Disclaimer: see chapter one, but I still own nothing.
Author's note: Like always thank you thank you thank you to those that have reviewed and subscribed to get alerts for this story, your support is the reason that I continue to write and make sure that you guys get the best work I can offer. I apologize profusely for the delay in this chapter but I seemed to have lost my inspiration for a moment, I couldn't figure out how to make this chapter work. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Steve woke up a little later than usual this morning, but he didn't seem to mind since he had an armful of warm Danno and he would ever pass up the opportunity for some uninterrupted cuddle time with a very quiet (albeit sleeping) Danno. Now that they have become more intimate with each other, Steve feels the need to protect Danny even more, so he needs to address the Rachel issue in the most careful mature way possible. So reluctantly Steve slipped out of bed to get his morning workout and to make sure that Danny isn't being hounded by Rachel at all times during the day.
Danny wasn't surprised when he woke up to an empty bed, he knew that his beloved SEAL wouldn't be able to resist getting his morning workout in. He would have been surprised if he had woken up wrapped around his giant partner, but that was a very rare occurrence and Danny treated as a reward or special treat. Empty bed or not, Danny feels good today. Not even Rachel can take the smile from his face. Although thinking about Rachel reminded Danny that he needed to talk to Steve, they needed to figure out how they were going to handle her harassment. Because Danny was not going to just sit by and let her call him all the time leaving him various voicemails ranging from downright angry to demanding that he call her immediately (not gonna happen). Grabbing his phone from the nightstand Danny slipped out of bed hoping that Steve would be finishing his workout because he wanted to actually have breakfast with him.
Steve smiled as he toweled off when he saw Danny moving about in the kitchen. It would be a nice way to start their day to have breakfast together, since usually they were on different schedules most mornings that they weren't able to actually sit down and eat breakfast together. "Good morning Danno." Steve greeted slipping his arms around Danny's waist and kissing right below his jaw line.
"Morning." Danny replied turning his head to lightly kiss Steve smiling at the faint trace of salt water.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of you actually cooking breakfast for me?" Steve asked still pressed up against Danny.
"Can't a guy just make his amazingly gorgeous boyfriend breakfast without a motive?"
"Yes, but I know it takes a lot to get you out of bed this early." Steve countered moving to snap a fresh strawberry that Danny was chopping.
"We need to address the pain in our asses that is Rachel's obsession with my voicemail." Steve sighed and nodded leaning back against the counter so Danny could finish their breakfast.
"I was actually thinking about that during my swim this morning and I know exactly how to handle it. And I think that you'll be proud with how mature my idea is." Danny turned his only reply was a raise highbrow and a scrutinizing look as he dished up their breakfast. Grabbing both their plates Steve moved to the table with Danny following behind with juice and coffee for them.
"What's your mature idea?"
"As much as I would love nothing more than to call Rachel up and give her a piece of my mind about her reaction to our petition, I know that it's not the wisest decision. So I think it's best if we just call Chris and let him know the situation and maybe even give him copies of some of the voicemails so that he knows the severity of the situation. I think that going through Chris instead of going at Rachel directly would benefit it us in the long run."
"It is the best option, plus I don't want to do anything that could hurt Gracie as much as I would love to go at Rachel and make her feel even an ounce of the pain she's put me through. We're right we need to be the mature adults in this situation."
"We'll call Chris after breakfast." Danny murmured his agreement and a silence fell over the two as their finished their breakfast. Steve cleared the table as Danny walked out on the lanai to call Chris, who wasn't happy in the least to hear about Rachel's reaction to the news. He spent several minutes assuring Danny that he would take care of it and reminding him to always call no matter what. Chris needed to know everything that was going on so that he could do everything in his power to make sure that Danny gets everything he wants.
"Thanks Chris and I'll make sure to call if anything else happens. Mahalo." Danny hung up and turned towards Steve a relieved smile spread across his face.
"What did he say?" Steve asked handing Danny a fresh cup of coffee as he took a seat next to him.
"He's not surprised that Rachel's not happy with my petition for joint custody. He's also not happy that she's been calling all week and leaving messages, which he would like to hear and have copies of in case we actually go to court. He's going to call her lawyer and remind him to reign in his client. He asked if I wanted to press harassment charges and I said no. I don't want to put Grace through that; she's got enough going on with the custody battle anyway." Steve nodded and reached over giving Danny's hand a quick squeeze.
"It's gonna all work out Danny. Chris won't let anything happen and he's going to always look out for your best interests when it comes to Grace."
"Our best interests Steven, our." Danny quickly corrected. He and Steve were in this together and he needed to make sure that Steven understood that. Yes, Grace may be biologically his, but Steve loved her just as much and Danny would never want him to think or feel that he wasn't important to Grace. Steve rewarded Danny's correction with a blinding smile and didn't hesitate to lean forward and kiss Danny gently. Danny happily returned the kiss as the sun shone brightly down on them.
"What time are we picking up Grace?" Steve asked some time later as they enjoyed a quiet morning together with the waves providing a much needed relaxing soundtrack.
"After her tennis lesson this morning she's having lunch with Rachel and Stan so I think Chris said no later than 12:30." Steve nodded his thumb gently stroking the back of Danny's hand as they sat. "Do you have anything specifically planned for this weekend? Or do we just want to stay home and enjoy this gorgeous weather?" Steve turned from watching the tide and thought about it for a moment.
"Why don't we just stay close to home and enjoy the beach? I'll call Kono and see if she wants to surf with Grace and we can have a nice family dinner with the team?" Steve suggested smiling at the content smile that spread across Danno's face. Danny stood with his empty cup and leaned down kissing Steve.
"Sounds great. We better get a move on because I know that we don't have anything I would deem acceptable for a dinner with our ohana." Steve smiled; he loved when Danny used Hawaiian without even thinking.
"Sir yes sir." Steve joked standing up quickly and following Danny into the house.
Hours later after Danny and Steve had called the team and gone grocery shopping; Steve and Grace were enjoying the beach as they waited for Kono. Danny looked up from the tomato he was slicing to see Grace squeal in delight as Steve picked her up and swung her around before lightly tossing her into the water. He loved being able to witness some of the moments between Grace and Steve, they both looked so happy and carefree.
"It's nice to see the bossman so relaxed." Kono commented as she entered the kitchen. Danny turned and smiled at her. He nodded before turning back to the window just as Steve tossed Grace into the surf. Both stood and watched with smiles on their faces as Steve and Grace played tag in the surf when Danny noticed a familiar brunette walking toward Steve and Grace. "Is that Catherine?" Danny turned and nodded watching to see how Steve was going to react to Catherine.
Steve happened to glance up the beach and saw Catherine walking towards him, in a tight black dress that would've made Steve's mouth water a year ago. He sighed; he knew why she was here. When they had last seen each other Steve had just told her that he couldn't keep being with her because he needed to figure some things out first. He probably should've told her that he had feelings for someone else, but he couldn't bring himself to hurt her like that. But it seemed that Steve's nice way of letting her down was going to come back and bite him in the ass.
"Hey Steve." She greeted smiling sweetly at Grace, who appeared at Steve's side looking up at him confused.
"Hey Grace, why don't you go get some water from Danno?" Steve asked ignoring Catherine for a moment as he spoke with the confused little girl. Grace looked between Steve and Catherine for a moment before nodded and walking back towards the house leaving Steve and Catherine alone. "Hey Catherine, I didn't know you were back in town."
"We got in this morning and I thought I'd come see you, see how you were doing. It's sweet that you let Danny hang out here with his daughter." She replied as if it was a natural occurrence, which it wasn't. Usually she would call and see if Steve wanted to get together and Steve wasn't comfortable with her just showing up out of nowhere. But still it gave him the opportunity to come clean and let her know that he wasn't looking for a hook up anymore.
"Danny and I actually live together now." Steve hoped that she would get his underlining meaning with the look on his face, but she was too busy staring at his chest, still wet from playing with Grace.
"That's awfully nice of you to let him live with you." Steve sighed and glanced back up at the house to see not just Danny but Kono as well watching.
"Catherine, I need to tell you something. Danny and I, well we're together now as in seeing each other. I probably should've told you during training that I was developing feelings for him, but it so new that I wasn't sure what was going to happen. But I ended things with you because that was the fair thing to do, it wouldn't have been right to string you along like that." Steve hoped that he had been gentle enough in his dismal because the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her. She had been there for him as a distraction during some pretty tough moments in his life.
"I probably should've seen it coming; I mean there was always something different about the way you guys were together. I'm surprised but don't worry I'm not angry or upset. I just thought I'd come see if you might have changed your mind." Catherine replied feeling pretty foolish for coming here dressed like this. She hadn't really ever thought that Steve would ever really settle down because of his aversion to actually dealing with feelings, sure he was great at sex, but that didn't transpire to much out of the sheets. "I should probably go and tell Danny if I had known I wouldn't have just showed up like this." Steve glanced back at the house and saw Danny turn to Kono and say something before pull open the door.
"It was great to see you, even given the circumstances. I'm sorry that I waited this long to tell you." Catherine raised her hand dismissively before giving in and hugging Steve one last time. Steve gave in and hugged her back for a moment before stepping back.
"Take care of yourself commander. Maybe next time I'm on leave, Danny and you will join me for a dinner." Steve nodded and raised his hand to wave as Catherine turned and walked back up the beach. Steve sighed and ran a hand through his hair as Danny walked toward him, watching Catherine walk away.
"Hey babe, you okay?" Danny asked knowing that it probably hadn't been easy to see Catherine.
"Yeah, I just hope that I didn't hurt you by telling her you and I are together."
"She might be hurt now, but she'll thank you later for not stringing her along." Steve turned and shrugged his shoulders before reaching for Danny. "You ready to take a break? I could use some help in the kitchen." Steve thought about it for a moment before nodding and turning to walk back towards the house.
"Hey Kono." Steve greeted smiling at Kono as they approached the lanai.
"Alright Grace, now that the parents are heading inside what do you say we take over the waves and show them your skills?" Kono asked turning to the young girl that was watching her Danno and Uncle Steve for any signs that something was wrong between them. Steve just smiled and nodded at Grace, giving her the all clear and a smile.
"Go on Monkey, Steve's gonna help make dinner tonight. Plus Kono's probably tired of hanging out with us." Kono turned and nodded earning a laugh from Grace who nodded and grabbed Kono's hand dragging her towards the ocean.
Steve and Danny watched Grace excitedly paddle out to the waves and smiled. It was always a welcome sight to see her so happy and carefree, as if her parents weren't currently fighting about how much time she would get to spend with Steve and Danny. As they wandered back into the kitchen, either couldn't help but think that this was just the calm before the storm. Rachel may have been mad before, but who knows what was going to happen once she found out that after her reaction to the idea of them possibly going for joint custody that Steve and Danny were going ahead with plans for joint custody, it was only going to get much worse.
A/N 2: thanks for reading and don't hesitate to drop me a review to let me know what you liked and hated. I hope you guys have a great Memorial day weekend! As always thank you for reading and supporting my work, it truly does mean that world to me ~thatredheadgirl~