Title: Consequences
Author: thewhiterose3
Pairing: none at present, but I may not be able to help myself.
Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be. Blah blah woof woof.
Rating: T for language
A/N: This is my attempt at fixing the finale. Because it HAD to be fixed. Our boys, our ohana - they're so damn broken, they need us.
The first thing Danny does when he arrives at the Governor's mansion is get to be a first hand witness to Chin with a lieutenant's badge leading a ninja-fied hand-cuffed Steve into the back of a police car. It jars his mind, stops it dead. There is so much, so much not right with that picture that he can't even begin to fix it, hell describe it. Its Steve's face that staves off the paralysis. His fucking emotive face that right now is a mixture of confusion and fear and desperation. Ninja, SuperSEAL, Steve is not supposed to look like that. And then he's off – questioning, challenging, berating Chin because he just can't understand how his whole entire life went so fucking upside down so fucking fast.
After Chin fails to rise to the bait, doesn't even let him in the car with them, leaves him at the scene still heaving and sputtering and just fucking lost, his brain decides to engage again. No governor, no Steve, no 5-0. Process. Kono's in custody, Steve's in custody, Chin's back on HPD with authority. Engage brain, engage. Put the pieces together, make a plan. Plan. Plane. Shit, Rachel. Okay, so Rachel, Grace, Rachel's pregnant, on a plane to Newark. He can do this. He can make it all work out, just gotta make a few calls.
The first call is to his mother. He and Rachel had told Grace that the reason she was packing so robustly and so quickly was for a surprise trip to see Danny's side of the family, to spend the summer with them. They didn't want to spring too much on her at one time. No more Stan, new baby, a family again, too much for an eight year old at one time. Hell, it was too much for him. He asked his mother to pick them up at the airport, told her what they'd told Grace, implied that Rachel's marriage to Stan was on the rocks, asked her not to bring it up, give her a reprieve. Told her that Steve and Kono where in trouble, set up, and he couldn't just leave them like that. The Williamses understood loyalty, partners, second and third families that didn't involve blood. She got it. Told him to take care of Steven and Kono and Chin. Told him she's elated to see little Gracie, would take care of everything. Started making summer plans right there over the phone when Danny had to remind her Mah, crisis on my hands, love you, thank you, love you, but I gotta go.
The second call was to his sister Ann, thankfully he got her voicemail, telling her that Rachel and Grace were coming to visit, that he was tied up with a crisis at work, to rescue Rachel from their mother's incessant planning sometime soon before one of them went crazy. Rachel had always liked Annie best of all his vast relations. His next call was to Rachel, who was still in flight. He left a lengthy voicemail - apologizing, telling her the bare minimum about Steve and Kono and the governor. Telling her about his mom and sister and everything he'd set up. Asking her not to give up on him just because the shit hit the fan and he couldn't make it this time. Asking her to give him time to put the people who depended on him back together before he joined them, before they made anymore decisions. Asking her to let the story they told Grace to be the truth for just awhile, just a little while until they could figure it all out together.
Crisis numero uno averted, well postponed anyway. Now, on to crises two through eighty-five. One step at a time. Step one, text Chin. I am truly, deeply sorry. I, just, Steve. How can I help? Danny hits send, knows that wasn't coherent, knows it isn't anywhere in the vicinity of enough to make up for the filth he spewed at a member of his ohana, turns the camaro toward HPD. He gets a reply almost immediately, pulls off to the side to read it. Understand, brah. Come to HPD, you've already been assigned to my team.
Danny is simultaneously so deeply relieved and overcome with guilt that all he can do is press his head more deeply into the steering wheel for a moment. Chin has it all together. Is fixing it as they speak. Has made it so a member of their team is in charge, has legitimate cause to investigate, is working the system. For all his talk, Danny is not the one who reacted inside the box, inside his beloved rules, nope, he tried to manhandle Steve out of custody, take jurisdiction like he had the divine right to do so. You're a cop, be a cop, Daniel. You've got this. You can do this. Steve's always been the mid-crisis guy. The one to jump into, start, the firefight and when the smoke cleared and the building collapsed, he'd be right there with that stupid grin on his face, that puppy dog look that says, look, did you see? Did you see what I did? Isn't it awesome? Aren't I awesome? And then its Danny's turn, Danny's turn to pick up the pieces, deal with the aftermath, verbosely detail the consequences that Steve still didn't understand his actions had.
So now, now its time for Danny to do his thing. The fucking dust has settled and Steve is being charged with murder, Kono is being charged with grand larceny. Chin has given them the power, the right to fix this within the system. They can do this. They are team, they are ohana. They will prevail. Danny straightens up, starts the camaro, heads to the nearest coffee shop, gets provisions for Chin and himself. It's going to be a long week and its time, time for Danny to do what he does best.