Title – Parenting 101: Good Cop/Bad Cop
Rating – G
Characters – Steve/Danny, Grace
Summary – Grace gets into some serious trouble after a party and Danny and Steve have to deal the consequences.
A/N – just a short fic in a domestic setting, wasn't sure if it would work or not. Huge thanks to simplyntoodeep for being such a great help reading through some fics for me including this one and being a big encouragement, you're the best hun x
.
Steve closed the car door firmly, paused and leaned against the roof and took in a heavy sigh. Walking around the car he opened up the driver's side and slid into the seat, pulling the door closed and pausing again. Grace had put on her belt and was now staring resolutely out of the window away from him, arms folded, evidently refusing to give him the time of day, which, considering the circumstances, Steve found more than a little irritating. He turned on the engine, put on his seatbelt and pulled out of the HPD parking lot, heading for home.
He made it to the second set of lights before he said anything, as Grace remained tight lipped and unmoved.
"You know we're going to talk about this sooner or later," Steve pointed out to her.
A stony silence was all he got in reply.
"And if you think the silent treatment is gonna work on Danny, think again," he added. He wasn't looking forward to getting home and found himself driving well below the speed limit to put off the inevitable. When he'd left Danny, he'd been caught between pissed and sick with worry as he got on the phone to Rachel.
Grace gave a laborious sigh and continued ignoring him.
"Guess I'll just wait for the fireworks then," Steve mused out loud. After the last seven years, he was used to the stubbornness of the Williams family and that once teenagers, kids were like a living, breathing Jekyll and Hydes. Grace was a good kid, sweet, kind, caring - she also had a temper and tongue as sharp and cutting as Danny's and mixed with a seventeen year olds hormones, it wasn't all that pretty.
For ten minutes the car was filled with a thick, heavy atmosphere, Steve held in all his questions and Grace didn't drop her guard. It was the most uncomfortable ride of his life and it was with a heavy heart he pulled into the drive. Grace made it a chore unlocking her belt and getting out, slamming the door heavily behind her and Steve bit down a remark. She followed him up to the door and he let them in, doing a quick recon for Danny's whereabouts. He was in the living area, on his feet, arms folded and looking right past him, eyes boring into his daughter.
Steve stepped aside, ushered Grace in a little more and closed the door. The house seemed claustrophobic and Steve hovered cautiously, not sure he wanted to see what was coming. Surprisingly Grace turned on her heel and headed for the stairs without so much as a 'by your leave'.
"I'm going to my room," was all she said in explanation, foot on the first stair when Danny began.
"Take one more step I put you back in that car, take you back to HPD and you can spend the night in a cell," Danny said, a cool, calm threat that dared her to defy him. Steve knew the calm was all an act. Underneath, Danny was seething. "Get your ass in here and sit down. We need to talk."
"I've got nothing to say," Grace snapped back, looking over at him, but she didn't move any further up the steps.
"I'm sure you don't," Danny replied dryly. "In here! Now!"
They stared at each other for a long, drawn out minute and Steve rocked on his feet at the awkwardness of the situation. Finally, Grace conceded, turning around with a huff and stomping over to the easy chair where she flung herself down, head lowered, arms folded, ignoring her father.
"Well?" She asked petulantly and Steve gave Danny a surprised look. He wasn't sure he wanted to see this battle of personalities.
"Well?" Danny repeated, raising his eyebrows, looking up over to Steve with slight amusement, as if the entire situation were just some nightmare they were sleeping through. "i'Well?'/i she asks me. I get a phone call from HPD telling me my daughter just got picked up with a bunch of friends on a DUI and she asks me i'well?'/i - like I shouldn't have a problem with that."
Steve sighed silently, glanced at the stairs and considered his own retreat. He was mad about it himself, but he knew he needed to let Danny lead on this one. Good cop, bad cop never felt so right. He gave a small shrug and drifted closer to the scene, settling on the arm of the couch, looking at Grace.
She still sat, arms folded, seething, but he could see it was as much an act as Danny's calmness.
"Nothing happened," she pointed out weakly.
i'Wrong move,'/i Steve thought. i'Best keep your mouth shut and let Danny do the talking kiddo.'/i
"Nothing happened," Danny parroted, glaring at her in wonder before raising his eyes upwards like the heavens could give him answers. "iNothing happened/i - for fuck sake Grace!"
And there it was, a burst of anger, Danny's tightly bound reign on his temper starting to show cracks. He rarely cursed in front of her like that, unless it was moments like these. Even Grace looked up at him cautiously. Steve knew she understood well enough the gravity of the situation, that under the shadow of pretending to not care and not be bothered, she was shaken up and worried about the consequences.
"What the hell do you mean i'nothing happened'/i - you're seventeen years old for god's sake. What the hell are you and your friends doing drinking, never mind getting into a car and driving around. Nothing iserious/i happened, luckily for you - and that's because HPD picked up you up before it did. How could you be so - so - stupid?" Danny was in full pent up mode now, swimming in emotions, anger, concern, relief, confusion, frustration. His arms flailed and he paced the floor, back and forth towards where she was sitting.
"It was only a couple of drinks," Grace offered weakly in defense, rolling her eyes like his reaction wasn't warranted. "It was a party dad."
"Don't even," Danny said, raising a finger at her. "Don't even think about using that as an excuse. Okay, I get it, you're seventeen and yeah, the argument is 'wasn't I doing the same thing at your age?' Maybe I was, but I never stupid enough to get in a car after a drink, never have been, never will be."
"How else was I supposed to get home?" Grace asked, sinking into her chair as she said it, knowing it was the stupidest thing she could possibly say.
"Here's an idea, you pick up a phone and call us," Danny explained in exasperation. "That so hard? Oh but wait, of course, we'd then know you'd been drinking - so there's the dilemma. I mean, why risk getting a grilling for drinking, when you can get into a car with your friends and hope to make it home safe without a fucking accident. I mean, you make it home without killing yourselves or somebody else, all is well right? You know I know we all have our moments, but this, this is the stupidest thing you've ever, ever done bar none young lady."
"God, I get it," Grace said, rolling her eyes and looking up at him. "I'm sorry okay. It won't happen again."
"Damn right it won't," Danny nodded. "You're grounded indefinitely, minimum allowance and working extra shifts at Kamekona's to keep yourself out of trouble."
"But this is the camping weekend -," Grace started but Danny shut her up again, drawing closer.
"Don't even," Danny shook his head. "You aren't going. Only place you'll be is here at home or at the shack."
"This is so unfair," Grace yelled back, pushing up out of the chair and squaring up to him.
Steve leaned back, watching, waiting.
"Fair - you want fair?" Danny said, putting a hand on her arm as she turned to storm off. He pulled her back round to face him, drawing closer, cool and calm again. "What would be fair punishment for this Grace? Do you even understand how serious this could have been? I mean honestly, do you?"
Grace pulled out of his hold, gave him a look and turned away, heading for the stairs and taking them two at a time in long strides without another word. Steve watched her go, listened to the slam of the bedroom door and looked at Danny. Danny's shoulders slumped in defeat and he cast weary eyes back to him.
"I don't even-," Danny began with a shrug.
"She's shocked, upset and yeah, she gets it Danny," Steve assured him, standing and going to him, pulling him into his arms. "She just doesn't want to admit she gets it."
"She could have fucking died Steve," Danny said against his chest. "They all could have."
"Yeah, I know, worst case scenario," Steve said, having thought the same himself. In their line of work, they'd seen plenty of deaths by DUI, such a waste of life for a stupid act. "Look I saw her at the lock up - she looked haunted Danny. The whole act is a cover up for that; I think she understands what could have happened. And she's embarrassed to have been in there. They all were."
"I gotta call Rachel," Danny sighed reluctantly, giving him a squeeze. "Let her know she's home safe."
He pulled away, looking exhausted and got out his cell, moving towards the windows as he called Rachel. Steve glanced around and upwards, wondering how long it would take for the atmosphere to ease. As Danny got into a deep conversation with Rachel and what punishment best fit the crime, Steve wandered the rooms, feeling he needed to do something but unsure what he could do to help. Despite himself he made his way slowly upstairs and along the hallway to the end room, sucking in a deep breath for any angry onslaught and tapping gently on the door. No reply came, so he tapped again and opened it carefully. The light was on and pushing further he looked inside, seeing Grace on the bed, lying curled on her side.
He and Danny had always been respectful of her personal space and he would usually always wait for an invitation, but seeing as silence was all that greeted him, he stepped in, leaving the door ajar.
"Grace," he said quietly.
"Leave me alone," she said unmoving. But her voice wavered and he knew she'd been crying.
"You okay?" he continued, ignoring the dismissal.
"I'm fine Steve, just leave me be," she replied and that stung a little. She hadn't called him Steve since she was thirteen.
"Look I know why you're angry," Steve pointed out to her. "And I know it isn't anger against me or your dad but at yourself for what happened. What happened tonight, as Danny said, it was stupid, stupid and reckless. We don't expect you to be perfect, but we do expect you to be responsible and you let us down badly. Maybe we expect too much, I don't think so. I think you're smarter than this and I know you understand the gravity of the situation. How serious it could have been."
"Nobody got hurt," Grace argued again, but it was a weak argument under the circumstances.
"No, nobody got hurt," Steve agreed with a nod. He sat on the edge of the bed with a sigh. "Last week they did. Three guys, a twenty one year old and two nineteen year olds, head on collision with a wall. The guy in the passenger seat was so mangled; they had to ID him with his dental records. Blood alcohol content for all of them was off the scale."
"I had two drinks," Grace said, turning over onto her back. "That's all. I wasn't even driving."
"That's not the point," Steve shook his head at her. "Look, Danny said it, we, everyone, knows what it's like to be seventeen okay. We don't expect you to be a saint, because nobody is at that age. If we went around pretending kids your age didn't drink or experiment then we'd all be stupid. The rules are there for a reason and yeah, you break them, because you're growing up and trying to figure things out for yourself. But there's a difference between 'experimenting' and being so ridiculously stupid as to getting into a car with a driver who's had something to drink as well. We just don't understand how you could have been so reckless."
"I didn't think okay," Grace sighed, sitting up. "I said I was sorry."
"Didn't sound much like you meant it," Steve shrugged. "That was quite a clash downstairs. Your dad's pretty shook up about this and you can understand why."
"He's just embarrassed because his daughter got put in the lock up," Grace pouted sullenly. "Couldn't even come get me himself from the station."
"Wow," Steve said, raising his eyebrows and shaking his head at her in disappointment. "You really have that low an opinion of him? He didn't come down to get you because I insisted I come get you myself. He was so upset, so worried about what could have happened I couldn't trust him to drive. I figured the time it would take me to get to HPD, get the paperwork sorted and you home would let him cool off a little and calm his nerves. He couldn't give a fuck what HPD think - but he's thinking maybe, instead of the police station, maybe he'd of had to go to the hospital to your bedside. Or maybe, just maybe, he'd of had to go down to the coroner's office and ID you lain out on a table under a sheet. So you get angry and upset at him all you want Grace, but think about what's going on in his head right now - try imagining what both of us were thinking when we got the call, the relief that you were just at the station. Then maybe drop the attitude and apologize properly to him - to both of us - for what happened. It'll be the least you can do to start fixing things."
Steve stood up as she looked away again, tears springing up in her eyes and lips curling into a grimace. Part of him wanted to hold her, but he also knew she needed to think about her actions and how everything could have gone horribly wrong. He crossed the room to the door and widened it a little more before turning back to her.
"It's been a long night already," he said softly. "Go to bed and get some sleep. We'll talk in the morning."
Before he could turn to walk out the door Danny strode by, phone at his ear - "Yeah, yeah I know Rachel, here, she's here-" - he held out the phone to Grace and said gruffly, "It's your mom."
Grace took the phone and Danny hovered by the bed before retreating to stand by Steve, giving him a quizzical look as to his presence, wondering what they'd been talking about.
"I'm fine mom," Grace said as she spoke to Rachel. "No, no - yeah look I know okay, Dad already read me the riot act - mom I'm fine okay, nobody got hurt. Yes I know - I'm sorry - mom, mom don't cry -."
Grace started choking on her own tears when Rachel obviously started crying and Steve felt Danny sag beside him, putting a hand on his shoulder in support.
"Dad? Hi, yeah - is she okay?" Grace continued with a wavering voice, Stan obviously taking over the conversation. "Tell her I'm sorry. - Yeah I know that. Okay I'll speak to you tomorrow. Bye."
With an exhausted sigh Grace put her hand down, dropping the phone to the covers of the bed. She looked over to them, face breaking into a frown before she burst into tears, turning away and curling down into the pillows, hugging them to her to bury her face into them so they could swallow her sobs. Steve felt Danny sigh, leaning into him a moment like he was gathering his strength before he went to the bed, sat down and on it, putting a hand on her shoulder as she cried it out. Steve left them for a moment, going to the bathroom for a glass of water and returning to the scene. Danny was leaning over her shoulder now, stroking blonde wispy hair out of her face where it had stuck to her cheeks from her tears.
"Hey, come on now kiddo," Danny soothed gently. "Calm it."
Steve went to them, handing the glass to Danny who looked at him with a grateful smile. "Thanks," he said before turning to Grace. "Here, come on, sit up."
Grace pushed up and around to face him, taking the glass and having a sip as she tried to even her shaky breaths. He took it back of her and set it on the bedside cabinet before she put her arms around his neck and pulled herself close. "I am sorry Danno."
"I know," Danny said with a small nod, hugging her back. "It was stupid and reckless; you've let a lot of people down. But I'm just relieved you're okay. Could have been much worse Grace, much much worse."
"Yeah I know," Grace agreed in a small voice.
"Look it's been a long night for all of us," Danny said, turning his head to press a kiss to her cheek. "Get some sleep okay. We'll talk it over properly tomorrow."
"Okay," she said, pulling back and looking at him with a worried frown.
"Hey," Danny said, brushing a hand over her cheek. "I love you okay?"
She gave a small nod and pressed her lips together, close to crying again. Danny kissed her again before standing up and Steve followed him out, pulling the door closed behind him.
"We should crash too," Danny said, heading towards their bedroom. Steve looked at his watch, not surprised to see it was well into the early hours of morning.
Steve was awake as soon as the sun light began peeking in through the blinds. He'd had a restless night, his mind worrying over the Grace situation and Danny had tossed and turned also. But Danny slept now, dead to the world and Steve left him to sleep, pulling on pants and a t-shirt, making his way silently through the house. He turned the coffee maker on and grabbed a juice from the fridge, opening the back door to let in the fresh air. It was the middle of summer and there were already people out on the water catching the early waves.
"Morning," Grace said from behind him and he turned, not surprised to see her looking shattered. It was doubtful she'd slept better than he or Danny.
"Morning," Steve said to her with a smile. "Little early for you isn't it?"
Grace shrugged and sat down with a sigh. "Didn't sleep very well."
"You want a coffee?" Steve asked. "I just turned it on."
"Yeah, please," Grace nodded with a small yawn, leaning on the table with an elbow, chin propped up with her upturned hand.
"How you feeling today?" Steve asked, setting out a cup and spooning in some sugar, waiting for the jug to fill.
"Okay I guess," Grace admitted.
"No hangover?" Steve asked turning and giving her a wry look.
Grace grimaced and shook her head. "No. I didn't get drunk out of my skull dad. I told you, I only had two - the stuff was watered down any way."
"Still two too many," Steve pointed out lightly.
"Yeah I know," Grace admitted quietly. "Stupid huh? The daughter of cops caught drinking with her friends."
"You're not the first and you won't be the last," Steve assured her, pouring out a coffee and setting it down before her. He slid into the seat opposite and they looked at each other for a long time. Grace bit down on her lower lip, a sign of her worrying Steve had learned, before she picked up the cup and took a drink.
"Are we going to be charged with anything?" Grace asked suddenly.
Steve looked at her and gave a small nod. "You'll get a slap on the wrists, a fine and community service. I think we'll get it settled quickly, out of court and you're lucky it won't go on any record. You're getting off pretty lightly Grace. I didn't just leave Danny at home to calm down last night - while I was at the station he was busy making calls to try and keep this as painless as possible. He's called in a few favors. He wants you to learn your lesson, all of you, but he doesn't want it to affect your future in any way either. It's a onetime only deal though - this ever happens again, anything at all, no strings, no favors. You don't learn this way you'll learn the hard way. Don't make him regret making that decision."
"I won't," Grace said humbly. They fell silent for a few minutes, Grace chewing her lips or sipping from her mug. She set it down on the table, turning it in her fingers and glanced over to him. "Dad?"
"Yeah?" Steve replied.
"Thanks for coming to get me last night," Grace said gently.
Steve gave a nod and a smile, reaching over to put a hand over hers. "Just doing my job kiddo."
Grace smiled and ducked her head, blinking away tears and Steve squeezed her hand. "Hey, it's a nice morning. How about we hit the waves before breakfast?"
"Really?" Grace asked quickly, looking up with surprise.
"Yeah," Steve nodded. "Let Danny sleep a little longer."
"Okay," Grace agreed. They stood and she disappeared, cup in hand to change. Steve returned to his own bedroom, changing into board shorts, Danny still slept and Steve leaned over him, pressing a kiss to his forehead.
"St've?" Danny mumbled gently, stirring a little from the touch.
"Sleep a little longer Danny," Steve assured him, giving his cheek a stroke. "Grace and I are going surfing."
"She okay?" Danny asked, not opening his eyes, voice thick with sleep.
"Yeah, she's okay," Steve replied with a smile. "She'll be okay."
"'k," Danny replied.
Steve gave a small laugh of amusement and left him to sleep.
Out on the water they floated, waiting for the perfect wave, sitting on their boards soaking in the sun. Grace squinted under the brightness, looking over at the house.
"You telling Chin and Kono what happened?" She asked, turning her head to look at Steve.
Steve gave a shrug. "I may not have to. Kind of hard to keep this kind of thing quiet. HPD is a hive for gossip."
Grace grimaced and looked back, a wave rolling underneath them, building momentum as it raced for shore. Another surfer from their left paddled for it and Grace sighed.
"Sorry," she said after a pause. "Not just for what happened, but the embarrassment it's probably causing, everyone talking, poking fun."
Steve shrugged again, moving closer to her. "I think we can deal with a few tongues wagging. You're okay, that's the main thing."
"Dads really upset about it isn't he?" Grace said, frowning and looking downcast. "The way he was talking last night, I think I got off lightly."
"You did," Steve agreed with a nod. "He was holding himself back. He was angry, he was upset and he was worried. But he was also relieved you were okay. You've put us through the wringer Grace, doing what you did. Makes us wonder what will happen next."
"You know I didn't do it out of some, I dunno, malicious intent," Grace pointed out, voice rising a little. "I didn't do it to purposefully hurt you both, or mom and Stan. It was a mistake, a stupid one yeah, and I get how bad it could have been. But I didn't do it intentionally dad."
"Yeah I know," Steve assured her. "Just, you're getting older Grace. You'll be eighteen soon, going to college. We just need some peace of mind you'll be taking care of yourself. This doesn't exactly help with that."
"I know," Grace sighed heavily. "I just, I don't know how to make it up to you guys. I can't keep saying sorry all of the time."
She looked sadly at him before another waved rolled under them. With a grimace she lay down on her board, tired of the conversation and began paddling after the wave, anything to focus on but her dads' disappointments in her. Steve watched her go, picking up speed before she rode the crest, tall, lithe body rising up to stand as she got her balance.
He knew it was something that wouldn't blow over easily. This was a situation that would stay with them for a long time. But he knew the sincerity of her apology, the honesty of her conviction. She just needed to learn that growing up meant taking on responsibility, for herself, for her own safety and it had been a stupid, careless moment of bad thinking. How he wished they were just dealing with her having been drinking.
It would have felt much lighter a load.