CHAPTER 3

Sunday evening, McGarrett residence:

Steve McGarrett was sitting in front of his computer when he heard a noise, like the sound of a door clicking closed and then some rustling. He paused his typing, cocking his head to listen for the sound again. A moment later, he heard it again. It sounded as though it was coming from the living room. He got up from behind the desk and moved cautiously towards the living room, expecting to find Grace or Danny moving around after their afternoon nap.

The sight that greeted him was better than expected. Grace had curled into Danny, her head resting on his collarbone and her arm around his middle. Danny had turned his body and wrapped his arms protectively around her. He was perched precariously on the edge of the couch. If he moved even a centimetre, both father and daughter would find themselves on the wooden floor. Steve smiled at the sweet sight in front of him.

Steve debated whether he should wake the slumbering pair and risk them falling in a heap or if he should let them rest. The decision was taken out of his hands when Danny rolled over slightly, causing him to wobble on the edge for a moment before falling on the floor with a spectacular thud. Grace, however, was safely secured in her father's arms and was none the wiser to their fall.

Danny, on the other hand, was valiantly holding in a string of curse words as he held tight to his precious cargo. Steve knelt down and carefully extricated Grace from her father's arms, allowing Danny to get up off the floor.

"I'm going to take her to the guest room," Steve whispered to Danny.

Danny nodded in response, not wanting to talk lest he wake up Grace.

A few minutes later, Steve returned without Grace and sat on the couch, watching his partner rub his back as he paced the living room.

"Are you okay?" Steve asked.

"Yeah. I think I'm just bruised," Danny said as he sat on the couch next to his partner.

"Sorry, I wish I could have caught you. By the time you were on the edge, I was too far away to do anything," Steve replied.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. It's actually happened before."

"Oh yeah?" Steve asked with a small smile.

"Yeah, plenty of times. When I first brought Grace home from the hospital, I didn't want her to leave my sight. I often slept in a chair with her in my arms. Subconsciously, if was to fall, I would wrap my arms around her and protect her," Danny said, his eyes shining with happiness at the memory.

"Really? Just like that?" Steve asked.

"Yep. I believe it's an instinct I developed when I became a father."

"Huh," Steve hummed under his breath.

Danny glanced sideways at his partner, noting the sudden change in mood. Steve had gone from concerned about his partner, to amused and now to sombre. Danny could only guess why that was. Just like usual, he waited for Steve to start talking about what was bothering him this time.

Steve took a deep breath. "I wonder, if I ever become a father, if I would be half as good a parent as you are."

"Of course you would. I mean, when I first met you, I had my doubts. But I have seen you with Grace. You are her favourite person, after me, of course. She adores you. She knows you as Uncle Steve. You are like a second father to her. Unlike her Uncle Matt…"

Steve looked over at his partner. "Have you heard anything else from Matt?"

Danny shook his head. "No, not since that phone call a week ago. I sent the information to the FBI, but of course haven't heard if they have found anything."

"I highly doubt they would be able to find anything anyway. My search has come up empty, but I am investigating other avenues," Steve supplied.

Danny frowned at his partner. "Are these other avenues legal?"

Steve turned his head so quickly he almost gave himself whiplash. "Of course they are Danny. If you have taught me anything, it's to do things by the book. I am just following all the leads."

Danny held up his hands in a placating manner. "Sorry, it's just that I know you and the lengths you sometimes go to. I just don't want you getting into trouble for me."

Steve snorted. "I can guarantee you this will not get me into any trouble. I'm just making a few inquiries. Besides, the computer is doing most of the work anyway," he said as he pointed to the computer visible in the study.

"Right. But don't forget that you are a trouble magnet."

"Says you."

"And with good reason. When have you ever come out of a situation and said, 'that went well'? I can give you the answer to that question, Steven. the answer is zero. Because you are a trouble magnet. Trouble finds you, no matter what. Do you not remember what happened last week?"

Steve glared at Danny. "That could have happened to anybody, Danno. It wasn't like it was in my control. It was a total fluke!"

"Yeah, except just as you slipped on the banana peel, the suspect came around the corner and collided with you. I nearly had to scrape you both off the bitumen, but luckily the truck stopped in time. Then, you kept rolling and fell down the ditch and the suspect landed on top of you. That was not a fluke, that was a series of unfortunate events. No matter what you do, no matter how innocent it may be, something will always go wrong."

Steve watched amused as Danny explained the, admittedly embarrassing, events from the previous week. He watched as Danny got riled up and his hands started moving more as he got more animated. Steve would never admit it out loud, but he enjoyed his partner's rants. They were often the highlight of his day, a light in the never-ending darkness.

"Danny, that was a one-time thing. You are making mountains out of molehills," Steve said.

Danny sputtered. "What about the week before that, huh? The golf cart incident. And two weeks before that, the window incident? And dare I even go into the bar incident?"

"Okay, okay," Steve said, holding his hands up in surrender.

A sleepy voice interrupted Danny's rant. "Danno?"

Steve and Danny turned around to see a sleepy Grace in the doorway, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Danny stood up and approached Grace, kneeling down in front of her.

"I'm sorry, Monkey. Did we wake you up from your nap?"

Grace shook her head. "No, I'm just hungry."

Steve looked down at his watch, noting it was quite late in the evening. Grace hadn't eaten since their beach lunch earlier in the day.

"Well, Grace. What do you think we should have for dinner?" Steve asked the small girl.

Grace scrunched her face up in thought. After a few moments, she appeared to come to a conclusion. "Can we have pancakes?" she asked shyly.

Danny snorted. He wasn't sure whether she knew he would protest her choice of food or if she was unsure about what she wanted to eat. Danny decided since it was their weekend together and he wanted to be the cool parent, he would agree to it. Just this once, mind you.

Steve glanced at Danny, waiting for his confirmation. Danny rolled his eyes and nodded at his partner. Excitedly, Steve grabbed Grace's hand and led her to the kitchen to presumably begin the construction of the pancake batter, leaving Danny behind on the couch.

A few moments later, Danny heard Grace's loud exclamation. "Danno!"

In an instant, Danny was off the couch and in the kitchen, expecting to find a masked assassin threatening his child. Instead, he was confronted with Grace looking incredibly sad as she looked at the pancake ingredients laid out on the bench before her.

Danny skidded to a stop. "What's the matter Monkey?"

Grace looked up at Danny with her large, sad brown eyes. "Uncle Steve doesn't have any chocolate chips," she said petulantly.

Danny had to hold back a laugh as 'Uncle Steve' glared at him from his position next to Grace. Grace thought this was an atrocity. Steve, on the other hand, probably thought pancakes were made with napalm and gun oil instead of the goodness that is, after all, chocolate chips.

"I see the problem here, Monkey. Uncle Steve must have forgotten to stock up on chocolate chips."

"Danno, Uncle Steve has probably never eaten chocolate in his life," Grace replied seriously.

At that, Danny did laugh. The surprised look on his partner's face was the icing on the cake.

Composing himself, Danny cleared his throat and looked deliberately at his daughter to avoid glancing at his now pouting partner. "Well, how about we change that? Why don't you guys get started on the batter while I go to the store and pick up some chocolate chips?"

Instantly, Grace's face lit up as she beamed, delighted, at her father. Danny had, once again, saved the day.

"Can you get some organic ones, so that Uncle Steve will enjoy them too?" Grace asked.

Danny was often surprised by his daughter's ability to worm her way into people's hearts. She was very perceptive, always knowing what someone was feeling and knowing the right thing to do to help them feel better. Danny was beyond proud of her. Steve, on the other hand, was not surprised. He already knew that about his partner's daughter. Her kindness was just one of the traits he loved about the young girl.

"Thank you Grace, but I think having real chocolate chips will make the pancakes even better. Weren't you going to show me exactly how to put the chocolate chips in without having them melt into the batter?" Steve said.

Grace nodded. "Yes, but we can do that with organic ones too."

"How about I buy some of each, that way we can try them both?" Danny interjected.

Both Grace and Steve stopped, wearing identical expressions as they thought about it.

"I guess that would be okay," Grace said as she looked sideways at Steve, who nodded encouragingly. "Thanks Danno!"

Grace started pouring flour into a bowl as Danny turned to leave for the supermarket. Steve followed him out to the front door.

"Thanks for indulging her, Steve. I know it's not exactly the best time of night for cooking and your kitchen will probably look like a bomb exploded in it by the time she's done," Danny said.

"No problem, Danny. I love spending time with her. Besides, I'm looking forward to pancakes, even with chocolate chips," Steve said with a huge grin.

"Well, thanks again. And for letting us come over, you know," Danny said as he patted his pockets, looking for his car keys.

Steve, guessing what his partner was looking for, pointed him towards the kitchen. "I think you left them in there."

Danny walked back in to the kitchen and was instantly amazed at the amount of flour and batter all over the bench already. "Monkey, have you seen Danno's car keys?"

Grace shook her head and continued mixing the batter so vigorously that dollops of batter fell out of the bowl to land on the floor. Danny shuddered at the way his neat-freak partner would react when he saw the mess.

Steve, entering the kitchen a few steps behind Danny, gazed open-mouthed at the mess in his normally pristine kitchen. Then, he smiled at the look of utter joy on Danny's daughter's face. Stepping forward, he felt something underneath his foot. Lifting his sneaker, he found the keys to the Camaro, covered in sticky pancake batter.

"I found your keys, Danno," Steve said, grimacing as he held the evidence up in the air, causing batter to drip off of the keys and onto the floor.

Danny groaned when he saw the state of his keys. Making to grab them from his partner, Steve pulled them out of his reach and reached into his pocket to retrieve his own set.

"Here, take my truck. I'll clean these up so you can use them when it's time to take Gracie back home," Steve offered.

Danny looked at Steve, taken aback by the statement. "What, you are letting me drive your truck?"

Steve snorted. "Yeah, well, you always complain about me driving your car, so I thought it might be time you drove mine."

Without hesitating, Danny grabbed the offered keys from his partner and promptly left, not giving Steve a chance to change his mind. Steve chuckled at Danny as he dashed out the door.

"Alright, Gracie. Show me how to make the best pancakes in the world…" Danny heard Steve say to his daughter as he went to the big blue truck parked in front of the McGarrett house. As he drove towards the supermarket, he spotted a removal van parked outside one of McGarrett's neighbour's houses.

Hmm, maybe I could rent that place, Danny thought before he decided the rent would probably be more than he made in an entire year. Although it did entertain Danny as he thought about the way his partner would react to being neighbours.

Unknown location:

"The targets are now alone."

"What about the other man?"

"He has left. Now is our window of opportunity."

"Get it done."