A/N: Couldn't wait until Monday to post, so you get the next chapter today. Thanks again for all the comments. It helps to keep the story flowing!
The next morning Steve pulled his truck into his parking space and smiled to himself to see the Camaro already there. He had missed Danny and the kids last night, even though he had gone out with Lou and Chin. Danny had spent the night at Rachel's with all the children and Steve had been alone at the McGarrett house. It surprised him how much he missed his family when they weren't there.
He bounded up the stairs and into the 5-0 offices. Before he had even gotten two feet in the door, he was confronted with an obviously upset and worried Kono.
"Oh thank God someone else is finally here."
She grabbed Steve's arm and began to drag him back out the main door.
"Kono? What's going on?"
"You have to get him boss. You have to stop him. Someone's going to get hurt. He's like a crazy man right now."
"Who? What are you talking about?"
"Danny. I'm talking about Danny. I called Chin and texted Lou but they're each about 20 minutes away. I was just about to call you."
Steve stopped their forward momentum by digging in his heels and dragging her around to face him.
"Kono! What is going on with Danny?"
"I don't know! I only got here a little bit ago and Duke was waiting for me, and told me Danny's been in the gym for the last two hours. Apparently when he hasn't talked some poor, unsuspecting cop into sparring with him, he's been working the heavy bag like a demon. His hands are starting to look like hamburger. He won't come out. He won't stop. He won't listen to me. Duke made Pua stand guard so at least no one else goes in and gets hurt. He already mangled a beat cop and a detective from vice before I got here."
Steve's eyes bugged out at her and then he turned and ran for the police department gym. Pua saw him coming and quickly stepped aside to allow him access.
He entered the room and saw an exhausted Danny, covered in sweat and blood, whaling at the heavy bag.
"Danny! Danny! Stop it! Stop right now!"
Danny whirled around at the sound of his name. He was swaying on his feet and Steve instantly saw Kono was right. While his hands were taped, he hadn't put on gloves and they looked like raw meat.
Steve headed toward Danny, who advanced on him swinging, but because of his exhaustion, his jabs were sloppy and unfocused. Steve was able to use his size and weight to wrap himself around his friend and pin his arms to his side. Danny struggled against Steve, but it was a weak and ineffectual effort. Steve could feel when his friend finally gave up the fight and stood there for a few minutes, breathing heavily. Then he collapsed to his knees, pulling Steve down with him. He steadied both of them on the ground, without releasing his hold on Danny.
"What the hell is going on, man? What's this all about?"
Danny struggled against him and then he pushed himself back and away from Steve.
"Charlie. It's about Charlie, Steve. I can't believe. Rachel just told me. God, Rachel told me last night they got the results of the bone marrow tests. I'm Charlie's father. Charlie is really my son."
Steve gaped at Danny for a minute.
"Holy crap, Danny! You have to be kidding me. Are you okay?"
"Am I okay? How can you ask me that? NO! I'm not okay. What is ever going to be okay again? I missed out on that kid's life. His first three years are gone and I'll never get them back. And now, now he's sick and he might die. Now is when she tells me."
"Wait, Danny. Are you saying that Rachel knew?"
Steve watched as Danny's entire being sagged at the question.
"No, man. She said she didn't know. She said she never even suspected. She didn't think anything until this Dr. Inoku told her that our DNA matched."
Steve sat silently for a minute.
"Well, I guess I can tell Kono to cancel my travel plans to Thailand. There's no reason to go retrieve Stanley."
Danny snorted softly.
"Nah, that might be the best thing to come out of this. At least Charlie doesn't have to ever deal with that asswipe again."
"True enough, Danny. All right, listen up now, you have to get over to the hospital. Your hands look terrible. We can talk all this out later, but right now, you need to get fixed up."
Danny looked at his hands, seemingly surprised to see the state they were in. He nodded blankly at Steve and told him that he would get Kono to drive him over. Steve didn't want to let him go, but realized his friend might need a little distance to pull himself back together.
H50-H50-H50-H50-H50-H50
Several hours later, Danny was at "his" lookout. The place he came to think and reflect. It was the first place he had gone to on this island and the place he revisited whenever he had something in his head that he needed to work through. He badly needed his special place this time.
After Kono had taken him to the hospital, he had convinced her to just drop him off. He had gotten treated and then took a cab back to HQ. He was going to go into the office, but at the last minute, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He just got into the Camaro and started driving. Not surprisingly, he ended up at the lookout.
He was having a hard time coming to grips with Rachel's revelation. He was amazed he was Charlie's father and he was unreasonably angry at Rachel. He felt he had missed out on so much of the child's life, even though she professed not to have known the truth. After all the ground they had gained over the last year, Danny felt he was right back to where he had been before. Not being able to trust her. Wondering how she was going to fuck with him next.
He also had to get a rein on his temper. Sure, he had been involved since Rachel and Charlie had returned to the island, but not as the father, only as the "Danno." He felt like he had missed so much.
But, he really hadn't, had he? He had been there for Charlie's birth and while he had certainly missed out on his son's first three years, he was there now and had actually been in the picture since Rachel and Charlie had moved back to Hawaii. He knew how much Charlie already looked up to and depended on him. He remembered when Charlie had told him "I'd rather have a Danno than a Daddy." With everything Charlie knew about having a Daddy, maybe a Danno was the better person to be for him.
His hands were wrapped and ached. He knew he would have to apologize to the two officers that had the misfortune of sparring with him that morning. Probably owed Pua and Duke an apology too. He had such a hard time wrapping his head around Rachel's news and he had headed for the department's gym that morning hoping to burn off a little aggression. He had never expected to have his feelings pour out of him with such uncontrollable fury.
Danny was frustrated and his mind was a whirlwind. Confused. Angry. Hurt. He had a maelstrom of emotions coursing through him and he didn't even know how he should feel or what he should do next. He heard a car door slam behind him and someone walking towards him. 'Steve' he thought to himself without even having to turn around.
"Danno. How ya doing, buddy?"
Danny could hear the concern in his friend's voice and could feel the empathy the man was projecting wash over him. His shoulders loosened from around his ears. He actually smiled at Steve.
"I'm okay, Steve. I'm having a hard time figuring out how to feel about all this. I know Rachel is too. It doesn't change anything and yet it changes everything. Plus, now I'm terrified that my kid is sick and might die."
"Look, Danny, I don't know what to tell you other than that Rachel is a good woman and she is a good mom. She didn't know or she would have told you. You have to believe that. She's not so heartless and cruel that she would raise Charlie and never tell you that you were his father. She's been dealing with Charlie being sick for a long time now and she was probably in shock when she found out the news. It can't have been easy for her to tell you and she's probably a little afraid of what you are going to do from here on out."
"Yeah, I get that. But, we wasted so much time!"
There was a long drawn out silence. Steve finally looked at him.
"Yeah, that's true. A lot of time has been wasted. And how much more time are you going to waste being angry about this? If you fight with Rachel over it, it's going to hurt you, her, Grace and Charlie. How about this time, you just swallow it and move forward? Tell Charlie you're his real daddy. Think how much better he's going to feel knowing that douchebag isn't his real father. You and Rachel need to move past this and figure out how to deal with it going forward for the good of the kids."
Danny felt a little like he had been kicked. He had been so busy focusing on lost time, he had completely forgotten to consider, really consider Charlie. He was so grateful to Steve for pointing out what should have been obvious to him from the start. It had to be about the kids, not him. Not about his hurt feelings or that he had missed out on some time. Danny was a great father. He needed to fix his head around the fact that he was Danno and Daddy to two great kids and move forward.
He smiled at his friend.
"Steven. Have I ever told you what a great friend you are?"
"Well, you may have mentioned it a time or two, but I never mind hearing it again, buddy." Steve's grin was infectious as he slung an arm across Danny's shoulders.
"Thanks, man. Let's head over to Rachel's. I think she and I need to talk a little more."
"Sounds great. She's got all the kids. Maybe we can figure out something fun we can do to celebrate your new title, Daddy."
"I guess it's a little too late for cigars, huh?"
The two friends headed for the vehicles and drove over to Rachel's house.
