A/N: This chapter has split POV, because I didn't want two separate (and super short) chapters to get through this part of the story. Just a head's up: Yes, Danny seems to ramble a bit in his part. And Yes, Eric seems to have picked up that trait from his uncle ;)

~H50~

Chapter 9

Danny looked up from the report he was putting the finishing touches on, as Steve popped his head into Danny's office. "Hey, are you ready for a lunch break? I want to swing by the hospital to talk to Stephens, but I can drop you at your car first and we can still meet up to eat. Rainbow sound good?"

Danny glanced down again at his computer monitor and saw that it was just past 11:15. "Yeah, okay. Eric's done with the project I gave him here. He's just putting a few things away and washing up now."

Danny checked the hallway through the glass walls to see if Eric was returning yet. "I'd like us to go with you to the hospital, if that's okay. You got Denning to give his permission for continuing research on Ni'ihau, right? I'd like Eric to see that we sometimes have something good come out of a Five-0 case besides an arrest. We can get the Camaro after that."

Steve stepped fully into Danny's office, then made himself comfortable on the couch. "So how did the morning go?"

Danny quickly emailed his case report to Steve's inbox, logged off his computer, and leaned back in his desk chair as he answered his friend. "Well, I guess it went as well as I could have expected. He didn't throw up at the disgusting stench, he put in a decent effort at HPD and didn't let any of his current disdain for me make it to a verbalized state."

Steve huffed out a small laugh at the phrasing but didn't interrupt, so Danny just continued on. "I spoke with Duke, who gave me the schedule for the Age 18 to 21 Community Service Trash Detail for this week, and I'm thinking two days on a highway and two days on a beach will work out nicely. Each shift is three hours long. This way Eric can be supervised, and I can still get some actual work done this week. This morning he only worked two total hours, not counting set-up or transport between HPD and the Palace. So between today and the four HPD trash details, I'll have fourteen hours covered. I've thought of a few other ideas for the rest of the week, but I'd like your opinion and we can talk about it tonight."

Steve was nodding his head in agreement by the time Danny paused for a breath. "Sure, we can talk tonight. Going with HPD for the service groups is a great idea. They've already got a good system in place and are used to dealing with kid's attitudes." Steve glanced around Danny's office, then back over his shoulder into the main room. "So what did you have him do around here?"

"Let's see, we got here around 10 after finishing at HPD. I thought I'd stick with the theme of the morning, and had him wipe down all of the office doors and the surface table to remove smudges. Then I sent him down to go over the second rendition room with extra cleaner and disinfectant. I know the cleaning staff does a good job, but they really don't know what went on in that second room during our case last week, and a couple extra layers of anti-bacterial disinfectant is definitely a good thing after that junkie we had in there. I'm just glad we didn't have more than one suspect in custody at a time for this Cutler case. I was able to finish my report on the arrest while Eric has been cleaning."

Steve took a second to figure out the best way to word his next line of questioning. "So how was his attitude with you? I really think that correcting even that small part of his behavior will work great with his overall mind-set. As long as you don't mind, I'd like to keep on top of any infractions he has. I was thinking pushups or burpees for every time—not actually done in public of course—but still a small repercussion for each time he messes up with how he talks to us and the other adults he is around."

Danny gave it some thought as he finally saw Eric come around the corner of their hallway with almost with swagger in his step. "His attitude has been fine, so far. I didn't hover too much today though, so we haven't talked much. But yeah, I think a physical response would be good, and it will hopefully help his brain catch up to the lessons in respect that he still needs to learn."

Steve let out an internal sigh, glad that he wasn't over-stepping. "Alright. I'll think about the details a little more over lunch and I'll lay it out for him this afternoon. Sound good?"

"Sure, that sounds just fine to me." Danny watched as Eric stopped to flirt with a girl in the hallway right outside the Five-0 main doors. "Hey Steve, I was thinking, would you be okay with me tagging along for your afternoon workout today? Just a feeling that's been nagging me, but I don't want it to seem to Eric like I'm dumping him off on somebody else. I don't have to butt in on your drills, and I honestly don't know if I'd want to, but I don't want Eric to feel like he's a problem that I'm just passing off."

Steve followed Danny's gaze and spotted the subject of their discussion, then stood to lead them both out to the main room. "Yeah, Danny, I'm okay with that. And you can always join in if you change your mind."

"Funny. I know you are planning on a run, and you know how much I hate running. I guess I'll see what else you have planned though." As Eric finally walked through the doors to the Five-0 office, Danny moved to herd him back out again and toward the stairs to the parking lot.

~H50~

Standing in the hall, Eric could hear most of the conversation going on in Avery Stephen's hospital room. When Avery first greeted Steve, Eric's thoughts sped back to his hazy snippets of memory from Steve lecturing him in the cab of the truck the night before. That scene was quickly mixed with Steve's growled speech from first thing in the morning, about how he needed to be more respectful. His racing thoughts jumped again to the morning ride, from the backseat that time, when Uncle Danny reminded him that Steve wanted to be called—Damn! 'Commander'! Eric realized in that split-second that he would have to start thinking of him as 'Commander' instead of 'Steve' or it would never come out right when he was actually speaking.

Eric's attention snapped back to the hospital hallway the second time he heard Avery politely answer the Commander with 'Sir'. How could this little kid be so good and polite and respectful, and Eric couldn't even last one day with Uncle D—damn it, Uncle Danny—without screwing things up ten times more than before he got to Hawaii?

Uncle D—Uncle Danny—interrupted his self-deprecating thoughts. "What's up?"

Finding himself near a conversation he didn't want to have yet, or ever, Eric tried to deflect. "Huh? Nothin'. Nothing's up."

Unfortunately, Eric was aware that he didn't stop his eyes from twitching as he looked in the opposite direction of his uncle. Hoping that Danny would just let it drop, Eric's thoughts jumped once again. This time he had just overheard Steve explaining the Governor's letter, followed by Avery's dad giving his emotional thank you to the commander. All of the best moments from yesterday's rough day started flashing through his mind. Charlie Fong and the lab had made this happen, had led Five-0 to a scientist that needed to be saved from a murderer, so that the scientist could find a cure to save his own son from a disease.

Yesterday Eric had only thought that the lab and the equipment were cool, and just like on TV. Yesterday he had thought that figuring out how to find the college kids who were cheating, and how they were doing it, was a fun way to spend an afternoon after having been yelled at by his uncle for half the morning. Yesterday, he had still thought that he wasn't going to go to college after high school.

All of the good things from Friday had flown by in barely a moment. Eric saw the domino effect of where the case had gone after analyzing one little plant, and it now led him to a sudden revelation…yesterday he had become interested in a job. A real job that could help people and be a value to society. Just like Uncle Danny had been trying to get him to think about. When the idea of working in a lab had come to him the day before, Eric had dismissed it as a passing infatuation with cool electronic toys. Now, though, Avery Stephens made everything more real.

Apparently his realization made something change in his face or his body language, because Uncle Danny was asking if he was okay again.

"Yeah. I think I know what I wanna do with my life." His uncle didn't rush him to continue, so Eric didn't really feel pressured when he revealed that he wanted to work in a crime lab.

For the brief moment that Danny took to respond, Eric's heart started to drop. Maybe it was a bad idea after all, maybe Uncle D didn't—

"That's a very good career, Eric. It'd be nice." Eric looked up and saw the smile that came with his uncle's words of approval.

Eric was so relieved when Uncle Danny sounded so proud, that he had to lighten the mood to get away from the sincere conversation that was starting to happen again. "…You need some sort of degree to do that?"

Thankfully Uncle D let him get away with re-directing the dialogue into some playful banter, and he couldn't help let out a laugh when the Discovery Channel was mentioned again. After all of the turmoil running through his head, it felt like a huge weight had fallen away after make a positive decision about his future—especially one that made his uncle smile with pride.

Eric could finally hear Steve —ugh, the Commander, that was going to be hard— saying his goodbyes. As Steve stepped out of the hospital room, Danny started pulling him toward the bank of elevators, saying something about "Loco Moco."

What the—what? Loco Moco? Unfortunately, the most intelligent reply Eric could give only mirrored his confused thoughts, "…uh, what?"

~H50~

To be continued...

A/N: Yeah, I know Eric's thoughts seemed all over the place. That was on purpose, and I hope it came across alright.