Duane "Dog" Chapman glanced across at Grace sitting next to him before he glanced in his rear vision mirror at Charlie who was happily playing with a small toy car in his car seat. He had received the call less than half an hour ago, from Chin, asking him if he could bring Grace and Charlie to the hospital, wiki wiki. Danny's condition had unexpectedly taken a drastic turn for the worse during the night and the doctors had suggested that Grace and Charlie be brought immediately to the hospital for what could be their final goodbyes to their father. Chin had explained that he was staying with Danny in the ICU so Danny would not be alone while Kono and Lou were staying with Steve in his hospital room to ensure that McGarrett would not decide to ignore his own doctor's strict orders to rest and make a break to go back to Danny's room to watch over his critically ill friend.
It had been heartbreaking to try and gently break the news to Danny's two children of their father's deteriorating condition, although Dog knew that while Charlie was too young to understand what was happening, Grace understood what he and Beth had told her only too well. She had not said very much, instead, she had helped get Charlie dressed and ready for the early morning hospital visit before climbing silently into the car for the trip to the hospital.
The ride so far to the hospital had been a silent one and Dog found his heart aching for both kids, he knew there was nothing that he could say that was going to make this visit any easier. All he could do was pray that the doctors were just being overly cautious, that Danny was strong enough to fight and recover.
"Maybe Danno was right." Grace suddenly sighed before she bit her bottom lip and stared out of the car window.
Glancing at the upset young girl sitting next to him, Duane frowned, "Right about what, Grace?"
"Danno wanted to move back to New Jersey." Gracie whispered, almost too softly for Duane to hear as she continued to stare out of the window as she admitted guiltily, "But I wanted to stay…"
Duane's frown deepened as he looked back at the road before he glanced again at Grace, "I don't understand, I thought your dad was happy here."
"He was and now he's not.' Grace swallowed down a sob as she turned back to look at world famous bail bondsman. "He said it was because he wanted to be closer to Grandma and Granddad but I now know that wasn't the real reason…"
"What do you mean?" Dog's frown deepened.
"It's because he doesn't have any real friends here anymore." Grace answered as she continued as she turned to stare out of the window again, her tears blurring her vision.
"Why would even you think that your dad has no real friends?" Duane gasped in surprise as he darted another look at Grace. "Your dad's got lots of friends. He's got Chin, Lou, Steve and Kono as well as me and Beth. And I know Steve, Chin, Kono and Lou are much more than your dad's friends, they are his and your ohana."
Grace shook her head, "No…no they're not. None of them even cared that Danno had an operation to give Uncle Steve half his liver, all they cared about was Uncle Steve was going to get better…"
"That's not true." Duane tried gently to reassure her as he eased the car into a parking spot and turned to look at Grace, his chest tightened as Grace turned back to look at him.
"It is true." Grace said quietly, the hurt and anguish easily readable in her eyes as she continued, "Lou is more Uncle Steve's partner now than Danno is and last night not one of them even gave Danno a get-well card. None of them even cared that Danno now only has half a liver as well, they were all more interested in Uncle Steve."
Duane felt slightly ill as he remembered noticing the many cards gifts and get-well balloons that had adorned Steve's side of the room and the single get well card, he and Beth had helped Grace and Charlie make for their dad, sitting on Danny's bedside table. He had also glimpsed the hurt that was not only Danny's eyes but also Grace's eyes when the others had laughed and joked that all the gifts cards and get well wishes were for Steve, that there was no get well wishes at all left for Danny.
Tears began to run down Grace's face as she swallowed hard, "You saw what they did when they all left last night. They didn't think I would notice but I did, they only said good night and shook Steve's hand, it was like they forgot Danno was even there." Her tears turned to sobs as Duane slowly rolled the car to a stop as they pulled into a parking spot in the hospital parking lot and turned, reaching for Grace as he pulled her into a hug as she sobbed brokenheartedly into his chest, "I should never have told Danno that I wanted to stay here…"