Danny made himself comfortable on the couch and waited for Steve to return home. He didn't last long before the day finally caught up with him and he drifted off to sleep.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been asleep, when he woke up to someone sitting down beside his legs on the sofa.

"Steve?" Danny asked sleepily, pulling his legs from behind where Steve was sitting on the edge of the couch and managing to swing them around, without upsetting his knee, so he could sit up beside the other man. Even though he couldn't clearly make out the other man's features through the dark, he knew it was his partner so his question wasn't so much an "Is that you?" but more of an "Are you ok?" and Steve seemed to know that.

With a sigh, Steve leant back on the couch, close enough that they touched from knee to shoulder; Steve practically slumped into his side.

"I met Diane when I was on shore leave on the mainland," Steve began softly and Danny forced himself to snap the rest of the way awake and listen carefully. He had a feeling he wasn't going to hear the story again. "She was working at the bar in the hotel I was staying at. After months on a hard mission, I wanted something more than a military base, so a hotel seemed like the best option. I met her about three days into my leave, we got talking and hit it off so she was happy to keep me company for the rest of my stay." Steve smiled wistfully at the memory. When my leave was over, we went our separate ways and never expected to see each other again. Six months later I was on leave from another mission and there was a message waiting for me."

"She was pregnant," Danny added softly as Steve paused. The taller man nodded and they sat quietly for a moment as Steve gathered his thoughts.

"I transferred to be closer for the rest of her pregnancy. I made it to her last few months of appointments and was there for the birth. We didn't get back together, neither of us really contemplated it, but we were happy as friends with a beautiful baby girl. Diane moved back with her mother to help with Maggie when I was called back to duty. Every time I had leave, I would visit and spend as much time as I could with Maggie. Sometimes, if I'd been gone for a long mission, Maggie would have trouble remembering me, but as she got older, it was easier. Diane was really good about talking to her about me and showing my pictures. We tried Skype occasionally, but I was rarely in a position to make a call like that."

Danny rested his hand on Steve's forearm and gave it a gentle squeeze of support. He couldn't imagine what it felt like, seeing your own daughter looking at you and not know who you were, or even only being able to see her sporadically. Danny knew he'd never be strong enough to deal with it. Hell, he moved to freaking Hawaii just to stay with Grace.

"She would bring Maggie to see Dad here. I never came, other than the first time when I introduced them, but she made sure to make the trip at least once a year. She said Maggie needed to know all her grandparents. One trip here when Maggie was five, Diane met Jason. They hit it off, a year later they were married and Maggie had a step father who had no interest, unless she could make him look good."

Danny scowled at the thought, for once grateful in Rachel's choice of Stan at least he generally seemed to care about him little girl. Though he would deny ever having that thought with his last breath.

"Diane didn't introduce me to Jason until they were engaged, and we hatred each other from the start. I didn't like him, how he ignored Maggie, and I definitely didn't trust him; there was just something off about him. He didn't like how close I was to Diane, even though there wasn't anything there anymore." Steve paused again and this time Danny did nothing other than silently support him. Steve had sunk further into his side as he shared his story, enough so that Danny had his arm wrapped around Steve's shoulders and the back of the taller man's head was resting on his collarbone.

"When I came home a few months ago, and decided to stay, I thought it was finally my chance to be a real father to Maggie, one she deserved. I told Diane as soon as it was confirmed that I was staying and it wasn't even a week later that the papers arrived. Jason had his lawyers convince the court I was an unfit guardian to a young girl due to being a SEAL. They used the fact that in the year and a half since the wedding, I hadn't made it back to Hawaii once due to my job, and that due to the presumed nature of SEAL missions and the recent murder of my father, that I was too emotionally unstable for a young girl. Until I proved otherwise, my custody was revoked and I could only see Maggie during supervised visits with either Jason or Diane present. If I broke any of the rules, any right I had to see her would have been revoked. I confronted Diane about it, and she was just as upset as I was. She'd tried to stop him but she hadn't been able to. "

Steve looked over at him Danny tried to relax the tension that had entered his frame so he didn't upset Steve. He was so angry on the other man's behalf.

"We're not even sure how he managed to do it, get the court order, since he's not even Maggie's legal guardian. Though I guess now I can assume he used his underground contacts and bought someone off. I'd try to visit a couple of times a week, when it was just Diane, Maggie and I and everything was fine. Sometimes Jason would demand to join us and the change in Maggie was heartbreaking, she was nervous to talk to me or do anything in case it got Jason mad and he stopped me from coming. He'd already threatened with stopping my visits when she was having a bit of a tantrum about something. Diane and I have been trying ever since to get the custody order removed and Diane and Maggie away from him, but it's difficult."

"Oh, Babe," Danny sighed pulling the bigger man closer in a hug. "Thank you for telling me all of this, but I wish I'd known sooner. I could have helped or at least been there for you when you needed to talk."

"You're here now."

"Yes, and I'll be here whenever you need me."

"Stay with me tonight? I really don't want to be alone right now."

"I'll stay, Babe. Come on; let's get you to bed."

"Thanks, Danno."