A/N: Thank you again for the reviews and alerts, not to mention for reading! This is the first of two chapters that I'll post this week. The next one will probably be up Wednesday, maybe Thursday. Tomorrow I'm drowning my sorrows 'cos I turn another year older, which means drinking, not writing!
Chapter 11
Grace walked back into her bedroom and stood just outside the bathroom doorway. Her face was still pale but she'd managed to wash away most of the tear stains, though her eyes were still swollen and red.
"Come and sit down Grace," Steve spoke softly but firmly, patting the bed next to him. He might have smiled at the way she walked over to him, as if she was walking to certain death, if the situation hadn't been so serious. She settled next to him and he realised he had no idea where to start. Damn, only Danny could make him face an emotionally wrought nine year old! Turning his body so he was facing her, "Do you know how lucky you are?" he asked her.
The little girl's face screwed up in question, not really understanding what he was asking. Steve saw her confusion and carried on, "Forget about all the expensive stuff that you have," he waved a hand dismissively at the room in true Danny fashion, "Think about all the people that you have in your life that love you; your Mom, Step-Stan, Danno, Chin, Kono, me and that's just for starters. Don't you think you're a lucky little girl to have so many people love you?"
"I guess," she shrugged, "I don't love Danno any more though!" crossing her arms she looked defiantly at her Uncle but as soon as she saw the look on his face she cast her eyes back towards the ground.
"Grace Williams, I can't believe that. I don't believe that the man that travelled five thousand miles just to spend one night a week and every other weekend with you doesn't mean anything to you!"
"I hate him! He killed Mr Hoppy!" the vehemence was less this time, the words less certain.
"You know what? This isn't even about that anymore! Stan has already told you that it wasn't Danno, but whether or not you believe him isn't what bothers me right now. Do you want to know what bothers me Grace?" All he gets is another shrug in response, "I'm going to tell you anyway. What bothers me is the fact that the little girl I've come to love, the one that's sweet, caring and smart, has vanished and left behind is another little girl who's mean, spoiled and uncaring. That first little girl is the one I love. I'm not sure if I can love the second."
"You don't love me any more Uncle Steve?" Grace's voice trembled.
"Actually I think that I'll always love you, but I really don't like you very much right now!" Steve knew he was being harsh but he really needed her to understand what she was doing, not only to her family but to herself. Steve's phone rang and he silently cursed at the interruption, but recognised Chin's ringtone, which was Guns 'n' Roses – Shotgun Blues and knew he'd only call if there had been a change in Danny's condition, "Talk to me Chin."
"Steve, Danny developed a fever and Henry thinks its sepsis."
"I'm on my way," he hung up the phone before turning back to Grace, "I'm going back to the hospital to see Danno, are you going to come with me?"
"No," Grace replied sullenly.
It was all Steve could do not to growl in frustration but he knew that wouldn't help, "You know what Grace, I want you to think long and hard about why you're really behaving this way. When you figure it out and you want to talk then call me and I'll come, until then I'm going to be with Danno because he needs me more than you do right now!"
"I won't be able to call you," Grace scowled at him, "Step-Stan took my cell phone."
"Ask to use the house phone Grace. You're a smart girl, figure this out before it's too late," with that final warning he left the room, closing the door gently behind him, despite his desire to slam it in frustration.
"Steve?" Stan stepped out of the den as he heard him coming down the stairs.
"Danny's taken a turn for the worse I need to get back to the hospital," he replied still heading for the door.
"Wait," Stan turned to his brother, "Will you stay here with Grace?"
"Why?" he asked suspiciously.
"I want to go to the hospital; I need to speak to Rachel."
"Yeah, you do. Yes, I'll stay with Grace."
"Thanks," Stan grabbed his wallet and keys following Steve out the door.
"Oh, if Grace asks to use the phone, let her," Steve told Seb.
"Excuse me?" Seb wasn't too thrilled about his brother going off with the other man and now he was giving him orders.
"She's going to call me when she's had time to think about things and I promised her I would come when she needs to talk."
"It's fine Seb, her cell is in my office on the desk, Steve's number will be programmed into it, just give it to her. Here's the key," he handed over the key to the office and quickly left pulling the front door closed and leaving a rather flabbergasted Seb behind.
-5-0-
Steve strode into the ICU with Stan hot on his heels. The two men stood in the doorway of Danny's room and watched as Kono ran a damp washcloth over the man's face and Rachel sat by his bedside, her eyes reddened from crying.
"Hey, how is he?" asked Steve quietly.
Kono looked up at the man she was as close to as her cousin with her own red rimmed eyes, "His temperatures gone up again; it's now 39.5."
Walking over to the bed Steve laid a hand on Danny's and squeezed gently, feeling the heat rolling off him, "Damn it Danno, you can't do anything the easy way can you? Where's Chin?"
"He went to get us something to drink."
Stan walked over to Rachel and rested a hand on her shoulder; she looked up at him with her brown eyes full of tears and leaned her head against his side, "Sweetheart, we need to talk," he told her softly.
"I don't want to leave," she replied, frightened that if she did her ex's tenuous grip on life would fade. The closeness they shared because of their daughter would always be there and she needed him to live for Grace's sake, because when she realised that hating her father was a mistake… Well if he died Grace would never be able to forgive herself. Thoughts of her daughter made her look at Steve, "How did it go, talking to Grace?"
The SEAL shot a look over at Stan who just looked back helplessly, "I gave her some things to think about. Told her to call me when she's come to her senses and is ready to talk about what's really bothering her. I would have stayed longer but Chin called…"
"You hear that Daniel? You need to keep fighting so that Grace gets the chance to apologise."
"Rachel we really do need to talk," Stan insisted. He really didn't want to but knew he had to talk to his wife.
"We'll call if there's any change Rachel, besides you could use a break."
"Come on, we'll go out and pick up a decent lunch for everyone."
"OK, but you'll call if anything…" she waves a hand at Danny as Stan helps her to her feet, putting his arm around her and taking her car keys from her.
"Of course I will."
The couple left the ICU with Rachel clinging to Stan as Chin walked back in with a selection of cold and hot drinks.
"What's going on?" he asked as he set them on the table at the side of the room as Kono and Steve both helped themselves to the drinks.
"Stan needs to talk to Rachel; he's got something he needs to tell her. I really don't think she's going to like it so here isn't the place for him to do it."
Chin looked carefully at his friend, "What happened?"
Steve sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "I punched Stan."
"You did what?"
"I punched Stan… in the face," Steve had the decency to look a little shame faced.
"Why?" asked Kono, knowing that he would have only done so in the heat of the moment.
"He was the one that left the cage door open. It was an accident, but I overheard him telling his older brother about it and saw red," shrugged Steve.
"And he didn't say anything? Then I'm glad you punched him Boss," Kono turned her attention back to Danny, once again running the cool, damp cloth over his face. "You hear that Danny? Steve did something you've been absolutely desperate to do for a while now!"
"Kono!" Chin gave her a frown of disapproval, even if he knew what she said was true, "That's not the whole story is it?" he didn't blame Steve for his reaction because he was pretty damn mad at Stan himself but now was not the time to let those feelings out. Besides he was always the calm one in these kinds of situations.
Steve told them about Grace seeing him punch Stan and the conversations with her following the altercation.
"Danny's not going to like the fact she saw that brah, no matter how justified you were in punching the guy," pointed out Chin, "I can't believe she thought Stan was lying to protect Danny of all people."
"I don't think she does, not really. This isn't about that damn rabbit, I'm sure of it. I just hope she comes to her senses before it's too late," he turns his attention back to his partner, the fear that he's wasn't going to pull through all too real.
-5-0-
Stan pulled up outside a park which happened to be near a deli where he could pick up lunch if he survived this conversation with his wife. He got out of the car, walked around and opened her door for her.
"What's going on Stan?" she asked, her voice quivering. She'd never seen her husband this nervous before, not even on their wedding day.
"Let's go and sit down over there," he pointed to a bench under the shade of a tree. It seemed incongruous that the day was so sunny and warm. There were people walking through the park laughing which just seemed so wrong to Stan when his world was in such turmoil.
Once they were settled on the bench Rachel turned to Stan, "You're scaring me, what's wrong?"
"Rachel, I did something very stupid and I'm not sure you're going to be able to forgive me for it."
"Just tell me what it is Stanley!"
"I left the door to Mr Hoppy's cage open that morning. I went to check on him before going to the hospital to see Mother."
Rachel sat there frozen, her mouth agape. No words could make it passed the lump that had formed in her throat. Her husband had been lying to her. In the grand scheme of things it wasn't a big lie; he hadn't been cheating on her nor doing anything illegal, but it had led to the issues between Grace and Danny.
"Say something Rachel!"
"Why are you telling me now?"
"I knew I should have told you sooner but I was worried about losing Grace… and you. I talked to Seb and he convinced me I had to tell you now, before things got worse."
"We need to tell Grace," Rachel was in shock, otherwise she'd be yelling at him right now, he was sure of it.
"Er, I already have."
"What, without me there?"
Stan ran a hand through his hair, "Steve heard me talking to Seb, things got a bit heated and Grace came down stairs to find out what the commotion was all about. We had to explain."
"Heated? Commotion? Stanley, would you just tell me what the hell happened?"
"Steve grabbed me and punched me, Grace came out and saw… something, I'm not sure if she actually saw him hit me or not to be honest; she was just suddenly… there. Seb, Steve and I sat down with her after I'd cleaned up and I told her it was me. She didn't believe me."
"He punched you? Grace saw?" Rachel wasn't sure whether to laugh, cry or punch her husband herself.
"I don't blame Steve for punching me…"
"Nor do I!"
"Look, I know saying that I'm sorry won't help, but I am Rachel, sorry for all the hurt and pain. I never dreamed that Grace would keep this up, especially now Danny is hurt. I can't change anything but I will do everything in my power to help put this right!"
"What happened when Steve spoke to Grace?"
Stan sat with her and told her everything that Steve had said while they were on their way to the hospital, "So now I guess we just have to wait."
"I'm done waiting for her to become the daughter that Danny and I raised her to be. She's being a self-centred, selfish child. I get that she is a child but that's not how Danny and I taught her to behave! I'm not waiting any more. Drive me home Stan, we're going to sort this once…" her cell rang in her purse and she quickly rummaged through it to retrieve it, "Steve?" she asked tentatively, not sure if she wanted to hear what he had to say, "Alright, yes, I'll ask Stanley to call his brother," she closed the cell and replaced it in her bag.
Stan knew he was going to be paying for this for some time to come; first she had called him Stanley; secondly she hadn't shouted at him. A calm Rachel was far scarier than a yelling one, "What is it?"
"Grace has called Steve. Please call Sebastian and tell him to allow him to see her."
Stan nodded and pulled out his own cell to call his brother before turning his attention back to his wife, "Are we going to be alright?" he asked.
"Honestly Stanley? I don't know. You've hurt a lot of people with what you've done but now is not the time to worry about us. We need to focus on Grace and what she needs, which is to see her father before things get any worse!"
"I understand," probably for the first time since this all started he knew he would accept whatever consequences came of his actions, regardless of what those turned out to be, "I'm going to go and pick up lunch for everyone before I take you back to the hospital."
Rachel simply nodded and stared off into space hoping that Grace would talk to Steve, because she certainly hadn't been talking to her, despite her best efforts to get out of her daughter what was really wrong. That damn stubborn Williams streak!
-5-0-
A/N: What do we think? Will Grace finally get over herself?