Disclaimer: See initial chapter.
A/N: Another ridiculous addition to this story. I do have some ideas for how the human Steve will come into the mix, and another idea just popped into my head as I typed this author's note. I guess I'll have to see which idea wins out. This is sappy...sorry.
"Six ducks, one mongoose with a gimpy leg, one gosling, and one Steve," Danny listed off the animals that stood - almost at attention, thanks to Steve's herding - before him.
The ducks all had names (carefully, and painstakingly, doled out by Grace): Matty, Nina, Molly, Pepper, Rocky and Hermione (Hermy for short). None of them came when called by name, but they did respond, and quite well, to Steve's various barks. The dog seemed to have a different bark for every occasion. Danny had no idea how the dog did what he did, almost like a drill sergeant, but he wasn't about to question it too deeply; he didn't want to ruin a good thing. Even Grace seemed to respond to certain barks of Steve's, which, again, Danny didn't want to think too much about, because that would mean he'd need to take a closer look at himself, and no way was he going to admit to obeying a dog's bark.
The gosling was called, Herman, but seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that he had a name, and was a constant Steve shadow.
It was amazing how Steve could get the animals that he'd adopted in line, at least that's what Kono Kalakaua, the new rookie at work, had said when she'd seen what Steve could do with the veritable animal menagerie that Danny now had. Kono and Danny's partner, Meka, were the only co-workers Danny'd felt comfortable inviting over in any capacity.
"Don't forget me, Danno," Grace said.
She stood at the other end of the line, chin held high, shoulders back, a glint of mischief in her eyes, which were so much like her mother's. Danny refused to let those thoughts sway him from his task at hand, though.
A crime had been committed, and while he would be willing to put money down on one suspect in particular, Danny needed to go through due process before he could rightfully accuse and punish the guilty party.
Danny strode over to his daughter and tapped her on the nose. "And one Grace."
"All present and accounted for, Danno," Grace said, crinkling her nose, and stifling a giggle when Danny tickled her chin.
Steve's gaze darted in Danny and Grace's direction, and he lowered his head just a little bit. His eyes gained that look that always seemed to tug at Danny's heart, no matter how much he tried to steel himself against it. It was a cross between Steve's puppy dog eyes, and his sad, woe is me, eyes. A nearly lethal combination when paired with Grace's patented pout.
The dog sighed, and sniffed, and lowered his head just a little more, and adopted what could only be interpreted as a hangdog look, ears and shoulders sagging as though he was about to drop to the floor with some heavy burden. It was pathetic, and melodramatic, and Danny had half a mind to call the dog out on it, but he didn't.
Instead, shaking his head, Danny walked over to the dog, and scratched behind his ears. "Good work, Steve," he praised, and was rewarded with a tongue bath, and a dog with a much improved demeanor, complete with perked up ears, a nose held high in the air, and a smug look on the dog's face.
Jealousy was starting to become a real problem in this household, and Danny was having a hard time figuring out how best to handle it. Grace and Steve were both vying for his attention from the moment he woke up to the minute one of them went to bed, and now the newest of their crew, the mongoose with the gimpy leg, was after any and all affection that she could get from all of them. She wasn't overly picky, though she did seem inclined to seek out Danny's company above that of her stalwart savior, Steve, and his young, human sidekick, Grace.
It didn't help that the mongoose was pregnant, and far too tame for Danny to return to the wilds, such as they were, of Hawaii. She'd never make it on her own, and Danny couldn't, in good conscience, get rid of her, not unless he wanted to break Grace, and Steve's hearts, and come off as a cruel bastard with a heart of stone. Though he had no problem kicking her out of his bed on nights when she wasn't sneaky enough to remain undetected beneath his bed sheets and was caught trying to snuggle up beneath his chin, or by his side, or in places that Danny chose not to think about (in many ways, she was shameless, Danny was not).
The ducks, now nearly full grown, and gosling, another new addition to their odd family unit, likewise demanded Danny's attention on a daily basis. They waddled their way between, and around his feet, whenever mealtime came around, and were a general nuisance whenever Danny was preparing any meal.
The pen that he'd erected, with Meka's help, outside for the lot of them was rarely used when Danny was home, making his waking hours a sort of bedlam, unless he could get Steve to work his magic, and get his adopted 'children' under some semblance of control, like they were now, lined up in front of the door to the lanai.
This was not, however, a happy circumstance. At least not for Danny. A crime had been committed, and he was going to determine which of those lined up before him had committed the crime, and then dole out a punishment for the crime.
Danny held up the reason for the lineup in his left hand, and walked the line, dangling the ruined tie (his last one) in front of each animal's face. The gosling hid beneath Steve's haunches, nestling its beak amidst the coarse fur, and three of the ducklings took a little nip at it. Grace giggled from her end of the line, and Steve started licking his paws, as though completely bored with the whole process, every now and again casting semi-worried looks in Steve's direction.
Mother Mongoose, as Danny had taken to calling her, twitched her nose at the tie when he dangled it in front of her. She made a chattering noise, and, much to his dismay, launched herself at the already damaged tie, attacking it as though it was some kind of mortal enemy, nearly biting him in the process to get to and 'kill' the offending tie. He released the tie, just in the nick of time, and blinked down at the warring mongoose, only belatedly realizing that his tie might have borne just the slightest resemblance to a hooded cobra.
"Huh, I guess that your survival instincts have remained intact even after generations of living in the snake-less Hawaii." Danny frowned at the 'dead' tie and the proud Mother Mongoose, who had ripped it to shreds, and was now grooming herself contentedly.
"What's that mean, Danno?" Grace asked past her poorly stifled giggles.
Danny scooped his daughter off the floor, and she wrapped her arms and legs around him. "I'm afraid, monkey, that it means the end of Danno's ties. I will say this about them, monkey, at least they didn't go down without a fight."
Grace's giggles made it impossible for Danny to understand what she said in response to that, but it didn't matter. The real culprit who had ruined the tie to begin with, stood five feet away from Danny, deep brown eyes looking everywhere but at him, the pretense of nonchalance and boredom completely gone now that Mother Mongoose had ruined Danny's tie beyond repair.
Steve.
For a dog, Steve had a remarkable number of faces that almost seemed to speak, and right now, Steve's face betrayed his guilt loud and clear, as though it had been written across his brown and black muzzle in blue ink - I did it; I killed your last tie. Sorry. Forgive me, Danno.
Danny had known all along that the tie had been initially torn by Steve, who hated his ties. The animal lineup was a mere formality that provided entertainment for his daughter, and, for some crazy reason, peace of mind for him. Even at home and in play, Danny was, first and foremost, a detective. Just because he locked up his sidearm, and put away his badge when he came home, did not mean that he stopped being a detective as soon as he walked through the front door.
Grace's laughter was contagious, and soon, Danny was laughing with her, and Steve, while he was still apologizing with his big, brown eyes, was breaking ranks, and joining Danny and Grace, begging to be included in their father-daughter circle. Realizing that he'd been beat, Danny sank to his knees, and pulled the dog into the small family circle, offering forgiveness instead of punishment.
Danny's heart still skipped a beat whenever Grace laughed, because for a long while he had worried that he was never going to hear the sound of her laughter again. It had been Steve, and his ridiculous antics, which had first caused laughter to bubble up in his daughter shortly after they'd moved into John McGarrett's house, long months following Rachel's death.
Steve, as it turned out, was very attuned to the emotions of those around him, something for which Danny was immensely grateful. Steve was there for Grace whenever she cried and Danny wasn't immediately available for whatever reason, offering her a shoulder, and a furry neck to wrap her arms around, and bury her face against. He was there for Danny, too, ignoring Danny's no pets on the bed rule to curl around him on nights when the memories and loss became too much for Danny to handle, and he lost control of his emotions.
Nonjudgmental, except for where Danny's attire was concerned (namely ties, and loafers), Steve was, in many ways, a good friend, which Danny was in serious need of on the island.
When Danny had first moved, he'd thought of nothing other than his baby girl, and her need for a change of environment. He hadn't thought, or cared about himself or his needs, but now that Grace was starting to get better, Danny was aware that he, too, had needs, and friendship was one of them.
He had his partner Meka, and the new rookie, Kono, was friendly toward him, but not many on the police force were very welcoming, and his mourning, and poor attitude as a result of that, hadn't helped matters. Not only had Danny mourned Rachel, but he'd also mourned the loss of his home, which meant that he talked about it, a lot. Too much. And as such, he'd been marked as an outsider - a haole - and a complainer with few redeeming qualities.
He was a damn good detective, and couldn't be faulted for that, but in Hawaii, it didn't seem to matter how many cases he had solved, or how he'd done things back home. Relationships, tradition, and the concept of aloha, something that seemed elusive to Danny, were what mattered, and he had no idea how to acquire them.
Coming home to Steve, and Grace, and the rest of the hodgepodge family that Steve had collected over the past several months, had quickly become all that Danny lived for. He doubted it was healthy to spend late, sleepless hours, pouring out his worries, and heart to a dog that had come with the house that he'd purchased, but Steve was all that Danny had right now, and the dog, for all that he was a dog, listened, and seemed to understand.
Mother Mongoose jumped up onto Steve's back, and scurried up to perch on top of Danny's head. The ducks formed a loose circle around Danny, Grace, Steve, the gosling, who'd stuck close to Steve, and Mother Mongoose.
If Danny'd known what kind of spectacle they made - how, Kono, if she'd witnessed it would have snapped off a number of pictures for future blackmail opportunities, and to simply stare at on nights when she needed something heartwarming and uplifting to look at - he might have disbanded the group, but, as it was, he was only aware of a great sense of belonging, and love, of having his daughter back from the heavy loss of death, and of finding something that he'd thought he'd lost forever when Rachel died: family.
"I love you, Danno," Grace said, kissing him on the cheek. "And, Steve," she said, kissing the dog on the head.
Mother Mongoose chirred a string of vowel sounds that demanded some kind of acknowledgment which Danny was quick to give her with a quick rub on the back, and Grace by giggling and patting her on the head. "Love you, too, Mother Mongoose."
"Yes, let's not forget Mother Mongoose, or the six little ducks, or the shy little gosling," Danny teased, heart filling with love for each of the members of his odd little family. A family that Steve, with his infernal need to adopt everything, had gifted him with.