After the downer episode on Friday, I decided we needed a light fluffy one and the team needed a break.
Thank you Phoebe Miller for beta reading and always being there in sun, rain, snow, and emotional breakdowns!
Fact #122: Meeting on neutral ground can make a world of difference.
Season: Between 4th and 5th Seasons
The warm sunlight spilling over his skin was a welcome change from the blistering heat of burning buildings and wildfires, even if two weeks had passed since he'd been involved in that whirlwind.
A gentle breeze blew through the grassy area. Not too warm, not too cool. Just about right. Even the humidity wasn't unbearable like usual for this time of year. He wouldn't admit that to his partner, though. Couldn't have him thinking that he occasionally appreciated Hawaii's currently wonderful weather. Had he not been a naturally wary man in crowds, he might have fallen asleep like a lizard under a perfectly place lamp. Kind of apt, he supposed.
As it was, he only had his eyes closed and was soaking up the sun when a shadow fell over him, dripping droplets of water on him.
"Danno, come on. It's been half an hour."
He peeled his eyes open and squinted through his sunglasses at his daughter. His much too energetic daughter.
"Are you sure?" he asked. It didn't feel like it had been thirty minutes since they'd eaten lunch.
"Yes. Come on, you promised."
Knowing Grace wasn't easily dissuaded, and he had promised, he obediently stood up from the pool chair.
The water park wasn't packed on this particular day, but it had enough people in it to consider it busy. People were camped out all in the grassy area situated behind the majority of the slides and rides, near the wave pool and volleyball nets. People with coolers having a picnic, parents relaxing while their kids came and went as they pleased. Women tanning in their bikinis. Men snoring.
"Where's your uncle?" he asked, noticing Steve had disappeared.
"With Aunt Cath. I think they were checking out how much it is to rent some tubes," she said.
Grace snickered and pointed behind him.
He turned in time to see Kono wringing her hair out onto her cousin's back and Chin smacking at her ankles.
"Watch it, cuz, revenge is a dish best served cold," he warned as he stood up from the ground where he'd been face down on his towel. Probably napping.
"I'm not scared of you," Kono laughed.
"Come on, Danno. The line for the body slides wasn't that long," Grace urged, tugging on his hand.
He tossed his sunglasses into the pool bag next to Chin. "Okay, Monkey, I'm coming. I guess we're heading towards those insane slides with the ninety degree angles."
"We'll get the stuff shoved back in the lockers and meet you at the bottom," Kono said.
Danny followed his daughter off the grass onto the concrete. At least between all the people wandering around dripping wet and the employees hosing down the walkways, his feet stayed cool and not on fire. Unfortunately, the rest of him had dried off and he knew from experience it was going to be cold getting in the water again.
They climbed up a set of stairs and followed the path over the exit pool of the body slides. Then it sloped up next to the slides, a preview of what they were hiking towards.
"You sure you don't want to go do the lazy river, Monkey? Or the racer slides over there?" He gestured at the tower on the other side of the meandering lazy river and was dismayed that it looked short from this height. And they weren't even at the top yet.
"We did those all morning. And the lazy river's no fun without a tube," she said.
They finally caught up to the line. Danny leaned back against the railing and looked out over the park. It was well manicured and very green. Not as packed as he had feared it would be. It was a nice day weather wise. The only thing that had gotten him were the inflated food prices inside the park. Thankfully, Chin and Kono had been before and knew to bring a cooler with sandwiches.
But they hadn't thought to bring mini donuts. The only saving factor for the twenty dollar dozen was that they had been good.
"Well, well. If it isn't Detective Williams."
His heart skipped a beat. Who would know him as a detective other than someone they'd pissed off? Getting ready to push Grace behind him, preparing for a fight mentally and physically, he could've slapped himself for being too paranoid a second later when the voice clicked.
"Captain Grover, fancy meeting you here," he said, turning around to face him.
He looked a lot better than he had the last time they'd seen each other under a blown up building and buried in tons of rubble, all three of them broken and battered and bleeding.
"I'm more of a golfing man myself," Grover said. He sighed. "But, my kids insisted this would be a better use of my time."
Danny patted Grace's head. "I got coerced into coming here, too. This is my daughter, Grace."
"Hi, Grace. I'm Lou," Grover said. He pointed further up the line. "The boy with the blue, white, and orange trunks is my son Will and the girl with the purple one piece is my daughter Samantha. They ran on up here, forgetting their old man moves a little slower than they do."
Danny nodded with a sympathetic grin. "I've got a bit of a bum knee that doesn't let me keep up with this monkey like I used to be able to, you know?"
"Our line of work chews you up and spits you out, man," Grover said.
Didn't he know it. With everyone in bikinis and swim trunks, all their scars were visible. Right now he could see four long scars running diagonally across Grover's chest, ones he knew had been left by a dragon according to what Steve had told him. There were a few others that may have been knife wounds or bullet grazes.
His own were out for the world to see, though they weren't as vibrant or defined as Grover's. The worst one was on his left bicep. For some reason, getting shot in the same place twice left quite the scar. Weird.
The others were more faded thanks to his dragonish healing abilities. They were faint marks that could be missed upon first glance. The one under his collarbone from a crossbow bolt, the ones on his back from Hughes the first time they'd tangled, a few on his legs from Jupiter, the more recent impalement wound on his abdomen, and other nicks and dings from various on the job incidents. The ones from his teenage years seemed to have faded completely.
"Captain."
They peered behind Grover at Steve and Cath who had managed to sneak up on them.
"Commander," Grover greeted.
"Didn't take you for a waterpark man," Steve said.
Danny subtly caught his eye and gave him a look. Play nice. No one's life is on the line today. No need to pick up the pissing contest again.
"What do you mean? Don't I look like a big man who could have fun busting myself on these little narrow tubes at high speed?" Grover asked, nodding at one of the body slides below the walkway where a man had just went skidding down yelling.
"Aw, come on. You look like a guy that loves some adrenaline in his life, right?" Cath said, casting a wary glance between the three men, both sensing and probably knowing the tension that had existed.
Grover waved her off. "I get enough excitement in my life whenever my daughter gets a new boyfriend."
Steve quirked a smirk. "I'm sure Danno there is going to have a heart attack when Grace gets a boyfriend."
"Oh no, no, no, no." Danny shook a finger at him. "She's not dating until she's thirty."
"Danno," Grace whined.
"Oh boy, did I hear that voice, too," Grover said. He looked down at Grace with an expression only fathers could give. "Your old man's just being protective, baby girl. It's a dad thing."
"I know, I know," Grace said. "But I'm not five anymore. And some boys are cute."
The others laughed and Danny about had a stroke then and there.
Steve ran his fingers through his hair and shook the water out of it. He climbed the stairs out of the exit pool, taking his place next to Cath against the railing to watch the others come out. He'd jumped ahead of Danny and Grace without much protest on his partner's part because he wanted to see him come down the slide. It didn't seem like a very Danny thing to do and he was enjoying every minute of the team being together in this different environment.
Cath leaned on his arm. "That was the worst wedgie I've ever gotten."
He chuckled. It had taken him a couple seconds in the security of the pool to find where his trunks had gone. Had the slide been any longer or steeper he may have needed a pair of plyers to pull them free.
"Here comes Grace," he said.
Being lighter than the adults, she skipped on the water like a stone before seemingly exploding in a flurry of limbs and sinking. She popped back up, doing the familiar wedgie dance as she made her way to the stairs.
"That was awesome!" she said, high fiving Cath and Steve.
A yell from the top of the slide steadily got louder.
Cath covered her mouth with her hand.
Steve's grin reached from ear to ear.
Danny sent up a tidal wave that got the lifeguard from the knees down. His yell cut off as he sunk. He stood up a moment later, his hair matted over his face.
Steve laughed. He'd never seen his partner look so ridiculous.
"Even blind I know that's you laughing, Steven," Danny crowed.
He swept his hair back the correct direction and climbed out of the pool.
"Surprised you didn't lose your trunks at that speed, Danno," Steve said.
Danny touched the hem of his trunks as if making sure they were still there. "I think I got friction burns on my butt cheeks."
Grace covered her face, stuck between giggling and being embarrassed. "Danno!"
"What?" He ruffled her hair with a smile.
Cath patted Steve's pec. "Here comes Grover."
As soon as he turned to look, the mother of all tidal waves washed over them. It soaked the lifeguard head to toe, sprayed them in the face, and warranted some clapping from the teens on the walkway above the slides.
"That was awesome, Dad!"
Steve glanced at one of the kids milling around the pools.
"What've you been doing, practicing that move? You about made all the water leave the pool," Danny said as Grover climbed out.
"It takes a special sort of skill to pull off what I just did," Grover said smugly.
"It's called too many malasadas," his daughter muttered.
He frowned down at her. "I know you did not just imply that your father is closer to a whale than a dolphin."
She shrugged, then followed her brother off in another direction, calling after Grover to hurry up.
"Man, I'll tell you. Kids. They're both the reason for and the bane of my existence." Grover shook his head.
"Hey," Steve said.
Grover looked back him with a perked brow.
"Take it easy, Captain."
"You too, McGarrett."
They picked up Chin and Kono who had been babysitting the tubes he and Cath had rented, and then headed towards the slides they hadn't been able to ride on earlier. He had plans of making a chain to go on this one. They'd do three and three since the maximum number of people in a chain was four. They could do the three girls together and the three guys, or Danny, Grace, and him and the cousins and Cath, or they could go several times and mix it up.
"I think you may have turned over a new leaf, huh?"
He looked down at his partner, confused.
"You and Grover. There wasn't an alpha male battle this time, and you were actually nice to him," Danny clarified.
Steve lifted one shoulder in a shrug.
Danny poked him in the ribs. "You're going soft."
"Am not."
"You're at a waterpark carrying a neon green tube over your head and wearing Spongebob swimming trunks."
"Says the man also wearing Spongebob trunks."
"Touché."
Next week on "Dragons", dragons permeate aspects of day-to-day life.
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