After Steve and Lori finished hugging, they said good-bye, and parted their ways.
After Steve got home, he headed straight for his living room. He took off his gun and badge, and set them on his slightly cluddered coffee table in front of his couch. He grabbed the TV remote and sat down on the couch. He turned his Tv on to a news show and sighed. He wasn't really paying any attention to the news because he zoned out thinking.

He thought about how Lori thought that they didn't trust her. He wondered why she thought that way. Of course, he understood that she was introduced to the team at a bad time. Kono was being investigated, and Jenna was a mole yet to be discovered. And then he went away to help Jenna, and got kidnapped. He was hurt physically and emotionally, and he needed a hug. So he was glad when Lori hugged him. He was a little shocked that she did though. He didn't exspect that from her, so he was caught off gaurd. He couldn't believe she thought she shouldn't hug them. Sure there was still more trust that needed to be built, but she was well on her way to becoming part of the family.

He was pulled away from his thoughts by a hard knock on his door.

"Steven! I know you're in there!" Danny yelled through the door and knocked again.

Steve thought he must've been pretty deep into thought because Danny's comotion hadn't even made him blink. He got up from the couch and walked over to the door and opened the door.

"Hey." Steve said.

"What wre you doing in there? I've been standing here for a bit." Danny said.

"Judging by the dent in my door, you were doing more then standing." Steve smiled as her looked down and saw Grace standing there.

"Hey, Grace!" Steve smiled as he bent down to hug her.

"Hi, uncle Steve!" she said as she hugged him back.

"I was afraid Danno was about to knock down the door." Grace whispeared quietly into Steve's ear.

"He probably would've if I didn't come when I did." STeve said smiling up at Danny.

"I probably would've what?" Danny asked.

"Broke down uncle Steve's door." Grace said and looked up at her dad.

"Well, at least I didn't blow it up with a grenade. Or knock it down with a motercycle." Danny said looking at Steve.

"Have you done that before, Daddy?" Grace asked.

"No, but your uncle Steve has." Danny said looking at Steve.

"Really?" Grace said looking back at Steve.

"Well." Steve said as he rose back to his normal hieght. "I might've."

Grace's eyes widened and she smiled.

"Well, can we come in, Steven?" Danny asked.

"Of course, Daniel." Steve motioned them inside his home.

They made their way to Steve's living room, and the news was still on.
"Is this what kept you from coming to the door? The news? How interesting was what they were talking about, Steven?" Danny asked as he sat down on the couch. Steve sat down beside him, and Grace jumped inbetween them.

"No. I was just thinking." Steve answered as he put his arm around Grace.

"About what?" Danny asked.

"About things." Steve answered.

"About today things?" Danny asked.

"You could say that." Steve said as he tightened his grip of Grace ever so slightly.

"Ok." Danny said unsatisfied.

"Hey, monkey? Don't you think that you should go and wash up from school?" Danny asked.

"Sure, Danno." Steve released her, and Grace shot up and left the room.

"Don't run!" Danny called after her.

"Ok!" she answered.

"Ok." Danny said.

"Ok, what?" Steve asked.

"Ok, I wanna talk about what happened in here. And did it, by chance, have anything to do with what happened back at Lori's office?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do I have to draw out a picture for you Steven? Ok. It took forever for you to open the door, and the news isn't interesting, so you must've been thinking about something. Then I saw you and Lori hugging each other, and from the looks of it, it looked like you two of you had been hugging for a while with no sign of stopping, so, I figured that you were thinking about that. Correct me if I'm wrong." Danny pieced the puzzle together.

Steve just looked at him. Danny sighed and pulled out his phone and pulled up the pictures. He scrolled to the picture of Lori and Steve hugging and then looked at Steve. "What happened?"

"Um. I-" Steve got interrupted by Grace walking into the room.

"Hey, Gracie!" Steve said as Grace sat back down inbetween them.

"What's that?" Gace asked refurring to the picture on Danny's cell phone.

"Oh, it's nothing pumpkin." Danny said as he put the phone away.

"It looked like uncle Steve hugging somebody." Grace said.

"I was hugging somebody, Gracie." Steve said smiling down at her.

"He was hugging our co-worker, Lori." Danny said.

Lori hadn't yet earned the "aunt Lori" title. Steve began to realize what Lori was talking about. He instantly felt bad for her.

"Then why do you have a picture of them hugging, Danno?" Grace sked.

"Yeah. Why do you, Danno?" Steve asked just as Grace had.

"Because I wanted to ask him a question." Danny answered.

"Oh." Grace said, unsatisfied. She wanted to talk about this further, but the look in her dad's eyes made her not push any farther.

Just then, Steve's phone rang. He reached for his phone on the coffee table.

"Hello?" He asked. Danny couldn't tell who it was, but he figured it was someone important to him, judging by the way he stiffened up.

"Hey. Are you ok?" He paused to let the other person speak.

"Ok, well, Danny and Gracie are over, but if you want to you can come over." He paused again.

"No, no, no. I'm sure they won't mind. Come on over." Danny rased his eyebrow.

"Yes, I'm sure." Steve stifled laugh.

"Ok, we'll see you in a few." Steve paused.

"Ok, ok, bye." Steve smiled as he hung up.

"Who was that?" Danny asked as Steve set the phone down.

"That was Lori." Steve answered. Danny had been right about his observation of the person being important to him. "She wanted to come over. Something about a file? I don't know." Steve leaned back against his couch.

"Ok, and she was worried bout coming over because we were here?" Danny asked.

"Yeah. She feels s if we don't trust her." Steve rolled his eyes.

"Hmm." Danny wondered. Then he looked down at his watch and then at Grace. Grace smiled.

"What?" Steve asked.

"Gracie's favorite cartoon is about to come on."

"Ok, well here's the remote, Gracie." Steve smiled as he handed Grace the remote.

TThey turned on the cartoon and giggled along with Gracie everynow and then and talked to the TV. Steve kept glancing at the clock and then the door waiting for Lori to come, and Danny would watch him do this nd shake his head. She was definatly important to him.