A/N: So much for 'cutting down on the time between posts'. My apologies for making the wait time longer than I had for the other updates, and thank you to the two reviews I got today that nudged me into posting again. I've been second-guessing myself and re-writing some of the later chapters, which led to putting off this chapter for awhile. This is the second longest chapter of the story so far, so hopefully that makes up for a little bit of the delay.

A/N 2: Also, it is official after the Halloween episode that "my" Eric is WAY younger than the age they gave him in canon. We'll just disregard that, shall we?

~H50~

Chapter 8

By 7am on Saturday, Steve stood at the stove and looked over his shoulder to see Danny walk into the kitchen. Steve was multi-tasking by scrambling eggs over the stove while also chopping fruit to add to the hideously green protein shake that he was preparing. Steve had dug through the back of Danny's cupboards to find the blender he was using, and would bet that Danny had forgotten he even owned the appliance.

Steve turned back to his tasks, simply greeting his friend with "Good morning, Danny."

" 'Mornin' Steve. Jeez, I forgot how disgusting that protein drink of yours looked. Did you sleep OK on the couch?"

Steve didn't look back again as he continued chopping his fruit. "Yes, I slept fine, thanks. You hungry? I've got enough eggs scrambling for both of us, if you want some. I think you still have some shredded cheese in the fridge if you want to add it to yours. And I left some of the fruit out in case you wanted any. Also, thank God for the automatic timer on your coffee machine. I've already had my first cup, so the next one up is yours."

Danny bee-lined for a mug to pour coffee into, then just inhaled the strong aroma for a couple of breaths. Danny took a cautious drink from the hot mug, then seemed content to just let the high-grade coffee start to work it's magic. "Babe, I appreciate the sentiment, but you didn't have to cook breakfast for me. While you've already gone to the trouble though, I would love to have some of those eggs. Are there any mango chunks in with that fruit you were talking about?"

Steve indicated toward a plate on the counter that did contain the mango Danny asked about, as Danny leaned against the island behind him. "Hey, buddy, I don't think this looks like enough scrambled eggs to split three ways. Please do not tell me you are only making the eggs for me and Eric and that you plan to subsist only on that offensive-looking beverage."

Steve turned down the heat on the eggs a little and threw in the last of his fruit pieces to the blender. "No, the eggs are for you and me to split. Danny, that kid is sleep deprived with a hangover, I really don't think he is going be ready to leave with enough time to eat here. He can drink this protein shake, have a couple hard-boiled eggs and maybe some granola bars I've got, and that should be enough to get him through the morning. If by some miracle he is in here by the time these eggs are done in…two minutes, then I will gladly let him eat my portion and I'll just grab some food from my office. But I really don't think he'll be getting up on his own."

Danny took another long drink from his coffee, then let his eyes stray to the doorway that led to the guest room. "Yeah, I guess I might have been setting him up to fail for getting himself up, but I really had high hopes. I suppose I should lower my standards a little, huh?" From down the hall, Steve and Danny could hear the alarm on Eric's phone going off for the second time, without any other noise coming from that direction to indicate movement.

Steve caught Danny watching him as he turned off the heat on both the scrambled eggs and the back burner that was holding a couple hard-boiled eggs. He saw a look of fondness pass over his friend's face, but he wasn't sure exactly what it was for. Steve was only trying to be prepared with both breakfast and a back-up plan for the three of them. It was going to be a long day, after such a short night, and everyone would need the fuel to start the day off right.

Danny held up both plates for Steve to dish up the scrambled eggs. Steve then grabbed two forks and the plate of fruit, and the men sat down to eat a fast breakfast before they had to leave. As they were finishing the last of their food, Steve could see that Danny was thinking something through, and patiently waited to see where the conversation was going.

Finally, Danny wiped his mouth with a napkin and made his proposition. "Hey Steve, I yelled at Eric all day yesterday. Do you want to have a turn and go get him out of bed? You were right that he wouldn't be waking himself up."

"You sure?" Steve shot a glance toward the bedrooms, then looked back at Danny. It was nice that Danny was including him, and a small smile crossed Steve's face at the thought. With Danny's confirming nod, Steve stood to take his dishes to the sink. "Yeah, I can do that. Can you blend that shake for another ten seconds and dump it in a to-go cup?"

Danny made a face but agreed to Steve's request, and Steve left the kitchen with purposeful strides toward the sound of Eric's alarm going off again.

~H50~

Steve stepped into the room where Eric was sleeping, just as the alarm timed out and stopped blaring. Eric was still asleep on his stomach, wearing only a pair of pajama pants, with his head buried under a pillow and the bedsheet tangled around his knees. Steve grabbed the nearest t-shirt and pair of cargo shorts and chucked them onto Eric's back.

"Hey! Eric! You slept through your alarm and now it's time to go. Hey!" Steve reached out to give Eric's shoulder a rough shake as the teen just made grumbling sounds and tried to bury his head further.

"Ugh, dude, go away! 'S too early." And at hearing that response from Eric, Steve's mind raced back through many memories from his own adolescence and early mornings. First with his father and later at the academy. Now was not the time for a walk down memory lane though, and he decided that a more direct plan of action was needed. Steve moved quickly to grab Eric's shoulder, then pulled the teen up and off the bed and shoved him face-first into the nearest wall, dragging the sheet with them as it caught on one of Eric's feet. Steve twisted Eric's right arm behind his back and held the wrist firm between the kid's shoulder blades, then leaned in close to speak directly into Eric's left ear.

"Eric, I realize you were drunk last night, so I'll be generous and give you a small recap. You called me in the middle of the night after sneaking out to go drinking and then needing a ride home. This evening activity was after already being on thin ice with your uncle because of your actions in New Jersey and your behavior since you've been in Hawaii. Your uncle and I are Ohana, which means that you are Ohana, and we are going to do our damnedest to give you some guidance and keep you accountable for your actions."

Eric struggled a little in Steve's grip and turned his head to voice a protest when Steve cut him off. "You will be starting by showing some respect. You are going to do everything that Danny and I ask of you for the rest of your stay, and you are going to speak to us respectfully. You only address me as 'Sir' or 'Commander' and Danny as 'Sir' or 'Uncle Danny'. Is any of this coming back to you?"

Eric slumped a little in Steve's hold, and ground out a resigned "Yes".

Steve gave Eric's shoulders a firm shake, "This would be the time to respond 'yes, sir.' Go use the bathroom, change your clothes, and be in the truck in five minutes. You do not want to test me on this." Steve let up on the grip he had on Eric's arm, then propelled him into the hall and toward the bathroom. "Five minutes, no less."

Steve could just make out a grumbled and disgruntled "Yes, sir" from down the hallway, but let that one go in favor of trying to leave the house on time.

Steve met Danny in the kitchen and grabbed the hard-boiled eggs after Danny picked up the protein shake. They didn't talk much as he followed Danny out to the truck. Eric came running out of the front door just as his five minutes were up. Danny went to lock the door as Steve started up the Silverado, and they were on the road exactly at 8:00 as they had planned.

"Hey Uncle D, are we stopping for breakfast? I'm starving, and my head is killing me." Eric had his head tilted up against the back of the seat, and looked every bit as hung-over as he had when Steve pulled him out of bed. "I thought I smelled eggs when I was running out of the house, can we go somewhere that has a good egg and bacon combo on their menu?"

Steve was starting to feel every bit as frustrated with Eric as Danny had been at the Palace the day before. And between cramming a whole investigation into one day and following it with the late-night drama, it was hard to believe that he had really only met Eric the previous morning. "Eric. Seriously? What did I say to you about respect? What did I say not ten minutes ago?"

"Sorry, St—Sir." Steve was happy to see that Eric tried to stop himself from making another mistake. "So, are we going to stop for breakfast Uncle Danny?"

"No, Eric, we are not. You did not wake up in time to eat with us, so—" Danny turned in his seat to look back at Eric when they heard him mumble under his breath. "Relax, I won't let you go hungry. You are just going to have to settle for a protein shake and a couple hard-boiled eggs. Here's the shake, you can have the eggs when you're done."

Eric took the offered to-go cup, and tried to take a sniff from the opaque container. At the first large sip, Eric gave a little sputter at the taste and Danny gave a little chuckle. "See SuperSEAL, not everybody enjoys those health shakes like you do. Although, I do think that adding the fruit helps the flavor quite a bit."

Steve couldn't hold in his exasperation, even though it was a regular argument between them. "Danny, that shake is a perfectly good way to get the nutrition needed to start a busy day. It's a lot healthier than mainlining Malasadas with your morning coffee. Eric, stop making faces and just drink. If you wanted a different breakfast, you should have gotten around when your alarm first went off this morning."

Eric looked skeptically between Danny and Steve, then gave a little huff before trying to swallow as much of the drink he could all at once, just to get it over with.

Danny stayed turned a bit in his seat and watched Eric. Steve mostly kept his eyes on the road, but was able see Eric through the rear-view mirror. When he stopped for a breath, Danny passed Eric two aspirin, a bottle of water, and the first hard-boiled egg. "Hey, make sure you thank Steve for preparing both that drink and the eggs for you. I would have just given you some plain toast with only a bottle of water."

Almost resigned, but still with a hint of rebellion, Eric took a breath and did as his uncle had asked. "Thanks for the aspirin Uncle Danny. And thanks Commander, for the breakfast."

"You're welcome," they both responded in scary unison. Danny huffed a small laugh, and Steve just sent a responding smirk.

Still turned toward the back seat, Danny started talking again as Steve maneuvered through traffic. "So Eric, it sounds like we should probably go over the plan again for today. I'm guessing from how long it took Steve to get you moving that you either don't remember much of what we talked about last night, or you don't believe us. You basically have two choices: you can go with me to the ADA and have last night's drinking escapade formally handled, or you can agree to take the punishments that Steve and I hand down to you this week."

Eric was silent for a moment in the back of the truck. Steve glanced back and saw shadows of emotion crossing the teen's face as memories from the late-night conversation trickled through his brain. In a quiet voice, Eric finally responded to his uncle. "Nothing formal. I'll take the punishments that you give me. …Please."

Danny kept himself turned toward his nephew while continuing the conversation. "Starting this morning and for the remainder of your time with me, you will be atoning for a lot of recent activities, and will be put through a variety of tasks that I believe will benefit you in the long run. Your mother sending you here was not meant to be a fun vacation. There will be a lot of hard work, a lot of physical exercise, and a lot of discussion. You go home in nine days, and while you are here you will be completing twenty hours of community service total, and two to three hours of work-out time with Steve per day."

Steve could see the shocked and disbelieving look on Eric's face through the mirror, but Danny didn't wait for the teen to speak up. "This morning Steve is dropping us off at HPD, and you are getting the enjoyable task of cleaning up their drunk tank. I must tell you that Friday nights are the busiest of the week, even more than Saturday nights. You can think about how a night of drinking enough to get cut off by a bartender plus not having enough money to get yourself home could have landed you in the police drunk tank last night instead of in my wonderful home. Especially since you are not of the legal drinking age!"

Steve decided to bring Danny back to the task of laying out the day's plans. "After HPD you will do some work at the Palace, and we can pick up Danny's car around lunch. Then you and I will be spending the afternoon doing some physical training."

Danny had calmed his previous rant enough to join the conversation again. "And tonight after dinner, you and I are sitting down for a long discussion of your poor decision-making, where the night ends with a good old-fashioned spanking and you having a hard time sitting down for awhile."

Eric turned a deep red and looked mortified. "Uncle Danny! Why did you say that in front of him? Steve doesn't need to know that you're going to do that!"

"No whining, and I believe you were told to refer to him as 'Commander.'" Danny and Steve exchanged a quick look before Danny turned his look back to Eric. "You didn't want the Commander here to know that I planned to deliver a spanking to you like you were a misbehaving little child? Steve already knows about it because he is Ohana. Family. He knows what I plan to talk to you about tonight, he knows how I plan to do it, and he knows I've done it before. Tonight may not be just a one-time deal, Eric—You may be delivered a repeat 'discussion' throughout the week from either of us if we feel it is necessary."

With that final statement, Danny turned back to the front of the vehicle and turned the radio on low for the rest of the short trip to HPD. Steve kept quiet for the remaining drive, but also kept an eye on the sulking kid in the seat behind him. If this morning was any indication of the rest of the week, he and Danny were going to have their hands full.

~H50~

To be continued…

A/N: Go Cubs! I hope all you Cubs fans celebrated responsibly ;) and didn't have too much anxiety throughout the last two weeks! Indians fans, I'm sure your time will come soon—hang in there. There are a lot of great players on both teams, and I'm sure we'll see great stuff from both in the coming years.