Author's Note: So, this is the chapter where you need to note the rating change. :D Originally, when I first started this story, and then made the decision to continue with it, I didn't see this happening. However, as I continued to write, my Muse, along with two very impatient Five-0 officers, were absolutely screaming at me that this was the way the tale needed to be told. Far be it from me to deny my Muse or the characters I'm writing what they want, right?

Also, you'll notice I mention a certain enemy CIA agent; I published the first chapter of this story back in November, before the hints were dropped that Joe was going to be killed off, and I really didn't want to work to add that event into this. My goal was to have a fluffy, sweet Christmas/New Year's story for our boys, and I just didn't want to write an anguished, angry, vengeful Steve and a sad, worried, placating Danny. So, for the purposes of this story, Joe hasn't died, not yet. I'll probably write a story later on with Steve dealing with Joe's death, but during this time of year, it's kind of hard for me to write those kinds of painfully emotional stories. So, enjoy this fluffy story as it was originally intended :D

Disclaimer: Hawaii Five-O, as well as the characters found within the series, are owned by CBS Productions, K/O Paper Products, and 101st Street Productions. No profit is being made off of this work.

Chapter 7

Hawaii Five-0

Neither Danny nor Steve were prepared for the emotional roller-coaster their love making propelled them on. From the second they hit the bed, naked and bare to the other, it was a steady stream of tentative touches and hesitant kisses, as if both of them needed reassurance from the other that this was something good, something that the other wanted.

"We can wait," Steve whispered in the dark as Danny lay on top of him, his partner panting softly, shaking from equal parts excitement and fear. "Danny, we can. We can wait." He swallowed. "I'd wait forever if that's what you needed." Steve was nervous, yes, but he knew Danny had specific trepidations. He was well aware that this, them, together like this, was the point of no return for his partner.

For whatever reason, Steve offering that one last out was what made Danny shore himself up, take a deep breath, and look down at the man beneath him. He calmed, instantly. His heart was still pounding, and a nervous thrum still raced under his skin, but the fear, the worry ebbed away as he felt Steve's hands soothingly glide over his back. Danny shook his head. "I don't want to wait," he murmured, dipping his mouth to capture Steve's again, and this time, it was sure and certain, and Steve lifted one of his legs to wrap around Danny, securing them together while Danny reached behind him and gripped one of Steve's hands, dragging their clenched fingers to the side of Steve's head and holding it there gently.

From then on, it was easy, a breeze. It was warmth and passion and love wrapped up in two bodies pushing and pulling and grinding against one another, mouths seeking and voices groaning whispered names and affirmations. It was laughter when Steve rolled them to take the top and Danny affectionately called him a control freak. It was Danny panting into Steve's mouth when the SEAL teased his hand around Danny's cock and finally gripped it, making Danny gasp and arch his back against his friend, his partner, his lover now, and Steve sinking his lips against Danny's, owning every moan of pleasure Danny gave him.

It was Danny pushing himself up to roll Steve onto his back and then tugging him into a seated position while Danny settled on his lover's thighs, reaching a shy hand between them to join Steve's which hadn't left Danny's leaking member. Danny's hand was softer on Steve at first, not as firm as Steve's was on him, but he quickly found his rhythm, matching his partner pull for pull while lining his neck with kisses and bites. It was Steve refusing to give Danny any quarter as he wound an arm around the blonde's lower back and held him fast against a muscular chest, encouraging the blonde not to hold back, to do as he wished, that Steve trusted him implicitly, telling Danny how good he felt, how good Danny was making him feel as he thrust up into Danny's hand and Danny rolled his member in and out of Steve's.

And it was both of them climaxing together, breathing each other's air and refusing to release the other's mouth from his own. It was sitting and caressing and holding each other as they came down, uncaring of the messy results of their lovemaking, nosing each other's cheeks, kissing away wetness at the corners of their eyes.

In short, it was perfect. They were lying next to each other on their sides, arms over one another's waists and occasionally trading kisses; Danny loved using all parts of his mouth, and Steve had the proof of it all over his neck and collarbone. He didn't care though, and simply continued to allow Danny to nip and mark him as he saw fit.

"Glad we didn't wait till we got home?" Steve couldn't help the smug grin. Danny only chuckled against his jaw. "Yea, babe. I'm glad we didn't wait till we got home." He took a deep breath and released a low sigh, settling in against Steve and burrowing his nose between his partner's neck and shoulder.

They dozed off and on throughout the night, with Danny waking Steve from a light nap for another round, where in Steve learned exactly how tantalizing his partner's mouth could be while attached to his ear and offering a whispered play by play of erotic promises that Steve could come to expect from Danny until the blonde felt the man stiffen beneath him and hot liquid splash against his stomach. "God, Steve, the noises you make…" Danny breathed, watching as his partner's chest hitched up, nipples hard and peaked, all while Steve moaned out breathy, high pitched moans from the back of his throat.

Steve, not to be outdone, returned the favor of course, and afterwards, he held Danny tightly against him, squeezing randomly all over the stocky, built body laid alongside his own whose heartbeat was slowing and whose breathing was evening out. He nosed the side of Danny's head. "I love you, Danny." He saw the corner of his partner's mouth lift up, felt Danny nuzzle against him, and God, he would never get enough of that, he loved when Danny did that. "I love you too, Steve," Danny placed a gentle kiss on Steve's chest, humming quietly to himself as his lover's hand drifted to gently scratch at the back of his neck.

"Love Gracie and Charlie too."

Danny snuffled a laugh against his skin before looking up at him. "I know that too, babe." Even in the pre-dawn light, Steve could see Danny's smile as clearly as if the room were fully lit.

"What do you think Rachel will think?"

"Rache?" Danny shrugged. "Not that it matters, but I think she'll be fine with it. She might be a little weird at first with the whole 'me sleeping with a guy' thing, which I fully plan to have fun with, by the way," Steve laughed at his partner's shameless humor. "But if there's one thing I know about Rachel, it's that she knows how much you love our kids. In the end, that's gonna be the only thing that matters to her." Danny studied Steve quietly for a minute. "Catherine?"

"What about her?"

"I know she's in the field, but you were gonna propose to her a few years ago," Danny shrugged. "Think she'll be thrown for a loop?"

"Maybe. You know, I kind of think she always thought in the back of her mind that our relationship was a little close, personally. I mean, there are best friends and partners, and then there's us. She never said anything about it, that just wasn't her way, but I can pinpoint a few times where she may have wanted to… and honestly, maybe when she would have had the right to." Steve rubbed his face. "Lemme ask you a question."

"Sure."

"Is it wrong that I kinda want to know what Doris thinks of all of this?"

Danny took a breath. "Wrong? No, no I don't think it's wrong. She uh, she definitely doesn't get the Mother of the Year award, but… you're her son. She's your mother. No matter what she's done, that's not something you can just turn off, you know? In some small way, you'll kind of always be seeking her approval or her 'okay'-"

"No," Steve ran a hand down Danny's arm from his neck and pulled him up. Danny went willingly, ending up straddling his partner. "Never her approval, Danny," Steve rested his hands on Danny's hips, running his fingers through blonde downy hair on this thighs. It was strange, feeling hair where he hadn't on his other lovers, but not unwelcome. "Whether she approves of this or not, I couldn't care less; she lost that right a long time ago, to approve of anything in my life."

"I'm just saying, I wouldn't blame you if you wanted her support," Danny leaned down and kissed him softly, and when he did that, Steve had no defense against it. He was going to have to work on that, but for the moment, he surrendered totally and completely. "Think I wanna try something else," Danny murmured against his lips. Steve raised an eyebrow in interest. "Yea?" He watched as Danny stretched himself out then kissed a line from his neck, down his chest, to his stomach, and then lower.

"Yes," Steve groaned as he felt a tentative lick at the tip of his cock, "okay, yes, that's good, let's try that."

Hawaii Five-0

"Steve?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you want kids?"

Steve furrowed a brow. "Kids?"

"Yea, kids of your own, biological kids; do you want any?"

"…Danny is there something you want to tell me? Because I didn't notice anything different about you-"

"No, you idiot," Danny snorted into his pillow. "I mean you don't have any kids of your own, and I know you've mentioned maybe you wanted some in the past. I know you'd be like a father to Grace and Charlie and that's great, but, you know…"

"There are other options for me having my own kids other than marrying a woman, Danny." Steve sat up just a bit to look down at Danny. "Right now, I have more than I ever thought I'd have for the kind of life that I lead. If I don't manage to have kids of my own, Grace and Charlie are more than enough for me."

Danny nodded, tilting his head to the side. "That sounds like you wanna look at options too, though."

"Maybe," Steve conceded, "there's all kinds of ways to have kids now; surrogates are expensive, but maybe we can find a woman who isn't married yet who wants a kid of her own and I can help with that. Or maybe I can just go the full surrogate route, purchase some eggs, go through the whole process and do it that way. But that's so far off for me to really think about in depth you know? And, you and I would have to have a few conversations-"

"If that's what you wanted, I'd do it."

Steve chuckled. "Danny-"

"If that's what you wanted, I'd do it, Steve. No question." Danny pushed himself up to sit across from Steve. "Becoming a father was the best thing to ever happen to me. If you want kids of your own, I'm not going to keep that from you. I'll help you any way I can."

"Except when you broke up with Melissa one of the reasons you gave her was that you didn't want to have any more kids with her," Steve pointed out.

"Melissa isn't you." Danny's answer was simple and efficient. He watched Steve digest that for a few moments.

"It'd be a lot of work, Danny, I mean… this one, if I went ahead with finding a surrogate to have a kid, this would be all us. No dropping him off by Rachel's or anything like that, it'd all fall on us. You want that?"

"We'll make it work, Steve. We don't have to get into the weeds with this here and now, but if this is something you want, we'll make it work." The blonde grinned at him. "Also, it figures you'd want a boy." Steve tilted his head until he caught his partner's meaning. "It'd be nice to carry on the family name," he admitted, "but ten fingers, ten toes, and all that. Happy and healthy, that's all I'd really want."

Hawaii Five-0

Steve found that he liked scratching his fingers through the shaved sides of Danny's head and playing with the tail of hair found at the nape of his neck. It was soothing for him, helped him focus, order his thoughts. "Hey Danny?"

His partner nosed against his thigh where he was currently dozing and granted him a low 'hm' in acknowledgement. Steve took a breath; Danny quiet, comfortable, relaxed was something Steve never wanted to take away from him but his train of thought being what it was he figured it was better to get this conversation out of the way now rather than later. "Come on, Danno, I gotta talk to you about something."

That seemed to rouse Danny to wakefulness. "We've hardly slept at all since we got in last night," he grumbled, rolling to look up at Steve who, to his credit, had a look of apology on his face. "What time is it even?"

"About 8:00am."

"And you're still in bed?"

"Kinda hard to move when you're sleeping on me."

"Or was," Danny groused, closing his eyes and tugging the blankets over him a little more securely. "What's up, babe?"

"Greer." Steve just came out with it.

"O…kay?" Danny sat up, having a feeling he'd probably need to be at least half way vertical for this conversation. "Uh, why?"

"She knows things about my past, Danny, things I've done, missions I was on," the SEAL took a breath. "And she not so subtly threatened to give me up to some people that we dealt a very serious blow to years ago."

"Morocco," his partner deadpanned. Steve nodded. "Morocco was after the mission, but yea, basically. Anyway, she knows where I am now, knows what I do for a living. She might be locked up in prison but when has that ever stopped a criminal putting a hit out on someone? Or on people that person loves?"

"That's not something I'm foreign to, Steve. With Victor Hesse, Wo Fat, Gabriel Waynecroft, others we've dealt with, there was always the chance that they'd go after the team." Danny scratched his nose.

"I'm not worried about the 'team' though, Danny." Steve picked at the sheet over his legs while his partner looked on quietly. "Greer knows people. She has connections, more connections than I do since she decided that fighting against her own country was the path she wanted to take. She has more access to funding, access to more support, intelligence – hell, she probably knows we're in New Jersey now."

"So if and when she makes a move, we just make sure we're ready for it."

"It's not really us I'm worried about, Danno," Steve shook his head, and Danny saw just the trace amount of fear on his face, and it suddenly all made sense, what Steve's true fear was.

"You think she'll go for the kids?" Danny's voice was tight, as it always was when there was the potential of harm coming to his children. They'd prepared for it with Wo Fat, had dealt with it when Rick Peterson had made the severe error in judgment he had when he'd taken Grace all those years ago, and when Gabriel had paid Kono and Adam a torturous visit during their honeymoon.

"I think she'll go for what will control me the most, what will hurt me the most, and that's you and the kids – the kids more," Steve cleared his throat, looking around, "not that I'd rather you than the kids, but-"

"You don't have to explain, Steve, I get it. And just so we're clear, you better want me to take the brunt of anything that comes our way more than you'd want Grace and Charlie to," Danny reached a hand out to squeeze Steve's arm. "That's the way I'd want it, if it has to happen. And I know you'd put yourself through hell or worse for them too, though obviously I hope it never reaches that point."

"If it reached that point, then I'd do it, Danny. Gladly. Anything to keep them safe." Steve rested a hand on Danny's, squeezing back. Danny only offered a small smile in return. "So, how do you want to handle this then?"

"When we get back, we talk to Rachel first," Steve said, and Danny grunted softly in agreement. "Then we tell the kids – what do you think about making Grace a little more… aware of the risks?"

Danny shook his head. "We'll tell her what she needs to know, go over what we want her to do if someone weird comes up to her, stuff like that, but I don't want to get her in too deep, Steve. She's almost 18, she's looking at colleges, enjoying her last years of being a kid and being in high school – I don't want to put any of that on her plate." Steve didn't argue, only inclined his head and lifted Danny's hand to kiss it softly. "Same with Charlie?" he asked.

"Yea, same with him, just a little more general, more on his level," Danny scooted a bit closer. "I guess we should also talk about how we're gonna tell everyone else."

"I was just planning on telling them our first day back." Steve lifted an eyebrow, as if asking if that was alright by Danny. "I don't want to go telling the entire island, though, know what I mean?"

"Need to know," Danny agreed readily, "especially with all the craziness we deal with-"

"The criminals we get saddled with-"

"Gangs, mobsters, drug runners, traffickers, serial killers-"

"Plus the way you tend to set off all of them with your less than amenable demeanor-"

"Whoa, hey – my less than amenable demeanor?!" Danny's mouth practically fell open in shock. "I am not the one who drives like a lunatic like he's on the Grand Prix while he's on the way to Liliha's Bakery with the entire arsenal from Pearl Hickam in the trunk, okay? I would very much like to be professional with these assholes, cuff 'em nice and gentle like, and go home in one piece every night, but no, not with you around-" He was cut off by Steve sealing his mouth over Danny's and pushing him back into the pillows.

It was the nicest way Steve had ever told him to shut up.

Hawaii Five-0

Steve came to slowly, groggily, blinking his eyes open and looking in front of him. He was on his side facing the bathroom – I really need to use that, he thought to himself, but he found as he tried to move that a pair of arms were keeping him from his goal. As he tried to extricate himself from his own personal koala bear (and wouldn't that make for an interesting nick name for Danny), Steve's stomach grumbled rather loudly, and he sighed. After the active fun he and Danny had had the previous night, his body was finally making it known that it expected to be fed. Soon.

Steve reached for his phone which had made it onto the night side table at some point during the night. "Damn," he sighed; 2:30 in the afternoon. When was the last time Steve had slept the day away? He couldn't remember. Yes, he and Danny had been up most of the night, but still, waking up in the afternoon, even if it was the early afternoon, was something Steve hadn't done in ages.

"Danno, come on," he patted his - boyfriend's? Lover's? Significant other's? – arm. "We gotta get up."

"I am up," came the muffled response, and Steve discovered that was indeed true, just not in the way that he meant. He snickered, shaking his head ruefully to himself as he felt Danny's half-hard cock rolling against his backside. "Bathroom, shower, food, in that order," Steve, with a fair of amount of equal parts effort and reluctance, managed to disentangle himself from Danny's hold, making his way towards the bathroom to take care of his own morning needs; using the toilet, brushing his teeth, and then turning on the water to take a shower.

He'd only been in for just over a minute when he heard Danny come into the bathroom, relieve himself, and also brush his teeth. "I'll be out in a minute," Steve informed, hurriedly rubbing soap all over himself so that Danny could get in the shower, but that didn't seem to be a problem, since Danny was pulling back the curtain and joining him. "You are going to learn the joys and benefits of a normal shower," Danny casually plucked the soap out of the hand of his shocked SEAL and began working up a lather. "Specifically," Danny continued, reaching for Steve and starting to wash him, "the joys and benefits of taking a shower with your loving, doting partner."

"You think I've never taken a shower with someone else before?" Steve laughed. "Danny, Cath and I used to take showers together all the time."

"Oh, so that gave you what, like six minutes all together? Three minutes a piece for each navy man and woman?"

"…it was efficient," Steve tried, clearing his throat. "And, you know, sometimes it was for… uh, other reasons."

"Very romantic, babe. I'm swept off my feet, truly," Danny snickered, turning Steve around so that he could wash his back. "Just relax, SuperSEAL. You should probably get used to this, cuz it's gonna be happening a lot."

Danny took his time washing Steve, massaging soap into his skin and paying careful attention to the man's neck, shoulders, and lower back, areas where Danny had noticed his partner held most of his tension. His lover's stiffening cock may have also received a few strokes, but Danny kept most of his attentions on the non-erogenous zones of Steve's body, turning him as needed. After ten minutes of skilled hands and hot water, Danny brushed his hands over the man's arm and looked up at a blissed-out face and closed eyes. "Babe?"

"Hm?"

Danny laughed softly. "Not gonna pass out on me, are you?" Steve shook his head, dipping it down and opening his eyes just enough to find Danny's lips to kiss gently. "My turn," he murmured, grabbing the soap and working up the suds before starting in on Danny, who leaned against the wall and sighed contently. "Verdict on long, simultaneous showers?"

"Approved," Steve nodded, tracing Danny's stomach and the grooves near his hips before gently brushing his fingers along a now fully hard member. As Danny whispered Steve's name and tilted his head back, Steve found Danny's hand and placed it on his own thick cock while pressing Danny gently into the tiled wall. They took their time, neither rushing, savoring each other's lips and skin. Steve drew a wanton moan from Danny when he bit into and sucked gently at the flesh of his collarbone, paying him back for the mark Danny had placed just under his ear the other day before dragging his lips up his lover's neck, and settling his mouth by his ear.

"Come on, Danny," Steve breathed, hearing Danny's own hitching. "Don't hold it in; let go. I know you want to." He felt Danny's hand squeezing tighter around his own member in response and groaned, shuffling in closer to his partner. "Come, Danny."

And he did, releasing a long, low moan and panting as Steve continued to work him, as he continued to work Steve, and he heard the SEAL mutter "Oh God…" before Steve too was spilling onto Danny's stomach. The water beat down on both of them and Steve moved just a little bit more to the side so that Danny could be rinsed clean of Steve's essence before turning around and allowing the water to do the same to him.

"Very much approved," Steve groaned. Danny laughed. "Come on, babe; time to eat Mama William's left overs."

"I think we need to take a break for a little bit," Steve managed to climb out of the shower and fit a towel around his waist, Danny following his lead. "Otherwise some important parts of my anatomy are going to fall off."

"Can't have that," Danny shuffled out into the bedroom and pulled on a t-shirt and some sweat pants before moving into the living room and heading towards the fridge where his mother's left-over lasagna from earlier in the week beckoned him. He'd just finished putting everything on the coffee table in front of the sofa when he heard his phone go off.

"Hey, Monkey! How are you, enjoying jolly old England?"

"Yea, it's been pretty fun so far. We actually drove out to Sandringham on Christmas morning to greet the royal family after church."

"I remember you sent me some photos of that," Danny smiled into the phone. Texting just hadn't been enough; hearing Grace's voice was like hearing an angel's song. "And how is her Majesty? I met her a few years ago, you know?"

"Yes, Dad," Danny could hear the eyeroll in his daughter's voice. "It's not like I forget, you bring it up every other month."

Danny grumbled. "Do not – okay, so you went to Sandringham, did you do anything else?"

"Not really, just stuck around at Grandma and Grandpa's, took Charlie to Hyde Park and Kensington Palace. Mom got a lot of pictures of him running around the fountain at Trafalgar Square. I'll tell her to send them to you. Oh! And we went to the Sherlock Holmes."

"The Sherlock Holmes? I'm pretty sure that's a fictional character, Grace." Danny waved at Steve as his partner came out of the bedroom and sat down next to him.

"No, it's a pub with Sherlock Holmes as the theme, Danno. It was pretty cool."

"Well, that's good Gracie, I'm glad you're having fun. How's Charlie holding up?"

"He was a little fussy the first day or two here since the flight was really long and everything was new to him…and Grandma wouldn't leave him alone," Grace added that last part in a whisper, and Danny couldn't help but snicker. "But he really liked going around London to see things. We didn't bring him with us to Sandringham though; he stayed with Grandpa while Grandma, mom, and I went."

"Probably for the best."

"Yea," Grace cleared her throat. "So, you and Uncle Steve are in New Jersey?"

"Yep, we're in New Jersey, in Newark. Saw your other Grandma and Grandpa, and Aunt Bridget and Aunt Stella too. Ma made this amazing lasagna dinner a couple nights ago-"

Steve leaned in, mouth full, like an ape. "It's so good Gracie. Miss you!"

"That's very nice, Steven, you've slobbered all over my arm. Much appreciated, babe," Danny grabbed for a napkin and dabbed at his skin while Steve snickered. "Anyways, yes, we're in New Jersey. We'll be back though in time to meet your plane when you get in on Saturday." And then we can have a long talk about what Steve and I were doing in New Jersey, he silently added to himself. Speaking of which. "Monkey, is Mom around?"

"Yea, hang on." Danny did so, sneaking a glance at Steve, who had paused in shoveling salad into his mouth. "You're not gonna tell her over the phone, are you?"

"No, not over the phone, I just – well, I mean – maybe?" Danny winced. Steve just rolled his eyes. "Hey Rache."

"Hello, Danny. Grace said you needed to talk to me?"

"Yea… um, is she around you right now?"

"Yeeessss…"

"Could you maybe find something for her to do for a few minutes?"

"Grace," Danny could hear Rachel's confused sigh over the phone, "would you go and get Charlie ready for bed please?"

"I don't know why you two bother with this anymore. I'm 17," Danny could hear his daughter through the phone and held it up so that his partner could also bear witness, "it's not like I don't find out later, you know."

Rachel cleared her throat after a few seconds. "Your daughter is now upstairs and getting our son ready for bed. Now, what is it?"

"Oh, she's my daughter now, but it's our son; why is that?"

"There aren't enough minutes in my mobile plan to explain to you why that is, Daniel."

"You have unlimited everything, Rachel."

"Exactly. Now, what do you want to talk to me about?"

Steve nearly choked with laughter. Danny shot him a dirty look. "Alright, so uh, you know Steve and me, we're in New Jersey, right?"

"Yes, what of it?"

"…well, we kind of uh, we didn't just come out here to see my parents, Rachel." Danny took a breath. "I mean, my mom wanted us both to come out and Steve got the tickets and everything, but we also used the trip to do something else."

"Something else," Rachel deadpanned.

"Yea. We uh, we're kind of together… now, maybe?" Danny felt a light smack on his arm and looked at Steve. "Maybe?" he whispered, eyebrows crinkled together.

"Okay, yes, definitely. We are definitely together – you know what, you get an ex-wife and see how terrified they make you when you need to tell them things, you insensitive amoeba." Danny heard a dry chuckle through the phone and smirked at his partner. "She still thinks I'm funny."

Steve just rolled his eyes and went back to his lasagna.

"So, you and Commander McGarrett are together, you say. What exactly does that mean, Daniel?"

"It means," Danny started beating Steve wildly with a pillow as the other man doubled over, laughing quietly at Rachel's torture, "that this – this traitorous animal laughing at my pain and discomfort right now – and I are together, as in a thing, an item, a couple; we're together."

"Ah," Rachel sniffed. "I see." There was a pause before she added: "Sexually, you mean?"

"Oh my God, Rachel, I – why, why are you –"

"I'm sorry, Danny, I know I shouldn't be having such a laugh at you right now, but there are times when you make it to easy." Rachel chuckled quietly into the phone. "I assume if you're just now telling me you haven't told the children?"

"No," Danny groaned. "I was going to bring Steve by on Saturday or Sunday and sit them down, tell them."

"Over… to my house?" Danny didn't miss the confused tone in his ex-wife's voice.

"Yea, well they'll probably still be jet lagged and unpacking, plus if it turns into a big explanation, you know, a big… I don't know, just if everything doesn't go according to plan and Grace freaks out, I want her to be able to take a breather and she won't be able to do that if she's at my place with me."

"Daniel, why in the world would you think Grace would be disapproving? You know better than that, come now." Rachel had certainly never lost her ability to scold Danny, that was for sure. "I know you're nervous, but you know Grace adores Steven. It will take her some getting used to, I'm sure. It will take a good deal getting used to you being with a man, that that man is Steve, someone she's looked at like an uncle for all these years, but in the end, it will be alright, Danny."

Danny glanced at Steve who had stopped eating in favor of leaning towards the phone to hear Rachel's side of the conversation, and he was nodding in agreement. "Well, Steve seems to think you're right, so I guess we'll just pick both of the kids up sometime on Sunday and uh, and we'll tell them then, maybe take them out for shave ice or something - hey," he cut her off before she could respond, "why are you so cool about this?"

"Danny, do you know how many times I've thought you and Commander McGarrett were sleeping together?"

"Uhh…no?"

"After you went to Afghanistan to retrieve him, you didn't leave his beside for nearly a week. When he was kidnapped all those years ago by that Woofie-"

"Wo Fat," Danny snorted.

"-person, you were out of your mind while he was missing, and again, didn't leave him be for near a week. And then, of course, there was the time you crash landed a plan on the beach and gave him your liver and I thought for sure that after that something had to be going on because you were both inseparable for about a month even after you were released from the hospital." Rachel cleared her throat, took a breath, and drove on. "And then when I went to visit you in the hospital after you were shot around a year ago, I was told he hadn't left your side for longer than five minutes. Charlie told me that Steven had snuck into your house during Christmas Eve and had helped himself to your Christmas Cookies, which, had it been anyone else but your children, you'd have murdered them for on the spot-"

"Okay, alright, fine, I got it," Danny rubbed at his eyes, refusing to look at his partner, who, really, was enjoying all of this far too much.

"Very well. Now, do you want to talk to Charlie before I put him to bed?"

Ten minutes later, Danny had spoken to his son and to Grace again before hanging up the phone and looking at his partner.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Steve pushed some food his way. "Lasagna?"

Danny squinted his eyes. "You know how you were saying that you needed a break? Yea? That you needed a break from all the vigorous fooling around we've been doing? I'm gonna make that break nice and long for you."

And that was how Steve wound up feeding Danny lasagna on the couch in penance.