Danny stalked through the halls of the Palace toward their offices with Steve, who had barely made it out of the car before Danny locked it, trailing behind. He could see Kono, through the glass door, pacing in the main room. She practically ran to meet them when they stepped into the room.

She looked from Danny, radiating tension, to Steve, hanging a step behind the blond. "What's going on, Boss?"

He turned to Steve, brow arching high. Well? Don't you stall any fucking longer, asshole. Yeah, Danny was pissed and he figured it was with good reason. Mostly, he was hurt.

Steve chewed his lip a moment before finally speaking, heading to his office as he answered Kono. "I've just gotta grab something. Then I'll tell you what's happening."

"Danny?" Kono asked, as their leader disappeared into his office. Danny watched after him for a moment, growing more angry by the moment at the SEAL's avoidance tactics, before heading to the smart table where Chin stood, just taking in the scene before him. Goddamn Zen Master.

"Oh, no," the detective said, leaning back against the table and looking at Kono. The muscles in his arms and shoulders strained against the need to punch something and so, instead of waving them around to animate his words, he crossed them tight against his chest. "McGarrett's not getting off that easy. He'll have to tell you himself." He turned his scowl back to his, now, ex-partner's office.

A few moments later, Steve emerged and knocked on Lou's wall as he made his way to stand in front of Danny, barely a foot separating them. The two men watched each other. Danny's pinched features almost, almost, softening at Steve's Face. Another one that Danny had rarely seen. Steve's eyes pleaded with Danny for forgiveness, for understanding, but they did not back down. He wasn't going to change his mind. Danny's eyebrow raised a fraction of an inch. Steve looked away.

"What's up, McGarrett?" Lou asked as he joined Chin across the table from the men having their silent conversation. "I thought Kono here was gonna pace right through the floor."

Danny sighed and finally turned around, away from Steve, to face the others. As he did, he noticed Steve fidgeting with a small box he'd retrieved from his office. He heard him let out a long breath and then take a step forward, standing next to Danny. The Detective wouldn't look at him and tried to avoid the looks from the others. The blank screen of the smart table was suddenly very interesting. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Steve place the box on the edge of the table, but not let go of it.

"Okay guys," he finally started. "First off, I want to apologize for leaving this conversation until today. I was going to tell you all on Monday, but wanted us to focus on the case. Didn't realize it would take so long to clear up."

"No problem, boss. Lay it on us." Oh, if you only knew, Sweet Kono, Danny thought. She sounded like her usual cheerful self, but he could still detect the faint worry teasing the edges of her voice.

"Most important, I want you guys to know how much I appreciate everything you've done over the past few years. For me, and for the Islands. Everything you've done, all the sacrifices you've been forced to make... it hasn't gone unnoticed."

He paused a moment. Danny saw his hand tighten on the mysterious box. Kono remained silent, but he heard her draw in a ragged breath. It wasn't that Steve had never offered them praise or thanks before. He was a good leader and you didn't get to be a good leader without doing that. No, Kono reacted to the emotion, thick in his voice, dripping from his words to pool like blood at their feet and that... that was new. It just fueled Danny's anger. His fingers tightened on his crossed arms, white-knuckled and sure to leave bruises on his own skin.

After another moment of weighty silence, Danny noticed Steve shift, standing straighter, steeling himself for the final blow.

"On Monday, I met with Denning. At that meeting, among other things, I turned in my resignation from—"

"Steve!" He continued on without answering her.

"—Five-0. I also met with my superiors at Pearl. I'll be returning to active duty with the Navy. I report back first thing Monday morning." Kono started to say something, but stopped. If Steve noticed, he again ignored it. "Effective immediately, Danny is Five-0 Team Lead. I'm sure things will go a lot smoother with him in charge." Danny could imagine the grin on Steve's face as he said that, trying to lighten the mood in the room; knew it wouldn't have reached his eyes.

Danny risked a quick glance at the others. Lou sported a raised eyebrow, but didn't look like he was going to say anything at the moment. That didn't really surprise Danny. Of the team, he was the most like Steve – not afraid to voice his opinion, but very job focused. He was also a pretty smart guy; he'd know that this went a lot deeper than a job transfer, that the task force veterans had a bit more shit to work through at the moment than he did with his boss of the last year or so moving on.

Kono's eyes swam with tears, as yet unshed. It was rare to see the young cop so emotional, but Steve had been her mentor, taught her so much, made her into one of the best damn snipers in the country for starters. He was more than that to her of course – more than that to all of them, even Lou.

When he finally turned his attention to Chin, he noted two things. First: like everyone else, the sudden news had surprised, maybe even unnerved, him – there was a crack in his usually stoic face. Second: unlike everyone else, he was not looking at Steve, but at Danny. He raised a questioning eyebrow and Danny replied with the slightest shake of his head. His feelings on the matter hadn't exactly changed in the last half hour and he didn't know what he would do if Chin said something to him.

Danny dropped his eyes, resuming his in-depth study of the monitor . Kono said something, but Danny tuned the conversation out. He knew he shouldn't have because, apparently, he was in charge now, but he really couldn't deal right now. His best friend, his brother, his... Steve... was leaving him.

He didn't know how long he'd zoned out for, but he was brought back to reality with a touch at his elbow, warm breath at his ear, and "Danno?" and he realized Steve had called his name several times. Danny flinched at the touch and stepped out of Steve's space.

"What." Danny couldn't keep the anger out of his voice. Steven actually seemed suitably admonished. The SEAL opened his mouth to say something, seemed to think better of it, tried again.

"Danny? Are you listening?" It was only then that Danny realized the mysterious box was no longer on the edge of the table.

"Yeah. What, Steven?" Steve's face seemed to twitch slightly at that, but he continued anyway.

"I've let a lot of things slide. I've been a horrible Team Leader." Danny refused to correct him on that. At the moment, a lot of Danny was thinking Steve was an all around horrible human being; that his frequent 'I hate you's didn't actually mean 'I love you'. Steve continued on, oblivious to Danny's thoughts. "But it's time to change that, starting with this."

Danny followed his eyes down to the box in his hands. Steve removed the white cardboard lid to reveal a new, gold, Lieutenant's bar. Their eyes met again. "Shoulda done this a long time ago, Danny. Figured better late than never, especially if you're gonna be in charge of these guys." Danny made no move to reach for the box. "Danny?"

He wondered what the fuck was going on in Steve's mind, but couldn't bring himself to ask. Did he really think he could just promote him, leave him a fancy task force, and assume that would make up for leaving – and with almost no warning? Maybe it did. Maybe Danny didn't mean as much to him, as he did to Danny. He couldn't believe it, but what other explanation was there? It was time to start letting go; Steve clearly already had.

Danny reached out, took the box. "Thanks, Commander." Steve flinched, letting go of the box almost before Danny's fingers had closed around it. Someone on the other side of the table grunted.

"I... should go," Steve said, eyes on the floor. He turned to leave – almost a formal about-face – but Danny heard the door open before he could reach it.

"Excellent, you're all still here." Danny looked up at the familiar voice to see the Governor walk through the glass doors, his aide, carrying a briefcase, hot on his heels. Danny could almost feel the conflict in Steve, as his body seemed to try and snap to attention, even as it slumped in defeat.

The Governor nodded at Steve. "McGarret."

"Sir."

Then he continued on to Danny, stretching out to shake his hand. "Congratulations, Williams. I'm looking forward to working more closely with you, now that you're heading up my Task Force."

"Thank you, Sir." Before Danny could say anything more, he realized the politician and his aide were not their only visitors. Excited chatter preceded a new wave of people into the Five-0 offices. Lou's wife and kids, Adam, Rachel and Grace.

"Danno! Uncle Steve!" Danny sprung into action, ignoring his boss, moving around Steve, who seemed glued to the spot for some reason, to reach his daughter. He hoped that he'd erased his anger before she noticed anything was wrong.

"Hey Monkey, what are you guys doing here?" He asked, crouching down to pull her into a hug. She started to pull away after a moment and Danny knew what would happen next. It happened every time the three of them were together. She was about to go greet Steve, almost as enthusiastically. He stood, took her hand, keeping her at his side as he awaited her reply. Denning replied for her, addressing both the team and their families.

"I thought you would all appreciate being together for this special occasion," he started before nodding to his aide. The other man, whose name Danny had never learned, set his briefcase on the smart table and flicked the latches to open it. Inside, Danny could see several official-looking documents and four boxes. Three were new: shiny and black; the fourth was a faded and dull brown, cardboard frayed and worn along the edges.

"Commander McGarret has recommended you all for Medals of Valour." Danny saw Steve flinch, hard, eyes squeezing shut as if the Governor had just shot him in the back. Tiny fingers tightened around his own and he looked away from his ex-partner to a much more welcome sight: his daughter beaming up at him with excitement and pride. How can he not smile at that?

The next words out of Denning's mouth ruined even that.

"The Commander didn't think they'd arrive in time, but I put a rush on the paperwork so he could present them himself before he leaves."

"Leaves?" All the eyes in the room, save Steve's that were still closed, turned to Grace at the sound of her broken voice. She looked up at Danny, shock and confusion battling for dominance of her features. Steve put that look on his monkey's face and his hate for the man increased, the man his daughter turned to for answers. "Uncle Steve?"

He finally opened his eyes, looking at her like they were the only two people left on the planet and it was all his fault. As far as Danny was concerned, what he was doing was worse. Finally, Steve just nodded once.

Grace tugged at her father's hand, trying to get him to release her so she could go to Steve, but he wouldn't. For the first time, Danny didn't trust him with his daughter and that... that was like a knife to his heart. How had his life – their life – so royally fucked itself in just a few hours? She tugged again, more insistent and whispered "Danno?" He looked down at her and anger and sadness replaced the shock, settling in with the confusion. He refused to be responsible for that face so he let her go.

She ran to Steve who crouched to meet her, and the not-so-little girl and the uncle she had adopted wrapped their arms around each other. A tear that Danny felt he had no business shedding ran down the SEAL's cheek.

"Are you really leaving, Steve? When are you coming back?"

He blew out a long breath, causing wisps of her hair to flutter in the air. "Yeah kiddo, I am. And I don't know when I'll be back. Maybe never." Danny had to hand it to Steve; now that the cat was out of the bag, he seemed to be done lying.

"No! Why are you leaving?"

Steve pulled back to look into her eyes. "You know Danny can do anything right?" A nod and a swipe at her cheek. "And we both know he's like, the best cop in the entire world." Nod. Sniff. "Well, he's going to stay here and keep this place safe as houses. I'm going to go try and stop the bad guys before they even get here."

"But you're supposed to watch his back!"

"Danno doesn't need anyone to watch his back, kiddo, not even me. But Chin and Kono and Lou will be watching it anyway. They won't let anyone hurt Danno, or you."

"Who will watch your back?"

Steve just pulled her back against his chest, closing his eyes again, whispering things Danny couldn't hear. He looked like one more word from Grace would shatter him. The smallest grain of anger fell away.

x.x.x.x

A few short hours ago, I shook Lou's hand for the last time, pulled Kono into a hug, presented Chin with the medal that my father, Chin's mentor, had himself once received. And Danny... I don't even want to think about that. But I can't help it. The memory of him tense, stiff, in my arms as I tried to hug him one last time, his expression cold and distant, angry and hurt. I shake my head to try and clear the vision as I load bags into the car's trunk.

My entire life fits into three bags and a guitar case. My kit bag and pack filled with my military life. A mid-sized suitcase full mostly of things Danny and Grace have given me over the years – a stuffed seal with a leather collar that says 'Steve', a framed photo of the three of us from one of our surfing adventures, a book of naval history, a watch, among other things – the rest of the space filled with my civvies.

And then there's the guitar. My hand tightens on the case's handle for a moment before I finally place it in the trunk and slam it shut.

Those are the only things I need. I probably should leave the gifts, make a clean break on both sides, but no matter how hard I try, I just can't cut Danny and Gracie from my heart completely. Maybe it's selfish, but so what? Maybe for the first time in my life I'm allowing myself to be a little selfish. I've earned that much, haven't I?

As I settle in to the front seat of the car, a little voice in the back of my brain whispers to me.

"Maybe that means this is a stupid idea."

It sounds suspiciously like Danny.