From the quiet tone in her voice, Steve decided there was little risk of an argument, so he walked to the door to go out and leave them alone, but Rachel said, "No, Steve... Please stay! I need to talk to you two."
Steve stopped just inside the door and turned around, looking at Rachel defiantly. She walked to the chair and sat down with a defeated attitude. "Oh, come on!" She said seeing the defensive posture of both men. "I just want to talk…"
The atmosphere tensed for a moment. The three looked at each other, as if trying to guess their thoughts and intentions. Rachel sighed and Danny seemed to relax a little, he moved the chair away from her and sat down on the edge; Steve stood next to him.
Rachel stuttered nervously, "You must... I need you to understand, Daniel. This is really hard for me."
Danny adopted the typical ironic stance and said, "To understand... Rachel, I'm an expert on that... I've had a lot of time to practice... too much, in the last ten years."
She avoided the dart and said, "I really thought you and I..." she closed her eyes, sighed and said, "But I think it's a lot of water under the bridge, isn't it?" Danny nodded silently, so she kept saying, "That's why I'm leaving..." She cleared his throat and explained, "I talked to my mother... I'll go to England for a while... she told me that distance would help me put things in perspective and I think she's right."
"How long, Rachel? ..." Danny's face had shrunk instantaneously in concern.
"It doesn't matter how long, Danny" she replied, raising her voice. Steve moved, nervous, but she lifted her hand and said in a low voice, "I'm sorry..."
Danny kept calm and said, "Of course it matters, Rachel... I'm talking about Charlie; I can't be long without seeing him… school starts at the beginning of August... I need to know how long."
She shook her head and a strange half smile appeared on her face, "You don't understand... Charlie will stay with you."
Danny seemed to calm down a bit, but Steve walked back to his chair and sat down. He leaned his elbows on the desk and asked suspicious, "What do you want, Rachel? ..."
She frowned, "What?... What do you mean?"
He answered, "Listen... I know you. I've seen you playing this game many times... so, excuse me if I don't buy your unexpected white flag."
She sighed one more time and said, "I guess I deserve that... but this time it's real, Steve." Her eyes moved from Steve to Danny and back. "I know... my relationship with Danny ended a long time ago... I just... I was hoping that..." she wiped quickly, the incipient tears that beginning to wet her eyes, "Oh come on! You know him... by now you must have realized how special he is... Danny has the gift of making you feel that you are the only person on earth... and I... I missed that."
Danny shifted uncomfortably in his chair and looked away. Something in the distance caught his attention and he did everything possible to avoid smiling: In Tani's office, Junior, Tani, Lou, Jerry and Adam, were standing there, with their noses stuck in the glass, expectant and curious to guess something of what was happening a few feet away, inside Steve's office.
Danny turned his head and his eyes met Steve's, who at that moment said, "Okay... let's say I believe you... We must also believe that, suddenly you have decided to give up that decision to take the matter of Charlie's custody to the court?"
She nodded, quiet for a moment and said, "That's correct..."
"Why this change, Rachel?" Danny asked, "Did this change of mind come spontaneously, just because of the pure goodness of your heart? Or is there something else that provoked it?"
She was unable to hold Danny's gaze, so she tilted her head and looked at her hands, while answering, "Until this morning, I was determined to fight... I was so mad!"
"Ohhhh... you were mad!" Danny was going to start ranting, but she interrupted him... "Yes, Danny... I confess, I was angry... hurt. I even talked to my lawyer, but..." She paused and took a deep breath, "But he told me I don't have a case... he told me that the reason for my anger or frustration doesn't justify a request to modify the custody agreement." After another long pause, she kept saying, "That... and my last conversation with Grace, made me realize..." She raised his head. Her gaze met Steve's expectant eyes and said, "You won!..."
Steve relaxed visibly and leaned back in the chair; Danny sighed in relief. Rachel noticed, not for the first time, the connection that seemed to flow between them without words. It seems as if the changes in the mood of one of them, flowed through the air, immediately alerting the other... it was so strange!
After an eternal minute, Danny asked, "When are you leaving?"
She looked back at Danny and answered, "Next Saturday... After Grace's party... Am I still invited?" She asked with doubt reflected on his face.
Steve hesitated for a moment, but finally replied, "Of course! ... Gracie will be happy if you're there."
"All right!..." Rachel said, as she got up. "I think that's it... maybe you should be ready, Danny... You'll have Charlie full-time for a while... I still don't know how long, but we'll be in touch, okay?" She reached out, but he came up and kissed her on the cheek. She whispered, "I wish you're happy, Danny... with all my heart." He simply muttered, "Thank you."
The looks of all team members followed Danny and Rachel as they left the office and walked down the hall to the elevator. When Danny came back, a few minutes later, he found himself face to face with Tani who, without repressing her curiosity, asked him, "Everything okay?"
Danny's smile creased the corners of his eyes when he answered, "Better than that!" Then, he looked at the others and said sarcastically, "Maybe, if you look for a bit, everyone will find something better to do... something to clean up... paperwork or, I don't know, maybe ... split the atom?"
Tani laughed and said, "And miss the best romantic story of the century that unfolds right in front of us? No way!"
Danny walked smiling, back to Steve's office, who, at that moment, was finishing a call. When the man put the phone receiver in its place, he looked at Danny who was sitting in front of him. "The governor will see me this afternoon..."
"Well... The sooner, the better." Danny scrutinized Steve's face and asked, "Are you going to tell me?"
Steve scratched an eyebrow and said, "I have to say, man. I'm surprised... I didn't think she'd quit so soon."
Danny smiled, "Yeah... me too. But I won't deny that I'm also happy about that." He moved over to the desk and looked again at Steve inquisitively, "What's going on? It's the party, isn't it?... Do you want to cancel it?"
Steve frowned and said, "No! What are you talking about? ... That party was my idea! Also, I know where I'm going to put the screen and the projector for that video..." He tried to joke, noticing that Danny rolled his eyes and said, "I just... I thought that, with everything that was happening, maybe you wouldn't want to... "
"Steve ... we've postponed that party twice... If we keep delaying it, Grace will go to college before we can celebrate her graduation properly."
"I agree... When do your folks arrive?"
Danny smiled when he answered, "Tomorrow. I must pick them up at the airport, but I'll have to borrow Lou's Suburban." Noticing the silent question in Steve's eyes, he explained, "They're all coming... My parents, Stella, Bridget and her kids... They wanted to be here to celebrate with Grace, and maybe this could be a good time."
Instantly, Steve felt his guts get tangled up again, "A good time?" He tried not to let his voice show away his nervousness. Danny said mockingly, "Yes... a good time for the 'If you don't treat my precious son well, I will kill you' speech."
Steve smiled and said, "Okay..." he tried to convey a confidence he didn't feel at all, when he said, "But maybe you should be ready yourself, Williams, because your mother and your sister love me and maybe that speech is addressed to you."
"Keep dreaming buddy!..." Danny got up and walked to the door, "I'm starving... I want a cheese burger."
It was six o'clock in the afternoon and Danny shifted uneasily in his chair, his nerves scratching his guts. Steve had gone two hours earlier to talk to the governor and he didn't come back yet. He regretted having eaten that spicy burger, because, at that moment, it weighed like an anvil in his stomach.
The relief he felt when he learned that Rachel had finally given up was quickly overshadowed by this new uncertainty. He didn't want to imagine it, but what would happen if the governor had objections about the new romantic relationships between the members of her elite task force?
He took a look at the other offices. Tani and Junior seemed to share his concern. They were both sitting in her office, not talking... they just looked at each other, as if they wanted to prolong their time together... as if that time was irremediably doomed to end, just when it just started.
His concern over the governor's reaction added to another fear that occupied Danny's mind: the reaction of his parents and sisters. He wanted to look confident in front of Steve, but deep down he had some doubts. The Williamses were a conservative family and Danny was afraid they wouldn't understand this new relationship. But he also knew that it was a family whose members loved each other deeply... he was convinced that it would help them accept Steve as one more... but Danny didn't want that... he didn't want Steve just to be accepted, he wanted him to be loved... to be seen just like he did… he wanted they knew Steve's aspects that were generally hidden from most people: The good, honest and incredibly brave man... the unconditional friend who would give anything, even his life, to make Danny and his kids to be happy.
Danny wanted them to know that, behind the tough soldier, whose laser focus made the cruelest criminal tremble, there was just a guy who enjoyed a good beer, a quiet chat, the contact with the rough waves of the sea and tasting a good glass of wine.
There was the mischievous man, who laughed loud and the one who hid a furtive tear when Grace or Charlie hugged him tightly and told they loved him.
His thoughts were interrupted when Steve opened the glass doors and walked down the hall. He stopped in front of Danny's office and opened the door. The expression on his face was indecipherable as he dropped into one of the chairs in front of the desk and took a deep breath.
"Is it done?" Danny asked after a few seconds.
Steve sighed and said, "Yeah, It's done..."
Danny spoke again after another pause, "And?"
"At first, she didn't like the news, I must say..." Steve said, carefully selecting the words. "If I think about it, maybe talking to Denning would have been much easier."
Danny frowned. This couldn't be good, could it? Denning had always been demanding and had made it clear that, if necessary, the immunity and the means that protected Five-0 could be canceled at any moment... Before the silent question that was shown in his eyes, Steve explained, "Mahoe doesn't know us well, Danny. Before she applied for governor, she was traveling between the island and the mainland for a few years, so she didn't have enough time... let's say, to get used to us and get used to the rumors about us that went through the island for so long... So, it took me a while to explain to her how our relationship has evolved in the last nine years".
Danny was beginning to lose patience for the time it was taking Steve to tell him about the governor's reaction, "And what did she say?... Do I need to look for another job?"
"No... you won't escape from this that easy. She told me she was worried that we couldn't maintain objectivity in the field, so I told her about my plan to establish a trial period... She accepted it, for now."
"For now? What does that mean?"
"She told me we should talk to a specialist... someone to help us separate our job from our private lives. This person will be watching our reactions and, eventually, will also speak with the team to make sure they'll be safe, or the entire team's work is not at risk."
"Did you tell her that we had talked to them and everyone was fine with this?"
"Yes, I did... but, as I told you, she doesn't know us. She thinks they may not have been entirely honest. Maybe they felt intimidated because I was the one who asked them, cause I'm in charge here. Mahoe thinks that if a person outside the team talks to them, they may be more open in expressing their opinions. After the three-month period, the governor will decide if the team remains as always or if there will be some changes... based on the specialist's report and some interviews with the other team members."
Danny sighed with annoyance and said, "Therapy again! ... Denning must have given her the idea... And I guess these sessions with the... specialist… It's not open to discussion, is it?"
"No... it isn't. The governor was very clear about it. Of course, I accepted. I had no other option... if it's any consolation, Junior and Tani will also have their own therapy sessions."
"No, Steven... That is no consolation, they're just partners of the same pain..." Danny sighed one more time, before saying, "Okay... I guess it could have been much worse."
There were a couple of timid knocks at the door. Danny gestured and Tani and Junior entered the office. "So?" Tani asked, "What's the verdict?"
For the next ten minutes, Steve told them about the conditions the governor had set to allow the Five-0 members to keep working together.
"It's fine!..." Junior said, "Those sessions don't sound so bad."
"Ufff..." Danny snorted, "You say that because you have not been forced to have therapy for the last eight years with this Neanderthal... I thought it was over when Denning left, but I think we won't be so lucky."
Steve laughed, "Don't exaggerate, Danno. These sessions will be different... at least, now we'll be focused on why we want to be together instead of talking about the reasons why we fight... That's progress, isn't it?"
Danny rolled his eyes and answered, "Yeah... I guess it is."
When Danny woke up the next morning. Steve was sleeping by his side. They had both gone to bed very late the night before, busy with the preparations for Danny's family visit and Grace's party, scheduled for Friday night. They had decided that Clara and Eddie would stay at Danny's house; Stella would stay with Eric, and Bridget's family would stay at Steve's, despite the fact that Bridget had repeatedly told Danny that they didn't want to be such a bother and they could stay at a hotel.
Junior had found a good apartment and had moved the previous weekend, so the house had a lot of space available again. Although, to be honest, since the dispute with his father, the guy had spent most of the nights away from home.
In addition to the short night, Steve had woken up several times, due to fitful sleep. Danny knew he was uneasy about his family's reaction and he couldn't blame him.
Yawning, he got up and went to the bathroom to relieve his bladder and brush his teeth. When he came out, he felt a soft tightness in his chest and a huge silent smile was drawn on his lips as he looked at his sleeping partner.
Steve offered a tempting spectacle: He was lying on his stomach, his head turned to one side, both arms were bent up and his hands were under the pillow. The tangled sheet barely covered his legs and revealed the lower back and the beginning of the curve of his ass. The long lashes fell over the top of his cheeks and his breathing was slow and rhythmic.
He hesitated for a moment if he should wake him, but the temptation was overwhelming. After all, it was still early and they could sleep for a while, after they put into practice some interesting ideas that were going through his mind.
He walked slowly to the bed and leaned. His hands began to float over Steve's legs in a soft, gentle caress. Slowly, they moved up, until he had to climb onto the bed, with his knees on either side of Steve's legs.
His hands continued to rub and stroke the solid thighs, pressed gently on his ass and continued their way to his back. By then, Steve had begun to wake up and his breathing was accelerating bit by bit.
That response prompted Danny to continue. He sat astride his partner's thighs and began to sensually massage his back. He felt the powerful dorsal muscles soften slowly. Steve writhed when those hands that seemed to have their own mind, went up his sides and reached his shoulders.
He wanted to turn around and moved his arms down, but Danny took firmly his forearms and put them back in their previous position, then he put his mouth next to Steve's ear and whispered... "Shhh... stay still and don't talk... just let me take care of you!"
Steve shuddered when Danny's warm breath brushed his neck. He closed his eyes and relaxed, trying to concentrate on the incredible feeling of Danny's hands sliding over his skin.
Danny seemed to take his time to enjoy the tactile sensation and the response of Steve's skin, which bristled and reacted at the slightest touch.
Steve felt a slight draft, when Danny moved and the sheet slid smoothly to the side, uncovering him completely. He kept his eyes closed trying not to move his arms, when he heard the sound of the cap of the lube bottle.
He felt Danny's comforting weight on his thighs again, and those wonderful hands began to explore and knead his ass. He held his breath for a moment, but Danny's voice sounded softly next to his ear and his breath caressed his neck again, "Relax and breathe... just feel me, okay?"
Steve nodded and relaxed at last, when the slight twinge of pain faded, and Danny's fingers continued his pleasant task. He was burning with the desire to touch Danny... to return the loving attention he was receiving, but he had to gather all his strength to his hands remained in the same place, squeezing the pillow until his knuckles went white.
On three or four occasions, Danny's fingers pressed on that magical spot and some waves of pleasure shook him, while his hips pushed the mattress in an attempt to relieve some of the tension that was building up in his belly. The lid of the lube bottle sounded again, and Steve felt Danny when he settled between his legs and began to push slowly... a moan came from deep in his throat, but he didn't say a word.
Feeling how close they were, Danny increased the pace and strength of his movements, until, finally, Steve couldn't take it anymore and he murmured hoarsely Danny's name, while his climax hit him with an overwhelming force. Danny followed him soon after and they both stayed there, exhausted and sweaty... and incredibly satisfied.
While catching his breath, Danny looked at Steve's hands. They remained in the same place on the pillow and squeezing the fabric. Gently he took both hands and stroked them slowly, kissing them... allowing Steve to finally relax the muscles of his shoulders and move his fingers to regain sensibility.
Danny kissed Steve's shoulders and rolled to the side, until his back was on the mattress. His breathing was slowly returning to its normal rhythm, when Steve raised his head and leaned on his elbows to look at Danny, he approached and kissed him fiercely. Then, he rested his head on the pillow and quickly fell asleep.
A couple of hours later, the phone began to vibrate on the bedside table. Without opening his eyes, Steve reached out and felt the wooden surface until his fingers found the phone and took it to his ear to answer, "McGarrett..." a couple of seconds later he said, "Okay... I'll be there."
Finally, he opened his eyes and put the phone back on the bedside table. He rubbed his eyes and yawned as he rolled on the bed and sat on the edge. Danny's husky voice said, "Is there a case?"
"Yes..." Steve answered after clearing his throat, "A young couple found a girl's body in Laniakea Beach. She seems to be the daughter of a senior officer at the Brazilian embassy. The governor wants us in this..." Danny made a move to get up, but Steve said, "No... I'll take this one..." He got up and started walking to the bathroom, when he noticed that Danny had also gotten up and was looking at him with a frown. With a smile he retraced his steps and walked around the bed, wrapped his arms around Danny and said, "Your parents' flight arrives at 1 pm. Danny... If you go to the north shore and process the scene with me, you'll never get there on time to pick them up... You still have to go to the office to take Lou's truck before going to the airport." He leaned in, kissed Danny's lips gently and said, unable to suppress a yawn, "Although I would really appreciate a huge cup of coffee."
"Okay. Let's see what I can do for you." Danny picked up his shorts and put them on, while his eyes clung to Steve's naked back and ass, when he walked back to the bathroom. When the door closed and the shower water began to run, Danny sighed satisfied and left the room.