First of all, welcome to my new story. This story idea has been roaming in my head for awhile and I'm interested to see where it goes.
I have two important things to say before you continue: 1) Although I've seen pretty much all the Hawaii Five-0 episodes (I am currently on Season 6), I don't feel like I am a total expert when it comes to the show and the character's histories. I feel like I know enough, though. If you do happen to stumble upon some kind of mistake, please kindly tell me! 2) Since this is a cop show, you may be used to hearing lots of different terms that are very specific to the cop field, including acronyms and whatnot. I feel like researching won't be enough and I'm afraid I'll make silly mistakes, so when it comes to those police moments (interrogations, interviews, and police chat in general), I may sound a little vague, but I'll try not to.
Also, I'm not planning on following this story through a specific season.
Anyway, I think that this is it for now. Onto the story!
"You will not believe what Grace asked me to do this morning just before she went to school," Danny started, looking over at Steve and noticing his rather concentrated face on the road ahead.
"Wait, let me guess." Steve held one hand up, stopping his partner from continuing. "She finally told you to remove that ridiculous tie of yours?" A playful smirk tugged at Steve's lips once he saw Danny's face, clearly offended.
"One, my ties are not ridiculous, okay?" Danny began. "And two, no, that's not what she asked. Actually, it was worse."
Danny fidgeted slightly, clearly feeling a little uncomfortable. Anything that involved Grace always turned Danny into some huge mommy bear who would walk through tornados to do everything possible to protect its cubs from danger. At times, it was rather humorous for Steve, and others, a little annoying. However, Steve was genuinely curious to know what had happened earlier that morning. After a curt silence, Steve finally said, "Well? What was it?"
Clasping his hands together, the blonde cop finally spoke up. "Well, Grace wanted me to go shopping with her," he explained rather slowly, adding in a few hand gestures, as per usual.
"And? She's a girl, it's what girls do, Danny, it's perfectly normal," Steve reassured, his brows furrowed together.
"She wanted to buy a birthday present for her 'friend'," the Jersey cop added a hint of sarcasm to the word 'friend', utilizing air quotes to further prove his point.
By now, Steve was already picturing what was bothering Danny, but he decided to stay quiet a little longer and prod him more. "Still sounds normal to me."
"Yeah, well, me too, until I found out the friend she was talking about doesn't wear cute skirts or play with barbies! And he's a year older than her. What is she doing speaking to the older kids? She wants me to buy a present for her friend Joshua! Or whatever it was." Danny huffed.
Steve tried his best to hold in the smirk.
"What, you think this is funny, huh, Steve?" Danny retorted, a little annoyed.
"No, I just think you've got the 'overprotective-dad-sickness' all over again."
"Over — Overprotective-dad-sickness?" Danny repeated, sounding almost aloof. "This Joshua clearly wants to get into her pants — which by the way, I'm not gonna' let happen — and she talks about him like... like he's..."
"Look, Danno, I don't think that he wants to get into her pants. It's perfectly normal for her to talk to boys. She's going to get married one day, have kids, have a family. Thought about that?" Steve tried to lighten up the situation, hoping his partner could understand that he was over reacting.
"Please, don't say that last part again." Danny scrunched his face up.
Steve smiled. "Right, sorry."
"You're apology is noted but your acceptance is pending."
The duo eventually reached Five-0 headquarters, not before a bus surrounded by a tonne of kids caught both their attention as they drove by. The bright yellow school bus indicated it was some sort of school trip. The little minion-looking kids stared in awe at the golden statue proudly standing in front of the building of their headquarters, many mimicking its eternal stance. The King Kamehameha was truly quite magnificent when one took a moment to glance at it. Both Steve and Danny watched, looking quite mesmerized.
"So, that's Joshua..." Danny trailed off.
"Joshua? What, he's in that group of kids over there?" Steve quizzed, making the car come to a halt nearby. As the pair climbed out, not once did Danny let his gaze wander off from the group.
"Yeah, I think so," he replied, sounding distant as he over-analyzed the huddled group.
"How are you so sure?"
Danny sighed gently, turning to face his partner. "She showed me his, um... Facepage."
"I think you mean Facebook."
"Yeah, okay, Mister Know It All!"
Danny eventually pointed out the tall looking boy from the crowd of kids. From what Steve could tell, he seemed normal, just like any other. Steve also noticed the deadly look his partner was giving the boy. He knew more than anyone else that Danny wanted to protect Grace, especially when it came to boys. The harsh reality was, Grace was growing up, and fast. She was bound to become interested in boys and begin speaking with them. Danny just had to learn how to accept that. Steve's job at the moment, though, was to make sure Danny wouldn't go up to the oblivious kid and scare the life out of him.
Steve placed a friendly hand on Danny's shoulder as they watched the kids be ushered back into the yellow school bus by a young woman. "What did Grace tell you about him?"
Stuffing his hands into his trouser pockets, Danny replied nonchalantly, "Not much, other than he's a 'friend' and that his birthday was tomorrow and she wanted to give him something."
"I can go shopping with her if you want," Steve suggested. "That way, you won't get a heart attack."
"Oh, no, no," Danny pressed as they walked into their team's headquarters. "No need for that, 'Uncle Steve'."
Steve shook his head in amusement at his partner's antics. After all, there really was no changing Danny when it came to Grace.
As they walked into the bullpen, Kono was already present skimming through some folders. Chin was nowhere to be seen, yet. Kono glanced up at them as they entered, noticing Steve's smirk and Danny's rather sour, non-amused expression.
"What's up with you guys?" Kono asked, a smirk also tugging on her lips.
Steve answered with a "Nothing" while Danny answered with an "Everything".
Kono just laughed and continued to skim through the folders she was looking at.
"Hey, Miss Francis," the burly bus driver called from the front, making her lose count and forget what number she was on. Gently huffing and pushing her clipboard aside, she turned toward him and smiled a rather tight smile, indicating that he continue. "Where to now?"
She thought for a moment, glancing out the window to look at the twenty or so kids laughing and running around in joy as they peered up at the golden statue. "Well, we're going to do a quick stop. We're off to the Kahanamoku Beach, next to the Hilton hotel."
He nodded, offering her a curt nod before starting the engine up. It seemed to have caught the attention of all the kids, because they began to quieten down. Monica quickly scurried out of the bus and stood in front of the group.
"Right!" she called out. "I want all of you to line up at the bus door and walk in one by one while I do another re-count. Please, no pushing or shouting so we can get to the Kahanamoku beach as quick as possible!"
She smiled as the kids surrounding her jumped in excitement, rushing to get into the bus. She struggled to keep that smile once they began pushing past one another. Lovely. She tried counting the number of kids there were and it was proving quite difficult since they looked like ants huddled together. Once everybody was in, and once she had verified the number of kids was correct, she climbed in and took her seat right at the front next to one of the more quieter students.
Their school trip was going to take up the majority of their day, since they were going to visit a few more iconic locations around the island. The trip had been organized by the history teacher herself, so there was no need for a guide when it came to explaining the significance behind certain monuments. Their stop at the beach was going to allow the kids to calm down a bit and have fun without hearing Monica go on and on about a particular location or monument. She grinned at the thought.
"Counted the number of kids. They're all here," she told the bus driver, trying hard to speak over the loud racket in the vehicle. "How long you think you can get us there?" She pressed a finger against one ear, trying her best to block out the sound.
"Twenty minutes, tops. Hold on tight," he said, staring right into her. For some reason, she found it a little uncomfortable, but decided to ignore it once he started driving.