Summary: All birds must leave the nest when they are ready.
-Danny and Steve have retired and are doing the Restaurant thing together -Written before I found out what they actually named the restaurant -Steve has no chill but we all know that -Danny's just along for the ride as he has been since Steve stole his crime scene
Steve likes to close up, usually Danny is right beside him but not tonight, tonight is the night before Gracie's wedding and she called in a panic about something Danny has already taken care of and he finished the last of the food for the customers and fled to reassure his daughter that the wedding was going to be fine, Will loved her and she love him and they could get married on the beach in bathing suits and still live happily ever after.
Steve likes the restaurant after everyone leaves. Usually Danny is helping him clean the last of the dishes away or he's off sweeping the floors. Sometimes, when Steve is feeling a little romantic or silly, depending, Steve will turn on the music player they keep in the back for before or after their band arrives.
Steve honestly has no idea where they came from, they just showed up one day and then Danny liked the soft music they played so much that they stayed and Steve added them to the books, they had seemed surprised at the paycheck he handed them at the end of the month, like they hadn't expected it but they had become part of the family soon enough, most of them younger than Grace and bringing out Danny's parental instincts.
After Steve turned on the music Danny would begin to sway gently as he swept and soon enough Steve would be able to sneak in and set the broom aside and drag a half-protesting Danny into a slow dance. They didn't dance at the restaurant often, not when customers were around anyway, but once a month Steve might be able to drag Danny from the kitchen and dance in the little area that was kept clear, Danny hadn't had a reason for it when they had decided not to put tables there and Steve had decided at one point or another that he needed to dance with Danny there and then and so he had pulled a ranting Danny to the open space and began leading him in a dance, their band switching to a softer, slower song than the one they had been playing and soon enough that had become their song and whenever Steve began dragging Danny over they'd begin to play it.
Their customers sometimes sighed over how sweet they were when they danced, most of them knew them from their Five-O days, either they had worked a case for them or had saved their lives or even they had just heard of them. Others were people they had worked with, SWAT, Police, Navy, they all somehow found themselves at the Restaurant, enjoying the food and the old friends that came around.
Steve knew that there was a bet around the Palace about how long they had been married and he wondered how most people would react if they knew that they weren't, he knew that Kono kept trying not to laugh when she updated him on the bets.
Steve was glad that she had come home, finally free from the responsibility she had taken on to see the trafficking ring dismantled, she'd made a name for herself, and when she was done Steve knew she'd had over a dozen offers to join other Forces or Agencies but instead she'd taken his offer, his offer to be the Leader of Five-O when he retired and she had come home, come home to get the hang of Leadership and remind herself of how it used to be to work with the same people instead of new ones every few weeks.
Kono had taken to Tani and Junior right away, echoing Danny's sentiments about both of them being baby Steves. She'd laughed when she met them and joked that Steve was trying to adopt his own little babies to add to Danny's two and Danny had pointed out that they already had like six kids if they counted her and Nahele which Danny had said he did of course, Tani and Junior included. Both Tani and Junior had protested and Danny had pointed out that Steve had dragged Junior home like a puppy and gave him a job and he had done the same with Nahele, as for Tani, she was just as wild and reckless as Steve which made her his by default.
And now Grace was getting married, god, Steve remembered when she was eight years old and she'd first called him Uncle Steve, when she had asked him to help her train for her race, when he'd nearly lost her, first when she was taken by Danny's ex-partner, and then the terrorists at her winter formal, how he'd almost lost both of them.
Rachel and Stan had moved back to the Mainland years ago, hoping that distance from Danny and the Island would help them and their marriage, Charlie and Grace had both begged to stay and so Danny had received full custody because Rachel had begun to feel guilty about what she had done to Danny and Charlie, they spent summers and Thanksgiving in whatever City Rachel was in that month, sometimes Danny and Steve went along but more often they didn't.
Soon enough Charlie would be graduating Highschool, Steve realized suddenly, and realized too that he wasn't ready, wasn't ready for Grace and Charlie to be all grown.
"Hey, Babe?" Danny's voice interrupted him.
"Danny?" Steve asked, "What are you doing back here? I thought you went to see Grace."
"I did, her mother is there reassuring her and I came to find you." Danny said with a smile as the C.D. began to play their song.
Steve grinned back and moved like he had no choice but to pull Danny close to him and begin to dance.
"You seemed upset there for a moment." Danny said as he was spun around.
"I'm not ready." Steve blurted as he pulled Danny close again, hand splaying widely at the small of Danny's back, pushing and pulling him close enough that there was hardly any space between them.
"Not ready for what?" Danny asked as he settled his head against Steve's shoulder, trusting his Navy Man to lead him, as he always had.
"For the kids to be grown." Steve admitted against Danny's hair.
"It's a little late for that." Danny chuckled, "But I hear you, babe, I wasn't ready when Will asked permission, wasn't ready when Nahele asked me to help him pick out rings or when Samantha came to me for whatever reason when she came home pregnant. But it's the way of children to grow up, to leave the nest, as parents we just have to make sure they are ready and to catch them if they fall. You have to remember that most of the time birds return to their place of birth."
"They aren't birds, Danno." Steve whined as the song changed and they kept dancing.
"No, but they'll come home, they'll stop by for lunch or dinner, Steve, they aren't leaving the Island, they are just... adding to the Ohana we created so long ago, the one that began with you and me before we dragged Kono and Chin along for the ride, and everyone that came after, Jerry, Max, Sabrina, Nahele, Lou, Adam, Sarah, Tani, Junior, and all the ones we lost, Jenna, Lori, and the ones that we reluctanly claim, Kamekona, Flippa, Sang Min, and all the rest." Danny reminded him, "We'll always be Ohana, no matter what, you Goofball."
Steve stopped them and held Danny tightly, pressing a kiss to his temple, "I'm not ready." He said again.
"I know, Babe, but she is." Danny pulled away to look at Steve, "She's ready, we made her that way."
Steve nodded, "You won't tell her, right?"
Danny laughed, "That you had a freak out about her getting married too?"
Steve blushed embarrassedly.
"Don't worry, Babe, I'll save it for my speech." Danny laughed again as Steve growled playfully at him, "Let's finish up here and get going, big day tomorrow, it's not everyday our little girl gets married."
"Yeah." Steve said, "I'm sorry for the freak out."
Danny grinned over at him as they walked to the back to switch the music off, "Hey, it had to be one of us right?"
Steve laugh, "I guess it did, I suppose it was my turn, you freaked out the last time."
"I was not prepared for Kono to go into labor at our anniversary celebration." Danny told him.
"I don't think she was either. But the little thing made it, screaming bundle of Kono and Adam wrapped up in a tiny package." Steve laughed.
"Thank god for Max and Nolani." Danny muttered as they locked the Restaurant and headed to the Camaro, Danny passing over the keys easily when Steve made grabby hands at him like a child.
They climbed into the car, Steve reaching over to take Danny's hand in his as he started the car and began to drive away, he'd become a much calmer driver since retirement and Danny was grateful, of course it might have been to do with how much more often the kids had been in the car after that but Danny was pleased either way.
They drove away towards home, the Restaurant sign lit by the others that glowed nearby, 'Ohana' it read and Danny thought it was a much better name for their Restaurant than 'Steve's', after all, that's what Five-O had led them to.
A/n: So you can't tell me that when Danny's restaurant opens he's not going to have a giant list of people that want to be there for opening night, people he helped, people he saved, police officers and half a dozen assorted ohana adjacent people. For all that people are saying that most restaurants fail in Hawaii you know that people are going to hear about one of the Five-O guys retiring and opening a restaurant and they are gonna see what it's all about.
For the cops it's loyalty the first time but then the food is good and Danny's a former cop so when the call comes he understands, he starts to get names when they arrive to send either the rest of their food if they pay when they arrive, some do, or if they get interrupted he'll send the left overs or the meal if they get called before it's done along with the bill.
And Steve calls some Navy buddies when they have leave and they come around and Danny will sometimes be kind enough to make them comfort food that isn't on the menu even if he complains the whole time. Soon enough it becomes a hotspot for Police and Navy personnel with the occasional tourist who had it recommended and when people whose case they work come around to Hawaii they stop in, the Victoria Secret Models sometimes stop around when they can and the Governor, both current and former.
And of course Five-O makes it a weekly habit to stop by or call in and Danny will send food to them if they have a current case slamming them time wise. Birthdays, anniversaries and general celebrations happen at the restaurant for their Ohana, even Kamekona comes around and admits Danny makes good food, in a moment of, Danny calls it weakness, he agreed to Shrimp Fridays where Kamekona comes around and his Shrimp is a Special and Kamekona gets more business after so he comes around every now and again for dinner.
Grace Spends her summers as a waitress against Danny's wishes, Nahele comes around sometimes to help out too, and Will goes where Grace does and then they bring friends and before Danny knows it his waiting staff is all college or Highschool aged and they like him as their boss and recommend family members when they graduate and Danny eventually just lets it happen, glaring at a laughing Steve whenever he comes around.
Steve stays at Five-O for a few years after Danny retires, training Tani and Junior some more and when Kono finally finishes destroying the Human trafficking Ring she comes back and Steve hands Five-O over to her and retires, joining Danny at the Restaurant, playing host and smiling and generally being happy about seeing and helping make people happy.
Sometimes he'll get distracted by an old friend from the Navy or someone he knew from their work and they'll talk, Steve loves it, loves being able to not worry about getting hurt or Danny getting worse than a light burn or a cut from cooking.
And Maybe opening Night Steve was standing next to Danny while he thanked everyone for coming and whatever else and when Danny was done Steve might have been happy enough to kiss him and listened to Danny rant at him through the doors of the kitchen and when he was in the kitchen about how he had the absolute worse timing and couldn't he have waited until after their opening?
And maybe a few months after Grace's wedding Steve pulls Danny into a dance as usual, their patrons smiling at the endearing couple as the band plays, and when their song is over maybe Steve gets down on one knee and asks Danny an important question he maybe should have asked years ago...
And maybe, just maybe, Danny says yes.