A little bit of father/daughter time before we go back to the actual case - I hope you enjoy :-)

Chapter 11:

After his first, short conversation with Steve on Saturday morning, Danny slept soundly for the next 24 hours, trusting Steve to take care of Grace. He didn't wake once until the next morning when he heard whispering voices invading his sleep and slowly coaxed himself toward consciousness. Comfortably listening a few minutes to the familiar voices, Danny finally took a deep breath and blinked into the bright light of a typical sunny Hawaiian Sunday morning.

"Hey monkey," he croaked out with a huge smile when his gaze fell on his daughter and only a moment later he found himself wrapped into one of Grace's famous hugs.

"Danno," Grace exclaimed happily, contentedly snuggling against her father's uninjured side. "You're awake. I missed you."

"I missed you too," Danny replied, pressing a gentle kiss on top of Grace's head and breathing in the scent of her hair. "Thanks for taking care of her," he whispered with a nod toward his partner who watched the reunion between father and daughter with a happy smile on his face.

"Don't mention it," Steve nodded back, dismissing the topic with a short flick of his wrist. He cocked his head a little bit to the right as he took a closer look at his friend. "How are you feeling?"

Wrapping his right arm around Grace's slender body and gently pressing her against his side Danny sucked his lower lip while he pondered on Steve's question. The pain from his bruises had decreased to an uncomfortable but bearable throbbing and the presence of his daughter who was meeting his gaze with a beaming smile chased the last remnant of his headache away. Oddly enough, the gunshot wound in his back didn't hurt at all, but Danny was sure that an unfortunate or inconsiderate movement could change that fact in a heartbeat.

"I'm feeling pretty good," Danny finally answered honestly, carefully shifting his weight a little bit as he tried to stifle a yawn. A slight twitching in his lower back was the only response to the cautious movement, tempting Danny to raise his bed and fully sit up.

"Take it easy," Steve warned him quietly, closely watching his partner's face for any sign of stress or pain. "Your doctor said you have to be cautious not to pull the stitches. The bullet might have missed your kidney or any other vital organs but nevertheless it did cause deep damage to soft tissue. He said you are absolutely forbidden from lifting or carrying anything heavier than a bottle of water for at least the next two weeks."

"I think I can handle a two week vacation," Danny said drily, grinning brightly as he snuggled deeper into the pillows and turned toward Grace. "Would you like to keep me company, monkey?"

"Who said something about a vacation?" Steve chimed in before Grace was able to answer her father's question. Smirking down at his partner, he added good-humoredly, "I'm sure the doctor will agree to light duty, which means you can finally finish all the paperwork you've been putting on the shelf for weeks now." Briefly pointing at the sling on his left arm he explained with a smug little smile, "Unfortunately I'm incapacitated for paperwork."

"You're… you're incapacitated for paperwork?" Danny asked, raising his eyebrows as he stared at his grinning partner. He took a deep breath and threw a short glance at Grace who had started to giggle softly in anticipation of another funny conversation between her father and her adopted uncle. "Nice try, Steven. But first of all, you know full well that it is your paperwork and not mine, that is waiting to be done and secondly… since when are you left-handed?"

"Well, it was worth a try, wasn't it?" Steve asked back, winking at Grace who giggled even louder when she saw her father shake his head and roll his eyes, mumbling something about crazy partners.

"I'm leaving you in the capable hands of your daughter," McGarrett said after a moment of good-natured silence, turning serious when he locked eyes with Danny. "I'm meeting Chin at the office, we're trying to find out more about Michael," he explained briefly, already moving towards the exit. I'll be back later this afternoon, alright?"

"Yeah, alright," Danny agreed with an impatient wave of his hand, almost shooing Steve out of the door. He was burning to finally learn what had happened to Steve after he had left him and Grace in the basement and he also wanted to know more about the man who had held them hostage, but at the moment he was just happy to spend some time with his daughter, making sure that she had come through the whole matter unscathed.

After Steve had left, father and daughter kept silent for a long moment, just enjoying each other's company without the need to speak.

"What's the matter, monkey?" Danny whispered into Grace's hair when he felt the girl fidgeting nervously by his side. "Are you alright?"

Wiggling out of Danny's embrace, Grace briefly looked at her father before she cast down her eyes and started to fiddle with her pigtails. She opened and closed her mouth a few times but apparently she didn't know how to voice her thoughts so she just sighed heavily and dropped her head.

"Hey, Gracie, what's wrong?" Danny asked softly, cautiously sitting up so that he got a better look at his daughter. He briefly gritted his teeth when his gaze fell on the white patch on her neck, fighting back the memories of anger and fear. After tenderly caressing Grace's hair, Danny placed his fingers underneath her chin and gently forced her head up so that she had to meet his gaze. "You know that you can tell me anything that's bothering you, right?"

He watched in bewilderment how her big brown eyes slowly filled with tears and her lips began to tremble. "Come here, baby," Danny breathed out, immediately wrapping his arms around Grace's body and pulling her into another tight embrace. "Everything's gonna be alright, okay?" he whispered, totally taken aback by the desperate sobs that were now racking her slender body. "Everything's gonna be alright," Danny repeated, ignoring the wetness from the tears that were soaking the front of his hospital gown as he gently rocked back and forth. "Just tell me what's wrong, okay?"

"I'm sorry," Grace sobbed against Danny's chest but for a long time those few words were the only ones she spoke and Danny could do nothing more than mumble nonsense words to calm her down and hold her tight until the sobs finally died down.

"What are you sorry for, Grace?" Danny asked as he carefully broke up the hug and held Grace an arm's length away so that he could see her face.

Looking down at the white bed sheets, Grace nervously knotted her fingers before she finally took a deep breath and slightly squared her shoulder. "It's my fault that you were hurt…" she whispered, her voice trailing off mid-sentence. "I disobeyed your orders," she said and Danny weakly remembered their conversation in the basement before he had lost consciousness.

"Monkey, look at me," he said with a little sigh, once more placing his fingers underneath her chin, patiently waiting until Grace was finally looking him in the eyes. "I already told you that there's nothing you have to be sorry for. Yes, you disobeyed my orders and that was very dangerous, but you had a very good reason and you already agreed that you'd do better the next time, right?" Danny waited for her small, hesitant nod of agreement, hoping with all his might that never again would they be in such a situation. "It wasn't your fault that I was hurt. It was solely Michael's fault, he was the one who pulled the trigger and he was the one with the knife." Danny fell silent, holding his daughter's gaze for a moment before his eyes dropped to her neck; the expression on his face turned grim when he briefly let his fingers trail over the white patch. Looking up, Danny put his hands on both sides of Grace's face and slowly bent forward, placing a tender kiss on her forehead. "I'm sorry that I wasn't able to protect you, I'm sorry that the bad man hurt you," he whispered solemnly, smiling softly when he felt that Grace finally started to relax under his touch.

"Are we good?" Danny asked a moment later when Grace still hadn't said a word, throwing a worried look at his daughter, his smile brightening when she gave him a shy little smile and hesitantly nodded her head.

"That's good," Danny said with a happy smile, once more caressing Grace's hair before he leaned back into the pillows. Despite having slept a whole day, the short conversation with Steve and Grace had left him totally exhausted and to his own embarrassment his eyelids started to droop and he had to suppress a yawn. He tried to mask the pain that surged through his body when he shifted his weight to find a more comfortable position.

"So, monkey, did you spent the night at Uncle Steve's house?" he asked, wearily rubbing his burning eyes as he started a conversation but he had obviously underestimated his daughter's powers of observation.

"It's okay to go back to sleep, Danno," Grace replied softly, totally ignoring his question as she pointed towards her pink backpack on the second bed. "I have a few books with me, so you don't need to stay up to entertain me. I will read a little bit and watch over you while you're sleeping." She hopped off the bed and before Danny could even think about an answer Grace had fetched one of her books and was back on his bed in the blink of an eye, sitting down cross-legged by his side. "And besides, the doctor said you need rest, Danno," Grace declaimed reprovingly, slightly furrowing her brow when she watched her father.

The tone of her voice and the expression on her young face reminded Danny so much of her mother that he cringed inwardly, deciding that it was best to follow her advice without opposition. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked and this time he wasn't able to stifle the yawn that was building up in his chest.

"Go back to sleep," Grace repeated with a sharp nod of her head and her beaming smile was the last thing Danny saw before sleep beckoned him. It followed him into his dreams and he slept soundly for another few hours, his right hand resting limply on Grace's thigh all the time.

(tbc)