I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.
Notes: Grace is a Freshman in college in this AU. I haven't worked out any particulars just yet; it's not quite important to this addition to the storyline. Thanks AGAIN to Phoebe ;-)
H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O
"Uncle Steve! You're home!" The exuberant shout from Grace had Steve laughing as he was simultaneously knee-tackled by Charlie as soon as he came in through his front door.
"Easy big guy!" Steve said as he ruffled the damp tow-headed hair. "Were you swimming? Again?"
"Yeah! Me and CJ …"
"CJ and I!" Grace corrected her brother with a dramatic eye roll. But then she was all serious. "How's Danno?"
Steve's beaming smile told her everything she needed to know and her worry evaporated on the spot.
"He woke up?" She asked, her eyes bright with a newly discovered excitement.
"Yeah. He's awake. Finally. Feels like cra … I mean … he feels bad, but he's awake and the doctors are pleased with just about everything."
"Can I see him?" Grace asked next, desperate for the go ahead. Her eyes lit up even more when Steve gave her a fast nod. But he held a finger up to his mouth, begging silence. When she was certainly old enough to pay a visit to her father in the ICU, her two little brothers would need to wait a bit longer.
"Danno's better? He woke up?" Charlie parroted the questions to be sure, smiling when he was satisfied that both Grace and Steve were being one hundred percent honest with him. "Can we go see him now?"
"Well. Soon, Charlie," Steve said, cupping the boy's cheek when the pout started immediately.
"Why not?" Charlie's smile was gone. His expression full of disappointment maybe just a bit of anger. "It's not fair! I want to see him!"
"I know, bud," Steve said as he got down on one knee. He continued to smile, trying to keep it light, but neither boy could yet see Danny until he was moved to a regular hospital room. "Soon. Promise. Danno is still in the special place but the doctor thinks he could be moved very soon. With any luck, maybe we can all visit him together by this time tomorrow."
Charlie made a face about that but didn't complain too much. He wound up giggling when Steve tickled a smile out of him.
"Danno said you can't be grumpy!" Steve laughed as Charlie bounded out of reach, still giggling. But someone was missing and Steve waved his one good hand around the room. "So … where's C.J.?"
"Outside," Charlie shrugged, clearly put out by his brother's disappearance. "He's on the beach … he didn't want to come in."
"He's banned from the water. He knows," Grace sighed out loudly before Steve could get too worried. She'd had her hands full with the two boys based on the look in her eyes. Steve could guess that she'd been chasing them down for most of the morning. Corralling two six year olds was never an easy job and Steve gave her a knowing grin. Grace made a show of tugging her hair back into a tight ponytail as if to prove how much she'd endured that day.
"Charlie was hot and came in; C.J.'s on the lanai … we're going to have lunch soon anyway. If C.J.'s down by the water, he's in big trouble and he knows it," Grace added for good measure. She practically glared at Charlie when he giggled again and pointed in the direction of the beach.
"He's not there. I looked," Charlie interrupted. "He's on the beach. I saw him … he was by the water. C.J. is in big, big trouble!"
"Charlie! Stop that! Don't be a tattle-tale!" Grace scolded her brother.
Steve raised a surprised eyebrow as he watched Charlie walk away after the announcement. He didn't say another word to his sister. The boy wouldn't look his way at all. At times like this, Steve felt like a duck out of water. He wondered if both kids were on the warpath for each other, trying to divide and conquer, because Danny had gotten hurt. Both vying for attention. Struggling for a moment with how to best react, Steve decided to ignore the outburst until he knew more.
"Well, where is he then?" Steve asked Grace softly. "Do I need to worry about all of this?" He nodded towards Charlie and then gave a helpless shrug.
"They've been mostly okay," Grace replied. "C.J.'s been moody; he always gets upset when you and Danno aren't around. I think he thinks what happened is all his fault."
"But, it's not his fault at all," Steve said in surprise. "He knows that!"
"I know he should know that," Grace answered. "He's so good Uncle Steve, but I think he's still scared."
That was true enough, too. C.J. was typically well behaved but he'd been unsettled since his birth father had scared him so badly. He hadn't been himself at all; disagreeable at times. In a snit more often than not if Steve needed to be at the hospital. Which had been: Every. Single, Day.
"Alright," Steve said apologetically. "I'll get him. I'll talk to him … he's on the lanai?"
"Well he's supposed to be on the lanai … I was making lunch for all of us," Grace complained as she and Steve practically bumped into each other on their way to the same place.
"I got it," Steve said, grinning as he used the near collision to sweep her up into a hug. "Thank you Gracie. It's good to have you home!"
He was thrilled when she'd come back from college to take over from Lou Grover to mind the boys. It had made everything so much easier to have her there. Not that he couldn't count on Lou and his wife, but having Grace home just made everything better. Especially with the happy news he had to share. In fact, Steve was suddenly bursting with the need to tell her first."
"Hey Gracie?" He whispered softly, just loud enough for her to hear. "Take the car … go see Danno for a few hours. I've got the kids, okay? He'd be thrilled - so surprised - to see you."
Her entire face lit up and she grinned. "Yeah?" She asked in a softer whisper so Charlie wouldn't hear and get more upset than he'd been. "Now? I can go see him now?"
"Now… just do it. Seeing you will make his day,," Steve said before he made a grand show of speaking loud enough for Charlie to hear him. "Grace? Can you take a run to the market and get us more milk? Maybe … oh I don't know, I think we might be out of a few things?"
"Sure," she said in a normal tone of voice. "I need to get some stuff, too. I made lunch already for the boys if you can get them to cooperate … Charlie? Be good for Uncle Steve, okay?"
"Yeah, okay," Charlie replied from where he was watching TV in the living room. With the ruse well in play, Grace leaned up to kiss Steve on the cheek.
"Thanks Uncle Steve."
"I've something else to tell you," Steve said quickly. He was back to whispering and for just a moment, Grace hesitated, looking frightened.
"What?" she asked as he held her at arms length, not at all appeased by his smile. "Is something wrong with Dad?"
"No. Nothing's wrong. It's just your Dad … I mean, you know. Him … and me," Steve sputtered quietly as he pushed on. He tried to smile down at Danny's daughter, wondering if the smile looked like the smarmy, sick thing it felt like.
"Him and you?" Grace repeated so softly, Steve barely heard her for the white-noise in his own ears. He was blushing clear up to his ears, too; he could feel the heat. Grace was staring at him in rapt attention. Steve hadn't anticipated fumbling this badly but his emotions were at an all time high. Grace Williams needed to be the first to know and of all people, he also yearned for her approval. Steve opened his mouth, managing to say it all in one, fast sentence.
"He said yes and well - I just wanted - wondered - wanted to know - are you cool with that?" Steve's head rocked on his neck. He was still blushing, terrified of Grace's reaction as she kept staring at him.
"Grace?"
"Dad said yes?" Grace finally asked, incredulous. Her hand was to her mouth, then to her neck. Her eyes were two brightly shining dark pools and Steve could only nod.
"Like really …truly ... yes?"
He kept nodding, feeling foolish and still thinking he'd just shot himself in the foot. "Yeah," he just about croaked the word.
"Wow!" Grace was suddenly in his arms, throwing herself around him for a careful hug, mindful of his bad shoulder. "Oh my God! Wow!"
"So you're okay with it?" He asked in her ear as his heart swelled in relief. "It's okay? You're okay … with this?"
"Okay? I'm better than okay with it!" She gushed, practically vibrating in her elation now. "Uncle Steve. You and Dad have been together, like … forever."
"I know but this would be … just more. And C.J.? It would mean the world to him … and the adoption if we get the okay … it just makes so much sense," Steve said as he scrubbed hard at his eyes, finding them damp. "God, I'm making a mess of this. I'm so worried about you kids."
"What mess? It's about time, anyway," she whispered conspiratorially. "Charlie and I have you, Danno and mom. Even Step-Stan sometimes. But C.J. … he has you and Danno … he needs it to be really real. I get it. But even without C.J. being part of this family, you and Danno are just … right. So yeah, I'm so, so good with this."
Steve kissed the top of Grace's head. "I love you, you know that?" He said, meaning it more than he ever had before. If Grace Williams wasn't perfectly beautiful inside and out, Steve didn't know who was.
"I love you too and not every girl has two really cool dads," Grace replied. She shrugged when his mouth fell open in surprise. "Oh come on! Just because Charlie and I call you Uncle Steve doesn't mean that we don't think that you're already just more, too."
And with that cheerful lecture, Grace was gone with a lighter step and a bright smile.
"God these kids," Steve murmured to himself. He huffed a happy sound and then rounded back on Charlie in the living room, tickling him where he lay. It was a little hard with one hand, but he managed just fine on the unsuspecting boy.
"Uncle Steve! Stopstopstop!" Charlie shrieked with laughter, legs and arms flailing wildly as he was held in place and tickled mercilessly. Steve laughed too and then raised a half-jesting finger.
"I'm going to get your brother and then it's time for lunch," Steve said. "For one I'm starving … two, get washed up. Three ... ," and Steve faked a move in Charlie's direction, earning another shout of giggles as Charlie got to his feet to dash out of the way.
"No more tickles!" Charlie laughed.
"You better listen and get washed up then, bud," Steve said. "I'll be right back!"
Leaving Charlie to do as he'd been told, Steve went out the lanai, disappointed and a bit alarmed to not find his son. He saw C.J. quickly enough though and his annoyance flared. Both boys knew better than to leave the yard for the beach and just like Charlie had warned them, C.J. hadn't listened to Grace at all.
Steve's brief flare of parental anger burst like a bubble though as he strode across the grassy lawn. His step slowed and then became more cautious. Boardies slung low on non-existent hips, C.J. was shirtless as the sun beat down on his bare back. As Steve got closer, he watched as C.J. took a deep breath, thinking no one was there at all. He kicked at an errant ripple and then scrubbed hard at his nose. On the exhale, the small shoulders trembled.
C.J. was trying not to cry and Steve shook his head worriedly as he studied the boy harder. The ever-present Captain America action figure was tucked in the fingers of C.J.'s left hand but, head bowed, he looked sadder than sad. Steve softened his entire way of thinking. Though it would come, now was certainly not the time for a major reprimand. Slowing even more, Steve sidled to the right so he'd come up behind him. With the sun on his own back, Steve would block the light. C.J. would see his shadow first and with luck, Steve might be able to surprise him.
Shoulders hunched, Steve crept closer, smiling as his shadow fell across C.J.'s back as planned. His shadow got bigger and then covered the entire swath of water the little boy was standing in. There was a surprised gasp and Steve grinned when he clocked the subtle tremor that tightened C.J.'s shoulders a moment before he realized it was Steve's shadow. Then he was whirling around and giggling as Steve dropped to his knees in the shallows.
"Daddy!" C.J. signed and said out loud, laughing as he ran to hug his father.
"Where are you?" Steve gently said as he tickled C.J.'s ribs before pointing at the water and then up to the house. Half reprimand and half loving welcome, Steve pursed his lips disagreeably.
C.J.'s big eyes were on his face the entire time and his smile wavered worriedly.
"Huh? Where are you? Are you supposed to be here?" Steve pressed gently, but sternly.
'No.' C.J. signed while he made a grim face and then heaved in another broken breath of air. There was a hitch which Steve could feel as he held the boy against his chest. Steve sighed as he kissed the overheated cheek.
"You have to listen to Grace," Steve said and signed awkwardly with one hand. "No water."
'I know,' C.J. signed. Then he stared at his fingers, contrite, and apparently afraid to meet Steve's face again.
With a wry smile, Steve gently tilted C.J.'s chin up. There was no way he could be mad at the boy and besides, C.J. knew he'd been wrong. So Steve looked into the boy's uneasy eyes and smiled.
"Guess what," he said, his smile growing in leaps and bounds when C.J.'s own smile hesitantly returned. The elusive dimple reappeared and Steve couldn't help but press another kiss to his son's cheek before he very carefully explained the most important thing. The result of which wiped any remaining sadness completely out of C.J.'s eyes.
"Danno woke up. He woke up … he's going to be okay … and you can see him tomorrow."
~ to be continued ~
