I know the blurb I gave last time alluded to something different, but this is what came out instead. Sometimes it's not worth it to fight the muse.

Shout out to Phoebe Miller for continuing to be a friend and great beta reader!


Fact #158: Who said you can't pick your family?

Season: 5th Season

Steve watched the helicopter fly away from the empty lot of the disused warehouse. It had indeed been a baby blue color. He couldn't even wrap his mind around having so much money that not only was owning a helicopter an option, but owning several helicopters all in different colors.

Once the thump of the helicopter's blades was gone, he loosely directed the arriving HPD units. They could finish off up here. They only had one guy to book, anyway. The other two had resisted arrest and paid for it.

"Ready to go, babe?"

He glanced at Danny. "Yeah."

This time he took the road back towards downtown Honolulu slowly, rolling his window down and bracing his arm in the opening. Shadows from the canopy overhead flickered on the car and without the engine roaring, he could hear birdsong and insects humming.

"I need a pen."

"Huh?" He furrowed his brows and looked over at Danny.

Danny was patting his pockets. "I've gotta write this down. Steven J. McGarrett is driving under forty miles an hour."

Steve cracked a grin. "What're you always telling me to do?"

"Don't wrap us around a tree?"

"Besides that."

"I don't know. I tell you so many things and most of them never stick. And if you're thinking what I'm thinking, it was you who told me I need to learn to enjoy the scenery."

Steve leaned his head back, watching the trees go by in a verdant green blur and watching the shafts of sunlight break through the clouds. The familiar landscape rolled away towards the ocean, an ocean that sparkled and beckoned him with its mild waves. His heart felt lighter when he saw it. He had been all over the world, and yet Hawaii was home.

"Well, as far as scenery goes, I guess it's not that bad," Danny said.

Steve smiled. His partner wouldn't admit it, but Hawaii was turning into his home, too.

"Nothing like the Newark skyline."

"Bud, nothing's like the Newark skyline," he said.

Danny read his tone clearly and snorted. Steve now had a point of reference for New Jersey, and while it wasn't as bad as he had imagined, he wouldn't be moving anytime soon. He belonged in nature and Danny loved the city.

Determined to enjoy their recent success and continue enjoying the drive back, Steve changed the subject.

"Could you imagine having a twin?" he asked.

Danny braced his elbow on the side of the door and waved a hand around. "Two of me, huh? I think my ma might've had a heart attack or two."

"I don't know what I would've done with a brother," Steve said quietly.

Having had only a younger sister, and not even having been around her throughout her life, he had a hard time imagining what having a brother never mind a twin would have been like. Probably something akin to what it was like with Danny around.

"I'd have all gray hairs if there had been two of you. I can't even imagine having two Super SEALs and your trouble magnetism times two," Danny said. "Can you imagine the bad guys' faces, though? They think they've got it bad with one McGarrett Monster, but then they turn around and there's another one?"

"The crime rate would drop," Steve said.

"Because everyone would be too scared of facing double the wrath of Lieutenant Commander McGarrett and his brother, Lieutenant Commander McGarrett," Danny said.

He smirked. Having a twin brother could have been fun, yet at the same time if their personalities were too close to each other, there would have been some issues with both of them being control freaks. He guessed Danny would have to do in the brother department.

"Any twins in your family?" he asked.

Danny nodded. "Reuben is a twin."

Steve's face darkened at the mention of his name. Scruffing Reuben and kicking him out the front door after that blow up between him and Eric had only scratched the surface of what he wanted to do to the punk. But Danny had insisted that he keep his nose out of it. Tossing him into the grass in the Williams' front yard had to be enough.

"Steve."

His glare switched from the road to his partner.

"Are you imagining strangling him?"

Steve grunted. "What do you want me to say, Danny? He trashed you the whole time we were there."

Danny leaned back in the seat and set a hand on his heart. "I don't know whether to be touched or offended that everyone thinks I need to be defended from my own cousin."

Steve exhaled slowly. Danny definitely filled the niche of a brother to him. It was okay for him to give his often uptight and easily provoked partner a hard time, but as soon as someone else did the same, all bets were off.

"I didn't see any other Reubens when we were there," he finally said, going back to the original question.

"He's a fraternal twin. I don't know if you met his sister Ariel," Danny explained.

The name sound familiar.

"Anyway, they grew up pretty close, and in their teen years when Reuben started taking on his more, uh, abrasive personality, Ariel started distancing herself from him. Stopped hanging out with him. Dyed her hair a different color than his. Barely claims him as her sibling. That kind of stuff."

"I can see why."

"Just…let it go, okay? We're back in Hawaii, my family and all its craziness is back in Jersey."

Steve rubbed his thumb over the steering wheel, barely seeing the road pass above it. It was more muscle memory than actual driving at the moment. His mind was back in Jersey, flashing through those arguments and conversations.

Somehow, they managed the rest of the drive in silence, and Steve wasn't quite sure how he had made it through downtown without much thought. He must have been partially aware of what he was doing, though, because the Camaro pulled into a parking spot just down from where they had been earlier.

"What're we doing here?" Danny questioned.

Steve climbed out of the car, beckoning Danny without words.

He heard Danny following behind him, still muttering about his poor social skills and lack of an answer. Once he spotted the shaved ice stand, he knew exactly why he had brought them here.

"My two favorite haoles return! Did you find the keikis?" Kamekona asked.

"They should be back with their parents by now," Danny said, shooting Steve a glance.

Steve put a bill down. "One cherry, one lime."

Danny hesitantly accepted the pile of red ice once Kamekona had scooped it up and doused it, and then followed Steve back to the car. Steve leaned against the passenger door and stabbed his spoon down into his neon green ice.

Danny warily leaned against the car next to him. "What's going on, babe?"

Here, leaning against the car, eating shaved ice, he was brought back to the first case he ever worked with Danny. His father's murder. Back then, he didn't know what the future was going to bring him. After Danny had pointed a gun at him over the Marquis and threatened to call an ambulance for him, he knew there was something special about the strange little detective.

He hadn't expected to become this close to him. Close enough that he was upset over Danny's cousin trashing him.

"Danno, do me a favor," he said and shoveled ice into his mouth.

"What?"

"No, just promise me you'll do it."

Silence. Over the years he had come to appreciate Danny's silences. They carried a lot of meaning for a man of many words.

"Okay."

"Don't believe anything Reuben said about you. You're a great father, a fantastic cop, and the closest thing I've ever had to a brother."

When Danny didn't say anything for a handful of seconds after that, he glanced at him, wondering if he was getting ready to read him Act II of Drop It.

Danny instead was smiling. He held up a hand and spread it out before them.

"I think I want that on a banner. Proof that even Super SEAL has emotions and has gone soft over the years."

Steve took that for what it was. A sincere thank you said in their own convoluted language that only brothers could understand.


Next time on "Dragons", Danny gets convinced by Grace to go to a parade downtown. Of course things never turn out that simple.

I know, it doesn't exactly mesh with the ending of the last chapter, but for some reason my brain felt like this needed addressed instead. I hope it was still enjoyable. Felt like I needed to write a kind of cheesy, brotherly thing. Maybe I'm just missing my sister or something.

But, I have some (maybe) good news. After December or towards the middle of January, depending on how things go on my end, I may be able to get back to posting once a week. Maybe. I'm finishing up some other projects and trying to balance my life out, so I have time for working on "Dragons" as well as other things without neglecting one or the other. This is a big maybe, though, and if my life continues like it is right now, I'll have to stick with every other week. But we'll see.

Thank you for sticking with me all these years no matter my posting schedule! I really appreciate it. Stay safe, happy, and healthy! :)