Author's Note: First thank you SO much to all those who took the time to read and review Jingle Bells. You guys are gems and I love sharing enjoyment of this world with you. This is the 5th story in the Myah-verse, taking place before Jingle Bells. My brain just didn't cooperate in writing it in the correct order, lol. This story is based off of/inspired by Na Pilikua Nui (season 6 episode 6) and Hoa'inea (season 6 episode 14). Obviously I own nothing. As always, let me know what you love, what you don't, what you wish for and what you're predicting.

Street Smarts and Fright Nights

Chapter 1

HALLOWEEN: MYAH'S POV

"So just saying… it's hoodie weather in Missouri. And flannel." Myah McGarrett picked up the giant bowl of candy, along with the crutch that made her feel like Tiny Tim from A Christmas Carol. A sprained ankle sustained from a fall playing basketball with Nahele, hadn't initially required a crutch, but after pushing it instead of resting it, she was on doctor's orders to be non weight bearing. Doctor's orders meaning Dr. Max Bergman's orders, which meant Steve McGarrett's orders. After their most recent discussion, Myah had no intention of disobeying him. At least not any time soon. She swung the door open in response to the ringing bell. "Hey guys! You look so cool." As the door latched she looked over at Will Grover, who was holding a clipboard and pen. "Mark me down for three."

"I got you." he sighed, making a checkmark by her name. Myah couldn't recall who had come up with the game at the beginning of the night, but they were taking 5 minute shifts handing out candy and the person who opened the door to the most trick or treaters won what was at that point an undecided prize. The fact that most of the group present was currently grounded made the game of chance and prospect of winning anything at all, seem more appealing than it probably should have been.

"It's hoodie time in Jersey too." Grace Williams yawned, and reached for a handful of popcorn.

"Same in Chicago. Hoodies I mean. I never wore flannel." Sam Grover wrinkled her nose and Grace laughed.

"That does not surprise me at all." she responded.

Myah answered the door twice more before handing the bowl off to Nahele. He caught sight of the wince that flashed across her face upon putting a little too much weight through her right ankle and without asking slid an arm around her torso.

"Nahele…" she started to protest, but he easily lifted her off the floor.

"Be quiet gimpy." he said, and Myah found herself taking his place in the group circled around the coffee table. Grace quickly dealt her in.

Nahele gave one of Grace's braids a quick tug as he passed by to take his position by the door. "Don't be fooled by this innocent face. She's a demon."

"Don't I know it." Myah muttered, taking stock of the cards she'd been dealt.

"I can deal you in next round, Sam." Grace offered, attempting to ignore the McGarrett siblings.

"I don't know…" Sam slowly wandered over. "How do you play again?"

"Really?!" Will grumbled at his sister.

Sam made a face at him and slid in next to J. "I'll let J teach me."

Nahele rolled his eyes from his post by the door. "Well, apparently J is the new babysitter on the block, so you'll be in good hands."

"Hey!" Sam exclaimed indignantly, launching a Reeses at Nahele.

"No!" J yelped. "Those are my 20s!"

Nahele smiled and dropped it into the candy bowl.

"You want some, bro?" J growled, starting to rise up ready to demand the return of their poker game's currency of choice.

"Hey now…" Will frowned at the two older guys. "We don't need a wrestling match right now." He put his hand on J's shoulder and gave him a slight push downward. Kukui High's running back shot him a glare that turned into a good natured grin as he allowed himself to be pushed back down to the floor.

Sam raised her eyebrows at her brother. "Take your life into your hands, why don't you."

"No, no." J responded. "From what I've seen, Will's probably the smartest person in this room."

Will's cheeks flushed in response to the compliment, but he shook his head. "Pretty sure that'd be Grace. She's the one who's been smoking us since we started." He shot her a quick smile.

Grace shrugged modestly. "I've been playing with Danno since I was four." Her lower lip poked out slightly. "You know back when I could do no wrong. I don't know if Danno is ever going to trust me again. I'm pretty sure I'm grounded for the next ten years worth of Halloweens."

Myah gave her friend a sympathetic look.

"Probably only nine." J said.

"Why nine?" Grace asked.

"Because ten would put you at 22."

Grace rolled her eyes and looked over at Myah who smirked in response.

"I know." she said. "It's not going to matter if we're 22 or 42. Our dads will still track us down if we screw up."

"You could just behave yourselves." Nahele suggested, quickly closing the door on another round of trick or treaters. He was the only person in the room that was neither grounded nor sporting a sore backside. Earlier that day he had not been particularly pleased about the position of leadership that seemed to have afforded him, but now as he eyed the room filled with the people he felt closest to in the world, he smiled.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot we're not all perfect like the golden child." Myah responded sarcastically.

Looking suddenly embarrassed, Grace made the obvious attempt to change the subject. "Well, no matter what… I think we should make the haunted hayride our annual tradition. For all of us five-o kids… which includes you, J."

"I appreciate that. Though considering I don't even live here and somehow I'm still grounded…it better." J grimaced.

"Guess that's technically my fault." Will cleared his throat.

"It is?" Myah asked.

Will shook his head, embarrassed. "I don't really want to talk about it. How'd you end up getting invited to that party anyway, Grace?"

Grace blushed. "I doubt everyone wants to hear about my night, Will."

"I fold." J said. "And I'm curious. Plus we need to hear about Sam and Myah's ghost boyfriends."

"You really don't." Sam informed him.

"Considering Myah has a black eye and new piercing in her ear, I think we do." Nahele said.

Myah self-consciously touched the tiny gold feather earring she was now sporting in the inner portion of her left upper ear. "This is nothing compared to all the tattoos dad's got."

"Is that what you told him?" Nahele asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"I very respectfully pointed it out."

J snorted. "How did that go over?"

"It definitely didn't do anything to help my case."

Grace shook her head. "Let's focus. Where were we?" She indicated the cards now lying idly.

"You were about to tell us about your night."

"Sam!" Grace protested, before looking around the room in hopes of finding an ally. She finally seemed to realize that while every one of them would have her back if needed, it was storytime at the McGarrett house. Normally the date of October 31st would have dictated that ghost stories be the tales of choice, but Grace considered hers to be more drama with perhaps some tragedy thrown in. "Fine. If I get emotional though, it's your guys' fault."

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SEVERAL DAYS EARLIER: GRACE'S POV

"Pumpkins grow in Hawaii, right?" Sam asked.

Grace, being the senior island resident nodded. "Danno asked if I still wanted to go trick or treating this year."

Myah scrunched her face sympathetically. "Did it break his heart when you said no?"

"Pretty sure."

"Trick or treating!" Sam scoffed. "We're way too old for that."

Grace watched as Myah's eyes glazed over slightly and guessed that she was caught up in a memory. She recalled Myah saying that Halloween had been her mom's favorite holiday and judging from the slight smile on her face, she was clearly recalling a happier time.

Myah confirmed it with her statement of, "I think I was 9 the last time I went. I was Wonder Woman."

Considering Myah was now fourteen, Grace guessed that that was one of the last relatively normal things Myah and her mother and her mother had experienced together. The glint of sadness in Myah's eyes caused an uncomfortable feeling of guilt to knot in Grace's stomach.

"You okay, MJ?" Sam asked.

Myah started, realizing her two friends were watching her tenderly and seemed to have known intuitively where her mind had gone.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good. But we should… we should make a list. Of everything we want to do this Halloween season."

"We could do matching costumes." Sam said excitedly.

"I have a fairy costume." Grace's announcement was given with a tone tinged with sadness. "I was actually invited to a party… one of the girls I cheer with invited all the cheerleaders. Her older sister is throwing the party. It's the night before Halloween."

"So what's wrong with that?" Sam asked cautiously. "You'll be an adorable fairy."

"Mom said there's no way I'm going. Not to a high school party."

"Did you ask your dad?"

Myah shook her head and Grace knew Myah knew as well as she did that Danno was going to be even less likely to allow Grace to go to a high school party and that even if he was alright with it, he was not going to go against his ex-wife for something that was non-essential. But leave it to Sam to think of playing her parents against one another.

"I know he'd say no too." Grace sighed.

"Nehele and J were talking about a haunted hayride." Myah suggested. "That could be fun."

"Ooh, yeah…" Sam nodded. "Will would probably be up for that too. Although if he doesn't stop being so annoying, I'm not inviting him."

The girls continued to chat, tossing out ideas for their autumn bucket list, but Grace continually found herself distracted. That was unusual for her, as normally she was a very focused person, to the point of occasionally not seeing the forest for the trees, as Danno put it. When she flipped off the light and crawled under the covers a short while later, her mind continued to refuse to cooperate and she felt as awake as if it was the middle of the day.

A soft footfall sounded outside her room and Grace tensed, recognizing the sound of her mother. The doorknob started to turn and Rachel Edwards poked her head tentatively in. "Grace? Are you asleep?"

"Trying to." Grace answered shortly.

"Well… all right. Good night."

"Night."

The door closed and Grace turned over onto her side, a tear sliding down onto her pillow. She hated feeling so cold and disconnected from her mother, but didn't know what to do about it. Only a few weeks prior, they had received the news that Grace's little brother had the diagnosis of Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis. It was a condition that could be fatal if not treated and when Grace had found out that a bone marrow transplant from a sibling could be his best chance, she had agreed immediately to be tested. When the results had come back and shown her to be a poor match, Grace had taken it like a punch to the gut. She didn't think it was possible to feel more worthless and her worry had made her so sick she would have missed school if not for the fear of adding on to the stress the family was already feeling because of Charlie. Grace had watched her mother pace and then finally leave the house, having clearly made a decision.

The next night Rachel had come into Grace's bedroom and told her she had something important to tell her. That Charlie was going to be okay because a match had been found. A match from his father.

"So Stan's going to do it?" Grace had asked.

"No…" Rachel bit her lip. "Danno. Danno is Charlie's father."

Grace stared at her, dumbfounded. "Danno? What?!"

"I don't expect you to understand." Rachel said, defensively.

"Well, did he know?" Even as she asked the question, Grace felt her chest tightening as the answer was already obvious. There was no way Danno had known. Which meant Rachel had lied to him. And to her. And to Charlie and Stan.

"He knows now. I told him yesterday. And he's a match for Charlie."

Grace gazed blankly at her. Danno had been told yesterday. And of course, being the person and father that he was, he had clearly wasted no time in going out to get tested. She couldn't even imagine how he was feeling.

"This… this is good news, Grace. I know this is hard and I am sorry, but the important thing is that Charlie is going to be okay."

"Yeah."

Four weeks later Grace still felt in shock over the news. At times she felt almost consumed with bitterness at the thought of what her mother had done. Of her friends, Myah had been the first to know, as naturally the first person Danno had called had been Uncle Steve. Myah had been the most supportive friend Grace could have asked for with Charlie's diagnosis and when her mother's deception had come to light, Myah had simply sat and allowed Grace to rage, with rage that eventually turned to tears.

Grace really hadn't even had the chance to have a real conversation with Danno yet, as the last few weeks had been a whirlwind of doctor's visits and medical tests. It came as no surprise to Grace that Danny had not missed a single appointment. Thankfully everything had gone well with the procedure and Charlie was now home recovering, with the best prognosis they could have hoped for. Grace's heart warmed at the thought of her little brother. He was such a sweet, happy go lucky little guy. He was the opposite of her… well, their step-father Stan. She thought of all the times that he had clung to her legs when she'd been preparing to spend her weekends with Danno. Far too many times she had impatiently brushed him off, and to come to find out, he had as much right to go as she did.

Sitting straight up in bed, Grace launched one of her throw pillows at the door. It thudded against the wood with a satisfying thwack. The fairy wings hanging from a chair near the door caught her eye. What right did her mother have to tell her she couldn't go to a party when she couldn't even be trusted herself? The fact that Rachel expected everything to just go back to normal now was ludicrous. She had apologized, it was true, but there had been no acknowledgement of the hurt she'd caused, while attempts to justify her actions had sprung forth almost immediately. For the first time, Grace felt so much wiser than her mother.

Grace frowned, recalling her mother's resounding refusal to her request to attend the party. Rachel hadn't even given her the chance to explain why she wanted to go. She had just assumed that Grace was too immature to have a good reason, not to mention clearly believing she was too much of a baby to take care of herself. Well, she wasn't. She was going to be thirteen on her next birthday. Her grades were good. She was doing really well on the middle school cheer team and the teenage girls that helped coach had encouraged her to continue on into high school. It was actually Anela that had invited her to the party, telling her that it would be a chance to make a good impression on the rest of the girls on the high school cheer team. The beginning of a plan was forming in Grace's mind. If Rachel couldn't be trusted to take care of her own family, then Grace was going to have to look out for herself. She was going to that party.

With the decision having been made, Grace felt even less able to sleep, as the wheels in her head started turning. She couldn't remember the last time she'd deliberately gone against her parents rules, at least not since childhood. She also couldn't remember the last time she'd questioned whether or not she should share her plans with her best friends.

Myah had been officially adopted only just the past summer, but she, Sam and Grace had hit it off so soundly that their friendship had been sealed that same day. They chatted on a daily basis and kept each other alerted to all the details of their lives, significant or not. But Grace now hesitated, though her misgivings were not based on a question of their loyalty. She had no doubt that both would agree to keep her secret and even help her if needed.

Sam, who allowed her boy crazy tendency to get the best of her far too often, had just gotten over being grounded and was looking forward to a mother daughter weekend at a spa. If Grace remembered correctly, that trip was only a couple weeks away and the last thing she wanted to do was jeopardize something that she knew Sam was excited about.

Myah also got herself into her fair share of trouble, but Grace tended to be more sympathetic towards her, with the knowledge that Myah's choices usually stemmed more from her lack of confidence about her place in the world and especially in regards to the permanency of her family with Uncle Steve. Grace adored her Uncle Steve, but didn't doubt that he'd had a lot to learn in regards to being a father. In some ways he was more strict than Danno, with extremely high expectations for behavior. However, in other aspects he allowed Myah and Nahele a lot of freedom and also was extremely open to hearing their opinions regarding how the family operated. He treated Grace the same way, and she often found herself with boosted confidence after spending time with him. Considering how much she loved both him and Myah, the last thing she wanted to do was to put Myah in a position where she'd have to lie to Uncle Steve.

No, this was one adventure she was going to have to go at without the support of her friends. Which was almost like going at it alone. Grace pulled her covers over her head, already feeling extremely alone.

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