And here's chapter 2!
Thank you so much to those who reviewed (Aquababy58 and Stephanie) it's so good to have you on board of this story! Texas50Fan, welcome to another story as well!
The main purspose of this story is to enternain all of you and provide you with a few minutes per chater to get your mind off things and just have a good read! I hpe I can accomplish that!
Enjoy the chapter while I go write some more!
- Monkey, I promise you, we're gonna make it before the museum closes for the day – Danny said to his daughter who was edging from her seat in the back of the Camaro.
- Where are Annabeth and Uncle Steve? They said they wanted to come with us! – complained Grace, still a little dissapointed from when his dad had shown up to pick her up and he had been alone. Not that she didn't like spending time alone with him, but they had all been so excited about this museum visit.
- Uncle Steve had to wrap some things up from the case but they're gonna meet us there monkey, alright? We're not gonna miss this.
The reason why Grace was so anxious was because today was the last day of the medieval exhibition they had been planing to go to since last week, and since Five-0 had caught a case early in the week, they hadn't had time to go earlier. To top it all off, this was the only day of the week when the museum closed earlier than the rest of the normal working day hours. In fact, they had almost lost all hope of making it in time to the exhibition at all because until barely a couple of hours before, they weren't making such a good progress with the case until, finally, they had gotten lucky and found a lead that pointed towards the master mind behind a hit that had taken place down town.
When he got nearer to the museaum, he slowed the speed of the car down. He entered the parking lot and started looking for a spot to park, finding one near the entrance.
- Come on Danno, hurry up! – urged Grace once the engine of the Camaro had been turned off.
- Alright, alright. I'm coming – she took him by the arm and proceeded to drag him to the front door. It was barely an hour before closing time and the lack of people coming in and out of the place was overwhelming. They approached the main counter where a pettite hawaian girl was in charge of selling the tickets for the exhibition – Hi – greeted Danny – Can I have two tickets please?
- Four – interrupted Grace firmly.
- What? – asked Danny.
- For Annabeth and Uncle Steve! What if they don't make it in time to buy the tickets? This way, we'll have them already – he could see how serious his daughter was and knew there was no getting out of the spot. He rolled his eyes.
- Alright but you're collecting the money from Steve. There's no way my wallet's gonna suffer for him – finally they got the four tickets and a kind reminder that the place was about to close in roughly an hour and that they needed to be quick with their visit.
- Look! There they are! – exclaimed an excited Grace while running towards the approaching pair – you made it Uncle Steve!
- You bet we did! – he said while pulling her up into his arms.
- Hi Gracie! – Annabeth greeted her and they high fived each other – are we ready for this then?
- Yes! Yes! Let's go in! They're closing soon!
Steve set Grace on the floor and this time she took Annabeth's hand to walk together into the museum. The first sight that greeted them was a huge banner advertising the medieval exhibition on the right wing. They followed the signs and arrived to a medium size oval room full with different objects and stories written all over the walls; every item had a written explanation in both english and hawaian.
They started the tour at the very beginning where the written paragraphs on the wall explained how the Middle Ages started with the fall of the Roman Empire. It described how society was ruled; the role of men and women, their custome, daily activities and beliefs.
There were around ten to twelve other people, not counting the museum workers, making their way through the various exhibits and generally enjoying the tour and explanations of a good piece of history. Eventually they made it to one of the most interesting parts of the exhibition: the weapons. They stepped into a small room that easily accomodated rows and rows of every rudimentary weapon you could think off.
- Wow! – exclaimed Grace – this is so cool! – and she wondered off with Annabeth to check on some swords displayed by their different shapes.
- Look at this Grace! - Annabeth said, signaling to a wooden bow and a quiver of arrows – it's so well preserved! I love bows and arrows! – if they didn't know better, they could have sworn they were listening to a kid talk excitedly about her new christmas present. Danny chuckled and then started walking with Steve alongside the wall while his partner obviously delighted his sight with the assortment of knives and daggers.
- You see? – Danny told Steve – this is what i'm talking about. You two must be related somehow – just like everytime his partner brought up the subject, Steve's head would shot up and his heart would start to beat faster with the possibility of someone finding out the secret.
- Why do you say that? – he asked trying to pass as nonchalant.
- I mean look at her! No one I know, apart from you, gets that excited about walking into a room full of antique weapons. She sounds like my daughter whenever I let her have icecream for breakfast.
- You do that? – asked Steve disapprovingly, also trying to change the subject.
- Sometimes – was Danny's simple reply. He had forgotten about their conversation when he concentrated on Grace's laughter about something Annabeth must have said. He love his baby girl so much he sometimes needed a few minutes to just contemplate how lucky he was to have her.
Steve was glad Danny had dropped the subject.
Ever since Annabeth had officially joined the team, he had been plagued with comments from his partner pointing out the "scary similarities" (as he put them) between Annabeth and him. He always tried to play it cool, specially when she was around to listen; but the fear of getting caught with the lie (or the omission of the truth) always spiked up his heart rate. Could it be possible that Danny knew? Other than the comments, there was no reason to suspect that but, as he had pointed out in the past, his partner had good instincts. Was it possible that he had figured it out and was trying to get the truth out of him?
It had been almost a year since the first case they had worked together and he still hadn't found the right time to tell her. He knew he had exhausted the excuse of waiting to get to know her better, to get her to trust him as a friend first and to let her adjust to working with the team a long time ago; after all, it had been a year.
Suddenly, his partner started talking again.
- Anyway, as I was saying, only you two could fancy being surrounded by so many weapons.
- Daddy! – came Grace almost whispering – I need to got to the bathroom...
- Come on Gracie, i'll take you – offered Steve quickly and taking her hand before anyone knew what had happened, because he wanted to escape Danny's comments and he also didn't want Annabeth to pick up on his reluctance to talk. She was awefully good at it. "Kind of like Danny, actually" he thought. They soon disappeared out of the door to the little weapon's room and went looking for the bathroom. Annabeth then stood closer to Danny.
- So! What do you think? – she asked him – it's pretty amazing huh?
- 's not bad... I thought we were going to find out about the stone leyend though – he said while looking around the whole room – or at least see the thing.
- Well, come on! – she answered while tugging on his sleeve. "Yep, definitely like a kid" he thought to himself although with a smile creeping up his face because it was nice to see her acting more according to her age than like the freaking spy that she was.
If he was honest with himself, he had to admit that after a year, he had grown fond of her. Putting aside her initial smug attitude from when they had first met her, she was actually fun to be around. She had adapted to their life in the Five-0 Task Force and, more importantly, they had adapted to her. Her willingness to take risks, her expertice on the field, her wits when working undercover and her eagerness to help others. All that, combined with a bit of a sense of humor, made her an easy going person and a deathly scary one when the situation called for it. Once every while he still heard that little voice in his head telling him that she was too young to work with them, but she had proven herself time and again with the way she handled the pressure of the job. Eventually, he had accepted it, although that didn't mean he didn't worry.
- See? Here's a replica of what the sword Excalibur must have looked like inside the stone. It says here that... – suddenly a scream was heard coming from the oval room where the main exhibition was taking place, followed by the sound of something crashing and breaking on the floor. Danny and Annabeth looked at each other and went to inspect what had happened when they heard the sound of a gunshot followed by more screams and a very loud and clear instruction.
- Everybody get down and stay quiet! Mickey, search that room. I want everybody out here! – came the yell from the voice of a man. Danny and Annabeth immediately crouched down and hid behind a table that looked like a coffin close to the edge of the room and where the Excalibur exhibit was. Danny put his arms protectively on top of her head while making themselves as small as they could just seconds before someone entered the weapon's room and started looking around.
Cliffhanger people! Muahahaha!
What do you think is happening out in the oval room? Did Steve and Grace got caught up in the middle of it?
Also, do you think Danny has figured out the trith about Annabeth and Steve or he's being just naively perceptive?
I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and were left looking forward to what's coming next!
Until next chapter then!