A/N: And then there is the aftermath of Steve going all Cujo. This hijacked my entire evening and then took a little bit of a different turn than I expected, but hopefully you'll like the way it turned out.

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

Chapter 64

"You head on up to change. I will let them know we are back." Dianne squeezed Steve's forearm as they approached the door.

"Thanks." He gave her an apologetic look before he rushed through the door and up the stairs.

Hearing voices from the kitchen, Dianne made her way to the others. Beth immediately came and gave her a hug. "Did everything go okay?" Dianne glanced around, spotting Grace before she answered.

"It was eventful to say the least." She stayed vague, but saw both Danny and Beth understood. "I am glad I went. It was not pleasant, but I would have regretted it had I not."

"Where's Cujo?" There was an edge of concern to Danny's voice and Dianne thought he looked like he was about to bolt in search of his wayward partner.

"I sent him up to change. He needs to decompress a bit before he is ready to settle in for the evening." Dianne reached out, giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "It was a rough afternoon for him, but he did us all proud." She could see the worry flaring in her ex-son-in-law's eyes. Looking to Grace, she could see the little girl was concerned as well. If Dianne had noticed anything during her visits, it was that Grace was as attuned to Steve's emotional well-being as any adult in their ohana, if not more so.

When they heard footsteps on the stairs, Danny was out of the room before either mother could stop him.

"We'll never convince either of them not to worry about the other. Steven may not be ready for most people yet, but I don't believe that statement ever truly applies to Daniel." Beth reassured Rachel's mother before turning to Grace. "You almost ready to stuff the shells?" The pair were working on stuffed pasta shells for dinner.

Steve had his hand on the door when he felt a vice like grip on his other wrist. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath, not ready to see the disappointment he was sure would be in Danny's eyes.

"Damn it, Steven. Turn around and look at me." The detective's voice was gentle but firm. Releasing the door handle, the SEAL pivoted around. "Dianne told us it was an eventful visit. She also told us that you were feeling rather discombobulated and needed to go for a swim before facing any of us."

"I see you listened." Steve's tone was cool.

"Of course I didn't you idiot." Danny pushed him against the door. "I know you better than that. There was no way I was going to let you go out there alone and convince yourself that you did something wrong. I don't know exactly what happened; though you better plan on giving me a full report later. I want to know every little detail about how you made that prick squirm. Right now, you only need to know one thing. Not a single person in this house is upset that you went all Cujo on his ass. The only. And I repeat ONLY thing that gives me any pause about whatever happened at Halawa is the mind fuck you will give yourself over it."

Planting his hands on Steve's chest, Danny stretched up, giving the SEAL a bruising kiss.

"Now go for your swim before you come unglued, but don't you dare stay out there all evening brooding." This time, when he leaned up the kiss was far more gentle. "I love you. Don't forget that."

Steve let his head drop, his forehead resting against his partner's. "I love you too." This time, it was him that leaned in for a kiss. "I'll be back in a bit."

Danny watched him jog toward the water and dive into the waves before he finally shut the door. Rejoining the others in the kitchen, he found Grace busy putting the finishing touches on dinner prep under the doting supervision of her grandmothers.

"Is Daddy okay?" His daughter looked up at him. Her father had explained earlier why Steve and Dianne had left after the picnic. Despite her young age, Grace understood. Grandma wanted answers just like she did, but where Grace had sent her dads to get them, Dianne was old enough to go herself. She just told her father than when she was old enough, she wanted the same opportunity. She knew the look he gave her said he hated that idea, but he had agreed. He'd also assured her that Stan wouldn't hurt Grandma because Super SEAL as in full on guard SEAL mode.

"He just needs to decompress a bit. Super SEAL gets angry when people upset his family, but he doesn't want to be angry around us." Danny reassured her. "I am pretty sure the silly SEAL went out there without a towel, so if you wanted to go take a towel out for him in a bit, that would be okay."

She nodded, shifting her focus back to the pasta shells. By the time they were all stuffed, Danny handed her a towel and a water bottle and sent her out to find her SEAL.

A week ago, Dianne would have launched into a tirade at Danny over the insanity of sending a nine year old girl out to confront a highly trained Navy SEAL that had spent the afternoon about a step away from killing someone. Today, she understood. She and Danny had started pulling the man back from the brink, the swim would resolve much of the unused physical energy, but it would be Grace's presence that would put the demons he fought to rest.

"I'm so glad he was with me." Dianne sank onto a stool at the island when she heard the door shut. "The man I saw today, that is not the same man Rachel married. I wanted to hurt him for the the things he said, for the way he said them, and I couldn't. But Steve, he went in there fully prepared to battle the devil that I could not. It looked like someone had already worked Stan over before we got there, but I am fairly certain Steve broke his nose before we left."

She laughed nervously as she told them.

"I'm glad it was one of us that got that pleasure." Danny confessed. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes. I told him on the way there that no matter what happened, I would not be afraid of him when we left the prison, and I was right. I gather he thinks he was out of control, crossing a line that he wants to stay firmly away from in front of us, but I have never seen such furious control in my life. It is hard to describe."

"I know." Danny agreed.

/ GUARDIAN/

Steve swam hard and fast as soon as he hit the water needing to let the rage inside him uncoil. The harder he pushed, the more he felt the tension seep out of his muscles. He did his best to focus on Dianne and Danny's words, their assurances that this was a part of him they acknowledged and accepted.

His biggest fear was Grace. Would she think he was as much a monster as Stan if she ever found out what had happened? He had been relieved when she'd fallen asleep on the way home from the picnic and hadn't seen him leaving the house fit to kill. Seeing her afraid of him would be enough to rip his heart right out of his chest.

Forcing his fears out of his mind, Steve focused on the rhythmic in and out of his breathing and the pull of his muscles as he sliced through the water. Turning back toward the shoreline, he felt in control enough to make it through the evening. He wondered if Grace would think it strange if he just wanted to hold her for a while. If there was one thing he had learned since she and Danny had come into his life, it was that her simple presence could make him feel better when nothing else could. Of course, first he had to find out if she was afraid of him or not. He had no doubt she was in the kitchen when they got home, which means she knew something was amiss.

Hitting the shallow water, Steve remembered he had forgotten a towel. Rising to his feet, he started to shake the water from his hair, swiping at the droplets on his skin in an effort to divest himself of as much moisture as possible before he reached the house. Opening his eyes, he saw Grace running toward him fully prepared to launch herself at him.

"You'll get all …" he caught her as she leapt in the air, "wet."

"Don't care." The little girl squirmed so the towel was wrapped around his shoulders, then wrapped her arm around his neck, clinging to the SEAL for all she was worth.

Neither said anything as they approached the chairs where she had been waiting on him. When he moved to set her down so he could dry off, she clung to him with a ferocity he rarely saw from her. To happy to be holding his daughter in his arms, Steve turned, shifting her legs so they wouldn't get caught on the chair as they sat. Leaning back into the chair, he held her cradled in his lap, arms still tight around his neck as her head rested on the damp towel around his shoulders.

"You know. I think when they sent you out with a towel they expected you to bring me back dry, not bring both of us back soggy." Steve chuckled.

"It'll give Danno something to rant about." She giggled, curling herself tighter against the SEAL. "I helped Grandma Williams make dinner. She even let me stuff the big pasta shells." Gracie told him.

"Mmm. Are they the ones with all the cheese?" Steve asked.

"Yep. Just like you like them." When Grandma gave her and Danno the list of options for dinner, they had immediately picked the one he liked the most. "We made a key lime pie for dessert too."

"You've been busy." Steve smiled.

Grace continued to chatter on about helping Grandma and Danno cook. She didn't say anything that need a reply, but as she spoke she felt the tension she had recognized in her SEAL's body when he first held her start to fade. She had learned a long time ago that hugs and talking usually made him feel better. The trick was, it usually wasn't him talking that helped, it was her or Danno. He told her once that talking to Steve was sometimes like talking to a skittish dog. The sound of a familiar voice was enough to help him anchor himself. She wasn't sure she completely understood it at the time, but she was starting to understand better. When she was upset, listening to Daddy and Danno talk, even if they weren't talking to her, gave her something to focus on.

"Daddy?" The little girl sat up enough that she could really look at him. "Danno said you were angry because Stan upset Grandma Bradley, and you didn't want us to see you angry. You told me it was okay to be angry at him, so you know it's okay if you're angry at him too."

Part of Steve wanted to wrap his arms around the little girl and fall apart. Her honest and forthright assessment of the situation hit him like a ton of bricks. Every last one of them was furious with Stan, but they had trusted him to channel it for all of them and act without going to far.

"Did you make him regret scaring Grandma?" She looked him square in the eyes, wanting to know that someone had made Stan pay for his latest crime.

"Yes. I am pretty sure he got the point that he should not have scared Dianne."

"Good."

In that one word and the look at gave him, Steve understood. He hadn't lost his family in his fury. He had given them each a small piece of vindication that they couldn't claim for themselves. He wasn't the monster he feared Grace would believe him to be. He was the guardian Super SEAL that would protect her and those she loved.

/ GUARDIAN /

A/N: Somewhere around chapter 51, I had this great theory that I would have the main Guardian story wrapped up around chapter 75. That was under the assumption that by chapter 64 I would be at Tuesday, not Saturday. I might have miscalculated. At the present rate, I am not even going to try to guess what the final chapter count will be, and that's not even counting the nine different follow up chapters that I have identified and some level of notes or full scenes written for.

I'm just telling you this in hopes that you are really prepared to stick with this to the very end.