At Grace's outburst, Danny raised his eyebrows, but before he could say anything, Rachel spoke again. "Sweetheart, you have school tomorrow, we should go home so you can go to bed…" She said in a gentle voice.

Danny turned in surprise to look at Rachel, and was shocked to see that there was nothing but kindness in her tone, and not even a trace of annoyance at Grace's unusual behavior. Grace didn't seem to notice and if she did, she didn't seem to care. "I'm not going to school tomorrow, and I'm staying with Danno tonight!" She snapped, not looking at her mother.

Danny was too confused by what was happening, but he couldn't in good conscience tolerate Grace being disrespectful with her mother. "Grace! That's not way to talk to your mom!" He said in an authoritative tone.

Grace turned to him with wide eyes that quickly started to fill, and Danny was bracing himself to ignore those tears, but Rachel stopped whatever he was about to say. "Grace, Your father is going to be released tomorrow, and I was planning on dropping you off after school at Steve's so you could spend the weekend with him…" She said in a calm tone.

Grace looked surprised from Danny's face to Rachel's. "I can spend the weekend with Danno?" She asked in a small voice.

Rachel nodded with a small smile on her face, "Yes sweetheart, but the doctors are going to be checking your father and maybe doing some tests before he can go to Steve's home, so you may get bored her in the hospital…" She said in a patient tone.

Grace turned to her father, trying to make sure that her mom was telling the truth. "I really can spend the weekend with you at Uncle Steve's?" She asked.

Danny was just as surprised by the news, but started nodding his head anyway; he stopped short when he realized part of the deal. "Who said I'm going to Steve's when I get out of here?" He asked, throwing an accusing look at his partner.

Steve lifted his hands in a defensive gesture. "Hey Danno, you know I don't always have the best opinion about your living arrangements, but this time it wasn't my idea!" He said, shaking his head.

Rachel looked surprised. "Oh! I'm sorry, I just assumed…" She said, looking from Danny to Steve.

Danny was preparing a rant, but one look at Grace's disappointed face stopped him in his tracks, so with a sigh he sealed his fate for the next few days. "Steven, would you mind if after I'm released from the hospital, Grace and I spent the weekend at your place?" He asked, giving Grace a small smile.

"Of course I wouldn't mind, Danno! It would be my pleasure!" He said, throwing his future guests one of his goofy grins.

Danny turned to look at Grace. "Alright Monkey, we're all set up for crashing at Steve's place tomorrow, but you should really go to school in the morning…" He said, giving her a sympathetic look.

With a sad sigh and a nod, Grace moved to give her father a hug. "Alright Danno, I'll go, but just because you asked…"

The weekend went by quietly, with Danny still recovering and having to take strong painkillers.

He had spent most of the time sleeping in the guest room or resting in one of the chairs of the lanai, watching as Steve and Kono found ways to keep an overactive nine year old busy. They had built a gigantic sand castle with a moat, four towers, a bridge and a wall that reached Steve's knee, they had swam until Grace's toes resembled an octogenarian's, and after that they had played some strange sort of tag game, which involved crawling on the sand and hiding in the strangest places, to "avoid capture". Danny only hoped that his crazy partner was not using some crazy part of his BUDs training as an inspiration for the game.

The few quiet moments they had for themselves, Danny and Grace spent chatting about school or Grace's friends or watching Grace's favorite movies, but for some reason Danny was starting to get concerned about her behavior. He wasn't sure if it was just his own fears about what was about to come, but to him it looked like Grace was putting up a fake smile for his sake.

He tried to talk to his little girl about it, tried to figure out what had made her upset, but every time they had a moment to really talk, Grace would find some kind of distraction, running off to the bathroom or to find something somewhere in the house, or calling up Steve to show him some part of the movie they were watching or to ask the most random questions, so he never really got the chance.

Far too soon for Danny's taste it was time for Grace to go back to her mother and while Danny knew the separation would not be pleasant, he never expected things to go so badly.

They were lying on the couch, watching as one of the ponies suddenly grew a pair of wings and turned into a princess – "Wait, so now she's some kind of Pegasus?" "No Danno! She's a princess! Like the evil pony and her pretty sister!" – when Rachel arrived. Steve received her with a smile and moved to the kitchen, not wanting to intrude. Rachel moved to give Grace a hug, but she could feel the little girl tensing in her arms.

Rachel released Grace and turned to Danny. "Hello Danny, I'm glad to see you look better today…" She said with a small smile.

Danny gave her a tight smile, but was more concerned about Grace, who was sitting by the coffee table, far too focused on putting some of her things inside her backpack.

Rachel moved closer to Grace, putting her hand on Grace's shoulder. "Come on sweetheart; give your father a hug, so we can get home in time for dinner." She said in a kind voice.

Grace didn't really look back at Rachel; instead she focused her big brown eyes on Danny. "Danno, I want to stay here, with you…" She said in a voice that was starting to shake.

Danny and Rachel shared a helpless look before he looked at his little girl again. "Monkey, you know there's nothing I like better than to spend time with you, but you have school tomorrow, and I'm sure both Stan and Charlie miss you a lot…"

Grace's eyes started filling and her chin started to tremble. "But you said-" But before she could finish, Rachel interrupted. "Grace, we really should go…"

Grace clearly didn't appreciate the interruption. "NO! I don't want to go! I want to stay with Danno!" She snapped, moving closer to her father.

Danny put an arm around Grace's shoulders, wanting nothing more than to keep her close, but he knew that right now he wasn't in any position to let her stay. He tried to paste a smile on his face and did his best to lie through his teeth. "Monkey… I'd love for you to stay, but I'm going to be really busy this week, and if you stay you'd only get bored… Maybe it would be better if you go back to your mom's?"

Grace was shaking her head from side to side, clearly agitated, and this time there was nothing Rachel could do to stop the barrage of words from coming out. "NO! You said… You asked me to stay! When we got to the hospital you were sick and were crying and you asked me not to leave! You said you didn't want me to leave, that you didn't want that anymore, and now when I don't want to leave you, you want me to go away!" She said in between heartbroken hiccups.

Danny was far too stunned to do anything, so Rachel moved closer to try to comfort the little girl, but Grace moved away, in the direction of the back door. "Leave me alone! You want us to leave! You want us to leave Danno here alone while we go away to Vegas! You never ask me if I want to leave! You just pack our stuff and drag me with you, and Danno has to follow so he's not all alone! I hate you, and I hate Danno because he never tells you to stop leaving! I hate you both!" She yelled at her parents. She ran towards the door, slamming it on her way out and sprinting towards the beach.

Rachel hurried after Grace, but Danny was too shocked to do anything. Steve had come out of the kitchen when Grace had started screaming, so he heard most of the conversation. He took in his partner's defeated posture and instantly regretted not telling Danny about his breakdown when he just woke up in the hospital. Trying to make up for it he moved closer to his friend, placing a hand on Danny's shoulder.

Danny was still sitting on the couch, but had lowered his head to rest it on his hands. He flinched away from Steve's hand, not bothering to look at the other man. "Don't even bother… Just, go after her; don't let her get too far…" He said in a hoarse voice.

Steve withdrew his hand regretfully, but with a determined nod he moved towards the back door, leaving his friend alone, all his focus on catching up to Grace.

TBC...

A/N: Well, I really apologize for the long wait, but work and school have ganged up to make my life miserable. I hope to have some more time to write after the end of the month!

I'd really love to hear what you think of this chapter and I hope you don't hate me too much for making Gracie cry.

See you all soon! (hopefully!)