Danny is coming home. When he calls to tell us he's booked a flight I could cry with relief. Evidently so could everyone else. We perk up at the idea and suddenly the cracks amongst us don't seem so glaring anymore. We throw ourselves into our chores, taking extra time to make everything perfect for him returning. I curb my patience with Maui and it's like a silent apology and agreement between us that we start getting along again. He and Kono seem to fall under the same silent agreement and Kame seems eased by our newfound good behaviour.

I pace the living room endlessly, Lei had left for the airport hours ago and they are due to return at any time. I pause every now and then by the window to peer down the private drive leading up to the house. Finally, finally before I wear a hole in the carpet and gnaw my nails down to nubs on my fingers, the car appears and I make for the hall, flinging open the front door as the car parks at the bottom of the steps.

I'm on the steps as Danny gets out and come to a halt, a little shocked by his appearance. He's thinned, looks sallow like he's been ill. Grief is an illness, it changes a person, makes them not themselves for a while as they try to deal with something that affects the mind and soul. He closes the car door and leans back a moment staring at me with a look of relief he's home and then he pushes up, away from the car, to the steps and pulling me down the final few to him.

His eyes are missing their usual shine and knowingness, his body isn't as firm and toned like it usually is, his hair is flat and lifeless. Yet when he pulls me to him and kisses me, desperate and hungry, he's all Danny.

"Fuck baby," he says quietly when he breaks the kiss to look at me again. "Missed you so much."

He pulls back and peers round me to where the rest of the household stand at the top of the steps relieved he's home. He gives me a small squeeze before he pulls away, heads up the steps and gets pulled into a bear hug by Kamekona. He's bustled inside as we welcome him home, soon settled on the sofa in the living room, coat off, shoes off and Grace settled on his knee. My fears needn't have existed, she's excited to see him, grips onto his tie with delight and makes squealing noises when he talks to her.

We all sense he isn't himself and eventually everyone drifts off one by one to give him some peace, Kono taking Grace to out her to bed as she lolls sleepily in Danny's arms. Eventually Kame silently bustles everyone else to their beds as well, he and Lei locking the house up for the night. I take Danny's hand as he sits silently and I know he's still fraught and upset over what has happened.

"You should come to bed," I tell him, giving him a small tug as I stand.

He lets me lead him down the hall to the bedroom. I help him undress and he keeps reaching out and brushing his fingers against my skin as I strip him down. I try not to take in the changes of his body, less definition, the thinness. No doubt Kamekona will have him back to his normal weight in a few weeks, but still, here and now this isn't the Danny I know, not to physically look at. Grief has changed him and he isn't going to suddenly change back. Even his behaviour is muted, usually he's so assured and certain when he caresses me, like his touch is knowing of it's power and control over me and my body. But now it's like he's reaching out to be certain I'm real, that I exist, that I'm there to offer him some comfort.

I get him into bed and he rolls onto his stomach, exhausted. I undress myself and slide under the sheets beside him and he pulls me to him, arm snaking around my waist as he drifts off. Rolling onto my side I caress his face softly, tracing the outline and watching him sleep, ignoring the dark circles, rubbing away the frown on his forehead. I smile, happy he's home, back where he belongs. In time he'll be back his normal self and for now I can be there to help him through this difficult process.

I was naieve to think the strains of the household would dissappear once Danny came home. But we're still walking on eggshells as he tries to break through the wall of grief surrounding him. He stays home from work for a few days, working in his study every morning, instead making calls to the office and spending the afternoons with Grace or moping around the house. He snaps at small things and with us already on edge from the last month without him, the mood descends again and I find myself watching to see who will break first. Kamekona threatens us with silent looks to make sure we remember ourselves and I find myself biting down on comments and rebuttals towards my fellow slaves and Danny.

Alone with me he either talks a little about the last days of Laka's life or he stays silent. I try to fill in the silence with stories of Grace but beyond that there's little to tell. My world revolves around the household where every day is much like the previous one. I'm running out of anecdotes.

Aside from soft caressess and kisses, he's made no move to make love. I steep myself in guilt over my yearning for him, for the last few mornings I've woken up hard and needing of him. I chase away my lusts with the heel of my hand and bitten down groans, berating myself for my selfishness.

One morning he wakes up in a foul temper. I've been lying awake for several minutes waiting for him to wake and he throws back the covers with a irritated sigh. Stumbling to the bathroom he mutters about how I've broken his sleep with my tossing and turning and why the fuck can't I just start the day without him? I bite down on a retort to inform him it's his imposed rule that I wait until he awakes or gives me permission to get out of bed before he does.

He showers and re-appears, shooting me a glare as he goes to his wardrobe.

"You going to lie in bed all day?" he snaps and I know it's going to be a long day.

I quickly get out of bed and make it up before I go take a shower myself, reminding myself he's going through a difficult time. After dressing I go to the kitchen and find him hunched over his breakfast reading the paper and my fellow slaves shoot me looks like it's my fault our Master is in a bad mood. I get a bowl of cereal and sit down silently, the quiet atmosphere shrouding us as we eat.

"Where's Maui?" Danny asks without looking up, aware we're one down at the table.

"He ate breakfast early," Kamekona explains. "He's working on fixing the garage door."

"He should be here," Danny said, looking up with a scowl. "Who gave him permission to eat earlier than the usual breakfast time?"

"I did boss," Kame replies cooly. "He was up early, wanted to make a start seeing as you want the garage cleared out in the next few days. He asked if he could skip breakfast with everyone, I said okay."

"Next time you want to help Maui bend the rules you can both come find me first," Danny snaps back at him.

They stare at each other for a long ten seconds and I'm relieved when Kame has the common sense to show submission to our Master. It doesn't make any sense and usually Danny wouldn't even question such a simple thing as one of us being absent from a meal time but we all know he's in a strange place at the moment. Maui appears a minute later looking and sounding pleased with himself and I just want to drown myself in my bowl.

"Garage doors fixed," Maui says breezily, completely unaware of Danny's mood and the storm brewing.

None of us reply and Maui draws near to the table as he continues. "We can get a start on clearing out the junk in the garage now Danny."

I look up at him, catching his eye and giving a small shake of my head. He catches my meaning and shuts up but it's too late. Danny's mood is set for the day and none of us are going to be spared.

"Maui, your on lockdown, go to your room. Lei, make sure he goes," Danny says without looking up. "He'll stay there for the rest of the day."

Maui's face registers surprise and confusion as he takes this in, oblivious to his minor infraction and why it's earned him a day locked in his room. It's entirely unfair and a warning to the rest of us that Danny is not to be trifled with today. Any minor mistake will probably earn us the same punishment.

"But-?" Maui starts and really, he needs to learn to read Danny more because questioning him while he's like this isn't going to do him any favours. Danny slams a hand on the table making us all jump and Maui clamps his lips together.

"Room. Now." Danny yells and Maui turns, leaving the kitchen, Lei quickly following. I hope Lei explains why before they get upstairs or Maui will be confused if Danny really intends on keeping him up there all day. Danny looks round at the rest of us and smooths out his newspaper. "If you're all finished you can go get on with your chores. Kono, Steve will watch the baby today. You'll help Hal and Max start clearing out the garage."

Everyone uses the dismissal as their escape and I stand, helping Kame clear away the dishes as Danny finishes reading the paper in silence. He leaves and goes to his study soon after and Kame and I sigh in relief.

"Think he'll keep him up there all day?" Kame asks me in a low voice, afraid Danny may find us gossiping.

"In the mood he's in, Maui is lucky he wasn't locked up for a week," I reply dryly.

"My fault," Kame says, shaking his head sadly. "Shouldn't have let him skip breakfast."

"No, you didn't know," I assure him. "Believe me if things go on like this all day we'll be lucky not to be all locked up in our rooms by lunch."

The day continues under the dark cloud that is Danny's mood. Everyone is happy to spend the day getting the garage cleared, staying out of the way and I know they're taking their time so as to avoid being in the house. I clean around the nursery as Grace lies in her play pen and move into our room to pull off the sheets from the bed, ready to be cleaned. I'm wrestling with the comforter when Grace starts crying and I leave her a few moments whilst I roll the sheet into a bundle in my arms and put it in the laundry basket.

I get to the connector door when the nursery door is flung open and Danny strides inside, pausing to look at me.

"Fucking hell Steven," he snaps angrily. "You're supposed to be watching her."

"I was just changing the bed," I say, kicking myself for back answering as he goes to the play pen. Grace stops crying as soon as she sees him, crying merely for lack of attention. It's something I'm trying to break her out of as she's taking to crying whenever she's left to her own devices for a minute without constant attention. "She's okay."

Danny picks her up and bounces her in his arms as she gurgles to him, unfazed by his tone.

"She was crying," Danny remonstrates. "You're supposed to be in here with her. How long were you planning on leaving her before checking something wasn't wrong? How long has this been going on for?"

I frown wondering what he's going on about but he's on a roll and doesn't stop in telling me exactly what is on his mind.

"You know I thought I could trust things wouldn't change while I went to Dad's," he says, setting Grace back down in the play pen where she wrestles with a toy. "I go away for a few weeks and everything falls apart. You've all grown sloppy, you're disrespectful, you bend the rules. I come back it's like I don't recognise my own household. I've a right to cart you all off to the market and sell you on, replace the whole damned lot of you."

I don't reply and hope the threat doesn't carry any weight because the idea of being sold is a great fear, for any slave in a good household.

"I'm sorry Danny," I say, lowering my eyes and hoping he accepts my apology, such as it is. I don't feel I need to apologise, we've tried the best we could under the circumstances. "We have been trying."

"That's a fucking joke," Danny seethes out coldly. "I can imagine how slack things have been while I haven't been here. I had to sit by and watch a parent die and you all did what? I'm sure you enjoyed the freedom of being without your Master for a time."

He couldn't be any more wrong and I can't hold my tongue to tell him so.

"That's not true," I say firmly, shaking my head, still not looking at him.

"Are you calling me a liar Steven?" Danny asks, walking over to me.

I know I'm on dangerous ground now. Calling him a liar is a great offence but I won't have him believing we enjoyed his absence or that we've somehow slacked off because he hasn't been here.

"No Sir," I say, looking up at him as he comes to a halt before me. "I'm just saying you're wrong. Yes, things weren't easy in your not being here, but we tried our best Danny. None of us would want to disrespect you like that."

He laughs, a cruel mocking laugh that saddens me. I know it's all part of his grief, he's angry at Laka's death, he's upset and desperately trying to hold himself together. And he's turning that anger on us because we can do little to defend ourselves from it. We're lucky not to have a Master who enjoys beating us, but Danny uses words the way other Master's use the whip.

"You really expect me to believe that?" He says to me. "Your Master leaves you alone in a house for an indefinite time and you expect me to believe you stuck to the rules? Your slaves Steven, what else would you care about when you had a hint of freedom in your lives?"

"We care about you Danny," I assure him. "Every day we worried about you. We wanted you home with us."

"You're so fucking selfish," Danny snaps back at me hearing those words. "You never wanted me to go is that it? Are you all punishing me because I left you to go spend time with another slave? Someone who brought me up, who was another father to me."

"No of course not," I shake my head, seeing his anger crumbling into something more evident, his underlying grief. "We know how important Laka was to you Danny, we know you needed to be there for him. It was difficult you not being here but if we could have been we'd have been there for you. There wasn't a day went by we weren't thinking about you. We did want you home with us, because knowing you were there, alone, that was killing us too. And we know we weren't at our best when you weren't here. It got hard Danny, real hard and we've been trying to hold it all together but even having you home, you aren't yourself."

"So it is all my fucking fault," Danny says, throwing his arms about like he had no answer to what is going on. Everything seems to be dissolving around him and he's powerless to fix it.

"No, it's nobody's fault Danny," I tell him, drawing closer to him. "I'm sorry we're not ourselves, but you aren't yourself and we all pick up on that. We just want you well, that's what we worry about. We're trying our best to please you."

"Well evidently your best isn't good enough Steven," he tells me coldly.

I drop my eyes, keep my hands to my side even when they itch to reach out to him. "Yes Master." I say dejectedly. His mood is so sour no amount of reassurance is going to pull him out of it.

"Go finish the bedroom," he orders, waving a hand towards the door.

I do so, taking time to re-dress the bed, placing the laundry basket by the door to be collected later. Turning I see him hovering in the doorway of the nursery and our room watching me with a suspicious expression. Evidently he hasn't finished with his critique of my or the households behaviour since he's been home.

"You took your time," he says unimpressed.

"Sorry Sir," I apologise though I want to inform him it's to ensure he doesn't find fault in my work. And also because I'm trying to avoid his foul mood though it seems determined to follow me around all day.

"You're avoiding me," he observes, hands in his pockets as he watches me.

"No Sir," I reply shaking my head slightly.

"Don't lie Steven," he tells me. "You all are. You can go help the others with the garage, everyone seems keen to clear it out as though it were filled to the brim. Any excuse to stay out of my way."

"It isn't like that Danny," I tell him, not leaving.

"I shouldn't have left for so long," he says, stepping further into the room. "I shouldn't have gone. None of you wanted me too. I should have known what would happen, that things would end up like this."

I go to him, seeing the grief in his face and haunted look in his eyes. He can't seem to register how much his mood, his grief, affects all of us. We're ohana, a unit and he's the Master of us, when he's not operating as he should, we all suffer. We have been avoiding him, but not because we hate him, but because we hate ourselves for failing him and creating more stress. When we do wrong or fail him, it's a bad reflection on him and his household. For a slave, that causes us personal shame and embarassment. We pride ourselves on being a reflection of our Master.

"Please don't say that," I say, taking his hand. I don't want him feeling guilty for going to spend time with Laka. I pull him to the bed and push him to sit down, falling to my knees at his feet. "Laka needed you, your father needed you. Yes it was hard with you not being here but we did try Danny. We understand why you needed to be with them. We know we've failed you by letting things slide. Kame had to threaten us with hazings our behaviour got so bad, the only thing that kept us in line was the guilt of knowing how dissapointed you would be with us. We're glad your home Danny, of course we are, and if we seem to be avoiding you it's because we know we're failing in our duty to you. We don't want to dissapoint you further."

His face is full of emotions, grief, regret, guilt. He stares at me, fingers caressing mine as I hold his hand.

"None of you have dissapointed me," he assures me quietly. "I'm sorry I've been in strange moods lately. I can't seem to shake them and every little thing bothers me even when I know I should let things slide. Maui must hate me right now."

I don't reply, giving a small shrug and looking up at him with some understanding. But he's right, Maui won't have taken his punishment easily and it will be weighing heavy on his mind. I doubt he hates Danny for it but it won't help ease his distrust he has of Owners and free men. Maui is a gentle soul who hides behind a hard exterior.

"You should go to him," I say squeezing his hand.

"No," Danny shakes his head, pulling his hand away and I wonder if his pride takes precedent over making amends with his household. Danny can admit he's been wrong to me in the privacy of the bedroom, but does it make him weak to show it in front of one of the others? I pull my hand away and rise to my feet, trying not to sigh as he looks away from me.

"I'll get on with my chores," I say, turning away.

"Go gather everyone in the living room," he tells me softly. "Tell Lei to let Maui out of his room."

I look round at him and he waves his hand expecting me to comply immediately. I leave the room without a word and find everyone outside, stacking boxes, the garage clear of most of it's contents. I glance upwards wondering what we'll do if we have a freak storm before telling everyone to come inside and asking Lei to fetch Maui. We all settle on the couches and seats in the large room and Maui appears behind Lei looking wary of what is going on. He sits in the corner by the sofa, half hidden by Kame's large frame and hoping to stay out of Danny's firing line. Everyone thinks we're about to receive a talking to. We all look at each other and wait silently until Danny appears, looking nervous and fretful, handing Kono the baby. He looks about and frowns, looking from me to Lei.

"Where's Mau?" he asks concerned.

I look in the general direction of Maui and let Danny follow my eyeline to where Maui scoots forward a little to peer over at Danny nervously.

"Here Sir," he says quietly.

"Oh," Danny says, looking around everyone again and taking in a deep breath. "I just wanted everyone in one place because I need to,-"

Pausing he considers his words carefully, rocking on his heels as he thinks. "I wanted you all to know I'm sorry. Things haven't been easy here the last few months, I know in part it's because I was gone so long. I know you understand why I was gone but still, expecting things to run smooth and in sync while I wasn't here wasn't fair on all of you. I see the cracks, I sense the strain and I know you all have tried to hide it for my sake but I'd be failing as your Master if I didn't notice it. I haven't been myself since I returned, I may not be for some time now and I'm sorry I've been taking out my frustrations and grief out on all of you. That isn't right and I'm only hurting us all by doing so."

Turning he moves to look directly at Maui who still cowers somewhat behind Kamekona.

"Maui I was in a foul mood today and I used the infraction at breakfast to take it out on you. It was wrong of me and I shouldn't have put you on a lockdown, I'm sorry."

"S'okay Sir," Maui replies, voice close to cracking and Kamekona reaches round to pat him gently on the knee as he holds himself together.

"No, it's not," Danny sighs shaking his head dejectedly. "But we'll work on fixing things. We're all going to start operating like a family again, like a unit. We all need to make the effort to get back to normal, all of us. Understand?"

One by one we agree with humble 'Yes Master's' echoing around the room.