between them. "Danno, how did you know Uncle Steve was your soulmate?"

Danny was surprised by the question, although he supposed he shouldn't be. He remembered asking something similar of his parents after his marriage with Rachel broke apart, and they weren't even soulmates. "That's a hard question, Monkey."

"Was it love at first sight?" Grace persisted.

Danny laughed. "No, it definitely was not love at first sight. You've heard the story."

Grace grinned. "Yeah, you met right here in this house, pointing your guns at each other, and Uncle Steve got you shot and wouldn't apologized, so you punched him."

"Yep. Does that sound like love to you?"

Grace shrugged. "I don't know. I just thought that maybe there was some part of you that just knew."

Danny thought about it. "Maybe. Heaven knows there had to be some reason I put up with him." Maybe he had known. He did know things had always been easy with Steve, comfortable, despite how contentious it seemed from the outside. He'd been annoyed with Steve from the start, but intrigued, too, impressed by his passion and his decisiveness and his ability to just go after what he wanted, consequences be damned. Danny had also sought Steve out from the beginning, wanting to spend time with him, practically living on Steve's couch when Grace wasn't around. Looking back, he could admit he felt something for the ex-SEAL even then, but then he was in denial, attributing it to convenience after a case or whatever other excuse was handy.

It wasn't until after Steve discovered Danny was a dragon that he'd known, and he hadn't been expecting it. He remembered that first night, the bliss he'd felt when Steve stroked his eyelids, and the touch of Steve's mind against his. That was the moment he'd known, but looking back it was probably just confirmation of what he'd already felt. He'd just never imagined it could be real.

Danny decided to share that with Grace. "I knew for sure when he could hear my thoughts."

"But I can't hear anybody's thoughts except Matt's and Uncle Steve's!"

"That's kind of the point," Danny said. "But, you're right. I wish I could explain better, but other than that, there really wasn't any one thing. There was just a slow build until all of a sudden wham, that was it, and we never looked back."

Grace pondered that for a while. "Do you think I'll ever find my soulmate?"

"I don't know," Danny said, honestly. "But it's okay if you don't. Not all dragons find their soulmates. Grandma and Grandpa aren't soulmates, and look how long they've been together."

"But you and Uncle Steve are soulmates. Would you have been happy with anyone else?"

Once again, Danny had to think hard. "I wanted to be. I wanted to be happy with your mother, but she never accepted the whole dragon thing. I don't know if it would have been different if she had." Danny sighed. "Look, don't get too hung up on this, okay? It doesn't really matter if you're soulmates as long as you're happy."

Grace snorted. "Easy for you to say. You found yours."

Danny didn't know what to say, so he settled for platitudes. "You'll find somebody, Grace, someone who loves you, soulmate or not. You just have to be patient."

Grace smiled ruefully. "I'm not very good at that."

Danny smiled back. "Wonder where you got that from."