Guardian
A/N: As I may (or may not) have mentioned before, I tend to listen music all the time and have a playlist full of songs that are somehow associated with this story in my mind. Though some are more general associates, occasionally one song really resonates with a particular scene, chapter, or collection of them. At the moment that song happens to be Aftermath by Lifehouse.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters and make no money doing this. I'm just having fun playing with them.
Chapter 45
Waking up, it took Grace a few seconds to recognize that she was in her room. The last thing she remembered was being in her daddy's arms outside.
Feeling a warm arm wrapped around her that was too light to belong to either Danno or Daddy, she looked at the hand and immediately knew it belonged to Grandma Bradley.
"Are you awake dear?" Her grandmother's voice whispered.
"Yes." She turned so she could see the older woman.
"How are you feeling?" Dianne queried, concerned about how traumatic the day had been for the little girl.
Grace stared back silently as she contemplated her answer. "Better now that we're home."
Dianne felt a twinge in her heart, knowing that this wasn't really home for her. In too few days she would have to return to England.
"Good. You let me know if you want to talk about anything, okay?" She squeezed the little girl tighter.
"Thanks Grandma. You too." Grace offered. She worried that her grandmother was going to be too lonely when she left Hawaii. "What time is it?"
Dianne reached back and grabbed her watch from the nightstand. "Almost time for the Governor to get here with dinner. What do you say we put ourselves to rights and go see what everyone else is doing?"
"Okay." Grace agreed and followed Dianne's lead in getting out of the bed. Standing, she turned to look at the older woman. "Grandma?"
"Yes dear?" She turned to face the girl.
"Do you think you could stay here tonight?" Her big brown eyes pleaded.
"I'd love too, but with your Aunt Mary here I think your dad is out of extra beds."
"You could stay here, with me." Grace countered immediately. "I bet Aunt Cath or Uncle Chin could take you to pick up anything you needed from the hotel after dinner."
"Okay, you've convinced me. As long as your fathers don't mind I'll stay."
/ GUARDIAN /
Two empty Longboard bottles sat on the table between them, next to the joined hands. Steve had listened as Danny told stories about his time with Rachel for the last 45 minutes. He'd laughed when warranted, smiled encouragingly when needed, but he'd never let go of Danny's hand.
"Thank you babe." The detective looked over at his partner.
Steve wanted to argue that listening was the least he could do, but he couldn't bring himself to be contrary at the moment. "You're welcome."
"I actually feel a lot better now. Never really considered that talking about her would actually help." He sounded a bit surprised at his revelation.
"Danno. This is you, of course talking helps. That's how you process." Steve chuckled quietly as he ribbed his partner.
"Touché" The Jersey native conceded. "I suppose you're right. We all have our coping mechanisms. I talk; you blow shit up."
The pair smiled as they stared out over the ocean. They each knew that the aftermath of Rachel's death was far from over, but the two of them and their ohana would be together through the storm and end up stronger for it.
"The governor should be here soon." Steve commented, wanting to make sure that Danny was ready for his arrival.
"We should invite him to stay for dinner. After all, it's not every day the governor of Hawaii brings us dinner." The detective replied somewhat sarcastically. "Seriously though, he's been unexpectedly incredible through this whole mess and I want him to know that we genuinely appreciate it."
The sound of a car door shutting interrupted their conversation. The pair rose, Danny grabbing their empty bottles and headed toward the house. Before Steve could reach for the door, it opened for him and Grace jumped toward him for a hug.
"You look like you had a nice nap with Grandma Bradley." The Seal couldn't help but laugh at her enthusiastic greeting.
"I did. Can Grandma stay the night? She can stay in my room with me." She asked without hesitation just as Dianne and Beth walked into the room.
"Of course she can." He could see from the older woman's face that she'd already agreed to the plan and was more than happy to share her granddaughter's bed for the night. "Do you need anything from the hotel? One of us can run you over after dinner."
Her answer was delayed by a knock at the door. "Must be Governor Denning, the others would just come in." Steve commented as he started toward the front door.
Opening it, he was met with the sight of his boss, changed into more casual attire than earlier, carrying what looked to be enough food to feed a small army or in this case the entire Five-0 ohana.
"Come on in Governor." Steve motioned him in with one arm, the other still holding Grace securely against him.
"Thank you and please, you should all call me Sam when we're here." He entered the house and immediately started toward the kitchen.
"What smells so good?" Mary's voice carried from the stairs as she joined them. Seeing the governor she smiled. "Nice to see you again."
"You too." Setting his burden on the island, he turned to face Steve and Danny. "There should be plenty to eat. Now I'll get out of your hair."
As he started to move passed them, Danny's hand on his forearm stopped him. "Please, stay and eat with us."
Sam looked from the detective to the Seal and was surprised to see agreement with the request.
"Please." Grace added her voice to the request.
"Well, when faced with that plea how could I say no? You're sure I won't be in the way?" He seemed genuinely happy to be invited.
"Not a bit." Steve answered.
The three women had already started unpacking and setting up the meal and they quickly shooed the three men and Grace back to the living room. Before they could settle in, the door opened and the three missing family members entered.
"Aloha governor." Chin greeted the politician before reaching down to give Grace a hug since she'd climbed from Steve's lap to greet them.
"Please Chin, I've asked everyone to call me Sam while I'm here."
The Hawaiian nodded at the man as he crouched down to Grace's level. She'd remained standing next to him after their hug and he guessed she wanted to say something.
"What's up Gracie?" He queried quietly.
"Would you mind taking Grandma to get some things from the hotel after dinner? I asked her to stay the night and I don't want her to have to call that car to take her."
"I don't mind at all." The request was an easy one to grant and he could see that having her grandmother stay the night was clearly important to her.
From where they sat on the couch, Steve whispered in Danny's ear. "She's definitely your daughter. It's clear she's trying to prevent Dianne from being alone."
The detective turned his head just enough to catch his partner's eye and smile. "Babe, I think her compassion comes from more than just me." She may not be Steve's biological child, but with the amount of time she spent with the Seal she'd picked up a fair number of things from him. His huge heart had simply magnified what she already possessed.
When Kono and Cath decided to go see if they could help in the kitchen, Grace opted to go with them. Tucked between her aunts as they left the room, the men all smiled to hear her giggle at something Kono said.
Once she was out of earshot, Denning asked the inevitable question. "How is she doing?"
"Honestly, she fell asleep as soon as we got here, but she seems to be doing remarkably well." Danny answered.
"She's just like her old man, she channels all her energy and focus into those around her." Steve shook his head and smiled. "Grace has a remarkable maturity and poise for someone so young."
"That she does, Commander." The governor agreed, laughing a bit when Steve gave him the stink eye for breaking out his rank instead of his name. "Steve." He corrected. "That little girl of yours is going to be a force to be reckoned with when she gets older."
"Oh trust me, we'll make sure of that." Chin interjected. "On a serious note, do you two want to hear what we know so far while she is otherwise occupied or would you prefer to wait until she's in bed for the night?"
Glancing at his partner, Steve answered. "Now is good."
Both men sat forward on the couch, elbows resting on their knees. Chin had their full attention.
"First, as we all knew, Stan's lawyer refused to represent him after their initial meeting, so he has been appointed the most junior public defender on the roster. Apparently Stan isn't a complete idiot though, so he's decided he'll plead guilty. I'm sure the judge will still be pretty stern with the penalty," his eyes flicked to the governor, "but he'd be a fool to go up in front of a jury with this."
"Very true. Can't say I enjoy the idea of him getting anything less than the strictest possible sentence, but I enjoy the idea of this dragging out and possibly affecting Grace any more than necessary even more." Danny's shoulders sagged slightly in relief at this update.
"So what did you learn about today's events?" Steve wanted to keep the update going. He couldn't imagine it would be more than a few minutes before they were summoned to dinner.
"His name is Jason Dyer. He is a good friends of Stan's and learned some of the lesser known details of what had happened from Stan's lawyer when they spoke after he refused to represent him. We also know that he's taken to drinking more than is usual. That much we learned from his sister before we left." Chin quickly summed up their conversation.
"Learn anything new at HPD?" Danny asked.
"Not much. He was locked up in a call passed out cold and still twitching from being tased."
"What?" Steve, Danny, and Sam all asked at the same time.
"Apparently he started resisting as Duke and Officer Kapahu were taking him to the car. He managed to get one hand free and landed a fist across Duke's face. Fortunately, young Kapahu reacted quickly and he was tased back into submission."
Chin's expression told them the parts of the story that were left unsaid.
"Which reminds me, I want to do something nice for all of the officers that came today. They didn't have to and their presence turned out to be quite a blessing." Danny looked to his partner to see if he agreed.
"Absolutely." The Seal agreed. "We should include the others as well. I suspect their lack of presence was more because someone needed to be taking care of the rest of the island than a lack of desire to be there with us."
"I'd like to help with whatever you decide." Chin chimed in.
"Same here and I believe Steve is correct in his assessment." Governor Denning was impressed that the members of his task force were thinking of how to thank HPD in the midst of everything else they were dealing with.
"Seems like food would be the way to go, but that's a lot of mouths to feed and would quickly become an expensive venture." Steve offered, his expression telling the others he was trying to figure out a way to do it.
"You may be on to something there." Denning agreed. "Perhaps my office can help with procuring the materials if Five-0 can cook?"
"I like that plan." Danny readily agreed. "Would it be too much to include families?"
"Not at all." The governor acquiesced. "Why don't I check calendars and we can try to do it in a month or so? I'm sure they'd love it if Grace attended, but I don't think it's fair to expect that of her too soon."
"It's a plan." Steve smiled as he nodded.
"Boys, dinner is ready." Beth's voiced beckoned them from the kitchen before they could think of getting any further in the planning.
Rising to head to the dining room, Sam paused in front of Danny and Steve for a moment. "I'm serious when I say if there's anything I can do to help her or any of you please let me know."
"We will sir and we truly appreciate knowing we have your support."
Governor Denning turned toward the dining room. The more time he spent around this unusual group the more he found he liked and respected them. Even dealing with their own family crisis they each took the time to look out for each other and think about those around them.
All things considered, he would cherish whatever small place they allowed him within their inner circle. To no longer be considered only their boss or the governor was high praise among ones so loyal to their own.
/ GUARDIAN /
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