I do NOT own anything, but the plot.

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As always, thank you and I hope you continue to enjoy what's to come!

Nalo a loaʻa

-loosely translate to "lost and found"-

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

"Babe, will you calm down?"

"I am calm."

Danny saw straight through the lie.

"I've seen you calmer while staring down the barrel of a gun. Honestly, Steve, just breathe."

Steve tried to listen, but instead just wrung his hands together.

"Maybe I should get that board out that Grace loves to use to surf ... and I need to check there's enough drinks in the fridge."

"Babe, stop!" Danny exclaimed, placing his hands to Steve's biceps. "You are so wound tight, right now, it isn't even funny."

"Maybe that's because you're forcing us to have a stupid party for no reason!" Steve exploded, shaking off Danny's hold. "No one cares about this damn party, but you!"

Danny watched his partner lash out and allowed him the privilege. He knew from Steve's file that PTSD had exhibited early on in his recovery in April, possibly triggered from the explosion and the events of not being allowed home, and he had already seen Steve tamper down a flashback or two, only to get lost in the others. A late-night search had given him the textbook definition of what to expect, and Steve's anxious and sometimes explosive behaviour was exactly how it was written in black and white. His flashbacks were too, and Danny was certain given the smudges of black under his partners eyes the flashbacks were paired with any number of nightmares.

"That's it … no one cares … that's why we're here on our day off, laughing and enjoying ourselves." He approached Steve but didn't touch him. "Look out the window, Steve. Do you know the last time we were like this?"

Gulping convulsively, Steve looked where Danny was pointing. Chin and Kono were making Lou laugh, while Lou's wife tried to stop herself from crying with her laughter, their kids down by the beach.

"It's been a long time since we laughed like that," Danny added, a reprieve seeping into his voice. "A really long time."

Steve remained quiet and watched the rest of the team. Slowly he became aware of Danny's hand on his shoulder.

"Yes, there are a lot of loose ends we still need to discuss and tie off, but this is the happiest we've been in what feels like forever, Buddy."

"What about the kids?" Steve asked, rubbing his brow line. "Grace, she..."

"Will be here by force or choice ... she knows that, and I've talked to her about it."

"After the other morning, I can't do that to her again, Danny."

His gut churned with the thought, one that had kept him awake all night. He remembered the times Grace would run through the front door behind them, excited to run down the yard and into the surf - with or without her father's permissions - begging for a burger on the way. Now, those memories were eclipsed with Grace acting out, slamming closed fists against Steve's chest as she screamed how much she hated him, how much he had ruined their lives by dying in the first place and then by coming home.

Those were the nightmares that grew more vivid every day. He was just waiting for the reality to happen.

"Steve, listen, it'll be fine..." Danny started watching how much more tense Steve's shoulders were becoming. "Trust me."

Forcing his shoulders to slump, Steve started to nod because he did trust Danny. Amongst everyone, Danny Williams was the one constant lifeline that had kept Steve alive. Even in the solitary of his recovery, he trusted in Danny to keep Five-0 alive and thriving, and even though he knew Danny would hate him, he trusted him to be keep their Ohana together.

Now, he had to trust that Danny would keep his promise that everything would be fine.

"I just have a bad feeling," Steve admitted.

"Hey, whoa, I thought negative, cynical mindsets were my forte not yours?" Danny jested. "I'll allow it... but only because mentally you're not sound ... I mean less so than you were."

Steve glared at him.

"There he is! Now gimme aneurysm face just so I can savour it," Danny goaded teasingly. "C'mon ..."

Before Steve could reply or harden his glare, the doorbell went, saving him from the moment.

"I've got it. It's probably Rachel and the kids," Danny mentioned, observing Steve's face for a moment. "You going to be okay?"

Steve forced a smile. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Of course, you will," Danny replied with an eye roll at Steve's normal admission. "You'd say that even with a bullet rattling around inside you, big guy."

Danny slapped Steve on his bicep, a show of encouragement and alliance, before heading to the door. Moving Steve came to stand behind Danny, watching Rachel in the doorway, Grace stood beside her, arms crossed and a pout on her face.

"Hey Rach … Monkey," Danny greeted.

"Grace, Rachel... hi," Steve greeted just as Charlie pushed his way between his mother and sister.

"Uncle Steve!" Charlie yelled flinging himself at Steve. "I'm so excited for food! Are you going to eat it this time?"

"Yeah, Bud, I am," Steve replied, rubbing Charlie's back. "But Danny's onto me over sharing your pancakes... so you're going to have eat as much as me from now on."

"That's a lot of food!" Charlie exclaimed laughing as he let go of Steve. "Hey Danno! Are you cooking?!"

"No, Buddy, that's all on Uncle Steve today," Danny told his son. "Why don't you go out the back, Charlie, we'll be there soon."

"Okay!"

"He's been excited all morning," Rachel comments as Charlie bounds off. "Hasn't stopped talking about coming here since he woke up."

"What about you, Grace?" Danny asked, tilting his head to the side a little. "You might even get your old man in the water."

Danny knew he was baiting his daughter, but he was desperate to see an old part of her shine. Everyone knew he wouldn't go into the water even if he was paid a million bucks.

"Grace, you could at least say hi," Rachel prompted. "Especially to Steve, seeing as he's allowing you to come over for the day."

"Yeah, hi," Grace grumbled, looking sullen.

"Grace," both Rachel and Danny scolded.

"Sorry, hi, Steve," she corrected with an eye roll. "Better?"

Better? Hearing Grace call him Steve was like someone taking a stab at him. Hearing her say it with such disdain was like taking the same blade and ramming it in a second time.

"Not with that attitude, no," Rachel scolded.

"You're the ones forcing me to be here," Grace rebuked with a strong eye roll to match the petulance in her behaviour.

"If she doesn't want to be here, she doesn't want to be here. It's fine." Steve remained stoic as he said that, bottling up his emotions over the matter at hand. "There's a few bottles of your favourite drink in the fridge, Grace. Got some of your other favourite snacks, too." He tried to keep his tone light, but he was feeling nervous. "Um, go help yourself."

Grace didn't thank him or even acknowledge Steve, she just walked off.

"Sorry about her, Babe," Danny apologised.

"Don't apologise, Danny," Rachel scolded, clearly not agreeing with Grace's tone. "It's good to see you, Commander," Rachel said hugging Steve. "Whatever she says, she's really happy you're back. Both kids are."

"Thanks, Rachel," Steve said as they separated. "Guess she's like her father for a reason."

"Hey!" Danny exclaimed. "I forgave you, you putz."

"Almost," Steve remarked, his lips twitching slightly.

"Babe, this apology isn't pending, I promise."

"Mind if I sit here?" Steve asked, his words cautious against the sea breeze.

He'd spied Grace sitting on one of the chairs by the ocean a good fifteen minutes ago and had asked Danny if he was okay to try and talk to her. While Danny had encouraged it, it took a few more sips of beer for Steve to gain enough courage to even cross the lanai let alone the entire yard. He had to laugh at himself - a big, tough SEAL like him and he was scared of a thirteen-year-old girl.

"Free country, isn't it?" Grace bit back.

Steve hated how bitter Grace had become, but he took every ounce of it because he was the sole culprit to it, and he deserved to ride this out.

"Look, Grace," Steve started. "I know I'm not your favourite person in the world anymore, but I'd like to try and make amends."

Grace shifted in her seat, not yet tearing her eyes from the crashing waves. She kept them there for distraction, the constant movement and change stole her attention just enough to stop her looking at her uncle.

"I'm sorry for everything you went through the last few months. I hate that I did that to you and to Charlie and to your dad. No one deserved to go through what you all have the last few months. Especially for a schmuck like me, as Danno would say."

Steve knew she was listening, but the lack of interaction was killing him. Even his hint of a joke didn't work on her, and he could feel the slow, harsh slams of his heart as they thudded the inside of his rib cage.

"I know you don't want to hear it and apologies are futile and you might not even believe me ... but I'm not going anywhere."

She scoffed, rolling her eyes as her arms came to cross over her chest.

"I'll prove it to you that I'm not. I'll show you I'm here to stay."

It wasn't even the fact he had nowhere else to go, he had nowhere else he'd rather be. He might have to slowly dig his heels in to make sure she listened but one day, he would win his niece back and he would fully repair his friendship with her father.

"Are you done?" Grace asked suddenly looking at him. "Because I'm hungry and the sooner I eat the sooner I get to leave."

Grace got up and rounded the chairs before Steve could even answer her.

"Yeah, Grace, I'm done."

He'd barely finished speaking when Grace had left, unwilling to hear him out. Sinking forward, hands clasped between his legs, he looked out at the sea, wondering if he'd prefer getting drunk to swimming when everyone was gone. Granted he couldn't do the swims he used to, but he could use the stress relief.

Hearing steps, Steve sat up, shifting his mask back into place to hide his wayward emotions from showing.

"Hey, Babe, you okay?"

"Er, yeah," Steve lied, rubbing the nape of his neck. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Great lie, poor execution," Danny replied sarcastically.

"Got to be okay, haven't I?" Steve asked meeting Danny's eyes. "Look if she's not happy here ... which she clearly isn't ... you can take her and Charlie and leave. I won't be offended."

"I came for food, Babe … you're going to give me food and I'm going to have words with my delightful bundle of teenage angst."

"Don't," Steve replied, stopping Danny from leaving. "She hates me, and she's entitled to, but she's not happy here, Danny. Usually she's in the water, begging for a surfboard and for me to raise your blood pressure while doing so ... now she's sitting away from everyone, deliberately keeping herself that way."

"She's just upset."

"Exactly, and I'm the reason," Steve countered.

"She's eating here with me and her brother or she starves. It is that easy, Steven. So, get to that grill and cook."

"Danny," Steve groaned. "I'm offering you a get out ... I'll be fine if you leave. Really. I just want her to be happy, Danny."

Feeling himself soften, Danny gulped down his emotions as he watched Steve. Regardless of his bad traits, Steve had a lot of good ones that counteracted them all. Steve's loyalty to family was unquestionable - regardless of what he had said - and he's selflessness was something Danny admired - regardless of what he had said.

"I love you for loving her the way you do, but you're the uncle, I'm the dad and I get to make the rules up whether she or you like it."

"You said they had to come first," Steve managed, glancing up the yard. "This isn't them coming first."

"No, it's you coming first for a moment," Danny admitted, giving him a small smile. "I told Grace where we're needed, right now. For Ohana's sake, she's a part of it. And there was a moment, Steve, where all of that anger disappeared, but she's not a Williams for nothing, is she?"

Steve chuckled, unable to disagree.

"She never stood a chance with you as her father."

"Hey! I'm having a moment here," Danny said hitting Steve's arm. "And don't think that because I'm being nice, means we are done discussing the last five months. There's a file I'm not even halfway through, and a lot of questions I want answers for."

"This is your idea of nice?"

"Are you kidding me?" Danny exclaimed. "Is that all you took from that?" Danny asked incredulously before throwing his arms up in the air. "You're unbelievable, you know that?"

Steve just grinned at Danny, allowing a moment of normalcy to fall between them. He knew Danny deserved a lot of answers, and he knew he had to give them, but right now, he felt like he could breathe easier.

"How about you get rid of that shit eating grin and get cooking?"

"I thought it was a party in my honour, so why am I cooking?" Steve asked, cocking an eyebrow. "This doesn't seem fair."

"Well, life ain't fair, so get up there and get cooking, you big dope! I'll go have a word with Gracie and make sure she doesn't spit in your next drink or something."

"She wouldn't dare," Steve started to argue but remembered who he was talking about. "Wait, she's her father's daughter, so yeah, go talk to her."

It wasn't even an hour later, and another sense of ease settled over Steve. He was busy with the grill, Chin and Lou talking to him when the doorbell went. Shaking his empty beer bottle, he decided he'd grab another after seeing who was there.

"I'll go. I want another beer... Lou, watch the grill for me," Steve said, flipping a burger.

Once Lou took his spot, Steve left the yard, glancing over at Grace and Danny before he disappeared into the house.

Crossing the living room, he opened the door, happiest he had ever been in months. Of course, he had work to do where Grace and Mary were concerned, and he was coming to terms with losing Cath, but having his Ohana back and his house alive with laughter again was enough for right now.

Opening the door, Steve kept a hand high, casually glancing at the person interrupting the afternoon festivities.

"What a homecoming, Commander."

Steve heard a gun gone go off, caught unaware by the man on his doorstep and the bullet that pierced his skin.