It was hours before Danny finally made it to Steve's house. He didn't knock; he rarely did, unless he knew Steve would be entertaining Catherine. Because that was something he just didn't need to see, ever.

Moving through the house and out the back, he found his partner in one of his deck chairs, watching the young girl like a hawk. Maggie was completely oblivious to her father's over protectiveness as she concentrated on building sandcastles close to the back edge of the lawn. Sitting down beside the SEAL, Danny got a twitch of Steve's lips to acknowledge his arrival, but his eyes never left Maggie.

"Babe, she's not going to disappear if you take your eyes of her for one second." Danny prompted softly.

Steve sighed, relaxing back into his chair a little, but still having to struggle to take his eyes off his daughter to look at Danny.

"You ok, Babe?"

"I don't know what I'm doing here, Danny. I've never had to look after her on my own before."

"Well from what I can see, you're doing fine. She's not complaining about being hungry, so I'm guessing you got her something for lunch. And considering she doesn't look like a tomato, I'd say you've got her sunscreened up. You're doing great, Babe. Besides, you know we'll all help if you need it. Chin and Kono probably have hundreds of hours of kids wrangling experience between them with their family and, as you know, I'm father of the year."

Steve snorted at that but couldn't help but smile. Danny was glad to see it was a lot less strained than it had been before.

"Seriously, Babe, other than worrying about your parenting skills, how're you doing? Have you heard from the hospital?"

"Yeah, about an hour ago. Diane came through the surgery with no complications. They're still going to be monitoring her closely but they're hopeful she'll be awake and able to have Maggie visit in the morning. How's the case going, did you find anything?"

They were momentarily distracted as Maggie ran over to them. She gave Danny a shy smile, before asking her Papa if she could have a drink. Steve reached down into the ice box beside him and pulled out a pink water bottle, which Maggie happily accepted. With a grin, she kissed him on the cheek and skipped back down to her sandcastle village.

Steve really had nothing to worry about; he was doing just fine, Danny thought, but he didn't say anything. Instead he went back to their previous conversation.

"Don't think I didn't notice you dodge my other question, buddy." When Steve didn't look like he was going to admit how he felt, Danny sighed and brought him up to speed. "We found a bloody fingerprint on one of the side doors. Guy's name is Simo; he's been done a few times for B&E, but never had to do time in Halawa because he never steals anything. The guy's a total meth head; breaks into people's homes when he's high, looking for somewhere to sleep."

"Murder seems a bit of a leap for him," Steve said with a frown.

"Unless he had a reason. Jason was shot first, Diane seemed to be more of an after-thought. None of the house staff heard the shots and there was potato and pillow down in the entry wounds."

"Poor man's silencers, at least Maggie didn't have to wake up to the sound of her mum being shot, her room's at the other end of the hall," Steve muttered, eyes back on Maggie, most likely making sure she didn't head back their way; this was a conversation no child should ever hear.

"Exactly, and in a house that size, with thick walls, it was probably enough. But it could have still woken Diane, and she was shot to silence her."

"Where is Simo now?" Steve asked, his voice hard with anger , hands clenched tightly where they rested.

"We picked him up before I came here. He had a pile of meth, probably close to ten grands worth, sitting right there on his table and was completely off his face. Chin and Kono are questioning him but I'm not sure how much they'll get out of him before he comes down a bit. They'll call as soon as they know anything."

Steve nodded, lost in thought for a moment and Danny sat beside him, offering silent support as Steve processed everything.

He was about to push Steve to answer his earlier question on how he was doing when Maggie arrived, begging Steve to help her finish her village. Steve chuckled and climbed to his feet and cast an unsure glance in Danny's direction. Danny waved his hand. "Go, play, I'll man the phones here."

"Thanks, Danno," Steve muttered, before following her down onto the sand.

Danny watched them closely as they got down in the sand and Steve followed Maggie's instructions perfectly as she began to dole them out.

The interaction was relaxed and, while still possibly a tiny bit cautious on Steve's part, the SEAL clearly loved the little girl. He took care and kept her smiling while they worked, something Danny had noticed Steve was quite capable of when he and Grace visited to hijack his beach.

Danny felt something is his chest clench as Steve laughed loudly at something Maggie said, before scooping her off her feet and running towards the surf. He was shin deep before swinging her down, both of them splashing into the surf fully clothed but without a care in the world. Steve never once let her get out of reach or go too deep.

Of course the man would be a good father once he relaxed. He was still a bit of a big kid himself at heart, but was caring and attentive at the same time. And didn't it just figure that seeing what a good father he was, would make him fall just that bit further in love with the man.