Be Careful What You Wish For….
"You know, sometimes I wish I had never met you. Then I'd be truly happy, and my life would be so much better." Danny groused. He'd spent the last hour carrying heavy bags of garden soil through Steve's house and into the backyard, so that they could plant Catherine's winter garden. On the last trip out, Danny had stepped over Eddie, who decided to move at the last second, causing Danny to almost fall on his face, and almost tripped over an opened box of nails that had been placed on the ground for reasons incomprehensible to him.
Steve rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah, Danno. I know. I've ruined your life," he mocked.
"Oh, cut it out, ya goof." Danny pleaded, before he walked off to his new attached house, and went to sleep, after kissing Catherine on the cheek goodnight, as she walked past him.
"Danny? Come on, wake up!" A woman called. Wait. A woman? She didn't sound familiar. Danny's cop brain told him to get up and figure out who was in his home, on Christmas Day.
"Who are you?" Danny asked, looking at the woman across from him, dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt. He noticed she also had an HPD badge clipped to her pants.
"Very funny, Danny. We have to go, so get moving!"
Danny staggered away and returned with some clothes. "Again. Who are you? And where am I? And why do I smell like a liquor cabinet?"
"Seriously?" She asked, exasperated. "I'm your partner, at HPD. We've been partners for the past ten years, since Meka Hanamoa died. You're in the apartment you've rented for the last six years, and you smell like alcohol because you're an alcoholic."
I'm an alcoholic? I mean, I like a beer now and again, but not the hard liquor, and certainly not all the time! Danny thought. "What do you mean I'm an alcoholic? And we are not partners! I work for the Governor's task force, Five-0. And Steve is my partner."
The woman, who introduced herself as Natalie, replied, "First off, the Governor doesn't have a task force. And secondly, who is Steve? I don't know a Steve, and I know everything about you."
"You know everything about me? I've never seen you before. And how do you not know Steve? And where's my family?" Danny asked, noticing that all his family photos were gone from the walls.
Natalie replied, "Tell you what. You come with me, as we're late, and on the ride there I'll tell you everything you already know about your family, and why you're an alcoholic. OK?"
"Yeah, OK." Danny replied, unsure. He got dressed, grabbed his gun and HPD badge, and tried not to think about the fact that it was an HPD badge, and not his Five-0 badge.
Once in the car, Natalie spoke. "So. Your daughter is going to college in Vegas, which is where your lovely ex-wife, her husband, and their son live."
"Wait wait wait wait. What do you mean, where my ex-wife her husband, and their son live? Rachel and Stan got divorced three years ago, and I've known Charlie was my son for the past five going on six years now!" Danny exclaimed, flailing his hands around.
Natalie looked at him like he'd just suggested they go attack a nun. "Uh, Danny? You feeling OK? Because Rachel and Stan are still together, and Charlie is their son."
Danny reacted like he'd been slapped. "And what's this about Vegas?"
"Danny, Rachel fought you to bring Grace to Vegas, and you lost custody and visitation rights seven years ago. That's one of the reasons you started drinking so much."
"What? That's not true! Steve spoke at my custody hearing and made sure Grace wouldn't leave the island!" Danny retorted.
"Again, with this Steve guy? Danny, no one spoke at your custody hearing, because you'd basically lost all your rights to see Grace in 2010, when Rachel petitioned to take visitation away and won." Natalie replied, worrying more and more about her out of it partner.
Danny shook his head violently. "No! Rachel tried to take my visitation rights away, but then Steve called the Governor on Stan, and got her off my back."
"It seems like this Steve fella is someone you made up to fix all of your problems. Well, newsflash Danny, you're not in an alcohol induced stupor anymore! The guy you made up isn't real." Natalie explained to him, even though it broke her heart to do so.
Danny didn't want to believe it. The last ten years of his life hadn't just been some alcohol laced hallucination; he was sure of it.
"Okay…" he said slowly, still not convinced, "what about the rest of my family?"
Natalie frowned, and replied, "Your sisters live in Jersey with their families, your mom lives in West Orange County, and your dad lives somewhere near Cherryhill I think."
"Hold on. My parents don't live together?" Danny asked, incredulous.
Natalie shook her head. "No, they don't. They got divorced six years ago now."
"That's not true. Steve convinced me to support my mother and gave me the courage to fix things between them." Danny stated, and then cringed. Natalie was just going to think he was using the Steve excuse again.
"Uh huh. Sure." Natalie reassured him.
They arrived at HPD, and when Danny went to get out, his right shoulder ached like crazy. "Hey. Why does my shoulder ache so much?" He assumed that Natalie would know.
"Oh, that's because in 2011 you got shot by the FBI, and it shattered your bone. Now whenever it's cold or rainy, it aches."
All the color drained from Danny's face. "What do you mean, I got shot by the FBI?"
"When your brother tried to flee the island, you followed him, and the FBI followed you. There was a brutal shootout. Matty was killed on the spot, and in the confusion, one of the agents shot you."
"No! Steve tricked the FBI, giving me time to say goodbye to Matty and try and stop him." Danny protested. He then grimaced, when he saw the dubious look on Natalie's face.
Walking inside, Danny tried to conjure up a vague memory of what Natalie had told him, yet still all he could see was Steve, and the life he'd had for the past decade with him.
"Woah, Danny! No tie brah?" A uniformed officer asked Danny, surprised.
Danny didn't recognize the guy, but figured he knew him. "Uh, yeah. I haven't worn ties regularly in about nine years. Steve nagged me so much that I decided to stop wearing them. And he was right, I look better without them. Not to toot my own horn or anything..." He petered off when he noticed the entire room staring at him like he'd just been speaking in seizure-induced Latin.
Then, Duke Lukela walked in, and Danny smiled at him. "Duke! Hey, man. Still coming over later for Christmas dinner? We both know Akela and Charlie would love to hang out." Danny said, in a conspiratorial whisper.
Duke started, and then walked off, with brows creased in confusion, and an angry frown on his face.
"Danny! Why did you do that?" Natalie asked, angry.
"Do what? I just asked him a question!" Danny insisted.
Natalie shook her head. "Duke Lukela is a crusty old codger, whose daughter and granddaughter moved away two years ago, after she was kidnapped, and Duke was almost forced out. You've never spoken more than three words to each other, and now you're inviting him to some phantom dinner? You never do Christmas dinner; in all the years I've known you. I'm really starting to worry, Danny."
Danny sputtered, and ran off, into the men's room. He latched the door behind him, after making sure he was alone, and then sunk to the floor, his head in his hands. He started to weep. His whole life wasn't a lie, right? Suddenly he wasn't so sure, and that rocked him to his core.
"Why are you crying?" A woman asked. He looked up, startled. She resembled the fairy godmother from Cinderella and sounded like Grandma Wendy from the movie Hook.
Danny wiped his eyes, and replied, "My whole life is a lie! Steve doesn't exist, I don't have any of my friends, I'm an alcoholic, everything is wrong!"
"There there." The woman soothed him, rubbing a hand on his shoulder. "Danny, your life's not ruined!"
"How so?" Danny asked, remotely hopeful.
She replied, "You made a wish, last night, that you'd never met Steve. Then your life would be so much better, and you'd be truly happy. Remember? Well, as you said that, a shooting star flew by, and I granted your wish. So, tell me. Is your life so much better? Are you truly happy now, never having known Steve?"
Danny's head shook so hard his hair fell into his eyes. "No! My life is horrible! Please, please tell me you can reverse my wish!"
"Yes, of course. You're lucky I came now. After midnight, this life would become permanent. I'm actually glad you want your old life back. It's better for everyone if you do." The wish granter replied.
Danny smiled for the first time all day. "So, what will happen?"
"You'll wake up on Christmas morning like nothing happened. You will not have lost any time, and no one will know what happened but you. Goodbye, Danny." She then sprinkled dust over him and disappeared.
"Danny! Wakey wakey!" Steve crooned, from outside Danny's mother-in-law apartment.
Danny opened his eyes blearily. Steve! Danny thought, almost giddy. He popped open the door, and hugged Steve tight enough for the air to leave his lungs.
"Oof." Steve chided good-naturedly. "You Ok there, Danno?"
Danny nodded. "Yes. I appreciate you, and I am so sorry that I ever wished I'd never met you."
Steve smiled, a bit confused, but not one to pass up a compliment. "I love you too, buddy. And I never once took it personally, you know that, right?"
"Yeah, yeah. I know. I just needed to tell you." Danny replied, still thanking his lucky stars that his life was back.
Steve grinned, and walked Danny towards the main house. "Good. Now let's go enjoy Christmas morning, OK? Charlie waited to open his gifts at Rachel's, so he could open them here with all of us. Now he's been real good at waiting, but if he has to for much longer, I think he's going to do a great impression of a grenade without the pin."
Danny snorted. "Only you would compare my son to a pin-less grenade," he groused. But then again, there's only one Steve McGarrett, and I'm fortunate to know him.
On the way inside, Danny turned around, and saw his wish-granter walking down the beach, with Doris? I should have known, Danny scolded himself, Doris heard me wishing I'd never met her son, and decided to teach me a lesson. Sure, she could have just visited me and reminded me of how much Steve had helped my life, but that wasn't Doris's way. Why speak, when actions can be so much more fun?
Either way, Danny was grateful to her, and the wish granter, for reminding him what a wonderful life he had.
The End