Hey guys! First and foremost, thank you to all of your comments wishing safety during Irma. It looks like she is scheduled to hit my area somewhere between 10pm-6am tonight so I thought I would get another chapter done. We are hoping best, but preparing for the worst. Hopefully we won't have too many issues, and I will try to keep posting if I get a chance. :)

Enjoy!

"So, what is the story behind this one, Danny?" Steve asked, trying to lighten the mood from their serious conversation minutes before. "Did a shark eat your great great grandfather?"

Danny just looked at him and crossed his arms across his chest, sinking into the sofa a little more. "No, Steven I just uh, I don't like sharks."

"Why?" Steve asked.

"I just don't." Danny replied defensively.

"You have to have a reason. Nobody just hates something." Steve tried to rationalize. And then he realized his mistake, he was trying to rationalize... with Danny Williams.

"I don't know I mean they just have those beady little eyes. They've got no depth to them. They're just... black holes of nothingness that stare into your soul."

By now, Danny was staring off into space. Steve tried to follow what he was looking at, but he soon found that his friend was just dazing.

"Earth to Danno. Come in Danno." Steve said snapping his hand in front of Danny's face. "Seriously man, what's your deal?"

"I don't know, Steven! Maybe the fact that they literally just swim around looking for an innocent little baby Nemo and tuny fishes to eat or how bout the fact they can smell blood and then automatically want to sink their giant teeth into or the fact that they like the cold water! Cold like their evil little souls. Just lurking, waiting to attack." Danny said as he held his arms out and clapped them together, miming sharks closing their jaws. "They just creep me out, that's all."

Steve tried not to smile at his friends over dramatic gesture. "Danny, sharks are majestic creatures. They do not lurk. They hunt. They swim the waters, eating for survival just like we do."

"Oh, so now you, Steve McGarrett, super SEAL are now a defender of sharks. Well let me tell you something pal, sharks eat SEALS." Danny said pointing his finger accusingly at Steve.

"Well, Danny," Steve said not sure how he was going to respond to that comment," I just don't see why you have to hate sharks so much. You know they are going extinct."

"Good! They eat people! Man sushi, Steven, man sushi!" Danny said flailing his arms.

"You have a more likely chance of getting killed by a vending machine then a shark." Steve blurted out.

Danny was ready for an argument, but this made him stop for a second. "What?" He asked.

"You know, more people are killed annually by vending machine related accidents than shark attacks. Only like three people die from shark attacks each year." Steve said shrugging his shoulders as if it was no big deal and everyone knew that.

As it turned out, Danny in fact did not know this and was offended Steven acted as if he did. "How do you know that?"

"Saw it on TV once." Steve admitted.

"Read a book, Steven."

"Okay, anyway, sharks only attack people by mistake." Steve tried to argue.

"Oh ho ho, no sir. Sharks know what they are eating. They are what we like to call, 'opportunistic eaters' Steven. They see a seal, they eat the seal, they see a large fish, they eat the large fish, they see a human, they eat the human! Don't give me that 'they think we're seals' crap. They know. They know, Steve!"

"Only three to four people are bitten in Hawaii a year, Danny. Most people don't even die." Steve said, almost at the point of annoyance with Danny.

"Have you ever seen the movie Soul Surfer, Steve. Well I have, with Grace of course. She said something like "I never thought that it would be me". Well that's what we all think till it happens!" Danny was yelling now, and Steve was almost at the same point.

It wasn't that Steve was particularly passionate about sharks, he just wanted to argue with Danny. For entertainments sake, or at least that's what he told himself. Sometimes, there are people that you get really really close with. And sometimes it is fun to push those people's buttons. Steve liked to imagine that if he had a brother, he would act the same way, but since he didn't, he treated Danny as his brother. Because in a lot of ways, he was.

"If you're that worried about it then follow the guidelines, Danny. No murky waters, don't go out before dawn, all that stuff. Follow those and you'll be fine."

"Yeah, I'll be fine. But what about all the innocent baby sharks?" Danny asked, surprising Steve. "Because you know, Steven, sharks are cannibals. Did you know that? They eat smaller sharks. Especially those evil Great White sharks. Ugh. Great Whites are absolutely terrifying."

Steve just looked at him. For a long time.

"What?" Danny asked. "Do I have something on my face?" Danny asked.

And then Steve smiled and it all clicked.

"You saw Jaws and you totally freaked, didn't you?" Steve asked smiling broadly.

"Well, no I was not totally scared-" Danny began.

"You saw it with Rachel and freaked out didn't you?" Steve asked laughing.

Danny threw his hands up in the air defeated. "I just can't win with you can I?" He shouted.

"You did!" Steve said at this point tears were forming at the look on his friend's face and picturing him cowering behind Rachel while watching the movie.

"Okay, look. I have never been a fan of any sea creature, but when I was dating Rachel she told me she was a really big fan of Steven Spielberg. So I was trying to impress her, so I maybe got the movie on DVD and we had a romantic date and then watched it together. I was so scared, every time I closed my eyes I just saw a friggin great white eating me. I was never a big fan of sharks to begin with, and that movie just cemented my belief that all sharks were created by God for the sole purpose of giving people nightmares." Danny admitted.

"But what about Shark Week? Didn't you say you watch that?" Steve asked.

"Ah. Well you see, my wife thought it would be a good idea to encourage Grace to learn about Hawaii's native species when they first moved to this pineapple infested hell-hole, and of course my daughter had to pick an interest in sharks. When shark week was on, she was over at my place, so we started making it our yearly daddy daughter date of sorts."

"And every year you have nightmares about Great White sharks for a week." Steve finished.

"You got that right, buddy. Now can we please move on to the next thing on the list."

Steve grabbed the notebook, but before he did, he looked at Danny. "Hey, you're a good dad." He said.

His sudden sincerness surprised Danny, but he accepted it nonetheless. "Thank you. I really try." He said.

"I know you do, buddy." Steve said patting his shoulder. "Now, next on the list is... falling coconuts?"

"I have a reason for this one!" Danny said quickly, and Steve prepared himself for another story.

Preview for Chapter Four: Practically Falling Cannonballs:

"You have a reason?" Steve asked, laughing.

Danny looked at him in shock. "Yes, Steven! Okay this may come as a surprise to you since you are practically indestructible, but one hundred and fifty of us 'normal folk' die every year from falling coconuts."

Steve was going to argue, telling Danny that he was exaggerating, but then he got curious. "Really?" Steve asked.

"You bet, buddy."

Credit to Oceana and /living in Hawaii for shark information. And thank you to Gus from Psych for the vending machine tid bit. :) Don't forget to comment, follow, or fave!

DISCLAIMER: Unfortunately, I do not own HF0

Stay safe out there!

~StoneyT