His team was standing around the tech table, looking at information on the big screens. "We got a case?" he inquired, praying for the reprieve, all the bravado from the parking lot vanishing the second he opened the door to HQ.

"Nah, just trying to get more than one perspective on a cold case HPD sent to us," Kono answered.

"Oh, that's good," he said, heading for his office. As he was settling in to get back to his paperwork, he covertly glanced out at the common area and damn if the team wasn't playing Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who was going to interrogate him. It would've been amusing if he wasn't so apprehensive. He turned his attention back to his computer before they caught him. When Chin knocked on his door, he knew who the winner/loser was.

"What you need, Chin," he stated more than asked as he waved the man in.

"I've finished my stack," the older man said, waving his had towards Steve's stacks, "and I was wondering if you wanted some help with yours since you're behind the rest of us because of the long lunch and all."

Steve looked the other man in the face, "Chin, you're not very subtle. She's the daughter of an old friend. Her mother told her she could look me up if she need anything."

"Hey, brah, I wasn't asking," Chin protested.

"But you were about to," Steve refuted.

"All right, you caught us. We're curious. It's not every day a beautiful young woman visits the office or that you take off without introducing your guests," Chin confessed.

"It was a personal matter for her and she's a bit shy," Steve told him, hoping it would appease everyone's curiosity.

Chin inclined his head, digesting the information. "If that's the story you want to stick with. Just a bit of unsolicited personal advice, I'd come up with something better to tell Catherine."

"I'm sure you can find something to do in your own office," Steve said, tipping his head towards the door. Chin chuckled and took the hint.

Steve got up, closed the door, turning the lock while he was there and closed all the blinds to his office. He knew it was the coward's way out, but he needed time to process. Spending time with Arianna, chatting with her had been surprisingly easy. There was no doubt in his mind she was his daughter, there were too many coincidences. He decided to keep the story simple, daughter of an old friend, needs some help. Simple. He sent a quick text to Arianna, letting her know he'd pick her up at seven tomorrow for dinner, barely refraining from asking her what she was going to do all day tomorrow. Her reply came quickly, sounds good, meet u in lobby.

Six o'clock rolled around without a new case so Steve decided to call it a day. He looked up to see all but Danny's office dark. He ambled out to the commons and over to his partner who was in the process of shutting things down.

"Hey partner, how come you're the last here? Where's everyone else?" Steve asked.

"I had some extra papers to add to the report since I was first on scene and I wanted to get them done so I wouldn't have to tomorrow," Danny replied. "As for the others, Chin had a date and Catherine said to tell you that since you were being antisocial, she and Kono were going to have a ladies night. Hey, that leaves you a free man tonight. Wanna grab a couple of beers?"

"Sounds good. I'm not really in the mood for a crowd though. How bout my place in twenty?" Steve offered.

"Perfect. Do I need to pick up a six pack or you good?" Danny questioned, gathering his keys.

"Fridge is fully stock, Danno," Steve answered.

"Perfect. Meet you there," Danny responded.

Steve gave him a pleased smile and slapped him on the shoulder, "You're an easy date, Danno."

Walking out of HQ, they shared idle chit chat before they separated for their respective vehicles. Steve thanked the powers that be for the reprieve he had before he had to talk to Catherine.

The partners made their way through the house to their favorite chairs on the beach (having made a pit stop at the fridge) sinking into their comfortable positions. A soothing quiet settled between them.

After several minutes, Danny took a fortifying breath while glancing at his best friend. "So, bet I never told you this but growing up I had a friend whose brother was deaf. I picked up sign language fairly quickly. I might be a little rusty now though."

Steve wanted to say he was surprised by Danny's declaration, but he couldn't. Deciding not to beat around the bush he asked, "How much of the conversation did you ease drop on?"

Danny tried to feign nonchalance, failing miserably. "I might have caught a word or two."

"A word or two, huh? Any words that might have stuck out?" Steve returned wishing for once that Danny wasn't such a good detective.

"Well, there was 'birth certificate' and 'you listed as', but I think the more interesting ones were 'father and daughter'," Danny replied looking directly at his friend.

Steve had never been good at hiding anything from Danny but he'd promised Arianna. "This is not just my story to tell, Danny."

"Fair enough," Danny conceded. "How bout I tell you what I think is going on and you affirm with your standard 'Neither confirm nor deny' statement." Not waiting for a response, he continued, "This young lady is the daughter of one of your high school girlfriends. Mom never told her who her biological father is and now something has happened to mom and this girl is looking to find her father. How am I doing? Am I even close?"

"Neither confirming nor denying isn't answering your questions," Steve pointed out.

"You are correct my friend, it is not, but your face when you say those words is and now I have my answer," Danny declared. "So when do you know for sure?"

"Three to five days," Steve grumbled.

"What are you going to tell Catherine?" Danny asked.

Steve looked sheepish. "Nothing for right now. We want to know for sure incase there isn't a story to tell and Arianna isn't comfortable broadcasting it to the world yet."

Danny humphed. He could see both sides of the coin. He knew he didn't want to be around when Catherine did find out, especially if Steve kept it a secret for too long.

"So when do you see her again?" Danny asked trying to sound casual.

"Tomorrow night. I'm picking her up for dinner, why?" Steve replied, his senses on alert from the tone of Danny's voice.

"Nothing, just curious is all," Danny muttered.

"All right, what's going through that head of yours," Steve demanded.

Danny stayed silent for a moment, obviously gathering his thoughts. Steve mentally prepared himself for an epic rant but was pleasantly surprised when Danny utter, "I don't want you getting hurt or taken by a con is all."

Steve felt the pull of brotherly love at the statement. "Danny, I did have the sense to check into what she told me some before, but mostly after I can back from lunch. As for doing the test first, well, there was enough circumstantial evidence to support it. For once, I didn't go off half cocked," Steve assured his partner.

Danny contemplated and carefully formulated his response, truly he did but what came out was, "Wow! So a daughter, huh? A grown-up daughter."

"Yeah." The single word all Steve could get out.

"Who's her mother?" Danny asked.

Over more beer and a delivered pizza, Steve ended up telling Danny about everything, starting from that fateful Halloween night. He even admitted to using Chucky to seduce Jenny. It felt good to let it all out. Of course, now he had to tell Arianna that Danny knew their secret. Jeez, how big of a hole could he dig himself into?