It feels like hours and I doze off in the chair. I wake suddenly as my head lolls forward, jerking up and scrubbing a hand over my face. I go back to the connector door and listen for voices but there are none. I crack the door open without a sound, unsure whether they will still be talking. Danny is sitting on the edge of the bed, Maui is sprawled out on it, asleep and Danny's hand rests comfortingly on his back.

He looks over at me as I push the door open a little more, gives me a weary look and beckons me in with a small incline of his head. I draw nearer to the bed and I can see Maui has tear stained cheeks and red blotched eyes. His breathing is short and shallow, a little shaky and I know he's obviously cried himself to sleep after talking to Danny. All his grief needed to come out at some point.

Danny stands slowly, making sure not to disturb him and pulls me aside to the window where we can talk in lowered voices.

"Fucking hell Steve," Danny sighs tiredly. "I'm sorry. You were right. Took him a little while to open up but then the flood gates opened and he poured everything out to me. It took me several minutes just to calm him down and assure him I wasn't going to sell him for hiding it from me."

Running a hand through his hair he sighs, shoulders slumping as he looks back over to Maui.

"Fuck I just," Danny starts and swallows down. "I need him to take my words to heart but not like that, not when it breaks him like this."

"He's still young Danny," I tell him. "You're his only owner but he gets that not all owners are like you, that he struck lucky in becoming part of this household. He's just desperate not to screw up again. And I think he really loved Kono, was in love with her. And no matter how much we know, how much it's drilled into us that it's forbidden to enter into that kind of relationship with one another, it isn't easy to simply switch off and not become involved. When you're starved of love like we are as we're trained, you latch onto anyone that shows you affection. I think he's come to love you so much he can't bear the thought of losing you, so he shut out the rest of us, afraid he'd make the same mistake again. If he doesn't become close to us and keeps his relationship with you open then he's protecting himself from the danger and hurt."

Danny nods his head and rests a hand on my arm. "That's what he told me, eventually. He's so afraid of being sold on, terrified of it. I meant what I said, but it would take some major fuck up on his part for me to sell him. He seems to think that anything, even a minor misdemeanour would see him put out. Even talking to me about that fear had him worrying I was going to turn on him. Poor fucking kid. I made him tell me everything. He ended up crying himself to exhaustion, I had to get him lie down and rest."

"I think he needed to let it out," I say in thought. "Maybe now he can start being himself again. He's had us all worried."

"Apart from me," Danny says bitterly. "Fuck Steve, what kind of Master am I that I didn't take notice of the signs? I thought he was okay. I ignored that you were trying to tell me he wasn't."

"Don't Danny, don't blame yourself," I shake my head at him. "He hid it well. He's like two different people. The way he's acted around the rest of us is completely different to how he acts when you are around. Grace is the one way we could get him to connect again."

Danny looks at me and gives a small smile. "That's why you've been encouraging him to spend time with her?"

I shrug my shoulders, "She's not a slave and she's a child. We all love her and he knows he can freely allow any feelings of care and protection for her to exist, without fear of being punished for it. She gives her love freely without care of who we are or our status because she doesn't know any different."

"Fuck baby this is one hell of a mess," Danny sighs. "I thought we'd have moved on from it all now."

"We are, we have," I tell him. "It's just some of us are a little battered and broken from the experience. Maui needs to understand there's different ways of loving people. I think what happened with Kono means no matter what the temptation he would never enter into such a relationship again. He just needs to learn he can be close in different ways."

"I think what happened with Kono is partly my fault," Danny sighs and shakes his head. "He'd already had a glimpse into the kind of pleasure that can be gained in a physical encounter with someone. I showed him that. Maybe he couldn't resist the pull, the need of it and when Kono offerred it to him he simply couldn't say no."

I press my lips together and don't say anything. We've not spoken of Danny's fucking Maui since it happened but I still remember that night vividly. How it made me feel, how jealous I was and so angry at him. Danny senses my attitude to the subject and mutters out a quick 'sorry' to me for bringing up old memories.

"He should be okay, now that we've talked about it," Danny sighs, changing the subject and looking back over at Maui. "Would you mind sleeping in his room tonight? I think he needs me more than I've realised these last few weeks. I've been carrying a grudge against him because of what happened. He isn't stupid, he's sensed it and it hasn't done anything to ease his mind or help him move on. I think I need to spend some time with him and right now he just needs to know I'm there for him no matter what's gone on."

I feel a stab of jealousy dart through me at the idea and Danny sees it. I can't help it, there's a history there no matter if it were one fleeting moment between the two of them. He places a hand on my arm and gives me a knowing smile.

"Steve," he says teasingly. "Please?"

I give a nod because it isn't like I can rightly refuse his request. And I trust nothing will happen, no matter how much right Danny has to fuck Maui again if he wanted too.

"Yes, of course," I shrug in agreement and he pulls me in for a quick kiss.

"Go on, go to bed, it's getting late," he chides me gently, giving me a small push and pinch on my ass as I leave.

I wake early the next morning and with no Danny to keep me in bed I get up and dressed before making my way through the house. Kame has always been an early riser and the breakfast is already being prepared, I make myself a coffee and pick at the bacon before he chases me off wielding a wooden spoon. I divert to the nursery to see if Grace is awake and find her curled in Maui's arms as he reads to her from a book.

Spying me she smiles and wriggles in Maui's arms, pointing at the book like she's explaining to me that it's her start to the day. Maui's smiles sheepishly as he rocks her on his lap, turning the pages.

"I heard her stirring," he explains. "But it's a little early for breakfast."

"Yeah, Kamekona has just chased me out of the kitchen," I smile with a nod, going over to them to drop a kiss into Grace's hair. "Morning baby girl."

I put a hand on Maui's shoulder and give it a squeeze of reassurance. "Everything okay with you?"

"It will be," Maui nods back at me. "You were right Steve, I should have trusted him more."

"You've come through a lot the last few months Maui. You're allowed to feel hurt and upset because of it all," I explain to him. "Danny doesn't expect us to be mindless, unfeeling, emotionless drones. He doesn't want that from us."

"I know. It's just," he starts, sidetracked by Grace as she grabs at the pages of the book. He turns the page and lets her point to things before looking at me again. "I don't feel I deserve the second chance Steve. Kono hadn't done anything wrong until - what happened between us happened. I shouldn't be here. It isn't fair. None of it is."

"No, none of it is Maui," I agree shaking my head. "But Danny had his reasons for keeping you and selling her on. There's a reason he keeps giving you chances, because he sees something in you. Something maybe even you don't see. Kono, she's been with other families, Danny wasn't her first owner and perhaps it will be her life that she moves from family to family. It's just the way life is for some slaves. It was the same way for me until Danny bought me. But you, you're lucky, because Danny bought you fresh off the market and life here, with him as your Master, you should treasure that like a gift. You've been here long enough to see Danny doesn't buy and sell slaves on a whim. He brings them into this house to be part of the family."

"Everybody deserves a second chance," Danny interrupts from the doorway of the bedroom.

Grace starts bouncing at the sound of his voice, impressed she's being visited by so many people so early on in the day. Danny walks over to us with a casual smile, bending down to pinch Grace's cheek and press a kiss to my lips. Danny turns his focus to Maui and reaches out to brush a hand against his cheek.

"You may not feel you deserve that chance," Danny explains to him. "But that's the lucky thing about being your Master, you've no choice but to take it."

Maui smiles as Grace reaches up to grab at Danny's fingers, making babbling noises at him.

"I smell bacon," Danny declares, pulling Grace gently out of Maui's arms to lift her up with him as he stand straight. "Come on, lets get breakfast."

We arrive to find everyone sitting down to begin breakfast and we take our seats. Kamekona, as usual, has lain out a mini feast of breakfast stuffs and it doesn't take long for plates to be filled. Grace sits making a mess of her food and keeping everyone amused by her antics as Kamekona tries to feed her scrambled egg. I look around at the others, it's still strange to be without Kono but that's the way it is sometimes, you learn to adjust. As for the rest of us, we're all happy, joking with each other, discussing the things to be done for the day as Danny half reads the paper and tries to keep up with all of us. This is my life and it's good, sometimes it gets fucked up a little, sometimes we make mistakes and have to live with the consequences.

But along the way sometimes you get lucky and find your Ohana.