"Can you see it now?"

"We sure can," Chin said. "Good job, Kono."

"That wasn't me," she said faintly, looking up at the prince.

"What do you mean? You've been muttering and have that…napkin thing there with all the… herbs and stuff…"

"I mean that the spell's not finished, boss."

The prince turned at the sound of hoof beats and watched as a young girl galloped into the clearing, skidding the horse to a stop less than a foot away from the prince. She looked at them curiously. "Hello," she said politely, hopping off the horse that turned out to be much bigger than the girl herself.

"Hello," the prince said, just as curious. The girl didn't seem surprised at seeing a tower. Of course, she didn't seem all that surprised to see them either.

"Are you lost?" After untying a large bag from the horse and dropping it beside her, she loosened the horse's bridal, made sure the reins were tucked under the saddle, and smacked the horse gently on the backside, making it go thundering off to the other side of the clearing.

"Don't think so," the prince said pleasantly. "What about you?"

The girl had large brown eyes and two braids. She absently flicked them behind her and brushed off her own backside. "I come here pretty much every weekend." She eyeballed them. "Why're you here?"

Taken aback at her forthright tone and the wiser-than-her-years expression, he said, "We're on a mission."

Her eyes sparkling, she hefted the bag over her shoulder and adjusted her stance to accommodate the weight. "Are you going to kill something?"

"Not yet."

"Good luck, then." Walking over to the tower, she gave the brick a quick knock, and it opened away from the prince, so he couldn't see inside. He did see a large smile cover her face as he heard, "Monkey!" from the inside.

"Hey, Danno," she said, heading inside without so much as a backward glance.

The door started to close, and the prince leapt forward, trying to hold it open. Chin stepped forward to help, the two of them desperately fighting a losing battle.

"Kono!" the prince gasped.

Kono appeared, shoving a steel bar in the door before it closed, and for a moment, the prince thought she'd managed to keep it open. But a few seconds later, the steel bar made a sickening sound and broke, the piece on the outside falling harmlessly to the ground.

"Well, hell," muttered JennaKaye.

H5-0 H5-0 H5-0

This was the worst part of every week, the time spent staring at the brick wall, wondering, waiting…

He'd wake up, go through his morning workout, shower, and head down the winding staircase to begin pacing in front of that silent, imposing wall. Somewhere along the way he'd developed a bad habit of biting his nails, so he'd imposed a penalty: he had to drop and do twenty pushups each time his hand entered his mouth. Inevitably, he was sweaty and in need of another shower by the time the door started to form, so he'd taken to keeping a towel with him, drying off and tucking in his shirt as soon as he heard the door. He was barely able to tuck in his shirt before the door opened, revealing his Gracie, and she always leapt at him, his missing tie unnoticed.

Those were the best days.

The worst were when he waited, the door never formed or opened, and he continued to pace and bite his fingernails. And sweat from the pushups.

And Grace never came.

As he did every week, he brushed that thought aside – that kind of thinking led to the downward slide, and he couldn't afford that. It was the way to madness, and it was always too hard to recover from it. He focused on the knowledge that she would come this week, that this would be one of his best weeks. Because his Gracie would show up soon.

He had just finished his fifth round of pushups when he heard the door starting to form. Grabbing his towel, he quickly rubbed himself dry, tossing it aside to tuck in his shirt. He always had to remind himself that staying calm kept his hands steady. He managed to throw his tie over his head before the door opened fully. "Monkey!" He said, arms open wide.

"Hey, Danno," she said, tossing her bag inside before running and jumping into his arms.

It'd been ten years since he'd hugged anyone but his daughter, but he'd still swear that her hugs were the best on the planet.

"Are you hungry?"

"Nope, but I brought you some treats," Grace told him impishly as he let her down so she could grab her bag.

"You know you're the sweetest thing I could ever hope for," he teased, making her giggle. He took the bag from her and followed her up the circular staircase to his apartment upstairs.

Another benefit to Grace's visits was that the tower transformed from the bare minimum – a single bed, a desk with a lamp and an uncomfortable chair, a toilet and standing shower, food cupboard, wooden bench by the door – into a luxury suite, complete with a king-sized bed, a phenomenal bathroom, and lots of great overstuffed furniture. With Grace here, he never slept so well – or so comfortably. He might not be able to protect her on the outside, but she was safe with him on the inside.

"Oh – there were some people outside," Grace told him as she climbed the stairs.

"Was it that kissing couple again? Next time, bring some water and pour it over their heads. You shouldn't have to see -"

"No, Daddy. It was this tall man and three other people. They had horses and a wagon."

Danny shrugged. "They're probably lost."

"The man said they're not lost; I asked. And -" She stopped short.

Danny almost ran into her. "Monkey, don't just stop like that. I almost ran over you." He stepped down a few stairs.

She turned around, putting her hands on his chest. She was high enough to put them at eye level, and Danny saw the excitement in her eyes. "Danno, he had his hand on the tower. He could see it!"

"Are you sure?" No one could see the tower except for Grace; it was part of his curse.

"Yes! Maybe the curse is ending! You could come home with me and see my room!"

He didn't have the heart to tell her that his curse ended when he did, not a second before. Maybe when she got older, found someone to love, begun a family of her own, and didn't have the time to visit anymore. Of course, she was a smart cookie. She'd probably figure it out on her own way before then.

Clearing his thoughts – downward spiral, he reminded himself – he smiled, "Well, we'll see." There really wasn't anything he could do about it. The door had disappeared, as always, so he couldn't very well go out and ask their intentions. It was probably just some kind of aberration, best to be forgotten.

But when he heard Grace's gasp as she made it to the top of the stairs, something inside told him that things were never going to be the same. "What's wrong?"

She just pointed, and what he saw made him drop the bag.

A window had appeared. A window! It had been ten years since he had seen one, and he had to stop and appreciate the sight. It seemed big to him, larger than usual, but what did he know? Maybe he'd just forgotten how large they were. And it was open, a breeze fluttering the white curtain.

He couldn't stop himself from walking up to it, closing his eyes as he felt the cool air slide over his face. It felt almost unbearably good, the sensation taking over everything. He wanted to strip naked and feel that breeze over his entire body…

"Danno?"

Gracie's voice was enough to bring him back to reality. Naked would not be possible, and he was certain that the window would disappear with Grace. He was used to appreciating what he got for as long as he got to have it, however. This window thing was gonna be awesome for the weekend.

H5-0 H5-0 H5-0 H5-0

The prince was proud that he spent a good five minutes trying to open the door before deciding to blow it open. "Six months ago – heck, even last month, I would've gone straight for the explosives. I think this proves how I've matured."

Chin snorted, clearly unimpressed. "Kono wants to try again."

"What's she been doing for the last five minutes?" The prince complained, sorting through his saddlebags for what he needed.

"She has to start from scratch, and she had to… clear out all that stuff she poured. Turns out, you can't just shake out the napkin and have another go. There's a ceremony."

"There's a ceremony for everything," the prince muttered, gathering what he needed. "Blowing up the door'll definitely prevent it from closing back up on us."

Chin eyed him as he mixed his ingredients. "Sure you're not going to blow up the whole tower? There're at least two people in there, one of them being a little girl."

"I'm being conservative," the prince promised.

"Boss, let me try my ceremony first," Kono said, her napkin pristine and lying back in front of her.

"You can try that if for some reason I can't blow off the door."

"The door's already gone, right? So you'll just be trying to blow a hole at the bottom of a round structure, which will make it unstable."

"I've blown up buildings before; I know what I'm doing."

"How do you know where to plant the explosives? Did you mark where the doorway was before it disappeared? How do you know that the door doesn't change spots every time? I like blowing things up as much as the next person, but this isn't the time!"

"Uh, guys?" JennaKaye said tentatively from the other side of the tower.

"Why're you arguing with me? I'm your prince!"

Kono had the nerve to roll her eyes. "Yes, you are – and you brought me along for my expertise! Let me do my job!"

"Guys," JennaKaye said, this time a little louder.

"Your job is to do as I tell you!" The prince yelled, ignoring Chin as the man walked away. He probably didn't want to get caught in the middle of the argument. Coward. Later, he knew he would appreciate Chin's intelligent move, but right now, he was pissed off.

"At this moment, my job is to create a way for you to get into the tower without killing anyone! And it has a better chance at succeeding since it doesn't involve explosives!"

A shrill whistle stopped the prince's retort, and he and Kono turned to find Chin staring at them. He motioned with his fingers, and they walked to the other side of the tower, where JennaKaye stood, staring up at a window.

"That's just disturbing," Kono muttered.

Surprised, the prince looked at Chin. "The tower's back to being invisible?"

"Except for the window," Chin confirmed.

"So the window just looks like -"

"It looks like it's just… hanging there in space, " JennaKaye finished. "It's weird."

"It means that we don't need spells or explosives," the prince grinned. Turning to Chin, he started, "Did you -"

"In my saddle bags," Chin said, disappearing around the tower, returning a few seconds later with climbing gear. He looked toward the window. "I only got to see the tower for a minute, but the surface looked pretty smooth."

The prince took the items from Chin's hands and sat down to change his shoes. Rifling through his haul bag, he took note of everything packed but chose to forego the gloves and resin. Standing, he grinned at the three. "Here goes."

"He's enjoying this way too much," JennaKaye whispered to Kono.

"Actually, it looks kind of fun," Kono admitted, sounding a little jealous.

The prince bounced a bit, making sure his studs were secure before running his hands along the wall, looking for a grip. The rough brick scratched at his palms, but he couldn't gain purchase until – he could have sworn that the tower had just created a handhold for him. Quickly shoving in his hand, he looked for another grip, and damned if one didn't appear. He looked down to see if Kono were doing some of her magic, but she looked as worried as the others. And her lips weren't moving, a sure sign that she wasn't doing one of her spells.

Returning his focus to the wall, he continued to look for arm and leg holes, and they would appear, although they didn't make it easy for him. He appreciated the workout, not realizing how little he had pushed his body these last few days. He continued climbing, working up a fine sheen of sweat. After what seemed like at least forty minutes, he was close enough to the window to make out noises, a high-pitched one and one that seemed to giggle consistently. He hoped that this damsel looked better than she sounded, because her voice could shatter glass.

He reached up, his fingertips touching the windowsill. Pressing up onto his tiptoes gave him enough purchase to place his hands flat on the window ledge, and with a heavy exhalation, he scrabbled up the rest of the way and pulled himself to sitting. What he saw drew him up short.

H5-0 H5-0 H5-0 H5-0

Grace's very favorite fairy tale was "The Wise Little Girl", and she never failed to ask Danny to tell it to her at some point every visit. It had begun with his reading it to her from one of his books at her bedtime and evolved into an entire production, complete with voices and staging. Of course Gracie played the wise little girl, and over time, Danny had incorporated his own personal touches to the story.

Danny was in the middle of portraying the selfish mother – a creation of his that had him unfastening his hair and letting it drape down his back – when his daughter's attention wavered. That had never happened before, and he paused, watching her eyes looking past him and over to that strange window. Turning, he expected to see a bird, maybe, and how strange was it that he felt excited about that? How long had it been since he'd had the opportunity to see something new?

His first feeling at seeing the dark haired man was a rush of happiness, of warmth at his first contact with another adult in ten years. His first rational thought was that this man could be harmful to his daughter. He stepped in front of her, all sorts of questions running through his mind: Who are you? How did you get here? Are you magic? What's your purpose? How did you break through the curse? Did you create the window? Can you just touch me – a handshake or even a hug? But nothing seemed to want to come out. For the first time in his life, DannyWilliams was struck speechless.

"Danno, it's the man from outside," Grace said, pulling at his sleeve.

Danny supposed the man could have hurt Grace outside if he'd meant her ill, but he wasn't about to assume anything. If he'd learned anything from his situation, it was that the things most dangerous were the facts he didn't know. He'd spent too long away from the world to know what kind of machinations were going on out there, and he knew that his Grace had more reason than others to be careful. "Stay behind me, Monkey," he said, using a hand to shove her gently behind him.

After staring at him for what really seemed like an inappropriately long time, the stranger said, "You're not a damsel."

Blinking, Danny folded his arms. "No, that I'm not. And my daughter's way too young for you, so if you're looking for some kind of… female companionship, take your window and try the tower next door."

The man sat there on the windowsill, one leg on either side, and looked at Danny for a few seconds. It was his turn to blink. "I'm supposed to rescue a damsel in distress."

"Well, good luck with that. As you can see, you're interrupting my quality time with my daughter." Normally after all this time, he would've grabbed hold of the guy and either begged him to take him with him like the damsel in distress he had just denied being or at the very least grabbed him and forced the stranger to talk to him – about anything, the weather, the condition of the world, ducks, anything that would let him listen a voice other than his. Grace's voice was always welcome, but it wasn't another adult's. Instead, he thought of how little time he had with his daughter, and he made a shooing gesture with his hands. The man didn't move, so Danny used his best no-nonsense voice to add more impact. "Shoo."

The man suddenly got this mulish expression on his face and swung his other leg into the room.

"Wait – no, that's the opposite direction," Danny explained.

The man walked into the room and looked thoughtfully at Danny. That look made Danny feel way more nervous than anything else that had happened until this point.

"What's with that face?" He asked suspiciously.

"What face?" The man asked.

"That face – your face." Danny said, waving his hand toward said face.

"I'm not making a face."

"You, my friend, are totally making a face. It's an up-to-no-good face."

A corner of the man's mouth turned up, leaving Danny more confused and off balance than ever.

"Sometimes Danno says I have that look too," Grace confessed.

"And Danno's always right," Danny felt the need to remind her. "Now stop trying to bond with the deranged magic man." He got the feeling that they weren't in any danger, but it'd been a long time since he'd had to use that second sense, so he wasn't about to put all of his support behind it. And then there was the whole magic window thing too.

"Magic man?" The man asked, fully grinning now.

"Window suddenly appearing? Man suddenly appearing in said window? Magic man," Danny explained.

"'Said window?'" the man asked. "Who talks like that?"

"I do, obviously," Danny muttered, determined not to feel embarrassed. He'd been reading more period books lately; perhaps his verbiage was reflecting that. But he shook it off. Obviously the man understood what he was trying to say.

"I didn't make that window appear," the man said, pulling something off his shoes. "I just used it."

"Well there's no way I did it," Danny said. "If I could make windows appear, I would've left the moment I got stuck in here." He realized he sounded kind of lonely and pathetic there at the end, but he hoped that neither the man nor Grace had noticed.

The man nodded his head toward Grace. "Maybe she did it?"

"Maybe she – no, Crazy Stranger, Grace didn't make a window appear. She's no mage."

The man didn't seem reassured, but he shrugged. "So I need the key to killing a dragon."

Danny waited for a few seconds before realizing that the man had finished speaking. "Well, then," he said slowly, "good luck with that."

"You're supposed to have it – the key," the man said.

"Me?" Danny pressed a hand to his chest.

The man nodded.

Danny couldn't help but laugh. "I don't know where you get your intel, but you need to find it elsewhere." The man's lips firmed. "Uh oh, Grace," Danny teased, "Crazy Stranger is getting that mulish look." He let Grace step beside him, her hand against his arm.

The man muttered something, and Danny leaned in closer. "I'm sorry; I don't speak mumble. What'd you say?"

"My name is not Crazy Stranger," the man said, smug smile appearing on his face. "I'm Prince Steven McGarrett from the Land of Hawaii."

"Prince -" Danny felt heat flush his face and wondered if his brain were going to explode. "Get out," he said through clenched teeth.

The man's – the prince's – smile faltered. "But I'm -"

"Yeah. You're royalty. Believe me, I know how that works. But this isn't even your kingdom as far as I know," He looked down for Grace's nod of confirmation before continuing, "and this isn't your home. Only one good thing has come into my life because of you people," he squeezed Grace's shoulder, as she looked up at him with that angelic face of hers. He had to take a second to return to his train of thought. Looking back up at the man – damn it, prince – he added, "You people have messed with my whole life. I'm done. Get out."

"But this dragon's dangerous! He's killed -" the man stopped with a look at Grace.

A part of Danny warmed at the man's concern until he reminded himself, "prince," and he regained his focus. "Good luck with that, then." He let go of Grace and stepped forward. "Now get out of my tower." Waving his hands toward the window, he added, "Shoo!"

"You owe it to -"

"I don't owe anything to anyone out there!" Danny yelled, waving toward the window. "Don't let the window sash hit you on the ass on your way out."

"Danno," Grace said, using her tone.

Sorry, Monkey. Butt," Danny corrected, taking another step forward.

The man hadn't moved. Danny knew he wasn't anywhere close to being the tallest of men, but he liked to think he hadn't lost his threatening manner. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to faze the prince. That pissed Danny off more, so he used both his hands and pushed the prince backward toward the window. He chose to ignore that said prince's pecs felt pretty muscular and kept his mind on the matter. "Did you suddenly grow deaf?"

The prince frowned down at him, and Danny relished that the man was finally acknowledging that he was a threat. "Maybe we got off on the wrong foot."

"There's no right foot. Go away." Danny pushed the prince again. The man lost his balance and seemed to fold himself right out of the window.

A/N: For the curious, the 'original' version of The Wise Little Girl before Danny made his revisions is here: www dot ivyjoy dot com/fables/wisegirl dot html (take out the spaces, replace a period where "dot" is located)

It's a cute story.