Title: We Look Like Pages From a Magazine
Author: _thelostcity/thelastcity
Fandom: H50
Genre: Het/Gen
Characters: Grace, Danny, Steve
Pairing: Steve/Grace, Danny/Rachel (offscreen), unrequited Steve/Danny
Categories: ANGST, future!fic, pining, unrequited love
Rating: PG-13 for language and a sexual reference
Warning: Major character death, more angst
Spoilers: vague references to 1x23/1x24
Disclaimer: These characters belong to FOX, CBS, Paramount, et al. No copyright infringement is intended.
Author's notes: Please, please, please read the warnings. This fic was inspired by Noxnoctisanima's We Are the Hollow Men (on AO3). Huge thanks to webbgirl for the superfast beta, and to onlyonechoice for answering my questions :) I cried pretty much through the entire writing of this story, and just thinking about writing it, and during every re-read, so... But webbgirl said it was readable, therefore I am unleashing it on the world. Title bastardized from Imperfectly, by Ani DiFranco.

Grace and Danny were standing on either side of Steve's hospital bed. The doctor had called Grace to tell her that her husband only had maybe a few hours left, so she called Danny. Steve was lucid, but tired; content to mostly just hold their hands and listen. About two hours after Danny arrived, though, Grace saw Steve tug on Danno's hand to get his attention.

"I love you," Steve whispered, looking up at him.

"What, babe? I think you turned the wrong way, Steve," Danny laughed.

This was it, Grace realized. Steve was dying and he knew it, and she realized that this was her chance. Both of their chances.

"Say it back, Danno."

"What?" Danno looked up at her sharply.

"Say it," she said.

"Gracie, what-," Danny started.

"Say it!" she pleaded. "Tell him you love him, Danno."

He seemed bewildered, but bent down to speak into Steve's ear. She relaxed her grip on Steve's hand, relieved that her father listened to her.

"I love you, babe. Danno loves you." He even kissed Steve's temple, which was just icing on the cake at this point.

She watched Steve smile, his beautiful, gorgeous smile, and then he sighed and was gone. Grace lifted her husband's hand to her mouth, kissed it, and then placed it gently back on the bed. As sad as she was, it was a huge weight off her shoulders to have been able to give Steve the one thing he wanted most in the world. It had been a big worry of hers, but as usual Steve set it up perfectly, if unintentionally. And it was so him for the dramatic, death-bed confession. She gave a watery laugh.

"Gracie-," Danny tried again, starting to tear up himself.

Grace took a breath, trying to control her tears. "He loved you. God, Danno, he loved you so much. I think he fell in love with you the day you met." She wiped her cheeks. "He loved you, and he was going to tell you, he was-." She had to stop for a second. "He was going to tell you, but you got back together with mom." Grace smiled helplessly at her father's frozen expression. "You got back together with mom, like, 12 hours before he was going to move you into the house and keep you there."

"But," he stopped and couldn't seem to find the words to continue, looking down at Steve's body.

"He loved me, too. Not as much as he loved you, but enough, he loved me enough." She chuckled, wiped her cheeks again, "I've been in love with him since the day we met, and I knew that he would never, ever, in a million years try to come between you and mom. So after years of being a girl with a crush, I decided to go for it. I invited him out and I told him, 'I want to buy you dinner,' and he just kind of stared at me, so I said, 'I love you, and I know I'm not Danno but I want to try to make you happy anyway.'

"It took some convincing, but eventually he said yes." And if sometimes he shouted 'Danno' instead of 'Gracie' when she fucked him with a dildo, well, she was okay with it. "And I got 15 years and three beautiful children with the man I love."

"You can't have been happy, though, Monkey. Why would you do that?" His voice shook and his eyes were watery.

"We were happy, Danno," she reached across the bed for her father's hand, "We were. He would have been happier with you, but that doesn't mean he wasn't happy with me. I knew that when I asked him to marry me. I've always known he was in love with you. I also knew that you were it for him, he wasn't going to try with anyone else. I was the closest he could get, and he would never have even considered me, but when I asked him he took it."

"Gracie," Danny's tears started falling then.

"I'm not telling you this because I'm angry, Danno, or to make you feel bad. We fought about it sometimes, though," she looked down at Steve fondly, tearing up again, "And he didn't want you to know, but." She had to pause and blink back tears again. "But he got up the courage to tell you, stupid dramatic death-bed confession though it was," they shared a smile, "So I thought you deserved to know. And you made him so happy," her voice cracked, "So happy, when you said it back."

"Baby," he stepped around to her side of the bed and wrapped her up.

"I just," Grace buried her face into her father's shoulder, "Thank you."