Disclaimer: Hawaii 5-0 and all of its characters belong to Peter Lenkov and CBS Studio Productions.
Danny stumbled slightly as he hit the bottom set of bleachers and his foot caught on the cement stairs. He scowled at the step as if it had personally offended him for a moment before continuing over to where Chin and Kono were arguing about...well, he could be honest, he had no clue what the cousins were aruging about. He was too busy watching Gracie fiddling with her pink and white sundress across the football field.
He had been standing next to her for most of the first half of the game, and they had discussed being careful when she walked out to the center of the field for some award from the school, and then she had banished him back to the bleachers with an 'I'm not a baby, Danno'. So, he had, reluctantly, shuffled his way to the stands and resigned to watching his baby girl standing next to her principal and mused about when she'd gone from his 'little Monkey' to not being a baby anymore.
"Why the long face, brah?" Chin questioned, leaning forward to look at him around Kono. Danny pulled a halfassed shrug in response, and Chin gave him that serene, Zen-like smile. "She's not going off to college yet."
"Yeah, Danny." Kono agreed, smiling warmly as she laid her hand on his shoulder. "You knew that she was going to grow up eventually."
"I know, I just..." He sighed and ran his palm over his hair. "I just didn't think that it would happen so soon." They both chuckled at him and went back to picking at the basket of French fries that sat between him. He shook his head and gave a small smile. Sometimes their little ohana was marginally dysfunctional, but they never ceased to make him smile when he needed it.
The smile, however, didn't last long when he let his mind wander to the one part of their family that wasn't there. Steve had been reactivated twenty-three months before, just a few months after he and Danny had finally succumbed to the 'thing' between them and moved past the quasi-platonic state of their partnership.
Apart from a few fifteen minute phone calls that had been laden with so much static that Danny couldn't even be positive that it was Steve he'd been talking to, and letters once every couple of months, he'd had no contact with the other man. He missed McGarrett so badly most nights that he couldn't sleep. Their bed was far too big without Steve's long limbs stretching across and wrapping around him.
He couldn't breathe without it being physcially painful, and he hated that. He hated that the infuriating SEAL had become such an important part of his life that, when he wasn't there, Danny couldn't function properly.
"Look! Gracie's award ceremony is coming up!" Kono cooed, pointing and kicking her feet in a move that was a bit over the top, even for her. Danny sighed and pushed the thoughts of Steve to the back of his mind (as difficult as it was) and focused on Grace. God, explaining that her Uncle Steve wouldn't be around for a while had been even harder for her then it had been for him to accept it.
The last time he'd spoken to Steve, the other man had quietly stated that he had no idea when he'd get to come home again. It broke Danny's heart to hear the words actually spoken, even if he'd known that they were true before then. He had told Gracie and she'd spent most of the day curled up on Steve's side of their bed, inhaling the scent of his pillow, and crying.
Now, as he watched her step out onto the field with her hand tucked into the principal's hand, his heart was overwhelmed with pride. His little girl was getting an award in front of a stadium full of people, and she was steady as a rock. That, however, just solidified how much the news about Steve had shaken her, and that broke his heart.
Some days he was angry with himself for getting involved with a military man, especially one that meant so much to his daughter. But, he couldn't bring himself to be angry for long, because he loved Steve with his entire being. He couldn't imagine himself being with anyone but that big goof.
"Aloha!" The principal announced into the microphone in her hand. "A few weeks ago, our students had to write an essay about who their hero is, and we read them all. A board of our teachers and students voted on which essay they thought best represented the assignment. This is Grace Williams." The principal gestured to Grace and Danny felt an unconcious smile spreading across his face. "The assignment was to write an essay about someone that you think it a hero, and Grace here wrote about her father, Detective Danny Williams."
"Did you guys know about this?" Danny questioned, looking over at Chin and Kono who shook their heads and shrugged in response.
"Detective Williams is currently heading up the Five-0 task force, and Grace wrote a compelling essay detailing exactly what her father means to her. You can find the essay online on the school website. We've got a special guest here today to present the award to Miss Williams."
Danny quirked an eyebrow and looked around the stadium. He was pretty sure he'd seen the football team mascot, and the 'anti-drug' mascot from the police department, but he wasn't sure which one of them was going to deliver the award. Either way, he pulled his phone from his pocket and cued the video camera app, fixing it on Gracie.
"Will you all please join me in welcoming back a hometown favorite," The principal gestured to the hall that led to the locker rooms, where a tall, lithe figure was stepping out onto the field. From his vantage point, Danny couldn't quite make out the person. He made a mental note to make sure that was the last time he sat on the bottom row of bleachers. They may have been practically sitting on the field, but he had trouble seeing a damned thing. "Lieutenant Commander Steven McGarrett."
Danny's heart jumped into his throat as he realized it was Steve crossing the field in his dress uniform. He had that signature McGarrett-smile plastered on his face as he dropped to one knee and caught a screeching, crying Gracie in his arms. Gracie's high pitched voice echoed across the field, drowning out the sound of everything but the pounding of Danny's heart in his ears.
"UNCLE STEVE, YOU'RE HOME!" She wailed as she buried her face into his shoulder. Danny was on his feet, dropping his phone in Kono's waiting hand, and walking across the field like a zombie before he even conciously made the decision.
As he neared the two people in front of him, he saw the tears streaming down Steve's face as he held Gracie with everything he had. Danny watched, still not sure that he believed Steve was there, as Steve placed a kiss to Gracie's temple before the watery eyes fell on Danny's face. Steve stood slowly, disentangling his arms from Gracie, and keeping his eyes trained on Danny.
"Danno..." He whispered, his face threatening to split in half with the grin. He stepped closer and pulled the smaller man into a bruising hug. Danny wrapped his arms around Steve's waist and let out a laugh that sounded suspiciously like a sob. Steve placed a kiss to his neck and his arms tightened as he lifted Danny off his feet and spun him in a circle.
When he finally put him back on his feet, Danny scowled half-heartedly at him and swatted his chest.
"I'm not a woman, Steven, you cannot just spin me around whenever you damned well please." He snuffled around the tears that had spilled over without his consent. "Animal." He added the last part as an after thought as he reached out and pulled Gracie into his hip, her arms going around both of them.
Steve laughed loudly and leaned in and kissing him solidly. Danny groaned softly in the back of his throat, working his hardest to restrain himself and recall that they were standing in a stadium full of cheering people (with the occasional cat call that he had a niggling feeling came from a couple overexcited cousins). He pulled away and smiled up at the man that had captivated him so completely. The man he loved.
"I missed you, you big lug." He muttered. Steve smirked down at him.
"I missed you too, Danny. So damned bad. And you too Gracie. I missed you so much." He smiled down at Grace as he carded his fingers through her hair. Danny vaguely noticed that they were being shuffled off to the sidelines as the football players reclaimed the field. He refused to let go of either of them, however, so it made moving a bit awkward.
"Uncle Steve, are you home for good now?" Grace questioned, tugging on the hem of his uniform jacket.
"Yeah, Gracie. I'm home for good. I love you guys too much to be able to go away that long again." Steve replied, but his eyes had locked with Danny's.
"We love you too, Uncle Steve. Don't we, Danno?" Grace nudged him in the ribs gently. Danny smiled up at Steve and nodded, his hand resting on the other man's neck with his fingers brushing over the short hair at the base of his skull.
"Welcome home, Steven." Steve reached into his chest pocket and pulled out a small photo, holding it up and showing Danny. Danny recognized it as the three of them at the dolphin hotel. They had revisited the hotel a week before Steve had shipped out, and the photo showed Steve and Gracie up to their chests in water and Danny dangling his feet over the edge as a dolphin surfaced between them. They were all smiling and waving at the camera, even the dolphin. His eyes flicked back up to Steve, confused.
"I had you guys with me every day that I was gone. As long as I have you and Gracie, I'm home. I never left. But," He paused long enough to nuzzle his nose along the side of Danny's face and pulled him even closer. "It is good to be able to actually hold you again. I love you, Danny." Steve reached down and laced their left hands together, their 'engagement' rings clinking together softly and making Danny's heart skip a beat.
"Danno loves you too."
"I've seen tears I wished I never saw,
Held myself together times by string and straw.
How'd you make it with so much to do, with us so far apart?
And could you feel my heart break every night without you in my arms?
I don't want that no more, no more, no more.
Baby, your soldier's finally coming home,
To you and the kids, to the life I missed,
To no more nights alone.
To wrestling around with my little boy, singing a lullaby with my baby girl.
I'm all packed up and I pray you still need me.
I know it's late, but please pick up the phone,
Your soldier's finally coming home."
-"Soldier Song" Steve Azar
This is one of those fics that hits home for me, because I was a Navy brat as a child. My dad was a gunner's mate and he would go on deployments (in the magical era before Skype and cell phones) and I wouldn't see him or talk to him other than shitty quality fifteen minute phone calls for 6 months to a year at a time, but he came home and surprised us at my championship baseball game. I then proceeded to pitch my first no hitter and become the first female in the league to do so. I hope you guys enjoyed this. :D