A few weeks had passed since that therapy session, and Danny has met up for coffee with Nani once. It felt good to talk about the problems and stress that came with looking after a handicapped person with someone who knew exactly what he was dealing with. They agreed to all meet up again soon on a weekend that Paul, Nani's husband, was on a visit from his care home. Danny knew that Steve would enjoy being with someone who likes watching animal programs as much as he does.

Danny groaned as the alarm blared that it was 8am. An arm flopped out and smacked the clock until it stopped beeping and he lay there contemplating going back to sleep, before admitting that if he did then a certain ex-Navy SEAL would probably never get dressed. So he reluctantly pulled the covers back and got himself showered and dressed, before making his way downstairs to do the same for Steve.

Fortunately it was the one day in the week when Danny didn't have to go to work and could be at home with Steve. Granted, he had a lot of housework to do, but hopefully he would be able to spend time with him when it was all done.

Danny frowned as he got to Steve's bedroom door. Normally he could hear Steve playing with the stuffed toys in his bed, but not this morning. Maybe he's still asleep, Danny thought as he knocked on the door before opening it enough to poke his head around. With a sigh at the scene in front of him Danny made his way into Steve's bedroom. "Good morning babe."

Steve stared vacantly at his stuffed cat on the bed in front of him, fingers toying with the white fur. "G'mornin' Danno." He mumbled.

Alarm bells started ringing in Danny's head at that; normally Steve was happy to see him in the mornings. "Hey, what's up?" He asked as he sat on the edge of Steve's bed. "Did you have a bad dream? Have you got any pain?"

Steve half-heartedly shrugged, still not looking at Danny. He opened his mouth to say something, but his face crumpled when he couldn't find the right words. Danny sat adjacent to Steve's hip with a hand on his shoulder, waiting patiently until he spoke.

"Feel sad."

"Why, babe?"

Steve shook his head. Danny's lips pursed as he thought about how to handle this. Sure, Steve had been sad since he's come home, but he's always told Danny the reason.

"It's okay, Steve. You can tell me anything."

Steve twisted onto his back, and looked up at the ceiling before finally meeting Danny's eyes. "I can't… It…" Steve groaned. The right words still couldn't come and his face screwed up in frustration.

"Sshh, it's alright. Do you not understand why you feel sad?" Danny said, rubbing Steve's chest gently when he shook his head again. "That's okay, it's fine not to know, buddy. It happens to everyone." At Steve's disheartened look, he continued. "Just remember that Danno loves you, and I'm here for you if you want to talk to me about it."

Steve flashed a hint of a smile, but Danny knew that he could bring Steve out of his funk. With a smirk, Danny reached under the covers and began a relentless tickling assault on Steve's sides.

Steve yelped at the sudden attack, and feebly tried to push the other man's hands off. But Danny wouldn't budge and continued his attack while Steve squirmed around in bed, and he felt as if a large weight had been removed from his shoulders when Steve erupted into a fit of giggles.

After a few minutes Danny stopped and smiled down at Steve, his chest heaving as he calmed down. "Feeling better, babe?"

"Yeah." Steve grinned.

"Good. Now come on, where's my hug?" Steve pushed himself up and into Danny's open arms. "Good morning, buddy."

Danny heard him sigh happily into his neck. "Morning, Danno."

Once Steve was dressed and had breakfast and his medication, Danny settled him in the lounge while he got on with cleaning and tidying the house. He was worried that Steve would get bored or restless, but every time that he checked on him throughout the day Steve seemed occupied with either the TV or his toys. Danny felt guilty that whenever he did so, Steve asked if he was done and could play with him and he had to say no.

Later that afternoon, Grace came home from school. Spotting Steve sitting on the floor leaning against the couch and playing with his toys as she walked into the house, she waved. "Hi, Uncle Steve!"

"Hi, Gracie!" Steve smiled, happy to see her and listened as she briefly told him about her school day while she hung her jacket up.

"Gracie play with Steve?" He asked, holding one of the toys out to her with a hopeful expression on his face.

Grace's smile fell and she shook her head. "Sorry Steve, I can't… I've got homework to do."

"Oh… okay." Steve said quietly, lowering his arm before watching her go up the stairs to her room. He looked down at the toy still in his hand and sighed in defeat.

Shortly afterwards, Danny came down the stairs wiping his hands on a cloth. He stopped at the sight of a miserable looking Steve staring blankly at a spot in front of him, and immediately joined him on the floor.

"Hey, what's up?" Danny asked him from his place beside him. "I thought I heard Grace down here playing with you?"

Steve shook his head. "Homework."

"Ah… well she can't help that, babe." Danny tried to reason with him, taking the noise from Steve as an 'I sort of agree but can't quite verbalise it' noise.

"Danno…?" Steve turned to look at him. Danny looked at him questionably, then down as Steve held out his arm, the toy still in his hand.

Danny smiled and nodded as he accepted the offered toy. Steve's mood improved as Danny played with him, letting him into the make-believe world that he'd created.

After dinner, Steve abruptly left the table and headed down the corridor for his room. Grace looked at Danny with a confused look on her face as they cleared up the dinner things.

"Is Uncle Steve okay, Danno?" Danny shrugged.

"I'm sure he will be, Monkey. I'll go and see him in a bit, don't worry."

Grace excused herself when everything was cleared away and went up to her room, while Danny headed off down the hall. He wasn't sure what he was expecting to see when he entered Steve's room, but the man himself putting things in his rucksack was not what he had in mind.

"Steve? Babe, what are you doing?"

Steve stopped and turned to look at Danny, rucksack hanging at his side. "I go now, Danno." He whispered.

"Go? Go where, Steve? And why?" Danny didn't think his mouth had ever gone so dry that quickly. He wanted to reach out, to touch him, but Steve seemed too tense.

Steve chewed on his bottom lip, eyes wandering everywhere from the ceiling to the buttons on Danny's shirt before finally meeting the blonde's eyes. "Feel… lonely, Danno."

Lonely? The word echoed in Danny's mind. "Babe, I don't…" Danny ran a hand down his face. "Can we sit down and talk about it?" He ushered Steve to sit next to him on the bed, rucksack on the floor between his legs. "Right, now tell me why you feel lonely."

"Danno works late, and… sees Charlie sometimes, to help him get better." Steve admitted, looking down at his hands. "So Steve stays longer at school."

"But… why do you want to go?"

"'Cause Steve in the way… So I go new place, and Danno would be more happy." Steve chanced a look at Danny, but averted his gaze back down after only a few seconds at the look on Danny's face.

For once, Danny didn't know what to say. After Kono's wedding he'd been seeing Charlie more often whenever he had hospital appointments, wanting his son to get to know him better as well as wanting to get a better understanding of what was going on with his child.

Because of this, however, Steve had had to stay late at his day centre some days or go there on what should have been a day off with Danny. Danny didn't realise that Steve felt like this, that he was a burden to him.

"Steve…" Danny could barely speak past the lump in his throat as he reached out to link their fingers together. "No." Steve looked up at him with red eyes and confusion on his face, so Danny continued. "Danno would definitely not be more happy if you went somewhere else."

"But I-"

Danny shook his head. "No, Steve. I'm so sorry that I didn't realise how you would feel about all that, but I don't want you to go anywhere. Or feel like you have to so I'd be happy. Because you know what makes me happy the most, alongside Gracie and Charlie?"

Steve shook his head. Danny smiled as he reached his free hand up to cup the side of his face. "You, babe."

"Me?"

"I didn't like having to send you to school on our days together, or have you stay there longer during the week. But like you said, I had to go to the hospital to help Charlie get better. That doesn't mean that I didn't miss you while I was there. And I'm always so happy to see you afterwards, buddy."

Steve nodded but still seemed unsure of where he stood. Danny sighed and his tongue darted out to wet his lips. "You don't really want to go do you, Steve? I know you wouldn't be happy in a new place." Just the thought of Steve living somewhere without him gave him chills.

"No… Wanna stay here, with you." Steve whispered.

"And you are, baby. You're not a burden, or in the way or whatever you think you are. You're my Steve, just like I'm your Danno, and I promise that you'll stay here with me and I'll look after you, okay?" Danny choked out, not prepared for Steve to launch into his arms as soon as he finished talking.

"Steve safe here." He mumbled into Danny's shoulder. "Happy."

"I'm glad, buddy." Danny said. "Hey, the doctors say that Charlie can come home in a few days! So he can come and visit us here soon - and I bet he'd love to play with you and your toys."

Steve pulled away and smiled at him. "I like that. Like playing with friends."

"I know you do, babe."