I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.
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Chapter 20
Amongst a deep pile of pillows and her pink comforter cover, Grace was laying on her stomach paging through a book without really reading it. Her cell phone was off to her left, just within a few centimeters of her fingers should Becca happen to call or text her back. But it had been hours and in fact, Rachel, she and Stan had eaten a somewhat early dinner themselves because Stan had to run to work at the last-minute. Even though it was a Saturday and most people didn't have to, Stan sometimes had things to follow-up on like a property issue or even manage a spontaneous negotiation.
That night, it was some sort of negotiation related to a potential investor who had a multitude of questions for her step-father and, since it meant a lot of money, Stan had to beg off even desert after managing a quick bite to eat.
Then Grace had declined dessert too. Escaping back to her bedroom, she was content enough to lay quietly by herself with one half of her brain looking at the occasional picture in her book, while the other half dwelled on silent gunshots, black-clad bad men and dark hiding places.
"I don't want any!" Not at all rudely, Grace shouted over her shoulder when she heard a porcelain sounding clink in the hallway. It was the telltale sign of her mother bringing up a piece of chocolate cake and likely a glass of milk, even though Grace had refused it at the table.
With a forced grin that still held some sadness because she was being distracted from her somewhat morose thoughts, Grace squirmed around as the door handle turned and clicked open. "Mom. Thanks, but I don't want any ...oh!"
"Uncle Steve!" Steve unexpectedly stood in her doorway balancing two plates, one glass of milk and smiling broadly around a fork that was sticking out of his mouth. The second fork was stick on-end out of one of the pieces of cake.
"Nuh Cke? Grshh? Yeh shurrre?" He laughed around the fork and then at her completely stunned expression not only because she was shocked to see him, but also because she totally understood every garbled word. Bursting into laughter, Grace rolled off the bed to rescue one plate and the glass of milk.
She was laughing so hard, the milk tipped and wound up spilling anyway to run down her elbow as she put it on her desk, leaving a circle of white under it. "Uncle Steve! Why are you here? Where's Danno?"
Removing the fork from his mouth and swallowing hard, Steve couldn't help joining in. He was relieved to find her reading and then be so happy to see him. "He's downstairs talking to your mom."
Acting as if it were a conspiracy, he whispered loudly while posing with a piece of cake on his fork. He studied it intently before popping it in his mouth. "We wanted to steal you away for a walk on the beach and maybe some shave ice. But now, I'm not sure. Between me and you ... Danno is really tired anyway."
Looking quizzically at the rest of his slice, Steve then sighed happily. "You know .. this ... this particular chocolate cake is so good, we don't have to go anywhere. Plus you said you didn't want desert and honestly, I don't know if you mom will even agree."
Dead pan, Steve frowned as if he was now the bearer of bad news. "So, I guess this is it. Never mind."
"No. No, we do. We definitely have to go out!" Grace exclaimed. "Mom will say yes!"
In the car ride over, Danny had asked for time with Rachel and Steve stalled now as he purposefully sat on the edge of the bed. Danny wanted to do two major things. One was interrogate Rachel as to Grace's general mood and if she'd been upset, acting strangely, or had bad dreams. The second purpose was in fact the aforementioned walk with a night-cap of ice cream or shave ice to make sure that his daughter was indeed totally fine.
"Is it good?" Pointing to the open book by her pillows, Steve was truly interested. "What are you reading?"
"I don't know .. I'm not really reading it." She admitted. "I was talking to Becca and she was upset. I was waiting for her to call back .. or text."
"Oh. What is she upset about?" It was an innocent enough question. But knowing through Danny what had occurred at the Ramirez house earlier that day, Steve was watching Grace closely enough. The tiny shrug and frown were nearer to the truth than the answer.
"I'm not sure. She's just .. upset."
Pushing gently, Steve made a so-so face about that being the case. "Well, you know that your father was visiting there earlier and he said that Becca was upset about Finster. She didn't feel like feeding him or cleaning the hutch."
"No, that's not right." It was a bit off-base on purpose and he got what he wanted nearly immediately. "It's not about her rabbit. It's not about Finster at all." Grace retorted suddenly. Taking a deep breath and sighing almost angrily, she stared at Steve defensively. "I know it's supposed to be a secret and I know Danno is helping Aunt Ellen. But we don't want to go to the party."
"The party? Why wouldn't either of you want to go to Ponch's party?" The surprise party had become the worst kept secret on the island and Steve had to smile. Ignoring the use of 'we', he coached her along as she went from looking directly at him to something much more interesting amongst the fabric of her comforter cover which was piled messily on the bed. All he got though was another shrug and a deeper unhappy look.
"Do you want to tell me about it?" The bluntness of his question made her eyes fly worriedly back to his face.
"No." Her automatic reply, was just that as Grace switched gears to quietly whisper the opposite. "Yes. Maybe."
She still wasn't looking at him and seemed more embarrassed than upset as she blurted out the truth. "Yes, I guess. We don't like the house or really the yard; where it happened."
Grace stressed the word 'it' and it was safer to hide behind the "we". Steve grinned softly about Grace's continued use of the word. "We .. well .. we think it's scary. Becca and I think it's scary. But Becca is afraid to go near the hutch. She wants to but it's scary because it all happened .. right .. there."
The tears were going to come based on how quiet her voice now was, and he lost his grin. Danny was right and other things were bothering Grace just as they were bothering Rebecca. He glanced towards the partly open door, almost wishing Danny would show up. But then, Steve was nervous that Grace would stop talking if he did.
"They took Danno, Uncle Steve." Keeping her eyes averted to the bed, Grace's chin began to tremble and at first, he barely heard her. She had spoken in depth with her father; Steve knew that for a fact. But their discussion had been more about the bad events being over and done with. How he was healing from his injuries, how Mike would be okay, and of course, how very proud he had been .. how proud everyone was .. of Grace doing the right thing by hiding and making two critical phone calls. Danny had tried to get more out of her, but Grace hadn't shared anything else and things had seemed fine. Maybe it was only because some things just needed time to bubble up to the surface.
"I saw them take Danno and Uncle Mike was already laying in the grass. There were too many for Daddy to fight .. and he lost." While it was true that she hadn't seen as much as Becca, what she did see still preyed on her and maybe .. Steve now thought .. those things weren't what she could talk about to his partner. Danno never lost in Grace's eyes but then that day, he had been sorely outnumbered and unprepared.
"I know." Steve whispered back. "I know how scary it was for you to see those men and not know what they wanted. It had to be horrible for them to just take Danno like that and I'm very sorry you had to see that Grace."
"They took him and I was scared." Scooting closer to him on the bed, Grace at first only leaned into Steve's side. "I didn't know what to do."
He smiled at that after tilting her chin up. "What do you mean that you didn't know what to do? That, I don't believe because you did the right things from the very start!"
"I'm still scared." Refusing to smile, the tears filled her eyes enough for Steve to wrap his arms around her where she sat next to him on the bed. "Danno is back and I'm still scared."
He wouldn't tell her silly things like the memories would fade and it was just a house, after all. Adult words were meaningless and had no place as she tried to wrap her head around residual feelings which had to do only with her father. He huffed a knowing sound. Grace was a mirror image of her Danno when it came to worrying about other people and second guessing themselves.
"All of that is normal stuff, Grace. It's okay to be scared because you love Danno so very much and you are Becca's good friend."
"You and Danno are never scared." It was whispered into his chest and Steve huffed an honestly surprised sound that made her look up at him.
"That's not quite true, Grace!" Steve shared with a great deal of intensity. "That's really not true at all. Anyone who's not a little bit afraid, is a heck of a lot stupid."
Grace's grinned through a few tears even though Steve was very serious. "You were scared but still hid and made those phone calls. And Becca was scared and she managed to hide her cell phone so we could track them down. Does that make sense? Plus, we're in law enforcement because we are afraid that bad people will get away with doing bad things. Danno especially wants the entire world to be safer for you."
Grace was listening to each and every word Steve said and she nodded in agreement. However, that dramatic final sentence almost made her giggle and she looked up to see Steve smiling at her. "That's silly. The whole world?"
"Yup. He started with New Jersey and now he's working on Hawaii. He's going to do it State by State and then I think, move to continents." His eyes were laughing now and she had to giggle more which made Steve laugh too.
"So, I'm going to tell you that it's okay for you and Becca to still be a little bit afraid. What happened was wrong. But it's over, you did all the right things, she did all the right things, and nothing bad is going to happen at the house or by these people ever again. Mike and Danno are both okay, too."
"Okay." Grace was still very quiet and Steve could only nod in understanding. She was still working it out in her head and some things were making sense, though she still might have some reservations about the Ramirez house. Steve guessed that the house might continue to make her uncomfortable for a little while longer. Even for that, she surprised him. "I told Becca that I would go to the party for her, and that I'd bring Mrs. Hoppy too."
"That's really nice Grace. You're a good friend and I'm sure Becca appreciates that very much." Steve rubbed circles on her back as she cuddled even more to him. He had an idea germinating as he considered the Ramirez backyard and rabbit hutch. There was a chance that a basic change could do enough to make both girls feel better. He had a few ideas and as he considered each, he frowned to himself as Grace hugged him back.
Neither of them saw Danny standing in the doorway, just listening. It was right that the two of them had time together and he was content that Grace had managed to confide in Steve just a bit more now. Far from worried or from being insulted, it was right and Danny was more relieved that Steve had gotten somewhere with his daughter.
Backing up a bit, Danny made a noise in the hallway before announcing his arrival. "So? What's going on in here? Are we going out for a walk or not?"
Bending down quickly, Steve gave Grace a fast kiss on the side of her cheek. "Danno is really tired, okay? If we go for a walk it won't be too far." Giving her something else to think about, Steve pantomimed a huge yawn and Grace laughed out loud. Partly true, Steve expected the mental stresses of the day to eventually catch up with his still recovering partner as worries piled up and then were put to bed one by one. The last to hit the proverbial pillows would be Danny after he fixed each thing in his universe.
"He missed his nap today and you know how cranky he gets." Steve whispered it quickly as Grace ducked away and then off the bed to hug Danny.
"Danno!" She was brighter, happier and definitely more light on her feet. "Did mommy say we could go? Just for a little while?"
"She sure did, Monkey." Over her head, Danny mouthed his thanks to Steve who grinned back with a very self-satisfied expression. Cake and milk forgotten, he followed them out of the house.
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Embracing a large box in front of his chest, Ponch stood in the entryway with a sick look plastered across his face. Arms folded, Ellen was staring him down and he was actually uncertain if he should or even could, continue coming into his own home. Even though he had finally returned her calls which had become increasingly more concerned, arriving home did not soften her greeting. Especially when he admitted to what was piled high in the box.
"You did what?" Ellen nearly sounded as if she'd swallowed shards of glass and was now about to spit out nails. "Your office? You intend to resign?"
"Retire, actually. Not resign .. retire. There's a bit of a difference." He should have left the box in the SUV or hidden it in the garage because it was the impetus to the conversation. Instead, he'd tugged the one out of the back of his truck because it held his most precious awards and memorabilia and Ellen instantly knew.
"It just happened." Ponch shifted the box which was becoming heavy and yet, Ellen still refused to move to allow him full entry. "I didn't plan this .. I just sort of wound up there out of habit and one thing led to another. Ellen, it honestly seems right .. it's the right time .. for me to do this."
He'd forgotten the supermarket, lunch and their guest whom had left long ago. Not only had he taken an impromptu visit to his office, he'd cleaned it out entirely and then gone to the clinic. She hadn't answered him though and he winced as he felt obligated to fill the air space with more words.
"I .. uh .. delivered a baby this afternoon. It was a boy." Ellen closed her eyes and counted to ten and then twenty. She had enough with Danny and Rebecca, and then only Mike had seemingly saved the day with her niece. Her husband had been gone for hours though and then had come home with the oddest of stories.
"So you're resigning but still had time to deliver a baby? What exactly would you like me to do with that tidbit of information?"
"Retiring. It's a retirement." Ponch insisted on correcting Ellen again and she rubbed her hand across her throat and collar bone, the area was mottled with red and white as if a rash had broken out.
"Where are Mike and Rebecca?" Ellen fairly glared at him through her lashes as she rubbed her skin harder to worsen the rash.
"They went home hours ago." It was almost a deflection but in truth, the house was simply too quiet. The box sagged in his arms at the confusing news since he thought his brother was going to stay the weekend. Ellen's eyes changed to a brooding worry and she seemed to deflate, too. After Becca had a long talk with her father, the three of them had sat quietly together in the bedroom.
As Becca calmed and felt better about things .. after she realized that no one was angry with her at all .. Mike had decided that the two would simply go back to their condo downtown. The decision was right and gave the father and daughter more private time. Ellen wholeheartedly approved and understood, but now Ponch was in the dark. His oddly timed personal news would put a kink in that discussion as Ellen shook her head in frustration. "We need to talk about so many things, Alphonse."
The two were not prone to argue and her instant change in attitude proved it as she pulled the heavy box from his arms. Shoving it into a corner of the dining room, Ellen turned to find Ponch practically in her space. She was suddenly tired of everything herself as he pulled her into a hug and they stood together for a good many minutes in the silence of their home.
"I'm sorry, El. It just happened." Too tired to think about it, Ellen didn't reply or even move. It felt good to simply have him home. Things could still be corrected because he hadn't actually submitted his formal papers. It was Saturday after all. But then again, as the concept sunk in slowly and steadily, Ellen realized that she didn't really mind.
There had been so many changes over the last year maybe this was simply another important step. Sighing into his chest, all Ellen wound up doing was making an odd little noise that was mostly an astonished laugh. As Danny had warned her, she couldn't be all things to all people and she needed to stop trying so very hard. Her husband was home, Becca was with Mike, and things would work out.
"So, Alphonse. I guess you're retiring. But first, tell me about the baby." He felt the sigh and heard what sounded almost like an amused chuckle. They still had many things to discuss and he was far from off the hook, but they would always understand each other.
Ponch smiled into her hair and then lovingly kissed the top of her head. "Ah, dear. It's more this clinic that I need to tell you about."
~ to be continued ~