Guardian

A/N: Hope you guy enjoy. Just have to say – I really love Grace sometimes. She kind of ran away with a piece of this chapter and I just didn't have the heart to stop her.

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

Chapter 43

"Any idea just who that creep was?" Governor Denning asked Chin and Kono as they stood next to him, still inside the wall of officers. They'd parted long enough let Duke through with the unwelcome guest before closing ranks again. The governor was impressed with how fast they all seemed to materialize around the family once the commotion started.

"No. Clearly he's a friend of Stan's that didn't care for Rachel and Grace." The Hawaiian man replied. "Perhaps we should ask and see if anyone recognized him, see what we can learn in case he clams up."

Before anyone replied, one of the HPD officers turned toward them. "I've got someone asking to speak to Five-0. Says she knows the guy that Duke just hauled out of here."

Chin and Kono nodded. They'd see what information they could get. They were anxious to find out what kind of threat he posed to Grace safety and recovery.

"Looks like you won't even have to ask. Why don't I start encouraging people to clear out while you speak to her?" When Kono looked surprised at his offer, he explained. "I don't want Grace to have to deal with a crowd, no matter how well meaning they may be, when she's ready to leave."

Catherine, Mary, Dianne, and Beth all stepped closer to him. Dianne and Cath had been only a few seconds behind Danny and the other two had followed quickly after seeing Steve flying over the chair.

"We'll help." Dianne offered. When Denning and Cath looked like they were going to argue, she continued. "Right now the best thing I can do to honor my daughter is to protect hers and if that means helping clear a room of people then that is what I'm going to do."

Everyone around gave her a supportive smile. Dianne seemed like a completely different person from the woman that shown up only a few short days ago. For Grace's sake they were all happy to see her quickly finding her place in the ohana.

"In the case let's go." Cath slipped an arm around her, ready to stay with her as they tackled this unexpected task. The British woman was clearly determined, but that didn't mean she couldn't use some backup.

Slipping through the wall of HPD officers, the five were met with concerned looks from many of the mourners. They'd all stepped back several feet, largely trying to respect the family's privacy while still incredibly curious what exactly was going on.

/ GUARDIAN /

Exiting the building, Duke was being less than gentle with the man as he guided him toward his cruiser. Officer Kapahu had joined him on the way out, they hadn't cuffed the guy yet and he wanted to make sure he didn't get loose and make it back inside.

Halfway across the parking lot, the clearly intoxicated man started struggling against Duke's hold.

"Where the hell do you think you're taking me?" He tried to jerk his arms away. "Let me go you fucking jerk."

Duke looked over his shoulder at Kapahu and was surprised when he mouthed, "Loosen your grip." He hesitated until he realized the other officer had pulled his taser out. The younger man clearly had an idea.

Nodding, he turned his attention back in the direction they were walking. This was going to hurt, but it'd be worth it.

"You are headed to HPD lockup, so I suggest you settle down and make it easier on all of us." Duke barked at the perp has he continued to struggle.

His words, of course, had the opposite effect. Duke loosened his grip just slightly as the man began to struggle more aggressively against the hold. When one arm slipped free, he immediately swung wildly around and landed a fist right across Duke's face.

"Freeze!" Officer Kapahu yelled and was completely ignored a second before he triggered the taser.

The jolt of electricity effectively took the man to the ground so Kapahu could cuff him.

Duke rubbed his jaw where the punch landed as he watched. He had to give the younger officer credit, it was worth getting decked to watch the guy that had scared Grace get tased for assaulting a police officer.

"Duke, you okay?" Another HPD officer ran over to where they stood. "That guy looked like he was going nuts until Kapahu managed to get him down."

"Yeah brah, I'm fine. Nothing a little ice won't fix when we get back to the station." He saw the glint in the officer's eyes and knew that he understood exactly what he just saw happened, but that he'd have done the same.

/ GUARDIAN /

Beth spotted Ms. Jones and could readily see that the woman was upset. Approaching, she caught her eye just before she reached her.

"Is Grace okay?" The question was almost panicked.

"Her dads are with her, so I'd imagine she will be. Though I'm sure she's quite rattled." Beth answered, wanting to calm Ms. Jones while not yet knowing just how bad the aftermath would be.

"It's my fault. They trusted me to watch her and I got distracted. I should have paid more attention. Detective Williams explained how she was found and what had happened when we spoke the other day, so I know just how bad that was for her." She gestured toward the door.

"Well, I'm sure you'll hear from Daniel soon about what needs to happen to keep Grace from falling behind, but right now we're trying to encourage people to head out so she doesn't have to face a crowd." Beth knew her son thought well of Ms. Jones, but at the moment she couldn't help being a bit irritated. There may not have been much the woman could have done to prevent the man from reaching the door, but had she been paying attention it may have slowed him down.

"I understand. Please let him know that we'll be willing to work with you all to handle things in the best possible way for Grace. We all adore her and don't want to make this any harder than it already is."

"Thank you." Beth replied as Ms. Jones headed toward the door. After today she expected they were going to be treading carefully with sending Grace back into the world without a member of her family.

/ GUARDIAN /

"Ma'am, I'm Detective Kelly and this is Officer Kalakaua. Officer Reese said you wanted to speak with Five-0." He motioned her over to an area by the wall, but behind the bathroom door so they wouldn't disturb Grace and her dads.

"Yes." She followed the pair. "I can't believe Jason just did that. I knew he and Stan were close, but I heard what he said to Commander McGarrett. I can't believe he'd do that to a little girl."

Clearly upset, the woman was rambling before they could ask her any questions.

"Ma'am." Kono rested a calming hand on her shoulder. "Do you know Jason's last name?"

She looked up, slightly started, at the sound of Kono's voice. "Dyer. He's my brother." Her voice faded to a near whisper as she admitted their relationship.

"Did he attend the funeral?" Kono felt sorry for the woman, but she needed to get any information she could from her.

"No. After he spoke to Stan's lawyer and found out he wouldn't represent him, he was furious. When we found out about the funeral arrangements he said he wasn't coming. I didn't argue with him. Despite she and I becoming fast friends, Jason never got along with her."

Chin was less than pleased to hear Stan's lawyer had spoken to someone else about the case after refusing to represent him. "Ma'am." He realized they didn't know her name.

"Please call me Jane." She offered before he continued.

"Do you know if the lawyer told him anything else about what had happened?" He'd met with Stan and gotten his full story, including details around Grace being locked in the bathroom.

"He didn't tell me, but I know they were on the phone for quite a while." The look on her face shifted to pure horror. "Him banging on the door like that, you think it has something to do with what he heard from the lawyer?"

"Possibly or it could just be a sad coincidence."

"I swear if he weren't in police custody right now I'd beat him senseless. To do that to little Grace." She shook her head, balling her hands into tight fists at her side.

"Is there anything else you can tell us about what might have prompted your brother to show up like that?" Kono was ready to be done with this and check on Grace.

"No. I mean, I know Jason's been drinking more lately. He and Stan were partners at work and them letting Stan go really seemed to mess with him, but I never expected this. He's not usually the type to get violent."

Guiding her gently by the elbow, Chin started moving toward HPD again. "If you think of anything else that might help, please give HPD a call. They'll be able to get us the information."

Turning back to his cousin after she left, he shook his head. "Well, that isn't great news. I sure as hell hope his damned lawyer didn't run around spouting off details of the case to every mutual acquaintance they had."

Looking around the room, it appeared the others had been successful at clearing the room pretty quickly.

/ GUARDIAN /

The tears burned Steve's eyes, but he didn't care. All that mattered in that moment was the two people wrapped safely in his arms. He'd reacted on pure instinct and adrenaline when he'd seen the man move to lay a hand on the bathroom door.

He realized, in that moment, that the single most important thing to him was keeping her safe. The fact that for the second time in recent history he was too late to stop the damage completely killed him.

Yes, Grace had still called him Daddy and reached a hand out to him. Yes, she and Danny were clinging to him just as much as he was clinging to them. But Steve feared that this second failure would be too much, that'd he'd lose them both.

"I'm so sorry." The words came out as a hoarse whisper, so different than the voice of the hardened Seal only minutes before.

Danny's head shot up from where it had rested next to Grace's on Steve's chest. "No!" The Jersey native adamantly refused.

"Yes. I am. I should have…"

Danny cut him off. "No! You did nothing wrong. This was not your fault." One hand seemed to involuntarily shoot up and start motioning for emphasis.

Steve felt Grace squirm closer to him, so she was sitting on his thighs still sandwiched between the two men.

"Daddy." The little girl's voice stopped her father's rant before it could escalate.

Steve and Danny both looked down at her. "Why are you sorry?" They were both surprised by her question.

"Because he's…" The Jersey native started to answer when his daughter's look made him stop.

"Danno, I asked Daddy." She gave him the same exasperated look she'd used the day that he'd almost made Steve cry in her bedroom. Both of members of the Williams clan turned back to look at the Seal, waiting expectantly for his answer.

"I'm sorry because I should have stopped him sooner. I shouldn't have let him reach you. I shouldn't have let him scare you." The Seal's eyes fell to the floor. He couldn't handle seeing the disappointment in her big brown eyes when she realized that he'd failed her again.

"Did he tell you what he was going to do?" She asked. Her innocent voice remained focused and serious, the tears and panic of a moment before forgotten as she concentrated with an amazing intensity on finding out why her Daddy was so convinced he'd done something wrong.

Grace was incredibly smart and perceptive. Her mother had always sworn she had too much of her father in her as if they were things to be ashamed of; however, Danno, Steve, and the rest of the ohana encouraged those traits. Time spent with them had managed to magnify those skills. As part of that, she'd quickly realized that anytime something happened to those he loved, Steve immediately blamed himself no matter how irrational it was.

"No." The Seal answered, still staring at the floor. Facing armed opponents, explosives, or other life threatening situations was far easier for him than facing the idea of failing his family.

Grace continued to question. "Were you the only person here that could have reacted?" She continued to push. Danny watched silently, realizing exactly what his daughter was doing and how much more effective it was coming from her.

"No." He still refused to meet her eyes.

"Were you the closest one when he started banging on the door?" She knew the answer, knew he would have been standing across the room with her Danno.

"No." His eyes flicked up for a split second before falling back to the floor.

"Were you the one that made him stop?" Her voice was nearly a whisper, but the sideways glance she gave her Danno told him she knew she had the Seal right where she wanted.

His reply was slower this time, his eyes finally finding hers when he answered in a mere whisper. "Yes."

"Daddy." She held his gaze. "I know you want to stop anything bad before it happens, but you can't. I know that and so does Danno. What matters is that you did everything you could to fix it when it happened."

She felt Danno's hand rubbing her back and gently squeezing her side, a silent encouragement from him.

"I…" Steve was at a loss for words. The little girl that had only claimed him as Daddy a few days before could see him so well. Chancing a glance at his partner, what he saw in those blue eyes only reinforced her words.

"It's okay, babe. We know." Danny pulled the three of them impossibly closer together for a tight hug.

"Can we go home now?" Grace's muffled voice asked from between her dads.

/ GUARDIAN /

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