Guardian

A/N: 10/30 – I went through the first 11 chapters today and made minor corrections for typos and the like. No plot points were changed.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters and make no money doing this. I'm just having fun playing with them.

Chapter 12

Kono watched Grace as her eyes followed Chin toward the house to get drinks. The Hawaiian suspected something was on her mind since it was her prompting that sent Chin on his errand.

As soon as he disappeared through the door, the little girl sat back from their sand city project, looking like she wanted to ask something, but couldn't decide how to start.

"Gracie, is there something you want to talk about?" Her cousin wasn't likely to take long and she didn't want the opportunity get missed.

"Promise you won't tell Steve and Danno?" Her serious tone and expression alarmed Kono.

"I'll promise, as long as nothing is wrong that they'll need to know to take care of you." She hedged her answer. She didn't want to go back on her word once she gave it, but there was no way she'd take a chance with Grace's well-being.

"That works." She shrugged her shoulders before getting to the point. "Do you think Danno and Steve will ever figure out that they're supposed to be together?"

Kono was suddenly glad Chin hadn't arrived with the drinks yet. She would have choked with surprise. "What do you mean by together?"

"You know, like Nikki's dads?" After the last hour or so, Kono was quite familiar with Nikki's family. The focus of the conversation was starting to make sense.

"Honestly, Gracie. I don't know. Why?"

The little girl thought for a moment. "Because I love them and I want them to be happy. They love each other too, but I think sometimes guys are a little slow with this kind of thing, so I'm starting to wonder if they'll figure it out."

Kono couldn't help but smile and laugh at the incredibly astute observation and blunt honesty of the child.

"I think you might be right, Gracie. They might need help figuring it out."

Hearing the door of the house open and close, the pair looked up to see Chin returning, water bottles in hand. "Grandma will help, but I wanted to see what you thought before she got here in case we need your help too."

Kono grinned at the girl. "I bet Uncle Chin would help too."

"And just what are you volunteering Uncle Chin for?" The man in question distributed the drinks and sat down in the sand.

"Just a little match making after Mom gets here."

The girls didn't have to elaborate. "Oh, I'm in. I'm definitely in." However, he suspected the pair wouldn't stand a chance faced with Grace and Mama Williams. "It'd be nice to see them quit skirting around things."

The three settled into putting the final additions on the main castle in their little sand city. The adults both surprised and delighted with Grace's revelation. When the time was right, they would make sure there support was clear as well. McGarrett and Danno needed to know their ohana was happy for them, or they would be if they would ever get it together.

Hearing a car in the driveway, the cousins turned to shield Grace in case it was someone unexpected and unwelcome. The effort was unnecessary, as Grace immediately spotted Steve and ran to meet them. "Danno! Da…. Uncle Steve!"

The Seal swung her up into his arms, giving his partner a meaningful look. "Monkey, what do you say we got for a little walk?"

Looking down at her Danno, she waited to see if he was coming too. "Why don't you two go ahead? I need to make a call, but I'll catch up." The pair had decided it was best to let Steve have the Daddy talk with her alone; meanwhile, Danny would call the school to let them know how she was doing and see what arrangements could be made.

"Walk or ride?" The Seal inquired.

Wrapping her arms tighter around his neck, she giggled. "Ride."

"Don't get lost you two. I'll meet you on your way back." He'd never catch them anyway and wanted to give the pair as much time as they needed. The three of them would have plenty of time to talk after.

Stopping briefly on the lanai, Steve set Gracie down while he ditched his shoes and rolled his cargo pants up a bit. Knowing him, they'd still end up wet, but it would help keep them from collecting sand.

Chin and Kono passed by them on the way into the house, "We're going to head out and run a couple errands before we get Mom." Pulling the paint cards from earlier out of his back pocket, Chin waved them at Grace. "Grabbed these off the table. We'll pick them on the way."

"Thanks, Uncle Chin!" Back in Steve's arms, she waved to the Hawaiians as she and the Seal headed out toward the water.

They simply enjoyed the sound of the waves for a few minutes before Grace spoke. "Are you okay, Uncle Steve?" She'd seen that look on his face before, the look that said he was thinking really hard about how to tell her something.

Kissing her forehead, he squeezed her more tightly to him. "I am. Sweetie, do you remember last night when I woke you up from your nightmare?"

Grace leaned back a bit, one hand resting on his chest as the other remained wrapped around his shoulder. Her brow furrowed and she refused to meet his eyes as she remembered what she'd said.

Sensing her unease, the Seal feared he'd already botched the conversation. "Gracie, please look at me."

Blinking back tears that threatened to spill, she forced herself to meet his eyes. The wetness in his eyes surprised her, Steve didn't usually cry. Had she disappointed him that much? Had he told Danno they needed to leave?

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." Her panicked apology broke the Seal's thin control on his emotions.

"Oh Grace, please don't apologize. You didn't do anything wrong." The tears spilled unencumbered. "Don't be mad at Danno, but he explained about Nikki's dads before we came home. I said something while we were at the station and I thought Danno was mad at me. He had to tell me so I would understand." He fumbled through the explanation, rushing to explain so she wouldn't be upset with her father.

"You know?" Her small voice held the slightly hint of hope. "Are you mad? It's okay if you don't want to be my Daddy. I'll still love you if you just want to be Uncle Steve."

Pulling her back close to his chest, he kissed her hair. "Gracie, I would love nothing better than being your Daddy. You have no idea how incredibly happy I am that you want me to be."

Her Chin resting on his shoulder, she whispered in his ear. "If you're happy, why are you crying?" Happy was not one of the few reasons she'd ever seen him cry. Last time it was when Danno was in the hospital with the toxin stuff.

She could feel the laugh vibrating in his chest. She loved his laugh. She really loved it when he and Danno made each other laugh. "Sweetie, I'm crying because I never thought I'd be Daddy. Family isn't something I've got a lot of and finding out that you wanted to keep me around was just a really great surprise today."

"So Danno and I don't have to move out?" She wasn't really sure Steve was making sense at this point, but he'd said 'keep' and she wanted to make sure he meant it.

"No, Gracie. This is home for you. This is home for all three of us." He smiled at her when she leaned back to see his face. "I love you, Gracie. You will always have a place here," he placed her small hand over his heart, "and here," he pointed back toward the house, "with me. So will Danno."

"I love you too, Daddy." She spoke slowly, seeming to test out the words as she spoke them for the first time. Her bravery was rewarded with one of his incredible smiles.

The pair continued to walk down the beach for a while, simply enjoying the view and the sound of the waves. Grace felt happy, but she also felt guilty for feeling happy after what had happened.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, Gracie?" Steve stopped walking, turning to see if Danno was headed their way yet. Seeing the shorter man walking toward them, the Seal smiled.

"Does it make me a bad person that I feel happy even though I'm still sad about Mommy? Will she be mad that I'm not crying all the time?"

Steve looked to her and then stared out at the ocean and he started walking toward his partner. He wasn't entirely sure how to answer that, but as he thought, he realized his sessions with Dr. Thompson might have helped him. It wasn't the same thing, but he could relate based on the loss of close friends and comrades on missions.

"No, Gracie. It doesn't make you a bad person." He was glad to see the distance to Danny quickly closing. "You're going to be sad a lot and you're going to miss your mom, but you have to remember that she loved you and she would want you to be happy and have a full life. It's okay to cry when you're sad, but I don't think she'd ever want you to spend all your time crying."

The little girl was quiet in his arms as they closed the gap toward her father. Walking the last few feet, Danny and Steve's eyes locked on each other as they came to a stop less than a foot from each other.

Gracie turned to face Danno, and leaned down to accept his open armed invitation into his arms.

Steve looked on, a mixture of love and longing on his face, as his partner held his daughter closely.

Seeing Steve's expression, Danny extended one arm toward him, inviting the Super Seal to join the family hug.

"Everything okay with you two?" He had to ask. They seemed a bit more serious than he'd expected.

"Yeah, Danno. We're good." Steve answered the unasked specifics of the question.

Gracie leaned back a bit, wrapping and arm around each of them as they stood planted on the beach. "Daddy says that Mommy would want me to be happy. That she wouldn't be mad."

"Gracie, you should listen to Daddy. Sometimes he's smarter than we give him credit for."

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