Acceptance: Willingness to tolerate a difficult situation. [Oxford Dictionary]

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Today

Steve had fired the grill and put some bottles of beer into the fridge as well as a bottle of lemonade. He and Danny hadn't had the chance to continue their late night talk; the week had been too busy, with Adam's case and Junior and Tani walking the beat like ordinary policemen, leaving Steve and Lou to do all the "dirty" work in the office while Danny took care of Brooke who had arrived three days ago to identify the body of her ex-husband Ray. She was the only ascertainable relative he had, and thus was responsible for his body that was preserved in Noelani's morgue. Two hours ago, Brooke's flight back to LA had lifted off, but Danny still hadn't arrived. They had agreed to meet at Steve's house once she was gone, and while Grace had come on her own to Steve to pass the weekend with her dad and uncle, Danny had taken a swerve from the airport to Rachel's to bring Charlie along. This should have taken Danny approximately an hour, and so Steve left the fire in the grill in the capable hands of Grace and made a beeline for the main door.

No Camaro in sight.

Steve frowned and pulled his phone out. No message from Danny either. He pushed the phone back, and just as he was about to turn around and head inside to grab the keys of the Silverado to drive the route Danny would have to take to find out if he had an accident or perhaps the Camaro had broken down, said car appeared at the end of the road. Steve sighed in relief and went back to the lanai, leaving the door wide open for Danny and Charlie.

Later that night, with the kids all fed and tucked into bed, Steve fell into the beach chair with a contented "Uuuumph" and clinked his bottle of beer against the proffered one from Danny. "So," Steve said after glancing sideways at Danny for a few moments, "you're good?"

Danny took a long sip from the bottle and mused. "Yeah," he finally said and leaned back into the chair, seemingly melting into it. "Brooke's on her way home, and Ray is, well, fish food." He grinned.

Steve snorted. "That's still too good for that asshole. But, there is one thing you have to tell me, Danny. When you started with this story, you mentioned Eric, about him getting sucked into a gang, and that he brought you back on the right track."

"Yeah. You're right." Danny sounded surprised, and after another sip he put the bottle down. "Eric took my help with the shoplift as a free pass, you remember that? He must've started to brag around with that in front of the wrong guys, and was recruited from one of them for smaller errands. Those smaller errands became bigger and bigger, and two years later almost blew up in his face. At the same time, rumors got louder in my precinct about a dirty cop among us, and I had noticed some obliquities in the files about Rick's and my beats. I talked to my mom about it, and she said I should confide in my Captain about this. Eric must've heard that. I had caught him shoplifting some time before again and he had been sentenced to work hours of community service. So Eric heard the talk between mom and me, and accused me of being a hypocrite. For being the moral crusader in public, but in reality being just another dirty cop. Of course I was angry, I was furious! But Eric was right, and I had known all along what I had to do, although I shied away from taking action. Until Eric called me just another disappointment in his life."

"You talked to the Captain and they set up a trap for Rick?" When Danny simply nodded, Steve continued, some old, almost forgotten puzzle pieces finally falling into place. "And they caught him red-handed. He got sentenced to ten years, and you were the main witness."

"Yes." Danny pondered. "So many of my decisions I have made in the last almost 20 years have influenced my life, have endangered my family, me, but still. I wouldn't change a thing."

"No?" Steve couldn't help but let the small smile appear on his lips that forced its way to the surface.

"No." Danny's voice was firm and determined. "Five hours ago I said goodbye to Brooke and left to wait in the lobby for her to pack up her things and to bring her to the airport. I was almost at the elevator when I turned around to ask her to stay a little bit longer, to stay another week, so we could get in touch again. I wanted to tell her what had happened in those 19 years, tell her about my job, about Grace and Charlie, about Five-0 and you, and how a Jersey boy ended up in Hawaii. I wanted to know what had happened to her in these years, if she had married again, had children… But I was a second too late. And I realized then and there, that although I have made so many mistakes back then, it had been exactly the road that led me to the here and now. It shaped me into who I am today."

Steve's smile now spread over his whole face, although he tried to stifle it when he made a mock scrutiny on Danny. "Well, from what I see, that's not such a bad result," he chuckled and raised his bottle to clink it against Danny's once more.

Danny grinned at him and took his bottle up to drink to that. "Thanks, babe."

"You're welcome."

"But since we are already at old stories from our wild years — what about you tell me something from your past now? Quid pro quo, you know?"

"From my past? Oh… sure! What do you want to hear?"

"Operation Strawberry Fields."