Author's Note: I think this is the second Steve & Danny having a conversation in the car scene I've done in this fic, but we all know that's their primary bonding/arguing time.


Apparently, Danny Williams had sighed just one too many times. He hadn't even noticed he'd been doing it until suddenly the camaro was veering off the road, coming to such a sudden stop that it kicked up a cloud of dust from the shoulder that engulfed them like a sandstorm and obscured the outside world. Not to mention causing his seatbelt to lock across his chest as he was thrown forward from the momentum with bruising force. He sent a hateful glare at his wreckless, insane partner. Only to find himself preempted by Steve's patented intense glare, which Danny had concluded was worse than laser sights.

If you found yourself with a little red dot on your chest, you pretty much knew what was coming next. I.e. your demise. He had unfortunately intimate knowledge that it could be a bomb, as well as a bullet. But the final result was the same (unless you were considerably lucky). Your death.

With Steve's laser-beam glare, however, matters could go any number of ways, including the same sort of terminal finality as a bullet. Or in fact, a literal bullet was also a possibility.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

Danny shook his head, uncertain whether he'd actually spoken, or if Steve had just stolen the words right out of his head. He thought he had scolded his partner, apparently in sync with the other man's same sharp words. At least, Danny's mouth was still open.

He closed it. Glared.

Steve glared back. There was a slight nuance to the glare, that said 'I'm staring hatefully at you because I care'. And yes, the expression was different than 'I'm staring hatefully at you because you're a crazy murderer' or 'I'm staring hatefully at you because you drank my last beer even though you always end up covering my bar tab at the end of the night and the least I could do is let you have free access to the contents of my fridge when you're a guest in my home.'

"Okay, Danny. You're gonna tell me, and you're gonna tell me right now, what's been bothering you for the past few weeks?" Steve said, taking advantage of Danny's lapse into self-indulgent inner rambling. The bastard.

The detective opened his mouth to deny all, but his 'friend' cut him off.

"And don't you dare tell me that nothing's bothering you. I know you better than that. Plus, you've been so fucking snippy the past week that even Chin is having a hard time excusing your behavior. And you well know he always gives you the benefit of the doubt.

"So out with it," Steve continued to stare him down until he shifted uncomfortably in his seat, tugged at the seized seatbelt, unlatched it, only to realize it hadn't been what was making it difficult to breathe. "We aren't moving from this spot until you tell me, buddy."

Unable to withstand the intense SEAL stare, Danny let his gaze slide to the windshield and the world beyond the space that was feeling a little cramped. The dust had settled outside of the car, but Danny felt like the sandstorm was still closing in on him, choking and stinging, threatening to tear all of his skin off, leaving him vulnerable, exposed to the harsh world.

He sighed when he looked back at his partner, his friend. Steve was showing a good deal of patience, he had to admit. It was the intimidating kind that said 'I can lay in this sniper's foxhole all night until my target appears'.

"Nell's pregnant."

Dark eyebrows shot up a forehead that went from smooth to furrowed. Dark blue eyes widened.

"Yours?"

"What?! Of course, Mr. Paranoia. Nell is not the type to sleep around, even when she's only in a long-distance semi-committed relationship." Danny couldn't help his snappish response, but he supposed the way he'd been acting, his friend would assume that it wasn't a good situation. But it wasn't the fact that his long-distance girlfriend was pregnant that was making him miserable. It was the fact that he'd apparently nagged at his pregnant girlfriend just a little bit too much and she'd withdrawn. She'd only sent him curt replies to his texts and hadn't answered his calls or returned the messages he'd left on her voicemail.

"Wow. Uh, congrats, Danno," Steve said, looking genuinely pleased for his friend before his expression returned to a concerned one. He cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable even though it had been he who'd opened the can of worms to discussing personal things like emotions. "I mean...uh, it's a good thing, right? You're happy about the baby, aren't you?"

"Yes. If the kid takes after her, it'll be cute and smart," Danny said, thinking about how fortunate he was that Grace was his daughter. "Really, it's lucky Grace takes after her mother. Better that my kids don't take after me."

Steve frowned.

"Whadya mean?"

"Do we really need to get into a discussion of my flaws right now?" Danny didn't need them expounded upon, either by himself or Steve. He was feeling guilty enough already that he'd pushed the issue with Nell that she obviously didn't want to face, or wanted to deal with on her own. She could be as stubborn and snappy as Danny himself could, even though overall, the young woman was decidedly more sweet-tempered than the cynical ex-pat Jersey detective.

"I think Grace and Nell, and even Rachel would agree with me, Danny," Steve said, giving him that sincere, slightly sad puppy-eyed look. "You have far more good qualities to pass on to your kids than bad ones."

Danny bit his bottom lip, looking out the passenger window and swallowing down the lump in his throat. Despite knowing how Steve felt about him, that they were undeniably the most devoted kind of best friends, it still hit him hard in the heart whenever the tough ex-SEAL showed him respect and affection without the standard accompaniment of teasing to lighten the mood.

"Is that what's been bothering you?" Steve asked when Danny finally found himself capable of facing his friend again. "You're a good father. And you've been through it before, so you already know what to expect."

Steve continued to study him with his uncomfortably intense blue gaze, and it was all Danny could do not to squirm in his seat. When the normally verbose detective failed to say anything, his partner pressed on, obviously feeling around for the problem.

"Nell must feel more at ease, having your experience and advice."

Danny did shift, feeling a knot of muscle tense in his lower back. Sometimes with Steve McGarrett, it was better just to get things over with. The bastard, God love him, was persistent.

"She's uh... She's rather pissed at me at the moment," Danny said. "Maybe permanently. I dunno... I thought I was trying to help her. She's isolated herself from her friends for some reason. There's no one there to help her..."

Danny studied his hands.

"With the pregnancy, you mean," Steve said. "Why don't you go spend some time with her?"

"Don't get me wrong, I love Nell, and I miss her, and I want to be there with her, do whatever I can to help her as she grows our baby..." Danny ground his teeth, shaking his head in frustration. "But my life is here, on this damned island that's so far from civilization but God help me I've gone native because I just can't wrap my mind around ever leaving it, like it's not even an option my stupid brain will consider as existing."

Steve grinned stupidly at him.

Yeah, live it up, Island-boy. Danny 'I hate Paradise' Williams admitted that Hawaii was his home and he wouldn't contemplate leaving it, even for the woman he loved.

"I'm not sayin' you should leave forever, Danno," the ex-Seal said. "Just take some time, whenever you need, go and be with her. We'd understand. Grace would understand. She's a smart, compassionate girl, Danny. She won't hold your being there for her new brother or sister against you... hey, do you know, by the way, boy or girl?"

"No. I think she was waiting for me to be there to find out."

Danny actually felt a little bit relieved. He had to admit that Steve, military-brain-washed though he sometimes behaved, had a way of calming him down emotionally, of helping him see a solution to a problem that just moments before seemed impossible. It didn't solve everything. It didn't really solve anything. But it made Danny feel like perhaps, this wasn't a problem that couldn't be resolved.

He loved Nell. She was having his baby. And he would be there for them both. It was that simple. His Hawaiian ohana would understand that meant he might not be there for them a couple of times, but he had been there for them for so many others (and they for him) that it wouldn't really matter, it wouldn't break the bonds between them. They were more immutable than any Danny had ever known in his entire life before coming to Hawaii, before meeting Steve McGarrett and joining Five-0.

And Steve was right. Grace was a great girl with a big heart. She would understand... Once he told her about her impending sibling, that was...

"Okay," Danny said. "I'm going to the Mainland."

"Today," Steve added firmly. "We've got this case covered, Danny. Please, go. Make up with Nell. You're driving me crazy like this."

"I'm driving you crazy? You're the maniac who decides the best time to discuss my feeling blue is to veer off the highway going 70 miles per hour... " Danny began ranting, a huge grin plastered on his face as Steve put the car into drive and they headed back to Honolulu to pack a suitcase and book a plane ticket.


A/N: Bored yet? Hopefully not, there will be some fun/exciting stuff a little later on in this fic. And if you enjoy romance/drama/fluff/smut, then definitely stick around, because there'll be more of that first.