Chapter 39 "Some Enchanted Christmas"

A/N: (25 January 2017) Thank you for the thoughtful reviews, and all the time you take to just read these chapters. I appreciate your kindness so much, truly I am humbled by it.

This is my thanks to you. I'm a little bit proud of this chapter, and happy to share it with you. I was inspired by the song "Some Enchanted Evening", which I think suits a certain couple.

CBS owns Hawaii Five-0.

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Chapter 39 "Some Enchanted Christmas"

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(Christmas morning 2016, 6 a.m.)

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By the time he was fully awake, Danny realized it was not yet even sunrise on Christmas morning, making him slide a little more into his real life again. This was the time he would have been getting up at home, to begin preparing a special breakfast for his kids before they went to church, waiting to open gifts after they got home from Mass. His tree would be surrounded by carefully wrapped presents for Gracie and Charlie, and last but not least, he would have given Grace the pearl necklace and earrings, complete with little diamonds he had picked out for her this year.

He smiled bigger at Steve and Becca, and after Steve let go of his good hand, he petted Angel and enjoyed the feeling of her softness and happiness. He had not asked why he was being allowed to have Angel with him, but he was glad she was.

"I have a huge favor to ask of you, Steve, and maybe Becca could help, if it isn't too much," he said, while evading the worst of Angel's tuny-breath since she was intent on licking his face above his stubble, which was now a bit too long to comfortably lick.

"Anything, Buddy," replied Steve.

"Of course!" Becca was delighted at being included in this special favor, whatever it was.

Danny suddenly wasn't as interesting to Angel as was the tip of his Santa hat, so Angel switched from adoring her human to playing, bouncing all over the pillow to find a new way to attack the white fluffy tip of the hat. Danny was grinning like a happy idiot.

"Obviously I didn't get a chance to wrap the kids' presents, and I just wondered if you two could do that? Maybe? The gifts are in big bags in my bedroom closet, and I got new wrapping paper which is on the top shelf of the hall closet upstairs. Grace's presents go in the red snowflake paper, and Charlie's go in the blue …." His voice trailed off as he noticed the stricken looks on both Becca's and Steve faces. Something big was definitely wrong with the request, and he swallowed and waited to be told what it was. He knew it wasn't the favor.

Steve hadn't expected this moment to come so soon. Of course he would have been glad to wrap gifts for Danny's kids, but there wasn't anything to wrap, except the BB8 at Kono's house.

Steve exchanged a tense look with Becca, who bit her lower lip the tiniest bit as she turned to watch Danny's monitor readings begin to signal the return of his anxiety.

Danny watched them, and went very still. Angel sat with the tail of his hat in her mouth, then snuggled up against Danny's head and began her soothing purr.

Danny watched Steve clear his throat, and he put his hand on Danny's shoulder. "You have to stay as calm as you can, Danny. This is the news we were trying to avoid telling you until later."

Danny knew this was the bad thing he had sensed earlier. "I'll try," he murmured, and started working on keeping his breathing even.

"Stan, uhm, blew up your house."

Slowly, Danny took the statement in, and his monitors reflected how he was reacting to the news. He was working through the layers of what Steve said, and his and Becca's expressions. They weren't telling him his house was damaged. They were telling him his house was … destroyed.

Gone.

No Christmas presents for Gracie and Charlie. No pearls. No anything. Baby pictures, crayon and marker drawings, no more favorite red spatula for flipping pancakes, no genuine pizza stone from his Mom, who had gotten it from Mike's in Jersey, no crazy sock collection Grace had been adding to every year since he could remember.

Gone.

He swallowed. He breathed. He could not think of anything to say at first, until he finally thought of two questions. "Do the kids know? Was anyone hurt?"

Steve answered, his voice as gentle as Danny had ever heard it. He was worried, Danny could tell, so he kept concentrating on breathing. "Gracie knows. Charlie doesn't yet. No one was hurt. Duke sprained his wrist, but it is almost healed already."

Danny remembered the time in the box when he had felt an explosion. Two days ago, if he remembered right. "I felt it, I think. 'Blew up,'" he repeated. "I felt an explosion, but it couldn't have been that. So … it's all gone?" He felt his feelings withdrawing into himself, hiding until he could process them alone, the way he always handled things this big and difficult.

Steve felt a lump in his throat, watching Danny push the pain down so he could deal with it in private. "Your things are gone, Danny, but we are already getting copies of photos and things together. Let us help you." Steve and Becca were both keeping in physical touch with Danny.

It was a slow process, Danny's reaction, until he realized it wasn't just his things that were gone. "My kids," he said in a dangerously quiet voice. "He hurt my kids. Their things were at the house, too."

Steve was watching Becca's tears streaming unheeded down her face, because she was watching Danny's monitors and his face, alternately. He watched Angel, the tip of the hat still in her mouth, crawl down the pillows, dragging off the hat, until she was sitting on Danny's collar again, rubbing the Santa hat on his face. Steve said, "He's dead, Danny. Stan can never hurt them, or you, again."

Danny knew this was true. But he knew something else was true, as well. "Rachel still can. And she will."

"We will stop her."

"I will stop her," countered Danny, quietly forceful. There was something very dangerous about Danny speaking this quietly.

Suddenly Steve remembered the medal he had found in the wreckage. He was wearing it around his neck. He whipped it off one handed, and held it out to Danny. "I did find this. I've been guarding it for you."

Danny looked at it, and finally reached for it. "St. Michael." He held it by the chain, still warm from being worn by Steve. "Th-this means a lot." He slipped it over his head, and settled it under his pajama's collar, only to promptly be fished out and investigated by Angel, still holding the tip of the hat in her mouth. "Thank you, Steve." He sighed, and his voice caught. "I only wish it had been Gracie's pearls. I got her … I got her a pearl necklace and earrings set for … Christmas. Her first real diamonds, too. Set me back a bit, but worth …." His voice could not continue.

Becca wiped her eyes without even noticing it. "Danny," she said, hopefully. "I have a pearl necklace, with earrings to match. You could give her that!"

"No, I can't take your pearls."

"But you can! I want you to! Gracie told me how much the jewelry you give her means to her! - She told me! She even said, when I redid her cast a few days ago, that she wondered what it would be this year, and was sad because she feared we might not find you in time. She told me at the vet that nothing mattered anymore but that you were back, and would be okay. Nothing mattered but having you back."

"She said that?" Danny thought about it. "But … your pearls must mean something to you …."

"They do, but I got them for myself after graduating nursing school, so, I mean, they didn't come from Dad or Mom, and Gracie will miss not having … from her Dad! Do you put them in a pouch or a case?"

"Uh. The case, but … are you sure?" Danny so badly did not want to have nothing special to give Gracie.

"I'm sure, Danny," said Becca, and before she even realized it, she had bent across and kissed his cheek, catching the edge of his lip because only at the last moment had she realized she was aiming for his lips, and slightly changed course.

Danny had reflexively returned the kiss, catching mostly Becca's cheek. He blushed and smiled and realized Christmas could be saved. "Thank you, Becca. I will replace your necklace, I promise." Then he turned to Steve, and pulled off the St. Michael's medal. "If we could shorten the chain, I could give this to Charlie! It works for firemen and po-weese men!"

Steve took it – swinging it high over Angel, who took a swipe at the odd metal toy - and studied the chain. "I've got the tools to do it at the house, uh, and can clean it too, you know, buff it a bit, but I don't have a box."

"He won't care about the box; Charlie would rather I pull it out of my pocket, um, yeah, these pajamas have a pocket! And Kono still has the BB8! As for the house, well, it was just a house. Nobody was hurt. Stuff is stuff. And the car is more Steve's than mine." He added hastily, "Not that it's okay to ruin Steve's sortof car. It is toast, too, right?"

Becca bit her lip, which started Danny's brows furrowing slightly, but Steve was calm when he agreed that the car was toast. He simply did not explain the circumstances. One thing at a time, as much as possible. Danny had not been nearly as devastated by the news of the house loss as Steve had expected, but it was probably still sinking in. Luckily, salvaging Christmas for his kids had taken priority in his thoughts.

Becca took charge of Angel as soon as the nurse came to check on Danny. Angel was wearing her halter, and Becca attached the leash, and she and Steve had to clear out of the room as Danny was scheduled for a bath after his med check and breakfast of Cream of Wheat cereal, a tiny fruit cup, and an equally tiny strawberry jello. Danny suggested Steve take the chance to shorten the chain on the medal, and so Becca drove him home, then hurried to her apartment to get her pearls. Angel had managed to keep Danny's Santa hat, and she guarded it like she guarded Danny.

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H50 H50 H50

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Danny was quiet as he was checked, medicated, and given time to eat his amazingly delicious breakfast. He knew it would be awhile before he could even look at a jar of peanut butter, even the good kind. It was the one thing in his house he would not miss, he thought, skipping over the realization so quickly he barely let the thought register before backing away from anything to do with the house. He asked the nurse to draw back his window curtains so he could watch the sky brighten as the sun came up. Christmas morning was dawning like a flower opening to receive the rays of light.

Danny thought about how much light and Christmas went together. He was free. He was safe. He was healing. His efforts on the incentive spirometer were very good, and the red line on his thumb was already almost gone. He hardly needed to cough, and muscles did not hurt as much.

But what really surprised him was that his heart didn't hurt. It had felt broken the night before, incapable of taking any more pain. Learning that Stan was dead had been a terrible blow, because he would have to cope with that while getting his kids through the news. Now, however, he realized he would not have to do it alone. His ohana had been with him all night, in shifts, while Steve had been with him the whole time. He had wafted up out of bad dreams into semi-awareness, never alone. And Angel had always been there.

But more than that, Becca had been there this morning. Becca. And her pearls would be his gift to Gracie. It wasn't right, he knew it. But he also knew it was right. Becca. When she had leaned in to give him that kiss, he had realized she was aiming at his lips, and only turned to his cheek at the uttermost last part of a second.

His heart had almost stopped, and sped up into a flurry of beats at the same time.

He knew what he wanted for Christmas. Becca. Becca's hand in marriage. His life was an unholy mess, but he was free. His heart was free to love, and he knew who he loved. Becca.

He would have to speak with Dr. Cornett. Today.

Danny got his chance after his bath and a bit of rest. His doctor paid him a visit, to make sure the numbers typed into his chart were holding up. He had also brought him a gift, a little pine tree in a pot, all decorated with lights and ornaments, a bright red bow around the base, and a Christmas Angel holding a golden light on the top.

"Merry Christmas, Doc. It's beautiful. Thank you."

"Merry Christmas, Danny. You're welcome. Now you have a real Christmas tree. Steve told me when I called him that you and fake trees are not on speaking terms."

Danny's eyes were bright with a special happiness, totally at odds with his life situation, being in the hospital. He knew his doctor had noticed. "So, how am I doing?"

Dr. Cornett smiled. "More improved than I thought, and I did worry you would take the news of your house much worse. No one would have blamed you."

Danny's smile didn't even falter. "Steve tell you?"

"When I called him, yes. But … so did Becca."

Becca. The heart monitor fluttered with a happy series of beats.

It was as if half the conversation had already happened. Danny said, "I know I have very little to offer her, no house, no red spatula or pizza stone, no bed … but I can get another house. Or apartment. And all the other stuff. And my kids already think the world of her. My kitten loves her. And I can't imagine her not in my life, not anymore. I realized that in the box. If she will have me, and if you will allow me to ask her, I would be honored and grateful –and shocked, to be honest- if you gave me your permission to … ask Becca to marry me. I mean, I know you already are getting Steve as a son-in-law, and having me too, uh, but I love her."

Dr. Cornett went into his Mona Lisa smile, and his eyes welled, and he said, "Yes, you can, and I can tell you do. And you have visitors, who overheard all of this in the doorway." He reached out and shook Danny's good hand, and then hugged Becca and Angel, clapped Steve on the shoulder. Steve smiled proudly at Danny, hugged Becca and kissed her cheek, and withdrew with Dr. Cornett.

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H50 H50 H50

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Becca stood in the doorway after her father and Steve had moved down to the nurse's station, to get coffee and talk quietly. She turned back to Danny, seeing the vulnerability in his eyes, the love.

"Rebecca Cornett, I'm-not-entirely-sure-what-your-middle-name-is, I love you," he said.

"I love your children, your kitten," she said, moving to sit beside him on the bed. "And I love you, Daniel Whatever Williams. I have for months."

"Will you marry a homeless cop who is absolutely sure you are the best person to ever come into his life?"

"Yup!"

"Don't swerve this time when you kiss me."

"Well, okay," she sighed, and beaming like the sun, she leaned in, and it was a very long kiss, more accurately a series of kisses, and Angel gave her seal of approval by licking both their cheeks, because she couldn't get at any other part of their faces.