Love at First Sight
By
Landon Richardson
Official Disclaimer
The characters of Steve McGarrett, Danny Williams, Chin Ho Kelly, Kono Kalakaua and Max Bergman do not belong to me in any shape or form. I am merely using them for my own entertainment purposes.
The characters of Danielle 'Danni' Richardson, Caitlin 'Cait' Richardson and Francesco Riviera do however belong to me so please do not use without first asking permission.
Any other character who might pop up who you don't instantly recognise will probably belong to me as well. I'll hopefully catch them in time to put above though.
Author Note
Here's the next chapter for you all
Things don't quite go to plan but then again do they ever really go to plan when Steve is involved?
Anyway, please enjoy.
Official Summary
Love at first sight had never been easy but it's especially difficult when you come from two completely different worlds. Can Steve and Danni overcome the challenges in front of them or are they destined to lose the best thing which had happened to them? (McDanni, female Danni but featuring male Danny as well)
Chapter Summary
Steve sat in his seat, resisting with difficulty the strong urge to smack his head repeatedly against the steering wheel in front of him. Out of every possible scenario which his mind had gone through while he had been stuck behind his desk throughout the day, the situation of his car breaking down on him while they were in the middle of nowhere without any signal, hadn't been one of them.
Official Romances for the story
Steve McGarrett / Danielle 'Danni' Richardson (McDanni)
Danny Williams / ? (To be revealed later on)
Mentions of Caitlin 'Cait' Richardson / Francesco Riviera
Mentions of past Danielle 'Danni' Richardson / Simon Ferron
Mentions of past Steve McGarrett / Catherine Rollins (McRollins)
Mentions of past Danny Williams / Rachel Edwards
Romances mentioned during the chapter
Steve McGarrett / Danielle 'Danni' Richardson (McDanni)
Mentions of past Danny Williams / Rachel Edwards
Other note
Please bear in mind that I don't have a Beta for this story so the odd mistake may creep in without me meaning it to. I have also never been to Hawaii so all locations are either from the show, google or made up in my own mind.
Saga
The Model Saga
Part Six
You are the sun in my day, the wind in my sky, the waves in my ocean, and the beat in my heart
Steve sat in his seat, resisting with difficulty the strong urge to smack his head repeatedly against the steering wheel in front of him. Out of every possible scenario which his mind had gone through while he had been stuck behind his desk throughout the day, the situation of his car breaking down on him while they were in the middle of nowhere without any signal, hadn't been one of them.
He could already picture in his mind the laughter which would erupt from Danny's mouth when he heard about what had happened on the date, he knew already that the other man would go on about it for months once he did.
He had known from past experience that the marquise had a history of being temperamental but he had little choice in the matter, he couldn't have picked up Danielle in his truck, not when he was trying to make a good impression on her and Danny had made it clear when he had approached him earlier that the Camaro was off the table to borrow for the evening. He had thought he would be safe with the marquis since the last few times he had taken it out it had worked like a dream, lulling him into a false sense of security that he had finally managed to iron out the kinks which the car had been plagued with.
He had even gone as far as to check the car when he had gotten home from work before he had run upstairs for his shower just to make sure that it was fine but he had clearly managed to miss something.
He breathed out, bringing his mind away from his partner's reaction to the situation at hand. They were stranded in the middle of nowhere, without any sign of nearby help and were lacking most of the things which Steve would have considered as essentials such as having his cell phone with him. They weren't completely helpless by any stretch of the imagination but he highly doubted that Danielle would want to curl up on the backseat with him beneath the blanket he kept in the trunk until day time considering that this was their first date with each other. Even the short period with Danielle in the car had made his realise just how much he already wanted a second date with her, just for the chance to spend time with her.
Breathing out silently, he turned his head towards her and gave her a considering look. She had her head leaned back against the seat, her eyes closed, long, brown lashes resting against her pale cheeks as she breathed in and out. She looked almost peaceful except for the fact that Steve could see the small furrow between her brows, a sign which meant that she was thinking about something. He just didn't know whether she was considering their situation or regretting her decision to have accepted his offer of a date with him in the first place.
He looked away from her, scanning outside the window, taking everything in before he nodded to himself. At least he would be able to deal with any situation which may occur if the old McGarrett bad luck for trouble finding him raised it head up. His hand to hand fighting skills were already legendary on the island and if that happened to fail then there was always the spare gun and the clip for it which he kept with the blanket. He had no idea whether Danielle had any fighting skills of her own, at first glance it was unlikely but he couldn't rely on that once he considered the business she was in, having self defence training would have been the sensible thing to have as a precaution.
He blinked, turning back to her when she tilted her head towards him, her grey eyes flickering open to meet his gaze directly.
"How far are we to the nearest cell phone tower where we can get some signal?" She asked him quietly as she lifted her cell phone from her lap and gently waved it from side to side.
"The nearest signal tower" Steve repeated, frowning slightly as he brought up a mental map of the area they were in before he continued to speak. "If we want to get a good enough signal to be able to call someone and have a conversation with them then we need to walk back about three miles the way we came." He explained, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the way he meant.
"Three miles" Danielle said, twisting in her seat and looking out of the back window with a pensive look before she nodded, the look morphing into a determined expression. "Well if we have to walk three miles than we better get started while we still have the light." She told him as she unlocked her seatbelt and pushed open her door. Steve blinked in surprise, watching as she reached into her bag and pulled out a pair of flat black shoes, kicking off her red heels and pulling the flats on, before she added the red shoes to her bag. She climbed out of the car, glancing around her before she closed the door behind her, leaving him alone in the car.
For a moment he stayed where he was, trying to wrap his head around the fact that Danielle seemed unperturbed about the prospect of them having to walk three miles before he shook his head and pushed open his own door and exited the vehicle, locking the car behind him.
"You want to walk the three miles?" He asked her, unable to keep the surprise from his voice. He almost winced when her back instantly straightened at the tone. She looked over her shoulder at him, a coolness to her gaze which had been lacking before and made the grey of her eyes look almost arctic. Steve moved around the car towards her, immediately reaching out and resting his hand on her shoulder, thankful that she didn't shrug him off. "I'm not saying that you can't walk that distance Danni, it's just the fact that you shouldn't have to because I messed up. I could walk the three miles with your phone while you stay in the car here?" He suggested. She searched his eyes for a moment, as though looking for a clue that he was lying before she sighed, the tension easing away from her.
"Its not like you knew that the car would break down where it did so don't blame yourself for it. Unfortunately, cars tend to break down, that's what they do and like I said earlier, the fact that yours did today isn't the end of the world." She pointed out with a shrug. "As for your offer of walking it alone, well I do appreciate that, I really do, but I'm not going to stay here in a broken-down car in an area that I'm not familiar with. I know that for definite so if you're going to walk it then I'm going with you, otherwise we can both stay here and hope that someone else drives down the road and stops for us." She commented.
"I guess we're both going then" Steve answered, reluctantly letting go of her shoulder.
"What about your car? Will it be safe here if we leave it?" She commented, looking away from him to look back at the car with a thoughtful look, taking a step towards it and stroking her palm across the smooth metal of the trunk, her gaze focusing back on him, clearly waiting for an answer to her query.
"It should be fine; I've locked it and the likelihood of someone coming to this area at this time is unlikely." He responded, she nodded, taking her hand away from the roof.
"We should go" She said giving the sky above them a critical look before she suddenly let out a soft laugh. "Sorry, I don't know why I said that when you're already aware of that fact. I suppose I'm used to taking the lead on things like this because normally I'm either by myself or with my family." She admitted, flashing him another smile before she moved past him and began heading down the road which they had come by. Her stride sure and steady, keeping a pace which Steve knew from experience that she would be able to keep up for a long period of time without tiring.
He moved after her, coming to her side and adjusted his own longer leg stride to match her own so they could walk easily side by side. He remained quiet for a moment, searching around his head for a topic they could speak on before he latched onto one. Breathing out silently, he took a risk, reaching out and taking her hand in his, interlocking their fingers together, he waited for a second to see how she would react but all she did was give him a smile which he returned before he spoke.
"So, tell me, what do you like doing in your free time Danni?"
"Free time? What's this free time which you speak of?" She remarked with another laugh, shaking her head as she focused back on the road in front of them, she remained quiet for a moment, clearly thinking about his question and making no effort to take her hand away from his. "On the rare occasion where I find myself with some free time, I tend to head back home to Maryland where my family live and spend time with them. I bake as well and I like movies and TV shows so having the odd me day catching up on them is always needed. The fact is Steve that I am probably what most people would consider a boring person." She told him with another shrug.
"I don't think you need to worry about being boring Danni, you're anything but boring." He responded with a grin at her, the comment causing her to make a sound of amusement at the back of the throat.
"If you believe that then you must be one of the only people who does." Danielle responded mildly. "I've spent the majority of my life being compared to my sister, especially since we are both technically working in the same job as one another. I've always been compared to her and I always seem to come short because… well you've met her and seen what she is like. It's not like the two of us are really the same or anything, at least we're not anymore."
"No?" Steve queried, brushing his thumb against her knuckles.
"Yeah, I think that Cait enjoys the fame and the perks which goes along side our job more than I do. I mean not that it's a bad thing, if anything its good to enjoy your job and she's never one of those people who are rude to fans." Danielle explained. "You know you know a bit about me now but I still know nothing about you Steve McGarrett, so come on, fair is fair after all, what do you like doing with any spare time you have? I want to know more about you than just your name and your job though obviously I'm interested in hearing about that aspect of your life as well" She remarked.
"You want to know more about me? You might be the first person to tell me that in a while." He said ruefully, frowning slightly as he considered the best way to answer her question, thankful when she remained quiet, clearly happy to wait. "Well like I said I'm a reservist Navy SEAL who worked in the Intelligence unit, when I moved here the Governor offered me the job as the head of her task force so I took it, I guess in a way it felt like fate because my Dad was a Detective with HPD and doing this job makes me feel a bit closer to him, like I'm doing the same things that he did as well." He told her, his eyes widening slightly when he realised just how much detail he had given away to her.
"I can understand that, there's nothing wrong with wanted to feel close to him anyway you can, how do you find the job itself? Do you enjoy it?" Danielle prompted him when the silence continued.
"I do though there are times and certain cases which makes it difficult. There's a pressure rising on us each time to get the job done because of the reputation we already have." He reached up and ran his free hand through his hair before he dropped it to his side again. "As for what I do with my free time, well that like for you is a bit of a rarity, more often then not any plans I might make is ruined because we get called in on a new case which means that we have to head straight to the crime scene or the morgue. I do try and get out and about, doing things with my friends when I can, I surf a lot and spend time with Danny when his daughter is with her mother. He tends to mope on those weekends."
"Sounds like you're a good friend to him which must help." She remarked as she lifted her hand and squinted at her watch. "I'm guessing giving what the time is that we're going to miss our reservations?"
Steve peered over her shoulder, focusing on the watch for a moment before he nodded, a flash of guilt crossing his features.
"Yeah, we're not going to make it back in time for it now, I'm sorry Danni, this wasn't exactly how I planned for tonight to go." He said with a shake of his head, looking back towards her when she squeezed his hand and gave him a warm, reassuring smile.
"Like I said before, it's not the end of the world, beside at least this will make a good story to tell people in the future and it makes our first date memorable, who else goes hiking three miles under a Hawaiian sunset while watching the stars slowly come out? Literally all we need is some picnic with us and this would be pretty much perfect."
"You know Danni, regardless of what some people may tell you about me in the future and about my abilities in the kitchen I'm not actually a bad cook, once we're back in civilisation, we can go back to mine and I can make you something since we missed the reservation. My house backs onto a private beach and to the ocean, we can sit out on the lanai if you want." Steve offered with a smile.
Danielle was silent for a moment, a thoughtful look on her face before she spoke, an undertone to her voice which he couldn't quite read but which left him feeling curious.
"Go back to yours?" She repeated, coming to a stop, her eyes searching his when he stopped as well and looked back over his shoulder at her.
"If you'd rather not Danni then I understand completely, we can always find somewhere near to the garage to eat at, there's plenty of places and…"
"Do you have eggs and cheese in your home?" She interrupted him before he could continue.
"Eggs and cheese? Yeah, I have them in my home, I may even have two different types of cheese there if you want." He said in confusion.
"Well that works out well because just between you and me Steve I have been seriously craving a cheese omelette for about a month or so." She confided with a quick grin at him.
"A cheese omelette? Well you're in luck Danni because I happen to be the king of omelettes and my specialities when I make them happens to be either plain cheese omelette or cheese and mushroom." He stated, returning the grin.
"If that's the case then I'll guess I'll have to come back to yours just to see whether your claim about your skill is true or whether you are exaggerating slightly." She said with another smile at him before she turned and began heading back down the road.
"I'll be looking forward to proving it to you" He replied, glancing at her from the corner of his eyes as she grinned.
Maybe he could still rescue this date after all.
Author Note
Thanks for taking the time to read. An especially big thank you if you have left me a review, favourite the story or decided to follow it.
I really appreciate it