"We were called out to a body found off the coast," Kono stabbed at the tech table a little bit too severely while Steve leaned against it, the tense sadness he'd seen in Danny echoed in the young woman's eyes. "A fishing boat pulled in their nets, and they found her amongst the catch. God, she was just a little girl, Steve..."
She looked up at the taller man with wide, dark brown eyes, and he leaned in and hauled her into a hug.
He'd brought Danny in on the Sunday morning so that the team could get an early start on the case. They'd all worked on what they could find during Saturday, but Danny had told them all to go home when he could see the effect it was having on them. They were still waiting for identification and other results to come back from the lab anyway, and that was when he'd come home to his lover to seek solace.
Now they were all back in, and Steve had decided to find out more about the case while Danny was in his office.
"I'm sorry Kono," he kissed her hair gently, "Danny wouldn't say much last night. He just didn't want to talk, and I don't blame him..."
The Hawaiian woman pulled back, squeezing his hip in thanks for the hug, and busied herself with the computer again.
"Danny never takes it well when it involves children. No one does, but he and Meka take it especially hard. They've both got kids, and it just seems to resonate with them a little more," she looked up to where her boss and his partner were talking over a file at his desk, "Meka just gets sad... Danny gets sad and angry in roughly equal proportion. At least since he's been with you he doesn't have the anger issues so much, but this won't help..."
The ex-con cocked his head and looked at his friend. "And you and Chin?"
She met his gaze and smiled weakly. "Yeah, I don't know how I'm feeling right now. Just gotta get through it... Chin will be okay too. We've got each other to lean on, Meka's got Amy... and boss man has you."
She was cut off by Danny and Meka coming out of the office, and the blonde man dropping some files on the tech table.
"We've got a lot of crap to wade through here guys," he spoke to his team and then looked up at his fiancé, "I don't know when I'll be home, sorry babe..."
Steve took that as the hint for him to leave; he wasn't really privy to the inner workings of Five-0 and their current cases, due to the sensitive and confidential nature of the kind of thing they worked on. He didn't think he was quite prepared to see photos of a dead child either, so he leaned in to plant a firm kiss on his lover's cheek.
"Don't worry Danno, I understand," he gripped his hand and received a little squeeze back, "Just call me when you're on your way, I'll get the food in."
As he headed for the double doors back out of HQ, he glanced back at the group. Chin was just coming out of his office and saying something about the lab, and the brunette hoped his fiancé's team would be able to support one another through this.
He couldn't help but wonder about what Kono had been said. He'd never really seen Danny angry – they had had their arguments in their time together, he'd seen him fight when they were in prison, and he'd always known his man was a bit of a firecracker... but really, truly angry? Never.
If he had a calming effect on the Jersey man, then that was a good thing as far as he was concerned.
Danny watched his lover leave, and then turned back to his team.
"The lab sent these over," Chin was saying, swiping files from his tablet onto the tech table and then bringing them up on the monitors, "The body found was Maggie Cho, ten years old, family lives in Waikiki-"
The blonde felt Meka's and Kono's eyes flick to him, even though he did his best not to react. The words 'she's the same age as Grace' were left unspoken in the air as his colleagues went back to concentrating on what the older cop was saying.
"-She was reported missing over a week ago, after never returning home from the park with her friends. HPD pretty much exhausted every avenue they could to try and track her down, but there was no evidence to say where she had been taken."
Danny didn't normally like to make assumptions, but abduction seemed like the only real possibility here. It was possible that the girl could have wandered off on her own, but the likelihood of her managing to get herself out to sea without help was basically zero. Initial examination at the scene had also shown Maggie may have had her wrists bound at some point, which was why Five-0 had been called in straight away when it was discovered.
"Why was she at the park without supervision?" Meka piped up, drumming his fingers on the edge of the table lightly.
Chin made a slight noise of mutual disapproval and brought up a map. "She was there with her friends and their parents, but the park is around the corner from her home and the adults saw nothing wrong with letting her walk the five minutes home on her own. She'd done it before, apparently."
Danny rolled his eyes and tried not to comment. He was sure those parents regretted their mistake beyond words now, but that didn't help Maggie.
Kono marked the girl's presumed path home along the road using the touch screen, park to house, and then pointed to a patch of trees along the route. "She would've had to walk past this?"
Her cousin nodded. "HPD have combed that area thoroughly. Nothing. CCTV in the area is patchy because it's mostly residential."
The blonde didn't want to ask the question, but knew he needed to. "Do we know cause of death?" It was bad enough that poor little girl was dead, but he hoped whatever it was had been quick, and that she hadn't had to go through any torture or worse.
Chin looked at his pad again. "No, the autopsy hasn't been completed yet. But Max says there's no outward indicators as to a cause – bullet or stab wounds, fatal bruising or otherwise – so it's not clear yet, but seeing as she was in the water then drowning is a possibility. We'll have to wait."
He hated not knowing the full picture, but they were just going to have to move forward for now and hope the information would come in.
"Okay, well we need to start running down the suspect files again, I want fresh eyes on all of these statements and interviews, and we need to roll through what footage we have again. Kono, can you double check all cameras in the area?"
"On it, boss," the sniper patted his shoulder as she headed for her office.
"Chin, financials and statements, please. Meka... give me a few minutes and then you and I need to go and see the parents and break the news..."
Chin gripped his other shoulder for a moment before entering his office and closing the door, and Meka sidled over to the Five-0 leader and bumped his hip with his own.
"We can get HPD to inform the family, bruh," he whispered, "Or I can do it on my own."
Danny scrubbed at his face. "How long have I been a cop, Mek? I can do this. You've got a kid too, nothing special about me. Anyway, we have to re-interview them. I need to meet them myself."
"We're gonna get the son of a bitch that did this, D," he gave him a hopeful smile.
Danny nodded. "And then we're gonna dance on his fucking grave, Mek," the Jersey man replied firmly, before leaving for his own office and closing the door.
He leaned back against it, wishing he was as confident as he had just sounded, but if HPD had already done their best on the initial search then he wondered if there was anything else to be found. He stared down at his balled fists and wondered how long he'd had them subconsciously clenched. His nails had bitten little half moons into his palms, so he took a calming breath and flexed them open flat, relaxing the muscles and tendons.
Danny took a few minutes to settle himself, try and slip into impartial cop mode and ignore the father within him that was screaming to track down the unknown killer and rip their throat out. He would let his empathy come through, try not to make promises he couldn't keep, but right now he had to be the professional these people needed whilst remembering that even they were still potential suspects.
He grabbed his wallet and phone, and got ready to head out to deliver the worst news of Maggie Cho's parents' lives.
Steve woke to the front door closing, and he turned over in the bed to see the living room light come on down the corridor, filtering through the crack in the bedroom door. He heard Danny's keys clink into the bowl, and movement in the kitchen although it was muted by distance and his lover obviously trying to be quiet. It was just after midnight, and he must have been attempting to avoid waking his fiancé.
It was a good ten minutes before the light went out again, and the detective was quietly opening the bedroom door, stripping off his shirt and slacks as he moved across the room and around to his side of the bed.
"Hey Danno," Steve greeted him from the pillow.
"Oh shit, sorry," the Jersey man huffed, "I didn't want to wake you..."
"Don't worry about it," the brunette turned over onto his back and leaned up on his elbows to watch Danny's outline move in the near-darkness, back lit dully by the streetlights outside their curtains, "I'm glad, I wanted to know you were home safe."
The shorter man flung his boxers vaguely near the laundry basket and crawled into the bed under the covers, flopping onto his back, and Steve pointedly decided to say nothing about the trail of clothes his lover had left behind him. He hated mess, but his man was in no state of mind for a lecture.
"I should have called earlier, I had food at work and I was going to head back here around ten but... I needed..." he sighed out a long breath, "I needed to go see Grace. Meka dropped me off at Rachel's place. She wasn't happy, me turning up so late and unannounced, but when I told her about the case she made me go up and wake her up for a hug. Gracie was sleepy and confused as all hell, but god I needed that..."
The mechanic smiled and kissed Danny's cheek. "Rachel's a good woman," he conceded.
And she was, because while most women would freak out at the prospect of their ex-husband's ex-con lover moving in and being around their child, after a year's worth of warning and discussions and explanations while Steve was still inside, Rachel Edwards had eventually given Danny the benefit of the doubt and had trusted in his love for his daughter – if Danny was okay with Steve meeting Grace, then so was she, though within her rights she was still wary of him like she would be with any new partner interacting with her child.
Their original plan had been for Steve to meet Grace at a barbecue, with friends and family and her mother around, but emergency circumstances had led to the girl being dropped off at Danny's house first thing on a Monday morning and her meeting her father's boyfriend unexpectedly in the kitchen. He honestly hadn't known which of them was more scared.
When Steve had finally met her mother the following weekend, the pretty British woman had been suspicious and tentative, but had soon warmed to him and his charms. He'd been honest from the get go, telling her he'd been a con man, but that things were different now. And hopefully he'd proven that with helping Danny during the case with the stolen cars where he'd acted as an undercover informant, and saying yes to marrying the man.
And despite their divorce, Rachel obviously knew her ex loved their little girl more than life itself, so if he was turning up on her doorstep and wanting comfort from seeing Grace, he obviously needed it.
"I stayed for an hour or so after that, Rach wanted to make sure I was okay. But I just wanted to get home to you, so I called a cab..." Danny looked over at the brunette in the twilight, "I love you, Steve."
The ex-con smiled and leaned over to kiss his man. "I love you too."
The cop tasted of whiskey, Steve discovered, when he dipped his tongue into his mouth as it opened it to him.
"Is that my single malt?" he smiled when he pulled back, gently teasing.
Danny shrugged a little. "Sorry. I only had one, just when I got home... I wanted more, hell I could quite happily bathe in a tub of good scotch right now, but I can't do that," he kissed Steve's lips firmly, "Need to be on point for this case."
The mechanic nodded, knowing better than to ask if they'd made any progress. Even if they had, the team obviously hadn't caught anyone yet otherwise his lover would be in a much happier mood, so he kept the questions on hold. If Danny wanted to talk anything through, he would initiate it.
"What do you need from me?" He kept his voice low, and there was nothing negative or judgemental about his question. He just wanted to give and let Danny take; he wanted to be the whiskey his fiancé couldn't get drunk on, be the drug that wouldn't create a hangover. He could be his release, be whatever he needed, with no ill effects... well, aside from some bruising maybe, but Danny was always fine with that.
"I need..." the blonde started, but then petered off, looking away.
Steve kissed his lips again, and then trailed down his jaw to nibble down to the junction of his neck and shoulder, tonguing the pulse line of his artery. "Come on, tell me what you need, what do you want me to do to you?"
"Mmm... I need you to fuck me Steve, I just..." Danny didn't know how to put into words what he required, not without sounding like he was using his lover somehow. He wasn't, he needed him all the time in so many ways, but the way this might come out sounded wrong or selfish.
"You need to forget?"
How the hell was it that Steve knew him that well, inside and out? Just understanding what he'd wanted to say and not even seeing anything bad in it. He didn't think he'd ever know why he'd been given this beautiful, tattooed gift of a man, but he was forever grateful he had him.
He nodded as tears pricked at the corners of his eyes, voice soft because he was afraid it would break otherwise. "I don't want to think about anything except you..."
Steve moved until he was on all fours above him, dipping down to lick into his mouth and capture his tongue with his own. Danny's hands came up to slip around his slim hips and knead at the flesh there.
The detective needed it so intensely tonight, and his man seemed to automatically sense this and know just what to do.
Steve kissed along his jaw and down his throat, occasionally nipping with sharp teeth lightly enough not to produce marks. He always avoided leaving evidence that couldn't be hidden by the Danny's daily clothing, not because either of them were ashamed of who they were or how they did things, but more because the cop had a job where professionalism was paramount, and letting his personal life appear around the edges was something he needed to avoid. Steve didn't often receive marks, but when he did he didn't care about showing up to the garage with them on display.
Once the mechanic reached collarbone, however, it was a different story. Below that boundary line was where he could have his fun.
Teeth dug into the skin high on his pectoral, and Danny bucked upwards with the electricity flowing through his chest from his fiancé's bite. He made a strained groaning noise, and the ex-con's grip loosened, but the blonde grabbed at his head and pressed him into his body, asking for more. Steve complied and squeezed down hard, almost enough to draw blood, and the pain helped white out all the other noise in Danny's mind.
The taller man released him, only to move down to his ribs and bite again, and this time the Jersey man yelped and struggled a little, but Steve knew his lover could tell him to stop if need be, so he continued on his journey. He left dark teeth marks in Danny's skin, travelling lower again and across to the other side of his body, nipping a trail of fire until he reached his hips where he clamped down again.
"Fuck, Steve..." the Jersey man gasped and tugged at his hair reflexively, and the mechanic growled and lashed out, grasping both of his lover's wrists, forcing them down into the bed.
Danny struggled against him, pressing his heels into the mattress and fighting back, but Steve dropped his body weight in between the cop's legs, feeling his fiancé's hard cock against his chest, and squeezed his arms tighter.
A growl emanated from his lover, Steve's teeth still digging into the flesh at his hip, and the vibrations travelled through the brunette's chest and into Danny's dick. He whimpered and thrust up against his solid body, trying to obtain more stimulation for his erection, but Steve's reaction was to lift off of him again so he could move to the drawer and get the lube.
Danny obediently kept his hands where they had been left despite his need to reach out and grasp at the ex-con, and he could see Steve's smug smile in the half light when he arrived back over him. The strain of staying put must have been evident on his face.
Steve kneeled between the detective's thighs, and squeezed gel on to his fingers. The other hand then stroked down Danny's inner leg, raising goosebumps.
"I love you, baby," he whispered, kissing his lover's knee.
"I love you too, Steve," Danny replied, trust implicit in his tone.
The mechanic ran his slick fingers over his fiancé's balls, down his perineum and over his puckered hole. The blonde let out a little sigh and flexed his back, fingers burrowing into the sheets.
The ex-con leaned down and licked a wide stripe up the underside of Danny's full, hard cock, and he took the head into his mouth just as he pressed a finger into his lover. The Jersey man moaned and tugged on the bedding, wanting so much to tangle his fingers into that short brown hair and pull on that instead. Quite often, if he misbehaved, Steve would teach him a lesson, and tonight there was a part of him that wanted the punishment more than anything. And that side of him was slowly winning out.
The brunette moaned around his cock, taking him back and deep throating him, and the sensations caused the dam to finally break. His hands flashed out, gripping Steve's hair and pushing his hips up, and the taller man released an annoyed curse from his throat as he pulled back. He snatched at the detective's wrists and threw his body forward over the man below him, bringing the cop's hands to either side of his head and putting his face right up against Danny's.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" he hissed, and the blonde turned his head to capture Steve's lower lip between his teeth as he undulated his body against his fiancé, continuing his bad behaviour.
Steve growled again and kissed him hard, loving the fact he was having to work to win this one, rutting his swollen dick into the dip of Danny's pelvic muscles as he fought for dominance in the kiss. The Jersey man finally conceded power, and once he did the tattooed man climbed off him, grabbing his arm and shoulder and wrestled him on to his front on the bed.
The drawer was pulled open again and before he knew it Steve was folding separate soft leather cuffs around his wrists and attempting to link them together in the small of his back. Danny tried to pull away, get up on his knees, but the mechanic was shoving him back down to the sheets and placing a sharp knee on his ass cheek to hold him in place while he finished clipping the cuffs together.
Steve moved off him and smiled victoriously before leaning over him and spanking him hard with the flat of his hand.
Danny shouted in pain and writhed under his lover as he straddled his thighs and trapped him on the bed with his knees squeezed tight either side of him.
He strained at the bonds again, receiving a smack to the other cheek for his troubles. The wretched sound the impact tore from his lungs made the taller man flinch.
"Shit Danny, I'm sorry. You okay?" he rested a palm lightly in between the detective's shoulder blades in a comforting manner.
"Don't stop," the cop panted, "Fuck, just don't stop Steve!"
Steve hesitated for a second more, and then leaned back on his haunches and raised his hand again. "You know the safe word," he reminded his man quietly, trusting him to know his own limits, and when he received a nod of affirmation he brought his palm down sharply on that gorgeous, rounded ass.
Danny yelped and bucked under him, and he dipped down to lick at the raised hand marks that reddened his lover's skin. Then he pulled those cheeks apart with both hands and delved his tongue into the other man's hole, massaging his buttocks as he loosened him ready to take his cock.
Danny was fucking glorious, all laid out and desperate for him like this. He loved this man with every ounce of his soul; the way he gave everything to Steve in the bedroom, trusted him so deeply and wanted him so much despite who he used to be and how they had begun. He made him a better man in the outside world, while allowing him to release his inner devil in the bedroom. He was everything to him and more, and Steve would serve him until the end of time if he so required.
Danny was moaning his name and wriggling under him, and he pulled back to douse his fingers with more lube, pressing two at once inside the blonde after preparing him only slightly with his mouth. He obviously wanted more tonight, and Steve was only too happy to provide.
"Fuck, yes!" the Jersey man howled and pressed back into him, enjoying every second of the rough treatment.
Steve made sure he was fully prepped, massaging over his prostate a couple of times to achieve the lascivious grunts and groans he loved to hear, and then he removed his fingers and hunched down over his fiancé, pressing the head of his cock in between his cheeks and gliding over his entrance.
He put his hands either side of the cop's wide shoulders and nipped at his shoulders, before whispering into his ear.
"You want my cock, don't you baby?" He rocked forward a little, and his erection slid through the valley of the other man's ass.
Danny made a frustrated noise when the movement wasn't the entry he wanted.
"Are you going to behave now, Danny? Or are you gonna keep fighting me?"
The detective grunted in reply, knowing it wouldn't be a good enough answer but not wishing to let go quite yet.
The tattooed man lifted up and spanked him again, moaning when the shock wave travelled through Danny's flesh and into his cock where it was nestled.
"I asked you a question. Are you going to behave?" He dug his teeth into his lover's shoulder again, gradually increasing the pressure until the blonde was whimpering, forced to break his steadfast silence and answer.
"Ah... ah! Okay, yes! Yes, Steve!" he panted when the pain became close to too high on the scale, "I'll stop, I'll stop!"
The brunette released him and growled his approval. "Mm, good boy..."
Danny gasped as the head of his fiancé's cock breached his ring, and the ex-con slid into him at a punishingly slow pace, filling him inch by glorious inch.
It was a sweet kind of torture for Steve as well, going so slowly, but he loved being in control so much that he couldn't resist doing whatever would drive the Jersey man crazy. He rewarded himself by pressing as far as he possibly could into his fiancé, taking firm hold of his tied wrists and using the counterpoint to drive his dick in deep.
The cop groaned and cursed under him, and the mechanic only gave him a second to adjust before pulling out and thrusting back in again, beginning his rough assault on his man, taking what he wanted and giving what his fiancé needed in return. The perfect push and pull of their relationship was never more evident than at times like this, and it twisted in his belly to know just how well matched they were.
The angle was perfect for Danny, feeling his lover drive into him, building his speed until he was pummelling into him and hitting his sweet spot with each stroke. He gasped and moaned with every movement, letting the pleasure take over as Steve's mouth began to meander down his spine with nips and kisses, darting to sweep his tongue over and soothe the various bite marks he'd left as he went.
"Steve... god, keep going... I love you," he spoke into the bed, wanting his man to take him and own him in the way only Steve seemed to be able to.
Steve used his knees to spread Danny's thighs further, allowing him to push deeper inside him. He slipped his free hand under Danny, between his body and the sheets, and grasped his leaking cock. His precum provided the lubricant he needed, and each of Steve's thrusts pushed the cop's dick through his fist, causing him to buck and shout out.
It wasn't long before Danny felt his orgasm about to peak, and he bit down on the sheets just as it hit. A hoarse cry exited his throat through his clenched teeth, his spine bowed, and he bucked so hard that Steve had to use his bound hands like reins to stay sheathed inside him.
"Fuck!" the tattooed man gasped as his lover constricted around him and almost threw him off his body with his release. He felt the man's cum spill over his hand, and he stroked him through his orgasm until he calmed his movements.
Then Steve pressed the other man down into the mattress and fucked into him, taking himself to his own climax within seconds of his fiancé and collapsing down onto his sweat-slick back to drag in oxygen.
"Jesus fuck, Danny," he sighed, kissing his neck and rolling off the shorter man, and Danny hummed in reply, unable to voice exactly what he was feeling.
Endorphins combined with exhaustion wrapped around him, pulling him down into oblivion. His beautiful, perfect lover unlinked the cuffs and freed him, gently removing them from his wrists, and then encased him in his arms and pulled him in close to lay the cop on his back, Steve's head going to rest on Danny's shoulder.
"I love you Steve, so much... you know that, right?" He squeezed the tattooed man's forearm where it lay across his heaving chest.
"I know, Danno. I love you too, I'm always going to be here for you." He'd traverse hell and swim oceans for the wonderful human being he held in his grip.
"How comes you're so perfect?" Danny mumbled as he drifted off.
"Takes a lot of work, I can tell you," Steve snickered, kissing the spot just behind his ear, "Go to sleep baby, I've got you..."
His lover let out a deep sigh. "I'm gonna marry the fuck outta you..." And then he was asleep.