They're all at Steve's place, the whole gang, and Steve is feeling lighter than he has in a long time.
The team have all had a lot hanging over their heads recently, especially with Gabriel still on the run and the hell they went through last week with Lou.
The Chicago man is there with his family, and they are all recovering from their ordeal while the ohana looks after them. Renee is chatting with Abby and Lou has begun his pizza argument with Danny again, who is flailing his arms and raising his voice over the tragedy, in his opinion, that is deep dish pizza pie.
That makes Steve smile. He missed his partner while he was away in Vegas with Grace and the other cheerleaders, and it warmed his heart when upon Danny's return and finding out what the Grovers had been through, the first thing he did was demand this cook out. Because Danny knows that every trauma is easily solved with his two favourite things: family and food.
They've all eaten, the night is winding down, and Grace comes to sit at Steve's side on the couch.
"Are you okay, Uncle Steve? You look sad..." She gives him those big, wide eyes, so young and yet using the intuition she's inherited from her father to discern that Steve is out of sorts.
He's been feeling better today, but he knows everyone will be heading home soon, and he'll be left in his house alone again. The melancholy had started to creep back in, and she'd sensed that and come to help him, just like Danny always did.
"I'm fine Grace, thank you," he says, because she doesn't need to know about feelings she can't help him with, "Did you have fun in Vegas?"
She gives him a look to say she knows he's not fine, but she lets him change the subject regardless because that's maybe what he needs.
"Yeah, it was great. Danno and the other parents did a good job looking after us, and we had loads of fun even though we didn't win the competition... Danno didn't agree with the judges' scoring..."
Steve chuckles, imagining the opinionated Jersey detective on the side lines screaming abuse at the judging panel. It probably wasn't far off the truth.
"I'm glad you had a good time, Gracie," he puts his arm around her and hugs her close, "And I bet your dad loved hanging our with you and your friends."
He remembers his conversation with Lou in the diner last week, joking about poor Danny having to shepherd a flock of Beliebers around Las Vegas and probably having multiple aneurysms over it, and smiles as he watches his best friend lecture the ex-SWAT Captain over pizza toppings. Their argument is good-natured, and the normality is exactly what Lou needs right now. Both men are grinning from ear to ear when Danny's blue eyes flick to meet his briefly, before looking back to Lou.
"He really enjoyed it actually," Grace laughs, "I was surprised!"
Steve turns to raise an eyebrow at the teenager. "Seriously?"
Danny is suddenly at their side. "We gotta go, Monkey, I need to get you home to your mom." He looks at Steve and smiles, "Great party, buddy. Thanks."
Steve stands and hugs him. "No worries, Danno. Thank you for suggesting it. Have a good night."
Then he bends to cuddle Grace while her dad says goodbye to everyone else. "I'll see you soon, Grace Face."
She grins at him and tucks her phone back in her pocket. "I've just emailed you something that I think will cheer you up... watch it later when everyone's gone."
He is intrigued, but nods and waves them both off.
Steve manages to put that out of his mind until later on when the rest of the team have gone and he is alone again, and Grace's words come back to him. 'Something that I think will cheer you up.'
He settles back into the pillows on his bed after changing into some sweatpants to sleep in, and opens his email to see that she has sent him a video. It's probably of cats or dogs or monkeys or some other animal doing something funny, so he opens it because that stuff is always at least mildly entertaining, and it's so sweet of her to be concerned.
He is surprised to find it's none of the above.
The video is obviously recorded off Grace's phone, and it's pointed out of a car window as they're moving. There is ambient music in the background, some tween pop star warbling away, and the sounds of some overly-hyper teenage girls squealing reverberates around the vehicle. The phone is fumbled, and the scene swings around to reveal Grace's smiling face as she looks directly at the camera, and then pans around the car to show her in the front passenger seat, three other girls her age in the back seat in their cheerleading uniforms waving pompoms, and finally Danny at the wheel of what appears to be their hire car. Las Vegas street signs fly past the window, and Steve realises this is from last week.
Documentary-style, Grace starts speaking.
"So dad, are you enjoying listening to Taylor Swift?" She giggles behind the lens.
Danny twists his mouth and scrunches his nose indignantly, flicking his eyes to his daughter and then back to the road while he's driving. It doesn't look like he's noticed she is recording. "I most certainly am not," he grumbles.
"Why not, Mr Williams?" one of the cheerleaders in the back laughs. They all know his patience is probably being tested with their choice in music, and are obviously loving it.
"Because, Kayla, it's not real music," Danny complains.
"Of course it's real music!" another girl chimes in, "She's singing, there's a tune, it's music!"
Steve feels for the guy, he really does. It must have been hell. But his partner is holding his own against the argument the girls are putting up.
"It's not the decent stuff, though," the blonde man counters.
"Alright then, dad," Grace says out of view, "What's real music then?"
Danny grins at her, still not spotting the camera, and raises a finger. "I am so glad you asked, sweetie."
He jabs the radio and Taylor Swift's ballads are immediately cut off, drawing a chorus of complaints in high-pitched voices from the rear of the vehicle.
"Mr Williams!"
"Nooo Taylorrrr!"
"Whyyyy?"
Danny just laughs, concentrating on the road, but glancing down to skip to a CD he's obviously preloaded into the car. "Now this, girls, this is real music!"
The melodic strumming of an acoustic guitar fill the air, immediately recognisable to any Queen fan, and Danny begins singing along when the words start, getting louder when the cheerleaders start to whine. His voice is actually pretty good, and Steve can hear the smile in it even when the camera pans around to the girls in the back who are over-dramatically flapping about and grouching about the loss of their favourite performer.
"This thing called love, I just can't handle it. This thing called love, I must get round to it. I ain't ready! Crazy little thing called love," Danny sings, tapping the wheel to the beat in between lines.
Grace jumps in as his backing singer, obviously having heard the song before, and repeating the next couple of lines in the same tune.
"This thing," Danny continues, "Called love. It cries."
"Like a baby!" Grace sings.
"In a cradle all night! It swings," the detective laughs when his daughter does the 'woo ooh!' bits, "It jives. Shakes all over like a jelly fish, I kinda like it!"
Grace cackles at her dad's happy mood as he really gets into the song.
"Crazy little thing called love!" He taps the wheel again. "There goes my baby!"
At this point the girls in the back start loudly singing 'Baby baby baby, ooh!' which is definitely not Queen, and Steve recognises it as that Bieber kid's song, so he cringes. The girls are cut off, however, but Danny's jovial shouting.
"No no no! …how to rock 'n' roll," he steals the song back and throws inflection into the words, "She drives me cray-ay-zee! She gives me hot and cold fever, leaves me in a cool, cool sweat."
"Bah bah bah, bah bah bah," Grace sings to the rhythm, "Dah dah dah, da-da-duh-da-da-da-dah!"
Her dad gives her a playful wink. "I gotta be cool, relax, get hip, get on my tracks. Take a back seat," he hooks a thumb back towards the girls, who are giggling and have at the very least have stopped complaining, "Hitchhike," he gives Grace the thumbs up, before shifting gears on the car, "Take a long ride on my motorbike, until I'm ready!"
Gracie joins him on the next line. "Crazy little thing called love!"
The phone is suddenly dropped into the teenager's lap and tilted up towards her as she begins to play air guitar, and Steve is filled with pride at that little girl rocking out with her daddy. The cheerleaders in the background are joining in, singing along with vocal impressions of Brian May's electric guitar and dancing about.
"And we all know who you love, huh Danno?" Grace teases Danny, and Steve creases his brow at his friend's response.
"Shush, you," he threatens mischievously, out of frame.
The teenager looks directly at the camera and winks, and Steve wonders if that was aimed at him somehow. It couldn't be, right?
The instrumental part comes to an end, and Grace grabs her phone to direct it back towards Danny, who picks up the singing again, still concentrating on driving them to their destination.
"I gotta be cool, relax, get hip, get on my tracks," he grins and glances up to the rear view mirror when the teens in the back actually participate this time, "Take a back seat, hitchhike, and take a long ride on my motorbike until I'm ready!"
"Hey Freddie!" Grace chimes in.
Everyone else in the car practically shouts the next line. "Crazy little thing called love!"
Now the cheerleaders are singing along, Danny trails off a little, singing the odd line here and there as he pulls into a parking lot somewhere and searches for a space.
"This thing called love, I just can't handle it. This thing called love, I must get round to it. I ain't ready! Crazy little thing called love!"
The song repeats the last few lines and ramps down, and the girls in the back are laughing amongst themselves, having a great time.
Danny looks over lovingly at his daughter before cutting the engine and looking over his shoulder.
"We're here, ladies. Hotel California…"
Kayla gives him an odd look. "We're in Vegas, Mr Williams…"
The blonde rolls his eyes and sighs when she doesn't get the classic musical reference to the Eagles track. "I'm so old…" He turns to Grace and gives her a mock glare, "And thanks for reminding me I need to call Steve later…"
The brunette frowns at his phone. How had that reminded Danny to call him? Could it really be that Steve was the person Grace was referring to with 'And we all know who you love, Danno'? Could Danny really think of him that way? They said I love you all the time, maybe that's what she had meant.
Danny finally looks down towards the camera in his daughter's hands.
"You're not recording this, are you?" he asks suspiciously.
Grace's innocent voice comes from out of shot as she fumbles the phone again, turning it away. "No…"
And that's where the recording ends.
Steve snorts, because that was probably the funniest thing he's seen in a while. And god, Danny; he'd looked so happy and free, singing along with a bunch of kids more than half his age, rocking out with his daughter and her friends, introducing them to one of the real classics of the previous generation. And they'd loved it, caught his enthusiasm and went with it.
Danny was a fantastic father. It was one of the things Steve really loved in his partner, and Grace obviously adored him, as did her friends. He just knew how to interact with kids, and his smile was infectious.
The SEAL finds himself hitting the play button again on the screen, his heart lifting slightly when the camera is pointed at the blonde man for the first time again and hearing him complain about the music. It's a familiar sight for him, that sideways view of Danny in the car, him moaning about something while Steve lets himself revel in just being in close proximity to the man and his innate energy.
He smiles broadly as it gets to the bit where the girls are complaining and the Queen track is just beginning, and then there's Danny singing again, and this time he's going to listen hard to Grace's comments and Danny's response, because if it's true, if it could be what he thinks it could be… that would be just wonderful.
Steve could listen to that voice forever, watch that grin and those sparkling eyes. He glances up at the guitar hanging on his bedroom wall – the one his best friend bought for him – and considers asking Danny if he wants to come over for a jam session, because they need some time together again, just the two of them. And maybe, with them both in a good mood from the singing, he would find out what Grace's hint was all about…